(Qalat, Afghanistan) Breaking news.

From UPI.com:

A Taliban senior commander has been killed and two other militants have been captured during a raid by police in the southeastern Afghan province of Zabul.

The police, having received a tip that the militants were planning an attack on Qalat, the provincial capital, surrounded the band Monday night, shooting Mohamad Haleem and arresting two of his accomplices.

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 12:17 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 88 words, total size 1 kb.

Scottish Police Chief Constable John Vine stunned the guests at a bar association dinner with a joke.

During the toast, towards the end of the evening, Mr Vine told a joke about al-Qaeda fathers comparing notes about the careers of their suicide-bomber sons.

Many in the audience at the event on March 24 were stunned when he delivered the punchline: "Kids blow up so quickly these days."

Of course, it wasn't the quality of the joke that was objectionable. It is simply not politically prudent in the United Kingdom to speak ill of terrorists. What a bunch of wankers.

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 12:10 PM | Comments (23) | Add Comment
Post contains 124 words, total size 1 kb.

Nine people were killed in Tel Aviv by the 21-year-old Islamist jihadi nutcase, over 60 were wounded, in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad-conducted Passover bombing!

There are Five Official Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Sites (currently active online)

Eight Service Providers Keep Them Online, and they have been doing so for months - in some cases, years.

You will find that six of Those Service Providers are American Companies.

Should we be waiting for someone else to deal with the problem?

Bonus: Here are the top ten Salafyist/Jihadist sites on the Internet.

Hat tip - Internet Haganah

Cross posted from Hyscience

Posted by: Richard@hyscience at 09:21 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 113 words, total size 1 kb.

John Martin, Vikram Buddhi's lawyer is appalled at the blatant trampling of his client's First Amendment right to free speech. Buddhi is a graduate student and teaching assistant at Purdue University who has been here for the past ten years on a student visa. Martin hopes that everything can be cleared up by Wednesday so that Vikram can get back to his studies:

“What was allegedly said certainly is derogatory and may be inflammatory,” Martin said. “But there’s no real serious threat more than it was chat on the Web.”

Maybe when Vikrim gets out somebody could set him up with Maryscott O'Connor.

Via the Drudge Report.

Cross-posted at The Dread Pundit Bluto, Vince Aut Morire, and Stop the ACLU.

Posted by: Bluto at 09:04 AM | Comments (18) | Add Comment
Post contains 179 words, total size 2 kb.

University of South Florida professor Sami al-Arian, who became a cause célèbre to the ACLU crowd, has admitted to being involved with Palestinian Islamic Jihad (the group responsible for this outrage), and, as a bonus, turned snitch on his co-defendants.

From Yahoo! News:

WASHINGTON, April 17 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Former University of South Florida Professor Sami Al-Arian has pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to provide services to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a specially designated terrorist organization, in violation of U.S. law, the Department of Justice announced today.

In the plea agreement, Al-Arian admits that he was associated with several organizations, including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in the late 1980s and early to mid-1990s. He also admits that co-defendants Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, Bashir Musa Mohammed Nafi and Mazen Al-Najjar were associated with PIJ.

Al-Arian's agreement with the government calls for a recommended prison sentence of 46 to 57 months in prison, based on a five-year maximum statutory sentence. Al-Arian, 48, who has been in custody since his arrest on Feb. 20, 2003, has agreed to stipulate to deportation to another country by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement once his prison sentence has ended. Al- Arian has lived in this country for approximately 30 years.

Via Stop the ACLU.

Also posted at The Dread Pundit Bluto and Vince Aut Morire.

Posted by: Bluto at 10:22 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
Post contains 235 words, total size 2 kb.

Jeemany Christmas

Forbes Via Mike Hampton at The Department of Home Land Stupidity :
The jurors awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting “to James Risen and Eric Lichtblau of The New York Times for their carefully sourced stories on secret domestic eavesdropping that stirred a national debate on the boundary line between fighting terrorism and protecting civil liberty.” While the Times sat on the story for over a year and ultimately edited it due to national security concerns, many called the revelation of the program’s existence a threat to national security. President Bush himself called its publication “a shameful act.”

Oh wait we have them right here on comments via Mike again., eh eh ah-hem....

Narda Zacchino, deputy editor, San Francisco Chronicle (Chair)

Mike Connelly, executive editor, Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Kenneth Paulson, editor, USA Today

Delia Rios, national correspondent, Newhouse News Service, Washington, DC

*George Rodrigue, vice president/managing editor, The Dallas Morning News

*past Pulitzer Prize winner

more...

Posted by: Howie at 08:30 PM | Comments (19) | Add Comment
Post contains 187 words, total size 2 kb.

Update your programs. There's an official change in the leadership of the anti-war movement.

From ContraCostaTimes.com:

Jane Fonda says she would like to tour the country and speak out against U.S. involvement in Iraq, but her controversial history of Vietnam War protests leaves her with "too much baggage."

"I wanted to do a tour like I did during the Vietnam War, a tour of the country," the Oscar-winning actress said Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America." "But then Cindy Sheehan filled in the gap, and she is better at this than I am. I carry too much baggage."

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 04:37 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
Post contains 130 words, total size 1 kb.

Some people believe that political statements probably don't belong in a mathematics course. I agree.

From SeattleTimes.com:

(Bellevue, Washington) Bellevue Community College Board of Trustees issued a statement Saturday condemning the behavior of an instructor who wrote a racially insulting math question recently brought to the college's attention by students.

The question began, "Condoleezza holds a watermelon just over the edge of the roof of the 300-foot Federal Building, and tosses it up with a velocity of 20 feet per second." It went on to ask when the watermelon would hit the ground, based on a formula provided.

As corrective action, the math department issued an apology and the college announced the creation of a new vice-president for diversity and blah, blah, blah. No mention was made regarding the oozing liberalism of an infected institution of high learning.

From Interested-Participant.

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 04:19 PM | Comments (16) | Add Comment
Post contains 225 words, total size 2 kb.

Ryan cheated to win an election he had in the bag and now Illinois Republicans and the people have paid the price for it. He's next. One story I read called him a strong fighter aginst the death penalty. No, he never was, he took that issue to shut up the papers and avoid being impeached.

Posted by: Howie at 03:43 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 72 words, total size 1 kb.

ItÂ’s hard hiding in a cave when you are supposed to be in command.

MSNBC :CAIRO - In January 2003, one of the two most wanted men in the world couldn't contain his frustration. From a hiding place probably somewhere in South Asia, he tapped out two lengthy e-mails to a fellow Egyptian who'd been criticizing him in public.

"I beg you, don't stop the Muslim souls who trust your opinions from joining the jihad against the Americans," wrote Ayman al-Zawahiri, deputy leader of al-Qaeda. He fired off the message even though it risked exposing him.

"Let's put it this way: Tensions had been building up between us for a long time," explained the e-mail's recipient, Montasser el-Zayat, a Cairo lawyer who shared a prison cell with Zawahiri in the 1980s and provided this account. "He always thinks he is right, even if he is alone."

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Zawahiri has broadcast his views to the world relentlessly. Despite a $25 million price on his head, he has published memoirs, given interviews and recorded a dozen speeches that find their way to the Internet and television. Video of a speech was posted Thursday on a Web site.

Zawahiri's visibility, eclipsing Osama bin Laden's, reminds al-Qaeda's enemies that the network is capable of more attacks. But a closer look at his speeches and writings, and interviews with several longtime associates in radical Islamic circles, suggests another motive: fear of losing his ideological grip over a revolutionary movement he has nurtured for 40 years.

"He's trying to stay in control and give the impression that he's behind everything in the Middle East and everywhere else, fighting against the Americans in Iraq and against Britain in Europe," Rushdi said in an interview. "He is trying to take responsibility as a leader for what is going on in Iraq. But he knows, and everyone knows, that that is not true, that he has nothing to do with anything in Iraq."

Al-Qaeda was founded as a decentralized coalition of Islamic extremists. That structure has complicated efforts by intelligence services to penetrate the network. But the lack of clear chains of command also can make it difficult for leaders to maintain control.

Posted by: Howie at 03:35 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
Post contains 419 words, total size 3 kb.

Hey thatÂ’s one way to balance the budget.

Courier Journal :But careful readers of the final state budget bill can find a new tax on Page 624: 25 cents on each package of cigarette rolling papers. A typical pack of 32 papers costs $1.49 now.

Posted by: Howie at 03:20 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 136 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Maybe it's time we put those tobacco farmers to work growing alcohol. We need the fuel.

Posted by: bill at April 17, 2006 05:27 PM (7evkT)

2 "Bong makers efforts to lobby for an even greater tax failed to make the final budget." Good one, Howie.

Posted by: Greg at April 17, 2006 06:08 PM (q5wwn)

3 Okay, my mind is in the gutter early this morning. I saw "KY" and immediately thought they were going to tax KY jelly. I won't go into what I thought you meant by "joint".

Posted by: Oyster at April 18, 2006 06:09 AM (YudAC)

4 I immediately thought of black currant jelly.

Posted by: Last word Larry at April 19, 2006 12:21 AM (FCC6c)

5 Then I thought of Buddha stick.

Posted by: Last word Larry at April 19, 2006 12:57 AM (FCC6c)

6 KY joint wrappers taxed? It's an outrage.

Posted by: Mike at April 19, 2006 03:58 AM (ZdKfx)

7 Next thing you know they'll be trying to tax my Buddha stick!

Posted by: Last word Larry at April 19, 2006 09:22 AM (FCC6c)

8 You know.. this post really should have been posted on the 20th of April, (you know, 4-20.. get it?

Posted by: The Other Dave at April 21, 2006 07:54 PM (zvBf9)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

I seldom post over here at The Jawa Report, mainly because this site is usually flooded with quality posts, but I wanted to bring a matter to the attention of readers here. Much has been said about Iran's nuclear program, where it's going and what the intentions are, but I feel a key point is often missed.

That key point assumes Iran wants to acquire a nuclear weapon, which their own statements lead to that conclusion, and whether or not they will actually use a nuclear weapon if they sucessfully built one. That does not mean Iran equips one of their new Shahab class missiles (Shahab-3 has been announced and they working on Shahab-6) with a nuclear warhead and fires one into Tel Aviv, but the nation also has control over groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas.

Lending even a small amount of radioactive waste in the form of a "dirty bomb" to either of those groups, not to mention any other radical Islamic group the nation at least supports ideologically, would change the face of this conflict and should rightly be considered when discussing whether striking Iran's nuclear facilities is in our best interests. This is not necessarily a debate of should we keep Iran from obtaining a bomb, the nation already has radioactive waste and with the announcement it will increase uranium enrichment more radioactive waste will be produced.

While a dirty bomb would create havoc wherever one is detonated, it is still a small type attack when compared to a suitcase nuke or a nuclear weapon. This is an important distinction to make because a dirty bomb would not do the damage to Israel that Iran seeks, and there is a religious belief it is the duty of the Islamic Republic of Iran to destroy Israel.

I believe Iran would have no qualms with sending a nuclear warhead into Tel Aviv because it is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's firm belief he must wipe out Israel to pave the path for the return of the 12th Imam. It is his religious fanaticism that is alarming and needs to be considered while his nation continues their pursuit for nuclear weapons. Unfortunately many naysayers fail to even bring this up in discussion perhaps because we don't fully understand the role of the 12th Imam and Ahmadinejad's own belief he is one of the chosen people to help the 12th Imam return, but we must begin to.

That said, there are many Islamic religious structures in Israel that certainly would at least be damaged in such an attack. Would the nation that wants to be the center of the Islamic world risk damaging where Mohammed ascended into Heaven to sit by Allah?

Contrary to what is constantly being reported, Ahmadinejad's own statements confirm his quest to destroy Israel, but Israel's destruction must come after the United States has been put to the side. At a conference in Tehran dubbed "The World without Zionism," the imagery that was widely reported and republished included a globe bearing the markings of the Star of David, which is of course also the markings of the nation of Israel, falling from the rest of the world. Cropped from most pictures was that a globe bearing the American flag was already on the ground and broken as Israel's globe was falling.

This symbolism of taking down Israel after the United States however isn't the only evidence Ahmadinejad seeks to destroy the United States first. Also at the same conference Ahmadinejad proclaimed "to those who doubt, to those who ask is it possible, or those who do not believe, I say accomplishment of a world without America and Israel is both possible and feasible.” Naturally the crowd also threw in England for good measure.

The three nations of England, the U.S. and Israel comprise of what I have termed "the family satan." I certainly don't believe any of those nations are actually satanic, but over the course of the past few years in particular Iran has ramped up the rhetoric citing all three are in the same satanic family. The United States is the "great satan," whereas I would assume England is the "mother of satan" and Israel is the "incestual offspring of satan."

It is this reasoning that I believe Iran won't immediately strike Israel but rather they would strike the United States if the nation acquires a nuclear weapon. Iran knows any attack on Israel would be met with swift retribution by the United States. It must therefore end the "great satan" from protecting the "incestual offspring of satan" before it can once and for all pave the way for the 12th Imam to return the Islamic glory to the world.

In the religious battle of good versus evil the imagery of Satan is strong, and so too in Shia Islam is the imagery of the 12th Imam returning to the Earth to help build an Islamic state. To those unfamiliar with the comcpet of the 12th Imam, think any other religious end of days scenario that involved a prophet, the son of God or any other religious entity reappearing to punish those who do not believe and reward those who do.

To some of us, this type of scenario is nothing more than a story passed down through time and warped through the many translations and interpretations all religious texts have been through. To others, the religion we worship is right and the end of days scenario written in our religious texts is accurate.

But there's a huge difference with those that believe our end of days scenario is accurate and the end of days belief of Ahmadinejad. Most Christians who are proclaiming this is the end of life on Earth or that the end is near don't actually feel that it is their duty to accelerate the end of days. As many end of days sites as there are on the Internet, very few actually state they want the end to come now, but rather they are exposing what they believe are the signs towards that advancement.

On the other hand, Ahmadinejad is a student of a religious belief that Allah wants his followers to wage war for his own fancies and die in his name; it is that belief that treasures death more than life. When he is not dropping notes to the 12th Imam who has been hiding in a well near Qom, Iran for centuries, Ahmadinejad is shining in divine light at the United Nations. Not only does Ahmadinejad feel he is chosen to help the return of the 12th Imam, he feels it is his duty and these notes he tosses down the well indicate he is trying to help the 12th Imam return.

We are stuck in a secular society, for good or bad that's for others to decide, that doesn't take into consideration the fanatical religious beliefs that predicate future events. In contrast, the government of Iran only knows religion and feels their own nation's quests are predetermined in an effort do Allah's bidding on this Earth. So while we as a nation and as an international community have now seemingly resigned ourselves to the fact Iran is a nuclear nation and while at least some diplomats, journalists and so-called pundits are resigned to Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, we need to shift our discussion to whether Iran will use a nuclear weapon and if so, where would one be aimed.

I certainly believe Iran would use a nuclear weapon for the leaders of Iran see it is their religious duty to do so, and from the statements made by Ahmadinejad, I feel the United States will be the first hit in an effort to make the United States impotent in defending Iran's short-term religious goal which is the destruction of Israel. While other nations including Saudi Arabia realize Iran's nucler weapons won't only be pointed towards Tel Aviv, the same quieted condemnation out of the Middle East of Ahmadinejad's "wipe Israel off the map" statements at "The World without Zionism" conference will likely be heard, or not heard of course, if Iran were to strike Israel first. There is no better target for Iran to strike that would strike up the religious fanaticism the nation exudes than to strike Israel, but it must first eliminate "the great satan" from protecting "the incestual offspring of satan."

Posted by Chad Evans of In the Bullpen

Posted by: Chad at 02:59 PM | Comments (29) | Add Comment
Post contains 1415 words, total size 8 kb.

IÂ’m almost impressed by Islamic charity except for the FACT that western nations out perform Islamic ones hands down. The terrorists talk about being for the common man and helping the poor but we actually do it. Who lowered infant mortality in Afghanistan? It was not the Taliban it was the USA.

Centcom :KABUL , Afghanistan – The command surgeon of Combined Forces Command – Afghanistan presented the renovated Rabia Balkhi Maternity Hospital to Afghanistan ’s minister of public health in a ceremony here April 9.

The U.S. Departments of Defense and Health and Human Services invested a combined $10 million into renovations, Air Force Col. (Dr.) Donald Thompson said.

The renovations and related training programs have already improved the care provided by the Rabia Balkhi, which is Kabul ’s second-busiest maternity hospital, delivering more than 15,000 babies each year. “When we first started, there were three to four maternal deaths per week. Last year, (Rabia Balkhi) had 18 maternal deaths for the entire year,” Thompson said.

While those numbers, plus the 50 percent decline in the mortality rate for newborns weighing more than 5.5 pounds, show a positive trend, there are still too many deaths, and that is what continuing programs will attempt to reduce, Thompson said.

Posted by: Howie at 10:57 AM | Comments (30) | Add Comment
Post contains 219 words, total size 2 kb.

A Palestinian suicide bomber murdered 8 people outside a falafel house in Tel Aviv today, the carnage limited because a security guard prevented the teenager from entering the restaurant.

From the New York Times:

A Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri called the attack "a natural result of the continued Israeli crimes against our people," adding that Palestinians were "in a state of self-defense and they have every right to use all means to defend themselves," according to Reuters.

All those Jews armed with falafels; who knows what they might be capable of?

Also posted at The Dread Pundit Bluto and Vince Aut Morire.

Posted by: Bluto at 09:48 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 136 words, total size 1 kb.

Via Michelle Malkin we get this cool new Italian political cartoon.

Translation to English.

"Isn't that man there, split in two from head to navel, Mohammed?" Dante asks Virgil.

"Yes and he is cut in two because he has divided society," Virgil replies. "While that woman there, with the burning coals, represents the politics of Italy towards Islam

Cartoon Inspired by:

Fatwa Anyone? more...

Posted by: Howie at 08:51 AM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
Post contains 117 words, total size 2 kb.

This latest post Michael and his traveling buddy Sean get a little worried.

Michael Totton Via his blog: What do we do if he takes us to a bad place?" Sean said.

Hell if I knew. Fight him, I guess. It would be too late, though, once we figured out that such a thing would be necessary.

"Just make sure he sticks to the mountains," I said. "Mosul is down in the plains. As long as this road hugs the mountains, we're still on the way to Dohok."

I was annoyed at myself for feeling paranoid. I was the one who had earlier said We can hitchhike in Northern Iraq.

A half-hour later our driver took us back on the main road at a Peshmerga checkpoint. He turned the car toward the mountains, toward Dohok. Not toward the plains. Not toward the dangerous red zone and Mosul.

"I guess that was a shortcut," Sean said.
"
I guess so," I said. "He's fine. We're fine."

Posted by: Howie at 08:04 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 204 words, total size 1 kb.

General Douglas MacArthur, a man used to winning wars, was deeply dissatisfied with the limited Allied goals in Korea. He bitterly resented sending men to die for such goals, and, while still Supreme Allied Commander, spoke out publicly about his frustration with the way Harry Truman was conducting the war.

Truman's response:

With deep regret I have concluded that General of the Army Douglas MacArthur is unable to give his wholehearted support to the policies of the United States Government and of the United Nations in matters pertaining to his official duties.

What then, to make of the six American generals who have publicly demanded the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld? Their statements about the conduct of the Iraqi theater of the War on Terror would suggest that things are quite dire indeed. Men are dying needlessly, they say.

Why then, did not one of these generals feel that these men were more important than his own career?

Also posted at The Dread Pundit Bluto.

Posted by: Bluto at 10:25 PM | Comments (41) | Add Comment
Post contains 253 words, total size 2 kb.

(San Francisco) Get a load of this. Obviously, a person has to be really, really smart to be a U.S. Appeals Court judge because, no matter how many times average people read the Constitution, they're not going to see what the judges find. This is from the 9th Circuit.

From SacBee.com:

The Eighth Amendment, which prohibits "cruel and unusual punishments," bars punishment of "involuntary sitting, lying or sleeping on public sidewalks that is an unavoidable consequence of being human and homeless without shelter in the City of Los Angeles," said a divided panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The court specifically ruled that the city of Los Angeles could not roust derelicts off the streets unless the taxpayers had previously provided a cozy shelter for every conceivable vagrant that drifts in. In other words, the taxpayers must provide shelter or the homeless have the right, per the Constitution, to involuntarily sit, lie and sleep anywhere they damn well please on city sidewalks.

In conclusion, law school apparently not only teaches the law but also gives students X-ray vision. I still haven't found any reference to "homeless" in the Constitution, much less "involuntary sitting." I don't want to go to law school but I'd sure like to git some of that there X-ray vision.

From Interested-Participant.

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 09:12 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 251 words, total size 2 kb.

I wish all of you a happy Easter. May this celebration of our Lord's resurrection fill you all with a renewed sense of hope in the days we live in.

Remember this, it may seem that these are the darkest times, but, it just seems. Read your history, we've been here before.

Posted by: Vinnie at 12:47 AM | Comments (26) | Add Comment
Post contains 56 words, total size 1 kb.

May 1st has been dubbed "A Day Without Immigrants" for the U.S. and, presumably, many illegal aliens will stay home from work to show the American public that trespassers from Mexico are indispensable. To coincide with the illegals playing hooky in the U.S., Mexican unions, political groups, media and government offices have called for a boycott of all American companies in Mexico.

Dubbed "Nothing Gringo Day," the intent is to discourage all Mexicans from conducting business with any American company on May 1st, ostensibly to harm sales and demonstrate the influence of a cross-border Mexican power-lobby. Paradoxically, the campaign to hurt American businesses south of the border targets the illegal aliens' strongest supporters for guest-worker and legalization initiatives. Of course, this is consistent with the ridiculousness of demonstrating for U.S. citizenship while carrying Mexican flags. Leave it to the Mexicans to be their own enemy.

For news junkies, May 1st will likely be very entertaining. From a personal perspective, if employees of my business took a unauthorized day off from work to demonstrate their political activism, they would likely be fired.

From Interested-Participant.

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 03:51 PM | Comments (54) | Add Comment
Post contains 193 words, total size 2 kb.