Publius' Forum

A Happy New Year to all our readers. To you and your family we wish a prosperous and safe 2006.

We want to thank you for your loyalty and interest and we look forward to a growing and momentous 2006. There are a lot of issues for us to address in the coming year and we hope you are there with us every step of the way.

Predictions for 2006?

Always a dangerous road to travel, but I will offer a few:

-G.W. Bush will continue his bounce back IF he continues presenting his case to the people
-The MSM (Mainstream Media) will continue falling with a few major newspapers having further troubles and ever lower subscription rates
-The internet will increasingly be the focus of the Political parties
-Iraq will look better and better for Democracy
-Iran will get further isolated
-Michael Moore will get fatter and uglier still

In any case, have a great holiday and we will get back to posting some of our great Op Eds on Monday morning.

Thanks again,
Warner Todd Huston- proprietor, Publius' Forum

Teen's empathy led him to Iraq

Journey draws world's spotlight, stuns his parents.

He was born into money and privilege, the son of immigrant parents who came to this country from Iraq looking for freedom and a better life.

But Farris Hassan, a tall and lanky straight-A student who loves to debate world politics and shuns typical teenage hangouts, didn't want it.

After leaving for the Middle East, Hassan sent out an e-mail in opposition of terrorism, saying more people needed to get involved in the Iraqi struggle for democracy

He left his bedroom unadorned, kept his friends few and, two weeks ago, stunned those who knew him by walking away from his life here. The teen boarded a plane to the Middle East alone, knowing the journey he embarked on might kill him. His ultimate destination: Baghdad. His plan: to stand with those struggling for democracy in Iraq.

As family and schoolmates awaited his safe return from Baghdad this weekend, they described a young man who feels guilty about the comfort he enjoys, who is brilliant but foolhardy, a boy brimming with idealism and the desire to make a difference.

According to his father, an anesthesiologist, the teen spent two weeks traveling from Kuwait City to Beirut to Baghdad. He interviewed soldiers and everyday citizens to understand their plight, before walking into a war zone office of The Associated Press news agency, which called the U.S. Embassy, already on the lookout for him. Officials took him into custody Wednesday and put him on a plane to begin the long trip home Friday.

"He wouldn't take it from anyone else. He had to see for himself," said his mother, Shatha Atiya, a psychologist, who said she was furious and terrified when she first learned where her boy was headed.

According to family and schoolmates, he is an honors student at Pine Crest School, an expensive preparatory in Fort Lauderdale that is often a gateway to the Ivy Leagues. A junior, standing 6-foot-2, he is enrolled in several advanced-placement classes, is a member of the debate team, the Renaissance Club, and a vocal Republican.

"He was kind of unusual," said Chris Rudolf, 17, who eats lunch with Hassan. "He wasn't really popular, but everyone knew him. He was shy about most things until you started talking about something he was passionate about. He was very passionate about the war in Iraq."

After leaving for the Middle East, Hassan sent out an e-mail in opposition of terrorism, saying more people needed to get involved in the Iraqi struggle for democracy -- people like him. He wrote:

"To love is a not a passive thing. ... When I love, I do something, I function, I give myself. When I do that, I am freed from guilt. Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. ... I want to experience during my Christmas the same hardships ordinary Iraqis experience everyday."

A Muslim, his interest in Iraq grew from his family background -- both of his parents were born there -- and his voracious appetite for books and current events. The only reason he joined the football team his sophomore year, his uncle said, was to round out his college resume:

"He's not your typical teenager," said Ahmad Hassan.

When rumors about his trip began spread at school -- Hassan skipped a week of classes before winter break started -- classmates were dubious.

"We thought it was a little joke. I mean, we get in trouble for sneaking out of our house to go to the movies," said Anjali Sharma, who attended classes with Hassan last year....

See the rest of the story- Sun-Sentinal News

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Now HERE is a teen to be proud of.

The Fourteenth Generation
- By Hans Zeiger

The first chapter of Matthew's Gospel opens the New Testament with a genealogy. It is a Christmas list-not a wish list, but a Providential list. It is the outworking of God's Hand in the generations through history, culminating in the birth of Christ.

Matthew 1:17 summarizes the genealogy. "So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations." Fourteen is a Providential number.

Today, two thousand years after the incarnation, we are no less a part of God's great story than the Old Testament prophets and kings, or the New Testament disciples. What wonders might God have in store for America at the brink of 2006? Is there a Fourteenth Generation somewhere in the nation's wings, ready to act upon some great plan of destiny? .........
Click HERE To Read On

BABEL ON
- By Resa LaRu Kirkland

Speaking of Speaking


The gift of a common tongue is a priceless inheritance and it may well someday become the foundation of a common citizenship

-Winston Churchill

Much has been made of words in recent years, and we can lay every outcry at the feet of Political Castration. Every single one.

The first has to do with language itself. We live in a nation where approximately 215 million people (A PDF file) speak English. That's right; out of the approximately 300 million in America, the vast, vast, vast majority speaks English, and in case you're retarded or liberal-a bit redundant, I know-the majority is the rule in this nation, and has been since its inception.

Now the hippy press would have you believe that this is because we are an arrogant, racist society that crushes the individual spirit by demanding that everyone conform to us. They see this as a "How dare Americans make us speak their language in their land!" scenario rather than what it really is: an absolute necessity for the creation and maintenance of a healthy nation and a cohesive citizenry. They utterly ignore the most glaring fact of all that is logical and reasonable. No nation, group, race, or religion can expect to come together for a cause if they can't even do the first act necessary to find like-minded compatriots: communicate. This is why all successful nations have met that initial requirement of affiliation by endorsing one national language; without it, no one would ever get past the original idea, because there would be no way to come together and begin the process of building a country. .........
Click HERE To Read On

NEW ORLEANS - Four months after Hurricane Katrina, analyses of data suggest that some widely reported assumptions about the storm's victims were incorrect.

For example, a comparison of locations where 874 bodies were recovered with U.S. Census tract data indicates that the victims weren't disproportionately poor. Another database, compiled by Knight Ridder of 486 Katrina victims from Orleans and St. Bernard parishes, suggests they also weren't disproportionately African-American.

Both sets of data are incomplete; Louisiana state officials have released no comprehensive list of the dead. Still, they provide the most comprehensive information available to date about who paid the ultimate price in the storm.

The one group that was disproportionately affected by the storm appears to have been older adults. People 60 and older account for only about 15 percent of the population in the New Orleans area, but the Knight Ridder database found that 74 percent of the dead were 60 or older. Nearly half were older than 75. Many of those were at nursing homes and hospitals, where nearly 20 percent of the victims were recovered.

Lack of transportation was assumed to be a key reason that many people stayed behind and died, but at many addresses where the dead were found, their cars remained in their driveways, flood-ruined symbols of fatal miscalculation.

The addresses where bodies were recovered were compiled by Louisiana state officials and released earlier this month. Knight Ridder charted the locations on a map of Orleans and St. Bernard parishes, then compared them with census data on income in those neighborhoods. The analysis excluded 216 bodies that were recovered from hospitals and nursing homes, as well as 63 recovered at collection points where people had dropped off bodies in the days after the storm; those victims probably came from locations other than the census tracts where they were found.

The comparison showed that 42 percent of the bodies found in Orleans and St. Bernard parishes were recovered in neighborhoods with poverty rates higher than 30 percent. That's only slightly higher than the 39 percent of residents who lived in such neighborhoods, according to the census data.

Similarly, 31 percent of the bodies turned up in areas with poverty rates below 15 percent, where 30 percent of the population lived.

The median household income in neighborhoods where Katrina victims were recovered was about $27,000 a year, just under the $29,000 median for the overall area.

One-fourth of Katrina deaths fell in census tracts with median incomes above $35,300. One-fourth of the area's pre-storm population lived in tracts with median incomes above $37,000.

About 67 percent of the mapped deaths fell in the central and western portion of New Orleans, an area thought to have flooded primarily because of the failure of man-made structures.

The separate Knight Ridder database of 486 Katrina victims was compiled from official information released by state and federal authorities and interviews with survivors of the dead. It cataloged deaths according to location, race, age, name and cause of death.

In that database, African-Americans outnumbered whites 51 percent to 44 percent. In the area overall, African-Americans outnumber whites 61 percent to 36 percent.

In Orleans Parish, 62 percent of known Katrina victims were African-American, compared with 66 percent for the total parish population. In St. Bernard Parish, 92 percent of the identified victims were white. Census figures show that 88 percent of parish residents identified themselves as white.

Among hurricane victims on the Knight Ridder list, men outnumbered women 51 percent to 49 percent, about the same as in the overall area before the storm.

See full report at Myrtle Beach On-Line
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Well, anyone who is smart enough to doubt everything the News talking heads say knew this even while it was going on!

Dr. Hollyweird Enviro Barf Alert!
- By Warner Todd Huston

I have just come back from seeing the trailers shown before The Chronicles of Narnia, the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe(as well as the movie itself, of course). Before I go on with this I simply must encourage you all to go see this movie at the theater. Don't wait for the DVD release. The richness and excitement of this film must be seen on the big screen. I took my nine year-old and he says go, go, go.

Now... on with the show. Boy, what a cliche. And this won't be the only one.

Of course we are all familiar with the wonderful world of movie trailers, those snippets, those commercials for upcoming films we are treated to for at least one half hour before we get to see the film we really came to see. It has been my experience that the trailer is unfortunately often far better than the full film.

Anyway, that aside, I saw a few trailers tonight, but few that made me interested enough to watch for the release dates of the full film. We saw the trailers for a few comedies that seemed boringly familiar and cliched. A few action pictures that seemed, well, boringly familiar and cliched. A few cartoon films that ... well, I think you see a pattern here..............

Click HERE To Read On

The Flight of the White
- By David Tatosian

Apparently the desire of white parents to provide the best education they can for their children is racism. Even if you're a self-loathing liberal who shudders involuntarily at the mere mention of the word "white"; If you remove your child from a school with a significant or overwhelmingly Hispanic (in this case) student body, you're Tom Tancredo.

Get used to it gringo.

But what are we to think when liberals, alternately blustering or swooning at the Ka'ba of Multiculturalism, remove their offspring from an educational environment that they insist is good for the rest of us?

Minority parents seeking to enroll their children in the best possible school is good parenting. Why is it racism when white parents do the same thing?............
Click HERE To Read On

Europeans missing their Kyoto targets

Britain and Sweden are the only European countries honouring their Kyoto commitments to cut greenhouse gasses, according to a think-tank report.

Although the US is portrayed as the ecological villain for refusing to sign up to the agreement, 10 out of the 15 European Union signatories - including Ireland, Italy and Spain - will miss their targets without urgent action, the Institute for Public Policy Research found.

France, Greece and Germany are given "amber warnings" and will only achieve the objectives if planned policies are successfully carried out.

Read full Independent.UK article here

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First of all, the EUists never had any intention of meeting these foolish "requirements" in the first place. The only reason this treaty was created was to destroy the USA's economy. When the US opted out, the EUists had no choice but to pretend to adopt it anyway to save face.

And second of all, you can bet the EUists will totally ignore this "warning". They never gave a darn in the first place, why bother now?

Democrats Still Trying to Find Themselves
- Eric Reikowski

"I actually did vote for the 87 billion dollars before I voted against it."

-2004 Presidential Candidate John Kerry

Earlier this year, Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg stated that the reason his party has lost so many elections in recent years is because it has failed to "run with conviction." He said the main weakness of Democrats is that "they do not know what they stand for, they don't know their policy direction, they don't know their underlying values, and they don't know who they fight for." Yes, in a shocking moment of clarity, somebody actually articulated why electoral politics have been so unkind to the Democratic Party. Unfortunately, few Democrats seem to have bothered listening.............
Click HERE To Read On

The Defender of Islam (Dobby Speaks)
- By R.A. Hawkins

Putin's statement that Russia is the defender of Islam is one of the most absurd comments I've read in a long time. It is just like Bill Clinton or Ted Kennedy saying they are the defenders of women's rights, which they have claimed several times. To them I say, Juanita Broderik, Paula Jones, Mary Jo Kopeckni and too many others to mention here because I'd never get to Putin's agitprop comments. To Putin I say, Afghanistan and Chechnya. Oh yeah and the piles of rubble that used to be Beirut and many other formerly beautiful cities of the mid-east.

The Russians, along with our media, should be held accountable for the wasteland that area has become. Russia created Arafat and many of the other radicals in the mid-east for the express purpose of driving the west out of the mid-east. They have historically used third parties to do all of their dirty work. It's called probing and plausible deniability. It is a tactic that is quite effective.

Russia has quite a few similarities to the mid-east in that they did in more Jews and people in general than Hitler did. Not a word out of our media. They only talk about Hitler and now they're kind of drifting towards the new line of it never happened. You'll hear that out of Iran's new leader. If it walks and quacks like a duck it's a duck. Russia won't address their crimes in that area however because silence is the best way for them to address it. They have their minions in our media and in the mid-east to make whatever claims they want.................
Click HERE To Read On

As we take the day off to celebrate with our families, here is a bit 'O Christmas history for your enlightenment...

Christmas as we know it, with gift giving, a Christmas tree, the birth of Christ and Santa Claus, was invented in the USA around the 1820's and cemented into the national consciousness in 1863, during our great Civil War. Christmas is a uniquely American tradition and, along with much of what the US does, it has spread across the world.

It is possible that the first Christmas celebration that took on the airs of the one we are familiar with occurred only in the heart of one of America's most famous early authors, Washington Irving.

In 1819, Irving wrote and published a story about a Christmas celebration in an English Manor House in a series called "The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, gent". In Irving's day, Christmas was celebrated in a raucous, even dangerous fashion. Fights and riots, pranks and drinking were the common celebratory means in the early 1800's in the US and other countries. But Irving wrote a kind-hearted story of a Gentleman who invited his servants and their families to a quite, contemplative gathering at his expansive home. They shared camaraderie, good food and wine. The children played games and everyone was welcomed in the spirit of Christmas.

"Everything conspired to produce kind and happy feelings in this stronghold of old-fashioned hospitality," Irving wrote.

Irving was at the cusp of an American society that was in flux. The era of Democracy was on the march and Americans began to think about their children, families and home. The raucous celebration of Christmas fell out of favor and the family oriented holiday took its place.

Also, in the tradition of Americans since the Pilgrim's crossing, we looked to religion to guide us. America's many Christian denominations b to urge their parishioners and members to celebrate the birth of the Christ child bringing back the Christian religious tradition established centuries before, but since gone into disuse. During the Reformation, celebrating Christmas was considered a pagan idea and the holiday was no longer observed.

Certainly several different traditions were included into our uniquely American celebration of Christmas; the Christmas tree from Germany, St. Nicholas from the Catholic Saint of the 4h Century, England for Christmas cards, Poinsettas from Mexico, etc. But Americans brought them all together for our celebration.

And what all envision as what Santa Claus looks like is certainly an American creation. During the American Civil War, famous cartoonist, Thomas Nast, invented the look of how most of us envision Santa Claus for his illustrations in Harper's Weekley newspapers. Nast envisioned St. Nick to look as the older American poem "The Night Before Christmas", by Clement C. Moore, published in 1822, described him.

He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes how they twinkled! His dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry;
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow.
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly
That shook, when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, ---a right jolly old elf---
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.


NO, Santa was NOT invented by Cocoa Cola to sell soft drinks, by the way!

So, enjoy this American holiday. Have a great day with your families, remember Christ whose birth we celebrate and take some well-deserved time off from your daily grind.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

How to Turn the Tables and Win the Fight for Christmas
- By Justin Darr

Merry Christmas! Strange how such a pleasant greeting could become ground zero in America's culture war year after year. As in almost everything else, liberals have been trying, and largely succeeding, in perverting this conversational pleasantry into a statement of intolerance and bigotry.

There are a multitude of reasons the left hates Christmas. First, it is a religious holiday celebrated as a national holiday. Makes it kind of hard to deny the Christian heritage of the United States with that one on the books. Second, it portrays Christianity in a positive light. As you know, liberals hold that peace, hope, and happiness can only come from a large bureaucratic state, not an infant child born to die for our sins. And third, above all other holidays, Christmas is a celebration of the traditional values of faith, family, and giving that have made America great. .............
Click HERE To Read On

Christmas, tax cuts and the Bible
- By Michael M. Bates

Last week on WGN Radio's Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg program the topic turned one evening to the increasing secularization of Christmas. The panel included an official from the American Jewish Committee, a lawyer specializing in religious issues, a state ACLU board member, and this columnist.

The representative from the ACLU is a multitasker. He is also a Protestant clergyman and an executive in a church association. Bright and amiable, it's easy to understand why he's a leader in his organizations.

One of the arguments he advanced is a common one, if not among ACLU types, then certainly with many self-identified religious progressives. The word "liberal" in such circles has generally gone the way of Nehru suits. ....................
Click HERE To Read On

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials have secretly monitored radiation levels at Muslim sites, including mosques and private homes, since September 11, 2001 as part of a top secret program searching for nuclear bombs, U.S. News and World Report said on Friday.

The news magazine said in its online edition that the far-reaching program covered more than a hundred sites in the Washington, D.C., area and at least five other cities.

"In numerous cases, the monitoring required investigators to go on to the property under surveillance, although no search warrants or court orders were ever obtained, according to those with knowledge of the program," the magazine said.

The report comes a week after revelations that the Bush administration had authorized eavesdropping on people in the United States. U.S. President George W. Bush has defended that covert program and vowed to continue the practice, saying it was vital to protect the country.

Senior U.S. officials, including FBI Director Robert Mueller, have repeatedly said Islamic militants appeared intent on acquiring weapons of mass destruction for an attack against the United States.

Mueller said in February he was "very concerned with the growing body of sensitive reporting that continues to show al Qaeda's clear intention to obtain and ultimately use some form of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-energy explosives material in its attacks against America."

Read the rest at Yahoonews.com

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Can anyone say that if a nuke was hidden in a Mosque but the Bush administration didn't do its best to discover such a fact ahead of its usage, the Democrats wouldn't scream from the rooftops that "Bush knew" and that such an attack would be all his "fault"?

Further, can anyone in this day and age imagine that a Mosque would never be used for such a purpose? Can anyone still be that naive?

December 21, 2005--The President's Sunday night speech has increased the nation's confidence concerning the situation in Iraq and the War on Terror. Confidence is up among Republicans and unaffiliateds, but not among Democrats.

Fifty percent (50%) of Americans now believe that the U.S. and its allies are winning the War on Terror. That's up from 44% immediately preceding the speech. It's also the highest level of confidence in more than a year.
Just 25% of Americans believe the terrorists are winning. Rasmussen Reports has asked this survey question more than 70 times over the past two years. Just once, in April 2004, has a smaller percentage of Americans believed that the terrorists were winning. When December began, 28% believed the terrorists were winning.

Forty percent (40%) of Americans now give the President good or excellent marks for handling the situation in Iraq. That's up from 35% before the speech.

The number giving the President poor marks on Iraq declined to 39% from 42%. This is the first time all year that the number giving the President good or excellent marks has matched the number saying poor.

Rasmussen Reports
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Now HERE is a lesson for Bush that he has YET to learn. Go to the people, speak your piece, bypass the media, stay your course, and the American people will give you an up or down vote of confidence.

Bush's biggest problem in his tenure in office has always been that he refuses to bring his case to the people often enough.

How to Turn the Tables and Win the Fight for Christmas
- By Justin Darr

Merry Christmas! Strange how such a pleasant greeting could become ground zero in America's culture war year after year. As in almost everything else, liberals have been trying, and largely succeeding, in perverting this conversational pleasantry into a statement of intolerance and bigotry.

There are a multitude of reasons the left hates Christmas. First, it is a religious holiday celebrated as a national holiday. Makes it kind of hard to deny the Christian heritage of the United States with that one on the books. Second, it portrays Christianity in a positive light. As you know, liberals hold that peace, hope, and happiness can only come from a large bureaucratic state, not an infant child born to die for our sins. And third, above all other holidays, Christmas is a celebration of the traditional values of faith, family, and giving that have made America great. .............
Click HERE To Read On

Optimisticonservatism
- By Hans Zeiger

Conservatives are too pessimistic. A few leading conservatives are wondering whether the Right has a future, in part because long-running conservative expectations of a smaller government seem altogether frustrated. Conservative leadership seems stultified, past victories and opportunities seem let go, purpose seems a shadow of what it was when Reagan was around.

Christopher DeMuth laments the decline of limited government in the December issue of The American Enterprise, and Jonah Goldberg echoes with a call for a "Republican Reformation" at Townhall.com. David Brooks has lately described an identity crisis within conservative ranks, headlining in the New York Times that conservatives are "running out of steam." When Brooks keynoted a recent conference at Princeton on "The Conservative Movement: It's Past, Present, and Future," he was not the only pessimist there. .........
Click HERE To Read On

Upon Reflection
- By Greg Stewart

There is a benefit in attending school when you are an older adult one has the ability to exercise, to tap, one's own life experiences. In so being, that one's accessible experiences to debunk the philosophy of "theory" versus "practical" applications, which are examined in the enchantment of youth, and the various entrapments, has its benefits. Oh, one can still explore the esoteric, the obscure, but attending school as a more seasoned individual gives perspectives on the nature of things ; the way of things-if you please. In as much that life can be often be viewed personally, as a mere card game, in that, one's own personal narrative lets an individual not only examine the qualities of life's as a card game, but allows one to expand one's purview, such that, life's experiences may evolve into a more complex game for the mature adult-such as chess.

The evolution of growth from this game of life, chess that is, is far more representative, the subtle machinations of life workings can be viewed remotely, and objectively. Life's pitfalls such as dealing with death, illness, and aging are "on par" for the more mature person's journey of life. In the card game of life, however, the brevity of each hand reflects the short term perspective; chess can be both. The choices an individual makes, good or bad choices, guide the individual toward the either shorter or long term path. These paths may render the complexity of life's games, chess or cards. ... .........
Click HERE To Read On

LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH

GUANGZHOU, China -- A Chinese company has begun marketing kidneys, livers and other organs from executed prisoners to sick Britons in need of transplants.

Hospital Doctor, a British magazine, earlier this month reported that a firm called Transplants International was trying to recruit British patients.

Operations were to be carried out at Guangzhou Air Force Military Hospital by doctors from a hospital affiliated with the nearby Sun Yat-sen Southern University.

Guangzhou is the fast-growing metropolis near Hong Kong in the heart of China's southern manufacturing zone.

The Telegraph confirmed the story in an interview with the hospital's Dr. Na Ning, in which a reporter posed as someone interested in getting involved as a business venture.

"We can sign an agreement," Dr. Na said over a business lunch in a smart Western restaurant.

"We should be cautious -- this is sensitive. There is no need to bring in lawyers or consultants. We should do the agreement on trust."

Dr. Na is one of many doctors involved in a growing organ-transplant trade that has caused revulsion around the world. In China, the practice raises few eyebrows.

Executed prisoners are the main source of organs used in the country's transplant operations, thousands of which are conducted each year.

See full story at: WashingtonTimes.com

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Now, how long do you think it would be before Chinese people are condemned to death not because they did something wrong but because some Party boss wants to sell their liver??

For all we know, it may already have happened!

Yeah, that Chinese government is "just like us", eh? They are "just another world government deserving of respect", huh?

Our Friends the Aussies
- By David Tatosian

The founder of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, Keysar Trad (referring to the unpleasantness in Australia), said "...The only thing I am worried about is that it's going to further play on the minds of young Australian Muslims, particularly of Lebanese origin. It's going to lower the morale which has already been lowered. They are young Australians who don't have a sense of belonging..."

Gee, that sounds remarkably French doesn't it?

Of course they don't have a sense of belonging. And rightfully so. Islam doesn't belong in Western Civilization. Islam doesn't even belong in this millenium. It cannot assimilate. It is inherently intolerant and violent. It is an inhuman ideology that cannot blend in or shift allegiance or profess loyalty to anything but Islam............
Click HERE To Read On

A GERMAN art expert was fooled into believing a painting done by a chimpanzee was the work of a master.

The director of the State Art Museum of Moritzburg in Saxony-Anhalt, Katja Schneider, suggested the painting was by the Guggenheim Prize-winning artist Ernst Wilhelm Nay.

"It looks like an Ernst Wilhelm Nay. He was famous for using such blotches of colour," Dr Schneider confidently asserted.

The canvas was actually the work of Banghi, a 31-year-old female chimp at the local zoo.

While Banghi likes to paint, she is not able to build up much of a body of work as her mate Satscho generally destroys her paintings before they can get to the gallery.

But this one survived long enough to give Dr Schneider a red face.

"I did think it looked a bit rushed," she told Bild newspaper.

News.com,au

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So an "expert" couldn't tell the difference between real "art" and the mindless scrawling of a CHIMP!? If THIS doesn't prove that post modern anti-art has reigned supreme for far too long... what does?

Liberals and leftists have so perverted the art world that just ANYTHING qualifies as "art". We don't need skill, we have no use for craft, we couldn't care LESS about ability. We just need a kitschy claim that it is "art" to qualify.

And here I thought the ultimate statement that art is dead came when Andy Warhol got HIS 15 minutes. Andy, you old queen, you have been upstaged by a CHIMPANZIE!

Retail Humbug
- By Frederick Meekins

Wal-Mart is renowned as one of America's largest retail chains. The company earned this distinction in part by fostering a reputation based on traditional American values. However, in a manner similar to how the other institutions overseeing this nation have betrayed what this great country was originally based, this beloved weekend destination and rainy-day hangout has sold out to radical tolerance and diversity.

For retailers such as Wal-Mart, Christmas is really a joyous time since it is the time of year such establishments bring in the lion's share of their profits. You would think these merchants would not be ashamed to publicly acknowledge the celebration contributing so abundantly to their own prosperity. However, from the shame exhibited at the mention of the word "Christmas", you'd think the greeting was some lewd comment scrawled across a restroom stall.

Bill Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights brought attention to this linguistic trend by launching a brief boycott against Wal-Mart for censoring recognition of the festive occasion by muting the traditional greeting of "Merry Christmas" to the more subdued "Happy Holidays". The boycott was originally started when it was discovered that searching "Christmas" on the Wal-Mart website returned "Holiday" results while Kwannza and Hanukah brought cybershoppers to results specific to these terms.........
Click HERE To Read On

BEIJING, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Corruption has been falling among Chinese Communist Party members overall, but the number of cases involving higher-ranking officials taking larger bribes has risen, a party official was quoted on Sunday as saying.

"Greed, hedonism and egoism have grown among a few officials during the development of China's socialist market economy," said He Yong, deputy secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC (Communist Party of China).

He said an effective anti-corruption system had yet to be established, the state news agency Xinhua reported.

"At this transitional period of fundamental structural reform, loopholes exist in China's administrative mechanism," he said.

In the past two years China has prosecuted and punished nearly 50,000 party officials at various levels in the nationwide anti-corruption drive, according to the latest government figures.

But corruption remains a serious problem, He said. "The achievements of the anti-corruption campaign are still far below the requirements of the CPC Central Committee and the expectations of the common people."

On the future of anti-corruption measures, He said the CPC and government will focus on supervision and further improve the administrative mechanism.
The government has taken steps to prosecute corrupt officials accused of illegally confiscating farmers' land, embezzling public funds and delaying payment of migrant workers' wages.

State media said on Friday that the trial had begun of a local Communist Party chief for his role in one of the bloodiest in a wave of rural riots to strike the country in recent years.

In June, hired thugs killed six and injured dozens of villagers staging a sit-in on land confiscated by a state-owned power plant to protest against low compensation in Shengyou village in the northern province of Hebei.

The Shengyou sit-in was one of a series of protests in rural China, many of which have focused on land rights as rapid development encroaches on farmland. Corruption and the growing gap between rich and poor have also been flashpoints for unrest.

The government has said there were some 74,000 protests in China last year involving 100 or more people.

Ruters.com

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So this begs the question...Is the invasion of a somewhat market economy heralding the end of Communism in China?

Well, it may at least be overwhelming its system via corruption that may make the people rise up and overthrow it eventually.

It is hoped that this can happen BEFORE China decides to use its army and arsenal to lash out in a last gasp to attack either its neighbors of the USA itself, if not both.

The ACLU and what war on Christmas?
- By Michael M. Bates

It looks like it's official. The war on Christmas we've heard about is nothing more than a figment conjured up by a few extremists.

The evidence accumulates. "What 'War on Christmas?'" asked a column in last week's Washington Post. Salon.com, preferred reading at the Clinton White House, in the article "How the secular humanist grinch didn't steal Christmas" makes clear there is no war.

In recommending the piece, Fox News panelist Neil Gabler labeled three of his own network's hosts as "demagogues" for suggesting there's any assault on Christmas. We can only guess what that week's staff meeting was like.

Los Angeles Times columnist Joel Stein also finds no indication there's any antagonism directed at the day on which we commemorate the birth of Christ. Although he does admit: "We Jews find it a little embarrassing that adults can still make such a big fuss over Christmas.

To us, Jesus was just a cool guy everyone liked because he died young." ....................
Click HERE To Read On

Another EMP (Enemy Media Propaganda)
- By R.A. Hawkins

Quite a few years back there were two seemingly unrelated incidents within the Soviet Union that made little sense for quite a few years. Omni magazine wrote about the fact that our intelligence services were trying to figure out what the significance of this activity might be. The Soviets pulled out a missile and launched it during a period of forty-five minutes. The capsule was then was maneuvered into three separate positions over the United States, over the North East the Mid South and the North West. The capsule was later recovered but nobody could figure out what they were up to. (Or so they said.)

Several years later an unrelated article came out in Scientific American magazine regarding the fact that a nuclear weapon detonated over the North East, North West and the Mid South would shut down our power grid, our communications, etc. I'm sure there were a lot of people that absolutely freaked over the fact that nobody was doing anything about any of this. But in time it became obvious that somebody was doing something. They were researching what the Soviet actions might mean. Since the research in Scientific American was even released that told me it was old information and that we had already researched it. It said we were on the ball. It was around this time that Reagan said if we suspected their intentions we would bounce their rubble first and ask questions later. That caused them to back off a little and change their approach................
Click HERE To Read On

A festive group of high school choir students from Central Islip singing at an Islandia shopping center discovered over the weekend that some people were not in the holiday spirit.

After entering a Wal-Mart store, the choir was quickly asked to leave before even starting to sing its first song.

The Central Islip High School concert choir had just finished a performance at the United Methodist Church off Veterans Memorial Highway, when the students proposed to go caroling in the shopping center across the street.

Their director, John Anthony, approved the move and the group of about 30 students found warm welcomes at the Stop & Shop grocery store and other shops in the center. That is, until they entered Wal-Mart.

Right away, a store manager approached the award-winning group, announcing that they did not have an appointment and that the sheer size of the group posed a fire hazard, Anthony said.

The teens then sang one song - "Guide Me," a classic Welsh tune - to the delight of the customers.

"Sing more!" Anthony said the shoppers were screaming. But Wal-Mart was adamant and even called police. The students left peacefully before police arrived and no arrests were made.

The choir's merriment quickly disintegrated, the director said. "The kids were just 'Bah humbug!'" he added.

Wal-Mart officials released a statement this week saying the choir's appearance was unscheduled and created a fire code violation. "For their safety and the safety of our customers, we asked them to move," the statement read.

Wal-Mart has offered the school an opportunity for the choir to return at a scheduled time. The store also made an undisclosed donation toward the choir's trip next summer to Austria, where they will be one of three student choirs from the United States to perform at a celebration of the 250th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birth.

NEWSDAY

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Should we be surprised this happened in New York??

Dr. Rubio I Presume - Adressing a Reply to My Watchmen Review
- By Warner Todd Huston

Alexander G. Rubio recently penned a review of a review with a reply to my piece on Alan Moore's Watchmen series, a comic book series originally published in 1986. I would like to thank Mr. Rubio for taking the time to engage in serious debate of the review I wrote, as well as the concepts and subjects of the Watchmen books. After all, these books are constantly presented to us as the pinnacle of the comic book arts and, therefore, deserving of serious consideration by comic book fans and social commentators alike. I treated the book in that light and Mr. Rubio has responded in kind. Bravo!

Unfortunately, Mr. Rubio either misunderstands many of the points I presented, or misunderstands what it was that Alan Moore, author of Watchmen, was trying to do. Perhaps it is both.

To start with, I find that it might be a good idea for me to fire my psychologist to rely on Mr. Rubio's expertise in psychoanalysis instead. Mr. Rubio spent a large part of his comments on my review on my state of mind, my unstated motives, and my mental conundrums and less time on what it was that I actually wrote. I am sure Mr. Rubio's couch would cost me less in the long run and his pseudo-psychological interpretations could easily be the same as what I might find in any dime store Psychologist's office.

So, with that bit of banter done with, off we go into Mr. Rubio's (psycho) analysis of my review.............

Click HERE To Read On

SEARCHING FOR MR. GOOD-WAR
- By Resa LaRu Kirkland

And I Do Mean Searching

"We feel the mainstream media," she tells Newsmax, "is focusing on the negative stories coming out of Iraq and very rarely highlighting the good news."

WHAT??? American journalists, lying about a war? I've never heard of such a thing, except in Vietnam, Lebanon, Desert Storm, Iraqi war. Yeah...except for those wars, I've never heard of such a thing!

The above statement was made by Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, Chairman of the Kurdistan Development Corporation and Kurdistan's High Representative to the UK, after their group decided to make commercials thanking America for delivering them from Saddam Hussein. Haven't heard of it? Big Surprise! They had first approached CNN, offering to buy commercial time for their gratitude, and were turned down.

After all, we can't have good news about America or our warriors, now can we?. .........
Click HERE To Read On

We hear a lot of talk about aspects of the Patriot Act expiring, but what are they? Listed below are the sxteen provisions of the USA Patriot Act that expire December 31 if not renewed by Congress:

Section 201: Gives federal officials the authority to intercept wire, spoken and electronic communications relating to terrorism.

Section 202: Gives federal officials the authority to intercept wire, spoken and electronic communications relating to computer fraud and abuse offenses.

Subsection 203(b): Permits the sharing of grand jury information that involves foreign intelligence or counterintelligence with federal law enforcement, intelligence, protective, immigration, national defense or national security officials

Subsection 203(d): Gives foreign intelligence or counterintelligence officers the ability to share foreign intelligence information obtained as part of a criminal investigation with law enforcement.

Section 204: Makes clear that nothing in the law regarding pen registers -- an electronic device which records all numbers dialed from a particular phone line -- stops the government's ability to obtain foreign intelligence information.

Section 206: Allows federal officials to issue roving "John Doe" wiretaps for spy and anti-terrorism investigations.

Section 207: Increases the amount of time that federal officials may watch people they suspect are spies or terrorists.

Section 209: Permits the seizure of voicemail messages under a warrant.

Section 212: Permits Internet service providers and other electronic
communication and remote computing service providers to hand over records and e-mails to federal officials in emergency situations.

Section 214: Allows use of a pen register or trap and trace devices -- a device that records the originating phone numbers of all incoming calls on a particular phone line -- in international terrorism or spy investigations.

Section 215: Authorizes federal officials to obtain "tangible items" like business records, including those from libraries and bookstores, for foreign intelligence and international terrorism investigations.

Section 217: Makes it lawful to intercept the wire or electronic communication of a computer hacker or intruder in certain circumstances.

Section 218: Allows federal officials to wiretap or watch suspects if foreign
intelligence gathering is a "significant purpose" for seeking a Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act order. The pre-Patriot Act standard said officials could ask for the surveillance only if it was "the" sole or main purpose.

Section 220: Provides for nationwide service of search warrants for electronic evidence.

Section 223: Amends the federal criminal code to provide for administrative discipline of federal officers or employees who violate prohibitions against unauthorized disclosures of information gathered under this act.

Section 225: Amends FISA to prohibit lawsuits against people or companies that provide information to federal officials for a terrorism investigation.


NRO-The Corner

Saudi prince donates $40 million for Islamic studies

BOSTON -- A Saudi prince believed to be the wealthiest businessman in the Muslim world has donated $40 million for Harvard and Georgetown to expand their Islamic studies programs, the schools announced yesterday. Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud, who gave $20 million to each university, is a nephew of the late King Fahd and worth upward of $20 billion, according to Forbes magazine, which ranked him fifth its 2005 list of the world's richest billionaires. Harvard and Georgetown officials said they will use the gifts to add faculty members and scholarships and expand their Islamic studies curricula.

"Bridging the understanding between East and West is important for peace and tolerance," Prince Alwaleed said in a statement issued by both schools.

Harvard, which is naming its newly created program after Alwaleed, already has nearly two dozen faculty members researching or teaching in the field of Islamic studies.

MilfordDailyNews.com

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So does anyone think this program will be anything other than Wahhabi propaganda funded by the Saudi Royal Family? It's a shame when our AMERICAN schools are funded by foreign sources that are antithetical to our best interests. Harvard and Georgetown should be ashamed of themselves.

Part of JFK's legacy lingers in Baghdad
- By Michael M. Bates

t's not surprising that former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Clark is defending the monstrous Saddam Hussein. If Clark's ever met an enemy of the United States he didn't like, he's managed to keep the fact a secret.

We owe it all to John F. Kennedy. Ramsey was toiling in Texas in well-deserved obscurity when Kennedy appointed him assistant attorney general.

The next step was promotion to attorney general under Lyndon Johnson. Since then, he's racked up a record of anti-American activism few can match.

In 1972, he journeyed to North Vietnam to participate in the Communist-front International Committee of Inquiry into U.S. Crimes in Indochina. Not that the forum's designation suggested any prior conclusions had been reached or anything. ....................
Click HERE To Read On

Who Stands With The American Citizen?
- By David Tatosian

According to the Denver post, we're to be presented with some political theater in the House of Representatives. If the President has his way, (a virtual certainty given the Parisian metro sexuality of our elected Republicans) there will be much bluster and coo over the enforcement measures in an upcoming immigration package (in the House) while our President twists arms behind Senate doors for his amnesty program.

This play-acting will, according to Rep. Tancredo, enable our anointed ones to return home for the holidays claiming they have taken bold steps to fix our broken immigration system.

To assure a smooth and orderly surrender, the oleaginous Grover Norquist will stop handing the nation over to the Muslims long enough to hand some of it over to the illegal aliens...........
Click HERE To Read On

George Will reports a most amusing bit of irony about our wonderful, caring Unions...

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Newsweek

Onward and upward with progressivism: In a Las Vegas suburb, the United Food and Commercial Workers union hired temp workers at $6 an hour to picket a nonunion Wal-Mart, where wages start at $6.75 an hour.

Ah, multiculturalism.
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Yep, supreme Irony that a union is paying less than the Corporation they feel it their duty to picket over low wages!

Open-Minded Intolerance
- By Rudy Takala

The University of Kansas is establishing a new course, called, "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationisms and Other Religious Mythologies." Its purpose, according to an e-mail sent by Paul Mirecki, chairman of the KU Department of Religious Studies, is to "slap" the "big fat face" of "fundies" by teaching it under the category of mythology.

One teacher in the religious studies department agreed with the course, stating, "[Christians] want their religion taught as fact," and "That's simply something you can't do in a state university."

KU Provost David Shulenburger explained further, saying, "My understanding was that [Mirecki's message] was a private e-mail communication that somehow was moved out of those channels and has become a public document." In other words, the fact that the course was designed to mock Christians isn't something we were supposed to know, so no one should be offended. ..........
Click HERE To Read On

If You Still Believe The MSM Is Unbiased...
- By Resa LaRu Kirkland

It's Official...You're Retarded Or In Denial...Get Help!

There are people out there who cheer when America loses, think that Christianity is a cult, and who want Islammunism-Islam and Communism-to take over the world. No, it's not some enemy group trying to invade us...it's our own MSM.

I've noticed similarities between the writings of our press and those of enemy nations such as North Korea and Al Jazeera. Go ahead...peruse the New York Times, and then go read the leftist, anti-American evil poison spewed from these media allies. The similarities are scary. All are against religion, freedom, and individuals thinking for themselves. And all of this can be traced back to the lost generation of the 1960's. .........
Click HERE To Read On

Anti-Chavez union boss jailed for rebellion

Story By Patrick Markey

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - A Venezuelan labor leader who helped organize a strike against President Hugo Chavez three years ago was sentenced on Tuesday to more than 15 years in prison for civil rebellion.

Carlos Ortega, one of Chavez's fiercest opponents during months of political turmoil, is the first top opposition leader jailed for the two-month-long strike that failed to topple the president.

Hundreds of business and political figures are under investigation for supporting the failed 2002 coup against Chavez that preceded it.

Reuters.com/Source

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You know, it's amazing that the anti-American and anti-Bush zealots out there want to call Bush the "fascist" and "Nazi", but how many opposition leaders has Bush put in jail? Let's see... NONE is the answer!
-WTH

From theNew York Daily News-

Jamie Foxx is breaking down racial barriers - starting at his front door.

The actor, who has been campaigning tirelessly to get reformed gang leader Stan (Tookie) Williams off Death Row, admits he once refused to let more than one white man into his house.

"When I was 15, I went to play the piano for this white guy's Christmas party" in Texas, Foxx says. But when he and a friend showed up at the client's mansion, the host stopped them, saying, "I can't have two niggers in my house at one time."

Foxx says he was forced to send his friend home, even though his pal had given him a lift to the party.

The "Ray" star was so rankled by the experience that, once he hit it big in Hollywood, he instituted a similar quota system.

Whenever two white guys came to party at his pad, Foxx tells Oprah Winfrey in December's O, he'd tell them, "You all will have to make a decision between you two."

Foxx adds that his friends "had to counsel me and say, 'Don't fall into that same trap.' "

The Oscar winner later changed his entrance policy - though, he points out, he never set a limit on white women.

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Why should this not surprise us? After all, the first thing a more "sensitive", more "civilized", more "enlightened", much "smarter", more "tolerant" Leftie does is get EVEN when they get in power, isn't it?

And, gee, I wonder why he "never set a limit on white women"?


-WTH

O Friendship Tree, O Friendship Tree
- By Christian Hartsock

When they're not thinking up laughable euphemisms for the mythological "penumbra emanation" of an alleged entitlement to commit ruthless infanticide against helpless infants such as "a woman's right to choose," liberals are scratching their heads in a desperate effort to think up alternative names for those unidentified ornament-adorned objects that normal people tend to refer to as "Christmas trees." Some ingenious appellations have sprung up, including "giving trees," "paradise trees," "world trees," "friendship trees," or the most popular candidate, "holiday trees," while those who obstinately insist on calling them what they are are rightly deemed primitive and intolerant.

During Christmas season one year, a father was bewildered to find a watercolor painting his four-year-old son had done in school of a menorah and seven candles painted green, red and black representing Kwanzaa, yet there was no inclusion of a Christmas tree. When he inquired of his son as to its absence, his son replied, "We have the friendship tree." Puzzled, the father decided to take his son to school the next day only to find hallway bulletin boards adorned with menorahs and the words "Happy Hanukah," as well as green, red and black candles with letters announcing "The Miracle of Kwanzaa," but when he got to the end of a long hallway he found a pine tree on a table. After asking the principal of the school what it was, the principal replied, "That is our friendship tree." As any reasonable person would do, the father asked why it was not called a "Christmas tree," to which the principal responded, "Oh, we're trying to make sure we don't offend people." ...........
Click HERE To Read On

Who Watches The Watchers? - A Comic Book As Political Commentary
- By Warner Todd Huston

Why do contemporary artists all seem to think the end of the world is nigh? Why has art become a thing of ugliness, instead of light? With all the beautiful things we see every day, the delicacy of a flower, the turn of a woman's arm, the grace of a bird in flight, we are treated only to the bizarre and horrid by our artists. These days we see sculptures that look like molecular mistakes writ large. We live in architecture that appears like a jumble of blocks thrown to the ground in the midst of a temper tantrum by a gigantic, petulant child. We view paintings that appear more accidental than planned. We have movies full of violence and anti-social behavior. On the radio we hear music that celebrates all the worst in man. We even have comic books that belittle heroism, that deconstruct the good and exceptional turning their heroes as cartoonishly flawed as the most obscene head case on the Jerry Springer Show.

When did entertainment turn so dark?

In the field of comic books, a 12 part series called Watchmen, created by the writer as a political commentary on its time, was hailed as having " transcended its origins", becoming a watershed in comics entertainment. This series, published in 1986, was at the front edge of a wave of comics in the early and mid 1980s that attempted to demolish the heroes of the past and replace them with a post-hero world of darkness and pessimism..........

Click HERE To Read On

Defending Christmas
- By David Huntwork

All the Whos down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot, but the Grinch, who lived just north of Whoville, did not.

-Dr. Seuss

It is the Christmas season and once again Christmas itself is the target of a secular and atheistic jihad. If you didn't know better you might think that the word 'Christmas' was the dirtiest of dirty words and one not worthy of being uttered in public.

This year Target continues the ban on the famous Salvation Army bell ringers while the ACLU threatened to sue school districts over such carols as 'Jingle Bells'. Celebration of the 'holidays' abound but to actually spot the word 'Christmas' is rare and far between. Both Corporate America and government institutions have abandoned the spiritual, cultural and traditional celebrations of Christmas.

Instead, the Winter Holiday PC police prowl the nation threatening public schools who might dare to have red and green napkins at their annual 'holiday party' during the 'Winter Break'. Anything that might remotely trigger the word 'Christmas' or conjure up images of a baby in a manger has become a target ripe for extermination. No longer are we treated to 'Merry Christmas' at retailers but are forced to settle for a fuzzy 'happy holidays' as we rush to pick up our 'holiday tree' at the local haven of mass consumption. Of course it would appear that the fact that the word 'holiday' is a shortened version of 'holy day' has escaped those seeking to purify the public spaces from the evils of Christianity. Just wait until they figure out that the fat, jolly man in the red suit is loosely associated with a 4th century bishop and saint. What a mess that will turn out to be...............
Click HERE To Read On

Bubba's Iceberg (Algore and Liberal Hatred of America)
- By R.A. Hawkins

Russia has done it again. They have sold 29 anti-aircraft systems to Iran. In their usual display of trustworthiness and kindness to America they have cited a secret agreement with Algore as the reason this was acceptable. I sure would like to see all of the other secret agreements these people made. I still wonder if the decision made by the last administration to force the F-117 to fly in the exact same path every time they went into Yugoslavia wasn't a secret agreement. That was the reason we lost one of those jets, by the way. There was also that little problem with the enemy seeming to know what we were going to be doing all of the time. Things like that tend to make a sensible person suspect an administration that is in power and making all of the military decisions behind closed doors.

The last administration held a view that the world would be a safer place if everyone were equal. That helps to explain the missing data at Los Alamos that mysteriously appeared in a place where everyone had looked for it a hundred times. This is just the tip of the iceberg. The launch codes were taken from the sub commanders during the last administration. One of the most frightening things to an adversary is not knowing where your enemies are and that is the reason submarines are so much fun. If you don't believe me ask the Chinese and Russians. They are removing most of their land-based weapons systems in favor of submarines. This is why the Russians are helping the Chinese with a new weapon system that is designed to sneak in under any ABM system we might develop...............
Click HERE To Read On

Dean Spills Anti-War Beans ... AGAIN
- By Warner Todd Huston

I hate to say it but I love Howard Dean. Oops, I mean DOCTOR Howard Dean. We must give him his due, of course. He is exactly what everyone imagined he would be as the DNC chairman; a lose cannon, an out of control demagogue, and slightly loopy to boot.

In an interview on WOAI Radio, San Antonio, Dean has said it is impossible for the US to win in Iraq. No, I am not misinterpreting his words to suit my "right wing, neo-con" ends, he really said we cannot win.

"(The) idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong," the good Doctor opined. Yes, he said it just that way. He thinks that we cannot win no matter what we do. Amazing, no?..........

Click HERE To Read On

Thin Veneer
- By David Tatosian

If one begins enumerating the many acts of murder, mayhem and destruction justified by Koranic verse, Muslims will, without exception, defend these acts and decry any skepticism as a basic misunderstanding of Islam. They'll helpfully point out that the true meaning of Islam is peace.

Perhaps the victims of Islamic jihad, the dead, are now at peace.

Is that the true meaning of Islam?

Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, responding to the Beslan slaughter of children snarled, "...there is no restriction on place (it could even occur in Mecca)-so schools are legitimate targets of jihad, but it is up to local mujahedeen [those who engage in jihad] to decide the best strategy...". And from the same interview, "...Speaking objectively as a Muslim scholar...jihad can be effected outside the battlefield-it is not restricted by time, place, building, event, people, transport, food, water (both of which may be legitimately poisoned in jihad), or by clothing-there is no need to wear a uniform. Any weapons are legitimate in jihad. Even animals may be used as "suicide bombers"! It is not restricted by target-even Muslims or children..."

Is that closer to the true meaning of Islam? ...........
Click HERE To Read On

"Your Papers Please": American Cities On The Verge Of Becoming Police States
- By Frederick Meekins

Miami Police have announced plans to conduct what they are calling "high profile ID sweeps" where they intend to check the identification of everyone entering a public building.

Officials claim in doing so, no one's rights are being violated; but what if one does not want to show police their driver's license or happened to have forgotten to bring it with them that day?

If one refuses to participate by suddenly getting out of line and not entering the building, will that now be deemed enough probable cause to get maced in the face and a billy-club across the back of the knees?

And what if authorities deny citizens access to food in supermarkets, to buy and sell as alluded to in Revelation 13, unless they comply with draconian identification measures?

Unlike a roadside stop, one does not need government authorization to perambulate down the sidewalk. It's called a DRIVER'S LICENSE, not an authorization to leave your house permit........
Click HERE To Read On

Extremism and the American Left
- Eric Reikowski

In spite of all its anti-American tantrums and tirades, the political Left always seems to be first to defend the American populace from the perceived "extremism" of Supreme Court candidates. When President Bush nominated John Roberts to replace Sandra Day O' Connor back in July, the mudslinging Moveon.org immediately issued a statement saying that "in nominating John Roberts, the president has chosen a right-wing corporate lawyer and ideologue for the nation's highest court instead of a judge who would protect the rights of the American people."

The People for the American Way commented that "the Radical Right is overjoyed by the nomination of John Roberts because they believe Bush kept his promise to his right-wing base and given them exactly what they demanded: a Supreme Court nominee in the mold of Scalia and Thomas."

Such organizations were hardly alone. The nation's most prominent GOP-hating politician, Howard Dean, warned that "President Bush should not try to use the nomination of an extreme conservative to distract from the ethical problems his White House is facing." Dean went on to accuse the president of "playing to his right-wing political base in times of political trouble."............
Click HERE To Read On

We Must Remain Stoic
- By Greg Stewart

As some of you know, I am attending a local community college here in Denver for my core requirements for my eventuated master's degree in International Business Relations. Part of that requirement is a taking humanities course in World Literature; and so it goes, elements of the paper require me to follow a certain criteria: revealing of personal narrative, compare present and past cultural or social events, and at least two quotations from media events as well as at least two text quotes from class readings assignments. I have also noticed, if the paper has a slant to the left better the grade; and, so it goes, my latest musings...

I have a catch phrase, "It just another day in paradise," when I am asked how am I doing. Granted it is also a sappy Phil Collin's song, but the meaning of my moods, attitudes, and perspectives are communicated quite well. Sometimes, when asked by perfect strangers the aforementioned question and my previously report response, our eyes will meet, and nothing more needs to be said. It is not a code phrase for a liberal, or a conservative, or even an empathetic minority. No these words go beyond contrivance, they are understood, and are at the deepest of level, that I, and we are to appreciate what we have in the here and now. In many aspects, my friends often hear this off the cuff response, and they know I am doing "fine,"—well even. That I am taking the world day by day; neither good or bad; it is what it is; the nature of things ; and, this by definition, they know that I am being stoic ; at least on a base level anyway. ... .........
Click HERE To Read On

The culture war knows no season
- By Michael M. Bates

It's that time of the year again. No, I'm not referring to trampling other store customers to get to the doorbusters. I mean that time of the year when anything relating to the birth of Jesus Christ seems to provoke controversy.

There's a term that, within the past few years, has increasingly offended some folks. It's the c-word: Christmas.

Spurred on by the American Civil Liberties Union, atheists, pagans, secularists and sundry others devoted to erasing any public vestige of Christianity, the anti-Christmas movement has garnered victories. This is particularly true in the public schools.

Nativity scenes, discussions about the birth of Jesus, carols, images of Santa Claus and anything else even remotely associated with Christmas are often whisked away quicker than you can say we're suing the school board for violating the separation of church and state.

Ironically, these removals are not necessitated by the Supreme Court, which has ruled the Constitution permits considerable latitude in such areas. ....................
Click HERE To Read On

Enmity=Money X Change2 (E=MC2)
- By R.A. Hawkins

There are quite a few people who think that our world is far more dangerous now than it ever was. They are wrong, but fifth column thinking makes it seem so and tends to perpetuate the foolishness that makes the world dangerous. We no longer see things clearly or deal with them directly. I always liked the way Einstein said it: "In my opinion, only two things are infinite. The universe and human stupidity, but I'm not sure about the first."

On November 1st the Russians tested a new re-entry vehicle that is designed to dodge one of our ABMs. I would like to add as a side note that it was Bill Clinton that decided our ABM system had to be a bullet hitting a bullet. That made it easier for the enemy to get around our system once it was created. We'll be able to fix that little problem without too much trouble however.

Many see this new re-entry vehicle as a return to the cold war. I'm not one of them; I never did buy into the mantra about the peace dividend, and the only thing that really happened is that the enemy put a smiley face on their dark empire. One of the problems with tyranny is that it's a lot like getting a rash. It takes a long time to get rid of it. The Soviet Union had a lot to do with creating Hitler and they also helped to create Red China. Don't forget that Hitler turned on Russia and the Red Chinese will eventually turn on Russia too..............
Click HERE To Read On

This Grisly Horde
- By David Tatosian

Recently, three Christian girls were beheaded in Indonesia while our President and Secretary of State reaffirmed Islam is a "religion of peace". As this grisly horde perpetrates new horrors, our president continues to kiss the Saudi hand that would slaughter us. Every day we are subjected to the vile machinations of Grover Norquist, CAIR and elected officials who demand we accept the bespattered malignancy of Islam as religion.

Perhaps in Ari Fleischer's "Bush Country", that parallel universe of knee-jerk republicans and deluded, dissimilarly prefixed conservatives, Islam IS a religion of peace.

(Of course there are a number of ill-conceived strategies and edicts spawned in "Bush Country" that make life very unpleasant for rank and file Americans forced to live with those grandiosities).

That our President refers to a depraved ideology as a "religion of peace" is folly, or something more sinister...........
Click HERE To Read On

Famed Hat Not The Only Yellow Thing About The New Curious George
- By Frederick Meekins

For decades, children have enjoyed the antics of that inquisitive simian Curious George. Leave it to Hollywood to think it can improve on an author's creative genius by altering the original work to bring it in compliance with asinine politically correct assumptions.

Integral to the Curious George mythos is the character referred to as "The Man In The Yellow Hat" who takes care of George and helps him out of all the mischief the rambunctious primate happens to get into. But in this era where it is said traditional values no longer exist and the worth of one's character is determined by what trendy progressive causes one might happen to support, the kindness he bestows upon his furry companion is no longer enough to demonstrate his compassion and understanding. Now in order to be categorized as an appropriate cinematic protagonist or figure worthy of admiration, the back story of The Man In The Yellow Hat must be altered to placate the sensitivity sentinels.......
Click HERE To Read On

The Amazon.Com Conspiracy
- By Warner Todd Huston

I am an Op Ed writer. This being true we know that my ego far outpaces my place in the great, wide world. I am also an Op Ed writer whose work appears mostly on the internet. That means that it is widely assumed that I am an egoist on the edge of sanity. That I am now sitting at my computer, in my underwear, in a room empty of furniture other than the desk upon which my computer sits, and swinging over my head is one lone light-bulb illuminating the cramped room. I must be in the basement, too.

But, being an egoist I am constantly on the lookout for more ways to get my hackneyed opinions disseminated worldwide. Having common cause with other egoists throughout time and interested in their paths to stardom, infamy, and notoriety I have had occasion to notice that the one sure way to become a thorn in the side of any casual reader (not to mention other writers and their publishers) is to write a book review. Some of man's most famous literati were book reviewers.

Now, we have the investigative portion of this little odyssey, the search for a book review outlet. As mentioned, we are in an electronic age. The fall of the Newspaper is imminent with circulation numbers falling faster than Paris Hilton's fashionable blue jeans at a rave party. So, where might I find such an outlet? The answer is obvious for any well-traveled netrat who has spent even the shortest amount of time running the back alleys and byways of the great information super-highway.

Amazon.com!..........

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