Ok this has Cajones

Seems the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran has found a way to get good media coverage fir his side of the case

... "Let in the tourists"

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran’s hard-line president has ordered nuclear facilities opened to foreign tourists to prove that the nation’s disputed atomic program is peaceful, state-run television reported on Wednesday.

“After an order by the president ... foreign tourists can visit Iran’s nuclear facilities,” the head of Iran’s tourism division, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, was quoted as saying.

Mashai said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued the order to show that Iran’s nuclear program it aims to generate fuel, not weapons.

Oh Honey... Lets go see the Nuclear Reactors in Iran.....

funny dodge of the issue, but not an effective ploy for long

5 years later......

This is the third time I have started this post over from scratch, though while this time occurred because of technical difficulties I think this was for the best as on my way to school the barrage of stuff hit me and gave me more fodder for thought.

Where was I 5 years ago….

5 years ago I was working at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. I was getting in about 9 o’clock then with my schedule (which was highly flexible at the time), I remember most the stream of wild and crazy news stories... Everyone at that time had a different rumor or story before the second plane hit. My first thought was when I heard that a small passenger plane hit that it simply was not right. It did not make sense. I heard some one else say they heard the small plane had a missile on it. In this world where we have instant 24 hour news what struck me (mutedly then) and still does today was how in this time of crisis it was like a giant game of telephone.

The President was in my town, reading my Pet goat in that famous picture we all seem to remember. I remember how after the visit he gave some encouraging words to the students and teachers at Booker Elementary before heading off. This speech really makes me to this day remember that Bush could speak well if he spoke to his strengths.

I was not afraid or even all that shocked, though I must admit I to was struck by the images and how they seemed so unreal, so much like some fancy movie special effect.

I made my choice about what I wanted to do with my life then, something I have modified somewhat and may modify again now that the wheels have turned. I had gotten myself on a decent financial footing and god knows when I will see that again with my re-entry as a college student.

People talk about the World Changing on 9-11… the world did not change and we as Americans did not really change all that seemed to happen was we hit a snooze alarm. We have had 5 years of searches of every passenger to try to restrict weapons, as numerous new acts have happened where spotting the suspect –not a suspect device- proved those ideas as faulty.

We got into the politics of the Islamic world, it seems by its nature Bin Laden, and his top echelons are now sitting comfortably in Pakistan in a region their government can’t control.

On Glenn Beck I heard a woman say that our freedom is why they are beating us. Glenn argued (and rightly so) it is not our freedom that holds us back but it is our fear…. The only fear I think I can find in this situation

…our fear of ourselves.

We have as a society done truly awful things to racial and ethnic minorities, and as such, we are unable to risk the possibility that we would do it again. And we have created through our politics a power in being the victim, a power that people lacking in a certain sense of ethic and morality exploit.

That’s not our freedom, that’s our folly.

In my college paper I see this folly again and again

The fact that 19 hijackers could alter American foreign policy so drastically is still a bit overwhelming. These attacks created a new era - a War on Terror that would root out terrorists and their appeasers.

But the nation's success in this endeavor is highly debatable. Violence in Afghanistan - you know, that place the United States originally invaded seeking to crush the Taliban and Osama bin Laden? - is escalating. The Iraq war has cost too much in terms of American lives and money, and the Iranians continue to defy calls to halt uranium enrichment (though a hefty dose of skepticism is warranted for intelligence estimates of anything).

Oh, and don't forget those North Koreans; they round out the "Axis of Evil" of unresolved crises.

Their is a critque that is legitimate in all these words


and yet look at those words. The kind of Marxist societal divisions which failed in Marx's time (as good socialists and communists fought and died for their country in WWI and WWII) seem to be born out in our own age.

-though in the authors defense he eventually gets to the point that "they are all bumbs" but thats not his lead and in the papers its the lead that matters not whats bellow the fold-


again from my school paper

Hundreds of millions of Americans will spend the rest of their lives coping with the havoc 19 determined individuals wreaked on this society five years ago. Remember the day's events as they happened, not as someone wants you to believe they happened. Everybody's experience on that day was unique.

Don't let anyone sell you your memories or manipulate them for personal or political gain.

These are the people who felt the world changed for them, yet they end up doing what they always did

9-11 was an awful thing because some 3000 people or so lost their lives, but what we saw in just a flicker for hardly a year... that is at the core of who we are as americans at our own deep level.

and sadly two so is what we see represented by the folks in my school paper.

I was a militia sympathizer back in the 90s but let me say this

When you focus to much on the wrongs of your country you lose the ability to see the big picture

You lose it to when you focus to much on the good

and this War on Terror, this generational war, is all about the Big Picture.

Base III, Establishment... less then III

Looks like the Immigration Bill is D.O.A till after the election

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 — As they prepare for a critical pre-election legislative stretch, Congressional Republican leaders have all but abandoned a broad overhaul of immigration laws and instead will concentrate on national security issues they believe play to their political strength.

With Congress reconvening Tuesday after an August break, Republicans in the House and Senate say they will focus on Pentagon and domestic security spending bills, port security legislation and measures that would authorize the administration’s terror surveillance program and create military tribunals to try terror suspects.

And I expect after the elections the will of the voters will be more clear

The Olmert Regime isn't long for this world.

In Israel their was a sense of brotherhood and camaraderie about military service. Israel has drifted more towards a professional army but the Israeli citizen soldier ethic is still strong.

But Olmert unlike prior generations of Israeli leaders has not radiated with being one of them. And now things get even worse.

Senior Israel Defense Forces officers expressed dissatisfaction yesterday with the announcement by Chief of Staff Dan Halutz that he had recently instructed the Field Security Directorate at the General Staff to keep track of their telephone conversations.

According to a report in Haaretz yesterday, Halutz instructed the Field Security Directorate to provide him with the telephone logs of the generals, their department heads and their secretaries, in order to crosscheck whether they have had contacts with journalists.

after losing by doing a wrongheaded strategy the civilian leadership is now spying on the people they need to defend Israel.

I expect elections to be coming any day now

Liberate Athens

I remember reading a great book called “The Cartoon History of The Universe”

In this book it recounts (in a very punctuated manner) some events of the early history of the city of Athens. Early in her history Athens had the ideas of the democracy it would become famous for proposed but Athens instead became a Tyranny. Various people of influence realized finally “We've tried everything else so lets give this democracy a go.” but Athens had a blood and rather paranoid tyrant running things. The solution was found in various oracles.

The oracles all spoke a word, they spoke the word unambiguously and clearly to every Spartan who came seeking the advice of the gods

“Liberate Athens” they spoke.

As this made its rounds about Sparta the Spartans being a good and faithful folk went, liberated Athens, and then went home.

As the events that went on post 9-11, to the Ceder Revolution, to the massive student protests in Iran, to the War in Iraq, The current situation in Lebanon, and the defiance of Iranian women at the World Cup I hear these words whispered on the winds

“Liberate Athens.”

Though I do not see an Athens in the Fertile Crescent but I do see a struggle of people being oppressed by the worst regimes in the world today wanting something better as an alternative. And like those people of olden Greece they had no ability to liberate themselves.

And in discussions with people I hear often asked “Why the United States?” or “ Why should we be the world's policeman?”

Well as events in Lebanon are showing us no one else will.

first over on Filibuster Cartoons a shot goes across the bow of Canada.

But our bragging hasn't really kept up with reality, sadly. Canada no longer actually contributes very much to UN peacekeeping missions around the globe. Today we rank lower than several countries in Africa and South America in terms of participation.

Now the UN is begining a new, ambitious peacekeeping operation in southern Lebanon; perhaps the most ambitious peacekeeping operation in decades. Prime Minister Harper has made it very clear Canada will not be contributing to the mission.

I'm sure there are legitimate reasons, but still... isn't it time we retired the myth of the Canadian peacekeeper already? You have to work hard to keep a reputation, and Canada simply isn't doing that.

Simply put in much of the world the case for Social Democracy had been won by the wrong guys. The canadians who were rough and ready are at least a generation gone from this world now. They have not the strength for what needs to be done.

and over on TMV a shot goes across the bow of France. What makes it worse is during the Cedar Revolution when the hot hot lebanese women were out protesting for Freedom the French pushed for Freedom in Lebanon. But when push comes to shove the French are not willing to help birth a free Lebanon.

The Freedom of Other nations today is in our intrest in most of the world, but has the spite our political community generated blinded us and rendered us deaf to the cry

"Liberate Athens"

The CAIR bear Stare

Seems the C.A.I.R Bears are out in force after the president used the term "Islamic Fascists"

"We believe this is an ill-advised term and we believe that it is counterproductive to associate Islam or Muslims with fascism," said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations advocacy group.

now the folks at C.A.I.R may be less then proficent in english so lets help them out with descriptors

when you put two discriptive words together the first one modifies the second one

Reagan Democrats
Arab Americans
etc.

Muslims are brutal and repressive dictators. Muslim governments like Syria had active support from Nazi's. Al-Qaeda et al has similar ideals.

these words are valid and do not target all muslims

silly CAIR Bears

Telemarketing gone wrong

On USAtoday we see that Government is just as powerless as we are when it comes to Telemarketers

You're not the only one. The federal government has decided to put its own secret Homeland Security hotline to the nation's 50 governors on the federal Do Not Call Registry, according to Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner.

The move came after a complaint Thursday by Minner, who said that when her line rings, chances are it's not an emergency but an unwanted intrusion. "Every time that phone rings, it's telemarketers," she said in Washington.

Minner keeps the secret homeland defense hotline in her office. Governors have them for instant communication with Washington in case of a major emergency. Minner says that when her line rings, it's someone offering a time-share condominium or the latest deal on long-distance phone service.

"I wonder about the security of that line," Minner said.

She said other governors have reported similar interruptions, such as the caller who chirps, "Hello! Are you satisfied with your long-distance service provider?"

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle reported getting a similar call in 2003. The caller jangled nerves and the phone just as U.S. troops were launching ground combat in Iraq.

First the embraced terrorists

Now this

Presbyterians Think Of Changing 'Father, Son, Holy Spirit'

POSTED: 5:09 pm EDT June 19, 2006
UPDATED: 7:11 pm EDT June 19, 2006

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The divine Trinity -- "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" -- could also be known as "Mother, Child and Womb" or "Rock, Redeemer, Friend" at some Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) services under an action Monday by the church's national assembly.

Delegates to the meeting voted to "receive" a policy paper on gender-inclusive language for the Trinity, a step short of approving it. That means church officials can propose experimental liturgies with alternative phrasings for the Trinity, but congregations won't be required to use them.

what is happening to old school protestant churches

I have a question.....

I've heard thoughts like these

It's a little bit of a cri de coeur to us, a little bit of a call to arms" against the prevailing conservatism, he told a media conference, adding that his country was living in "the era of Bush, which is about clamping down, being scared.".....
"This film is in the shadow of 9/11, but it shows we're still alive, y'know?" the director said.

Where is this fear?

Are people out there afraid of terrorism? Well you shouldn't be if you take a casual read of how Al-Qaeda works specifically, and Islamic terrorism works in general.

So, Are you afraid out there in TV land? I sure as heck am not.

I've felt no pressure to change the words I say and have kept saying the same thing

So who is afraid? and why?

4 years to make a good call

Your Taxpayer dollars at rest

In the four years since it was created, the Transportation Security Administration has been trying — and often failing — to find dangerous things that passengers might bring onto an aircraft. Now the TSA is aiming to become less obsessed with scissors and cigarette lighters and focusing more on passenger behavior. Government sources tell TIME that the agency will announce in the next few weeks that it will introduce a race-neutral profiling program at the country's busiest airports, among them New York's John F. Kennedy, Los Angeles International and Chicago's O'Hare

Who knows we may soon actually have a TSA that can catch terrorists

Red Ken Strikes again

This time in the likes of John McCain and Trent Lott he strikes out at bloggers. Alek from Publis Pundit puts the focus where it belongs

Mayor Livingstone went further yesterday and read to London’s assemblymen from some articles written and posted by me in this website, where I argued that once all democratic tools had been sequestered by a criminal State the only recourse left to regain the lost liberties was violence.

It was I, who conspired for many years with fellow military men to overthrow democratically elected governments.

It was I, who led a coup d’etat in 1992 against a democratically elected president, causing numerous deaths.

It was I, who, whilst safely sheltered from bullets in the Military Museum, ordered the assassination of the democratically elected president of Venezuela and that of his family.

It was I, who promised to the people of Venezuela that I would fry the heads of political opponents upon reaching power.

It was I, who assured to the people of Venezuela that under my government corruption, crime, unemployment and poverty would be made history and the thousands of street children would be saved from such horrendous life conditions or else I would change my name.

It was I, who in 1999 violated all constitutional precepts to summon a National Constituent Assembly.

It was I, who using the supra-constitutional mechanism mentioned gave the first democratic coup of the Americas, dissolving, illegally and unconstitutionally, all elected powers and institutions of Venezuela.

It was I, who ordered my lackeys to write a constitution that allows to disown regimes that encroach upon human rights.

It was I, who exacerbated the hatred amongst Venezuelans.

It was I, who aligned one of the most stable democracies in South America with the continent’s oldest dictatorship.

It was I, who sistematically destroyed the only source of income of Venezuela by provoking, with televised dismissals, an oil strike.

It was I, who prevented my countrymen to improve their lot by plundering and giving away Venezuelan resources.

It was I, who expelled counter narcotics agencies from Venezuela.

It was I, who ignored factual reports of Colombian narco-guerrilla camps and operations in Venezuela.

It was I, who granted protection to internationally wanted criminals, such as Vladimiro Montesinos.

It was I, who permitted the presence in Venezuela of terrorist FARC leaders, such as Rodrigo Granda.

It was my Minister of Interior, who opened the door to the families of wanted terrorists.

It was my identification office, that confered Venezuelan citizenship to terrorists.

It were my presidential guard, that failed to capture sharp shooters who assassinated 23 people and wounded hundreds on April 2002.

It were my Bolivarian supporters, who opened fire to unarmed civilians on April 2002.

It was I, who ordered the implementation of a military contingency plan to dissolve with tanks and weapons of war a rally of unarmed civilians.

It was I, who rigged an election on August 2004.

It was I, who ordered the construction of a database of the entire Venezuelan electoral roll for political prosecution purposes.

It was I, who allowed thousands of anti-democratic Cuban operatives into Venezuela to repress and spy upon my countrymen.

It was I, who jailed in trumped up charges union leaders and political foes.

It was I, who allowed Venezuela to be turned into a narco terrorist State.

It was I, who gave explicit orders to Venezuela’s diplomatic corps to side with the fundamentalist regime of Iran, voting in lockstep in favour of its nuclear programme.

It was I, who embraced Saddam Hussein, Muammar Khadafi, Fidel Castro, Daniel Ortega, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Robert Mugabe.

It was I, who sent the military to expropriate private property.

It was I, who shredded contracts with Venezuela’s commercial partners.

It was I, who masterminded the international isolation of a once respected, democratic, well meaning and sovereign nation.

It was I, who embarked Venezuela, a country that has not seen armed conflict in more than a century, in an arms race.

It was I, who militarised Venezuela’s public administration.

It was under my tenure, that Venezuela broke all records of deaths for violent causes.

It was under my tenure, that Venezuela joined the club of nations where human rights are sistematically abused as part of the State’s policy.

It was I, who turned Venezuela’s oil income into the source of South America’s destabilization.

And lastly, -I could go on for days, it was my comrade the Mayor of London, who, in keeping with his democratic foreign policy agenda, invited an Islamic fundamentalist who openly called for the execution of gay men and implementation of barbaric practices upon women in London’s City Hall.

Certainly I did not expect this, but as someone aptly put it the other day, one should never underestimate the militancy of the radical left. Bloggers are indeed a menace, whether in Iran, China, Venezuela, Cuba or London. What’s next; a lawsuit? Deportation to Venezuela? Stay tuned.

Putting Chavez and his good buddy Red Ken into perspective

Goss is Out....

And If this Washington Post article is accurate I think we are all worse off for it. Goss was in the agency to cut heads and get rid of some of the bad people poisoning the agency... so lets look at what I see as the key to the WashPost article

Another candidate mentioned along with Hayden is Mary Margaret Graham, who was transferred from CIA headquarters after clashing with Goss's staff. She now coordinates intelligence collection for Negroponte.....Over Goss's 18 months, more than a dozen senior officials -- several of whom were promoted under Goss -- resigned, retired early or requested reassignment.

In short the internal Buercrats were fighting a man brought in to clean house. So why did Bush side with the people who didn't know the Soviet Union was going to fall among other glaring errors?

Because he didn't get to know Goss

"Once Negroponte came in and Porter was no longer doing the president's daily briefings, he lost the opportunity to build the kind of relationship with the president that other directors had," said Mark Lowenthal, who was a senior adviser to Tenet and briefly to Goss before leaving the agency in March 2005.

And I think things will get worse

I only hope Porter got rid of enough bad eggs for our safety

Tastes Like....Chicken

Cap'n Ed came up with an idea to take the anti-war left's worst Pejorative against them.

Many on the left disagree, however, and often they provide challenging arguments and valuable perspectives on policy and the manner in which it gets implemented. However, many more do little but make ad hominem attacks on those with whom they disagree. They spend a great deal of effort labeling people rather than providing rational arguments on policy, and even the labels they select don't provide much more than amusement.

That's why Frank J of IMAO, Derek Brigham of Freedom Dogs, and I have decided to create -- for real -- the 101st Fighting Keyboardists and adopt the chicken hawk as our mascot. First of all, the term "fighting keyboardist" describes our efforts pretty well, and we think the pseudo-military terminology is pretty danged amusing. Derek himself designed the logo.

hawk01.jpgAnd why the chicken hawk? When we looked into it, it turns out that the chicken hawk is a pretty impressive predator. It's the largest of its family. This species vigorously defends its territory, getting even more aggressive when the conditions get harshest. It adapts to all climates. Most impressively, it feeds on chickens, mice, and rats.

So I for one had to sign up ;-)