Poetic justice for Jesse Jackson:

With roughly 100,000 Chicagoans between 16 and 24 out of work or not in school, Rainbow Push was hoping to call to action disenfranchised young people, but a group of people disenchanted with Jesse Jackson led a spirited protest that sometimes drowned out the message of more jobs.

Hundreds converged upon a frigid Federal Plaza today to hear politicians and political candidates talk passionately about creating more jobs.

"Since this is a union working town the unions need to provide job training and set up a trade school in the city of Chicago," said Sen. James Meeks, 15th District.

However some of the speakers were quickly drowned out by boos, bullhorns, and verbal jabs from a group called VOTE, ex-offenders, community activists, church leaders, and Muslims, tired of what they call the rhetoric in the African-American community.

What does the good Rev. have to say in his defense? He equates himself with the the son of God:

"They lashed out at Dr. King, they lashed out at Nelson Mandela, they lashed out at Jesus, so all of those who fight for change become the object of frustration," said Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rainbow-Push Coalition.

Why didn't the Rev. equate himself with Mohammed? He be hiding like Salman Rushdie if he did.

The Inquirer has a newsflash, anti-semitism is on the rise in Europe:

Theodorakis, a 76-year-old leftist who became a national hero after he was imprisoned by the military dictatorship that ruled Greece from 1967-74, argued that he merely had been venting over what he considers the immoral policies of the current Israeli government. Plenty of Greeks - and plenty of other Europeans - agree with him. Sixty-one percent of Greek respondents to a recent poll cited Israel as a threat to world peace, joining a similar percentage of other European Union citizens.

In December 2001, the French ambassador to the United Kingdom called Israel "that sh--y little country." Last year, the Dutch wife of the president of the European Central Bank said Israel's conduct was worse than the Nazis, having previously blamed the plight of Palestinians on "the rich American Jewish lobby." In Greece last April, major newspapers ran a false story alleging that the Israeli military was selling organs ripped from dead Palestinians.

"Because it is not politically correct to say you hate Jews, you say you hate Israel," Israeli government adviser Raanan Gissin said recently.

The line between opposition to Israel's controversial tactics and anti-Semitism is difficult to pinpoint, and some in Israel have cautioned against bringing the charge of anti-Semitism too casually. Most people in Europe reject the notion that opposition to Israel is a cover for anti-Semitism.

But more than political rhetoric is at issue: Hate crimes against Jews in Europe are on the rise. Tel Aviv University's latest annual survey of anti-Semitism reported that the recorded number of violent attacks on Jews worldwide increased from 228 in 2001 to 311 in 2002, with most of them happening in Western Europe.

This is not just happening in Europe. American papers are just as guilty but are more subtle. Then there's this:

Arabs or Muslims have been responsible for most, though not all, of the attacks, according to news reports. That, in itself, is a sensitive issue in Europe, where governments are grappling with an influx of Arab immigrants whose numbers dwarf the Jewish populations that remain 60 years after the Holocaust.

London's Financial Times reported last week that the European Union's racism watchdog shelved a 112-page draft report on anti-Semitism that had concluded that radical Islamists and Arab Muslims were largely responsible for a rise in incidents during the period studied. The agency wasn't comfortable with that conclusion, dissident officials told the Times.

"Many observers have finally dared to discuss what has long been a dirty little secret - namely, that the threat of violence [from] millions of impoverished, ill-treated... and often unemployed Muslim men in Western Europe has, at the very least, induced governments to temper their reactions to anti-Semitism," U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden (D., Del.) said this month at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on European anti-Semitism.

The Muslims are ill-treated Senator Biden? I doubt it. They just hate Jews. Why European countries can allow such large influxes of Muslim immigrants is astounding. The Muslim culture will never assimilate to the existing culture and therefore will change that culture. But it's not just the countries with large Muslim populations:

Greece is an interesting case study of the nexus between rabid opposition to Israel and old-fashioned European anti-Semitism. Its socialist leaders have a long history of close ties to Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, and the Greek public is deeply mistrustful of the United States, in part because of U.S. support for the repressive junta that was deposed in 1974. A full 90 percent of Greeks opposed the war in Iraq, polls showed.

Greece is also an extremely homogenous country that only recently began allowing significant numbers of immigrants. About 97 percent of the native-born population is baptized into the Greek Orthodox Church, whose clerics have sometimes been accused of preaching anti-Semitism. There is little mention of the Holocaust or the fate of Greek Jews in the country's school textbooks, according to an analysis by a professor at the University of Athens.

More than 90 percent of Greek Jews - about 70,000 - were deported to death camps by the Nazis during World War II.


More than 90 percent of Greek Jews - about 70,000 - were deported to death camps by the Nazis during World War II.

And this:

In October, an internationally known Greek artist, Alexandros Psychoulis, began displaying a work featuring a Palestinian woman blowing herself up in a crowded Israeli supermarket.

In an interview, he professed to be mystified as to why Jewish activists had expressed revulsion over the piece.

"They've actually built this atmosphere without any real basis," he said.

Last month, though, Psychoulis had a decidedly harsher take in remarks to Ta Nea, Greece's largest daily newspaper.

"I personally feel that the experiment of Israel has failed," he was quoted as saying, "and I understand the desperation of a girl who carries out a suicide bombing having nothing to lose."

The "experiment" of awarding the Greeks the Olympics has also failed you idiot.

Update: The Guardian looks at anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism.

(Via Glenn Reynolds)

Dave Barry is a great blog for no other reason than you get more links to explore per minute than any other blog.

Don't lie. We all wanted to think of librarians like this:

A librarian whose off-hour activities attracted attention is now officially out of a job.

The Upper Skagit Library Board voted unanimously Wednesday night not to renew the six-month contract of Valerie Shahan, the Upper Skagit Library's first librarian, when it expires at the end of this month.

Shahan used to advertise sadomasochism services on the Internet under the assumed name of Lady Jane Grey of Bellingham. That news came to light in August after a tipster called the Skagit Valley Herald following a news story about her being hired.

Shahan pulled her Web site after being interviewed for the news story about her site. She said she already had stopped taking clients.

Collusion with special interest groups to decide policy is not exactly a good thing. Unless your a Democrat:

The memos, dating from 2001 until April 2003, show Democrats working in close consultation with such groups as People for the American Way, the Alliance for Justice, NARAL Pro-Choice America and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

Actually, “close consultation” is too weak a phrase. The memos reveal the Democrats and the interest groups to be partners in the effort to defeat Bush nominees — with the Democrats serving as the junior partners.

For example, in one memo to Durbin, dated Nov. 7, 2001, a staffer described a meeting with the groups in which they “identified Miguel Estrada (D.C. Circuit) as especially dangerous, because he has a minimal paper trail, he is Latino, and the White House seems to be grooming him for a Supreme Court appointment.” The staffer continued: “They [the groups] want to hold Estrada off as long as possible.”

And guess what: The Democrats held Estrada off as long as possible — not scheduling a vote for him when they controlled the Judiciary Committee, and filibustering him when they became the minority party.

Finally, Estrada gave up and asked that his name be withdrawn.

Another memo, to Kennedy, dated April 17, 2002, details how the NAACP Legal Defense Fund asked Democrats to delay the nomination of Julia Scott Gibbons to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. Legal Defense Fund officials did not want her on the court when the University of Michigan affirmative action case was decided.

Members of Kennedy’s staff conceded they were “a little concerned about the propriety of scheduling hearings based on the resolution of a particular case.” But the Legal Defense Fund wanted action, and action it got. Gibbons was delayed.

Now that the memos have become public, have Democrats denied any of it?

But maybe the Reps did a little computer lurking:

WASHINGTON(AP) - Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said Tuesday he had put one of his staffers on administrative leave for improperly obtaining data from the secure computer networks of two Democratic senators.
Hatch, R-Utah, said preliminary interviews suggested that a former Republican member of the committee staff may have also been involved in penetrating the Democratic computers.

"I was shocked to learn that this may have occurred," Hatch said in a statement. "I am mortified that this improper, unethical and simply unacceptable breach of confidential files may have occurred on my watch."

Hatch launched an investigation after Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., protested what they said was the theft of memos from their servers. The memos, concerning political strategy on blocking confirmation of several of President Bush's judicial nominations, were obtained and reported on by The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Times.

I hope this isn't true. The consequences would be damning. If it is true the staffers should be fired ASAP.

The economy is cruising:

The economy roared ahead at an astounding 8.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the fastest pace in nearly two decades and a much stronger performance than previously thought. It raises hope that a long spell of lackluster business activity is finally over.

The best since Reagan. OK, the economy is off the board for the Dems, the only things left are prescription drugs; no the elephants took that off the table. They still have...well nothing. The war in Iraq will be front and center, however, that is not going to tip the scales to the donkeys. They have the erosion of reproductive rights issue. That'll get maybe 20% of the vote which is exactly the same as 2000. They can hit on the ACLU claim that civil rights are being suppressed, but that won't fly since people don't feel suppressed. What are the issues? We shall see once they get done pummeling the hell out of each other.

A touching family portrait. Is this what the anti-Terror War women protesters want?

(Hat tip LGF)

This is by far the stupidest article I've read lately. This is guy is rating the Hummer (follow the links) commercial:

1. The Hummer kid cheats. Yes, the company's Web site offers "thinking outside the box" justifications, pointing out that the race rules are just "First one down wins." But I don't buy it. He fails to stay on a clearly demarcated course. In my book, that's an automatic DQ. Anyway, the off-road driving didn't even look that treacherous—I bet the regular cars could have handled it, too, if their drivers were little cheating brats. Were I the other kids, I would have ripped the wheels off the soapbox Hummer and beat the cheater about the head with them.

Inciting violence amongst kids, that'll get any kid suspended from school nowadays.

2. He endangers other racers. His car is much bigger and heavier, with a higher center of gravity. At one point, only minimally in control of his vehicle, drunk on the overconfidence he draws from his outsized deathmobile, the Hummer kid hurtles across the road right as the rest of the pack is passing. He just barely misses crushing another kid's car, and possibly spine.

The usual lib slam at the SUV. In what way can I say this that everyone will understand- if someone wants to own a gas-guzzling, huge SUV, that is their right. I know that doesn't fit into your nice scheme of things, but it's true.

3. What about the poor dog? We see it left abandoned in its now-useless doghouse, peering sadly through gaping holes where the slats the kid stole used to be. Conclusion: The Hummer kid hoards earth's precious resources, sating his own vanity at the expense of less fortunate, voiceless members of society.

Such as fetuses and Iraqis?

Of course, some will love the shameless Hummer kid and his take-no-prisoners, win-at-all-costs individualism. Not coincidentally, these are the sort of people who buy Hummers. It would make no sense for the company to aim this spot at folks craving a quiet, go-along-get-along image, because those people aren't buying 40-ton cars. The Hummer kid is a me-first kid, and the Hummer is without doubt a me-first vehicle.

All Hummer owners are me-first. Hmmm, does that mean that all Blacks like watermelon and play basketball? Does that mean all Italians drive IROC Z-28's, are in the Mafia, and wear gold chains? Does that mean that all Jews are cheap and are Zionists? Where else can we go with this Seth, you a-hole. How could Slate possibly have posted this alongside the aforementioned Kaus and Hitchens. Come to think of it, the article fits nicely beside Noah and Saletan. I know this is portrayed as tongue-in-cheek, but this idiot truly believes what he wrote.

I haven't posted his link lately, but Mickey Kaus is good.

This should piss off any rational human. As a vet, I am offended.

Easterbrooke is back writing the best NFL column by far. NFL.com had the huevos to sign him.

The Dems are considering ceding the south to Bush in '04. Good. That means the only southern state they may get is Florida, and that's not a sure thing. Here's the Inquirers take:

Fearing that their next presidential nominee could bomb in Dixie, many Democrats are hinting that it might be smart for the party to virtually write off the Deep South and pursue victory elsewhere.

Officially, Democrats declare that they will compete with President Bush everywhere in the nation. But, privately, there is serious concern that their nominee will lose every state of the Old Confederacy, with the possible exception of Florida - a scenario that seems especially likely if they choose Howard Dean, the antiwar Vermont Yankee who, as governor, signed a bill legalizing gay civil unions.

A Dixie strategy has always seemed essential; no Democrat has ever been elected president without winning at least a few Southern states. But, faced with Bush's strong popularity in that GOP-trending region, Democratic operatives seem willing to entertain a strategy that would defy history: assembling an Electoral College majority from states in the Northeast, Midwest, Southwest and on the West Coast. After all, their 2000 nominee, Al Gore, almost pulled it off.

Gore couldn't even win his "home" state. If Bush just takes the south including Oklahoma, that's 178 electoral votes. Add in the mid-west and potentially taking New Mexico and Maryland would do it. New Mexico may be the one state that may go against what it did in '00. Iowa will also be another state to watch.

Our esteemed legislators have passed the largest entitlement program in recent memory:

WASHINGTON - A sweeping overhaul of Medicare that will offer senior citizens a federally subsidized prescription-drug benefit squeezed through the House of Representatives at dawn yesterday, setting the stage for Senate approval expected next week.

The final 220-215 vote remained uncertain until the gavel sounded at 5:53 a.m. Republican leaders, joined by President Bush, prevailed in a dramatic and desperate predawn hunt for votes after Democrats had amassed a majority to kill the bill.

"This is probably one of the most important bills we've had on domestic policy in decades," said exhausted House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R., Ill.).

The legislation would provide voluntary drug coverage to 40 million eligible senior citizens for the first time in Medicare's 38-year history and would significantly increase the role of private insurers in the federal health insurance program. The $400 billion, 10-year bill also would spend more money on hospitals and doctors and create health-related tax shelters for Americans.

Yesterday's vote was a victory for Bush, who was eager for a domestic policy success to tout during his reelection bid.

I agree that this bill will take prescription drug benefits off the table for the Democrats, however, the costs will be astronomical. The AARP, a powerful lobby whose members turn out for elections by the hundreds of thousands backed the bill.

The AARP endorsement came as Democrats weigh whether to try to block the bill when it comes to the Senate floor as early as this week. They would need just 41 votes to block the legislation under Senate rules, but it is far from clear whether they have the political will to mount a filibuster against a measure whose central provision, a huge prescription drug benefit, is widely popular.

The Congressional Budget Office must still certify that the bill doesn't blow it's budget of $400 billion. Otherwise, negotiators will have to go back and alter its delicately balanced provisions to meet the cap. But lawmakers have been working with CBO all along to make sure the bill stays on budget.

Some conservatives remained wary, however.

"The enormous cost of this proposal will only hasten Medicare's insolvency, and we'll have to rely on future Congresses to have the political courage that this Congress lacks," said Arizona Rep. Jeff Flake.

"In the end, I think this looks like nothing more than an extremely expensive way to buy votes."

This program is going to cost way more than 400 million.

Anti-terrorism protests are scheduled for December 10 in Iraq. That's great news. These people have only had freedom for six months and will still probably do it better than these idiots. Healing Iraq has the lowdown and these words:

I was ashamed and depressed watching those brainwashed and deluded demonstrators in London carrying signs calling for abandoning Iraq and for an end to aggression. While I can understand people who hold peaceful principles against wars in general but nevertheless wish to see Iraq free and prosperous, I fail to understand the logic behind the thinking that appeasing and understanding terrorists will make this world a better place. It was all the same 'No blood for oil', 'Not in my name', 'Bush is Hitler', 'Stop the war', 'End the occupation', 'Bring the troops home' nonsense over and over again. It was almost like one of our masira's in the dark times of the previous regime. If those people truly dislike Bush they should have kept their mouths shout about other issues which they can never understand and sticked to anti-Bush slogans. The only thing that warmed my heart was watching different self-respecting people carrying banners that said 'Mr. Bush you are most welcome, this lot does not speak for me'. I ditto that and add that this lot surely does not speak for Iraqis either. I'm sure Saddam is proud of you and clapping his hands in glee watching from whatever gutter he is hiding in right now. The fact that Al-Arabiyah station decicated two whole hours covering these demonstration while not a single subtitle about the anti-terrorism crowds marching in Iraq only disgusted me the more.

I guess those demonstrators chose to ignore the hundreds of innocent Turk Muslims and Jews that were killed and maimed the last few days in Istanbul, the Italian peacekeepers in Nassiriyah, the Lebanese families in Saudi Arabia, the Iraqi police, school children, UN and Red Cross workers in Baghdad, the Iraqis that were praying in Najaf, the Spanish tourists in Casablanca, the demonstrating students in Iran, and decided to spill tears for the poor Iraqi militants, the innocent Taliban, and the peace loving leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Why the hypocricy? Why the double standards? Someone seriously needs to teach these people the mechanisms of cause and effect. They are having it all jumbled up in their topsy-turvy view of the world. I can only say SHAME on you.

This is interesting:

Each week, I receive several correspondences from black people calling me an Uncle Tom, a race traitor and that sort of thing.

The most recent epithets came as a result of my column asking Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Warren Sapp to shut his mouth, stop acting like a child and get back to playing the exemplary football that made him a repeat Pro Bowler.

Weeks later, I am still being accused of dissing not only Sapp but African-American culture itself. So, the question is: Exactly what is African-American, or black, culture?

According to my critics, the likes of Sapp and the late rapper Tupac Shakur epitomize African-American culture. If they are right - although I believe that some are simply venting out of anger - then I primarily dislike their brand of black culture.

What do I mean?

Although I appreciate Tupac's poetic genius, I dislike his gangsta persona. Remember, Tupac was a violent brother, and he died in a hail of automatic weapon rounds. I like Sapp's work ethic (which I would advise all youngsters to emulate) and his love of the game, but I dislike the nasty image, on and off the field, he has faithfully cultivated.

Again, if these two men represent African-American culture, then I have major concerns with my culture.

Now, to the essential point of this column: We - African-Americans - should strive to be admired for all the right reasons. I obsess over who we are as a people, about how we fit into a nation that continues to treat us as outsiders after all this time. I obsess over our survival. Sure, we will survive like everyone else. But what will be the status of our collective health in another 100 years, or 50 years even?

I agree. Why are Colin Powell, Clarence Thomas, and Condi Rice not respected figures in the black community? Because they are Conservatives? I think that there are more African-American Conservatives than make themselves known. On the flip side, who are the role models for white people? To me my role model was not an athlete or musician, it was my parents. I hope my kids feel the same way. This is not the case for all young white kids. To young girls it unfortunately may be Britney Spears, but quite a few may look up to Mia Hamm. To young boys it may unfortunately be Eminem, but it may also be Pat Tillman if they have had the good fortune to learn of him. My point here (and I know I've gotten everywhere but) is that all cultures have to take a step back and see what our definition of a role model is. All ethnicities have true role models serving in the armed forces, are these men and women not good folks to admire? but as I said a few sentences ago, the truest role models should be within ones family.

NRO writer David Frum was at the We Hate George W. Bush march in London:

Absent too was all but the most perfunctory statement of concern and grief for the British citizens murdered in Istanbul earlier that day. And when I asked members of the crowd for their reaction, the response was unanimous: “I condemn the killing, but you have to understand ….” Yes, but – the slogan of the terrorists’ apologists and fellow-travelers in West and East.

Read all entries.

I have only a few comments on this story because I truly hope it says it all:

Rofayda Qaoud - raped by her brothers and impregnated - refused to commit suicide, her mother recalls, even after she bought the teenager a razor with which to slit her wrists. So Amira Abu Hanhan Qaoud says she did what she believes any good Palestinian parent would to restore her family's honor.

Armed with a plastic bag, razor and wooden stick, Qaoud entered her sleeping daughter's room Jan. 27.

"Tonight you die, Rofayda," she said, wrapping the bag tightly around the girl's head. She then sliced Rofayda's wrists, ignoring her muffled pleas of "No, mother, no!"

After the girl went limp, Qaoud struck her on the head with the stick.

Killing her sixth-born child took 20 minutes, Qaoud, 43, tells a visitor through a stream of tears and cigarette smoke. "She killed me before I killed her," says the mother of nine. "I had to protect my children. This is the only way I could protect my family's honor."

I hope I don't need to insert any comment here. Her sons raped her daughter and she kills her daughter to protect the family honor. Makes sense to me.

Legal authority on the West Bank has been weakened by Israel's crackdown, and military factions' growing influence has led clans to dole out their own justice. "In this chaotic situation, every man who thinks he knows a little bit of the Koran... thinks honor issues are supposed to be resolved by killing," says Shalhoub-Kevorkian, who adds that leading clerics in Jordan and Jerusalem have denounced such killings.

Qaoud says her husband, Abdul Rahim, 52, told her the Koran forbade such killings. But neither his pleas nor those of crisis counselors swayed her. "Why did she accept what happened to her?" Qaoud asks. "Even a wife can tell her husband no."

No, legal authority was not weakened, legal authority has never existed. Arafat took the money that was meant for developing PA infrastructure and stuffed into Swiss bank accounts.

According to court records, Rofayda was raped by her brothers, Fahdi, 22, and Ali, 20, in a room they shared in the family's three-room house. On Nov. 26, 2002, doctors at a nearby hospital who were treating her for an injured leg discovered she was eight months pregnant.

Palestinian authorities took her to a women's shelter in Bethlehem, where she gave birth to a healthy boy on Dec. 23. He has been adopted by another family, court records show.

Rofayda, meanwhile, wanted to return to her parents in the Ramallah suburb of Abu Qash. Ramallah Gov. Mustafa Isa called a meeting with the family and village elders, demanding that they pledge in writing not to harm the girl.

"He asked me if everyone in the family and the village would promise not to bother this girl, but I told him I couldn't give him a guarantee," Abu Qash Mayor Faik Shalout says.

Rofayda returned home in late January without notifying the authorities.

The shame was unbearable, Qaoud said. Relatives and friends refused to speak to them. Her elder daughters' husbands wouldn't let them visit.

Maybe I'm confused. Let's hash this out for a second. The brothers raped her and she gave birth to...well her own nephew. The village elders had to protect the girl, who was raped by her own brothers, from other villagers and other members of the family shunned her. Makes sense again. This strikes me as sane, the girl was raped, by her brothers, and the family is shamed because the girl was not a virgin. Sounds like something we should institute in the good old US of A.

On Jan. 27, Rofayda sent word that she was in danger to crisis counselors at Abu-Dayyeh's center in East Jerusalem. They, in turn, called Palestinian police in Ramallah, who have jurisdiction over Abu Qash. The police said they could not get to the Qaoud home because of Israeli checkpoints.

Damn those Israeli checkpoints. You know, the ones they have in place because the peace-loving Palestinians, who kill their daughters for being raped, will kill civilians attending a seder if they were not in place.

While honor killings committed in the heat of the moment - for example, by a man who finds his wife in bed with another man - generally carry a six-month to one-year term, Qaoud is likely to be sentenced to three to five years in prison, Tarifi says. The fact that she was a mother trying to protect her family's honor mitigates the crime of premeditated murder, punishable by death under Palestinian law, he adds.

It wasn't premeditated because she was protecting her family's honor. She put a plastic bag over the childs head and cut her wrists as she pleaded for her life. She then whacked her with a stick. That is the definition of heat of the moment in my book. This is the heartwarming part of our story though:

The brothers are serving minimum 10-year sentences in a jail in the West Bank city of Jericho for statutory rape of a relative, Tarifi says.

No trace of Rofayda or her brothers remains in the family home. Qaoud says she ripped up all of their photographs and burned their clothes. The bedroom in which she killed her daughter is now a storeroom.

Erasing the memories is harder, she admits. She eases her pain by doting on the three children still at home, especially the youngest, Fatima, 9, whom she lavishes with kisses. The children say they have forgiven her and return her affection.

"My mother did this because she does not want us to be punished by people," Fatima explains with a shy smile. Leaning into Qaoud's arms, the little girl adds: "I love my mother much more now than before."

I think the fact that they actually have a law for rape of a family member speaks for itself. Let's not forget that she is a doting Mom who feels better by burning any remnants of her kids existence and turns the room she murdered her daughter in into a falafel storage area. I'm glad her 6-year old forgives her. She should feel comfortable for the next ten years. That's when the brothers get out.

Lileks has an answer for that unappreciative prick, Mr. Pax:

Hey, Salam? Fuck you. I know you’re the famous giggly blogger who gave us all a riveting view of the inner circle before the war, and thus know more about the situation than I do. Granted. But there’s a picture on the front page of my local paper today: third Minnesotan killed in Iraq. He died doing what you never had the stones to do: pick up a rifle and face the Ba’athists. You owe him.

Let me explain this in simple terms, habibi. You would have spent the rest of your life under Ba’athist rule. You might have gotten some nice architectural commissions to do a house for someone whose aroma was temporarily acceptable to the Tikriti mob. You might have worked your international connections, made it back to Vienna, lived a comfy exile’s life. What’s certain is that none of your pals would ever have gotten rid of that “scary guy without the hideous moustache” (as if his greatest sin was somehow a fashion faux pas) and the Saddam regime would have prospered into the next generation precisely because of people like you. People who would rather have lived their life in low-level fear than change your situation. I understand; I would have done the same. I’m not brave enough to start a revolution. I wouldn’t have grabbed a gun and charged a palace. I would lived like you. Head down, eyes wary. When the man’s too strong, the man’s too strong. But let me quote from a Guardian story on your life:

“Like all Iraqis, Salam was familiar with the dangers. At least four of his relatives had gone missing. In the past year, for no apparent reason, one of his friends was summarily executed, shot in the head as he sat in his car, and two others were arrested; one was later freed and another, a close friend, has never returned.”

The rug was soaked before we got there, friend. Cut the clever café pose; drop the sneer. That “Rambo” crap is old. Iraq needs grown-ups. Be one.

What is it with the self righteous elite? This guy fancies himself an American journalist, above reproach. His prose is not worthy of the Central Record or any other sorry local publication. Unfortunately the Blogosphere created this guys fame and the Guardian continues to pay him.

Acidman is not for the faint of heart, but damn, that dude is hilarious:

Here are a few things I learned from playing in a bar for the first time in many years:

1) Drunks don't sing or play very well.

2) A lot of sober people believe that they can sing and play when they really can't.

3) Don't EVER allow a woman to sing "Me and Bobbie McGee" or a man to sing "Rocky Top." That's just bad news.

4) NEVER trust a guy wearing a cowboy hat in southeast Georgia. WTF is that all about? This ain't Texas.

5) Playing LOUD doesn't make you sound better if you can't play in the first place.

6) Some wimmen look really good on stage, even if they're not all that pretty when they step off.

7) Some people can't dance and they SHOULDN'T, even when the music is good.

8) The drunker YOU get, the better the band sounds. That fact gives you no right to walk up and grab a guitar that doesn't belong to you and try to play it when you can't play when you're sober.

9) I could live with a woman who plays guitar better than I do. I believe that we could make beautiful music together.

10) I want to go back and do what I did tonight again.

And check this.

By the way, Tim Blair is back home and blogging. Welcome him back and leave a comment so he doesn't get a complex.

Victor David Hanson has a great piece:

Do they think it a bad thing that Noriega, Milosevic and the Taleban are gone? Whatever the endemic cynicism over US aims, the "national liberation" mantra of the 1960s seems close to realisation, if the nascent democratic movements in Panama, Serbia, Afghanistan and Iraq are any indication. The demonstrators should at least harbour no sympathy for our enemy's agenda: the fundamentalists' treatment of women, homosexuals, religious dissidents and ethnic minorities is from the Dark Ages.

Are the protesters repulsed at a "new" American preemption? If so, we in America do not remember that Hitler first sent V2s to our shores or that Milosevic cleansed Americans before we sent planes over their skies to stop the butchery. In the recent Balkan conflict Americans thought European omission, not American commission, allowed the loss of 250,000 lives a few hours from Berlin and Paris.

Mr Bush's Christianity, cowboy metaphors, and drawl might grate on European sensitivities. But he sought approval of the US Senate and went to the UN before attacking Saddam, unlike a lip-biting Bill Clinton, who bombed the Balkans, Africa and Iraq without either national or multinational sanction. And, by the terrible arithmetic of war, the Anglo-American effort to defeat the worst regime in the Middle East has been remarkable in its efforts to minimise casualties, both ours and Iraqi.

As they say, read the whole thing.

This sucks:

man and a pay phone were rushed to a hospital after he got his finger stuck in the coin return slot while trying to retrieve his 50 cents.

Emergency room doctors gave Emanuel Fleming a painkiller Monday and pried his middle finger loose using a wooden device and lubricant, ending the three-hour ordeal.

"The bone in my finger felt like it was going to break. My finger was numb. It was very painful," said Fleming, an elementary school janitor.

Fleming had tried to call his wife, but the line was busy. Two passers-by tried to help. When they failed to free him, Fleming used his other hand to dial 911.

Emergency crews and a representative of the company that owns the phone were sent to the scene. But they were also unable to free Fleming.

The phone was near a busy bus stop.

"People on the bus who know me were laughing at me," Fleming said.

You might think about a cell phone dude.

I heard this story this morning:

On Monday, there was a protest against the Philadelphia School District. The protestors want more Afrocentric lessons and black teachers.

Fair enough. I disagree with the mindset that if you have “x” percent black students, you need “x” percent black teachers, but to each his own.

There is nothing new about protests, and certainly not of the school system. But here is what was new at the protest, and very troubling.

Some protestors had signs that said “Paul Vallas is a racist liar” and “Get white teachers out of our children’s faces.”

That is despicable. And that is racist. And we need to say so.

The protesters want only black teachers teaching black kids. Could you imagine the legs this story would have if the opposite were the case?

Harold Pinter has some nice words about President Bush and Christians:

That was not a viewpoint shared by the roster of outspoken British and American antiwar luminaries who took turns at the microphone at last night's rally.

One was playwright Harold Pinter, who called Bush and Blair "liars, God-fearing Christians and murderers." Under Bush's leadership, Pinter said, the United States had come to resemble Nazi Germany in its ambitions.

"The U.S. talks constantly about weapons of mass destruction and rogue states, but, as we all know, it's the U.S. which is the rogue state par excellence," he told the crowd. "It is by far the most dangerous state that has ever existed."

He lumps Christians in with liars and murderers. And of course the obligatory Nazi reference. Of course, had Pinter been around when Hitler was ravaging Europe, He would've been on the appeasement side with Neville Chamberlain.

Rush is back. He accepted responsibility and took it like a man. I don't agree with the man all the time, but he is a stand up guy.

Glenn Reynolds has an excellent post today. Of course, a throw-away post from him that he writes before 0700 is ten times better than a post by me on my best day.

I haven't linked to Sgt. Stryker in some time. Here is his Iraq news page and here is his regular blog. The Iraq news page covers every facet of the current crisis including the good and the bad.

Midwest anti-semitism is alive and well:

A small Indiana museum dedicated to victims of the Nazi Holocaust was set ablaze and its contents destroyed on Tuesday in a likely arson attack that included a spray-painted homage to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (news - web sites).

"We are calling this a probable arson," Terre Haute Assistant Fire Chief Skip Allenbaugh said of the single-story brick structure. The blaze caused part of the structure's roof to cave in.

A side door was forced open and an unidentified accelerant was used to start the blaze, Allenbaugh said. Inside the storefront museum were charred books and pamphlets, twisted metal chairs and ruined artifacts in smashed glass display cases.

"From what we can see through the windows, it's most likely a complete loss," said Mary Wright, the museum director, who valued the contents at about $15,000. "Nothing like this has happened before. We've never even had an obscene phone call or anything like that."

Police had made no arrests, though Wright said a witness was providing information about a possible suspect or suspects.

The words "Remember Timmy McVeigh" were spray-painted in black on an outside wall. Authorities said they believe the message was left by the same people who set the fire.

The woman is a Holocaust survivor and these vermin destroyed what was probably her lifes work. Burn in hell you McVeigh-loving scum. LGF has an e-mail from a woman who worked at the museum.

Clintonista Ehrlich make some fine points concerning the steel tariffs imposed by Bush last year:

Twenty months ago, the Bush administration determined that imports of steel were injuring our domestic steel industry and proceeded to impose tariffs on those imports.

The European Union, a target of the tariffs, complained to the World Trade Organization, asking it to declare the tariffs illegal under the WTO rules the United States long ago signed on to. The WTO last week agreed with the EU and laid out a choice for Washington: Either get rid of the tariff or the Europeans will have the right to impose retaliatory tariffs. And they will impose them.

From the get-go, the steel tariffs were foolish. Steel imports were declining when the tariffs were imposed, and the tariffs were arbitrarily imposed on some foreign producers (Europe) but not others (Canada and Mexico).

Moreover, there were better ways to help steel workers directly - like picking up the tab for steel companies' "legacy costs," such as pensions and retirement health coverage. That might cost a few billion bucks, but it would be cheaper than making the entire economy pay for higher prices for steel.

Anyone in business understands that you don't improve an industry's prospects by removing the competition. In fact, for every job in the steel industry that might have been saved, more than one has probably been lost in industries like autos or construction, which pay more for protected steel now that imports are penalized.

I believe imposing the tariffs were bad policy from the beginning, maybe as bad as the education bill Bush harped with Chappaquiddick Teddy. If an industry can't thrive on its own, it should change the way it does business. The industry needs to get the unions out and streamline to be more competitive in the world market. This is a battle that the administration should not fight. Of course the former Clinton Kool-aid drinker couldn't help himself, he had to take the usual cheap shot:

And underneath all of this is a growing fear by the U.S. business community that the United States is rapidly isolating itself in the world community. It started by walking away from international agreements on climate change and a world criminal court. It presented the world with a unilateralist doctrine in the Iraq war and rejected the concern that our involvement there was precipitous, if not ill conceived (and is now coming back to the rest of the world, palms up). Now we risk embarking on a trade war in support of our unilateral right to pick which of our obligations we will honor.

Pulling out of Kyoto and spurning the world criminal court were two of the smartest things that the administration has done.

Maybe we can use this in Syria or Iran:

The U.S. military plans this week to conduct its final developmental test on the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in its arsenal, a weapon so big it is dubbed the "mother of all bombs," the Air Force said on Tuesday.

The Air Force plans to detonate a 21,700-pound satellite-guided GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, or MOAB, on Thursday at Eglin Air Force Base in the panhandle of northwestern Florida, said Jake Swinson, a spokesman for the Air Armament Center at the base.

The huge conventional bomb will be dropped from an MC-130 Combat Talon cargo plane onto a test range at the base, Swinson said.

"This is the last development test," Swinson said, noting that the massive bomb will then become available for use as U.S. military commanders deem appropriate. Swinson said the bomb had undergone "a few minor modifications."

The MOAB has had just one previous live test when it was detonated at the same base on March 11, the week before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, producing a large, mushroom-like cloud. There were two previous inert tests of the bomb, Swinson said.

The MOAB spreads a flammable mist over the target, then ignites it, producing a highly destructive blast.

The Air Force has created it as a successor to the 15,000-pound (6,800-kg) BLU-82 "Daisy Cutter," with some inside the military dubbing the MOAB the "mother of all bombs."

Epic!

Surprise. A guy (?) who likes to have sleepovers with kids and has destroyed his face with surgery is under investigation for the second time for improper behavior with young boys:

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (Reuters) - Police swarmed over pop superstar Michael Jackson's opulent Neverland Ranch near Santa Barbara in central California on Tuesday as part of an unspecified criminal investigation, officials said.

Police gave no details about the probe but cable channel Court TV, whose reporter was on the scene, quoted sources saying it stemmed from a new allegation of sexual abuse brought by a 12-year-old boy against the self-styled King of Pop.

Jackson, 45, has been dogged over the past 10 years by rumors and allegations stemming from his professed affection for young children. A former child star himself, Jackson has said he thinks of himself as "Peter Pan."

Nine years ago a 14-year-old boy reached an out-of-court agreement to settle a lawsuit accusing the singer of molesting him in 1992. No criminal charges were ever brought in that case and Jackson publicly denied any wrongdoing.

Jackson is a friggin sick pup but what kind of parent would even consider leaving their child with that freak alone for any amount of time. Sheesh.

The Iraq-al-Qaeda link memo must be real because it's generating some high placed chatter:

Senate Intelligence Committee leaders plan to ask the Justice Department (news - web sites) to investigate who leaked a top-secret Pentagon (news - web sites) memo sent to the committee.

The Oct. 27 memo from Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith provided details of intelligence linking Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al-Qaida network and the toppled Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites). Details of the memo were published in the Nov. 24 issue of The Weekly Standard, a conservative magazine.

Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said he expected to ask the Justice Department and the Pentagon to determine if the leak constituted a crime. If it did, a criminal investigation should be conducted, he said.

"That's highly classified material and an egregious leak of classified material," he told reporters.

He said committee staff drafted a letter to the Justice Department and but was waiting to consult with the panel's top Democrat, Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, before sending it.

A spokeswoman for Rockefeller, Wendy Morigi, said he would support sending the letter.

Roberts said he did not believe that the leak came from the committee.

Why did the DoD say anything? The administration should have just said nothing.

The Onion is keeping tabs on the Mid-East situation and the ever-evolving Arafat cabinet:

After weeks of political infighting, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia announced the appointment of Hassan Al-Katif as the region's new Minister of Rubble and Urban Development Tuesday.

"It is a great honor for me to name a man as experienced as Mr. Al-Katif to this post," Qureia said at a press conference held on top of a pile of rocks that was formerly a local mosque. "Palestine is in need of a strong leader to spark growth in urban areas and manage our burgeoning rubble sector, which is the fastest growing in the world."

The appointment came after several weeks of discord between Qureia and Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat over who should replace the region's 30-day emergency rubble minister. Al-Katif was strongly backed by Arafat.

"Having worked in the private sector as a rubble developer and organizer, Mr. Al-Katif understands Palestine's rubble situation," Arafat said. "He has a strong plan that charts a path to capitalization on our vast and ever-increasing supply of rock fragments and crumbled masonry."

Ha.

The Democratic field is laughable and petty:

The Kerry campaign in Iowa is looking into the events that transpired on Saturday in Des Moines, when former Vermont Gov. Howie Dean, a licensed physician, helped a man who appeared to suffer a seizure on a street. It turns out the man was a Dean volunteer, and Dean just happened to be passing by when he noticed a crowd and wondered what had happened. According to eyewitness accounts reported by numerous press outlets, Dean pushed his way into the crowd (apparently certain that a doctor was needed for whatever was occurring), cradled the man's head in his lap and administered a brief examination by taking his pulse and asking him a few questions about his medical history.

Surprisingly, this is the fourth time that Dean has been in the right place at the right time during his campaigning, and has played a role in helping an ill supporter.

"It's just way too coincidental," says a John Kerry volunteer in Des Moines. "And it was one of his people that was sick. It just looks like a setup. Most doctors goes a lifetime without being on the scene of a something like this, and it happens to him four times in four months? Maybe he is making people sick."

This volunteer said the campaign is now looking into each of the times Dean assisted fallen supporters, and is looking back to Dean's time as Vermont governor to establish a pattern, which all sounds just a bit desperate and petty on the part of the Kerry campaign.

"You know what they say about desperate times," says the volunteer. "This is going to get nasty real fast. It's the only way we can stay in it."

Kerry is rolling out a new, get-tough image that he tested out in Jefferson-Jackson remarks on Saturday. The press spotlighted the speech, and initial reviews were good, thought internally, some Kerry supporters say it is too little too late.

These guys (and girl) are going to be so bloodied come the Iowa and New Hampshire votes that no one could survive to take on Bush.

It is now even easier to use abortion as birth control:

Women are about to get their first chewable birth-control pill. The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved a chewable, spearmint-flavored version of a longtime contraceptive tablet, called Ovcon 35.

THE TABLET WORKS if a woman swallows it whole. But a woman also can chew this version, as long as she then drinks a full glass of liquid immediately afterward to ensure the full dose reaches the stomach and no residue is left in the mouth, the FDA said

I wonder if you can blow bubbles with it.

P. J. O'Rourke reminisces about Mike Kelly and his time as an imbedded reported before he died:

Oh, yeah. These guys just loved Mike, and they really wanted to talk about it. I mean, everybody from General Blount right down to the sergeant who had been driving Mike around—not the one who was driving when he died, but who had been driving him around when he was with his proper embed, before he sort of wiggled out in order to get up to the front. Every single one of them said, "I've just never met anyone who was interested in the same stuff that I am." For one of them, it would be military history, for another one it would be politics, for one of them it would be logistics and planning. Finally, I get down to this sergeant and he said: "Me and Mike, we used to talk for hours." And I asked, "What'd you talk about?" And—if you'll excuse the language— he said, "Beer and pussy." In fact, Mike had bumped into somebody else I talked to, a photographer for USA Today, Jack Gruber, and he said, "Yeah, I bumped into Mike and he said, 'It's been a long time since I've been around eighteen-year olds—if I have to talk about beer and pussy for one more minute, my head is going to explode.'" But they just all loved him. Mike's enthusiasm, and his way of paying attention to people, and the fact that for at least those moments he was with those people, he did care about that stuff in the way they did—that's part of what made him such a good reporter.

And his take on what the future holds:

I think Rumsfeld put his finger right on it: "Long slog." My feeling is twofold: I don't think we are going to straighten out this country any time soon; it's going to be a very long haul. On the other hand, vast areas of Iraq are very peaceful and have been rid of a disgusting and repressive government. The other thing is, everyone talks about Iraq not being stable, but when it was stable it attacked Israel in 1967 and in 1973, it attacked Iran, it attacked Kuwait, it fostered terrorism in the Middle East. Who wants a stable Iraq? It's better for us and, in a way, better for the world that this government has been weakened and destroyed. Does it leave a mess behind? Do we owe it to the people of Iraq to try our best to clean up that mess? Yes. But is that mess our fault? No. It's a very complicated situation.

And finally, if he was locked in a room with Chris Buckley and Dave Barry attempting to solve Mid-East crises:

First of all, it better be a lot of cigars and a lot of beer! An awful lot of beer, because we're going to be in there for a long, long time. The problems of the Middle East are the problems of mankind since we came out of the trees. They just happen to be a little more intense. When you look at a chaotic region like the Middle East, what you're really seeing is most of human history, and some parts of America and some parts of Europe and a few parts of Asia are glaring exceptions. The kind of peaceful, productive, incredibly wealthy life that we live in these few areas around the world—this has only been going on for a nanosecond as time goes. It's so exceptional I'm not even sure what it means. The whole world might degenerate back into the Middle East, because that's what it's always been. And you can't solve the problem of the Middle East, because it's not a problem, it's a condition. It's the normal condition of mankind.

If you read Donald Kagan's The Peloponnesian War, it's all there. It's been going on like this, time out of mind. Little islands of human happiness, peace, and prosperity are so exceptional at this point in history that I'm not even sure we can draw lessons from them.

Read the whole thing.

Bush has huevos the size of Texas. He knows damn well that the vocal Left in Britain will be out in full force and still he goes:

More than half of Labour supporters back US President George Bush’s state visit to Britain, according to a survey released today.

They were among an overall 43% of voters who told pollsters ICM they welcomed the visit – some 7% more than the 36% who said they would prefer the President to stay away. Twelve per cent were undecided.

The survey, to be published in The Guardian tomorrow as Mr Bush flies to the UK, contradicted the widely-held assumption that the visit will damage Prime Minister Tony Blair.

It recorded improved ratings for the Prime Minister personally, as well as a slump in opposition to the war in Iraq.

And it indicated that public opinion in Britain is overwhelmingly pro-American, with 62% of respondents agreeing the US was “generally speaking, a force for good”, compared to 15% who described it as “an evil empire”.

More of those questioned said they were dissatisfied with Mr Blair’s performance (52%) than satisfied (40%). But his overall popularity rating of minus-12 was an improvement on last month’s minus-18.

Opposition to war in Iraq fell by 12 points since September to 41% of all voters, the poll suggested. Meanwhile, pro-war sentiment grew by nine points to 47%.

And some two-thirds of those questioned said that British and American troops should not withdraw from Iraq now, but remain until the situation in the country is more stable.

Liberal Democrat supporters were most opposed to Mr Bush’s visit, with 43% saying they would prefer he did not come, compared to 39% who said they welcomed him.

A majority of Labour voters – 51% – said they backed the visit, against 34% who wanted the President to stay away.

Some 45% of those describing themselves as Conservatives welcomed the President’s visit, against 37% opposed to it.

Hostility to the visit was strongest among over-65s and least strong among people in their 20s.

ICM questioned 1,002 adults between November 14 and 16.

You can read about the crazed crowds expected here, here, and here.

The Mirror is an idiotic newspaper. The only good thing about 'em is they publish Hitch.

A grunt shows the AP what he thinks about them and their reporting. They are too stupid to catch it.

Update: They finally seem to have caught on. If the link no longer works, go here:

Editors, Photo Editors, Librarians, eliminate from your systems and archives DV115 transmitted Nov. 17, 2003, due to obscene gesture. (AP Photos/New York)

Campaign finance reform has had an interesting effect:

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) today announced that he would reject public financing of his presidential campaign during the primaries, freeing him from a $45 million spending limit. Kerry joins fellow Democrat Howard Dean and President Bush in rejecting the taxpayer subsidies, which can provide as much as $18.6 million.

Bush has already raised in excess of $100 million for his campaign, with a goal of $170 million to $200 million. Dean leads the Democratic field with $25 million, and the flow of cash to his campaign has been accelerating every quarter. Dean has declared a goal of matching Bush at $200 million.

Kerry, who described himself as a fighter "for campaign finance reform to limit the influence of big corporations and moneyed interests in our government," blamed Dean for his decision to abandon a program viewed by its supporters as a key post-Watergate reform designed to limit spending and encourage small donors.

"I wish Howard Dean had kept his promise to stay within the campaign finance system. But he did not. He changed the rules of this race – and anyone with a real shot at the nomination must now play by those rules. And today, let me be clear: I'm in this campaign to win the nomination and to defeat George Bush next November," Kerry said at a press conference in Des Moines that his campaign made minimal efforts to publicize.

Kerry never accepts any responsibility for anything. That's why he's trailing. He despicable. I was for campaign finance reform by the way.

Lileks is pissed. I like when Lileks is pissed. Not that I don't like target stories:

There have been many things I’ve wished to write about this week. Michael Moore went to Germany and slammed America up and down for all the usual reasons – we don’t have passports! We only speak English! Our stupid minds! Stupid, stupid! We’re not like the cultured Europeans, who – aside from their occasional continent-shattering spasms of facism – are the epp-ee-tomay of culture and enlightenment. This, in the same week that a survey of EUians named Israel as the greatest threat to world peace. (Sometimes I swear that if a European hits his thumb with a hammer when no one’s around, he shouts GODDAMN JEWS!)

Show Michael Moore a man in jeans holding a rake and a man in a suit with a briefcase, and he will not only automatically side with the guy who has the rake, he will assume that the briefcase contains plans to move the rake factory to Mexico, as well as documents that prove the company knew that its rakes gave people painful splinters at a rate 150% above EU standards. That’s what Moore sees. Could be true. Or the guy with the briefcase could be someone who runs a lawn-care company, and the guy with the rake is a parolee who did six years for murder, found Christ, and got hired when he met the CEO in the church basement for coffee after services. Could be true. But even if the latter is true in the specific example, Moore is sure it’s wrong in the greater sense.


Then Ted Rall wrote a column called “Why We Fight” in the voice of an Iraqi “resistance” fighter. I suppose it’s intended to help us understand the mindset of the enemy. Eh. The French have a saying: his head, it is filled with urine. Or they should have such a saying; I’m sure it would sound elegant and dismissive. These people aren’t the loyal opposition anymore; they’re just the opposition. They may say they love America, but they love some idealized nonexistent America that can never exist as long as there’s individuality and free will. They’re like people who say they love women and beat their wife because she doesn’t look like the Playboy centerfold. I’m sick of the lot of them. As for Rall, who cares about him? He’ll get his reward: the great yawning indifference of history. If people barely remember Kelly and Capp nowadays, what are the chances that they’ll remember someone who appeared to draw with his thumb?

Ha.

This is the stupidest damn thing I've read in months:

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) - A former waiter was ordered to perform 80 hours of community service for vandalizing the home of customers who complained about his service.
Jonathan Voeltner, 21, was also put on probation for two years and ordered to pay a $316 fine after pleading guilty to the misdemeanor charges in Riverside County Superior Court.

Wayne and Darlene Keller say effects of the June vandalism linger.
Voeltner was a waiter at Sizzler when asked the Kellers for vegetables with their meal and were told they could only get a baked potato or french fries. After they insisted on a salad, Voeltner rudely delivered one, the family said. They complained to the Norco restaurant's manager.

A day later, Voeltner and two minors went to the Keller home in Corona where police say they crushed eggs on the house, poured maple syrup over hedges and unrolled toilet paper onto a pine tree. The trio then rang the doorbell six times and hid to watch the family's reaction.

This is the classic part however:

But the Kellers, who have since moved, said they fear further retaliation.

"When I drive, I'm nervous about who is behind me," Darlene Keller said. "When we go out to eat, we can't help but think about it.

"It makes you think twice about everything," she said. "When you are Christmas shopping and you can't find something, do you ask for help, or should you let it go?"

Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Seltzer said prosecutors, who had sought to jail Voeltner, were disappointed.

"It's a very scary incident," she said.

You've got to be fucking kidding me (sorry for the strong language Honey). These kids played Ding-Dong-Ditch in retaliation for you being assholes to a guy following corporate policy. The only reason you got your damn salad was because the punk's manager was trying to please you. How much is the lawsuit you're gearing up for going to cost? Note to the Husband Wayne, if my Wife said these things about being scared of a dumbass kid, I'd consider myself the biggest pussy around. As for jail for this little stunt, get the hell out of here.

This blog is a release for me. I have always craved information. Not just political or historic, just information. My beautiful Wife calls me the the Rainman (Charlie Babbett). I don't just read, I consume information. I have two perfect kids who I give considerable time and energy as I try to do with my Wife, plus a job which I give the same. Do I wish I blogged more? Well, actually no. I post when the days events require it, or when I just need some time to release frustration at what I see or hear. Hell, I have no idea how many people read this, or care for that matter. My grammar sucks (but the spelling is always right save typos), and I'm not as analytical as I'd like. But still I write.

I do believe that blogging is a harbinger of a new media. Perhaps that media is upon us. It doesn't matter what your ideology may be, Lib, Neocon, Paleocon, Looney-Lefty, whatever. You can write what you feel, and be smacked upside the head or praised within minutes or hours. The greatest thing is its pissing off the "Old Media" something fierce.

Enough of that though. Here's what I read daily;

Lileks-A guy who doesn't have the time but enjoys it anyway.
Taranto-A guy who gets paid to do it and earns every dollar. The first read when I get home.
Lucianne-Mother of Jonah and leading a crazed group of Conservatives.
Tim Blair-A guy who actually has me caring about something stupid Margo wrote or Simon Crean said.
Slate-Lib and proud of it. I'll rail at Noah and agree with a Marxist named Hitchens.
Drudge-Kinda like Entertainment Tonight but has the stories ASAP.
VodkaPundit-The kinda guy who would probably piss me off in a bar thinking He's smarter than most, but thinking to myself that, He's right, He is.
LGF-On a mission to show the world what it is either too consumed with their own thoughts, or too lazy to get the correct facts, or is too anti-semitic to see what is really happening in Israel. Indispensible.
The American Prowler-Excellent political news and excellent writers.
Glenn Reynolds-Still the best. I think I have a poignant thought and He's either already wrote about it or linked to it. Damn him.
Mugger-Music, baseball, and politics, what's not to like. He is a Conservative who can see when Republicans say something stupid and point it out.

I'll finish this post tomorrow with links but I'm too friggin tired.

I can be e-mailed at sswenviron@comcast.net.

Reuters can't let go of the Iraq/Vietnam quagmire angle. You read and decide what you think. When did the war in Vietnam begin? I'm too damn tired after getting up at 0415 and driving to Queens, NY for work at 0700.

Rosie is a bitter woman. Look at the womans face for crying out loud.

James Taranto found this little gem. To quote James:

"Biologists have linked a mysterious, underwater farting sound to bubbles coming out of a herring's anus," reports New Scientist magazine, which helpfully provides a WAV-format file of the fishy flatulence. The scientists say, however, that "the sounds are probably not caused by digestive gases because the number of sounds does not change when the fish are fed."

The fish make the sound only when it's dark, leading scientists to hypothesize that they use it to communicate their location. Our theory is that they're just embarrassed. We have an image of a bunch of herring packed sardine-like onto an elevator and everyone's thinking, Who farted?

These are the idiotic people I am forced to deal with on a daily basis. This is why I blog. If I didn't my friggin head would explode.

Bush lost, not Katz

The election is over and John Street won. It's important to note, however, that the loser in this race wasn't Sam Katz but perhaps President Bush.

The federal probe into impropriety at City Hall was seen as a Republican dirty trick engineered at the federal level. The campaign was no longer Street vs. Katz but rather Street vs. Bush. A Republican win in a Democrat-dominated city would have given Republicans national-level bragging rights. They would have claimed that the win reaffirmed the Republican vision.

But the perception of White House impropriety overshadowed or at least was equal to the perception of City Hall impropriety. This broad public reaction only holds bad news for the President as he prepares to wage his reelection campaign next year.

Ed Caban
Drexel Hill

Ed my man, Bush never came to campaign for Katz. In fact Ed, Katz never wanted Bush to assist him and Bush couldn't give a damn about campaigning here because he'll never win the city. You see Ed, may I call you Ed? Oh never mind, I'll just call you Dumbass. The reason that Street won the election was because He pulled out the RACECARD. You know what that is don't you? He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against the BLACKMAN. Evil George W. Bush decided, in between dealing with a potentially tough reelection bid, numerous places where troops are in harms way, and the myriad other things he deals with on a daily basis, that having a WHITE mayor in an inconsequential city was at the top of his list. Let's see, two Republican governorships in the latest election and a mid-term win last year that astounded everyone. I bet George is really pissed that the bug was found and Street won. I find it interesting that the Police Commissioner's son, an FBI agent was the first (a coincidence) on the scene.

The election was won by Street for one simple reason, He was losing the election and played the RACECARD. Philadelphians were suckered into voting for a Mayor who will be mired in scandal for the next four years. Congratulations dumbass, I hope the flight of the middle-class taxpayers from the city and the subsequent business loss makes you happy.

Proof that the Left hates Bush more than the Right hated Clinton (#37):

“America, under Bush, is a danger to the world,” Soros said. Then he smiled: “And I’m willing to put my money where my mouth is.”

Soros believes a “supremacist ideology” guides this White House. He hears echoes in its rhetoric of his childhood in occupied Hungary. “When I hear Bush say, ‘You’re either with us or against us,’ it reminds me of the Germans.” It conjures up memories, he said, of Nazi slogans on the walls, Der Feind Hort mit (“The enemy is listening”): “My experiences under Nazi and Soviet rule have sensitized me,” he said in a soft Hungarian accent.

Does the Left ever think that the equating of a sitting president to the most fiendish mass-murderer (with the exception of Stalin) of all time may backfire on them? Let's hash this out for a second. The historic base of the Democratic Party has been, minorities (in particular Blacks), unions, Catholics, and Jews. I think in the privacy of the voting booth, union members vote what they feel not what they've been told to. I also think that the minority vote is not quite the given it once was. Blacks are not the most prevalent minority anymore, Hispanics are. The Hispanic vote is not a given, as we witnessed by the crashing of Bustamante in California. The Catholic vote is still pretty solidly in the Dem camp, but the opposition to the partial-birth abortion ban could sway some of that bloc.

That leaves the Jewish vote. The Jews have watched the Democratic Party, which once was the only party they'd vote for, turn on them. Not the Zell Miller types, but the more liberal ones. The Left is so anti-Israel that they seethe at any reference to Sharon or building a security wall. They support the "Palestinian Cause" which targets children on a regular basis. Does the left really think that the Jewish vote will be with them as before given they are equating POTUS with Hitler and supporting Arafat? I think not.

The sound of a crashing campaign:

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (search)'s press secretary and deputy finance director quit Tuesday, adding to the bitter turmoil on Kerry's team after the dismissal of his campaign manager.

Robert Gibbs (search), chief spokesman for the Massachusetts lawmaker, and deputy finance director Carl Chidlow (search) quit in reaction to the firing of Jim Jordan (search), abruptly let go by Kerry Sunday night. Both expressed dissatisfaction with the campaign, according to officials.

If a more poorly run campaign has been run, I can't think of it.

Larry Flynt, moralist:

"I was offered photos of Jessica Lynch. I purchased them in order to keep them out of circulation, not to publish them," Flynt, publisher of Hustler magazine, said in a statement read by a publicist.

"Jessica Lynch is being used as a pawn by the media and by the government to create a hero who can sell this war to the American people."

Flynt, no friend of the Bush administration or the Republicans, said the president is using Lynch "to justify the war in Iraq."

"The U.S. government wasn't alone in their actions," his statement said. "They were co-conspirators with the media, who wanted to force-feed us a Joan of Arc."

This dude is the ultimate scumbag.

I heard something that bothered me today. On one of the stations, I believe WABC out of New York, they said turn-out for the Veteran's Day parades today was light. I guess it bothers me because we are in the midst of a war that effects us even more than WWII. This is a war that must be fought. Our soldiers are dying on a daily basis and few people have the inclination to pay respects to those who've served? The "Greatest Generation" is getting older and passing on in greater numbers. Couldn't people have taken a few minutes and paid them the respect they so richly deserve?

Getting back to the current war, I wish I could pass on the knowledge to non-military folks what it means to serve. This may sound simple and possibly corny, but to serve your country means to give back to your country and protect the rights we cherish. The good men and women currently on the front lines of the War on Terror know they have a job to do. Sure there are troops stationed in Afghanistan or Iraq who joined for the GI Bill and never envisioned they'd be in the situation they are. But, the majority took the oath with the full understanding of what could happen in the world and although they may bitch and complain, they suck it up and do their job in a highly professional manner. By the way, they old saying is "a bitching sailor is a happy sailor".

I am proud to say I served this great nation. Every vet I saw today, I wished him a happy Veterans Day. They all gave the knowing look of someone who has been there and wished me the same. The only non-vet who acknowledged that today was a day of gratitude and remembrance was a person whose Dad was a career Marine. She understood what this day means.

Where am I going with this? Hell, I don't really know. Maybe all I wish to say is do something to thank a vet. It could be what my kids did today. They drew a picture for our neighbor Ed. Ed beat the Germans all the way across Europe. I once told Ed he was a hero, he said "I'm not a hero, I served with heroes". He doesn't need parades, he needs someone to just say "thank you" and show appreciation for his sacrifice.

One last thing to keep in mind, Soldiers and Sailors, both current or former, served for many reasons. Perhaps it was for college money, or to escape a tough neighborhood. Maybe it was for adventure, or maybe they just had no other options. Whatever the reason, once they made it through boot camp and received orders, they knew. They knew they were part of an elite club that was perhaps unexplainable to non-military folks but was a strong feeling just the same. They were part of a club that exudes PRIDE.

Rahm didn't need his Clinton connections, he would've gotten that job with a Bubba crony without em:

The revolving door between government and business turns constantly in Washington, but seldom has a Washington insider made so much money so quickly.

Seldom has someone been able to amass a fortune to last a lifetime during so brief an interruption in a political career. Seldom has someone done so on the way between positions of such influence, sandwiching it in as he moved from trusted confidant of a president to House freshman already using his prodigious fundraising ability to position himself for a top strategic role for House Democrats.

In doing so, Emanuel provides a portrait of the often murky, below-the-surface intersection of money and power and politics.

Deftly tapping the contacts he made as a senior adviser to former President Bill Clinton, Emanuel went to work for one of Clinton's most active fundraisers after leaving the White House in late 1998. He took on a client base many of whom were his party's most important financial backers--Democratic donors of such clout that they have slept in the Lincoln Bedroom, flown on Air Force One and, in one case, even celebrated a birthday in the White House with Clinton.

Congressional disclosures filed this year show Emanuel earned $16.2 million as an investment banker, largely by brokering high-profile mergers and acquisitions. That is more than twice what was reported when he ran for office last year--before millions of dollars of deferred income poured in.

It's a striking sum even in the richly paid world of corporate deal-making, let alone for someone without an MBA or any prior business experience other than running a small political consultancy.

He did it on pure hard work and diligence. In two years.

In the age of really bad TV. What would be the show (scroll down) that just may send you over the edge?

'Partridge' Lands at VH1: Sony Pictures Television will produce a new version of the 1970s classic "The Partridge Family" for VH1, as well as a reality series documenting the casting of the show. Both series will air in 2004 and will be executive produced by Ken Mok ("Making the Band").

My God no! This is just pure torture. They'd play for the detainees in Guantanamo if it didn't violate the Geneva Convention.

Brett Favre is an absolute stud. I say this in a week where the Eagles will play Green Bay on Monday night. I wish with every fiber of my being to not respect Emmitt Smith. His tenacity won me over. He would come into Philly, Washington, and the Meadowlands every year and wrack up yards. He played on artificial turf at home. He is now the leading rusher in pro football history (of course Barry Sanders retired well before he should have and undoubtedly would hold that record). Favre is that type of player:

To play quarterback in the NFL is to endure the equivalent of a couple of car crashes every Sunday. A major and seldom-considered part of the job is getting out of bed on Monday morning and beginning the weeklong process of putting yourself back together to play the next week.

For another baseball comparison, consider starting pitchers. They throw 100 or so balls under the most perfect possible conditions, without the impediment of 320-pound defensive linemen plowing into their rib cages as they release the pitch. And it takes them five days to return to full arm strength.

Factor in the rest of the abuse a quarterback takes, and it is a significant achievement just to be in uniform each week. Earlier this year, when the Packers played the Seattle Seahawks, Trent Dilfer marveled at Favre's streak.

"It is by far, in my opinion, the greatest achievement athletically in the last 13 years," Dilfer told the Tacoma News Tribune. "I once got to 70-something starts, and it took everything in my total person to achieve that. Every drug, every shot, everything you could possibly imagine to do 70. It's ridiculous."

I hope Brett does play next year, as has been hinted at, and no QB breaks his record.

Tom Ferrick captures Street:

I knew I was going to win. Axelrod came to me a week before the election and said: The polls are in, and you are ahead by 15 points.

I hug him and say: You are a genius, Mr. Media Consultant. I'm glad I didn't fire you.

He says: Don't thank me, thank the FBI.

I say: You mean, I could have saved that $7 million I spent on TV ads?

He says: I hate to admit it, but it looks that way. I spent two months and millions of dollars to get the voters to sympathize with you. The feds got the job done in one week with that bug they planted. And it didn't cost you a dime.

I say: Oh, in that case, you are fired!

I was joking, of course. (Who says I don't have a sense of humor?) I'm not firing Axelrod. I'm just going to stiff him a little on his final payment. Ha!

How this guy continues to write for a liberal paper in the most democratic of towns is astonishing. I'm not saying by any stretch that he is a conservative, however, going against any democrat in this town usually means death.

Damn! I'm absolutely shocked.

More on the Democratic implosion, from a Liberal:

The Democratic slide into oblivion is excruciating to watch. But democracy comes with anti-toxins. Good ideas beat bad ideas over time.

Yesterday George W. Bush said this:

Sixty years of Western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe because in the long run stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty." (Emphasis mine.)

In other words, he’s pitching the Kissinger doctrine over the side. “Stability,” “our bastards,” and the rest of the old right ideology is finished. We cannot and will not liberate every oppressed population at once. But we’ll do what we can when we are able.

It’s ironic that a recently isolationist Republican president has embraced this vision. It’s an old vision and its roots can be found on the left. Paul Berman articulated it best. “Freedom for others means safety for ourselves. Let us be for the freedom of others.”

George W. Bush, to my enduring astonishment, agrees. It’s the only thing that makes the Democrats’ self-destruction bearable.

Read the comments, especially the first one.

Krauthammer:

must be admitted that rarely have the authorities in any government applied more stimulus to the U.S. economy: Taxes are cut, twice; interest rates are reduced to historical lows; the dollar is cheap; and the deficit, $374 billion and counting, is exerting a massive Keynesian stimulus. Democrats could reasonably argue that any economy that did not respond to this kind of stimulus would have to be termed clinically dead. But they cannot claim it, because they opposed the principal stimulus: the tax cuts (the obvious countercyclical response to the recessionary effects of the bursting of the high-tech bubble in 2000).

My guess is that if the economy is neutralized as an issue by growth in 2004, the election will become a referendum on Iraq. More Americans already believe that the president is doing a poor job on Iraq rather than a good one. If things continue to deteriorate, the Democrats will likely gravitate to the left and to the candidate who was the most opposed to the war in the first place -- and who might most plausibly argue for withdrawal.

Question is: Can Howard Dean sell that to the guy with a Confederate flag in his pickup?

Tim Blair is crossing America. I didn't link to this until he was at least 2,000 miles away for fear that I would cause mass hysteria that could only be described as "Blairmania".

The Mugabe watch continues. Of course they will play the system.

Some people respect our servicemen and women. This is a great story.

It's time to de-criminalize marijuana. It's probably the only thing Kucinich and I agree on. Here's another story about the medicinal uses of THC.

Is Germany as anti-semitic as their history suggests?

Of course, there are good Germans. Plenty of them. But they live in Philadelphia, not Frankfurt. They or their ancestors all left Germany by 1938. Those who stayed didn't just support Hitler - they loved him and fought for him to the bitter end.

The whopping difference between the Allied occupation of Germany and our occupation of Iraq is that the overwhelming majority of Iraqis welcomed their liberation. We had to force freedom and democracy on the Germans at gunpoint.

They'll never forgive us - no more than they'll forgive Jews for surviving the Holocaust, making a success of Israel against all odds and enriching the United States in virtually every field of human endeavor.

And Germany? In the 19th and early 20th century, German-speaking countries led the world in culture and science. Then they killed or drove away their Jews. The result? Germany's greatest contributions to world culture since 1945 have been Milli Vanilli and Gummi Bears.

I am of German roots and would like to think not. However, the Germans didn't blame Hitler for losing in WWII, they didn't blame the Brits or Americans. Well then, who was left? It had to be the Jews fault.

This is what I read every morning in the Inquirer:

Value of GI photos

I would like to commend The Inquirer for publishing the war casualty photos and descriptions ("Killed in the line of duty," Oct. 30). War is easy to support and ignore when it is censored, faceless and anonymous, but not so easy to contend with when cold, hard facts and photos present themselves.

It is my sincere hope that all the warmongers out there take a good hard look at all the innocent, upstanding men and women who paid the ultimate price for George Bush and Dick Cheney's war for oil. As I looked at the photos, I became very sad, then very angry. These men and women lost their lives for a man, and a war, based upon lies and rhetoric.

Jeff Lockey
Lower Pottsgrove

No Jeff, they lost their lives defending America. I seem to recall that Congress voted and gave the George and Dick approval. I'm going out on a limb here Mr. Lockey, but I bet you never served the country in the armed forces. I did, and did it so that Americans like you can express your opinion in a letter to the editor. Every soldier, sailor, and airman know what could potentially happen when they took that oath, so spare me your rhetoric. I pray for the families of every one of the good men and women who have died. My heart hurt looking at their pictures and thinking about the pain their families must be feeling. They will be remembered by me as dedicated and heroic service people who served their country with dignity and pride. To you, and most liberals, they are another element in your devilish plan to politicize the war. Shame on you.

Run Ralph, Run!

Hilarious!

Hitchens:

More to the point, one has to be prepared to support a campaign—or a cause—that is going badly. The president has been widely lampooned by many a glib columnist for saying that increased violence is not necessarily a cause for despair and may even be evidence of traction. He is, in fact, quite right to take this view, which was first expressed, to my knowledge, by Gen. John Abizaid. Those who murder the officials of the United Nations and the Red Cross, set fire to oil pipelines and blow up water mains, and shoot down respected clerics outside places of worship are indeed making our point for us. There is no justifiable way that a country as populous and important as Iraq can be left at the mercy of such people. And—here is my crux—there never was.

I couldn't say it better.

Glenn Reynolds has an interesting thought (one among many):

Thought for the day: What year is it? Well, really, of course, it's 2003, and historical analogies are of only so much use. But everyone keeps talking as if it's 1946.

But what if it's, in a sense, 1943? What if the Iraq war is just the opening phase? After all, Saudi Arabia is the true source of worldwide Islamist terror. And -- like Germany and Japan in 1943 -- it hasn't been invaded yet.

Just a thought, and probably an example of the limited usefulness of historical analogy. But if the Iraq war is seen as the beginning phase of a longer struggle, rather than the end of the war, then, well, a lot of things look different. And I think that's what it is

I suspect that we will suffer another attack sooner rather than later. I think the next one will dwarf 9/11. If we are attacked on such a scale, we will be forced to deal harshly will other nations, particularly Saudi Arabia. I hope they know this but I fear they do not.

An epic speech today by Bush:

The progress of liberty is a powerful trend. Yet, we also know that liberty, if not defended, can be lost. The success of freedom is not determined by some dialectic of history. By definition, the success of freedom rests upon the choices and the courage of free peoples, and upon their willingness to sacrifice. In the trenches of World War I, through a two-front war in the 1940s, the difficult battles of Korea and Vietnam, and in missions of rescue and liberation on nearly every continent, Americans have amply displayed our willingness to sacrifice for liberty.

The sacrifices of Americans have not always been recognized or appreciated, yet they have been worthwhile. Because we and our allies were steadfast, Germany and Japan are democratic nations that no longer threaten the world. A global nuclear standoff with the Soviet Union ended peacefully -- as did the Soviet Union. The nations of Europe are moving towards unity, not dividing into armed camps and descending into genocide. Every nation has learned, or should have learned, an important lesson: Freedom is worth fighting for, dying for, and standing for -- and the advance of freedom leads to peace. (Applause.)

And:

Some skeptics of democracy assert that the traditions of Islam are inhospitable to the representative government. This "cultural condescension," as Ronald Reagan termed it, has a long history. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, a so-called Japan expert asserted that democracy in that former empire would "never work." Another observer declared the prospects for democracy in post-Hitler Germany are, and I quote, "most uncertain at best" -- he made that claim in 1957. Seventy-four years ago, The Sunday London Times declared nine-tenths of the population of India to be "illiterates not caring a fig for politics." Yet when Indian democracy was imperiled in the 1970s, the Indian people showed their commitment to liberty in a national referendum that saved their form of government.

Time after time, observers have questioned whether this country, or that people, or this group, are "ready" for democracy -- as if freedom were a prize you win for meeting our own Western standards of progress. In fact, the daily work of democracy itself is the path of progress. It teaches cooperation, the free exchange of ideas, and the peaceful resolution of differences. As men and women are showing, from Bangladesh to Botswana, to Mongolia, it is the practice of democracy that makes a nation ready for democracy, and every nation can start on this path.

It should be clear to all that Islam -- the faith of one-fifth of humanity -- is consistent with democratic rule. Democratic progress is found in many predominantly Muslim countries -- in Turkey and Indonesia, and Senegal and Albania, Niger and Sierra Leone. Muslim men and women are good citizens of India and South Africa, of the nations of Western Europe, and of the United States of America.

More than half of all the Muslims in the world live in freedom under democratically constituted governments. They succeed in democratic societies, not in spite of their faith, but because of it. A religion that demands individual moral accountability, and encourages the encounter of the individual with God, is fully compatible with the rights and responsibilities of self-government.

A very well written speech, worthy of Peggy Noonan. Bush has got to pound home the point that this is an achievable goal in Iraq and that Iraqi's deserve the chance.