The doors are open...

... and to quote King David, The inmates are running the asylum.

Story: "They were celebrating outside the governor's office Friday as Eliot Spitzer handed a landmark victory to a half-million illegal immigrants.

The state will no longer require proof of citizenship for driver's licenses.
...

The new rules will start to kick in at the end of the year, unless someone finds a way to put a halt to them.

Under the new policy, the Department of Motor Vehicles will accept foreign passports and birth certificates from immigrants as proof of identification. They will no longer need to provide a Social Security card"

I don't get it... why on earth would anyone consider this a good idea?

A shadow of the past

Story:" The cause of Thursday's demonstrations dates to August 2006, when a black Jena High School student asked the principal whether blacks could sit under a shade tree that was a frequent gathering place for whites. He was told yes. But nooses appeared in the tree the next day. Three white students were suspended but not criminally prosecuted. LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters said this week he could find no state law covering the act....

The noose incident was followed by fights between blacks and whites, culminating in December's attack on white student Justin Barker, who was knocked unconscious. According to court testimony, his face was swollen and bloodied, but he was able to attend a school function that same night.

Six black teens were arrested. Five were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder—charges that have since been reduced for four of them. The sixth was booked as a juvenile on sealed charges.
...
"I believe in people standing up for what's right," said resident Ricky Coleman, 46, who is white. "What bothers me is this town being labeled racist. I'm not racist."

Mychal Bell, now 17, is the only one of the defendants to be tried. He was convicted of aggravated second-degree battery, but his conviction was tossed out last week by a state appeals court that said Bell, who was 16 at the time of the beating, could not be tried as an adult on that charge.

He remained in jail pending an appeal by prosecutors. An appellate court on Thursday ordered a hearing to be held within three days on his request for release. The other five defendants are free on bond.

A group of about a dozen white residents and black demonstrators engaged in an animated but not angry exchange during the march. Whites asked blacks if they were aware of Bell's criminal record. Blacks replied that Jena High administrators mishandled the incidents."

This is shameful. Comparing this kind of march, where there is almost no issue at stake, to the marches for freedom that were led by Dr. King, is simply reprehensible. The fire, the passion, and the justice of what they wanted, indeed, deserved, is undeniable.
But this? This is nothing but old lions trying to recover some of their lost glory, and a bunch of college kids trying to make themselves as important in their eyes as their parents are in the eyes of others. But defending a couple of kids with a criminal record after they assault other students, there's no honor in that.

If this was a group of white people protesting somewhere else, say, the Duke Lacrosse trial...
It'd be a revival of a clan. But this? No, this is just a civil rights march!

Hatred on the Left: Hilary

Story:""Vice President Cheney came up to see the Republicans yesterday. You can always tell when the Republicans are getting restless, because the Vice President’s motorcade pulls into the Capitol, and Darth Vader emerges," Hillary Clinton said just now at a $100-a-head fundraiser at Town Hall near New York's Times Square, referring to Cheney's efforts shore up Republican congressional support for the Iraq war.
...
She was referring specifically to the White House's successful effort to stem Republican support for Senator Jim Webb's legislation to limit troop deployments, which failed today in the Senate by a vote of 56-44, short of the 60 it needed to pass."

Darth Vader? The Dark Lord of the Sith and Dick Cheney do not compare.
Seesh, it cannot be that unusual for a veep to go and rally the troops on Capitol Hill before a bill.
And talk about your creative political insults...

Syria, N. Korea, Iran together-forever with nukes?

Times Online: " Andrew Semmel, a senior US State Department official, said Syria might have obtained nuclear equipment from “secret suppliers”, and added that there were a “number of foreign technicians” in the country.

Asked if they could be North Korean, he replied: “There are North Korean people there. There’s no question about that.” He said a network run by AQ Khan, the disgraced creator of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, could be involved.

But why would nuclear material be in Syria? Known to have chemical weapons, was it seeking to bolster its arsenal with something even more deadly?

Alternatively, could it be hiding equipment for North Korea, enabling Kim Jong-il to pretend to be giving up his nuclear programme in exchange for economic aid? Or was the material bound for Iran, as some authorities in America suggest?" "

Further details emerge, it was not solely a syria cache, but rather, one made and operated with North Korean assistance, as well with ties to Iran.

What this article claims, is that the Syrian air defense network is far superior to Irans', yet Isreal was able to waltz in, with commandos 'painting' the target, blow the tar out of the objective, and leave, all without a loss of Israeli life. That may prove significant in the coming year.

In other news, an Army Robot scored a kill on some terrorists planting a bomb.
Ha ha, tell allah you were killed by a souless machine!

Isreal Sticks it to Syria, Iran

Story: "After days of silence from the Israeli government, American officials confirmed Tuesday that Israeli warplanes launched airstrikes inside Syria last week, the first such attack since 2003.

A Defense Department official said Israeli jets had struck at least one target in northeastern Syria last Thursday, but the official said it was still unclear exactly what the jets hit and the extent of the bombing damage. Syria has lodged a protest at the United Nations in response to the airstrike, accusing Israel of “flagrant violation” of its airspace. But Israel’s government has repeatedly declined to comment on the matter.

Officials in Washington said that the most likely targets of the raid were weapons caches that Israel’s government believes Iran has been sending the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah through Syria.

Iran and Syria are Hezbollah’s primary benefactors, and American intelligence officials say a steady flow of munitions from Iran runs through Syria and into Lebanon. In the summer of 2006, during fighting between Israeli and Hezbollah forces, the militant group fired hundreds of missiles into Israel, surprising Israel with the extent and sophistication of its arsenal.

Israel has tried repeatedly to get the United Nations to prevent the arms shipments across the Syria-Lebanon border. "

Finally! Some one took action on Iran, if only at a distance. Now we have an explanation for why Syria was firing at Isreali planes, they were being attacked. I have nothing but applause for this move by the Isrealis.

9/11/2001

Never Forget

'Bin Ladin' pipes up, hates Bush

Story: & Transcript"Bush talks about his working with Al-Maliki and his government to spread freedom, but he is in fact working with the leaders of one sect against the leaders of another sect, in the belief that this will quickly decide the war in his favor.
And thus, what is called the civil war came into being, and matters worsened at his hand before getting out of his control and him becoming like one who plows and sows the seas, he harvests nothing but failure.
"That the morality and culture of the holocaust is your culture, not our culture. In fact, the burning of living beings is forbidden in our religion, even if they be small like the ant, so what of a man? The holocaust of the Jews was carried out by your brethren in the middle of Europe, but had it been closer to our countries, most of the Jews would have been saved by taking refuge with us. And my proof for that is in what your brothers, the Spanish, when they set up the horrible courts of inquisition to try Muslims and Jews, when the Jews only found safe refuge in our countries. And that is why the Jewish community in Morocco is one of the largest in the world..."

Ok, so Bin laden has a way of presenting a pseudo-intellectual arguments in a video.
Of course, that is provided this is Bin Laden. Honestly, it looks fishy.

Still, there is a truth about middle Eastern culture that runs deep here. They tend to have far, far longer memories then we do, and claim to see little distinction between ideologies of the west. Lumping the free thinking of the west in with the putrid ideology of Nazism and the tyranny of the Spanish Monarchy is absurd, yet because of this in the past, we are more dangerous to Jews then Muslims are.

If Bin laden hates us being in Iraq, might that indicate some success we are having?

It's too early

Count down to election: 14 months.

Toughts from the Straw Poll

I just came back from the first ever Texas straw poll, and I'm recharged politically.

First of all, Ron Paul may be a fine, upstanding man, but his campaign is one nasty cat of a campaign. It seemed at the beginning like half the place was a Ron Paul supporter, with all the noise, both positive and negative they made.
I support a lot of Ron Paul's stands, but he simply ignores the threat of Islam, and the terrorists within, to the western world.
And, booing when Dick Cheney comes up on screen is simply unacceptable.

Now before I went, I had absolutely no preference for any of the candidates, just anyone besides Rudi, Mitt and John McCain.
Well, I found my new candidate to support.
I'd like ya'll to meed Ray McKinney. His speech was a gigantic breath of fresh air to the status quo, and while I doubt he will win the primary, I am supporting him for President. He's not a politician, just a man disappointed with his country's course.

AND WHAT IS UP WITH FRED THOMPSON?? THE MAN HASN'T EVEN ANNOUNCED....Yeahggg....

As for Duncan Hunter, I could be happy with him. Yet, his protectionist agenda rubs me wrong, but I'd take him over the big three easily.

Blogging at 800

This marks the 800th post in Pushing Back the Frontiers of Ignorance history.
But lest you assume I am doing this just to make another post, there is a history lesson.

I don't think many of you were around well nigh (sept. 14, 2004) 3 years ago when a friend of mine started this place, under the name of 'What in the World is Going on?' Those were a more light hearted time in the blog sphere, and with our blog.
Alas, all things must end, and she moved on to the highly successful Beauty from the Heart.
I changed the name at some point after that, and began a daily bid to push back the frontiers of ignorance.

Thanks for staying with me through this lackadaisical (blog-posting-wise) summer!

Smoking, at 100

Story: "An iron-lunged pensioner has celebrated her 100th birthday by lighting up her 170,000th cigerette from a candle on her birthday cake.

Winnie Langley started smoking only days after the First World War broke out in June 1914 when she was just seven-years-old - and has got through five a day ever since.

She has no intention of quitting, even after the nationwide ban forced tobacco-lovers outside.

Speaking at her 100th birthday party Winnie said: "I have smoked ever since infant school and I have never thought about quitting."

That is dedication.

In other news, we have 2 presidential canidates deciding that we need a national ban on smoking. Not like that would be an egregious breech of personal freedoms, or anything.
Hilary Clinton: "Asked at an Iowa forum on cancer whether banning smoking in public places would be good for America, Clinton replied, "Well, personally, I think so. And that's what a lot of local communities and states are starting to do.""
Mike Huckabee would support a national ban on indoor smoking as well. This is unfortunate, I expected more from a republican canidate.

Kansas City, home again

Ok, so I'm back for real now. School starts tomorrow, and that will most definitely affect my posting rate. But, I'll try to regain a steady pace.
And pictures aren't working for posting right now, but a fast recap.
Stayed in KC for three nights, visited 'Worlds of Fun' and nauseated myself with the rides, then visited Arrowhead Stadium for a Preseason NFL game with the Chiefs and the Saints.
The next day (Friday), we visited the Harley-Davidson Plant, and I whacked a former Marine's truck with our vehicle, and we then went to a Royals baseball game.
And then fireworks. Golly, Fireworks.

The next morning, we started driving home. And now we're back home after a nice dinner in Oklahoma City.

Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City

Ok, so its been a long time since I've posted, but I'm back. For now. :D

I must say, coming back online and seeing ya'll's discussion on my drinking choices, be it Old Style, Pinot Noir, or Welches. Still, I'll stick with my Vault and Water.

So, Recap:
We drove to DeVry university and parked on Wednesday night last week. From there, we took the shuttle over to Wrigley Field. It then rained for an hour and a half, so I sat there listening to podcasts waiting for the game to start. The atmosphere at this stadium, and the exuberance of the fans, not just towards the Cubs, but just for
the game of baseball was great. Cubs lost, and the Reds won. But the Hot Dogs were fantastic, and the people were great, and the stadium definitely has its charms. As one of the other people said, everybody should make a trip to Mecca once.

The next day, we went down and just walked the downtown area of the city, topping it off with a dinner at Pizzera Uno. Good stuff, if rather expensive and crowded.

The next morning, we drove over to a small rural town outside of St. Louis, and stayed Friday night. Our friends from Texas were moving in this weekend, so we helped with that.
That was Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Tuesday, we took off to St. Louis for a Cardinals game.
After parking, which is far less expensive in St. Louis then in Chicago, we walked over to Busch Stadium and took a tour of it. Sat in the dugout, and realized that if your rich and have $28,000 to spend on seats, there are simply incredible seats to have.
I hadn't realized it before hand, but the Cardinals are second only to the Yankees in number of World Series rings.

After the tour, we took off to the St. Louis Arch and Jefferson Expansion Memorial. At first, I was indifferent to visiting this, but after being there, I can do nothing but recommend it. The arch itself is magnificent from both the outside and on top. But the real star of the place, in my mind, is the museum underground. Starting with Lewis and Clark, and carrying through the rest of our manifest destiny to the conquering of a continent, it was a brilliant display. I was there for an hour, and managed to make about 15% of the way through.


Meanwhile, part of my family was watching
batting practice. So we caught back up with each other, and the game started.
First of all, Busch Stadium is a great park, if the concessions are expensive.
Second, the fans are even better then the cubs fans. They don't boo their own pitcher.
Third, the Cardinals are a good team.
So the game was quiet until the 8th, and the Cards busted out a 4 inning to win the game.

And I decided I like Albert Pujols.
A. He hits Home Runs.
B. He fields well.
C. Nice Charity.

So now I'm in Kansas City, I'll come back later. Incidentally, Bush is here right now. I won't meet him, but it is the closest I've been since Election Day.

Still alive

Hey, Still alive. I'll be back in a few days. Thanks ya'll!

Obama on Afganistan

Story: "Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama came under fire Tuesday for saying that U.S. troops in Afghanistan are "just air-raiding villages and killing civilians." The junior senator from Illinois made the comment Monday at a campaign stop in Nashua, New Hampshire.

"We've got to get the job done there," he said of Afghanistan. "And that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous pressure over there."

The comment drew a rebuke Tuesday from the campaign of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

"That is a very troubling remark on so many levels," said Romney spokesman Kevin Madden. "Most importantly, it's emblematic of Senator Obama's lack of experience for the job of commander-in-chief. But it's also an entirely inaccurate condemnation of the efforts of the men and women of the United States military who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.""

To quote Gino on Obama: "Brilliant Barack. Just brilliant. You never miss a chance to say nothing, do you."

Mitt, thank you for saying what needed to be said.

In other news, I'm having a great trip. Stopped in Oklahoma City, went to a Redhawks game, then stayed the night in the middle of some Illinois farm country, then went to the Lincoln museum in Springfield (If you ever go there, grab some hot dogs from 'Weinerdog' a few blocks away. Great stuff.), then spent the night at the Indiana Dunes state park. I'll spend the next two days in Chicago.

I guess its fitting to post with Obama in it, seeing as I am in his jurisdiction. And in light of that, this is a picture I took at Lincoln's museum. It is in the gift ship in the area set aside for biographies on Lincoln.

Perspective on Iraq

Approx. number of US murder victims in 2005:
16,500 (cite)

Approx. number of US highway fatalities in 2005:
43, 443 (cite)

Approx. number of US abortions in 2003:
1, 287,000 (cite)


Number of United States Soldiers Killed in Iraq from 2002-2007:
3,683 (cite)

Public Sees Media as Uncaring, Wrong

Story:" More than two-thirds of the Internet users said they felt that news organizations don't care about the people they report on; 59 percent said their reporting was inaccurate; and 64 percent they were politically biased.

More than half -- 53 percent -- of Internet users also faulted the news organizations for "failing to stand up for America".

Among those who get their news from newspapers and television, criticism of the news organizations was up to 20 percentage points lower than among Internet news audiences, who tend to be younger and better educated than the public as a whole, according to Pew.

The poll indicates an across the board fall in the public's opinion on the news media since 1985, when a similar survey was conducted by Times Mirror, Pew Research said.

"Two decades ago, public attitudes about how news organizations do their job were less negative. Most people believed that news organizations stood up for America... a majority believed that news organizations got the facts straight," Pew said in a report. "

People are smart, and I think most of us know when we're being lied to. Which only happens for 6 half hour periods each night on TV.
I do find it interesting that Internet users are more suspicious of media in general. Perhaps there is some credence to the theory of Seniors sitting around watching CNN and getting panicked, and then voting democrat because they have nothing else.

The surge is effective - Even in the MSM

Story: " The new U.S. military strategy in Iraq, unveiled six months ago to little acclaim, is working.

In two weeks of observing the U.S. military on the ground and interviewing commanders, strategists and intelligence officers, it's apparent that the war has entered a new phase in its fifth year.
...
The U.S. military, partnering in many instances with Iraqi forces, is now creating that security cushion—not everywhere, but in much of the north, the west and most importantly in key areas of Baghdad.

Sectarian killings continue and extremist groups remain a threat, yet they are being squeezed harder. The U.S. military has caught some momentum, thanks to the extra 30,000 troops—for a total of 159,000 on the ground—that Bush agreed to send as part of the new counterinsurgency strategy announced in January. The troops are interacting more with the local people and are protecting them more effectively."

Its working. Out of time, I'm on a different computer, my laptop is broken.
I'll be back later

7 Arrested in Reporter's Murder

Story: "A day after a prominent newspaper editor was shot to death downtown, the police here on Friday arrested seven men and seized several weapons that they suspected were used in his killing and those of two other men.

Oakland police officials said they suspected that the men were part of a group operating “a very violent criminal enterprise” out of a neighborhood bakery.

The arrests came after a predawn raid by SWAT teams at the bakery, the Your Black Muslim Bakery, and three bakery-owned properties, where the police found several firearms, including the gun they believe was used to kill the editor, Chauncey Bailey, of the weekly Oakland Post.
...
One of seven men arrested on Friday was Yusef Bey IV, the son of the bakery’s founder, Yusef Bey, a well-known local black Muslim leader who died in 2003.
...
The police said the raid came after a lengthy investigation of other crimes, including two kidnappings on a single day in May, and two killings in July that occurred in the same north Oakland neighborhood where the bakery is located. The police had connected those crimes and put the bakery under surveillance before Mr. Bailey was killed.

“During our investigation, Chauncey Bailey was murdered, and it turns out that the evidence in that case also linked the same individuals we were looking at in the other two prior murders to that case,” said Lt. Ersie Joyner of the Oakland Police Department....

The bakery’s operators had been investigated by the police in the past. In 2002, the founder, Mr. Bey, was charged with rape, sodomy and lewd acts with a child under 14, stemming from accusations that he had fathered a child with a 13-year-old girl in 1982. Mr. Bey died of cancer in 2003 before his trial began.

In late 2005, several members of the group that operates the bakery, including the younger Mr. Bey, were charged in an attack at a small neighborhood grocery store, in which liquor bottles were smashed and other merchandise was destroyed. The attack was treated as a felony hate crime, the police said, because the store, which is owned by Muslims, had sold goods forbidden by Islamic law.
...
Lieutenant Joyner said that many residents of the neighborhood surrounding the bakery had been afraid of the Muslim group, whose members sometimes shot automatic rifles in the air in a show of intimidation. Other members of the group, the police said, flaunted their defiance of outstanding warrants on assault and gun charges.
...
By midafternoon, the bakery had been boarded up and closed by the city’s health department. "

Sorry, that is an avalanche of information. Let me try and boil it down, in the event you didn't read it.
1. A newspaper editor, Mr. Bailey, was murdered by shotgun in broad daylight in downtown Oakland yesterday. These are the men responsible, or better put, suspected.
2. The SWAT teams took 7 of the 9 suspects down at their staging house/bakery, Your Black Muslim Bakery.
3. Yusef Bey IV is the only confirmed arrested suspect, and the likely ringleader.
4. Yusef and his band are considered responsible for two kidnappings and two murders in their neighborhood in the last year.
5. Yusef is the son of a 'local black Muslim leader', who was investigated in 2002 for lewd acts with a minor, rape and sodomy. He was also suspected to have fathered a child with a 14 year-old girl.
6. The band is also charged with attacking a rival grocery store for selling non-islam approved items.
7. Repeated reports of intimidation by fire-arms, and a refusal to follow fire arm policy.



Radical Muslim terrorists, or just another violent street gang, or possiblly something else?
And if guns are outlawed, then only outlaws will have guns.
I gotta run, I may edit this later. Something seems squirrly to me here.

Ruskies claim Santa's domain

Story:" Russian explorers dived deep below the North Pole in a submersible on Thursday and planted a national flag on the seabed to stake a symbolic claim to the energy riches of the Arctic.
A mechanical arm dropped a specially made rust-proof titanium flag onto the Arctic seabed at a depth of 4,261 meters (13,980 ft) under the surface,
...
Under international law, the five states with territory inside the Arctic Circle -- Canada, Norway, Russia, the United States and Denmark via its control of Greenland -- have a 320 km (200 mile) economic zone around the north of their coastline.
...
"The aim of this expedition is not to stake Russia's claim but to show that our shelf reaches to the North Pole," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Manila, where he is attending a regional security conference."

What is up the Russians? I suppose leaving well enough alone with this issue just was not good enough.
Anyways, it'll all be melting soon anyways, so they may have a point, the early bird gets the worm.

Brown and W - Mostly the same as Blair and W

Story: "In deference to the U.S.-British relationship, Bush gave Brown the full foreign-leader treatment: a coveted overnight stay at the presidential retreat here, three meals of all-American fare and introductory talks spanning a range of weighty matters.

But building personal rapport was the main theme. The men have been together before, but this was their first official sit-down since Brown took office in Britain a month ago. There was some sign they achieved a connection, with Brown thanking Bush for his compassionate words about the death of a baby daughter four years ago and the two trading jokes about Brown's reputation as a dour Scotsman.
Bush said they met alone over dinner Sunday night for more than two hours, dismissing aides from both countries to the rustic camp's bowling alley (where the British side apparently prevailed).

"You know, he probably wasn't sure what to expect from me," the president said. "I kinda had a sense of the kind of person I was going to be dealing with. I would describe Gordon Brown as a principled man who really wants to get something done."

On the battle against terror, in particular, the men said there is no daylight between their views.

"We know we are in a common struggle and we know we have to work together, and we know we've got to use all means to deal with it," Brown said. "We are at one in fighting the battle against terrorism."

Bush congratulated the prime minister on his response when his country was hit with terror threats and catastrophic flooding immediately after he took office. "You've proved your worthiness as a leader."

"He gets it," the president said of his new partner."

This is a good sign. The traditional alliance of the United States and the United Kingdom, according to these indications, will carry on. And even with an early withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, I have nothing but graditude for the services they have rendered the world in this matter.

South of the Border

Well, I'm back from Reynosa Mexico. My church went down for a week, and I was with them. We had 4 different teams, and the 35 of us split into several the groups. The VBS team held a children's ministry, and was run entirely by the young ladies of the group.
The Sports/soccer team ministered to the young men of the area by playing soccer, and then at half time giving a testimony and invitation. This group was run entirely by young men and and a few adults.
The women's ministry was run by some ladies, and it led a bible study on Psalm 23 at the same location as the VBS.
Also, on the home front, we had 3 wonderful ladies providing food for us. A christian family we know owns a house in Reynosa, and allows us to use it for our trips.
Then there was the work team, which I was apart of. Most groups are finished by 1 in the afternoon, the work team usually isn't finished till 4.
So, on monday we spent the day trying to find work to do, and the supplies to do it. Tuesday, that problem was solved. We painted a building next to the church that the church owns, and the three youth in the group, (myself included) went through 5 gallons of this fantastic yellow pain in 2.5 hours. And then we ate lunch, and looked for more to do. Meanwhile, the other part of our group was installing some counters at a satellite church a few miles away.
On the first two days, the soccer team went back out to play in the evening, in order to get the older crowd to play after their work. I went with them both days, and had a blast. I am horrible at soccer, but I can play disruptive defence pretty well. And so I just kicked the ball away from people once they came into my area.
Wednesay morning, we did some touch up paining, and a little bit of touch up on the painting we did last year.
That afternoon, we installed lights in the church, and it was boring. Then Pastor Jesus came by and asked for some help with putting rebar in the vans, so my friend (I won't name him, but he's in a lot of the pics) and I volunteered. And so we drive over to a house, and it looks pretty barren. (Note middle picture, I'm helping mark out the foundation)
We'll be building a house there in the fall, and so it was a treat to be part of the foundation.
After a while of marking, hearing but not comprehending a discussion in spanish, they told us to start leveling the ground.
Ok, no problem, right? Except there was about a 6 inch differential inside the frame, and the ground was like shale for the first 4 inches.
So, we busted it up and leveled for about an hour and a half, that that was the far harder then any of the work I did building the house in January.
The next day, we worked on putting shelves in under the counter, and then came back to the house and we helped pour the foundation.
Note to the world: If you are pouring mezclay, (concrete), do not do it barefooted. It has this weird tendency to suck moisture from your skin.

Friday, I played soccer because we were essentially out of work.

What I get the most out these trips is from the people in Mexico. They seem destitute, but happy. A combination of a faith in Jesus, and a family seem to be all they need. Definitely something I can learn from.

A world, Without America

I'm leaving again Sunday morning for a missions trip to Reynosa Mexico. I'll be back sometime Saturday night, probably won't resume posting until Monday or Tuesday.
In the meantime, here's a video for the road.

Muslim woman Killed for dishonoring to her Family

(Bit of a read, but it is a well executed piece of journalism)
Rueters (UK): "A Kurdish woman was brutally raped, stamped on and strangled by members of her family and their friends in an "honor killing" carried out at her London home because she had fallen in love with the wrong man.

Banaz Mahmod, 20, was subjected to the 2-1/2 hour ordeal before she was garroted with a bootlace. Her body was stuffed into a suitcase and taken about 100 miles to Birmingham where it was buried in the back garden of a house.

Her badly decomposed body was found in April 2006, three months after the killing.

Last month a jury found her father Mahmod Mahmod, 52, and his brother Ari Mahmod, 51, guilty of murder after a three-month trial. Their associate Mohamad Hama, 30, had earlier admitted killing her.
...
Prosecutors said the three convicted men, along with two other suspects who are still at large, had carried out the killing fearing that the authorities were closing in on them.

They believed Banaz had brought shame on the family by leaving her husband, an Iraqi Kurd she had been forced to marry at 17, and falling in love with Rahmat Suleimani, an Iranian Kurd.
Her former unnamed partner had raped her as well as repeatedly beating her, the court heard."

And so you believe a young woman, who was forced to marry at the fragging ripe old age of 17, who left her coerced husband, who abused & beat her, to live with a man who she was in love with.
Ya know, in the western society, we have a thing called freedom. And the laws of the old world don't carry over to our society. Marriage should not be a forced decision, and that is final.

So she brought dishonor to her family by leaving, and so the solution? Brutally rape and then kill her.

And to top off the offenses, we have this recording from one of the men in prison, talking to a fellow convict.
""I was kicking and stamping on her neck to get the soul out. I saw her stark naked, only wearing pants or underwear," Hama is recorded as saying."

A religion of peace? This is not the first instance of an 'honor killing', nor unfortunately will it be the last in the free world. Just remember this young woman, Banaz Mahmod, next time you hear a politician refer to Islam as a Religion of Peace.

Christian Bomb threat - Ignored by all sides?

Story: "Last weekend more than a dozen envelopes bearing the image of skull and crossbones and containing letters threatening the lives of CU-Boulder evolutionary biology professors were slipped under the doors of CU-Boulder buildings.

According to a reprint of the letter posted online, the threat reads: “every true Christian should be ready and willing to take up arms to kill the enemies of Christian society.”

“EBIO (evolutionary biology) professors are terrorists against America and Š intellectual and spiritual child abusers of their young and impressionable students Š the EBIO department not only blasphemes God, who is invisible, but it blasphemes His Only Begotten Son and our Messiah, Jesus Christ, which is more unforgivable Š for all these reason all God-fearing and Truth-loving persons must say, They must go!”

CU officials won't name a suspect, but numerous sources close to the case say the letters - as well as a barrage of threatening e-mails - were signed “Michael Korn.”"

2 points.
1. Don't send bomb threats, espessially to some univerity for teaching the established scientific theory. While Evolution is wrong, there is no reason to bomb a university because it is.
2. For all of us who harp on the media for ripping Christians, let this be a reminder that there is a modicum of balenced coverage out there.

In other news, this video of a news report on a fashion runway cracked me up.

Hatred of Taxes: Suprise

Story: "Norwegians differentiate between skatter (taxes) and avgifter (duties, fees or user taxes) and the latter is the most hated. They're what causes a glass of house wine at an Oslo restaurant to cost the equivalent of nearly USD 16, or a gallon of gas to cost nearly USD 9 at current exchange rates.

"It's clear that taxes are much too high in oil-rich Norway," Oslo resident Gro Pettersen told newspaper Aftenposten. "It's sick!""

Suprise, people hate high taxes.
Gotta run, its another really busy week.

Missle Defense Test succeds

Story: "A MODIFIED Boeing 747 designed to be part of an emerging US antimissile shield has successfully completed an important flight test, the Pentagon's Missile Defence Agency and Boeing said today. ... "We have now demonstrated most of the steps needed for the Airborne Laser to engage a threat missile and deliver precise and lethal effects against it," said Pat Shanahan, a vice president at Boeing, the prime contractor. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel John Daniels, the Pentagon's program manager, said the test on Saturday marked an historic day for "directed-energy" weapons firing at the speed of light, or 186,000 miles per second. "This will fundamentally change the way we engage and destroy fleeting targets," he said. The airborne laser is to be the first warplane relying entirely on a directed energy device as a weapon. It is designed to destroy an enemy ballistic missile shortly after it is launched, in the "boost phase" of its flight path."

I support efforts like this. I really don't understand why this makes the Ruskies so upset.

In other news, Homer Simpson is making waves with the cultic community.

US Aid into Pakistan

Story: "WASHINGTON (AFP) - The administration of President George W. Bush plans to pour 750 million dollars worth of aid into Pakistan'’s tribal areas in a bid to wrest it away from Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants...
A draft of the US Agency for International Development plan given to The Times by an official who worked on it warns that the "severe governance deficiencies" in the tribal areas will make it virtually impossible for the aid to be sustainable or to overcome the "area'’s chronic underdevelopment and consequent volatility," the paper pointed out."

Terrific. We're sending 3/4s of a Billion dollars over to a tribal area, in a bid to over power the strength of the terrorists. I wish this was a joke, because appeasement doesn't work. Still, let the record show that this is Bush, trying diplomacy, yet with little fanfare.

How Paranoid Little Napoleons Took Over America

Times: "...There’s a tragicomic irony here, if you’ve the appetite for it. A central tenet of neoconservatism has always been that promoting democracy around the world is not only morally right, but also in the long-term interest of peace and stability. Democracies, as a rule, don’t go to war with each other. Their leaders are accountable to their people and people, as a rule, don’t like to see their sons and daughters go off to fight in a foreign country. There may be no better proof of that proposition than the increasingly desperate pleas for peace from Americans today..."

A sharply written column by Gered Baker, and he hits the Iraq war squarely on the head.
Not so accurate on the Immigration side of things, but his outsider perspective of the US political situation is interesting.

Hat Tip to the Cult of Christ.

US Economy goes rolling along

Story: "The Dow surged more than 280 points to finish at its record high on Thursday in New York, despite a lack of particularly strong factors."

And in light of that...
""This is far and away the strongest global economy I've seen in my business lifetime," U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson declared on a recent visit to Fortune's offices." -CNN

Not a whole lot to add, but this is a great economy. Maybe history will acknowledge it later, cause it seems as if most of us are not right now.

Rodents of Unusual Size terrorize Basra

Story: ""I was sleeping at night when this strange animal hit me on my head. I have not seen such an animal before. My husband hurried to shoot it but it was as swift as a deer," said Suad Hassan, a 30-year-old housewife.

"It is the size of a dog but his head is like a monkey. It runs so quickly."

Cell phone video of the badgers circulating in Basra shows a stocky skunk-like animal with long front claws.

The honey badger, or ratel, is known as a brave predator capable of killing a cobra. It weighs up to 14 kilos (30 pounds), not usually known as man-eater.

Sattar Jabbar, a 50-year-old local farmer from Abu Sakhar north of Basra, believes the badger can tackle even large prey.

"I saw it three days ago at night attacking animals. It even ate a cow. It tore the cow up piece by piece. I tried to shoot it with my gun but it ran away into the orchards. I missed it," he said.

In Iraq there can be only one explanation for an animal so vicious.

"I believe this animal appeared following a raid to the region by the British forces," said Ali Mohsen, a farmer in his 40s from Karmat Ali, near the air base used by the multinational force"

I really don't have any comment, but this story just caught my fancy.
Rather this is representative of the acctuall people in the region and their regard for the Allied forces, or selective reporting, I don't know. Still, its kinda weird they think the UK Forces did this.

(KD, Here's another instance of AKJ)

Best column of the week: Orsen Scott Card

Learning from History:
"American politics in the decade of the Zips (it's zip-seven right now) aren't British politics in the 1930s. American strategy in the war we're currently fighting isn't anything like the specific strategies that Hitler or Churchill needed to follow in order to win.

In fact, in one key way, we are living through the opposite of the run-up to World War II. America has a President who has taken the early action against the maniacs who seek world domination that Chamberlain refused to take. "

Card gives a great read on the history of Nevile Chamberlin and his actions leading up to WWII, and then in the 2nd half of the column, gives a fantastic analysis of the world situation.

Yes, its long. Boring? I don't think so.
Take it or leave it, but I read every word.

Popular Hypocrisy

The Daily Mail: "The Live Earth event is, in the words of one commentator: "a massive, hypocritical fraud".

For while the organisers' commitment to save the planet is genuine, the very process of putting on such a vast event, with more than 150 performers jetting around the world to appear in concerts from Tokyo to Hamburg, is surely an exercise in hypocrisy on a grand scale.

Matt Bellamy, front man of the rock band Muse, has dubbed it 'private jets for climate change'.

A Daily Mail investigation has revealed that far from saving the planet, the extravaganza will generate a huge fuel bill, acres of garbage, thousands of tonnes of carbon emissions, and a mileage total equal to the movement of an army.

The most conservative assessment of the flights being taken by its superstars is that they are flying an extraordinary 222,623.63 miles between them to get to the various concerts - nearly nine times the circumference of the world. The true environmental cost, as they transport their technicians, dancers and support staff, is likely to be far higher. "

Our globe-trotting, climate-conscious, world-saving superstars are in the process of flying more miles then all of this blogs readers combined will fly in a dozen years.
For their troubles, they are praised for saving the environment.

And what they purposely ignore, is the carbon foot print they create. Now, I am certainly not a tree hugger by any stretch, and I have no problem with flying. Yet, the incredible hypocrisy, not just by the political left of this world, but by the cultural icons, who in all of their shallow glory, lecture us on the environment is beyond belief, and I shall continue calling them on it.

"My fellow Americans, people all over the world, we need to solve the climate crisis, it’s not a political issue, it’s a moral issue. We have everything we need to get started, with the possible exception of the will to act, that’s a renewable resource, let’s renew it."
-Al Gore
And yet, we have the fantastic example of Mr. Gore himself, what with his paper consumption and energy usage.

America - Still Free

Yesterday was the 4th of July, and here in America, we celebrate our Independence. Not just from the tyranny of monarchy, but for the liberty our constitution grants us, and the freedom and independence we believe is the innate right of every human being.
And as such, we usually have a bar-b-q, at least in Texas.
Not so this year. We finally had a lack of rain for the day, so we mowed the yard and fixed lawn equipment as it broke, and I changed the spark plugs on my Jeep. (Great idea, btw)

Then, we went to a Baseball game, and it was a great experience. They opened the game with the swearing in of 120 Air Force recruits. Then, a good baseball game (it's always better at the park), and a fantastic fireworks display.

America is a lot better when I'm actually out in it, rather then fuming at news stories trickling their way from the sludge pile of Washington.

Independance Day

Bush Pardons Scooter

Story: ""I respect the jury's verdict," Bush said in a written statement. "But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby's sentence that required him to spend 30 months in prison."
...
Because he was not pardoned, Libby remains the highest-ranking White House official convicted of a crime since the Iran-Contra affair. But he won't have to serve a day in prison, a fact that his friends cheered, even those who wished he'd received a full pardon.

"That's fantastic. It's a great relief," said former Ambassador Richard Carlson, who helped raise millions for Libby's defense fund. "Scooter Libby did not deserve to go to prison and I'm glad the president had the courage to do this.""

Finally, a modicum of justice has been executed in this case. A renegade prosecutor, a vengeful media, and a target with a bad name all adds up to a mis-trial.
Still, I think Bush should have gone with the full pardon. If he's guilty, make him serve the full punishment. If he's innocent, then he shouldn't have to serve any punishment.

Islamic Theology, not Western Policy cause of terrorism

Commentary: "I remember how we used to laugh in celebration whenever people on TV proclaimed that the sole cause for Islamic acts of terror like 9/11, the Madrid bombings and 7/7 was Western foreign policy.

By blaming the Government for our actions, those who pushed this "Blair's bombs" line did our propaganda work for us.
...
And though many British extremists are angered by the deaths of fellow Muslim across the world, what drove me and many others to plot acts of extreme terror within Britain and abroad was a sense that we were fighting for the creation of a revolutionary worldwide Islamic state that would dispense Islamic justice.

If we were interested in justice, you may ask, how did this continuing violence come to be the means of promoting such a (flawed) Utopian goal? How do Islamic radicals justify such terror in the name of their religion?

There isn't enough room to outline everything here, but the foundation of extremist reasoning rests upon a model of the world in which you are either a believer or an infidel.

Formal Islamic theology, unlike Christian theology, does not allow for the separation of state and religion: they are considered to be one and the same.
... since Islam must declare war on unbelief, they have declared war upon the whole world.

Along with many of my former peers, I was taught by Pakistani and British radical preachers that this reclassification of the globe as a Land of War (Dar ul-Harb) allows any Muslim to destroy the sanctity of the five rights that every human is granted under Islam: life, wealth, land, mind and belief.

In Dar ul-Harb, anything goes, including the treachery and cowardice of attacking civilians.""

Like most conservatives have said for years, the muslim terrorists hate us because of their relgion, their twisted view of how a people should be governed, and a warped sense of justice. They hate because there system is far inferior, as evidenced by the vast socio-economic differences of our systems.
Our system generates wealth, fosters happiness, and equal justice.
Their system oppresses the vast majority for the splendid wealth of a few autocrats.

And so they hate because the ones with the wealth, and the religion, tell them to. And once you live with a hatred like that, it consumes you. (See man on fire above, fighting police.)

How do we win?

On Islamic Nazis, imcompetent terrorists, and 'Poverty'

Story: "British officials raised the country’s terrorism threat alert to its highest level on Saturday after two men slammed an S.U.V. into entrance doors at Glasgow Airport and turned the vehicle into a potentially lethal fireball.

Less than 38 hours earlier the police uncovered two cars in London rigged to explode with gasoline, gas canisters and nails.

Early Sunday, after a day of fast-moving developments, the London police announced that two people had been arrested in Cheshire, in northwest England, “in connection with the events in London and Scotland.”

The arrests were in addition to those of the two occupants of the blazing car at Glasgow Airport. A witness to the attack said on BBC television that one of the car’s occupants had been ablaze from head to foot, and as he struggled with the police, “was throwing punches and shouting ‘Allah, Allah.’ ”

Britain’s threat level is now at “critical,” meaning another attack is considered imminent. The threat has not been as high since last year, after authorities discovered what they called a plot to attack trans-Atlantic airliners with liquid explosives."

Ok, so the first two car bombs were stopped, both by Police efforts and terrorist incompetence.
Or perhaps not so incompentent, there may be the hand of God in this series of events.

So now, 2 clowns decided to run a Jeep into the Glasgow terminal, and catch themselves on fire in an attempt to kill englishmen.

But, as Sky news reports, the two men are doctors.
Meaning, one of the most often cited causes for Islamic terrorism is no longer applicable. Poverty is not a necessary factor for a Muslim Nazi to attempt to kill people. Its just an excuse Liberals use to mask evil.

Raining, pouring, texas is soaking

Story: "In North Texas, rains continued falling west of Fort Worth, and evacuations of about 300 homes were ordered in Parker County as the Brazos River began creeping into some backyards.

Firefighters and National Guard troops went door to door notifying residents of the mandatory evacuation, but some refused to leave, said Lt. Jason Williams of the Parker County firefighters' search and rescue team."


Yeah, thats about it. Really really wet, although we had a semblence of sunshine yesterday. Down yonder \/ is a video I took at my church, and it should give a decent example of the water.

Victory!

Story: "The Senate drove a stake Thursday through President Bush's plan to legalize millions of unlawful immigrants, likely postponing major action on immigration until after the 2008 elections.

After the stinging political setback, Bush sounded resigned to defeat.

"Legal immigration is one of the top concerns of the American people, and Congress' failure to act on it is a disappointment," he said after an appearance in Newport, R.I. "A lot of us worked hard to see if we couldn't find common ground. It didn't work."

The bill's Senate supporters fell 14 votes short of the 60 needed to limit debate and clear the way for final passage of the legislation, which critics assailed as offering amnesty to illegal immigrants. The vote was 46 to 53 in favor of limiting the debate.

Some senators in both parties said the issue is so volatile that Congress is unlikely to revisit it this fall or next year, when the presidential election will increasingly dominate American politics."

Ah, common sense plows through in the end, and this crazy legislation is defeated. I suppose it usually is like this, where common sense, and conservative thought can win, even if it looks extremely bleak.
And as much as I hate this, I can no longer support President Bush. He's betrayed not just conservatives, but the party.

Back, but I love the days of Summer

Ok, so I'm back from all my trips, at least for the next month.

I had a fantastic time, and a new awakening for God's word at the Student Life camp in New Mexico, as well as the opportunity to serve in a charity kitchen, where I washed dishes for hours at a time, and had a terrific time cleaning the them.

My church is hosting a Vacation Bible School this week, and I'm running tech-photography-videoography-gofer. I love it.

Today, I went with my brother and a friend to watch Live Free or Die Hard. I loved the first three Die Hard Movies, and this is easily tied with, if not better then, the first one, and it far exceeds the 2nd and 3rd.
(Trailer, btw)


I've watched Spiderman 3(best of the series), Pirates 3 (not as good as 1, better then 2), The Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (not as good as the first, but its a high bar to meet), and Die Hard 4 this summer. And I must say, the continuing of the story of John McClain is the easily the best (new) movie I've seen this year.

So, I'll resume posting on the news as I see fit, but with the exception of the immigration debate, this seems a slow period.
And why the republicans can even think of supporting this bill, is simply beyond me. Its a death knell, if not for this country, then for the GOP.

Back, for however short a time

Ok, so I'm back. I came back late Friday afternoon, watched the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer that night. Saturday, all day Mexico missions training. Today, I've got a wedding to film.

Sorry, no time for any real news. I am glad to see justice done in this case, with the Duke Lacrosse 'Prosecutor'.

I had a great time the last 10 days, learning how to effectively share the love of Christ with kids in a 5-day bible club. Learned a lot, and experienced a lot in my life.

Alas, I am leaving again Monday morning for a conference, and I doubt I will be able to blog from there. I should be able to start a normal routine again on monday next week.

Thank you for all the comments before, and I appreciated your continued friendship.

Robert

Absent - S'Mores

Hey,
I haven't posted in a while. But I swear, there are reasons.
No, really. There are.

In any event, I'm off to a Child Evangelism Conference for the next 10 days. I have no idea as to the status of my internet connection while there, so I probably won't be blogging.

In the meantime, check out these other fine, upstanding citizens of the blogger neighborhood.

Ambassadors of Christ
Kingdom Advancing
Mercy Now
Such is life...
The Far Wright
Seventh Sola
The Cult of Christ