Red Dawn again in Burma, freedom silenced.

Story: "Burma’s generals silenced the Buddhist monks yesterday morning.

For a week and a half, the monks had been on the streets of Rangoon in their tens of thousands, and their angry calm gave courage to the people around them.

But overnight, they were beaten, shot and arrested, and locked in their monasteries. Handfuls of them emerged yesterday – two or three brave individuals, a dozen at most – but nothing to approach the mass marches of the previous nine days. Everyone felt their absence.
...
In the Mwe Kya Kan pagoda in the South Okkala district of Rangoon, it began at 2am, but seven hours later the evidence was plain to see – a dozen thick patches of congealing blood and human tissue splashed about the yard. The windows of the monks’ dormitories were smashed jaggedly by the impact of rubber bullets – hard, round spheres fired from green cartridges that the monks had carefully gathered up and put on display.

Inside everything had been smashed – the thin plywood walls, the monks’ plaster statues of the Buddha – and the thin mattresses were soaked with blood.

“We had to flee for our lives into the neighbourhood,” said a small bespectacled young man named Ashin Thu, one of the few monks to have evaded arrest. “A family let me hide in one of their houses, I was so scared.”"

I was watching this story with fascination, but this is my first post on it.
Here's the gist of the story: Thousands of Buddhist monks filed into the streets several days ago, silently protesting the lack of freedom in Burma. Seeing their religious leaders out, thousands more regular people followed them, in some cities, protests numbering 400,000 or more.

That was all before last night. Burma's military cracked down on them, ravaging Buddhist monasteries and killing civilians.

So there are two things that can happen here.
1. This outrages the populace enough to start a violent revolution, and 2-3 years from now, there will be another military dictatorship set up.
2. Now that one 'revolution' has been shut down, the government becomes more crushing then other.
I think 2 is more likely, and it is a sad day for this poor nation.

"It's a Trap!" After unjust hammering, Columbia speaks the truth and hammers Ahmadinejad

Story: "But before he even spoke, the Iranian leader, whose appearance had sparked outrage notably among US politicians and the Jewish community, sat through 10 minutes of broadsides from university president Lee Bollinger.

"Mr President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator," Bollinger told Ahmadinejad, accusing him of brutal crackdowns on the country's academics and homosexuals.

"Why are you so afraid of Iranian citizens expressing their opinions for change?" he asked, challenging the leader of the Islamic republic to explain his comments downplaying the Holocaust.

"Frankly, in all candor Mr President, I doubt you will have the intellectual courage to answer these questions," he added.

"When you come to a place like this, this makes you quite simply ridiculous. You are either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated," he said.

When he did get to his feet, wearing a white open-necked shirt and gray suit, Ahmadinejad accused Bollinger of a "wave of insults and allegations" while largely avoiding any direct answers to any of Bollinger's challenges."

In other news, it wasn't just Bollinger there to challenge Ahmadinejad. And estimated 25,000 showed up to protest. Many were protesting Ahmadinejad, some were protesting for war in Iran, be it for or against it, and a few were actively denying the holocaust. Nice, big blender of people and their ideals.

When Ahmadinejad was questioned concerning his view on the holocaust, Iran's treatment of women and homosexuals, the Nation of Israel, and other issues...
"But he often declined to offer the simple answers the audience sought, responding instead with his own questions or long statements about history and justice."

Yesterday turned out far better then I anticipated, although I did have hopes it would be this way.

Ahmadinejad in America

Story: "Hatemonger Mahmoud Ahmadinejad landed in a hornet's nest of outrage yesterday as Columbia University prepared to welcome him with open arms today and stuck by a dean's outrageous assertion that it would let Adolf Hitler speak, too.

The Holocaust-denying Iranian tyrant jetted into New York as students, faculty and political leaders protested Columbia's decision to roll out the red carpet.

"It's a stain on the university," said sophomore Elizabeth Friess, 20. "You can't have an open debate with someone who wants to wipe out Israel. There is no reasoning with someone like that."
...

The moderator of the event, School of International and Public Affairs Acting Dean John Coatsworth, has sparked a furor by saying he would invite anyone for a little academic give-and-take - even the Fuhrer himself.

He stood his ground yesterday, telling the Daily News he was talking about the more palatable Hitler when he had "not started the war and the Holocaust hadn't begun."

"There's never a good forum for a dictator," said Coatsworth, "but the advantage of Columbia is he would have been challenged and criticized.""

1. Finally, someone outside the blog sphere and talk radio calls Ahmadinejad for what he his, a hate mongering Muslim anti-Semite. And yet, one of our esteemed universities invites him to speak on its campus. The Dean then has the intestinal fortitude to say, in light of intellectual honesty, that the holocaust creator, Hitler of the Third Reich, would be allowed to speak.

It is so outlandish, that I almost think he's luring Ahmadinejad into a trap, waiting for the vast numbers of Americans on campus to mob him out... But no. Its just one leftist accepting another dictator in the name of tolerance.

And in the mean time, Iran is rattling its saber towards the US.
Iran's version of tolerance?
" Iran’s judiciary has sealed off the offices of a popular news Web site critical of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s policies after journalists continued to update it despite official filtering, the Web site said.

Rights groups and diplomats say there is a broad crackdown on dissenting voices in the Islamic state, which is under growing Western pressure over its disputed nuclear programme. The authorities deny such moves, saying they allow free speech."

That is just about as tolerant ACLU towards prayer in school.

And the Bush Administration's response to the situation?
"White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto said Friday that the Bush administration had no involvement with Columbia's decision.

"This is a country where people can come and speak their minds," he said, adding, "It would be wonderful if some of the countries that take advantage of that here allowed it for their own citizens there.""

Green Bay Packers: 3-0

Brett Favre: 420 career Tds.YES!

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)