This Sucks!

56 riders from the Tour de (unmentionable country) have been banned.

Blood on Bill Keller's Hands

Once again, the United States Congress has preserved my right to burn the American flag. I paid even less attention than usual to the silly ritual this time, knowing full well what a silly, intentionally futile charade the whole affair was. As such, I spared myself from having to read or hear anyone declaring that American servicemen have given their lives to preserve my freedom to burn flags. But I have no doubt that somebody resurrected that tired cliché just as reliably as Republicans revive flag protection amendments in election years.
But, while I doubt that any serviceman who gave his life in war ever wasted a thought regarding the rights of flag burners, there is no doubt that soldiers, sailors and marines have put their lives on the line defending the principles of freedom upon which this nation was founded.
That said I doubt that very many servicemen would risk losing a fingernail defending the right of the New York Times to put their lives in greater jeopardy.
When the Times elected to reveal how the Bush administration traces terrorist money transfers, it increased the probability that Osama Bin Laden and his kind will successfully attack this country again. The Times made it easier for terrorists in Iraq to purchase weapons to use against our soldiers and Iraqi civilians. Without a doubt, people will die thanks to the Times.
The Times insists that it is perfectly within its rights to behave so irresponsibly. I am less certain, and I reference the Times itself. The New York Times was among the loudest advocates for pursuing the supposed leaker who revealed to Robert Novak the identity of Joseph Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame. As Valerie Plame was nothing more than a CIA desk drone, her exposure harmed no one, not even her flickering career. The Times was indignant that anyone would violate the law by revealing official secrets and demanded that the miscreant in his administration be discovered and punished. Of course, the New York Times was seduced by the prospect that they leaker was none other than the dastardly Karl Rove, whom Joseph Wilson demanded be “frog marched” off to jail in leg irons.
But in this case, the leakers who handed over to the Times the details of how the government tracked the financial transactions of terrorists will certainly be protected by the Times and the phalanx of lawyers it retains. The sanctity of leakers is determined by how much harm they do to the Bush administration and the war on terror.
The real irony here is not the Times’ duplicity. The irony is that, back in 2001 while the World Trade Center rubble was still smoldering, the Times demanded that Bush implement just such a program.
``Washington and its allies must also disable the financial networks used by terrorists," the Times opined on its editorial page. ``The Bush administration is preparing new laws to help track terrorists through their money-laundering activity. . . Much more is needed, including . . . greater cooperation with foreign banking authorities. There must also be closer coordination among America's law enforcement, national security, and financial regulatory agencies. . . . If America is going to wage a new kind of war against terrorism, it must act on all fronts, including the financial one."
Bush did what they asked and the Times stabbed him in the back. No, I take that back. The Times was so obsessed with stabbing George Bush in the back, that it stabbed America in the back.
Equally noteworthy is that, in 2004, the Times endorsed the John Francoise Kerry notion that the war on terror must rely more on intelligence and less on military might. But the Times has, at every opportunity, subverted the Bush administration’s effort on those fronts. Thanks to the Times, terrorists know how we track their phone calls.
Perhaps American servicemen have died defending the right of the Times to exercise its First Amendment freedom with the same arrogant irresponsibility of a flag burner. But it’s unlikely that any flag burner actually contributed materially to the death of a serviceman. The New York Times has.
So, when it happens, will American soldiers be dying to preserve the Times’ freedoms, or will the Times have killed the American soldiers?

The Gullibility of the Times

Powerline reports that Henry David sent a sarcastic congratulatory letter to the New York Times thanking them for blowing another top secret anti-terror intelligence operation. They took it seriously and and quickly thanked the author.

Clearly, the Times is so desperate for a favorable letter that they fell for this one.

Gratuitous Offensive Mohammed Cartoon of the Day

A Political Winner

If the Bush Administration hopes to win the war on terror, it will first have to win the war with the New York Times.

The New York Times has taken it upon itself to expose yet another top secret terrorist surveillance program. Apparently the Times is betting that the administration lacks the balls to prosecute.

"They're courting prosecution. ... They're increasingly behaving like if we were in the middle of World War II and they learned of plans to invade Normandy. Because they decided it's a matter of public interest, they'd publish it," Mr. Schoenfeld said. "I think this is reckless and likely to encourage Attorney General Gonzales to prosecute them, if not for this story, for some of the other things they've done."

Mr. Schoenfeld said that the latest disclosure by the Times about the financial surveillance was less clear cut as a legal violation because it did not appear to involve communications intelligence, which is specially protected under federal law.

Mr. Schoenfeld said the new report would increase anger against the paper. "They really are testing the limits of congressional and executive branch patience. There's a lot of displeasure with what they're doing," said Mr. Schoenfeld, who edits Commentary magazine and writes a weekly column on chess for the Sun.

However, the editor said he still considered a prosecution unlikely, on balance. "I'm not sure the Bush administration has a stomach for a fight with the media of that magnitude, but it's become more and more clear that it's necessary," Mr. Schoenfeld said.

I personally think that this is a political winner for the administration. I believe that the overwhelming majority of Americans are fed up with the elite liberal media undermining our war efforts and know very well the ideological biases of the New York Times.

Trying to Create a Quagmire

Thank God that Franklin Delano Roosevelt did not have to contend with the modern incarnation of his own party. We’d still be fighting World War II – assuming that is that Jack Murtha and John Kerry had not managed to force a humiliating surrender upon us. That the Democrats are the party of defeatism is indisputable. That this creates an image problem for the Democrats that will haunt them on election day is equally indisputable. And so the Democrats have chosen a couple of occasions to pound their hairless chests and squeak out totally inappropriate and ill-timed primal calls of hawkish belligerence that are certain to lengthen a war they claim they want ended.
The most recent example of unwelcome stupidity was the Senate Democrats’ resolution last week demanding that the Iraqi government withdraw any offers of “amnesty” to insurgents with whom it is negotiating for an end to the violence.
Following is the text of their ironically mislabeled “sense of the Senate” resolution: “(1) The Iraqi government should not grant amnesty to persons who have attacked, killed, or wounded members of the U.S. Armed Forces serving heroically in Iraq to provide all Iraqis a better future. (2) President Bush should immediately notify the government of Iraq that the United States government opposes granting amnesty in the strongest possible terms.”
This is more like the nonsense of the Senate.
Imagine how difficult it would have been to bring World War II to a conclusion if German and Japanese soldiers were promised individual retribution for serving their country. What reason would they have to lay down their arms? If they were going to be punished for fighting on the losing side, they might as well have gone down fighting or until they ran out of ammunition. The same is true here. Roosevelt and Churchill demanded unconditional surrender from the Nazi and Imperial Japanese governments, but treated the soldiers with a humanity that the Democrats refuse to extend to Iraqis.
Although I have supported this war from the beginning and will continue to support it, we surely cannot exact revenge upon those who defended their own country on their home soil. Certainly we cannot extend mercy to those who committed such unforgivable war crimes as the torture and mutilation of our soldiers that occurred this past week any more than we could forgive Hitler’s most vile minions. But to forbid amnesty to soldiers who fought for their own country’s sovereignty would be to forestall forever the reconciliation that would be a precondition to a peaceful and united Iraq. Contrary to what the Democrats claim, we are not now in a Vietnamesque quagmire. We will be though if we don’t permit our adversaries a way to end their fight. The Democrats are demanding that the Iraqis and our servicemen keep taking swings at the tar baby indefinitely. How many American servicemen and Iraqis will die to satisfy the Democrats’ “sense of the Senate?”
The Democrat’s resolution is also contrary to the standard conventions of war. To this day, Stalin’s Soviet Union is still reviled for marching defeated German soldiers off to Siberian gulags after the war. The Democrats would have us emulate Stalin – although quite frankly, not for the first time.
This charade is all about trying to put flesh on the Democrats’ skeletal mantra that they support the troops but not the war. But in truth, by forcing the enemy into a position where he has nothing to lose by continuing the fight, the Democrats ensure that more servicemen will die.
It’s appropriate that the Democrats’ point man on this squalid business is New York’s Charles Schumer. It was Charles Schumer who pandered to racial antagonism to oppose the Dubai ports deal. The Democrats followed. He started that campaign by calling the vile Michael Savage talk radio show. Michael Savage achieved his notoriety on-air by denouncing a homosexual as a “pervert” and wishing aloud that he would contract AIDS and die. But, when it serves Schumer and the Democrats’ ends, they will snuggle up to even the execrable Michael Savage. It was Charles Schumer’s office that illegally stole Maryland Senate candidate Michael Steele’s identity to gain access to his credit report. Schumer portrays himself as a champion of identity theft victims. If the Democrats intend to pursue this path of cynicism, they could not have chosen a better spokesman.

A Democratic Paradise

Bridgeport, Connecticut Mayor John M. Fabrizi confesses to using cocaine while in office.

Fabrizi, a Democrat who took over leadership of the state's largest city after his predecessor was convicted of corruption, would not say how he obtained cocaine but said he occasionally spent $20 or $40 to purchase it.

I'm sure that Nancy Pelosi will find some way to blame this on the Republican culture of corruption, just as she blamed William Jefferson's (D-La) corruption on Republicans.

The Wish They Could Forget Him

Dan Rather complains that he has been forgotten by CBS News.

Historical rewrites like this one are the reason why.

Rather apparently hadn't even seen a report questioning Bush's Vietnam-era National Guard service before introducing it on the air in September 2004. When CBS News couldn't substantiate the story following questions about its sources, Rather became a symbol of the incident even as he escaped official blame.

Since then, Rather's on-air appearances have been infrequent. He contributed eight stories to "60 Minutes" this season, about half the airtime of most full-time correspondents there. His most recent "60 Minutes" story, a profile of Whole Foods Market, aired June 4.

In interviews last week, Rather made clear the professional divorce was imminent. He told The New York Times that he wanted to stay with "60 Minutes," but that CBS News offered him a contract with no specific affiliation to any program.

Blame the Gipper

The New York Times published an article last week that actually blamed Ronald Reagan for a business failure in Berkeley.

How can it be Reagan's fault? He created the homeless and the homeless are driving all Telegraph Avenue storefronts out of business as shoppers would rather not wind their way through abusive panhandlers and stinking drunks.

Earth to the Times - Reagan's dead! He hasn't been president for 17 years.

Even Artists Can't Identify Art

One thing that I liked and continue to like about "classical art" versus modern art, is that one can easily distinguish classical art from a rubbish heap. Here's the story of a museum that couldn't tell an empty display pedestal from art.

Can't Have No Honkies Winnin'

Actually, it isn't a honkie that New York Democrats are trying to defeat. Just a "white individual."

Representative [Major] Owens has labeled Mr. Yassky a "colonizer." Al Sharpton, ever the statesman, has called the candidate, who is Jewish, "greedy." And the New York Sun reported last week that Albert Vann, a city councilman who opposes Mr. Yassky's candidacy, sent an email to black elected officials nationwide announcing that "we are in peril of losing a 'Voting Rights' district . . . as a result of the well financed candidacy of Council Member David Yassky, a white individual."

Culture of Corruption

I'm sure Hillary's difficulties are also Bush's fault.

Connie Chung Falls To Pieces

A honest-to-goodness mainstream anchorette tries out for American Idol.

Here come the guys in the white coats with their butterfly nets.

The Resurection of Ron The Red

Ron Dellums is the mayor-elect of Oakland.
In Congress, Ron the Red advocated the abolition of the Army and kept close ties to Castro, Noriega and just about every other Western Hemisphere communist.

Naturally, the Democratic Party saw fit to appoint him chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

What Was That Vote Again?

Let's see know, John Kerry's surrender resolution lost 93-9 in the Senate and John Murtha's surrender resolution lost by a similar landslide in the house.

But, Murtha says that there is support for his "we can't win" strategy?

"Two-thirds of the Democrats agree with my position now," Mr. Murtha told NBC's "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert. "Every place I go, people understand what I'm saying. The public has been way ahead."

Of course, John Murtha thinks that Clinton's slink-away-from-Somalia strategy was the standard for American foreign policy.

Bin Laden certainly approved: "After leaving Afghanistan, the Muslim fighters headed for Somalia and prepared for a long battle, thinking that the Americans were like the Russians," bin Laden said. "The youth were surprised at the low morale of the American soldiers and realized more than before that the American soldier was a paper tiger and after a few blows ran in defeat. And America forgot all the hoopla and media propaganda ... about being the world leader and the leader of the New World Order, and after a few blows they forgot about this title and left, dragging their corpses and their shameful defeat."

Let's All Lose

The Democrats are so certain of winning the Congress that they're already elbowing each other for leadership positions.
Myself, I just cannot imagine that the American people voting for a party that has defeat as its intention.

Last week's less-than-edifying congressional debate on Iraq contained a lot of that. Democrats were incoherent in their opposition to a nonbinding "stay the course" resolution on Iraq. At one point, Rep. Jane Harman, a California Democrat, stood up and declared, "This side is not trying to go wobbly. We're trying to articulate what we think would be a better strategy for success in Iraq." After the debate no one I talked with thought the Democrats could claim "mission accomplished" on that front. A total of 42 House Democrats voted for the Iraq resolution. Only three Republicans voted against it.
That's not to say that among Republicans there wasn't political posturing along with a desire to embarrass the Democrats with the debate. The GOP-sponsored resolution itself was a disappointment. Michigan Republican Thad McCotter (who voted "present") rose "to express my profound disappointment with this resolution before us, because it is strategically nebulous, morally obtuse and woefully inadequate." He noted that the resolution merely declared that the U.S. would prevail in "the struggle to protect freedom from the terrorist adversary." Mr. McCotter expressed dismay that the resolution "lacks the moral clarity to call the terrorists our enemy."

Given the bland and limited language of the resolution, it is astonishing that 80% of House Democrats felt compelled to vote against it. If President Bush has staked the future of his administration on the outcome in Iraq, Democrats appear to have placed their political bets on the war continuing to go badly. Given the death of Zarqawi, the formation of a unity government in Baghdad, and possible developments in the search for WMD material, that is starting to look like a risky wager.

Ward Churchill Finds a Venue Worthy of His Gibberish

A fact-challenged nitwit like Ward Churchill cold hardly have found a more apporiate forum for his version of events - the Palestine Chronicle.

The fact that CU has spent over a year and a great deal of money conducting a sham investigation of "research misconduct" does not convert an otherwise illegal action into a legitimate one. In its determination to fire me, the University has continuously violated its own rules, the Regents' laws on academic freedom, and the U.S. Constitution's guarantees of due process and equal protection. As today's press release illustrates, CU administrators have conducted a "trial by media," not a confidential personnel investigation. Today's report is but the latest step in this process.

After encouraging malicious and frivolous allegations to be made, Interim Chancellor DiStefano, as complainant, submitted the resulting media stories as if they were his own allegations of research misconduct. These were then investigated by a committee which, over my objections, was dominated by CU insiders. That committee's report has now been rubber stamped by the Standing Committee on Research Misconduct (SCRM), and SCRM's approval will proceed back up the internal hierarchy to Interim Chancellor DiStefano for his approval.

It makes a nice fit with this publication's coverage of the intifada and it's attempted resurrection of the discredited "Jenin massacre" fantasy.

Al-Qaeda Facing Destruction

Why isn't this news reported by the US mainstream media?

US and Iraqi officials said large numbers of documents had been seized during the hunt for Zarqawi, giving key information about the militant group's net-work and the whereabouts of its leaders.

Mouwafak al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser, called it "the beginning of the end of al-Qaeda in Iraq". He said: "Now we have the upper hand. We feel that we know their locations, the names of their leaders, their whereabouts, their movements, through the documents we found during the last few days."

The documents seized included one from a computer found in an al-Qaeda hideout used by Zarqawi, apparently setting out al-Qaeda's future tactics and acknowledging it was losing not only the military battle but also the propaganda war. One of its suggestions for redressing the balance was to encourage hostility between the US and Iran. The document also said Zarqawi planned to try to destroy the relationship between the US and its Shiite allies in Iraq.

I suppose it's because the media doesn't want to admit that it's losing the propaganda war.

Coulter Gives Democrats the Vapors

So, after six years of listening to liberals call George Bush a liar, a racist, miserable failure, a draft dodger and a war profiteer, the mainstream media has finally had enough of incivility in our public discourse. Of course, it has nothing to do with effluvia from the mouths of Al Gore, Harry Reid, Tom Daschle or Howard Dean. No, the problem is Ann Coulter.
In her most recent book, "Godless: The Church of Liberalism," Ms. Coulter took on the Democratic Party and mainstream media tactic of exploiting women in mourning by recruiting, "only messengers whom we're not allowed to reply to. That's why all Democratic spokesmen these days are sobbing, hysterical women. You can't respond to them because that would be questioning the authenticity of their suffering."
At once a tempest of sniffery erupted as the media recoiled from such harsh language. Suddenly the media find such oratory offensive. The Democratic Party was left weak-kneed by a sudden attack of the vapors. But in truth, Ann Coulter's greatest crime was that she laid bare for all to see and judge the left's standard operating procedure for disseminating its message in a manner that permits it to escape examination or criticism. Unable to address the substance of her assertion, which was unassailably true, the Democrats and their lapdog media have aimed their attacks on her "meanness."
Last summer, the mainstream media chose Cindy Sheehan as their sock puppet through which they could ventriloquize their own opinions as "news." Supposedly, the mainstream media are not allowed to insinuate their personal opinions into news reporting. So, they find and highlight somebody who says what they want heard. Once they discovered a promising example of a "sobbing, hysterical woman," who would make good television, she was cultivated and promoted to advocate the left's position. And of course, no one dares contradict a grieving mother or widow.
For example, if not for Cindy Sheehan's exemption from criticism, could she have gotten away with saying: "Am I emotional? Yes, my first-born was murdered. Am I angry? Yes, he was killed for lies and for a PNAC Neo-Con agenda to benefit Israel. My son joined the army to protect America, not Israel."
This is only one sample of her frequent anti-Semitic rants that the media edited out of its coverage to preserve her reputation and usefulness.
As regards the 9/11 widows who were chosen to carry the left's banner, surely out of the thousands killed on 9/11 there are at least four widows who want nothing more than for George Bush to wreak a savage revenge upon those who plotted and funded their husbands' murders. But, those widows were rarely, if ever, invited to sit with Katy Couric and pour out their grief on live, coast-to-coast television. They were not asked to give their assessment of 2004 presidential campaign speeches.
The New York Times' queen mother, Maureen Dowd, while writing about Cindy Sheehan, gave the game away last year in one of her columns when she declared, "The moral authority of parents who bury children killed in Iraq is absolute."
This moral authority does not seem to extend to those mourning parents who disagree with elite opinion on these matters. These "parents who bury their children" are not even permitted access to the media megaphones in most occasions.
The media are as not as offended by the extravagance or indelicacy of Ann Coulter as they are threatened by her talent for exposing their tactics with such clarity. As shown above, she can squeeze more memorable substance into one sentence than Maureen Dowd has in a career's worth of columns.
For much of the last week or so, leading Democratic politicians and mainstream media types have been kneeling at the feet and kissing the ring of Markos Moulitsas, originator of the Daily Kos, the most visited political blog on the web. In 2004, Moulitsas reacted to the torture, murder, dismemberment and public display of four American contractors in Iraq by writing, "Screw them!"
Aside from a few conservative blogs, his comment was allowed to pass unremarked upon through the national debate, like you-know-what through a goose. No one from the same mainstream media that made heroes of these 9/11 widows ever asked the mothers of these men for their opinion of Markos Moulitsas. That absolute moral authority only goes so far.

Proof that We're Winning in Iraq

Howard Kurtz unwittingly supplies the essential data.

"In the first five months of this year, Tribune editors placed Iraq on the front page on average every third or fourth day--there were 41 Iraq stories in 151 days. In the same period last year, there were 74 Iraq articles on Page 1. There were 138 stories in 2004.

"How does that compare to other newspapers? . . . The Washington Post led all U.S. newspapers with 132 front-page articles on Iraq in the first five months of this year. The war is not only a national story for the Post, it is a local story with the White House, State Department and Pentagon in its back yard. Still, this year's number was down from the 161 articles on the front page in the same period of 2005. The Post ran twice as many stories in early 2004 as it has in 2006.

"At the other end of the spectrum of front-page coverage, USA Today, the nation's largest circulation newspaper, had 21 Page 1 articles on Iraq in the first five months of this year, 22 the year before and 42 the year before that. "For those who want to keep track, here are other statistics. The New York Times 113 (2006), 143 (2005) and 216 (2004). The Los Angeles Times, 127, 155 and 238. Looking at a smaller paper, The Boston Globe's count was 32, 65 and 143."

Vernon Robinson for Congress

See his latest ad here.

A Natural Born Predator

No, not Ted Kennedy or Bill Clinton. I'm talking about me. It seems that man's taste for food is coded in his genes.

Scientists who compared the food preferences of identical and fraternal twins found that some tastes are inherited while others are acquired.

"This is the first study to include significant numbers of protein foods and the first to show a high heritability for these," said Professor Jane Wardle of the charity Cancer Research UK.

Nothing in the genes about tofu.

I wonder if genes contribute to my affection for fine ales.

Where's the Celebration?

Combat deaths in Iraq surpassed 2500 and neither the media nor the Democrats were celebrating this time. Does this indicated that liberals can learn? If so, it proves that the species is still evolving and developing new behaviors. We might have to start watching them more closely.

Bad News For Democrats

Not only was the killing of Zarqawi a good thing in and of itself, but the intelligence collected from his safe house has allowed a huge sweep of terrorists, resulting in the killing of 104, the capture of hundreds more and the seizing of numerous arms caches.

Too damned bad for the Democrats, who insist that we cannot win.

Ban The Redeye

Environmentalist wackos are now blaming night time jet flights for contributing to global warming.

They claim that the contrails reflect heat back to earth overnight, whereas contrails from daytime flights reflect the sun's ray back into space, cooling the earth.

Of course, I can remember when scientists were claiming that the earth was headed for a new ice age because jet contrails and clouds created by ships at sea were reflecting too much of the sun's energy into space as well. That didn't happen either.

The United Nations War on Home Schooling

Crap like this could make me starting rethinking that black helicopter crap.

The fact that a growing group of children seems to be escaping from the government’s influence clearly bothers the authorities. Three years ago a new school bill was introduced. The new bill refers to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and it obliges homeschooling parents to fill out a questionaire and sign an official “declaration of homeschooling” in which they agree to school their children “respecting the respect [sic] for the fundamental human rights and the cultural values of the child itself and of others.”

The declaration does not specify what “respecting the respect for the fundamental human rights and the cultural values of the child itself and of others” means. It states, however, that government inspectors decide about this and adds – and here is the crux of the matter – that if the parents receive two negative reports from the inspectors they will have to send their child to an official government recognized school.

My husband and I have refused to sign this statement since we are unwilling to put our signature under a document that forces us to send our children to government controlled schools if two state inspectors decide on the basis of arbitrary criteria that we are not “respecting the respect for the fundamental human rights and the cultural values of the child itself and of others.”

According to the Ministry of Education we have violated the law. The judiciary asked the police to take down my husband’s statement, but he refused to sign any document. He was informed that he might soon be taken to court.

Last month Michael Farris, the chairman of the American Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), warned that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child could make homeschooling illegal in the U.S., even though the US Senate has never ratified this Convention.

According to some activist judges the UN Convention is “customary international law. [...] The fact that virtually every other nation in the world has adopted it has made it part of customary international law, and it means that it should be considered part of American jurisprudence.”

Things Were Looking Down Before the Bomb

Life was already bleak before the US sent Zarqawi off to claim his bowl of white raisins.

Al-Zarqawi's alleged playbook

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie provided this English translation of a document discovered in terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's hide-out:

The situation and conditions of the resistance in Iraq have reached a point that requires a review of the events and of the work being done inside Iraq.

Such a study is needed in order to show the best means to accomplish the required goals, especially that the forces of the National Guard have succeeded in forming an enormous shield protecting the American forces and have reduced substantially the losses that were solely suffered by the American forces.

This is in addition to the role, played by the Shiites (the leadership and masses) by supporting the occupation, working to defeat the resistance and by informing on its elements.

As an overall picture, time has been an element in affecting negatively the forces of the occupying countries, due to the losses they sustain economically in human lives, which are increasing with time.

However, here in Iraq, time is now beginning to be of service to the American forces and harmful to the resistance for the following reasons:

By allowing the American forces to form the forces of the National Guard, to reinforce them and enable them to undertake military operations against the resistance.
By undertaking massive arrest operations, invading regions that have an impact on the resistance, and hence causing the resistance to lose many of its elements.
By undertaking a media campaign against the resistance resulting in weakening its influence inside the country and presenting its work as harmful to the population rather than being beneficial to the population.
By tightening the resistance's financial outlets, restricting its moral options and by confiscating its ammunition and weapons.
By creating a big division among the ranks of the resistance and jeopardizing its attack operations, it has weakened its influence and internal support of its elements, thus resulting in a decline of the resistance's assaults.
By allowing an increase in the number of countries and elements supporting the occupation or at least allowing to become neutral in their stand toward us in contrast to their previous stand or refusal of the occupation.
By taking advantage of the resistance's mistakes and magnifying them in order to misinform.
'Create strife'
Based on the above points, it became necessary that these matters should be treated one by one:

To improve the image of the resistance in society, increase the number of supporters who are refusing occupation and show the clash of interest between society and the occupation and its collaborators. To use the media for spreading an effective and creative image of the resistance.
To assist some of the people of the resistance to infiltrate the ranks of the National Guard in order to spy on them for the purpose of weakening the ranks of the National Guard when necessary, and to be able to use their modern weapons.
To reorganize for recruiting new elements for the resistance.
To establish centers and factories to produce and manufacture and improve on weapons and to produce new ones.
To unify the ranks of the resistance, to prevent controversies and prejudice and to adhere to piety and follow the leadership.
To create division and strife between American and other countries and among the elements disagreeing with it.
To avoid mistakes that will blemish the image of the resistance and show it as the enemy of the nation.
In general and despite the current bleak situation, we think that the best suggestions in order to get out of this crisis is to entangle the American forces into another war against another country or with another of our enemy force, that is to try and inflame the situation between American and Iraq or between America and the Shiites in general.

Specifically the Sistani Shiites, since most of the support that the Americans are getting is from the Sistani Shiites, then, there is a possibility to instill differences between them and to weaken the support line between them; in addition to the losses we can inflict on both parties.

Consequently, to embroil America in another war against another enemy is the answer that we find to be the most appropriate, and to have a war through a delegate has the following benefits:

To occupy the Americans by another front will allow the resistance freedom of movement and alleviate the pressure imposed on it.
To dissolve the cohesion between the Americans and the Shiites will weaken and close this front.
To have a loss of trust between the Americans and the Shiites will cause the Americans to lose many of their spies.
To involve both parties, the Americans and the Shiites, in a war that will result in both parties being losers.
Thus, the Americans will be forced to ask the Sunni for help.
To take advantage of some of the Shiite elements that will allow the resistance to move among them.
To weaken the media's side which is presenting a tarnished image of the resistance, mainly conveyed by the Shiites.
To enlarge the geographical area of the resistance movement.
To provide popular support and cooperation by the people.
'Benefits'
The resistance fighters have learned from the result and the great benefits they reaped, when a struggle ensued between the Americans and the Army of Al-Mehdi.

However, we have to notice that this trouble or this delegated war that must be ignited can be accomplished through:

A war between the Shiites and the Americans.
A war between the Shiites and the secular population (such as Ayad Allawi and al-Jalabi.)
A war between the Shiites and the Kurds.
A war between Ahmad al-Halabi and his people and Ayad Allawi and his people.
A war between the group of al-Hakim and the group of al-Sadr.
A war between the Shiites of Iraq and the Sunnis of the Arab countries in the gulf.
A war between the Americans and Iraq.
'Best war'
We have noticed that the best of these wars to be ignited is the one between the Americans and Iran, because it will have many benefits in favor of the Sunni and the resistance, such as:

Freeing the Sunni people in Iraq, who are (30 percent) of the population and under the Shiite Rule.
Drowning the Americans in another war that will engage many of their forces.
The possibility of acquiring new weapons from the Iranian side, either after the fall of Iran or during the battles.
To entice Iran towards helping the resistance because of its need for its help.
Weakening the Shiite supply line.
The question remains, how to draw the Americans into fighting a war against Iran?

It is not known whether American is serious in its animosity towards Iraq, because of the big support Iran is offering to America in its war in Afghanistan and in Iraq.

Hence, it is necessary first to exaggerate the Iranian danger and to convince America and the west in general, of the real danger coming from Iran, and this would be done by the following:

By disseminating threatening messages against American interests and the American people and attribute them to a Shiite Iranian side.
By executing operations of kidnapping hostages and implicating the Shiite Iranian side.
By advertising that Iran has chemical and nuclear weapons and is threatening the west with these weapons.
By executing exploding operations in the west and accusing Iran by planting Iranian Shiite fingerprints and evidence.
By declaring the existence of a relationship between Iran and terrorist groups (as termed by the Americans).
By disseminating bogus messages about confessions showing that Iran is in possession of weapons of mass destruction or that there are attempts by the Iranian intelligence to undertake terrorist operations in America and the west and against western interests.
Let us hope for success and for God's help.

An Inconvenient Truth

The truth is that Algore is full of shit.

Professor Bob Carter of the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at James Cook University, in Australia gives what, for many Canadians, is a surprising assessment: "Gore's circumstantial arguments are so weak that they are pathetic. It is simply incredible that they, and his film, are commanding public attention."

But surely Carter is merely part of what most people regard as a tiny cadre of "climate change skeptics" who disagree with the "vast majority of scientists" Gore cites?

No; Carter is one of hundreds of highly qualified non-governmental, non-industry, non-lobby group climate experts who contest the hypothesis that human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are causing significant global climate change. "Climate experts" is the operative term here. Why? Because what Gore's "majority of scientists" think is immaterial when only a very small fraction of them actually work in the climate field.

Further down: Dr. Boris Winterhalter, former marine researcher at the Geological Survey of Finland and professor in marine geology, University of Helsinki, takes apart Gore's dramatic display of Antarctic glaciers collapsing into the sea. "The breaking glacier wall is a normally occurring phenomenon which is due to the normal advance of a glacier," says Winterhalter. "In Antarctica the temperature is low enough to prohibit melting of the ice front, so if the ice is grounded, it has to break off in beautiful ice cascades. If the water is deep enough icebergs will form."

Dr. Wibjörn Karlén, emeritus professor, Dept. of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, Sweden, admits, "Some small areas in the Antarctic Peninsula have broken up recently, just like it has done back in time. The temperature in this part of Antarctica has increased recently, probably because of a small change in the position of the low pressure systems."


You know it's getting bad for Algore, when he gets a review like this from the San Francisco Chronicle.

But despite Gore's dire predictions and the over-the-top trailer, which promises scenes of death and destruction, the film itself is a dull affair. Most of it consists of Gore giving lectures with infantile visual aids, including cartoons that seem designed for 2-year-olds. Now and then he throws in an inspiring quote, providing some touchy-feely, Dr. Phil-like moments.

Then there are the scenes of Gore staring pensively out his limousine window as his gloomy narrative drones on in the background. Much like his nostalgic reveries for his idyllic childhood on an estate/farm, Gore seems to want to hearken back to a simpler time before modern technology came along and messed everything up. Sort of like the Garden of Eden before the Fall.

This is fitting, for Gore often comes across more like a preacher than a politician and global warming more like a religion than a science. He makes a point of framing the debate in terms of morality and ethics rather than politics (although politics inevitably creeps in). He uses the word mission to describe his current path and refers to the alleged ill effects of global warming as "a nature hike through the Book of Revelation."

Like the Book of Revelation, Gore's vision is an apocalyptic one. Scenes of smoggy skylines, gridlocked traffic and smokestacks are interspersed with crashing glaciers, storm-ravaged cities and Third World refugees fleeing on foot. Computer models predict the submerging of continents and the deaths of millions. Every problem on the planet, including overpopulation, war and infectious diseases, is attributed to global warming. If ever there were a vision of the End Times, this would be it. But instead of God's wrath raining down on the planet, it's human beings that are doing the damage. One might call it apocalyptic environmentalism.


Faith-Based Science?

At the heart of this new religion is planet Earth, photographs of which Gore holds up as if they were objects of worship. In fact, audiences are told in the trailer that they "owe it to the planet to see this movie," which is certainly a novel marketing approach. Then to add just a twist of relationship psychobabble, the question is raised, "Did the planet betray us or did we betray the planet?" Gore provides the answer later, stating matter-of-factly that "our civilization is destroying the planet." So why not just kill ourselves off now and get it over with?

Culture of Corruption

Democratic Representative Alan B. Mollohan, a Democrat from West Virginia and the ranking Democrat on the House Ethics committee has admitted that he filed false financial disclosure forms. The Democrat admitted that he made "a limited number of inadvertent errors" in his forms over the last 5 years.

in just four years, the West Virginia Democrat has magically turned his personal fortune from $565,000 into over $6.3 million. The Democrat is now under investigation for those magic tricks.

Oh, did I remember to mention that Representative Alan B. Mollohan, (D-W.Va) was a Democrat?

Gratuitous Offensive Ward Chuchill Cartoon of the Day

He'll Be Offered A Job At Yale

A University of Colorado committee has recommded that Ward Churchill be fired.

Churchill, a tenured professor of ethnic studies who has vowed to fight his dismissal with a lawsuit, "has committed serious, repeated, and deliberate research misconduct," the school's Standing Committee on Research Misconduct said in its final report.

Apparently there is a limit to the political deference that higher education will show to even for the most politically correct.

Is This How An African American Would Be Treated?

Patrick Kennedy was apparently embarassed that he had received preferential treatment after his DUI stop and demanded that he receive the same treatment that an African-American could expect from the DC police under similar circumstances.

He seems to have changed his mind about that and had his lawyer do a plea deal that got him off two of the charges originally filed against him.

The Growing Power of Big Tofu

It's true! Vegeterrorists are trying to dictate what you may eat.

From attacks on movie theater popcorn to fast food burgers, Big Tofu wants to keep you from dining on steak, French fries, soda and anything else it deems bad for you. The top priority: protect you from yourself by imposing its vegan-leaning, beans-and-rice, “if-it-tastes-good-it-must-be-bad-for-you” views on what constitutes a proper diet.

As laughable as that may sound, the food nannies wield considerable influence in Congress, the media and state governments. Nowhere has this influence been as strong as in the state of California, where yesterday’s anti-establishment radicals are today’s elected officials. And by using its pull in the nation’s most populous state Big Tofu is increasingly in the position to dictate food policy to the other 49.

Proof That Democrats Can't Be Trusted With Leadership

Nancy Pelosi is planning to replace Jane Harman with Alcee Hastings as the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

Incomprehensibly, there are reports that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has decided to oust fellow Rep. Jane Harman of California in January as the top Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Mrs. Pelosi intends to replace Mrs. Harman in her Intelligence Committee leadership role with Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida, who, depending upon which party achieves majority status, would either become chairman of the House intelligence panel or its ranking member. Either result would be appalling.
Arguably the least impressive member of the House, Mr. Hastings would become one of only several members of Congress who are statutorily designated to receive the most sensitive intelligence briefings involving the nation's most classified national security secrets.
Mr. Hastings' past should disqualify him from such a position of trust. At the recommendation of a special investigative committee of the federal judiciary, which had concluded that Mr. Hastings, then a U.S. District Court judge, had lied and fabricated evidence to win an acquittal on bribery charges in 1983, the Democrat-controlled House voted 413 to 3 in 1988 to impeach him. Several of the 17 impeachment counts, reported Congressional Quarterly, "alleged that Hastings committed acts of perjury during his 1983 trial." Keeping in mind that Mr. Hastings would be told the most sensitive intelligence secrets, consider the fact that another impeachment count approved by the House "alleged that Hastings leaked information about a wiretap he was supervising and thereby forced a halt to an extensive federal undercover operation in the Miami area in 1985." In 1989, a Democratic-controlled Senate convicted Judge Hastings of accepting a $150,000 bribe in 1981 in exchange for a lenient sentence and committing numerous acts of perjury at his own trial. Once he was booted off the federal court, voters in southern Florida elected him to Congress, after which Mrs. Pelosi -- the quintessential San Francisco Democrat -- appointed him to the House Intelligence Committee.
By contrast, when Mrs. Pelosi became minority leader and vacated her position as ranking Democrat on the intelligence panel, she elevated Mrs. Harman to take her place. Mrs. Harman's serious interest in national defense dates to the late 1970s, when she served as special counsel in the Department of Defense. She remains the ideal candidate to lead the Democrats on the intelligence committee, where she has accumulated six years experience (including the last four as ranking member). She plays a strategically tandem role as an upper-tier minority member of the House Homeland Security Committee, where she serves on three key subcommittees.
It is evidence of Mrs. Pelosi's irresponsibility that she would remove one of her party's most senior legislators on a vital committee for the likes of Mr. Hastings.

Bad News For Democrats

Karl Rove isn't getting frog marched anywhere. Too bad for America's most celebrated liar.

Gratuitous Offensive Mohammed Cartoon of the Day

Don't take my word for it. Take this guy's.

Or this guy's. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be wiped off the map.

The most interesting thing about the second link is how all these liberal academics try to excuse the Iranian lunatic and to convince the rest of us that he didn't actually mean what the world thinks he said.

Equally interesting is that these kooky academics are contradicted by Mahmoud's own spokesman who defend the widely disseminated translation as accurate.

"[T]ranslators in Tehran who work for the president's office and the foreign ministry disagree with them. All official translations of Mr. Ahmadinejad's statement, including a description of it on his Web site (www.president.ir/eng/), refer to wiping Israel away. Sohrab Mahdavi, one of Iran's most prominent translators, and Siamak Namazi, managing director of a Tehran consulting firm, who is bilingual, both say "wipe off" or "wipe away" is more accurate than "vanish" because the Persian verb is active and transitive."

Democratic Party Civility

After calling the Republican Party a "criminal enterprise" and vomiting up her "Republican culture of corruption" phrase, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi promised that an Democrat victory in November would usher in an era, "that sets standards for civility and integrity."

Khomeini Calls For US To Invade and Liberate Iran

The grandson of the founder of the Iranian Islamic Republic has asked George Bush to liberate his country.

About his call for U.S President George W. Bush to occupy Iran, Hossein Khomeini clarified: "freedom should be promoted in Iran in any way possible, and it is irrelevant whether this freedom comes as the result of domestic or foreign developments. If I were imprisoned, what does it matter? It is in my interests that someone come and break me out of that prison."

No John Kerry's Here

Three fingernail scratches and John Kerry runs for home. These guys view their duty a little differently.

Nearly 18,000 military personnel have been wounded in combat since the war began in Iraq more than three years ago, according to Defense Department statistics. Some have lost legs and arms, suffered horrific burns to their bodies and gone home permanently.

But the vast majority have remained in Iraq or returned later — their bodies marked by small scars and their lives plagued by aches and pains.

"I wear my scars proudly," said Skidis as he gingerly lifted his pant leg to show the railroad-like tracks where doctors made incisions to save his foot. Why didn't he stay home? "I felt guilty because I wasn't sharing the same hardships that they were," Skidis said shyly, while another soldier nodded at his side.

56 Senators Vote for Monarchy and/or secession

Honestly, every single Democrat, 13 Republicans and one independent voted for a law that would have created an autonomous, race-based government in Hawaii and would have given that government some very interesting powers: “[T]he governing entity will make a decision as to what happens to independence or returning to the monarchy.”

Joseph Lieberman's Seat is Safe

Markos Moulitsas predicts that Lieberman will lose the Democratic primary.

Their political opinions were, not surprisingly, hard to mistake. With little doubt, the most unpopular Democrat around was probably Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, scorned for his frequent support of President Bush's policies. Mr. Lieberman is facing a primary challenge from Ned Lamont, a cable television executive, that should offer a pretty good test of the political impact of this world. Lamont T-shirts and buttons were in abundance.

"Lieberman is going to lose this one," Mr. Moulitsas said.

Given his record for political prognostication, Moulitsas condemnation should be greeted with relief in Connecticut.

Zarqawi's First Day In Paradise

He's still waiting for those virgins.

Were His Rights Respected?

I doubt that he had a lawyer present or was told that he had the right to remain silent. Thank goodness for that.

An Iraqi customs agent secretly working with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror cell spilled the beans on the group after he was arrested, Jordanian officials tell ABC News.

Ziad Khalaf Raja al-Karbouly was arrested by Jordanian intelligence forces last spring.

Officials say Karbouly confessed to his role in the terror cell and provided crucial information on the names of Zarqawi commanders and locations of their safe houses.

Karbouly also admitted to his role in the kidnappings of two Moroccan embassy employees, four Iraqi National Guards and an Iraqi finance ministry official.

In a videotaped confession, Karbouly said he acted on direct orders from Zarqawi.

Officials say he will not be eligible for any of the $25 million reward money.

As Brian Ross reported this morning, the super-secret Task Force 145 does deserve the recognition for Wednesday's capture.

By the time two American jet fighters were called in to drop their 500 pound bombs, General George Casey was certain Zarqawi was in the house, and there was no thought of trying to capture him alive.

"Because the only means that could be applied in a timely fashion was the attack by air power and that was decided by General Casey as the right thing to do," U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad told ABC News.

The FBI on-line reward poster, offering a $25 million dollar bounty, today lists Zarqawi as deceased.

While Zarqawi's al Qaeda group has been decimated, it is only one of 14 major insurgent groups operating in Iraq.

"Different groups that operate independently and are not controlled by al Zarqawi, they don't need him, and they will continue their attacks in the long term," said Sajjan Gohel, an International Security Expert at the Asia-Pacific Foundation.

Authorities this morning are bracing for retaliatory attacks, and all vehicular traffic is banned in Baghdad and Baqubah, near the place where Zarqawi was finally tracked down.

Man Bites Dog

Actually, it's much better than that.

"To his neighbors, he's a loner, a sometimes-friendly, sometimes- surly senior who spends his days wandering through the woods. He is particular about his yard. Strang ers are not always welcomed.

But last week, Jack the cat be came a hero when he chased a black bear out of his neighbors' yard and up a tree.

Twice."

Hawaiians Don't Get What They Don't Want

In a remarkable headline, the Associated Press states that, "Native Hawaiians' hope dashed by Senate."

The Senate, by a disappointingly slim margin defeated an absurd attempt by Hawaii's stupider senator to, in essence, establish a race-based government in his state.

Two thirds of Hawaiians opposed the bill and even native Hawaiians were evenly split.

Aside from the bill's unconstitutionality it's absurd. Native Hawaiians have intermarried with other races so much that pure Hawaiians could probably apply for endangered species status.

Iran Says That Threats Will Not Stop Its Nuclear Program

So maybe we should just skip straight to this.

Conscientious Objectors

If the Seattle Post-Intelligencer accurately represents the attitudes of Washington's governing elite, then not all conscientious objectors are created equal. Joining hands with Governor Christina Gregoire and the state's Democratic leadership, the PI condemned a decision by the state's Board of Pharmacy that granted individual pharmacists the right to "refuse and refer" when a patron comes into the drugstore seeking to purchase the so-called, "morning after pill." Under that ruling, a pharmacist who finds abortion morally repugnant would be permitted to refuse to supply the pill, provided that he or she directs the woman to a pharmacist willing to fill the request.
The PI sneered that the notion that a pharmacist should be permitted to raise his personal "beliefs" (the paper's quotations) above the welfare of the patient.
Neither the PI or the state's ruling party seems to consider that the pharmacist beliefs might have grown out of concern for the smaller and more helpless patient who's existence or value west side elitists seem unwilling to even acknowledge - the unborn baby whom the woman seeks to flush away.
Governor Gregoire was equally dismissive of the concept of beliefs. "They made a mistake. It's time that it's corrected," the governor said at a news conference where she promised to, "help them [the pharmacy board] get the right answer."
And, "If they don't get the right answer, I suspect they will find that the Legislature will take it upon themselves (sic)," she threatened.
One tool available to help her convince the board of the error of its ways is the dismissal of the entire Pharmacy Board. Because the members were never formally confirmed by the legislature, she is within her power to purge them. She could also issue an executive order. But, she'd rather not.
"I don't want this to be done like we're in a dictatorship," she said, exhibiting an immunity to irony that would cause a blush to rise on Marie Antoinette's cheeks.
Now, it's not as though the woman seeking to abort her pregnancy would be forced to carry the child to full term. Respecting the pharmacist's beliefs would only force upon her the very small inconvenience of driving down the street to the next drug store to get her pills.
Recognizing the perils that this excess freedom of conscience might represent, state senator Karen Keiser, D-Kent, is already planning legislation taking such freedom away.
This sort of forced obedience to the cult of abortion is really nothing new. Buried in Hillary Clinton's catastrophic 1994 health care plan, was a scheme to force all medical schools to teach abortion. Many schools, particularly those owned by the Catholic or Mormon churches, had declined to include the procedure in their curricula. Any student planning to make a career in an abortion mill would simply have to choose another college to enroll in. That was an intolerable expression of conscience back then as well that Hillary Care aimed to cure.
On the other hand, we have another conscientious objector making news lately and as yet he has not had to endure the same vitriol or threats as have pharmacists of conscience. U.S. Army lieutenant Ehren Watada, stationed at Fort Lewis and scheduled for deployment to Iraq later his month, has declared that he won't go. Borrowing heavily from Democratic Party talking points he questioned the war's legality, accused the president of lying and complained that he had been "betrayed."
Apparently the Seattle PI holds lieutenant Watada's beliefs in somewhat higher regard than pharmacists' as the paper composed a sympathetic article reporting his insubordination. The PI called his defiance of orders "dissent" and airbrushed out of the story the fact that he entered the Army and Officer Candidate School after the war had already started in 2003. This unbiased clarion also posted a net video of his speech on its website and added links to the peacenik organization that has taken the lieutenant under its protection. As of yet, the PI has not condemned Watada or those who enable him.
Pharmacists are permitted to refuse to provide over the counter abortions only if they provide an alternative, creating nothing more than minor inconvenience. But somebody will be forced to take lieutenant Watada's place. Watada's supposedly conscientious objections are a genuine betrayal and somebody will have to pay a greater price than having to find another drug store.

Woo Hoo!

A new music video of Zarquawi's demise.

Zarqawi Dead

He probably went much too quickly and painlessly. He deserved what he dished out.

Gratuitous Offensive Mohammed Cartoon

A special "martyr's" edition.

Ward Churchill's Imaginary History

Clay Jenkinson writes: "That's what makes Churchill so dangerous. Instead of exploring the messy flux of American history he prefers a simplistic picture in which Indians are uniformly innocent and good, while the white conquerors are uniformly evil and in this case genocidal."

The true story of the Mandan smallpox epidemic, compared with Ward Churchill's version.

John Kerry's Impeccable Timing Strikes Again

Emphasizing that a nuclear-armed Iran would be "a very serious threat to the U.S. and our allies," Kerry contended that the most conservative estimates are that Tehran is at least five years away from developing atomic weapons.

"There is time for diplomacy to work here," he said, but added that negotiating with Iran is "an uncertain proposition at best."

Kerry spoke before news broke of the agreement between six major powers, including the U.S., to offer an incentive package for Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions. He hailed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's recent offer of direct negotiations with Iran, but said any talks "must be more than an effort to check the box on diplomacy as they move toward a confrontation."

Oops!

The Constitution, a Mere Technicality to Democrats

The Senate's immigration bill seems to contain a clause that is entirely unconstitutional. Nevermind says minority leader Harry Reid, such concerns are just, "technical in nature," and should be ignored.

"If Republicans are serious about enacting comprehensive immigration reform, I've got a deal for them," spokesman Jim Manley said. "All they have to do is nothing. Just let the House and Senate bills go to conference and let the conferees work their will."

The bill as written, however, will never make it to conference, Republicans say. Under House rules, any member can introduce a "blue-slip resolution" to return the legislation to the Senate. And although there are plenty of House conservatives eager to kill the Senate bill any way they can, Hill staffers say it would likely be done based on "policy-blind constitutional issues."
"If there is a blue-slip issue, it is not about policy," said one House aide familiar with the matter. "It's about procedure and the House's prerogative to uphold the United States Constitution."

Making a Real Difference

A college campus is an area where awareness is briefly raised to great heights and the cause quickly forgotten. It is a place of meaningless sound and fury. Hardly a week passes on the academic calendar when we are not asked to be more conscious of someone else’s great concern. In other words, a college campus is a place where moral exhibitionists strut their stuff like peacocks spreading their fans during breeding season.
The problem with these awareness raisers is that the great majority of them consider their task done when they leave the stage. Awareness was raised and now it’s up to somebody else to actually do something.
This is because the real motive behind awareness raising has nothing to do with solutions. The point of the whole exercise was to simply satisfy the narcissism of the person trying to raise my awareness. He (or she) is better than the rest of us because he (or she) cares more than we do.
Far less common on a college campus is the student who endeavors to selflessly elevate the condition of his fellow man. It was just one of these rare occasions that caught my eye recently.
Earlier this week, I picked up the local newspaper and felt my soul fill with dread. The headline read: “African dry season concerns WSU students.” My warning lights flashed. Somebody had run across an article in a magazine somewhere and now wanted to raise my awareness regarding a problem he had just discovered. My first instinct was to turn to the sports section or something. Once again, it appeared that somebody was going to try and raise my awareness. Isn’t this summer vacation? I’m supposed to be free of these sanctimonious frauds until the fall semester starts. For reasons I don’t yet know, and against my better judgment, I read the article and realized that even in the sterile earth of a university, seeds can germinate and grow.
I learned that four young men from Washington State University had discovered a problem and, contrary to university tradition, has decided to do something about it themselves. One of them had even postponed medical school so that he could see this project through. If we assume that postponing medical school one year will result in a reduction of one year’s worth of the highest salary this young man might expect, then he has already donated his own money well into six figures.
Travis Meyer, Kyle Kraemer, Jeff Evans and Dan Good learned that the seasonal drought in Malawi cripples agriculture and that irrigation could do wonders there. The problem is that irrigation systems, as we know them, are very expensive to build and maintain. So, these gentlemen devised a human powered pump that can be built and maintained using locally available materials. And, they’re putting their lives on hold to deliver their creations to those who need it.
Malawi is one of the poorest nations on earth. Average annual income is only $600. A little smaller than Pennsylvania, only 20% of Malawi’s landmass is potentially arable, and less than 2% is actually farmed permanently. Irrigation water only reaches 220 square miles of Malawi’s farmland. That’s a quarter the size of Latah county or a tenth the size of Whitman county. Nevertheless, this feeble agriculture has to feed 13 million citizens and accounts for more than a third of Malawi’s gross domestic product. Anything that could deliver more water to the agricultural fields will improve the condition of the entire country.
Most of the world’s prosperous countries first had to farm successfully and feed its people before they could devote resources to exporting luxury automobiles or camera phones. The foot-operated treadle pump will not bring Malawi into the era of big screen plasma television exporters, but it will allow the country to devote more of its most precious resource, its people, to other economic endeavors.
That young men such as this can spring forth in the moral vacuum that American higher education has become proves that ethical development cannot be left to schools, but must come from traditional sources, such as culture, family and church.
These men are just starting to raise the money that will be required to begin delivery of what they hope will be 300,000 pumps to Malawi.
To help, e-mail Travis at temeyer@wsu.edu

Here, We Call it the Democratic Party

Dutch pedophiles are starting their own political party.

Dutch pedophiles are launching a political party to push for a cut in the legal age for sexual relations to 12 from 16 and the legalization of child pornography and sex with animals, sparking widespread outrage.

The Charity, Freedom and Diversity (NVD) party said on its Web site it would be officially registered Wednesday, proclaiming: "We are going to shake The Hague awake!"

The party said it wanted to cut the legal age for sexual relations to 12 and eventually scrap the limit altogether.

"A ban just makes children curious," Ad van den Berg, one of the party's founders, told the Algemeen Dagblad (AD) newspaper.

It's all for the children, don't you know.