Strip Show
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon supports an initiative by Interior Minister Eli Yishai to strip the citizenship of Israeli Arabs who are involved in terror activities and are disloyal to the state. This is, perhaps, a bit shocking to the average American, but, we cannot forget the existential threat that the Israeli Arabs could possibly pose to Israel. The rough situation (to put it mildly) of the last two years surely calls for some rough measures. The question is -- will Israel impose the same penalty of loss of citizenship on Israeli Jews that engage in such seditious acts? Honestly, after all that has transpired, I'm not sure if I care that the penalty be equally applied. I'm human and, frankly, I'm not very happy with our Arab "brothers." The article, written in an Israeli newspaper, addresses all these issues as one would expect of any publication written in a free society with a free press. (Just like the Arab News of Saudi Arabia would.....right?)

Victor Davis Hanson Writes in today's WSJ that America must go it alone.(the link is for subscibers only. non-subscribers click Here for a copy)

Florida Atlantic University insists that this is not to be taken seriously.

The university maintains the flier reproduced below was only sent to two senior members of faculty and was posted at just a handful of locations around campus. Laurenti says the flier was removed immediately. Laurenti maintains there is no organization on campus known as the "Islamic-Arab Students Defense Committee."

Okay, you've been warned, now read it. It was discovered by Medialine which maintains,"The paper was handed to The Media Line by a reliable source at FAU, who maintains the document was indeed distributed in the university"
(All this thanks to Lynn B. at In Context)

Jim Miller asks What Would Mohammed Do? (here is a link to the front page of his blog)
(I found this through Meryl)

John O'Sullivan lays out the case for war with Iraq, and does it pretty well, but unless you write for the NY Times, you probably don't need convincing

Daniel Pipes has some news you might have missed: Israel is winning.

Michael Ladeen takes some time off of the Iran situation to do a heart-wrenching interview with Hebrew U. survivor Eliad Moreh.

Ledeen: Just one final question: Why are the Jews the center of these attacks?

Moreh: It is only the beginning. The political conflict in Israel is only used as a pretext. The truth is that the aim of fundamentalist Islam is to dominate the world, in every place, no matter who is the population. Look at the conflicts in the world, in the Philippines, in Pakistan, in Iraq, in Algeria, fanatic Muslims are every time involved. Muslim Fundamentalism represents a danger for the whole of humanity, wherever there is democracy and freedom. It does not concern Israel only. The sooner the world understands it, the sooner we will be able to vanquish these forces of evil. And I have no doubt we will triumph because the forces of life are stronger than those of death.

The Weekly Standard outlines the NY Times's war against the war on Iraq.
The National Review agrees of course

A Pox On All Your Houses
Israel begins producing smallpox vaccine for fear of Iraqi attack. The title of the article is a little misleading in that the story details how Israel is already in possession of enough smallpox vaccine to immunize its entire citizenship (6.6 million). No decision has been reached about whether or not to immunize the more than 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. The Israeli government is pondering the matter. Ahhh, take your time! Either way, I have confidence that Saddam's Pals will be okay -- I'm sure the Iraqi dictator will be happy to compensate any Palestinian shaheeds that perish as collateral damage in his coming attack on Israel....assuming, of course, that he's still around.

David Warren has it dead on. Read this

There were demonstrations in Iran today which appear to have been put down violantly by the mullah's "foreign" security forces Glenn Frazier (who has been great on the Iran thing all along), has the skinny.

Religion of Peace Update: Not long ago, Amina Lawal, 30, was sentenced to death by stoning by a regional court in Nigeria for having a child outside marriage. If her appeal, which was scheduled for today, fails, she will be stoned to death.

She was unmarried when she became pregnant. Local villagers had her arrested and dragged before a court in Katsina Province charged with adultery. She had no legal defence as she faced the panel of male judges. Human rights group Amnesty International said she didn't even know the nature of the charges against her and the consequences of being found guilty. Under local law, admitting to having a baby amounts to a confession to adultery, a capital offence. The man identified as the father of the baby girl was released. The court said there was not enough evidence against him. For the father to be convicted, he has to either confess or four other men must testify they witnessed the adultery.

Richard Brookhiser writes that this is No Time for Detachment In the War on Terrorism.

Someone (was it Robert Frost?) said that a liberal is a man who will not take his own side in a fight. There are times when the stance of intellectual aloofness is noble and necessary. If men cannot step back from their fights to judge them, then life is truly a war of all against all, an endless scrum with no timeouts beyond exhaustion and no referee but self-interest. The linguistic root of liberal means "free," which in this case means free to think about what one is doing and, if necessary, to decide to do something else. But freedom is meaningless unless it also includes the freedom to act on decisions once taken. After 9/11 every sensible man decided, on the clearest evidence possible, that we were under attack by wicked men. With every passing month, the societies from which Al Qaeda draws its votaries show their corruption, whether through gang rapes in Pakistan or double-talk from Saudi Arabia. It is time for us, liberals all, to press on.

If you have a little time, Steven Den Beste will take you through what wargaming has tought him about our coming war with Iraq, and why "throwing the region into chaos" is probably not a bad thing.

It's European, and it looks like anti-semitism, it sounds like anti-semitism, and it smells like anti-semitism, but what could it possibly be? The New York Times needs your help with this puzzling dilemma.

Iraq has invited the U.S. congress to visit Iraq and search sites where they suspect weapons of mass destruction are hidden.
(I found this on Amish Tech Support)

Mac Johnson over at Right Wing News thinks we should forget the 'War on Terrorism'.

What we need is a war on Isolated Incidents. They, after all, are the real killer of Americans since September 11th. Think I'm nuts? I offer you this: there have been no incidents of terrorism since 9-11, but there has been a strange and disturbing proliferation of isolated incidents.

Jay Nordlinger's Impromptus is full of good stuff today, including this whopper of a correction from the New York Times Book Review’s Close Reader column.

The Close Reader column on July 14, about the relation between daily life and intellectual life in Israel at present, referred erroneously to protests against the award of the Israel Prize to an Israeli Arab, Emile Habibi. The award, and the protests, occurred in 1992, not “recently”; the Israel Prize is given for a life of achievement, not any particular accomplishment. The novel “Arabesques” was misattributed; it was written not by Habibi but by Anton Shammas, also an Israeli Arab, in Hebrew, not Arabic. The column misstated the title of a book that discusses political minorities in modern Hebrew literature, and misstated its timing in the author’s career. It is “Producing the Modern Hebrew Canon,” not “Constructing the Hebrew Canon,” published after the writer joined the faculty of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, not before. And his preferred transliteration of his name from the Hebrew is Hannan Hever, not Chanan Chever. The column also attributed an honor erroneously to the novelist A. B. Yehoshua. He has never received the Sapir Prize (often referred to as the Israeli equivalent of Britain’s Booker Prize).

Sherri Mandell, whose son Koby was killed by Palestinian terrorists, has some news for the families of the Americans killed at Hebrew U., The U.S. State Department is not on your side.

The State Department is now offering information about a reward for Koby's killers. But State seems to prefer that no one find out about it.In 1994, State began Rewards for Justice, a system to help catch terrorist who kill Americans abroad. It promises up to $5 million - up to $25 million for information related to 9/11. But State, eager to tread the illusory path of Middle East peace, doesn't want to catch all terrorists. Since the 1993 signing of the Oslo Accords, Palestinian terrorists have killed 36 Americans. But until last year, the Rewards for Justice program totally omitted Americans killed in Israel.

Gary Kasparov shows that he has as firm a grasp of world affairs as he does of the chessboard. He writes in the WSJ that the war is not yet won.

As in World War II, the war waged by terrorists began with attacks on Jews. Any attempt to separate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the war on terror is futile. Once again momentum is building toward a Middle East peace push, but I'm convinced it is hopeless to look for a separate solution to the Middle East crisis before we achieve victory in the war on terror...

But offense comes first. Baghdad remains the next stop but not the last. We must also have plans for Tehran and Damascus, not to mention Riyadh. The tactics will vary, but the goal--total defeat of terrorism--is clear. Once American ground troops are in Iraq, the message must go out to all terrorist sponsors that this game is up...

America's European allies will join the action against Saddam Hussein, or at least not openly oppose it. But the pressure will be strong to then declare the war won and the offensive stage over. That would be disastrous.
Those who instigated the current war must remember that Coventry and Pearl Harbor backfired on Dresden and Hiroshima. There will be no peace in Gaza, no freedom from fear in Jerusalem, until we have prosecuted the war on terror in Baghdad, Tehran, Damascus and elsewhere. U.S. leadership saved Europe from fascism and communism. It is again the last hope.

Michael Ladeen thinks he might know why the major papers are getting the Iran story all wrong.

That last post got me thinking about ways to help Israel and Israelis economically. Anything that can be bought over there helps of course, but how about this idea: Buying stock in Israeli companies. Although many Israeli companies are doing poorly because of the situation, the prospects for some of them look great. I’m only an amateur stock picker, but to me generic drug maker Teva Pharmaceuticals (symbol = TEVA) looks like a great company. I am sure there are lots of others too. If you have a 401K (with some money left in it), this could be a way to benefit the Israeli economy while (hopefully) helping yourself.

Reader TeddyFlipped has sent us this interesting link. It asks jews who will be buying honey for Rosh Hashana to buy it from Israel. It's a small but worthwhile gesture. Visit TeddyFlipped's site to learn where to buy Isreali products.

Tomorrow is the 96th anniversary of the constitutional revolution in Iran, and there will be demonstrations throughout the country to celebrate it . For more, see this post by Glenn Frazier.

The New York Times discovers Iran in an article outlining the increasing numbers of Iranians on the Net.

"I would have preferred a bullet in the leg."
What the speaker of these words got, instead, was a shattered life. Click here to read about the other victims of the Palestinian's murderous rampage. The thousands you don't hear about. The innocents with no bullets or pieces of shrapnel in them, only the traumatic memories that just won't go away.

The last poll I saw showed that the public favored an attack on Iraq by about 3 to 1. Which is why opponents of the war have been saying things like, "there hasn’t been enough debate” or “ “the President needs to make his case”. The New York Times has been the only place where you can actually find some serious anti-war sentiment. They went a little farther on Saturday, in a mood-of-the-people type article they make the claim that Americans don’t actually want to go to war, even the republicans. How do they know? They did two dozen interviews in Scottsdale Arizona

Two dozen interviews over two days here found some people favoring a strike against Mr. Hussein to prevent him from using weapons of mass destruction against the United States and its allies. But many more argued against an American offensive. Democrats and political independents interviewed were nearly unanimous in their opposition to an invasion, and most Republicans felt the same way. People interviewed also faulted the administration for failing to develop a rationale for mounting an attack against a country the president has said is part of "an axis of evil."

Yeah, I guess if the actual polls don't really work for you...

Thomas Friedman takes the Bush Administration to task, using some pretty harsh words . This time they actually deserve it

Charles at little green footballs found this extensive report on the BBC's coverage of the Middle East

Warren Brooks writes about what's really going on in Iraq

CBC interviewed Bernard Lewis about his book What Went Wrong? Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response, and it's some fascinating stuff.

(I am not sure when this aired. Thanks to David Victor for the link)

Dina Carter, 37 Marla Bennet, 24Benjamin Blutstein, 25 Janis Ruth Coulter, 36
David Ladovsky, 29
Levina Shapira, 53David Gritz, 24
These are the five Americans and two Israelis that were murdered at Hebrew University. See if you can find the Israelis... then ask yourself why it should possibly make a difference.

When William F. Buckley's column doesn't make you look up any words, you know he thinks his point is too important to obscure. Today he takes on the question of Iraq.

While the New York Times has put itself clearly in the Anti- war with Iraq camp, there are clear reasons for the war being articulated elsewhere. The Economist takes the EU to task for their lack of support, for If you will the end, it is only honest to will the means

Steven Den Beste also goes into why we must go to war, for those that are still clueless.

Even the Guardian is saying we should take him out.

Iran News: In what one conservetive Iranian newspaper calls "a scheme that will weaken Islamic values and spread a culture of nudity," the iranian Ministry of Education has told schools that girls in Tehran are to be allowed to lift their veils and exchange their black robes for less restrictive, more colourful clothing while at school for the first time in over 20 years.

Shift magazine is reporting that there are now over 1200 Iranian weblogs, mostly because of the efforts of Hossein Derakhshan.

(links via Instapundit)

'This Struggle Is Worthwhile'. Those are the words of Marla Bennett, who was killed in The bombing at Hebrew U, in an essay that was published in the San Diego Jewish Press-Heritage on May 10th. The LA Times has an excerpt.She writes of the fear she felt , and the reasons she stayed.

My friends and family in San Diego are right when they call and ask me to come home. It is dangerous here. I appreciate their concern. But there is nowhere else in the world I would rather be right now. I have a front-row seat for the history of the Jewish people. I am a part of the struggle for Israel's survival. Paying for my groceries is the same as contributing money to my favorite cause.

Nissan Ratzlav-Katz talks of language, lies, and Jesse Jackson.

Perhaps the word "revenge" also has a different meaning in Arabic than it does in English. Fourteen people have been killed in several terrorist attacks since the assassination of Shehadeh in Gaza ten days ago. Every Palestinian Authority faction, not just the Hamas, has taken part in recent attacks, all claiming that their actions were "revenge" for Shahadeh's death. The only trouble is that, during an equivalent ten-day period prior to the Shehadeh assassination, a total of 15 people were killed by PA-based terrorists. Were they victims of "preemptive revenge"?

It is not just Arab spokesmen who have a problem with consistency. Jesse Jackson, leader of the Chicago-based Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and self-described "bridge-builder," was in Israel this week as part of a delegation of religious leaders promoting "reconciliation." As part of his "peacemaking" tour, Jackson had planned to visit the Gaza home of the founder of Hamas, Ahmed Yassin. The terrorist leader told Reuters that he welcomed the visit. Jackson was at the Erez checkpoint outside of Gaza when news of the Jerusalem bombing broke. He immediately changed his plans and proceeded to Ramallah, instead. Apparently, the good "reverend" thought that it would be unseemly to visit Yassin so soon after such a deadly terrorist attack, carried out under the auspices of his intended host. The only question is why Jackson felt it was acceptable and moral for him to pay his respects to the man in the first place.

Bat Yeor continues to write interesting stuff about Islam, the latest is about the imperialism of jihad.

Victor Davis Hanson writes about the supposed dislike of America by the elites of the rest of the world

The problem is not that we are imperialistic, ruthless, murderous, and oppressive toward allies and neutrals, but, in fact, mostly the opposite. We welcome rather than suppress criticism. Despite our enormous military advantages we do listen to and, as disinterested brokers, try to mediate a variety of complaints — Indians versus Pakistanis, Greeks against Turks, Spanish and Moroccans. Foreign critics realize that their grumbles are heard and so often publish in American journals and newspapers.

Our recent interventions abroad are rarely to gain territory or lucre, but rather, as we saw from Panama to the Gulf, to put down dictators who are robbing and killing their own people and threatening neighbors to the extent that the entire stability of a region is threatened. It is hard to see how the much criticized operations in Grenada, Haiti, Somalia, or Kosovo gained the United States much profit or valuable territory.

Coupled with these high-profile and often caricatured efforts to mediate, adjudicate, and intervene are the unique position of the American economy and the ubiquitous culture of the United States. Both are as preponderant on the world scene as are our military forces.

Another brilliant essay by David Warren, this time he describes the Saudi's Royal Flamout

Now here is a guy with more brains than an 18-year old should be allowed to have.

Jackson cancels Yassin meeting after Hamas claims Jerusalem attack . I guess the dozens of slaughters that Hamas has taken credit for in the past weren't enough for Jackson to question the wisdom of holding a meeting with the sick sheik in the first place. The man is just a joke.

This story is sure to be overloooked in wake of today's horrific suicide bombing in Israel.

Mother Of Eight Kills Terrorist
In an act of uncommon heroism early this morning, a mother of eight overcame a knife-wielding terrorist as he was attacking her husband lying in bed, and stabbed him to death. The miraculous incident occurred shortly after 3 AM when a well-disguised terrorist infiltrated the Shomron town of Itamar and broke into the Mimran family home. It was later discovered that he began his rampage by going from room to room and bed to bed, looking for the children and trying to stab them; most fortunately, all eight children had left on Sunday night to spend some time at their grandparents' home in the north.

The Palestinians are wrong to think that the Israeli public will turn tail and run in the face of their Terrorism. They may kill Israelis, but they don't scare them.

(link via PatioPundit)

Sylvana Foa outlines the historic case for a Jewish State, and none of it is ground-breaking stuff, unless you considor that it's in the Village Voice, and that Sylvana is (was?) a left-wing peacenik.

(As seen at Not a Fish)

Mark Steyn Takes on the upside-down world of INS

Michael Ledeen thinks the European support for the Iranian Mullahs is short-sighted, and that they stand to lose the very thing they are trying to protect -- oil contracts.

Towering intellect, brilliant Economist, Stubborn defender of liberty, inventor of vouchers, and nonagenarian, Milton Friedman is now all of these. His 90th birthday is today and I am commemorating the occasion by re-reading Free to Choose. If you haven’t read any of his books I recommend you pick up Capitalism and Freedom. But for the lazy, Read what Thomas Sowell, Bruce Bartlett, Jacob Sullum, Donald Rumsfeld,or President Bush had to say about him recently

Dennis Prager would like us to consider what happens to those who curse the Jews and those who bless them. He says no one can prove that God has anything to do with it, but that history has been good to those who choose to treat their Jews well. It makes sense without the Theology though, Jews have always been some of the most educated, industrious, and inventive people wherever they have lived and keeping them down would simply rob a society of some of their most productive members.

Jed Babbin, deputy undersecretary of Defense in the first Bush administration, says we should let the Israelis take care of Hezbollah and the Syrians.

When our campaign to get Saddam Hussein begins, the Hezbollah can make things much more complicated by forcing the Israelis to respond. Any concerted attack on Israel will certainly draw a response against Hezbollah, as well as its Syrian ally. Which is precisely what Saddam wants: a wider war between Israel and an Arab nation. He believes the Arab nations will rally to his cause if the Israelis are in the fight. He's wrong in that, but not in the fact that a wider war will cause more unnecessary bloodshed.

The Israelis could have long ago taken out the Hezbollah, but haven't because of strong American pressure to hold back. At this point, we should tell them to go ahead, and the sooner the better. All the pressure we have used on them should be turned on the U.N. John Batchelor summed it all up: "The U.N. is a fellow-traveler of terrorism.

New York Times stupidity alert Exhibit Three:

Professor Anne Bayefsky, noted scholar of international and human rights law, had a run-in with the editors of the New York Times. An op-ed of hers critical of the United Nations and human rights groups for their distorted focus on Israel and their "diversion" from confronting actual rights abusers was accepted for publication by the Times. But the editors so radically altered the piece that Bayefsky went public with the obfuscations demanded by the newspaper. The uncut piece, with the changes the Times demanded, can be read by clicking here (PDF file pgs. 11-13)
(All links courtesy of Charles Johnson-Little Green Footballs)

Grumpy Old Man The American public rejected George McGovern for President in 1972. It turns out that they were absolutely right. McGovern confirms the wisdom of the citizens of this great country in not giving him the highest office in the land with an editorial in today's Wall Street Journal in which he whines about airport security being too invasive and annoying. It, apparently, ruined his whole damn vacation. He did run for office in 1972. He is no youngster. Read his piece, politely chuckle and forgive him.

The L.A. Times (unlike the NY Times) is reporting on the current turmoil in Iran. (link may require a free but annoying registration)

Victor Davis Hanson writes beautifully (as always) of European Parodoxes.

Once upon a time — especially in the Clinton administration — we patiently listened to moral lectures, apologized constantly, and tried all sorts of ways to explain our baffling behavior to our moral betters. Europeans felt their ace in the hole was that we really did want to be liked by them and earn their moral approval.

No longer. They fear now that September 11 was a macabre liberating experience for Americans, and realize that we don't much care about European carping when our greatest buildings and best citizens are vaporized. Yet, when you tell a European precisely that — and as politely as possible — he is either shocked or genuinely hurt.

Iraq? Stay put — we don't necessarily need or desire your help. The Middle East? Shame on you, not us, for financing the terrorists on the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority and Israel? You helped to fund a terrorist clique; we, a democracy — go figure. Racism? Arabs are safer in America than Jews are in Europe. That 200,000 were butchered in Bosnia and Kosovo a few hours from Rome and Berlin is a stain on you, the inactive, not us, the interventionist. Capital punishment? Our government has executed terrorists; yours have freed them. Do the moral calculus. Insensitive to the complexities of the Middle East? Insist that the next Olympic games are held in Cairo or Teheran, and let a deserving Islamic Turkey into the EU.

NY Times stupidity alert: Exhibit Two

The Times reports today that the Iranian government has disbanded an opposition political party and sent 33 of its members to jail. An interesting story, especially considering the political climate in Iran at the moment. The Times however, does not even mention the fact that there is any unrest in Iran, and (to my knowledge) has never mentioned it.

NY Times stupidity alert: Exhibit One

Last weekend, Palestinian officials were secretly working in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to achieve an agreement that some of those involved described as a unilateral cease-fire, others as a lessening of the conflict.
At the same time, Israeli officials were making secret preparations of their own, for a very different kind of unilateral action: killing a man they considered one of the most dangerous Palestinians, a founder of the military wing of Hamas.
The two paths crossed before dawn on Tuesday, when Israel dropped a laser-guided, one-ton bomb on the Hamas leader's house in Gaza City as the Palestinian negotiators were working on a text of their announcement.

This absolutely makes me sick. They have been reporting this story for a few days now, but until now it had been, “Palestinian officials say” or some other equivocation. For the NY Times to actually believe that the Palestinians were about to call a “unilateral cease-fire” is a shocking admission by the Times that they have their heads up their asses. (okay, not that shocking. )

SHHH! Don't tell Saddam.

The NY Times is reporting that the U.S. is exploring the possibility of taking Baghdad in a lightning strike as the first salvo in an attack on Iraq. All the leaking of various warplans would be worrisome, but it is pretty likely that at least some of this is coming from the administration. If it is in fact them leaking this stuff to throw off the Iraqis (or any other reason), that’s great. If it isn't and we have other faction within the government doing this stuff, then we are in some serious trouble.

I just spent a little while reading Tolerating Intolerance: The Challenge of Fundamentalist Islam in Western Europe by Bruce Bawer It's a fascinating read. Take a few minutes and check it out, it's well worth it.
( Found on Little Green Footballs)

Reuel Marc Gerecht wonders about Regime Change In Iran, and how to get there from here.

The Christian Science Monitor says that the U.S. sometimes ships captured Al-Qaeda members to the Middle East to be interrogated by the intelligence agents of their home country, who don't shrink from using torture. They say this as if it's a bad thing.

Jonah Goldberg Has developed a General Rule on Patriotism: The more negative your view of America, the more positive your view of the United Nations.

Many columnists have argued (correctly) that the killing of Salah Shehadeh in Gaza, and the unfortunate deaths of civilians, was perfectly justified. Their usual comparison is to America’s action in Afghanistan, but Nissan Ratzlav-Katz draws a better one.

"[I]n 1989, the US invaded Panama City in order to extract [the ruling strongman Manuel] Noriega, using jets and helicopters. Six hundred civilians were killed in that raid, according to American estimates, and thousands were wounded. Then [U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,] whose name was Colin Powell, said at the time that the appropriate amount of force was used 'and we have no need to apologize.' The Attorney General at the time, Dick Thornburg, said that the U.S. was operating according to the U.N.'s clause 51 allowing self-defense.

Wesley Pruden has a column that illustrates the difference between Israeli society and that of their enemies. Israel is so easy to criticize because they criticize themselves.

Many Israelis argue that pinpoint prevention is merely another name for summary execution, that the leaders of Hamas and Fatah killed under this doctrine are killed without benefit of judge or jury. And so they are. It's called "war," which is why starting one is risky business.

The Israeli Defense Force, for all its dispatch and efficiency, has never killed without compunction, and it has generally taken care to look out for civilians. That's why the Gaza City raid shook up so many Israelis: This time it looked as though sufficient care was not taken.

Iran news: The L.A. Times reports on the mood in Iran, and Michael Rubin asks our government to not ignore the will of the Iranian people.
One note : Michael Rubin's article claims there are 84,000 working Prostitutes in Tehran. I don't know how large Tehran is, But 84,000? That's unbelievable.

Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil. Charles Krauthammer says it's impossible to understand American politics without keeping this in mind.

Michael E. O'Hanlon and Philip H. Gordon of the Brookings Institute co-write an opinion piece in today’s NY Times, debating whether or not it is a good idea to attack Iraq. Their biggest concern? Well, it seems no one is debating whether or not we should be attacking Iraq. I'm pretty sure this is the third time I've read someone ask that question, and then ask why no one is asking that question. Quit it. We’ve all asked ourselves that question. The answer is yes. Move on.

They have been threatening, now here they come. A New York City lawyer has filed a suit against McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and KFC Corporation , saying their fatty foods are responsible for his client’s obesity and related health problems. the suit claims the companies are "irresponsible and deceptive" in their nutritional labeling.
(as seen on db's Medical Rants)

JONAH GOLDBERG WANTS YOU!!! to do nothing. Join the Inactivist movement, or not, whatever. Seriously, he has a point in there.

There's actually a very serious philosophical point behind inactivism and for a movement which requires no actual movement (remember: Grass roots don't move), we might as well get the justification right.

The "Just Don't" school holds that most problems solve themselves. If nobody else will solve your problems for you, you will be far more likely to fix your own problems. This is a naturalistic philosophy in that it embraces the natural order of things. No creature — except for man — takes responsibility for the ecosystem it lives in. Sharks eat as much as they can eat. Birds fly where they want to fly. Bears crap in the woods without so much as a "by your leave" from park rangers. Everybody does what they do and the ecosystem achieves balance because of it.

Markets work the same way, most of the time. Few people think about the national or even the local economy when they buy a microwave oven. Sure, they are concerned about how the economy effects them, but they do not care whether their purchase will harm or help the GDP in anyway. And yet, by buying a microwave oven so he can reheat his spicy Jamaican beef patties from 7-11, Joe Slacker contributes to the GDP.

The Heavy Heart Of Hamas
Apparently the Islamofascists of Gaza were just about to drop all their murderous activities and transform the Intifada into a Ghandi-like campaign of civil disobedience. Hamas was to concentrate their fight with letters to the editors of various Israeli newspapers with a special emphasis on Synagogue bulletins and Islamic Jihad was to stage sit-ins at delis throughout Jewish Israel with a focus on booths for 10 or more people. But then, the evil Ariel Sharon destroyed peace in our time with his American made airplane in Gaza city. Now Hamas, with a heavy heart, must go back to killing Jewish civilians. We were so close. Not.

A letter to the Editor of a San Fransisco paper

Al Qaeda has the upper hand in the war against terror because the security agencies responsible for protecting us act like a bunch of sissies.

Case in point: I was recently hired for an FBI counter-terrorism position based on my ability to speak several foreign languages, my thorough knowledge of Middle Eastern culture and my extensive travel abroad. Each FBI employee who interviewed me told me, "We're desperately in need of language skills."

I'm a blue-blooded American, 44 years old, who has taught college several years for the Department of Defense, and I was excited my skills would be helpful in the war against terror. Then came the FBI's lie detector test.

I admitted I'd smoked marijuana about 20 times when I was 18. I've never used drugs since. But within five minutes I was put out on the street.

I told the FBI agent who kicked me out that "I doubt very seriously that Bin Laden screened any of the hijackers for drug experimentation when they were kids." The FBI agent confided, "You wouldn't believe the number of super- qualified individuals we've turned away. Just last week we let go a highly qualified psychologist for the same reason. It's very frustrating."

Moral of the story: Don't hold your breath for the FBI to save you.


JOSEPH ROSS
Sonoma

I had thought that the FBI might have been smokin' something after the LAX debacle, but perhaps they are simply a bunch of idiots.
(as seen on Instapundit )

---Dead man Talking----

MEMRI has posted an interview with Salah Sh'hadeh (who was assassinated by Israel yesterday) from May 29, 2002.

Drudge is reporting that the Palestinians will be asking the International Criminal Court to hold an "urgent trial over the crime against humanity carried out last night by the occupation forces." Just 23 days old and already the court is paying off for its supporters, not bad. But John Podhoretz says international law is quite clear about who is responsible for those civilian deaths.

When they named it The Criminal Court, did they mean "To protect"-- or "run by", criminals? I think I'm confused....

Dennis Ross sees a new front opening up for Israel: Syria and Iran, And he agrees with David Warren (see today's 2nd post) that Israel might find itself in an actual war with Syria in the near future.

HBO is set to air a video of Al Sharpton discussing a cocaine deal:

The tape shows Sharpton being offered thousands of dollars to arrange the sale of cocaine.

"Every kilogram we bring in, $3,500 to you. How does that sound?" FBI agent Victor Quintana asks, as Sharpton nods. "So we bring in 10, you'll make $35,000."

"I hear you," Sharpton replies.

"But that's a drip in the bucket," Quintana continues.

"Well, if (the buyer) can, if he's gonna do it, he'll do it much more than that," says Sharpton, sporting a cowboy hat and an unlit cigar in his mouth.

Sharpton said he is not worried about the tape.

"It's a cheap smear campaign, but I think it will end up generating sympathy for what I have been fighting for all these years against government abuses in trying to bring down successful minority businesspeople," he said.

The tape will be aired Tuesday on "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel"

David Warren thinks that the killing in Gaza of Salah Shaheda is just the beginning of a larger offensive by Israel that will ultimately take them as far as Damascus

This Month's Smarter Harper's Index is up. Its always great stuff. Check it out.

That's Funny, You Don't Look Moslem
We Jews have been targeted by oh so many Islamic folks as of late -- Al Quaeda, Hamas, the Arab League, Iranian Mullahs, Hezbollah -- Pantywastes! The whole damn lot of 'em. They will join a long list of extinct groups that have tormented the Children of Israel for thousands of years. But now, oh my, I must admit, I'm trembling...the enemy is at the gates. No, the enemy is in the gates. No, we are the enemy. No.....I'm soooo confused. Check out Jews for Allah and laugh at this latest Moslem attempt to demoralize and defeat the stiff necked people whose very existence seems to really irk the House of Islam. (Special thanks to Teddyflipped - check out her web page Buy Blue and White and support the Zionist Entity.)

Chris Matthews, host of "Hardball," has been hospitalized with malaria, He is expected to recover. Mike Barnacle is filling in for him, and as I type, lobbing softballs at Jesse Jackson. Get well soon Chris..

Eugene Volokh alerts us to an outragous (in my opinion) violation of our rights. It doesn't even have anything to do with "The War on Terror." It's called a "Voluntary Roadside Interview."

Off-duty troopers, hired at $30 an hour, picked motorists at random and directed them to pull off the interstate into a rest stop, where Palm Pilot-toting interviewers waited.

No, this roadside checkpoint wasn't looking for drunken drivers. The survey, which will cost about $150,000, was commissioned by the Florida High Speed Rail Authority to gauge public interest in riding a proposed 120 mph bullet train. . . .
"The bottom line is, we can do it. It's well within the law,'' said Adrian Share of HNTB Corp., general consultants for the rail authority. "With the cooperation of state troopers, the state is allowed to pull people over just to seek information.''

Bulloks, says Volokh

I'm pretty certain that this isn't just illegal but unconstitutional: When the police officer uses his authority to detain people, even very briefly (as, for instance, at a drunk driving checkpoint, where the detentions are likewise often very brief), that's a seizure -- and given the weakness of the government's reasons for interfering with people's liberty this way, it seems to me to be an unconstitutional seizure, and thus a Fourth Amendment violation.

Steven Den Beste has a post on the Israeli missile strike against Salah Shehada. Haaretz has details on who Shehada was and why Israel wanted him dead

The Bush administration has decided to stop dealing with President Mohammad Khatami and his reformist allies in the Iranian government, and will start appealing directly to democracy supporters among the Iranian people.

In other Iran news: an earthquake killed 500 people in northern Iran.

A Positive Response
Earlier today Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin told reporters that Hamas would perhaps consider maybe, you know, stopping well suicide bombings if Israel... like totally capitulates to the Palestinians, dude. That's actually a paraphrase of what he said. Truth be told, the words capitulate and dude are not even in his vocabulary. He did say, for real, that "once the occupation and all those measures against our people stop, we are ready to totally study stopping martyrdom operations, in a positive way." His equivocal statement was met with an unequivocal response by the Israel Air Force this evening...The response said, basically, that "The Israeli people await the outcome of your study but, during the interim, we are like totally going to blow up you murderous bastards." In a positive way, of course.

The St. Petersberg Times is running a five-part series called "inside Saudi Arabia." Part II contains some horrific stories of Ant-Western killings and the government's attempt to blame it on "liquor bootleggers"
(Link via Little Green Footballs)

James Carville, for the first time in his career, actually hears what is coming out of his mouth.
(Picture found at Blogfodder)

Virginia man opens fires on helicopter, thinking occupants are terrorists. I am definitely for gun ownership, but this man should never be able to look at a gun ever again.

Joel Mowbray reports that Visa Express is finally dead (regardless of what the Arab News says), but that is no reason to leave Visa authority with the State Department

The Bush administration seems to get so much of their foreign policy decisions dead-on, so their hesitancy to take on Saudi Arabia stands out. It has been widely claimed that this might be because of the many business ties between the Saudis and much of official Washington. The Boston Herald has an in-depth report on how deep the ties actually run. Part I Part II

Mark Helprin gave an extremely moving speech to the graduating class of Hillsdale Acadamy in Michigan. The following is an excerpt, but you can read the whole speech here (scroll past the first speech)

There is a time to lay down arms, and there is a time to take them up, and that we are now in a time to take them up is self-evident. Those for whom it is not self-evident, who would challenge the right to defend against and preempt barbarous attacks upon our persons and our country, and who would instead substitute a distorted inquiry that would end in the condemnation not of the terrorists but of the terrorized, do not find the need to defend their civilization -- Western Civilization -- self-evident. Nor do they find the action of doing so congenial, in that it is something from which they habitually abstain. This is a serious charge, and I have drawn a clear line, but I mean to...

I ask you to join this brotherhood, and, in your own way, whatever that may be, to defend and champion the sanctity of the individual, free and objective inquiry, government by consent of the governed, freedom of conscience, and the pursuit -- rather than the degradation and denial -- of truth and of beauty. I ask you to defend a civilization so buoyant with the presence of God that it need never compel others in His name. I ask you to defend a civilization that rather than deliberately obscuring the difference between combatants and non-combatants, struggles to maintain and respect it. I ask you to defend a civilization of immeasurable achievement, brilliance, and freedom. I ask you to defend civilization itself.

(seen on Not a Fish via Dawson Speaks)

According to a high-level Iranian defector The government of Iran was behind the bombing of a Jewish community center eight years ago that killed 85 people. Iran then paid Argentina's president at the time, Carlos Saúl Menem, $10 million to cover it up, claims the story in the NY Times. The defector, Abdolghassem Mesbahi, claimed there was an interesting relationship between Menem and the Iranians:

Iran's contacts with Mr. Menem began in the mid-1980's when he was the governor of La Rioja Province. Because Mr. Menem was of Arab descent and they believed him to share their anti-Jewish sentiments, the Iranians covertly funneled money to Mr. Menem in hopes that he would be elected president and pursue policies favorable to Iran, Mr. Mesbahi said.

Update: Drudge is reporting that Menem plans to sue the NY Times over this article. As Drudge likes to say, developing...

A transformer blew in Manhatten yesterday,and Jane Galt witnessed a strange thing, New Yorkers pitching in and helping each other.
(Link via Amish Tech Support)

There were Anti-America Pro-Government demonstrations in Iran on Friday. Tens of thousands of people showed up, but according to Iranian-born blogger Hossein Derakhshan (who is in Iran at the moment):

Most of them are government staff who are forced to come, or they are gonna have problems. Even some of them are brought down to Tehran from other cities. So nobody should take these things seriously. Iranians love Americans and their life-style, you just have to come here to see it.

It is not very surprising, these are the type of people that totalitarian regimes usually use to stock their rallies. It would have been nice to see them resist though, and it would have been further sign that the regime is crumbling
(link via LGF)

Steven Den Beste has a really good essay explaining the reasons the Palestinians like to use terms like 'Terrorist State' to describe Israel

Victor Davis Hanson isn't really talking about johnsongrass.

Throw Momma from the Village!
Recent reports suggest that Israel is considering deporting the families of suicide bombers from their homes in the West Bank to the Gaza Strip. I say Bravo. It's about time. Numerous times in the past year we have been subjected to interviews with the Islamobombers' families. The brothers want to be martyrs just like the recently exploded Mohammed. Mom says her son died for allah. Dad wants to produce more sons to detonate in Jewish population centers. They are proud. They are satisfied. They light up their cigarettes in the post-explosion afterglow like drained but contented lovers after an orgasm. This makes sense. They have just had the Islamic version of an orgasm -- losing oneself in all the blood, death, carnage and screams. Yes, young Mohammed did the deed - but, as they say, it was good for them too. Send 'em to Gaza...let 'em sleep in the wet spot.

Leave it to Charles Krauthammer to turn a tiny diplomatic skirmish over an island in the Mediterranean, into an example of the clash of civilizations. And he’s not kidding.

Much of the conflict in the world today -- the Philippines, Kashmir, Chechnya, the West Bank, Sudan, Nigeria and now on this ridiculous little rock in the Mediterranean -- represents the Islamic world, once expanding, long contracting, pushing out once again to reclaim its place in the sun.

As Samuel Huntington has written, the borders of Islam are bloody. At least in the War of Parsley Point, no one has been killed and no one is likely to be. It will all end with the game's being called on account of silliness. The game goes on everywhere else, however, not as farce but as tragedy.

Melissa Seckora reports on the sounds of Radio Sawa. The replacement for Voice of America's Arabic version is a hit, bringing America's Side of the story to Arab youths, who are flocking to Radio Sawa for top-ten American and Arabic pop tunes, but staying for the substantive, and uncensored news reports. The station is already number-one in eight Arab countries, a stunning achievement for a service that was launched in March. This begs the question; does the State Department know? And what are they going to do to neutralize it?

David Warren sums up six months of Michael Ledeen reporting, with an absolutely terrific essay, The End Is Nigh, on what is happening in Iran, and why.
(Link via VodkaPundit)

If you care enough to help out, there is a way to send a care package to a victim of terror. Many victims are still in hospitals across Israel while others are at rehabilitation centers or at home, struggling to come to terms with their injuries. If you do want to help, this is, literally, the least you can do.
(Sent to me by Zion Blogster)

The State Department is starting to pay up for their lies and deception. Joel Mowbray takes them to task again in separate articles in the NY Post and the National Review. High-level State Department officials meanwhile, have been calling Mowbrey and the members of Congress who have joined him in calling for the removal of visa authority from the State department, "Neo-Nazis."

Iran Update: The leader of an Iranian Reform Part has warned the fundementalist government that a planned attempt to crack down on reformers "would be perhaps their biggest and last mistake".
(Link via LGF)

Who Is Syed Athar Abbas? David Tell knows who he might be, But the FBI seems, as usual, to be looking the other way

If you haven't been following the Joel Mowbray-State Department brouhaha then you must catch up. Today's installment quotes the Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, in a letter to the Justice Department: "[believing that] an applicant may pose a threat to national security... is insufficient [grounds] for a consular officer to deny a visa.(Read the Full document)" The State Department is having a hard time pretending it isn’t an arm of the Saudi Government. Maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on them they obviously have more important things to do than worry about Terrorists

Bomb blast in Tel Aviv.
Amazingly, Israel has already declared it a terrorist attack. (compare to FBI confusion RE: July4, El Al Counter, LAX, Egyptian Muslim) But really, I say terrorist shmerrorist, this is another ISLAMIC attack against the Jews. Terrorism is a methodology of fighting a war, albeit a nasty one. The common denominator in all of the recent attacks on The West and Israel has been RADICAL ISLAM. That is the name of our enemy. We continue to ignore this fact at our peril. Which reminds me -- Where in the hell has Lou Dobbs been? I haven't been watching him but I sure do hope he's sticking to his guns.

Meryl Yourish is suggesting that people considor ballot stuffing this online poll(Should international monitors be sent to Israel and the Palestinian territories?). It doesn't seem that important to me. It's just a poll. A far more important poll can be found on the right side of this page

Mark Riebling has a great article in National Review on what would fix our Intelligence agencies

Yossi Klein Halevi sees a global wave of Anti-Semitism being swept under the rug:

This week, the denial syndrome spread to Toronto, where skinheads stabbed to death a Jew outside a kosher pizza shop. Despite the fact that the ultra-Orthodox victim was easily identifiable as a Jew, Toronto police quickly announced that the attack didn't appear to be a hate crime.

The chances of a murderous skinhead wandering around an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood without premeditated intent to kill are about as likely as an armed Muslim fanatic who just happens to open fire at a counter of Israel's national airline. The inability of law enforcement agencies to discern a motive in the July 4 shooting into a crowd of Jews at Los Angeles International Airport by a Muslim extremist who hated Jews and accused Israel of deliberately infecting Arabs with AIDS is hardly an isolated example of stupidity and self-deception. It's part of a worldwide pattern of denial in response to increasingly lethal Jew-hatred.

The House passed an important resolution today, congratulating the Detroit Red Wings for their Stanley Cup championship. the resolution passed 410-0, With 4 Members voting "present" and 20 Members not voting at all. One of the non-voters was none other than Michigan Representitive and gubernatorial candidate David Bonior. We here in Hockeytown love our Red Wings, and we cannot stand idle as one of our own shows such blatant disregard for our hometown heroes. While we have never liked Bonior's political views, our dislike has now turned personal. - The Toothbrush editorial staff

Man who had sex with underwear-clad dogs forced to flee. Don't even click the link -- just enjoy the headline and let your imagination run free.

Jonah Goldberg really fries the French and, boy, is it fun. Enjoy! I know that I did.

Lawrence Henry writes about The Middle East War Nobody Knows

There is a great unreported story in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, what amounts to an unreported war: the war of the Palestinian resistance. And no, the Palestinian Authority and its terrorist accomplices -- Hamas, Hezbollah, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, and the rest -- are not a "resistance" movement. They are, rather, the dictatorship against which the resistance struggles. The real resistance, anonymous, not even properly described, is the fight against terror within the West Bank and Gaza by a fifth column of Israel sympathizers.

This resistance gets reported only under one rubric -- "suspected collaborators" -- and only under one circumstance -- the execution of those "suspected collaborators." Sometimes these executions take place under a thin cloak of criminal procedure, as sentences carried out by the Palestinian Authority after trial. More often lately, they are simply slaughters in the street, often accompanied by mobs baying for blood and mutilation -- and getting it.

The Chicago Sun-Times has an inside look into the hospitals that pick up the pieces after a suicide bombing. Written by Avraham Rivkind, the Head of Trauma at Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, it is a harrowing but uplifting commentary.

A bomb went off outside a Helsinki synagogue today, killing one man and injuring another. If you have been following the news recently, you know that this couldn't possibly be motivated by animus towards Jews or any other political motivations. "We are treating this as an isolated incident," said Detective Chief Inspector Olli Toyras. "We don't believe there are any terrorism or political links." Helsinki is home to about 900 Jews.

While the people of Iran protest their government, the State Department says that America “has no message for the people of Iran.” Our President, however, is singing a different tune:

When given a choice, people will choose freedom. As we have witnessed over the past few days, the people of Iran want the same freedoms, human rights, and opportunities as people around the world…As Iran's people move towards a future defined by greater freedom, greater tolerance, they will have no better friend than the United States of America.

Why Is the State Department always on the wrong side of every issue?

Report: LA Airport Gunman Had Money Problems. Click the article which details the business failures of Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, the Egyptian limousine business owner that murdered two Jews at the El Al ticket counter. But, what does this have to do with the price of grenades in Karachi?. This has always been the typical Leftist explanation for terrorist violence - poverty and hopelessness or, in this case, a business setback. Maybe Osama Bin Laden's portfolio took a hit prior to September 11th - we surely shouldn't call his "nervous breakdown" over his finances on 9-11 a terrorist act until ALL of the facts are in.

Michael Ledeen still smells a revolution in Iran and reports on an interesting side note; the emergance of that oft-rumored but rarely-seen creature, moderate Islam

Meanwhile, in Isfahan — -the epicenter of the anti-regime demonstrations (just as it was the eye of the hurricane that brought down the Shah 23 years ago)-there have been numerous proclamations and rallies in support of the regime's most visible critic, the Ayatollah Montazeri. Montazeri, who has been under house arrest for years, issued a fatwah some weeks ago, denouncing the practice of suicide bombing as sinful, and was praised last week by Ayatollah Taheri, who resigned as Imam of Isfahan and issued the most violent denunciation in the history of the Islamic Republic of the evils of the regime. The mounting support for this aged cleric is yet another sign of the disintegration of the extremist religious tyranny that has wrecked Iran at the same time it has devoted enormous resources to the support of anti-American terrorism.

John Weidner (Random Jottings) has posted this letter on his site. Iran is in turmoil and its fundamentalist regime may be falling. Just read it, or pass it on to those who may be supported by its message. For more on Iran see some of these recent articles by Michael Ledeen


AN OPEN LETTER IN SUPPORT OF THE PEOPLE OF IRAN FROM THE WEBLOGGING COMMUNITY

We are not politicians, nor are we generals. We hold no power to dispatch diplomats to negotiate; we can send no troops to defend those who choose to risk their lives in the cause of freedom.

What power we have is in our words, and in our thoughts. And it is that strength which we offer to the people of Iran on this day.

Across the diverse and often contentious world of weblogs, each of us has chosen to put aside our differences and come together today to declare our unanimity on the following simple principles:

- That the people of Iran are allies of free men and women everywhere in the world, and deserve to live under a government of their own choosing, which respects their own personal liberties

- That the current Iranian regime has failed to create a free and prosperous society, and attempts to mask its own failures by repression and tyranny

We do not presume to know what is best for the people of Iran; but we are firm in our conviction that the policies of the current government stand in the way of the Iranians ability to make those choices for themselves.

And so we urge our own governments to turn their attention to Iran. The leaders and diplomats of the world's democracies must be clear in their opposition to the repressive actions of the current Iranian regime, but even more importantly, must be clear in their support for the aspirations of the Iranian people.

And to the people of Iran, we say: You are not alone. We see your demonstrations in the streets; we hear of your newspapers falling to censorship; and we watch with anticipation as you join the community of the Internet in greater and greater numbers. Our hopes are with you in your struggle for freedom. We cannot and will not presume to tell you the correct path to freedom; that is for you to choose. But we look forward to the day when we can welcome your nation into the community of free societies of the world, for we know with deepest certainty that such a day will come.

I just found this Victor Davis Hanson essay on Civic Pride. Why does this man not have a Pulitzer?

Victor Davis Hanson is in fine form, this time it's the ICC

Sesame Street is about to introduce a HIV-positive Muppet into the South African version of the Show. The character will then travel to all the other countries where Sesame Street is aired. Watch for the Palestinian Authority episodes, where the Muppet becomes a glorious martyr and brings biological weapons to the otherwise powerless Palestinians.
(link via Drudge)

It took the American government about 7 hours to determine that Osama and his merry band of Islamic thugs took down The Towers way back in September. I remember that first night - we saw live footage from Afghanistan of a missile attack on an arms depot in Kabul and all the news outlets thought that old Uncle Sam was already exacting a little revenge on our attackers - crazy place that Afghanistan is, it turned out that the missile barrage had nothing to do with America (maybe some sort of out of control wedding ceremony). The point is, simply, THIS -- Why does the FBI refuse to name the evil that lay behind the attack on Jewish travelers at LAX one week ago today? Seven DAYS ago. That evil is, of course, RADICAL ISLAM. Every sane observer of those unfortunate events seems to know who the culprit was with the exception of the FBI. One week has already passed. What the hell are they waiting for?

The WSJ takes up the story of Amjad Radwan and her betrayal by the State Department. It's not pretty. The State Department needs to be disbanded if they can't get their loyalties in order. Nothing they do seems to be in this country's best interest.

Michael Ledeen seems to be America's Leading journalist on the turmoil in Iran. He is back with an update on the protests of the last couple of days

In my first post on Mona Baker (the British academic who fired two Israelis), I neglected to mention an interesting quote from the Telegraph article:

Prof Baker, who refused to disclose where she was born, claimed that her actions were supported by a growing number of academics across Britain and in Germany. She alleged that since the sackings she had been the victim of a hate campaign.

I was curious about it, but I didn’t really know what it meant. Well David Tell does. Turns out she was born and raised in Egypt. Which makes all the British Academics a little more comfortable criticizing her. You see how that works? Arab anti-Semitism is easy to criticize but European Anti-Semitism? That doesn’t exist.

Amnesty International, in its seventh report on the human-rights situation in Israel and the territories since the September 2000, has finally found something to condemn on the Palestinian side of the aisle. They are shocked, just shocked, to find that the Palestinians have been, get this, targeting civilians! Yeah, that's just wrong. CNN, now this? Are the EUniks next?
(News story link via LGF. Read the actual report Here)

The words of a Palestinian "peace activist" with a few drinks in him:

The Zionist experiment is over. The Palestinians have discovered a strategic weapon: suicide bombers. Once anathema, they are now considered heroes. The shahids (martyrs), once seen as religious fanatics, are now nationalist freedom fighters... they are growing in legitimacy all the time. The Arab world understands them and even some Europeans seem to. The Israelis have F-16s, the Palestinians, suicide bombers. The equivalency is obvious to all. Now there are thousands out there waiting in line to kill as many Israelis as they can, to make your lives hell on earth. They belong to no organization, but want revenge and are prepared to die for it. You think you are going to stop them by punishing their parents. You are wrong. You won’t even know who they are or where they came from. Nothing will be left of them.We are going to hit you everywhere we can: gas stations, theaters, parks, wedding halls. You will know no happiness. It will be one funeral after the next. And then, while you are reeling, the 1.5 million Palestinian allies, the Israeli Palestinians, our brothers and your enemy, will rise up as well. They are just waiting for a sign from us. They know you better than you know yourselves. They speak your language and know every street in every one of your cities. They are familiar with every nook and every cranny. And they will join at the right time. Make no mistake about it.

You must read the rest of this scary report
(link via Dr Manhattan, via Instapundit)

Jonah Goldberg's argument against the tyranny of cliches is tight as a drum

Iran news: Ayatollah Jalaluddin Taheri resigned his post and issued a “scathing” criticism of the Government. This comes one day after large demonstrations against the government were held in Tehran despite a ban on protests. The fundamentalist government has looked exceedingly weak in recent days

Tim Hames has no doubts we are going after Iraq, though he feels that it won't happen until early next year.

Tom Gross wonders: Does the FBI own a dictionary?

USS Clueless Knows the real reason that Hitler Didn't invade Switzerland

The Islamist murder of two Jews at LAX on July 4 is part and parcel of the same religious violence that clobbered us infidels on September 11th. The airport carnage is not a commentary about gun violence or airport safety in this country -- it is a further reminder to America (as if one were really needed) about the violent nature of radical Islam. It is a further reminder to America that a fifth column of anti-Western Islamists live among us. It is a further reminder to America that we are not safe until this evil is rooted out and smashed. Oh, and by the way, read Mark Steyn's column on the LAX shootings and the subsequent FBI investigation.

The race is on here in Michigan for Sander Levin's seat in the House of Representatives, "(I live in Levin's district). Levin's opponent in the Democratic Primary, William Callahan, was quoted as saying: "I mean, that man has never owned a Christmas tree. He's not a Christian. And I'm thinking, `Jeez, how can he represent me then?... I am a Catholic who is pro-life and of Irish, Polish and German descent, He is very much pro-choice and Hebrew. Enough said" (Notice how he even snuck in a reference to his savior). Levin faces a tough race now that his district is far more conservative, after a redistricting by a Republican controlled Legislature.

John O'Sullivan slams the FBI for thinking that we are idiots

the American public is an unknown beast which the political and media elites long ago decided was racist, sexist and homophobic. Our betters fear us. If not guided and controlled, they believe, we will hit out in dangerous spasms of violence at minorities, immigrants and anyone who looks like "The Other." We cannot be trusted with inconvenient truths. In particular, we have to be prevented from launching discrimination and attacks on Muslims and Arabs in bigoted response to terrorist outrages. Hence they seek to calm our latent hysteria by keeping the words "Muslim" or "Arab" as far as possible from the word "terrorist" lest we leap illegitimately to the conclusion that Muslims and Arabs in general are terrorists.

The UK's National Union of Students has called the firing of two Israeli academics "nothing short of racist."

"The union said the action had "shocked and horrified" the student movement - and it said that individual academics could not be held accountable for the actions of their countries. "To target individual academics for the actions of a government will lead to a complete loss of academic freedom of speech, irrespective of the issues. "To target these two will eventually lead to a biased representation of the situation, therefore stifling debate and discussion at all levels," said the union's Michelle Codrington.

(Scroll down for my previous post on this story)

Dennis Prager tells us "Why Hesham Hadayet [the LAX killer] may be scarier than al-Qaida." Prager says that "[b]y confining our definition of terrorism to acts committed by those with links to terrorist organizations, we may be ignoring the most frightening aspect of Islamic terror: There are many individual Muslim extremists without any links to any terror organizations who are prepared to slaughter Americans and Jews." Prager, a straight thinker on many subjects, doesn't disappoint here with a well- reasoned criticism of the FBI's philosophical bungling of this latest Islamic attack on America and its Jews.

For those of us who think the FBI has sunk to a new low with their refusal to call the LAX incident Terrorism, Daniel Pipes has some news for you; They have made the same mistake quite a few times before.

NZ Bear understands that the "War" is not simply about "Terror" but about Militant Islam. His Take? We are fighting the wrong meme.

What is the deal with Yasser's obsession with Baby wipes? Check out the evidence. Link courtesy of Little Green Footballs where Charles has been all over this story (forgive me), like a rash on a baby's bottom.

The Washington Post has given Jane Ehrenfeld, a first grade teacher, a forum to decry vouchers, because… umm…well she doesn’t really have a point. The article raises only one serious question, and that is; Does the editor of the Post actually read any of this stuff?

According to Barry Shaw of Netanya, Israel, on July 4, 2002, "Israelis [murdered in the rampage at LAX] suffered the double indignity of being killed and then having the world deny that they died in a terror attack." I can't say that I disagree with him.

Mike Hendrix (ColdFury) has what could be the biggest story of the day (at least according to Stephen Green). This is the kind of thing that makes Blogging great.

Safire shoots down a few of the European left's misconceptions about America and in the process suggests Condi Rice as our next Sec. of State. It’s not going too happen soon though, as Colin is insisting he "won't let those bastards drive me out."

An LA cop slams FBI for the dog-and-pony show at LAX

Michael Ledeen claims Iran is only a few days away from revolution.

Dozens of anti-government organizations are calling for peaceful demonstrations on July 9, Tuesday, the third anniversary of the monster student rally against the regime at the university, and an army officer, thus far anonymous and perhaps even apocryphal, is widely quoted as having said "if a million people demonstrate July 9th we shall arrest the leaders of the Islamic Republic and turn them over to the people."...Part of the Mehrabad Airport in Tehran has been blocked to public access, at least one landing strip has been closed to commercial traffic, and a number of airplanes have been stationed on the tarmac. It could well be that some of the regime's nastier rats are planning to abandon the sinking ship if they are unable to contain the people's rage. Indeed, in recent days private passengers have been removed from commercial flights to make room for the families of the country's most powerful men, suggesting that the exodus may have already begun.

The UK Observer is reporting that the U.S. plans to use Jordan as a base for an assault on Iraq. That would definitely be good news for Israel.
(link via Not a Fish)

Why is it that so many in the Arab world are inclined to look at a walking, talking, quacking duck and unashamedly declare that "this animal is not a duck - it is, in fact, a cow? True, it does not seem to moo or eat grass but, nonetheless, I insist that this two legged beast is none other than a cow. Take a look at the latest example of this thinking.

The Telegraph is reporting on the firing, by Mona Baker, a professor at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, of two scholars, Dr Miriam Shlesinger and Prof. Gideon Toury, from her highly respected international journals. The reason? They are Israeli. Not only that, but they refused to resign when their “Isrealiness” became a problem (for her).

Despite a storm of complaints raised by her action, Prof. Baker stood by her decision, telling The Telegraph: "I deplore the Israeli state. Miriam knew that was how I felt and that they would have to go because of the current situation."Prof. Baker asked Dr Shlesinger and Prof. Toury to resign from the boards of two academic journals she owns, after signing a website petition last month calling for academics to boycott Israel. When they refused to resign she sacked them.

Notice that quote? She deplores “the Israeli State.” No petty equivocation there, about the “occupation” or some sort of “humiliation” or even some swipe about “Nazi-like tactics”(although she does a little of that too). Just can't handle the whole idea.That “storm of complaints,” it should be noted, came from American academics, British academics have yet to voice any complaints themselves.