Keep the Internet Free

Surprisingly good coverage for the WaPo on an upcoming UN-ish based conference aimed at wresting control of the internet away from the US. Of course, with the usual suspects are involved in this for reasons having little or nothin gto do with smooth administration of the net.

Delegates from around the world will gather next week in Tunisia for what is known as the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Few people are aware of WSIS’s existence, its mission or the purpose of this conference. That is unfortunate…

The chief problem appears to be is that the US allows too much free flow of information – and LOTS of thuggish governments have a real problem with a severe information allergy!

…the principal agenda item calls for a wholesale change in governance of the Internet that could lead to a significant setback for global freedom of information.

But demands are growing for the “internationalization” of Internet governance. To this end, a number of countries are pressing to remove oversight from ICANN and place it under the auspices of a new organization that would be part of the U.N. system. Advocates of this arrangement make no claims that the current system is flawed. Instead, they focus on the supposed “injustice” or “inappropriateness” of a system overseen by an American agency.

As far as the Chief is concerned, “That dog just won’t hunt!”

And there is an ulterior motive behind the clamor for change…the coalition of U.N member states making the loudest noise for change. Among them are regimes that have taken measures to control their citizens’ access to the Internet and have championed global controls over Internet content. These include some of the world’s most repressive states: Cuba, China, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Other governments have weighed in to support U.N. oversight, either out of anti-Americanism, a reflexive commitment to international governance or a belief that Internet content needs to be reined in.

With the sterling examples of UN integrity like the Iraq oil deals, and the UN Peacekeeping Piece-seeking Forces’ sex scandals, the last thing this world needs is the UN (dis-)Organization in charge of the internet.

It is no secret why Iran, China and Cuba are lobbying so desperately to replace ICANN: The Internet has proven a potent weapon against state repression. In an age of media concentration, it has contributed mightily to democratization of the means of communication. It nullifies totalitarian schemes to monopolize the airwaves; in the age of the Internet, the total control portrayed by George Orwell in “1984” is simply impossible in all but the most hermetically sealed countries.

As far as the Chief is concerned, “This dog just won’t hunt!”, and apparently even the WaPo agrees:

Given the stakes involved, it is incumbent on the world’s democracies to stand firm against efforts to undermine this critical instrument of free ideas.

Hear, hear!

Sony BMG suspends copy-protection software

THis is a response to a DRM scheme that the Chief noted a few days back, where Sony had what amounted to de-fact trojan spyware on audio CD’s that installed itself (clandestinely) when the CD was played on a PC.

Well, it didn’t take very longfor themn to decide that this was NOT a good thing to have been caught doing! Pesumably the suits and bean-counters at Sony-BMG took a look at the reaction to their DRM scheme, and decide to quit while they were behind.

Arctic drilling dropped from House bill

One might think with the tight energy situation and the prices the way they have been, that even the Donks and RINOs in the House would have woken up and smelled the coffee, and figured out that we could REALLY use some more production. Sadly, this is not the case.

House leaders late Wednesday abandoned an attempt to push through a hotly contested plan to open an Alaskan wildlife refuge to oil drilling, fearing it would jeopardize approval of a sweeping budget bill Thursday. They also dropped from the budget document plans to allow states to authorize oil and gas drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts — regions currently under a drilling moratorium.

F.E.T.E.

Sony CDs secretly install spyware

Sony is spying on thousands of listeners who buy and play its music CDs on their computers, a leading computer security firm said yesterday. Computer Associates International Inc. said that new anticopying software Sony is using to discourage pirating of its music also secretly collects information from any computer that plays the discs.

Of ourse it doesn’t do any good just to collect the data, does it:

But Computer Associates said the antipirating software also secretly communicates with Sony over the Internet when listeners play the discs on computers that have an Internet connection. The software uses this connection to transmit the name of the CD being played to an office of Sony’s music division in Cary, N.C. The software also transmits the IP address of the listener’s computer, Computer Associates said, but not the name of the listener. But Sony can still use the data to create a profile of a listener’s music collection, according to Computer Associates.

“This is in effect ‘phone home’ technology, whether its intent is to capture such data or not,” said Sam Curry, vice president of Computer Associates’ eTrust Security Management unit. “If you choose to let people know what you’re listening to, that’s your business. If they do it without your permission, it’s an invasion of privacy.”

Yikes! This idea REALLY sucks! But wait! It’s even worse:

In late October, a well-known Windows computer engineer, Mark Russinovich, stumbled across the Sony software on one of his personal computers while running a security scan. Russinovich had used the computer to play the Van Zant CD, not realizing that it had installed the anticopying program. When he tried to remove it, Russinovich found that the program lacked the ‘uninstall” feature found in most Windows software. Indeed, key components of the software hid themselves deep in his computer by applying the same techniques used by data thieves to conceal their activities. Even a skilled user who identifies the correct files can’t safely remove them, said Russinovich. ‘Most users that stumble across the cloaked files…will cripple their computer if they attempt the obvious step of deleting the cloaked files,” he wrote on his technology website, SysInternals.

Computer Associates yesterday concurred with Russinovich’s assessment. Curry said Sony has made it so difficult for listeners to uninstall its software that some could lose all their data in the process. “It can damage the operating system and the operating system’s integrity, so it can’t reboot at all,” Curry said. “As an expert in security, I can say this is bad behavior.”

Indeed, Computer Associates has added the software to its list of spyware programs that collect personal information from computer users without their permission.

Russinovich also said that a patch Sony and First 4 released Friday to stop the software from hiding inside computers malfunctions and can cause an irreparable loss of computer data.

H/T to Strange Women Lying in Ponds.

Also, a post on this issue at Hugh Hewitt.

Direct from France!

H/T to the Emperor Misha.

Conservatives grow cross over ‘bridges to nowhere’

Federal spending on Alaska’s so-called “bridges to nowhere” is facing renewed attack in the House of Representatives, where conservatives say the $452 million has become an embarrassment that may haunt them at election time. Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., says Alaska’s “bridges to nowhere” have become a national joke.

It high time SOMEBODY said this! There’s more in the article if you read it.

Christian girls shot near church

Practitioners of the religion of mercy mercilessness in Indonesia are once again showing off how they engage in their own local version of jihad, by going after dangerous opponents – Christian school-girls.

This was in the same area where similarly dangerous opponents were attacked and beheaded last month.

Rope, tree, terrorists. Some assembly required.

France to deport foreign rioters

Wow! What a concept! Deporting aliens who break the law! Of course, it only took the Froggish government two weeks of rioting to figure this out, but hey – better late than never!

We can only hope that the US INS (Immigration & Naturalization Service) gets the hint and act on the criminal aliens in the US by shipping them back where they came from also.

Pet Ordinance Has Tails and Tongues Wagging

This is just plain dumb. Apparently the city of Rome (Italy) has WAY too much money to spend, and too many bureaucrats in too many offices, with not enough to do with their time.

Firstly, the fact that such a thing as an official “Office of Animal Rights” even exists illustrates two of the three points noted above.

As far as the third point is concerned: these inspired public servants have drafted a new city ordinance: since it is defined as cruel and inhumane to confine goldfish in a goldfish bowl, all good Romans who are fanciers of said fish, must now only keep them in a full-fledged aquarium tank.

The 59-point statute ordering better treatment for all pets, from cats and dogs to birds and lizards, was approved by the City Council last month and will go into effect today

As a result…of course…PETA weighs in:

The fish-bowl rule may win Rome a humanitarian award from the Fish Empathy Project of PETA, the international animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. “Rome has gone above and beyond anything we’ve seen anywhere else,” spokeswoman Karin Robertson said in a telephone interview. For all animals, the Italian capital’s new ordinance is more restrictive than anything in the United States, PETA said in a statement.

Phew! Thank G-d for that blessing!

Anyway, the Chief prefers the Dakota farmers’ and hunters’ version of PETA: People Eating Tasty Animals!

No particular priority order – just results of a quick scan of stuff:

Voters Ban Handguns in San Francisco

What to say here? It’s no great secret that SanFran is one of the strongholds of the California Democratic People’s State – and this vote reflects that. The Chief counts his blessings that he doesn’t have to live under that regime!

Democrats Will Lead Virginia, New Jersey

Another no-brainer. Although Kilgore might have had an outside shot in Virginia, the Donk candidate Kaine ran far to the right of most of his national party – and was able to ride retiring Gov. Warner’s coat-tails and carry northern VA (read DC suburbs) heavily enough to run away with the win. Kilgore also didn’t run strongly at times. National significance? Not a whole lot.

Even less significance to Corzine’s win in NJ. Surprise? STRONGLY Democratic NJ electing another Donk? So what’s the news here?

Patrick Fitzgerald Ignored Witnesses who Contradicted Wilson

This was going to be the Donk’s big torpedo aimed at the White House: taking out Darth Rover and leading to a possible impeachment. Like the poet Robert Burns wrote: “The best laid plans of mice and men, gang aft agley (often go astray)”.

The whole underpinnings of Fitzgerald’s case is unraveling at a high rate of speed, and the so-called secrecy of Valerie Plame-Wilson’s status as a CIA employee.

Soros-Backed Reforms Fail in Ohio

A group of election reforms backed by liberal Daddy Warbucks George Soros has crashed and burned in Ohio, leaving Democrats unable to capitalize on a year’s worth of complaints that the state’s 2004 presidential vote was rigged. Voters soundly rejected the four Soros-backed proposals, which would have overhauled the way Ohio runs its elections.

These changes would have given the Donks a lot more power in redistricting, etc. than they currently have based on their electoral outcomes. It’s tough to play by the rules when you lose, and then can’t get the rules changed to declare you the winner. My heart bleeds for ’em. NOT!

Falluja-Sur-Seine?

Here’s one of relatively few reporting on the intrinsically Islamofascist nature of the current difficulties in France, in spite of, in some cases warning of the possibility of such events in advance!

When the media began covering the spreading violence in France, it appeared to go out of its way to avoid the notion that Islam had anything to do with the riots or their organizers….After a few straight days of increasing violence, however, the only people still believing that comforting line appeared to be members of the French government and the media, who insisted on doing everything they could to miss the story. Twelve days into the riots, even after they had spread across France and inspired violence in Germany and Belgium, the media for the most part still could not bring itself to mention the “M” or “I” words: Muslim and Islamist. The lack of even any suggestion that radical Islamists might have initiated the violence, or at least be taking advantage of it, boggles the imagination.

Indeed!

What a piece of double-think by the WaPo: warn about a possible event, and then ignore the nature of it when it happens in accordance with your own prediction!

The Washington Post’s reporter Molly Moore bravely mentioned a possible Islamist connection to the violence, but the paper’s editorial board went out of its way to disavow this nexus. Interestingly enough the Post warned its readers just three weeks ago that Islamist groups had targeted France for the next stage of their war.

For more details, read the article.

Men are too rough to train with, Army tells women

Another feminazi assertion bites the green weenie of reality – the one that secondary sexual differentiation is insignificant.

The (Royal) Army is abandoning mixed-sex training units because too many female recruits are getting injured trying to keep up with their male counterparts.

This is not just based on anecdotal evidence either:

Dr James Bilzon, the Army Training and Recruitment Agency’s senior scientific adviser, found that women are getting hurt as they try to match men in arduous drills and marches wearing full combat gear. His research showed that, in general, women are less able to cope with the sudden introduction to the exhausting exercise regime demanded by the Army. The most common complaints are stress fractures to the shin and thigh bones, and pelvic injuries caused by attempting to keep up with the longer stride patterns of men.

All of this has caused the Doctor to come to this astounding conclusion:

‘Men are stronger and more robust and it’s silly to pretend otherwise’

What a radical statement! This goes right along with a TIME magazine cover story some years ago that noted that “Men and Women Really are Different!”, which must have been a rude shock to their view of reality.

H/T to Barking Moonbat Early Warning System for this one. It’s too evocative not to pass along.

Islamofascist Links to Burning Fwance

Captain Ed at Captain’s Quarters has a very interesting post with links and descriptions of some very substantial linkages between organized Islamofascism of the Algerian flavor (among others), and the current civil war there…like anyone should be surprised…eh!?

This is taken from the London Telegraph. “Every picture tells a story don’t it?”

Meanwhile, more talk of reconciliation and inclusion, but only a few half-measures to regain some order. A caption to another picture in the Telegraph notes that “Rioters have targeted schools, churches and public buildings.” One would imagine that this is a serious targeted attack on the infrastructure of western civilization.

THere are also reports of the violence spreading to other areas of Europe, as well as the discovery of organized bomb factories at work. Sounds like terrorism to the Chief – if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then by gosh, maybe it IS a duck!

It’s also truly amazing about how the jokes on Fwench military ineffectiveness and lack of will seem to be getting some validation – in an admittedly harsh way. C’est la vie.

Fuel’s paradise? Power source that turns physics on its head.

For several years the Chief has been interested in a startup firm called Blacklight Power Inc. founded and led by Dr. Randell Mills, that has reported that it is engaged in engineering development of a totally new way of generating energy. This also has the collateral effect of demolishing the quantum-mechanical model of the atom that has reigned supreme for the last 60 years, not that Mills et. al are very worried about that.

These guys are NOT a bunch of crackpots, and other independent scientists (outside of the intellectually aristocratic world of quantum physics) who have been given full access to their labs and their results have verified that they are on to something.

The energy released from this process is hundreds of times in excess of the energy required to start it. The primary fuel is hydrogen gas, which can be created inexpensively via electrolysis from water. Energy is released as heat and may be converted to electricity using known methods. The process is scalable from small, hand-held units to large, fire-box replacements in large central power stations.

Rather than pollutants, the BlackLight Process releases heat, light, and valuable chemicals. The lower-energy atomic hydrogen products of the process can be used to form novel hydrino hydride compounds (“HHCs”) which are proprietary to the company, and form a vast class of new chemistry. Alternatively, the product can be a new inert form of hydrogen gas that may serve in revolutionary applications such as the medium for a new high-energy laser. Since this gas is lighter than air, it may also be safely vented and allowed to diffuse into space.

Having apparently decided that they are more interested in applying their discovery in the real-world rather than fighting an academic war over the theories involved, their website is well worth a look – they do an excellent job of presenting in a specific way what it is they are doing, and has references to 65 peer-reviewed articles in the scientific literature.

The ramifications of this could be staggering. First, we could once and for all tell the Islamofascist world to take their oil and put it where the sun doesn’t shine. Then…the technological impact is almost beyond imagining.

BlackLight’s technology has far-reaching applications in many industries such as: Power, Heating, Lighting, Lasers, Chemicals, Batteries, and Advanced Materials.

Unfortunately, even a few years ago when the Chief first found out about Blacklight Power, they were not open for further investors, so my retirement probably won’t be to a private island in the Caribbean. Oh well.

Wake up, Europe, you’ve a war on your hands

This article is well worth the read. While we haven’t responded as supinely as the Fwench have to the Islamofascist attempt to enforce dhimmitude on western civilization, the liberal establishmentarians and MSM sympathizers would do the same thing here if allowed to, and the results would be ultimately similar.

Ever since 9/11, I’ve been gloomily predicting the European powder keg’s about to go up. “By 2010 we’ll be watching burning buildings, street riots and assassinations on the news every night,” I wrote in Canada’s Western Standard back in February. Silly me. The Eurabian civil war appears to have started some years ahead of my optimistic schedule. As Thursday’s edition of the Guardian reported in London: “French youths fired at police and burned over 300 cars last night as towns around Paris experienced their worst night of violence in a week of urban unrest.”

There’s more – check it out.

Unrest hits Paris as riots spread afar

The spectacle of France virtually allowing Islamic mobs to run amok for over a week is amazing.

A 10-day rampage by angry immigrant youths spread last night and early today from the suburbs of Paris to the heart of the capitaland from Normandy in the west to Mediterranean cities of the south.

The Fwench have just about completely lost it, and have become so ennervated that they are apparently incapable and/or unwilling to act decisively to maintain and restore order in the face of Islamoanarchy in their streets.

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin yesterday met with government ministers to work out a plan for ending the violence. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who has come under fire for his handling of the crisis, declared that the government was unanimous in its position to be “firm.”

Wow! After 10 days of rioting, they meet “to work out a plan” to respond. How reassuring this must be to the Fwench people.

In quiet Acheres, on the edge of the St. Germain forest west of the capital, arsonists burned a nursery school, where part of the roof caved in, and about a dozen cars in four attacks over an hour that the mayor said seemed “perfectly organized.” Children’s photos clung to the blackened walls, and melted plastic toys littered the floor.

This is apparently starting to remind some of the Fwench that they still have some residual genes from the armies of Napoleon that almost conquered all of Europe once upon a time…

Residents gathered at the school gate demanded that the army be deployed or suggested that they band together to protect their neighborhoods.

…unlike their emasculated leaders:

Mayor Alain Outreman tried to cool tempers. “We are not going to start militias,” he said. “You would have to be everywhere.”

Chirac Vows to Restore Order

President Jacques Chirac (search) promised Sunday to restore public order across France as unrest spread from suburban Paris (search) to cities south and north, with rioters battling police, throwing Molotov cocktails and ramming a car into a housing project during an 11th night of mayhem.

After the planning meetings from the day before, Jacques doesn’t have anything new to offer except more talk. This Fox News account goes on with a lot more of the gory details of the Islamoanarchy spreading throughout Fwance.

In spite of the Chief’s lack of empathy for Fwench policies vis-a-vis Iraq, etc. – it’s still a sad thing to see a one-time great Euro nation being dragged down by a bunch of Algerio-Tunisian neo-barbarians.

GOP mulls ending birthright citizenship

The existance of a nation-state is defined by the three concepts of “borders, language, culture”. For years the United States has been particularly deficient in maintaining these, as the near anarchy on the Mexican border illustrates.

A few GOP’ers have been preaching Jeremiads against the slapdash enforcement on the border, such as Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO). Finally there is at least discussion on some measures that would seriously enhance our security and ability to successfully manage the border. One only hopes that the rest of the Congresscritters find enough spine to act, but even if not, at least the discussion is more fully out on the table.

House Republicans are looking closely at ending birthright citizenship and building a barrier along the entire U.S.-Mexico border as they search for solutions to illegal immigration.

“There is a general agreement about the fact that citizenship in this country should not be bestowed on people who are the children of folks who come into this country illegally,” said Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican, who is participating in the “unity dinners,” the group of Republicans trying to find consensus on immigration.

Meanwhile, the idea of a fence or other barrier also is gaining support. At this week’s “unity dinner,” House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Illinois Republican, said he supports a barrier system of fences in some places and electronic surveillance or vehicle barriers in others, one participant said.

Again, some progress, but still some waffling.

Border barriers received a big boost yesterday when Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican and chairman of the Armed Services Committee, announced a broad enforcement bill with a fence as its centerpiece.

This would do most of the job. Once the border is controlled, then WE would have control over who we wanted to ALLOW entrance.

Of course there are some who are not so supportive of this – and that’s where the debate lies. The Chief hopes that the wall goes up, the sooner the better.

Appeals Court Declares Parenthood Unconstitutional, Group Says

“Anyone who wonders why pro-family organizations like ours have been so concerned about activist courts only has to look at this case,” said a spokesman for Focus on the Family. Carrie Gordon Earll, an issues analyst with Focus on the Family Action, called the ruling “one of the most abhorrent examples of judicial tyranny in American history.

Indeed! Another reminder on why the current debates on the SCOTUS appointments are so critically important.

The 9th District Circuit Jerk-it Court of Appeals Schlemiels has struck again in a mind-bendingly radical decision:

On Wednesday the court dismissed a lawsuit brought by California parents who were outraged over a sex survey given to public school students in the first, third and fifth grades.

The real devil is in the details.

Among other things, the survey administered by the Palmdale School District asked children if they ever thought about having sex or touching other people’s “private parts” and whether they could “stop thinking about having sex.”

Remember, this is for FIRST, THIRD, and FIFTH GRADERS!!!!

The parents argued that they — not the public schools — have the sole right “to control the upbringing of their children by introducing them to matters of and relating to sex.”

Here comes the REALLY bad part:

But on Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit dismissed the case, saying, “There is no fundamental right of parents to be the exclusive provider of information regarding sexual matters to their children…Parents have no due process or privacy right to override the determinations of public schools as to the information to which their children will be exposed while enrolled as students.”(Emphasis added.)

Say what? According to this ruling the American republic is now Plato’s Republic, where children are raised by the state, since the Guardians of the State are the ones who are wisest. These Judges Judicial Dictators have GOT to go! On the one hand they uphold the right to commit pre-natal infanticide on the basis of a perceived right of privacy which they find somewhere in the white spaces between the black ink of the Constitution. On the other hand, they come up with a new form of abortion – aborted law that explicitly denies the millenia-old role of parents as being the primary caregivers and teachers of their children.

Some have expressed concern with the prospect of people losing respect for the law, and for the legal system that is driven by opposition to various deconstructionist legal rulings. The Chief is willing to suggest – no, MORE than suggest – that rulings like this, if left unchecked, will result in actual revolutionary violence to correct government gone wild. Perhaps the recent SCOTUS appointments will forestall this…one can only hope!

Judge Judicial Dictator Stephen Reinhardt, writing for the panel, said “no such specific right can be found in the deep roots of the nation’s history and tradition or implied in the concept of ordered liberty.”

Has this turkey had too much bad acid, or what? What in the hell is “ordered liberty” anyway? It reminds one of the old Prussian ideal of “alles in ordnung” leading to the situation where anything not allowed is forbidden.

Dare one say that the 3rd Reich successors to that tradition would heartily approve of Judge Herr Judicial Dictator Reinhardt’s decision? No doubt – the philosophical alignment is striking.

If this blooming idiotic moonbat impersonator of a Judge can’t find anything in the traditions and history of the United States that parents have the responsibility for their children – then some form of medication is in order, – since he has obviously totally lost touch with reality and is now operating in the realm of psychosis.

At worst, if this is NOT the case, then Sludge Reinhardt is intentionally working to actively destroy the Constitutional basis of the American republic, and deserves at the least impeachment, if not trial for malfeasance in office for violating his oath. THe 9th Dist. court is the most heavily reversed Circuit – hopefully this will once again prove to be the case.

If not, keep your powder dry, and remember, Nov. 19th is National Ammo Day: Buy 100 rounds!

F.E.T.E.

Discovering Narnia

Ther is an evident disconnect here between the fact of what C.S. Lewis created with the Narnian Chronicles, and the media view of what’s happening with the upcoming release of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.

One doesn’t have to get further into this piece form the DC Times than the first paragraph to see this:

“The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” a $150 million film combining religion and fantasy, is being pitched to churches as a cross between “The Passion of the Christ” and “The Lord of the Rings.”

CLUE TO JOURNALIST: If it comes across as a cross between “The Passion of the Christ” and “The Lord of the Rings,” maybe it’s because that’s what Lewis had in mind when he wrote it. Lewis and Tolkien were contemporaries, friends and academic associates.

Both were unapologetically Christian, and elements of Christianity and Judeo-Christian symbolism are unmistakeably present in the LOTR trilogy, and even more so in the Narnia cycle.

This is only news to typical modern secularists, and those whose “modern” and/or “deconstructionist” educational experience has left gigantic holes where the the understanding of the cultural underpinnings of Western Civilization (both Judeo-Christian as well as Classical) would have formerly resided.

Those traditional “Classical” elements became classic due to their deep and abiding resonance with the circumstances of the human condition. Those elements, which still resonate with the human condition, are intrinsically embedded in the fabric of both Tolkien and Lewis. This is a good part of what attracts the often values-starved cinema audiences of today, although the fact that both authors could spin a good tale certainly doesn’t hurt.

Anyway, as far as the latest iteration of the Narnia world is concerned, it looks to the Chief as if the Lewis legacy is in good hands:

Mr. Gresham (movie co-producer Douglas Gresham, Lewis’ stepson) spent six months on the set ensuring that the story line stayed true to its Christian values. In his new book, “Jack’s Life,” Mr. Gresham described his stepfather as “influenced by the Holy Spirit of God.” The director, Andrew Adamson, is the son of missionaries. Walden Films president Micheal Flaherty, who has staked his personal reputation on the film’s adherence to the book’s Christian message, attends the nondenominational Grace Chapel in Lexington, Mass.

“We got as faithful an adaptation as possible,” said Mr. Flaherty of the yet-to-be-rated movie. “All the key scenes and the key dialogues are there.”

The Chief hopes, and expects that the audiences will be there too.

Iranian Animated Film for Children Promotes Suicide Bombings

This has got to be one of the more chilling things that the Chief has seen in some time, made available by MEMRI, the Mid-East Media Research Inst.

Yes, Saturday morning in Iran, and time for the kids to watch cartoons, right? Well, their cartoons are showing a dramatized view of Islamoterr suicide homicide bombers attacking Israel. Of course the Israelis shown act as though they were graduates of the SS, so of course it’s great to kill off the Jews.

Islamoterr pulls the pins out on his grenade belt.

MEMRI has the transcript here, but to get the full flavor of the implacable hatred, check out the clip itself. It certainly illustrates how the Islamofascist view of things truly reflects a culture of death.

Talk about caretoons from hell…this is it!

F.E.T.E.

Outlawed Muslim Brotherhood walks the streets of Cairo

Earlier this week on a main commercial street in Doqqi, a middle class suburb of Cairo, there was a scene unthinkable even a few months ago. Not a single uniformed policeman was in sight as a procession of hundreds of supporters of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, both men and women, marched in an orderly formation down the street chanting slogans in support of Hazem Abu Ismail, their parliamentary candidate.

F.Y.I. – The Islamic Islamofascist Brotherhood is one of the early and most hard-core Islamofascist groups around.

Iran removes 40 ambassadors, diplomats

Iran’s hard-line government said Wednesday it was removing 40 ambassadors and senior diplomats, including supporters of warmer ties with the West, from their posts in a shake-up that comes as the Islamic republic takes a more confrontational international stance.

This of course is under the leadership of their President – who was one of the hostage-takers in 1979, and has a long history with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

‘Party trumps race’ for Steele foes

Trying to comment on this is like starting to clean up a trailer park after a tornado – hard to know where to start there is such an abundance of disorder present – mental disorder in the case of the MD Donks. (As Michael Savage’s book title states: Liberalism is a Mental Disorder.)

By way of background – the Donks are yammering about Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, who is running as an unashamedly conservative Republican. As if THAT isn’t bad enough to them – he also happens to be black.

Lt.Gov. Steele

The response is even more rabid than the Chief would have expected, even from the Donks:

Black Democratic leaders in Maryland say that racially tinged attacks against Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele in his bid for the U.S. Senate are fair because he is a conservative Republican.

Ooops! There goes Dr. Kings dream! (The bit about judging on the basis of character, not skin color.)

Such attacks against the first black man to win a statewide election in Maryland include pelting him with Oreo cookies during a campaign appearance, calling him an “Uncle Tom” and depicting him as a black-faced minstrel on a liberal Web log.

State Sen. Lisa A. Gladden, a black Baltimore Democrat, said she does not expect her party to pull any punches, including racial jabs at Mr. Steele, in the race to replace retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes. “Party trumps race, especially on the national level,” she said. “If you are bold enough to run, you have to take whatever the voters are going to give you. It’s democracy, perhaps at its worse, but it is democracy.”

We have a new Donk standard for campaign behavior: “democracy at it’s worst”! Oh, yeah – I suppose the only thing new about that is that it is now openly stated.

Delegate Salima Siler Marriott, a black Baltimore Democrat, said Mr. Steele invites comparisons to a slave who loves his cruel master or a cookie that is black on the outside and white inside because his conservative political philosophy is, in her view, anti-black. “Because he is a conservative, he is different than most public blacks, and he is different than most people in our community,” she said. “His politics are not in the best interest of the masses of black people.”

Hmmmm. One is not supposed to run for office if one is “different from most people” in the community? Then if the reciprocal of this is applied, then should blacks be banned from seeking office in white communities? Attention David Duke: you have some new allies!

That final bit is good too: “His politics are not in the best interest of the masses of black people.” So then keeping the black people dependent on the bureaucracy of the welfare state for generation after generation IS in the “best interest of the masses of black people” Apparently so, especially as long as they are content not to get uppity and independent enough to leave the Democratic Party’s political plantation.

Alito nomination to test ‘Gang of 14′

Senate Republicans said yesterday they will use the “nuclear constitutional option” to ban judicial filibusters if Democrats try using the tactic to block the confirmation of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court. “Certainly, this does not rise to the level of extraordinary circumstances,” said Sen. Mike DeWine, Ohio Republican. “Therefore, I would be prepared — if a filibuster were tried — to go to change the rules in the Senate to stop the filibuster.”

Folks, short of something TRULY extraordinary, Judge Alito will become Justice Alito.

Yesterday, Judge Alito had five private meetings with senators on Capitol Hill, drawing praise from Republicans and at least qualified praise from Sen. Tim Johnson, a Democrat from conservative South Dakota. “From what I know at this point, it would appear that his 15 years on the federal bench, his experience, his legal skills are at a high level,” said Mr. Johnson, who said he hasn’t made up his mind about whether to support the nomination or seek a filibuster.

This is NOT to say that the Donks will quietly allow this to happen, but in spite of their caterwauling, weeping, wailing, and knashing of teeth, it’ll happen.

No Democrat has called for a filibuster against Judge Alito, but several have declined pointedly to rule out such a tactic to keep him off the high court. Most Republicans have said they support using the “nuclear option” to break any new filibusters against judicial nominees such as Judge Alito. But for Republicans to ban judicial filibusters, they need the support of at least three Republicans in the Gang of 14. Four Republicans and two Democrats have found no “extraordinary circumstances” with the Alito nomination. Although that number is not enough to prevent Democrats from filibustering the nomination, it is enough to employ the nuclear constitutional option.

Personally, the Chief hoped that the Kennedy-Reid-Schumer axis tries a filibuster, just so it can get shoved back down their throats.

Senate Democrats force closed session on Iraq data

Democrats surprised Republicans by forcing the Senate into closed session yesterday to raise the profile of prewar intelligence failures related to Iraq and last week’s indictment of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff.

Eh? Reality check in order?

“The Libby indictment provides a window into what this is really all about, how this administration manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to sell the war in Iraq,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said, moments before he and his top lieutenant forced the closed session.

Dusty Harry Ried et al have managed to cook up a grandstanding play, which ultimately accomplished nothing – the GOP had been working on this stuff for 15 months, and had already scheduled the meeting that Ried claimed to have wrung out of them. I guess he needed to do something to get his name back into the news cycle.

When the doors opened two hours later, Democrats said they got what they wanted because Republicans agreed to hold intelligence committee meetings and finish a report on prewar intelligence. Republicans said they didn’t give up anything because the plan to hold a meeting next week had been made before the session. By yesterday evening, the Senate was back debating budget cuts.

So what in the world do the Donks think they accomplished here? There isn’t anything the Chief can see, except for jabbing the eyes of GOP Senate Intel Committee Chair Roberts.

“If that’s not politics, I’m not standing here,” said Sen. Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The Kansas Republican said Democrats on the committee tipped their hand last year when a staff memo surfaced that they intended to exhaust the bipartisan process and then “pull the trigger” to demand an independent investigation sometime this year.

Sen. Johnson says it’s too early to judge Alito

South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson talked to Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito about “a whole range of constitutional issues” Tuesday, though he says it is too early to draw any conclusions about the veteran judge.

Johnson said it would be “some time” before he makes a decision about the conservative nominee, who already faces opposition from several liberal groups and abortion-rights supporters.

OK. Not too bad for this stage of things.

Later, in a conference call with reporters, Johnson said he hoped the hearing process would move quickly but be thorough.

Still sounds reasonable, eh? But wait…

He said he would not rule out a filibuster from his party. “I would leave all those options on the table,” he said.

After all this, the Chief forms a mental image of Senator Tim carefully holding a moist finger up to check the wind direction before he says anything definite.

The Chief’s projection on this: if it looks inevitable that Alito will win the “advice and consent” of the Senate, TJ will probably be released to support him. Otherwise, he’ll probably say NYET!

But hey! What do I know, really?

The left gets what it asked for

Wesley Pruden in the DC Times has a nicely turned bit of well focused commentary on the early developments in the Donk-RINO response to the Judge Alito nomination:

The early action in Washington is media skirmishing, as the players jostle and jiggle for position against the day when it will be time to lock and load. The high priests of secularism are desperate to protect the rite of abortion, which is to the noisily devout of the left what the doctrine of the Virgin Birth is to orthodox Christianity.

Hysteria and hyperbole are the reigning emotions of the holy high rollers. “Abortion will be the first item Judge Alito and I will discuss,” says Sen. Arlen Specter, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who never misses a chance to shoot at his friends. Kate Michelman, the past president of NARAL-Pro-Choice America, detected something shiny and significant at her feet, and to her chagrin, it was not a suction pump. “Now the gauntlet has been, I think, thrown down.” Barbara Boxer, the senator from California who knows something about appeasing red-hots on her flanks, says, “This nomination is aimed at appeasing the most right-wing elements of the president’s political base.” Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, eager to provoke, calls the nomination a “needless provocation.” Teddy Kennedy, the Massachusetts answer to the prayer of every young woman in distress, describes Samuel Alito as a risk to fundamental American freedoms.

A fine job of capturing the ambiance of the Donks’ twin hypes of the day: hyperbole and hypocrisy. He also notes the activities of their fellow-travelers in the MSM:

The usual echoes in the media are contributing the bass (and base) notes to the angry chorus. John Roberts, the CBS correspondent who once imagined himself big enough to fill Dan Rather’s BVDs, couldn’t get his mind out of his pants yesterday and used a vulgar sexual allusion to demand of the president’s press spokesman whether the choice of Judge Alito was merely the president trying to find satisfaction with “sloppy seconds.” Ron Fournier rose to the defense of Miss Miers in an Associated Press dispatch, chiding Republicans for demanding that Judge Alito “get a vote in the Senate — something they denied [Miss] Miers.”

Hold on to your hats, and batten down the hatches mates! The Chief forecasts that the REAL hurricane season of political hot air is just getting underway. It will be interesting.

Sen. Hatch, Chris Matthews Slam Donk Talking Points!

A talking-points memorandum being circulated by Democrats to friendly media outlets attacks Judge Samuel Alito on the basis of his Italian heritage.

Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch stormed Monday night that the memo was “despicable” and a sign that desperate Democrats are “hysterical” over the Alito nomination.

What’s interesting here also, is that Sen. Hatch found out about the memo from MSNBC’s Matthews:

Matthews alleged that Democrats are passing around a memorandum that he called a “complaint sheet” about Alito. The cable talk show host said the lead item in the memo claims that as a federal prosecutor, Alito failed to convict members of the Lucchese crime family in a 1988 case. The implication is that because Alito is Italian-American he went easy on the prosecution, or worse.

The Chief has NO hesitation about ripping a strip off the back of the MSM when warranted, but to give credit where credit is due, Chris Matthews made a good play on this one!

An obviously angry Matthews said, “I’m sitting here holding in my hands a pretty disgusting document. This is put out not for attribution, but it comes from the Democrats. They’re circulating it; I can say that. The first thing they nail about this Italian-American is he failed to win a mob conviction in a trial … way back in ’88. In other words, they nail him on not putting some Italian mobsters in jail from the family. Why would they bring up this ethnically charged issue as the first item they raise against Judge Alito?

“This is either a very bad coincidence or very bad politics,” he added, and warned Democrats that their sneak attack will backfire. “Either way it’s going to hurt them. … Not abortion rights, not civil rights but that he failed to nail some mobsters in 1988 — this is the top of their list of what they’ve got against this guy. Amazingly bad politics.”

The memo failed to note that Alito won a major prosecution against the Genovese crime family.

The Donks have also damaged their relationship with what has been a sizeable part of what’s left of their base:

A. Kenneth Ciongoli, Chairman of the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) on Monday demanded an apology for the media’s frequent references to the judge’s Italian heritage and the use of the term “Scalito” to describe him as a clone of Justice Antonin Scalia.

What can one say – the Donks ARE getting desperate!

U.N. human rights experts insist on access to Guantanamo detainees

U-N human rights investigators say they won’t accept an invitation to visit U-S detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay unless they can have access to detainees.

Let’s see now – this is the same UN Commission on Human Rights that expelled the USA in May 2001 (note – before the Islamofascist War was admitted to) but granted seats to the likes of Libya, Syria, and Sudan. Now THERE are some examples for human rights! Yeah, right.

U-S officials insist the hundreds of prisoners held at Guantanamo are being treated humanely. The government, and lawyers for detainees, say some of the prisoners staging hunger strikes are being force fed. So far, only the International Committee of the Red Cross has been allowed to visit the detainees.

If the ICRC isn’t good enough for the UN, then to hell with their bogus Commission – especially when they defend genocidal regimes like Sudan, and supporters of the Islamofascist terrs like Syria.

F.E.T.E.

CBS REPORTER TO WHITE HOUSE: ALITO ‘SLOPPY SECONDS?’

CBSNEWS Chief White House correspondent John Roberts described the President’s selection of Judge Samuel Alito as “sloppy seconds” during today’s press gaggle with White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. John Roberts: “So, Scott, you said that — or the President said, repeatedly, that Harriet Miers was the best person for the job. So does that mean that Alito is sloppy seconds, or what?”

Tacky, or what?

Apparently this was too much even for CBS, and someone there must have hit Roberts upside the head with a cluebat:

Scott McClellan Gets Apology from the ‘Other’ John Roberts

Sometimes the badgering gets pretty brutal at the daily White House briefings. Possibly reporters quietly apologize to Press Secretary Scott McClellan (though we doubt it). It’s rare, however, when the apology is quite public.

It happened today after CBS newsman John Roberts asked McClellan if today’s appointment of a new nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court amounted to little more than “sloppy seconds, or what?” Among other things this has a rather unfortunate sexual connotation.

Another reporter caught in the act of being himself!

“At the morning White House gaggle, I used an unfortunate choice of words in a question to Scott McClellan. Please be assured that there was no perjorative intent to my question. I was merely attempting to reconcile past statements about Harriet Miers with the President’s new nominee for the Supreme Court. “The early morning White House gaggle is an informal, free-wheeling and often irreverent forum, which is not broadcast and generally not publicly available.

In other words, nobody was supposed to notice even THAT degree of mudball throwing at McClellan – after all he works for Bush and is therefore only fair game.

“Obviously, my tone this morning was a little too casual.”

Obvious at least after the above-mentioned cluebat session.

Finally, no MSM apology would be allowable without the mandatory “weasel out” statement – don’t actually apologize for the statement – apologize for someone else being so up tight that they took offense.

“As we all experience from time to time, it was one of those ‘oops’ moments which we wish we could rewind and re-record. I apologize to anyone who took offense to my poor choice of words. I can assure you I meant none.”