Skanktina Aguaminerale Sez: "Britney Is So Fat...."

Anyone remember when Christina porked up on that tour? Looks like she doesn't either.

CHRISTINA AGUILERA has warned pop rival BRITNEY SPEARS not to expect a comeback after her baby is born - because she's "let herself go" too much to reclaim her sex symbol status. The DIRRTY singer is horrified by the deterioration in Spears' appearance since she announced she's expecting her husband KEVIN FEDERLINE's child earlier this year (05). And Aguilera hopes the TOXIC star will be content with motherhood, because she doubts she'll ever be a pop star again. She says, "She's let herself go. I can't see a comeback on the cards." 9/8/2005 08:58

Saucer of milk for one, please.

A Guide to Left-Wing Blogs.

Courtesy of Right Wing Nut House. At the botton of what's pretty much ALL bottom is:

DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND

I actually have a soft spot in my heart for the inmates at the Democratic Underground. Let’s face it; the internet just wouldn’t be the same without them. It’s become a matter of course for me that whenever I’ve got writer’s block, I visit the DU and, within 5 minutes, find something so outrageous, so far beyond the pale, that my dilemma regarding what to write about disappears in a flash. I wear their disapprobation like a badge of honor.

Perhaps one illustration of their complete disconnect from reality is in order. Following the tsunami tragedy last December, a comment thread at the site started to speculate that, in fact, secret US government tests in the ocean caused the giant waves. The comments got loonier and loonier as the DU’ers speculated that the earth itself was falling apart:

"Since we know that the atmosphere has become contaminated by all the atomic testing, space stuff, electronic stuff, earth pollutants, etc., is it logical to wonder if: Perhaps the “bones” of our earth where this earthquake spawned have also been affected?"

You just can’t make this stuff up.

For DU’ers, every election is stolen, every setback by Democrats is the result of a plot by Karl Rove, and everything else is Haliburton’s fault. In short, when looking for sanity at the Democratic Underground, it’s best to remember the sign that Dante Alighieri saw at the gates of hell in his poem “The Divine Comedy:

“All hope abandon, ye who enter here.”

RQ: ARE YOU KIDDING?

Hmm....DU = Randi Rhodes? Duh.

When Grief Turns Into Stupidity.

I saw this woman on the news over the weekend and caught the last seconds of her being lavishily praised for spreading the lies against Dubya over the war on Hate Speech Radio's "Nancy Skinner Show" and was going to blog it when I see that Michelle Malkin already beat me to it with "THE FRIENDS OF CINDY SHEEHAN". (Curses having a day job!)

The Bush-bashing mother of a soldier who died in Iraq last year has garnered quite a bit of buzz from the MSM for her anti-war vigil outside of Crawford, Texas. Drudge highlights her rather drastic change of heart:

[snip - basically she praise Dubya last year for his sympathy, but now she's been turned]

The woman is clearly anguished about her son's death, as any parent would be. But in her grief, she has lost sight of the fact that her 24-year-old son, Casey, proudly and willingly served. Sheehan's father told the press in April 2004 that his son had re-enlisted the previous August, planned to make a career in the military, and "loved the Army because it gave him a chance to serve his country." I can't imagine Army Spc. Casey Sheehan would stand for his mother's crazy accusations that he was murdered by his commander-in-chief, rather than the Iraqi terrorists who ambushed who his convoy. I can't imagine Army Spc. Casey Sheehan would stand for a bunch of strangers glomming onto his mother's crusade and using him to undermine the war effort as they shouted "W killed her son" in front of countless TV cameras.

Cindy Sheehan has surrounded herself with a group of anti-American, anti-military, terrorist-sympathizing agitators, including Code Pink, the Crawford Peace House, and the crackpot crowd.

It's a sad spectacle. President Bush should continue to treat Mrs. Sheehan with the same compassion and sympathy he showed her when they first met--before her heart and mind were poisoned by the professional grievance-mongers who claim to be her friends.

She's too kind. This woman is an insane idiot. When the story rolled past on the news, my not-particularly-prone-to-outbursts girlfriend exclaimed, "Lady, he JOINED the Army, he wasn't DRAFTED!"

That's what grinds me about these defeatist pansies - their inane surprise that joining the military may result in DEATH DURING WARTIME!!! Sure, the Armed Forces are advertised as a college tuition program in camoflage, but how f*cking naive are these people who weep and wail on cue for partisan and UNPATRIOTIC purposes?!?!? That's right!!! UN-PAY-TREE-OT-ICK!!!

We have a VOLUNTEER military these days and all the fascist Left's teeth-gnashing, as if these unfortunate soldiers were merely swept off the streets and sent to die for Halliburton, is just so much fertilizer. That our soldiers are dying precisely because the Can'tMoveOn.Argh! people have egged the Islamofascists on in their quest to destroy Dubya goes conveniently unmentioned.

Casey Sheehan was a big boy who made his decisions. His mother is a bitter fool who would allow other mother's sons to be killed in her thirst for revenge. F*ck her!!!!

The NY Times Priorities

Michelle Malkin linked to this reader's post at the NYT's forum:

And yet, somehow, the NY Times remains silent. Arizona newspapers are running stories on this, but the NY Times looking into a NYC Department of Investigation investigation of a Bronx charity giving tax payer money to Air America?

The NY Times has no time for that sort of thing...why we have to go after Judge Roberts' kids and their adoption!

And Friday (8/6), NY Attorney General Spitzer starts an investigation.

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/26675.htm

And yet, somehow, the NY Times still refuses to report.

So let review, shall we?

# NYC* charity gives money to a

# NY* based liberal talk radio station, the

# NYC* Department of Investigation has been looking into it and

# NYS* AG Spitzer starts to look into it as well and the

# NY* Times refuses to run a story on it?

Tell me oh Public Editor dear, are the people of the City and State of New York not (part) of the "public" the *NY* Times reports on and circulates to?

You cannot or will not even report on Air America, but going after the defenseless Roberts kids? Why that's perfectly fine!

For extra fun, read the post right afterwards in which a moonbat barfs up SIX shibboleths of the Left without a shred of irony and then sneers about Fox News. Wacky!

I just called to say....GERONIMO!!!!

Why is this news breaking now?

Vote Fraud Myths Trip Over Reality

While driving in today and listening to whoever was sitting if for Jerry Springer on his Air ScameriKKKa show, a caller was regurgitating the shibboleth about how GOPers steal elections and Diebold and blah-blah-woof-woof. Old news, still untrue, but it helps the fascist Left sleep at night and solicit funds from the like-minded unhinged moonbats.

When Randi Rhodes was spinning the defeat in the Ohio House race - see "DemOrwellian Speech Lesson" for background - she was trying to say that because the results swung toward the Evil Repubilican at the end, that PROVED that the race was stolen, because no one votes for anyone but Dems in the BSE-rotted minds of the fascist liberals.

But here's something I heard/saw last night (can't remember) that didn't click immediately or I would've posted it: The reason the vote tally was delayed was because humidity prevented machine-counting of the ballots and so they had to be COUNTED BY HAND!!!!

So much for the computer hacking/Diebold lies. Better luck next time, chumps!!!

Side note: I am in agreeance with the moonbats on one thing - there ABSOLUTELY MUST BE some form of hard-copy backup of the votes to allow for human verification and challenge of the computer counts. Common sense and the ability to trust the election results demand that we not reduce the results to an article of faith.

It'll also be nice to throw the stack of papers in the face of the Dems when they lose and say, "Which part of 'you came in second' is too hard for you to understand?!?" Of course, they'll just make up some new lie to excuse their inability to win elections. That's just their way, but at least we'll have something tangible to back up the fact that they're insane.

I'm suspicious of the GOP's blow-off of concerns. If the tables were turned, they'd be screaming too, though they'd have a better case because as the last Election showed, the Dems WILL cheat and steal elections when they've got the chance, as they did in Washington.

Chris Matthews: Cheerleader For The Insurgents

I've always contended that the fascist Left wanted our soldiers to die in order to use their bodies as a soapbox to campaign against Dubya and PoliPundit.com reports:

One other thing in the discussion on Hardball that disturbed me, was the question asked by Matthews about whether if the 20 Ohio Marines had been killed a day earlier, if Hackett might have won. I know that is probably a fair question, but coming today, before they have even been buried, I found it incredibly callous. More than that, however, I think it just shows how so many of those in the media, in the way they present things, show practically no understanding whatsoever of what it takes to fight a war and they are determined to spread that ignorance to the viewing public. The media line regarding war casualties is that if anyone is killed during a war, that is proof that our strategy is flawed and that we are losing. Thank God that those who actually have to plan and fight wars know better.

We'd be speaking German and Japanese if today's media was around during WWII.

The MSM is doing the bidding of the Islamofascists in the same way they assisted the North Vietnamese in the Sixties to present a never-ending drumbeat of military failure in order to demoralize the American public and turn them against whatever the media has determined to be wrong. (Of course, "wrong" means "actually good for America".)

The NVA and Al Queda knew/know that they couldn't/can't beat us militarily, but with the assistance of the media, they can win the battle of convincing an underinformed American public that the military is a failure, all wars end in failure and the mere idea of America is evil and must be destroyed, to be replaced by a fascist government controlled by the UN.

And since more people are looking forward to the new Madden game coming out next week than care about geopolitics, they just may have a shot. Sleep tight, kids!

Are We Setting Iraq Up As A Sharia State?

That's what Nina Shea ponders in "Rule of law, rule of Islam", in which she warns that we may be facilitating the creation of "Iran West".

Negotiations over Iraq's permanent constitution are heading toward founding a state governed by sharia, Islamic law – and perhaps by an extreme version of that law. If extreme sharia rule is adopted, it will set back America's long-term strategy of strengthening moderate Muslim voices and signal a devastating defeat for President Bush's goals of fostering freedom and democracy in the Muslim world.

In just over one week, Iraq's constitution will be finalized, and in less than three months it will be put to a referendum. The document's language continues to stipulate that "sharia is the main source of law" and includes a "repugnancy clause" that states no law can contradict Islam. Fundamental rights to free expression, religion and association are limited with the undefined phrase "in accordance with the law," which can be interpreted as sharia, while women's equality is explicitly tied to a proviso that it not violate "Islamic sharia."

Women will be among those most affected by sharia law. Explicitly subjecting a woman's right to equality to "Islam," the draft jeopardizes her ability to defend herself in court, since extreme sharia states give less weight to women's testimony. Furthermore, the repugnancy clause could mean her rights regarding marriage, inheritance, child custody and other "personal status" matters will be governed by sectarian law whether or not this is spelled out. Without an individual right to religious freedom, Iraqi women have no right to opt out of religious control.

Because of a false multiculturalism, unfamiliarity with sharia law and a misguided "respect for the democratic process" that could result in the negation of democracy itself, U.S. advisers for Iraq's constitution have generally avoided the topic of sharia. But at this fateful juncture in Iraq's political history, it should be an American as well as Iraqi priority that this debate takes place.

With Iraq's political future at stake, American and Iraqi democrats need to find their voice. No American blood should be spilt for the creation of a sharia rule state.

Go read it all and keep in mind that the fascist Left hasn't said boo about this stuff going on while they try to foment panic here at home regarding Christians and that judge is a Catholic!

Could it be that it's because the fascist American Left finds common cause with the racist, sexist, fascist Islamic methods and its shared goal of destroying Western culture?

Duh.

John Leo vs. "It's All Our Fault" Thinking

The anti-American lunacy of the Left gets the beatdown by this well-reasoned and spot-on piece at USNews.com.

In the wake of the London bombings, New York City is now searching the bags of subway riders. As you might expect, this is provoking the usual cluster of perverse reactions. Someone on Air America, the liberal talk radio network, suggested that riders carry many bags to confuse and irritate the cops. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, normally a sane fellow, has ordered that the searches be entirely random, to avoid singling out any one ethnic or religious group. So if someone fits the suicide bomber profile--young Muslim male, short hair, recently shaved beard or mustache, smelling of flower water (a preparation for entering paradise)--the police must look away and search the nun or the Boy Scout behind him. What's the point of stopping a terrorist if you have to trample political correctness to do it? Besides, the New York Civil Liberties Union opposes all bag searches. No surprise there. The national American Civil Liberties Union still opposes passenger screening at airports. In a speech at the Brookings Institution, historian Fred Siegel said that the Democrats, pegged as the party of criminals' rights, are in danger of becoming the party of terrorists' rights.

After 9/11, Michael Walzer, one of the most powerful voices on the left, warned about "the politics of ideological apology" for terrorism. In the June 2005 issue of the American Prospect, he returned to the theme. "Is anybody still excusing terrorism?" he asked. "The answer is yes: Secret sympathy, even fascination with violence among men and women who think of themselves as 'militants,' is a disease, and recovery is slow." Though the argument has shifted somewhat, he wrote, the problem is "how to make people feel that the liberal left is interested in their security and capable of acting effectively. We won't win an election until we address this."

Walzer's analysis is a strong one. The Bush administration has botched many things, but large numbers of Americans go along with the president because he displays what the left apparently cannot: moral clarity and seriousness about what must be done. When the ideas of the left come into view, the themes often include the closing of Guantánamo, attacks on the Patriot Act, opposition to military recruitment on campuses, casual mockery of patriotism (a whole art exhibit in Baltimore was devoted to the theme), and a failure to admit that defeating terrorism will require some trade-offs between security and civil liberties. Is this a serious program? Real security, Walzer says, will depend on hunting down terrorist cells, cutting off the flow of money, and improving surveillance at key sites. He writes: "The burden is on us--nobody else--to make the case that these things can be done effectively by liberals and leftists who will also, in contrast to today's Republicans, defend the civil liberties of American citizens." Good argument. How will the left respond?

To hear some on the left tell it, terrorism is exactly what the West deserves for its many sins.

That last bit is the damned truth! On 9/11, not a half-hour after the first WTC tower had fallen, killing unknown thousands of people, one asstackler on a forum I frequent posted, I kid you not, that the attacks were due to "...the coup by the Supreme Court that put Bush in power..." The entire country was staring at their TV sets in horror as a 110-story building disintegrated before their eyes in a cloud of dust and this motherf*cker's first reaction was to blame it on the fact that his guy hadn't been elected!!! THAT is the rotted, feral mindset of the Left in a nutshell!!!

Whenever I quoted this steaming load back at him, people would PM me "Is that for real?" Some people allied with the Dem side still had a shred of decency to be shocked by such bitter rage. They're in short supply now.

John Bolton's First Day at the UN

Courtesy of James Lileks:

Noon -- Bolton presents his credentials to Kofi Annan, who is sweating and nervous. The lunch is amiable until Bolton, his hand still aching from a vigorous game of handball, makes a fist and cracks his knuckles, whereupon Annan takes a stack of papers from his desk, stammers that it has all the details on the oil-for-food scandal, and begs not to be put in a cell next to his son. "He snores," Annan begs.

Heh.

DemOrwellian Speech Lesson!

That's right, kids. I just coined a new word to describe the Orwellian language routinely used by the Left to obfuscate the realities which are so corrosive to their agendas.

Tonight's Lesson: LOSING IS WINNING.

I heard it last night as Detroit's Thug Maya claimed that his second place finish was "exactly where we wanted to be".

Huh?!? I didn't hear the Pistons say after the last 12 minutes of their season that they were happpy to lose, but here's the Kwame who wants to be Kingpin foisting that jaw-dropper.

Also embarking in a trip thru the Looking Glass was the ever-useful nutcase Randi Rhodes as she voiced the fallback reason for any defeat her side suffers: "REPUBLCIANS CHEATED!!!! THEY STOLE THE ELECTION!!!!"

Yeesh...back when Clinton was winning via plurality, the Repubs never accused him of stealing anything. They couldn't believe that people would vote for him, but with such live wire opponents like Bush 41 and Bob Dole running against him and Ross "You see?" Perot acting as a spoiler - notice the Left didn't mind when he lost the race for Repubs, but filled a diaper over Nader? - the results were predictable.

Anyhoo, Randi was yelping that the Election was stolen last year and this was another theft and as her proof, she pointed to some ballot proposals that had been defeated before being passed while the Ohio House race was a 4 point squeaker in a really Red county. Since the people voted for spending then they HAD TO also support the Dem candidate. The tide was turning their way, but those Wascally Wepubwicans stole it!!!!

Um....yeah....riiiiiiiiiighgt.

Anyone who's listened to Randi can answer this for me, but did she have an excuse for the anti-gay marriage ammendment passing in darkest-Blue Oregon which voted for Kerry 2-1 over Dubya?

I had an private message argument some time back with a seriously unwell guy who said he'd never accept that Dubya was elected. I asked if a 500 vote margin was too close and 6 million wasn't good enough either, what would be a sufficient margin to shut his noise hole.

He replied that NOTHING would convince him. He so hated Dubya that he said he'd vote for Mussolini over him! I told him I didn't expect him to be HAPPY that Dubya won, but couldn't he get enough of a grip to acknowledge that his side lost.

He wouldn't.

He simply refused to live in the real world with the rest of us. Last I saw, he was yelping the tired shibboleths of the insane Left with his like-minded fellow travellers and it's too bad, because other than politics, he was an OK bloke. Insanity is a terrible thing and the Left is totally enthralled to madness.

Xbox 360 Price Reported

It's a "Good news/bad news" deal: The Xbox 360 will be $300. Games will be $60. Dirk will wait for $200 decks and used and Platinum Hits games.

Source.

When PETA Protests...ANIMALS DIE!!!!

(Man, I gotta get a job writing headlines somewhere.)

Right after posting the previous story about how to eat sushi properly, I see these items at The Corner.

First comes word that PETA protest draws extra customers to KFC in Logan, UT.

A protest against the manner in which chickens are slaughtered for fast-food chain KFC drew additional customers rather than drive them away from the local outlet in this northern Utah city.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals protest against KFC drew 10 sympathetic people, including someone dressed in a chicken costume, on Monday. But at one point, around lunchtime, more than 30 people stood in line to order chicken to eat.

''I think there's a place in this world for all of God's creations ... right next to the mashed potatoes,'' said Rusty Smith, a KFC customer who sat on a patch of grass outside the restaurant with a group of co-workers, watching the protest.

RAWK!!!!

Next comes word from Minnesota: Gov. Tim Pawlenty formally has rejected a request from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that he declare walleye pike, Minnesota's state fish, off limits to fishing. "PETA should stay out of Minnesota's proud fishing lifestyle," Pawlenty said Tuesday in a two-paragraph news release issued by his staff. "Because of their letter, I'm going out for a walleye dinner tonight."

Gotta love it!!!

Sushi Lesson - How to eat sushi properly

Something lighter on a heavy day - Sushi Lesson - How to eat sushi properly at Bayosphere.

I like sushi, but, like many, was of the "yuck" mind about eating raw fish. I've converted my g/f and am working on the rest of the Unwashed Heathen. YOU!!! You're next!!!! :)

Air ScameriKKKa Update

Still not much attention from the MSM about this story and that's the subject of Missing the Perfect Storm at the Weekly Standard's site.

THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA is often inconsistent in covering stories. They gave us wall-to-wall coverage when George W. Bush's National Guard service came under scrutiny, but suddenly made themselves scarce when over two hundred Vietnam veterans pointed out hole after hole in John Kerry's service narrative. When Rush Limbaugh ran into legal problems surrounding his addiction to painkillers, we heard breathless updates on subpoenas and court orders, but when Eason Jordan revealed his predilection to slandering the U.S. military, again the press pulled a disappearing act.

Michael LeBoeuf once commented that the elements of the perfect fiction would involve religion, royalty, sex, and mystery--and then boiled it down to one sentence: "My God," said the Queen, "I'm pregnant. I wonder who did it?" Is there a grand-unified theory of media interest and if so, what elements need to come together to make the perfect journalistic storm?

We often hear journalists claim that their mission consists of afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted. One crucial element must therefore put powerful people under a spotlight. Some journalists say that they fight for the little guy, the downtrodden, which means that the story must include victims. Still others like investigative work, digging through arcane paperwork and doubletalk to reveal misdeeds that otherwise would never come to light, which means that a crime or at least unethical conduct would help draw interest. And finally, big money always attracts a crowd and helps audiences relate to the disgraceful actions unveiled by the reporter.

Thus, the perfect journalistic storm would arise when powerful people victimize the poor and downtrodden, breaking laws or at least ethical constructs, by taking money meant for their benefit. That sort of story will get anyone's attention. All it takes is one reporter to tell the story, and the rest of the media will jump all over it. Right?

He then lays out the old news to anyone reading the Blogosphere and not watching the MSM before concluding:

The mission of the mainstream media to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, to tell truth to power, and to hold the reverse Robin Hoods accountable for their malfeasance wouldn't depend on the politics of the criminals.

Would it?

Well....duh.

Michelle Malkin-Belligerent wonders where are the race hustlers like Revs. Al and Jesse? As Deep Throat said, "Follow the money."

The Radio Equalizer also wonders about the "Double Standards" of the MSM while covering the previous two stories and mentioning about the talker suspended for speaking the Truth about Islam as a terrorist organization (scroll down here for that one) as compared to a pair of hip-hop DJs advising how to attack police:

Equally disturbing is what's going on in St. Louis, where radio industry veteran Mike Anderson of STLMedia has been waging a one-man battle for three weeks against two hip-hop DJ's who urged listeners to attack the police, just after a city cop was murdered in cold blood.

This officer's message board comment paints a picture of the environment:

I think that everyone should know what was being said this morning on 100.3's morning show. They were actually discussing how to hurt officers. Callers were calling in and giving "tips" as to how to properly fight the police.

One "tip" that was discussed was that you should always fight for the officer's radio and take it so they are unable to call for help. In fact, according to 100.3, 80% of officers on the street are p$%#$s who will not do anything except talk sh-t.

In light of recent events, I find it very disheartening that a professional (at least they used to be) radio station would do this.

-- PLEASE, contact the station managers at Clear Channel Communications and voice your displeasure for having these radio DJs' giving a lesson in how to hurt/fight police officers.

-- If, for nothing else, do this for MAC. His death has been turned into a circus. Do the right thing. Please stay safe out there!

Yes, the media and "civil rights leaders" don't have a problem with this either, do they?

While the DJ's have been suspended, they haven't faced termination, thanks to selective outrage. But Anderson's stubborn determination to see justice served provides an excellent example for every discouraged Internet maverick.

I'm not sure, however, that these on-air thugs will be fired.

One to watch closely in the next week will be the fate of WMAL/Washington talk show host Michael Graham, who was yanked from the airwaves after a long campaign by the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), seemed to finally bear fruit.

Graham made comments about Islam being a religion of terror, that while bold, aren't terribly atypical.

Rather than admit censorship was the reason behind the removal, Graham's forced holiday was dismissed by many as an old-fashioned radio stunt. That was easier than the unpleasant prospect of defending a conservative talk host on free-speech grounds.

Where's the outrage over Graham's removal due to nothing more than relatively strong opinions on issues? Isn't that his job? After all, he didn't call for any cops to be murdered.

Which is just the point: the police-bashing St. Louis DJ's have a better chance of keeping their jobs than Graham, in today's political environment.

These are tough lessons about double standards and selective outrage. We really have but one tool to fight back, the same way Mike Anderson has, with a stubborn compulsion to follow through on these issues.

Free speech is for everyone, isn't it? According to the Left and the MSM, it isn't.

More wise words of Steven Vincent's.

It is a tragedy that this guy got such a bad end for being so sensible and willing to call thugs thugs. Next time you hear the lying MSM weasels yapping about the evils of America and the rest of their eyewash, remember what can be found in this lengthy, but rewarding, FrontPage magazine.com interview from last December. Vincent knew what time it was and it's a crying shame that so many fascist liberals bury these truths in their jihad to destroy Dubya for vengence and power.

Go read it all, but here are some important bits:

FP: Tell us one story that leaves you with a happy memory and another one that leaves you haunted.

Vincent: I’ll start with “haunted.” As I describe in the book, last March, I disguised myself as Shia pilgrim and attended the religious commemoration of Ashura, held in the south-central Iraqi city of Karbala. (The “holy” city of Karbala, as the media never fails to remind us.) The festival of Ashura is the veritable heart of Shia Islam; it memorializes the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, Mohammad’s grandson, who perished in battle near the city in 680 AD. Four million pilgrims packed Karbala that day. Everywhere you looked, you saw rituals and images reflecting the Shia’s fascination with death and martyrdom—men slicing their heads with swords; processions of hundreds of male worshippers flagellating themselves with metal chains; a fountain spewing red liquid meant to resemble blood; pictures of severed hands, severed heads; Arabic banners inscribed with words that appeared to drip blood.

At the height of the festivities, Al Qaeda attacked—six bombs detonated among the pilgrims, killing over one hundred people. Confusion, panic, terrified pilgrims, Iraqi police and black-shirted religious militiamen shouting at people not to enter the city center, chaos everywhere. I saw streams of ambulances screaming toward the Karbala hospital, followed by flatbed trucks piled high with bleeding and broken bodies, and a taxi cab filled with corpses. The sight was terrible, as you might imagine—but the thought that a festival commemorating a 1,400 year-old martyrdom had created real martyrs—that the ritualistic blood had become real blood shed by real people whose only crime was to pursue their faith—was too much for me. Shaken and horrified, I cried nearly all the way back to Baghdad.


FP: You discuss how crucial words are in describing the war in Iraq and how the liberal media has damaged the cause of freedom by manipulating them.

For instance, you stress how important it is that we refer to the American “liberation” rather than “occupation,” since “occupation” infers certain meanings that do not apply to anything the Americans are doing in Iraq.

What startles me is how the media refers to the terrorists as “insurgents.” This is simply incredible. We have foreign fighters coming in from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Libya, Pakistan and other nations to fight a holy war against the West in an effort to impose Islamo-fascism on the Iraqi people. And yet, somehow, the media is informing us that this is some kind of domestic “resistance.”

Can you talk a bit about this -- how the Left shapes the boundaries of debate and dialogue by controlling our language?

Vincent: Words matter. Words convey moral clarity. Without moral clarity, we will not succeed in Iraq. That is why the terms the press uses to cover this conflict are so vital. For example, take the word “guerillas.” As you noted, mainstream media sources like the New York Times often use the terms “insurgents” or “guerillas” to describe the Sunni Triangle gunmen, as if these murderous thugs represented a traditional national liberation movement. But when the Times reports on similar groups of masked reactionary killers operating in Latin American countries, they utilize the phrase “paramilitary death squads.” Same murderers, different designations. Yet of the two, “insurgents”—and especially “guerillas”—has a claim on our sympathies that “paramilitaries” lacks. This is not semantics: imagine if the media routinely called the Sunni Triangle gunmen “right wing paramilitary death squads.” Not only would the description be more accurate, but it would offer the American public a clear idea of the enemy in Iraq. And that, in turn, would bolster public attitudes toward the war.

Supporters of the conflict in Iraq bear much blame for allowing the terminology—and, by extension, the narrative—of events to slip from our grasp and into the hands of the anti-war camp. Words and ideas matter. Instead of saying that the Coalition “invaded” Iraq and “occupies” it today, we could more precisely claim that the allies liberated the country and are currently reconstructing it. More than cosmetic changes, these definitions reflect the nobility of our effort in Iraq, and steal rhetorical ammunition from the left.

The most despicable misuse of terminology, however, occurs when Leftists call the Saddamites and foreign jihadists “the resistance.” What an example of moral inversion! For the fact is, paramilitary death squads are attacking the Iraqi people. And those who oppose the killers--the Iraqi police and National Guardsmen, members of the Allawi government, people like Nour—they are the “resistance.” They are preventing Islamofascists from seizing Iraq, they are resisting evil men from turning the entire nation into a mass slaughterhouse like we saw in re-liberated Falluja. Anyone who cares about success in our struggle against Islamofascism—or upholds principles of moral clarity and lucid thought—should combat such Orwellian distortions of our language.

Gotta break in with a hearty HELL YEAH!!! over that last bit. Remember Michael Moore and his idiocy about how the jihadist killing our boys were "the Minutemen"? Now do you agree that that fat f*cker needs to die of a heart attack while Bette Davis stands over his body, holding the Lipator bottle? Yep, he does. Back to Vincent...

Unfortunately, the trend seems headed the opposite direction: Islam in Iraq (and elsewhere) is becoming more tribal, more insular, more sunk in a backwards mindset of misogyny, obsession with honor and a kind of bi-polar oscillation between self-loathing and self-importance. We see the effects of this dysfunctionality north and west of Baghdad where Sunni Arabs, disgraced by their fall from power, attempt to kill American soldiers in order to reclaim their “honor” rather than negotiate a future for their children in a democratic Iraq. Islam has long been aware of the corruptions of tribalism—Wahhabism and other Salafist movements are attempts to return the religion to its “pure” state. But as we see with Al Qaeda and Zarqawi, the results are just as intolerant, misogynistic and bloodthirsty—in a word, fascistic.

Take THAT, Gloria Steinem!!! She needs to also take this:

FP: One dark phenomenon you encountered in Iraq was the barbaric treatment of women by a culture controlled by tribal Islam. Tell us a bit about the suffering of women that you witnessed.

Vincent: My experiences in Iraq, together with what I witnessed in Iran in 2000, led me to wonder why the civilized world doesn’t rise up en masse and say Enough! We will no longer tolerate the way that Muslim nations in the Middle East treat women! Alas, in today’s multicultural world, such outrage is impossible.

Meanwhile, in Iraq the compass of women’s lives—their legal and social rights, hopes and dreams and image of themselves—slowly constricts. Criminals prey on females, forcing them to remain indoors after dark. Islamic clerics pressure them to don black abiyas—even when the heat tops 140 degrees. Tribal leaders and Shia imams agitate for shari’a—misogynistic Islamic law—to regulate every aspect of a woman’s existence. Polygamy, honor killings, divorce by repudiation, temporary marriages (essentially religiously-sanctioned adultery) have returned, at least as matters of serious discussion.

What I learned from Nour—and what I discuss in much of In the Red Zone--is the psychic claustrophobia of Iraqi society. Reputation and virginity are everything—should a woman lose the first, she is ostracized from “good” society; lose the second before marriage and she risks being murdered by her “shamed” family.

[snip]

As I’ve noted here and elsewhere, suppression of the feminine—whether it be feminine sexuality, freedom or laughter—is the foundation upon which the death-cult of Islamofascism rests. Undermine that foundation, and the entire edifice, from al-Sadr to Zarqawi to bin Laden will collapse.

But for the West to encourage such an event, we must overcome our own fears of liberated women. By that I mean, the Left must discard a multicultural mindset that refuses to use Western standards to criticize other cultures, even when Western values—such as feminism--are clearly more beneficial to those cultures. As I describe in my book, one afternoon in Baghdad I listened to a group of Western anti-war activists complain that the American invasion of Iraq was an imperialistic attempt to crush the country’s native culture. When I suggested that some aspect of this “native culture” should be crushed—like forcing women to wear black sacks in blistering summer weather—one of the activists looked at me with a shocked expression. “But feminism has brought such destruction to the American family, do we want to wish that on Iraq?” And she was no post-feminist youngster, but a woman from the anti-Vietnam War days!

This—along with an unwillingness to support the Bush Administration in anything—explains in large part the silence of the Left as Islamofascists repeatedly violate their core beliefs of secularism, human rights and creative freedom (where are the outcries about the murder of Theo van Gogh? They come mostly from the Right). I remember my Iraqi friend Naseer telling me how impressed his mother was to see American women soldiers. His mom didn’t realize such gender equality was possible, or that women could interact so easily with their male counterparts—and millions of other women across Iraq are learning similar feminist lessons.

I know I copied quite a bit here, but there's even more at the linked site. Please read it all and take a moment to say a prayer for a man who clearly had things right and paid the ultimate price for being brave enough to speak Truth to fascism.

Speak Truth to Islamofascist Power and DIE!!!

Driving in this morning, NPR was reporting on the death of freelance reporter Steven Vincent who was abducted and assassinated yesterday by the local members of the Religion of Peace. (I wonder if Eason Jordan still thinks the U.S. military is the ones targeting the press? Duh.)

Over on Hate Speech Radio, Nancy Skinner was working herself into an incoherent frenzy while she engaged in some double-think live on the air. She was trying to say that she didn't understand how anyone could not believe in a God while spewing her anti-Christian liberal dogmas about how Team Dubya are trying to turn America into a Christian theocratic state in which other faiths wouldn't be allowed.

This is the madness that consumes the Left these days. They're so enraged over being out of power to that....that.....CHIMP!!!! they can't be rational and maintain some perspective over how not allowing God to be chased out of the public square isn't the same as being the Taliban or whatever flavor of intolerant hate the RoP takes the form of.

Check out these bits from Vincent's last op-ed piece which ran in the NYTimes. Switched Off in Basra probably signed his death warrant.

As has been widely reported of late, Basran politics (and everyday life) is increasingly coming under the control of Shiite religious groups, from the relatively mainstream Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq to the bellicose followers of the rebel cleric Moktada al-Sadr. Recruited from the same population of undereducated, underemployed men who swell these organizations' ranks, many of Basra's rank-and-file police officers maintain dual loyalties to mosque and state.

In May, the city's police chief told a British newspaper that half of his 7,000-man force was affiliated with religious parties. This may have been an optimistic estimate: one young Iraqi officer told me that "75 percent of the policemen I know are with Moktada al-Sadr - he is a great man." And unfortunately, the British seem unable or unwilling to do anything about it.

The fact that the British are in effect strengthening the hand of Shiite organizations is not lost on Basra's residents.

"No one trusts the police," one Iraqi journalist told me. "If our new ayatollahs snap their fingers, thousands of police will jump." Mufeed al-Mushashaee, the leader of a liberal political organization called the Shabanea Rebellion, told me that he felt that "the entire force should be dissolved and replaced with people educated in human rights and democracy."

Unfortunately, this is precisely what the British aren't doing. Fearing to appear like colonial occupiers, they avoid any hint of ideological indoctrination: in my time with them, not once did I see an instructor explain such basics of democracy as the politically neutral role of the police in a civil society. Nor did I see anyone question the alarming number of religious posters on the walls of Basran police stations. When I asked British troops if the security sector reform strategy included measures to encourage cadets to identify with the national government rather than their neighborhood mosque, I received polite shrugs: not our job, mate.

The results are apparent. At the city's university, for example, self-appointed monitors patrol the campuses, ensuring that women's attire and makeup are properly Islamic. "I'd like to throw them off the grounds, but who will do it?" a university administrator asked me. "Most of our police belong to the same religious parties as the monitors."

Similarly, the director of Basra's maternity hospital, Mohammad Nasir, told me that he frequently catches staff members pilfering equipment to sell to private hospitals, but hesitates to call the police: "How do I know what religious party they are affiliated with, and what their political connection is to the thieves?"

It is particularly troubling that sectarian tensions are increasing in Basra, which has long been held up as the brightest spot of the liberated Iraq. "Are the police being used for political purposes?" asked Jamal Khazal Makki, the head of the Basra branch of the Sunni-dominated Islamic Party. "They arrest people and hold them in custody, even though the courts order them released. Meanwhile, the police rarely detain anyone who belongs to a Shiite religious party."

An Iraqi police lieutenant, who for obvious reasons asked to remain anonymous, confirmed to me the widespread rumors that a few police officers are perpetrating many of the hundreds of assassinations - mostly of former Baath Party members - that take place in Basra each month. He told me that there is even a sort of "death car": a white Toyota Mark II that glides through the city streets, carrying off-duty police officers in the pay of extremist religious groups to their next assignment.

Meanwhile, the British stand above the growing turmoil, refusing to challenge the Islamists' claim on the hearts and minds of police officers. This detachment angers many Basrans. "The British know what's happening but they are asleep, pretending they can simply establish security and leave behind democracy," said the police lieutenant who had told me of the assassinations. "Before such a government takes root here, we must experience a transformation of our minds."

In other words, real security reform requires psychological as well as physical training. Unless the British include in their security sector reform strategy some basic lessons in democratic principles, Basra risks falling further under the sway of Islamic extremists and their Western-trained police enforcers.

This article points up a lot of the cognitive dissonance going around these days:

1. Because of the demands of today's kinder, gentler, politically correct warfare, the bad guys who need sending to Allah are allowed to run amok, thus negating the whole point of the war.

B. The media is so busy trying to smear the U.S. forces for killing reporters, they don't seem to understand that it's their fascist ideological mates who are actually putting bullets into reporters' heads.

3. Anti-Christian bigotry is so deep amongst the American Left that they'll work themselves into a hysterical frenzy over the possibility that God may be mentioned anywhere, that John Roberts is a Catholic, etc., yet they remain silent over the rise of another Ayatollah-ruled state. Last time I looked, despite the shrill screams of the Left, Dubya hasn't dispatched a God Squad to rip birth control from women's medicine cabinets and check their hem lengths with a ruler, though to hear idiots like Randi Rhodes and Nancy Skinner tell it, the burquas are on order.

4. It was controversial when I said it before, but I've been unfortunately been proven correct: The modern world has no room for a violent, terror-based faith like Islam and unless steps are taken to eradicate its violent members from the face of the Earth, the fascists liberals hearts aren't the only things that will be bleeding. Yet they pretend to be "progressive" and driven by "truth, not faith." Yeah, right. As Winston Churchill said, "Appeasement is feeding the alligator in hopes that he eats you last."

Wake up, Kwame, it's time to go!

Thug mayor and Kingpin-wannabe Kwame Kilpatrick was righteously bitchslapped in the Detroit mayoral primary tonight by at least a 12 point margin by the guy already planning on measuring for drapes tomorrow, Freman Hendrix.

Kilpatrick has been a local disgrace and made Detroit an even bigger national joke as he's forgotten Rule Numero Uno of being a corrupt, self-dealing, gangsta politician: People don't forgive when things are going badly.

Look at Chicago. Capone rules live on and the name of the game is Daley, BUT since things work, more-or-less, people will excuse the grift, graft and corruption. King Kwame should've watched "New Jack City" some more to see how Nino Brown handled things.

Look for a brutal, racist campaign to be run as the light-skinned Hendrix is slagged for not being "black enough" and race cards are dealt from the bottom of the deck. Fun times in Motown ahead, yes indeed.

White House Denies Existence Of Karl Rove!

I suppose they'll be saying there's no Keyser Soze next. Yeah, right.

"None of these allegations are supported by the facts," [White House press secretary Scott] McClellan said. "The opponents of this administration have created a mythical figure in order to discredit the president. All they have done is divert attention from the important work at hand—the war in Iraq and the war on terror. In doing so, they have dishonored the sacrifices of our brave men and women in uniform."

"This time," he added, "the Democrats have gone too far."

"This is a very clever fiction concocted by those on the other side of the aisle," Vice President Dick Cheney said. "It's preposterous at its core."

Initially demanding that the alleged Rove be fired, Democrats say they are now focusing their efforts on proving the figure's existence.

"I believe this deputy White House chief of staff is real, despite White House claims to the contrary," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said. "But to disprove this wild ghost story, we must begin an exhaustive fact-finding mission, for which I pledge all the time and resources of the entire Democratic party."

When asked for comment, Air ScamericKKKa host/insane harridan Randi Rhodes said, "BLURGLEBLARGH!!!! RARF!!! RARF!!!! MMMMRUMPHECKLEBEE!!!!"

Do you believe in miracles?!?

Well, you just might want to after that Air France plane crashed in Toronto earlier today without a single fatality among the 309 souls on board.

I drive by that scene on my way to and from Toronto - the runway is next to the 401 - and it's nice that there won't have to be any monuments in memorium erected there.