Alejandro de Tomaso, RIP

The Argentinian-born, Italian-based creator of the Pantera and Mangusta passed away at age 74 on May 21. The Economist notes that the Ford-powered Pantera became famous in America after Elvis Presley shot one.

The Wolfowitz non-scandal

Bill Kristol, grand high priest...er, rabbi of the evil Jewish neo-con conspiracy!!! has more details in The Weekly Standard. It looks like Vanity Fair is primarily responsible for the misinterpreted quote, but left-wing media outlets like The Independent are distorting it even further. (That paper's headline read something like, "WMDs just a convenient pretext for war: Wolfowitz.")

Lies, damned lies, and The Independent

Over the next few days, you're going to hear a lot about Paul Wolfowitz's alleged "admission" that the WMD issue was just a pretext the Americans used to go to war, "for bureaucratic reasons".

That was a blockbuster story in The Independent today. And it's complete bullshit. Charles Johnson has a link to the full transcript of the Wolfowitz interview, and the way the Daily Fisk (and/or Vanity Fair, which originally quoted Wolfowitz in an article scheduled to run in the July issue) took his comments out of context is absolutely shocking.

(Of course, the Pentagon itself released the full transcript of the Vanity Fair interview. Will that satisfy the IndyMedia/Independent/Bush-is-Hitler crowd? I doubt it.)

Bush v. Hitler, continued

Lileks dealt with this comparison in one of his syndicated columns last year:

Guess who made this statement: "I am literally comparing Bush and his cronies to Hitler, only Hitler had a smaller vision."

Note to Dr. Bozo: There's a quick way to see if your nation's leader is worse than Hitler. Criticize him loudly in the news media. Using one's index finger, probe back of head for bullet hole. Nothing? You might want to rethink your rhetoric.

Have you signed the petition yet?

Bush v. Hitler

Unlike his fellow conspirozoids, who merely say Bush is as bad as Hitler, Mikey Rivero says the President is even worse.

Really.

Hitler served in the German infantry for three years in WWI. He was wounded three times in combat and was awarded the Iron Cross for his bravery. Bush weaseled his way into the National Guard so he could have an excuse to get out of Vietnam and then went AWOL for a year.

Sure, Hitler was a bad man, but he wasn’t as bad as what we got; A coward who bribed and manipulated his way into office and then robbed the American people blind.

Actually, America's economic downturn began before Dubya became President. And Hitler became chancellor of Germany with barely 40% of the popular vote, which considerably less than Bush got in 2000. But an inability to tell the difference between a majority and a plurality is the least of this guy's problems.

(There's that little Holocaust thing, for example. Of course, Mikey doesn't believe that happened - hence his recent enthusiasm for Nazi UFO cultist Ernst Zundel.)

Update: this "Bush is worse than Hitler" rant was actually written by one of Rivero's readers. Mind you, Mikey never posts a message he doesn't agree or sympathize with. Either way, it says all you need to know about what type of person reads whatreallyhappened.com, doesn't it?

Aaronovitch on anti-Semitism

"There is no all-powerful Jewish lobby," writes David Aaronovitch in the Wanker. Aaronovitch writes for one of Britain's most anti-war, pro-Palestinian newspapers, but for some "progressives" it doesn't matter: he has a Yid last name, so he (and other Jews who write for the Guardian) must be in Sharon's pocket.

Last March an Ian Henshall, who describes himself as "chair of the UK's alternative media umbrella group, INK", wrote an open letter to the editor of the Observer, to complain about the journalist Nick Cohen's support for an attack on Iraq. "Cohen," said Henshall, "has written publicly about his loyalty to his Jewishness, so (is) there is any connection between this and his apparent support for the coming war?" Henshall continued, "Just before anyone calls me anti-Semitic, could I point out that my current hero is Uri Avneri, and the bravest people in the world are the Jews who are resisting the occupation and Sharon's ethnic cleansing." Henshall, incidentally, is also a disseminator of internet stories with headlines such as, "What were 120 Israeli spies doing in America a few months before the 9/11 attacks?"

This month J Hall suggested to me that the infamous Galloway documents could have been the work of "the Jewish lobby". A Medialens regular, David Bracewell, posts this week to criticise "Israeli fascism" and adds, "if ever there was an inflammatory, racist, insidiously exclusive term, 'anti-Semitism' is it. It baffles me why the supposed victims of racism would want a term all for themselves." Supposed? And not one of the assembled lefties took him up on it.

Read the whole thing.

An unfortunate choice of words

Yesterday, I wrote that "Canadian aboriginals need their own Hernando de Soto," referring to the Peuvian economist. Reader Jim Greenway wrote to remind me of another Hernando de Soto, the likes of whom natives definitely don't need:

I had to bust out laughing at reading this. Another Hernando de Soto was a lesser-known conquistador who went road-tripping around the southeastern U.S in an unsuccessful gold hunt. de Soto y vatos wasted umpteen "aboriginals" while stomping around Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. His M.O. was to ride into a village, demand the whereabouts of any gold as well as food for his men, and leave after kidnapping some guys for porters and some of las chicas for, well, you can guess. Several thousand of the locals died at the Battle of Mabila in middle Alabama (hey, good news spread fast & de Soto developed a rep). Disease and hunger largely wiped out de Soto's gang - it was a real road trip from hell for everyone involved. de Soto himself died on the trip and was probably buried in the vicinity of the Mississippi River.

If I were halfway well-known, yesterday's quote would have been taken out of context and made the top story on CBC by now.

Iraqi WMDs: the world grows impatient

Salon's Jake Tapper describes how the Bush administration, frustrated by its failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, is backpedalling from its original claims - and how other members of the "coalition of the willing" are growing increasingly disillusioned. (Link requires you to sit through an "ultramercial" for a new series on Showtime.)

So far, in post-Saddam Iraq, they've found just about everything I expected them to find - horrendous torture chambers; evidence of Saddam's cynical manipulation of the "genocidal" sanctions; at least one children's prison; proof of French, German and Russian cooperation with and weapons sales to Saddam's regime; documents showing "journalists" and "peace activists" on Saddam's payroll; even some evidence of "diplomatic" links, albeit at a relatively low level, with Al-Qaida. Everything, that is, except the weapons which were cited as the main justification for the war.

Some say the Brits "sexed up" their much-cited "dossier" on Iraq's WMD capacity, to make the threat look more imminent, but I remain unconvinced that the coalition was perpetrating a fraud; if they were committing a massive hoax, they would have faked a massive WMD find by now, and they certainly wouldn't have tolerated early, embarassing reports on "smoking guns" which turned out to have more benign uses. I think they just couldn't comprehend the possibility of not finding anything, and now they've been left wide open for criticism and conspiracy theories.

I still make no apologies for supporting the war; anything that gets rid of a maniac like Saddam, and could lay the foundation for a more democratic Middle East, is a good thing. But even a pro-American commentator like myself may find it increasingly hard to trust the Yanks again, so heaven knows what the knee-jerk America-haters must be thinking.

On a positive note, the last times I felt so uneasy about something like this were during the initial reports of the Jenin "massacre" and the looting of "170,000 items" from the Baghdad museum. And we all know how these turned out.

Another Canadian hero

A former Canadian soldier foiled an attempted hijacking of a Qantas flight the other day.

Moxie makes the big time

Check out her biggest fan.

Rewriting history at NaziMedia

First Michael Moore was caught removing the "Payback Tuesday" article from his website after the GOP gained seats in the 2002 elections, and now IndyMedia is trying to hide the notorious "we support our troops when they shoot their officers" photo.

I sense a trend here.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Hope

Mark Steyn on the legendary Bob Hope, 100 years old today.

Hire Lileks!

Sign the petition!

Weep for South Africa

Thebo Mbeki takes time off from proving HIV doesn't cause AIDS to defend his pal, Robert Mugabe. In the Guardian, of course.

Hysteria? What hysteria?

The drugstore across the street (and located about 3,000 km from Toronto) is selling paper SARS masks for $2.19 each. This would be ridiculous even if they worked. Which they don't.

Shariah in Baghdad

An extremely disturbing story in this morning's Washington Post: Islamic law courts have begun operating in Iraq, and Shi'ite clerics have set up "vice committees" to punish anyone who's not complying with their medieval beliefs.

Donald Rumsfeld is taking a lot of heat right now for his admission that Saddam's Weapons of Mass Destruction may have been destroyed before the Anglo-American invasion. Frankly, considering the horrors they have uncovered in Iraq, I don't think that made the war any less justified. (And I don't think these trailers they found were used to make Baby Milk, but that's another story.) But if Iraq is allowed to become another Islamofacist hellhole, subject to the rule of hardline clerics trying to revive the glories of the 14th century, that would be unforgivable.

The naysayers have been proven wrong about almost every "crisis" which has erupted in Iraq since the war began (brutal street fighting, hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths, a military "quagmire" that lasts for years, thousands of items looted from museums, etc.), and I hope Iraq's post-liberation problems can be quelled before long. If they can't, and if Iraq becomes a Shi'ite theocracy, the war will have been a counterproductive step. The Americans and British have to stop the clerics. Now.

New town, same old crap

The National Post reports that the new community of Natuashish, Labrador, where the Innu of Davis Inlet were moved to try and escape that community's pervasive social problems, is already blighted with alcoholism, violence and vandalism. In other words, we're seeing exactly what everyone in Newfoundland knew was going to happen, but everyone was afraid to say.

Colby Cosh has some thoughts on this, to which I'd like to add that many of the Innu's problems - and those of aboriginals all over Canada - stem from a refusal to give residents of native reserves the right to own their own property. All reserves are either the property of the federal government or, pursuant to land-claims agreements, property of First Nations groups. Either way, every aboriginal's home is owned by somebody else, and that's a recipe for disaster. (As the Post notes, many residents of Natuashish have been forced to take other families into "their" houses, just like the way they'd shove three families into a one-family apartment in the USSR.) Why take care of the place in which you live, when some bureaucrat controls what you can do with it?

Most First Nations groups, of course, will scream bloody murder at the suggestion that - horrors! - private property is a solution to native woes. Why...the First Nations had no such thing as private property! Everybody shared everything they owned! That would mean "assimilation," as though aboriginal culture is so fragile that it would disappear as soon as you let a native own his home.

Yeah, whatever. They didn't have snowmobiles or motorboats, both of which are used on "traditional" hunts, either. You can't have it both ways, guys. There's something shockingly racist about a system that denies the right of private property to people just because of their ancestry; the fact that aboriginal "leaders" demand to keep such a system in place betrays a dependency and self-loathing almost too complex to comprehend.

The great Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto has demonstrated how the people of the Third World can lift themselves out of poverty through the freedom to own their own property and develop it as they see fit. Canadian aboriginals need their own Hernando de Soto.

Jacoby on the "road map"

Jeff Jacoby says the "road map" for an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement is meaningless without democratic reform in the Palestinian Authority, and an end to anti-Jewish incitement from official PA institutions.

If I hear Arafat described as "the democratically elected leader of the Palestinian people" one more time, I'm going to break something. The man's dubious election was in 1994, and the PA, despite occasional promises to the contrary, hasn't come close to holding any more Presidential elections since then, despite promises to do so - not even between 1994 and 2000, before the latest intifada started.

Treacher has been assimilated

He's the latest to get an MT-powered weblog.

Why wasn't I told about this before?

Newhouse News Service has an archive of James Lileks columns, most of which I've never read before, going back to the beginning of 2002.

Why isn't this man in every newspaper in North America? (Yes, I know two papers in the same market would never be able to run the same columnist, making it impossible for Lileks to be in every newspaper. I was being facetious.)

Is there a genocidal tyrant they won't support?

Nat Hentoff says the Stalinist 'International Action Center,' and its 'International ANSWER' front group, are joining several American black organizations in supporting Robert Mugabe:

Here at the Voice, I received a press release from the African Liberation Day Coalition 2003. The headline: "Blacks Assert Hands Off Zimbabwe," addressed to the "U.S. and British governments," accused by this coalition of recolonizing Africa. The demand: "money for reparations and not occupations."

Will A.N.S.W.E.R. invite Robert Mugabe to address its next demonstration for "Peace and Justice"?

Next thing you know, these guys will be supporting Kim Jong Il. Hey, wait a minute...

Chretien is losing it...

...assuming it was ever there to begin with. Relations between the U.S. and Canada have been strained ever since we decided not to join the Iraq war, but we aren't mortal enemies yet. Our beloved Prime Minster, it appears, won't be happy until the Yanks have closed the border completely:

Jean Chrétien, the Prime Minister, offered strong criticisms yesterday of George W. Bush, the U.S. President, attacking both his economic stewardship and his conservative social policies.

Mr. Chrétien, who is to speak on the global economy at next week's G8 summit in Evian, France, contrasted his own performance with that of Mr. Bush. He noted that under the Republicans, U.S. economic growth has become weaker and unemployment is rising, while Canada is enjoying strong job creation and growth of 2.5% expected this year.
[...]
While Mr. Chrétien claimed to have a good rapport with Mr. Bush, he said he disagrees with him on most major issues because of their ideological gulf.

"Of course we don't think alike on many issues. On social issues, he is a conservative. I am for free choice on abortion. He is not. He is against gun control. I am for it. [Chretien did not, as far as is known, say "He is against wasting a billion dollars on a completely useless gun registry. I am for it."] He is for capital punishment. I am against it. I am a Liberal," he said.

During the conversation, Mr. Chrétien went out of his way to praise former Democratic president Bill Clinton and noted the two leaders remain close friends and continue to golf together.

You know, I think Cretin has a point about the deficit issue. (More eloquent commentators than I, such as Andrew Sullivan, have pointed out the lasting damage Bush could be doing by racking up such huge deficits.) But what kind of jackass rants about the President on the eve of a major summit with the same President?!?

I'd never say a Canadian Prime Minister has no right to criticize or disagree with an American President. Sometimes it's necessary. But this is ridiculous. Keep it up, Mr. Chretien. You'll make sure the Americans never cooperate with us again.

Moron.

More missiles in Iraq...

...and NBC reports that many of the components are of French and German origin. It doesn't appear that the missiles are outside the range Iraq was allowed under the 1991 agreement, but it's becoming increasingly clear that those sophisticated Europeans sold Saddam millions of dollars' worth of weaponry in defiance of sanctions.

Hope for Colombia?

The Christian Science Monitor says the civil war in that tragic country could be winding down, thanks to President Uribe's military crackdown against rebels, and an increasingly popular program to reintegrate leftist and right-wing guerilla fighters into society.

Memo to Canada's soldiers:

Get used to your 40 year-old Sea King helicopters, 'cause we're going to keep 'em for another 11 years.

The federal government has secretly approved a $307-million maintenance contract to keep the aging Sea King helicopters flying for another 11 years, Sun Media has learned.

It also approved an option to extend IMP's new contract by six years -- to 2014 -- and forked over $148.1 million for it. That brings the total earmarked to keep the Canadian Forces' 28 Sea Kings flying to 2014 to $307 million, including taxes.

(via Bourque)

A Saudi step backward

After what appeared to be some soul-searching and self-criticism in the Arab press after the Riyadh bombings, things are returning to normal. The Saudi Information Ministry, which controls all media in that country, has ordered the firing of a liberal newspaper editor:

An editor whose newspaper was in the forefront of a campaign against Muslim extremism was removed from his post Tuesday, managers at the paper said.

No reason was given for the dismissal of Jamal Khashoggi, who joined the Al-Watan newspaper in March, one manager said on condition of anonymity.

Staffers at the paper said Al-Watan's manager fired Khashoggi but that the decision came from the Information Ministry. Under Saudi press laws, the government approves the hiring and firing of newspaper editors. Newspapers are privately owned but government guided.

Al-Watan has run a number of stories, editorials and cartoons critical of extremists and the way in which the country enforces its religious values.

I knew this sort of thing was going to happen. How long will it be before we hail yet another "sign that the Arab press is growing more free and independent"?

(via InstaPundit)

Update: it's business as usual at the Arab News, too.

Ya know what I hate?

People who leave messages on your voice mail that go on for about 5 minutes, usually with the same stuff repeated 3 or 4 times. That's what I hate.

(It's even worse at home - my ancient answering machine doesn't allow you to delete a message halfway through, or even fast-forward.)

Not Neil Young!

This can't be happening. I've come to expect this whiny martyr crap from the likes of Michael Moore or Tim Robbins, but...Neil Young?!?

"I think the world today, at least the US and to some extent Britain now, is experiencing this kind of Big Brother thing," he ruminates, the day after completing his string of solo performances at London's Hammersmith Apollo. Close up, the Toronto-born Young looks lined and weatherbeaten, but his mental focus is sharp.

"The real point was, somebody asked the president what he thought and he said, 'It's America, it's a free country, they can have their opinion, but there's nothing we can do about it if nobody goes to their shows or plays their songs,'" Young growls. "But he's so out of touch that his advisers haven't told him that their record sales spiked upwards when that happened, and while the airplay went down the sales went up and their concerts all sold out."

Say it isn't so, Neil. Tell me you were misquoted. Tell me you know the difference between criticism and censorship. Tell me you know better than to honestly think you're going to be deported for criticizing the President. For God's sake, tell me you have more sense than this.

Why photo radar is stupid, reason 348

A British driver recieved a speeding ticket for travelling 104 mph in a 70 mph zone. What's the problem, you ask? He was an ambulance driver, delivering a liver to a hospital for transplant. The guy even had his flashing lights turned on, but it doesn't matter. He could lose his job if convicted.

Incredibly, the authorities have determined that this was not a medical emergency which would excuse his high rate of speed. If there's ever been a case which exposes the folly of "speed cameras," and the way they don't allow for a police officer's discretion in determining whether a ticket should be issued, this is it.

A hero's death

A Canadian CF-18 pilot was killed when his plane crashed during a training exercise yesterday. His name has not been released.

Canada's outdated fighter jets have been literally falling apart over the past few years, just like the Sea King helicopters Chretien once bragged about refusing to replace. If it turns out this man was killed because his equipment couldn't handle the training exercise on which he was sent, the responsibility must lie with a government which has neglected the armed forces for a decade.

Sharon uses the "O" word

It seems almost impossible to believe. But just a few days after accepting the "road map" setting forth an Arab-Israeli peace settlement (with staggeringly unrealistic deadlines), Ariel Sharon - the new Hitler, the baby killer, the most evil Joooooooo in the history of the universe - has decried his nation's "occupation" of Palestinian territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon spent Monday defending his agreement to a U.S.-backed peace plan, and used surprising language to do so. "We don't like the word, but this is occupation. To keep 3.5 million Palestinians under occupation is bad for Israel and the Palestinians."

This marked the first time Sharon has used the word "occupation" to refer to Israel's presence in West Bank and Gaza Strip.
[...]
"We need to reach a political arrangement (with the Palestinians). I want to say clearly I will do everything to reach a political arrangement because I think it's important for Israel," Sharon said.

This came after Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas agreed to meet this week for the second time. They will discuss the "road map" to Mideast peace, which Sharon's government voted narrowly to accept on Sunday.

The real test of whether this "road map" is going to work will be seen in Palestinian schools and mosques, and on Palestinian television and radio. Hamas and other genocidal militias are simply beyond the point where they can be reasoned with, and must be dealt with by force. It is the endless incitement against Israelis, the endless glorification of "martyrs" in official Palestinian institutions, which probably does the most to prevent any possibility of peace. It has to stop. Now.

I'm skeptical. But I hope and pray it will actually happen. Just as peace with Egypt happened under the leadership of Likudnik Menachem Begin, wouldn't it be amazing if this seemingly endless dispute ended under a Sharon government?

Essential reading

Sunday's Boston Globe featured a fascinating profile of Victor Davis Hanson. It seems almost impossible to believe, but he was actually fingered as a Unabomber suspect at one point. Even more amazingly - and this is going to break the hearts of Republican bloggers - he's still a registered Democrat.

Castro's millions

"Noted activist" Ted Glick, in a FrontPage symposium, tried to explain away Fidel Castro's recent crackdown by saying, "most of us continue to understand that Cuba's actions must be seen in the context of over 44 years of efforts by the U.S. to destroy their attempt to build a society without Enron-style criminals, on the one hand, and millions of homeless beggars, on the other."

Forbes - hardly an unbiased source, but much more trustworthy than this nitwit - estimates Castro's net worth at $110,000,000.00 - about 10% of his nation's Gross Domestic Product. Where did he get it, Ted? ("The people of Cuba are so grateful that they willingly gave up one meal a day to let their leader live in luxury. Viva la revolution!")

Memorial Day

I almost forgot: I hope all my American readers are enjoying Memorial Day. Don't forget to remember the people to whom this day is dedicated.

Chrysler does the impossible

They've built a vehicle even uglier than the Pontiac Aztek. The Dodge Kahuna is just a concept for the time being, but it's being considered for production. For God's sake, guys, do something about that front end. It looks like one of the Sand People.

Eurovision and liquor

This Australian blogger watched the entire Eurovision song contest and lived to tell about it, though not without a lot of alcohol to dull the pain. (See his May 26 entries.) The wacky Austrian guy finished 6th out of 26 contestants!

(via Gareth Parker)

You gotta see this

Mike Peckham, who helped me set up the new site, has produced the funniest 404 page ever.

Zimbabwe and the Churches

The Spectator has details of the Church of England's shameful refusal to criticize the growing catastrophe in Zimbabwe. Nolbert Kunonga, the Anglica Bishop of Harare, is a notorious crony of Robert Mugabe and has grossly abused his position - and the Church has done almost nothing.

Kunonga’s sycophancy towards the Zimbabwean despot affronted several of his fellow clergy. But he knew how to deal with their protests. He recently secured a court order banning more than a dozen churchwardens and members of the congregation from worshipping at the cathedral after they complained noisily about his pro-Mugabe sermons. Last April the United States added Kunonga to the list of corrupt public officials and villainous policemen who are banned from travelling to the United States.

It is one thing to remain quiet about Kunonga in Harare, where it takes real courage to speak out against the Zanu-PF regime. The bigger mystery is the silence from Lambeth Palace. To be fair, pressure has been brought behind the scenes. In the wake of the US ban, George Carey wrote a private letter to Bishop Nolbert in which he declared, ‘I am more than a little concerned of [sic] how less than circumspect you have been about your affiliation with the regime you appear so keen to support.’ But neither George Carey nor his successor Rowan Williams have publicly condemned the Harare prelate.

The Catholic Church in Britain has behaved in a similarly shameful fashion. Pius Ncume, Archbishop of Bulawayo, has suffered increasingly brutal harassment for his criticism of the Mugabe regime. When a human-rights group brought him to the UK for a speaking tour, the Catholic hierarchy reacted with something verging on horror:

When the Zimbabwe Democracy Trust, the vigorous US-based group which fights for freedom and human rights in Zimbabwe, proposed that Pius Ncube should visit London, the news was greeted with dismay. The Catholic bishops did not show delight and gratification at the chance to give moral support to a fellow Christian in his lonely battle against terror. Incredibly, it seems that Ncube was asked to reconsider his plan. At the time of the Bishops’ Conference, during Low Week after Easter, the Catholic establishment looked set to block the Ncube visit.
[...]
In the end, a deal of sorts was hammered out. Ncube would come to Britain, but a publicity ban would be put on the visit. The Zimbabwe Democracy Trust had been planning to make the most of its illustrious visitor, with interviews tentatively planned on Breakfast with Frost, Newsnight, Channel 4, etc. Some had even been formally booked. They were cancelled. In the end, the Catholic Church, rather than celebrating their remarkable guest, and sending the message of support back to Zimbabwe, hustled him through Britain as if he were an escaped convict.

What in heaven's name is happening? It's very simple: Robert Mugabe is an African leader ostensibly taking land for wealthy people and giving it to the poor. (Of course, the land is really going to ZANU-PF cronies, which should surprise no one.) If Mugabe was a Latin American dictator supported by the Americans, you know the Anglican and Catholic churches would be falling over themselves to condemn him - as they should. But an African socialist? Silence.

As with Fidel Castro, the churches are hypnotized by the leader's "socialist" ideals and calls for "social justice," even while he's brutalizing and oppressing his people. It's enough to make you think they've begun worshipping a new god.

Two blockbusters in The Sunday Telegraph

1. British investigators have found Irqi plans for a missile with a 600-mile range - far exceeding the range allowed under the 1991 ceasefire agreement. UN investigators, needless to say, knew nothing about it.

2. The Islamofascists who carried last weekend's suicide bombings in Morrocco were followers of Abu Qatada, a Muslim cleric who preached at London's notorious Finsbury Park mosque. (Sample speech: "The time of victory is near. All over the world, Muslims are sacrificing more and contributing more to the struggle. May Allah accept us all to be slaughtered.")

How to save Mercury (and why it will never happen)

Car and Driver says the Marauder, which was supposed to boost the image of Ford's bealeagured Mercury division, is a flop. Less than 3,000 were sold in the second half of 2002, and not without massive rebates. (As the magazine notes, this "muscle car" can't accelerate as quickly as a V6 Honda Accord.)

Mercury will be Oldsmobiled unless something is done. The division does not sell one product which isn't a rebadged Ford, and Mercurys (Mercuries?) suffer from the same image problem as Buick: no matter what they sell, they're going to be percieved as softly-sprung, mushy-handling cars for retirees. Save for the early Cougar, Mercury really hasn't been relevant since the early 1950s.

Here's my radical suggestion for a Hail-Mary attempt at saving the company. Mercury should specialize in selling European Ford models that we can't buy over here: the Ka microcar and its StreetKa convertible variant, the Fiesta hatchback, the Fusion crossover vehicle, the Accord-fighting Mondeo and Galaxy minivan. None of these are available over here, and all of them look very interesting. After Peugeot, Renault, Fiat and Rover were driven from this side of the Atlantic (by angry buyers, who watched their vehicles rust away to nothing), Volkswagen has had the moderately-priced European car market all to it itself. It's an underserved market for which Ford already makes the product. (It's telling that Ford's hottest car in North America, despite persistent quality concerns, is the European-designed Focus.)

It's so crazy, it just might work. And it will never happen.

Why? Because Mercury already tried it. Almost nobody remembers this, but the European-market Ford Sierra and Scorpio were sold under the ill-concieved "Merkur" name for a few years in the mid-'80s. The cars were generally well-recieved by the American automotive press (and I had a particualar fondness for the Sierra-derived XR4Ti as a junior high-schooler), but Lincoln-Mercury dealers had abolutely no idea how to sell the vehicles, or even pronounce the name. It was a half-assed, half-hearted attempt to sell Euro-Fords in North America, but it was certainly enough to turn Ford away from ever trying it again.

And that's too bad, because the only other way to save Mercury would be to invest heavily in products exclusive to the division (like the 1990s Cougar), and it's hard to see Ford doing such a thing. If the division can't straighten itself out, it will almost certainly pass away like Plymouth and Oldsmobile, and that would be a shame.

"Freedoms" in Saddam's Iraq

A disturbing article in the San Francisco Chronicle, describing how Muslim fundamentalists are taking over government institutions in post-Saddam Iraq, is marred by the reporters' insistence on contrasting the present situation with the "rights" women had under Saddam Hussein. The article is headlined, "Women losing freedoms in chaos of postwar Iraq," and it contains this passage:

Although Hussein's secular Baath Party created one of the world's most despotic regimes, it allowed Iraqi women personal rights and freedoms unparalleled in the Persian Gulf. Women could drive, travel abroad alone, study in universities, serve in the army and work side-by-side with men. Iraqi women, who make up at least 55 percent of the population and are among the most educated in the region, can become anything, from college professors to lawyers. They choose whom to marry and whether to marry at all.

These were privileges,, not rights. The difference is that privileges are granted to the people by a government wielding absolute power, while rights are inherent and cannot be taken away by the rulers - not without relatively limited infringements which the government would have to justify before the courts, anyway. In 1979-2003 Iraq, Saddam Hussein's word was law. Period. He might have allowed women to do more than they would be allowed in Arab states like Saudi Arabia, but if the circumstances required it - if he had to curry favour with Islamist clerics, for example - these "rights" could have been taken away at any time, and the women affected would not have been able to do a damn thing about it.

The article is still worth reading, because the invasion of Iraq will be all for naught if Muslim radicals are allowed to seize any measure of power. The last thing the world needs is another Iran (or Saudi Arabia). But let's not kid ourselves about what "freedoms" existed under Saddam. There weren't any.

Does Christopher Hedges know about this?

If so, I'm sure he'll be outraged by what happened to a notorious, warmongering right-wing ideologue - Madeleine Albright - when she gave the commencement address at Smith College last Sunday. To be fair, Albright was able to finish her speech, but the yahoos made a yeoman effort to shut her down:

As soon as the speaker began, a chorus of shouts and boos came from the back of the assemblage. The heckling continued until almost the seven-minute mark in the speech, when the speaker finally addressed the protesters and promised to meet with them afterwards if they would quiet down.

By then the screams and catcalls had returned. One more protester was surrounded by police, after which it was relatively smooth sailing for the final few paragraphs of the speech.

Air Canada vs. Westjet

A friend sent me this one. (Apologies to my Amurrican readers, but I think you have to be Canadian to find this funny.)

Air Canada and WestJet decided to engage in a boat race. Both teams practiced hard and long to reach their peak performance. On the big day, WestJet won by a mile. Afterward, the Air Canada team was discouraged by the loss.

Morale sagged.

The next year WestJet won by two miles. Humiliated, Air Canada laid off the rower for poor performance and gave the managers a bonus for discovering the problem.

Fact-Checking Heather Mallick

Mallick, in a coumn titled "In praise of savage, messy marriages" (which might just be the quintessential Heather Mallick column title), calls Elsie Wayne "the Mel Lastman of Moncton."

Wayne is from Saint John, about two hours' drive from Moncton. But hey, these Maritime communities are all the same, right?

Why didn't I think of this before?

Jeff Gordon's divorce lawyers are trying to argue that he's entitled to more than 50% of the matrimonial assets because of his inherently dangerous occupation. The Smoking Gun has a copy of Brooke Gordon's Reply, in which she denies that NASCAR driving is dangerous (uh, huh) and notes that, in any case, there has never been an American case where someone is entitled to unequal division because of his hazardous job.

My admittedly brief QuickLaw search doesn't reveal a Canadian case where the argument has been advanced, either. But if I have a matter that just can't be settled amicably, it might be worth a shot as an "in the alternative..." argument - especially here in Newfoundland. Brooke's Reply specifically singles out commerical fishing as one of the most dangerous occupations.

Hate to say I told you so...

Newsday reports on several Iraqi doctors who confirm what we ("we" meaning those who don't rely on John Pilger as an authoritative journalist) knew all along: that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the deaths of children that useful idiots blamed on UN sanctions, and that he turned these deaths into a propaganda bonanza.

Now free to speak, the doctors at two Baghdad hospitals, including Ibn Al-Baladi, tell a very different story. Along with parents of dead children, they said in interviews this week that Hussein turned the children's deaths into propaganda, notably by forcing hospitals to save babies' corpses to have them publicly paraded.

Under the sanctions regime, "We had the ability to get all the drugs we needed," said Ibn Al-Baladi's chief resident, Dr. Hussein Shihab. "Instead of that, Saddam Hussein spent all the money on his military force and put all the fault on the USA. Yes, of course the sanctions hurt - but not too much, because we are a rich country and we have the ability to get everything we can by money. But instead, he spent it on his palaces."
[...]
Doctors said they were forced to refrigerate dead babies in hospital morgues until authorities were ready to gather the little corpses for monthly parades in coffins on the roofs of taxis for the benefit of Iraqi state television and visiting journalists. The parents were ordered to wail with grief - no matter how many weeks had passed since their babies had died - and to shout to the cameras that the sanctions had killed their children, the doctors said. Afterward, the parents would be rewarded with food or money.

"The mukhabarat would go all over Iraq gathering the dead bodies, put them in coffins, make a whole line, put them on top of taxis and make big propaganda out of it," said the former agent, who asked that only his first name, Walid, be published.

(I remember that babies-in-freezers story being reported by a BBC reporter in the Guardian, of all places. It was widely dismissed at the time.)

And here's what Saddam, the great Muslim hero, really thought about the tenets of Islam:

What troubles him most, he said, was not being allowed to release the children's bodies to Muslim parents who wanted to follow the Islamic practice of burying the dead as soon as possible. In the hospital's neighborhood, a religiously observant, Shia Muslim district long called Saddam City, bereaved parents took the policy hard.

"Some of the families tried to take their children by force, so sometimes we needed to call the police to persuade them to keep them here for the parade," Khadoum said. "They went crazy."

The Pilgers, Fisks and Chomskys spent years blaming the Americans for all the little children who were being killed as a result of sanctions, and the lefties ate it up. (Pilger even filmed a documentary called Killing the Children, and heaven knows the degree to which he collaborated with Saddam's regime to get it made.)

And they will never, ever admit they were wrong. Never.

Uday: "save me!"

Sky News reports that Uday Hussein is negotiating his surrender with coalition forces in Iraq. He reportedly "fear[s] for his life at the hands of vengeful Iraqis."

Poetic jusice. Sky also reports that Saddam might be alive, but in "questionable" mental health. (Yeah, that's a news flash.)

The middle east is a playground, where no kid wants to play with the Jew. (And the teacher says, "that's your friggin' problem, yid")

When it comes to the Israeli-Arab conflict, the militant terror groups are not the real problem. I'm dead serious. The real problem stems from the Arabs' absolute refusal to accept the existence of a Jewish state in the Middle East.

A despressing example comes from the World Table Tennis Championships in Paris, where Saudi and Yemeni players forfeited their matches rather than compete with an Israeli:

[Gay] Elensky lives in Nantes, and normally plays in the French national league. This was the 19-year-old's first go-round at the world championships. Yemen's Hani Al-Hammadi showed up at the table for his qualifying match Monday, but walked away when he saw Elensky waiting. The next day, Saudi Nabeel Al-Magahwi refused to play the Israeli.

"All I wanted to do is play," Elensky said. "I'm disappointed, but I don't think it's the fault of the players."

Indeed, the Arab players might have been responding to pressure from their respective governments. Witness what happened to poor Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, Pakistan's top tennis player, who partnered with an Israeli player for the doubles competition at Wimbledon. He made it further than any other Pakistani player in a Grand Slam event - and was nearly banned by his country's tennis federation. (This was Pakistan. God only knows what the Saudis would have done.)

You see things like this all the time. An American diplomat calls for a minute of silence for Israeli, as well as Palestinian, civilian victims at a mock UN in Bahrain, and attracts widespread protests. State-run television in Egypt - a country at "peace" with Israel, but which pointedly renamed the street on which the Israeli embassy sits after Mohammed al-Dura - broadcasts a miniseries based on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The Arab League's most prestigious think-tank publishes Holocaust denial.

These aren't the actions of Hamas or Islamic Jihad. This is what the fabled 'Arab Street' wants. And it's a sign of a culture that does not want peace with a Jewish state, regardless of the circumstances. A culture driven to madness by its obsession with 'Zionism'. A culture that would keep on hating the Jews, even if Israel gave the Palestinians a state with no strings attached.

And if there's ever going to be peace, that has to change.

(via Pejman)

When fishermen attack

A protest against DFO in Port au Choix, on Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula, resulted in more damage to DFO vehicles and equipment Wednesday night.

There have been several increasingly ugly demonstrations since the cod fishery was closed several weeks ago (including the thrashing of the DFO office here in Corner Brook - for which, as far as is known, no criminal charges have been laid). And maybe it's just the crowd I hang out with, but I can tell you that a serious backlash is brewing among Newfoundlanders who don't work in the fishing industry.

Yes, we do exist.

Roger Grimes said the provincial government would look the other way if this sort of thing took place, while federal fisheries minister Robert Thibault took one look at riots in New Brunswick and said DFO might give in to some of their demands after all. And now we're reaping the whirlwind.

If you thought Christopher Hedges was bad...

...wait 'til you see the commencement address Cynthia McKinney gave before graduates of UC-Berkeley's African Studies program.

It's really something. Take 50 random NaziMedia postings, put 'em in a blender, and you'll get something like this. Here are some of the highlights:

Every night on the streets of America, over a quarter of a million veterans sleep as our forgotten homeless. That's the thanks of a grateful nation.

...important provisions of the Voting Rights Act expire in 2007. (Should've read Snopes.com, dumbass.)

And here it is: the money quote, the commencement-address quote to end all commencement-address quotes...

On page 60 of The Project for a New Century report, Rebuilding America's Defenses, the author writes:

Now, I don't know what they meant by that bit of advice. But I do know that such research has been conducted already, according to news reports, in Israel and in apartheid South Africa.

And I bet this woman got a standing ovation. It's a gut feeling I have. And frankly, that's way more disturbing than what happened to Hedges.

Update: Bill Herbert has the quote from page 60 of the dreaded PNAC report, in context. Whether out of malice or mere stupidity, McKinney has it all wrong. But you already knew that.

Bloggered

Maybe I'm just getting snotty and stuck-up now that I'm not on Blogger anymore, but is anyone else having a lot of trouble with the Blogspot sites these last few days? It seems like Jim Treacher and Tim Blair have dropped off the face of the earth. (Or maybe they were offed by Ted Rall and Margo Kingston, respectively.)

Update: Tim heard our anguished cries and made his own move. Reset your bookmarks accordingly.

Another one

CSIS has arrested a Montreal man with alleged ties to Al-Qaida.

Norway? Denmark? Same difference

The Norwegians, who played no part in the Iraq war, can't understand why Bin Laden's deputy singled them out as terrorist targets in a recent audiotape:

The message played on al-Jazeera was being studied by US intelligence analysts last night to confirm that it was Dr al-Zawahiri speaking. The voice on the four-minute, heavily edited tape had an Egyptian accent, the country of Dr al-Zawahiri’s birth. He said: “Oh Muslims, muster your resolve and hit the embassies of America, England, Australia and Norway, their interests, their companies and their employees. Set the ground ablaze under their feet. Kick these criminals out of your homelands.
[...]
Norway expressed surprise at being marked out as a possible target for terrorist attack after it was accused of being part of the “occupying enemy” by Osama bin Laden’s deputy (Lars Inge Staveland writes).

“This is a misunderstanding,” commented an anchorman on Danish television last night, suggesting that al-Qaeda had mixed up the two Nordic countries. Unlike Norway, Denmark did contribute troops and weapons to the war against Iraq.

Here's a question: even if al-Zawahiri did name the wrong country, do you think his followers will give a damn if someone goes out and slaughters lots of Norwegians? France has opposed pretty much everything the Americans have done since the Afghan campaign ended, but that didn't stop Islamofascists from attacking French workers in Pakistan or a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen. Germany opposed the Iraq war, but al-Qaida cells have been captured in Germany. Ultimately, no matter what our countries do, we're all infidels. And we should be particularly concerned here in Canada. If these guys can't tell Norway from Denmark, it's hardly a stretch to imagine them thinking Toronto or Halifax are major American cities.

(By the way, why is bin Laden's deputy making the audiotapes now? Was their Osama sound-alike sick that day?)

Heroines

The wives of the 75 dissidents jailed by Castro last month are speaking out.

Let's see Svend Robinson nominate them for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The non-looting of Iraq's cultural heritage

Officials of the National Museum of Iraq are savaging the international media for reporting that 170,000 of its items were looted after the fall of Baghdad.

Officials at the National Museum of Iraq have blamed shoddy reporting amid the "fog of war" for creating the impression that the majority of the institution's 170,000 items were looted in the aftermath of the fall of Baghdad.

A carefully prepared storage plan, used in the Iran-Iraq war and the first Gulf war, ensured that tens of thousands of pieces were saved, they said. They now believe that the number of items taken was in the low thousands, and possibly hundreds.
[...]
Donny George, research director, said: "There was a mistake. Someone asked us what is the number of pieces in the whole collection. We said over 170,000, and they took that as the number lost.

"Reporters came in and saw empty shelves and reached the conclusion that all was gone. But before the war we evacuated all of the small pieces and emptied the show cases except for fragile or heavy material that was difficult to move." Some pieces were hidden in the vaults of the central bank and others at secret locations, he added.

33 priceless artifacts appear to have been stolen, and the significance of that should not be downplayed. It would still be one of the greatest art heists of all time. But it's a far cry from 170,000.

The worst thing is that the "170,000 items looted" meme has now entered the popular imagination, and we're going to hear lefties and paleoconservatives complaining about it for years.

The conspirozoids hit a new low

This graphic was posted on rense.com, a favorite source for conpirokooks right and left. Keep this one in mind next time you see the site referenced on IndyMedia, the Michelle Landsberg-approved "Center for Cooperative Research," or other "progressive" websites.

Via Marduk, who is rapidly becoming to the conspiracy freaks what LGF is to the Arab media.

Bastards

A group of Ottawa Senators fans were harassed by assholes in New Jersey the other day. Christopher Johnson is furious, and so am I. When Canadians thrash the Americans for being "bullies," this is the sort of thing we're talking about. It's completely inexcusable - as was the harassment directed at an American children's hockey team by Montreal residents a few months ago, which Johnson also notes.

Just remember where all the planes were diverted on 9/11, guys. Remember.

Bastards

A group of Ottawa Senators fans were harassed by American hockey fans in New Jersey the other day. Christopher Johnson is furious, and so am I. When Canadians thrash the Americans for being "bullies," this is the sort of thing we're talking about.

From the country that gave you Hitler...

Next time a European complains about how unsophisticated we North Americans are, remind them of Austria's 'Eurovision Song Contest' entry. (Stop whatever you're doing and watch the video!)

(via Silent Running)

You like me, you really really like me

This is a great honour.

Breaking news

No details yet, but all the cable-news websites are reporting on an explosion at the Yale Law School building.

Update: this AP report says the blast originated in the mail room.

Update II: CNN says the building was empty at the time. Keep your fingers crossed.

Update III: mercifully, it looks like there were no injuries. But authorities have confirmed it was a bomb.

Al-Qaida? I guess you can't completely rule out the possibility, but I really doubt it. God knows how many nuts have a grudge against Ivy League law schools.

Update IV: the Prof has lots of updates, suggesting the explosion was in an empty classroom.

"Jeering=Censorship" department

New York Times reporter Christopher Hedges tried to deliver a Chomskyite commencement address before graduating students at a college in Rockford, Ill., but he was booed off stage 18 minutes into his 20-minute speech. This, of course, is more proof that America is turning into a dictatorship. Censorship! McCarthyism! Boo!

Of course, the left has never hesitated to screech and bawl at university commencement speakers who didn't meet their approval - witness what happened to former President Bush when he got his honorary degree at the University of Toronto in 1997. For that matter, look what Daniel Pipes - who hasn't even been addressing graduating students, but simply trying to deliver his opinions on the Middle East conflict - has to go through just about every week. If there's anyone on earth more intolerant of dissenting opinions than the NaziMedia crowd, I haven't heard of them.

That said, I had to sit through a lot of far-left nonsense when Newfoundland-born labour leader Nancy Riche made the commencement speech at my graduation from MUN in 1995. (At one point, she actually said Canada's social programs made us "better people" than Americans. Yes, "better.") If I could make it through that crap without booing, surely the people in Rockford could have at least let Hedges finish, and maybe jeered or slow-clapped him at the end. Lefties might not be able to tolerate speakers with whom they disagree, but conservatives should.

We are better people, after all.

The Readers Have Spoken

It wasn't unanimous, and I'm not even sure it was a majority, but a lot of regular readers say the white-on-black template was hard to read. So be it. If this new design is good enough for Stefan Sharkansky, 'tis good enough for me.

Decent Lefties

A number of American left-wingers, including Todd Gitlin, Dissent's Michael Walzer and bloggers' whipping boy Eric Alterman, have signed a petition protesting Castro's latest crackdown against independent journalists and dissidents.

The only conclusion that we can draw from this brute repression is that the Cuban government does not trust the Cuban people to distinguish truth from falsehood, fact from disinformation. A government of the left must have the support of the people: It must guarantee human rights and champion the widest possible democracy, including the right to dissent, as well as promote social justice. By its actions, the Cuban state declares that it is not a government of the left, despite its claims of social progress in education and health care, but just one more dictatorship, concerned with maintaining its monopoly of power above all else.

Yeah, the petition includes a de rigeur condemnation of the US trade embargo against Cuba, and accuses Castro of (unintentional) "collaboration with the most reactionary elements of the US Administration in their efforts to maintain sanctions". Whatever. (Note: I'm against the embargo as well, mainly because it's given ol' Whiskers and his disciples a convenient scapegoat for Cuba's self-inflicted problems, but I do not believe it's morally equivalent to Castro's repression.)

But it's a start. In the IndyMedia age, it's good to see some left-wingers are still principled enough to stand up against oppression when they see it. (Still, one can only wonder whether Castro would still be in power had these people started speaking up 30 or 40 years ago. It's not like Fidel became a brutal dictator just last week.)

Black on white or white on black?

I think this new design looks pretty cool, but a few people have complained that it's hard to read. Should I keep the reverse-text design or move back to a conventional black-text-on-white background look? Let me know via the comments section.

Lileks is on fire today

Go read the latest Bleat, right now. Money quote, in response to an Irish BBC viewer who posted some snarky comments about the "staged" rescue of Jessica Lynch: "every time I reach for a Guinness I remember that the Irish were neutral in WW2."

A few Palestinians get it

About 600 Palestinians demonstrated against "extremists" (AP's term) who launched rockets at Israel from their homes and orchards, resulting in an IDF crackdown.

Hundreds of residents of Beit Hanoun burned tires and blocked the main road Tuesday in a rare burst of anger at extremists who have prompted Israeli incursions by firing rockets from the town at Israeli targets.

“They (the militants) claim they are heroes,” Mohammed Zaaneen, 30, a farmer, said as he carried rocks into the street. “They brought us only destruction and made us homeless. They used our farms, our houses and our children ... to hide.”

We've seen what happens when one or two Palestinians dare to stand up against the genocidal fanatics who've infested their society. (They tend to find themselves murdered, and their bodies hung from a post in the town square, while PA security forces look on.) But a crowd of 600? Even Hamas or Islamic Jihad wouldn't try to kill them all. (Though if they did, you can be sure the Arab media would ignore it. Killing is only wrong when the evil Jooooooos do it.)

Congo: the coming genocide

The Independent says aid workers in northeastern Congo have discovered the bodies of 231 people - many of them decapitated or with their hearts, livers and lungs taken.

The French - yes, those French - have sent military officers to determine whether they'll send troops, and other EU member states (including Britain) are considering a request for soldiers from the UN. But where are the Americans? Have the Americans even been asked? Now that they've given humanitarian rationales for the invasion of Iraq (justified, in my opinion), they're going to look more than a little hypocritical if they don't do anything about yet another looming African genocide.

Juan Gato rules

Read this, and tell me I'm wrong.

The Washington Times follows my lead

They've updated their web site, too.

In case you haven't seen it...

...my referral page is pretty damn funny, if I say so myself.

Strangely, this is no sillier than what really gets posted to IndyMedia

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=6732#c0072

My 2 cents on Annika Sorenstam

$0.01: If she's good enough to make the cut and play with the men, she deserves to play with the men. Simple as that.

$0.02: I'm the last person on earth entitled to make predictions about golf, but I think she'll make the cut. Don't expect a "Miracle on Grass" where she comes anywhere close to winning the tournament, though.

The Landsberg-bashing continues. Good.

Bruce Rolston takes apart the Star columnist's latest conspiro-drivel. (His permalinks are bloggered - Gawd, I'm so happy to be away from Blogger! - so you'll have to scroll down to the entry headlined "She Just Keeps Digging". It's worth it.)

Update: Bruce fixed his links. Here it is.

Addictive site of the day

If you're at work, or if you're in the middle of anything else important, do not visit this website dedicated to 1980s TV commercials. Highlights include Alan Greenspan - yes, that Alan Greenspan - shilling for the Apple IIc in 1985. (The future Fed Chief says we'll be able to do all of our banking on our home computers. Sheeyah, right, Greenspan. Next thing you know, you'll say we can clone sheep.)

If you're reading this...

...you've made it to the new site. Hope you enjoy it!

Posting will begin in earnest before too long. In the meantime, I'm still trying to figure out how to add links (and a PayPal button) to the side of the page.

Special thanks to Michael Peckham, a longtime reader, for all his help in making this possible.

This (sniff, sob) is the

This (sniff, sob) is the nicest thing anyone's ever said about me:

What Is Your Animal Personality? brought to you by Quizilla

(via Sasha & Andrew)

The new Daimnation! is coming

The new Daimnation! is coming The URL is ready. The host has been bought. Movable Type has been downloaded. I'm just in the final stages of figuring it out, and before long I'll have broken the chains of Blogspot tyranny forever.

We should have seen this

We should have seen this coming: a few slack-jawed idiots have trouble figuring out The Matrix is a work of fiction, they kill people while trying to "escape the Matrix," and now the film's producers are being blamed:

The producer of The Matrix films has dismissed stories linking the movies with violent behaviour in the US.

However, Joel Silver, in London to promote The Matrix Reloaded, said the films were "fantasy".
[...]
In a report in the Washington Post, the film was named by two alleged killers, a woman from Ohio and a man from San Francisco.

They had each reportedly killed their landlord but had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Before long, they'll be putting warnings at the beginning of each film, telling the audience that the work they're about to see is a work of fiction and that they shouldn't kill anybody after seeing it. It's coming, folks.

Landsberg's still at it The

Landsberg's still at it The Toronto Star's ultra-leftist columnist - er, make that the Toronto Star's most left-wing columnist - is defending her previous column praising conspirokook Barrie Zwicker. She says the National Post's editors ("a staunch voice for Bush America [which] brooks no dissenting voices" - a pretty astounding statement for an employee of the Star, a paper which brags about its refusal to employ any writers to the right to Sheila Copps) only savaged her to divert attention away from their own troubles. Landsberg has only been a conspiracy kook for a week, and she's already mastered Riveroian logic; just as the Jews had Mossad agent Chandra Levy whacked to divert attention away from the 80 billion Arabs they kill each week, the Post is only thrashing Landsberg so people won't notice how much money it's losing.

Landsberg also says the people who wrote her angry letters "didn't come up with a single argument or documented fact." Scroll down to my May 14 blog entries and you'll see the e-mail I sent to the Star in which I illustrate the similarities between Zwicker and Holocaust deniers, and note the work Bill Herbert has done debunking the kwazy konspiracy kooks' work. Either Landsberg never saw my letter, or she's lying. You'll just have to draw your own conclusion about that one. You'll also have to draw your own conclusions about this timeline Landsberg mentions in her article, which purports to show how the armed forces were in on the whole thing because they didn't shoot down any of the planes. (The site, needless to say, links to "What Really Happened", the even more blatantly anti-Semitic Rense.com, and other kook sites of even less renown.)

A question I've never seen put to the conspirozoids: even if fighter jets had been scrambled in time to intercept the hijacked airliners, what, exactly, were they supposed to do? We're not talking about a Piper Cub flying over Death Valley here. These were four large planes, with hundreds of innocent people on board, travelling over the most densely populated area of the United States. Had the planes been shot down, there almost certainly would have been fatalities on the ground. Can you imagine the outcry from the Riveros and Rupperts if the jets were destroyed before any suicide attacks were carried out? (Do a Google search on "TWA Flight 800" and you'll get the idea.)

testing...

One, two, three...sibilants, sibilants. One, two, three...sibilants, sibilants.

Other potential violations of the

Other potential violations of the Geneva Conventions:

- Marc Cohn's "Walking in Memphis" (This one-hit wonder makes Michael Bolton sound like Solomon Burke)
- Roseanne sinigng the U.S. National Anthem
- "Shoot the Dog," George Michael's coldly recieved "protest" song
- Mariah Carey's "Dream Lover"
- Christina Aguilera's "Dirrrty"
- Jann Arden's remake of "Stand by Me" (one justifiable exception to the right of free expression: you shouldn't ever be allowed to cover "Stand by Me")
- Corey Hart's version of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" ("dey wouldn't let poo Rudolph join in any rainda games")

The BBC says the rescue

The BBC says the rescue of Jessica Lynch was staged by the Americans. Bill Herbert and several other bloggers, who actually know something about military weaponry and special-forces tactics, say the BBC is full of crap. Who you gonna believe?

I didn't get a chance to write anything about this when the story broke, but I remember thinking, "you know, the lefties are going to be more outraged by this than by the discovery of mass graves all over Iraq." Just as they consider the 1990 babies-thrown-from-incubators hoax a greater moral outrage than Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait. (One "occupation," curiously, which they never got too upset about.)

Update: Wilbur Smith - whose blog I hadn't heard of before, but which I'll be reading a lot from now on - deserves most of the credit for debunking the BBC's story.

Fisk the fraud? Britain's Private

Fisk the fraud? Britain's Private Eye notes that on April 2, Fiskie filed dispatches from two different Iraqi towns - and it was almost impossible for him to have been in both places on the same day.

The satirical magazine further notes that the Americans had already entered one of the cities at the time Fisk was supposedly there, reporting that they were nowhere in sight.

It's a holiday up here,

It's a holiday up here, and the Toronto Star takes time off from shilling for the Kwazy Konspiracy Kooks to explain the origins of Victoria Day.

It's beautiful outside - and I'm in the office, preparing for a couple of trials. Life is one depressing defeat after another, until you just wish Flanders was dead.

A blockbuster in today's Washington

A blockbuster in today's Washington Post: Al-Qaida has obtained weapons from members of the Saudi National Guard. But don't worry: our Saudi allies are "investigating" the matter. (They've been aware of this illicit arms trade for quite some time, but say nothing has been done because of - I love this - "bureaucratic inertia".)

This is a good time to draw your attention to this excerpt from Mark Steyn's The Face of the Tiger, posted on his website:

There are only two convincing positions on the House of Saud and what happened [on 9/11]: a) They’re indirectly responsible for it; b) They’re directly responsible for it. There’s a lot of evidence for the former — the Saudi funding of the madrassahs, etc. — and a certain amount of not yet totally compelling evidence for the latter — a Saudi ‘humanitarian aid’ office in the Balkans set up by a member of the royal family which appears to be a front for terrorism. Reasonable people can disagree on whether it’s (a) or (b) but for Americans to argue that the Saudis are our allies in the war on terrorism is like Ron Goldman’s dad joining O.J. in his search for the real killers.
[...]
Instead of presenting Prince Abdullah with Israeli–Palestinian peace proposals, Americans ought to be handing him US–Saudi peace proposals: clean up your own education system and stop destabilising Asian Muslim culture, for starters. Washington (and London, too) needs to figure out what it wants from Saudi Arabia and whether it’s likely to get it from King Fahd and his bloated clan. We already know one thing we’re not going to get: the Taleban had two major allies before 11 September, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, and it’s clear the royal house has no inclination to do a Musharraf. If the West has a medium-term aim in the Middle East, it ought to be the evolution of Arabic Islam into something closer to the more moderate Muslim temperament of Turkey or Bangladesh. I know, I know, all these things are relative, but even that modest goal is unattainable under the House of Saud.

Is this a sick joke?

Is this a sick joke? Is Bill Herbert pulling our leg? Did C-SPAN actually interview the Grand Dragon of the Kwazy Konspiracy Kooks, Michael Rivero?

A new low, even by

A new low, even by Palestinian genocide-bomber standards: the animal who killed seven Israelis on a Jerusalem bus yesterday was disguised as an Orthodox Jew.

I'm not sure what more to say. What more needs to be said?

Update: the bomber who killed a Jewish settler in Hebron the other day also disguised himself as an Orthodox Jew.

I can hear the IndyMidiots now: "they have no choice but to dress up as Jews, because the zionazis will arrest any Arab who tries to get on a bus."

By the way, these are the same people who threw a major hissy fit because the war in Afghanistan started during Ramadan. (Syria and Egypt launching a war of annihilation against Israel on Yom Kippur in 1973, of course, was perfectly okay.)

Victoria Day weekend, when summer

Victoria Day weekend, when summer officially begins, starts tomorrow. I'm taking Friday off and joining my folks in Terra Nova for a couple of days, so posting won't resume until Sunday.

Before I go, let me leave you with the peaceful, inspiring words of Yasser Arafat:

"In this day of mourning, the Israeli state was founded as a result of a colonial conspiracy and was established on Palestinian lands whose residents were expelled and massacred," said Arafat.

"For the past 55 years, martyrs, have fallen for the sake of the homeland, freedom and the return of the refugees," he said in the speech from his offices in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "Every Palestinian refugee knows that his identity will be restored to him only upon the return of his homeland, and he will not be submissive to a patron."
[...]
Arafat condemned what he described as "the subjugation of the land and the holy places by the Israeli occupation." He said he welcomed peace as the "strategic choice of the Palestinian nation" but accused the Israeli "rule of strength" of delaying peace initiatives in the region.

"Heh."

"Heh."

Steyn not fired? Mark Wickens

Steyn not fired? Mark Wickens and Kathy Shaidle both recieved letters from the Post saying Steyn's recent absence can be explained by his vacation, and that he has definitely not been fired. I certainly hope that's true, but Steyn's recent comments in the "letters" section of his website make it clear that he's royally ticked off with the direction in which the Aspers are taking the paper - and he says nothing at all about any vacation.

Update for Colby Cosh readers: yes, this post was written before Mark Steyn's vacation was mentioned on his website.

The U.S. ambassador to Saudi

The U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia says the Saudis ignored American requests for additional security just before the Riyadh bombings:

Saudi Arabia ignored repeated U.S. requests to tighten security around residential compounds housing American citizens before this week's terror attacks, the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia said Wednesday.

U.S. Embassy spokesman John Burgess added that Saudi officials had provided extra police patrols around the compounds after the United States made the request for more security. But the patrols stopped after two days.

The death toll for the attacks stands at 34. And in a staggering example of how the Americans will bend over, time and time again, for their Saudi "allies," the FBI is scaling down the number of agents it had planned to send to Riyadh from 12 to 6, because of concerns over Saudi "sensitivity."

Update: the Germans have expelled a Saudi diplomat for alleged ties to Al-Qaida. And the Saudi Defence Minister admits he funnelled millions of dollars to an Islamic "charity" which, according to a CIA report, funded Al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan.

Memo to the Democrats: for God's sake, make the Bush administration's ties to Saudi Arabia a major election issue. Until there's a major reckoning with that festering sore of a "kingdom," there will never really be justice for the 3,000 who died on September 11.

If this is true, I'm

If this is true, I'm never buying the National Post again. Ever. Sure, I'll read Blatchford, Fulford, Feschuk and Welch on their website. But the Aspers will never get another cent from me, that's for sure.

I can't wait for Maude Barlow and Antonia Zerbisias to protest this blatant example of an owner interfering in his newspaper's editorial decisions. (Yeah, right. Fire a left-wing writer, and they'll scream bloody murder. Fire a right-wing writer, and they'll probably give you a medal.)

I never thought I'd say

I never thought I'd say this, but...God bless you, Richard Simmons:

"People have been frying foods since Jesus was on this planet, and there is always going to be greasy, fried, salty, sugary food. It is up to the individual to walk in and say, I don't want those fries today. I have 40 pounds to lose. It is not the fault of the fast food people, and anyone who's trying to sue the fast food places needs a therapist, not an attorney. You have to make your own decisions. That's what the freedom in America is all about."

Is anyone else getting as

Is anyone else getting as sick of Hannibal Lecter as I am? (Let me start a serious argument by saying Silence of the Lambs was a good film, but seriously overrated.)

More debunking of the Michelle

More debunking of the Michelle Landsberg column on Barrie Zwicker and 9/11, from Bruce Rolston. Notable fact: a Canadian was in operational command of NORAD that day - which means Zwicker and his fellow conspirazoids, who insist fighter jets weren't scrambled until two hours (or 50 minutes, or 3 weeks, or whatever) after the jets were hijacked, are slandering one of our own officers.

Update: Zwicker defends himself in this letter to the Star, in which he compares the Bush administration to the Nazis. He even uses the word "cabal," just like Tam Dalyell. Here's a letter I sent in response. (Sadly, the Star limits its letters to 300 words, so even if it's printed it will almost certainly be cut.)

Sir -

It's deeply ironic that Barrie Zwicker, upon being compared to a Holocaust denier, defends himself by saying he's "just asking questions". After all, this is the same argument David Irving makes whenever he's confronted about his theories on the the Nazi extermination of six million Jews.

No one, of course, would say Zwicker doesn't have a right to "raise questions" about 9/11. But like the typical Holocuast denier, Zwicker has exhibited shocking intellectual dishonesty while promoting his theories about what happened on that horrible day. Several internet pundits - most notably the gifted Bill Herbert, whose work can be read at http://mckinneysucks.blogspot.com - have pointed out the holes, fallacies and blatant lies in the work of Zwicker and other 9/11 conspiracy theorists. For example, Michelle Landsberg unquestioningly repeats Zwicker's staggering allegation that fighter jets were not scrambled until two hours after the 9/11 airliners were hijacked. NORAD's official records show that fighter planes had taken to the air in a matter of minutes - as anyone who watched the news on the morning of September 11 will recall.

I can see Zwicker's response already: "why should we believe that? These records could easily have been faked." It's the conspiro-freak's standard response when confronted with contrary evidence. Barrie Zwicker is a charlatan and a fraud, blinded by pathological hatred for the United States, and the Toronto Star should be ashamed of itself for giving credence to his ridiculous, paranoid fantasies.

A final point: in his May 14 letter, Zwicker compares the Reichstag fire to the 9/11 attacks, and the Bush administration to the Nazis. Of course, in the early years, the real Nazis were not wealthy members of the establishment, but a militant, disaffected rabble, blinded by pure hatred for the Jews, who called for the violent smashing of the existing order.

Kind of like the radical "activists", on the far left and far right, who eat up Zwicker's theories like candy.

A Kuwaiti-born Canadian citizen might

A Kuwaiti-born Canadian citizen might have been involved with the Riyadh bombings:

A group of al-Qaeda terrorists, which includes a Canadian believed to be on the run in Saudi Arabia, is suspected of planning or taking part in a series of bombings that killed at least 21 foreigners in Riyadh.

Yesterday, a top Saudi official confirmed that some of those 19 fugitives were thought to have taken part in Monday's bombings, in which at least nine attackers were also killed.
[...]
Mr. Jabarah, who was born in Kuwait, immigrated to Canada in 1994 and later became a citizen, is the only Westerner among the 19 suspects that include 17 Saudis and a Yemeni.

"We are aware of the media report and we're checking with the Saudi authorities," said Reynald Doiron, a spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Department, responding to Prince al-Faisal's published remarks. Mr. Doiron said that Saudi officials had told their Canadian counterparts earlier that there was no evidence linking the 19 suspects to Monday's attacks.

Jabarah's younger brother, Mohamed Mansour Jabarah, is being held by the Americans for his alleged connections to Al-Qaida.

Newfoundland and Labrador v. Canada

Newfoundland and Labrador v. Canada (Minister of Fisheries) Grimey is musing about taking legal action against the federal government for its negliegent management of the Newfoundland fishery over the past 50 years. That Ottawa has been shockingly negligent and incompetent gets no argument from me, but it's hard to see how this one could possibly succeed. Can you imagine the flood of legislation which would result? (Newfoundland itself would probably be sued by Labradorians for its mismanagement of resources in that part of the province, for one thing.)

Of course, this is all about electioneering more than expanding Ottawa's duty of care toward Newfoundland. Grimey discussed this lawsuit at a fishermens' rally in Badger's Quay - my mother's hometown! - to which the local Tory MHA, Harry Harding, was not even invited.

Another mass grave has been

Another mass grave has been found in Iraq, this one possibly containing 3,000 people killed during the Shia uprising in 1991.

I wonder if Al-Jazeera is going to broadcast footage of the bodies? I'm not holding my breath, unless they can somehow blame this on the Americans.

The "Iraqis" are a bit

The "Iraqis" are a bit late jumping on this Nigerian scam - where they send you an e-mail asking you to send them money in exchange for the right to help them smuggle millions of dollars out of the country, to which you're entitled to a share, honest - but this morning I have seven messages in my inbox from "EL Mustapha," who claims to be "personal aide to the Iraqi minister of education and research. Dr Abd Al-khaliq Gafar. That died in the war."

The curious part: guess what country "Mustapha" is holed up in right now? (Hint: his listed e-mail address is "el.mus@voila.fr.)

Of all the bloggers I

Of all the bloggers I joined in that Right Wing News seminar the other day, Allison Kaplan Sommer - the only participant who actually lives in Israel - was the only one I had not heard of. Here's her blog, and it's excellent.

Frothing commie-turned-conspirozoid Michele Landsberg gets

Frothing commie-turned-conspirozoid Michele Landsberg gets savaged in today's National Post. (via Kathy Shaidle)

It doesn't appear to be online, but a reader advises that Michael Bliss, one of Canada's leading historians, compared Landsberg and Barrie Zwicker to Holocaust deniers in a letter to the Star.

Be afraid, New York. Be

Be afraid, New York. Be very afraid. Thanks to a massive Air Canada seat sale, my brother and I are coming down in late August. (Actually, we're flying to Boston and then taking a train to NYC, so we get to hang out in both cities for a while.)

I started this blog largely because of 9/11, and almost two years later I'm about to fly into the airport where most of the hijackers departed, and then make a long-overdue visit to the WTC site. Fitting, in a way. And I hope to meet up with lots of bloggers and readers while I'm there.

More Riyadh developments from Sky

More Riyadh developments from Sky News:

- 20 people have been confirmed dead, including 10 Americans, an Australian and the son of Riyadh's deputy governor. At least two children were killed. The final death toll could be as high as 50.

- at least 160 people, including 5 Britons, were injured.

- one of the four attacks targeted a British school.

If you ever meet Juan

If you ever meet Juan Pablo Montoya, and he offers you a ride home, think twice about taking it.

Another reason to hate the

Another reason to hate the government of Syria: now it's sending out spam to advertise a "Touristic Meeting for Businessmen & Investors." Anyone else get this one?

"McCarthy's witch hunt made the

"McCarthy's witch hunt made the world safe for witches," reads the title of Robert Fulford's latest column. Case in point: Superman: Red Son, a new comic book series in which Superman grew up on a collective farm in the Ukraine and fought for Stalin's USSR.

Yeah, I know, this is meant to be an ironic commentary on the character, or something. (The Post's Jeet Heer notes, "the storyline is actually a sly comment on contemporary world politics, where the United States dominates the globe like an unchecked giant. Just as President George W. Bush is willing to bomb any country that could challenge American hegemony, the Soviet Superman uses his strength to gain global dominance." Har, har.) So, when can we expect DC comics to come out with Aryan Superman, in which the character came of age in 1930s Germany, fends off the D-Day invasion and single-handedly wipes out the Jews?

(For the record, Stalin came frighteningly close to carrying out genocide against the Jews in his later years, not that you'll ever hear this mentioned anywhere outside a Jew "neoconservative" rag like the Weekly Standard. Pointing out such a thing is "McCarthyism," I guess.)

10 Americans are among the

10 Americans are among the dead in Riyadh. No word on any Canadian casualties yet.

Interesting, that this comes just a few weeks after the Americans announced they were closing their bases in Saudi Arabia. The presence of U.S. troops in the country has been one of the Islamofascists' biggest grievances for years...and this is how they respond. (Stand by for the inevitable conspirozoid bleating about how this is an Amerikkkan set-up, to give them an excuse to keep troops in the country.)

The federal Tories won an

The federal Tories won an Ontario by-election yesterday, comfortably ahead of the second-place Liberal candidiate. The Alliance came third. This gives the Tories 15 seats in the House of Commons, bumping the NDP back to fifth place. (I guess Svend Robinson nominating Rachel Corrie for the Nobel Peace Prize didn't give his party the boost he expected.)

Figures. Every time I'm about to give up on the federal PC party for good, they go ahead and do something like this.

Speaking of Jayson Blair, I

Speaking of Jayson Blair, I predict he'll end up at the Daily Mirror with Peter Arnett. I can see the front page now: "FIRED BY THE 'LAND OF THE FREE' FOR TELLING THE TRUTH!!! Okay, actually he was fired for making shit up, but...uh...BUSH IS WORSE THAN HITLER! FREE MUMIA!"

(By the way, has anyone seen Peter Arnett since his brilliant prediction that the Americans were getting bogged down in Iraq? Maybe he's working on a big story about how that mobile bioweapons lab was actually making Baby Milk and delivering it to the happy children of Ba'athist Iraq, before the Yanks ruined everything.)

Irony Alert!!! You're not going

Irony Alert!!! You're not going to believe what website, in reporting on the Jayson Blair/New York Times scandal, actually savages the Times for Walter Duranty's cover-up of Stalin's crimes. (Oh, sorry, I forgot...Stalin wasn't a "real" socialist.)

For the record, it looks like these guys actually defend Jayson Blair. (That's what I gather from my brief glimpse of this semi-coherent article, and you'd have to buy me a lot of books from my Amazon Wish List to make me read the whole thing in detail.) Which is understandable. Who would have more sympathy for blatantly falsifying the news than people who think Granma is a reputable news outlet?

Nearly an hour after the

Nearly an hour after the first reports from Riyadh, there's still nothing on CNN. As for Canada's taxpayer-supported, multi-million-dollar "news" channel, why doesn't it just change its name to CBC FashionFileWorld and be done with it?

Unbelievable. Americans and Canadians could be dead at the hands of Al-Qaida - and the story is being completely ignored. What is wrong with these people?

Major terror attacks in Riyadh,

Major terror attacks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: initial reports say there were three explosions in three different locations, all appearently directed at Westerners living and working in the country. No word on casualties yet.

A detail in this BBC report that I hadn't previously heard: there are 19 Saudi, Yemeni and Iraqi militants on the run in Saudi Arabia, at least one of whom has a Canadian passport.

Update: AP notes that the attacks occurred on the eve of Colin Powell's visit to Saudi Arabia. There are almost certainly deaths and injuries. (Note that the story refers to Saudi Arabia as the "birthplace of Islam," thereby giving the Wahabbis more credibility than they deserve.)

Drudge says a fourth explosion has been reported.

Amazingly, there's nothing about this on CNN yet. (Nothing on CBC Uselessworld either, but that's to be expected.)

Update II: Jesus Fucking Christ, it's worse than I thought: CNN has been reporting on the freaking Laci Peterson case for the past 10 minutes, if not longer.

A Los Angeles-based Muslim group,

A Los Angeles-based Muslim group, Project Islamic HOPE, is protesting X-Men 2 because the villain is seen wearing a ring with "Allah" engraved upon it. I haven't yet seen the film, and I have no idea what the offending scene is like. But the Agence France-Presse report featured in the Arab News notes, for no discernable reason, that the movie was made by "Jewish director Bryan Singer."

Whether AFP, the Arab News or Islamic HOPE is emphasizing Singer's religion, I can't say. It wouldn't surprise me to see the "civil-rights" group bringing it up, or the Jew-hatin' Arab News to throw in that seemingly extraneous detail. (Jews control Hollywood, you know.) But if AFP, a reasonably well-respected wire service, feels that this is somehow relevant to the story, that's infinitely more disturbing than a scene in a fictional film.

Expatriate Newfoundlander Michael Demmons is

Expatriate Newfoundlander Michael Demmons is taking donations for the Royal Canadian Legion in Fredericton. (As reported a few days ago, rising insurance rates might force them to cancel their Remembrance Day parade.)

Worst. Blog. Ever. (And no,

Worst. Blog. Ever. (And no, I have not forgotten "Warblogger Watch".) There's too much inanity to list here, but this totalitarian, CounterPunch-reading dimwit rants about Dubya's stupidity despite his own inability to use the "shift" key or spell "Blair" properly. And, of course, there's the inevitable complaint about "fucking Jews". (Well, it's actually "fucking jews," since this guy doesn't use capital letters. And the whole thing is obviously a mistake, because anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism, it really isn't.)

This one truly must be seen to be believed. Enjoy.

Update: on second thought, his spelling of "Blair" - "Bliar" - could be deliberate. But with people like this, you never know.

The Daily Telegraph says the

The Daily Telegraph says the Congo is on the brink of genocide, and the few UN peacekeepers presently stationed in the country are completely powerless to stop it.

Left-wingers would say the Americans are hypocrites because they won't intervene, after making lots of lofty humanitarian claims for the war in Iraq. Right-wingers would say this shows the complete, utter uselessness of the United Nations, which hasn't even given its hapless peacekeepers the right to open fire when civilians come under attack. They would both be right (the latter more than the former, since it would be almost impossible to argue that the Congo poses any kind of security threat to the United States). For God's sake, somebody has to do something.

I feel like I'm living

I feel like I'm living in the Twilight Zone. The Americans find a trailer in northern Iraq, painted in army colors, featuring all the equipment needed to make chemical and/or biological weapons, and completely scrubbed down - and the Daily Fisk says no "smoking gun" has been found.

Not to trivialize the Holocaust, but after World War II, if we found crematoria and gas chambers all over Germany, but couldn't actually find the bodies of anyone who'd been killed in them, would that mean we hadn't found the "smoking gun" that a mass extermination of human beings had taken place? Madness.

I joined Charles Johnson, John

I joined Charles Johnson, John Little and others in a bloggers' symposium on the Israel-Palestine conflict yesterday, moderated by Right Wing News's John Hawkins. Check it out.

Mark Steyn, in an interview

Mark Steyn, in an interview with Enter Stage Right, says "by 2010, Arafat, the Assads, the Ayatollahs and the loopier factions of the House of Saud will all be gone."

Let's hope he's right.

No. Fucking. Way. I had

No. Fucking. Way. I had a horrible nightmare earlier this evening. I was watching the season finale of Survivor: Amazon, and Jenna won the million dollars. By a 6-1 vote. With Christy - Christy! - actually voting for her.

It was just a bad dream...wasn't it?

American military investigators say the

American military investigators say the mysterious trailer found in northern Iraq was almost certainly a biological weapons facility. (In theory, they concede, it could have been used to make vaccines or other benign substances - but why would such a facility be mobile, painted in military camoflauge and equipped with "scrubbers" to contain emissions?)

It's amazing how little attention the corporate, military-run, unquestioning-of-authority American media is giving this story.

Why do I even bother?

Why do I even bother? I can rant and rave about Barrie Zwicker's dishonesty and half-truths on this blog all I want...and it seems like it's all for naught, since Michele Landsberg gets space in Canada's highest-circulation newspaper to write a love letter to Zwicker, rehashing nearly every "damning inconsistency" about 9/11 Zwicker was able to lift from Michael Ruppert and Michael Rivero. ("Why did the United States Air Force fail to scramble interceptor jets — in defiance of all long-standing rules and well-established practice — for almost two hours after it was known that an unprecedented four planes had been hijacked?")

Arrrrrrrgh. (Here's Bill Herbert's debunking of the "no-planes-scrambled" allegation. He also notes that Ruppert claimed the Air Force waited only 50 minutes from finding out about the hijacking to launch fighter jets, so God only knows where Zwicker and Landsberg are getting "two hours." Before long, they'll probably start saying there were no fighter jets launched on 9/11, and that the ones we saw on TV were just computer-generated.)

(Hat tip: RBB)

Another LGF scoop: the Libyans

Another LGF scoop: the Libyans are demanding the Simon Wiesenthal Center's NGO status at the UN be revoked because it dared to criticize their appointment as head of the UN Human Rights Committee. And in another one of these little twists that would be completely unbelievable if you weren't familiar with the UN, member states - including Russia - are lining up to support the Libyans.

I am thisclose to urging Canada to pull out of the UN altogether. I'm dead serious. The organization is beyond repair.

Call your mother!

Call your mother!

Just how morally blind is

Just how morally blind is Ed Asner? Check this out. Unbelievable.

A blockbuster in The Sunday

A blockbuster in The Sunday Times: employees of Al-Jazeera were working for Saddam Hussein. The Iraqis went so far as to call Al-Jazeera “a mobilised instrument of our propaganda.”

Unfortunately, the full Times story is not available to us furriners outside of Britain. (Damn you, Murdoch!) If anyone can send me the story, I'll be forever grateful.

The convergence of far-right and

The convergence of far-right and far-left continues: delusional conspirozoid Michael Ruppert, whose "9/11 timeline" has been slashed to ribbons by Bill Herbert, was given a full hour on Vision TV on March 16, 2002, hosted by Barrie Zwicker (surprise!) and featuring an Anglican Church-affiliated "peace" activist (one of several such ultra-leftists who've driven me away from the church in which I was raised).

Later that year, Ruppert was the guest of honor at a "Real History" conference in Cincinnati - sponsored by neo-Nazi David Irving.

It's getting harder and harder to tell these people apart.

Update: an anonymous coward in the comments section says Ruppert cancelled his appearance at Irving's conference after finding out who he really was. So this probably isn't a good example of left-right convergence after all - though the freak's letter to Irving says he cannot confirm that Irving is a Holocaust denier, showing that his reading skills can't be much better than those of Antonia Zerbisias. (Zwicker's endorsement of Michael Rivero is still a good example of socialist-fascist convergence, though.)

And I'm not fat. I'm "big-boned."

Every time I read about

Every time I read about something like this, homeschooling looks just a little more viable. If I ever have kids, that is.

Speaking of homeschooling, Eric "I wish Rush Limbaugh went deaf" Alterman has been mocking a homeschooled 14 year-old who didn't like his book. You're a real man, Eric. What's your next target? The Special Olympics?

Eminem, who has no qualms

Eminem, who has no qualms about parodying the likes of Moby, Christina Aguilera and "The Real World" in his songs and videos, is a coward and a hypocrite.

(via Drudge)

"I am entitled to admire

"I am entitled to admire a man who brought Germany work, bread, peace, honour and a place in the sun...there is more to Adolf Hitler and his government than Jews, Auschwitz and violence. The violent acts were committed as wartime measures."

- Ernst Zundel

"Not many people know it, but the Fuhrer was a terrific dancer. ...Hitler - there was a painter! He could paint an entire apartment in ONE afternoon! TWO coats!!"

- "Franz Liebkind" (Kenneth Mars), The Producers

(via Marduk, whose son celebrated a birthday yesterday.)

Grimey's first test: angry fisheries

Grimey's first test: angry fisheries workers thrashed the Corner Brook DFO office during yesterday's "occupation."

The RNC says charges will likely be laid. Now that Roger Grimes has encouraged fishermen to break the law (though he's backpedalling, sort of), will he intervene? Stay tuned.

David Irving, "intellectual" hero of

David Irving, "intellectual" hero of Holocaust deniers and Jew-haters everywhere, has posted Antonia Zerbisias's latest column on his website.

I do not believe Antonia Zerbisias hates Jews. Really, I don't. But she's chosen to lie down with dogs, and now she's waking up covered in fleas.

Couldn't happen to a nicer person.

Update: Charles Johnson has removed the link to Irving's site, and I can't really blame him. Shark Boy, who found it in the first place (and was also thrashed in Zerbisias's column, for a quote posted by one of his readers), still has it. Irving even copied the Toronto Star's logo design onto his webpage - much to the delight of the Star's lawyers, no doubt.

The Star has always been insufferably smug about its commitment to "social justice" and fashionably liberal causes, and I have no doubt their staffers love to call their National Post competitors "Nazis".

And David Irving is a big fan. That's friggin' hilarious.

Update II: it just gets better and better. Irving named Robert Fisk "bravest journalist of the year" in 1998. (via Tim Blair)

Further to the Barrie Zwicker

Further to the Barrie Zwicker post below: the intrepid Bill Herbert has already debunked this "Project for a New American Century" nonsense. Twice. (His permalinks are bloggered, but scroll down and you'll find what I'm talking about.)

Zwicker's dishonesty is absolutely staggering. And I have no doubt his paranoid Marxist ranting is subsidized by my money, via the incomprehensible soup of federal and provincial agencies that finance television shows like his.

Shame on you, Vision TV.

Lots of stuff about the

Lots of stuff about the Newfoundland fishery, and the coming constitutional showdown, from Colby Cosh and Ron Knowling.

Disgruntled fishermen and plant workers are occupying the DFO office here in Corner Brook today. I saw them marching down Main Street as I drove to work this morning. (The drivers stuck behind them must've been really happy.)

And one fisherman, Bernard Martin of Petty Harbour (where they filmed the 1976 Jaws rip-off Orca, and where you can spend a night at the "Orca Inn"), is bravely speaking out in favour of the cod closure on conservation grounds.

When I was attending law

When I was attending law school in New Brunswick, I attended a PC convention and got into an argument with Elsie Wayne over "smut" on television. (According to one of her aides, Degrassi High was encouraging children to go out and get pregnant.)

She hasn't changed much. Isn't this the sort of thing that just got Rick Santorum into so much trouble?

(via Kathy Shaidle)

Remember Barrie Zwicker? The ultra-left

Remember Barrie Zwicker? The ultra-left Vision TV "media critic" (what is it with people who call themselves "media critics," anyway?) is still preaching about a Jewish "neoconservative" conspiracy to let 9/11 happen, complaining about Bush's "squelching dissent at home" (at one point, the Dixie Chicks' Home fell to #5 on the country charts!) and basically making shit up:

More than half of the U.S. budget now goes to the merchants of death.

Between 2004-2008, the U.S. government will spend about 2.1 trillion dollars on defence - out of a total of over 12 trillion dollars. Using the exact figures on the OMB website, the percentage of the budget spent on defence is more like 17%.

Hey, "more than half," 17%...who can keep track when you're trying to save the world from the Amerikkkan imperialists?

Here's a fascinating bit of

Here's a fascinating bit of Orwellian rhetoric from Britain, where regulators are considering whether to allow Fox News to remain on the air. A bloke from the "Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom," says freedom of expression will be threatened if the Fox News Channel isn't banned - although, of course, he's "not in favour of censorship." I'm not making this up.

Julian Petley, the chairman of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, called on the commission to act against Fox News.

"So if we allow into Britain the kind of journalism represented by Fox, that would bring about a form of censorship by narrowing the range of views and a coarsening of the level of debate."

If that's not enough to send your irony detector into the stratosphere, the Guardian also supports forcing Fox off the air. "We don't want biased news over here," reads the editorial.

I have to lie down for a while.

This passage in a disturbing

This passage in a disturbing Christian Science Monitor story about regrouping Taliban forces may be the real story:

In Kabul, former Taliban Supreme Court Justice Salam says that the Taliban's chief support now comes from Afghanistan's powerful neighbors - Russia, Iran, and Pakistan - who are suspicious of America's continued presence in the region more than 18 months after the collapse of the Taliban.

"The Russians are not happy with the US presence here, and neither are Iran, Pakistan, and even China," says Salam, who has traded in his black and white Talib-style turban for a more common brown turban, to blend in with the townsfolk. Russia gives money and weapons to the opponents of the central government, he says, and so do the intelligence agencies of Iran and Pakistan.

Another expert doubts Iran or Russia is supporting the Taliban, but is deeply suspicious of Pakistan - purportedly ruled by a "pro-American" government.

British judges and lawyers may

British judges and lawyers may no longer have to wear these horsehair wigs when they appear in court if new proposals are accepted. (Here in Canada, even judges don't have to wear the wigs, though we still have British-inspired robes for appearances in Supreme Court. But I get asked about them all the time.)

Provincial Justice Minister Kelvin Parsons

Provincial Justice Minister Kelvin Parsons (who used to work at my law firm) says people who fish for cod illegally will be prosecuted. And Tory leader Danny Williams is calling on fishermen not to take part in a "protest fishery," though he's emphasizing potential legal consequences and not any conservation concerns. (Alas, any Newfoundland politician who suggests this moratorium might be necessary would be committing political suicide.)

The top story out here today is Grimes's demand that the Terms of Union, which Newfoundland signed upon joining Canada in 1949, be amended to give this province joint control over the fishery along with Ottawa, which presently maintains exclusive jurisdiction. Every party in the House of Assembly supports it. So do I. I'm not sure Newfoundland would have managed its fishery any better than Ottawa did - but I guess we'll never know now, would we? We're the only province with no jurisdiction over its most valuable natural resource, and that's a disgrace.

But it's just not gonna happen. Former premiers Brian Peckford and Clyde Wells (another former partner with my firm) both demanded joint management of the fishery, and both failed. Of course, both also won provincial elections after making this a major issue (Peckford in 1982, Wells in 1993) - which may explain Grimes's sudden enthusiasm for the idea.

If by some miracle we could get jurisdiction of the resource, and if the fish stocks recover, that would be wonderful. But we've fallen for too many lost causes in the past, only to keep getting our hopes betrayed, time and time again. And I think we're just setting ourselves up for another fall.

Sari Stein has photos of

Sari Stein has photos of the Israeli Independence Day rally in Montreal. Evidently a great time was had by all, despite the presence of "anti-Zionist" demonstrators and Lucien Bouchard.

The chill wind of censorship

The chill wind of censorship is blowing! Call Tim Robbins!

If I had just a

If I had just a little more time, I'd savage Antonia Zerbisias's latest mental drippings, in which she bemoans the lack of "outrage" over Rachel Corrie's death, thrashes "Likudnik" bloggers like Charles Johnson for what they've written about her (of course, she does not deal substantially with evidence that her death was accidental, or that Corrie was a major terror-apologist), hints at a Zionist media conspiracy to cover up Israel's atrocities, and claims Charley Reese as a source - a source who's been hassled by the evil Zionist media watchdogs, naturally. (First Mikey Rivero and now Charley Reese...how long before we see Zerb citing David Duke and Amiri Baraka in her columns?)

Fortunately, I've sent it to Charles and I know he won't let me down. Go get 'em, Charles! Kill! Kill!

(Hat tip: Kathy Shaidle)

The Jews created SARS: so

The Jews created SARS: so says a Sudanese editorial cartoonist. And I'm sure he's not the only one who believes it.

Ottawa rewards rioters Fisheries Minister

Ottawa rewards rioters Fisheries Minister Robert Thibault has mused publicly about raising crab quotas for New Brunswick fishermen after they rioted earlier this week, and now some Newfoundlanders are wondering if they'll have to do the same thing:

Ottawa's willingness to increase the crab quota in New Brunswick, even after fishermen burned boats and torched a fish plant, is fuelling frustration among jobless cod fishermen in Newfoundland, a federal committee was told Wednesday.

"I was flabbergasted when I heard (Thibault's) comments . . . I'm really concerned about how the discontent is going to manifest itself over the next few weeks."

Compare Thibault (not to mention Roger Grimes) to New Brunswick premier Bernard Lord - who, according to CBC Radio (no link), is calling for criminal charges against the rioters.

Disgraceful: members of the Royal

Disgraceful: members of the Royal Canadian Legion in Fredericton, New Brunswick, may have to cancel this year's Remembrance Day parade because of skyrocketing insurance rates:

The Royal Canadian Legion in Fredericton may have to cancel its annual Remembrance Day parade because soaring premium rates are emptying the coffers, fast.

"The city's insurance company insists we have $2 million liability in order to hold our parades throughout the year."

Some New Brunswick Legions are also seeing a 500% increase in their insurance premiums this year if they want to keep serving alcohol. Madness.

Jonathan Freedland, a sometimes-tolerable Guardian

Jonathan Freedland, a sometimes-tolerable Guardian columnist, on the Dalyell affair:

Tam Dalyell would have us believe that Bush stands against Yasser Arafat because the Jews made him do it - when the reality is that Bush has his own post-9/11 reasons for seeing all terrorism as an indivisible phenomenon that the US can never again indulge.

But it's worth wondering if that distinction cuts much ice at street level - where anti-Jewish incidents in Britain have gone up by 75% compared with the equivalent period last year. If Zionists are constantly accused of having dual loyalties, of wielding untold power, of pursuing a secret agenda to reshape the world, all classic charges long hurled at the Jews, then one has to wonder whether one is hearing the same racist slur now voiced by Tam Dalyell - just expressed less openly.

Read it all. (via Sully)

Boy, the "complete destruction of

Boy, the "complete destruction of Iraq's cultural heritage" didn't last long, did it?

U.S. Customs agents, working with military and museum experts at the National Museum in Baghdad, have recovered nearly 40,000 manuscripts and about 700 artifacts, government officials announced in Washington Wednesday, leaving perhaps only a few dozen key pieces missing.

Agents of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs (ICE) said that so far they have photos and documentation to confirm only 38 items from the museum are still missing. Although they suspect additional pieces may have been stolen, they declined to speculate on the scope of the additional uncatalogued items that may have been looted.

But the far left is nothing if not persistent, and now that this latest meme has been proven to be grossly exaggerated, I'm sure they'll just find something else. (I can't wait to see the first NaziMedia posting claiming the Americans knew there was never any serious looting, and that this whole thing was just a set-up. That's just something the military-industrial complex does.)

(via LGF)

The smoking gun? Well, the

The smoking gun? Well, the Pentagon says it's too early to use that loaded phrase (pun intended), but it looks like that "mobile bioweapons facility" found in northern Iraq is the real deal:

A mobile laboratory found in northern Iraq apparently was used to produce biological agents, a senior U.S. military official said.

"Experts have been through it and they have not found another plausible use for it based on the equipment on board,'' Stephen Cambone, Pentagon undersecretary for intelligence, said.
[...]
Cambone said U.S forces found the tractor-trailer April 19 at a Kurdish checkpoint near the city of Mosul in northern Iraq. "It was painted in a military color scheme and found on a heavy equipment transporter that is typically used to carry tanks,'' he said.

He said the vehicle had been scoured with "a very caustic substance.'' Testing to date has been "only on the surface, those things we can reach.''

Because I'm such a nice guy, I'm going to save our favorite idiotarians some trouble, and write their upcoming columns for them.

Robert Fisk:

"That's it? Thousands and thousands of innocent Iraqi women and children dead, Iraq's cultural heritage completely looted and the complete break down of order that Saddam, for all his excesses, provided...for one trailer? I expect more angry Iraqis to beat me up any day now, and they'll be right to do it."

Any Guardian columnist:

"Surely if the inspectors had been given more time, they could have found this."

Any CounterPunch columnist:

"This is the greatest war crime in the history of the world, even worse than the alleged murder of six million Jews by the Nazis, who were put in power by Bush's grandfather."

John Pilger:

"Why should we believe this is real? The Gulf of Tonkin affair makes it clear that the Yanks are not above faking this sort of thing, to justify their evil grab for oil and world domination."

Michael Rivero:

"Lavon! Lavon! Lavon! Lavon! Lavon! Lavon!"

International ANSWER:

"Free Mumia!"

Offered without comment: An advance

Offered without comment:

An advance party of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan is walking the streets of the capital unarmed because the government has not yet signed a routine agreement under which NATO peacekeeping troops are allowed to carry weapons.

The Canadians are being guarded by German soldiers while they are in Kabul.
[...]
"It's a screw-up," said Leon Benoit, the defence critic for the Canadian Alliance. "Afghanistan is an extremely dangerous place and it's going to get even more dangerous. By leaving our soldiers without the ability to defend themselves, the government has put them in danger."

"I think this is a total non-issue," Mr. McCallum told reporters. "It is a small group of reconnaissance people. They are very ably guarded by German troops, our partners, who are obviously armed. It is a question of getting the diplomatic agreement signed.

"The Military-Industrial Complex" This flash

"The Military-Industrial Complex" This flash presentation, which allows you to run the cursor over a map of the world and "draw blood" (except for the US and Western Europe, on which dollar signs flash) is meant to be a searing indictment of the way we evil Westerners make weapons and use them to murder poor people, I guess. Just one problem: two of the largest arms exporters in the world, Russia and China (which, together, supplied Saddam with about 70% of his weapons), are included among the "bleeding" nations.

But I'm sure that was just an oversight. (Notice, as well, that you can "draw blood" when you run the cursor over Israel - though this guy probably thinks of it as "Palestine," which would explain it. More curiously, nothing happens when you run the cursor over Cuba. Try it yourself.)

Update: to see what I'm talking about, you have to hit the sixth button at the bottom of the page.

Johann Hari's usually excellent Independent

Johann Hari's usually excellent Independent columns (now there's a phrase I never thought I'd use) are no longer available unless you're willing to pay for them. But his latest, which discusses the development of political parties and debate in liberated Iraq, begins with this curious phrase:

The gung-ho conservative press is now only interested in the Iraqi people as bad news: either they are mutating into evil, money-grabbing asylum-seekers as they cross the Channel, or they stay at home and become looting thugs.

Excuse me? It's the conservative media which has been demonizing the people of Iraq? WTF?

News flash, Johann: it's papers like yours which plug the idea that Baghdad is being looted into total oblivion; papers like yours which say Iraqis "aren't ready" for democracy; papers like yours which say Muslims can't control their rage about the Israel-Palestine issue, and that we have to appease them at all costs, because they can't be reasoned with.

We right-wing hawks have been trying to give Iraqis - and the rest of the Middle East - the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of freedom, democracy and the rule of law. Your Guardipendent colleagues, by contrast, are the ones who want to keep them poor and backward, mainly so they can give themselves a reason to feel guilty.

Roger Grimes insists he's not

Roger Grimes insists he's not encouraging Newfoundland fishermen to break the law. He's just going to use all his power to make sure they suffer no consequences if they do. Why can't people figure that out?

Closer to home, Opposition Leader Danny Williams accuses Grimes of being reckless, and failing in his duty to uphold the law.

Grimes won't say what those measures are, but his government will help if fishermen are arrested.

Meanwhile, the head of the fishermens' union says he's had discussions with Grimes about a "protest" fishery:

The Fish, Food and Allied Workers union is supporting controversial comments from Premier Roger Grimes.

The premier's promise isn't new to Earle McCurdy, the president of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers, who says the two have talked about a possible protest fishery since Ottawa announced the cod closure nearly two weeks ago.

Pathetic. Grimes reminds me of Zarko the troll, from Zach Cohen's blog, who regularly questions whether the Holocaust happened and accuses Jews of running the US government, but recoils at any suggestion he's anti-Semitic. Neither of them are willing to take any real responsibility for their comments.

The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee

The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee invited Rabbi Michael Lerner, a Palestinian supporter who also believes Israel has a right to exist, to address an upcoming conference. Now some members are circulating a petition demanding that this "Zionist" not be provided with a forum. The invaluable Marduk has the details.

A question: why is it

A question: why is it that the same people who scream the loudest about "a woman's right to choose" and "reproductive freedom" are the same people who can instigate a serious discussion about whether poor people "have a moral right" to have children?

Just askin'.

(For the record, I do think abortion should be legal, at least until the fetus is viable outside the mother's body. But some of the more radical elements of the "pro-choice" movement are more accurately called "pro-abortion," given their seeming enthusaism for the procedure.)

Dalyell digs deeper The British

Dalyell digs deeper The British MP, who accused Tony Blair of being in thrall to a "cabal" of Jewish advisors (some deemed "Jewish" merely by having one Jewish ancestor, kind of like the Nuremburg laws), is trying to explain his remarks. He told the Guardian he only used the word "cabal" to describe Bush's Jewish advisors, not Blair's. What's all the fuss, then?

Mr Dalyell's critics took exception after it was claimed that he felt Mr Blair was influenced by a "cabal" of Jewish advisers. But Mr Dalyell said he used the word cabal only in reference to the Bush administration, not Downing Street.

"The cabal that I referred to was in the US," he said. "That is the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. I was thinking of [Paul] Wolfowitz, [deputy defence secretary], [Richard] Perle, [John] Bolton, assistant secretary of state, [Douglas] Feith, [Ken] Adelman, [Elliott] Abrams and [Ari] Fleischer, [Mr Bush's press secretary.] Those people drive this policy."

Fleischer? Ari fucking Fleisher? Bush's spokesman, who by the very nature of his job parrots what Bush tells him to, rather than the other way around? He's part of the Jewish cabal?

Dalyell says it's "preposterous" to accuse him of anti-Semitism, because he's visited Israel and stuff. (At least he didn't say, "I can't be anti-Semitic, since Arabs are Semites too.") Well, excuse me, you commie piece of shit, if you're angry about being labelled "anti-Semitic," maybe you should have thought twice about cherry-picking every Jew (or half-Jew, or one-eighth Jew) who works for Bush and Blair, regardless of their roles, and deeming them a "cabal". Are you sure you went far enough, Tom? Isn't there a Jew working in the White House cafeteria somewhere?

The Wanker adds that Dalyell might face a "race hatred" inquiry for his comments. I oppose such inquiries on strictly libertarian grounds, and personally, I think Jews should be happy people like Dalyell are free to say things like that. At least they can know who their real enemies are.

(via Marduk)

Mobile bioweapons lab found? Fox

Mobile bioweapons lab found? Fox News reports that Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq might have found a vehicle with equipment used for production of anthrax.

I emphasize the word "might," because we've been burned by several stories like this since the fall of Baghdad. Personally, I think the invastion of Iraq was justified even if no Iraqi WMDs are discovered, considering what has been found in the country. But I'd like nothing more than a nice, big WMD find, just to stick it in the lefties' faces. (Mind you, they'll certainly dismiss it as a CIA fake.) If the find is confirmed today, after a typically smug Gwynne Dyer column on the subject ran in my Western Star, I'll probably achieve nirvana.

Some extraordinary behavior on the

Some extraordinary behavior on the part of Newfoundland premier Roger Grimes:

Premier Roger Grimes says his government will support and try to protect any fisherman who defies Ottawa by fishing for cod in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where the fishery has been closed.

"We're not going to be facilitating federal officials trying to prosecute decent law-abiding respectful Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who are so aggrieved and so offended by this decision that they might even break the law," the premier says. [emphasis added]

Who does this guy think he is? George Wallace? Is he going to stand on the courthouse steps, surrounded by riot police, to prevent federal Crown prosecutors from entering the building? (The federal Department of Justice has sole responsibility for fisheries prosecutions, as opposed to most criminal matters, which are prosecuted by the province.)

Aside from Newfoundland's unfortunate federal cabinet representative, Gerry Byrne, every politician in Newfoundland has come out strongly against the cod closure. The Tories passed a resolution to that effect at their weekend convention, and while I haven't heard NDP leader Jack Harris oppose the closure, he'll almost certainly toe the NDP-affiliated fishermens' union line. Nobody, it seems, is willing to accept the possibility that there's hardly any bloody cod left, and that any cod fishery would almost certainly have a catastophic effect on what few stocks remain.

But no politician has gone so far as Grimes, who knows he's toast in the next provincial election, and has seized his one shot at staying in power. Newfoundlanders have a soft spot for "saviors" who will fight injustice in Ottawa, and that's clearly what the premier has in mind. The Royal Commission on Newfoundland's Place in Confederation (aka the "Blame Canada" commission) issues its report early this summer, so expect a provincial election is early autumn.

The Washington Times says the

The Washington Times says the French government has been helping Iraqi Ba'athist officials escape to Europe:

The French government secretly supplied fleeing Iraqi officials with passports in Syria that allowed them to escape to Europe, The Washington Times has learned.

An unknown number of Iraqis who worked for Saddam Hussein's government were given passports by French officials in Syria, U.S. intelligence officials said.

The passports are regarded as documents of the European Union, because of France's membership in the union, and have helped the Iraqis avoid capture, said officials familiar with intelligence reports.

The French support, which was revealed through sensitive intelligence-gathering means, angered Pentagon, State Department and intelligence officials in Washington because it undermined the search for senior aides to Saddam, who fled Iraq in large numbers after the fall of Baghdad on April 9.

"It made it very difficult to track these people," one official said.

A second Bush administration official said, "It's like Raoul Wallenberg in reverse," a reference to the Swedish diplomat who supplied travel documents to help Jews escape Nazi Germany in World War II. "Now you have the French helping the bad guys escape from us."

Fuckers. Why on earth would the French do something like this, aside from pure, unadulturated spite? (Why do the French do anything, aside from pure, unadulturated spite?)

(via InstaPundit)

A revealing exchange.

A revealing exchange.

The end of the Post

The end of the Post as we know it? Fans of the National Post, Canada's admirably conservative alternative to the Globe and Mail, should be concerned about Ken Whyte's recent firing as editor-in-chief. David Frum, for one, has resigned as a regular Post columnist:

The paper was the brainchild of Conrad Black, the ex-Canadian media mogul who also owns the Daily Telegraph and the Chicago Sun-Times. Ken was Black’s protege; Ken in turn hired Newland, a devout Roman Catholic with the build of a Royal Marine. Newland was English, as were many of the paper’s first editors, and they gave the paper a very un-Canadian verve and sass.

Its regulation of television gives the Canadian government a very disturbing leverage over media companies involved in both television and print--like the Aspers’ CanWest group. Earlier, the publisher of another CanWest paper, the Ottawa Citizen, was fired for permitting his reporters and editorial writers to continue working on the Chretien finance story. Soon after the Aspers assumed full control of the National Post, that paper’s investigation of Prime Minister Chretien’s finances also ceased.
[...]
Everybody who has ever loved the Post has to wish the new management team well. It’s not the joyous, fearless paper it was--but it still beats the competition and for the time being at least it remains the closest thing to a dissenting voice that Canada has.

But it’s one thing to wish the paper well; another to continue to work for it. On Saturday, with a breaking heart, I resigned my weekly column in the paper.

Don't expect Maude Barlow or Antonia Zerbisias to complain about the owners' interference in the Post's editorial line.

America's worst judges Law.com has

America's worst judges Law.com has a feature about American judges who were booted from the bench over the past year. My favorites include the one who insisted on smelling defendants' hair before every trial to ensure they weren't carrying drugs, and the judge who arranged with a restauranteur to take his kids away from his ex-wife - on Christmas morning - in exchange for the restauranteur buying shrimp from the judge's marina.

It just goes to show you that the system is only as good as the people working within, and that judges can be assholes just like anyone else. (Except for the judges before whom I regularly appear, of course. They're all wonderful.)

Mass grave in Iraq People

Mass grave in Iraq People said the full extent of the horrors committed by Saddam wouldn't be made clear until after he was gone, and now the truth is coming out: a mass grave, containing dozens of bodies of Shi'ites who rose up against Saddam in 1991 (and were so cruelly betrayed by the first Bush administration and the "international community"), has been found.

It won't be the last.

Constructive criticism from readers of

Constructive criticism from readers of Moorewatch.com.

What? You mean to tell

What? You mean to tell me Syrian President Bashar Assad lied to Colin Powell about the closing of Palestinian terrorists' offices in his country? Hard to believe, I know, but that's what the New York Times is saying:

Militant Palestinian groups in Damascus challenged today American statements that Syria had cracked down on them, and Syria's government sidestepped the issue, refusing to confirm one of the few concessions that seemed to emerge in a weekend visit by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell.

She took umbrage at the issue of the offices, which have been a longstanding concern of the United States. "We are more interested in what he said about a comprehensive peace rather than what he said about offices," she said. "This visit was one step in that direction, and the dialogue is continuing. And the Syrians and the United States understood each other better after this visit."
[...]
As for Hamas, the office in Syria is on the outskirts of Damascus and consists of a modest apartment in a residential building. An iron gate protects the door, and visitors must remove their shoes. A representative, speaking by phone, said he was not sure what was happening, and suggested that he was under some restraint. "I don't know if it is closed or not," he said. "If I am here, it doesn't mean it's open."

But a Hamas spokesman also commented from Lebanon about the announced closing. "I haven't been informed of any such thing," Reuters quoted the Lebanon head of the group, Usama Hamdan, as saying. "The Americans know well that our presence is part of the Palestinian refugee presence in Syria and Lebanon."

Islamic Jihad and PFLP officials also denied any knowledge of a Syrian "crackdown". (To be fair, the Times reports a reduced staff presence, and a vaguely defined sense of unease, in the militant groups' offices. But they're almost certainly laying low until Colin Powell - and American reporters - go home.)

I wish my free speech

I wish my free speech rights could be trampled as badly as that of the Dixie Chicks. After all the controversy, all of the hand-wringing over the "stifling of dissent" and "suppression of criticism" in libertarian media outlets like CounterPunch and the Arab News, the Chicks' concert in Orlando attracted one protestor. And about a half-dozen people tried to sell their tickets. That's it.

So, how have these poor, oppressed dissidents fared since their lead singer thrashed Bush in front of a British audience? They've suffered no serious decline in record sales (their latest CD, Home, is back atop the country charts), none of their shows have been cancelled, they got a spot on prime-time television to whine about all the criticism they've gotten (yeah, it was only ABC, but that's still a major network for the time being), they got to pose nekkid on the cover of Entertainment Weekly, and their status as free-speech "martyrs" is forever assured among the Bush-is-Hitler crowd.

Not too shabby. The radical left should be a little bit ashamed of themselves for the way they've tried to portray this as a sign of how Amerikkka is turning into a fascist state where no criticism of the government will be tolerated. Indeed, the likes of Mikey Moore have already begun changing their tune and have started using the Chicks as an example of how Bush and his supporters don't speak for "real" Americans.

If they're aware of the irony, they're repressing it.

Someone forgot to tell Labour

Someone forgot to tell Labour MP Tom Dalyell that the far left is only opposed to "Zionists" rather than Jews. In a Vanity Fair article about Tony Blair, Dalyell is quoted as saying Blair is "unduly influenced" by Jewish advisors:

The author then quoted Labour Member of Parliament Tam Dalyell, the longest serving member of the House of Commons, as saying he thought Blair was unduly influenced by a cabal of Jewish advisors. Margolick said Dalyell named Peter Mandelson, a former Blair cabinet member, Lord Levy, Blair's chief fund-raiser and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, an Anglican who has a Jewish grandparent.

The "anti-Zionist" mask slips again.

(via Andrew Sullivan)

Update: it's even worse than I thought. According to The Sunday Telegraph, Dalyell - known as "Father of the House" in Britain because of his decades of service - is not only unrepentant about his comments, he's pointing the finger at influential American Jews as well:

Yesterday Mr Dalyell, the MP for Linlithgow, told The Telegraph: "I am fully aware that one is treading on cut glass on this issue and no one wants to be accused of anti-Semitism but, if it is a question of launching an assault on Syria or Iran . . . then one has to be candid."

"They very much have captured the ear of the President of the United States. I said [to Vanity Fair] I thought that Blair was very sympathetic to them. I cannot understand why," Mr Dalyell said.

Interesting, that Dalyell's children worked on an Israeli kibbutz. It's hard to believe these days, but the left supported Israel during its early years, when it was trying to build itself as a happy model socialist state. Only when the Jewish state abandoned socialism, and when it had to gall to win the 1967 war, did the left turn against it. (See Joshua Muravchik's excellent Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism for the whole, sad story.)

The impossible has happened: Atlantic

The impossible has happened: Atlantic cod off the coast of Newfoundland, basis for what was once the most bountiful fishery the world has ever known, has been placed on the endangered species list. The designation has no force in law, but it's a mortal blow to fisherman demanding the recently announced cod moratorium be lifted.

What can I say? As much as I sympathize with Newfoundlanders who've had their livelihood so cruelly taken away, it's hard to oppose a moratorium when there's no fucking fish left. (In a perverse irony, the same fishermen who thrash federal scientists for failing to predict the early-1990s cod collapse now thrash them for being too pessimistic.) Still, I think the blow wouldn't be nearly as cruel had Ottawa taken one-tenth of the effort to combat foreign overfishing than it's taken to keep Newfoundlanders away from their own resource. That Spanish and Russian trawlers are allowed in Canadian waters at all (for "historical" reasons, if you can believe it) makes a mockery of the promise that Newfoundlanders would be full partners in the Canadian confederation.

Tex is back from his

Tex is back from his Canadian vacation, and his flood of idiotarian hate mail hasn't stopped. (But are my eyes decieving me, or did he actually buy a CD from Canada's unlistenable, popular-in-1998 animated novelty band, "Prozaak"? Tex, Tex, Tex...I thought you had better taste than that.)

Speaking of antidepressants (properly spelled, this time), Michael Coren admits to regularly taking Paxil for anxiety-related disorders. So do I, for a (relatively mild, thank God) case of obsessive-compulsive disorder - and, like Coren, I'm not ashamed at all. It's been a tremendous help to me, and I have no regrets about using the medication - though stories about Paxil withdrawal symptoms for people trying to wean themselves from the drug cause me some concern.

If you needed definitive proof

If you needed definitive proof that Alexander Cockburn's Counterpunch is a repository for deluded, mentally unstable wingnuts, here it is:

Bush's blood lust, his repeated commitment to Christian beliefs, and his constant references to "evil doers," in the eyes of many devout Catholic leaders, bear all the hallmarks of the one warned about in the Book of Revelations - the anti-Christ. People close to the Pope claim that amid these concerns, the Pontiff wishes he was younger and in better health to confront the possibility that Bush may represent the person prophesized in Revelations. John Paul II has always believed the world was on the precipice of the final confrontation between Good and Evil as foretold in the New Testament. Before he became Pope, Karol Cardinal Wojtyla said, "We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through. I do not think that wide circles of the American society or wide circles of the Christian community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel." The Pope, who grew up facing the evils of Hitler and Stalin, knows evil when he sees it. Although we can all endlessly argue over the Pope's effectiveness in curtailing abuses within his Church, his accomplishments external to Catholicism are impressive.

According to journalists close to the Vatican, the Pope and his closest advisers are also concerned that the ultimate acts of evil - the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon - were known in advance by senior Bush administration officials. By permitting the attacks to take their course, there is a perception within the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy that a coup d'etat was implemented, one that gave Bush and his leadership near-dictatorial powers to carry out their agenda.

Isn't it fascinating to see these ultra-left extremists, who've spent the last 25 years savaging the Pope, cynically using him as a moral figurehead because of his opposition to war with Iraq?

Something to keep in mind,

Something to keep in mind, next time you see Danny Glover doing one of his cute 'n cuddly MCI commericals: Glover, Harry Belafonte and about 160 other useful idiots of even less renown have signed an open letter "to the conscience of the world" defending the Cuban government against recent criticism of its human-rights crackdown.

MCI has it all wrong. Glover shouldn't be plugging the "Neighbourhood" long-distance plan, but the "Neighbourhood Committe for the Defence of the Revolution" plan.

Oh, the irony: while Muslim

Oh, the irony: while Muslim writers are trying to portray Muslims as irrational, violent fanatics (see below), Charles Krauthammer - the very model of an evil Zionazi Fifth-Columnist Jew - has written a column suggesting that Iraq's Shi'ite Muslims are not irrational, violent fanatics:

Of course there are telegenic elements among the Shiites who would like fundamentalist rule by the clerics. But even the majority of Iranians oppose the rule of the mullahs and consider the Islamic revolution a disaster. The Shiite demonstrators in Iraqi streets represent a highly organized minority, many of whom are affiliated with, infiltrated by and financed by Tehran, the headquarters for 20 years of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

These Iranian-oriented Shiite extremists are analogous to the Soviet-oriented communists in immediate post-World War II Italy and France. They too had a foreign patron. They too had foreign sources of money, agents and influence. They too had a coherent ideology. And they too were highly organized even before the end of the war. They too made a bid for power. And failed.
[...]
Moreover, Shiism is not a hierarchical religion like Roman Catholicism. It is extremely decentralized. Among the Shiite majority itself are myriad ideological and political factions. Islamic scholar Hillel Fradkin points out that Khomeiniism -- the seizure of political power by clerics -- is contrary to centuries of Shiite tradition and thus alien and anathema to many Iraqi Shiites.

Does this mean that Jeffersonian democracy is guaranteed in Baghdad? Of course not. But the United States is in a position to bring about a unique and potentially revolutionary development in the Arab world: a genuinely pluralistic, open and free society.

Keep that one in mind, next time the IndyMidiots accuse Krauthammer of being an "anti-Arab racist".

If you're prone to fits

If you're prone to fits of blind, violent rage, I don't recommend you read this apologia for British suicide bombers Asif Muhammad Hanif and Omar Khan Sharif by Muslim journalist Fuad Nahdi in (where else?) The Wanker. It's not their fault that they launched a murderous attack against innocent civilians, of course. The evil occupation of land thousands of miles away from their home made them do it. And unless the Israelis agree to let themselves be slaughtered like good little Jews, Muslims will launch more attacks - in Britain.

If we are to understand what is going on we need to scrape away the layers of rhetoric and euphemism, put to one side events of 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq, and come to the running sore of Palestine. The western conscience, troubled by anti-semitism, is reluctant to look too critically at Israeli behaviour towards a colonised Muslim population. But unless the Palestinian voice, and the Muslim voice that echoes its pain, is listened to, there will be no understanding of what happened to Asif Muhammad Hanif and Omar Khan Sharif. Instead, we will be subjected to more banal rhetoric about "evil" Islam and the motiveless nature of fundamentalist terror.

Our scriptures counsel endless patience. Were it not for Islam, the anti-western rhetoric and violence would be out of control. Yet, some of us have been tipped over the edge. The message carried in the deeds of these angry young people is that, yes, Islam forbids suicide and killing civilians, but they are now so angry about Palestine that they are going to set these principles aside. The result has been a perversion of faith.

A "perversion of faith"? Then I don't think it's us you should be lecturing, lady. It's Islamic militants and their supporters, who counsel an endless gospel of murder, hate and xenophobia, whom you should be lecturing. They're the ones who are despoiling your religion, not us.

In the 36 years since the fall of Jerusalem, the Muslim voice has been deeply radicalised. You find this everywhere - from the scholarly pulpits of Al-Azhar to the mosques of Birmingham and Derby, where young people speak only of Palestine. It is the great religious transformation of our age. And if you talk to these new zealots, you will find that anger over Palestine has been the catalyst which radicalised them.

Perhaps this has been the most far-reaching consequence of Zionism: the radicalisation of the Muslim world. Like most Muslims, I can't stand it. I lament the passing of a culture focused on God more than on community. I miss the smiles, tolerance and wisdom of the older sort of Muslim. And like most Muslims, I know that the war on terrorism and the Iraq war is not part of a solution, but merely the acceleration of incomprehension and revenge.

Nahdi probably doesn't realize it (and will probably denounce me as a "Zionist" for pointing this out), but she's doing more to reinforce the stereotype of the violent, irrational, extremist Muslim than, say, Daniel Pipes ever could. Are the Palestinians living under a rough occupation? Absolutely, though they almost certainly would have earned their own state by now were it not for the endless violent, grossly anti-Semitic incitement that emerges from "official" Palestinian schoolrooms, broadcasters and mosques. But millions of people around the world are oppressed, under conditions infintely worse than what the Palestinians are going through. Much of this oppression, frankly, is at the hands of Muslims themselves - ask any Christian in the Sudan, for example.

And where are the Christian suicide bombers? Where are the armies of militant Christian fundamentalists, inciting their followers to kill Muslims? (Franklin Graham is really the worst example most Islamofascist apologists can find, and his rhetoric doesn't even come close to what passes for normal discourse in the Arab world.) Where are the Tibetan Buddhists, demanding violent retribution against the Chinese? Why are Muslims somehow the only people on earth who are unable to control their anger?

I don't believe Islam is an inherently violent faith. Frankly, for all their talk about how "Islam means peace," it seems like the Muslims have conceded its an inherently violent faith. It's time for Muslims to take some responsibility for what their bretheren are doing in the name of Islam - to say, without reservation, that murder and hatred are unacceptable and blasphemous, regardless of the circumstances - and I'm completely fucking sick of being told it's all my fault.

The Independent says President Bush

The Independent says President Bush is preparing to orchestrate "regime change" in Zimbabwe:

The United States – backed by Britain – is pushing for "regime change" in Zimbabwe that would see President Robert Mugabe replaced by a member of the ruling Zanu-PF party.

America, Britain and South Africa have indicated that the country's former finance minister Simba Makoni is a suitable interim figure to take over from Mr Mugabe.

The paper adds that South Africa's Thebo Mbeki, Mugabe's biggest apologist to date, is now amenable to pressuring him to step aside - but only to make his catastrophic "land redistibution" scheme, which has turned Zimbabwe into the basket case of Africa, more palatable to the rest of the world:

African leaders, including South Africa's President, Thabo Mbeki, have openly supported Mr Mugabe despite widespread international condemnation. They have also succeeded in undermining British attempts to isolate his regime internationally, most recently insisting that he be invited to the Franco-Africa summit organised by President Jacques Chirac.

Mr Mbeki believes it would be easier to lobby international support for Zimbabwe with a new leader. Mr Mbeki, Nigerian leader, Olusegun Obasanjo, and Malawi's President, Bakili Muluzi, arrive in Zimbabwe on Monday for talks with Mr Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. [emphasis added]

It seems like Mbeki's goal is to make sure nothing really changes in Zimbabwe, beyond a cosmetic change at the top. If that's the case, this "regime change" proposal is doomed to failure.

The story doesn't appear to

The story doesn't appear to be online, but London's Daily Mail says the British suicide bomber who blew up a Tel Aviv cafe earlier this week was influenced by the notorious Abu Hamza, imam of London's radical Finsbury Park mosque.

What May Day would be

What May Day would be complete without a visit to the "official" North Korean homepage? The video gallery is especially fascinating. (In a glorious irony, these tributes to ultra-orthodox communism are only viewable on Microsoft's video player.)

David Janes is organizing a

David Janes is organizing a Toronto bloggers' bash on Friday, May 9. Wish I could be there.

This picture is probably going

This picture is probably going to make the NaziMidiots' heads explode.

Here's hoping.

Shakeup at the National Post:

Shakeup at the National Post: Ken Whyte is out, Matthew Fraser is in.

May Day is ruined! Ruined!

May Day is ruined! Ruined! I missed my chance to take a Cuba for Beginners May Day Tour and attend the big bash in Havana today. (Over a million people, all of whom went voluntarily and not because they'd lose their jobs or go to jail if they boycotted the event, showed up.)

"Cuba Tours" is based out of Vancouver, and organizer Leonardo Hechavarria accepts "donations for the Cuban people" at his home. If any of you are tempted to drop off some Spanish-language copies of Against All Hope or The Black Book of Communism at his place, I'll love you forever.

I don't recommend reading the Bizarro-World "Political Questions and Answers About Cuba" section if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure, though some of you might get a good laugh over it. ("In Cuba, you will find grass-roots democracy never seen anywhere else in the world, where the people themselves nominate their candidates for election. ...The Communist Party is forbidden by law to play any role in the elections.")

Eugene Volokh has more examples

Eugene Volokh has more examples of Professor Francis Boyle's decidedly selective enthusiasm for freedom of expression. Boyle, an extreme left-winger at the University of Illinois, continually accuses the Bush Administration of scheming to take away his fellow radicals' First Amendment rights - but this champion of free speech has campaigned to keep American law schools from hiring members of the conservative Federalist Society, and keeps threatening to sue students and other professors who "bash" (that's commie-speak for "criticize") him. (via InstaPundit)

Of course, longtime readers of this site will recall that Boyle has been trying to blacklist a fellow law professor, Michael Glennon of Tufts University, for daring to suggest that a war with Iraq might not be illegal. Like the "academic freedom coalition" that tried to ban Daniel Pipes from speaking at York University a few months ago, Boyle - and far too many academics - are only concerned with freedom of expression for people who don't deviate from their worldview. Whatever your thoughts on the 'Patriot Act' or other post-9/11 security legislation, I'd trust John Ashcroft to safeguard the First Amendment before these totalitarian yahoos.

Bye bye, Petro-Canada Canada's (formerly

Bye bye, Petro-Canada Canada's (formerly state-owned) "national" oil company is selling its Newfoundland stations to North Atlantic Refining, the rather mysterious company that runs the infamous Come by Chance oil refinery in eastern Newfoundland. (History lesson: Come by Chance was yet another of Joey Smallwood's brilliant schemes to turn Newfoundland into the Ohio of the east. It opened just after he was turfed from office, and later collapsed in the biggest bankruptcy in Canadian history. The Peckford government brokered a fire sale in the mid-1980s.)

And they're doing this before I was able to build up any Petro Points. Bastards! (Not that it really matters, since I buy almost all of my gas at Canadian Tire. I'm hooked on Canadian Tire money - and the lovely young woman I'm seeing these days, who works there.)

Conservative celebrities speak out A

Conservative celebrities speak out A few Hollywood stars, including Kelsey Grammer and Robert Duvall, have absolutely savaged other celebrities who have spoken out against the war with Iraq:

Actor Kelsey Grammer, who plays the lead role in NBC's "Frasier" sitcom, said he refused to watch this year's Academy Awards because of the anti-war "crap" that fellow celebrities spewed.

"I wasn't interested. I knew that that kind of crap was going to be there and I thought, I am not interested," Grammer added.
[...]
Actor Robert Duvall said he is not a fan of Michael Moore, and he lashed out at Hollywood political activists.

"They should keep their mouths shut," Duvall said.

I'm not sure if Duvall can really be called a "conservative." (What good Republican would appear in a movie version of The Handmaid's Tale written by Harold Pinter?) But Grammer appeared at Bush's inauguration a couple of years back, so he deserves the label. So does Canada's own Jason Priestley, who, bless him, complains about the "liberal media." (Priestly deserves to be called "conservative." I'm just not sure we can still call him a "celebrity." Whoa, tough room.) And then there's Ron Silver, who founded the very liberal Creative Coalition with Susan Sarandon. Silver, who supported the war, says he and Sarandon are no longer on speaking terms.

Hollywood is a very left-leaning town, but it's not as unanimously liberal as we think.

(via Boycott Hollywood, a website which is shutting down because of legal threats from Hollywood's William Morris Agency. I don't believe in boycotting celebrities just because of their political views, but the hypocrisy of these pampered little babies - who whine and bitch about "censorship" at the slightest hint of criticism - is absolutely astonishing.)

The filthy scumbag who blew

The filthy scumbag who blew himself up in a Tel Aviv cafe the other day was British:

The suicide bomber who killed three people in a Tel Aviv café on Tuesday, and his accomplice, were British citizens, Israeli police said yesterday. If the dead man's identity is confirmed, British anti-terrorist sources believe he would be the UK's first suicide bomber.

Worshippers at a mosque in Hounslow, west London, said last night that Mr Hanif had been a member of the community there. A man who declined to be named said Mr Hanif had attended the mosque almost every day until a few weeks ago. "He would always be standing outside handing out leaflets about the Israel-Palestine situation. He was always raising money for charity for the Palestinians. He would always talk about the situation in Palestine but he was a gentle person. He never seemed to be saying he wanted to kill people. He would talk in much more political terms about how Muslim people should form a lobby and how we should teach young people about the importance of Jerusalem to Muslims.

This genocidal murderer lived thousands of miles away from the occupied territories. But "mainstream" British Muslim groups are still trotting out the "occupation made him do it" excuse:

Britain's Muslim community expressed a deep sense of dismay at the news that the two Tel Aviv bombers held British passports.

"This is a very powerful message that has come out of this terrible incident. It is not just Palestinians who are prepared to give their lives. Now we see people all over the world are disenchanted with the never-ending peace process, which we desperately need a resolution to," he said.

Mr. Sacranie is implicitly condoning suicide operations when he makes such feeble excuses. And he knows it. Here's a tip, my friends: if you find yourself robbing a bank, stealing a car or shooting up a Jewish day school anytime in the near future, tell the cops you were driven to it by your frustration with "the Zionist occupation of Palestinian land." You'll gain some very dedicated supporters.

Happy May Day, comrades! What

Happy May Day, comrades! What better way to celebrate than to peruse John Hawkins's list of celebrity quotes about the war on terror?

"I think that people like the Howard Sterns, the Bill O'Reillys and to a lesser degree the bin Ladens of the world are making a horrible contribution." -- Sean Penn