Let’s play a guessing game. Before you read the story, list two reasons why you think the child population in San Francisco is dwindling. Then read the story. Rocket science, it’s not.
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From the monthly archives:
May 2005
Unlike stories of “Christians” who murder child killers “in the name of Jesus,” this account of Islam by a former Islamist is probably close to the truth. Sad story.
But hope is eternal:
I serve now at the Lord’s vineyard and I believe that my name is in the book of life. I wish I could have stayed in Egypt but it was not possible because my father wanted me dead and an edict was issued permitting the slaughter of my wife’s family on the pretext that they must have used black magic to make me deviate from the right path and leave the religion of Allah to embrace the religion of the infidels.I have mourned the years I spent away from the Lord and harassing his people. I rebuked him for not opening my eyes earlier in life. I found a similar story in Acts Chapter 19 and realized how great and merciful God is that he does not wish death for the sinner but wants him to return and live.
Indeed. Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good, as I’d always thought. He came to make (spiritually) dead people live.
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Lionel Tate, the 18-year old man who killed a little girl when he was 12, is just beginning a life in and out of the criminal justice system. A wasted life.
This young idiot, convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison, got a second chance at freedom after an appeals court threw out the conviction. He won a new trial and plead guilty to second-degree murder. Tate was sentenced to time served (3 years) and was put under house arrest for one year and 10 years probation. So what does the young fool do with this gift? Flushes it down the toilet. For a pizza.
Tate ordered a pizza and pointed a gun at the delivery guy. I don’t know about you, but I sense an IQ deficiency.
So Tate eats the food, waits for the cops to arrive and denies he has a gun. He’s been charged with armed robbery. I hope the judge sends him back to jail for a long, long time.
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From the Washington Times:
The deployment of 36,000 National Guard troops or state militia on the U.S.-Mexico border would stop the illegal flow of foreigners into America, says a congressional report that credits the Minuteman Project with proving that additional manpower could “dramatically reduce if not virtually eliminate” illegal immigration.
I am pleased to hear this bit of news. Vindication for the Minuteman Project is a good start, but the overrun of illegal aliens is still front and center. Read the rest of the story, and you’ll understand why this problem has grown to unmanageable proportions. It’s alarming.
But it gets worse. National security breaches are only part of the story. Another part is the introduction of diseases like leprosy (leprosy?). Diseases that had been eradicated or controlled in the United States have emerged once again. Illegal aliens not only bring these diseases into the country, they drain our healthcare system as they seek treatment. And we have to pay for it.
Illegal immigration is turning American into a third world country with the kind of diseases found in hovels where people live as though progress passed them by and sanitation problems kill. It’s freakish. Aliens are overcrowding hospitals, prisons and schools and infesting suburban and rural areas with filthy gangs. It’s despicable.
I confess that I’m somewhat of a conspiracy theorist, and I believe that if the United States government really wanted to stop the flow of illegals, it could. The question is whywon’t the government put a stop to something that spreads loathsome diseases and crime?
Will the government deploy those 36,000 troops?
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I haven’t been following the news today. What is the filibuster compromise? Must be bad news.
Irate bloggers: Michelle Malkin (Update), Captain’s Quarters (live-blogging – Update), GOP Bloggers, Power Line, Crooks and Liars (this liberal tells the truth), Conservative Outpost, Daily Pundit, Agent Tim…
More bloggers: Three Bad Fingers (Read his bio, too.), Ramblings’ Journal, The Anchoress, Ace of Spades, Pardon My English (round-up with selected quotes and PDF copy of the “deal”), Hugh Hewitt, Scared Monkeys (another nice round-up)…
Bill Frist as Neville Chamberlain. The “peace” heard ’round the world.
The Political Teen has video here and here.
John McCain gains the spotlight just in time for his new movie! What a publicity stunt!
It’s times like this I’m glad I’m not a member of the Republican party. I am a conservative through and through.
Update: Sometimes comments get stuck in the moderation cue for unknown reasons. If you don’t see your comment or trackback, please re-submit or wait until morning when I approve it.
Mr. Reid called it a ‘lucky coincidence’ that the compromise still allows Democrats to filibuster judicial nominees in ‘extraordinary’ circumstances.Asked to give an example of such a circumstance, Mr. Reid said, “If President Bush violates the spirit of bipartisanship by nominating a conservative to the bench, that would be deal buster leading to a filibuster.”
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Update (5/23): Blogging may resume later today, definitely tomorrow, readers. I’m busy earning the palace right now. By the way, I did a radio interview Saturday afternoon on KSFO in San Francisco. Discussed was Vicente Fox’s misplaced apology to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.
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…as long as you spell my name right:
Conservative bloggers, in particular, were apoplectic over the Newsweek lapse. Glenn Reynolds, whose InstaPundit.com is perhaps the most influential right-leaning blog, linked to a rant by Dean Esmay charging that “the press is not on our side in the war…. You guys are enemy propagandists. It’s just who you are. It’s nice that you’ve at least stopped pretending.” Another, the increasingly prominent religious-right blogger La Shawn Barber (?), pushed this line of reasoning to its logical conclusion, writing, “Whether Americans flushed the Koran down the toilet is irrelevant. Newsweek should not have reported it, even if true. It’s common sense, people. Those journalists knew how Muslims would react! Why would you hurt your own country and risk more deaths just to report this ‘fact’? To what end???”To what end? Well, the truth — in this case, the truth about how Muslim detainees are being treated in the secret prison at Guantánamo Bay. It’s too bad that Barber has so little regard for that truth. Unfortunately, Newsweek’s regard for the truth was only slightly greater than hers. (Emphasis added)
And a link would have been nice. 
By the way, the whole world knows about the prison at Guantanamo Bay, so how is it a secret?
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Mike Krempasky of RedState.org reminds bloggers and readers that the comment period for proposed Federal Election Commission (FEC) rules is almost up.
You may recall back in March we learned that the FEC was considering new rules that would regulate political communication on the Internet under the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform law, which means that bloggers would be subject to the regulations as well. Political blogging (news and commentary) and linking to political sites could be considered campaign activity. Such regulations would seriously curtail the flow of free expression in political debates and discussions.
A bipartisan group of bloggers drafted an online petition urging the FEC to grant bloggers a media exemption and “that the FEC promulgate a rule exempting unpaid political activity on the Internet from regulation, thereby guaranteeing every American’s right to speak freely and participate in our democratic process.”
Fundamental to our system of government is the freedom of speech to criticize our government, elected officials, each other, and to support our candidates of choice without being fined and penalized for the privilege. In March I wrote that this threat to our First Amendment rights is something liberal and conservative bloggers and readers can agree on. Let’s stand together.
For background on this issue, see these related posts:
- Bloggers United Against the FEC – Online Coalition
- FEC v. The Loud and Unruly
- Liberal and Conservative Bloggers United
Also see RedState.org’s FEC category and Protect Online Political Speech.
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From Star Parker’s latest column in the Naples Daily News (reg. req. — To bypass, use BugMeNot):
No one can devise a formula for getting rich. But I can devise a formula for getting poor. Don’t work. Convince yourself that your life reflects the decisions of others and not yours. Be the perennial victim.This is the toll that the welfare state has taken on blacks. It introduced a culture of poverty. Most Americans, regardless of race, trace their lineage to someone who was poor. Being poor is not a predictor of being in favor of government programs. However, thinking a government program is the answer to life’s challenges is a good way to stay poor. (Emphasis added)
Related posts:
- How Not To Be Poor
- The Mission: Middle-Class vs. Lower-Class Families
- Cowboy Capitalism
- Blessed Are The Poor in Spirit
Also see Protect Online Political Speech.
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Lots of stuff going on today, but I don’t feel like blogging. I’m going offline to read a book or something. I invite you to comment about whatever you want. Is there something you want others to know? An interesting post or article you want people to see? Maybe you want to sound off on an issue I haven’t blogged about this week. Now’s your chance. The thread is open.
Suggestions:
- Last night’s “CSI” season finale — Good acting. I felt so sorry for Nick. George Eads will be nominated for an Emmy, I predict.
- Will Linda Foley get away with accusing “the military” of assassinating journalists?
- The Pepsi controversy?
- Absolutely SICK!
- Have you seen “Revenge of the Sith,” and if so, what did you think? I heard it stinks. Read Donald Sensing’s review.
- Oliver Willis lists LBC among the right wing blogs (but doesn’t link) that aren’t buzzing about remarks made by Rick Santorum. Honestly, the first time I heard about the controversy was this morning. But why include me? Interesting. Captain Ed obliges.
[Note: Oh, brother! Listen to this. Indra Nooyi, president of PepsiCo, spoke to Columbia U's Business School graduates (PDF copy of her speech), and leftist that she is, implied that the United States was giving the world the finger! This is her lame, revisionist, damage-control explanation:
"As part of this illustration, I assigned five of the world’s continents to the different fingers and thumb. I refer to North America and particularly the U.S. as the middle finger because it is the longest and anchors every function the hand performs. The middle finger also is key to all the fingers working together effectively. That is how I view America’s place of importance in the world."
Do you believe that's what she meant???]
Update: I suddenly feel like blogging. Check this out:
When ace reporter Michael Isikoff had the scoop of the decade, a thoroughly sourced story about the president of the United States having an affair with an intern and then pressuring her to lie about it under oath, Newsweek decided not to run the story. Matt Drudge scooped Newsweek, followed by The Washington Post.When Isikoff had a detailed account of Kathleen Willey’s nasty sexual encounter with the president in the Oval Office, backed up with eyewitness and documentary evidence, Newsweek decided not to run it. Again, Matt Drudge got the story….So apparently it’s possible for Michael Isikoff to have a story that actually is true, but for his editors not to run it.
Why no pause for reflection when Isikoff had a story about American interrogators at Guantanamo flushing the Quran down the toilet? Why not sit on this story for, say, even half as long as NBC News sat on Lisa Meyers’ highly credible account of Bill Clinton raping Juanita Broaddrick?
Good questions, all. This is what I was talking about when I said Newsweek didn’t have to report the Koran story and that reporters make such decisions all the time. They can be discerning when they want to be.
Update II: Blogging is steering Jeff Jarvis’s professional life in a new direction. It’s an amazing new medium, one that’s changed my career path, too.
LA SHAWN BARBER came up as the #1 search for Linda Foley on Google
….though it probably won’t be the case by tomorrow morning.
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A journalist named Linda Foley, president of the Newspaper Guild, has been caught on tape pulling an Eason Jordan. Watch and listen to her make vile, inflammatory, and unsubstantiated claims about American troops military (Pardon me!) targeting Arab journalists on this RealAudio video.
As reported on WorldNetDaily:
According to a tape of her remarks, Foley said: “Journalists, by the way, are not just being targeted verbally or … ah, or … ah, politically. They are also being targeted for real, um … in places like Iraq. What outrages me as a representative of journalists is that there’s not more outrage about the number, and the brutality, and the cavalier nature of the U.S. military toward the killing of journalists in Iraq.”Foley continued, “They target and kill journalists … uh, from other countries, particularly Arab countries like Al -, like Arab news services like al-Jazeera, for example. They actually target them and blow up their studios with impunity. …”
Developing…
Update (5:15 p.m.): I called the Newspaper Guild (202.434.7177) a few minutes ago to speak to Linda Foley and/or someone willing to go on the record, and I got a message saying something like, “Due to the number of calls that we believe are a coordinated effort to tie up the line, we regret that we cannot answer your call. Please leave a message and someone will…”
That’s a paraphrase, by the way. I called back to try to take down the message verbatim, and I got the “Our office hours are 8:30 to 4:30…Please leave your name, number…” message. I left a message the first time, and I e-mailed Linda Foley for comment.
Bloggers: Andi’s World, Donald Sensing, Wizbang, InTheBullpen, Euphoric Reality, The Blue State Conservatives, The Word Unheard, Rathergate.com, JunkYardBlog, Another Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, International Entertainment News, Captain’s Quarters, Say Anything, The Writing Company, Ankle Biting Pundits…
More at Editor & Publisher. This is what she told them:
When asked if she believed U.S. troops had targeted journalists in Iraq, she said, “I was careful of not saying troops, I said U.S. military. Could I have said it differently? There are 100 different ways of saying this, but I’m not sure they would have appeased the right.”
The back-pedaling starts…now.
Update II (8:34 p.m.): The Political Teen has video of an O’Reilly Factor interview with the writers who broke the story.
Update III (5/20): Michelle (subbing for O’Reilly tonight) and Lorie Byrd (Update) have joined the swarm. I’ll have more to say about Linda Foley later today. And I’m not expecting a returned phone call or e-mail from the Newspaper Guild.
We can never have too many videos of this woman.
Jim Geraghty asks: “At this point, is ‘Newsweek’ really journalism?”
Andi’s on. Check her out.
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You may recall that a Boston radio station was planning to remove “Newsweek on Air” from its line-up but decided to do it sooner than planned because of the magazine’s outlandish “reporting.” Pundit Review says the station is replacing the show with one that promotes bloggers.
I like it.
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Jimmie at The Sundries Shack makes an interesting observation about how the feds are required to handle the Koran:
[I]t must be treated “like a fragile piece of delicate art”, and that no such policy exists for the most sacred book of any other religion….That caused me to ask myself why our self-appointed First Amendment guardians aren’t all over this? Where are Barry Lynn and the ACLU and the other usual suspects?I mean, it sure seems to me that a special set of rules that applies only to the Koran would seem like a pretty obvious violation of the First Amendment….In fairness, First Amendment originalists like me would likely say that what the Pentagon has done doesn’t violate the First Amendment because it’s not actually Congress (you know, that whole “Congress shall make no law…†phrase). But that’s not been the way our courts have decided to interpret the Establishment clause in the past 30 years or so.
We have to pick and choose our battles in this life, and this is one fight I’ll gladly pass by…after I’ve had my say.
God tells us that the words in the Bible are written in the hearts of believers. The ink and paper are only a vehicle, how those words are transmitted, but the book itself is not a sacred object. God is the one who receives reverence, not any physical thing. Not a cross, not a crucifix, not a picture, not a book…nothing. Object worship is forbidden in Christianity.
There was an Old Testament admonition against the “unclean thing,” both physically and spiritually. Israel, as God’s chosen people, were to live apart from others in the land. They were not to mix with unbelievers and had to avoid them. Under the ceremonial law, they had to wash themselves and objects they were handling. Certain things were to be avoided altogether as unclean, such as dead bodies and blood. Whoever touched them had to cleanse themselves and remain separated from the people for a time.
The ceremonial laws, like many commands in the Old Testament, were signs pointing to the work of Christ. When Christ came, he’d separate believers and unbelievers spritiually, not physically. Believers today should still avoid physical uncleanliness, like fornication and drunkenness, and churches that have fallen into apostasy. But we’re no longer required to avoid physical objects or live apart from unbelievers. Jesus himself ate with “unclean” sinners and was castigated by the “religious” Jews for it.
Our separateness is spiritual. For instance, believers are not to marry unbelievers or partner with them in “spiritual” ventures, such as forming a church or counseling center, for example. We are in the world but not of it. Unlike the Israelites of the Old Testament, today’s believers are commissioned to proselytize, to share the Gospel with the world.
Physical objects are not to revered or worshiped, and they hold no “sacred” power. Islam obviously teaches something entirely different. I think it’s ridiculous for the United States to cater to prisoners of war in this way, no matter what their religion. But I don’t run anything except this blog.
My God’s words live in my heart, and no one and no thing can remove or “defile” them. I’d probably cringe if I saw someone tearing pages from a Bible and stuffing them in a toilet, but my concern for the physical object ends there. The person’s spiritual condition is infinitely more important.
Update: Read Why Islam is disrespected.
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Thanks to Andrew Sullivan and Howard Kurtz, my Newsweek post is causing quite a stir on the liberal side of the blogosphere.
But for one update in the post, it would not have gotten much notice. Here’s the offending paragraph:
Update (11:06 a.m.): Let me clear up one thing. Whether Americans flushed the Koran down the toilet is irrelevant. Newsweek should not have reported it, even if true. It’s common sense, people. Those journalists knew how Muslims would react! Why would you hurt your own country and risk more deaths just to report this “fact?†To what end???America-hating
moronsmedia!
I closed comments on the Newsweek post before the controversy erupted but left trackbacks open. I haven’t deleted any liberal blogger’s trackback so far, and I won’t as long as their responses are relatively civil.
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Heads up, fans. The CSI “Las Vegas” season is ending tomorrow night. I usually try to limit TV viewing to that show and “Law & Order,” but sometimes…anyway, I just heard some exciting news. The season finale will last for two whole hours.
The episode is directed by Quentin Tarantino (a Tarantino blog?). What’s up with that? I’ll definitely find out.
A couple of years ago while visiting my family in South Carolina, I was minding my own business one night when my mother says, “Here’s your guy.” My guy? Must be some attractive actor, I thought. I was correct. She was referring to the handsome Gary Dourdan. Woo! I have only one problem with him, though. If he ever asked for my advice, I’d tell him to cut his hair. Anyway, so I watched the show that night just to see him, and I got hooked. On the show, not him.
“CSI” is good TV. Check it out.
Addendum: This is why my TV should be off as much as possible. Just found out that something called, “Star Wars: Empire of Dreams” will be on A&E tonight at 10:00 p.m. It’s a documentary about the first three movies; that is, Episodes IV, V and VI. With Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, a young and handsome Harrison Ford, and the rest. A return to childhood…for a couple of hours. 
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Jonathan V. Last wrote a fascinating article called, “The Case for the Empire.” Last is the online editor for the The Weekly Standard and a blogger at Galley Slaves.
[Note: I didn't realize the article was written in 2002. I wondered why it was spoiler-free.]
I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed Sci-Fi speculation, analysis, and present-day analogies. Last turns the “Star Wars” morality play on its head, arguing that the Empire, not the Republic or the Rebel Alliance, is the best way to run a galaxy. He acknowledges that it’s a difficult case to make, given the Empire-in-black theme and apparently murderous activities of Darth Vader and his “Dark Side” minions. His argument is convincing, though.
At the beginning of the saga in 1977, we see a young Luke Skywalker, restless on his uncle’s farm, suddenly thrown into a galactic adventure. Episodes I-III (which I didn’t see) provide the back story, which is where Last begins. He discusses the ineffectiveness of the Senate and compares the Republic itself to our own ineffectual United Nations. The only “armed” protectors of the galaxy, run by the Republic, are Jedi Knights, whose power (The Force) is inherited. Separatists, who “seem genuinely to want to make a fresh start with a government that isn’t bloated and dysfunctional,” want to break away from the Republic and control their own destinies. Sound familiar?
Darth Vader’s “evil” Empire seizes control of the galaxy some time between “Attack of the Clones” and the 1977 movie. Last writes:
Lucas wants the Empire to stand for evil, so he tells us that the Emperor and Darth Vader have gone over to the Dark Side and dresses them in black.But look closer. When Palpatine is still a senator, he says, “The Republic is not what it once was. The Senate is full of greedy, squabbling delegates. There is no interest in the common good.” At one point he laments that “the bureaucrats are in charge now.” [Sound familiar?]….Make no mistake, as emperor, Palpatine is a dictator–but a relatively benign one, like Pinochet. It’s a dictatorship people can do business with. They collect taxes and patrol the skies. They try to stop organized crime (in the form of the smuggling rings run by the Hutts). The Empire has virtually no effect on the daily life of the average, law-abiding citizen.
Also, unlike the divine-right Jedi, the Empire is a meritocracy. The Empire runs academies throughout the galaxy (Han Solo begins his career at an Imperial academy), and those who show promise are promoted, often rapidly.
Last presents evidence that the Empire isn’t the evil beast it’s made out to be, while acknowledging that it certainly appears so. For example, when the Empire destroyed Princess Leia’s planet, I remember gasping at the sight of it blowing up (80s-era special effects weren’t bad). A whole planet vaporized. Everyone on it, including those you loved, gone in an instant. But Leia was a rebel, liar, and lawbreaker who hid other rebels. And she was a spy.
About all the other killings, Last says, “Whatever the case, the important thing to recognize is that the Empire is not committing random acts of terror. It is engaged in a fight for the survival of its regime against a violent group of rebels who are committed to its destruction.” Good stuff.
After the Jedi prevail and the Empire is crushed, the galaxy is back to square one: Run by a disparate group of regional authorities who answer to no one. At least under Darth Vader, they had to answer to him (or suffer unpleasant consequences). Like it or not, he provided order and stability.
Last concludes with perhaps an unintentional comparison to present-day politicians who fancy themselves rebels — Democrats (the way I see it, anyway):
In all of the time we spend observing the Rebel Alliance, we never hear of their governing strategy or their plans for a post-Imperial universe…Their victory over the Empire doesn’t liberate the galaxy–it turns the galaxy into Somalia writ large: dominated by local warlords who are answerable to no one.
Isn’t order preferable to chaos even when scores of people (rebels) are killed in the name of “Empire?” The rule-of-law concept has proven to be liberating and better than any other system of government. Agree or disagree?
I could tell Last was really into writing this article, which made it all the more fun to read. Does that make me a Sci-Fi nerd? I can live with that.
Addendum: SPOILER ALERT! John Podhoretz hates the new movie. Very funny. But if you plan on seeing the movie, DON’T READ HIS ARTICLE.
Totally Unrelated Update: For someone on hiatus, Andrew Sullivan sure gets a lot of traffic.
He and I had a brief e-mail exchange a few months ago on the issue of homosexual “marriage.” We’re both firmly fixed in our respective positions, but I appreciated the dialogue.
Read Star Wars Memories.
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