July 20, 2002

I was delighted to see that MartinRothOnline.com has added me to his list of Christian blogs.

As you know, it has pained me to see more than quite a few atheists on line, most of whom seem quite aggressive and defiant about their Godlessness and in America, one is perfectly free to hold those views, but we are free, too, to practice our Faith in the blogosphere and since I found Martin's site, I now know that there's an Army of Christians out in the "Blue Nowhere", as well.

I'm a life-long Protestant, by creed, but I seem to remember the Pope blessing the Web in the past year or so and he's even named a patron Saint for it!

In my mind, the Internet should be the province of St. Paul because he was the one who communicated by letters and I think if he were alive today, he might even have a blog.

I hope my Christian brother and sisters will pray for me and have patience, because I am a sinner and nowhere close to perfection (God isn't finished with me yet! I'm a Work-in-Progress!)

Also, I am often too much "of the world" and I have and will slip into the profane, rather than the sacred, and for that I ask the Lord's forgiveness and yours when that happens!

This blog is my contribution to the War Effort and I also have offered it up for the Glory of God.

"The Lord moves in mysterious ways..." and I think now He often moves on DSL and T1 lines over cyber space.

God Bless you and may He Bless America!

We are one nation UNDER GOD whether the atheists want to claim it or not and as George Washington said and President Bush repeated at his Inauguration,
we have no King but Jesus!
Update: Apparently some of my fellow bloggers have stumbled across this and misunderstood my "under God" statement to mean that I will fight to the death for the right to say the Pledge of Allegiance that way or something when what I really mean is that our country, along with the rest of the world, is LITERALLY under God, pledge or no pledge.

July 19, 2002

Iranian demonstrators pass over the Hafez bridge during an anti-U.S. rally in Tehran, Friday, July 19, 2002. Tens of thousands of Iranians took to the streets of the capital Tehran on Friday, condemning President Bush for criticizing their government with calls of "Death to America" and "Death to Bush." (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi

It seems President Bush's statement last week encouraging democratic reforms in Iran (with a little help from our Blogburst Open Letter to the People of Iran! See below.) got "secular" President Khatami and the mullahs in Iran upset, so they rounded up some idle Iranians (of which they have plenty due to their failed economy and lack of jobs) and either paid them or used a little persuasion of the Kalishnikov kind to get them out in the streets to once again cry "Death to America!"
Looks like the movement for Freedom in Iran may be getting somwhere after all if the Khatami regime felt obliged to do this!

By the way, here's a new link to a translation to our Open Letter to the People of Iran in FARSI and Arabic!
Thanks again, to John Weidner of Random Jottings and Pejman Pundit!
Open Letter to the people of Iran

Looks like those EU-roweenies didn't hear Jimmy Carter say how human rights were so respected in Cuba (except for Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Speech, just to name the 2 Carter did). Ever since the Empire of Evil ceased to exist, I think Castro's Cuba has been subsisting on this EU Aid.
They'd better sell a lot of cigars to make for this new loss of revenue!
Europe Excludes Cuba From Aid Funds
Europe Excludes Cuba From Aid Funds
Poor Human Rights Record and Lack of Democracy Cited As Reasons

President and Mrs. Bush held their 2nd State Dinner at the White House Thursday night for the President of Poland Aleksander Kwasniewski and his lovely wife Jolanta.
First Lady Laura was wearing Oscar de la Renta's designed dress (Good one! Don't let Hitlery keep him as THE guy, plus you're so much prettier and more gracious than she!)
In wartime, when the images are recently and often so ugly, it's nice to see our leaders dress up and enjoy Life's Banquet of delights like good food, music, and conversation once in a while.

"A Jewish girl cries during prayers at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on July 18, 2002 as Jews commemorate Tisha B'va, the day when their first biblical temple was destroyed. Israeli plans to ease a military crackdown in the West Bank were put on hold after a double Palestinian suicide bombing that killed three people in Tel Aviv. "(Nir Elias/Reuters)
Good Lord willing, sweet girl, you can smile someday very soon.
Never forget that Jesus himself cried over Jerusalem and the suffering that he knew was ahead for the Jewish people.
We continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

Thanks to Charles Johnson again over at littlegreenfootballs (and if you haven't discovered the joys of littlegreenfootballs, you're really missing something!), I found this piece on the current Visa Express drama at the State Dept in today's WSJ:

Siege of State
It's a must read!
What began as a few quiet pieces of investigative journalism by NRO's Joel Mowbray on the State Department's too easy process of virtually handing out American visas to Saudis, called Visa Express, is now turning into a proper tsunami for State Department reform, as well it should!
Because of Visa Express, according to this article, "A single Foreign Service Officer in the Jeddah consulate issued 10 of the visas to the Saudi hijackers! Unbelievable!
As the op-ed stresses, rational minds (like most of we clear-thinking Americans!) would suppose that the State Department would have shut this program down on September 12.
On the contrary, even under heavy critical fire, the State Dept. is defending Visa Express almost to their own deaths!
And it's certainly meant career death for poor Mary Ryan, who it's obvious now was asked by State to "fall on her sword" to protect her higher-ups like Richard Boucher.
Now, there's talk at State about "Conservatives" not being happy unless another "neo-Nazi" (and by that is meant someone who will protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and not the "honor" of the House of Saud) is appointed as Ryan and others' replacements when the long-overdue house-cleaning takes place.
SOS Colin Powell doesn't have time to babble about his version of a "Palestinian" "state."
He's got a big job ahead of him or maybe not....(Why does the idea of Hercules cleaning out the Augean stables come to mind?)
Powell can either take charge, cause heads to roll and stop programs and policies like Visa Express now and forever or he risks having State lose its power to issue visas to foreigners and having it subsumed under the new Homeland Security Bill, which is probably where it belongs anyway.
When State is filled with whining, liberal One World-er career diplomats (whom I dare say became entrenched under Billy Jeff Blythe Klintoon and his "people") who care more about coddling foreign visitors than they do the safety and welfare of their fellow citizens, than Houston, we do have a BIG problem!
And once again, to Joel Mowbray, GOD BLESS YOU!
this, even if it meant you being "detained" at State last week!

July 18, 2002

Tonight we have 2 reports that the Battle against Islamists is ramping up:United Press International: US to sell Israel 1,000 JDAMs:

WASHINGTON, July 18 (UPI) -- At a time when Boeing is racing to fill a back order for Joint Direct Attack Munition bombs for the U.S. military, the Pentagon announced Thursday it is preparing to sell Israel 1,000 JDAM tail kits to be attached to Israel's arsenal of "dumb" bombs, making them into precision strike weapons.

I'd say this is definitely a "Heads Up" to Assan of Syria-Lebanon and Hezbollah NOT to mess with Israel!
And then there's our Military (Go USA!) staging War Games:

Mock battle in SoCal and Nevada to test battle technology

By SETH HETTENA Associated Press Writer
(Published Thursday, July, 18, 2002, 3:10 PM)

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Preparations are underway in Southern California and Nevada for the largest military experiment in U.S. history.

The Millennium Challenge 2002, which begins next week, was mandated by Congress to help U.S. forces prepare for future wars.

About 13,500 troops from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines will use the latest in military hardware in a simulation of what planners believe the battlefield could look like in five years.
....Just as remarkable is the fact that all four branches of the military - often riven by intraservice rivalries - are working on the same page.

Saddam, we're coming.

Choirs to perform rolling 'Requiem' to honor attack victims

I have chills already...

Someone marvelous in Seattle has come up with the sublime idea of honoring the victims of 9/11 by performing a "rolling" version of Mozart's "Requiem" (which I think is one of the most perfect pieces of music in existence!) on Sept. 11, 2002.
The plan is to have choirs all over the world perform the Requiem beginning at 8:46 (the time when Islamokaze Mohammed Atta's plane hit the first WTC tower) in the time zone they're in.
So far, 30 choirs from the USA, Europe, Central America and Asia have signed up to participate and 125 more are giving it serious consideration.
In addition to singing the Requiem, choir members will each wear badges with the name of one of the victims.
Here's their website Rolling Requiem where you can find out how to join a choir near you and/or can donate a few dollars(it's tax deductible) or just show them your support.

Pejman Pundit again also caught this story in The Guardian (yeah, I know, the British Pravda):
Banks to shut doors on Saudi Royal Cash
This is an odd story about the increasing refusal, in the wake of 9/11, of Western European banks to handle the cash deposits of the Saudi Royal Family.
With the Guardian's crackerjack objectivity, they attempt to say that it's because the banks fear that the Sauds are "politically exposed persons" whose assets very well could be confiscated in the near future.
They supposedly base this policy move on several bitter experiences with similar "PEP"s in the past: Marcos of the Phillipines, Mobutu of Zaire and General Sani Abacha of Nigeria.
What the Guardian does not say is that the banks are doing this to cooperate with the U.S. in the War on (Islamist) Terrorism.
It does seem to imply, as Pejman concludes, that there will soon be a coup d'?tat there.
What the article leaves out is that the Saudis may have been doing some refusing to these banks of their own.
According to this article, they're stowing their vast fortunes away in Liechtenstein, but I seem to remember reading that the Arabs were setting up their own banks in either Qatar or the U.A.E. or both...(?).
Obviously, the Islamist world is circling the wagons and part of this has to do with the Islamic ban on conventional (monetary) interest which they regard as a fraudulent practice of their hated Jewish brothers and sisters.
So, of course, the alternative for them, as xenophobic as they have become in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks and as unwelcome as their business has become to the West, is to set up their own Islamic banks.
Hmmmm.

While you may know that I'm no fan of the Christian Science Monitor, respected fellow blogger Pejman Pundit found this little gem there about the Voice of America's new project, called Radio Sawa (Sawa means "together" in Arabic):

Rays of hope in reaching the young Arab mind .
Launched just this year by our government and at a cost of $35 Million, it's a radio station that plays all over the Middle East a mix of popular Arabic and Western music interspersed with uncensored news.
We now know from their testimony how much the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe meant to people in the Soviet Union and its satellites when they were under the boot of Communism, so I wouldn't discount the potential for Radio Sawa to effect "hearts and minds" in countries where its unlikely to get flesh and blood ambassadors like Peace Corps workers.
(Many former Soviets said that the music on the VOA that spoke to them most of Freedom was JAZZ. Jazz is distinctly American and is based on improvisation, itself a use of musical freedom.)
Check out this email from a young Iraqi Radio Sawa listener in Baghdad:

"My examinations are so soon so I stay up late at night, so I found in magic and charming way that your radio programs show my most old and new favorite songs. And many friends listen to you every day. I wish to be a permanent friend."

President Bush promised us back in his State of the Nation address that we would do things like this.
I'm delighted to see my tax dollars at work!

U.S. Jobless claims fall to 18-month low
This is a link to CBS Market Watch, which is also reporting today that Sears brought in Quarter 2 profits above expectations!
Add that to other solid quarterly winners like Boeing and Johnson and Johnson, all Great American companies!
I think Apple Computers (my love!) is going to do well and has already begun stealing market share from MSN and Gates! (Go Steve Jobs!).
Because I have my M.B.A., I follow the stock market all the time.
But I never felt more compelled to both make money and show my support of my country than I did after 9/11.
So, I was one of those people who bought stock--and for me, it was the very first time--on that first Monday when Wall Street re-opened after the attacks, September 17(?).
I bought stock in Krispy Kreme Donuts and sold the shares a few months later--at a profit of $12/share! Whoo-Hoo!
In the months since, I also made some modest investments in Apple stock and Amazon.com,too, and sold them for a sweet profit.
Now, I've got some small holdings in Earthlink and Yahoo and I'm holding them and feeling pretty good about it!
I pity the people who are counting the United States out by pulling their capital from our stock market.
I don't think these are Americans.
I think these are EU-roweenie cynics and Middle Eastern Fake Sheiks!
There was a rumor on Wall Street on that post-9/11 Monday that Bin Laden and his rich, but evil pals had sold the airline stocks short in huge amounts and that that is why the Dow and the market dropped like a stone that day!
Personally, I wouldn't doubt it.
I *thought* there was supposed to be an SEC/FBI investigation of that but never heard what they found.
Inquiring and suspicious minds want to know what happened!
To connect up then and now, I just want to emphasize that Wall Street is being influenced right now by many things, but very few of them have to do with the productivity and solvency of the American Economy, which is roaring.
No recession here! In fact, I think we've entered into a time of unprecedented prosperity, perhaps greater than any we've ever known.
And when we hit Iraq, watch the Dow go "Schwing!"
Up in the stratosphere!
So, I'd buy now while these stocks are cheap.

'Missile man' elected India's president
The Beeb assures us all that the position of Prez in India is largely "ceremonial," but... the overwhelming majority of Indian legislators today voted in the retired architect of India's nuclear missile project and its 3rd Muslim head of state, Abdul Kalam.
With all the little "problems" that India has been having with Pakistan over Kashmir, let's hope that new President Kalam never goes NUCLEAR over anything!
Although with he and Musharraf both being Muslim, maybe they can find common ground over Kashmir after all.
Let's hope they're both Suni or both Shi'a Muslims.

July 17, 2002

I had to have someone Jewish explain it to me, but today is a holy day called Tisha B'Av.
Check out this meaning and history of Tisha B'Av at the Jewish Virtual Library.
From the website:

Tisha B'Av, the Fast of the Ninth of Av, is a day of mourning to commemorate the many tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people, many of which coincidentally have occurred on the ninth of Av.

So, the "Palis" had to add to that suffering today. Wonderful.
The Devil can't stoke the fires of Hell hot enough for Arafat and his "folks"as far as I'm concerned!

BBC News: Fatal Explosions rock Tel Aviv
Note: I changed the number of those killed, because the BBC was including the Islamokaze bombers in their total of victims killed.
Once you've blown yourself up, as well as your "targets", for Allah and the 72 virgins, you've ceased to count in my book.

Breaking News: 2 bombs have gone off in Tel Aviv.
I don't have any details, but they're reporting that many people are injured. I don't know how many killed yet.

Morocco tells Spain to leave island
Well, it's not like I didn't tell you that possession of the teeny island near the Straits of Gibraltar wouldn't be a "hot spot!"
Spain sent some troops yesterday to take the island of Perejil back from the dozen or so Moroccans who were occupying it.
Now, the Moroccans say the Spanish troops must leave.
I don't think so!
Spain has had control of this place since 1668 and its strategic importance is immeasurable.
Hold fast, Spain, and get Britain to help you!
You know it wasn't easy getting the Moors out the last time!
What's fairly amusing about the dispute is that the Spanish are appealing to the EU for help with the problem, while the Moroccans are taking their case to the U.N.!

Alert Aussi blogster Tim Blair found this interesting item in today's Guardian:
Chirac Gunman had links with Combat 18
Combat 18 is a British white supremacist group. Anti-Semitic, of course.
Word now has it that Maxime Brunerie, the would-be Chirac assassin, posted a message at Combat 18's website hinting at his plans for the next day's Bastille Day parade and pledging "Death to ZOG," ZOG standing for "Zionist Occupation Government."
How the death of Jacques Chirac would further the "Palestinian Cause" is not explained.
And, not suprisingly, Brunerie has also been tied to an attempt at gaining election to a municipal office as a member of the National Republican Movement, a "far right" party with ties to (Wait for it)...Jean-Marie Le Pen. What a shock. NOT.
(Didn't we all know this was only a matter of time? To the Guardian, there is no greater crime than be affiliated with Le Pen or whatever they term the "far right" which is anything more conservative than Soviet Marxism.)
What's curious to me is that French politics are so strange that the far Left meets the far Right coming around the bend.
Politicos like Le Pen and Bruno Megret, leader of the Nat'l Republican Movement, are either open anti-Semites or at best dismissive of pro-Israeli interests while being at the same time Anti-immigration which in France equates with being Anti-Arab.
Whose side are these people really on--that of the Islamists or that of the Jewish people?
I dare say they are on the side only of the French!
If I were either an Arab or a Jew in France with aspirations of control and power, I wouldn't take my chances with the native, self-obsessed Gallic citizenry!

July 16, 2002

Have a gander at this report:

Spain warns Morocco over disputed isle
Late last week, "militant" Moroccans (can we assume they're Islamist? Oh, yes!) moved into the island just across the Strait of Gibraltar and refused to leave, even though the Spanish have ordered them to get out and they even sent a little Spanish Armada out over the weekend.
Strange that this would come at a time when Spain and Britain have been arguing over the rights to Gibraltar,too.
And strange also how Al Queda and its Islamist friends LOVE these "gray" territorial areas, like Kashmir and "Palestine."
The only problem being that the Free World needs to have Gibraltar in friendly hands for open access to the Mediterranean.
Just what we need: Another instance of Islamist encroachment and "freedom fighting."
And Bin Laden and his boys have waxed nostalgic of late about the glory days when the Moors controlled Spain....

From the article:

The Danish presidency of the European Union weighed in on Sunday and demanded that Morocco pull back the soldiers, while the 22-member Arab League threw its support behind Morocco.

For those of you who'd like to see the Blogging Community's Open Letter to the Iranian People in FARSI, please click here:
http://zahra-hb.blogspot.com.
Thanks to Zahra and John Weidner, our leader of the Blogburst, at RandomJottings .

Iran, Let Freedom Ring!

Belgian banks to pay Jewish community $54 million in damages from property lost by the country's Jewish citizens during the Nazi Occupation.
Well, I almost don't know how to comment about this.
First off, this doesn't begin to approach the dollar value of the property Belgian Jews lost from the Nazis.
Secondly, how many of the victims and their families are either still alive or can even be found to make this compensation?
It's too little, too late.
And of course, it can't bring the ones lost in the death camps back, which is the greatest loss of all.
More puzzling, however, is the fact that the Belgians would do this, while giving support and aid to Arafat and the PA via the EU and the U.N.
Also, recent European opinion polls still show that too many people there believe that the Holocaust was a "lie" or didn't happen or that if it did, the victims and their families should be quiet about it.
Schizophrenia is the King of the EU.

Israeli attack Update:

Ha'aretz: Immanuel Bus Attack

It was worse than I thought: the "Palestinian" Islamist killers first set off an explosive device or devices, then when the passengers tried to leave the bus, they opened fire.
Apparently, the murderers were dressed as IDF officers!
This must not stand.

At least 7 dead, 30 wounded in Attack on Israeli bus near Emanuel

"Palestinian" gunmen opened fire on an Israeli bus.
You know the rest.
R.I.P. nice Israeli civilians. (I don't know how to say Kadesh, regrets to my Jewish friends.)
Looks like Arafat isn't ready to give the Initfada up just yet.

July 15, 2002

The Million Cookies Project: Aid for Israel's Terror Victims

Rally around the tastiest Tzedakah Project of all time!
The Israel Emergency Solidarity Fund is teaming up with Levana Kirschenbaum, CO-owner of New York's famous Levana Restaurant to bake and sell 1,000,000 gourmet chocolate chip cookies - to raise $500,000 for the families of Israel's terror victims. The cookies are all natural, delicious and U kosher parve.

Being a Gentile, I don't have to worry about them being Kosher, but I just put in my order for 2 boxes. Can't wait!

Iran's Khatami calls for U.S. Apology
No, it's not Geraldine Ferraro debating President Bush 41.
It's Iranian President Khatami denouncing President Bush 43's call for democratic changes in the Iranian government.
Khatami also wants an apology for "past misdeeds," including
this "recent" occurence:

Referring to the history of Iran-U.S. ties, the reformist president cited the 1953 U.S.-engineered military coup against the national government of Mohammad Mosaddeq as a thorny issue in relations between the two countries.

You have got to be kidding!!! How in hell are we supposed to make up something that allegedly happened almost 50 years ago!
This is like Osama citing the Cairo Conference of 1921 as one of the reasons for the 9/11 attacks, which the United States was not even a party to!

WaPo: Lindh Admits Guilt to Two Charges

Whoo-Hoo! Looks like that traitor John Walker bin Laden has changed his plea to Guilty!
Boy, the government must have had the goods on him!!! (Yeah, like he was doing WHAT exactly when Mike "Johnny" Spann got killed when he was with him?! Rest in peace, Mike.)

That murdering Muslim dirtbag Sheik Omar got the DEATH penalty today in Pakistan.
His murdering compadrés got 25 year sentences, but I think they should've gotten Death,too.
Guess Musharraf didn't want to risk too much public outcry.
Even though Omar'll be hanged, that's a "better" death than Daniel Pearl got. Bastards.
Rest in Peace, Daniel.
Have a nice, long time in Hell, Omar!
(Oh, and he had to add some more death threats to we "infidels" today while he had the opportunity. Yawn.)
Pearl murderer defiant after verdict

Joel's hitting all the cable news shows with his "detention" story (see below).
Seems that the reason Mowbray was "detained" at State was because he quoted from a private cable he received from the U.S. Ambassador to Saudi saying that they wanted to end the Visa Express program and Mowbray brought this up when State said just the opposite!
We don't need our State Dept. wonks trying to cover their ass on something THIS important to our National Security!
And Mowbray's "almost famous": he made the WSJ today,too!
Check it out at "State of Embarrassment:An American journalist is detained because he questioned Foggy Bottom's Saudi policies".
Joel, you're one of our heroes of the week! Your efforts may very well save some American lives!

Anger at jury reform plans

A British Labour Government White Paper which outlined an overhaul of the British Criminal Justice system was leaked late last week.
Among the OUTRAGEOUS "reforms" proposed was the elimination of trial by jury for thousands of potential criminal defendants and the abolishment of the double jeopardy rule, allowing defendants who have been acquitted to be re-tried for the same crime.
I haven't been to England since 1986, but obviously the place has gone to the dogs. And I don't mean that in an amusing way!
The right of a defendant to be tried by his peers of "12 good men and true" and the right of Double Jeopardy are pillars of our Criminal Justice System which we rightly hold dear.
We, of course, got these legal precedents from English Common Law!
When the very land which gave us these fundamentals of Modern Justice decides to turn its back on them, it is a sad day for the Human Race indeed.
Blair, don't do it! (You might as well do away with the Queen,too!)
and I suppose if Tony eviscerates the British system of Justice, the death of the English Pound for the imposition of the Euro can't be far behind. What a dreadful man.

Skinheads slay Jew outside Toronto pizzeria

Toronto police are calling the murder of this Jewish man a "hate crime" as it was committed by white skinheads.
David Rosenzweig, the victim, reportedly had on a skull cap and was bearded, thus identifying himself as a practicing Jew at the time of his murder.
As I noted below, while (Neo-Nazi) skinheads aren't Arab Islamist males, they could be "honorary ones" as their goals are the same: the killing of as many Jews as possible.
What I find particularly disturbing about this latest incident of hatred of Jews is that it's not confined to Europe anymore or the East, like Daniel Pearl's murder.
This time it's our Neighbor to the North. (Of course, we already have had some kind of taste of this mayhem on private Jewish citizens with Hedayet in L.A.)

Are Mac users smarter?

I would say "Duh!," but that would then belie my newly attributed intelligence!

July 14, 2002

Syria buys arms for Iraq in Eastern Europe

Lord, when, where and how does this Islamist madness end?
Here's the most ironic, nightmarish part of the story:
Syria is the current president....of the UN Security Council!!
When we don't join in the ICC, the whole UN goes ballastic,
yet when Syria plays rogue state in the most alarming way, you don't hear a peep out those Socialists!
I wanna see and hear the OUTRAGE and I especially wanna see it from the usual suspects--the EU members!
[And why can't Iraq buy its own damn arms?! Oh, yeah! I forgot! That whole nasty U.S./U.N./E.U. "sanctions" thing.
More importantly, where does a sh*thole country like Syria get this kind of money?]

Saudis return to "destroy the Jews"call
O.K., the Muslim Sunday is Friday, but... we can't really say that Saudi mullahs suffer from a real *disconnect* from their "congregations," now, can we? And this is from the Grand Pooh-bah in Mecca, so you can bet it's going out on radio all over the world (and they only recently added an English version for listeners like John Walker bin Lindh and cruel shoes owner Richard Reid.)
What does the West have to do to make this kind of "hate speech" stop???
Here's the end of it. Note where the "holy warriors" are who are being "prayed for."

Concluding, the imam prays to God: "O God strengthen Islam and
Muslims, humiliate infidelity and infidels, and destroy the unbelievers,
your enemies, the enemies of Islam. O God, give safety to this country
and to the countries of Muslims."
He goes on: "O God, protect Muslims
in Palestine, Kashmir, Afghanistan, and Chechnya. O God, help the
mujahidin elevate Your word everywhere, strengthen them, and unify their
rank."

And I'd better NOT hear my readers say "Amen!"

I don't know if you've been with me long enough to know about my dental problems, but I'm in the middle of having 4 implants, peridontal work and the accompanying surgeries.
I just read a letter from my Dutch oral surgeon and periodontist saying that due to more stringent INS regulations imposed since the attacks of 9/11, he and his wife (also Dutch and an OB/GYN) have NOT had their visas renewed and must return to Holland.
What a shock! I really liked this guy!
I don't know whether to commend the government, because it shows that they're doing something about our immigrant problem OR...
to assume that NONE of our INS people are truly screening for those troublesome radical Muslim immigrants, mostly male, ages 18-40, mainly from Middle Eastern countries, that are our real concern.
Nice people like this Dutch man, his wife and their 2 small children shouldn't be targeted!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And it's more than just a meme! Can't we assume, without looking too rash, that this is a "typical," Olan Mills-type baby pose in the "Palestinian" areas?


It was found by the IDF during a routine house search in Hebron.

I still have a great love for France, despite their recent delusions and their rash of Anti-Semetic attacks, so in the spirit of Quatorze Juillet, Vive La France--Forget the EU!
Don't know if you know this, but the Bastille Day festivities are sponsored by the Pompiers or Firemen of Paris and this year's parade has been dedicated to the FDNY and their victims of 9/11. A group of the victims' families and FDNY personnel have been the guests of honor in France for this reason.

These are French children posing by an FDNY firetruck yesterday that was going to be featured in today's parade.


Merci!
[On a darker note, they caught a gunman on the parade route trying to take a shot at Jacques Chirac, but here's the shocker: he doesn't look like an Arab male!
Update: But he *is* a Neo-Nazi, which I think is like being an honorary Arab Muslim male.]