Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Me and My Brother Against our Cousin...

The news this morning is that al-Qaeda is the prime suspect in the destruction of the two minarets of the mosque of the Golden Dome in Samara.
BAGHDAD - Suspected al-Qaida insurgents on Wednesday destroyed the two minarets of the Askariya Shiite shrine in Samarra, authorities reported, in a repeat of a 2006 bombing that shattered its famous Golden Dome and unleashed a wave of retaliatory sectarian violence that still bloodies Iraq.

Ah yes, we remember, we held our breath waiting to see if the sectarian you know what would hit the fan and it did. It's been all downhill ever since.
The other big Islamenoma news grabbing the headlines is from the armpit of the Arab world. These clashes between Hamas and Fatah have been very revealing in that the barbarity and cruelty of both sides has seen by all interested parties throughout the world. Anyone who insists that the Palestinians are the innocent victims of the Israeli Occupiers is simply a liar or a fool.

Hamas seizes Fatah security headquarters

By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer

Hundreds of Hamas fighters firing rockets and mortar shells captured the headquarters of the Fatah-allied security forces in northern Gaza on Tuesday, scoring a key victory in the bloody battle for control of the seaside strip.

Both sides said Gaza had descended into civil war. Dozens have been killed since Monday and battles over security positions spread to central Gaza early Wednesday. Gunmen fought for control of high-rise buildings in Gaza City, and Hamas said it seized and bulldozed a key Fatah outpost that controls Gaza's main north-south road.

Tuesday's battles marked a turning point, with Hamas moving systematically to seize Fatah positions in what some in the Islamic militant group said would be a decisive phase in the yearlong power struggle. The confrontations became increasingly brutal in recent days, with some killed execution-style in the streets, others in hospital shootouts or thrown off rooftops.

The conflict escalated further when the Fatah central committee decided to suspend the activities of its ministers in the government it shares with Hamas. In an emergency meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Fatah decided on a full withdrawal if the fighting doesn't stop, said government spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh.

President Mahmoud Abbas accused the Islamic militants of Hamas of trying to stage a coup.

A survivor of the Hamas assault on the northern security headquarters said the Fatah forces were outgunned and reinforcements never arrived. "We were pounded with mortar, mortar, mortar," the Fatah fighter, who only gave his first name, Amjad, said, breathing heavily. "They had no mercy. It was boom, boom. They had rockets that could reach almost half of the compound."

Battles raged across the Gaza Strip during the day. The staccato of gunfire echoed across Gaza City, plumes of smoke rose into the air from far-flung neighborhoods and one firefight sent a dozen preschoolers scrambling for cover.

In a sign of the heightened hostilities, both sides threatened to kill each other's leaders. A rocket-propelled grenade damaged the home of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and four mortar shells slammed into Abbas' Gaza City office. Neither attack caused any injuries.

Desperately trying to boost morale, disorganized Fatah forces attacked Hamas' main TV station, but were repelled after a heavy battle. The station later showed a group of captured men it said were among the attackers, blood streaming down their faces.

Many Gazans, pinned down in their homes, were furious with the combatants. "Both Fatah and Hamas are leading us to death and destruction," said Ayya Khalil, 29, whose husband serves as an intelligence officer. "They don't care about us."

There was concern the fighting might spread to the West Bank, where Fatah has the upper hand, as Hamas notched victories in Gaza. Late Tuesday, Fatah gunmen wounded four Hamas activists in the West Bank city of Nablus, Fatah said in a statement.

In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert proposed stationing international forces along the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt to prevent arms from reaching Palestinian militants, including Hamas. However, he ruled out assistance to Abbas' forces.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate halt to the violence and urged all sides to support Abbas.

The U.N. warned that its efforts to supply refugees with assistance were in jeopardy because of the fighting.

Hamas and Fatah have waged a power struggle in fits and spurts since Hamas won parliamentary elections in January 2006, and Hamas signaled that the fighting was moving into a decisive phase. It ignored pleas by Abbas and exasperated Egyptian mediators to honor a cease-fire.

"Decisiveness will be in the field," said Islam Shahwan, spokesman for the Hamas military wing.

In contrast, Fatah commanders complained they were not given clear orders by Abbas to fight back and that they had no central command. Fatah's strongman in Gaza, Mohammed Dahlan, has spent the last few weeks in Cairo because of a knee injury. Other leading Fatah officials left Gaza for the West Bank after previous rounds of bloodshed.

"There's a difference between leading on the ground and leading by mobile phone," police Col. Nasser Khaldi said of Dahlan's absence. "Hamas is just taking over our positions. There are no orders."

Both sides have been arming themselves in recent weeks, smuggling weapons through tunnels from Egypt.

Abbas accused Hamas leaders of trying to seize control of Gaza by force.

The headquarters of the Fatah-allied security forces in northern Gaza, a key prize for Hamas, was taken by the Islamic militants after several hours of battle. Some 200 Hamas fighters had fired mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns at the compound, where some 500 Fatah loyalists were holed up and returned fire. Thirty-five jeeploads of Fatah fighters were sent as reinforcements. After nightfall, Hamas seized control, said a Hamas commander, Wael al-Shakra.

A Fatah security official confirmed the building had been lost. At least 12 people were killed and 30 wounded in the fighting.

Earlier, Hamas fighters also overran several smaller Fatah positions in Gaza.

Hamas gunmen also exchanged fire with Fatah forces at the southern security headquarters in the town of Khan Younis, but did not launch a major assault there. The town's streets were empty as people huddled inside. One Hamas man was killed, according to Hamas and medical officials.

In Gaza City, Hamas fired mortars and explosives at the pro-Fatah Preventive Security headquarters, drawing return fire from watchtowers in the compound. Elsewhere, Fatah fighters killed four Hamas gunmen in a battle near the besieged house of a senior Fatah commander.

The State Department and the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, warning of a "very dangerous security situation," advised journalists not to travel to Gaza and urged any there to leave.

Even before the current outbreak of violence, no Western correspondents were based in Gaza. As the violence escalated this week, most journalists were staying off the streets, covering the conflict from the windows of high-rise buildings and keeping in touch with their sources by telephone.

Hamas and Fatah have been at odds since the Hamas election victory ended four decades of Fatah rule. The sides agreed to share power in an uneasy coalition three months ago, but put off key disputes, including control over the security forces. Most of the forces are dominated by Fatah loyalists, while Hamas has formed its own militia and has thousands of gunmen at its command.

Beverley Milton-Edwards, a Hamas expert at Queens University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, said Gaza is heading for a final showdown. "This has become the existential battle for the soul of the Palestinian people," Milton-Edwards said.

Brutality has grown in recent days, with people shot at close range in street executions. On Sunday, a member of Abbas' presidential guard, Mohammed Sweirki of Fatah, was kidnapped and hurled off a 15-story apartment building, followed a few hours later by the killing of a Hamas fighter, Abu Kainas, thrown from the roof of a 12-story building in apparent retaliation. In all, more than 80 people have been killed since mid-May, most of them militants.

Human Rights Watch, blamed both sides. "Fatah and Hamas military forces have summarily executed captives, killed people not involved in hostilities, and engaged in gun battles with one another inside and near Palestinian hospitals," the New York-based group said in a statement.


The domestic news is that President Bush is urging lawmakers to take up immigration reform. I guess he wants to see more of our own particular style of civil war.

92 comments:

  1. By this time next week, the MSM will have blamed Israel for the "civil" war; although none will explain how Mafioso can have civil war.

    Let's just hope that dear "Candi" is on a plane to the region as we speak.

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  2. Just as the Border could be secured overnight, and lives could be saved with a Shoot on Site Directive for Border Agents, National Guard, and Local Police, (with advance notification, of course) I wonder where we would be now in Iraq, if those had been the ROEs for Vandals, RPG Haulers, and etc out the outset when we rolled into Baghdad?

    Instead, Trish's favorite Sec Def intoned that Stuff Happens in War, ain't no big thing, and the apologists and cheerleaders (I was once one) came up with the requisite excuses and rationalizations, usually settling on the standard boilerplate that our options were constrained due to the evil MSM and left-wing Wingnuts.

    Bad Media or Political Vibes were then used as the "reason" to call off Fallujah I, leave Sadr Alive, Syria untouched, Waziristan becoming Kandahar East, Stephen Vincent's killers and the multiplying Shiite Death Squads he warned us of immune...

    We all could go on, contribute your favorite non-prosecution of War specific below to add to the list, if you like.

    So we have proved that if you don't do most of the things that have always been done to win wars, the non-war remains un-won.
    Wonder of Wonders!

    And, of course, the Admin is held harmless by the witless right wing blog-followers, since the Dems and the MSM were the reason all this happened.

    The Non-End.

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  3. One of my favorite witless rationalizations, repeated many times, was the one where a specific battle or campaign in WWII, and etc was outlined, and then used to supposedly demonstrate some kind of equivalence with a 4 year decision making process/non-learning curve for the non-war, as tho that "equivalence" was proof against a claim of
    ABJECT FAILURE AND INCOMPETENCE
    on the part of our Maximum Leader.
    Jeeze.

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  4. Are we to believe that EVERY claim made early on by every person that gave examples of intermarriage and co-operation between Sunni and Shiite were bogus, simply because we subsequently ingnored nay NURTURED, multiple aspects of several insurgencies?

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  5. I missed the thread with this Gem:
    ---
    2164th wrote:

    "The first thing the West should do is ban the wearing of burqas in courts, schools and public buildings."

    Odd way of promoting women's rights - telling the what they can and cannot wear.
    ---
    Yeah, like it's a violation of our universal human rights to ban flag burnings on Black Folk's front yards, Nazi Insignia promoting Genocide, and etc.

    How dare we restrain man's universal rights, even when they are psycopathic and homicidal in the extreme?

    PC Think is "Common Sense" in our Brave New World, Deuce:

    Judge Not,
    No matter WTF the results are gauranteed and previousl proven to be.

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  6. Your argument would also hold for Nudity wherever and whenever Ash.
    Many are the wheels that can, nay MUST be re-invented.

    Never worked before, but who knows, since the scientific method is but another restriction on our rights to "free" thoughts.

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  7. Well, one must appreciate the civil war call.

    It brings the Standard ever lower, but does confirm fer sure, one thing though.

    Iraq is certainly in the midst of a Civil War, if the Gaza Strip is.

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  8. And who is to say we are better in any way than the Muzzies or Welfare-Sucking, Drug-Running Illegals?

    We are the World!

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  9. Have we been drinking espresso, Doug?

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  10. 'Rat,
    Writing the above, it dawned even brighter the MULTIPLE ways we have nurtured and encouraged MORE, not LESS violence by our multiyear policies in the prosecution of the Non-War.

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  11. 's been 12 hrs, Trish!
    ...the amount I will not divulge.
    My Right, ya know.

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  12. At least the Americas, doug, if not the World.

    Ever since the Monroe Doctrine, we've claimed dominion, just have not always enforced it.

    Letting the "Locals" run a bit wild, from time to time, but putting our foot down, as required.

    From Mexico in 1913 to Panama in 1989. Screwed up in Cuba, though.
    The 1960s, not a prime time for the US, in the Americas.

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  13. ...and the last 14 years or more?

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  14. Gosh, it's been 18 years since we began to become kinder and gentler.

    PBU Nancy.

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  15. For the past 18 years putting the US foot down has not been required.

    There tends to be a residual effect, of successfully using force. There is a period of respite, of fear and intimidation.

    We saw it in Libya, after the fall of Saddam. We do not see it today, as being bogged down in policing city streets is not cause fr fear or intimidation, in foreign capitals.

    Caracus is not quaking in fear of the US Marines arrival. Those Marines are busy elsewhere. Far from their home in the Americas. Far from the hemisphere, far from the oil the US actually consumes.

    Even in Iran, there is some intimidation, flanked by US combat forces as they are. But those forces are in a defensive posture, vis a vie the Regional War.

    Fitting, as the US denies there even is a Regional War, Hamadan and the subsequent legal reactions, proof enough of that

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  16. I just packed my daughter off to Arizona for the summer. School's almost out for my son. My husband will be home in less than a month. And there's only a year and a half left in this administration.

    All good things on this beautiful spring morning.

    Have we *nothing* positive to say, Doug?

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  17. Not about this administration!

    I could relate meeting old acquaintances from St Louis at a Lauau with an open Bar, but I've been known to have done my share of off-thread contributions!

    Maybe I'll post a few favorite pictures just for fun.
    But not tonite.

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  18. It's is real nice here now, in the mountains, around Flagstaff or Prescott.

    Even here in the Valley of the Sun, it is still pleasant, the heat not oppressive, yet.

    Only 105, yesterday, I think they said.

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  19. Trish has yet to make a SINGLE substantive comment re:
    Illegal immigration, that I can recall.
    Is that a negative not worth mentioning?

    ...or is it the illegals responsibility to solve it themselves?
    (Like beaten women everywhere.)

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  20. Oh! Chivalry, whereforth art thou?

    Shutup and worship "Reason!"

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  21. She'll be in Tucson, staying with an old friend from overseas, now a student at the U of A. Wish I were going with her. I miss the desert. Haven't been out there in two years. Had a blast the last time, driving through the mountains.

    I don't think any of us has anything positive to say about this admin, Doug. (And if we do, we're not inclined to.) But it, too, shall pass.

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  22. I get curiouser and curiouser about that lack of comment re illegal immigration.
    Not even an explanation given!

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  23. "Trish has yet to make a SINGLE substantive comment..."

    Doug, I think it best to let you be the immigration issue chihuahua. I never began paying attention until a couple of years ago.

    Substantive statements must await substantive thought.

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  24. If "Comprehensive" Reform passes, this country as we know it too will pass, sooner rather than later.

    Well within your kid's likely lifetimes.

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  25. I did not even read this yet.
    But the title and header, took me aback.

    How time compresses in Iraq. Was not long ago many esteemed scribes, here and else where, would commpare Iraq to the birthing of the USA, from 1776 until the Constitution was ratified.

    Mr Maliki has a piece in the WSJ, today. He admits or the WSJ Headline writer does.

    Our Common Struggle
    America had its civil war. Why expect freedom to come easy to Iraq?

    BY NOURI AL-MALIKI


    Iraq has compressed almost 90 years of US history, into 4, to make this analogy.

    Iraq is still in the middle of it's revolution, it seems that Mr Lincoln was right, either about US or aQ and their respective presences in Iraq.

    "John Brown's effort was peculiar. It was not a slave insurrection. It was an attempt by white men to get up a revolt among slaves, in which the slaves refused to participate."

    But then we do not often refer to US actions a revolutionary, even when they are.

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  26. Bush and Buddy make a point of NOT paying attention to vast swaths of the issue.

    While Buddy may now be mute, the Globalist Chihuahua Yaps ever more loudly.

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  27. "Buried Alive" thread at you know where:
    ---
    ForNow said...
    Engineering an Iraq War syndrome has been part of the left's aim from the start.

    (and W's provided nothing if not plenty of Time and Opportunity!)
    ---

    rickl said...
    If Iraq was a mistake, it was a noble one; an effort worth trying.

    Democratizing the Middle East? Sure, by all means let's give it a try.

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  28. No! Not Charles!
    "Bush set expectations realistically.

    Real progress is being made.
    It's time for the right to realize again that some worthwhile jobs are just tough.
    "

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  29. esp when you do them BACKASSWARDS!

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  30. Wretch: (Come up for Air)
    Pakistani City Transformed by Militants:

    "Pro-Taliban Militants Gain Ground, Drain Life From Once Prosperous Pakistani City"

    Probly some devious strategery by the master poker player.
    Just you wait!

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  31. Will Cuba be a state? I probably would be now had it not been for the organized criminals of the Mob and Congress.

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  32. "A vendor displays his stock of vegetables which are piled up in his shop due to shortage of buyers in troubled-town of Tank in northwestern Pakistan on June 9, 2007. Pro-Taliban militants have turned this once bustling town in northwestern Pakistan into a dead zone, as many schools have been trawled for mujahedeen recruits, and militants armed with mortars and RPGs have attacked businesses and government buildings."
    ---
    Who are we to claim cultural superiority, right Ash?

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  33. Allen shrinks from the Challenge of distinguishing the two.

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  34. doug,

    I cannot top Mark Twain's assessment of Congress.

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  35. I wonder if Red River or RWE could explain some kind of protective reflective effect of the shock wave bouncing up from the pavement?

    How else to explain them perfect feet?
    Sandals are ready for ReSale!

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  36. More from Wretch link:
    ---
    Gee, it is the evil ABC news again reporting on the REAL WAR that W pretends does not exist.
    ABC warned us 3 yrs ago.
    Must have some good guys in the field.
    ---
    "The government's crumbling authority over towns like Tank in the North West Frontier Province suggests that President Gen. Pervez Musharraf is failing to rein in extremism as Islamic militants broaden their influence beyond the lawless regions that border Afghanistan.

    It also raises questions about the prospects of success for Washington's anti-terrorism efforts in the region, where al-Qaida leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri are believed to be hiding.
    "

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  37. Ash's Paradise:
    The Freedom to wear the Beard that they wish.
    Who are WE to say what Men can wear?
    Just say YES!
    ---
    "Now, Tank is becoming a virtual no-go zone, even for ethnic Pashtuns who make up the majority of its 150,000 people. Islamic fundamentalists have issued Taliban-style edicts and set up their own courts in the city and nearby districts.

    Extremists have warned barbers not to shave customers' beards and bombed shops selling Western music or films.
    "

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  38. ""'Talibanization' is a term created by the U.S. and the West to blame and defame Muslims and Pashtuns,"
    said Maulana Saleh Ash,
    a Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam lawmaker in Tank.

    "Anywhere something happens against their agenda they label it as Taliban."
    "

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  39. Doug, it has nothing to do with cultural equivalence but rather with an individuals right to choose their clothes. Do you think we should forbid a Nun's decision to wear a habit because the catholic church refuses to treat women equally?

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  40. For your consideration and discussion:
    ---
    PeterBoston said...

    "I think Condi got it right.

    The best thing that could happen is to insure that all sides in Gaza gets an unlimited supply of small arm ammunition and hand grenades.
    "
    ---
    Maybe as long as we don't give em short range Missiles with Nukes on top?

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  41. It is awful, Ash:
    Here in Hawaii, there are many Catholics, which my Protestant Mum taught me were not quite right:

    Even with such an almost inbred prejudice, however, I am hard-pressed to find too many wife beatings endorsed by Catholic Nuns.

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  42. True, and I in no way wish to condone wife beatings but the irony lies in promoting women's rights by denying a women the right to wear what she chooses.

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  43. Stop them with elections, doug.

    Even in Pakistan, US efforts have taken "to long".

    Now the despotic General President, in the middle of the US's non-War of Containment with the aQ elements within the Taliban, is losing what ever support he had from normal Pakistani.

    The dust-up over the dismissal of the Supreme Judge, not quite what was expected.

    Goin' to hell in a hand basket, plain as day. Taking the US policy of aQ containment in Warizistan with it.

    With 48 nuclear devices on the table, the pot is in play.

    The General President, looks around nervously for his broker, who is in the process of an outside audit. That new outside oversight committee, a harder sell than expected.
    Things not going as well as prior planning indicated they would. Seems some of those Texas business practices that Ken Lay showed Mr Bush, not working out as expected.

    Mr Bush thought those old boys did real well with Enron, what ever were the results with their audit?

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  44. "True, and *I in no way wish to condone wife beatings* *BUT* the irony lies in promoting women's rights by denying a women the right to wear what she chooses. "
    ---
    The starred words and all they suggest, imply, and describe, prevent me from seeing your larger point.

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  45. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  46. I thought David Brooks op-ed yesterday was interesting regarding the immigration debate. It's a subscription thing so I'll post it all:

    " The Next Culture War



    By DAVID BROOKS
    Published: June 12, 2007

    The conventional view is that an angry band of conservative activists driven by nativism and economic insecurity is killing immigration reform. But this view is wrong in almost every respect.

    In the first place, immigration is not now, nor has it ever been a primarily partisan issue. A Pew Research Center poll released last week found that 36 percent of Republicans support the bill, along with 33 percent of Democrats and 31 percent of independents. That’s hardly a party-line chasm.

    In the second place, immigration attitudes have never dovetailed neatly with racist or nativist ones. Hostility to immigration often increases in periods when racist attitudes are on the decline. Moreover, established immigrants are nearly as suspicious of new and illegal immigrants as native-born Americans.

    And in the third place, decades of research have failed to show any clean link between economic insecurity and anti-immigrant views. Pollsters ask voters if they feel their own wages are affected by immigrant labor. There is no strong connection between feelings of personal risk and anti-immigration opinions. Some studies find no link at all between income levels and those views.

    What’s shaping the immigration debate is something altogether deeper and more interesting. And if you want to understand what it is, start with education. Between 1960 and 1980, the share of Americans enrolled in higher education exploded. The U.S. became the first nation in history with a mass educated class. The members of this class differed from each other in a thousand ways, but they tended to share a cosmopolitan approach to the world. They celebrated cultural diversity and saw ethnocentrism as a sign of backwardness.

    Their worldview, which they don’t even understand as a distinct worldview, was well summarized by Richard Rorty, who died this week. The goal of any society, he wrote, was to create “a greater diversity of individuals — larger, fuller, more imaginative and daring individuals.” Social life should widen. New cultures should be explored. And, as Rorty concluded, “Individual life will become unthinkably diverse and social life unthinkably free.”

    Liberal members of the educated class celebrated the cultural individualism of the 1960s. Conservative members celebrated the economic individualism of the 1980s. But they all celebrated individualism. They all valued diversity and embraced a sense of national identity that rested on openness and global integration.

    This cultural offensive created a silent backlash among people who were not so enamored of rampant individualism, and who were worried that all this diversity would destroy the ancient ties of community and social solidarity. Members of this class came to feel that America’s identity and culture were under threat from people who didn’t understand what made America united and distinct.

    The two groups clashed whenever a political issue arose that touched on America’s identity or role in the world: immigration, free trade, making English the official language or intervening for humanitarian reasons in Kosovo or Darfur.

    These conflicts were and are primarily cultural clashes, not economic or ideological ones. And if you want to predict which side a person is likely to be on, look at his or her educational level. That’ll be your best clue.

    As the sociologist Manuel Castells generalized, “Elites are cosmopolitan, people are local.” People with university values favor intermingling. People with neighborhood values favor assimilation.

    What’s made the clashes so poisonous is that many members of the educated class don’t even recognize that they are facing a rival philosophy. Many of them assume that anybody who disagrees with them on immigration and such must be driven by racism, insecurity or some primitive atavism. This smug attitude sends members of the communal, nationalistic side into fits of alienation and prickly defensiveness. It’s what makes many of them, in turn, so unpleasant.

    The bottom line is that the immigration debate is part of a newer culture war that has succeeded the familiar and fading culture war. This longer culture war is not within the educated class. It’s not the ’60s versus the ’80s. It’s — to mimic Mark Lilla — between the people who have absorbed both the ’60s and the ’80s, and everyone else.

    It’s between open, individualistic cosmopolitans and rooted nationalists. It’s between those who ride the tides of the cultural mainstream and those so driven by marginalization that they’re destroying the best compromise they will get. "

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  47. "The irony lies in promoting human rights by denying a man the right to wear a Swastika and Call for Death to all Jews if he chooses. "

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  48. You know, doug, I drive around, more than a little.

    On the streets of Phoenix and the highways of AZ I see all types of people, from many nations and cultures.

    I do not recall ever seeing anyone in a burka. Of all the concerns I have about the future of the American Revolution and the US, I have to say that wardrobe choices are far from the top.

    In the local Court, the Judge requires all males to wear long pants, no shorts allowed in her proceedings.

    Have never seen a picket line of protesters concerned about the "rights" of males endangered by that policy.

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  49. Here's one you'll like Ash:

    From what I've seen on the "blogosphere" a majority of them would be all for Comprehensive Reform if W could believably promise it WOULD deliver a permanent majority to the GRAND old Party.

    ...instead of for the Dems, who Rasmussen tells us are agin it, along with Women, Blacks, Men, "Whites" and, I believe, even LEGAL Hispanic Citizens.
    ---
    ...but of course that IS just the blogosphere, sometimes intentionally divorced from reality.

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  50. I see fellows wearing long pants.

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  51. It is a
    "Pressing Issue,"
    'Rat, if you want to keep your Burqa Wrinkle Free.
    ---
    I'll ask you, as I have Trish:
    Have you ever watched Steve Emerson's
    "Jihad in America?"

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  52. As I related two days ago:
    In Californistan, there is a PUBLIC SCHOOL, for girls
    (in Burqas) All the Time,
    that has DAILY prayers to Mecca.
    San Diego, Californifucked.

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  53. The immigration debate is a complex one and the partisan wrinkle about who all these folks would vote for, if they voted, has me scratching my head a bit...

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  54. I don't think it's a BIG ISSUE:
    Why should we surrender on ALL the little ones?

    "Dhimmi is We?"

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  55. "Best Deal".
    What a fallacy.

    No Deal is a better deal, in the hopes that SOMEONE will then begin to enforce the current Laws, as regards immigration.

    All the "enforcement" aspects of the new Law, the "Best Deal", already are on the books.

    The new "Deal" is about the legalization of the 20 million undocemented Americans, already living in the jurisdiction of DC. Then it goes on about procedures for bringing in their families.

    Start enforcing US labor laws, build the fence already approved by the last Congress and we'll see where the chips fall.

    Base the next round of Plans in the realities on the ground.

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  56. Doug, France has passed laws regarding Hajib's in public places. It doesn't seem to have helped matters much. I think top down, big government looming over its subjects, forcing conformity, is the wrong approach to cultural issues.

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  57. On the right Ash,
    Corruption explains a LOT.

    Hope you all watched that WSJ Video I linked:

    Pure "Right Wing" Video.

    Forget the name of the Ringleader.

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  58. I think Sarkozy is right,
    ROP Bush is wrong.
    ...so there you go!

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  59. France has done everything wrong for decades:
    They've turned around a bit a fraction of the time ago of the GWB Crusade for Nothing has been going on.

    ...a bit premature to judge results:

    They are DEPORTING 15k a month or more of the worthless ones.

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  60. (we deport a Hell of a lot more, but it don't mean nuthin, except a trip back North)
    ...and of course MOST of the Sleeper Wannabes evade deportation.

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  61. No Doug, I missed the WSJ video. I scrolled back a few threads and still didn't see your link to it. The conversation moves quick here...

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  62. There ya go Trish, short and catchy:

    CFN

    "Crusade For Nuthin"

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  63. Ash,
    I am, as we type, indexing my new computer with Google Desktop Search.

    If it comes up with it when done, I will re-link.

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  64. Not nothing, doug. No we have done a lot.
    We have empowered and armed the Shia militias of Mr al-Sadr and Mr al-Hakim in Iraq.

    We have empowered and armed the Fatah of Palistine.

    We are empowering and arming the Sunni militias of Anbar.

    Things are moving ahead swimmingly, except we are standing in the middle, all those arms now aimed at US.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Google Strikes Again?
    ---
    Hot Air » Blog Archive » Video: WSJ editorial-board-gleefully-slanders-conservatives...

    Perhaps Paul Gigot (aka Snotty Brat) needs to read Peggy Noonan’s column in today’s WSJ. See at. As Allah has pointed out previously, President Bush is ...

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  66. We be doin great, 'Rat:
    Results Oriented CIC!

    Your tax dollars being well-spent by the "Adults."

    ReplyDelete
  67. On a wholly different topic, sort of, I'm surprised I haven't seen any commentary here about Bush losing is watch.

    It strikes me as an incident that puts the integrity and skill level of the Bush administration in stark relief.

    Here we have the president, who won't even answer questions unless the crowd is well vetted here at home glad handing in Albanian, trying to bestow freedom upon them, when his watch gets pilfered right from his wrist. Tony Snow says no no no, he put it in his pocket. hmmmm, take a look at the video an show me where he put it in his pocket. No wonder folk say "Bush lies people die" Though I'm sure we can come up with something more Albanian and watch specific...

    "Bush lied, and Timex died"
    "Free Albania, in no time"

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  68. Mr Bush, a victim of a quickly picked wrist, not a pocket watch.

    Plain as the watch on your wrist.
    After his daughters experience in Argentina, you'd think the Secret Service would have learned its' lesson.

    In his pocket, right Tony.

    Got his wrist picked, what force we project, the power of intimidation is lacking, in Albania.

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  69. I haven't seen a nun in a habit in a heck of a long time, but with no identifing marks, how do I know I've seen a nun?

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  70. Doug, they're looking for a Drummer and being so hot today, you could apply, and cool off a litttle:)

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  71. Doug: In Californistan, there is a PUBLIC SCHOOL, for girls
    (in Burqas) All the Time,
    that has DAILY prayers to Mecca.


    Whew, for a minute there I thought you were going to say they posted the ten commandments there or something.

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  72. "These clashes between Hamas and Fatah have been very revealing in that the barbarity and cruelty of both sides has seen by all interested parties throughout the world. Anyone who insists that the Palestinians are the innocent victims of the Israeli Occupiers is simply a liar or a fool."

    Hope you aren't holding your breath for CNN coverage.

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  73. billt:Hope you aren't holding your breath for CNN coverage.

    CNN's position is, "Wake us up when Israel tries to defend herself."

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  74. (Pointing Finger)
    ---
    "You listen to me Ash!
    I have NEVER, EVER worn a watch worth more than $50.00, proof enough that I am President of the Little People and Campesinos everywhere, NOT some Effete, Elite, Rolex wearin Globalist!

    Now, what were y'all sayin about my watch?
    "

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  75. Unidentified Strolling Nuns:

    Rimless Glasses with a Big Smile on her face with 1 or more similarly modestly dressed sisters used to be a pretty good indicator, AlBobAl.

    But how should I know, since thongs are de rigeur for all the ladies here now.
    Oh! The Humanity!

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  76. Well, what we were sayin', one moment the watch was there, next moment the President of the United States was strong armed, held hostage while his watch was removed from his wrist.

    Watch the video, look at the large hand clamping down over the arm and watch. A frenzied scene that the Secret Service put the President into, to say the least.

    But of course, the watch was not stolen, the President not man handled and the Secret Service protection, top notch.

    Who you gonna call?

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  77. If there was a problem, Dan Rather must have had a part in the set up, no?

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  78. At 54 seconds into the clip, seems to me.
    He had it on his wrist at 51 seconds, no doubt, at 1:05 it's long gone.

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  79. " The CEO types are no match, in what amounts to a GOP primary, for angry grassroots activists on a crusade.

    And they shouldn’t be dismissed as crazies. Bush’s own dark view of post 9/11 clashes with his relatively benign attitude toward illegal immigration. Here is the question that clash begs:

    Do borders mean anything?"

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  80. "Lookin For Love In All the Wrong Places
    Playing a fools game, hoping to win
    Telling those sweet lies and losing again"

    ReplyDelete
  81. "You ride around your white castle, On your little white horse

    You lie to your people, and blame it on your war of course

    You call yourself a Christian, I call you a hypocrite

    You call yourself a patriot, well I think you’re full of shit
    "

    ReplyDelete
  82. Doug: "Lookin For Love In All the Wrong Places..."

    Mark Foley's official campaign song?

    ReplyDelete