WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 — Israel’s air attack on Syria last month was directed against a site that Israeli and American intelligence analysts judged was a partly constructed nuclear reactor, apparently modeled on one North Korea has used to create its stockpile of nuclear weapons fuel, according to American and foreign officials with access to the intelligence reports.  ~nytimes.com

If Syria had a partly constructed nuclear reactor Iran’s is probably much further along, wouldn’t you think? They’ve been at it far longer and are highly motivated.

Canadian Rocker Bryan Adams to Give Free Concerts **in Israel** if Attendees Sign Peace Pledge

Oh, c’mon. Why not in peace/life loving Palestine?

The New York-based One Voice peace movement said the concerts were aimed at bolstering its campaign to collect one million signatures of ordinary Israelis and Palestinians demanding that their leaders sit down and finalize an agreement on a Palestinian state living at peace with Israel.

The head of One Voice’s Ramallah office, Fathi Darwish, said Adams would launch the West Bank event at a football stadium in the ancient town of Jericho, then head to Tel Aviv to perform.

“Our goal is to send a message to the world, that the Palestinian people love life, and hope for life and liberation,” Darwish said.  ~foxonews.com

So the idea is that dangling the enormous treat of a Bryan Adams concert above the Israeli and Palestinian people will cause them to agree to a miraculous peace agreement which they might not have otherwise agreed to. Except that One Voice appears to be blindly ignorant of the fact that Israelis have western style concerts all the time. In fact Israel is  modern country complete with things like record stores and disco-techs.

So it would seem that a Bryan Adams concert would be more rare in Palestinian terror-tory. Thus being more of an incentive to Palestinians – or so it would seem. Except for the 7th century muslim religious code that might get Bryan Adams beheaded for any number of blasphemies… (I wanna be your underwear, by Bryan Adams.)

But then again maybe the suicide-bomber jihadi-set would be able to ‘rock out’ with Bryan Adams on select songs…

I wanna be young – the rest of my life
never say no – try anything twice
til’ the angels come – and ask me to fly
gonna be 18 ’til I die – 18 ’til I die
can’t live forever , that’s wishful thinkin’
whoever said that must have been drinkin’
don’t wanna grow up – I don’t see why
I couldn’t care less if time flies by

From John Kerry calling our troops uneducated to Cindy Sheehan calling them war criminals, (oh wait, Kerry did that too), democrats and liberals express hatred, loathing, and disgust for our military and America but welcome ‘dialogue’ with enemies who also express hatred, loathing, and disgust for our military and America. What can this possibly mean?

Meanwhile: As Columbia welcomes Ahmadinejad to campus, Columbia students who want to serve their country cannot enroll in the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) at Columbia. Columbia students who want to enroll in ROTC must travel to other universities to fulfill their obligations. ROTC has been banned from the Columbia campus since 1969. In 2003, a majority of polled Columbia students supported reinstating ROTC on campus. But in 2005, when the Columbia faculty senate debated the issue, President Bollinger joined the opponents in defeating the effort to invite ROTC back on campus. ~weeklystandard.com

General Petraeus just received a big middle finger from the ‘mainstream’ Democrats at MoveOn.org. The slander and mudslinging from the left is routinely defended as free speech. And this will no doubt beminimized by apologists as nothing, but it proves the point that the left hates America and wants to see it changed. Radically changed.

Liberals will say that they love America, they just want to change everything about it so that can be ‘better’, ie more socialist, more equal.

Only a committed and hardened leftist can take an attempted mass murder by Islamist terrorists and see only the infamous, “culture of fear.” (That’s the neo-con culture of fear not the global-warming culture of fear by the way.)

You know what you call a vehicle with 50 gallons of gas?  A Cadillac Escalade.  The media meltdown over this incident is simply shameful.

For starters, gasoline is not a high explosive.  If we were talking 50 pounds of Semtex or the Al Qaeda standby, TATP, I would be impressed.  Those are real high explosives with a detonation rate in excess of 20,000 feet per second.  Gasoline can explode (just ask former owners of a Ford Pinto) but it is first and foremost an incediary.  If the initial reports are true, the clown driving the Mercedes was a rank amateur when it comes to constructing an Improvised Explosive Device aka IED.  Unlike a Hollywood flick the 50 gallons of gas would not have shredded the Mercedes into lethal chunks of flying shrapenal.

The fact that “officers courageously disabled the trigger by hand” coupled with the report of the smoke in the car leads me to believe that the mad London “bomber” tried to construct a Molotov cocktail of sorts and lit a cloth fuze.  Fortunately he left the windows in the car up and there was not enough oxygen to really get the fire going.  Looks like the brave British police reached in and snuffed the flame.

Judging from the overreaction to this non-incident I think we can safely conclude that Osama Bin Laden will remain holed up in Pakistan and let the fear mongers at CNN, MSNBC, and FOX do the dirty business of scaring the shit out of people.  ~Larry Johnson, Daily Kos

With a percentage of the population as delusional as this is there any hope for the left?

Repeat after me: “There is no terror. There are no terrorists. Go back to sleep.”

UPDATE:  Ahh, the panic continues.  Yuppie terrorists are on the loose.  Now we’re being told there are two cars (both Mercedes I might add) with a Rube Goldberg contraption consisting of propane tanks, some petrol, a light bulb (or maybe light bulb filaments), etc.  A propane tank explosion makes a hell of a noise but does not create widespread shrapnel dispersion.  Busted eardrums and broken glass are more likely.  Getting these tanks to explode is difficult.   The ones I have witnessed occurred when a house under construction caught on fire.  But there is nothing in two 25lb propane tanks inside a Mercedes that will detonate with sufficient force to shred the automobile and send hundreds to meet their Allah, God, Buddha, or whatever.  Still a crock of hype and over-reaction.  Let the police do their job.  Investigate the culprits and get these nitwits out of circulation before they harm themselves.    ~Larry Johnson, Daily Kos

These are the kind of clueless and arrogant statements that mark a true liberal elitist:

OTTAWA — Frank McKenna, Canada’s former ambassador to Washington, referred to the United States on Friday as “a theocratic state” in which Christian evangelicalism plays a big role in the Republican administration.

“Right now the United States is in many ways a theocratic state, not dissimilar to some of the other religious states in the world where religion has a huge part to play in government.” ~canada.com

This is more a statement about the small mindeness and exclusionary aspects of secular humanism and liberalism (small minded liberalism.) The heart of this kind of thinking is not the all-inclusive rainbow of multi-color/multi-ethnic togetherness and sharing that liberals tend to fantasize about their ideology– instead it is dogmatically hateful, exclusionary and anti-religious.

So what is McKenna actually saying here? His point is that anything less than a strictly ‘secular state’, meaning one which completely represses and stigmatizes any religious input, impulses, or influence, is a “theocracy.” Because, *GASP*, we can’t have people who are religious in government… everything they do is invalid by definition. (Unlike, let’s say, someone basing all their political decisions on progressive ideology bordering on religion.)

Essentially McKenna prefers his state to be ruled by an anti-religion. “Canada is truly a secular state. Religion and politics do not mix in this country.”

Which becomes problematic when you realize just how much of life folks like McKenna believe the government should control. Virtually all of it in fact. There is nothing off limits for quasi-socialist nanny states. Everything is subject to legislation. All areas of economic life, all areas of public life, all areas of private life are potentially subject to control for the common good. But, religious people need not apply to hold the reigns of government because they don’t have valid beliefs. Which brings up an interesting question for McKenna, since he obviously believes religious people should be ruled by people like him in charge of “stricly secular states,” one wonders if he feels they shouldn’t have the right to vote either because obviously religion shouldn’t have anything to do with politics.

I’ve got an idea, let’s substitute any other group for, “Christian evangelicalism,” and see how it sounds.

OTTAWA — Frank McKenna, Canada’s former ambassador to Washington, referred to the United States on Friday as “a black state” in which colored ‘African-Americans’ play a big role in the administration.

Very forward thinking don’t you think? Is it now valid liberal thought to say an entire segment of society should have no participation in government at all?

What is a theocracy?

The reality is that a theocracy is a very different thing from how McKenna wants to define it.

Answers.com defines the word theocracy as, “A government ruled by or subject to religious authority.” The Brittanica excerpt goes on to say:

Government by divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided. In many theocracies, government leaders are members of the clergy, and the state’s legal system is based on religious law. Theocratic rule was typical of early civilizations. The Enlightenment marked the end of theocracy in most Western countries. Contemporary examples of theocracies include Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Vatican. ~answers.com

The key aspect here is in bold. If we merely said that every government which was popularly thought of as being merely led by divine guidance, or had elements of religious law embodied in their legal system then America was indeed founded as a theocracy. But this is not enough to label a country a theocracy.

Today we have a whole political class who view true theocracies, like Saudi Arabia and Iran, as lesser evils in contrast to their true chosen enemy: Republicans and Christians in America.

They question the very notion of a war on terror because they don’t believe the threat from Al Qaeda rises to the level of ‘war’ status. No matter that Al Qaeda is a truly radical theocratic religious terrorist organization which has already destroyed the World Trade Center buildings killing 3,000 Americans and declared war on the United States, the West, and all religions besides their taliban version of Islam. Yet the left is alarmed about American Christians, not Al Qaeda. So alarmed that they are writing books about the, “Clear and Present danger,” to America posed by these ‘radical extremists’, “that together threaten the future of the United States and the world.”

In the much lauded book (among liberals), AMERICAN THEOCRACY, Kevin Phillips explains the equivalent danger posed by both radical Islam and radical Christianity/Judaism:

The excesses of fundamentalism, in turn, are American and Israeli, as well as the all-too-obvious depredations of radical Islam. The rapture, end-times, and Armageddon hucksters in the United States rank with any Shiite ayatollahs, and the last two presidential elections mark the transformation of the GOP into the first religious party in U.S. history. ~americantheocracy.net

The premise of his book is nothing if not all-too familiar: Iraq is a War for Oil started by the Republican theocracy. Where have I heard that before?

Then there are the Jews.

The path that liberals and progressives are on isn’t new, and it isn’t pretty. Liberalism isn’t about inclusion. In fact, it’s central premise is exclusion and demonization. Like the Borg on Star Trek they see any deviation from their proscribed ideology as a threat and a menace to their utopian dreams of a fair society equitably distributed by an all-knowing and all-caring government. That can’t happen when people exist who completely disagree with your premise and argue that the practice of egalitarianism runs counter to the theory every time it’s been tried.

Christians in Charsadda, a town in North-West Frontier Province in Pakistan, have been warned that if they do not convert to Islam by 17 May they will face “dire consequences and bomb explosions”, Christian Today has learned. ~christiantoday.com

Pakistan, just like almost every single mideast country, has laws and stiff penalties for not being a muslim.

Under the existing blasphemy laws, anyone convicted of blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammad faces life imprisonment or the death penalty, according to section 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code. ~christiantoday.com

The terror war continues in Pakistan. More persecution news:

A 12-year-old Christian girl was kidnapped and gang-raped by four Muslim men in Lahore, Pakistan, on Easter Day. Less than a week later, a Christian man in Jamshoro district was threatened by a mob following allegations of blasphemy, persecution watchdog Christian Solidarity Worldwide has learned. ~christiantoday.com

The Prime Minister’s Office was quick to issue a denial, stating that “what was discussed with the House speaker did not include any change in Israel’s policy, as it has been presented to international parties involved in the matter.”

In a special statement of clarification, the bureau stressed that Olmert had told Pelosi that Israel continued to regard Syria as “part of the axis of evil and a party encouraging terrorism in the entire Middle East.”

According to sources at the Prime Minister’s Office, “Pelosi took part of the things that were said in the meeting, and used what suited her.” ~haaretz.com

It’s all in the details.

What Pelosi attempted to say, or appears to have attempted to represent, was that Israel was NOW ready for peace– but without the condition that Syria stop funding and encouraging terror.

Sweet, sweet appeasement. She considers her message to Syria a success.

“We were very pleased with the assurances we received from the president that he was ready to resume the peace process. He’s ready to engage in negotiations for peace with Israel,” Pelosi said.  ~haaretz.com

Relief at the freeing of the British sailors and Marines in Iran is tempered with dismay at the humiliation to which they and the country they serve have been subjected. ~telegraph.co.uk

While I agree with this UK Telegraph op-ed that the Royal Navy should have been able to NOT manage to get captured, I disagree with the bent perception that Ahmadinejad comes out ahead through all this. It just smacks of the dreaded liberal/PC mind disease. Wherein the west is always judged more harshly than our enemies. Bush deposes a dictator by force intending to give the formerly oppressed people of Iraq a democracy under which they can practice self determination and be a free people with all the rights and liberties of free governments and he is called a devil, a dictator, an idiot, a failure, you name it… While dictators who actually practice genocide and torture are deemed to have some virtue no matter what they do.

This is a form of anti-americanism or anti-westernism. My belief it is that the Soviets nurtured this meme throughout the cold war as part of their psyops and propaganda war against the west in order to weaken us from within. Now we are left with liberals who continue to do the job they unwittingly were induced to do by Global Communism. Bam!

Despite having done the world a great service Bush is demeaned and Ahmadinejad is lauded for working to build nukes with which to annihilate the jews. It’s a topsy-turvy world out there when liberal thought runs rampant.

Ah, here’s another story on the subject…

How Blair Botched the Iran Hostage CrisisHint: Take a look at Iraq.

Good luck with that guys.

First, this is what happened:

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (AP) — Six Muslim men who are suing an airline after being removed from a plane last fall are also threatening to sue passengers who complained they were behaving suspiciously — a move some fear could discourage travelers from speaking up when they see something unusual.

The civil rights lawsuit, filed in March, has so alarmed some lawyers that they are offering to defend the unnamed “John Doe” passengers listed as “possible defendants” free of charge. They say it is vital that the flying public be able to report suspicious behavior without fear of being dragged into court.

“When you drive up the road towards the airport, there’s a big road sign that says, `Report suspicious behavior,’ ” said Gerry Nolting, a Minneapolis lawyer. “There’s no disclaimer that adds, `But beware if you do that, you might get sued.’ ”

The six imams were taken off a Phoenix, Arizona-bound US Airways flight on November 20 while returning home from a conference of Islamic clerics in Minneapolis.

Other passengers had gotten nervous when the men were seen praying and chanting in Arabic as they waited to board. Some passengers also said that the men spoke of Saddam Hussein and cursed the United States; that they requested seat belt extenders with heavy buckles and stowed them under their seats; that they were moving about and conferring with one another during boarding; and that they sat separately in seats scattered through the cabin.  ~cnn.com

Well, Michelle Malkin has the solution for that. It is the following– “I am John Doe letter.”

Dear Muslim Terrorist Plotter/Planner/Funder/Enabler/Apologist,

You do not know me. But I am on the lookout for you. You are my enemy. And I am yours.

I am John Doe.

I am traveling on your plane. I am riding on your train. I am at your bus stop. I am on your street. I am in your subway car. I am on your lift.

I am your neighbor. I am your customer. I am your classmate. I am your boss.

I am John Doe.

I will never forget the example of the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 who refused to sit back on 9/11 and let themselves be murdered in the name of Islam without a fight.

I will never forget the passengers and crew members who tackled al Qaeda shoe-bomber Richard Reid on American Airlines Flight 63 before he had a chance to blow up the plane over the Atlantic Ocean.

I will never forget the alertness of actor James Woods, who notified a stewardess that several Arab men sitting in his first-class cabin on an August 2001 flight were behaving strangely. The men turned out to be 9/11 hijackers on a test run.

I will act when homeland security officials ask me to “report suspicious activity.”

I will embrace my local police department’s admonition: “If you see something, say something.”

I am John Doe.

I will protest your Jew-hating, America-bashing “scholars.”

I will petition against your hate-mongering mosque leaders.

I will raise my voice against your subjugation of women and religious minorities.

I will challenge your attempts to indoctrinate my children in our schools.

I will combat your violent propaganda on the Internet.

I am John Doe.

I will support law enforcement initiatives to spy on your operatives, cut off your funding and disrupt your murderous conspiracies.

I will oppose all attempts to undermine our borders and immigration laws.

I will resist the imposition of sharia principles and sharia law in my taxi cab, my restaurant, my community pool, the halls of Congress, our national monuments, the radio and television airwaves, and all public spaces.

I will not be censored in the name of tolerance.

I will not be cowed by your Beltway lobbying groups in moderates’ clothing. I will not cringe when you shriek about “profiling” or “Islamophobia.”

I will put my family’s safety above sensitivity. I will put my country above multiculturalism.

I will not submit to your will. I will not be intimidated.

I am John Doe. ~townhall.com

Louis Farrakhan: I believe that my teacher, Elijah Muhammad, came as a warning to America, on account of the evils that it committed for 400 years, against millions of black slaves. He came as a warning to America that its policies around the world will bring upon it the fate of ancient Egypt, Sodom and Gomorrah, ancient Babylon, and ancient Rome – that this was coming to America. I am an extension of Elijah Muhammad.

When I said my time is up, I meant that warnings can’t go on forever. I have warned President Bush, I have warned his government, I have warned his people, and I have warned my own people. The time for warnings is up, and the time for the chastisement of Allah is here.  ~memritv.org

But wait there’s more! The jews are not jews at all!

Interviewer: Mr. Farrakhan, are you still being accused of being antisemitic, and if that’s so, by whom and why?

Louis Farrakhan: Are you a Semite?

Interviewer: Yes, I’m Arab.

Louis Farrakhan: Am I against you? Am I against Muslims? No. Are the Jews that came out of Europe Semitic? Who are the Sephardic Jews? Are they Semitic? Am I against them? Who has segregated them and the Ethiopian Jews? Is it not the Europeans? The real antisemites are those who came out of Europe and settled in Palestine, and now they call themselves the true Jews, when in fact, they converted to Judaism.  ~memritv.org

Farrakhan channels Sheehan (and Murtha):

Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction. He was no threat to his neighbors. If he were a lion, he had no teeth. His paws had no claws. He never shot down one American or British plane, which flew all over Iraq for twelve years. Iraq had lost its power to protect its own sovereign airspace. So when America went to war with Iraq, and called it “Shock and Awe,” and used all these weapons against Iraq, it was committing murder, in order to get the oil of Iraq, to establish a democracy – that’s lying and murder.   ~memritv.org