Accused DC Madam also a stock picker...

You just had to know I couldn't pass this up.

The woman accused of running a prostitution ring serving Washington's elite, including at least one U.S. government official, also appears to be something of a stock picker. The woman, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, asked a federal judge on Monday for permission to sell almost 5,000 shares of Dolby Laboratories Inc. that were in an account frozen by the government because she believed the stock had reached its high point.

"I believe it's reached its peak," she told Judge Gladys Kessler. Palfrey said she bought the shares in the sound system firm at about $22 a share. "I don't want to see it waste away," she said, facing an expensive trial with most of her assets frozen.

Dolby was at about $37 a share on Monday morning, a possible pre-tax profit of $75,000.
However, about two hours after the hearing ended, the stock started to fall and closed down 5.5 percent to $35.42 on the New York Stock Exchange. It was not immediately clear what sparked the selloff and one analyst doubted a connection.

Ouch. I didn't realize that Randall Tobias was the ex chairman of Eli Lilly.

Don't know how I missed this...

Actually, I do. A bad day of travel and then that thing called real life.
Pardon me, if you've seen this already.

Iran to filter "immoral" mobile messages.

Iran's Telecommunications Ministry will start filtering "immoral" video and audio messages sent via mobile phones, state television reported on Saturday. The Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, a body set up after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, has instructed the ministry to buy the equipment needed to prevent any misuse of Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), it said.MMS allows users to send multimedia messages that include images, video and audio." ... in order to prevent possible misuse of MMS, immoral actions and social problems, the Telecommunications Ministry will filter immoral MMS," the television said.

It did not give details of the techniques it would use to filter such messages, when it would start or how it would define "immoral" messages.

Supreme Leader commends Iranian workers...

Al Khameinei plays pander bear.
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday highlighted the significant status of labor in the country's economic development. In a meeting with several thousand workers in Tehran on the eve of Labor day, May 1, the Supreme Leader said that the government should draw up a suitable program to clarify relations between the workers and investors and help remove the concerns mainly that of the labors.

Ayatollah Khamenei said that clarified relationship between the labors and investors is effective to speed up economic boom through proper investment and generating value added.

Islam has dignified the glorious status of workers, said the Supreme Leader, adding that our laborers have always stood by the Islamic Revolution in the campaign against political plots and never abandoned their efforts to reconstruct the country.

Iranian laborers are very pious, noble, revolutionary and committed to the aspirations of the Islamic Revolution, pointed out the Supreme Leader.

"Workers, investors and government are considered as three angles of economic development in any society."
It gets deep at the link. And don't forget to check out Kamangir. He has the lowdown on who al Khameini was pandering to. Looks like it was his homeys - oh and his guards.

"Gusty sailor Faye" back to Iraq

More from Iran Focus: Hostage Faye goes back to Iraq

GUTSY sailor Faye Turney was heading back to her ship off Iraq today just three weeks after she and 14 other Brit hostages were freed by Iran. Sailor pals of brave Faye and her fellow hostages are laying on an emotion-charged welcome for them.The crew have been planning it for days after Faye, 25, revealed: “HMS Cornwall is where I belong and it’s where my friends are.”Leading Seaman Faye and her seven snatched Royal Navy colleagues have ALL agreed to go back into the danger zone following their harrowing ordeal — despite being offered cushier postings.

They will rejoin the Type-22 frigate by helicopter today as it continues its stint in the Gulf.Their brave decision also means they will be once again patrolling in a small inflatable boat near Iranian waters — where Revolutionary Guards seized them with seven Royal Marines.

Faye bid a tearful farewell to husband Adam and three-year-old daughter Molly before flying out of the UK last night with Lieutenant Felix Carman, boat navigator Arthur Batchelor and the other five freed Navy hostages.

They were all given the chance to stay in Britain for further counselling to recover from their ordeal, which included being made to believe they would be executed.

But they shunned it, leaving Navy chiefs hugely impressed by their steely resolve.

More at the link...

Hey Tourists and Nancy Pelosi! You're included in Iran's fashion crackdown.

We hear San Fran Nan might be firing up her big jet (Carbon footprint be damned!) to head off to Tehran. She better be paying attention. Remember Richard Gere, after all:

From Iran Focus: Tourists not exempt in Iran dress crackdown: police

Iran on Monday warned tourists and other foreigners visiting the country to obey its Islamic dress code in line with a nationwide crackdown against slack dressing, the ISNA news agency reported. "We have asked travel agencies to warn tourists and to explain the laws of this country," said Tehran's deputy chief of police, Hossein Sajedi-Nia. Iran has handed out more than 10,000 warnings over the past 10 days to women deemed to have infringed the dress code in the Islamic republic, and dozens of others have been briefly detained at police stations. Sajedi-Nia indicated there was no chance of a let-up in the crackdown, a regular pre-summer measure being pursued with extra vigour this year, saying that from next week "plain clothes police will go into action." Women must cover their heads and conceal their curves in public in Iran. The law also applies to members of non-Muslim minorities and all visiting foreigners.

Oh really?
The head of Iran's police force, Esmaeel Ahmadi-Moghadam, said that the crackdown on clothing was not a temporary measure and would continue for the sake of personal security for women. "At the moment, women are unable to go in peace to public baths, swimming pools or hotels," he said, referring to an acknowledged problem in Iran where women are often secretly filmed and photographed without their knowledge.

Paging Alec Baldwin. Paging Alec Baldwin.

While daddy dearest Alec is turning his back on his daughter, Ireland, his stellar Hollywood career and is championing his book on Father's Rights perhaps he can ponder this?

From deseretnews.com: Many Muslim men become deadbeats

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Many Malaysian Muslim men who divorce their wives are ignoring their responsibility to provide for their children because the Islamic legal system fails to punish them, a women's rights group says.

Sisters In Islam said women who were unable to get their ex-husbands to pay child support comprised nearly one-third of the 214 complaints it received in the first three months of 2007, adding that those cases constitute "only a small fraction of what is happening."

"Mothers are forced to beg from their children's fathers so that their children have sufficient food, clothing, shelter and education," the group said in an April 21 statement.

Sisters In Islam said Malaysia's Muslim women are suffering a lack of legal protection in a wide range of issues such as polygamy, where men who take multiple wives sometimes neglect the economic and emotional welfare of their families. Some Muslims interpret Islamic teaching as allowing a man to marry up to four women.

The Islamic Shariah Court is the legal authority in disputes involving families, morality and religion for Muslims, who form nearly 60 percent of the 26 million people in Malaysia, which has Buddhist, Christian and Hindu minorities.

In other Baldwin family news: Actor Daniel Baldwin Cleared of Car Theft.

I've been following the death of UK Cricket coach Woolmer

with a desultory eye. Something just smelled to me about it. Gambling, was my first thought. Have to admit I wasn' t suspecting this. The Telegraph has this to report. It's quite interesting.

Woolmer was poisoned and strangled (after he objected to Muslim prayers?)

Bob Woolmer was poisoned before being strangled, according to the long-awaited toxicology reports on the death of the Pakistan cricket coach. Preliminary tests showed there was a drug in his system that would have incapacitated him, leaving him unable to fight back.

Mr Woolmer was caught up in disputes with some members of the Pakistan side about their alleged preoccupation with their religion before his murder, it is claimed.

An investigation for the BBC Panorama programme, to be screened tonight, suggests that the Pakistan cricket coach objected to strict Muslim team mates who seemed "more interested in praying not playing" at the World Cup in Jamiaca. (sic)

Wake up America! Islamists target schools.

85 killed in 2006 Afghan school attacks
At least 85 students and teachers were killed last year in attacks blamed on insurgents who oppose education for girls and teaching boys anything other than religion, Afghanistan's education minister said Sunday. Insurgents also burned down 187 schools, while 350 closed because of security concerns, Education Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar said.

"The enemy of our nation ... has targeted our education system through destruction and inhumanity," Atmar told thousands of students at a stadium in Kabul in a speech marking Education Day. Militants are "killing our innocent teachers and students and burning our schools."

The number of students attending school has skyrocketed since the 2001 fall of the Taliban regime, which banned girls from going to school and boys from studying anything other than Islam. But more than half of Afghan children still lack the means to go to school, while 60 percent of those enrolled "study under tents, in the shade of walls and trees or in some cases, under the hot sun," Atmar said.

'Nuff said.

CAIR: Playing the Muslim Crybaby card

and getting busted. Big time.

This is just too rich to keep to myself, possums.

Hat tip to the ever-fabulous Always on Watch over at MNM and Always on Watch Two for snagging this hot tamale off of the Vigilant Freedom/910 Bloggers Group - It's a tape and transcript of CAIR executive director Nihad Awad exhorting his fellow travelers to beef up their discrimination complaint numbers. What a fraud these Islamic victimbaiters are!

Christine writes:

This could be a real embarrassment for Awad, because if Muslims are actually doing well in the U.S., maybe they don’t need CAIR. And that could mean all that fine Saudi and UAE money is going to the wrong group. Or maybe that most American Muslims don’t want their kids to be part of the future Muslim Brotherhood Caliphate after all. What’s even worse - all those reports of discrimination cases against Jews (couldn’t be anti-semitism, must be better reporting….). So frustrating for Awad and his Royal backers!

Chocolates and champagne for you, Christine! (And Always!)

Get out the airsickness bags: Pelosi's planning more junkets?

From The Washington Prowler (at The American Spectator) This can't be true, can it?

FREQUENT FLYER
Word out of the House Democrat leadership is that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is not only having her staff make plans for a trip to Venezuela to meet there with dictator Hugo Chavez, she has also asked staff to apply for a visa to travel to Tehran. "She is getting bad advice from people back home in San Francisco," says a leadership aide, who is working for one of Pelosi's colleagues. "She is not getting it from members of her leadership team. That's all anyone here is willing to say."

Keep that bag handy. You need it when you read Melissa Block' of NPR's interview with John Okinawa Murtha. He continues to mention the I word. ( And it ain't "I'm a moron. I'm sorry.):
Democrats Prepare Contingency Plans for Bush Veto.

Haven't had enough yet?
Read Al Jazeera's take on it here.
Bush Impeachment Calls Grow Louder.
Murtha is liberally quoted.

Disgusting.

When moonbats attack

The Scotsman.com: US Consulate hit in paint attack.

VANDALS attacked the United States consulate today, throwing paint at the building and scrawling anti-war graffiti across the front door. The vandals, who have been linked to similar attacks on the offices of two Edinburgh MPs and a nearby army recruiting centre, also smashed a window at a neighbouring house. Anti-war vandals sprayed "Out of Iraq" on the front door of the US consulate, on Regent Terrace, and threw red paint at the building.

Morons.

Turkey: Markets react to Gul and the Islamists

And it's not in a good way: Crisis pinches Turkey's pocket.

Turkey's financial markets tumbled amid political instability triggered by a court challenge to the presidential election process and a mass demonstration against the ruling party. Fears of military intervention, prompted by an army warning to the Islamist-rooted AK Party government that it would protect the secular state, added to the woes Monday.

The main share index fell as much as 8 percent, while bond yields rose a percentage point and the lira currency slid four percent. Markets had staged a partial recovery by the close of trade in what was the biggest sell-off in nearly a year.

Business Week breaks it down for you here: Turkish Turmoil Slams Markets.

Their currency got hammered too. The Deputy Prime Minister attempted to reassure the jittery markets and tonight the Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan, will be conducting his regular weekly television address. It will be interesting to see what happens...Stay tuned.

Update: Turkish PM appeals for unity.
Turkey's prime minister appealed for calm Monday after the stock market dropped amid a deepening conflict between his Islamic-oriented government and pro-secular forces backed by the military....

Analysts said the markets will likely recover if the government defuses tension by agreeing to early parliamentary elections, a move that could appease opponents who hope to make electoral gains at the expense of the ruling party. But sustained political uncertainty would likely take a toll. In his speech, Erdogan made no direct reference to the stock market slide (!!!!!) or the challenges to his mandate, instead issuing a broadly worded appeal to Turks to safeguard the economic advances and social stability that they have gained after decades of uneven development and, at times, all-out political conflict.

Reactions range from the hilarious to well, the downright criminal. First, the hilarious:

The head of Europe's top human rights organization expressed shock at the stance taken by Turkey's military, which threatened to intervene in the selection of the new president - which is by parliamentary vote rather than direct election - and urged the government to curb Islamic influences. `This statement looks like a deliberate attempt by the armed forces to influence the election of a new president,'' Terry Davis, secretary-general of the Council of Europe, said in a statement. `They should stay in their barracks and keep out of politics.''

Now the criminal:
The United States stayed away from criticizing any of the players in the crisis. `We have confidence in Turkey's democratic institutions and Turkey's constitutional processes to work out any questions that may surround the election of the next Turkish president,'' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

There was no mention of early elections. Not good for the markets. Praise Allah for the market in Muslim prayer beads.

One of the residents of the central Anatolian province of Kayseri, known in Turkey for their practicality, has realized a first and set up a unique store for prayer beads, in use among Muslims for centuries. Fans of beads come from all over Turkey to Tesbih Dünyası (prayer bead world) to see the valuable beads there, many of them even ready to pay as much as $5,000 for a set. The man behind the project is Kenan Paydak, who described their store as being “like a market” where sellers and purchasers can meet. Stating that those who come to the store have a chance to display their beads while being provided with food and drink, Paydak says they are very busy on weekdays. “People from all over Turkey come here, especially on Monday. Some come to sell their beads, others to add new beads to their collection. Sales are made here all day long. We act as an agent between them,” Paydak said.

Lost in all the shuffle: Erdogan hosts Musharraf and Karzai: They agree to combine intel and fight terror together.

Another volcano pic.

Fabulous pic from Klyuchevskaya Sopka - Kamchatka.

(Lots of gory details of the volcano at this site. Pic not of this eruption, just a great pic.)

Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano spews vapor.
PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, April 28 (Itar-Tass) - The Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula has spewed a powerful vapour column to a height of up to 1.5 kilometres above the summit on Saturday.

The eruption of the giant mount that began on February 15 “so far is considerably weaker than the 2005 eruption, but the volcano activity is intensifying,” head of the Klyuchevskaya volcanic station Yuri Demyanchuk told Itar-Tass from the Klyuchi settlement (located 32 kilometres from the volcano) on Saturday

Let's hear it for the Good Guys II

Gotta give a shout out to the boyz in the Afghan hood, keepin' it real for freedom.

From Blackanthem Military News
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan – Afghan and Coalition forces killed 10 Taliban militants and destroyed two buildings in an air and ground engagement early this morning in Helmand Province.

There were no Coalition casualties in the firefight. A Coalition convoy was ambushed by Taliban militants in the vicinity of Gereshk. Coalition forces fought back from the ground and employed close air support to destroy the buildings from which enemy forces were firing.

As I live and breathe, it's my new hero, Major Christopher Belcher...
“Taliban forces clearly lost this engagement, and will continue to lose throughout Afghanistan,” said Army Maj. Christopher Belcher, a Combined Joint Task Force-82 spokesperson. “Peaceful Afghans are beginning to realize how harmful the Taliban are to their way of life, and they will no longer tolerate these criminals in their midst.”

Oo-rah!

Flying with the Apaches in Afghanistan. Another smoking Hot Air Special. Bring your apache case. (You'll get it when you watch the vid.)

Want some good background on what our fine troops are up to in Afghanistan.
Read US aircrews show Taliban no mercy. Here's a tease:

Capt Staley, the commander of the Apache unit based at Kandahar airfield, described how his helicopters had arrived just after an ambush by Taliban fighters with rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns, on a detachment of American special forces and an infantry unit. In the second Apache, 1st Lt Jack Denton, 26, was in radio contact with the special forces unit, Scorpion 36, on the ground.

The soldiers said they had information that the Taliban were escaping across the river. "Look out for any boats," they said. He spotted a small aluminium fishing boat pushing out from the eastern shore of the 200-yard-wide river. In it were six or seven people. When they caught sight of the Apaches, they started to paddle back towards shore.

The aircrew hesitated. "It seemed a little premature," said Lt Denton. "We didn't have hostile intent or a positive ID from the ground commander." But the special forces soldiers were adamant that, although they could not themselves see the men on the boat, they must be the Taliban who had attacked them. That, said Lt Denton, was good enough for the Apache crews.

By then, most of the men were ashore, walking quickly towards the tree line. They appeared to be pulling clothing over their heads - burqas, Capt Staley thought, and Lt Denton concurred. As the helicopters came in to attack, Lt Denton said, one of the men turned to face him and dropped to his knees. "I think he knew that there was no hope," he said. "He was making his peace."

From Khost via the Brunei Times: 23 Taliban die in clash, woman hostage freed.
Taliban rebels meanwhile stormed a district administrative headquarters in the eastern province of Khost late last Friday, sparking a battle that was joined by Nato helicopters and left at least 13 rebels dead, a provincial governor said. The militants were hit by a Nato air strike as they were retreating after the attack in Alishar district, on the border with Pakistan, provincial governor Arsala Jamal said. "There are 13 Taliban bodies at the battle site now," he said. "Blood stains in the area suggest there must have been more than 13 killed or wounded taken out of the area."

Another one for the choppers...
"It was the Nato helicopters who caused the major blow to the enemy," said provincial police spokesman Wazir Badshah.

Anti Islam rally in Turkey

a sea of red flags in Istanbul

Turkish Anti-Islamic Rally Draws 500,000

Around half a million people gathered in Istanbul today demanding the resignation of the pro-Islamic government. The rally will spur fears of a military coup as it follows a steep rise in tensions between Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the country's prime minister, and the pro-secular army, which accuses the government of tolerating the activities of radical Muslims.

"Turkey is secular and will remain secular," the protesters chanted, waving the national flag. Ahmet Yurdakul, 63 year-old a retired government employee accused the government of wanting to "drag Turkey to the dark ages."

At the heart of the dispute is the recent indecisive presidential election, in which the ruling party candidate Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, failed to secure a first-round victory on Friday. Mr Erdogan's government yesterday rejected a warning from the army about the vote, calling it interference that is unacceptable in a democracy.

Most opposition legislators boycotted the vote and challenged its validity in the Constitutional Court, prompting the military to voice its concern and threaten to become more openly involved in the electoral process

Since coming to power, Mr Erdogan's party has supported religious schools and tried to lift the ban on Islamic head scarves in public offices and schools. Opponents accuse them of trying to unpick the heritage of Ataturk, who founded the modern Turkish state along secular lines, replacing the Islamic alphabet and granting women the right to vote. Turkey has experienced three military coups since 1960.

What's next? Million+ protest in Turkey has this to say:
The army, which has toppled four governments in as many decades, responded that that it was determined to protect the secular system and take action if the need arose. This made it clear, many analysts said , that Gul's candidacy was not welcome with the army top brass. The government retorted by calling the army to order and Gul said he would remain in the race.

"It is out of the question for me to withdraw my candidacy in any way," he told reporters in Ankara.

The main opposition party has asked the constitutional court to cancel Friday's presidential vote in parliament, arguing that the assembly did not have the necessary quorum to open the voting session. If the court annuls the vote, general elections set for November 4 could be brought forward. If it does not, Gul could be elected president in a third round of voting on May 9, when an absolute majority of 276 votes would suffice. The court's president said they would make a decision before the second round of voting on Wednesday.

No mullet for Muhammed no more

Per Monsters & Critics: Iranian authorities now clamping down on Western hairstyles for men.

Iranian authorities are clamping down on barbers in Tehran, ordering them strictly to avoid making hairstyles for men considered by the administration as 'Western' and not in accordance with Islamic norms, a press reports said ... The instruction, which did not clarify what hairstyles would be taboo, also includes a ban on make-up and cosmetics for men in barber shops.

I better be hearing some outrage from John 'Silky Pony' Edwards on this.

And another one's gone...

And another one's gone.
Another one bites the dust.

Al Qaeda in Iraq Security Emir Killed.

Coalition Forces positively identified a terrorist killed in an operation April 20 northwest of Baghdad. Muhammad Abdullah Abbas al-Issawi, also known as Abu Abd al-Sattar and Abu Akram, was a known al-Qaeda terrorist leader known to operate in Karmah and Ameriyah Abu Abd al-Sattar had links to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and was reported to have been in contact with him since late 2004, up to al-Zarqawi's death. He was also a weapons supplier to insurgent forces fighting against the Iraqi Army, Iraqi Police and Coalition Forces, and had links to the recent surge in chlorine VBIED attacks across Iraq.

Intelligence reports also indicate that his VBIED cell used 12- to 13-year-old children as VBIED drivers.

"Abu Abd al-Satter's death is a serious disruption to al-Qaeda in Iraq's VBIED network," said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, MNF-I spokesperson. "This represents one more victory in the war against those that would deny safety and security to the Iraqi people."areas and was the al-Qaeda in Iraq Security Emir of the eastern Anbar Province.

And in other Christopher Garver news: US launches artillery barrage in Baghdad.
The U.S. military in Iraq launched an artillery barrage in southern Baghdad on Sunday against suspected insurgent targets, with two dozen loud explosions shaking the southern outskirts of the capital. U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver said the morning blasts, which were heard across the city, were caused by U.S. artillery but declined to say what the target was.

Latest Lib Hypocrisy: GOP sex scandal

You knew it was coming.

From the Herald Sun: Sex scandal rocks Washington.

The US State Department announced yesterday Randall Tobias, the embattled head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), was resigning for unspecified personal reasons.

Foley Redux.

But then there's this: Woman in Escort Case Plans to Name Names in Defense

Once a toe sucking hound dog, always a toe sucking hound dog...

Mr. Tobias is the third prominent Washington figure to be identified as among Ms. Palfrey’s clients. This month, she identified an adviser to the Pentagon as “one of the regular customers” of her service. She included in a court filing and posted on her Web site the man’s photo and tax records. Dick Morris, the television commentator and former adviser to President Bill Clinton, who resigned in 1996 after reports that he was seeing a prostitute, was also a customer, Ms. Palfrey’s lawyer has said in court. Mr. Morris has denied the accusation.

Another Al Qaeda biggie nabbed in Iraq?

Looks like Hot Air got a hot tip - more good news out of Iraq the MSM can't be bothered with evidently. That surge sure isn't working is it, Senator Surrender and Madame Fraidy Cat?

John from Verum Serum sends along a nice catch, so to speak: He’s been reading carefully over General Petraeus’ public comments about conditions in Iraq and noticed he dropped a name no one has yet seized upon: Abu Mustafa Al-Sheibani. Petraeus said:

As you know, there are seven Quds Force members in detention as well. This involvement, again, we learned more about with the detention of an individual named Sheibani, who is one of the heads of the Sheibani network, which brings explosively formed projectiles into Iraq from Iran. His brother is the Iranian connection. He is — was in Iraq. And that has been the conduit that then distributes these among the extremist elements again of these secret cells and so forth.

Sheibani is on the Iraqi Government’s “41 most wanted” list. Not only does this guy work for and with Iran, John notes, but he’s also thought to be the first guy to bring in the Explosively Formed Projectiles. From Time, August 2005 (and that’s a good article.):

What a scumbag:

The U.S. Military’s new nemesis in Iraq is named Abu Mustafa al-Sheibani, and he is not a Baathist or a member of al-Qaeda. He is working for Iran. According to a U.S. military-intelligence document obtained by TIME, al-Sheibani heads a network of insurgents created by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps with the express purpose of committing violence against U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq. Over the past eight months, his group has introduced a new breed of roadside bomb more lethal than any seen before; based on a design from the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia Hizballah, the weapon employs “shaped” explosive charges that can punch through a battle tank’s armor like a fist through the wall.

The MSM hasn’t picked up on his capture yet. One wonders when and if they will…the capture of two major Iran-linked terror leaders in Iraq may just be too much good news for them to handle. Besides, a Republican got caught with a call girl! Exit question: Do you think anyone will be claiming the $200,000 reward for Sheibani’s capture? (BTW, you can send me tips this week (or any week) to seedub, at hotmail.)

Bravo!

CIA HELD SUSPECT IN SECRET PRISONS!

Call the waahmbulance full of ACLU lawyers and the Human Rights Watch! Remember the big fish the CIA just reeled in? Well, the International Herald Tribune has talked to all the usual suspects and they are outraged, outraged I tell ya, at his treatment.

Human rights advocates expressed anger that the United States continued a program of secret detention, and some wondered why the CIA claimed it needed harsh interrogation methods to extract information from detainees when it appeared that Iraqi had given up information using Pentagon-approved interrogation practices.

Whine and cheese anyone?

"The CIA can't seem to get its story straight," said John Sifton of Human Rights Watch. "If they can get good intelligence without using abusive techniques, why do they so desperately need to use the abusive techniques?" But he said that there was no way to know whether Iraqi had been mistreated, because "no independent monitors have been able to see him since his arrest."

Let's hear it for the Good Guys!

All in all, not a bad day! God bless our troops.

CIA nabs Al Qaeda Biggie.

Coalition Forces Detain 13 Suspects; Detainee Dies in Camp Bucca

Saudis bust 172 Al Qaeda scumbags. Break up BIG plot.

And in a classic case of 'From Dinah's lips to God's ears': Algeria's top Al Qaeda leader killed in clashes.

CIA nabs AQ biggie

Hope he enjoys his stay at Guantanamo!

The CIA captured a suspected senior al Qaeda operative who U.S. officials accuse of commanding the group's paramilitary operations in Afghanistan and launching attacks on U.S. forces from Pakistan, the Pentagon said on Friday.

The CIA transferred Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, also accused of assassination plots against Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and United Nations officials, into Pentagon custody this week. He is being held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

Update: Abd al-hadi al-Iraqi is believed to be the mastermind of 7/7 and was a former major in the army of Saddam Hussein. (Nope, no connection between Al qaeda and Iraq. Nope.) He was trying to return to his country "to manage to manage al-Qaeda's affairs and possibly focus on operations outside Iraq against Western targets... "

Security sources said they assessed Abd al-Hadi as a key operational commander, high up the chain in the al-Qaeda structure who was behind many key plots in the UK. He had a close link with another arrested al-Qaeda figure and, the sources said, would have 'a wealth of information'. He is thought to have been in contact with Osama bin Laden before his capture and might be able to provide information about his leader’s whereabouts."

File this under Bwa-ha-ha. Cutback on Gitmo Visits concern lawyers.

Fatwa on polio vaccine - causes impotence.

From the Hindustan Times:

Thousands of children below five years in Peshawar could not be administered polio drops, after a fatwa issued by anti-state cleric Maulana Fazal Ullah declared that these drops could turn the kids "sexually impotent". Ullah’s message warning the people against the polio drive was aired on illegally-run radio FM channels. The cleric is said to be holding tremendous influence in the area and people accede to his directions.

He said that polio drops rendered the kids "sexually impotent", and also called upon the people to boycott the polio drops because these (polio drops) were a tool used by the Western countries, particularly the US.

Unfortunately, there's no vaccine for ignorance. The BBC reports that over 160,000 children were estimated to have been left unvaccinated and that vaccine teams have been beaten up. Conspiracy theories abound.

Amirullah Khan, a resident of NWFP's Swat district, quoted Maulana Fazlullah of a local FM channel as telling his listeners the vaccination drive was "a conspiracy of the Jews and Christians to stunt the population growth of Muslims". Maulana Fazlullah confirmed this to BBC, saying if the international organisations were keen on improving the health of the Muslims, they should help the hepatitis-C patients in the area. Last year samples of the vaccine were laboratory-tested after a petition in Peshawar High Court alleged they contained oestrogen. The hormone was not found, said Dr Waheed Khan, a health official.

Gere apologizes for obscene act.

Gerbil accepts. (That's a joke, son.)

It looks like Richard Gere has kicked off his apology tour. Will rehab be far behind?

This from the BBC:

Actor Richard Gere has apologised for causing offence when he kissed Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty. Gere, 57, said he had misread Indian customs and that he regretted any problems he had caused Shetty. He asked for the "media circus" to end and hoped it would not detract from the message of preventing AIDS.

Doesn't sound too apologetic on the Daily Show. Must be saving the melodrama for Oprah. Hmm, if he hurries he might still make it onto the View before Rosie leaves...

Speaking on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, the actor said the situation as "nothing". "There is a very small right-wing, very conservative political party in India and they are the moral police in India... they do this kind of thing quite often," he said. A judge had ordered Shetty to appear in his court on 5 May, saying she did nothing to resist the kiss, which he called "highly sexually erotic".

A lecher and a gentleman... extra crispy.

Gere said Shetty was not to blame for the incident. "I've felt terrible that she should carry a burden that is no fault of hers," he said. Public displays of affection are still largely taboo in India, and protestors in Mumbai (Bombay) set fire to effigies of Gere following the incident.

In other Shetty news, Shilpa set to sell poppadums at Shilpa Shetty Dining Halls.

You forgot the treason part, Dana.

"Eighty days after President Bush submitted his troop-funding bill, the Senate has now joined the House in passing defeatist legislation that insists on a date for surrender, micromanages our commanders and generals in combat zones from 6,000 miles away and adds billions of dollars in unrelated spending to the fighting on the ground," said Dana Perino, the administration spokeswoman.

What's the next move for the Defeatocrats? This from Philly.com:

With the veto coming, some Democrats argue that the bill should be stripped of the timelines and sent back with the benchmarks and troop readiness rules intact. Others contend that Congress has made its statement and should now give Bush what he has demanded.

Another wing, including House Democrats who are influential on military policy, prefers providing money for the troops for a few months while keeping pressure on the White House through other Pentagon-related legislation. Still others want to turn the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group into law.

Each alternative carries its own risk because Democratic leaders might not have the votes to pass an alternate bill. That's because a substantial bloc of Democrats opposes providing more money for the war without some demand for a withdrawal.

Reaction: Iran's fashion victims.

Original photo removed at the request of Maryam Majd. Photo still available at Kamangir

Kamangir, an Iranian living in Canada, talks about the crackdown in Iran against impure women who dare show three strands of hair or wear jeans without benefit of a sleeping bag over them.

It was clear that Police brutality in enforcing Islamic covering would cause objection and protest by the general body of blogestan. What was not so clear was that the more conservative bloggers would also rise against it.

He cites 'Kouroush' who offers this observation:

I don’t know who has mandated the veil in this general and inclusive form. Neither in history nor in the life of the prophet you hear anything about this. Even if the veil is mandatory, which is not, it is not so inclusive. Furthermore, I don’t know how they infer that the veil is mandatory…They refer to Quran and the scholars. I have read the same books and I have not found any trace of the veil in either Quran or the life of the prophet.

Blogger Malukut is not so sanguine.
I just saw the footage of Police attacking a girl whom to their understanding is immodest. She is screaming that she is not going with them. The policewomen pull her to put her in the car. She screams. Sad people gather around. Everyone is watching the scene and no one can do anything. It ruined my night. I had never scene anything more annoying that this. They are treating her as if she is a murders. This is not a rumor or a fake video. I am sure every Iranian has seen such a scene in person. Let’s think this is the only instance this has happened. Let’s think by pure chance this only time is also taken on a video and is surfaced. This very event is enough to destroy the reputation of the Police and the regime. I know that the administration does not care. I am writing these to heal my own feelings…Religion, morality, and fear of God is dead in this country…They have killed the God and they have made themselves the God.

He closes by adding this:

“they have changed God’s message and have turned it into this horrible thing”.

Iranian Olympians invited to hold camps in US...

Okay, let me see if I have this right. The US is going to pay the freight for these enemies of the state, buying the airline tickets and ponying up for their accommodations. (your taxpayer dollars at work?) Iran says - okay, but only if you don't fingerprint team members. Gee, I wonder why that could be a problem? Could there be terrorists amongst them???

Words fail me. Read it all from IRNA.

Secretary General of the National Olympic Committee Ali Kaffashian said here Wednesday that his committee has received three letters of invitations from the US National Olympic Committee. He told IRNA that the US National Olympic Committee has invited three Iranian teams, including weightlifters, cyclists and boatmen to hold warm-up camps in the US.

"The American committee has said that it will provide two-way tickets and pay for the accommodations of the Iranian athletes during their stay in the country," he added.

Kaffashian said that the agreement on invitation of Iranian and American teams to each other's countries, holding sport camps and participation in competitions was recently reached at a meeting between the representatives of the national olympic committee of the two countries in Kuwait. "The American officials have expressed their interest in signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Iran and expansion of mutual sports relations," he said.

"Iran's Physical Education Organization has agreed to dispatch Iranian teams to the American camps and competitions if the Iranian athletes are not fingerprinted while entering the country," he added. Concerning the proposed MoU, he said that the proposal is now being examined. He noted that meanwhile, the US is expected to dispatch its wrestling and taekwondo teams to Iran to attend warm-up camps.

Mahmoud: God on Iran's side during 1979 hostage crisis

From Iran Focus:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday marked the 27th anniversary of the failed U.S. military operation to rescue 53 American hostages in Tehran by saying God and Iran "clobbered the enemy," state radio reported.

Though the anniversary is not a national holiday or celebrated by most Iranians, the government annually marks the failed attempt — called Operation Eagle Claw — by the U.S. military to rescue the hostages. Eight U.S. servicemen died in the operation.As in past years, hundreds of mostly hard-line Iranians gathered about 600 kilometers (373 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran, to protest Washington's policies at the site where a U.S. helicopter crashed into a plane after the rescue mission was aborted, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Algeria: AQ leader wants to surrender

From AKI:

The leader of the Organisation of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who is in charge of the area of Algerian Sahara is ready to surrender, according to a report in Algerian daily al-Shuruq published Thursday. The paper, which quoted unnamed informed sources, said authorities are negotiating directly with the family of Mokhtar considered the Emir of the so-called Area Number Five, southern Algeria.Belmokhtar, whose nom de guerre is Abu al-Abbas or Louar, was reportedly close to Hassan Hattab, the former leader of the now defunct Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which changed its name to Organisation of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in January after pledging allegiance to the international terrorist network of Osama bin Laden. Hattab has surrendered under a national reconciliation plan offered by Algerian authorities to end a brutal civil war in the 1990s in which an estimated 200,000 people have died.

You knew there had to be strings attached to this so-called surrender, didn't you?
The terror suspect is reportedly demanding a passport and the cancellation of all charges against him, including a sentence to death, in exchange for his surrender.

I say just take him out and be done with it. But that's just me.

UPDATE: In a classic case of from Dinah's lips to God's ears...

Algeria's top Al Qaeda leader killed in clashes.

Pick up the phone and call the White House

tell them what you think of the Defeatocrats latest attempt to undermine this country. Support the veto.

White House Comment line:

202-456-1111

Feeling fired up?

Call Harry Reid's orifice and demand his resignation. 202-224-3542

High finance, sharia and you...

From Investor's Business Daily:

Frank Gaffney Jr., president of the Center for Security Policy, which is leading the divestment in terror campaign (divestterror.org) reports that the Ohio legislature will soon hold its second hearing on legislation to prevent investment by Ohio's public pension funds in companies that do business with the terror-sponsoring and nuke-building mullahs in Iran. The legislation is sponsored by state Reps. Shannon Jones and Joshua Mandel. Mandel knows something about Iranian involvement in Iraq, having served a combat tour there as a Marine.

Similar initiatives are also under way in Missouri, Florida, Illinois, Georgia and Louisiana — and not a moment too soon. According to Gaffney's organization, as of August 2004 roughly 100 of the top U.S. public pension funds alone had some $188 billion invested in companies that partner with terrorist-sponsoring regimes like Iran.

In other financial news, Standard and Poors aids and abets Islamic financial markets with the formation of a series of Sharia index funds. The indices include only those stocks compliant with Sharia law and opens the door for the creation of mutual funds, exchange traded funds and other structured products to facilitate liquidity and improve risk management. Great, not only will the islamists be able to use hawala to launder their funds. They'll be able to use the S&P.

And last but not least, the UK Government is considering issuing sharia based bonds. Read it and weep.

Under sharia law, making money from money, such as charging interest, is not permitted, which restricts opportunities for investing to trade and assets. The Islamic financial model is based upon risk-sharing between financial institutions and customers. For instance, customers are able to get credit by asking a bank to buy an item, which it then sells on to them on a deferred basis. The market is expected to grow quickly as there are estimates suggesting that there are more than £125bn of Islamic finance assets worldwide....

"Domestically, we will do everything we can to promote new ways for British Muslims to bank, save and borrow using Islamic finance products," he will say. "I believe there are great potential advantages for the UK government issuing sharia-compliant government debt. The feasibility study will also be assessing the opportunity for issuing such instruments, taking into account the government's debt-management objectives..."

The government is changing the rules to allow Sukuk bonds to be issued, held and traded in the same way as corporate bonds to try to encourage more of them to be issued in London. The high-street banks are also devising products for Britain's two million Muslims. HSBC, for instance, offers an Islamic mortgage and current account.

Marooned

Kansas City.

at the Airport Marriott in Kansas City. My flight to Jersey has been delayed into infinity.

Maybe I'll have better luck tomorrow.

Maybe not.

sigh.

Dems want 15 day waiting period for US troop action

Well, this just tears it.

A clause inserted on page 72 of the Pelosi Surrender Bill mandates a 15 day waiting period before any American military units can be moved into the Iraqi theatre.

That's right - a 15 day waiting period.

Why not just send them into action wearing panty hose and carrying purses?

From an excellent piece by Duncan Hunter over at HumanEvents.com. Read it all.

For example, should US hostages be taken and a Delta Force team moved from outside the theater to attempt a rescue, Pelosi’s provision would require a fifteen-day waiting period and a report to Congress before the rescue could be attempted. Should a Zarqawi level target be located and U.S. fighter aircraft be deployed from outside Iraq, the same fifteen days would elapse before a strike could be executed. The very nature of the “notice and wait” requirement illustrates how unfamiliar Democrats are with the war against terrorists. This is a new era involving rapid movement of specialized personnel and equipment across theater boundaries. “Notice and wait for two weeks” reflects an ultimate misunderstanding of U.S. military operations.

India may arrest Richard Gere for PDA

Remember this?

Well, it looks like Richard is in hot water with the Indian government for laying one on Bollywood actress, Shilpa Shetty.

A court issued arrest warrants for Hollywood actor Richard Gere and Bollywood
star Shilpa Shetty on Thursday, saying their kiss at a public function "transgressed all limits of vulgarity," media reports said.

Pakistan: Gov't caves into Lal Masjid Demands

Students at the Red Mosque

Sharia anyone? In what can only be described as APPEASEMENT and CONCESSION the Pakistan government has agreed to accept all demands of the 'management' of the Lal Masjid or Red Mosque. Details are to be released to the Parliament today. What does that mean to the average Mo on the Pakistani street? It means the enforcement of sharia law.

The Pakistani Muslim League leader denied the presence of illegal activists (read jihadis) and ammunition in the mosque. This despite the report of massive amounts of arms and ammunition spotted by two security guards taken hostage by the group. This also runs counter to the frequent assertions made by President Musharraf that the mosque provided aid and comfort to SUICIDE BOMBERS. The Mosque denies this, of course.

And in what can only be described as Moslem paranoia run amok the Mosqueteers are complaining about aerial surveillance and being sprayed with gas by helicopters. (were they black I wonder?)

This does not bode well for President Musharraf and it appears that nuclear Pakistan is moving ever closer to having a radical muslim finger on the red button of the nuclear bomb.

Faster, faster on the nuclear shield please. Russia and China better get with the program, too. Although, given the state of institutionalized paranoia to be found in their governments this is highly unlikely. This ain't good, folks.

More Iranian fashion victims.

Long time readers of Dinah Lord knows that she views the Islamic oppression of women to be vile and a key indicator of the 7th century mindset of modern Islam. It pains her to see women willingly submit to the fashion dictates of the He-Man-Woman-Hater's Club that is Islam. The screws are being tightened in Tehran. Will the world stay silent like they did when this began happening in Afghanistan? Or will they continue to bow and scrape and make 'reasonable accommodation'?

From Iran Focus:

The police bus screeches to a halt at a Tehran square packed with traffic. The officers leap out and begin spot checks on passing pedestrians and cars. Police work apparently like any other place in the world. But here in the Iranian capital their targets are women deemed to have infringed the Islamic republic's strict dress rules. "For God's sake no pictures!" yells a mother whose daughter has just been stopped by the male officers for her Islamic headscarf (hijab) being pushed too far back and revealing an excessive amount of hair. The dusk patrol in Tehran's western quarter of Shahrak-e Gharb is part of a nationwide crackdown aimed at "guiding"
women to adhere to the Islamic dress code, which since the 1979 revolution
requires women in Iran to cover their heads and bodily contours.

The religion of police:

"When we stop a vehicle, we politely tell them to correct their hijab. If our advice is carried out, then we leave it at that," police Corporal Habib Mohammad told an AFP reporter who was taken on the patrol. "If not and the female passenger or driver shouts back, then we will ask her for her car's document, and we will stop her car and take her case to the police station."

Hey, dude. Think you're safe? Not if you wear short sleeved shirts or tight jeans. Hah. You can beat your wife but you can't wear a wifebeater.

Twelve men have also been detained for "not observing the proper Islamic dress code" by wearing tight pants or short-sleeve shirts, he said.

And listen to this creepy, little perv:

"The current situation is shameful for an Islamic government. A man who sees these models on the streets will pay no attention to his wife at home, destroying the foundation of the family," said Mohammad Taghi Rahbar, a member of the culture committee of the Iranian parliament.

Here are some pictures of the arrests being made. Look at the outfits these women are wearing. Do they strike you as being overly revealing? Look at the headscarfs they are wearing. Does the sight of a woman's hair make your loins tighten? Didn't think so.

An Iranian police officer tells a woman to go into a police vehicle in eastern Tehran

An Iranian woman after seeing police officers in eastern Tehran. (she looks scared to me.)

Women wait to follow police to a police station in Tehran, April 23, 2007

A woman talks to police at a police station in Tehran, April 23, 2007.

A policeman warns a woman (R) about the state of her clothing and hair during a crackdown to ensure women adhere to Islamic dress code in Tehran

A policewoman (R) warns a woman about the state of her clothing and hair during a crackdown on adhering to Islamic dress code

And how do the Iranians take care of their uppity women?

Penalties for disobeying the dress code are severe. Women caught flouting the code can receive lashes, jail sentences, and large fines.

The thing about Vegas is

You just don't know where to look next, there are so many people to watch and wonder at. Not being much of a gambler, (I am notoriously unlucky) I usually end up sitting somewhere with a refreshing beverage just watching the world go by.

And what a world it is in Vegas.

The birthday party was great fun and the birthday boy was definitely surprised. Another big surprise, while on a trip to the ladies I walked by a table of twelve, good looking and buffed young men. Sitting at the head of the table? Oscar De La Hoya. (He's a cutie.) He's here in Vegas and training for his May 5 bout with Floyd Mayweather (Dinah's secret desire? Getting all dolled up and sitting ringside at a prizefight.)

In Vegas and looking for a good steak and some old style Sin City ambiance? Go here to my brother-in-laws's favorite steak house. (it's where the party was.)

Off to Kansas this morning, hope to be back in the blogging saddle this afternoon. Please check out Scott over at Town Commons or Pamela at Atlas Shrugs until then possums. There's lots going on out there this Monday morning.

I'd also like to give a shout out to new Dinah Lord reader, vegasgal. Welcome, honey.

Viva Las Vegas

Off to Vegas to attend a surprise 50th birthday bash

for my brother-in-law.

God (and technology) willing, I'll be blogging from the road.

Cheers. D

Richardson lends new meaning to term 'brown nosing'

Carpetbaggers and Scalawags.

White House Hopeful Richardson Tells Black Leaders He Would Make Africa Priority

Speaking to a meeting of the National Action Network, a civil rights organization founded by Rev. Al Sharpton, the New Mexico governor said the continent had been neglected by the Bush administration in favor of the Middle East and other regions thought to have greater strategic significance.

"Somehow it's not considered by American policymakers to have the importance it deserves," Richardson said. "Issues related to AIDS, refugees, issues related to governance, international poverty — somehow this continent is forgotten."

Richardson, a former ambassador to the United Nations, said that as president he would press to add an African nation to the U.N. Security Council. He also touted his recent efforts to help bring about a fragile cease-fire in the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan. (ed. note: you're making me laugh with this one, Bill.)

Hey Bill. Perhaps you should quit looking at your vacation photos from the USS Pueblo and read this.

Mohammed: Just say no to moonshine

Iran seizes four million litres of illicit booze

Iran on Wednesday said that it had seized four million litres of illicit booze during the last Iranian year, ending March 2007, the ISNA news agency reported. "Last year we seized four million litres of alcohol. It is very shocking, and this is only 25 to 30 percent of what is distributed in the country," police commander General Esmaeel Ahmadi-Moghadam said.

Only recognised Christian minorities in Iran, such as the Armenians, are allowed to produce and consume alcohol, discreetly and behind closed doors so as not to offend Islamic sensibilities.

Production, sale or consumption of alcohol are otherwise punishable by jail or the lash, although this has not stopped significant smuggling from neighbouring countries.

Earlier this month, 12 people died after drinking homemade hooch in a holy city of Qom in Iran and another 100 became sick. Most of the alcohol that comes to Iran comes over its western border from Iraqi Kurdistan. (ah, capitalism.)

What's wrong with this picture?

In Iran, they are protesting against wearing the veil.
In Canada, they are protesting in support of women who do...

IRAN: UNIVERSITY FEMALE STUDENTS REBEL AGAINST VEIL

Female students at Tehran Polytechnic University, where students protested against Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during a visit last December crying 'dictator go away' and throwing firecrackers, are staging a major protest against new regulations enabling police as of 21 April to arrest women who do not abide by the Islamic dress code.

A group of 700 female students organized a rally on campus and signed a letter to the dean calling the new rules "an offence to the dignity of women" and accusing him of "wanting to extend to academia the sexual apartheid imposed by the government on Iranian society."

Authorities immediately reacted on Thursday withdrawing the students' university ID cards which are mandatory to access campus and classes.The students will now have to face a disciplinary commission which will decide whether they will be allowed to continue their studies or be expelled. On Wednesday, Iran's police chief, Gen. Ahmad Moghaddam, said that women who do not wear the veil and don't abide by the Muslim dress code "are tools of the enemy, who tries to destroy the system by spreading a cuture which goes against Islamic values."

Another volcano erupts..

Colombia volcano erupts, thousands flee

NEIVA, Colombia - Thousands of people were evacuated after a long-dormant volcano erupted late Tuesday and again early Wednesday, provoking avalanches and floods that swept away houses and bridges.

Speaking of San Fran Nan...

No scarf boy in sight in this pic.

How would you like to be her scarf boy?

I kid you not. I was just watching FNC footage on Brit Hume that shows Nancy and her posse coming out of the White House to speak to the press

(Is it me, or do you think W took Pelosi Galore and Dingy Harry to the woodshed? I can only pray that to be the case. )

Anyways Nancy strolls out to the Rose Garden wearing some purple color pant suit. Very Armani-esque late 80's - early 90's look. The silhouette is an Armani fave and one Nan seems to favor. Hides that thickness that comes with middle age. I know. I'm sure she hoped the purple color would make her look royal and regal and if I'm not mistaken she had stopped at the salon for a blow out. She was carrying a purple hijab -er scarf in her right hand.

She has gotten remarkably comfortable with the schmatta lately, hasn't she?

As she walked, you could see her looking around for her little staff member. Once she spied him she turned, and with a big smile at the camera, hurled the scarf/hijab in his direction. He caught it like a bridesmaid catches the bouquet at a wedding. The poor aide looked so freaking relieved to have caught it. You could sense his mental relief, practically see him wiping his brow to indicate a close call. I have a feeling the poor fool that drops Nancy's scarf is going to get his head handed to him.

Off to Youtube to see if I can find it. No luck at Fox, Yahoo, Google. Boo.

Pelosi hides from Petraeus

Hot Air, Weekly Standard or Roll Call.

Unh-huh. She supports the troops all right. She'll meet with terrorists and state sponsors thereof, but she won't meet with our Iraqi generals.

Petraeus Visit Sparks Debate

Pelosi Initially Rejected Offer

The top military commander in Iraq will make a rare visit to Capitol Hill next week but House Democratic leaders — unlike their Senate counterparts — initially declined the Defense Department’s offer of a Members-only closed-door briefing with Army Gen. David Petraeus, according to Congressional and administration sources.

Women with veil: 'Not for sale' according to Danish Imam

from the Brussels Journal: All women should wear a veil.

According to Mostafa Chendid of the Danish Islamic Society (Islamisk Trossamfund), not only Muslim women but other women too should wear a veil. Why? Because five up to ten percent of all men cannot control themselves when they see a woman without a veil.

Earlier he had already succeeded to draw attention to himself by saying, on International Women's Day, to Jyllands-Posten (that's right: the newspaper with the cartoons) that not only Muslim women, but all other women too, should wear a veil. Of course, this resulted in a lot of reactions, and as a matter of fact his remarks in Jyllands-Posten were the direct reason for the interview with Weekendavisen, where he repeated them once more and commented on them. He said for example that wearing the veil is a woman's duty to God, because that is what the Koran says. However, that doesn't mean that he thinks that a woman with a veil is a better person than a woman without a veil.

According to him the veil also serves as a signal: women with a veil are «not for sale». Moreover, the veil protects against rapes, he says: in the US for example, every half minute a woman is raped, and according to him that is because women continuously tempt men by going onto the streets without a veil. Maybe not all men have a problem to control themselves when they see a woman without a veil, and perhaps there is only a problem with five to ten per cent of the men, but he says that is nevertheless enough for all women to wear the veil.

Don't call him Asian says Asian Journalist Grp

Can we still call these Asian Elephants?

These people need to give me a break. You don't think his name, Seung Hiu Cho or Cho Hiu Seung, whichever way it goes (I've seen and heard it both ways.) is kind of a dead giveaway?
Like the rest of the nation, we at the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) are stunned at the news of today's shooting at Virginia Tech. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families and friends as they cope with this horrific incident.

As coverage of the Virginia Tech shooting continues to unfold, AAJA urges all media to avoid using racial identifiers unless there is a compelling or germane reason. There is no evidence at this early point that the race or ethnicity of the suspected gunman has anything to do with the incident, and to include such mention serves only to unfairly portray an entire people.

The effect of mentioning race can be powerfully harmful. It can subject people to unfair treatment based simply on skin color and heritage.

We further remind members of the media that the standards of news reporting should be universal and applied equally no matter the platform or medium, including blogs.

Okay, in the future we'll all say things like this: "The suspect is a fill-in-the-blank of fill-in-the-blank build. Will that make you happy? Is that what you want?

And does that mean we can call you the AMERICAN JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION?????

Paging Al Gore. Paging Al Gore.

Russia building first floating nuke plant.
Russia began construction of its first floating nuclear power plant Sunday, and plans to build at least six more despite long-standing environmental concerns that they are vulnerable to accidents at sea, Russian news agencies reported.

This is very scary to me.
It cited the atomic energy agency as saying that talks were under way on selling the plants to unspecified Asian and African countries as well as to Russian regions.

Penalties for Muslim Cabbies who refuse fares

Good news for travelers, bad news for 7th century goatherders now driving cabs in Mpls-St Paul.

MAC OKs Penalties For Cabbies Who Refuse Fares
(AP) Minneapolis The operator of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Monday approved tougher penalties for cabdrivers who refuse service to travelers carrying alcohol, as some Muslim drivers have done for religious reasons. The Metropolitan Airports Commission voted to suspend a driver's airport taxi license for 30 days for the first offense and revoke it for two years for a second offense. The new penalties take effect May 11.Airport officials say more than 70 percent of the cabbies at the airport are Muslim, and many of them claim Islamic law prohibits them from giving rides to people carrying alcohol.

Airport officials said that since January 2002, there have been more than 4,800 instances of a driver refusing service because a customer possessed, or was suspected of possessing, alcohol.

Raped for reading the Bible

Ah yes. The religion of peace is alive and well in Australia.

Let your Jesus help you.
AN Iraqi Muslim man allegedly raped a Muslim woman as "punishment" for her reading the Bible. Campbelltown District Court in Sydney's west yesterday heard Abdul Reda Al Shawany twice sexually assaulted the woman, a practising Muslim, and then said to her: "Let your Jesus help you."

Holy Monica!
At the first day of the week-long trial yesterday, Crown prosecutor Michael O'Brien outlined the case and told how the woman allegedly kept the clothes and underwear she was wearing on the day of the alleged rape in a plastic bag for about three years. The woman initially reported the matter to police but did not want to take it further because she felt "ashamed", Mr O'Brien said. She later changed her mind and Al Shawany, of Hillsdale, was arrested in July 2005 and the woman provided police with the clothing. The Crown alleges swab samples from the accused had the same DNA as the semen sample taken from the woman's clothing.

Ah-hah! The real reason for hijab is revealed to us...
"She was wearing a hijab. The accused grabbed the hijab, the veil, and pulled it tight across her mouth," Mr O'Brien told the court. "She fell to the floor and she couldn't scream because she had a hijab tight across her mouth."

Aston Martin LBO:Sharia Compliant.

From Gulf in the Media.

You know that saying 'there ought to be a law'? Well, there really should be in this case.

The sale of the iconic Aston Martin car company by Ford Motor Company for 479 million sterling pounds to a consortium led by two Kuwaiti Islamic financial institutions —

The financing package for the sale will be a groundbreaking Islamic financing facility, which will be the first of its kind to finance the acquisition of a major asset in the UK.

Done on a SHARIAH-COMPLIANT basis???

The TID/Al-Deem-led consortium is buying Aston Martin from Ford on a leverage basis. To what extent Aston Martin as a company is leveraged, is not clear. It will have a bearing on the type of structure used to finance the acquisition, which is essentially a private equity deal. The level of conventional interest-based debt on its books could affect the deal if it is done on a Shariah-compliant basis.

Groundbreaking deal...

The groundbreaking part of this deal is that the consortium is going into this deal on a Shariah-compliant basis from start to finish. There will be no “leakage” in that there will be no involvement of conventional secondary or mezzanine financing facilities.

The latest facts are that the sale of Aston Martin has been agreed and accepted by Ford worth about 479 million pounds; that Aston Martin will remain a UK company and manufacturing out of the UK; and that the financing package for the sale will be a ground-breaking Islamic financing facility, which will be the first of its kind to finance the acquisition of a major asset in the UK. Islamic legal scholars have over the years come under fire for allowing deals especially in corporate finance or real estate transactions where the primary deal is Shariah-compliant but any additional financing facilities could be conventional.

Legal environment is in their favor and transactions can now easily be done, Islamically.

Lawyers specializing in structuring Islamic financing transactions at the City law firms agree that in a jurisdiction such as England, there is no excuse because the English tax and legal environment “is in your favor” and the whole transactions can now easily be done Islamically, including any secondary financing requirements.

Hijab wearing Tae Kwan Do team get booted

How ridiculous is this?

Quebec. That hotbed of Muslim hijab sporting activity is in the news again. This time it's a Tae Kwan Do team that was wearing the curtains.

The Globe and Mail come to the pity party loaded for bear.

Five young girls were suddenly thrust into Quebec's controversy over the rights of religious minorities yesterday when they weren't allowed to compete in a local tae kwon do meet unless they removed their Islamic head scarves.The girls, between the ages of 10 and 14, had trained for days and were eagerly anticipating competing for medals at the competition in Longueuil, south of Montreal. The members of the Montreal team were told they couldn't participate unless they removed their head scarves for safety reasons

They had been allowed to wear them the year before, so I can understand some of their upset. But honestly, after all the hue and cry about them with the Soccer team, didn't they think to inquire when they registered for the tournament? They go on to decry the politicization of the hijab. In response to that I would have to point them to their own Islamic leaders who urge all good Muslimahs to wear the hijab as a symbol of their jihad against the West. Kind of like the KKK and their robes.

Which has gotten me thinking. What happens to hijab wearing Muslimahs in the US of A? Hmm. Read it all here to here about 'reasonable accommodation', the backlash, oh and don't forget to call the Wah-mbulance for those poor, aggrieved girls.



Got a minute? Scan through this Islamonline "Live Dialogue Session.' Future Jihadis talk football and hijab.

Congressional junkets pick up steam under La Pelosi

Caneel Bay through the Trees - Teri Jones. Gallery St. Thomas

From Examiner.com

Whirlwind tours of the Caribbean...and Belgium
Congress is keeping Andrews Air Force base plenty busy this year ferrying lawmakers all over the globe at taxpayers’ expense. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi took his wife, nine Democrats and two Republicans - Reps. Dan Lungren of California and Mike Rogers of Alabama - on a whirlwind tour of the Caribbean last week. After stops in Honduras and Mexico, they stopped in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the delegation stayed at the five-star Caneel Bay resort. In a separate trip to the Caribbean last week, Rep. Eliot Engel of New York squired his wife and four Democratic members to Grenada and Trinidad.

All told, the military flew at least 13 congressional delegations to various destinations during the Easter recess -- at an estimated rate of $10,000 or more per flying hour.

Of course there was a good faith effort to include Republicans...but it 'just didn't work'.
The congressional delegation trips, known as CODELs, are paid for by taxpayers. They are supposed to be directly related to members’ official duties, and House guidelines also stipulate that delegations include members of both parties to qualify for military planes -- a requirement that Speaker Nancy Pelosi waived for Engel’s group and two other delegations. “There was a good faith effort made to include Republican members,” a Pelosi spokesman said. “For one reason or another, that did not work.”

Now I can sleep at night knowing that our US Congress is keeping the US Virgin Islands safe.
Thompson’s office said he toured the Caribbean because he now chairs the Homeland Security Committee and wanted to see vacation hot spots to “examine border security and port security.” Three other members of the delegation also brought along their spouses.

About Caneel Bay: At the Caneel Bay resort, where room rates reach $1,100 per night, the spokeswoman said Thompson and his wife paid the “government rate.” But, according to the reservations department, Caneel Bay doesn’t “offer any government rates.”

Traveling with Engel and his wife were Reps. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Tex., and Barbara Lee, D-Calif. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who went to Belgium in a delegation led by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., earlier in the week, also joined Engel’s Caribbean trip. She brought her husband with her.

Belgium: Financial powerhouse of the world.
Frank’s trip to Belgium and London was related to his work as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, according to his office. The trip, which also included Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., was designed “to further understand the interrelationship between various issues related to the financial services regulatory structures” of the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union, according to Frank’s office. Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., also led a trip to Belgium over the two-week Easter recess. In February, Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, took a delegation there.

Let's see, I wonder what 'various issues related to the financial services regulatory structures' was Barney so interested in?

Why it's lifting the internet gambling ban passed last fall. Ha-ha.

“We’re at war with Iraq and Afghanistan, but apparently our members see Belgium as our most urgent international destination,” scoffed one Republican member of Congress.

File this under: Nothing More Pathetic...

than a washed up Hollywood leftie.

Pretty Woman Part II: Richard Gere and Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty get cosy at a function to spread awareness about HIV and AIDS among truckers in Delhi on Sunday.

Fool.

Peace with Islam

courtesy of the Study of Revenge.

Sickening beasts.

From No Pasaran: Islamist Porn Snuff Film to be Released Shortly

A Jihadist Palestinian militia claims to have killed BBC Gaza reporter Alan Johnston. Apparently they can’t control themselves. Those who claim to have killed him say Britain is somehow responsible, inspite of the fact that they kidnapped him, (or appropriated him from a ringer,) and claim to have murdered him.

"The whole world knows of our just cause in demanding the release of our prisoners, who are waiting under the fire of the occupation," the statement began. "Our demand was that all of those who are responsible for the journalist... release our prisoners who are being held in the prisons of the occupation," it continued.

Despite the fact that these groups are notorious liars about their claims, they may have actually taken his life. Either way, it’s your fault. Islamist porn to follow:

"We will disseminate a video in which we show his killing soon to the media outlets," the statement said.

In closing, it captured the limit of the depth of their moral underpinning: Allah is great, for it is either victory or martyrdom," it concluded.

How'd you like this coming at you?

hat tip: American Thinker

Happy Tax Day

hat tip: Hot Air.

Muqtada quitting Iraqi govt?

Image by Cox and Forkum

Per Reuters: Iraqi cleric Sadr's bloc to quit govt.

The political movement of fiery Iraqi Shi'ite cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr said on Sunday it would pull out from the government on Monday to press its demand for a timetable for a U.S. troop withdrawal. Officials from the movement, which holds six ministries and a quarter of the parliamentary seats in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite Alliance, said the formal announcement would be made on Monday at a news conference.

He's pulled this stunt before.

The Sadrists ended a two-month boycott of parliament in January after pulling out in protest over the timetable issue and a meeting between Maliki and Bush. They returned after a deal was brokered.

And he's still hiding like a sissyboy.
The U.S. military says Sadr is in hiding in Iran, but the cleric's aides insist he is still in Iraq.

They are so much worse than I thought they'd be.

They have no shame.

Several US Senators meet with Iranian Regime Envoy according to that handsome infidel, Jim over at Gateway Pundit. Read it all and then skip down to Iranian News Confirms US Democrats are wanting to talk.

An Iranian MP calls on US Democrats to show good will by annuling the D'Amato Law. What's that? Passed in a democrat controlled congress back in 1997, the D'Amato law levies sanctions on companies that do more than $20 million a year in Iran's energy sector. France is against the law. Worker's World calls it 'narrow-minded, petty, racist toward oppressed peoples and arrogant toward all foreigners.' Khatami condemned it. That makes me think it's probably a good idea. Let's see what the Dhims do with this political football.

Tigerhawk is reporting that the Dhims are working to establish a Department of Peace.

Dick Cheney throws down the gauntlet on the War spending bill. Dingy Harry and Carl Levin limply assert that Cheney 'has lost credibility' in reply.

And Brent Baker over at Newsbusters makes note of the first 100 days for Dem Rule and their going 0 for 6 on their "6 for 06" campaign promises by reporting on ABC's coverage. Alas they were the only major media outlet to mention it.

On Friday night's World News, Gibson explained: “When Democrats took control of the Congress in January, they promised it would be a new day. They'd get things done. They even had a checklist. Well, a hundred days after taking control, we've checked the checklist.” Jake Tapper made clear how they've come up very short, pointing out how the Democrats “have no major legislative accomplishments to mark this anniversary. None of their 'Six for '06' campaign promises last year have made it to the President's desk.”

Oops! Our bad.

Hah! Police gaffe makes Muslims pray in wrong direction

Look for lots of seething, riots in the streets and of course, lawsuits.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Dutch police station trying to help Muslim detainees face Mecca for their prayers painted arrows in cells pointing in the wrong direction. The Segbroek police station in The Hague borrowed the idea of putting compass marks on ceilings from an Amsterdam hotel, the Dutch daily De Telegraaf reported on Friday.

Muslims pray five times a day, facing east in the direction of Mecca. But the arrows in Segbroek pointed west. "This is a really gigantic, stupid blunder," a police spokesman told the De Telegraaf. "The faulty compass marks have been immediately corrected. It is a mystery for us how this could have possibly happened."

All other police cells in the Dutch capital will soon get similar compass marks, the in-house newspaper of The Hague police said.

The kicker:

The Netherlands is home to 1 million Muslims out of a population of more than 16 million.

Evil with a little hat on top.

You're looking at evil, folks. That's Sheik Feiz Muhammed, the controversial Australian imam much in the news as of late. He left Australia after his last boneheaded remark about uncovered meat made headlines around the world. Since then he has been hiding somewhere in Lebanon like a momma's boy. (What is it with all these big bad Muzlims that at the first sign of heat they go in hiding like big, fat chickens?)

Anywho. Watch a short video clip from his Death Series here.

Want to blow a carotid? Peruse this list of his 'lectures'. I listened to The Enemy's Plot. I couldn't stomach much of it and as I listened I could only think of Hitler, but with an Aussie accent. Listen for as long as you can. Time-saving tip. He doesn't really get going on 'the enemy'til about 1:20. Then ask yourself what kind of wack job would leave the comment. "Check out his lectures, really good!".

Wear the Hijab, b*&^%

Yaser Sami denies insulting Ruby
(it's a good thing he didn't call her a diaper headed garden implement. ask Imus.)
Syrian director Yaser Sami denied intentions to insult controversial Egyptian singer Ruby in the song he directed “Ithajabi” (Wear the Hijab), and refused to be undertaken by her threats to sue him. The song makes a political statement against music videos that feature scantily clad singers and dancers, which Al Hajj believes sends a negative message to viewers.

Sami asserted that he will launch the video clip in the very near future on several Arab satellite channels without deleting or changing any of the scenes.

He stated that the clip is in no way a direct attack against anyone and particularly Ruby.

According to the Qatar based daily, Al Raya, Ruby is threatening to sue the director for filming the video clip that features a little girl preparing to pray and in the process turns off a television set that is playing one of Ruby’s music videos.

The singer has launched a major campaign in the hopes of changing her image, and removing her label as an indecent singer. Her latest album is the first step in the right direction for Ruby as she presents a series of high quality songs.

Ruby’s music videos were previously banned from a local Egyptian television channel after the administration deemed they were inappropriate for the average viewer due to their provocative nature.

You decide.

Crikey!

From Australia: Pro Terrorism films banned within a fortnight.

The Federal Government hopes it will be able to ban pro-terrorism films within a fortnight, following the classification of a race hate DVD urging children to martyr themselves.

The film, which calls for the murder of infidels and describes Jews as "pigs'', received a PG rating from the Office of Film and Literature Classification, making it suitable to be bought and watched by children.

WTF? A PG RATING???

Mr Ruddock (the Australian Attorney General) said the states had agreed to toughen laws for material that praised terrorism following passage of federal terrorism legislation in 2005, but that there should be no further delays in the states enacting the changes. If the states and territories continued to resist, as they had done for more than a year, then he might be forced to go it alone and make the relevant change to the Commonwealth's Classification Act, he said.

I guess Australia has blue states, too. Oh, and about the film? You guessed it - the religion of peace strikes again.

The film is contained in a package of DVDs prepared by Australian-born Islamic cleric Sheik Feiz Mohammed, who is currently in exile in Lebanon, but reported to be still preaching jihad to his Australian followers by telephone. His film calls for the murder of non-believers in Islam's war on the west, News Limited reported today.

From the Earthtimes:

The DVDs urge parents to volunteer their children as holy warriors. "We want to have children and offer them as soldiers defending Islam". The DVDs say "Teach them this: there is nothing more beloved to me than wanting to die as a mujahid (holy warrior)."

Richardson visits USS Pueblo

calls experience 'unpleasant'. Richardson in North Korea; Tours Pueblo

PYONGYANG, North Korea -- New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on Monday toured a U.S. warship captured by North Korea in the 1960s that is now used to inspire anti-American sentiment in the reclusive communist regime.

The North Korean colonel who served as Richardson's guide smiled as he told the governor the ship was an example of continued U.S. aggression toward his country. Richardson and his traveling companion, former Veteran Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi, were then shown bullet holes circled in red paint and a video describing the maneuvering of "brazen-faced U.S. imperialists."

You have to wonder just how much diplomatic $hit the democrats are prepared to eat these days, don't you?

Ansar-al Sunna's Top 20

Bastards.

Calling it the "Top 20" Iraqi militant group Ansar al-Sunna has posted on the internet a series of video images it says represent the most devastating roadside bomb attacks agains US troops in Iraq. The footage which lasts seven minutes shows 20 separate attacks which, a voiceover narrator explains "serve to encourage the mujahadeen to Jihad and to place them in a competition amongst each other against their enemy."

The narrator explains that the position images reach on the Top 20 "chart" is based on the extent to which they fulfil the following criteria: "importance of the target, position taken by the person filming the attack, the quality of the footage, the accuracy in hitting the target, the 'quality' of the explosion, and footage taken after the attack."

These people are just sick.

Russki Bushehr workers get early wake up call

Remember reading about the recent Iranian UFO and subsequent test of their missile defense system?

Well, evidently some Russians got an early wake-up call as a result: Russia raps Iran's missile practice near Bushehr.

Sergei Novikov, a spokesman for Russia's atomic agency Rosatom, said tests of what he believed were air defense rockets had been carried out on April 6 at 5 a.m. near the plant where 2,000 (2000!) Russians work."Russian specialists weren't warned about this practice and were woken up by the artillery roar, which of course, in our view, creates tension on the site and disrupts their work," he said by telephone.

And we certainly wouldn't want to disrupt Iran's acquisition of nuclear technology, would we?

Operation: Go to Sleep.

Zimbabwe: Victoria Falls. It's a slippery slope.
Living Under Operation Go to Sleep:

As early as seven in the evening there is no sign of life at the Mamina shopping centre in Mhondoro, a village 100km west of Harare, the Zimbabwean capital. Since the police crackdown on the opposition in March, an unofficial curfew has been in place across the country. Residents have complained of raids on shopping centres, particularly pubs. A policeman who participated in the crackdown said the raids had been codenamed 'Operation Chirara' (Go to Sleep), and their superiors had told them the action was necessary to forestall unrest.

A month ago, Mamina was a hub of activity: in its numerous liquor stores loud music blared till late at night while local residents sat drinking with the workers from nearby farms. "Since political disturbances flared up in Harare and elsewhere in early March there is virtually no night life here in Mhondoro," a resident told IRIN. "The police here have all but imposed a curfew on the people, and they are afraid to venture out after dusk."

Read it all here. Wack.

The Kingdom takes on Takfeer

The menace of fanaticism.
The Kingdom has recognized the dangers of radical fanaticism to our society and has publicly launched a zero-tolerance drive to rid itself of the threat posed by those spreading the message of “takfeer”, which labels anyone not following their interpretations of Islam as non-Muslim.

Funny how the Saudis are getting around to fighting the War on Terror at the time the Defeatocrats are saying it doesn't exist
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah is to address the Shoura Council today. Undoubtedly, a portion of his speech will touch upon the government’s war on terror. Along similar lines, Prince Naif, the minister of interior, stated last week that the government’s battle against extremism would broaden in scope to include those clerics who are found guilty of spreading militant messages among the youth, and directing them toward the path of intolerance and subsequent violence.

Funny how the Saudis are calling on the media to assist them in this fight against radical islam while the Defeatocrats wouldn't think of such a thing (ed. note: Come to think of it neither has George Bush, grrr!)
The media and cultural agencies must do more in confronting the phenomenon of terrorism, by rooting out terrorist ideology and addressing social and international factors that promote terrorism,” was the statement attributed to them by the official Saudi Press Agency.

Funny how the Saudis are starting to speak out against the threat of radical islam, while the Defeatocrats kowtow to radical imams and do everything but kiss their a$$ in Macy's window. Religious edicts (fatwas) were being issued by self-appointed clerics on everyday matters coupled with threats of hell and damnation, and some radical teachers infiltrated our schools to poison young and impressionable minds. There is no denying that this held our country back when it should have moved forward.

Funny, how the Saudis are calling on the public to do their duty as well. And the Defeatocrats? Why they are all for allowing 'John Does' who report suspicious behavior to be sued.
It is time the public joined the campaign against extremism and put a stop to the message of fanaticism.

It's a crazy world we're living in, folks.

The Iranians, UFO's and Missile Defense.

Remember the Iranian UFO we talked about here?

Well, Kamangir gives us this little tidbit about the Iranians and their missile defense preparations:

The air defense system at Isfahan UCF center became active for fifteen minutes. The official sources say that it has only been a drill to “measure the preparedness of the site”. Formerly, some city officials had connected the incident to a Basij rescue and metropolitan-war maneuver. The officials also denounced any relationship between the shooting and any UFO-sighting in the region. “The site had undergone maintenance and the drill was geared towards finding out its preparedness”, the officials said to Fars.

The official statement finishes with “in recent years, the drill had been carried out every three months. Recently, due to the tense military situation of the region, that period has been cut shorter”.

The Iranians are killing are soldiers in Iraq. We've seen clear and convincing proof of that. So why are we still pussyfooting around with them and their nuclear ambitions and holocaust denial? I mean seriously.

We could squash them like bugs.

We pay big bucks for all this military hardware. I say let's use it and be done with it.

Bombs away dream baby.

The China Syndrome

They're killing us. And they're training the Venezuelans and the Cubans. China's Spies Aggressively Acquiring US secrets.

They're bringing their checkbook and they're planning on hitting cities of a distinctly blue hue: Atlanta, Chicago, SF and DC. China to go on buying spree in US Cities.

And State just rolls over and plays dead. U.S., China eye liberalizing air travel.

Hollywood rears its ugly head and Beijing is not happy. China hits out as US launches trade cases.

No porn for you China boys! China takes aim at 'cyber-perversion'

Lofty culture of Islam will "save mankind and..."

resolve all the world's problems." So says Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a recent speech extolling the virtues of the Iranian ambassadors.

Speaker Pelosi agrees.

Iran to fund radio station in Zimbabwe

Air Mahmoud.

Zimbabwe is to set up a new radio station to counter Anglo-American propaganda directed against it's national policies and democratically elected government.

We are under siege and being bombarded by the western media broadcasting to our people.

The short wave station is slated to go live on or before April 18. Iran will reportedly pony up roughly 40 million bucks. Sounds like a front to funnel funds to Islamists to me...

UFO spotted in Western Iran...

Seriously. That's what they're reporting over at Fars News Agency. (Kind of looks like an electric Q-tip to me.)

Witnesses told FNA that the object has been observed for more than an half an hour. Witnesses also said that the UFO which was as big as a ball and with a blue color disappeared after the weather grew cloudy. Officials declined to comment on the event. In similar incidents in the last few months, 4 Unidentified Flying Objects were witnessed in separate cases in the same area and almost at the same time. In one of such cases a UFO crashed in Barrez Mounts in the central province of Kerman. Officials, then, denied reports that the explosion has been the result of a plane or chopper crash, reminding that all the passing aircrafts have been reported as sound and safe.

Surprise! The BBC goes trolling for racism...

this time among the African diaspora in France.
Have Your Say. Who will Africans in France back?

And in other race baiting news... Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to discuss diaper haired garden instruments at Rutgers. (Get it?)

Hey! What about this old chestnut from back in the day: Your soul can't be happy, if your Afro ain't nappy?

And speaking of mutton dressed like lamb, Joy Behar co-hostess of 'La View' claims the Duke Lacrosse players are part of the 'Little White Boys Club in effect' at Duke.

Sorry, it's hard for me to believe that the Rutgers girls were all that upset being called nappy headed hos after listening to my niece's hip hop for the last couple of days. Scarred for life. Please. Can you say hip-hop hypocrites? Okay girls, let's see those Ipods.

I just watched Malik Shabazz call Michelle Malkin "a political prostitute" on O'Reilly. She was magnificent in response. Go Michelle!

No truth to Kingdom's 'Killer Melons'

Melons - 2001 by Catherine Kurtz. Redfern Galleries.

From the Jimbo over at Gateway Pundit (and he gets it from a long line of infidels.)

Saudi Officials Deny Rumors of HIV-Infected Melons

Prosciutto, anyone?

Phew.

Be it ever so humble. There's no place like home, is there? And may I add that it is good to be back fighting the Islamic jihad with you. Now I'm off to see what I've missed.

(And about that prom dress? Mission accomplished.)

Cheers.

Dinah

San Fran Nan and the Pork-powered Prius

Gag me with a Prius.
"After making headlines with her visit to Syria, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi winds up her Easter Recess on Friday by coming to Seattle for an immersion session on new and alternative sources of energy. Pelosi will visit the headquarters of...companies involved in developing tidal power, expanding the Northwest's use of wind energy, extracting liquid natural gas from landfills, and building high pressure turbines that will pump carbon dioxide from power plants back into the ground."

Gee. Kind of sounds like the eructations emanating from Nancy's piehole. Too bad we can't harness all the chit coming out of her. And about that PRIUS? It's powered by PORK...

(Seattle Wa) Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., who backed Pelosi's rise in the House leadership, said the Northwest "has a tremendous amount to show" in development of alternatives to the carbon fuel-burning economy. "I hope she goes away from this area convinced that we are one of the leaders of the country in biodiesel, wind and all the other things going on. We're a place that's actually doing things rather than talking about what we might do." McDermott joked about how the Washington congressional delegation is walking its talk on fuel efficiency.

"It's the only delegation with three Priuses in it," said the Seattle congressman. McDermott, Inslee and Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., drive the fuel-efficient automobiles.

Blogging will be light for a few days...

Off to the farm to pick up my special niece and her girlfriend. It's going to be a quick trip because we are turning right around and coming back to NYC to do some prom shopping.

Wish me luck and keep fighting the good fight. I will be thanking God every step of the way that we can still shop Macy's, Bloomies and L&T for strapless prom gowns in pretty colors. Not black burkas.

(I do have some posts up this morning over at Maverick.)

Cheers - D

Since we're giving out Easter gifts Mahmoud...

How about sticking these creeps in our Easter basket?

Bin Laden's son in Iran experts say.

Osama bin Laden's son, Saad bin Laden, and a number of leaders of the al-Qaeda terrorist network are in Iran, according to a group of terrorism experts featured in a programme on the Arabic satellite television channel Al Arabiya. The programme, entitled "The Death Factory, is expected to air on Friday evening. The programme is part of a weekly series that examines Islamic terrorism and armed groups active in Iraq and other warzones. According to these experts, the leader of al-Qaeda's old guard have either been arrested or are free but under the surveillance of Iranian authorities.

Horror in Nigeria.

Muslims murder Christian teacher for desecrating the Koran. As a supervisor of a class writing a final examination on Islamic Religious knowledge on that day, Oluwasesin was responsible for ensuring that students strictly kept rules and to prevent mischief in the hall, which had become common among cheating students, said Aluke Musa Yila, a fellow teacher at the school. Musa told Compass that Oluwasesin had collected papers, books and bags before the exam in the all-girls class, in accordance with school procedures to prevent cheating, and dropped the materials in front of the class.

While noting that Oluwasesin was not aware the belongings included a Quran, a local newspaper reported she tossed the belongings outside the classroom. But Musa, who rushed into the classroom soon after students began yelling, told Compass that Oluwasesin had dropped the belongings in front of the class.

“Usually such items are returned to every student as each returns her answer script,” Musa said. “Soon after the bags collected by Oluwasesin were dropped in front of the class, one of the girls in the class began to cry. She told her colleagues that she had a copy of the Quran in her bag, that Oluwasesin touched the bag, and that by doing so she had desecrated the Quran, since she was a Christian.”

Soon after the student raised this alarm, other students in class began to shout “Allahu Akbar [God is great].”

Aluke Musa Yila“It was at this point that I was attracted to the riotous scene in that class, and I then rushed there,” said Musa, who said he witnessed the murder of Oluwasesin by the Muslim students and extremists. “How could a teacher know that that there was a copy of the Quran in a student’s bag if this was not pointed out to her?” He notified Malam Baba Musa, patron of the Muslim Students’ Society at the school. The MSS patron, along with three other school staff members, went to the classroom to try to bring calm, Aluke Musa said. In the raucous confusion, he managed to rush Oluwasesin out of class to the principal’s office.

“The principal left me and Oluwasesin in his office and also went there to calm down the Muslim students,” he said. “Knowing that the students may soon come to this office, I pushed Oluwasesin into the bathroom in this office and then locked up the office.”

By the time he had rejoined the principal and other staff members, he said, the entire school was engulfed in uproar. Muslim extremists from outside the school rushed in to join in the unrest. “They destroyed school property and were demanding that Oluwasesin must be given to them to be stoned to death,” Musa said. “When we could not give in by releasing Oluwasesin to them, they started stoning us.”

Pandemonium prevented school or law enforcement officials from getting Oluwasesin out of the school, he said. “While we were thinking of ways to take Oluwasesin out of the school, the Muslims broke into the principal’s office and dragged her out,” he said. “The principal rushed there to save her as they clubbed her with an iron on the head and blood was gushing out from the wounded side of the head. He was pleading that they should not kill her, but they were insisting that she must be killed.”

“The principal succeeded in getting Oluwasesin up to the school gate,” he said. “There was a house near the gate, and he dragged her into the house, but the rioting Muslims went into the house and dragged her out again. This time, they clubbed her to death, brought old mats and placed dirt on her corpse, and then burned the body.”

No evidence of a Koran was found. Five students have been arrested for murder.

More fallout: Fifteen more churches have been marked for burning by the Muslims because of the incident.

Robo chick

A robot chick (R), Yume Hiyoko (Dream Chick), is placed next to a stuffed chick at a photo opportunity in Tokyo April 5, 2007. The electronic robot chick, launched by Sega Toys, fits in the palm, can make sounds and move its wings at the touch of human hands. The price of the toy is 2,310 Yen and it will be available in domestic the market from April.

Volcano pic

Aerial view taken, near Saint-Philippe in La Reunion island, of lava coming from the Piton de la Fournaise volcano burning vegetation and pouring into the Indian Ocean island.

Photo: Richard Bouhet/AFP/Getty Images

I've always had a thing for volcanoes.

Holy Creeping Dhimmitude, Batman!

Hijab Day at McMasters University...

where a professor organized a Wear My Hijab day. Women, whether Muslim or not, were invited to wear a head scarf all day to show support for those who regularly wear it...Professor Muriel Walker, who teaches French literature at Mac, organized the hijab day.


"It can be difficult for women to wear the hijab," she said. "I want this to help sensitize people about Islam ... you should not be afraid of Muslims." Walker, who moved from France 15 years ago, is not Muslim, but has worn a hijab on Fridays, an important day of prayer for Muslims, for about three months.



My head is exploding. Hijab by the numbers.

Vote!

GM introduces three minicar concepts.

Vote for your fave here.

This is mine.

Saudi Arabia: Terrorists or Political activists?

Saudi reform activists arrested in February on suspicion of funding terrorism were considering forming a political grouping in the kingdom, where parties are banned, a prominent reformer said on Tuesday.

"Some of the men ... were interacting and discussing an idea revolving around the possibility of creating a political forum (party)," Matruk al-Faleh said in a statement sent to Reuters."The arrests seem to abort the very idea itself," said the politics professor, who was jailed in 2005 over his calls for political reform.

Faleh, now released, said they wanted to "to concretely push the democratic reform movement".

Sorry, pal. Not in, Saudi Arabia, that hotbed of liberty and justice for all.

Zawahiri's head in a box.

Well, not really. It WAS a head and it WAS in a box, though.

When the green metal box first arrived in Washington from Kabul, allegedly bearing the skull of Osama bin Laden's chief lieutenant, President George W. Bush is said to have said, only half in jest: "So if it turns out to be Zawahiri's head, I hope you will bring it here."

Afghan tribal chiefs had sent what they believed to be the skull of Ayman al-Zawahiri in hope of collecting a $25 million reward. The Americans, needing proof, asked Egypt for a DNA sample from Zawahiri's brother, whom the Egyptians were holding.

According to Ron Suskind's account, in his 'The One Percent Doctrine' the Egyptians offered to cut off the brother's arm and send it to CIA. Just a vial of blood will do, said a stammering CIA man. The severed head turned out not to be Zawahiri's, and the skull was shipped to a warehouse in New York's Staten Island, according to Suskind. George Tenet, CIA director, got to keep the tin box it came in.

Guess what? A century ago there was ANOTHER nutty jihadist with a 'large and shapely skull' in the Sudan.
"... religious fanatic named Mohammed Ahmed along the banks of the Nile who lacked Zawahiri and bin Laden's education, but matched them in malignant narcissism.

Read the rest at the link.

Now can we question their patriotism?

ABC News and Brian Ross show their support with today's article THE SECRET WAR AGAINST IRAN. (Gee, what part of secret don't they understand?) And Boo! According to their report Dick Cheney's fingerprints are all over it. Nice timing, too. Thanks ABC, for releasing this 'secret report' during the "critical negotiations' with Iran over the hostages.

Here's a snippet:
A Pakistani tribal militant group responsible for a series of deadly guerrilla raids inside Iran has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials since 2005, U.S. and Pakistani intelligence sources tell ABC News. The group, called Jundullah, is made up of members of the Baluchi tribe and operates out of the Baluchistan province in Pakistan, just across the border from Iran. It has taken responsibility for the deaths and kidnappings of more than a dozen Iranian soldiers and officials.

U.S. officials say the U.S. relationship with Jundullah is arranged so that the U.S. provides no funding to the group, which would require an official presidential order or "finding" as well as congressional oversight. Tribal sources tell ABC News that money for Jundullah is funneled to its youthful leader, Abd el Malik Regi, through Iranian exiles who have connections with European and Gulf states.

Funny. This 2004 Asia Times article says here that Jundallah is al-Qaeda with none other than prominent Muslim homey, Khalid Sheik Mohammed a former member.
Jundullah was allegedly headed by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the al-Qaeda operational commander of the September 11 terrorist attack in the US. He was arrested in Pakistan early last year.

I'm SO confused. Even wICKipedia says they are an al Qaeda franchise. Just found this over at HotAir. Brother. The enemy of my enemy is my friend?

Trouble in Mookie land

Iraq's Sadr group fires two deputies over U.S. talks

Two lawmakers from the movement of anti-American Shi'ite Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr were dismissed on Wednesday for meeting U.S. officials, an official in the movement said.
Abdul Mahdi al-Mtiri, a member of the political committee which took the decision, told Reuters the committee fired former transport minister Salam al-Maliki and member of parliament Qusay Abdul Wahab who met American officials two days ago.

Mtiri said Sadr approved the sackings which were the first public signs of tensions in the movement which holds a quarter of the seats in parliament of the ruling Shi'ite Alliance of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki

Maybe he'll hire a dentist...

New Terror group? Iraqi Hamas

IRAQ: NEW INSURGENT GROUP "IRAQI HAMAS" EMERGES ON VIDEO

The first video attributed to a new Iraqi insurgent group was posted to radical Islamist internet forums on Wednesday. The three-minute film, entitled "The First Operation of Iraqi Hamas" showed the explosion of a roadside bomb in the Baghdad suburbs, as a truck supplying the US military bases passes by. The group is believed to have been formed at the end of March from a split within the 1920s Brigades, a group responsible for numerous kidnapping and suicide bombs. Some analysts believe "Iraqi Hamas" comprises militiamen linked to the Islamic party in parliament and to the local chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood.

"We fight the infidel..." and like Speaker Pelosi, we believe in the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group...

I couldn't resist...

courtesy of IowaPresidentialWatch.com

Hijabless in Kuwait

Remember No Hijab. Female Kuwait MP in trouble? Well, she showed up without her hijab today. Assembly off to good start despite hijab row.

Even the education minister's swearing-in in was met with only a little opposition. Islamist-tribal MPs Dhaifallah Buramia and Khaled Al-Adwah were virtually the only two lawmakers to object to Education Minister Nouriya Al-Subeeh taking the oath without wearing the hijab. As Subeeh began to read the oath, Buramia shouted that she should not be allowed to be sworn-in because she was not complying with sharia regulations stipulated in the election law. Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi refused to allow Buramia to speak through the microphone and asked him to sit down, but he continued to protest loudly, calling on the government to apply the laws. "She should not be allowed to take the oath because she does not comply with Islamic regulations. Why don't you implement laws? Is this the government that wants to carry out reforms?" the MP asked.

The rumors of my demise are highly exaggerated...

Well, Dinah had an interesting day today.

She came back from the dead.

I kid you not.

I'm terrible about checking my phone messages and I hate talking on the phone so I didn't get around to checking the home phone messages that had accumulated on my machine during my latest road trip til this morning.

Imagine my surprise (and confusion) to find out I had died.

The story that my obituary had been spotted in a SF paper circulated among my old Wall Street buds like wild fire. Ovarian cancer. Shiver.

It was the weirdest thing.

So instead of blogging (or spring cleaning) I spent the morning returning calls to people I hadn't spoken to in years explaining that I was still alive and well.

It was all VERY weird.

I'm still a little weirded out by it.

Softly, softly...

BBC NEWS: UK shares Iran diplomacy desire. And now we know another reason why this is going to be a long war.

Ali Larijani, of the Supreme National Security Council, said Iran's priority was to use diplomatic channels, not putting the crew on trial. The Foreign Office said it was still studying his remarks, made to Channel 4 News, but shared his preference for bilateral discussions.
It said it would be following up his comments with Iran on Tuesday.

What the heck. The hostages have only been held 11 days!

Nancy cozies up to terror.

From the SF Examiner:

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, left, smiles as she listens to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in his home, in Beirut, Lebanon Monday, April 2, 2007.

IN HIS HOME???? How cozy.

Interesting. The fact that this guy is Hezbollah is not mentioned in the caption. What a coinky-dink.


"Pelosi met with Saniora and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a major figure in the Hezbollah-led opposition. Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization by the United States."

Larijani: No trials for UK hostages

Iran now says no need to try Britons

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's chief international negotiator said Monday that the country wants to resolve the crisis over 15 captured British sailors through diplomacy and there is no need to put the crew on trial. In London, an official said earlier that Britain has agreed to consider discussing with Iran how to avoid future disputes over contested waters in the Persian Gulf.

Ali Larijani, the Iranian diplomat, said his country's priority "is to solve the problem through proper diplomatic channels." "We are not interested in letting this issue get further complicated," he told Britain's Channel 4 television news.

La Pelosi: "I have a certain serenity about it all, I really do"

Speaker Nancy Pelosi was asked as she left last week for the Mideast what she had learned about herself in her first months running the House. The California Democrat is the first woman to be speaker, and her answer reflects her growing self-confidence. "I have a certain serenity about it all, I really do" she said. "It's so much. But I have a confidence about dealing with it. It's not a surprise to me, but it's interesting."

There's much more about the Democrats and their first 100 days at the WSJ site (free) Democrats Reach Critical Stage.

Meanwhile back in Somalia...

Unofficial Cease Fire reached in Mogadishu. Aw crap. That didn't last long. Published 42 minutes ago. Truce brokered by clan elders fails to stop fierce artillery barrage in Somali capital (sic and it's from Reuters no less)

Do you want to know where all those Islamists have fled to? Yemen: Political Asylum Granted to top Somali Muslim Leader.

File this under rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic: Somali reconciliation meeting opens amid attacks.

And then there's this: Unknown object falls in to Somalia

And this: Somali football federation chief denies financial mismanaging

There's more. It sounds pretty hellish there. Somalia Hospitals are overwhelmed by dead and dying. (I don't even want to be in a US hospital when I'm dying much less a Somali one. Lord, please take me in my bed. Or at least at my computer fighting the jihad.)

Somalia. Such a lovely place full of lovely people. Somalia: People trafficker arrested in Athens I can so understand Oriana Fallaci's anger at the problems the Somalis were causing in bella Italia before her death.

Human Rights Watch pipes up. No surprises there. Group Says People Fleeing Somalia Detained.

Israeli acting president defends Pelosi Syria trip

Israeli acting president defends Pelosi Syria trip

Israel's acting president defended on Sunday U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi planned visit to Syria, a trip the White House described as a bad idea.

Pelosi, speaking at a dinner hosted by Acting President Dalia Itzik, said she would raise with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad the issue of three captive Israeli soldiers, two held by Lebanon's Hezbollah group and one by Palestinian militants. "Your expected visit to Damascus has naturally touched off a political debate in your country, and of course, here," Itzik said in televised remarks.

"I believe in your worthy intentions. Perhaps a step, seen as unpopular at this stage ... will clarify to the Syrian people and leadership they must abandon the axis of evil (and) stop supporting terrorism and giving shelter to (terrorist) headquarters," said Itzik, a member of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's centrist Kadima party.

It gets worse.
Pelosi, who met Olmert earlier in the day, held aloft during her dinner speech in parliament replicas of the dog-tags of the three captive soldiers. "They (the dog-tags) are in my office, I carry them with me today, with the promise that we must never rest until they are all safely at home. And yes, I will mention this to the president of Syria," said Pelosi, the top House Democrat.

Nancy and Keith's Excellent Adventure Day 2 - Pics!

Nancy's advance team in Syria. The Three Stooges; Wolf, Pitts, Aderholt.

And the chinless opthalmologist or whatever he is.

Wearing her red power suit, Nancy proudly pledges allegiance next to Israeli hottie. Hope she at least remembered the words.

(P.S. Nan - turned up toes? Could you pls. buy a decent pair of shoes?)

Nancy waves dogtags of Israeli soldier hostage around in one hand and cuts off funding to the troops with the other.

God, I hate women who don't know how to shake hands.

Looks like Nancy has a weak girly, limp fish handshake. Ick.

Nancy, Keith and Kim, Keith's wifey. I wonder what number wife she is?

Hah-hah. Just kidding. I think.

At last a cocktail! Nancy sure looks like she enjoys her wine but like she's a little afraid of the Israeli hottie here. What will happen when she faces off with Assad?

This is a joke...

House Reps visiting Syria announce: Opportunity for dialogue. Yeah. Right.

U.S. House members meeting with President Bashar Assad Sunday stated they believed there was an opportunity for dialogue with the Syrian leadership.

The U.S. House members, who included Virginia Republican Frank Wolf, Pennsylvania Republican Joe Pitts and Alabama Republican Robert Aderholt, added they had raised with Syrian officials the issue of stopping the alleged flow of foreign fighters from Syria to Iraq.

In a statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Damascus and cited by the AP, the congressmen said they had talked about "ending support for Hizbullah and Hamas, recognizing Israel's right to exist in peace and security, and ceasing interference in Lebanon."

"We came because we believe there is an opportunity for dialogue," the statement said. "We are following in the lead of Ronald Reagan, who reached out to the Soviets during the Cold War," it added.

Syria's official news agency (SANA) said Assad discussed U.S.-Syria ties and the latest developments in the Middle East with the representatives.

The congressional delegation earlier in the day held talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, who voiced damascus' wish to bring security and stability to the Middle East and called for dialogue with the U.S., SANA reported. He said discussions between the two countries could produce "common stands conducive to putting an end to current crises in the region."

Why do I get the feeling the Syrians are laughing their asses off at these puffed up clowns? Wait til La Pelosi hits town. That's going to be a scene. And I think their comparison of themselves to Ronald Reagan is a total stretch. Feh. They're no Ronald Reagan!

Hobson's Choice to go to Syria

Hobson defends trip to Syria despite criticism via spokesman, Sara Perkins.

Hobson, the lone Republican on the trip, was irritated by the White House criticism, according to Perkins, who noted that the White House did not criticize a Republican-led visit to Syria also scheduled for this week. "If administration officials felt that strongly about the planned visit to Syria, they could have denied the (Department of Defense) plane and State Department assistance that have been provided for this trip," Perkins said. (I wondered what kind of plane they were in.

Perkins also said White House discussion of this trip created "some serious security issues" for the group. (yeah, right.) She added that Hobson went on the trip because he wanted to be part of a bipartisan group, and feels strongly such overseas trips should be bipartisan. (and he wanted to suck up to the new Speaker.) Perkins said the trip is a follow-up to a January trip to Iraq and Afghanistan and is focused on diplomacy to bring stability to Iraq. (or what we'd call appeasement.)

Rosie, you are really starting to piss me off.

Okay, I know that the show is called The View and I'm all for free speech and all that, but really! Enough is enough.

Tehran Rosie you are becoming a menace to society with your lies and scurrilous accusations. I would bet cash money that you have NEVER EVEN BEEN TO 7 WTC and I sincerely doubt whether you ever even made it to the Twin Towers.

I have.

The company I used to work for had it's head shed at 7 WTC and I spent many an hour there. I can tell you that its close proximity to the Twin Towers made it a sitting duck. Have a couple of 110 story office towers fall down on top of you and see what happens, Rosie pie.

Read Popular Mechanics response to Rosie's ill-informed rant.

And then tell the man that really needs to know what you think about Rosie what YOU think.

robert.a.iger@disney.com

Then go over to MNM and look at a great night time shot of the Towers.

Man, I sure miss them in the skyline.
/rant off

Sunday Steyn

Read it all.

The U.N. will do nothing for men seized on a U.N.-sanctioned mission. The European Union will do nothing for its "European citizens." But if liberal transnationalism is a post-modern joke, it's not the only school of transnationalism out there. Iran's Islamic Revolution has been explicitly extraterritorial since the beginning: It has created and funded murderous proxies in Hezbollah, Hamas and both Shia and Sunni factions of the Iraq "insurgency." It has spent a fortune in the stans of Central Asia radicalizing previously somnolent Muslim populations. When Ayatollah Khomeini announced the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, it was not Iranians but British, Indian, Turkish, European, Asian and American Muslims who called for his death, firebombed bookstores, shot his publisher, fatally stabbed his translator and murdered anybody who got in their way.

So we live today in a world of one-way sovereignty: American, British and Iraqi forces in Iraq respect the Syrian and Iranian borders; the Syrians and Iranians do not respect the Iraqi border. Patrolling the Shatt al-Arab at a time of war, the Royal Navy operates under rules of engagement designed by distant fainthearts with an eye to the polite fictions of "international law": If you're in a ''warship,'' you can't wage war. If you're in a ''destroyer,'' don't destroy anything. If you're in a "frigate," you're frigging done for.

There aren't enough jails in Hollywood...

Singer convicted of adultery jailed

A Moroccan singer who is a member of an influential Islamist organisation has been sentenced to a month in prison for adultery, a legal source said yesterday.The term was handed down to Rachid Moutchou, also known as Gholam Nakib Chouaba, as well as female defendant, Asmaa Rkik, overnight after the case came to court on Friday in the western town of El Jadida.The two, who must also pay a fine of 1,000 dirhams each, have the right to appeal within 10 days.

Police say he was caught in the act. He claims it was a set up to discredit the Islamist organization he belongs to. Oh, and he claims he was tortured. I guess he's lucky he's still alive. About that Islamist group?
Moutchou began his career in upmarket Casablanca bars at the age of 13, before moving to religious songs after joining Al Adl Wal Ihssane, the Islamist association led by Sheikh Abdessalam Yassine. Al Adl Wal Ihssane, meaning justice and charity, is considered by the press as the most influential Islamist group in Morocco.

About Al Adl Wal Ihssane (it's from wikipedia so take it with a grain of salt:
Al Adl wal Ihsane (in French Justice et Bienfaisance) is a Moroccan Islamist association, founded by Cheikh Abdesslam Yassine (not to be confused with the former head of Palestinian Hamas). Yassine acts as a charismatic leader for the organisation, which attributes him near saintly-status and operates on lines similar to those a Moroccan Sufi brotherhood (Zaouia boutchichia), of which Yassine was a member prior to his politicisation. This association is not legal but is tolerated by the Moroccan authorities.

The party advocates the transformation of Morocco into an Islamist state, ruled by its interpretation of the Shariah. Like the Muslim Brotherhood, it works for the Islamisation of the whole society, through its grassroots social welfare organisations and important presence in universities.

The association is entirely centred around the personality of Abdesslam Yassine and practice a kind of Cult of personality; some members perceive Abdesslam Yassine as a new prophet, or at least as his messenger. Abdeslam Yassine likes to talk about his dreams; members of the association like to interpret them under a very favourable light for the leader.

Through the year 2005, the association reportedly developed the idea of a qawma, a revolution, for 2006, after a series of dreams done by Cheikh Yassine and association members. Many Adlists think these dreams refer to the immediate abolition of the monarchy in Morocco and the instauration of a Caliphate. Indeed, in spring 2005, Yassine's daughter, Nadia Yassine the daughter of Abdesslam Yassine, who heads the feminist branch of the organisation, said in an interview to the Moroccan newspaper Al Ousbouiya Al Jadida that she believed that Monarchy is not appropriate for Morocco. Yassine and two journalists from the newspaper are facing charges for defamation of the monarchy relating to the remarks, although her trial has twice been postponed. Publicly, the group has denied any revolutionary plans, arguing rather that Moroccan stability is at serious risk not from it but due to persistently high levels of unemployment and poverty.

Lesbians = Fatal Cancer per Israel's Islamic Movement

Palestinian Lesbians draw fire.

A conference scheduled for the end of March by a group of Palestinian Lesbians has drawn fire from a number of Islamic groups for the conference’s supposed impropriety. At the top of the list of those decrying the planned gathering is Israel’s Islamic Movement, who says that the conference, set to held in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, should be stopped since "We must not let this fatal cancer spread in our community," according to Haaretz.

The Lesbian group planning the event, calling itself “Asawat”, is comprised of nearly one hundred members from Israel and Palestine. The "Home and Exile" conference, scheduled for March 28, is meant to spark discussion of homosexuality among Israel's 1 million Arab citizens, explained Roula Deeb, a prominent Arab feminist, according to the AP. The conference also aims to mark the five-year anniversary of the group’s establishment.

Head of the Islamic Movement, MKs Ibrahim Sarsur and Abas Zakoor published a statement which called on "all respectable people from all communities and streams to stand up against preaching sexual deviance among our women and girls." Homosexuality is strictly forbidden by Islam.

"Lesbians...need treatment—they don't need to spread their strange ideas in the Arab community," said Mohammed Zbidat, a spokesman for the Islamic Movement.

Ironically, the Islamic Movement has teamed up with its rivals in Israel’s Orthodox communities for similar reasons in the past. A recent Gay Pride parade, held in Jerusalem, drew the ire of both religious Jewish and Muslim communities, when the Islamic Movement’s southern branch aligned itself with the Jewish Orthodox community in protest of the planned event.

US embassy denies report on advisory

We heard about this first from Watcher over at Maverick News Media.

Here's an update from Gulf in the Media.

The US embassy in Bahrain has denied that it has advised their citizens to leave Bahrain. Speaking to the Tribune, embassy spokesperson Helen LaFave said, “There has been no announcement by the US embassy which was worded to ask american citizens to leave Bahrain. These are baseless rumours which have sprung out of nowhere.”Reuters had reported that a senior White House official said on Friday that they had not heard anything about US citizens being advised to leave Bahrain.

The rumours Reuters reported may have stemmed from an embassy note to US residents which was posted on Thursday. The note allegedly advised citizens to avoid being in areas where opposition activists plan to hold protests, which often turn violent.A website called DEBKAfile had reported on March 30 that US financial sources in Bahrain report American investors in Bahrain advised to pack up business operations and leave.