Taliban behind attack at Iranian Consulate.

Proving once and for all that allegations by British and US officials regarding Iran's role in Afghanistan are baseless!

The Taliban were behind the recent terrorist attack on Iran’s Consulate in Kandahar, said an informed source in Foreign Ministry. He noted that it was the second terrorist attack on Iran’s diplomatic mission in Afghanistan after the bombing of a car belonging to Iran’s Consulate, Fars reported.

The source described such hostile measures by Taliban against Iran as evidence that allegations by British and US officials regarding Iran’s role in Afghanistan are baseless.

Here's the real funny:

The British and the US media, including Jane’s Terrorism and Security Monitor (a subsidiary of Jane’s Defence), have expressed doubt about the allegations of US military officials on Iran’s interference in Afghanistan. The deny seeing any evidence of Iranians’ assistance to Afghan opposition groups.

CAIR Helps OH hijab wearing women to get license.

Ooh boy, this got my blood boiling. CAIR Helps OH Muslims Obtain Driver Photos with Hijab

The Cincinnati office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Ohio chapter (CAIR-Ohio) announced today that two Muslim women in that city were able to have driver's license photographs retaken with their Islamic headscarves, or hijab, after initially being asked to remove the scarves.

CAIR says Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) employees had insisted that the women remove their headscarves for their driver's license photographs despite regulations requiring an exemption for religious head coverings.

According to a 2004 CAIR study of such policies nationwide, Ohio grants exemptions for 1) wigs or hairpieces if customarily worn by the applicant, 2) a head covering worn for recognized religious purposes, or 3) a head covering worn in conjunction with recognized medical treatments.

Most States Allow Muslim Scarves in Driver Photos

CAIR-Ohio's Cincinnati office contacted the BMV and arranged for the photographs of the two women to be retaken free of charge. BMV authorities also sent a reminder to all deputy registrar offices about the exemption for religious head coverings.

"We thank BMV officials for handling this issue in a timely and professional manner," said Karen Dabdoub, executive director of CAIR-Ohio's Cincinnati office.

CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties and advocacy group, has 33 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

We are doomed.

Third US aircraft carrier heads for the Gulf

Anchors Aweigh! And Grand Ayatollah? "Regular deployments of the strike groupd to the Middle East are not designed to provoke any of the Gulf countries..." Although it would be nice if it did...Bring it, Mahmoud so we can counter your assertive, disruptive and coercive behavior.

Another US Navy aircraft carrier is heading towards the Middle East, boosting the number of the giant warships in the region to three, the navy said in a statement on Tuesday. The nuclear-powered USS Enterprise and its strike group will join the USS John C. Stennis and USS Nimitz in the navy's Fifth Fleet area of operation, which includes Gulf waters off Iran.

"The Enterprise is heading to Fifth Fleet waters and is not replacing any other ships in the area," a US Navy spokesperson told AFP without elaborating. The US Navy has significantly beefed up its presence in the region recently amid growing concerns in the West that Iran is secretly developing a nuclear weapons programme -- an accusation Tehran strongly denies.

The Enterprise "provides navy power to counter the assertive, disruptive and coercive behaviour of some countries, as well as support (to) our soldiers and marines in Iraq and Afghanistan," Vice Admiral Kevin Cosgrifff said in the statement. "Regular deployments of the strike groups to the Middle East are not designed to provoke any of the Gulf countries," it added.

Joe Lieberman calls Iran on the Persian carpet for their proxy wars

From the WSJ via Iran Focus. Yeah, what he said.


While some will no doubt claim that Iran is only attacking U.S. soldiers in Iraq because they are deployed there -- and that the solution, therefore, is to withdraw them -- Iran's parallel proxy attacks against moderate Palestinians, Afghans and Lebanese directly rebut such claims.


Iran is acting aggressively and consistently to undermine moderate regimes in the Middle East, establish itself as the dominant regional power and reshape the region in its own ideological image.


The involvement of Hezbollah in Iraq, just revealed by Gen. Bergner, illustrates precisely how interconnected are the different threats and challenges we face in the region.


The fanatical government of Iran is the common denominator that links them together.


No responsible leader in Washington desires conflict with Iran. But every leader has a responsibility to acknowledge the evidence that the U.S. military has now put before us: The Iranian government, by its actions, has all but declared war on us and our allies in the Middle East.


Gen Bergner's claims.
Iranian outrage and denial.

Goldman Sachs - the next target?

You know Dinah used to have a life on Wall Street so you can imagine how her Islam-o-radar went off upon reading this post by Watcher over at Eye on the World.

It became a two alarm Islam-o-alert in the comments section over at MNM where herroyalwhyness brought up those dastardly Muslims, the Islamic Thinkers Society (hah - as if). Those dirtbags in NYC that went to town on a US flag - stomping all up on it and then setting it alight. Grrr. Don't watch it if you don't want your blood pressure to go up. Mine does just thinking about it.




A version of Goldman's response from Mayor Mike's cash cow, Bloomberg News. (And yes, once upon a time I worked with Mike Bloomberg.) Disgruntled employees and customers are being checked first, extremist groups of unmentioned religions, I guess that will be whenever they get around to it...

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the world's biggest securities firm, said law-enforcement authorities don't consider letters making threats against the company to be credible.

About 20 letters were sent to different newspapers on or around June 27, said Thomas Boyle, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Inspectors in New York. The letters say that ``hundreds will die'' and ``we have people inside Goldman Sachs,'' he said.

``We are working closely with the law-enforcement authorities, who tell us they don't believe the threat to be very credible,'' Michael DuVally, a Goldman spokesman in New York, said in an e-mailed statement.

``We take any threat to the safety of our people very seriously.''

A team of postal inspectors is working with Goldman Sachs, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Joint Terrorism Task Force to try to identify who sent the letters, Boyle said.

Authorities don't know whether they are terror-related or come from someone with a direct connection to the firm.

Text of entire company response here.


Goldman - Downtown NYC

Oddly enough, Goldman did not receive the letters. Where the letters were sent:

The letters were sent to newspapers in areas including Seattle; Boise, Idaho; Corpus Christi, Texas; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Bayonne and Newark, N.J.; and cities in Vermont, Ohio and North Dakota. The Star-Ledger of Newark is the largest newspaper to have received one of the letters; theirs was postmarked June 27.

The newspapers notified law enforcement agencies after receiving the letters and in some cases alerted Goldman Sachs directly, law enforcement officials said. Officials said they have no reason to suspect the newspapers that received the threatening letters have been targeted.

Goldman Sachs did not receive any of the threatening letters, Boyle said.

The copy of the letter is from CNN.

San Fran Nan: Drain yer own swamp, Missy.

We have listened ad nauseum to San Fran Nan talk about draining the Congressional swamp. Now we learn that La Pelosi has holdings in Alcatel-Lucent.

Dump that stock Nan, or we'll have to start calling you Sudan Nan....

According to Divestterror.org, a citizens group pushing a South Africa-style disinvestment program to discourage companies from doing business in terror countries, Alcatel-Lucent’s investments in terror countries are so extensive that it is included on the organization’s “dirty dozen” list of offending companies. The organization estimates that the company has invested upwards of $300 million in terror sponsoring nations during the past five years.

According to Divestterror.org, Alcatel is aiding Iran’s terrorist activities by providing state controlled companies with data transmission and switching network capabilities. “These contracts have reportedly included the provision of hardware, software, technologies, and training to Iranian companies.” It is also installing an undersea telecommunications cable in Iran.

Prior to his overthrow, Alcatel carried out major fiber optic products for dictator Saddam Hussein in Iraq, despite U.S. government warnings to the French company that the project could advance Iraqi military capabilities.

Alcatel is currently “involved in similar telecommunications projects ranging from upgrading networks to the installation underwater fiber optic cables” in Sudan and Libya.

Criticizing Alcatel, former House Armed Services Committee Chairman and current GOP presidential contender Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) expressed his worry over Alcatel’s activities in a letter to President Bush. In it, he wrote, “I am concerned about potential transfers of technology or sensitive information to other countries with which Alcatel has business dealings, which have included Burma, China, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.”

Mitt's Dog: Really, he loved it.

Hearing his explanation makes me like him even more.

Pelosi, Reid to announce new cut and run plans

Mark your calendars.

It seems only too appropriate that the date they've chosen is April Fool's Day, 2008.

Four Iraq related amendments are to be introduced, two different withdrawal proposals, another deauthorization of the Iraq War proposal and proposals to prohibit the creation of permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq, and a "readiness" initiative limiting deployments of U.S. soldiers and marines in Iraq by requiring the Pentagon to keep military units from being sent back to Iraq until they have been stateside as long as they were in the combat zone. John Murtha has a few tricks up his appropriations sleeve as well.

The stench of surrender is thick in the Demo caucus:

"The surge is a failure, it isn't working," said a Democratic aide familiar with the new initiative. "We just can't leave American soldiers out there dying and not do anything."

Romney strapped dog to car roof. Dog craps. Peta atwitter.

It was 25 years ago.

I guess it's a good thing for Teddy that Mary Jo wasn't a Maltese...how long ago was Chappaquiddick???

I'd like to thank the Media Research Center...

for reminding me about this. How quickly we forget trash talking women of low breeding and no taste.

Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, has called on Americans to stop conservative Ann Coulter’s “hate words.” But when that campaign hired two hateful, anti-Christian bigots as “official” bloggers, Mrs. Edwards did not object and the campaign decided to give them a “fair shake,” as John Edwards said. The bloggers resigned in February only after their bigoted writings were exposed by other bloggers and conservative talk radio, causing a huge embarrassment. ABC, CBS, and NBC interviewed Elizabeth Edwards this morning to allow her to further complain about Coulter’s “hate words,” but none mentioned the Edwards campaign’s bigoted bloggers.

Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan. (Remember these two?)

From Ms. Marcotte: Sen. Rick Santorum talks about sex “lest his lack of self-control be manifested by f***ing his desk on the Senate floor.”

From Ms. McEwan: “When CNN invited Ann Coulter to comment on the 2004 presidential debates, I sniffed, ‘I didn’t realize they had officially transformed into the C*** News Network.”

And how on earth did I forget this one? Elizabeth Edwards scared of Rabid Republican Gun Toting Neighbor?

"I wouldn't be nice to him anyway," Edwards said in an interview. "I don't want my kids anywhere near some guy who when he doesn't like somebody, the first thing he does is pull a gun out. It scares the business out of me. Edwards views Johnson as a "rabid, rabid Republican" who refuses to clean up his "slummy" property just to spite her family, whose lavish 28,000-square-foot estate is nearby on 102 wooded acres.

Bonus : The best little tidbit I've heard about this whole exchange? During the course of the call, do you remember hearing a deep male voice booming out the $69,000 question: "Why isn't your husband making this call????"

Well, that was none other than FReeper Extraorinaire, Kristinn.

Way to go Kristinn. Your well timed salvo was clearly the turning point - where it really started to go bad for the Edwards'. Such a pity.

I predict this political stunt will go down in the annals of campaign history screw ups.

Even better it looks like the Edwards campaign has a trifecta going. We've just witnessed Elizabeth's hypocritical jawboning for John, and before that there was the ill-considered protest-the-war-and-diss-the-troops-on-the-day-we-set aside-to honor-their memories strategy. And who can forget the old War-on-Terror-Bumper-Sticker maneuver?

My new slogan for the Edwards campaign.

Vote for John and Elizabeth. Just Because.

(We really do know better than you.)

The truly sad thing? One of Ann Coulter's past beefs with John Edwards is his exploitative use of his dead son's memory in furthering his political career. Me, I'm watching the way this is going down and I have this creepy feeling that I am watching Candidate Edwards exploiting Elizabeth and her situation as well. How can you possible debate poor, brave Cancer Victim Elizabeth without looking like Cruella Deville? Especially when you're that evil, "crazy" Ann Coulter. You wait - they'll be questioning her virtue next. Or who knows? They just might decide to go the "unnatural woman, frigid routine". You can bet that somewhere at Edwards HQ there's an aide sitting in his cube and lamenting the fact that Ann didn't grow up in a trailer park.

(Here's what I mean when I say the Edwards are working it:)

They have made the incident the centerpiece of their fund raising efforts, the campaign has produced a heavily edited You tube vid of Elizabeth, and Elizabeth's been making the rounds of the morning "news" shows)

Ms. Coulter's response: That was no lady, that was my husband.

House Members: They have some nerve, don't they?

House Members decide to give themselves a raise.

They must figure their approval rating can't possibly get any lower.

Despite low approval ratings and hard feelings from last year's elections, Democrats and Republicans in the House are reaching out for an approximately $4,400 pay raise that would increase their salaries to almost $170,000.

The cost-of-living raise endorsed Wednesday evening gets lawmakers back on track for automatic pay raises after a fight between the parties last year and again in January killed the pay increase due this year. That was the first interruption of the annual congressional pay boost in seven years.

The blowup came after Democrats last year fulfilled a campaign promise to deny themselves more pay until Congress raised the minimum wage. Delays in the minimum wage bill cost every lawmaker about $3,100 this year.

On a 244-181 vote Wednesday, Democrats and Republicans alike killed a bid by Reps. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Lee Terry, R-Neb., to get a direct vote to block the COLA, which is automatically awarded unless lawmakers vote to block it. The Senate has not indicated when it will deal with a similar measure.

As part of an ethics bill in 1989, Congress gave up its ability to accept pay for speeches and made annual cost-of-living pay increases automatic unless the lawmakers voted otherwise.

The annual vote on the pay hike comes on an obscure procedural move - instead of a direct up-or-down vote - and Democratic and GOP leaders each delivered a majority of their members to shut off the move to block the pay hike.

This year's vote was made ticklish by last year's battle. Republicans said Democrats broke a promise not to use the pay raise issue against GOP lawmakers in campaign ads and therefore were, generally speaking, more reluctant to supply votes.

Fairness doctrine in action... Hoyer and Blunt put the arm on House members. Working through Blunt, Hoyer forced twelve (!)Republicans to switch their vote.

The COLA raise is estimated to come in at 2.7% or $4460. The only good news - Dick Cheney gets a raise, too. House leaders and the Supremes will get more $, too.

Like I said, some nerve.

Words fail me...

From left: Fran Townsend, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, NSC Senior Director for European Affairs Judy Ansley, White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten, and Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes, attend the rededication ceremony of the Islamic Center of Washington.

This is wrong on so many levels.

Atlas has a killer post up over at MNM that talks about this latest dhimmi travesty: Bush's Enormous Misstep.

(What I want to know is why the black chick in the black doesn't have to wear a schmatta and the rest of the women do. What's up with that?)

In my own backyard...

And I had to go over to Eye on the World to find out about it. Sheesh. Thanks EOTW!

A Bucks County father was accused of going to extremes to break-up his daughter's romance.Police said the father and his son tried to kidnap her fiancé by beating him up and tossing him into a sport utility vehicle.Robert Webber, of Middletown Township police, said he thought he was being dispatched to a Bucks County diner Friday night for a fight but once he got there he was in the middle of a family disagreement turned violent."The victim advised me that his fiancée's family was trying to kill him, drag him into a car and take him somewhere, where he believed he was going to be killed," Webber said.Webber said the alleged victim told him his fiancée's family was upset the two had moved in together.He said there were cultural differences and that's why 48-year-old Mohd Nasher and his son 20-year-old Mohammed Nasher were allegedly gunning for the fiancé.

Check out the pictures at Eye On The World.

What's it going to take to stop them? And who is going to do it?

"Jeremiah lamenting the destruction of Israel" - Rembrandt van Rijn

Epaminondas checks in over at MNM and asks "what will it take" for the US to get off the dime with regard to Iran. Good question, Epa. I've been wondering that myself.

Epaminondas also blogs over at Villagers with Torches.

Yon: Drilling for Justice

Drilling for Justice: Michael Yon's latest from Baquba and Operation Arrowhead Ripper, an operation that might have gotten ripped because of remarks made by senior military officials. Unfortunately, it sounds like they were ours. The 24 hr media and satellite dishes and all. There's a question of how many of the AQI leadership escaped because of it...there are also incredible stories like these:

Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) had tarnished its name here by publicly attacking and murdering children, videotaping beheadings, all while imposing harsh punishments on Iraqi civilians found guilty of violating morality laws prohibiting activities like smoking. The AQI installed Sharia court had sanctioned the amputation of the two
“smoking fingers” for those who violated anti-smoking laws. In part because local sentiment was shifting against it, AQI synthesized with other groups and undertook an image makeover, christening itself “The Islamic State of Iraq.” But the new name was just lipstick on a pig here.

On the evening of the 24th I spoke with a local Iraqi official, Colonel Faik, who said the Muftis would order the severance of the two fingers used to hold a cigarette for any Iraqis caught smoking. Other reports, from here in Diyala and also in Anbar, allege that smokers are murdered by AQI. Most Iraqis smoke and this particular
prohibition appeared to have earned the ire of many locals. After an American unit cleared an apartment complex on the 23rd, LTC Smiley, the battalion commander, reported that residents didn’t ask for food and water, but cigarettes. In other parts of Baqubah, people have been celebrating the routing of AQI by lighting up and
smoking cigarettes.

Other AQI edicts included beatings for men who refused to grow beards, and corporal punishments for obscene sexual suggestiveness, defined by such “loose” behavior as carrying tomatoes and cucumbers in the same bag. These fatwas were not eagerly embraced by most Iraqis, and the taint traveled back to the Muftis who sat in supreme judgment. Locals, who are increasingly helpful in pointing out and celebrating the downfall of AQI here, said that during the initial Arrowhead Ripper attack the morning of the 19th, AQI murdered five men. Townsend’s men found the buried corpses behind an AQI prison, exactly where they’d been told to look for the group grave. Locals also directed Townsend’s men to a torture house. Peering through a window, American soldiers saw knives, swords, bindings and drills. AQI is well-known for its macabre eagerness to drill into kneecaps, elbows, ribs, skulls, and other parts of victims.

There's so much more at the link. God bless the troops.

Straight from the Boar's Mouth

Courtesy of Emperor Misha of Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler. There's a story.

LC 0311 Crunchie went hog-hunting with a few friends in order to have proper food for a party for his son (aka Crumb Crunchie) who is off to join the Corps, and a great time was had by all. Well, except for the hog, of course, who didn’t much appreciate the stabbing, but that was her problem.

And, being the faithful souls that they are, they naturally brought a koran with them for spiritual guidance. But what to do once the hunt is over?

If you’ve got a koran and a dead hog, what could you possibly come up with?

More photos at the link.

God Speed Crumb Crunchie.

Operation Arrowhead Ripper

Michael Yon checks in with his latest dispatch Surrender or Die where he's hooked up with a 3-2 Stryker Brigage in Baqubah.

This Brigade has much recent combat experience, and is expertly commanded. A
person does not need to even meet the commanders (though I do each day) to know they are running a tight ship. The professionalism of 3-2 is particularly high, and they are very competent fighters who are maximizing their assets, including the incredible Stryker vehicles.

He adds this. Save our Strykers!

While the name “Stryker” is on the table, apparently controversy is brewing back
home whether Strykers should be in our arsenal. The answer is YES: we need all
we can get. The Stryker might be the finest all-around combat vehicle in Iraq.

More on the fighting can be found here: Al Qaeda fight to death in Iraq bastion.

House urges UN to charge Ahmadinejad

Did someone put viagra in the water in the House Cloak rooms or what?

The US House of Representatives urged the UN Security Council Wednesday to charge Iran's president under genocide conventions. The non-binding resolution, initiated by Reps. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Steve Rothman (D-N.J.), passed by 411-2. It cites an October 27 speech in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad allegedly called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and calls for the Security Council to charge him under its 1948 convention for the prevention of genocide.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) attempted to read into the record alternate translations of Ahmadinejad s remarks that suggest the Iranian leader was calling Israel to come to an end through democratic means, and not through violence.

"I am unequivocal in my support for the security and survival of Israel, and I do have serious concerns with the remarks made by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran," said Kucinich, a long-shot candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. "But I object to resolutions that lay the groundwork for an offensive, unprovoked war."

One of the alternate translations was by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
Kucinich and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), a long-shot contender for the Republican presidential nomination, were the only votes against. The sponsors of the resolution cited the UN charter to support their argument that Ahmadinejad should be charged.

The charter - which Iran has accepted - requires all UN member states to 'refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.'

"When the leader of an armed nation such as Iran calls for the destruction of a fellow member state of the United Nations, the UN must prosecute and punish him," Rothman said. "It is my hope that this resolution will effectively increase pressure on the United Nations to hold Iranian President Ahmadinejad accountable for his genocidal words and prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons."

Out of Africa

Somalia in the eye of the storm. It's the Beeb so the US is to blame of course. The money quote:

"Washington's approach to Islamism seems to involve containing, or attempting to contain, Islamist organisations while targeting individual terrorist suspects."

Meanwhile, the janjaweed continue to spread their unique brand of terror into Chad. But no one wants to admit it just yet. From Chad: Protection is the issue but from whom?

It was typical of countless acts of violence that have taken place in eastern Chad over the last three years. Armed men on horseback rode through Goz Amir refugee camp last December, hacking and shooting at least 15 men and women to death. And like many of the attacks, it was not immediately clear who the attackers were and what had motivated them to kill.

Yesterday, we had Russ Feingold. Today Bill Nelson weighs in: Swath of Africa could become terrorist haven.

A prime minister's office scarred by a recent al-Qaeda bomb attack. Families separated while fleeing from genocidal murderers in their hometowns. And employees of an international company kidnapped from a heavily guarded oil-rich area. No, this isn't Iraq or the Middle East -- it's an impoverished region of Africa where chaos is breeding a new brand of Islamic terrorism allied with Osama bin Laden.

British charity OxFam pulls out of Darfur region. It's the largest camp in Darfur and get this - "this report does not reflect the view of the United Nations." Sweet Jesus! These people wouldn't say shit if they had a mouthful!

Oxfam has decided to permanently close down its humanitarian operation in the town of Gereida in Sudan's western region of Darfur, citing reluctance by authorities there to improve security and stop attacks on aid workers.

National Lampoon's 72 virgins

H/T The boys over at The JAWA Report. God bless 'em.

In honor of the prophet Mohammed (Panties Be Upon Him)