This interview in the Dallas Morning News with U.S.Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza is such a load of crap it doesn't even need Fisking. It is self explanitory and transparent for its lack of specifics and its overdose of spin. I will let it speak for itself. For a taste, I will post the last Q and A: Question: There have been reports about al-Qaeda using Mexico as an entry point into the U.S. What's being done to prevent this? Answer: Mexico has been a great ally in protecting our people from terrorist attacks, and frankly, there's some cooperation that we'd rather al-Qaeda not know about. That is the one issue that trumps all others. It's point No. 1 in our list of priorities in this relationship, and I think that's the way it ought to be. Read it all and you decide.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
What a Crock...
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Roosting Chickens...Roper v Simmons Revisited
Yesterday a 17 year old Neo-Nazi Native American (I'm serious) donned a bulletproof vest, took up several firearms of his police Sgt. grandfather, killed his grandfather and another woman, an unarmed security guard at his school, a teacher and five students along with wounding several more. Asking one student if he believed in God prior to shooting him to death, Jeff Weise, a 17 year old student who refered to himself as Todesengel "The Angel of Death" in German commited suicide after a shootout with police.
If this scum had not ended his own life and was brought to trial for this heinous premeditated crime, he would be given at a maximun life in prison and the probability is high that it would be with the possibility of parole. Why? Because the Supreme Court of the United States passed Roper v Simmons using foreign law and standards.
Thank you Justice Kennedy etal.
Monday, March 21, 2005
Fox is Not The Only One who Needs a Talking To.
Our neighbors to the north needs to take a close look at what is going on up there. Mr. Bush needs to do the same thing perhaps as I suggested he do to Vicente Fox below. This from Deroy Murdock in NRO. (via lgf)
Danger Up North
Canada’s welcome mat for terrorists.
By Deroy Murdock
..."I'm not afraid of dying, and killing doesn't frighten me," Algerian-born Canadian Fateh Kamel said on an Italian counterterrorism intercept. "If I have to press the remote control, vive the jihad!"
Kamel, who jet-setted among Afghanistan, Bosnia, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, was arrested in Jordan on December 15, 1999, and extradited to France. He was convicted of distributing bogus passports and conspiring to blow up Paris Metro stations. He was sentenced April 6, 2001, to eight years in prison.
But after fewer than four years, France sprang Kamel for "good behavior." (What is it about iron bars and German shepherds that mellows people so?) Kamel flew home to Canada January 29...
"There have been a number of instances where Canadians or individuals based here have been implicated in terrorist attacks or plans in other countries, at least a half dozen or more in the last several years," Canadian Security and Intelligence Director Jim Judd told a Canadian Senate panel in Ottawa March 7. "There are several graduates of terrorist training camps, many of whom are battle-hardened veterans of campaigns in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya and elsewhere who reside here...Often these individuals remain in contact with one another while in Canada or with colleagues outside of the country, and continue to show signs of ongoing clandestine activities, including the use of counter-surveillance techniques, secretive meetings, and encrypted communications." Among other things, Canadian-based terrorists have aspired to whack a visiting Israeli official, bomb a Jewish district in Montreal, and sabotage an El Al jet over Canada.
On March 16, British Columbian Supreme Court Justice Ian Bruce Josephson found Sikh separatists Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri not guilty of planting a bomb that destroyed Air India Flight 182 off the Irish coast on June 23, 1985, killing 329 people. Two baggage handlers also were killed in a subsequent explosion at Tokyo's Narita Airport.
An acquittal is an acquittal. Just ask Robert Blake. Still, the testimony against Malik remains fascinating. One witness quoted him as saying: "We had Air India crash. Nobody, nobody can do anything. It is all for Sikhism."
For his part, Bagri reportedly told the founding conference of the World Sikh Organization: "Yes, there must be our handshake with the Hindus. We will shake hands. Where? On the battlefield."
"This verdict sends a message to terrorists around the world that you can get away with these kinds of acts in Canada," Liberal-party legislator Dave Hayer told the Vancouver Sun. His publisher father was assassinated after agreeing to testify in the trial.
He has many more and much to say. Read it all.
Note to Vicente Fox...Kiss Off
The illegal immigration problem on our borbers has been a burr under my saddle for some time. George Bush seems ambivelant at best and in favor of it at worst. There seems to be civilians that are willing to give a helping hand to the Border Patrol on our southern border in a legal way and Vicente Fox is threatening to sue in international court to protect the rights of his citizens to immigrate illegally. Bill Preston at Junkyard Blog has a good post on this. And there is this from Senator Jon Kyle of Arizona.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) today urged Mexican President Vicente Fox to respect the United States' right to defend its borders and "demonstrate perhaps a little less disdain for the rule of law north of the border.""I agree with President Fox that it is unacceptable for civilian groups to take the law into their own hands, and that individuals who volunteer to help the Border Patrol in a lawful way must guard against extremism in their ranks," Kyl said. "But at the same time, President Fox does not appear to grasp the high level of frustration over illegal immigration in states like Arizona, and his pre-emptive threats to file lawsuits on behalf of those crossing the border unlawfully is hardly helpful, since it presumes that illegal aliens have more of a right to break American law than American citizens have to peacefully assist authorities in enforcing it."
He goes on...
Moreover, Kyl called Fox's recent ridicule of border walls, such as a new "triple fence" planned for San Diego, "downright insulting."
"For one thing, the United States is a sovereign nation that has every right to protect our borders, as other countries do, without baseless accusations of 'discrimination'. The process for entering the United States legally is straightforward and not terribly difficult - deterrence measures like walls only discriminate against those who intend to break the law."
Fox recently claimed in an interview that security along the border was "as high a priority for (Mexico) as it is for the United States," and that Mexico has been "very cooperative" with U.S. officials on security measures to create an "orderly flow" of legal immigrants and commerce across the border."
Bill goes even further, maybe to an exteme in his invasion theme..." As for the Bush administration's approach, an administration that actually cares about security would meet Fox's threat to sue American citizens with a heavy sanctions regime, and an escalating system of penalties up to and including threatening a military occupation of northern Mexico."
Preston has much more and one should read the whole thing. Michelle Malkin has more and has been following the illegal immigration issue for a long time.
Obligatory Schiavo Post.
I have not posted on the Terri Schiavo drama thus far. When all the big dogs of the blog world are all over it, I have seen no reason. It is such an emotional subject for one thing and such a legal and constitutional problem for another. I for one, tend to err on the side of the Schindlers, and feel that removal of the feeding tube is tatamount to a State execution of an innocent woman. I am also coming down on the side of those who say that the actions of the US Senate and House were outside their pervue if not outright unconstitutional and is a dangerous precedent to set.
If you want more on this case and the continuing drama, go to Captainsquarters, Wizbang, Powerline, Ace of Spades or most of those in my link list.Scroll down and you will find all of the information and pontification you can handle. Some of it does not agree with me but it is good, well thought out and insightful viewpoints.
I'm saving my rants for something else for now.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
ANWR, Hypocrisy and NIMBY
The gnashing of teeth and rending of clothes that preceded and continues about the opening of ANWR to oil exploration and possible production is truly amazing. We are talking about an area the size of South Carolina and developing a part of it smaller than the Charleston International Airport.
Most of this doomsaying is coming from those who say they support conservation and alternative fuel and energy sources such as wind energy as long as it's NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) such as the denizens of Martha's Vineyard and Cape Cod off the coast because it might ruin the aesthetics out the window. These are also the same ones who block at every turn new refineries or nuclear power plants. People who have not just one SUV but several, have limosines and private jets yet want the little people to drive Yugos.
We were told without doubt that the Alaskan Pipeline would devastate wildlife and totally wipe out the caribou herds. The population of those herds have risen from 3,000 to 30,000...a tenfold increase.
The Inuit who live on the coastal plain of ANWR are solidly for the development. This item from the Nunatsiaq News says much:
IQALUIT — Inuit on Alaska’s North Slope have found themselves at the crux of an international clash over oil and the polar environment.
The battlefield is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a vast plain of pristine tundra along Alaska’s north coast, rich in polar bears, birds, caribou — and crude oil. Under U.S. law, the 7.7 million hectare refuge is protected from oil exploration and development. But over the last decade, Alaskan Inuit have tirelessly lobbied the president and Congress to change the law.
And this is from the Christian Science Monitor by George N. Ahmaogak Sr. mayor of North Slope Borough in Barrow, Alaska. He is an Inupiat Inuit leader.
Many people oppose drilling because they fear that human impact on the land, the wildlife, and the native Gwich'in Indians will forever change the Gwich'in culture. The Gwich'in live south of this area and subsist on a caribou herd that migrates from the Arctic coastal plain through the mountains into Gwich'in territory each year.
As a native leader who lives on the Arctic coast and also hunts caribou, I share their determination to protect the health of the herd. But I believe their fear for the future is unfounded.
Like the Gwich'in, my people - the Inupiat Eskimo - depend on wildlife for our dietary and cultural sustenance. Like the Gwich'in, we hunt and eat and share with our families a small portion of the animals that God has put on our land.
Our relationship to the land and its bounty makes us who we are. It has enabled us to survive in this harsh climate for thousands of years. Like the Gwich'in, we would not betray our responsibility for stewardship of the land.
But unlike the Gwich'in, my people have seen oil development in our region. Prudhoe Bay - North America's largest oil reserve - lies under our land.
When it was discovered in the late 1960s, we instinctively assumed that oil production would destroy our traditional way of life. But we have learned it is possible to open the land to drilling and protect our way of life, too.
When it became clear that we could not deny the national interest in Prudhoe Bay, we accepted a land-claims settlement that conveyed title to us for some of our lands in exchange for our consent to extract oil and ship it through a pipeline across our region.
In order to ensure our influence over development, we established a regional government whose boundaries encompass our traditional lands, including Prudhoe Bay. This gave us authority for planning, zoning, and issuing permits in the oil province. We have used this authority aggressively to prevent the endangerment of wildlife.
Nearly 30 years later, I can tell you how this experiment has worked: The oil companies have had to accept us at the decisionmaking table and incorporate our concerns in their development plans.
While neither they nor we are always satisfied, this balance of power has led to oil development that is respectful of our land and its wildlife. Caribou still roam the pipeline corridor in large numbers.
Native people in the 21st century are not well served by the attitude that indigenous cultures cannot survive unless their world remains untouched. That attitude only weakens native people in the face of change.
We must exercise leadership so that our needs and traditions are honored in the process of change. If we simply say "no" and fail to adapt, we will not survive.
I believe that the Gwich'in - together with experts from wildlife agencies, the oil industry, and our people - can craft a plan that will protect the animal migrations and deliver needed oil to communities in the south. Such a plan would improve the quality of life in Gwich'in villages, so that their children would want to stay and raise families there. It would also incorporate environmental controls to protect the land and the caribou.
All healthy cultures continually adapt to changes in their environment. Native people are not "noble savages," and neither we nor the non-native people who seek to save us from a changing world should cling to that Hollywood stereotype. The Gwich'in Indians and the Eskimo are survivors, however. If you don't believe me, come visit us in the middle of winter.
Our people have thrived despite the harshest climate on the planet. We can protect our traditional culture even as we respond to the demands of the larger world. The Eskimo have done it. We look forward to the partnership of the Gwich'in as we adapt and progress into the 21st century.
The detracors of drilling in ANWR use such time worn phrases as "This will only produce x% of our needs" Pick a number for the x, they do. They then argue that it is not enough to bother with considering the harm it will do. How much is enough and with enough teaspoons, one soon has a cup and enough cups one soon...you get the picture. If we refuse to even consider that first spoonful and just whine about what we should do about alternatives, there will not be a cup and soon not a pot to pee in as well. I am for conservation and use of renewable energy sources and alternatives but I consider myself a realist and not an idealogue. Some may disagree. Whithout a coming together of the environmental movement and the economical side of these issues, there is not going to be much progress. We can't even get a national energy policy.
Monday, March 14, 2005
Giulana Sgrena Reminds Me of...
Giulana Sgrena Reminds Me of...Bagdad Bob. She has more versions of a story and even less credibility with every telling. LGF points us to this latest from the Italian media about this darling of the day.
(AGI) - Rome, March 11 - “I want the government to investigate on what happened”, said Giuliana Sgrena, in an interview with Spanish TV broadcast by Sky TG24, her first ever since she was freed. “The government is looking at various accounts of the facts”, she said, “but my account coincides with the one provided by the car driver, who also survived. We demand concrete answers on what really happened. Obviously an inquiry commission will be set up. I do have faith in them. What happened was just terrible. Our questions need to be addressed. And not only by the Italian government, but by Mr Bush himself. Sure, we won’t come to the truth, but let’s hope that at least this time around, they do everything in their power to have a plausible account. The man who was killed was Nicola Calipari, one of Italy’s best secret services agents. His death has moved the country”. To this regard, she further added, “I don’t know whether (the US soldiers) did it on purpose. I just think their behaviour was unacceptable. And not just cuz I was in that car, but cuz Nicola was killed. We were in an area monitored by American troops, close to the airport. Obviously Iraqi guerrillas couldn’t get there, and even if there had been any of them in our car, the soldiers’ behaviour would still be unacceptable. You can’t shoot point blank on a car and on the people riding in it. We weren’t given any notice, nor were we told to stop. Had they told us to and had we refused to comply, then their reaction would have been explainable. But that just wasn’t the case. Similar episodes occur every day. Americans shoot at cars, for no reason. This time, though, they had no excuses. They should have known we were riding. That’s why I demand answers. I’d like to know why the US tank was not informed we were passing through. We didn’t even notice it”, she concluded.
Saturday, March 12, 2005
What once was...
While cleaning out my stacks of stuff I came across this article by Cornel Nistorescu, the managing editor of the Romanian "Evenimentlzilei" ( News of the Day) and wondered what Mr. Nistorescu thinks about the "United" States today with our Kennedy, Kerry, Dean and some of the other "patriots". Romanians know what the lack of freedom is and what it means more than we seem too. Americans (some) have a short memory and have reverted to eating our own and finding fault with everything in the world as being Americas fault. This article gave me a memory of what should never be forgotten. It is translated by the author.
Why are Americans so united? They don't resemble one another even if you paint them! They speak all the languages of the world and form an astonishing mixture of civilizations. Some of them are nearly extinct, others are incompatible with one another, and in matters of religious beliefs, not even God can count how many they are. Still, the American tragedy turned three hundred million people into a hand put on the heart. Nobody rushed to accuse the White House, the army, the secret services that they are only a bunch of losers. Nobody rushed to empty their bank accounts. Nobody rushed on the streets nearby to gape about. The Americans volunteered to donate blood and to give a helping hand. After the first moments of panic, they raised the flag on the smoking ruins, putting on T-shirts, caps and ties in the colours of the national flag. They placed flags on buildings and cars as if in every place and on every car a minister or the president was passing. On every occasion they started singing their traditional song: "God Bless America!".
Silent as a rock, I watched the charity concert broadcast on Saturday once, twice, three times, on different tv channels. There were Clint Eastwood, Willie Nelson, Robert de Niro, Julia Roberts, Cassius Clay, Jack Nicholson, Bruce Springsteen, Silvester Stalone, James Wood, and many others whom no film or producers could ever bring together. The American's solidarity spirit turned them into a choir. Actually, choir is not the word. What you could hear was the heavy artillery of the American soul. What neither George W. Bush, nor Bill Clinton, nor Colin Powell could say without facing the risk of stumbling over words and sounds, was being heard in a great and unmistakable way in this charity concert. I don't know how it happened that all this obsessive singing of America didn't sound croaky, nationalist, or ostentatious! It made you green with envy because you weren't able to sing for your country without running the risk of being considered chauvinist, ridiculous, or suspected of who-knows-what mean interests. I watched the live broadcast and the rerun of its rerun for hours listening to the story of the guy who went down one hundred floors with a woman in a wheelchair without knowing who she was, or of the Californian hockey player, who fought with the terrorists and prevented the plane from hitting a target that would have killed other hundreds or thousands of people. How on earth were they able to sacrifice for their fellow humans? Imperceptibly, with every word and musical note, the memory of some turned into a modern myth of tragic heroes. And with every phone call, millions and millions of dollars were put in a collection aimed at rewarding not a man or a family, but a spirit which nothing can buy.
What on earth can unite the Americans in such a way? Their land? Their galloping history? Their economic power? Money? I tried for hours to find an answer, humming songs and murmuring phrases which risk of sounding like commonplaces. I thought things over, but I reached only one conclusion.
Only freedom can work such miracles!
Friday, March 11, 2005
Another Italian reporter update from Germany
An Open Letter to the Editors and Staff at Stern.de
(Please note: Stern.de has positively responded to our open letter. We have translated their letter and posted it below. The original German version of the Stern.de letter has been published next to the German version of our open letter at Medienkritik Online.)
By using the word “murdered” you are once again rushing to judge the United States and its citizens. You are declaring US soldiers guilty of murder with absolutely no factual evidence to back your assertions. It would seem that to Stern, the US soldiers involved in the incident are guilty until proven innocent. And, in a broader sense, it would seem that Stern is portraying Americans are a suspect race of “Tätervolk” not be trusted...(there's more)
Here is the letter we received from Stern.de, translated by Ray. Stern.de quickly made the right decision. Kudos!
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
We just received your critique of the named article “Fire and Bullets
Rained Down on Us.” We thank you for your critical accompaniment of our Stern.de online offering.
Your critical objection to the use of the term “murdered” in the context of
the, to this point, unresolved death of Nicola Calipari is absolutely
appropriate. We would like to apologize in the name of the editorial
staff for the lack of care in the editing of the text.
The article has been worked over in the meantime and the choice of
words has been accordingly corrected.
For this clear – but hopefully one-time mistake – we would like to
request once again that you excuse us and remain with friendly greetings,
Your stern.de-TeamTHUMBS UP!
Update Heh.
Another hole in the dike.
Apple Computer has the right to subpoena the electronic records of a Web site that published items about unreleased product, a judge ruled Friday.
This is from ZD Net news and does not bode well for the blogger world or for free speech in general. What is this going to do to the 'whistle blowers" and news in general. If this were a national security question I would have maybe a different outlook on this.
Code for journalists--however defined--or anyone else."The judge delayed the enforcement of the ruling for seven days to provide time for an appeal. An attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is representing two of the sites being sued, said he would ask a higher court to overturn the ruling.
"Case law shows that subpoenaing a journalist must be a last resort," said EFF attorney Kurt Opsahl. "Apple did not use this as a last resort, but did only a perfunctory investigation before going on to subpoena the journalists."
Jeff Jarvis at the Buzz Machine has thoughts on this as well.
