Reason #87 Why Hollywood Actors Are Increasingly Useless......(and more reason to go see Team America:World Police)

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As many of you may know, Theo Van Gogh, a Dutch filmmaker was murdered in cold blood by a muslim who was upset by the portrayal of Islam in Van Gogh's production of the film written by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Submission. As some of you may not know, the word "Islam" roughly translates in to english as "submission to God.", thus the reason for the name of the movie. Ms. Ali states that her purpose was not to give offense but to draw attention to what she contends is widespread but hidden violence against Muslim women, even those living in Europe. Well, apparently many muslims, including the one who murdered Van Gogh didn't quite see it that way. So they killed Van Gogh, and I assume would kill Ms. Ali if she wasn't under serious security at the present time.

What is seriously hypocritical is the non-reaction to the murder by -suprise!- hollywood actors and directors. One would think that guys like Michael Moore and Tim Robbins would jump to the defense of Van Gogh, and try to do all they could to protect others who make films that question the rights of Islamic men to suppress women in such abominable ways. One would be living in another world if one thought that way unfortunately. To my knowledge, there has been little to no word about it from the Hollywood leftists at all. Thanks a lot, you useless bastards.

Pat Sajak (yes, I believe it is that Pat Sajak) has written an article recently in Human Events Online discussing this hypocrisy that is well worth reading-

An excerpt-

"Picture this:

Somewhere in the world, a filmmaker creates a short documentary that chronicles what he perceives as the excesses of anti-abortion activists. An anti-abortion zealot reacts to the film by killing the filmmaker in broad daylight and stabbing anti-abortion tracts onto his body. How does the Hollywood community react to this atrocity? Would there be angry protests? Candlelight vigils? Outraged letters and columns and articles? Awards named in honor of their fallen comrade? Demands for justice? Calls for protection of artistic freedom? It’s a pretty safe bet that there would be all of the above and much more. And all of the anger would be absolutely justified.

So I’m trying to understand the nearly universal lack of outrage coming from Hollywood over the brutal murder of Dutch director, Theo van Gogh, who was shot on the morning of November 2, while bicycling through the streets of Amsterdam. The killer then stabbed his chest with one knife and slit his throat with another.

The presumed murderer, a Dutch-born dual Moroccan-Dutch citizen, attached a 5-page note to van Gogh's body with a knife. In it, he threatened jihad against the West in general, and specifically against five prominent Dutch political figures. Van Gogh’s crime? He created a short film highly critical of the treatment of women in Islamic societies. So, again I ask, where is the outrage from Hollywood’s creative community? I mean, talk about a violation of the right of free speech!
"

Read the whole thing. And if anyone spots a quote or something from the Hollywood left where they do in fact voice a strong condemnation about the murder, I would be greatly obliged to be alerted-thanks in advance....

Tman Thanksgiving/Birthday Weekend Roundup........

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'Twas a fabulous few days here in this small humble town of Nashville. I had three things going for me this past week.

1.)Thanksgiving holiday from work mixed with lots of football and paid vacation time that I have to kill before the end of the year.

2.) My Birthday on Friday. Yay! Another excuse not to work and drink heavily!

3.) A spectacular turkey recipe.

Thanksgiving was a resounding success as I got to make my new favorite Turkey Recipe for the third straight year with some friends. The recipe isn't anything special, my Mom sent it to me from the New York Times a few years ago when I was attempting my first turkey, but damn does that bird taste good. The short-version recipe-

Take Turkey, stuff garlic cloves inside, outside, in the Turkey pan, and under the skin of said turkey. Lay entire Turkey on bed of Bay leaves and rosemary. Take the following ingredients, mix together in to a paste, and rub generously under the skin, inside and around the Turkey-
Brown Sugar
Dijon Mustard
Olive Oil
Yes, More (crushed) Garlic
Rosemary
Thyme
Cayenne Pepper
Garlic Powder (hey, why not?)
Salt and Pepper
Generous Amount of High Quality Whiskey-(this year it was Woodfords)

Stuff Turkey with Pepperidge farm stuffing, because it's easy to make that stuffing after a few shots of that Woodfords. And throw a few more garlic cloves on it for good measure.

Add a healthy dose of good friends and their excellently prepared side dishes, a bottle of 1997 Chinon (man was that tasty), some FOOTBALL! (both on TV and outside, it being a gorgeous day and the guys were feeling some bravado after all the booze) and VOILA! Perfect thanksgiving Turkey Dinner with all the needed ingredients. And there is still some Turkey left, which continues to taste incredible days afterwards.

After we finished with the football and the Turkey we went to Jackson's for a night cap and were treated to a great crowd full of friends all together in the same place with the same mood. It got past midnight, and the mood jumped up a notch as I was then treated to birthday salutations from a wide spectrum of libations and friends alike. Just a great day all around.

The rest of the weekend was straight birthday celebrations, football, turkey, and friends- pretty much repeating Thanksgiving in general the whole weekend.

So apologies for the light posting, more festive ranting to come soon.....hope everyone else had a great Turkey day too!

Oh yeah, and the Titans are done for the season. Thank you Titans for playing tough despite the injuries and setbacks, I have little doubt we will be talking playoffs and Super Bowl next year.

Man's Best Seafaring Friend........

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Dolphins Save Swimmers from Shark

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Reuters) -- A pod of dolphins circled protectively round a group of New Zealand swimmers to fend off an attack by a great white shark, media reported on Tuesday.

Lifesavers Rob Howes, his 15-year-old daughter Niccy, Karina Cooper and Helen Slade were swimming 100 metres (300 feet) off Ocean Beach near Whangarei on New Zealand's North Island when the dolphins herded them -- apparently to protect them from a shark.

"They started to herd us up, they pushed all four of us together by doing tight circles around us," Howes told the New Zealand Press Association (NZPA).

Howes tried to drift away from the group, but two of the bigger dolphins herded him back just as he spotted a three-meter (nine feet) great white shark swimming towards the group.

And let this be a lesson to you folks. When you go in to the water, you are no longer lord of your domain. To some species, you are considered dinner. And pray that some dolphins are around if you happen to be near a hungry Great White...

These guys don't do dialogue.....

Compare and Contrast...Sports Pictures from the Weekend.......

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We have this one, from the Instapundits Afghani Correspondent-



Our coalition of Rumanians, New Zealanders, British, Americans, Slovaks and Poles was no match for the Afghanis on Sunday. Not in any sort of fighting, mind you, but a soccer match. Our base put a Coalition team together and played a select team from Parwan Province. The Coalition was bested 3-1. However, the Rumanians did salvage something for us – their goalkeeper was a crowd favorite with his play and some theatrics thrown in for good measure.

One of our officers, 1LT Joshua Walters, a soccer coach when back in the States, was the driving force behind this event [he is even helping the area schools with a coaching clinic and organizing a league they can run throughout the whole province]. Local people told us this was the first time in over 25 years they had a public sports event with a crowd. While I am no great fan of soccer itself, I did see that the people here were absolutely delighted with the whole event. So I guess losing wasn’t so bad after all.

And compare that to the knuckleheads from this picture...



Ben Wallace of the Detroit Pistons and teammates are kept apart from Ron Artest of the Indiana Pacers by Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle. Unprecedented suspensions and tighter arena security were imposed by the National Basketball Association following an ugly brawl between players and fans that could deliver the league a painful blow.


Ron Artest, I hope you can rap like KRS-One, because your basketball career is on indefinite hiatus. I would be suprised to see if any team even wants this guy after his suspension is over.

Either way, I think it is pretty obvious the differences between the two photos. I thought it's an interesting commentary that while we go through all kinds of media whoring over the NBA fight this weekend, there was another game being played that had far more important implications. Pistons/Pacers -fight or no fight- will not help to bring world peace any closer. The soccer match in the first picture is actually doing just that.

Breaking News!!!.....!!!!!!..!!!.!.......

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Sears/Kmart Acquires France

Iowahak has the details-

The retail industry received another shake-up today as Sears Holding Corp. (NYSE: S), the parent company behind the recent merger of Sears and Kmart, announced the acquisition of embattled European cheesemaker France (NASDAQ: FROG). The buyout deal, estimated at $2.7 billion, will position Sears/Kmart/France as the world's third largest retailer and 15th ranked military power.

Reaction of Wall Street was mixed, with shares of Paris-based France rising 11% in late trading after the announcement, while Hoffman Estates, IL-based Sears Holdings dropped 19%.

"The acquisition of France indicates there will be further consolidation within the low-end, weird-smelling retail segment," said Ivan Kaplan, a retail analyst with Bear Stearns. "I wouldn't be surprised if Sears picks up another floundering discounter like Winn-Dixie. Or possibly Spain."

What about Orangina? Can we get that cheaper now?

That'd be cool....

Iraq and Terrorism? That's crazy man........

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I'm just sayin'.....

True Patriot Returns!!!...........

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With plenty of pure unadulterated liberal anguish no less! What fun!

A fisking we will go, a fisking we will go........(these are from the comments to "True Patriot, This Is For You" listed below)

"So let me get this straight: In Hamtramck, Michigan there are muslims on the city council (which I only assume is composed of elected citizens) who wish to, in representing a majority, broadcast a call to prayer as dictated by Islamic law."
Correct. You are aware that this call to prayer would violate state noise ordinances, and force a re-writing of the constitution to say "you have the right to impose your religious customs on unwilling citizens", right? Because having someone shreik in Arabic at 5:00 in the morning fails the "your right to swing your fist stops in front of my nose" test.

"The people of Hamtramck will vote on whether or not to allow it. This is your "writing on the wall"?"

Yes, because if you ask strict muslims, of which there are a disproportionate amount in Dearborn and the surrounding Michigan area, they will all admit that they will gladly circumvent US Law to get Islamic law on the books. Point being, they are not assimilating. They are attempting to live in the states but ignore our laws in favor of their own. This is not how our country works.

"Are you afraid the democratic process or is it muslims participating in it that's got your goat?"

That's the problem- they aren't participating. They are trying to circumvent it. What part of this call to prayer violating my right not to be woken up at 5:00 in the morning don't you understand? There are already muslims working in the US Armed Forces, and they don't feel the need to impose their customs on unwilling citizens.

"Are you seriously trying to connect these Americans to the murderer of Theo Van Gogh and those like him?"

I'm not trying to. I want nothing more than those who come to this country to respect our laws. But you continue to ignore the central point I'm trying to make. There are moderate muslims, and I don't consider them a threat at all. But there is a sizeable population of fundamentalists, the "kill you for making a bad movie about Islam" kind, and there are plenty already here in the US. You are absolutely in fantasy land if you think otherwise. Imagine if a fundamentalist christian killed Terry Gilliam for making "the Life Of Brian"? Doesn't that sound absurd? Well, in Islam, it doesn't. Let's observe this article from Joseph D’Hippolito comparing the rhetoric of jihadism with Nazism:In Their Own Words"Consider the words of Mohammed al-Asi, a fellow at the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought, an advisor to the Islamic Human Rights Commission and the imam of the Islamic Center of Washington, D.C.:

Muslims are living in a kafir (unbelievers’) domain; they are virtually adrift and homeless. The inherent condition of today’s Muslims who have lost sight of a Prophet as commander is a religious community of people who are beholden to the forces and powers of kufr (apostasy): secular kufr and religious kufr, mental kufr and military kufr, as well as kufr by choice and kufr by force."

"Your desperate attempt to use this article in defense of your bigoted tone only reinforces your blatant support of the Campaign of Fear."

Hardly. I'm not calling for an end to Islamic immigration, unlike what some Dutch are right now- for instance-"Rita Verdonk, the Dutch Immigration Minister, announced that the government would introduce a law to strip Islamic radicals with dual nationality of their Dutch passports. There are nearly a million Muslims in the Netherlands, most of them from Morocco and Turkey, and the majority continue to maintain dual nationality. Mrs. Verdonk said the law would be changed “so that when a person is suspected of planning or involvement in extremism or serious crimes we will take away their Dutch passport”. "

Your desperate attempt to paint this as some liberal talking points memo "Campaign of Fear" only displays your ignorance of the reality on the ground. You are missing the point of what the fundamentalists want -Dar al-Islam (Arabic: literally house of submission) a term widely used in the Islamic world to refer to those lands under Muslim government(s). In the conservative tradition of Islam the world is divided into two components: dar al-Islam, the house of submission or the house of God, and dar al-Harb, the house of war; the home of the infidels or unbelievers (Arabic: kufr). Guess which one the US is?

"When time permits, 'Google' the founding of the great United States of America and there you will find that without the religiously persecuted there would be no constitution that you so hastily refer to."

Funny that, many of the founding fathers that designed the Constitution, Jefferson for example, weren't religious at all. They would find what is going in Hamtramck abominable. Hell, they found CHURCH BELLS abominable. I'm suprised you would even use that as a point.

"Such sloppy pasting and cutting of 'examples' to propel Fear across the Digital Divide is irresponsible."

Such sloppy arguments, and complete lack of comprehension skills. I know you are smarter than this TP.

"As to my anonymity: I am no more anonymous than anyone else who has contributed a post to this blog. Would you respond defferently if you knew my true identity? Perhaps you are wanting to correspond via e-mail? I prefer the civil arena called the blog. (It keeps us both honest.)"

Whatever floats your boat TP. I have no problem with your anonymity. I just find it odd, that's all. I will respect your wishes.

"P.S. Who is this mysterious 'third man' refered to in your second-hand, no wait, make that third-hand reference? Is he some kind of delegate, politician, or leprechaun?"

You'll have to explain that one a little better, not sure what you meant.

"P.P.S. Bongo Java does have the best coffee in town. On that, I think, we can agree."

True dat.

Found A Great Earth Impacts Page.........

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Thanks to Randall at Future Pundit, I was stumbling through the web looking for an article he had recommended about asteroids that was written in the economist, (still haven't found the one he was talking about) and I ran across this page instead- Vector Site. On to ye olde links page with it.


The page does a great job of taking a very scientific approach to analyzing the facts behind Earth Impacts.

-"We now know that Earth impacts, fairly big ones, are happening all the time. The late Eugene Shoemaker of the US Geological Survey came up with an estimate of the rate of Earth impacts, and suggested that an event about the size of the nuclear weapon that destroyed Hiroshima occurs about once a year.

Such events would seem to be spectacularly obvious, but they generally go unnoticed, for a number of reasons: the majority of the Earth's surface is covered by water; a good portion of the land surface is uninhabited; and the explosions generally occur at relatively high altitude, resulting in a huge flash and thunderclap but no real damage."

Enjoy.....

Condoleezza Rice Replaces Colin Powell.........

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Excellent news, as it appears its official that Condoleezza Rice will replace Colin Powell as Secretary of State. I have great respect for Colin Powell, I think he handled a difficult job during a very trying time period with wisdom, grace and dignity. I may not have agreed with all of his decisions, but I cannot doubt that all of the decisions he made were in the best interests of the American people and the world in general. I posted a fascinating interview between Powell and PJ O'Rourke a few months ago, here's a snippet-

(I asked the Secretary why the defense spending of our closest allies was, proportionately, so much less than our own.)

P. J. O'ROURKE: The powers that are on our side, why aren't they pulling on their oars? I mean, the EU has as big an economy and as big a population as we do.

SECRETARY POWELL: First of all, I do think they're on our side. I think we had a big hiccup on Iraq, and we lost some of them. But that'll swing back. The pendulum will come back our way because we do have more common interests than disagreements: terrorism, the world trading system, so many other things. Now, the reason we have to spend so much more is that there is no German navy preserving peace in the Pacific, there are no British troops standing guard in Korea, there is no need for any of our European Union friends to have the ability to project an army in a week or two from wherever they are to a place like Afghanistan.

P. J. O'ROURKE: But, why not?

SECRETARY POWELL: Because they have never felt that that was their destiny or their obligation. The United States entered into partnerships and believes it has these worldwide obligations. Nobody can move things like we can. They have never invested in it. Now, with the EU up to twenty-five nations, they're looking at whether or not this is where they should be putting their investment. And I think they should. But their domestic constituencies will not permit the kind of spending on defense that our domestic constituency permits. The Germans are dropping their defense spending and reducing the size of their armed forces. Whereas we've held steady for some years, and now Congress is passing laws to increase the size of our army.

The American people have always been more willing to shoulder this burden than our European friends, particularly now when the Cold War is over. There is no Iron Curtain, there is no Soviet Union, and the average European citizen looking around sees some of these out-of-the-way places like Afghanistan and the Balkans and Iraq. They're willing to do a little there, but they're not willing to put up to three or four percent of their GDP into defense spending the way we are."

I raise a toast to a job well done by Mr. Powell and thank him for his service to our country. He has earned a well deserved vacation.

Condoleeza Rice has an extensive background in foreign policy, and she is more than adequately prepared to assume the role of Secretary of State.

Born and raised in segregated Birmingham, Ala., Rice was the child of two educators. After her father took a job in Denver, Rice decided to take college courses while still in high school. She was 19 when she graduated from the University of Denver.

Although she was initially interested in music, Rice began studying the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. She earned her master's degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1975 and received her doctorate from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver in 1981. She began teaching at Stanford University, where she would later serve six years as provost.

In 1989, the first President Bush's national security adviser, Brent Scowcroft, helped convince Rice to leave Stanford and work for him in Washington. She quickly became one of Bush's most trusted advisers. From 1989 through March 1991, the period of German reunification and the final days of the Soviet Union, she served in the first Bush administration as director and then senior director of Soviet and East European Affairs in the National Security Council, and a special assistant to the president for national security affairs.

James Lileks has a great line in todays bleat about Condi and what he'd like to see her do-
"Yay Condi Rice. I want her to go to Saudi Arabia, and I want her first words upon getting off the plane to be “I’ll drive.” "

Hell yes.

And one more thing- Michael King has a post over at Ramblings' Journal with an extremely interesting idea on who would make a great Secretary of Education: Bill Cosby.

Others are questioning whether or not it's a good sign that few people in the press or otherwise mention the fact that all three of the aforementioned people are African-American. I think people in my generation are more like "who cares? Are they qualified or not?". I take things like this as a sign of good things to come.

Tman Weekend Roundup.........

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And my head STILL hurts today.


Friday: Went out with the regular crew to Jacksons, Chu and The Bound'ry. My buddy from work got in to his "I love you mannn" drunk confessionals, which was highly entertaining as usual. Met some interesting ladies at Chu who apparently then followed us to the Bound'ry, and then things get a little hazy. And when I mean "hazy" I mean I think I should at least remember her name, but that eludes me this morning. All's well that ends well though, as I woke up on the couch at my friends house without any major bruises and my truck in one piece.

Saturday: Woke up early on the couch, recovered my vehicle, and went home to nap. Woke up around noonish to go to Sams and get some ribs while we watched the Auburn/Georgia game. Boy does that Auburn team look pretty damn good. They devastated a decent Georgia team, and if they win out, including the SEC championship, there is no good reason they shouldn't get a shot at the national title. I think we'll have a repeat of last year again, with a split National Title. I don't see USC or Oklahoma losing again, nor do I see Auburn losing again. And since three teams can't play again, there you go. Auburn looks like it would crush just about anyone though. I would love to see an Oklahoma/Auburn Orange bowl, it would be a hell of a game.

Saturday evening Birthday Party extravaganza!!! A few friends of mine had their birthdays on Saturday, and so the recently shut down 12th and Porter was rented out to use for the festivities. Kegs were supplied, and various other spirits as well were provided by some exceptionally gracious hosts. And what a bash it was. Tons of cool folks, plenty of gorgeous hotties running around, all kinds of alcohol, and your truly got to practice his bartending skills whilst intoxicated. I also spotted the girls from the previous evening in the crowd but was at the point of inebriation that conversation would be limited at best. This was sort of a bummer, because there were many girls in the crowd I should have spent time with, but instead elected to see how many shots I could make/drink. Hey, whattayagonnado.

Sunday Morning: Made my way home, finally reaching my bed at a respectable 5:00 in the morning. Woke up around 1:30, just in time to watch my Titans lose to the Bears in humiliating fashion:lost in OT on a SAFETY for godsakes. Looks very bad for Titans fans this year, perhaps karmic retribution for the Red Sox victory, who knows. I will still watch the Titans this year, but a playoff spot at this point is pretty much fantasy. Went to Sportsmans for a cheeseburger to squelch the hangover from the morning. Two thumbs up for the fries at Sportmans, the best in town in my opinion. Watched a true Super Bowl team decimate their opponent. I'm glad I don't have to watch the Titans play the Patriots again this year, it would be embarrassing.

More political ranting to continue tomorrow....

The Father Of Modern Terrorism Has Left The Building.........

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Yep, Arafat is dead. Sleeping with the fishes. Pushing Daisies. Checked out. Kicked the oxygen habit. Became living impaired. Retroactively aborted. Taking a dirt nap. Worm food. Dead dead dead.

Needless to say, there have been various reactions.

Jimmy Caahtah says he was a "legitimate leader". Here is the Cox and Forkum version of the PLO "elections" that put Arafat in as terrorist in chief.




Alison Sommer, listed to the right on my blogroll is a mother living in Israel. She has various reactions from the Israeli media, this one from Uzi Benziman in Haaretz Daily spells out how Israel will remember him-

It will remember Yasser Arafat as the person who eight months after he signed the Oslo Accords whispered in a Johannesburg mosque that the agreement was equivalent to the one between Mohammed and the Qureish at Hudbeiya that the Prophet broke two years later and is considered a paragon of Muslim cunning and tactics.

It will remember him as the person who two months after he competed in courtesies with then prime minister Ehud Barak at the Camp David summit gave his blessing to - if not the signal for - the outbreak of another fatal round, which has been going on for more than four years, in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

It will remember him as the person who gave the green light for the continuation of cruel terrorist acts while he was still conducting truce negotiations with Israel's leaders.

Israel wished for Arafat's death not only because of the vast amount of its blood he has spilled and not only because of the terror he imposed on its streets, but because of the crushing of the belief in the ability to reach an agreement with the Palestinian people.

A month after he appeared on the stage of Oslo's City Hall at the side of Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres to receive the Nobel Prize for Peace, the terror attack in Beit Lid occurred; Arafat blamed Israel for carrying it out.

Israel has not forgiven him, and will not forgive him on the day of his death, for releasing the beast of terror from its cage and letting it sow killing and destruction in every corner of the country. It has not forgiven him for having broken his commitments, for having shattered its hopes and for having brought down upon it rampages in the style and methods of a primitive tribal world.

Jeff Jacoby from the Boston Globe wrote a stunning piece here-Arafat the Monster-

In a better world, George Bush would not have said, on hearing the first reports that Arafat had died, "God bless his soul."
God bless his soul? What a grotesque idea! Bless the soul of the man who brought modern terrorism to the world? Who sent his agents to slaughter athletes at the Olympics, blow airliners out of the sky, bomb schools and pizzerias, machine-gun passengers in airline terminals? Who lied, cheated, and stole without compunction? Who inculcated the vilest culture of Jew-hatred since the Third Reich? Human beings might stoop to bless a creature so evil -- as indeed Arafat was blessed, with money, deference, even a Nobel Prize -- but God, I am quite sure, will damn him for eternity.

Meryl Yourish has a detailed list of the multiple atrocities that Arafat is responsible for.

My thoughts are that this man deserves to be remembered as the person responsible for preventing the Israeli's and Arabs from reaching a peaceful agreement to their territorial disputes. Jews have been in Judea/Palestine/Israel for over 3,000 years of recorded history. They are not leaving. The ex-egyptians/syrians/jordanians who refer to themselves as "palestinians" are under the misguided perception that one day the Jews will leave Israel and they can have it all to themselves. Arafat is the one to blame for this misguided mindset, and the world is now responsible for reforming a literal death cult in to a respectable nation.

Good luck with that.

I hope you suffer for all eternity Arafat. You deserve nothing less.

Thank You All For Your Service......

A great, great veterans day story from Val at The Babalu blog..."Thank You Veterans"

AIAA Position Paper on Protecting Earth from Impacts......

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About frigging time too.....Aside from the politics and sports talk on this blog, nothing gets me more fired up than our ignorance world-wide of the reality behind potentially devastating impacts from near earth objects. I'm soon to put my mind where my mouth is and get more involved with these projects. I'll keep everyone posted as to my progress. Here is a comforting report from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics call for stronger measures to protect our planet from impacts.

SUMMARY

The purpose of this Position Paper is to briefly review what is now known about the threat to Earth posed by close approaching asteroids and comets (called Near Earth Objects or NEOs). Based on our current understanding (recently reviewed at the 2004 Planetary Defense Conference sponsored by AIAA and The Aerospace Corporation), AIAA recommends that the following steps be taken to protect the Earth from NEO impacts:

" Create an organization within the U.S. government responsible for planetary defense.

" Extend the Spaceguard Survey, currently focused on finding and cataloging 1-km-class objects and larger, to include finding and cataloging 100-m-class NEOs and larger.

" Develop and fund ground-based techniques as well as missions to several asteroids to gather information that contributes to designing deflection missions.

" Conduct mission design studies to characterize requirements for short-, medium-, and long-term missions.

" Conduct flight tests to demonstrate our ability to change a NEOs orbit.

" Sponsor research to assess the political, social, legal, and disaster relief consequences of a serious NEO threat, mitigation effort, or possible impact.


The key paragraph from this report-

The success of a deflection mission will depend on public funding and support and, as a result, increasing public awareness of the NEO threat is important. Providing credible information on past impacts, on observed and predicted close approaches, and on mitigation activities will increase public awareness that impacts do happen and that the possibility of future impacts is not being ignored.

A major shortcoming is the lack of an organization within the U.S. government responsible for the planetary defense issue. Such an organization would coordinate measurement activities and threat warnings, sponsor mission design studies, encourage innovative deflection techniques, and be a focal point for worldwide planetary defense-related research.

And the conclusion-

While noteworthy efforts are being made to detect threatening objects, Earth is effectively blind to NEO objects of a size range that could lead to immediate and long term deaths of thousands to millions of people and is unprepared should a short term threat be detected. The Executive Summary of the UK Report of the Task Force on Potentially Hazardous Near Earth Objects states: The threat of Near Earth Objects raises major issues, among them the inadequacy of current knowledge, confirmation of hazard after initial observation, disaster management (if worst came to worst), methods of mitigation including deflection, and reliable communication with the public. &Steps should be taken at government level to set in place appropriate bodies&where these issues can be discussed and decisions taken.

Consistent with the recommendation of the Task Force and previous AIAA Position Papers, this Position Paper also iterates that world governments must take the threat of NEO impacts seriously and must support actions that lead to the development of credible defensive capabilities.

While the probability of an impact of an object of sufficient size to cause major loss of life and property damage is low, it is not zero. For the first time, life on our planet has the ability to defend itself against the inevitable. The AIAA is of the position that the world must begin to prepare for that eventuality now.

As stated on this blog many times, NASA has a budget in the billions of dollars a year range. If we spend anything less than 25% of this budget on NEO's detection and mitigation, we are simply wasting valuable time. Not a single NASA non-NEO related program will amount to anything of significance once a potential impactor is discovered. Mars is pretty and all, but knowing whether or not aliens lived there will not help us deflect, for example, a MILE wide anvil flying at mach 20.

True Patriot, This Is For You...................

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I have an anonymous commenter on my blog here that goes by the name of True Patriot. Because of their IP address, I know that this person is dialing in the majority of the time from Bongo Java, a local coffee spot with a wi-fi connection. I'm pretty sure I know who this person is, but if it makes this person feel better to remain anonymous, I'll play along. I think the least you could do would be to provide an email address, but hey-whatever.

TP wrote-
"O.k. I've read your latest post and am wondering what Team America (Fuck Yeah!) has to do with your bit of hate propaganda. Perhaps the perpetuation of stereotypes in the media? Parker and Stone are joking. You, however, sound serious.

I jest."

I'm confused, you think I sound serious when I talk about puppet sex? Please tell me that was the reason for the "I jest" part. I'm going to just ignore that comment to begin with.

"I'm guessing your "latest post" at that time was the November 5th post in which you were to "elaborate on the uninformed, anit-Muslim, bigot bitch propaganda? (i.e. 'writing on the wall', 'millions of suicide bombers', 'major overhaul')"."

Uninformed anti-muslim bigot bitch propaganda? I don't consider myself an expert by any means, but uninformed I am not. Anti-muslim I am not, although I do fear that the problem stemming from the lack of assimilation within muslim cultures in western nations is just beginning to get serious.

Here's some "uninformed bigot bitch propaganda" for you-

"HAMTRAMCK, Mich. - A noise-ordinance change that would allow mosques to broadcast calls to prayer on loudspeakers will be put to a citywide vote after opponents gathered hundreds of petition signatures. The more than 630 signatures submitted to the city clerk’s office were enough to force the City Council to rescind the amended ordinance or put it to a vote.

“We decided not to rescind the amendment, so it goes to the ballot,” council president Karen Majewski said Tuesday night. The council had voted unanimously last month to allow the Bangladeshi Al-Islah Mosque to broadcast the call to prayer five times a day.

The issue has divided this blue-collar city of 23,000, which once was overwhelmingly Polish and Roman Catholic but now has a sizable Muslim population. It was not immediately known when the vote would be held in this enclave surrounded by the city of Detroit, but it is likely to be in the next few months.

In the meantime, Majewski said, the mosque can go ahead with its calls to prayer. “There’s nothing to regulate them. This actually gives them more power,” she said. ...

The Al-Islah mosque plans to begin broadcasting the calls on Friday. Abdul Motlib, head of the mosque, said he was confident the measure would win a citywide vote. “Hamtramck has 23,000 people. If 500 or 600 people go against us, we’re not losing nothing.”

Basically, the muslim community in Michigan has decided to pack their local city council with muslims so that they can override the local noise ordinances and blast the adhan, which says that there is no god but Allah, and everyone should come to pray. Problem here is, not everyone in this community is Muslim, and the call comes at five different hours during the day, usually starting at sunrise. Imagine getting woken up every day by a loud Arabic chant at 5:30 in the morning. That's life in most Muslim countries, but not here. People compare this to the local church bells, and I agree that if the constitution says that religion shall not be established by the government, then the church bells need to go too. I am a firm believer in the liberty and rights of others, but as the saying goes, your right to swing your fist stops in front of my nose. This is what you would call "writing on the wall". And it isn't bigoted, it's simply a statement that says I think that there are certain Muslim communities that aren't trying to fit in to their new country, and instead are isolating themselves by trying to force their customs on to unwilling residents. This is the beginning to a much greater problem.

TP continues-
How does the brutal slaughter of Theo Van Gogh justify your rant? The Campaign of Fear persists unabated...

Theo's Film, which was not only his but also written by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born refugee, now a member of the Dutch Parliament, was entitled Submission. You can watch the film here - Submission, Part I. I haven't had time to see the whole thing, but I've read interviews and reviews of it before, and Ms. Ali states that her purpose was not to give offense but to draw attention to what she contends is widespread but hidden violence against Muslim women, even those living in Europe. She turned to the power of images, she said, to focus attention on abuse, incest, forced marriages and the suicides of young immigrant women. Despite her writing and speaking on the subject for several years, she felt the subject has remained a public taboo. "Muslims deny it," she said, "and many Dutch are afraid of taking it on, of causing religious tension, of being called racists."

Now you see why many Dutch are afraid. They have every reason to be. One need look no further than the note pinned to Theo Van Gogh's body with the knife used to kill him-it basically says he deserved to die for not believing in Allah. And the worse part is that even moderate muslims aren't exactly raising their voices in dissent from the "kill the infidel" message.

Some are justifying it outright.Here's an interview snippet from the Netherlands-
"Third man: This man (the imam) has given his personal response. He’s not expressing everyone’s point of view. I say, if he (Mohamed B., the murderer) wouldn’t have done it, I could have done it, or somebody else would have done it. Because, that man (Van Gogh) went too far. He had all the possibilities.

Interviewer: You mean, it’s self-evident that it has happenend?

Third man: It’s very self-evident. He had his freedom of speech, but he has never tried to start a discussion or debate. He called Muslims goat f-ckers. He received all attention to express that Muslims...

Interviewer: So the murder was in fact a just act?

Third man: That’s my opinion. Not everybody’s opinion, but that’s my opinion. It is just.

So it sounds to me that the campaign of IGNORANCE, which is what in my opinion sunk the democrats this year, continues unabated...Ignore at your own peril "true" patriot. And by the way, you are using an Apple laptop with mozilla. Mwaahhaaahaaahaaa...

Team America- F*** Yeah!!!!.............

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I finally got to see Team America:World Police this weekend, the latest from Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of the always entertaining Southpark.

Here's the brief review: Marionette Puppets- blowing stuff up, dealing with complex relationships, attempting/thwarting terrorist attacks, disco dancing, drinking cocktails, and generally mocking just about every aspect of our current American film culture. And then the puppet sex. That scene alone was worth the price of admission. They could probably make an instructional video for couples out of that scene, I don't remember a movie where there were that many positions attempted. Needless to say, I was in tears from laughing at this movie. Trey and Matt do the majority of the voices, and leave few hypocritical stones unturned.

Without giving too much away, the movie hinges on the attempts of Kim Jong-il to supply Islamic terrorists with WMD's to blow up the world and cause havoc. "Team America" is your standard "secret US special ops" that fly around the world killing terrorists. So they miss a terrorist here or there and blow up, say, the Louvre for instance. No big whoop, right? Right.

If you are easily offended, do not see this movie. If you despise the hypocrisy of hollywood actors acting like they are world leaders, see this movie. Trey and Matt show both sides of the war on terror, one side showing how we must act to stop terrorists and their sponsors, yet on the other side showing that we cannot kill everyone else and destroy their countries in the process. Exactly what many people my age are feeling.

I don't want to give too much else away, just go see the movie. Worth it for the puppet sex alone.

The Theo Van Gogh Murder ...............

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Not sure how many Americans are aware of this, but this tragic story is an indication of the mindset that free countries are up against in the war on Islamic terror.

Suspected Islamist killing tests Dutch tolerance.
Theo van Gogh, who angered Muslims with a film that said Islam encouraged violence against women, was shot dead on Tuesday. A man with Dutch and Moroccan nationality was arrested for the killing, and suspected of Islamic extremist motives.
Commentators said the murder showed attempts to integrate immigrants had failed and threatened to make race relations worse in a country where 10 percent of the population is defined as “non-Western” foreigners — many Muslim Moroccans and Turks.
“This event shows what kind of climate we have allowed to develop. What kind of people we have allowed in and just allowed to go their own way. How we have much too long just let things go to seed,” sociologist Herman Vuijsje told the Volkskrant daily. ...
Noting that Pim Fortuyn’s murder and that of Van Gogh came 911 days apart — a reference to the U.S. abbreviation for Sept. 11 — De Telegraaf newspaper said lenient immigration policies had turned an open society into a “resentful and intolerant” one.
“Afraid of being called racist, we have been so tolerant with regard to these religious fascists that they have been allowed to merrily undermine the roots of our freedom,” it said. ...
A survey last week showed that a majority of Dutch said they expected to no longer feel at home in their own neighbourhood in five years due to the rising number of foreigners. In the three biggest cities, immigrants make up about a third of the population and form a majority among young people.

It gets worse.
Thou Shalt Not Kill" = racist
Reacting to the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh by an Islamic terrorist, artist Chris Ripke painted a mural saying, “Thou shalt not kill.”
And when the head of a nearby mosque complained that the mural was “offensive and racist,” local authorities came and sandblasted it.
Here is the "racist" mural-

.

"Gij zult niet doden" = "Thou Shalt Not Kill".

Somehow, God's one lesson that everyone should be able to agree on is termed racist.

Islam means submission. It means submit to Allah. The Koran is quite specific that the entire world should accept Allah as their God, and those that don't should become either slaves or should be killed. Don't believe me? Read some examples of the sermons coming out of the middle east and other mosques here.

Religion of Peace?

Anyone Have Room At the Inn?.........

.......(via Astonished Head)



I hear Northwest has cheap flights to France......Bon Voyage!

The Election Is Over (Thank God)-Let the Speculation Begin......

Kerry graciously conceded the presidential election yesterday (transcript of speech) after calculating that he did not have enough votes to challenge the results of the provisional balloting in Ohio and other places.

Four more years it is.

There have been various predictable results from the final election tally. On the right, you have the conservatives drooling over the thought of a trifecta victory in the House, Senate, and White house. On the left you have the liberal base divided between those who want to point fingers at those "faghating-guntoting-redneck-warmongering-evangelical-nazi's" who won the election for Bush, and on the other side you have those liberals who are wondering- "what did we do wrong?" and "how can we fix it?".

Since I'm not a republican conservative, nor am I a democratic liberal by any standard, I will make a bold predicition.

Conservatives will realize that it wasn't the "christian evangelicals" who won the election, it was the thousands of former Gore voters who were disgusted by the bile inducing rants from the moonbat left side of the aisle. Democrats, listen closely because I am one of those people- I WILL NEVER VOTE FOR A PARTY THAT ALLOWS MICHAEL MOORE TO SPEAK FOR IT. Much as I am turned off by evangelicals, I am MORE turned off by lying propagandists who will distort reality to further their aims. You must rid the party of your extremists if you want to be taken seriously at a time of war. Remember Communists for Kerry? It would be funnier if it didn't have such a ring of truth to it.

I believe that Bush will have an opportunity to display his non-partisan abilities the way he did in Texas by bringing the two sides together. Bush's acceptance speech was clear that he wants to see everyone come together and put the divisiveness behind us. We are at war with an enemy who is afraid of Women having rights and responsibilities equal to men. We must win this fight, because we are losing the demographic battle. In 50 years, the Muslim faith will be the most dominant religion in the world by over a billion people, and if it does not experience a major overhaul, a renaissance if you will, there will be profound consequences. Already Shariah law is moving in to places in Canada, under the guise of equal religious rights. The Islamic call to prayer in Michigan is getting a vote. The writing is on the wall. 9/11 may have been the work of Islamic extremists, but out of a billion people a small minority is still millions of people. Millions of suicide bombers who would be willing to gun down children for their cause such as they did in the Beslan massacre. This is a very serious time the free world is facing, and we must stand and fight together, or as Ben Franklin said, we all will surely hang separately.

Update: Iranians Welcome Bush Re-election
SMCCDI (Information Service)
Nov 3, 2004
Millions of Iranians expressed their satisfaction on the outcome of the US Presidential elections and George W. Bush's victory by calling and congratulating each other. Many were seen walking in the streets and shaking each others hands or showing a discret V sign. Many are speaking about the promises made by Mr. Bush to back the Iranian Nation in its quest for freedom and democracy. As Iranians and especially the younger generations have become happy , those affiliated to the Islamic regime are seen deeply worried about their future.

It Looks Over From Here..............

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Barring a seismic error on the part of the Ohio election committees, Bush will be our president for the next four years. He won the popular vote by over 3 million votes, over 51% of the vote, but that's not how we elect our president. If Ohio officially goes to Bush, where he currently has a 150,000 vote lead, Bush will get the needed 270 electoral votes and its over.

Kerry should come out and concede victory to Bush, as dragging the country through a repeat of 2000 isn't what anyone in the country really wants.

Here are the Official Ohio election results, with 100% of the precincts reporting.


Bush, George W. Republican Total votes-2,796,147 =51.01%
Kerry, John F. Democratic Total Votes-2,659,664 =48.52%

Interesting thing behind Ohio this year: The Guardian, Britains left leaning newspaper, sent out the names and addresses of 14,000 Ohio residents to its readers, and urged them to write to the folks across the pond in Ohio. Dubbed "Operation Clark County", they wanted to influence the US elections by having Guardian readers tell Ohio voters how much everyone in Britain hates George Bush. The idea seems to have been stolen from Tim Blair, who stated in September to a whiny Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland- "here’s a way Freedland and his fellow meddlers can still have their say in the USA: each could simply identify and adopt a random individual living in one of the battleground states and target that person with emails, letters, and telephone calls begging them to vote against Bush. I’m sure average Americans will be pleased to receive whiny 3am calls from people called "Jonathan", and will alter their vote accordingly."

Needless to say, Ohio residents were not pleased.

Here was the initial reaction to Operation Clark County-

"The director of the Board of Elections in Clark County, Linda Rosicka, seemed less than amused by the Guardian's campaign, possibly because it has added to her workload calls from the press around the world. "Everyone is contacting me," she complained ... She expressed skepticism that the letter campaign would have an effect. "The American Revolution was fought for a reason," Ms. Rosicka remarked. "

Thanks Guardian! But mostly, this American thanks Tim Blair for giving them the idea. Cheers, Mate!

Osama's last minute warning didn't work, and unlike Spain, there was no terrorist attack before our election, though not through any lack of trying. This is largely due to the tireless efforts of the US military and intelligence community. They uprooted the infrastructure of the organized Islamic terrorists around the world and put them on the defensive in the Middle East, as Bush knocked over the first two dominoes in the Islamic world in the way of liberty and freedom. Getting women to vote and run for office in Afghanistan and Iraq will have a ripple effect across the rest of the Muslim middle east, and this will ideally minimize the influence of the extremists who wish to destroy the West.

Congratulations George W. Bush.


UPDATE: Senator John F. Kerry has called President Bush conceding Ohio and the presidency, according to the Associated Press. Kerry is expected to make a speech at 1 p.m. at Faneuil Hall.

Dumb, Dumber and Michael Moore............

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As some of you may know, I am not a fan of Michael Moore. I think he is a big fat lying douchebag who has profited tremendously off of the suffering of others, and has manipulated quotes and doctored press releases to support his sick anti-republican agenda. But some days even Michael outdoes himself.

Osama Bin Hidin' recently released a video chastising the US for trying to kill him. He also admitted guilt to the 9/11 attacks, saying that basically we in the US had it coming. I am still not entirely convinced of the authenticity of the video (why no newspaper or other verification device in the video?) considering the source- Al Jazeera- which has a blatant anti-US pro-terrorist agenda. But for the point of this post I will admit that that was Osama, and he is alive.

One of the points he makes refers to the "My Little Goat" (or something) book that Bush was reading to the class in Florida when the first plane hit the WTC. He then states incredibly that Bush gave him an opportunity to have the second attacks go through because Bush didn't warn the people in the second tower to evacuate in time. This is implying that Bush knew what was going on beforehand and neglected to prevent the tragedy. This is of course, ridiculous. And those of you who would rather believe Osama than the United States Government, well, I think you are some sick bastards.

And this quote by Moore recently qualifies him as a sick bastard.

There he was, OBL, all tan and rested and on videotape (hey, did you get the feeling that he had a bootleg of my movie? Are there DVD players in those caves in Afghanistan?)

I hope you are happy Mr Moore that you are proud to put the biggest mass murderer of US citizens in history on your side.

Those of you who praise Moore for his cunning "documentaries" please observe that your hero hopes that Osama watched his movie too so he can help bring down Bush.

Moore, you are a sick, sick bastard.

Iraqi People to the French Government: You Stink. Now Beat it You Worthless Punks.....

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(Via Iraq the Model)

Looks like Iraqi's are getting the hang of this "free speech" thingy already...

What Iraqis think of the French government.
France is the biggest enemy for Iraq.
Hamza Al Jawahiri.

I know the huge amount of oil France had stolen from Iraq.
Mohammed Jawad Asher.

France role is known through the modern history as supporter of dictatorships. France blocked the democratic path in Algeria and now Iraq.
Al Kenany

No, To New Barbaric Murders Supported by France, Yes, For Free Democratic IRAQ.
Radhi Al-Hashimy

Read the whole thing, especially the note to Kofi Annan and the UN...

How Sweet It Is............

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Why I'm Voting For George Bush.............

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For the regular readers of this blog, this will not come as a suprise. But I still wish to explain my reasons for voting Republican for the first time in my life tomorrow.

I am not a Bush supporter. I don't belong to the "blogs for Bush" campaigns, nor have I done any active campaigning on his behalf. I get turned off by the religious rhetoric that Bush uses constantly, even though Kerry uses it as well. I don't like the way Bush has allowed the federal government to expand its budget every year. Now is not the time for new entitlement programs. I think that Bush could have done more to serve his country during Vietnam, but I have never fought in a war either, so I'm not in a position to judge that harshly. I think Bush did not adequately explain the reasons for removing Saddam Hussein from power, even though I think it was the right thing to do. I think Bush did not do enough to plan for post war Iraq, although I doubt anyone thought it would be that easy to take Baghdad in three weeks. I don't like the way Bush has continuously held off letting our Marines take Fallujah back, although it seems that those on the ground know a whole lot more than I do. A friend of mine serving with the Marines just returned from Fallujah, and he stated that things could have been worse had we just blown the place to bits. I'll take his word for it, as he would know better than I. There are other things about Bush that I dislike, but none trump the main issue in this election- the war against Islamic Terrorism.

As you can see, I am not thrilled that Bush is the better choice, but that is the problem. I waited and waited for Kerry to come forward and state how he would do a better job ending the war against Islamic terrorists than Bush. It never came. Not only did it not come, but he stated ideas that would push our country back towards the September 10th '01 mindset. Things like the "global test", which is ludicrous on its face. The UN is currently beholden to dictators and thugs, when you have Lybia and Cuba as leaders of the Human Rights Commission, you know it has gone past the point of relevancy. We are just beginning to find out the depths of depravity associated with the abominable UN Oil-For-KickBacks program in Iraq. If this is the "global test" Kerry refers to, we might as well just leave Iraq and Afghanistan and start building walls around our country because we will never past that test. That would be bad enough, but then Kerry says things that scare me even more. North Korea is a threat to the safety and stability of the world, without question. But there is no way we can approach North Korea without involving Russia, China, Japan and South Korea. We will have a much greater chance of peacefully disarming North Korea with its neighbors backing us than we will alone. Kerry stated openly he wishes to return to bilateral talks, which would be a disaster. That policy is what allowed Kim Jong-il to ignore his commitments and build nuclear weapons in the first place. In Iran, Kerry suggested supplying nuclear fuel to Iran to "test" them and see if they complied. Iran has already broken multiple commitments with its nuclear program, so I can't see why they deserve another test. Kerry stated multiple times that he would never hesitate to use force against our enemies if we are attacked again, but that's not good enough. We can't wait to be attacked again, we must pro-actively disrupt the regimes and dictatorships that support our enemies, which is precisely what Bush has done in the last three years. Anyone who believes that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with Islamic terrorism simply hasn't been paying attention.

The one thing that I respect enormously about Bush is the cabinet of advisors he has around him. Powell and Rice are two incredibly capable and intelligent people that have served admirably in a precarious time. Rumsfeld, whom many criticize, has in my mind changed the face of the military in such a way that we were able to defeat the Taliban and Husseins regime in incredibly efficient ways, ways in which even the Soviets were incapable of doing in Afghanistan for instance. I am no big fan of Ashcroft, but despite the cries to the contrary, the bill of rights hasn't been revoked, and the Patriot Act has not turned out to change my life in any way other than having to wait a little longer at the airport, and there haven't been any successful terrorist attacks since 9/11. This means he doing something right. I could be happy with this cabinet for another four years.

I will reiterate, domestically and socially I agree more with Kerry's policies, but none of that will matter one iota if we are hit on again on a 9/11 level. Everyone should realize that if Osama and the other nutbags were able, they would have killed many more than they did. A nuclear attack on a major city in our country would cause such economic and social destruction that stem-cell research would become irrelevant.

I believe that our country needs George Bush for another four years to finish the job he started, defeating Islamic fundamentalists by removing state sponsors and injecting democracy in the middle east.