Steelers Update.

From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Big Ben's been through this before
Ben Roethlisberger understands the karma surrounding his last thumb injury.

Staley gets crack at short-yardage job

Steelers find ways to beat boredom

Inside the ropes

Cowher talk persuaded Porter to report

Notebook: Porter to play Saturday

Andrew Young to appear in the next Mel Gibson movie.

Despite his latest radio ad blitz touting economic education in free market capitalism for minorities as the solution to poverty, Mr.Young is just another socialist poverty pimp and race hustler, albeit upscale. Think Jesse Jackson with clothes that fit.

AP: Andrew Young steps down from Wal-Mart

Civil rights leader Andrew Young, who was hired to help Wal-Mart Stores Inc. improve its public image, said early Friday he was stepping down from his position as head of an outside support group amid criticism for remarks seen as racially offensive.

Young, a former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador, was hired by Working Families for Wal-Mart in February.

"I think I was on the verge of becoming part of the controversy, and I didn't want to become a distraction from the main issues, so I thought I ought to step down," Young told The Associated Press.

Young, once a close associate of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., said his decision to step down followed a report in the weekly Los Angeles Sentinel, which he said was misread and misinterpreted.

In the Sentinel interview, Young was asked about whether he was concerned Wal-Mart causes smaller, mom-and-pop stores to close.

"Well, I think they should; they ran the `mom and pop' stores out of my neighborhood," the paper quoted Young as saying. "But you see, those are the people who have been overcharging us, selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they've ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs; very few black people own these stores." (Emphasis mine.)

Young, who has apologized for the remarks, said he decided to end his involvement with Working Families for Wal-Mart after he started getting calls about the story.

"Things that are matter-of-fact in Atlanta, in the New York and Los Angeles environment tend to be a lot more volatile," he said.

He also said working with the group "was also taking more of my time than I thought."

Reading from a statement, Wal-Mart spokesman John Simley said Friday that the company supported Young's decision to resign and that Young's comments do not reflect Wal-Mart's views.

"We are appalled by those comments," Simley said. "We are also dismayed that they would come from someone who has worked so hard for so many years for equal rights in this country."

Simley declined to comment on how the situation might affect Working Families for Wal-Mart.

The remarks surprised Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, who pointed to Young's reputation of civil rights work.

"If anyone should know that these are the words of bigotry, anti-Semitism and prejudice, it's him," Hier said. "I know he apologized, but I would say this, ... during his years as a leader of the national civil rights movement, if anyone would utter remarks like this about African-Americans his voice would be the first to rise in indignation."

Young came under fire from the civil rights community after his company, GoodWorks International, was hired by Working Families for Wal-Mart to promote the world's largest retailer. Young's company, which he has headed since 1997, works with corporations and governments to foster economic development in Africa and the Caribbean.

In an April letter to the General Synod of the United Church of Christ, Young said it was wrong for the church and others to blame Wal-Mart for world ills.

"I think we may have erred in not paying enough attention to the potentially positive role of business and the corporate multinational community in seeking solutions to the problems of the poor," Young wrote at that time.

Scratch my back with a hacksaw! It's Yamila Diaz! (The Last)

From the pages of The King Abdullah Gazette:

With the practitioners of the Religion of Peace and Love among the infidels.

Frankly, if there were Catholics running around blowing up mohammedans, protestants, and Jews, I would not be surprised if my neighbors looked at me warily and told their kids to avoid me. And I would not blame them one bit.

Washinton's other newspaper reports from deep in the heart of Londonistan:

For London's Muslims, Fear Of a Backlash
Many Say They Feel Alienated In Wake of Foiled Airliner Plot

Kashif Rashid keeps his chin shaved clean, his T-shirt loose over his blue jeans, his words lilting with a strong London accent. But the 28-year-old educator was just as Muslim as the old bearded men in the flowing robes sitting next to him Thursday night. And being Muslim, Rashid said, means something different now.

His relatives and friends have already heard hints of it while walking London's melting-pot streets.

"Stuff like, 'Why don't you go back to your own country?' and, 'I'm staying away from you.' That type of thing," said Rashid, who runs an adult education center. "Things have definitely changed. . . . You subconsciously fear that people will treat you different. You prepare yourself for what you would say if anyone says something to you, and you never felt like that before."

Rashid joined about 100 other people Thursday night for a public meeting in the East London neighborhood of Walthamstow, home to several of the suspects arrested last week in the alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners. Since the subway and bus bombings in London last year, and again after the recent arrests, some Muslims in London say they feel increasingly alienated in what is one of the most diverse, cosmopolitan cities in the world.

"You fear what effect recent events will have on the community. We were just getting over one thing and then something else happens," Rashid said.

At the meeting, held in a community center, local leaders and politicians appealed for calm and patience as the police investigation into the alleged plot continues. Several speakers expressed frustration that the government will not acknowledge that its support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has fomented domestic anger. And people called on Muslims to express their frustrations in dialogue and nonviolent protests.

"Islam is a peaceful religion, not an evil ideology," said Imtiaz Qadir, a spokesman for the Islamic association in Waltham Forest, in east London.

Among the concerns of Muslims in London is a proposal to profile groups suspected of posing a security threat at airports. The proposal has angered many Muslims who say such a policy would amount to discrimination against them.

But a poll published this week in the Spectator magazine found that 55 percent of people surveyed said they wanted to see "passenger profiling" introduced. More than two-thirds said they believed terrorism suspects should be able to be detained without charge for three months. And while 50 percent said they believed most British Muslims were moderate, 28 percent of respondents said they were not moderate.

"When faced with a choice between treating everybody equally and taking measures to prevent people from bombing planes, they veer toward stopping bombers on planes," said Peter Kellner, chairman of the polling firm YouGov, which conducted the poll.

If ever there was a name for a polling company fit for 1984, it is YouGov.

"It's certainly now a very strong sentiment that the fight against terrorism takes precedence over civil liberties," Kellner said.

Ismail Patel, the chairman of Friends of Al Aqsa, an organization dedicated to Palestinian rights, said that at a personal level, he does not sense being discriminated against because he is Muslim.

But...

"But there are fears there might be a backlash on a long-term basis," he said. "When a society or a community as a whole is demonized, it's very easy to bring about draconian legislation that would impinge on that society."

Muslims in Britain, he said, are now "having to shoulder the whole burden of so-called terror, and hence profiling has now started, which to a certain extent we've expected," Patel said. "When you blanket Islam and Muslims like that, the average Muslim will see that Joe Public can't differentiate the potential troublemakers from the mass of Muslims who are peaceful. It's adding fuel to the fire."

Actually, those soldiers and marines (and their families) fighting and dying so your co-religionists can have the same freedoms you enjoy without having to flee to the West are the ones "shouldering the burden", sir.

As for your rather unfortunate turn of phrase "so-called terror", I would be willing to bet $20 you would defecate in your knickers if some middle class British goat rapist (who just happens to worship in a mosque) blew up the bus you ride to work. If you survive, that is.

The British police are currently holding 23 suspects -- most of them London-based Muslim men in their twenties -- accused of plotting to blow up several airplanes bound for the United States. (That sentence is an attempt to deceive. ALL the suspects are mohammedan. MOST live in London. - F.G.) On Wednesday, the police received permission to hold the suspects until next week before having to charge them, let them go, or file for another extension. Also, one person arrested in the Thames Valley area on Tuesday was released without charge the next day, police said.

The BBC reported on Thursday that police searching a forested area in High Wycombe, west of London, where at least four of the suspects were detained last week, found a suitcase containing equipment that could be used to make a bomb. A Metropolitan Police spokesman declined to comment on the report.

Top British government officials have held meetings this week with Muslim leaders to discuss ways to defuse potentially violent Islamic extremism. But some people have criticized the strategy, saying that Muslim leaders are not necessarily representing a separate population of discontented youth. Others argue that until the country's foreign policy is changed, particularly the support of U.S.-led efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the radical factions will not subside.

That is why we invented voting. Don't they teach civics in those mohammedan schools? (I knew I could not type that one with a straight face.)

Khurshid Ahmed, chairman of the British Muslim Forum, was one of the signatories on a recent letter to the government saying British foreign policy was fueling the radicalization of British youth. Since he spoke out, he said, he has been accused of being a traitor and blackmailing the government.

"Journalists express this view and are not labeled blackmailers, but it feels that if a nonwhite person questions it, then they are," Ahmed said. "The pace of radicalization has quickened in no small part because of the intervention in Iraq. We are not saying that is right, but it has been used by those with a murderous political agenda to prey on vulnerable young Muslims."

You see, kiddies, in evil fascist Britain all journalists are white. Thanks for the heads up, Ahmed.

Ahmed said that he has found recent meetings with government ministers "constructive" and that organizations such as the newly created Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board can help challenge extremism.

"Nothing justifies these attacks, we are not saying that. But we have to get to the cause of the negative radicalization and deal with it," he said. Terrorists "are putting the whole Muslim population at risk by ostracizing us from mainstream society."

If you and the decent, ordinary people you claim to represent are really worried about being ostracized, just call the cops when you see some of those "negatively radicalized" types trying to blow up "white" people. Voilà! You are automatically mainstreamed!

TheChurchMilitant is proud to present two (Two, I tell ya! Two!) August miracles.

First, a reasonable mohammedan lass willing to speak Truth to Goat Rape. That is more than enough miraculousness for any month, much less hot and humid August. But wait! There's more!

This lady's reasonableness was actually published in...

Ta-Da!

The Old Gray Whore!

Muslim Myopia
By IRSHAD MANJI


LAST week, the luminaries of the British Muslim mainstream — lobbyists, lords and members of Parliament — published an open letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair, telling him that the “debacle” of both Iraq and Lebanon provides “ammunition to extremists who threaten us all.” In increasingly antiwar America, a similar argument is gaining traction: The United States brutalizes Muslims, which in turn foments Islamist terror.

But violent jihadists have rarely needed foreign policy grievances to justify their hot heads. There was no equivalent to the Iraq debacle in 1993, when Islamists first tried to blow up the World Trade Center, or in 2000, when they attacked the American destroyer Cole. Indeed, that assault took place after United States-led military intervention saved thousands of Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Do tell.

If Islamists cared about changing Iraq policy, they would not have bothered to abduct two journalists from France — probably the most antiwar, anti-Bush nation in the West. Even overt solidarity with Iraqi suffering did not prevent Margaret Hassan, who ran a world-renowned relief agency in Baghdad, from being executed by insurgents.

You mean the goat rapists in your faith community are irrational butchers for whom human life has no value?

Who knew?

Meanwhile, at least as many Muslims are dying at the hands of other Muslims as under the boots of any foreign imperial power. In Sudan, black Muslims are starved, raped, enslaved and slaughtered by Arab militias, with the consent of an Islamic government. Where is the “official” Muslim fury against that genocide? Do Muslim lives count only when snuffed out by non-Muslims? If not, then here is an idea for Muslim representatives in the West: Go ahead and lecture the politicians that their foreign policies give succor to radicals. At the same time, however, challenge the educated and angry young Muslims to hold their own accountable, too.

Hmmm...Could it be these mohammedan leaders encourage goat raping among their unwashed masses to distract said unwashed from their plight as slaves of the aforementioned leaders?

Double hmmm...Then, when things go wrong and the West strikes back at the goat rapists and their sponsors, the mohammedans' moral and intellectual superiors blame the vile Crusaders and the sub-human Jews!

The lesson here, kiddies? If you want to be a totalitarian these days, you must possess a tautological system of control to keep the people thinking in circles.

This means reminding them that in Pakistan, Sunnis hunt down Shiites every day; that in northern Israel, Katuysha rockets launched by Hezbollah have ripped through the homes of Arab Muslims as well as Jews; that in Egypt, the riot police of President Hosni Mubarak routinely club, rape, torture and murder Muslim activists promoting democracy; and, above all, that civil wars have become hallmarks of the Islamic world.

Muslim figureheads will not dare be so honest. They would sooner replicate the very sins for which they castigate the Bush and Blair governments — namely, switching rationales and pretending integrity.

In the wake of the London bombings on July 7, 2005, Iqbal Sacranie, then the head of the influential Muslim Council of Britain, insisted that economic discrimination lay at the root of Islamist radicalism in his country. When it came to light that some of the suspects enjoyed middle-class upbringings, university educations, jobs and cars, Mr. Sacranie found a new culprit: foreign policy. In so doing, he boarded the groupthink express steered by Muslim elites.

It is not groupthink, sweetie. It is power politics, pure and simple, and it is older than mohammedism and Christianity combined. Free the people, baby. Free the people....

Of course, that brings you a whole new set of problems. But it will get rid of almost all goat raping.

The good news is that ordinary people of faith are capable of self-criticism. Two months ago, 65 percent of British Muslims polled believed that their communities should increase efforts to integrate. The same poll also produced troubling results: 13 percent lionized the July 7 terrorists, and 16 percent sympathized. Still, these figures total 29 percent — less than half the number who sought to belong more fully to British society.

Whether in Britain or America, those who claim to speak for Muslims have a responsibility to the majority, which wants to reconcile Islam with pluralism. Whatever their imperial urges, it is not for Tony Blair or George W. Bush to restore Islam’s better angels. That duty — and glory — goes to Muslims.

You mohammedans better hurry up, honey, before the goat rapists get all of you killed.

Irshad Manji, a fellow at Yale University, is the author of “The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim’s Call for Reform in Her Faith.”

Why do those bitchy punk bitches at The Old Gray Bitch print the word 'bitch' sometimes and not others?

Or, Let slip the dogs of political correctness!

Editor & Publisher: Book Publisher 'Bitching' to 'New York Times' -- Again
By Joe Strupp

If The New York Times thought it had heard the last from Siles Press of Los Angeles after the book publisher complained last year that the Times had referenced one of its titles, but censored the name, it was mistaken.

The publisher of "Chess Bitch: Women in the Ultimate Intellectual Sport" by Jennifer Shahade, Siles took issue with the paper in November after the book was mentioned twice in the Nov. 27, 2005 edition of the Times, but not by name.

The first story was an Op-Ed piece by Shahade, titled "All The Right Moves," about chess. The paper's tagline at the end of the column described Shahade as a women's chess champ and "the author of a recent book about women in chess."

The other story, a Styles section piece titled, "Sex and Chess. Is she a Queen or a Pawn," quoted Shahade on the subject of women in the game, but also described her as someone who "has just published a book about her experiences as a woman playing a game dominated by men."

Siles publishers complained to the Times after the stories ran, calling the move to omit the book's title "censorship." Their gripe brought notice by Business Wire and the Chicago Sun-Times, which gave the Times its "Pusillanimity Prize" for the action.

Heehee.

So what has ruffled Siles' feathers now? Co-publisher Gwen Feldman contends the Times is living by a double standard, citing the publication Aug. 6 of the B-word in a New York Times Magazine story titled, "Pop Goes the Feminist."

For George Bush The Elder, the b-word is broccoli.

"They said the reason that they wouldn't print the title [of Shahade's book] was that they didn't want to offend many of the readers," Feldman told E&P. "Why is it okay now?"

That's easy. Folks who work at The Old Gray Bitch are too stupid to play chess and resent those who aren't.

A search of the Times' online archives brought more than 700 references to the word in the past 25 years, ranging from a 1981 review of the book, "The Cat and The King" by Louis Auchincloss to a 2006 collection of short music reviews. Just this month, on Aug. 3, the Times discussed several books in a business story, including Workman's ''Stitch'n Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker,'' by knitting expert Debbie Stoller. On April 30, William Safire referred, by name, to Bitch magazine in his Sunday language column.

I wonder how many of those 700 refer to Hitlery Schicklgruber (N-NY)...

In a letter to Executive Editor Bill Keller, dated Aug. 14, Feldman writes that Times editors "have managed to take hypocrisy to a new level. I refer to the Q&A ... in which the word 'bitch' is used liberally, as in the name of a magazine the article reports about and in describing a certain brand of women."

Mr. Felldman is not being fair to the editors. They are not hypocrites, they are fascists.

The Q&A with Andi Zeisler, co-founder of Bitch magazine, includes discussion of the recently released 10-year collection of the magazine's work, titled "Bitchfest." It mentions the itch-sounding word at least eight times, much to Feldman's angst.

"Now it is permissible to flaunt a word once so dastardly you dared not print it? Did The Times' community standards and sense of taste change so radically in the past few months?" Feldman writes. "In any case, The Times still owes Ms. Shahade a public apology for its cavalier misconduct and dismissive censorship. We as her publisher fully expect the same."

I'm guessing "Bitch" magazine is a left-fascist rag, while people who play chess need brains, discipline, logical thinking, manners, and respect for the rules. These are all things that The Old Gray B-Word hates with a ferocious passion.

Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis has not responded to a request from E&P for comment. Feldman said she had not received any response to the letter.

Another surprise! Ain't life grand, kiddies?

Meanwhile, back in Slave China...

These dumbass commie thugs will soon learn the lesson all rebels against God learn: Persecution only strengthens the people's faith.

International Herald Tribune: China puts new curbs on churches
By Howard W. French of the Old Gray Whore

"Curbs". How quaint. In case you have not had a chance to read the Old Gray Whore's style book, that's what they call oppression by communists and other leftist butchers.

TUANQIANBU, China - The rusty parked bicycles clogging the little lane attested to a strong turnout, as did the sound of voices, which resonated with hymns throughout the hamlet. Despite the scorching heat, there was a crowd at the little Protestant church this Sunday.

But there was also a hint of trouble, as some foreigners arrived unannounced at the back of the dilapidated building. "Please, I beg you to leave here," a woman called out as she approached them from the front. "We have already had a lot of difficulties. Go now."

Two weeks earlier, as many as 500 police officers surrounded the congregants as they were closing in on their long-held dream of completing construction on a new church nearby. The 3,000 or so people were driven away from the site, and those who argued or resisted in any way were arrested and, according to their lawyer, beaten. Then the church, with all but the roof in place, was demolished.

The campaign against this poor little parish outside Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province in eastern China, is part of a national wave of repression against independent, or underground, churches that are not registered with the government and do not recognize the authority of state- appointed spiritual leaders.

Since the Regulation on Religious Affairs law, was introduced in March 2005, provincial and local governments have begun a series of crackdowns on underground churches across China. The vaguely worded new rules call for local governments to "standardize" the management of religion nationwide.

The Chinese crackdown, which also affects other faiths, especially Buddhism in Tibet and Islam in the far western Xinjiang Province, comes at a time of booming growth in underground churches across the country.

The right to practice any of five recognized faiths - Buddhism, Catholicism, Taoism, Islam and Protestantism - is enshrined in the Chinese Constitution, and the authorities routinely insist that religious freedom exists in this country. Under Chinese law, however, all recognized faiths must be registered and approved by the government, and they are closely monitored and required to follow strict and frequently changing regulations.

Armed with the new law, religious affairs and human rights specialists say, local officials are forcing small, independent parishes to close or to merge under tighter government control. The new rules also make it harder to register with the authorities even for those who wish to operate within the law.

According to the China Aid Association, an American Christian advocacy group that monitors religious freedom in China, 1,958 pastors were arrested at churches like these in the past year alone.

Although the crackdown is decentralized, with each province and locality carrying out the repression on its own, the pattern is as unmistakable as the constant stream of incidents. In one recent case in Tongwei, a village in eastern Anhui Province, in late July, 90 children were reportedly detained with 40 adults after the police raided a Protestant Sunday school, calling the church teachings "illegal evangelism."

At about the same time, in Hebei Province in the north, as many as 90 protesters were arrested after demanding the release of two clergymen from the underground Roman Catholic Church, who had been detained without explanation.

In the Hangzhou incident, the authorities have defended the demolition of the nearly completed church, saying that it was being built without proper authorization. The authorities worked hard, though, to suppress news of the event.

One parishioner who spoke to foreign journalists about the destruction was detained. Zan Aizong, was arrested and then fired from his job as a reporter for a local newspaper, after he wrote of the church demolition on a Chinese Web site.

According to a lawyer for the parishioners, most of them poor peasants, church leaders had long sought a permit to build a new place of worship but had been frustrated at every turn by administrative obstacles. At one point, parishioners were told they could erect a church on a narrow, triangular plot under an elevated highway.

"It was totally inappropriate for a church, and such a location gives us reason to believe the government doesn't want them to build a church," said the lawyer, Li Boguang.

Asked why, he said: "The Chinese government is an atheistic government. They are afraid of the Christians and don't want to see Christianity develop, so they find all kinds of means to prevent it from growing freely."

Scratch my back with a hacksaw! It's Yamila Diaz! (Part Seven)

From the pages of The King Abdullah Gazette:

Consider the last four posts before you choose arch-criminal 'Slow Eddie' Rendell over Lynn Swann in November.

Totalitarian Pennsylvania Update #4.

Harrisburg Patriot-News: PA legislature to consider mandatory medical insurance

Pennsylvania might join Massachusetts in requiring all residents to have health insurance.

"If you mandate everyone to carry it, then you spread the risk out, and certainly you lower the cost," said state Rep. Anthony DeLuca, D-Allegheny.

"Italian-American legislator on crack! Film at eleven!"

DeLuca is minority chairman of the House Insurance Committee, which next week will hold two hearings on mandated coverage. The goal is to answer questions including:

Should Pennsylvania require all adults to carry health insurance and, if so, what kind of coverage?

Should the state subsidize coverage for low-income residents?

What role should employers pay in providing the coverage?

In March, Massachusetts passed a reform plan that requires most state residents to have health insurance. The plan makes state-subsidized coverage available to low-income residents and requires employers to provide coverage or pay a surcharge.

The Massachusetts plan prompted DeLuca and state Rep. Nicholas Micozzie, R-Delaware, to begin working on comparable bills, said Rick Speese, Democratic executive director of the Insurance Committee. Micozzie is the majority chairman of the committee.

But Micozzie and DeLuca decided to gather more ideas before drafting bills, DeLuca said.

Speese said the goals of the hearings are to hear fresh ideas, rather than "the same thing over and over" from major health care interests. A major obstacle to reform is that large health care interests will fight aspects they don't like, he said.

Yeah, let's hear from the socialist "activist" thugs who want to steal my hard earned money with the help of Democrass and Repansycan criminals. We never get to hear them in front of legislative committees!

"I can't tell you how powerful the health [special] interests are ... there's just an incredible amount of money out there," Speese said.

At least they earn it by providing something worthwhile to the people, you thief. Have you ever made an honest dime in your life?

DeLuca envisions mandated health insurance coverage involving the state's existing health care network and health insurers. He said Pennsylvania is different from Massachusetts in that it already has successful insurance programs for people with low incomes, such as adultBasic and CHIP.

Speakers at the hearings are expected to include representatives of health insurers, Wal-Mart, the Pennsylvania Medical Society and the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania.

"I'm hoping it's not the typical political bantering. I'm hoping we're going to sit down and do something," said Dr. Mark Piasio, president of the medical society.

I wouldn't hold my breath, doc.

Piasio said he was glad to see Massachusetts take bold steps. But he said he believes the plan in that state is headed for problems because it includes no provision to hold down costs.

If you hold down costs, you decrease the quality and quantity of care. Just open your eyes and see how the real world works!

Piasio said he believes it is time to make some hard choices about what treatments are necessary and worth paying for. He noted that 40 percent of Medicare spending is for treatments given in the final week of life.

Programs such as Medicare should be expected to pay only for evidence-based treatments that are provided efficiently and that truly make a difference, he said.

Blah, blah, blah...

"You have to have the health care that you need, not what you want," he added.

Brilliant! Jackass.

Piasio said it's unfair to put the full burden of providing health insurance on employers, especially small businesses.

At least they can pass on the increased costs to consumers. The taxpayers you are thinking of screwing again can't just pull more money out of their hats so politicians can buy the votes of the ignorant and poor...And come to think of it, those comsumers who will have to pay those higher prices are also the taxpayers of the Commonwealth. Double screwed!

In a separate effort, Gov. Ed Rendell's Office of Health Care Reform has a 100-member panel working on ways to make health care affordable to all state residents.

Because the office is occupied with the panel's final work, it won't accept an invitation to testify at the hearings next week, said Rosanne Placey, a spokeswoman for the state Insurance Department.

Placey said the office is willing to eventually meet with the committee to share ideas.

Rendell's panel has worked in private, (There's a big surprise. - F.G.) but is expected to make its work public later this summer or in the fall.

Totalitarian Pennsylvania Update #3.

Harrisburg Patriot-News: Ronald Brown charter school to close
Harrisburg judge's decision leaves 400 students looking for options.

After six years as an alternative to the Harrisburg School District, the Ronald H. Brown Charter School is closing immediately in the wake of a court decision that left it with no funding.

"It's just sad," said Michael Stewart, personnel chairman of Ron Brown's board of trustees. "We were about educating the kids. We had the dress code, the discipline. I know we did a better job than Harrisburg. It brings me to tears."

Charter school officials said its 45-member staff, including 30 teachers, were informed yesterday afternoon of the closing, then placed on furlough.
Fliers were being prepared to notify families of the school's 400 students that Ron Brown would not be opening Monday.

Officials also were planning meetings to inform parents of options, including parochial, private and other charter schools.

"We're going to end up with a lot of disappointed students and parents," predicted Ron Brown attorney David Lanza. "They are going to have to go back to an environment they were trying to get away from in the first place."

Most students likely will return to their home school districts, with Harrisburg standing to gain the most, as many as 240 children in grades kindergarten through eighth.

Harrisburg Superintendent Gerald Kohn said the 10,000-student city school system is ready to welcome back Ron Brown students.

"We've been planning for this for a year now," said Kohn, referring to last September, when the district first denied Ron Brown's charter. "We assure all Ron Brown parents and students that we can accommodate them in their local neighborhood schools."

Harrisburg begins classes Sept. 5.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding Ron Brown and its uphill legal battle, the charter school continued registering students, and parents remained willing to sign up their children.

CEO and Principal Rae Talley reported enrollment was up by almost 50 students from last year's 343. Contacted yesterday, she declined comment about what she would tell those parents now.

"Right now, I am dealing with my staff," she said.

While parents and grandparents such as Rosetta White were willing to try Ron Brown, many remained wary.

White said her family favored the charter school for her 5-year-old granddaughter, saying Harrisburg's Camp Curtin School was too large.

But White said she directed her daughter to save all the receipts for the uniforms the kindergartner would have to wear at Ron Brown. Even before yesterday's court ruling, White said she advised her family to begin thinking of backup plans, despite repeated assurances from charter school officials.

"Kids at that age are so excited about school. But you can't plan for school like this," White said.

The uncertainty surrounding Ron Brown began last school year, when the Harrisburg District declined to renew its five-year charter, citing financial, academic and staffing inadequacies.

The decision was upheld in May by the state Charter School Appeals Board.

Yesterday's ruling by Commonwealth Court Judge Dan Pellegrini denied the charter school's request for a stay of the board's decision, leaving Ron Brown without a charter and no right to funding from the school district, which paid it $3 million annually.

Pellegrini ruled that the board's 3-0 vote denying Ron Brown's appeal was sufficient and binding, as it represented a quorum of the five members seated.

He rejected the charter school's claims that the board needed at least four votes of the full seven members outlined in the state charter school statute.

Charter schools are self-managed public schools that must be authorized by their host districts, usually for terms of five years.

While Pellegrini's decision denied Ron Brown immediate relief, its overall appeal of the board's ruling remains alive, and officials say they'll pursue it. Stewart said Ron Brown would continue as a nonprofit organization and would reopen if it triumphs in court.

"We're not going to let it rest," he said. "We think the children in the district deserve better."

Meanwhile, Harrisburg is gearing for an influx of students at its 11 neighborhood schools. With 300 classrooms in those schools, the additional students would amount to less than one student per class, Kohn said.

Totalitarian Pennsylvania Update #2.

Medical News Today: Pennsylvania Lawmakers Say They Will Approve Bill Establishing Universal Children's Health Insurance

Pennsylvania lawmakers have agreed to pass by October a bill that would expand health care coverage to all children in the state, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Under a plan by Gov. Ed Rendell (D), called Cover All Kids,

'Cyber bullying'? Totalitarian Pennsylvania Update #1.

SYS-CON Media: Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General: 1 of 3 Teens and 1 of 6 Preteens are Victims of Cyber Bullying; Teenager

As Pennsylvania's kids prepare to go back to school, Attorney General Tom Corbett, Bucks County District Attorney Diane Gibbons and State Director Bruce Clash of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids today released the results of a nationwide poll on cyber bullying and called on every school in Pennsylvania to have a proven bulling prevention program.

They could always get jobs blowing up trucks for NBC.

AsiaMedia: Journalists accused of goading man into fiery death

New Delhi --- Indian TV journalists keen on getting a story encouraged a protester to burn himself to death, giving him matches and fuel, a report quoting police said yesterday.

The journalists in the eastern state of Bihar kept the cameras rolling as Mr Manoj Mishra, who was demanding back pay, suffered 90 per cent burns to his body, the Indian Express reported.

Police later filed a case against the journalists, accusing them of abetting suicide, the daily said.

The newspaper report did not name the journalists or say how many people were involved.

The television crew coaxed Mr Mishra into setting himself on fire and even supplied him with matches and diesel fuel, Gaya district police chief Amit Jain said.

"The media people fully knew the intention of the man and still allowed him to proceed with his plan to commit suicide and went on shooting the scene," he was quoted as saying.

Mr Mishra was protesting outside a state-run dairy to press for 200,000 rupees (S$6,800) in wages that he said the company owed him.

However, the dairy was closed for India's Independence Day.

"By the time a security guard rushed in to save him, it was too late," a police officer said.

Mr Mishra was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital.

Dumbass of the Day.

Roto-Reuters: Country music star Gentry charged with killing bear

Troy Lee Gentry, half of the country music duo Montgomery Gentry, has been charged with killing a tame bear and then making it look as if it was a hunting trophy, authorities said on Wednesday.

A top country act since the late 1990s with such hits as "Good Clean Fun," Gentry, 39, was arraigned in federal court this week on a charge of conspiracy to falsely label an animal.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

According to an indictment unsealed this week, in October 2004 Gentry paid $4,650 to shoot the "trophy-caliber" bear named "Cubby" at the Minnesota Wildlife Connection in northern Minnesota, which advertises itself as a place where animals can be photographed in the wild.

After using a bow and arrow to kill the animal inside its pen, Gentry and the owner of the preserve tagged the bear and registered it with the state as if it had been killed in the wild. A videotape was edited to make it appear that Gentry had hunted down the bear.

Attempts to reach Gentry, who was freed on bond, were unsuccessful.

Saint of the Day and daily Mass reading.

Today is the Feast of St. Helena, Empress and mother of Constantine the Great. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.

Today's reading is Ezechiel 16:1-15, 60, 63.
Today's Responsorial is Isaiah 12:2-3, 4, 5-6.
Today's Gospel reading is Matthew 19:3-12.


Everyday links:

The Blessed Virgin Mary
The Rosary
Our Mother of Perpetual Help
Prayers from EWTN
National Coalition of Clergy and Laity (dedicated to action for a genuine Catholic Restoration)
The Catholic Calendar Page for Today


Just in case you are wondering what exactly Catholics believe, here is

The Apostles Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.


Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession,was left unaided.Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful; O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy clemency hear and answer me. Amen.


St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse, pray for us.


Anima Christi

Soul of Christ, sanctify me; Body of Christ, save me; Blood of Christ, inebriate me; Water from Christ's side, wash me; Passion of Christ, strengthen me; O good Jesus, hear me; Within Thy wounds hide me; Suffer me not to be separated from Thee; From the malicious enemy defend me; In the hour of my death call me; And bid me come unto Thee; That I may praise Thee with Thy saints and with Thy angels Forever and ever. Amen.


Prayer to St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire

Dear St. Anthony, you became a Franciscan with the hope of shedding your blood for Christ. In God's plan for you, your thirst for martyrdom was never to be satisfied. St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire, pray that I may become less afraid to stand up and be counted as a follower of the Lord Jesus. Intercede also for my other intentions. (Name them.)


Prayer To Saint Michael The Archangel

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the divine power, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.


Prayer to End Abortion

Lord God, I thank You today for the gift of my life, and for the lives of all my brothers and sisters. I know there is nothing that destroys more life than abortion, yet I rejoice that you have conquered death by the resurrection of Your Son. I am ready to do my part to end abortion. Today I commit myself never to be silent, never to be passive, and never to be forgetful of the unborn. I commit myself to be active in the pro-life movement, and never stop defending life until all my brothers and sisters are protected and our nation once again becomes a nation with liberty and justice, not just for some, but for all. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.


Prayer For Vocations

Send forth your Spirit, Lord, into the hearts of your faithful people, that we may be conscious of our vocation to holiness and sevice to others. Grant that many of us may dedicate ourselves to You through the priesthood and the religious life.We pray especially for the needs of our own parish and diocese. Grant that we may always have sufficient good and holy priests, and dedicated Sisters to serve our commumities.We pray, too, for religious orders; that generous men may join them to become zealous missionaries in preaching the Gospel in word and action, especially to the poor and abandoned.We make this prayer through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Redeemer. Amen.


Prayer Before The Crucifix

Behold, O kind and gentle Jesus, I kneel before Thee and pray that Thou would impress upon my heart the virtues of faith, hope, and charity, with true repentance for my sins and a firm purpose of amendment. At the same time, with sorrow I meditate on Thy five precious wounds, having in mind the words which David spoke in prophecy: "They have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones."

Scratch my back with a hacksaw! It's Yamila Diaz! (Part Six)

From the pages of The King Abdullah Gazette:

That pesky pot is eveywhere! ( Giant jug? Maybe. I don't know.)

Yuck!

After wading through the madness that is the "thought" of King Goober I (John "The Healer" Edwards wants to be III.) for a couple of posts, I think we can all agree it is time for a little cleansing of the mental palate.

Yamila Diaz is more than enough to take your mind off the horror that surrounds us...

Li'l' Jimmy Malaise is a bitter and twisted old fool who was utterly rejected by the American voters. That's why he hates us so.

The most moral and most intellectual (I remember him being called "America's first intellectual president" when he was elected.) of our moral and intellectual superiors has his flatulence recorded "down to the ages" by a bunch of Germans.

"The US and Israel Stand Alone"

Former US president Jimmy Carter speaks with DER SPIEGEL about the danger posed to American values by George W. Bush, the difficult situation in the Middle East and Cuba's ailing Fidel Castro.

Dumbass Germans.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Carter, in your new book you write that only the American people can ensure that the US government returns to the country's old moral principles. Are you suggesting that the current US administration of George W. Bush of acting immorally?

Ack! Not another coloring book from King Goober I!

Carter: There's no doubt that this administration has made a radical and unpressured departure from the basic policies of all previous administrations including those of both Republican and Democratic presidents.

SPIEGEL: For example?

Carter: Under all of its predecessors there was a commitment to peace instead of preemptive war. Our country always had a policy of not going to war unless our own security was directly threatened and now we have a new policy of going to war on a preemptive basis. Another very serious departure from past policies is the separation of church and state, which I describe in the book. This has been a policy since the time of Thomas Jefferson and my own religious beliefs are compatible with this. The other principle that I described in the book is basic justice. We've never had an administration before that so overtly and clearly and consistently passed tax reform bills that were uniquely targeted to benefit the richest people in our country at the expense or the detriment of the working families of America.

Yes, Jimmy. You did so much for peace in the Middle East. Why, nobody died at the hands of the goat rapists when you were in charge. You can go back to sleep now.

SPIEGEL: You also mentioned the hatred for the United States throughout the Arab world which has ensued as a result of the invasion of Iraq. Given this circumstance, does it come as any surprise that Washington's call for democracy in the Middle East has been discredited?

Carter: No, as a matter of fact, the concerns I exposed have gotten even worse now with the United States supporting and encouraging Israel in its unjustified attack on Lebanon.

SPIEGEL: But wasn't Israel the first to get attacked?

Carter: I don't think that Israel has any legal or moral justification for their massive bombing of the entire nation of Lebanon. What happened is that Israel is holding almost 10,000 prisoners, so when the militants in Lebanon or in Gaza take one or two soldiers, Israel looks upon this as a justification for an attack on the civilian population of Lebanon and Gaza. I do not think that's justified, no.

WTF??? "Legal"?

Hey, my Jewish brothers, did ya get a load of that one? Jimmy wants to know why you didn't just call a cop when ol' Hilter and company came knockin'.

SPIEGEL: Do you think the United States is still an important factor in securing a peaceful solution to the Middle East crisis?

Carter: Yes, as a matter of fact as you know ever since Israel has been a nation the United States has provided the leadership. Every president down to the ages has done this in a fairly balanced way, including George Bush senior, Gerald Ford, and others including myself and Bill Clinton. This administration has not attempted at all in the last six years to negotiate or attempt to negotiate a settlement between Israel and any of its neighbors or the Palestinians.

Delusional and illiterate. Or driven insane by hatred and resentment for the rest of us because we noticed his incompetence after only four years.

Either way, we should just ignore him.

SPIEGEL: What makes you personally so optimistic about the effectiveness of diplomacy? You are, so to speak, the father of Camp David negotiations.

Carter: When I became president we had had four terrible wars between the Arabs and Israelis (behind us). And I under great difficulty, particularly because Menachim Begin was elected, decided to try negotiation and it worked and we have a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt for 27 years that has never been violated. You never can be certain in advance that negotiations on difficult circumstances will be successful, but you can be certain in advance if you don't negotiate that your problem is going to continue and maybe even get worse.

SPIEGEL: But negotiations failed to prevent the burning of Beirut and bombardment of Haifa.

Carter: I'm distressed. (YOU'RE F***ING "DISTRESSED", YOU RETARD? TRY HAVING A DRUGGED-UP GOAT RAPIST SAW YOUR HEAD OFF AND THEN GET BACK TO US ABOUT DISTRESS. HOW ABOUT A PERSIAN MISSLE IN YOUR EAR, MR. PEACE AND LOVE? WOULD THAT DISTRESS YOU? MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON YOUR BLACK, BLOODY SOUL, YOU ARCH-HYPOCRITE! - F.G.) But I think that the proposals that have been made in the last few days by the (Lebanese) Prime Minister (Fuoad) Siniora are quite reasonable. And I think they should declare an immediate cease-fire on both sides, Hezbollah said they would comply, I hope Israel will comply, and then do the long, slow, tedious negotiation that is necessary to stabilize the northern border of Israel completely. There has to be some exchange of prisoners. There have been successful exchanges of prisoners between Israel and the Palestinians in the past and that's something that can be done right now.

Sorry. He had it coming.

SPIEGEL: Should there be an international peacekeeping force along the Lebanese-Israeli border?

Carter: Yes.

SPIEGEL: And can you imagine Germans soldiers taking part?

Carter: Yes, I can imagine Germans taking part.

He also imagines purple kitties with wings and peppermint scented poop who fly about the world convincing men not to disembowel their neighbors in the name of false gods.

SPIEGEL: ... even with their history?

Carter: Yes. That would be certainly satisfactory to me personally, and I think most people believe that enough time has passed so that historical facts can be ignored.

Hmmm...Do I detect a whiff of neo-Nazism? I think telling the world it should ignore the mass murder of Europe's Jews is nothing more than JewHate.

SPIEGEL: One main points of your book is the rather strange coalition between Christian fundamentalists and the Republican Party. How can such a coalition of the pious lead to moral catastrophes like the Iraqi prison scandal in Abu Ghraib and torture in Guantanamo?

Carter: The fundamentalists believe they have a unique relationship with God, and that they and their ideas are God's ideas and God's premises on the particular issue. Therefore, by definition since they are speaking for God anyone who disagrees with them is inherently wrong. And the next step is: Those who disagree with them are inherently inferior, and in extreme cases -- as is the case with some fundamentalists around the world -- it makes your opponents sub-humans, so that their lives are not significant. Another thing is that a fundamentalist can't bring himself or herself to negotiate with people who disagree with them because the negotiating process itself is an indication of implied equality. And so this administration, for instance, has a policy of just refusing to talk to someone who is in strong disagreement with them -- which is also a radical departure from past history. So these are the kinds of things that cause me concern. And, of course, fundamentalists don't believe they can make mistakes, so when we permit the torture of prisoners in Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib, it's just impossible for a fundamentalist to admit that a mistake was made.

Wow. So right wing Christians are the real Nazis who believe The Others are sub-human. It sounds like you are projecting your own moral vacuity on the very people who overwhelmingly voted you out of the most powerful office in history because of your immorality (Yes! Immorality!) and weakness.

Go kill another defenseless bunny with a boat oar, moron.

SPIEGEL: So how does this proximity to Christian fundamentalism manifest itself politically?

Carter: Unfortunately, after Sept., there was an outburst in America of intense suffering and patriotism, and the Bush administration was very shrewd and effective in painting anyone who disagreed with the policies as unpatriotic or even traitorous. For three years, I'd say, the major news media in our country were complicit in this subservience to the Bush administration out of fear that they would be accused of being disloyal. I think in the last six months or so some of the media have now begun to be critical. But it's a long time coming.

Wow. He better have a couple of those purple kitties in reserve.

SPIEGEL: Take your fellow Democrat Senator Hillary Clinton. These days she is demanding the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. But she, like many others, allowed President Bush to invade Iraq under a false pretext.

Carter: That's correct.

SPIEGEL: Was the whole country in danger of losing its core values?

Hmm...The guys from the country that started two world wars ask America's worst president ever about values...I smell irony!

Carter: For a while, yes. As you possibly know, historically, our country has had the capability of self-correcting our own mistakes. This applied to slavery in 1865, it applied to legal racial segregation a hundred years later or so. It applied to the Joe McCarthy era when anti-communism was in a fearsome phase in the country like terrorism now. So we have an ability to correct ourselves and I believe that nowadays there is a self-correction taking place. In my opinion the election results in Connecticut (Eds: The primary loss of war supporter Senator Joseph Lieberman) were an indication that Americans realized very clearly that we made a mistake in going into Iraq and staying there too long.

Joe McCarthy was right, lamebrain. Read a book once in a while.

SPIEGEL: Now even President Bush appears to have learned something from the catastrophe in Iraq. During his second term he has taken a more multilateral approach and has seemed to return to international cooperation.

Carter: I think the administration learned a lesson, but I don't see any indication that the administration would ever admit that it did make a mistake and needed to learn a lesson. I haven't seen much indication, by the way, of your premise that this administration is now reconciling itself to other countries. I think that at this moment the United States and Israel probably stand more alone than our country has in generations.

He's projecting again, kiddies.

SPIEGEL: You've written about your meeting with Fidel Castro. He appears seriously ill now and Cuban exiles are partying already in the streets of Miami. You are probably not in the mood to join them.

Carter: No, that's true. Just because someone is ill I don't think there should be a celebration of potential death. And my own belief is that Fidel Castro will recover. He is two years younger than I am, so he's not beyond hope.

The two of you have wagered your immortal souls, Jimmy. I wish you well on Judgement Day, but I won't hold my breath.

SPIEGEL: You sought to normalize relations with Castro, but that never happened. Has anything been achieved through Cuba's isolation?

Carter: In my opinion, the embargo strengthens Castro and perpetuates communism in Cuba. A maximum degree of trade, tourism, commerce, visitation between our country and Cuba would bring an earlier end to Castro's regime.

SPIEGEL: You've been called the moral conscience of your country. (Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! - F.G.) How do you look at it yourself? Are you an outsider in American politics these days or do you represent a political demographic that could maybe elect the next US president?

Carter: I think I represent the vast majority of Democrats in this country. (Sad, but true. - F.G.) I think there is a substantial portion of American people that completely agree with me. (Yeah, the babykillers and the other cowards. - F.G.) I can't say a majority because we have fragmented portions in our country and divisions concerning gun control and the death penalty and abortion and gay marriage.

SPIEGEL: As president, your performance was often criticized. But the work you did after leaving office to promote human rights has been widely praised. Has life been unfair to you?

Carter: I've been lucky in my life. Everything that I've done has brought great pleasure and gratification to me and my wife. I had four years in the White House -- it was not a failure. For someone to serve as president of the United States you can't say it is a political failure. And we have had the best years of our lives since we left the White House. We've had a very full life.

I doubt you could do anything that brings great pleasure and gratification to that shrew of yours or anyone else. Ever.

SPIEGEL: Do you feel you achieved even more out of office than you did as president?

Carter: Well, I've used the prestige and influence of having been a president of the United States as effectively as possible. And secondly, I've still been able to carry out my commitments to peace and human rights and environmental quality and freedom and democracy and so forth.

SPIEGEL: Does America need a regime change?

Carter: As I've said before, there is a self-corrective aspect to our country. And I think that the first step is going to be in the November election this year. This year, the Democrats have good chance of capturing one of the houses of Congress. I think the Senate is going to be a very close decision. My oldest son is running for the US Senate in the state of Nevada. And if just he and a few others can be successful then you have the US Senate in Democratic hands and that will make a profound and immediate difference.

Goober Junior won the Democrass primary yesterday. One shudders at the monumental ignorance that boy must possess.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Carter, thank you for the interview.

The original King Goober slithers out from under his rock and spews redneck JewHate and left-fascist America Last-ism.

From Redstate:

Jimmy Carter: Israel attack 'unjustified'

Jimmy Carter, king of the mouth-breathers on the left, is at it again. This time it's in an interview with Der Spiegel. I apologize for quoting so much of the article, but when you have someone with the proclivity for stupidity that Carter has, it's hard to keep it short.


SPIEGEL: Mr. Carter, in your new book you write that only the American people can ensure that the US government returns to the country's old moral principles. Are you suggesting that the current US administration of George W. Bush of acting immorally?

Carter: There's no doubt that this administration has made a radical and unpressured departure from the basic policies of all previous administrations including those of both Republican and Democratic presidents.

SPIEGEL: For example?

Carter: Under all of its predecessors there was a commitment to peace instead of preemptive war. Our country always had a policy of not going to war unless our own security was directly threatened and now we have a new policy of going to war on a preemptive basis. Another very serious departure from past policies is the separation of church and state, which I describe in the book. This has been a policy since the time of Thomas Jefferson and my own religious beliefs are compatible with this. The other principle that I described in the book is basic justice. We've never had an administration before that so overtly and clearly and consistently passed tax reform bills that were uniquely targeted to benefit the richest people in our country at the expense or the detriment of the working families of America.

I suspect ol' Goober I must have shot himself in the head with a nail gun while pretending to care about the poor.

SPIEGEL: You also mentioned the hatred for the United States throughout the Arab world which has ensued as a result of the invasion of Iraq. Given this circumstance, does it come as any surprise that Washington's call for democracy in the Middle East has been discredited?

Carter: No, as a matter of fact, the concerns I exposed have gotten even worse now with the United States supporting and encouraging Israel in its unjustified attack on Lebanon.

SPIEGEL: But wasn't Israel the first to get attacked?

Carter: I don't think that Israel has any legal or moral justification for their massive bombing of the entire nation of Lebanon. What happened is that Israel is holding almost 10,000 prisoners, so when the militants in Lebanon or in Gaza take one or two soldiers, Israel looks upon this as a justification for an attack on the civilian population of Lebanon and Gaza. I do not think that's justified, no.

There is a particularly nasty spot in Hell reserved for this sanctimonius pinhead.

Judge Orders Americans To Be Killed By Goat Rapists

AP: Judge nixes warrantless surveillance
DETROIT - A federal judge ruled Thursday that the government's warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it.

Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda, Requiescat in pace.

From James Painter of The Independent:

Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda, military commander and politician: born Encarnación, Paraguay 3 November 1912; President of Paraguay and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces 1954-89; married 1940 Eligia Mora Delgado (two sons, one daughter); died Brasilia 16 August 2006.

Ask most Westerners about the landlocked South American republic of Paraguay, and they may only know it as a haven for ex-Nazis or as the tropical backdrop to the film The Mission and Graham Greene's novel Travels with my Aunt. But for Paraguayans, the second half of the 20th century meant one man: General Alfredo Stroessner. Even after he was ousted in February 1989 after 34 years as president, his hold on the nation's psyche was such that Paraguay is still struggling to escape his legacy of authoritarianism, cronyism and corruption.

Stroessner could lay claim to several records: the longest-serving president of Paraguay; for several years the longest-serving uninterrupted head of state in Latin America in the 20th century (Fidel Castro has now overtaken him); and the longest-serving political leader in the Western hemisphere in the post-war period.

He came to power in a coup in May 1954, and successfully changed the constitution in 1967 and again in 1977 to allow him to serve eight consecutive presidential terms. His 34 years in office were all the more remarkable for his lack of any obvious charisma. He and his speeches always lacked the populist touch. Indeed, unlocking the secret of his unsavoury rule is hampered by the dearth of books about him. A vigorously suppressed domestic press and his propensity to restrict the contents of his rare interviews to platitudes have ensured an air of mystery around his private life and thoughts.

The key to Stroessner's longevity lay in a hybrid form of personalism, neo-Fascism and anti-Communism. The loyalty of his generals was the ultimate guarantor of his rule. But unlike his Latin American counterparts, Stroessner was never a straightforward military dictator. His main pillar of civilian support was the multi-class Colorado party, which in the late 1950s and early 1960s Stroessner turned into his personal propaganda machine and source of mobilisation for electoral support.

Local branches of the party were organised vertically to create a ubiquitous surveillance network which, when necessary, was totally ruthless in crushing opposition to his rule. Informers, known as pyragües or "silent-footed ones", were highly effective in nipping dissidence in the bud. Civil servants, army officers and any Paraguayan wanting to get on in life had little choice but to join the party.

This form of organising the state along Fascist lines some attributed wrongly to his ancestry (he was the son of a German immigrant brewer). Rather, the system came easily to a country locked until the 1970s into a predominately rural economy and long accustomed to forms of feudal clientilism more common in 19th-century Latin America.

Stroessner was always astute enough to hang out the trappings of democracy (parties, elections and a Congress) for foreign, mostly US, consumption. One section of the Liberal party was allowed to stand as token opposition in 1963, and the formula was repeated every five years with Stroessner regularly claiming from 70 to 90 per cent of the vote. Some enthusiastic party officials at times reported a Stroessner victory with more than 100 per cent of the registered vote before the polls had closed. The few opposition figures who did stand were handsomely rewarded for their loyalty to the system.

The US president Jimmy Carter's human rights policy compelled Stroessner to release a number of long-term prisoners, and to change the system to short, sharp detentions. When the Reagan administration (which he regarded as distinctly liberal) attempted to appear even-handed in its treatment of left-wing and right-wing "dictatorships" in order to legitimise its campaign against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, Stroessner lifted the state of siege but set about passing equally Draconian laws. But these concessions to international opinion never helped Paraguay escape from a circle of pariah states, such as apartheid South Africa, Taiwan and Pinochet's Chile, Stroessner's closest friends and ideological soul mates. Hundreds of files discovered after Stroessner's departure, known as the "archives of terror", revealed the extensive role Paraguay played in Operation Condor, the repression of left-wing activists across the Southern Cone.

Too easily dismissed as an absurd dictator lifted from a García Márquez novel, Stroessner was in fact a consummate political strategist (he was a keen chess player), able to combine decisive action and masterful inactivity. His political skills were honed in the chaotic years of intrigue, coups and counter-coups from 1947 until 1954 which saw him usually on the winning side. However, on one occasion in 1948 he guessed wrongly and had to suffer the humiliation of escaping to the Brazilian embassy in the boot of a car.

Contrary to popular wisdom, Stroessner himself waited until late in the day of 4 May 1954 to see which way the wind was blowing before throwing his weight behind the coup against Federico Chaves. In the years that followed he adroitly set off different factions of the Colorado party, and then used the army to suppress the popular forces behind the general strike of August 1958. Thereafter, he was always quick to boast that he had brought peace and progress to Paraguay after years of chaos, a view nostalgic Stronistas echo to this day. His proudest achievement was to build several hundred kilometres of roads - apparently, he always knew the exact figure in his head.

Like his friend and fellow dictator, the Nicaraguan Anastasio Somoza (who, much to Stroessner's distress was assassinated on the streets of Asunción in September 1980), Stroessner built up a personality cult. Public works - including an airport and a city - were named after him, and his photo was displayed in every self-protecting home or office. But unlike Somoza, he never made the error of creating too ostentatious a family dynasty. Neither of his two legitimate sons was ever seriously groomed to follow him.

While undoubtedly very rich, he always allowed others to join in the pickings. Paraguay was a smuggler state: a staging post for whisky and cigarettes to Brazil and Argentina, a recipient of thousands of stolen cars from Brazil, and at times a major conduit for narcotics and a source for the illegal trade in rare birds and animal skins. Smuggling was, in Stroessner's words, "the price of peace".

An official audit of 35 former Stroessner officials showed they had amassed personal fortunes of more than US$500m. Most Paraguayans remained locked in poverty. If any army officer ever thought of challenging the status quo, there was always the example of Captain Napoleon Ortigoza who dared to plot against Stroessner in the early 1960s and spent 25 years in prison - mostly in solitary confinement - for a crime he probably never committed.

Eventually, Stroessner lost his touch. A loose group of dissident Colorado party leaders, senior officers upset at the rise of one of his sons within the army ranks, the US administration wanting a peaceful change, and a private sector wanting clearer business rules, joined forces to oust him in February 1989. There was no popular uprising or sustained celebration when he left for Brazil to a quiet lonely, exile. From time to time, a Paraguayan judge would demand his extradition. Very occasionally he would give an interview, expressing his longing to return. The last of Latin America's old-style dictators had outlived his time.

May God have mercy on the soul of John Mark Karr.

AP: Man says he drugged, had sex with Ramsey
BANGKOK, Thailand - The American suspect in the killing of JonBenet Ramsey told investigators that he drugged and had sex with the 6-year-old beauty queen before accidentally killing her, a senior Thai police officer said Thursday...

But...

An autopsy on Ramsey said a blood screening showed no drugs or alcohol in her body...

Is Mr. Karr a killer or just a looney?

Lieutenant Colonel Besby Frank Holmes USAF (Retired), Requiescat in pace.

Another of America's heroes has left her...

Lt. Col. Besby Frank Holmes / WWII pilot who helped kill Yamamoto
Dec. 5, 1917 - July 23, 2006

Sunday, July 30, 2006
By Joe Holley of Washington's other newspaper

Lt. Col. Besby Frank Holmes, 88, a World War II fighter pilot who in 1943 took part in the famous -- and famously controversial -- mission to kill the legendary Japanese admiral who planned the attack on Pearl Harbor, died of a stroke Sunday at a hospital in Greenbrae, Calif.

Col. Holmes -- "Besby" is a family name -- was born in San Francisco on Dec. 5, 1917. Fishing off a San Francisco pier one day when he was a teen-ager, he watched in gape-mouthed awe as a gaggle of Army Air Corps P-26 fighters flew over him just a few hundred feet above the water.

About a decade later, then-2nd. Lt. Holmes was a 24-year-old rookie pilot in Hawaii. On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, he was sitting in church, nursing a hangover from too many sweet rum drinks the night before at Waikiki's Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

Mass came to a quick end, and Lt. Holmes and a buddy dashed into the street and commandeered a Studebaker driven by a civilian. The two pilots and the car's owner made their way to Haleiwa on Oahu's north shore, where Lt. Holmes's own plane, a P-36, was ready to fly.

A good Catholic boy...

Lt. Holmes managed to get his plane into the air, where he came closer to being shot down by American antiaircraft fire than by Japanese fighters.

In early 1943, American cryptographers cracked a new Japanese naval code, and in April intercepted a message revealing the itinerary of Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto and his staff. As commander-in-chief of the Imperial Navy's operational arm, the English-speaking, Harvard-educated Yamamoto, mastermind of the Pearl Harbor attack, was considered the most brilliant tactician Japan had ever known.

The plan, based on Lt. Holmes' suggestion to the staff of Vice Adm. William F. "Bull" Halsey, was to ambush Yamamoto just before he reached Kahili Airdrome on Bougainville Island while on an inspection tour of forward troops. His entourage would be in two twin-engine "Betty" bombers escorted by six Zeros.

On April 18, 1943, sixteen P-38 "Lightnings," with Lt. Holmes as part of the attack team, took off from Guadalcanal on a 400-mile looping course toward Bougainville.

P-38s are the coolest looking planes ever. And they were rugged, lethal fighters.

Just off the Bougainville coastline, at almost the exact time and place planners had calculated, a wingman broke radio silence: "Bogies 11 o'clock high!"

Coming in below the Japanese planes, Lt. Holmes and his fellow pilots began firing. One of the Betty bombers -- the one carrying Yamamoto -- crashed and burned in the jungle; another crashed into the sea. Three of the Zeros also fell into the sea.

As Col. Holmes noted in "Aces Against Japan II," an oral history compiled by military historian Eric Hammel: "In retrospect, it was probably one of the single most important air missions flown in the Pacific, and possibly in all of World War II. The Japanese did not win a single major engagement after the demise of Admiral Yamamoto."
(Thanks to Pittsburgh's other newspaper for this obituary and to Laura Ingraham for the heads up.)

Tom Cruise's Scatology Update.

So that's where all those ex-KGB men went...

Moldova.org: Katie Holmes under new Scientology rules
Katie Holmes has her own Scientology “handlers” who follow her everywhere. According to Life Style Extra, Tom Cruise’s fiancée Katie Holmes attended a girls-only party held by US magazine In Style took along an invited guest - one of her Scientology minders. "You weren't allowed to bring a guest with you. But Katie brought a guest, one of her Scientology 'handlers'.

The Party of Goober II's $200+ haircuts and sending its kids to pricy private schools counts on appealing to middle class voters by attacking...

...the Great Satan, WAL-MART!

Brilliant!

From the Old Gray Whore:

Eye on Election, Democrats Run as Wal-Mart Foe
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and MICHAEL BARBARO

DES MOINEs - Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, a likely Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, delivered a 15-minute, blistering attack to warm applause from Democrats and union organizers here on Wednesday. But Mr. Biden’s main target was not Republicans in Washington, or even his prospective presidential rivals.

It was Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest private employer.

Among Democrats, Mr. Biden is not alone. Across Iowa this week and across much of the country this month, Democratic leaders have found a new rallying cry that many of them say could prove powerful in the midterm elections and into 2008: denouncing Wal-Mart for what they say are substandard wages and health care benefits.

Six Democratic presidential contenders have appeared at rallies like the one Mr. Biden headlined, along with some Democratic candidates for Congress in some of the toughest-fought races in the country.

“My problem with Wal-Mart is that I don’t see any indication that they care about the fate of middle-class people,” Mr. Biden said, standing on the sweltering rooftop of the State Historical Society building here. “They talk about paying them $10 an hour. That’s true. How can you live a middle-class life on that?”

The focus on Wal-Mart is part of a broader strategy of addressing what Democrats say is general economic anxiety and a growing sense that economic gains of recent years have not benefited the middle class or the working poor.

Their alliance with the anti-Wal-Mart campaign dovetails with their emphasis in Washington on raising the minimum wage and doing more to make health insurance affordable. It also suggests they will go into the midterm Congressional elections this fall and the 2008 presidential race striking a populist tone.

Some Democrats expressed concern about the direction the party was heading, saying it could turn back efforts by such party leaders as former President Bill Clinton to erase the image of the party as anti-business and scare off corporations that might be inclined to make contributions.

Still, what is striking about this campaign is the ideological breadth of the Democrats who have joined in, including some who in the past have warned the party against appearing hostile to business interests.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, who was a member of Wal-Mart’s board when she lived in Arkansas, the corporation’s home state, returned a $5,000 campaign contribution from the company last year.
Mrs. Clinton said she did so to protest Wal-Mart’s health care benefits, and she has continued to distance herself from the policies of a company she was close to when she was the first lady of Arkansas.

Scheduling conflicts prevented Mrs. Clinton from attending any of the rallies being organized, her aides said. But she supported many of the campaign’s goals, they added.

“It’s not anti-business,” said Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana, a former head of the moderate Democratic Leadership Council, appearing at an anti-Wal-Mart rally on Tuesday. “Wal-Mart has become emblematic of the anxiety around the country, and the middle-class squeeze.”

What now?

This guy would so make an excellent Democrass nominee for president.

“All you need to know is Joe Lieberman and Ned Lamont have appeared at these events,” Mr. Bayh said, speaking of the Connecticut senator and the man who defeated him in the Democratic primary on Aug. 8. “That’s pretty good evidence that Democrats across the country are rallying around this issue.”

Liberman and Lamont are socialists. Neddy "Robber Baron" Lamont owns Wal-Mart stock.

Yet there are clear risks for Democrats, not least in alienating Wal-Mart employees and customers.

Wal-Mart has begun a counterattack. In interviews on Wednesday, company executives warned that they would alert their 1.3 million American employees to the anti-Wal-Mart campaign. They also pointed to a poll the company financed that reported that Americans were generally supportive of the company.

Amen to that. Democrasses sure have their fingers on the pulse of the bourgeoisie, don't they?

“There is far more evidence to show that this short-sighted political strategy will backfire than that it will actually work,” said Mona Williams, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Stores. “We believe our associates vote, and it is our responsibility to let them know when a politician speaks out for or against our company.”

In a letter to its workers in Iowa, Wal-Mart warned of the political events, including appearances by Mr. Bayh, Mr. Biden and Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico.

Wal-Mart “would never suggest to you how to vote,” the letter said, “but we have an obligation to tell you when politicians are saying something about your company that isn’t true. After all, you are Wal-Mart.”

Heehee! It is about time the real folks fight back against the totalitarian thugs.

Some Republicans said Democrats were trying to appease liberal bloggers, union leaders and an Democratic left wing invigorated by Mr. Lieberman’s defeat in the primary.

But Democrats say they are sure they have a message that will resonate.
John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator and Democratic vice-presidential nominee in 2004, appeared at an anti-Wal-Mart rally in Pittsburgh two weeks ago. Mr. Edwards said in an interview that his party was not vulnerable to a backlash for this criticism so long as Democrats made clear that their main goal was improving policies for the poor and the middle class.

You go girl! Senator John "The Healer" Edwards and other Democrass thugs deserve the support of all rank and file Democrasses. This strategy is a sure fire winner! Can you say President Bayh, kiddies?

“Wal-Mart as an example of the problems that exist in America today is a powerful political issue,” he said in an interview on Wednesday. “I think our party pretty much across the board agrees that people who work hard should be able to support their families. When a company like Wal-Mart fails to meet its corporate responsibility, it make it impossible for that to occur.”

If he wasn't a left-fascist, I would assume he was simply ignorant of basic economics...

Democrats say Wal-Mart is a potent symbol of corporate excess. The company earned $11 billion in profit last year, but fewer than half of its employees in the United States are covered by its health care plan, and the average worker earns less than $20,000 a year.

...Golly, I wonder what these two Old Gray Whore "reporters" are - ignorant or evil?

Wal-Mart counters that its average wage is more than $10 an hour, and that more than 150,000 Americans who had no health insurance now have it through the company. It also says it has saved consumers billions of dollars by squeezing costs.

The challenges to Wal-Mart are hardly new: it has been the target of political attacks as far back as when Patrick J. Buchanan ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1996, and said Wal-Mart was guilty of “gigantism” for crushing smaller businesses.

Yeah, look where it got him.

The criticism has become more intense as Wal-Mart has grown into an increasingly major influence on the American economy and culture. For example, there is an ongoing cross-country bus tour, now in Iowa, organized by Wake Up Wal-Mart, a union-financed group highly critical of the retailer. The campaign includes news conferences with elected leaders in 19 states, may be the most ambitious tactic to date.

It sounds like Jesse Jackson's corporate shakedown tactics to me. With a bus.

Wake Up Wal-Mart’s communications director, Chris Kofinis, said a large cast of Democratic candidates was joining the rallies. They include candidates in Senate races in Ohio and Maryland, and the governor’s race in Maryland, where Wal-Mart’s practices have been the subject of a legislative battle. “Who can disagree with the proposition that corporations should provide affordable health care, pay decent wages, protect American jobs and help provide a safe and just workplace?” Mr. Kofinis said.

Ms. Williams, the Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said the rallies would not resonate with voters. Democrats, she said, were “attending a union-sponsored protest with small crowds of faithful union activists, and there is not a swing vote in sight.’’

“They are preaching to the choir,” Ms. Williams said.

Yep.

For years, labor activists have characterized Wal-Mart as beholden to Republicans. In the last election cycle, they note, the company gave 80 percent of its contributions to Republicans. Many of its stores are in Republican-dominated territory in the rural South.

But as Wal-Mart has grown in size and power, it has tried to establish ties to the Democratic party. Its chief executive, H. Lee Scott Jr., has grown close to Mr. Clinton, who personally thanked him for Wal-Mart’s relief work after Hurricane Katrina and played host to Mr. Scott at his home in New York last month. In addition, Mr. Scott recently played host to the former Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore, to talk about the environment, and he appeared on the New York radio show of the Democratic activist Al Sharpton.

Can you imagine how hideous Al Sharpton's radio show must be?

Even the Democrats who have been at the forefront of the recent attacks have not always had difficult relations with the corporation. Mr. Bayh, for example, took a total of $10,000 in contributions from Wal-Mart in the 2002 and 2004 campaigns.

Heehee!

“It’s clear that the contributions did not have any influence on how he has approached this issue,” said Dan Pfieffer, a spokesman for Mr. Bayh.

It's as clear as hypocrisy, Danny boy.