"The Amnesiac American Press"
Mood:  special
Now Playing: "There Goes My Everything" by Jack Greene
Whether you are an advocate or critic ---but most especially the latter--- of the War for Iraq, I daresay you have a moral obligation to read the new article in this week's Weekly Standard by Stephen F. Hayes and Thomas Joscelyn on the history of the Saddamites' relationship with al-Qaeda.

It is quite simply the most devastating array of facts yet brought together in proof of Saddam Hussein's terrorist ties to Osama and Zarqawi.

We have been told by Hudayfa Azzam, the son of bin Laden's longtime mentor Abdullah Azzam, that Saddam Hussein welcomed young al Qaeda members "with open arms" before the war, that they "entered Iraq in large numbers, setting up an organization to confront the occupation," and that the regime "strictly and directly" controlled their activities. We have been told by Jordan's King Abdullah that his government knew Abu Musab al Zarqawi was in Iraq before the war and requested that the former Iraqi regime deport him. We have been told by Time magazine that confidential documents from Zarqawi's group, recovered in recent raids, indicate other jihadists had joined him in Baghdad before the Hussein regime fell. We have been told by one of those jihadists that he was with Zarqawi in Baghdad before the war. We have been told by Ayad Allawi, former Iraqi prime minister and a longtime CIA source, that other Iraqi Intelligence documents indicate bin Laden's top deputy was in Iraq for a jihadist conference in September 1999.

All of this is new--information obtained since the fall of the Hussein regime. And yet critics of the Iraq war and many in the media refuse to see it. Just two weeks ago, President Bush gave a prime-time speech on Iraq. Among his key points: Iraq is a central front in the global war on terror that began on September 11. Bush spoke in very general terms. He did not mention any of this new information on Iraqi support for terrorism to make his case. That didn't matter to many journalists and critics of the war.

If digesting the facts of this article were something that the American public, as a whole, could easily do, it would almost make up for the often miserable job that the President and his Administration have done in justifying the War for Iraq. They have failed at this task too many times and in too many ways for me to fully understand.

But this article... It's very long and detailed, so even if you have to print the damned thing out and lay back on the couch with a soda pop, do it. Read it out loud. Re-read whole passages to get it straight. Walk around the block and mull it over.

But don't ever say again that our men and women in uniform who are fighting and dying in Iraq aren't engaged in a necessary struggle for our peace and security. They are there for a reason, friend.

A Note for Morons Who Hate Christian Fundamentalists
Okay, so you hate the Bible-thumpers and the Fundies and the people who want the Ten Commandments in their public spaces and prayer in their children's schools. And you hate these Christians because you do not accept their culture ---even though it is yours. And I know you hate them enough to wish them harm because you see them as a threat to your own religious sensibilities, of which you have none. You see these good and decent people as the "American Taliban" ---because you are too intellectually stunted to acknowledge what Christian Civilization has done to liberate Mankind.

But what you don't see ---or won't admit--- is that there's a competing system of deleteriously fundamentalist ideology called Islam. And because so many of you are degenerates who are too weak-minded to pass judgement on anything, you will continue to deny the necessity of resolving the problem we face in abiding a religion that is inherently militaristic and xenophobic.

Mohammad was a tribal warlord who killed and conquered. Jesus was a storyteller who built things with his hands.

Start with that, assholes.

And then ask yourself why you're too weak to align yourself with the side you should.

You don't have to believe in God and the divinity of Jesus the Christ. But, if you're a Westerner privileged enough to live in a society where you may freely read these words and respond to them just as freely, then you are a hypocrite to damn what Christian Civilization has wrought ---but do nothing to damn the Mohammedan Menace.

Native Aliens
Mood:  don't ask
They're thinking now that the London bombings were done by homegrown Muslim fanatics:

Investigators have concluded that the bombs that ripped through three subway trains and a bus on Thursday were relatively crude devices containing less than 10 pounds of explosives each. That finding supports a theory gaining momentum among the authorities that the plot was carried out by a sleeper cell of homegrown extremists rather than highly trained terrorists exported to Britain.

Yeah? Well, giving these Mohammedan rats refuge is a cross that we in the West need no longer bear. Just round them up and do what needs doing. Abiding these aliens among us isn't going to win us any brownie points with anyone, anyway. And we just can't afford the luxury of pretending that they belong in our societies when their view of us is murderous and annihilatory.

We know who they are. Let's have done with it.

Which Song from Holst's The Planets Are You?
Now Playing: You know what time it is, beeyotch...
I've always wanted to ask that. It's a musical version of the mood ring.

Tonight? I'm Mars, the Bringer of War.

Hail Britannia

Note to John Bull
Mood:  on fire
Keep your Irish up, friends. And remember who did this to you.

Perversions
Are you loving this? The American Left are defending an agent with the CIA. And simultaneously trashing journalists.

These Bush-haters and Rove devotees don't actually care about the secret identity of CIA agents, but if there's some hay to be made out of this Administration, you know where they'll be.

How crushing it will be for them to finally accept that Joe Wilson ---and the New York Times itself--- were the ones who outed Valerie Plame. Karl Rove didn't have anything to do with it.

Today will be a very interesting day.

Relevant
The local FOX News affiliate here in Austin has obtained and broadcast surveillance camera footage from a local McDonald's restaurant showing Daniel Rocha ---the guy who was fatally shot by a cop last month during an arrest on suspicion of drug dealing--- snatching an old woman's wallet and running out the door.

It was for this crime that a felony theft warrant was issued for Rocha on 3 June 2005. Six days later, when he and some buddies are pulled over, he decides to fight the arresting officer. That's when he gets shot.

Since Rocha was apparently not high or drunk during his arrest, the natural question is what would have caused him to resist arrest. Because one of his friends had made off through the neighborhood and left him behind to take the rap? Maybe Rocha thought he could make a break for it, too.

After all, both he and the arresting officer knew that he was in trouble for the robbery at McDonald's. Maybe Rocha didn't want to do time for stealing from an innocent person.

I mean, you have to want to do that. You have to be standing there and thinking that you have some right to snatch an old woman's money and personal effects from her in broad daylight.

Quit making excuses for him. Quit acting as though the warrant wasn't relevant and neither was the underlying crime. That young man had a reason to run. Because he knew he was going to jail.

It's time to pass judgement, idiotas. Time to acknowledge that the cops aren't to blame; your shit parenting skills are.

Valerie Plame: Hot Babe
Courtesy of Michelle Malkin, check out this picture of Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame in the July 2005 issue of Vanity Fair.

That's a very pretty lady.

Still, I wonder why her own husband wanted to destroy her career.

Trouble on the Ho Chi Minh Trail
With a tip of the hat to Charles Johnson, read this breaking news story out of Damascus:

A SYRIAN policeman was killed and two militants captured during fighting on a mountain overlooking Damascus yesterday in a second day of battles between Syrian security forces and rebels connected with the war in Iraq.

The gunbattle, which allegedly involved former bodyguards of Saddam Hussein, came amid indications that the Syrian Government is increasing its efforts to capture militants who use Syria as a staging ground for attacks in Iraq.

Sana, the official Syrian news agency, reported: "The clash took place on Mount Qassioun with a group of people wanted for terrorist crimes, some of whom were former bodyguards. The gunbattle claimed the life of Ahmad Hijazi, a security forces officer, Sana said, which added that two police officers and two other security force officers were wounded.["]

This is very good news. If the Syrians start seeing the consequences of the crap they are permitting on their eastern border show up on the streets of their own capital, it may help to stanch the flow of arms and money into the Iraqi theater. And, as the story ends:

Syria faces pressure from the US to stop militants crossing into Iraq.

Yeah, well, there is that. Assad knows we're getting closer to acting against him.

We might even be acting against him now.

Goad
Mood:  mischievious
Ha, ha! The miserable wankers over at Eschaton are still talking about me! While this boosts my ego enormously, I shouldn't take too much pleasure in it, knowing what my presence there cost them in terms of their dignity and the embarrassment to their shallow understanding of the world.

Thus, I can hardly blame Duncan Black for banning me. It's his prerogative. I know I wouldn't want someone refuting and challenging and mocking me day after day on my dime. But that's the burden that being wrong entails. With his groupies, especially, the frustration in being bitch-slapped all the time usually manifested itself in throwing foul-mouthed and ad hominem garbage at me. But, when you got nothing, what's to be expected?

I'd wish the commenters there a Happy Fourth, but it looks like a lot of them are feeling too much hatred towards their own country today for me to bother.

A Dilemma for Some
Charles Johnson brings us more news of Iraqi insurgents taking on the jihadists:

American troops on the Syrian border are enjoying a battle they have long waited to see - a clash between foreign al-Qa'eda fighters and Iraqi insurgents.

Tribal leaders in Husaybah are attacking followers of Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born terrorist who established the town as an entry point for al-Qa'eda jihadists being smuggled into the country.

The reason, the US military believes, is frustration at the heavy-handed approach of the foreigners, who have kidnapped and assassinated local leaders and imposed a strict Islamic code.

Just think of how much better it would be if we paid the insurgents by the scalp!

Seeing the Whites of Their Eyes

(Thanks to Kathryn Kidd.)

Got It
Now Playing: "Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier" as sung by James Taylor
Now that I've been inexplicably banned from Eschaton, I'm looking for other venues to argue with people.

I tried Oliver Willis' site, but he deleted my only message there.

He probably likes to keep a few house conservatives around just so long as they don't get too smart. You know, some punching bags for the groupies.

And that may be part of the problem I had at Eschaton. I very obviously kicked their sorry hippy asses every time I dropped by, and Duncan Black, the owner of the site, finally banned me. But I don't know what the final straw was. Oh, well. I like arguing too much to stay out of commission for too long.

But you know what they call people who cannot abide different points of view, don't you? Fascists. That's what the Left has become, even if they are unaware of their own tendencies.

Staying with the Theme
Courtesy of Professor Reynolds, try this fun-filled link to the "underappreciated art of firecracker labels."

Memo for Morons
Now Playing: "Hi Hi Hi" by Paul McCartney and Wings
Be sure to read this brief look back by Daniel McKivergan at what we knew about Iraq's WMD programs before the war:

On March 18, 2003, the day before ground forces entered Iraq, the president confronted a broad range of concerns regarding Saddam's weapons programs, his connections to terrorist organizations, his history of aggressive behavior, his use of poison gas, and his failure to comply with the 1991 Gulf War cease-fire agreement and subsequent U.N. resolutions.

American intelligence and other foreign governments concluded at the time that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction. Senior Clinton administration officials stated that the regime possessed stockpiles. Saddam has "stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country," declared former Vice President Al Gore on September 23, 2002. And even a month after the invasion Defense Secretary William
Cohen believed we would find weapons: "I am convinced that he has them. I saw evidence back in 1998 when we would see the inspectors being barred from gaining entry into a warehouse for three hours with trucks rolling up and then moving those trucks out. I am absolutely convinced that there are weapons. We will find them."

On top of this were the findings contained in detailed U.N. reports. For example, on March 6, 2003, the United Nations issued a report on Iraq's "Unresolved Disarmament Issues." It stated that the "long list" of "unaccounted for" WMD-related material catalogued in December of 1998--the month inspections ended in Iraq--and beyond were still "unaccounted for." The list included: up to 3.9 tons of VX nerve agent (though inspectors believed Iraq had enough VX precursors to produce 200 tons of the agent and suspected that VX had been "weaponized"); 6,526 aerial chemical bombs; 550 mustard gas shells; 2,062 tons of Mustard precursors; 15,000 chemical munitions; 8,445 liters of anthrax; growth media that could have produced "3,000 - 11,000 litres of botulinum toxin, 6,000 - 16,000 litres of anthrax, up to 5,600 litres of Clostridium perfringens, and a significant quantity of an unknown bacterial agent." Moreover, Iraq was obligated to account for this material by providing "verifiable evidence" that it had, in fact, destroyed its proscribed materials.

I don't know what happened to all of this stuff, except to guess that some of it is now in Syria. Maybe some of it is in the Bekaa. But we could only have learned about these weapons in one of two ways: by actively going and seizing them ---or by becoming passive victims of their use.

We have done the right thing in Iraq, even though a lot of fools do not know it.

Today's Picture of Liz Claman

Conflicted
I just caught a glimpse on CNN/Headline News of some footage from today's demonstrations in Edinburgh, Scotland calling for an end to world poverty. A nice idea, of course, but one that can never be realized.

I mean, it's never been realized before, has it? Has the human condition recently improved so much that such a call isn't just the masturbatory political gesture we all know it is?

We're as likely to see the end of world poverty as we are to hear America-hating Leftists acknowledge the factors that make that poverty, especially in Africa: the culture of corruption, the repression of the people through violence and Islam, and political primitivity at every level of society.

Which brings me to the point of this post. Carried amidst the giant crowd snaking through the streets of Edinburgh was a large banner that read: "9-11/Inside Job/Frame Up."

Got that? The people who seek an end to world poverty are the same ones who are willing to believe the most paranoiac crap about the one country that is most indispensable to that goal.

The essentially childlike nature of the pipe-dreaming Left is itself an obstacle to the progress of mankind. These losers do not know who to root for: the "Great Satan" or the Mohammedan menace. Time to grow up, losers. Time to make judgements and live by them.

Chattering Sphincter
Now Playing: "With a Little Luck" by Paul McCartney and Wings
According to Lawrence O'Donnell, Karl Rove was the one who told Robert Novak that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA:

I revealed in yesterday's taping of the McLaughlin Group that Time magazine's emails will reveal that Karl Rove was Matt Cooper's source. I have known this for months but didn't want to say it at a time that would risk me getting dragged into the grand jury.

McLaughlin is seen in some markets on Friday night, so some websites have picked it up, including Drudge, but I don't expect it to have much impact because McLaughlin is not considered a news show and it will be pre-empted in the big markets on Sunday because of tennis.

Since I revealed the big scoop, I have had it reconfirmed by yet another highly authoritative source. Too many people know this. It should break wide open this week. I know Newsweek is working on an 'It's Rove!' story and will probably break it tomorrow.

I still don't think outing someone's spouse as a CIA operative would have been a particularly effective way of taking revenge on a Saddamite sympathizer, but maybe it is.

Anyone care to explain how that works to me?

(Hat tip to Eschaton.)

McJive-Asses
I stumbled across this very funny blog entry about stupid crackity-ass crackers trying to represent:

Nothing is better than when a giant company makes an attempt to be cool with their marketing, only to do something that is completely moronic causing the very audience it is chasing to mock them.

[...]

[W]hen I headed over to Page2 on ESPN.com[,] I instantly was hit with a great McDonalds ad that can be seen below. Although I firmly believe that McDonalds is not advocating hot man on sandwich action, it is quite obvious that they did not do their homework on urban slang. If they had, it is likely that they would have realized "I’d Hit It" is not exactly the catch phrase to use when selling fast food.

Ha, ha. I still don't know how I found this guy, but he's pretty funny.