THIS IS NOT ABOUT SOME CARTOONS

The publication of these cartoons of Mohammed are not the reason for the rioting and violence.  They are the excuse.  Islamic protesters burned down the Danish consulate in Beirut in response to those cartoons making fun of Islam. Riots are ongoing, cars are being overturned and at least one person is dead in Afghanistan. Pakistan is boycotting prescription drugs from companies based in countries where the cartoons were published. 

This is absolutely insane. What we are witnessing is the ultimate conclusion to militant political correctness. Many leftists would excuse this behavior...because these Muslims are "offended." Know this: in the world of liberals, there is no greater crime known to man than offending Muslims. The more violent radical Islamists become the more the politically correct elements make excuses for them.  

This religion is rapidly getting out of control.  Muslims can murder 200 school children and their parents, shooting kids in the back, in Chechnya and the Muslim world hardly pauses a moment to notice.  Let someone draw a cartoon of their so-called  "prophet" and they start burning embassies and looking for Europeans to kidnap or murder.  The more our Western leaders make excuses for their behavior, the bolder they become.  These Muslims torching embassies and rioting around the world are not what we might consider highly educated.  They have little or no understanding of Western culture and the concept of freedom of the press is entirely beyond the grasp of most of them.  They believe that anything printed in any newspaper constitutes the official opinion of that country's government.

These riots and demonstrations are not about those cartoons, they are about freedom.  One protestor was seen carrying a sign that said Freedom go hell.  To these Islamic jihadist criminals freedom is an enemy.  A religion that says you must either convert, kill or enslave those who don't believe as you is not a religion that would embrace freedom.  Whether the politically correct like it or not, this is a religion that is anathema to our way of life and the liberties we hold dear.

There was another sign being carried by these Islamic rioters.  It said "Europe.  Take some lessons from 9/11."  I sure I don't have to explain the threat implicit in that sign.  Actually, this is a good thing.  I wish the Islamic radicals would wave more of those "Europe.  Take some lessons from 9/11" signs.  The train bombings in Spain and the subway bombings in London apparently weren't enough.  Maybe these riots will convince the Euro-snobs that Islamic fanatics and their myrmidons pose as much a threat to them, perhaps more of a threat, as they do to the people of the United States.  

Who knows ... maybe even some Americans will wake up.  Democrats, for instance.

"SPYING ON AMERICANS"

I'm still on the fence over this so-called "domestic spying" controversy.  Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez will be testifying today on Capitol Hill before the Senate Judiciary Committee.  He's going to tell the committee that the President's secret surveillance program was necessary and lawful.  Necessary?  Perhaps so.  Lawful?  I'm not convinced.  I'm a strong proponent of the rule of law, and the very essence of that concept is that those who wield political power over us, those who are legally entitled to use force to accomplish their goals, must abide by the very same laws that controls the actions of the most obscure American.  

One troubling aspect of this controversy is that the left and the media are using it more as a weapon to beat Bush about the head and shoulders.  There is a legitimate question here.  Does the president have the power to bypass basic judicial procedures when the country is at war and national security concerns are involved?  It's a good question.  Wouldn't it be nice if we could seek the answer without the partisanship?  Bush isn't the first president, nor the first Republican to engage in these actions.

One more thing.  I note that the media is very fond of categorizing the NSA surveillance program as "spying on Americans."  That definition is technically correct, but certainly not the most accurate way to describe what's going on.  The real description would be "spying on America's enemies talking to American citizens."  A better definition would be one used by the attorney general.  These wiretaps are not so much "spying on Americans" as they are "intercepting enemy communications."  Maybe that's just too many words for a headline.  

We'll wrap this with a question for you ... a question especially for those of you who are adamantly opposed to the NAS surveillance program.  Actually, two questions.  

1.  Do you think that it is OK for our intelligence agencies to monitor enemy communications while we're at war?

2.  If you think that it is OK to listen to enemy communications, do you then withdraw your approval if the enemy happens to be communicating with an American citizen?

Bonus question:  Are you able to put aside your partisanship and/or Bush hatred long enough to consider the above two questions fairly?

SUPER BOWL

I lasted until the third quarter ... and only lasted that long because of the commercials. [Missed them? Watch them here.] So, let's get to them first.  I probably didn't see every spot, but my favorites were:

1.  FedEx Cavemen.

2.  The doctors kill a fly

3.  Streaking sheep.

4.  Baby Clydesdale

Second .. the actual football game.  Seattle outplayed Pittsburgh but screwed themselves over with dropped passes, out of bounds passes and bad officiating.  That offensive pass interference call that cost Seattle a touchdown was an atrocity.  

Third -- pre-game and half-time entertainment.  I didn't see much of the pre-game entertainment.  I did catch Aaron Neville and Aretha Franklin raping the Star Spangled Banner.  God, they were just horrible.  You couldn't hear Neville whining his part of the song, and Aretha was determined to put every Swiss mountaineer to absolute and everlasting shame with her urban yodeling.  Just hideous.  Politicians just love to introduce laws banning flag burning.  How about a law that would make what Aaron and Aretha did last night a crime?  A hate crime, if you will.  They should have been handcuffed and marched off the field.  As for the Rolling Stones half-time show, what a yawner.  For the first minute or so they sounded like a high school garage band after quaffing an illicit keg.  For the life of me I can't understand why they chose to hire a geriatric rock band from England to perform in the home of the Motown Sound.  I would have really loved to have seen a collection of whatever Motown artists they could still find to take the stage for 15 minutes.  Isn't Diana Ross still around somewhere?  It would be nice to remember that black Americans once contributed greatly to contemporary music .. before, that is, the hideous era of hip hop.  

All in all, I would have had a better time with a nice mandarin orange tonic (tall) and a Vince Flynn book.

THE PROBLEM WITH HATE CRIMES

Oh happy day.  That 18-year-old scumbag Jacob Robida, the monster who walked into a gay bar in Massachusetts last Wednesday and shot a couple people and attacked them with a hatchet, is now taking the eternal dirt nap in hell.   

After his attack on the gay bar Robida went on the run.  The chase lasted until Saturday night when he was shot following a traffic stop in which he shot and killed an officer and his 33-year-old female companion. Police gunned him down.  Not quite DRT.  It did take a few more hours for him to breath his last miserable breath.

So what do the headlines say? Murderer gunned down? Killer no longer on the loose? Nope. Instead we get "Hate-Crime Suspect Dies in Gunbattle." Ahh...the hate crimes. Not that again. So what's the problem?

Hate crimes criminalize thought. If you walk into a straight bar and kill two people and attack others with a hatchet, then what's the difference if you do the same in a gay bar? Absolutely nothing. But had he lived, he would have been charged with a "hate crime." It could be argued that Jason Robida would have been tried for what he was thinking at the time he committed the crime, rather than for the crime itself.  

This "hate crime" thing needs to be nipped in the bud.  As things stand now, you can only be tried if your "hate" is translated into some sort of a criminal action against another person or against property.  How big a leap would it be to punish you for the hate even if you don't commit a crime as a result of your feelings?  How long before your hate becomes the crime?  Believe me, in this age of leftist-inspired political correctness there are plenty of liberals and their ilk who would dearly love to see just such a concept become reality.   Wait until the question of whether or not you are a criminal rests on a definition of hate.  What fun!

THAT FRENCH FACE-TRANSPLANT GIRL

You've heard of her, haven't you.  Her name is Isabelle Dinoire. The family dog chewed off a good portion of her face.  She received a face transplant from a suicide victim.  Cruel as it is, I'm no longer all that concerned about Isabelle and whether or not her recovery progresses.  I'm not worried about the emotional impact of wearing the face of someone who took their own life.  Isabelle, you see, has gone against the wishes of her doctors and has taken up smoking again --- chain smoking.  In short, Isabelle Dinoire is a full-fledged fool.  An idiot.  She may well destroy at worst, or compromise at best, the work of her surgeons.  If the worst happens, she's earned it.

You people are mean! Doug is responsible for this suggestion.

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

Oh yeah, this is the best reason ever to get plastic surgery. I guess this plastic surgery clinic knows its clientele. More in the Redneck Scrap Book.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

From our Fark.com friends.  Here's a sidewalk artist who puts most of the crap you would find in an exhibit of modern art to shame.

Victor Davis Hanson wonders if Europe is finally waking up.  I don't know, it's been a pretty deep sleep.

More on the Cartoon jihad.  Do we really realize that a holy war has been declared against us? 

You may have a credit card, but if you every carry a balance from month to month you're shark bait.

Alberto Gonzales is going to go before Congress and defend the administration's policy of wiretapping without warrants.  In this op-ed, he gives a preview of the arguments to come.  Good luck.

Did Bill Clinton also order illegal wiretaps during his administration?  He says he ran everything through Sandy 'Pants' Berger.  If he did do anything illegal, he says...and I quote..."To the best of my knowledge, we never went outside the law. If we did, I don't know about it."  How convenient.

What's more important....that the Pittsburgh Steelers won Superbowl XL or that the Al-Qaeda mastermind behind the 2000 attacks on the U.S.S. Cole is now on the loose?  Just ask the media.

NAACP Chairman Julian Bond says he did not equate the GOP to the Nazis.  There's only one problem with that: people in the audience says he did and then there's the little matte of a tape.

The head of the RNC pointed out on TV yesterday that Hillary Clinton has an anger management problem.  He says the public doesn't historically elect angry candidates.  Will that matter to Shrillary?  We hope.

Remember Scooter Libby?  It's looking more and more like the case against him is getting weaker and weaker.  Clarice Feldman details the shaky ground upon which Patrick Fitzgerald's indictment now stands.

Now it's Denmark's turn to have their flag burned in the streets of Muslim cities throughout the Middle East.  Mark Steyn says the Dane's Islamic reception shows that sensitivity can have brutal consequences.

President Bush says we're addicted to oil.  Thomas Bray says absolutely he is...and says he's addicted to economic growth too.  He points out that, for instance, North Korea doesn't use much oil.  Would you want to live there?  Didn't think so.

Suzanne Fields draws an interesting parallel.  She compares Hamas, the Palestinian group that has called for the wiping of Israel off the map, to another anti-Semitic figure: Hitler.

Jeff Jacoby points out the obvious: how come you don't see other religious organizations rioting in the streets when they're offended?  It always seems to just be radical Muslims.

WHAT THE HECK ARE THOSE POINTY HAND THINGS?

These are links to each individual story on the Nuze, p-links for the geeks out there. Plus, they work today and they'll work tomorrow. Now you can easily discuss/debate/rip apart the Nuze without worrying about the links going bad. Enjoy!

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