Now on Al Jazeera: Desperate Housemullahs

In the "desperate moves " category, we now have senior al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri asking for Shiite Muslims and even non-believers to take up Jihad against Israel for its retaliation against Hizbollah and Hamas.

That's funny.

The two groups of people hated most by Al Qaeda members-- who are Sunni Muslims -- are Shiites and non-believers (Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, pagans, atheists, Christians -- essentially anyone who isn't a Sunni Muslim -- and think twice about most Sunnis).

In fact, Sunni Al Qaeda mullahs regularly tell their dull-witted followers that the quickest ticket to heaven is to kill an infidel, meaning any non-Sunni.

Shiites are a favorite target of Al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq, for example, where they are frequent targets of carbombings, street shootings, kidnap, torture and murder. And, well, Al Qaeda pretty much burned their bridges to the rest of years ago when the declared war on us, and started blowing up our embassies, hotels, nightclubs, military barracks, ships, New York skycrapers and the Pentagon.

So, hey Ayman, good luck with that attempt to reach out. You pathetic idiot.

Mellencamp: Celebrity Hypocrite for a New Century

Former VP Dan Quayle walked out of a John Mellencamp show last weekend, after Mellencamp stopped singing to hop on the political stump and diss the current administration.

AP reports that Mellencamp introed the song "Walk Tall" by saying "
This next one is for all the poor people who've been ignored by the current administration."

*Sigh* Typical.

Typical limousine-liberal kajillioinaire rock star preaching on what someone else ought to do about the poor.

Tell you what, John, you can lecture other people to your heart's content about "poor people" the instant you give all your money away to the needy.

You know, like those nasty old capitalists Warren Buffett and Bill Gates just did.

Just to make it sporting, I'll even let you keep $1 million -- everything else goes.

No?

Then STFU!

File this under "Collegiate Nutjobs"

Politicos calling for the firing of a UW-Madison professor Kevin Barrett who claims 9/11 was an "inside job," with VP Dick Cheney as the mastermind.

Two words: Whack Job.

Just the latest in a long list of outrageous claims by loopy leftists-- see U of Col. Prof Ward "They Deserved It" Churchill, and Robert "Warmed Over Conspiracy Theories About the 2004 Election that have already been debunked by no less than leftist publications Salon and Mother Jones" Kennedy."

Hey, Kevin, you're late for your Flat Earth Society meeting. Ooh, and your MUFON Secret Decoder Ring came in the mail today!

Embarassing.

Rockstar: Supernova -- Unwatchable

Rockstar: Supernova, huh?

More like a neutron star -- rapidly collapsing under its own weight.

I've tried two times now, and neither time could I make through an entire show.

Nevermind what a bunch of boneheads Clarke, Lee and Newsted are (and I LIKE Newsted), or how freaky-looking Navarro is.
It's not even that Brooke Burke is showing some miles -- is it just me, or does she LOOK like she's been nipped and tucked everywhere imagineable?

It's the contestants -- they are just awful. Can't sing -- can't carry a tune, can't stay on pitch. It's all strut, hair and make-up -- and I'm just talking about the guys! The women are even worse.

Unwatchable.

UN, AI Demand Humane Treatment, Release of Israeli Soldiers

The United Nations issued a statement calling for Israeli soldiers captured by the militant Palestinian organizations to be immediately released.

The capture of the three soldiers -- one held in Gaza by Hamas and two in Lebanon by Hezbollah -- predicated the recent spasm of violence in the region.

"Under the articles of the United Nations and world law, the unlawful kidnapping of the three soldiers serves only to exacerbate the situation," said UN General Secretary Kofi Annan in the statement. "The continuing conflict serves the interests neither of Israel or the Palestinians and undermine ongoing efforts to create a peaceful solution, and they should be freed immediately."

I completely made that up.

The current escalation of the conflict --with Israel conducting bombardment and raids into both Lebanon and Gaza in an effort to have the soldiers returned-- comes a year after Israel ceded to the demands of the Palestinians and peacefully returned control of Gaza to Palestinian control. All Israeli settlers were removed the occupied territory and the Palestinian Authority was given total control of the area.

In return, Hamas has repeatedly used Gaza as a cite for firing rockets into Israel daily since then. By some counts, more than 3,000 rockets have been fired into Israel by Hamas from Gaza in the past year. Israel has often retaliated by capturing and killing Hamas leaders and combatants, occasionally also injuring and killing Palestinian civilians. The capture of the soldiers was reportedly a response to that retaliation.

Amnesty International also issued a statement calling Hamas and Hezbollah to hold to the articles of the Geneva Convention in their treatment of the captured soldiers.

AI specifically said the the soldiers must not be tortured or killed, that AI and the International Red Cross should be given access to them to ensure they are being treated humanely, said Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East Programme.

I made most of that up -- AI did make a statement that the soldiers be treated humanely, but as part of a larger press release calling for both the Palestinians and the Israelis to cease hostilities. And they did not call for the soldiers to be treated under the Geneva Convention, as they have demanded for the detainees at Gitmo.

In the past, soldiers captured by Hamas and Hezbollah all have been murdered.

NY Times Takes a Powder

The New York Times reporting that it received a package containing a suspicious white powder, setting off concerns that it may be biohazardous material like the anthrax spores sent to the mailrooms of other publications several years ago.

Let's call it what it is -- a terrorist attack, no matter who is behind it. Even if it was by some who have criticized the Times for publishing the details of intelligence efforts in the war on terror.

I wouldn't blame the Times if it demanded a full investigation by the U.S. government -- wiretaps, tracing of financial transactions, aggressive interrogation and confinement of suspects, the whole thing.

Oh wait...wouldn't want to violate anyone's rights here.

Best just to forget the whole thing, perhaps.

Hee hee. I love irony.

July Catch-up

Just back from vacation, so some posting to catch up on a few things from the past week.

Spent four days in Kentucky with my wife's entire family. A German family reunion with no beer. Who does that?

Anyway, within the past week Connecticut Democractic Senator Joe Lieberman kicked the butt of challenger Ned Lamont in their first pre-primary debate.

"Kicked butt" in a relative sense that is -- this WAS a couple Democrats, after all. My guess is it was probably a little closer to a Laverne-and-Shirley-style slapfight. But lets say in this case Joe was Laverne and he got a couple good punches in.

Lamont is running on the "runaway and hide" platform -- hardly what I'd call a recipe for success. I give Lieberman credit for standing up for his support of the war in Iraq, as opposed to most other Democrats who voted for it, but now are against it, except when they're for it, when they're not against it.

In any event, even the NY Times indicated that Lieberman made Lamont look like a confused, conflicted dilletante, which he is.

The Times also reported that the deficit is actually shrinking, thanks to increased tax revenues derived from corporate earnings and swelling executive bonuses.

In other words -- and this has just gotta KILL the Times and the Democrats -- the Bush tax cuts are working. The economy and the job market continue to grow, albeit modestly but enough to have the Fed concerned about inflation.

In Mexico, it looks like conservative candidate Felipe Calderon holds onto his slim lead for the presidential election. Leftist Andreas Manuel Lopex Obrador continues to contest the results, but it doesn't seem likely that he'll overturn them.

Close election? Contested outcome? Whee, this IS democracy. Don't forget that it was only six years ago that Mexico progressed from being a one-party state.

The trick for Calderon will be to continue expanding Mexico's economy while extending its benefits to more Mexicans. Despite consistent growth over the past six years, about half of Mexico's population lives below the poverty line. If he fails, we can expect another Hugo Chavez lookalike like Obrador, or worse, in the next election.

And finally, Italy beat France in the soccer World Cup. Go Italy! Or more loosely, anybody but France!