Fresh Tasty Ideas

At what point in a war does your enemy brush aside all its principles and offer concessions? When he is weak and fears complete annihilation, he will attempt last-ditch negotiations, seeing no other alternative except death.

That could be what we’re seeing in Iraq, with eleven Sunni terrorist organizations offering to stop attacks on US soldiers if in turn the US agrees to withdraw (or “redeploy” as Democrats like to say) its military within a period of two years. This comes after siezed material from al-Zarqawi’s safehouse illustrates the increasingly difficult scenario facing terrorists bent on destroying the Iraq government and US forces occupying the country.

It would be foolish to cease operations in Iraq now, when the signs are beginning to point to a weakening insurgency. This is probably not their “last throes” but it is definitely a good sign.

terrorism, Iraq, Sunni

Whether or not you believe that man is causing global warming, this story by ABC News is enough to make you puke. After a bit of foul weather knocks over a tree on the White House law, ABC News proclaims:

The massive downpours this morning shorting out government buildings with flooded basements, seizing up legislative communications, snarling traffic access to white columned buildings, fit exactly the pattern predicted decades ago as a consequence of global warming.

What the folks at ABC News are trying to say is that storms and tornadoes and other types of inclement weather wouldn’t exist if not for global warming. And everytime you feel the door slam shut behind you from a gust of wind, let it be a reminder of our impending doom.

global warming, news, Al Gore

Taking an Israeli soldier hostage and keeping him for ransom might not be the best thing for the Palestinians to do. Israel will likely respond with “extensive military action” to rescue their soldier, and it probably will involve a whole lot of dead Palestinians. That’s because Hamas and Fata like to stack women and children all around their most notorious terrorists to incur significant amounts of collateral damage when the inevitable Israeli reprisal occurs.

Israel, terrorism, Palestine, news, Gilad Shalit, Gaza

The New York Times has repeatedly revealed secret information about programs that the government uses to track and capture terrorists. One such program involves the oversight of international financial transactions amongst suspected al-Queda terrorists. The New York Times published all the details about this program, effectively eliminating its secret status. The New York Times intentionally ran the story, despite the fact that Tony Snow had specifically asked them not to, and also despite the fact that the program was perfectly legal, and key members of the Senate had been briefed about it.

This deliberate jab at the Bush administration is inexcusable, not only because it places politics above genuine reporting (something the NYT is altogether unfamiliar with), but because they have purposefully weakened our nation’s ability to defend itself from terrorist attacks. Conservative media outlets — sadly, none on the left are expressing their indignation — are livid that the NYT is sytematically destroying secret and legal government programs:

While the legality of printing secrets may be debatable, it’s clear there’s a crisis among media elites that have allowed hatred of the president and his party to taint their reporting. In the process, they’ve destroyed whatever claims to objectivity and fairness they might have once had. Far worse, they’ve given aid and comfort to the enemy in a time of war — and that is simply inexcusable.

Indeed, where do the allegiances of the editors at the New York Times lie? Do they really hate Bush more than suicide bombing Islamic terrorists? Whose side are they on?

And in response, what does NYT do? They publish more classified information:

WASHINGTON, June 24 — The top American commander in Iraq has drafted a plan that projects sharp reductions in the United States military presence there by the end of 2007, with the first cuts coming this September, American officials say.

According to a classified briefing at the Pentagon this week by the commander, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the number of American combat brigades in Iraq is projected to decrease to 5 or 6 from the current level of 14 by December 2007.

This was a classified briefing. If it was a secret before, it isn’t anymore, thanks to the NY Times. Even if they had been given clearance to report such details, shouldn’t the staff at the NYT exercise a bit of common sense judgement? Is it a good idea or a bad idea to report the specific intinerary of US troops in Iraq, which units will be in place and which will be deployed elsewhere, etc? What ever happend to “loose lips sink ships?” This type of behaviour on the part of the NY Times really makes me question if they support our country at all. Why else would they endanger us and our troops by publishing sensitive military and government information after being warned not to. The editors who approved the stories ought to be thrown in jail for treason.

Update: Here’s another great editorial on how the NYT has betrayed America.

New York Times, liberal bias, Iraq, terrorism, politics

The Economist has a decent article about the spead of Islam in Europe and what Americans and non-Muslim Europeans think about it.

Among its more interesting points is the idea that in America, we can debate whether Islam is inherently violent or not because we aren’t preoccupied with offending others:

The result is that there is more space for hard religious argument. No law restrains that quite large body of American thought which is critical not just of extreme readings of Islam but of Islam itself—arguing that the warrior ethos of the faith’s earlier centuries was one of its essential features, not just a regrettable excess. But the American system also guarantees the rights of those who argue for the opposite view: that Islam is basically a peaceful, universalist faith which restricts rather than enjoins the use of violence.

The article also makes note of the strange alliance between the political far-left and angry Muslims:

It does not cheer America that, in several parts of Europe, some Muslims have found a political voice in alliance with the anti-establishment left. Britain’s “Stop the War” movement, which organised huge rallies against the war on Saddam Hussein’s regime, is a curious partnership between supporters of the international Muslim Brotherhood and largely non-believing socialists. Tariq Ramadan, a Swiss-based scholar who has also taught at Oxford University, has won a large following with his mixture of loyalty to Islam’s holy texts and opposition to global capitalism.

I think the article tries mightily to paint a picture of Islam in Europe that is, on the whole healthy, but not without its problems. However, the article does give plenty of reasons for doubting this rosy scenario: non-Muslim Germans are increasingly skeptical of Islam’s peaceful nature, British Muslims are more and more viewing Westerners as corrupt and misogynists (very odd), and German Turks who are Muslim are becoming more and more devout. These figures tend to indicate that the situation is worsening, rather than improving.

The prevailing notion within the article is that Americans are worried about Europe’s failure to integrate Muslim immigrants into European society. Whether this problem is caused by elitist European discrimination, or a strict adherence to the umma and Islam among Muslims, the result is an increasingly segregated society that has ill will towards the other.

immigration, Islam, Europe, America, assimilation, multiculturalism, liberals

You know, if the evil Chimpy Bush McHilter and his cadre of neocon underlings could plan an event like 9/11 which would require years of effort, cooperation from multiple levels of government and the media — why the hell wouldn’t they have planted WMDs in Iraq? Just thinking.

Bush, Iraq, 9/11, terrorism

Today, seven Jihaids were arrested for plotting to blow up the Sears tower in Chicago and an FBI office in Miami.

Chicago, Sears, Miami, FBI, al Queda, terrorism, Islam

“The most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.”
-Margaret Sanger

Margaret Sanger was the founder of Planned Parenthood, one of the leading providers of abortion in the United States.

Planned Parenthood, abortion, Sanger

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Despite the rising prominence of the blogosphere (I wish there was a better term for it), the usual game of kickbacks and bribes is alive and well. Markos Moulitsas, the founder of DailyKos, along with Jerome Armstrong, have a lucrative little racket going on: any politician who hires Mr. Armstrong as an advisor mysteriously ends up with Markos plugging said politican on his heavily visited political blog.

This is the blog that rants on an hourly basis about the corrupt dealings of the Bush administration. This is the spokesperson for the “netroots” movement, the one that brings “power to the people” — but I guess it’s not bad when liberals do it.

Update: Looks like he sent out an ultra-super secret email ordering his minions to shut the hell up about it. Yeah, that’s what you do when you’re innocent… you tell people not to talk. Right.

Moulitsas, DailyKos, Armstrong, liberals, democrats, corruption

Those American patriots at thinkprogress.org openly state they want our missle defense system to fail when North Korea launches their ICBM. Yeah, they really said that. Is it any wonder Americans don’t trust liberals with matters of national security?

North Korea, liberals, missle defense, military, nuclear, politics, news