OBL Dead?

The regional French newspaper l'Est Republicain printed what it described as a copy of a confidential document from the DGSE intelligence service citing an uncorroborated report from a "usually reliable source" who said Saudi secret services were convinced that bin Laden had died.

French President Jacques Chirac stated that the rumor was unconfirmed, but refused comment further. However, the paper's "usually reliable" sources said that bin Laden died from typhoid on August 23, 2006. US officials expressed doubt as to the report's veracity, saying the rumor could not be confirmed.

Rumors of bin Laden's death have been reported before. In 2001, reliable sources told me that bin Laden had been vaporized by a JDAM bomb in his Toro Boro cave in Afghanistan.

Russian Roswell

Today is the new moon, and after listening to the lunacy (i.e. mental derangement associated with the changing phases of the moon) of Hugo Chavez, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Chuck Shumer and others this week, I have become absolutely convinced that aliens do in fact walk among us.

Apparently some Russian scientists think so, too. It seems an unusual explosion occurred over the Podkamennaya Tunguska River area of Siberia back in 1908, the cause of which has never been adequately explained. Initially it was thought that a meteor that detonated above ground, but recent studies point toward the possibility that the explosion could have been the destruction of a nuclear-powered UFO. Whatever it was, the destruction on the ground was extensive for miles, and closely resembled that of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the atom bombs dropped there during WW II. Russian scientists continue to research and study the incident.

Hattip to the quantum physics geeks over at White Hat Infotech.

Dikika Baby

The world's oldest known human ancestor was discovered in Ethiopia's badlands, in the Dikika area near the Great Rift Valley. The 3.3 million-year-old fossilized skeleton of a child believed to be about 3 years of age, belongs to the primitive human species Australopithecus afarensis, which is the same species as the legendary "Lucy," previously the oldest human ancestor yet found.

Billary '08?

Terry McAuliffe, the outspoken and often controversial former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has joined forces with the re-election campaign of Senator Hillary Clinton. While Clinton and her staff insist she is focused solely on winning reelection in New York this November, the decision over who will be in charge of getting her elected to the White House is already settled.

As Clinton pretends to move to the political center, the selection of McAuliffe as the campaign's chairman is obviously designed to assuage the party's far left base.

You Go Hugo!

Whew. We can all rest easier now. It was close, but Hugo Chavez, the cherubic Communist dictator president of Venezuela, has offered to Save The World from American Imperialism.

In his speech to the UN General Assembly today, among other radical proposals, he appealed to the Non-Aligned Movement nations including Iran and Cuba to completely restructure the United Nations, add certain third world countries to permanent Security Council membership, repeal the veto power of Security Council members, and - my favorite - move the UN headquarters to Venezuela. So there you have it. The third world must lead the world into a new age of Venezuelan world domination.

Not content with merely presenting his plan to become world dictator, he made an ad hominem attack on President Bush, calling him the devil, saying, "And the devil came here yesterday. Yesterday the devil came here. Right here." [crosses himself] "And it smells of sulfur still today."

One may not yet have Senor Chavez on one's radar as being a radical fruitcake, but considering that Venezuela is in our backyard - just 1,340 miles from Key West Florida, and well within missle range - and is one of the largest oil producing countries in the world, Americans may want to keep an eye on this one.

It's required reading to read the entire translation of his speech here posted on Drudge Report.

What's With McCain?

Some of our lawmakers have their wigs in a twist about article 3 of the Geneva Convention, as it applies to how the US should treat prisoners held at Gitmo and elsewhere. But Senator John McCain's argument is a strawman: he claims that if our soldiers are ever captured by Islamofacists - who are not a signatory to, or an adherent of, the Geneva Convention anyway - they could be tried in secret without habeous corpus. Where's he been? Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hamas have yet to be returned; Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig were forced at gunpoint to "convert" on video, and Daniel Pearl was beheaded on video. One wonders how the Geneva Convention factored into these instances.

McCain, of all people, should know the realities of capture, which is that our enemies don't comply with the niceties of the Geneva Convention. The North Vietnamese didn't, and Al-Qaeda, Hamas, the Taliban and other jihadist Islamofacists don't either. Yet he's joined forces with Colin Powell, himself no friend of the Bush administration, and a gaggle of RINO senators (Senator John W. Warner of Virginia, Senators John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine) to hamstring our nation's information gathering techniques. We're not talking about torture here - although the MSM throws that word about indiscriminately. Coercion, humiliation and intimidation are proven effective interrogation methods, and the US should not arbitrarily abandon these techniques for the sake of some misplaced notion of a higher moral ground. If information gathered from those methods saves American lives, where's the complaint? How many thousands of Brits, Americans and others are alive and with their families today because the British foiled a horrendous coordinated transatlantic airliner attack? Good intel equals good results.

Senator McCain, whose side are you on, anyway?

Oh, The Irony, The Irony!

Pope Benedict made a speech recently, quoting a medieval text in which a 14th century Byzantine Emperor criticizes Mohammad and Islam as "evil and inhuman", and the manic and violent response from the Muslims across the world completely validates the assessment. He was right, of course.

Yet even after his apology, the religion of peace then made good on their threats and killed an elderly nun in Somalia by shooting her multiple times in the back, firebombed churches in Palestine, and protested in London and elsewhere. Now there's a contract on Pope Benedict, because the imams have declared that an insult on Islam - perceived or otherwise - is a capital offense. How different from the way we treat "prisoners" at Gitmo, as they curse the guards and throw human waste at them.

In additional to the violence, the Islamofacists desecrated Christian beliefs in the most blasphemous way, by circulating this picture on al-Qaeda friendly web sites in Europe, calling the Pope a pig, and likening Christ to a "monkey on a cross". Here are the exact translations:

الخنزير عابد الصلبان

The pig, worshiper of the crosses

يعبد قردا مسلوخا على صليب

He worships a slaughtered monkey on a cross

حاقد خبيث

Malicious, repulsive/evil

شيطان رجيم

An accursed devil

إذبحوه

Sacrifice him/Behead him

لعنة الله عليه

May the curse of God be upon him

سفاح مصاص للدماء

Spiller and sucker of blood

Yet in spite of this outrage, to date there have been no reports of any Christian beheading any Muslims, no mosques have been firebombed, and no imams have been shot in the back, killed or threatened with death. Of course, this may very well prove to be our failing.

Lost on the world's Islamofacists is the irony of this story: Hey, they just called us violent and inhuman - let's kill 'em! Amazing. They've proved beyond any shadow of a doubt what their agenda is.

We Let Them Go Again

What do you do if you find dozens of terrorists in one place at one time, and you've got the drop on them? If you're the PC Washington attorneys advising the brass at the pentagon, you do nothing.

Well, that's exactly what happened in Afghanistan recently. Because the ground combat rules of engagement in Afghanistan disallow any contact with the enemy if the enemy is in a cemetery, the opportunity was missed. The terrorists were unaware of the unmanned drone that was filming the event and sending real-time images back the to US command.

Have we learned nothing? For eight years the Clinton administration found convenient reasons not to engage the enemy, and the result is we now have an entrenched and emboldened enemy who understands, and actually depends on, these kinds of self imposed restraints.

Let me be clear. We are at war. The enemy is Islamofascist extremism. Our standing ROE should be to seek out and engage the enemy, and kill him. Every one of them. Period.

Now US operatives and ground troops will have to deal with it, at a far costlier price.

Floching the French

I wish I was kidding about this post . . .

An enraged dolphin has been terrorising the French Atlantic coast for several weeks, attacking boats and knocking fishermen into the sea.

"He's like a mad dog," said Henri Le Lay, president of the association of fishermen and yachtsmen of the port of Brezellec, in Brittany. "He has caused at least 1,500 euros ($2,530) worth of damage in the past few weeks."

The dolphin, named Jean Floch, has destroyed rowboats, overturned open boats, flooded engines and twisted mooring lines. Two fishermen were knocked into the sea after the dolphin overturned their boat."

Update: It's reported the French have surrendered.

Tinfoil hats, UFOs, and Radiohead

After watching Howard Dean being interviewed by Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday, it became clear to me that I was going to need a new tinfoil hat. According to Dean, the weak and wobbly Dems, who for the past five years denied the the need for any war, let alone a war being fought in Iraq, are now vigorously engaged in the war on terror. Yep. New directions, national security and all that. Only thing is, you see, we should be going after Osama bin Laden by fighting the WOT in Afghanistan, not Iraq. Jeez. Dick, Karl, Rummy, how could you have missed that? How about this? Let's save everyone the inconvenience of fighting a war on the other side of the world; why don't we just fight the war on terror online? Wouldn't that be so much easier? Then we could all make happy with the Seattle Hug the Earth crowd, whose commemorative to the 9/11 attacks will include such deep-thought issues as diversity in immigration. Oh, yeah - a healing drumming circle will take place in the morning. People are urged to bring a drum or rattle, and a chair or blanket to sit on. Om.

While adjusting my tinfoil hat, I found this piece: a photographer shooting the live Radiohead concert back in June inadvertently got some shots of a UFO hovering nearby, presumably monitoring the satellite missile launch from Vandenburg AFB. See, there was all this secret spy satellite stuff on board the launch, and the aliens want to keep their eye on us to make sure we don't goof up the galaxy with our immature nonsense like war and pollution and oil . . . Or maybe they just dig Radiohead.

Gulf Quake

Some Florida residents may have been worrying about tsunamis today, as an eathquake was reported in the Gulf of Mexico, some 260 miles west southwest of Clearwater, Florida. Some reports indicate the quake was felt in parts of Florida, Georgia and Alabama. Registering 6.0 on the Richter scale, earthquakes of this magnitude in this part of the world are rare, and USGS officals assured folks along Florida's Gulfcoast that there would be no "significant" tsunami. According to the US Geological Survey web site:

This earthquake was centered beneath the Gulf of Mexico, well distant from the nearest active plate boundary. Such "midplate" earthquakes are much less common than earthquakes occurring on faults near plate boundaries, and most probably represent the release of long-term tectonic stresses that ultimately originate from forces applied at the plate boundary. This is the largest of more than a dozen shocks that have been instrumentally recorded from the eastern Gulf of Mexico in the past three decades, and it is the most widely felt. The most recent significant earthquake in the region occurred on February 10th, 2006 and had a magnitude of 5.2. We have not associated this earthquake with a specific causative fault.

Truth vs. Fiction

OK, I think I'm getting this.

Caving to intense last minute Clinton pressure, ABC censors its own documentary-style movie about the Clinton Administration's handling of the terror threat that led up to the events of September 11.

But no outcry is heard about the purely fictional BBC documentary-style movie about the events arising from the assassination of President Bush.

Historical truth about Clinton bad. Fictional wish fulfillment about Bush good.

Yep, I got it.

The Border War

Our southern border with Mexico is a drug trafficking war zone that is as out of control as the flow of illegal immigrants is. Among the streams of illegal immigrants searching for a better life, lurk dangerous, violent, and reckless criminals and vicious extortionists.

Drug lords terrorize and take over border towns and villages and gangsters trade heroin for guns. The most violent end up on the FBI’s most wanted list. Take Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sanchez, head of the Gulf Cartel, just for one example, with $5 million reward on his head. Sanchez, in addition to being accused of trafficking thousands of kilos of cocaine and marijuana into the United States annually, is wanted for capital murder.

Ninety percent of the cocaine that comes into the United States is smuggled across the southern border, according to official figures. That’s a lot of cocaine, considering that the U.S. consumption is the largest in the world, with 5.9 million persons aged 12 or older using cocaine in 2003. Snorting coke is not just a personal sport. It has enormous social costs. Nearly half of state and local law enforcement agencies identify cocaine (powder or crack) use in violent crimes in their areas.

Well over 90% of all of the imported marijuana comes across the Mexican border. Meth availability is on the rise, fueled primarily by increased production of both powder and ice methamphetamine in Mexico.

The immigration problem brings illegal aliens, drugs, crime, the social impact on the states, and most probably terrorists. Social ills that Washington ignores. The only line of defense currently is the Border Patrol, the Texas Rangers and the civilian Minutemen. Did I mention there's an election 2008?

Newt: How to Win In November

One of the most amazing things I've noticed this election cycle is the complete and utter lack of ideas coming from the left. The Democrats and the MSM have spent millions of dollars and countless hours to bash this administration and its foreign policy, yet have not offered up a single idea as counterpoint to what they're whining about. Apart from a complete withdrawal from Iraq, no thought has seemingly been given to the consequences of that (in)action.

Yet one of the brightest minds in Washington has done just that - formulated an 11-point plan that is necessary for "Winning The Future" and which has broad-base support from the American people. Contrast the void on the left with Newt Gingrich's commonsense 11-point plan for a solid Republican win in November.

Make English the Official Language of Government.
The House should pass a bill making English the official language of government, abolishing multilingual ballots and reaffirming that new citizens should be required to pass a test on American history in English.

Control the Borders.

The House should pass a narrowly focused bill to ensure that the United States can control the border.

Keep God in the Pledge.
Congress should take two steps to preserve the right to say "one nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, a right which is supported by 91% of all Americans. The American people feel deeply that our Declaration of Independence is correct in saying that each of us is endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights. It is time to return to a balanced Constitutional system.

Require a Voter ID Card.
The American people overwhelmingly support (85% in one case, 70%-plus even after all the arguments against it are made) having a voter id card so we can be sure only legal citizens are voting. Passing a bill to require this in all federal elections would be a big step toward more honest elections.

[And eliminate the need for bogus and unconstitutional bills like the shameful McCain-Feingold bill - Ed.]

Repeal the Death Tax, for Good.
The American people have consistently supported the total repeal of the death tax and the House should simply pass it once a week and attach it to various Senate bills to force the Senate to deal with it again and again. Let liberals explain why they oppose something that more than 70% of the country favors.

Restore Property Rights.
The American people are deeply opposed to local politicians' being able to seize a citizen's home or business. The Supreme Court's Kelo decision on eminent domain is one of the most unpopular in recent years and is also one of the most dangerous.

[Another absurd unconstitutional bill that blatantly defies the 4th Amendment. -Ed.]

Achieve Sustainable Energy Independence.
The country is eager for a straightforward new energy strategy for national security, environmental and economic reasons, starting with clean nuclear power using new technologies that are safe and produce little waste.

Control Spending and Balance the Budget.
The House should pass new budget legislation to control spending, leading to a balanced budget in seven years (the length of time we gave ourselves in the Contract with America and which led to the first four balanced budgets since the 1920s), with special focus on programs liberals will fight to increase spending.

Tie Education Funding to Teacher Accountability.
A major result of the No Child Left Behind legislation has been the clear revelation that a number of schools systems are crippling and destroying children. When the Detroit school system only graduates 21% of entering freshman on time, it is clear the children are being cheated.

Defend America From the Irreconcilable Wing of Islam.

Terrorism is a real threat. Congress should hold hearings on the recent terror activities in Canada, the United Kingdom and Morocco. The House should move bills that strengthen our security from terrorists with increased powers for surveillance, an overruling of the disastrous Hamdan decision and a series of other steps.

[Foreign combatants who are not US citizens are not entitled to the rights enumerated in the US constitution. -Ed]

Focus on Iran and North Korea.
The American people are very prepared to believe we face extraordinary threats from a nuclear North Korea and an Iranian regime actively seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Any actions in Iraq need to be recast in terms of their impact on Iran. A weak America in Iraq will be unable to stop Iran. Stopping Iran is potentially literally a matter of life and death. Everything about Iraq should be debated within this larger and much more dangerous context.

Rough Justice

OK, you may have seen this one already, but hey, it's worth another look!

The Demise of the 1st Amendment

One of the most insidious bills to be signed into law, McCain-Feingold has some most unsettling provisions. When signing the bill - now known as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act - into law back in 2002 President Bush noted, "Certain provisions present serious constitutional concerns. The courts will resolve these legitimate legal questions." But the law's most heinous provision, barring groups from both sides of the political spectrum from criticizing incumbent politicians' votes on bills on TV or radio for 60 days before a general election and 30 days before a primary still stands, despite court challenges from the NRA-ILA and Judicial Watch.

Note the bill's sponsors: Russ Feingold is one of the most liberal senators to ever hold the honor, and John McCain, notwithstanding his Vietnam War hero status, is now clearly a RINO (Republican in name only). What would cause two senators to draft a bill that abridges the first amendment? The lure of incumbent protection? But a larger question remains: why did the majority of the congress and the president himself - all sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution - not adhere to the founders’ first and simple dictum: “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech?”

Now we come soon to an election, and - by law! - the grassroots have no voice.

Primary Color

Despite the months-long hatchet job on her campaign and personality by Tampa Tribune political reporter William March, Florida Republican voters overwhelmingly elected Katherine Harris as their GOP candidate for US Senate, besting 3 challengers. She'll now face Democrat incumbent Bill Nelson in September. Thanks, William.

Which One's Pink?

Happy birthday to rock musician Roger Waters who turns 63 today. One of the main creative forces behind Pink Floyd, Waters wrote all the lyrics and some of the music for their album, Dark Side of the Moon (1973); the album became one of the most successful in rock history. The singer/bass player left the group in the mid-1980s, and went on to perform solo. This summer he has been performing throughout Europe and today he takes his show to the US.

Quote:

"Long you live and high you'll fly

Smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry

And all you touch and all you see

Is all your life will ever be."

— Pink Floyd, "Breathe," Dark Side of the Moon.

Thanks and a tip 'o the ol' booney to Answers.com.

Good News from Iraq

I hadn't seen this report in the MSM, but it did show up in Stars And Stripes, Kurdish Media, Radio Free Europe (although just barely), and Defend America.

"Soldiers of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division transferred responsibility of security for the majority of the Kirkuk Province to two battalions of the Iraqi Army during a ceremony at an Iraqi military compound just outside of Kirkuk, Aug. 31.

“With this ceremony, we complete the transfer of security responsibilities from our friends, the Coalition Forces, to our Brigade,” said Maj. Gen. Anwar, commander of the 2nd Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division. Two battalions in the multi-ethnic (Arab, Kurdish, Turkomen) 2nd Brigade had previously assumed security responsibilities in other sectors of the Kirkuk Province. This ceremony, with the final two battalions assuming responsibility, demonstrates the readiness of Iraqi Army forces in the province."

Well, day-um! More good news from the front - and no civil war in the multi-ethnic 2nd Brigade. No wonder the MSM isn't interested.

Happy Brain

Music makes your brain happy. Physiological fact. They say listening to Mozart boosts your IQ, and we know some new-age music can alter brain-wave frequencies. Musicians are aware of the euphoria of getting in the "groove." OK, I play guitar. I own several, including a Taylor 514ce. Taylor has introduced its new acoustic/electric semi-hollow body Thinline Fiveway - or just simply T5 - model, and it's an amazing ax. Take a few minutes and make your brain happy. Give a listen to what Marc Seal does with this magnificent instrument.

Random Thoughts Before the Weekend

It's been pointed out by many conversationalists that the terrorists are winning because we allow them minor, non-combat victories. For instance, terror wins when we change our daily habits out of fear of a possible attack. Airline travel comes immediately to mind. Millions of Americans use commercial air traffic daily, and each and every one of them is inconvenienced by the nonsensical governmental security procedures. Because 100% of all airline hijackings are perpetrated by Muslim males between the ages of 20 and 45, the logical thing to do is to screen for Muslim males between the ages of 20 and 45. But we can't do that - it's racial profiling. Right. And blowing up airplanes is premeditated murder. Which is worse? Shelby Steele got this issue dead-nut right when he opines that "white guilt" has prevented us from effectively killing those who wish to kill us. Anybody want to bid on my 65,000 Delta air miles?

Another bit of insanity is the notion that timid, unarmed citizenry is better off against a committed aggressor than an armed citizen. Yet every day across the US, regular folks like you and me use their God-given right of self defense to eliminate or ward off attacks from those who would do them harm. The unintended consequence on crime rates of governments' gun confiscation has been well documented in Australia and Great Britain, whose violent crime statistics rose hundreds of percent since the confiscation of private firearms. This summer, although the mainstream media hasn't reported on it, the United Nations Gun-Grab continues to seek the end of private ownership of firearms globally and in the US, as well. How the UN takes authority over the United States' Bill of Rights can be assisted only by a globalist liberal president, one that we ourselves elect in 2008.

Another unsettling symptom of political correctness in the form of "white guilt" is the ridiculous attitude of the federal government concerning the porous US borders - especially the southern border with Mexico. Estimates now place the number of illegal Mexican aliens in country at 30 million or more. Apologists say that Democrats approve of illegals because aliens comprise free votes, whereas Republicans approve because aliens are cheap labor. Sounds like moral equivalency to me. Illegal means illegal, and that means a 21st century Mexican invasion, whether the intent is to get a job, retake Aztlan, or blow up a building.

While the MSM sleeps, America is assaulted by Islamic fascists here and abroad who seek to kill or convert each one of us; Mexican radicals seek to repopulate the southwestern United States in advance of their stated goal of "retaking" those states; the United Nations wants to find ways to eliminate or circumvent the US Second Amendment rendering us - you and me - totally disarmed. GALT (Goofy American Liberal Thinkers) and others who are screwing up America would like nothing better than to see the US loose in Iraq, withdraw from persecuting the war on terrorism, grant amnesty to Mexican illegals, and the US reduced to third-world status, thereby "equalizing" us. Is this the US that we, the people, want? Did I mention there's an election coming up in a couple of months?