American indicted in Iraq Oil Probe
Thank goodness our
prosecters are actually going after these guys (HT:
RantingProfs). The discovery and investigations will hopefully also prove the personal corruption at the UN.
Grandma strikes again
I can actually see my own Grandmother doing
this and it made me laugh. Too bad they didn't publish the burglar's name. That would be hard to live down.
On a different note, if this happened in CA Grandma would have gotten arrested. Sad.
McCain starts a blogalanche on SoftBall
The blogosphere is really starting to get pissed off about the meek Republicans that are not stepping forward to support breaking the filibuster on judicial nominees.
ThreeBadFingers (I had a HT but I lost it) has an "
Open Letter to Party Traitors on Constitutional Option" that I think represents what a lot of the Republican base is thinking.
UPDATE:
Captain Ed has jumped in and man is he pissed.
First Temple relics found in Wakf "rubble"
From Isreal National News we get the article
Dumped Temple Mount Rubble Yields Jewish Artifacts.
In November 1999, the Islamic Wakf carried out an illegal construction project on the Temple Mount, Judaism�s holiest site. The unsupervised digging caused irreparable damage to the important site, as well as to untold priceless artifacts contained in rubble removed during the construction and dumped clandestinely in the Kidron Valley.
Though the archaeological remains were no longer in their original contexts, they held enormous potential to shed light on the undocumented human history of the Temple Mount, as systematic archaeological excavation or scientific study have never taken place there. The mounds of dirt in the Kidron Valley therefore contained the only available data from the Temple Mount to which modern archaeologists have ever had access.
So the Wakf not only carried out illegal construction possibly weaking the structure of the temple wall, they attempted to make centuries old artifacts dissapear by burying them in garbage and rubble.
Why?
He said the project is of particular importance due to the Islamic Waqf efforts to perpetrate something that he says is worse than Holocaust denial. "There is a phenomenon of Temple denial," Barkai said. "I just heard [Arab] MK Dahamshe this week in the Knesset denying that there were ever temples on the Temple Mount. It is a part of the cultural Intifada. I think it is just as serious as Holocaust denial. This intifada started in Joseph�s tomb and is trying to deny Jewish rights to the country."
If we pretend that neither Jewish Temple that we all know existed on that hill was ever there then we can pretend that there weren't Jews living under an organized government centered in Jeruselam a millenium before there was such a thing as Islam. Right, I get it.
I don't agree with everybody's religious beliefs. They have the right to their beliefs regardless of my agreement or disagreement. If I had to pretend highly provable truths to be fiction in order to defend my religious convictions I think I would be looking for a new religion.
John McCain will never win a Republican prez primary
And if the fine people of Arizona hear about
this one he probably can't win a primary for his own seat. I would suggest he just go ahead and switch parties formally. I would also suggest that Bill Frist and company pull him off of any important committee positions just to make the point.
Mac software update
If you are a Mac guy/gal you need to go
here if you haven't already. I have suffered through the NeoOffice project since before it's inception using the X11 Mac version at openoffice.org. It is now ready for grandma. Make sure you get the patch if you use a scroll mouse. This is one of the great successes of the open source world.
BTW, less than 17 days left before
Tiger is released. I am very excited about this because of
VoiceOver as my wife is legally blind and this will be a major upgrade for her. There are lots of other cool things in Tiger for the rest of us geeks too.
Our soldiers, sold out and honored
I highly recommend
Major K. for those wanting an unfiltered view of what is going on in Iraq on the ground. In back to back posts he gave us the following pointers.
This site currently profiles the story of Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith and his gallantry that lead to his posthumous Medal of Honor award. This young man is probably more characteristic of our brave armed forces than we will ever know or appreciate. May God be with him and his family and his brothers in arms. We civilians should thank our lucky stars every day and night for the generations of young unknown men like Paul Smith who have guaranteed our freedoms and way of life by putting their lives on the line.
This story is not as happy. The story is, commonly, without detail that would allow an independant evaluation of the situation. Basically, the Army has convicted a tank commander holding the rank of Captain of "assault with intent to commit manslaughter" for putting a bullet into an enemy soldier whom he claims was mortally wounded and suffering. The prosecution was going for "assault with intent to commit murder". Since CNN, classically, did not give us any details (like a professional medical opinion on the state of the victem at the time of the shooting), it is hard to determine if this is a case of a Captain stepping over the line or of the politically correct pressure on warfare today putting a Captain who acted in a time honored manner of humanity behind bars for a decade for doing his duty.
I do not intend, without a lot more data, to pass judgement on who is stepping over the line in this particular case. I point the story (with HT to Major K.) out to illustrate the reality of the war that we send these men into. Many American men for a couple of centuries, and many other honorable fighting men going back many centuries before our little experiment was launched, have had to put a bullet into their own comrades to end their suffering in circumstances that most of us thank God we cannot imagine. The vast majority of these men who will see the images of their comrades in death for the rest of their lives have received no medals or accolades for their sacrifice. They do not even burden their loved ones with the stories. They bear their burden quietly and alone.
Clueless ACLU types will say that this judgement is not one that should be made by a front line soldier. I would argue that it often belongs nowhere else. War is not the sterile environment that we live in within our little x-urban existance. All too infrequently a soldier from PFC to Colonel has to make a life and death decision. Sometimes that decision is whether to put a bullet into a best friend or a battlefield enemy to end their suffering. In a perfect world everyone who had to make that decision affirmatively would receive our Medal of Honor and all of the stature and benefits that go with it. In the real world most of them suffer quietly with their nightmares that not even their wives understand. Occasionally we are presented with the stark reality that men who make the right decision are put behind bars for doing exactly the right thing. For this we should be ashamed.
Again, I have no knowledge that tells me if this is the situation in this particular case. I pray that it is not but I suspect that it is.
Liberals rule on University Campuses
Paul Krugman continues to prove that he skipped basic logic classes in school and lives in an alternate reality (HT: Wizbang). You have to read this one to understand how warped the mind of the extreme left wing is. He essentially implies that the reason that there are more liberal voices in academia is that there just aren't enough smart conservatives to fill the billets.
The day of the funeral for the Holy See
Hugh Hewitt dug up an email (he doesn't say whether it was to him or forwarded to him) of a priest describing his day surrounding the funeral of Pope John Paul II. It is extraordinary and should be read by all regardless of your personal faith and beliefs. Irrespective of your agreement or disagreement with the Roman Catholic church and/or Pope John Paul II this email illustrates both the respect this man had from his subordinates and the insanity and civility that broke out among the masses at his passing.
