Kerry

So John Kerry is going to campaign for Lamont. Hope they 'toss the ol' pigskin around' to show what all-american boys they are.

European Backbone Detected

At least one EU official seems to have grown a pair:

Barroso accuses EU leaders of letting down Pope
25.09.2006 - 09:51 CET | By Mark Beunderman
European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has said he is "disappointed" that EU leaders did not do more to support the Pope after his controversial remarks on Islam...

...."To attack the Pope because he referred to a historical document in a speech is fully unacceptable," said Mr Barroso.

"I was disappointed that there weren't more European leaders who said: of course the Pope has the right to express his views. The problem is not his remarks, but the reactions of the extremists."

Asked why European politicians had been so reluctant to support the Pope, Mr Barroso said "Perhaps because there is concern about a possible confrontation. And sometimes [there is] a sort of political correctness: that one is only being tolerant when placing the opinion of others above one's own. I am very in favour of tolerance, but we should stand up for our values."

Study: Communities unready for elderly

NEW YORK - Less than half of the nation's communities have begun preparing to deal with the needs of the elderly...

Experience with the lumberjackpop-in-law supports this view that we aren't set up to accommodate our elderly. For one thing, we need lots wider sidewalks to drive on.

Christiaan Briggs

Well, Christiaan Briggs, "peace activist", went to court yesterday:

A peace activist today pleaded guilty to assaulting a rising rock star who was left fighting for his life in a coma.

Christiaan Briggs, 30, admitted punching 19-year-old singer Billy Leeson following an argument on a late night No 29 bus.

From the article it looks as if prison time might even be possible. That would be a great opportunity for this peace activist to spread his nonviolent message inside prison walls, though I'd rather see him get community service, and mandatory therapy, and be made to pay restitution. OK, maybe he should spend time in the stocks - do they still do that?

I think I may have figured out the whole non sequitur-ness of a "peace activist" putting a complete stranger in a coma, though. Maybe there is some kind of a language problem here. Know how the English call sausages bangers? And they call potato chips crisps, and bathrooms loos. So maybe "peace" has a different meaning in England, or in Mr Briggs native New Zealand. If that's the case, then I think Mr Briggs ought to consider using "peace" in the sense we do here in America. In our usage, "peace" is the word which means you don't go around hitting people.

It's Over, Now Go Home Bill

Could we all just go back to ignoring Bill Clinton? He's over, and he's not running for any office that I know of. Please? Let him Jimmy Carter his way into the sunset?

Course someone got him riled up so now we have to respond to him. Condoleezza says:

"The notion somehow for eight months the Bush administration sat there and didn't do that is just flatly false - and I think the 9/11 commission understood that," Rice said during a wide-ranging meeting with Post editors and reporters.

"What we did in the eight months was at least as aggressive as what the Clinton administration did in the preceding years," Rice added.

The secretary of state also sharply disputed Clinton's claim that he "left a comprehensive anti-terror strategy" for the incoming Bush team during the presidential transition in 2001.

I believe Condi. Now go away Bill and quit distracting our Secretary of State. Unlike you, she still has an important job to do.

I'm green now

You know what? Saving energy is a virtue. From now on, I pledge to keep my "carbon footprint" below the sensible levels set by Sir Richard Branson. I realize this may limit me to owning less than a dozen Hummers, and I won't be able to set actual swimming pools full of oil ablaze, but that's a sacrifice I think I can make.

Branson

Blogger may eat this post so I'll be quick. Does anyone think it odd that Richard Branson is jumping on the global warming bandwagon? Up until now he's been one of the biggest use-fuel-for-fun advocates on the planet. He built this big huffin boat, whose only purpose was to break a speed record for crossing the Atlantic... and don't get me wrong, I'm all for that, but it's hardly green. And he sends rich tourists to his private resorts in private jets... Oh, and he's proposing air-travel suites for those who can afford it... Odd. Like Madonna trying to break into the chastity movement or something. Just odd.

Clever Crazy Man

Har:

Bush will kill me: Chavez
From correspondents in Caracas
September 24, 2006
VENEZUELAN President Hugo Chavez accused his American counterpart George W. Bush overnight of ordering his assassination for calling the US leader the devil during his speech at the United Nations this week.

"The devil appears very sulphurous, and a few people say that he has given the order to kill me," Chavez said during a speech before scientists in western Venezuela.

"Many concerned friends have called me, (saying) that because I said 'devil' over there (at the UN), they have sentenced me to die. They will not kill me, I have much faith in life," Mr Chavez added.

First you make-up a threat out of whole cloth, then you say, "but I will escape this perilous situation."
What's next? "The pope threatened to turn me into a newt, but I won't let him."
My bet: "the aliens are trying to use mind control beams on me, but I have this special hat that will shield me."

Me, being off the reservation on one

Myway (and many others) news:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former President Bill Clinton, angrily defending his efforts to capture Osama bin Laden...

OK, but know what? This shouldn't even be going on. Because, (and I know a tree will fall on me if I say this, or maybe a squirrel attack, or bears, yeah, bears will probably eat me for this, but I have to say:) Bill Clinton shouldn't have caught so much crap for not getting bin Laden in the first place. And sure, Bill will point out that George didn't get bin Laden either. Thing is, before 9-11, bin Laden wasn't nearly the big fish he was after 9-11. Period.

Sure, I'd like to say that Bill Clinton had the monster in his hands and let him go. I'd like to say it on a bumper sticker. But truth is, when Bill Clinton could have had bin Laden, we didn't know he was such a monster. (bin Laden that is, well, or Clinton either I guess) So much as it hurts to say it, ouch, we should cut Bill Clinton some slack on this.

***Yupdate:

Oh, but I do love watching BC get testy. And I guess my point is that you have to keep in mind what the situation was back when Clinton dropped the ball. It's judging based on what we now know that has some fools thinking that Andrew Sullivan would have done a better job of subduing Saddam. Hindsight, and all that.


Oh, he's in stern mode for sure. I think the last time we saw the finger point was back in the I Did Not Have Sex With That Woman interview.

Ozone

Our understanding of ozone in the upper atmosphere seems to have progressed quite a bit. Banning ozone depleting chemicals hasn't made much of a difference:

"Our latest bulletin shows that the hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic has beaten that of last year and is rivalling the two largest on record -- 2000 was the largest and 2003 was the second largest," said WMO spokesman Mark Oliver.

And won't make a difference anytime soon:

.....Braathens reiterated recent findings showing that the seasonal depletion of ozone in the upper atmosphere was expected to continue for longer than expected despite the control measures.

"Although ozone depleting substances are on the way down slowly... we will in the next couple of decades expect to see ozone holes of the size we are seeing now," he said.

Ah, so it's "expected to continue for longer than expected." I see. In other words, "The good effects we promised won't happen until after we ozone-scientists retire."

Imagine that.

Yikes

I found this Yahoo image and realized that there's probably nothing you could dress a woman in that would make her entirely undesirable, well, to me anyway. Then I saw a braless Babs Streisand on Drudge. Theory defenestrated.

Freshman English

"So Holden Caulfield was expelled for academic
failure, and like me he had a unique vision..."

Also: Yes, of course Jodi Foster has been warned.

Historic Doodles

Seen the doodles by President Kennedy? This is from the book 'Presidential Doodles,' just released by Basic Books.

Handwriting experts hired by the late president's brother said, "This doodle shows an ability to look at the 'big picture.' You may notice a motor car, driving perfectly straight on a dry road just above the sketch of a yacht at sea. This shows an ability to combine diverse elements into a complete whole."

Has the World Gone Insane?

I don't ever stay for the credits once the movie is over. I mean they're just so loooong these days. Like really, "Ms Streisand's dog walked by...." or "lunch for the person who walked Ms. Streisand's dog provided by...." There's just so much more important information out there - I can't be wasting precious brain space on the name of the guy(s) who give Mr. Baldwin back rubs. Anyway I always suspected that "casting by..." was a made up job. Now there's proof:

Sean Penn may play Einstein for TV film
ROME, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn may wind up portraying legendary physicist Albert Einstein for a joint U.S.-Italian TV film production.

Penn, 46, is reportedly interested in working with writer/director Liliana Cavani, the Italian news agency ANSA reported Tuesday....

Someone want to explain this one to me? Shouldn't Rob Schneider be ahead of Mr. Penn in the line for this part?


***Update:There are just so many good Sean Penn quotes - I think this is my favorite though:

I think that people like the Howard Sterns, the Bill O'Reillys and to a lesser degree the bin Ladens of the world are making a horrible contribution.
-Sean Penn

Sugar Shoes, Yeah, Sugar Shoes

Out of curiosity, I followed a referral link today and found what this page looks like in Korean. Pretty interesting, but the translation back into English was even better.

Which translates back to:

Are we the Lumberjacks?
Method this it is as cold as ice:
San Francisco - Nagg Sis it will decrease until now in the pond and it drops the bobber and actual each American child probably the fish which seizes 1 thing like this shedding of blood of joint ownership Ji with a terrorism is enlisting from battle.

The sugar shoes is what the bomb the thing bowling and in surroundings of the total airport of the fish, against the wall you searches them in very end and you opposition side in the case which it puts out and the splatted it is knowing. The point which means that the gerbils will work just in time well profit-making one trick, but me, will bet.

Reminder to Christians and Jews

Just a reminder to continue not rioting over the holocaust cartoon festival in Iran. It's been a month now and so far the call-them-a-holes-and-forget-it approach to not rioting seems to be working.

They're Coming

"We swear to God to send you people who adore death as much as you adore life."

Oh man, couldn't they have first sent men who adore death as much as I adore pickles? Or, send the guys who adore pipe tobacco as much as I adore math? I know, send the guys who adore Angelina Jolie but then feel so guilty about it that they have to set their sisters and daughters on fire to balance their twisted internal spiritual bookkeeping... oh wait, they've already sent those guys.

Watch for PETA

How cool is this:

SAN FRANCISCO - A type of fish so common that practically every American kid who ever dropped a fishing line and a bobber into a pond has probably caught one is being enlisted in the fight against terrorism.

What you do is put bowls of fish all around the airport, and if you find them splatted against the wall on the other side of the terminal, you know it was a bomb. Clever trick, but I'll bet gerbils would work just as well.

The End of Conflict in Sight?

From the AP:

CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida in
Iraq warned Pope Benedict XVI on Monday that its war against Christianity and the West will go on until Islam takes over the world, and Iran's supreme leader called for more protests over the pontiff's remarks on Islam.

Well there you go. I'm sure that John Murtha envies the other side's ability to articulate their goals. I bet he'd like a little firmer timetable though.

Misunderstanding

Did anyone think it would get better once Muslims were given the chance to read the pope's words in context?
"We've had a few days to reflect on the pope's observations and we've formed a consensus..."

"Interlocutors? What's interlocutor? We're not
interlocutors, you are!"

Evil and Inhuman

See, if you think someone has called you evil and inhuman, what you have to do is prove them wrong by going out and doing something evil and inhuman:

Italian nun shot dead by Somali gunmen

MOHAMED SHEIKH NOR, Associated Press Writer
MOGADISHU, Somalia - Two gunmen killed an Italian nun and her bodyguard at a hospital Sunday, and a security official for an Islamic militia controlling the capital speculated the attack was linked to worldwide Muslim anger over a speech by
Pope Benedict XVI.

The nun, whose identify was not released, was shot in the back four times at the entrance to the Austrian-run S.O.S. Hospital in northern Mogadishu, said Dr. Mohamed Yusuf, a physician at the facility, which serves mothers and children.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came hours after a leading Somali cleric condemned remarks by the pope that quoted a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of Islam's founder as "evil and inhuman."

Now to be fair, this was the act of a few men, which should not bring all Muslims into disrepute. The fact that no Muslims will speak out and call the killing of nuns evil, that is what brings all Muslims into disrepute.

Catastrophe Avoided

By now everyone has heard: Shoppers avoid spinach in E. coli scare

As usual, I was way out front on this one. I've always avoided spinach. I figure if God wanted us to eat spinach, he would have given us little windshield wipers on all of our front teeth.

Polar Bears Grow Wings and Fly

OK, they don't. But news reports that global warming is causing them to drown are just as untrue:

On a trip this summer "We saw a couple of polar bears in the sea east of Svalbard -- one of them looked to be dead and the other one looked to be exhausted," said Julian Dowdeswell, head of the Scott Polar Research Institute in England.

He said that the bears had apparently been stranded at sea by melting ice. The bears generally live around the fringes of the ice where they find it easiest to hunt seals.

Come on guys, think about it. Polar Bears hunt and swim on the edge of the ice. That's where the seals are.(num!) Are these guys saying that the ice is melting so fast that when a bear jumps in, eviscerates his seal, and turns around to swim back, that the ice has melted and he has nowhere to go? Is the ice melting faster than a polar bear can swim? Alright then, quit being bozos.

Answer for Rosie

Almost forgot to answer Rosie's question:

"But we are bombing innocent people in other countries. True or false?"

False Rosie. We are operating on the ground in Iraq. Any significant bombing ended almost 3 years ago. When you hear about a bomb going off in Iraq it is most likely to have been delivered by radical Islamists.

Bring in the Clowns! Oh, and on the left, Boy George.

Mouth Operable, Brain in Hibernation

Is Rosie O'Donnell insane or just ignorant, equating "radical Christianity" with radical Islam?

"And just one second," O'Donnell said. "Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America where we have a separation of church and state. We're a democracy here."

Hasselbeck seemed shocked by the comparison.

"Hang on," Hasselbeck interrupted. "We are not bombing ourselves here in the country. We are being attacked."

"No," replied O'Donnell. "But we are bombing innocent people in other countries. True or false?"

Sure Rosie. Now guess which religion is responsible for these two boys situation, seen here on their way to be hanged for the crime of homosexuality?

I'll give you a hint Rosie, the photo wasn't taken in Pittsburgh.

Progressive Radio Still Strong?

They are. Or so they say.

Air America Radio, the network that features such liberal mouthpieces as Al Franken and Randi Rhodes, is denying reports that it will declare bankruptcy.

See? No problem. They're doing fine.

Also doing fine is Fidel Castro.
El Presidente is strong as bull, "Healthy as Air America," they say.

Kerry Misses the Boat

Kerry is ready for booty kicking should he decide to run again:

“They had money behind the lies, and we did not have sufficient money behind the truth,” Kerry laments.

Asked if he dreads the prospect of being “Swift-Boated” all over again, Kerry counters that he would relish such a fight.

“I’m prepared to kick their ass from one end of America to the other,” he declares. “I am so confident of my abilities to address that and to demolish it and to even turn it into a positive.”

Kerry’s tough talk triggers laughter from John O’Neill, a fellow Vietnam veteran who helped found Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth and wrote a blistering 2004 book on Kerry, “Unfit for Command.”

“Well, he’s got eight times as much time to prepare for us as he spent in Vietnam,” says O’Neill, referring to Kerry’s short tour of duty.

So maybe someone should clue him to the zero-dollar defense: release your service records, John. Then you won't have to travel around the country displaying the hat that proves you were in Cambodia.

And it's "kick their asses," John. You would "kick their asses from one end of America to the other." The thought of a bunch of people sharing the same ass is just creepy.

From Drudge

So the headline reads, Rare White Buffalo Born To Wis. Farm -- For 3rd Time! And the first question that comes to my mind is, "Then who the hell keeps putting it back?"

Course, I didn't read the story; that's always a let down.

Air America

What timing. Of course, the Steinem Radio "jumping on the Air America bandwagon" was being a tad sarcastic, seeing as it's the bandwagon to hell:

The right wing is sure to seize on Air America’s financial woes as a sign that progressive talk radio is unpopular. In fact, Air America succeeded at creating something that didn’t exist: the progressive talk radio format. That format is now established and strong and will continue with or without Air America.....

See that? "progressive talk radio is strong" Who says they don't have a sense of humor?

New Noise

This should spur the sales of new radios:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Greenstone Media, a radio company whose founders include social activist Gloria Steinem and actress Jane Fonda, has launched an all-women, all-talk network across the United States.

Steinem said the network, which is run by women, aims to provide an alternative to current radio talk, which she describes as "very argumentative, quite hostile, and very much male-dominated."

This network "has a different spirit. It has more community. It's more about information, about humor, about respect for different points of view and not constant arguing," Steinem told Reuters in an interview.

"respect for different points of view" sure. I believe that. They are, no doubt, impressed by the wild financial success of Air America and what to jump on the bandwagon. I'm reminded though of Ms. Steinem's other venture, Ms Magazine:

By 1979 Ms. had lost so much money that Miss Steinem had to file for non-profit status. This enabled her to get a $300,000 grant from the Ford Foundation. Whether it helped that she had had an affair with Ford Foundation president Franklin Thomas is not known.

A Question of Time

Time magazine's cover asks, "Does God want you to be rich?" It's sitting on the kitchen counter next to the coffee maker so every time I go by I read the question. And every time I go by, I answer, in my head, "I don't know, but I know he doesn't like me owning an undented car."

Do you get that? Dents I mean. You can drive a heap for years and nothing will touch it, but spend the money for a new car and all of the sudden, rocks, shopping carts, kids on bicycles, and other vehicles' doors will become magnetized to your new ride. Same thing with windshields. I never get a windshield replaced if it's just got those little craters and dings. It's new windshields that attract the really big rocks. Sometimes they'll get you before you even get out of the windshield guy's parking lot.

Anyway, does God want you to be rich? Would he have given us taxes and Democrats if He really wanted us to be rich? Would he have given us orthodontists? Cable bills? The answer is yes, but He didn't say it'd be easy.

A Nephew's Remembrance

I'm moving the following up from the comments section of Thomas's remembrance. It's the memories of his nephew, Brian, on that dark day. I thought they deserved to be up top. Thank you, Brian.

I thought I would share my memories of the day:

I was in 12th grade. I was looking forward to school that day to discuss the Broncos latest triumph with my classmates. I awoke to my mother pounding on my bedroom door. Figuring I had overslept again, I simply made an annoyed grunt to indicate I was awake. She told me to turn on the TV. I watched in shock before going to school. On my way in from the parking lot a classmate told me that another plane hit the pentagon, I distinctly remembering saying the following, "shut the fuck up, that isn't funny." I limped through my first period music appreciation class, where my teacher who had been holed up in his classroom since 5 that morning had no clue what was going on and conducted class as usual. During the break the secretary pulled me aside as I walked past the office and told me my parents had called and asked for me to return home. Knowing that my uncle was a commodities trader I knew this was a possibility but tried not to think about it. I remember walking to my car, saying to myself, "someone is dead. no everything is fine." I got home to find my mother in tears saying everything was fine, it was a false alarm. Reliable information was so hard to come by that day. I hugged my parents and told them I loved them and returned to school. I made it through my free period and micro-economics like the weight of the world was lifted from my shoulders. During lunch, I passed on eating opting instead to watch the news coverage with about 50 other people in the green room of the theater. I'll never forget watching one girl burst into tears as they replayed the second plane hitting. We went to our afternoon classes, Calculus and English, where none of us knew what to do or what to say. Soccer practice that afternoon was cancelled, so I went home. When I got there my mom was in tears, she met me halfway up the driveway "We lost Thomas." 92nd floor Tower 1. It hit me like a ton of bricks, my uncle Thomas was a hero of mine, the smartest and funniest man I've ever known. I was confused, "What? How? I thought everything was fine?" As I said reliable information was so hard to come by. He usually worked across the street at NYMEX, but was at a meeting in his brokerage house's office. The funny thing was that he never even should've been there. He had a bought a seat on the exchange and was going to start his own firm. He was covering for one of his many friends that was on vacation. The meeting he was in had no bearing on him, it had to do with the benefits of the traders in his firm. But that was the kind of man that he was. He'd give you the shirt off his back and never ask for a thing in return and he was always there to back up his friends. So when something came up that would affect his friends he was there to show that he was behind them fully.

Thomas H. McGinnis

In Memoriam - Thomas H. McGinnis

"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."
(Revelation 21:4)

Thomas McGinnis, 41, was a commodities broker for Carr Futures and he usually worked on the floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange. However, on September 11 he had a business meeting at Carr's offices on the 92nd floor of One World Trade Center. It was there he lost his life in the tragedy we now call 9-11.

I received Thomas’s name at random as part of the 2996 project. And while researching his life, it struck me that if Thomas H. McGinnis represents an average victim of this tragedy, then we have lost much more than many of us can ever comprehend. He was by all accounts an exceptional man.

Thomas touched many people’s lives, and I was able to find many comments on his passing from those who knew him best. The following is just a sample of what was said:

When Iliana invited Thomas to our house, Thomas was a teenager,very tall and skinny. Through the years, he worked part time, studied and visited frequently. So they finished college ,got a job and finally any mother's dream came true, they get married. Since the beginning, my younger daughter Eva, and myself, loved Thomas and his family.

Thomas was a very hard worker, extremely intelligent and charitable. In reunions people gathered around him laughing at his jokes. Though the years, I not only saw him as a son , I learned to talk to him like a friend. The happiness was culminated when my beautiful granddaughter Caitlin was born. I am so happy I had the opportunity to tell him how proud I was of him and my daughter Ililana, he was surprised but he knew it was true. Thomas we miss and love you very much. God bless you, we will always remember you.
Love, Mom Ofe
************
I only knew Tommy for too short of a period of time and only saw him at family gatherings and at his outstanding holiday parties. But I got to know him to be a terrific and genuine all around person. He was kind and considerate, very intelligent with super high-energy. I will most remember his wonderfully funny and impeccably timed sense of humor. My heart goes out to Iliana, Caitlin and all family and friends who loved him for their loss. We will always remember Tommy.
************
Thomas was my cousin. We spent our childhoods together in NYC as our mothers were best friends. I remember calling his mom, Patsy, on 9/11. we we're still very much in shock but shared a prayer. It was so tragic as Thomas was moving on & up with his own seat on the board. So his meeting at WTC was to be one of his last with Carr. Tragic. His murder his loss... I am proud to call Thomas my cousin and will always remember those day at Washington HS grounds playing with Thomas and his younger brother James.
************
Tommy worked with my father, Tommy Reynolds, in the commodities business when I was a teen-ager. He came to visit us in Tyler one year and made an amazing impression on me. We took him to the State Fair of Texas and had a blast. He had such charisma and energy that you just wanted be near him and hear more of his crazy stories. He talked about his girlfriend Illianna, who became his wife, with such awe and tenderness. When my family reaches heaven, we will look for his spirit because it was one that brought peace, happiness and joy to all!
************
My name is James R. McGinnis and Thomas is my Brother. He was incredibly proud of his Irish heritage and one of the proudest days of his life was the day he met and had dinner with Gerry Adams. The greatest memories of my brother will be of the trip the two of us took to Ireland 2 years ago. It was the best trip I ever had.
The Murder of my brother has crushed my heart and it is so hard to rebuild. I have wonderful memories of my brother and he will live on forever in my heart.
************
''He read everything,'' said his wife. ''If he wanted to know more about Ben Franklin, he'd pick up four books and read them all.''
************

I was grateful to find so many testimonials to the life of Tom McGinnis. But even if I hadn’t been able to find these people’s good words, I still would have known what a great man he was. It is reflected in his last actions that morning, as shown in this account:

At 10:18, Tom McGinnis, one of the traders summoned to the special meeting, reached his wife, Iliana McGinnis. The words are stitched into her memory.

"This looks really, really bad," he said.

"I know," said Mrs. McGinnis, who had been hoping that his meeting had broken up before the airplane hit. "This is bad for the country; it looks like World War III."

Something in the tone of her husband's answer alarmed McGinnis.

"Are you OK, yes or no?" she demanded.

"We're on the 92nd floor in a room we can't get out of," he said.

"Who's with you?" she asked. McGinnis mentioned three old friends - Joey Holland, Brendan Dolan and Elkin Yuen.

"I love you," McGinnis said. "Take care of Caitlin." Mrs. McGinnis was not ready for that.

"Don't lose your cool," she urged. "You guys are so tough, you're resourceful. You guys are going to get out of there."

"You don't understand," McGinnis said. "There are people jumping from the floors above us."

It was 10:25. The fire raged along the west side of the 92nd floor. People fell from windows. McGinnis again told her he loved her and their daughter, Caitlin.

"Don't hang up," Mrs. McGinnis pleaded.

"I got to get down on the floor," McGinnis said.

The phone connection faded out.

It was 10:26, two minutes before the tower crumbled. The World Trade Center had fallen silent.

When he knew the end was near, Thomas’s thoughts were for his wife and child. A selfless and loving father, husband, son, brother, and cousin until the end. I pray that time has lessened his family’s pain. I pray for the soul of Thomas McGinnis as well, but I suspect it is little needed.

***Update: Forgot to link to the United in Memory quilt project that supplied the above image.

Blogger Slow Today

Something is slowing down blogger today and I'm thinking, so what? I caught a disgraceful political spot disguised as a Charlie Rose remembrance of 9-11 but so what? All the tacky people doing tacky things are just obeying their nature and if blogger doesn't want to cooperate with me ranting about it, then good. They're entirely ignorable anyway. I'll tune back in to Charlie Rose when he's got the water-boarding of Germaine Greer scheduled, and not before.

2996 Site Troubles

If you're trying to search out a loved one's tribute, and the 2996 link in the side bar isn't working for you, you may want to try one of the following mirrors:

Site Redirect

Geckopad Mirror

2996 Project Launches..

Project 2996

kristonia

Google Cache

It seems there has been a great load on the main site's servers but the problem is being worked on.
***Update:And now it seems some of the mirrors may be going down as well. The Google Cache should hold up though.

Moderate Muslims

Over at Gates of Vienna, Fjordman has a long article titled Why We Cannot Rely on Moderate Muslims. Depressing but informative:

Ashram Choudhary, Muslim MP in New Zealand, will not condemn the traditional Koran punishment of stoning to death some homosexuals and people who have extra-marital affairs. But the Labour MP - who has struggled with his “role” as the sole parliamentary representative of the local Muslim community — assures that he is not advocating the practice in the West. The question is not just of academic interest. A 23-year-old Tunisian woman was stoned to death near Marseilles, France, in 2004.

Centre Democrat Ben Haddou, a member of Copenhagen’s City Council, has stated: “It’s impossible to condemn sharia. And any secular Muslim who claims he can is lying. Sharia also encompasses lifestyle, inheritance law, fasting and bathing. Demanding that Muslims swear off sharia is a form of warfare against them.”

Read that statement again, and read it carefully. Muslims in the West consider it “a form of warfare against them” if they have to live by our secular laws, not their religious laws.

Nice Work if You Can Get It

Some people have got it too easy:

A controversy over words at BYU this morning. A professor is on paid leave for suggesting the government is responsible for the destruction of the World Trade Center.

The man on paid leave is Dr. Steven Jones. He's a physics professor involved in the so-called "9-11 Truth Movement."

The part that gets me is the paid leave part. What kind of punishment is that? You're an idiot so go home and we'll send your checks there. Who's an idiot? The guy sending the checks is the idiot. Looks to me as though the guy cashing the checks pretty smart.

And it's not like he had a rough job to begin with. "Oh man, had a rough day today - lectern didn't work, chalkboard got dusty, hell, even had a drawer stick on me." Right, must be grueling teaching at BYU. And this guy figured out how to get out of even that little bit of work. And get paid. Sheesh.

Go Get Um George

Newsbusters:

President Bush's announcement Wednesday, that he wants military tribunals for al-Qaeda operatives he's moved from secret sites to Guantanamo Bay, drew some unusual respect from top broadcast network stars, particularly ABC's George Stephanopoulos and CBS's Bob Schieffer, for its political cleverness. Stephanopoulos declared on World News with Charles Gibson: “Here the administration took an admission, and a mandate from the Supreme Court, and turned it into a powerful political statement. That's some clever jujitsu there.” Over on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, ex-anchor Schieffer told his replacement: “Well, he was very deft in how he did this, Katie....The President stressed the benefits from this program, he talked about how much information they'd gotten from these people...”

Your crouching tiger whine is
impressive but it is no match
for my flying crane style jujitsu.

Seeing Double

Answer from page 37: The one on the left had
to drink to drink to get that way.

Paris is Burning

You know I'm right there for Paris Hilton Happenings. Even for the DUI's, which, it looks like we have another one. From TMZ:

Cops took a booking photo, which an LAPD spokesperson says will not be released. An LAPD source would not confirm if Paris glammed it up for the camera, but revealed "It doesn't look like Nick Nolte."

Well, hey, there's another thing I'm right there for - drunken mug shots of Nick Nolte.

"That's right, I'm drunk. You
think I put this shirt on sober?"

Har

Click to enbiggen.

Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth

John Birmingham wrote, re:Germaine Greer :

"this feral hag..."

"some unwashed and wretched bag lady who had somehow stumbled on to the opinion pages of The Guardian..."

" Less a harridan than a poorly sketched caricature of a harridan..."

"the childless former Celebrity Big Brother contestant..."

"Germaine Greer pulled on her redundant fright mask and charged into print..."

RoP

In Pakistan they're not like us:

Under the current law, approved by a former military dictator in 1979, prosecuting a rape case requires testimony from four witnesses, making punishment almost impossible because such attacks are rarely public.

A woman who claims she was raped but fails to prove her case can be convicted of adultery, punishable by death.

Maulana Fazalur Rahman, a leader of the Islamic coalition, said Tuesday that lawmakers in his group would vacate their seats in the National Assembly if the government tries to get the assembly's approval to change the law.

"We will render every sacrifice for the protection of the Shariah (traditional Islamic) laws," he said at a news conference.

Wouldn't it be refreshing to come across an honest defender of Shariah law? Admit it guys: You just enjoy rape.

Big Brother

I don't keep up with these things, so it was (year old) news to me to find:

Feminist icon Germaine Greer, who baffled observers by agreeing to appear in a reality TV show, made an equally mysterious decision to quit the program....

Mysterious? Hahahahahahahaha!

Germaine Greer

The animal world has finally taken its revenge on Irwin ...

A man died so Germaine Greer decided the time was right to express that thought. What a sweet girl she is.

You can read the article but a pretty good summation is: 1)Steve Irwin has died 2) In the bush, Steve often stepped in stuff that had more class than Germaine Greer.

via Tim Blair.

Despair in Scandinavia

Following old fjordman links from his most recent article at the Brussels Journal, I ran across an old article that chilled me just as much as it did when I first read it:

The German journalist Udo Ulfkotte told in a recent interview that in Holland, you can now see examples of young, unveiled Moroccan women with a so-called "smiley". It means that the girl gets one side of her face cut up from mouth to ear, serving as a warning to other Muslim girls who should refuse to wear the veil. In the Muslim suburb of Courneuve, France, 77 per cent of the veiled women carry veils reportedly because of fear of being harassed or molested by Islamic moral patrols.

Hijab, the Islamic veil, is thus not ”just a piece of cloth”. It serves as a demarcation line between proper, submissive Muslim women and whores, un-Islamic women who deserve no respect and are asking for rape. The veil should more properly be viewed as the uniform of a Totalitarian movement, and a signal to attack those outside the movement. Judged in the light of the Mufti who said that women who don’t wear it are asking for rape, how on earth can the veil be said to be about ”choice”? The freedom to choose not to be raped if you dress in a normal fashion in your own country? Is that what freedom is about in Europe in 2005?

Imagine a "culture" where they use their religion to justify something as evil as rape. The mind boggles.

Crikey

The animals are sad that Steve Irwin is gone.



And they're not all taking it well

Jacques Myard

Remember Jacques Myard, the French (pa-touie) MP who thought France should send troops to oppose Israel in the Hezbo dust-up? Well the frogman noticed (you and what army?) Myard's take on France's promise, well not promise, more of a willingness to briefly entertain the concept of, sending French troops to Lebanon as peace-keepers. Speaking of Myard:

Only he - and his pals in Chirac's government - is suddenly not too hot about it anymore:

The main political parties share [French Defense Minister's] reservations.

Jacques Myard, an MP in France's governing UMP party and a member of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, told the BBC the last UN resolution did not make it clear how France can act.

See, that's one of the reasons why you should always laugh at a bureaucrat and throw stones and horse manure at him, whenever you spot one. These folks are painstakingly deprived of imagination and initiative.

But the "no clear mandate" excuse is transparent. Myard has to say something and it can't be that (in frogman's words):

France doesn't want her soldiers to do some soldiering (Honest. There's only Myard and a couple like him, but they're deluded and they want to fight Israel, not Hizballah). Plus, do you really mean us to fight our Muslim lords and masters anyway?

Guilt Trip

Who says women don't have power? If ONE of you southern california girls had gone out with this guy back in 1992, he'd be a clerk in a health food store now.

Light Audio

Miller Time

Yikes, Michelle Malkin is calling for a Miller Beer boycot and listed many Miller products:

Miller Lite
Miller Genuine Draft
Miller Genuine Draft Light
Miller High Life
Miller High Life Light
Sharp's non-alcohol brew
Red Dog
Icehouse 5.0
Icehouse 5.5
Icehouse Light
Southpaw Light
Leinenkugel's Original
Leinenkugel's Light
Leinenkugel's Red Lager
Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss
Leinenkugel's Apple Spice (seasonal)
Leinenkugel's Berry Weiss
Leinenkugel's Oktoberfest (seasonal)
Leinenkugel's Creamy Dark
Leinenkugel's Big Butt Doppelbock (seasonal)
Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat
Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve
Henry Weinhard's Blue Boar Pale Ale
Henry Weinhard's Classic Dark
Henry Weinhard's Northwest Trail Blonde Lager
Henry Weinhard's Hefeweizen
Henry Weinhard's Summer Wheat

Hamm's
Hamm's Draft
Hamm's Special Light
Olde English 800 Malt Liquor
Olde English HG800
Olde English HG800 7.5
Magnum Malt Liquor
Mickey's Malt Liquor
Mickey's Ice
Milwaukee's Best
Milwaukee's Best Light
Milwaukee's Best Ice
Foster's Lager
Foster's Special Bitter
Peroni Nastro Azzurro
Pilsner Urquell
Sheaf Stout
Sparks
Sparks Light
Sparks Plus 7%
Sparks Plus 6%
Steel Reserve Triple Export 8.1%
Steel Reserve High Gravity
Steel Reserve High Gravity 6.0
Steel Six

Darn, add one package of gone-to-leather bologna to that list and it's an exact inventory of my fridge.

Ernesto Damage Report

From the lumber-peeps in Florida, the above carnage seems to be the worst of it. In Bush's defense, it should be noted that many presidents seem to create wimpier hurricanes in their second term.