Our good friends in the UAE which include Dubai of the port fame and Abu Dhabi (whose SWF just bought 10% of Citigroup)are helping Iran to bypass those sanctions which are supposed to help us avoid war. The Financial Times reports:
Helen Thomas badgered Dana Perino today at the White House for the umpteenth time. Helen Thomas is an embarrassment who knows exactly what she’s doing–shilling for her paranoiac opinions and disrespecting the President’s representative instead of doing her job–and she uses her age and seniority as cover. Here’s today’s traitorous charges from Helen Thomas and–finally and thank goodness–Dana Perino telling her where to get off:
“Who is the real enemy of Mohammed,” asks Simon Deng, an escaped slave from Sudan and leading human rights activist, “a child who names a teddy bear, or the one who is killing little Mohammed in Darfur?” Mr. Deng, about whom I have written for The New York Daily News and who is one of the leading Darfur activists in the U.S., will appear tonight on FOX News’s Hannity & Colmes at 9pm and on MSNBC Saturday morning at 10am.
It is hard to make this stuff up. At first sight it seems that if a man’s life were not at stake, the story would be funny. Alas, it is not as it reveals that Ahmadinejad who tries to strut on the world stage like a giant seeking martyrdom is nothing but as the Russian press reported, a fearful midget. So fearful, in fact, that he even enlisted impure dogs to protect him.
What is interesting about the latest audio message of Usama Bin Laden, carried by al Jazeera, is its delayed argument. Strangely he is trying to convince the Europeans - seven years later - that they are wrong to have followed the United States into Afghanistan. Why?
Before your New Year’s resolutions have all been broken and forgotten, the presidential nominations could be a done deal, what with IA holding its primary January 3rd, followed in rapid succession by NH on January 8th , MI on January 15th and more than 20 states holding primaries or caucuses Feb. 5th. Reports the Los Angeles Times:
Sudan has found the British teacher who allowed students to name a teddy bear ‘Muhammad’ guilty of insulting religion and inciting hatred against Islam, and has sentenced her to 15 days in jail and to deportation.
Last night, as I watched the Republican presidential debate on CNN, I made notes in between rolling my eyes at how stiltifyingly boring it all was. But then, toward the end, something caught my ear.
For those interested in learning more about the constitutional reform vote that will be taking place in Venezuela this weekend, here are some updates and analysis on the situation:
When they liberated the women of Afghanistan, I was silent.
I am not an Afghan woman.
When they liberated the women of Iraq, I was silent.
I am not an Iraqi woman.
Though the women in many Muslim nations are oppressed and brutalized, I reman silent.
I am not a Muslim woman, nor do I live in any of these nations.
Though a 54 year-old British woman faces 40 lashes and six months in jail in the Sudan for naming a teddy bear “Mohammed,” I reman silent.
I am not her, she is not my problem.
Once I was part of a movement dedicated to stamping out injustice against all women.
But times have changed.
Now all I care about is preserving legalized abortion.
I can–and will–remain silent about everything else.
In answer to a question about whom she supports for the Republican nomination, Rep Mary Fallin (R-Oklahoma), speaking on Manhattan’s West Side Wednesday evening to the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), pointed out that when it comes to Presidential candidates, Americans are a little like commitment-phobic New York singles holding out for the perfect prince or princess.
When you really think about the crop of Democratic candidates for president, it’s clear that their best hope to win in 2008, is not even on the playing field. That current, non-candidate is Al Gore. He’s the only one who can match the experience, accomplishments and gravitas of Rudy Giuliani and yet, the left ignores him.
Great story out of Toronto: An ordained United Church minister named Joanne Sorrill wanted to get a personalized Ontario license plate that read REV JO. But this was rejected by the authorities on the grounds that it might promote dangerous driving. So instead, she opted for the full-blown REVRNDJO. But this, too, was rejected because the ministry was scared it might signal a preference for Christianity over other religions.
Between now and the time the Supreme Court of the United States rules on whether or not D.C. residents can keep handguns in their homes, Americans will be subjected to a torrent of “legalese” regarding the Second Amendment. Making intellectual arguments is a job for Constitutional scholars and lawyers. I am neither, so I’ll just tell you what I think–in plain English.
I can think of two examples off the top of my head of military actions that rational people would not have predicted. I don’t think Macedonian bonds would have sold well in Amsterdam when Alexander the not-yet-Great set out to conquer the Persian Empire. And would speculators have bet on Nimitz instead of Yamamoto before the Battle of Midway, even if they were in on the secret that Nimitz was reading the Japanese naval code?
If you’re interested in popular culture or copyright law, or especially if you’re one of those few who happens to be into both, then you surely can’t have missed the recent controversy surrounding efforts by one Prince Rogers Nelson to remove images and video from online media sharing platforms, and now even from fansites. In September, when the artist formerly known as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince was just targeting YouTube (somewhat successfully) and the Pirate Bay, one could at least acknowledge he was focusing on genuine copyright infringement, even if one thought he was making a mistake. But now,
Josh Marshall takes note of the continued dropping murder rate in New York City. It is on track to be fewer than 500 for the entire year — and a small fraction of those are random, “stranger”-connected incidents.
The Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson captured The Stiletto’s sentiments to a T when he wrote in a recent column, “Finally, we’ve got a real presidential campaign on our hands. Wake up, those of you in the back row, because it looks as if the long-running seminar is finally over.” After detailing the internecine fighting between Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL), Clinton and John Edwards (D-NC), Fred Thompson (R-TN) and Mike Huckabee (R-AR) and John McCain (R-AZ) and Mitt Romney (R-MA), he adds, “Ain’t it grand?”
In the U.S.-brokered agreement reached in Annapolis last week, Israel is to give up even more land to the Arabs, including the entire West Bank, eastern Jerusalem, and possibly the Golan Heights. In related news, the Holocaust Museum will be adding several new wings. [End.]
Jerry will be appearing on CNBC’s Power Lunch today, November 27th. The show airs at 12:00 PM EST. Topics will include Christmas shopping, housing and oil. Be sure to tune in.
The Bush Administration’s long-awaited Middle East conference to resuscitate the near-dead Israeli-Palestinian peace process is now converging on tiny Annapolis, Md.
As the rabbis said: If I am not to myself, who will be for me (so Yuval is a squadron gunner); If I am only to myself, what am I (so Yuval is a periatrician who saves the life of Palestinian as well as Israeli children); and if not now, when?
I am at the moment busy trying to write an article about the Biblical Judith, yes, the one who beheaded the enemy general Holofernes to galvanize her people to war against his Assyrian(?) maraudes. I was stunned to discover that critics have called her a murderess! Maves would delight in making her acquaitance. That is the reason, I was so delighted to find in my mailbox a link to an article which exposes the fallacy and dangers of such old/new critic.
I don’t believe Barack Obama has much of a chance in this race, but he is just now showing exactly how to attack Hillary Clinton on her weakest vulnerabilities. Republicans, take note–read it here: Obama Turns Up the Heat on Clinton.