The really sad part is that you probably have friends that think this was a good idea.
You may hate the NSA, but I’ll bet you like that terror attacks on U.S. soil are very rare things.
This may surprise you, or not, but there are actually quite a few people in the world who would like to change that.
In real world, the protections of the Constitution do apply only to Americans, and if you use our infrastructure and technology and inventions to plan attacks against the citizens of this country, well, it would be silly for us not to know about it.
Have you seen “The Imitation Game”?
Edward Snowden would be like a low-level clerk at Bletchley Park who saw the de-cryption device, realized they were listening to RADIO signals…just like the English used…and while all everyone at the NSA cared about was German codes, the device also gave the ability to listen to local radio signals…and oh my god he had to tell the papers…which also alerted the Germans that all their codes were hacked.
That’s who Snowden is.
That’s why he’s a traitor (and currently taking refuge in a country we are all but at war with).
Where have all the protesters gone?
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/02/politics/rnc-protest-vermin-supreme/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
“This RNC has been so over-militarized, even attendees were complaining about the level of security,” said sociology professor Sarah Sobieraj. “They were ready with everything — unscalable fences, bomb-sniffing dogs, even long-range acoustic devices, which are nasty.”
The unmistakable message to the protesters: Don’t mess with Tampa.
“It is clear that these extreme measures were not intended to prevent a terrorist attack, they were for protesters,” Sobieraj added. “There has been a shift toward a criminalization of dissent that is a real problem.”
Looks like they spent about $50,000,000 between the city and the Feds. Up to and including those freaky-ass acoustic deterrents. I guess it really is the 21st century. Hrmmm..
(AP) GRAND CHUTE, Wis. – Police say a homemade explosive device damaged a Planned Parenthood clinic in eastern Wisconsin.
Authorities say someone placed the small device on an outside window sill about 7:40 p.m. Sunday at the clinic in Grand Chute, near Appleton.
Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin CEO Teri Huyck said in a statement that there was minimal damage to an exam room and that the clinic will reopen Tuesday. No one was in the building at the time.
via Bomb damages Planned Parenthood clinic in Wisc. – CBS News.
Congrats, Planned Parenthood haters, you now have terrorists out there doing your bidding. Pile on the hate “pro-lifers”, it’s been a few years since someone was murdered in your name, but maybe this latest bit of terrorism will help further the cause.
“Roy, wake up. A plane has hit the World Trade Center”
—
I was sleeping when I heard those words. I don’t remember what my dream was that day, as I lay all comfy in my bed.
I had recently left a job in Colorado and was planning on moving to New York City to continue life and see if a long distance relationship could turn into a viable short distance one (it didnt’). During the move I was staying with my folks in Dallas on that fateful morning, eight years ago.
Quickly rising from my slumber, I moved immediately to the television and watched in horror as the rest of the days events unfolded.
I had planned today to write a bit more about the current health care reform agenda and how those opposed to it aren’t really interested in anything resembling an honest debate. Instead, you can read about that here [1], as I’m going to tell the other half of my 9/11 experience.
Most of the rest of that morning was spent frantically calling on the phone to my girlfriend, and her family and friends, trying to find out if she was all right. She lived in an apartment on Ave A and 3rd street, and I remembered the calm moments of climbing to the rooftop of her building and marveling at the views of the Twin Towers, and the amazing accomplishtments of modern man, as I would enjoy the simple comfort of a cigarette, basking in the glow and energy of the City.
Ultimately a call finally got through, and some semblance of peace returned to my heart. Over the new few weeks the stench of burning bodies and debris became too much for her, and a long bus ride brought her back to my arms, ending the first half of this story.
Fast forward to three years later, and I am living in New York, single, and wandering the town around the time of the Repbuclian National Convention in 2004. Our country had since surrendered its sanity to fear after the events of that September day three years previous, and was currently conducting a war against a country that had no involvement in the attacks. I had marched against the war a number of times, pointing out, again and again (sometimes loudly, sometimes softly) that the war and 9/11 had little connection outside of a tenuous religious and skin tone one.
Vast conspiracy theories about the attacks and the war had been created, and cynicism and skepticism about our government and its aim was rampant. While I never felt that even someone as evil as Dick Cheney could allow such an attack to occur, I was, and am, more than willing to say that politicians are often willing to use the fear they create to accomplish their own agendas.
I am was lamenting this fact in a random bar after a couple of Dewars and waters and having struck up a conversation with the bartender and a couple of patrons about whatever and whatever.
It was then that the other side of the 9/11 hit me.
“I lost seven friends on that day,” the bartender said.
And so the convesation came to a screetching halt. What had been a general lament became a personal attack, and I crossed a line from which it was impossible to pull back.
Now we are seeing the same distrust and conspiracy theories come up around an overhaul of a health care system, and economy, that is eating away at our future prosperity.
It is this level is distrust in one another, and working from vastly different sets of facts and evidence that make the conversation about how to go forward from here so frustrating. In this sense, the attacks on 9/11 pale in comparison to the response to those attacks. As we give into the fear and terror that a collapse of our economic way of life engender, our ability to rationally address the problems diminish. They way forward becomes lost in a cloud of conspiracy and distrust.
This, to me, is the saddest legacy of those attacks. We still haven’t recovered, we have simply transferred the fear of the other, to the fear of the self.
And so it goes, eight years on.
[1] : Most Republicans made clear during the day that Obama’s speech had done nothing to lessen their opposition.
House Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio stuck to Republican positions that the Democratic health-care proposals would give illegal immigrants health care, pay for abortions, and establish panels that make life-and-death decisions. Obama said they would not.
PolitiFact.com, a truth squad run by the St. Petersburg Times, found that there was no subsidy for illegal immigrants in the legislation, no “death panels,” and no public money for abortion.
So my first, and worst, Fallout 3 video just passed 10,000 views on ye olde YouTube. I know that’s not much for some of the popular videos, but it’s a decent enough milestone for a month or so.
In personal book news, we’re past 30 pages and chapter 3 is a slight bit of research away from completion.
In order to keep you distracted and prime you a bit for my book, take a look at the world in 2008 (and 2007). This is the world I am talking to, and the one I’m writing about. This is the world I was made for.
(oh…and sexy new WordPress, good work guys and gals). I think they got the news that I had switched applications...and upped the ante.
Did You Know 2008
Did You Know 2007
BTW, next year you guys need to expand beyond China, India and the U.S. One of the fun little tidbits I like to mention is that there are more Muslims in India than Americans on the planet. Hmm, I guess that is still focused on India. As a quick news note here (and I know I’m not supposed to be blogging so this will be brief), while what I just said is true, it was some nuts fighting over Paradise (Kashmir) that pulled the latest bullshit. They were most likely from Pakistan, but probably had extended family in India. Recall, India and Pakistan became two seperate countries about the same time the United States became one (World War II through the Civil Rights Era). They’ve still got a lot of stuff to work out. As long as we can avoid a war that kills hundreds of millions, we can sadly call it a win.
It turns out I have a lot closer ties to terrorism than even I thought. You might too.
If you have ever given money to a hospital, you might be a terrorist.
If you have ever helped the poor, especially some of the poorest in the world, you might be a terrorist.
If you have ever given money, or donated services, to a school, you might be a terrorist.
Even if you have never advocated a violent action, or done one, or given money to someone who does, you STILL might be a terrorist.
And this is considered one of the greatest “victories” by Bush in the Global War on Terror.
U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis announced the guilty verdicts on all 108 counts on the eighth day of deliberations in the retrial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, once the nation’s largest Muslim charity. It was the biggest terrorism financing case since the attacks of Sept. 11.
The convictions follow the collapse of Holy Land’s first trial last year and defeats in other cases the government tried to build. President George W. Bush had personally announced the freezing of Holy Land’s assets in 2001, calling the action “another step in the war on terrorism.”
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Holy Land wasn’t accused of violence. Rather, the government said the Richardson, Texas-based charity financed schools, hospitals and social welfare programs controlled by Hamas in areas ravaged by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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Prosecutors labeled Holy Land’s benefactors — called zakat committees — as terrorist recruiting pools. The charities, the government argued, spread Hamas’ violent ideology and generated loyalty and support among Palestinians.
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Holy Land supporters told a different story. They accused the government of politicizing the case as part of its war on terrorism, while attorneys for the foundation said Holy Land’s mission was philanthropy and providing much-needed aid to the Middle East.
They reminded jurors that none of the zakat committees are designated by the U.S. as terrorist fronts, and that Holy Land also donated to causes elsewhere, including helping victims of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.
For those completely ignorant of Islam (like most of the Texas jurors in the case) “zakat” is one of the five pillars upon which the religion is based. The word literally means “alms for the poor.” The cultural translation to the Western world would be “tithing” (at least in those religions where tithing isn’t really optional if you want to be a member in good standing.)
Regardless, you can probably guess that “zakat communities” are composed of some of the poorest folks around. And when you take the poorest people in one of the poorest “countries” in the world, you are talking fairly destitute.
One would think that it would be the “Christian” thing to do to help them. Maybe try and build schools and hospitals?
Well, if one thought that, one would be thinking like an actual Christian, not an American one. In the U.S. it is a terrorist act to help the poor.
At least in Bush’s America.
Note: This is the second trial for these folks. The first was declared a mistrial. Why? Hmmm, how to explain this….ah here we go….23% of Texans still thought Obama was Muslim before the election. Understand what I’m dealing with here? Good, glad that’s clear.
Here’s some excerpts from a story about the first mistrial….
The U.S. Justice Department suffered a major setback in another high-profile terrorist prosecution Monday when its criminal case against five former officials of a now-defunct Islamic charity collapsed into a tangle of legal confusion.
U.S. District Judge A. Joe Fish declared a mistrial, but not before it became clear that the government’s landmark terrorism finance case – and one of its most-costly post-9/11 prosecutions – was in serious trouble.
—
His decision came after jury verdicts were read to a packed courtroom indicating that none of the defendants had been found guilty on any of the 200 combined counts against them. Jurors had acquitted defendants on some counts and were deadlocked on charges ranging from tax violations to providing material support for terrorists.
However, during routine polling of the jurors to determine that their votes were accurately reflected in the findings, two said they were not. When efforts to reconcile the surprise conflict failed, Fish declared the mistrial.
—
The case presented to a Texas jury of eight women and four men relied heavily on Israeli intelligence and involved disputed documents and electronic surveillance gathered by federal agents over a span of nearly 15 years.
[I’m sorry, but how is foreign intelligence colllected using Mossad tactics admissable in U.S./Texas courts? Just curious if anyone knows…]
—
Juror William Neal, 33, who said his father worked in military intelligence, said that the government’s case had “so many gaps” that he regarded the prosecution as “a waste of time.”
—
The jury forewoman, who like the other jurors was not identified, told the court she could not explain the positions of the two panelists. “When the vote was [taken]… no one spoke up” about any differences, she said. “I really don’t understand where it’s coming from… all 12 made that decision.”
The judge excused the jurors to work out the discrepancies. About 40 minutes later, they returned to court and the two female jurors both continued to maintain that their verdicts had not been tallied accurately.
As a result, Abdulqader’s acquittal on all counts was set aside, forcing him to face a potential retrial with the others.
Both women had been noted dozing off during court proceedings, and juror Neal said one of them also fell asleep during deliberations. The latter, he said, voted guilty from the beginning, was confused by the evidence and much of the time declined to participate in deliberations.
This is probably the part that kills me the most. Some idiot racist decided by looking at the defendants they were guilty and skipped the actual trial and evidence part (and that assumption of innocence). So the acquittal gets set aside, the government gets to play some Double Jeopardy, and do a better job picking idiots to the jury.
In 2004, the government alleged that Holy Land and its officials funneled about $12 million to Hamas through local charities called zakat committees. The government argued that from its inception Holy Land was intended to be a fundraising tool for Hamas, a contention that was never documented in court.
So it looks like the government argument here was very similar to the Bush Administration argument for invading Iraq; “Sure, these particular people didn’t attack us and aren’t a threat to us…but they sure do look like people who are.”
It was wrong then, and it’s wrong now.
—
On the personal note, I grew up in Richardson, Texas, THE HOTBED OF TERRORIST FINANCING IN THE U.S.
No wonder I ended up being a flippin’ RobotPirateNinja, those were some hard streets.
Should I just turn myself in now? Or wait for them to come get me? After all, I am now it would seem, defending terrorists convicted for helping the poor and sickly.
Curious world Bush gave us.
The McCain / Palin Campaign Debacle continued to roll through like the, pardon my French but there’s no better word…clusterfuck that it is.
This particular post is going to be mostly focused on the interview the McCain / Palin “Team” gave to NBC (GE)’s Brian Williams, and some of the questions is raises about John McCain’s historical responses to crises. There’s also some Palin bits at the end, just for fun.
Also, after much searching a bullshit, I was able to find Joe Biden’s full quote, which I think I’ve only heard once, and then it was lost in a sea of political rhetoric.
—
We’ll start with McCain being “tested” during the Cuban Missile Crisis. From the transcript…
WILLIAMS: You mention Senator Biden’s comment the other day about a new president and a test of the new president’s mettle. One of your very closest friends in the Senate, Joe Lieberman, said on “Face the Nation,” quote, “Our enemies will test the new president early.”
And it has happened throughout modern history.
MCCAIN: Well, look, I’ve been tested. They know me, they know me very well. I’ve been tested. Senator Biden said it. What if Sarah or I had said it? Oh, my God, it would have been terrible, imagine. His own running mate said it’s because he’s young and new and untested. That’s why Senator Biden said, “Mark my words,” “Mark my words,” is what he said, that there’s going to be an international crisis. And then he compared it to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
My friend, I was in the Cuban Missile Crisis. I was on the aircraft carrier “Enterprise” in the air wing. We were close to nuclear war. I wouldn’t predict that for me — I mean, that’s remarkable. When a vice presidential candidate predicts, because a young, untested president is going to face an international crisis like the Cuban Missile Crisis? Unbelievable.
Americans know I’ve been tested.
We’ll get to Senator Biden’s oft-repeated, always-shortened, “gaffe” in a moment, but right now I want to focus on McCain. Note how McCain brings up his experience during the Cuban Missile Crisis [refresher] to say how he, himself, was tested.
McCain is on record, and on YouTube, retellng his experience on the “Enterprise” (and yes, it’s just coincidence that I watched Star Trek II: The Wrath of McKahn this morning) . You should watch that war story retelling now. Watch it all the way to the end, so you get to the part how he wanted to respond to the “test”.
It should be noted that the Cuban Missile Crisis occured in 1962. John S. McCain was born in 1936. He was, therefore, 25 or 26 at the time. This was five years before he would be captured in Vietnam.
In response to the follow-up question, McCain says:
Sure, we were tense, because we listened to what the President had to say, and we had targets in Cuba, and you had your planes loaded with weapons to deliver.
But I also have to tell ya, when you’re that age, there’s a certain spirit of excitement and adventure, and that’s what you’re trying to do. As so, it was also some enthusiasm for carrying out our mission.
So when he was faced with nuclear war, McCain wanted to start bombing. He was kinda excited about it.
This is a quality of John McCain that I mentioned in my general critique on his leadership style and potential.
McCain was not alone in this interview. By his side sat the faithful Palin. Ready to answer the tough questions with gibberish.
Nice. It’s only terrorism when they do it. How about killing a black bear and putting Obama stickers on it?
The carcass of a black bear that had been shot in the head was found wrapped in Sen. Barack Obama campaign signs on a North Carolina campus on Monday, Greenville station WYFF reported.
How about replacing an Obama flag with a Confederate one?
The 4-foot-by-8-foot Barack Obama campaign sign that McLaughlin had posted in the front yard of his Chesterfield County home was gone.
A Confederate flag hung in its place.
Surveying the scene that night, McLaughlin, 78, a Baptist minister and an Army veteran who lived to see the first black person nominated to a major-party ticket, had a message for whoever left the flag, viewed by many as a symbol of racial oppression: “I love you, and God does, too.”
Hmm, I guess that’s actually a pretty good way to respond to this kind of crap.
One other way is to point out the truth of things…which is where I’m going to address the Biden comment. As most the vast majority of political gaffes, this one is all based on the editing.
Now…I’m going to edit in all the parts of the this interview where they make Biden’s comment the new centerpoint of a failing campaign. It’s a decent idea on one side…but the basis of it is a falsehood. I’ve already illustrated how McCain responded to Kennedy’s test.
Before we get to the edits, here is how he responded to George W. Bush’s test, 9/11 (yea, that’s right, it fits, sadly).
On the morning of the 9/11, just moments after the World Trade Center collapsed from the terrorist strikes, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) went on television and immediately began focusing the nation’s attention on Iraq. In an interview with CBS’ Dan Rather on 9/11, McCain said:
To be honest with you, Dan, I never thought that an operation of this sophistication and size would take place. I just never did. But I don’t think there’s any doubt that there are countries — Iraq, Iran, Libya, North Korea and others — who we know engage in proliferation of — of capabilities and, from time to time, involve themselves in state-sponsored terrorism. But never did we imagine on a scale such as this.
The next day, on 9/12, McCain reiterated the point in an interview with Chris Matthews. “It isn’t just Afghanistan,” he said, “we’re talking about Syria, Iraq, Iran, perhaps North Korea, Libya and others.”
So that’s 2 out of 2 for “Let’s Go To War!”
How about the Hostage Crisis?
Looks like he was just kinda mis-remembering that one.
This is getting much longer that I anticipated, I hadn’t realized McCain had done so poorly on these tests.
I was going to make fun of Palin for this…
and
But now it just seems like I’m piling on.
I will say this, however, because of her interview response…
WILLIAMS: Governor Palin, yesterday you tied this notion of an early test to the new president with this notion of preconditions that you both have been hammering the Obama campaign on. What — first of all, what, in your mind, is a precondition?
PALIN: You have to have some diplomatic strategy going into a meeting with someone like Ahmadinejad or Kim Jong Il, one of these dictators that would seek to destroy America or her allies. It is so naive and so dangerous for a presidential candidate to just proclaim that they would be willing to sit down with a leader like Ahmadinejad and just talk about the problems, the issues that are facing them.
So that’s some ill-preparedness right there. But following up with your comment about Biden also, when Biden — what he had done the other night to his Democrat donors, in talking to them in a fund- raiser, warning them saying, “Mark my word, there will be an international crisis if Barack Obama is elected,” he was confirming what he had been saying all along in the primary race.
He had warned voters that Barack was not prepared yet to be president, and that the presidency is not a place for on-the-job training. So there was confirmation that in the comments that he made.
First up, Ahmadinejad isn’t a dictator, and real power in Iran is with the Supreme Commander (or whatever his made-up title is) but pointing that out 100 times won’t work, so I’m going to point out the rest of Joe Biden’s quote, since nobody seems to be able to remember the whole thing.
Mark my words. Within the next, first six months of this administration, if we win, they’re going to — we’re going to face a major international challenge. Because they’re going to want to test him, just like they did young John Kennedy. They’re going to want to test him. And they’re going to find out this guy’s got steel in his spine.
Nice, huh?
Quote the set-up, forget the punchline, and tell the joke over and over. It would work if this was a b.s. election year with a budget surplus and no real problems (i.e. like 2000). Did you hear Al Gore designed, built, and deployed the Internets? Yup, tuned every dump truck himself.
I wonder if they’re doing this to try and keep people from looking into how McCain has done on life’s previous “tests”.
He graduated fifth from the bottom of his class at the academy, and seems to have stayed fairly consistent since.
MisterTweak 2008-10-06 06:06:21 PM
McLost: “what is Barack Obama?”
(Angry barrage of insults)
McLost: “My friends, you ask these questions, and you get an angry barrage of insults.”
—
And here’s what Palin has been pushing.
“For me, the heels are on, the gloves are off,” she announced at high noon Monday to a group of Republican donors at the Naples Beach Club.
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Barack Obama, she told 8,000 fans at a rally here Monday afternoon, “launched his political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist!” This followed her earlier accusation that the Democrat pals around with terrorists. “This is not a man who sees America the way you and I see America,” she told the Clearwater crowd. “I’m afraid this is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to work with a former domestic terrorist who had targeted his own country.” The crowd replied with boos.
McCain had said that racially explosive attacks related to Obama’s former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, are off-limits. But Palin told New York Times columnist Bill Kristol in an interview published Monday: “I don’t know why that association isn’t discussed more.”
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The reception had been better in Clearwater, where Palin, speaking to a sea of “Palin Power” and “Sarahcuda” T-shirts, tried to link Obama to the 1960s Weather Underground. “One of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers,” she said. (“Boooo!” said the crowd.) “And, according to the New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, ‘launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol,’ ” she continued. (“Boooo!” the crowd repeated.)
“Kill him!” proposed one man in the audience.
Palin also told those gathered that Obama doesn’t like American soldiers. “He said that our troops in Afghanistan are just, quote, ‘air-raiding villages and killing civilians,’ ” she said, drawing boos from a crowd that had not been told Obama was actually appealing for more troops in Afghanistan.
I’m telling ya this from deep in the heart of Texas…this is how a lynch mob starts. Just a couple voices in the crowd, agreeing with what the speaker really “means”. You can see how surprised McCain is to hear the man yell, “Terrorist!!”, but maybe he hasn’t been listening to his running mates base attacks. She is calling him a friend to terrorists, which is the same as being a terrorist, which is why the one guy yelled “terrorist”.
And it’s why they other guy yelled “Kill him!!!”
Because they all know you are supposed to kill terrorists….
Even if Bill Ayers never got charged with a crime, never was even accused of hurting anyone, turned himself in, and the FBI guys who “investigated” the Weather Underground got in so much trouble for how they conducted themselves [wait till the bomb goes off, then the plant calls it in] it took Reagan to pardon them in the 80’s for what they did in the 60’s. [note: I was born in the 70’s and didn’t even hear about the Weather Underground until the great documentary came out]
But then again, those are the kinds of facts that a lynch mob just ain’t hearin’, ya hear!
Now get out the way, boy! There’s a doings transpiring.
A Terrorist may get elected President. Only YOU!!! can stop him.
Things are not looking good…for Obama.
UPDATE: This was part of the preamble to Palin’s speech. This is how you incite a crowd.
Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott took the stage moments ago as one of the introductory speakers at a rally here for Sarah Palin. After delivering brief remarks in support of Palin, Sheriff Scott flipped the switch and used Barack Obama’s middle name in order to incite the crowd of thousands of people who have already gathered here.
“On Nov. 4, let’s leave Barack Hussein Obama wondering what happened,” the law enforcement officer said.
UPDATE: Palin campaign spokesperson Tracey Schmitt issued the following statement on Sherriff Scott’s remarks: “We do not condone this inappropriate rhetoric which distracts from the real questions of judgment, character, and experience that voters will base their decisions on this November.”
—
Many of the thousands of people in attendance roared their approval at Sheriff Scott’s dig at the Democratic nominee, whose Kenyan father shared the same exact name as his son.
After Sheriff Scott left the podium, local radio host Mandy Connell took the stage next. She too drew a loud ovation when she said Obama “hangs around with terrorists.”
There is some serious hypocrisy here emanating from Tracey Schmitt. Riiiight, his name is out but the terrorist down the street in his neighborhood (who was given a citizenship award by the City of Chicago in 1997) is in.
UPDATE2: The Sheriff is now under investigation. You aren’t supposed to campaign as a law enforcement officer. But then again, this guy was elected under Bush (and Gonzales) and partisanship “justice” was a hallmark of their administration.
This is perhaps the stupidest idea ever put forth in the arena of foreign relations.
May I quote someone?
All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over ablack, nor a black has any superiority over a white- except by piety and good action.
Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim, which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly.
Do not therefor, do injustice to yourselves.
There’s other parts of the speech i don’t agree with, obviously, but the basic premise is a fairly strong argument against the idiocy displayed by those who would profess that the title of this post is true.
Suicide Car Blast Kills 41 in Afghan Capital – NYTimes.com
KABUL, Afghanistan — A huge blast from a suicide car bomb at the gates of the Indian Embassy on Monday killed 41 people in the deadliest suicide car bombing since the American-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 ousted the Taliban.
Among the victims of the attack, the first in seven years on a regional diplomatic mission in Afghanistan, were at least four Indian citizens: the Indian defense attaché, a political counselor and two other Indian officials. Six Afghan police officers were also killed. Many of the rest appeared to be civilians.
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In a statement Monday, President Karzai said the “enemies of peace in Afghanistan” wanted to hurt Kabul’s international relationships, “particularly with India.”
“Such attacks will not hamper Afghanistan’s relations with other nations,” Mr. Karzai said.
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A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahed, denied responsibility. “The suicide bomb attack was not carried out by Taliban, we strongly reject that accusation,” he said by telephone. “We don’t know who carried it out.”
The Taliban frequently disavows knowledge of attacks that cause heavy civilian casualties.
—
India, meanwhile, is a close ally of Afghanistan. It is building roads and power lines to the tune of $750 million here in what has become India’s biggest bilateral aid program ever.
It has opened consulates in several parts of the country, and promoted initiatives to offer scholarships for Afghan students.
A sad day for many. It is an unfortunate truth to life that good deed do not body armor make. The situation is Afghanistan seems to be stagnating, and stagnation in such a place will allow some very bad people to build very deep roots.
And were not doing such a great job at stopping that, either.
The other big bad explosion in Afghanistan this week came from us.
KABUL, Afghanistan — Local officials in eastern Afghanistan said Sunday that an American airstrike killed at least 27 civilians in a wedding party, most of them women and children and including the bride. Officials of the American-led coalition disputed the report, saying that the airstrike killed militants and that there was no evidence of women and children at the scene.
The attack early Sunday in the Deh Bala district of Nangarhar Province was the second in the past three days in which many civilian deaths were reported.
The president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, has ordered an investigation into a helicopter strike on Friday in Nuristan Province in which the provincial governor said 22 civilians had been killed and 7 wounded.
—
The governor of Deh Bala district, Hamisha Gul, said the airstrike on Sunday came while a group of women and children were walking from the bride’s village, Kamalai, to the groom’s home. Tradition holds that women and children walk with the bride separately from the men.
Mr. Gul said residents had reported finding “so far 27 bodies, including two men, and the others are all women and children.”
He added, “The new bride is among the deaths.”
And so the war continues…
Kansas.com | 03/25/2008 | Patriot Act used in drug case; lawyer riled
The lawyer for a man accused of being a major cocaine supplier for the Wichita Crips gang contends that a secret search of the man’s house under the Patriot Act was illegal.
In a recent motion to suppress any evidence from the search, defense lawyer Charles O’Hara argued that the Patriot Act was meant for “serious matters involving national security,” not drug cases like the one involving his client, Tyrone Andrews.
“I thought that this Patriot Act was something passed to protect us all from these terrorist acts, and it would be used very judiciously,” O’Hara said Monday. “This doesn’t seem to be one where these secret searches would be used.”
Jim Cross, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Wichita, said the office “believes the evidence in this case was legally obtained.”
As a pirate and ninja, I’ve long known that laws targeted one type of malcontent eventually get used to go after all the others.
Robot Pirate Ninja 