J's Cafe Nette

Archive for July 5th, 2007

There is an update posted by Michael Yon on his piece entitled “Bless the Beasts and Children.”

It is worth a read and I found one segment of this article particularly interesting.

Update on “Bless the Beasts and Children”
Baqubah, Iraq

As the investigation unfolds more pertinent details, I’ll continue to update the story. But the biggest question rippling across the internet—“Why hasn’t the mainstream media picked this up?”—is something only representatives of mainstream media can answer.

In fairness, several large outlets did publish it online: National Review Online and Fox News were both quick to place the story prominently on their websites. A few others also published excerpts. It was even briefly up on the Drudge Report. On the blog front, Instapundit, Hugh Hewitt, Blackfive, Andrew Sullivan, Captain’s Quarters and many others picked it up.

But for those publications who actually had people embedded in Baqubah when the story first broke and still failed to cover it, their malaise is inexplicable. I do not know why all failed to report the murders and booby-trapped village: apparently no reporters bothered to go out there, even though it’s only about 3.5 miles from this base. Any one of the reporters currently in Baqubah could still go to these coordinates and follow his or her nose and find the gravesites.

On this question of media selectivity, the blogosphere has become incensed that big media mostly ignored the murders, especially given that there are reporters currently in Baqubah. Newsbusters and countless others are on it. More disturbing to many bloggers is that major mainstream players were busted (again) by Pajamas Media just days ago for reporting outright fabrications of a “massacre” that never occurred.

It is a sad day when we must now count on the internet and bloggers to report a story of this magnitude. Is the MSM afraid public opinion might just swing the other direction if they recognize in pictoral form that these thugs think nothing of murdering animals, women, men and yes even children in cold blood?

I can think of no other reason they would shy away from Michael’s reporting. He has given us the good and the bad, but he is not an ambulance chaser. He doesn’t look only for the latest car bomb or ied explosion. He is with units who are involved in battle and points out our successes and failures.

Mr. Yon does not have the answer as to why major media won’t print his work, but he makes them a very generous offer in this piece. I will be waiting to see if any decide to accept.

Tweet This Post

Considering recent events in England, this article makes one wonder how many are involved in this ring of terrorists associated with the medical profession.

45 Muslim doctors planned US terror raids

A group of 45 Muslim doctors threatened to use car bombs and rocket grenades in terrorist attacks in the United States during discussions on an extremist internet chat site.

Cyber-terrorists: Tariq Daour, Younis Tsouli and Waseem Mughal

Police found details of the discussions on a site run by one of a three-strong “cyber-terrorist” gang.

They were discovered at the home of Younis Tsouli, 23, Woolwich Crown Court in south-east London heard.

One message read: “We are 45 doctors and we are determined to undertake jihad and take the battle inside America.

“The first target which will be penetrated by nine brothers is the naval base which gives shelter to the ship Kennedy.” This is thought to have been a reference to the USS John F Kennedy, which is often at Mayport Naval Base in Jacksonville, Florida.

HT: Jules Crittenden

Tweet This Post

How different things would have been if he had used the same type of diplomacy on people who criticized the war in Iraq.
There would be no Libby commutation or pardon necessary.

This isn’t bashing Bush. It’s just a what if and a thought.

President Bush´s support for Vladimir Putin at their brief summit puzzles Russia scholars, who say the Russian president is being rewarded for behavior the West should be discouraging.

At the end of Putin´s visit to the Bush family compound on the rugged Maine coast, Bush praised the Russian leader for his truthfulness and frankness _ evidence that Russia is once again considered a nation to be reckoned with.

“Here´s the thing, when you´re dealing with a world leader, you wonder whether or not he´s telling the truth,” Bush told reporters Monday. “I´ve never had to worry about that with Vladimir Putin. Sometimes he says things I don´t want to hear, but I know he´s always telling me the truth.”

Later, Putin seemed to equate Russia´s record on human rights and press freedom _ both widely criticized _ with that of the United States.

“Speaking of common democratic values, we are guided by the idea and principle that these are important both for you and for us,” Putin said. “Even in the, shall we say, sustainable democracies, mature democracies, we see basically the same problems … It has to do with the relationship with the media; it has to do with human rights.”

Bush did not react to the evident comparison.

Bush and Putin have had a personal friendship since June 2001, when both held their first summit in Slovenia. “I looked the man in the eye,” Bush told reporters after that meeting. “I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy … I was able to get a sense of his soul.”

The friendship has undergone strains that might have wrecked others. In February, the Russian president accused the U.S., and by implication the Bush administration, of using “an almost uncontained hyper use of force” in global affairs.

And in recent months, Putin seemed to compare the U.S. to Nazi Germany, and threatened to target Europe with missiles if the U.S. builds a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, as planned.

Story

Tweet This Post

This isn’t good news. Just when you thought that things couldn’t get any worse in Iraq, here comes this jerk.

As Americans celebrate the 4th of July today, Al Qaeda’s top deputy Ayman Zawahiri is appearing in a new internet video praising jihadi fighters in Iraq and elsewhere. Dressed in all white and sitting before a news studio background, Zawahiri warns Americans that “Today, the wind – by grace of Allah – is blowing against Washington.”

In the hour and half long video, which surfaced today on the website Strategic Translations, a translation and terror analysis firm, Zawahiri urges his followers to hurry to Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, and Somalia.

He also offers a message of confidence to the jihadi fighters in prison saying that victory in Iraq and Afghanistan will come soon.

“You must be patient and steadfast,” he says. “Rejoice, for victory is near, with Allah’s permission, and the herds of crusaders have begun to split up and their sole concern has become searching for a way out.”

Entitled “The Advice of One Concerned,” the video has English subtitles and includes clips from other videos and news broadcasts, including one from Al Furqan, the video production arm of the Islamic State of Iraq. There is a brief clip of Thomas Kean, chairman of the 9/11 Commission, speaking about the security challenges facing the United States. Also appearing on the tape is a clip of Abdul al-Bari Atwan, the editor of a London-based Arabic newspaper. In the clip, from an appearance on an Arabic news channel, Atwan declares that al Qaeda has become stronger since the September 11th attacks and that is truly an international organization.

Video and Story

Tweet This Post

Another politicians brat bites the dust.
Examples

The 24-year-old son of former Vice President Al Gore was arrested for drug possession on Wednesday after he was stopped for speeding in his hybrid Toyota Prius, a sheriff’s official said.

Al Gore III — whose father is a leading advocate of policies to fight global warming — was driving his environmentally friendly car at about 100 miles per hour on a freeway south of Los Angeles when he was pulled over by an Orange County sheriff’s deputy at about 2:15 a.m.

The deputy smelled marijuana and searched the car, said sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino. The search turned up a small amount of marijuana, along with prescription drugs including Valium, Xanax, Vicodin, Adderall and Soma. There were no prescriptions found, he said.

Gore was arrested on suspicion of drug possession and booked into the Inmate Reception Center in Santa Ana, about 34 miles south of Los Angeles, on $20,000 bail. Although he quickly identified himself as the son of the former vice president, Amormino said Gore received no special privileges.

Gore made bail and was released at 2 p.m., Amormino said. He will receive notice of a court date within 30 days.

The youngest child and only son of the former vice president, Gore has had previous brushes with the law. He was arrested in 2003 for marijuana possession and in 2002 for suspected drunken-driving.

Story

Tweet This Post

This was done by none other than Rep. Dan Burton.
Republicans actually stayed in power for six more years. Is this a good sign for the Democrats? I don’t think so because things are usually less tolerated the second time around.
It’s amazing how soon politicians forget the waste of time and money on things that don’t really change the lives of people they represent.

March 1, 2001
A House panel has opened a new round of hearings this afternoon into former President Bill Clinton’s controversial late-term pardons, a day after reaching an agreement with Clinton’s lawyer on viewing a list of donors to Clinton’s library foundation.

The House Government Reform Committee has begun the new round of hearings, with three former top White House aides scheduled to appear before Chairman Dan Burton’s panel to testify about the final days of decision-making that led to Clinton’s last-minute pardons.

Former White House Counsel Beth Nolan, Chief of Staff John Podesta and adviser Bruce Lindsey will likely tell the committee about the deliberations over the controversial pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich, which has sparked two congressional and one federal criminal probe.

Clinton, hoping to put the pardons scandal to rest, has waived any executive privilege claims and given his aides approval to testify freely when they appear before the panel.

The committee subpoenaed the three aides in its widening investigation of possible influence peddling or links between campaign donations and the pardon of Rich and others on Clinton’s last day in office. Marc Rich’s ex-wife Denise gave more than $1 million to Democratic causes and $450,000 to the Clinton library.

The committee and a lawyer for Clinton reached an agreement Wednesday that will give congressional investigators access to a winnowed-down list of donors to the Clinton Library Foundation, one day before the committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on some of the pardons meted out by Clinton during his last hours as president.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet This Post

An honest politician, how refreshing. Its two bad that we have to go all the way to Australia to find one.

Australia has admitted that securing oil is a key factor behind its continued troop deployment in Iraq.
It is the first time such an admission has been made, correspondents say.

Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said that maintaining “resource security” in the Middle East was a priority for the government in Canberra.

But he added that the main reason troops were still in the Gulf was to ensure that the humanitarian crisis there did not worsen.

Australia was involved in the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and has about 1,500 military personnel still deployed in the region. There are no immediate plans to bring them home.

Story

Tweet This Post

Minnesota police have found the bodies of three babies in recent years, all dumped in the Mississippi River.

Two of the children appear to be from the same mother and are caucasion. The third, a little girl, appears to be of American Indian descent.

A couple from Florida took the first two bodies and buried them next to their stillborn daughter under headstones that read “God’s Little Angels.”

Why would someone take her own child, kill it and throw it into a river for strangers to find and dispose of?

Wasn’t adoption an option for them? And for the mother of the first two to do it at least twice indicates she has no value for human life, even if it came from her body. The same can be said about the second mother and I use the word “mother” in a loose sense.

When I remember the births of my own children I remember how thrilled and happy I was when I saw them for the first time. The love I felt for them while they were in my womb was strong, but seeing them taught me what love for a child really is.

The births of my children are two of the happiest moments of my life, and I will remember them forever. You forget all the pain as soon as that baby is plopped on your stomach and you see him or her lift its little head and look you straight in the face. Then you melt as you are crying tears of joy.

I cannot fathom anyone doing this to someone who came from their body. I can’t fathom anyone doing this to any child.

Tweet This Post

Reading this story breaks my heart.

A woman and two children are dead and a third child is in serious condition because the woman stepped out of her van to ask directions to a Fourth of July picnic and her van began to roll down a steep hill.

She got back into the van, but by then it was too late. Twenty-five minutes later scuba divers recovered the bodies and the one child who survived.

No matter how safe you think you are you need to double and triple check.

If you get out of a car with the engine running you are asking for trouble.

Put the car in park, which she may have done. Activate the emergency brake. Turn off the engine and remove the keys. And for goodness’ sake take any children out of the car instead of leaving them there alone.

I know it sounds like a pain in the neck, but three people could still be alive if safety had been a number one priority.

We took our grandchildren to see fireworks last night. I opened the hatch to the back and the kids lay in the back where the third row of seats would be if we had them pulled up.

I set the brake, turned off the engine, removed the keys and joined them and my husband at the back of the car, while everyone was sitting there watching the fireworks. We were on flat ground in a parking lot, but we are very particular about safety in our cars. The rule in our family is if you want to ride in our vehicle you will wear your seat belt and small children will be in approved car seats.

I’ve read too many sad stories like this recently and we just need to use common sense. I know this woman thought everything was safe, but it turned out it wasn’t.

Tweet This Post

Yesterday you might have read an exchange between Guss and me in the comments where I mentioned Mama and Dada.

These were the two fine people who raised us in their older years.

Mama was our grandmother’s sister, our great-aunt. Dada was a full-blooded Mohawk who fell in love with a woman from our tribe, and when she died, he put his children in private school and boarded with our great-grandmother and great-aunt.

I don’t know a day in my life up until the age of 23 when I didn’t have Mama and Dada.

She was the strict one. Sometimes I used to say she’d start hollering from the time her feet hit the floor in the morning until she put them in bed at night, but that’s not true.

She had a sense of humor, but we were held accountable for our mistakes, even if she tried to help us out of any trouble we might have gotten into.

Though she was technically a full-blooded Penobscot Indian, she had the most steely blue eyes that could bore right through you if you were lying to her.

You could tell if Guss was lying because his ears turned red. He doesn’t lie now but his ears turn red when he’s teasing and he is a tease. He used to make me so mad by teasing me and then when I’d go after him he’d take off and play with his friends for the day and I never caught up with him.

Dada went to Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, where he learned just about every trade there is. His roommate was Jim Thorpe. Yes, that Jim Thorpe.

So many times I’d hear him talking of Jim Thorpe and never paid attention. I wish I had listened to those anecdotes now.

Dada was hit with a steel beam in construction, and as a result, went deaf and had a broken nose he never got fixed. He had huge hands.

Dada was a teaser too. He’d say something to tease us and then put his hand over his mouth and shake his body laughing quietly.

One evening Guss and I put on boxing gloves and started boxing in the kitchen where Dada hung out.

Surprising myself, I began to beat Guss by getting him near the refrigerator and punching. I can still hear Dada saying, “Atta boy, Sister! Atta boy!” He always called me “Sister” and had a nickname for Guss from the day he first saw him. Guss loved him so much he even smiled at him the first time he met him as an infant.

When it came time for him to get angry enough to think we deserved a spanking he would reach for his belt. It didn’t take more than once for me to realize it was better to take the punishment than to run because it was worse when I got back. When I saw the belt get unbuckled I just leaned over his knees and got my spanking, which, as I recall, was not that serious.

Dada insisted we do our alphabet when we were in kindergarten and to learn how to write our names. Every night we sat at the oak dining room table and went through our exercises. (Despite his best efforts, my handwriting is atrocious.)

Dada was a hard worker and was digging huge trenches in our front yard to fix the plumbing when he was in his sixties and after a long day’s work.

Mama made baskets all day and was also an efficient housekeeper, although making me clean the corners of the stairs to her satisfaction got to be a bit tiresome because I had to re-do them so much. The centers were perfect, but I could never seem to get the corners right or the huge bathroom just right either.

My mother decided she wanted me when I was twelve years old and I moved in with her. I still had the values instilled in me by Mama and Dada and knew I could go to them and talk to them at any time. With Dada I had to put my mouth up to his right ear and tell him in a normal voice what I wanted to say.

Mama had a stroke when she was 73 and her brother put her into a nursing home, where she died five years later.

After I was married I moved out of state, but when my husband went overseas for a year I moved back home and took Dada down to see her at least every other week. He would stop and buy her ginger ale and ice cream.

Watching him pull himself up by the bars on her bed to give her a peck on the cheek made me realize these two wonderful people I loved so much really loved each other too.

They started raising us when they were in their mid to late fifties and early sixties. They didn’t have to do what they did for us, but they did it and they loved us just because.

Today I salute Mama and Dada and I’m sure Guss feels the same.

God broke the mold when He made them.

(Guss, if you take this post down I’m going to come up there and get the boxing gloves out again. )

Tweet This Post

Wednesday I read a story in my hometown newspaper about a 22 year old young man who had been killed in Iraq.

It’s never pleasant to read these stories but I owe them the time to read about their death and/or funeral after what they have given to our country.

I was struck by the words of his father, quoted below:

Paul House told mourners that he imagined his son’s transition from a bloody battle in this world to the sublime peace of the next as a gradual and soothing realization.

“As you marched onward in battle, you noticed that your helmet feels weightless and that your armored vest feels like an angel took it off your shoulders,” House said. “You no longer hear the sound of gunfire and bombs. The hot sun is no longer beating on your weary body. You then look down at your feet and notice that the dust you were walking in has turned to gold.”

House imagined his son being welcomed into Heaven by Jesus with “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. You are safe with me at last. You have fulfilled your mission in life and will be at peace with me for eternity.”

I am humbled by this young man’s sacrifice and by his parents and brothers. May God keep him in His bosom for all eternity.

Tweet This Post

With the cost of applications for citizenship going up and the fight in the Senate last week over illegal immigration more legal immigrants are applying for citizenship.

The measure, a bipartisan compromise supported by President Bush, would have created a path to legal status for illegal immigrants, among other actions.

After it failed, Mr. Álvarez, a real estate agent from Whittier, Calif., took down information from El Piolín’s show and registered in a citizenship workshop.

“I realized that I want to be able to vote and speak up for my people, because they are not getting enough support,” Mr. Álvarez said yesterday in a telephone interview. “I want everybody to be able to come out of the shadows.”

Federico Gutiérrez, 53, a longtime legal resident of Chicago who was born in Mexico, said large protests in March 2006 in support of an immigration overhaul made him decide that it was time to engage in American politics.

When the debate turned angry, Mr. Gutiérrez said, he wanted to be able to influence lawmakers who he believed favored immigrants.

He prepared his application and brushed up on his English and American history in classes offered by the New Americans Initiative, a citizenship campaign financed by Illinois. He became a citizen in May.

“Now if I don’t like the way things are going, I can let the government know my opinion,” Mr. Gutiérrez said in a telephone interview.

Some legal immigrants, particularly Hispanics, have said they were unfairly tarred in the debate over the Senate bill, which failed in part because of vehement opposition from conservatives who said it offered blanket amnesty to illegal immigrants.

“A lot of people who are here legally are made to feel like lepers,” said Rachel Duverge, 24, a Florida resident born in the Dominican Republic who was among the new citizens sworn in yesterday at Walt Disney World.

Ms. Duverge said she became a citizen in part because she was eager to vote in the presidential election next year. President Bush, she said, “has not handled immigration well.”

It seems Bush can’t win for losing. He supported the bill but is being criticized by those he supported because the Senate couldn’t get the bill passed. And the whiners on the right wing will just whine louder when these new citizens vote for Democrats.

To become citizens, immigrants have to be legal permanent residents who have lived continuously in the United States for five years. They cannot have a criminal record and must pass tests to show proficiency in English and a basic knowledge of American history and government.

If I had to take a test to become an American citizen I’d like to think I could pass it, but from what I’ve seen from comments on other sites a lot of American-born people don’t know our history or simple civics.

To our newest citizens I say “Welcome to America where you can be anything you put your mind to being.”

Tweet This Post