At the risk of offending our readers who might be Chargers or Jets fans, this game is as exciting as watching my jalepeno plants grow outside. Considering there are probably a total of 50 fans of either team, I doub that will offend anyone. Anyways, on to the Round the Reader.
What do the following items have in common?
Air Force Coach Fisher DeBerry: “It just seems to be that way, that Afro-American kids can run very, very well.”
Joe Paterno: “You’ve gotta be careful how you say things sometime because poor DeBerry got in trouble, but the black athlete has made a big difference.”
White Settlement, Texas: The mayor and City Council, expressing concerns about racism implied by the city’s name, decided to ask voters to change it to West Settlement.
Answer: All three are instances of invented racism. Allow me to make up my own cause for racism. Osama Bin Laden is recruiting white people for attacks on the West, clearly a good idea for a group which wants to find people to blend in and not be suspected of launching a terrorist attack. Perhaps though he’s trying out a new philosophy called affirmative action, or reverse racism.
British soldiers in Iraq have created a music video to the song ‘Way to Amarillo.’ It’s not as funny, or good, as the ‘Kokomo’ remake ‘Kosovo,’ but it’ll do.
When the Norwegian soldiers sang ‘Kosovo,’ some people cried out saying they should not have done so because they made all Norwegian soldiers look feminine. I’m not so sure about that, but at least they don’t attack in drag. Others do.
Poverty or lack of jobs didn’t start the riots in France, or so argues Austin Bay, but having “cultural islands” within a larger population is at the root of the cause. Iran has asked France to respect human rights and the rights of minorities, something which is all too funny to even comprehend coming from a nation which lynches gay people, condemns Christians and locks up journalists at the first sign one might disagree with the government. At least they found the bomb-making factory in France, and I don’t think it was inside the burned-out McDonald’s.
Mark Steyn’s latest urges Europe to wake up to the war within. He’s got a valid point. France is burning today, but it might be Italy tomorrow followed by Germany.
On the human rights side, it might not be just Iran. A 25 year-old woman died from being beaten by her husband in Afghanistan. Sure, this might be an isolated incident if it didn’t occur all the freaking time in a certain segment of the world’s population.
Some people claim the war in Iraq is very similar to the Vietnam War. I beg to differ on several points, but it’s clear the anti-war side to the protests in both wars are quite similar. They both offer ‘heroes’ who just make things up and become celebrities throughout the world for doing what they do best, lying.
With the talk of investigating pre-war intelligence, or specifically how it was used prior to the war in Iraq, it is time we do investigate the intelligence itself and why it was faulty. Victoria Toensing writes it’s time to ‘Investigate the CIA.’
‘Pirates’ attacked a cruise ship off the coast of Somalia. Pirates they say, but it should be noted Al Qaida both has a precense in Somalia and they have engaged in the art of ‘pirate warfare’ in the past. It baffles me why everyone is looking past the reasonable connection and just dismissing it. Then again, if our media can call Zarqawi a rebel, guerilla, insurgent, militant, etc., I guess they can call a group of radical Islamists attacking a cruise ship pirates.
The first flight from Iraq to Tehran since 1980 has flown, now making it easier for Iran to arm insurgent groups.
CNN is running a story about Republican Chuck Hagel combating the torture issue, calling him a ‘GOP Senator.’ He is, but in other stories CNN calls him a ‘moderate’ or ‘centrist.’ I guess you use whatever suits you best.
Italy has come out and said Iran has isolated itself with the remarks against Israel. With the protests in Rome at the Iranian embassy against the remarks, Italy might have just put itself on the Iranian demonic map. We already have ‘the Great Satan’ (U.S.) and the ‘Mother of Satan’ (England). Do we now have the ‘Brother of Satan?’ We shall see.
Contributor Debbie has started her own blog called ‘Right Truth.’ Knowing her writing style and enjoying her commentary she posts and presents in emails, I encourage all readers here to not only visit her site today, but make it a daily read. If the tornados last night didn’t take her out, nothing will. I wish her the best of luck in her new venture and hope she doesn’t make herself scarce around here.
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JAMIE WILLSON - 
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Chad - 
Harry F. Langhorne -
With regards to the attack off Somalia, that was neither an isolated incident nor Al Qaeda. Having no real government since Clinton surrendered, Somalia has surpassed the Indies for the world’s worst piracy. By my count, this makes the 49th attack since April. These are criminals who do what they do for money. Some of the funds undoubtedly are transferred to warlords, which provides the needed support to operate on such a large scale.
This year alone, we’ve seen two UN humanitarian goods ships bringing food to Somalia hijacked. These scum don’t care if they starve the population; they want their money. The only reason the MSM has picked up this news is (*gasp*) a cruiseship was attacked.
Al Qaeda would not have attacked so many Arab or Muslim ships, they would have focused on western targets. And while Somalia is known to have some Al Qaeda presence, the fact is Al Qaeda doesn’t really have that much support there. Some, but not much.
Bigger question: Who believes that absolutely none of the instigators of the riots in France (and Belgium) have ties to Al Qaeda?
Comment by Nervous Rodent — Monday, November 7, 2005 @ 10:44 am CST
I would not be so quick to dismiss the hijacking to AQ for several reasons. Back in 2002, while everyone was concentrating on Afghanistan and the buildup to the war in Iraq, the United States waged a war against AQ’s maritime order. Included in AQ’s fleet were several seized ships. One hijacked ship was intercepted before it reached port in Italy and there were no less than 19 suspected AQ terrorists on board after they intercepted a small cruise ship sailing out of Morocco. Of course we all know the story behing Abu Nadal.
Included in some intercepted documents when the man known as the AQ skipper was captured was a document pertaining to the strategy in the waterways of AQ. Most of that strategy included attacking cargo and military ships in certain ports and straits in order to have an adverse effect on the world’s economy, but there was also documents included which specifically called for attacks upon civilian cruise ships.
The ‘pirates’ off the coast of Somalia attacked hundreds of miles off the coast. They did not bring any sort of equipment that would enable them to get on board the cruise ship. They carried shoulder fired rockets and light arms. There was nothing of great value to take on the cruise ship. Other attacks similar in nature have targeted cargo ships which they would then sell the cargo and confiscate the ship for smuggling. A cruise ship does not have any cargo other than individuals and it would be quite difficult to load enough cargo on the ship once it was confiscated.
The vast majority of ships attacked by AQ and that were part of the AQ fleet that has been destroyed were ships that were originally out of Arab ports (because of Morocco and Sudan I cannot say Middle Eastern). It is true they want to attack Western ships, but the group is also trying to regain a fleet since their old one was destroyed. The United States alone is spending an enormous amount of money building up coast guard units in countries in the Horn of Africa and around the Arabian Peninsula, not just to safeguard from pirates, but to help prevent attacks by AQ. It’s part of our anti-terrorism policy, not just the anti-piracy policy that may or may not be.
Does this mean it was AQ or an AQ affiliated group? I should have included in my original write-up that it is highly possible AQ was involved but it is hardly a sure thing.
Comment by Chad Evans — Monday, November 7, 2005 @ 1:11 pm CST