The UN security council today passed resolution 1636 calling on Syria to cooperate with the U.N. investigation into the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Syria responds saying they are not happy with the resolution, but will cooperate. Read more at Right Truth
During the coverage of Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s speech where he said “Israel must be wiped off the map,” very little of it was given to the other target of Ahmadinejad’s wrath. I presented a picture in the origninal post that showed Ahmadinejad standing in front of a graphic with a ball painted with the U.S. flag lying on the ground broken and a ball with the Star of David falling.
There’s more to that graphic, thus more to his meaning.
Regime Change Iran has all of the pertinent Ahmadinejad quotes and was the one who found the full picture.
It does not take a rocket scientist, for I am not one, to figure out what Ahmadinejad’s plan is. He intends to destroy the United States which will make Israel topple. Ahmadinejad though believes the United States has already fallen, from where he gets that impression I’m not sure but he hasn’t called me to ask my opinion. Considering part of the graphic is in English, the audience was not just whomever was sitting in the seats in front of Ahmadinejad or other Iranians who might hear of the event, it was the English speaking world too.
Why though has there been so little, if any, coverage of his statements against the United States even in the U.S. press? Sure, threats and ridiculous statements coming from Iran are as old as the Islamic Revolution, but every week we hear another journalist decry a statement from someone in the Bush Adminstration towards Iran as ‘unprovoked.’ Occassionally we the American public are treated to opinion pieces stating President Bush is stoking the fires to go to war in Iran.
Does the no-mention of the rest of Ahmadinejad’s statements adhere to some sort of policy within some media circles not to report the full story when it might mean the opinion pieces previously written were wrong? Sadly, it appears so.
I do not know economics as a whole or the various intracacies of how our own economic model works, but I don’t need to because I’m not a policy maker. Nevertheless, I’m not sure hanging two or three people is how a nation can fix their own economy, though Iranian President Ahmadinejad believes it is the answer.
Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the latest cabinet meeting in the Iranian capital that “if we were permitted to hang two or three persons, the problems with the stock exchange would be solved for everâ€, according to a Tehran-based newspaper.
Ahmadinejad was addressing a cabinet meeting held to discuss the rapidly deteriorating situation at the Tehran Stock Exchange, the daily Ruznet reported on Sunday.
Ministers and experts disagreed with all the different views and proposals raised at the meeting, which came to an end without any concrete results. Tempers flew high and participants shouted at each other during the discussion, according to the daily. Frustrated with the inability of his economic advisers and experts to come up with any solution, Ahmadinejad told them that the only way out of the current stock exchange and financial market problems was to “frighten†speculators by hanging two or three of them.
Iran’s ultra-Islamist President first sent jitters through the country’s markets when he said on the eve of the presidential elections in June that “stock exchange activities are a kind of gambling and we are against themâ€. Gambling is banned in Islam.
Nervous investors have been transferring their capital to other countries, and Dubai has benefited palpably from the flight of capital from Iran. The Tehran Stock Exchange has lost 20 percent of its value in the past four months.
You see, it’s the actual act of hanging a couple of people that will fix the problems, it’s threatening those who take their money and invest in other markets outside of Iran that will supposedly fix Iran’s stock system; the same system in which Ahmadinejad claims is un-Islamic.
The nomination of Judge Samuel Alito by President Bush is seen as Bush “caving into the radical right wing” as some journalists have faithfully stuck with reporting facts instead of opinionating a news story. What though is radical about a judge who was unanimously supported in 1980 by a Democratic Senate? I suppose things have changed in 25 years, and we the American public are led to believe Alito is the only one who has changed and not the lifeblood of the Democratic Party.
Nevertheless, below are some quotes from top Democratic leaders regarding the nomination of Alito. For the record, I don’t exactly share Mac’s excitement over this nomination, but that’s because I don’t know him and I don’t see the role of a Supreme Court Justice as a politica role unlike both political parties do today.
“Immediately after the announcement, the liberal activist organization People for the American Way announced the launch of a “massive national effort” to prevent Alito’s confirmation.”
Senator Harry Reid -
“The Senate needs to find out if the man replacing Miers is too radical for the American people,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada. He chided Bush for not nominating the first Hispanic to the court.
“President Bush would leave the Supreme Court looking less like America and more like an old boys club,” Reid said (source)
Senator Schumer’s odd remarks drawing comparisons with the late Rosa Parks -
A preliminary review of his record raises real questions about Judge Alito’s judicial philosophy and his commitment to civil rights, workers’ rights, women’s rights, the rights of average Americans which the courts have always looked out for.
Now, it’s sad that the president felt he had to pick a nominee likely to divide America instead of choosing a nominee in the mold of Sandra Day O’Connor who would unify us.
America needs unity now. America needs reaching out to one another more than ever. But the president seems to want to hunker down in his bunker and is more concerned about smoothing the ruffled feathers of the extreme wing of his party than about governing all of America and changing history for the better (source)
Senator Ted Kennedy -
“Rather than selecting a nominee for the good of the nation and the court, President Bush has picked a nominee whom he hopes will stop the massive hemorrhaging of support on his right wing. This is a nomination based on weakness, not strength.” — Sen. Edward M. Kennedy , D-Mass. [ed. ]
Did anyone expect Teddy to support anyone Bush nominated? Furthermore, I’ve seen no hemorrhaging other than the veins on Kennedy’s forehead responding to his fury.
Kate Michelman, former president of NARAL-Pro Choice America -
“Now the gauntlet has been, I think, thrown down. It was humiliating, it was degrading and it’s a profound and distributing view of Judge Alito that he would uphold spousal notification as he did in the Pennsylvania case, and it raises concerns about his views of women.” —
The spousal notification was in the 1990 case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey where Alito was the only dissenter on the court. Alito argued at the time “[t]he Pennsylvania legislature could have rationally believed that some married women are initially inclined to obtain an abortion without their husbands’ knowledge because of perceived problems–such as economic constraints, future plans, or the husbands’ previously expressed opposition–that may be obviated by discussion prior to the abortion.” Expect this case to be the rallying cry among the opposition saying simple notification to a husband is an attack on women’s rights but not on men’s rights, as if the millions of men in the United States feel we should just be ejectors and nothing more when it comes to parenting.
I was not going to comment on blogger reactions, but a post by Josh Silver at The Huffington Post is too good to pass up.
The dog is being wagged…. again. During last week’s White House tailspin, Karl Rove knew he had to regain control of the media and turn the discussion away from 2,000 dead soldiers, Miers, Libby and Rove himself.
Today’s nomination of Judge Samuel Alito is another well-timed volley in Rove’s five-year effort to turn the mainstream media agenda to Bush’s favor.
Now what’s even more funny is that Silver is the Executive Editor of Free Press, a so-called “national, nonpartisan organization . . . to engage citizens in media policy debates and create a more democratic and diverse media system.” In other words, he should actually know something about both politics and the media unlike the bulk of the Huffpo celebrities. Someone needs to send Silver, for that matter just about every single media organization, the indictment again to show Rove was not mentioned nor was there even a crime before the investigation started. No outing of a covert agent ever occured, and thanks to the brave media, Rove hasn’t been able to persuade the institution to follow his agenda. Heh.
A Kashmiri group known as Islamic Inquilab Mahaz, or Front for Islamic Uprising, has claimed credit for the attacks in New Delhi this past Saturday. A caller called into a New Delhi police station to inform the police who the group is and why they did it.
The caller, who identified himself as Ahmed Yaar Ghaznavi, said the bombings were “meant as a rebuff to the claims of Indian security groups” that militants had been wiped out by security crackdowns and the earthquake that devastated the insurgents’ heartland in the mountains of Kashmir.
According to the caller, the attack was in part due to Indian intelligence analysts believing the earthquake devestated some of the radical Islamic groups in the area. That’s certainly interesting. It appears as if it was a message not to pay attention to the group’s demands or cave into their will, but to just recognize they exist.
How long did the self-imposed cease fire by Islamic Jihad last? One day at most.
Meanwhile the threat of Al Qaida in Gaza still looms large.
EXCELLENT choice Mr. President:
WASHINGTON — President Bush on Monday nominated Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court to replace the retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
While many Republicans praised the judicial nominee, Democrats wasted no time in publicly blasting him as “too radical.”
“Judge Alito is one of the most accomplished and respected judges of America and his long career in public service has given him an extraordinary breadth of judicial experience,” Bush said in making the announcement in the White House.
“He’s scholarly, fair-minded and principled and these qualities will serve him well on the highest court in the land.”
“I am deeply honored to be nominated to serve on the Supreme Court and I am very grateful for the confidence you have shown in me,” Alito said. “The Supreme Court has been an institution that I have long held in reverence.”
The Washington Post has video of the announcement. More throughout the day concerning the Alito nomination at Confirm Them, Bench Memos and the American Spectator Blog.
‘Batman Begins’ was named 2005’s favorite film at the Total Film Readers’ Awards. I second that motion and raise you ten. ‘The Fog’ though wasn’t so good, or so Rob thinks.
The New York Times notes religion is showing up more and more into football playbooks at universities. ACLU President Nadine Strossen takes note.
Palestinian ‘militants’ have agreed to stop launching rocket attacks into Israel next week claiming Abbas has persuaded them. Are they sure the Israeli counter-strikes which have killed members of Islamic Jihad and Hamas wasn’t part of it? As Ed Morrisey notes, we’ve heard this before only to have a wave of attacks after a terrorist group cried uncle.
Jim at bRight & Early is conducting a survey of bloggers for nominations to the Supreme Court. My top choice was myself, but I don’t see my name getting much traction. My second choice was Michael Luttig. If you’re a blogger and want to participate, shoot Jim a line. The results, I expect, will be announced later this evening or tomorrow so make sure to check back in. Update: It appears the results will be found at this post later in the day.
It appears as if Mark Jaquith at Tempus Fugit is leaning towards Janice Rogers Brown. He pulled some quotes from an opponent to Brown to make his case for her. Confirm Them though states it’s between Alito and Luttig, thus putting a stop to Mark’s drool.
Did Prince Charles have anything to do with the beheading of three Christian school girls in Indonesia? Not exactly, but the Prince is planning on making a voyage to the United States to explain Islam to President Bush. And no, Islam isn’t all about violent acts, it’s just the violent acts in the name of Islam that disturbs us. Below the Beltway correctly notes the problem in the Prince’s position; “We are not at war against Islam, we are at war against Islamofacsism, an ideology that is as much political as it is religious and which is dedicated to violent confrontation with the Western world.” Perhaps there was too much inbreeding in royal family lines.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa blames the lack of a withdrawal timetable in Iraq for causing instability. Then again, this comes from a group which failed to even consider sending Saddam Hussein into exile to prevent a war so take his words with a grain of salt.
Meanwhile Muslims in France are rioting, but they have been for a few days now. Some are wearing t-shirts with ‘Death for Nothing’ written accross it. Al Jazeera has now changed the term ’suicide bombings’ to ‘paradise operations.’
Basil continues his blogger inteviews, this time with Kit Jarrell of Euphoric reality. At least Kit admitted her dependence upon Mountain Dew is troublesome. I’ve heard something disturbing about Yellow 5, but that’s probably just an urban myth.
McDonald’s in Scottsdale, AZ have been refurbished to become four-star restaurants. I don’t care what Scott says, I’m still not paying to eat a Big Mac even if I could reasonably now take a date to a ‘nice, four-star’ establisment at McDonald’s.
Black unemployent has gone down under President Bush, something the Al Sharpton’s and Jesse Jackson’s of the world will notably miss. Perhaps that’s because Bush hasn’t been able to rescue Sharpton from his enormous debt?
Innocent until indicted? Silly Matt, innocent until proven guilty is only applicable if you’re not a Republican. Just ask Howard Dean.
What? Vice President Dick Cheyney is sending Joe Wilson to discover who the CIA leaker is? Will Joe find out it was his own writings? Wait, it’s just satire, but pretty funny satire.
Andi continues to report of protests at Walter Reed, this time with the ‘peace mom’ herself who apparently just intended on using the restroom in the hospital. I just don’t get it, and perhaps I never will, but why is Code Pink protesting at a hospital where wounded soldiers are being treated? Do they have no sense of decency? I just answered my own question.
Firepower Forward is in Pakistan aiding the relief effort and has a series of posts worth reading. Head on over and just keep scrolling.
Turkeyhead finds a t-shirt stand at his local mall selling shirts emblazened with a CCCP logo on it and wonders if kids will buy one and wear it thinking they are cool. If people can wear a shirt with a murderous thug rebranded as a ‘revolutionary’ (that’s Che Geuvara for those keeping score), then sadly I’d say yes.
Thus concludes the ‘Round the Reader.’ If you see something I missed, either drop it in the comments or submit a trackback to this post. All trackbacks will appear directly below the post.
For your dose of “Looney Leftage” today, Human Events has a teaser of Michelle Malkin’s new book, Unhinged, where she notes the “Top 10 Unhinged Celebrities”:
#10: Cher
She claimed that if Bush were re-elected, the government would round up and quarantine homosexual men.#9: Vincent D’Onofrio
The crazed Marine in Full Metal Jacket was hospitalized immediately after the election, suffering from “Bush flu†(doctors found nothing wrong with him).#8: Martin Sheen
The star of “The West Wing†marched through Los Angeles with duct tape over his mouth with the word “peace†written on it.#7: Tim Robbins
The verbose actor warned journalists ominously that “Every day, the airwaves are filled with warnings, veiled and unveiled threats, spewed invective and hatred directed at any voice of dissent.â€#6: Chrissie Hynde
She told her concertgoers that Americans “deserve to get bombed†and “I hope the Muslims win.†Ironically, the theme song for Rush Limbaugh’s show, “My City Was Gone,†was written by Hynde.#5: Janeane Garofalo
Air America’s talk-radio host called the Patriot Act “a conspiracy of the 43rd Reich.â€#4: Julia Stiles
The actress told radical leftists she was “afraid that Bill O’Reilly would come with a shotgun at my front door and shoot me for being unpatriotic.â€#3: Sean Penn
He’s the actor who claimed that Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, shock jock Howard Stern and the U.S. government are greater threats to the American people than Osama bin Laden.#2: Michael Moore
This liberal windbag reportedly couldn’t get out of bed for three days after the 2004 election.#1: Cameron Diaz
The actress broke down on national TV and implied that the re-election of President Bush would lead to the legalization of rape.
I can’t wait to pick up my copy.
According to The Sunday Times, quoting a Palestinian intelligence official, Iran has offered a bounty of $10,000 to Islamic Jihad for rocket attacks against Israeli citizens in Tel Aviv.
Speaking in his Ramallah office, the official produced a fat wad of $100 notes which he said had been confiscated from a pro-Iranian Islamic Jihad activist.
The money was said to have gone from Iran to Damascus, the Syrian capital, from where Ibrahim Shehadeh, Islamic Jihad’s head of overseas operations, transferred it to the West Bank.
According to the intelligence official, the Palestinian Authority has located workshops where “Al-Quds†(Jerusalem) rockets are being made and has given their co-ordinates to the Israelis. “We understand they destroyed some of them,†he said.
While Iran denies they are planning on attacking Israel, they are in fact doing so through their support for both Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah. This is a key step, if not the only step, Iran intends to make for their stated goal of removing Israel off the map.
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