Half hearted? Congress' response to the publishing secrets is just that.

A letter to my Congressman;

Dear Congressman Herger;

I have just now finished reading the text of HR 895 written by Rep. Michael Oxley. I am unimpressed to be sure. I am reminded of the comment made by Edward Everett after President Lincoln gave his address at Gettysburg. "I should be glad, if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes."

I believe there are close to twelve hundred words in HR 895. However there are six words that are remarkably absent. The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. Without naming the two newspapers that published the details of a classified and highly effective surveillance program, does a great disservice to the men and women serving in our armed forces. They need to know that the Congress that represents them has the courage to face an attack of printed words that will surely come, while those soldiers face real danger defending our nation from those who wish to destroy it.

How many terror plots will not be stopped because the editors and reporters for the New York and Los Angeles Times believe they know more about counter terrorism and surveillance than the people sworn to do carry out that duty?

Mr. Herger, I have an amendment to HR 895. I believe you call it a "gut and amend" bill.
I hope you don't mind if an amateur gives it a try.

Resolution

Supporting intelligence and law enforcement programs to track terrorists and terrorist finances conducted consistent with Federal law and with appropriate Congressional consultation and specifically condemning the disclosure and publication of classified information that impairs the international fight against terrorism and needlessly exposes Americans to the threat of further terror attacks by revealing a crucial method by which terrorists are traced through their finances.

WHERAS Publishing the details of a classified nation intelligence program is against the law.

WHERAS The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times did exactly that on June 23rd of 2006.

RESOLVED That the House of Representatives condemns the unauthorized disclosure of classified information by the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. We also expresses concern that the disclosure may endanger the lives of American citizens, including members of the Armed Forces, as well as individuals and organizations that support United States efforts; and expects the cooperation of all news media organizations in protecting the lives of Americans and the capability of the government to identify, disrupt, and capture terrorists by not disclosing classified intelligence programs such as the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program.

It is my belief that the war against terror is real, and should be treated as such. Portions of the public, as well as the press may have forgotten the attacks on our homeland that bright September day almost five years ago, I have not. I hope the image of that terrible day brings resolve and candor to you and to the members of congress in this matter.

Time to stand up for your ideals, here is your orange jump suit.

Reading the responses from the Times, both New York and LA, they keep insisting that the press is not above the law. I love the quote from William Bennett;

William Bennett, the former Reagan administration official
and conservative radio host, said the "cumulative impact" of both Times stories,
and The Post's disclosure of secret CIA prisons overseas, had brought the
situation to a "critical mass." Conservatives, he said, now wonder: "Gosh, is
there a secret operation we're running that won't be disclosed by the press?"

Bennett favors prosecuting journalists in national security cases, but
believes that bringing espionage charges is not the best approach. He favors a
leak investigation.

"If you go to these reporters and ask who their
sources were, then they're in a Judy Miller situation," Bennett said, referring
to the former Times reporter who spent 85 days behind bars for refusing to
testify in the Valerie Plame leak investigation. "If they don't tell you, they
go to jail. Some of us have been saying for a long time that the press is not
above the law. Sooner or later you have to prove that."

Welcome to the party Mr. Putin

If you want to get on the right side of the war on radical Islamic terrorism, you might want to stop helping Iran and Syria and send in a division of soldiers to join the coalition to kill these killers.

The terrorists have a motto that one-ups the President's 'your either with us or against us'. Their motto is 'your either us, or we will saw off your heads'

Al-Qa'ida group beheads Russians
June 27, 2006 PARIS: An insurgent coalition led by al-Qa'ida has claimed responsibility for the deaths of four Russian diplomats held hostage in Iraq and released a gruesome internet video purportedly showing two of the men being executed.

The video was released on Sunday, the same day that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki presented his long-awaited "national reconciliation" plan intended to reduce insurgent attacks through dialogue and amnesty.

A statement posted on the internet by the Mujaheddin Shura Council in Iraq said: "We present the implementation of Allah's rule against the Russian diplomats to comfort the believers."

Not quite so catchy, but honest as the day is long.

Remember Beslan? These are the same people. You might want to remember that when you are selling missiles and tanks to them.

The Iraqis take their government out for a spin. I hope they know what they are doing.

Just as the US debate over the democrats plans to cut and run, slice and jog or shave and walk, are ending, the Iraq government may be letting them off the hook with this new plan.

The Iraqi Government will announce a sweeping peace plan as early as tomorrow in a last-ditch effort to end the Sunni insurgency that has taken the country to the brink of civil war.

The 28-point package for reconciliation will offer resistance groups inclusion in the political process and an amnesty for their prisoners if they renounce violence and lay down their arms.

The Government will promise a finite, UN-approved timeline for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq; a halt to US operations against insurgent strongholds; an end to human rights violations, including those by coalition troops; and compensation for victims of attacks by terrorists or Iraqi and coalition forces.

If this plan works, fantastic. Bring our troops home if the Iraqis make peace with the Sunis and drive the foreign insurgency out of their country. I have my doubts. I imagine with US troops departing, the insurgency will be going into overdrive. The first full scale coordinated rocket and mortar attack on the new government inside the green zone will put a halt to the US withdrawal, at least in Baghdad.

I want to see more details and I want to hear from the US commanders in the field, but in the end this is their nation, the training wheels must come off sometime. I just hope when they fall, and they will, they are not heading down a steep hill at full speed.

The New York Times, a terrorists best friend.

You know, sometimes the only way to keep from getting mad as hell is to laugh. It helps, but I am still mad as hell at the MSM for putting our soldiers and citizens in danger just to sell papers and get awards.

What's next? Will the New York Times publish the security layout and launch codes for a few ICBM silos in Nebraska?

Death to the pig eaters!

Al-Zarqawi's mother seems to be getting the hang of blogging. Here is a sample.

Greetings to all of my fans and pigeaters destined to have their flesh ripped to pieces in fiery rings of Hell! I met Tom Cruise at a party for Oprah and Ralph, and he seemed like a nice fellow. Short, but nice. He started to talk to me about thetans and I tuned him out. I am getting used to LA, but so many pigeaters.

WMDs in Iraq. The back story?

I want to know a lot more about Mr.Gaubatz, but his story is upsetting and intriguing.

Dave Gaubatz is a former U.S. Federal Agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) and is both an Arabic linguist and a counter-terrorism specialist. Mr. Gaubatz was sent to southern Iraq, along with five other OSI agents, concurrent with the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom with the mandate to search for WMDs. During this mission and with the aide of numerous Iraqi sources Mr. Gaubatz, along with his colleagues, identified four sites that were suspect. The Iraqis who assisted with the mission (ranging from doctors, engineers and farmers, to police officers and government officials) explained to the OSI agents that the WMDs had been buried at the specific locations within concrete bunkers in certain sections of rivers, and in the sewage system. Along with the Iraqi sources' accounts, there was an abundance of circumstantial evidence in the area near each site pointing to some type of chemical/biological activity. This evidence included protective equipment (gas masks), and decontamination and antidote materials, as well as missile imprints. The team of agents submitted a complete report to their chain of command; the report was supplied to the U.S. Weapons Inspectors in Northern Iraq in 2003 as well. The four sites identified were not only never searched, but have not yet been secured.

Meanwhile back at the palace.

What do think the Americans will do about our new rocket, Supreme Commander?

The Americans? I hope they offer me a butt-load of money to stop the launch.

But what about Bush? He says there will be consequences if we launch the missile.

Oh please, I have dealt with American Presidents, they talk tough but in the end they give you money and the technology to threaten them again. It like handing out ski masks and pistols at the front door of the bank. They are just asking you to rob them.

Yea, but what about Iraq? Saddam thought that Bush was bluffing and now he is sitting in one of his own prisons.

Saddam is an idiot. But he still has Americans on his defense team, can you believe it? I would execute your whole family if you were defending someone I had on trial.

When was the last trail Supreme Commander?

I forget, when the people get a little uppity, we hold a trial and then execute a trouble maker, it settles the peasants down.

Especially if he is guilty.

Whatever.

Supreme Commander! The general just sent an urgent message, he says to take a look off the coast.


What the Hell?






Oh crap.....

The cats in the cradle on father's day

My wife had to work today and my daughter spent the night at a friends house, so it was my son and I at church this morning. Fathers Day is not a big day most churches, and the congregation was a bit smaller than usual. Too bad. They missed a great message about fathers, children and parenting. Dan, one of our associate Pastors spoke about his children who are grown now and have families of their own now. But the part that really got to me was his looking back on a sermon he wrote years ago while his children were still at home.

He read about a special day where the whole family enjoyed being together, laughing and playing and having a wonderful time. Later that night as the children were in bed sleeping, he peeked inside his son's room. His son was a few weeks away from his 13th birthday and while he watched his son sleep he noticed that his room was a mess. His clothes, shoes and tennis racquets were all over the floor and the peaceful feeling he had was slowly replaced by one of growing anger. He said that he caught himself before he became too upset and realized that the wonderful day he had shared with his son was more valuable than the condition of his room.

My son will soon turn 13 and the condition of his room seems to be a constant battle between us. I am not willing to write off the prospect of a clean room, but the story did give me some perspective. Our children are growing up so fast, and while I believe there is a definite value in teaching them the responsibility of keeping their rooms clean and doing their chores, I don't want to ruin a day or a week's worth of connecting and learning by loosing my temper and driving a wedge between us. Patience is a virtue that I need to work on.

The topper of the service was the worship team was asked by Dan to play 'Cats in the Cradle' by Harry Chapin. Keith and the music team did a wonderful job. That song gets to me every time I hear it.

A child arrived just the other day,
He came to the world in the usual way.
But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay.
He learned to walk while I was away.
And he was talking 'fore I knew it, and as he grew,
He'd say, "I'm gonna be like you, dad.
You know I'm gonna be like you."

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then.
You know we'll have a good time then."

My son turned ten just the other day.
He said, "Thanks for the ball, dad, come on let's play.
Can you teach me to throw?" I said, "Not today,
I got a lot to do." He said, "That's ok."
And he walked away, but his smile never dimmed,
Said, "I'm gonna be like him, yeah.
You know I'm gonna be like him."

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then.
You know we'll have a good time then."

Well, he came from college just the other day,
So much like a man I just had to say,
"Son, I'm proud of you. Can you sit for a while?"
He shook his head, and he said with a smile,
"What I'd really like, dad, is to borrow the car keys.
See you later. Can I have them please?"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then, dad.
You know we'll have a good time then."

I've long since retired and my son's moved away.
I called him up just the other day.
I said, "I'd like to see you if you don't mind."
He said, "I'd love to, dad, if I could find the time.
You see, my new job's a hassle, and the kid's got the flu,
But it's sure nice talking to you, dad.
It's been sure nice talking to you."
And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me,
He'd grown up just like me.
My boy was just like me.

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then, dad.
You know we'll have a good time then."

The boy was just like me. A powerful image.
We are teaching our children how to interact with the world every day. Through our anger, our relationships, our love and the way we spend our most precious resource, our time.
I look back in disappointment when I think about the times I told my son I was too busy or too tired to play ball or just to watch a movie together. He doesn't ask me as often and I am sure that as he grows older, those opportunities will become fewer until they don't come at all.

When the service was over we sat down outside to have a cookie, our church has really good cookies, and I struck up a conversation with a woman. She told me how the sermon reminded her of how fast her children grew up. She pointed out a your woman in crowd and said that it was her daughter. She had just graduated from UC Davis on Friday and they had a big party for her the night before. I wondered as I ate my cookie, how fast will the next five years go by for our son?

Will I be sitting on that same bench looking at young man who will be entering college, or will I be sitting without him?

Will we have grown apart? Will he think of me a pain in his side that he won't have to deal with much longer?

I guess those questions will be answered in the next five years.

I hope am up to the task.

If its a Saturday in June, there must be wedding

I am heading out the door right now to perform the wedding ceremony for my friend's son. This will be my second wedding I have officiated in the last two years. I received an email from someone a while back asking if I would perform a wedding for their daughter. I said that I only do wedding for good friends, and referred her to the local Pastor of the Presbyterian church here in Esparto.

I have received quite a few compliments on my services, but that was easy. It's easy to write a ceremony for your best friend. Writing for strangers is a little harder, like today's ceremony. I know the father of the groom, but until last night I had never met the bride or groom. They seem like a very nice couple and so the words came easy last night as I wrote the ceremony.

I know there are many sample ceremonies complete with vows and prayers, but I am not a cut and paste kind of guy. If I perform your wedding ceremony, I want to convey the meaning of marriage as I see it. In my eyes, marriage is not just a decision, it is a life long commitment.

And you better stay together, or I may hunt you down and kick your butt.

I want to keep my perfect record.

The Night Commuters

A heart breaking story of children, war, slavery and survival in northern Uganda.

Every night in northern Uganda, thousands of children between the ages of three and seventeen walk by themselves up to ten miles from their homes to the relative safety of town centers, where they sleep on sidewalks, under verandas, and in makeshift tents. These children, called "night commuters", walk in order to avoid being abducted and forced into soldiering or sexual slavery by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army.

I'm no scientist, but I have to call BS on this one.

Discrimination may lead to heart disease.
Ok.

As part of the ongoing Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN) Heart Study, 181 African-American women, ages 45 to 58, answered questions designed to measure encounters with every day slights, like being ignored, receiving poorer service at a restaurant or being treated with less courtesy than other people.

Discrimination was assessed at different time points and averaged over five years, and the extent of calcium in the arteries of the heart was assessed at the fifth annual follow-up exam.

The researchers found that the more discrimination the women suffered the more likely they were to have calcium in the arteries.

For each 1-unit increase in the chronic discrimination score, there was nearly a threefold higher likelihood of calcification, Lewis and colleagues report in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

Even after adjusting for factors known to contribute to heart disease, like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, older age, and higher body weight, the chances of having calcification remained roughly 2.5-times higher among women reporting chronic discrimination.

Why not study Asian women? Do they suffer any less 'discrimination' than black women?
Could it be that the medical risk factors for black women are so high that you could find a correlation between almost any factor and heart decease?

I wonder what percentage of the women reported chronic discrimination? This could be a very small sample of the study group. If a 10% of the sample reported chronic discrimination and these women had high very risk factors, that could skew your findings.

People of all colors, ages, sizes and disabilities face some sort of discrimination in their lives, some don't notice it, some ignore it, some respond to it, and others embrace it as the reason why their lives didn't turn out the way they planned. Facing 'chronic discrimination' everyday would be a terrible thing, they only problem with the term is how it is defined.

'Being ignored, receiving poorer service at a restaurant or being treated with less courtesy than other people' is in the eye of the slighted. If I was asked by researchers if I experienced this type of 'discrimination', I could honestly answer yes. Do I consider myself a victim of discrimination?
Not a chance.

Dumber than a suitcase of rocks.

Keith Olbermann; pompous ass.

Olbermann, whose "Countdown With Keith Olbermann" airs weeknights at 8, apparently has precious little respect for Cosby, whose "Rita Cosby: Live & Direct" airs at 10 p.m.

"Rita's nice," Olbermann wrote to a fan from his MSNBC E-mail account, "but dumber than a suitcase of rocks." Yesterday Cosby retorted: "Keith got it wrong. I'm not that nice."

But a Cosby intimate gasped when informed of Olbermann's E-mail. "That's incredibly disappointing," he said.

An MSNBC spokesman didn't dispute the authenticity of the months-old E-mail, which came to light this week after the recipient shared it with this column on condition of anonymity.

Yolo County's stupid criminal of the day.

That honor would go to Rajneel Kumar of West Sacramento. A tip to all you the drug dealers out there, you may not want to flaunt that fact on myspace.com

Not only were there several photos depicting marijuana plants, Giorgi explained, the subject was quoted as saying, "I have a medical condition that my doctor says I have to cure with 'green' medicine. The weird thing is that alllll of my friends have the same condition!! Haha, it's legal b------!"

Agents identified the site belonging to Rajneel Kumar, 25, living at 1617 Fernwood St., West Sacramento.

Agents were concerned, Giorgi explained, because Kumar's residence was only one block from Westmore Oaks Elementary School.

How many of you want to be a fire engine?

I am not sure how much money the Washington Post spent on this poll, but I think I could have done a much better survey at the post office on Saturday than the clowns at MWS Strategies. What does a Washington DC energy and oil lobbying firm know about immigration polling?
Not much by looking at this poll.

Which of the following do you trust the most on immigration?
37% CNN's Lou Dobbs
32% DON'T KNOW/REFUSED
31% PRESIDENT BUSH

Your second most popular response was don't know / refused to answer?
Wow.

I wonder if I get a Washington DC PO Box and a cool website if I can start taking some of the low hanging fruit off the poll-driven news industry?

And then there is this........

Beaten with dead chihuahua.

A Missouri woman has been arrested for breaking into a dog breeder's home and beating her repeatedly over the head with a dead Chihuahua, local media reported.

She woman was upset because the puppy had died, police told the St Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper.

Way to go Taz.

Taz, an injured police dog is on the road to rehab thanks to the foks at UC Davis VMTH.

It was Sunday, April 16, and Sacramento Police Officer Hans Merten had just started his shift at 6:30 a.m. when they received reports of an armed man breaking into a car in the Oak Park area. Once a perimeter was set up, Merten and Taz began searching back yards for the suspect.

The only way into one yard was over a 6-foot-tall chain-link fence. As they were trained, Merten lifted Taz onto his shoulders and launched the dog over the fence. But Taz's feet got caught and he landed on his side - on concrete.

“He lets out a little bit of a whimper, but then he gets up and searches the yard,” Merten said. They went to work the next day and the extent of his injury didn't show up until that night.

“He got out of the car and his legs went limp. He couldn't move anymore,” Merten said.

Later, at the veterinarian's office, the severity of his dog's injury became clear.

“It was pretty hard to find out that he'll never work again and have a hard time walking. He's my partner. I spend more time with him than my wife,” Merten said.

al-Zarqawi and his sexual reward in 'Paradise'

Sorry I'm sooo bad at photo editing, but I could resist.

Al-Zarqawi dead, women and minorities hit hardest.

On a day with the good news that a murdering scumbag like al Zarqawi was taken out, I am sure we here the 'oh yea, well OBL is still out there' line from the anti-war crowd.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida leader in Iraq who waged a bloody campaign of suicide bombings and beheadings of hostages, has been killed in a precision airstrike, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday. It was a long-sought victory in the war in Iraq.

One murderous scumbag at a time.

At least I can eat breakfast this morning knowing that, to borrow a line from SNL, Abu Musab al Zarqawi is in Hell right now being raped by the Devil.

The Daily Democrat - yesterdays news tomorrow

I must say that last night as county after county's election results crawled across the screen on KCRA' news, I kept thinking, what is going on with Yolo County? I watched the news for hours, heck even Yuba County had its early results in, and if you can't beat Yuba County, you have problems. So what was the problem?

Stupid people voting on a stupid paper ballot.

Unfair, outrageous slander you say?
OK, how about these write-ins for the election.

"A can of cat food"
"My dog could do a better job"
If all else fails, just write in any member of the Sacramento Kings.
Every write in had to be counted by hand, and this being Yolo County, it took a while.

"I think it's regrettable that you'd nullify your official choice because you were anxious to write in Minnie Mouse's name," Oakley said. "We've always had write-ins, but we haven't always sent people into the voting booth with a pen. It's like graffiti. It was like giving teenagers a can of spray paint and putting them in front of a brick wall."

Mike Bibby may have the reputation as a clutch three point shooter, but he isn't quick enough guard the smaller, faster point guards in the league, and I don't know what his stance is on driver's licenses for illegals is.

I bet this drove Jim Smith, the editor of Woodland's Daily Democrat, crazy last night as the dealine approached, and passed without election results. I looked at the paper this morning to read who won the Supervisor's and the DA's race only to be greeted with these anti-climactic stories.

Tight race for Yolo supervisor
Counting returns an all-night job for county

not to be outdone by

Reisig favored in battle for DA

I had to go to the Davis Enterprise website for the posted results. The Democrat does have a link to the Yolo Elections Office on its homepage this evening where you can find the results.

I know that living out here in the hinterlands, news coverage is like going to a new Chinese food place, kind of hit and miss, but can you at least post an extra on line edition story?

24 hours have passed since the polls closed and there are still no stories about the winners and losers in yesterday's election.

Yea, but did you have fake news before Dan Rather?

Dan is the king of fake news, and don't you forget it Jon.

This add ran today in the Hollywood Reporter

Why this war is different.

I was watching a program which featured veterans of WWII who thought back on the Germans they fought and killed in Europe. Several of them commented on the fact that, given other circumstances, these soldiers and the men who wore the gray tunics of the wehrmacht may have become friends. Many of the soldiers shared the same skin color, heritage, religion and in some cases, spoke the same language as those they faced on the other side of the battlefield.

It reminds me of Thomas Hardy's poem.

Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have set us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!(a small cup)

But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
And killed him in his place.

I shot him dead because--
Because he was my foe,
Just so: my foe of course he was;
That's clear enough; although

He thought he'd 'list, perhaps,
Off-hand like--just as I--
Was out of work--had sold his traps--
No other reason why.

Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You'd treat, if met where any bar is,
Or help to half a crown.

The veterans of the Pacific theater don't seem to hold this view of enemy they faced. Or if they did, it was to a far smaller degree. I wonder if this view of the enemy as friend given a different situations gives rise to the anti-war sentiment that we can get along if we don't fight each other.

I believe that sentiment is very misplaced in this war. The enemy our soldiers are fighting would not sit down at a pub and right many a nipperkin. Their view is not one peaceful co-existence, it is one of total domination through any means possible. If you look at the world right now, almost every conflict is either Muslim on Muslim or Muslim on Christian, Jew or fill in the blank. The terrorist in the Muslim world share the same religion, culture and language as those they slaughter in most cases. If anyone could 'help to half a crown' the people they hack to death with machetes or blow up with car bombs, it is the terrorists. What chance do democratic westerners have sharing a bond with these killers?

None I think. The only exception would be if you took an infant from Afghanistan or the Sunni region of Iraq and sent him to America to be raised with our values. Not the self loathing, blame America first values that come from the far left, but traditional Judea-Christian values. That young child would have every chance to become a force for good in the world. When left in the slums of Baghdad or Kabul, he will be taught in the madrasas to hate the West and the freedom that we love.

One could look at the Japanese people and their culture before WWII and say that we may defeat them, but they will never become a western democracy. But they have, and have done quite well. I believe the way this came about is the total defeat and subjugation of the Japanese people. They knew they were defeated, all they had to do was look around the rubble they lived in and look to the empty chair at the table and realize they lost the war and must do what the victor said. I know that seems cruel and very un democratic, but that is war, not a city council meeting.

I believe Sherman summed it up well when he said 'War is all Hell', he also said when he drove to the sea through Georgia.

"I would not coax them, or even meet them half-way, but make them so sick of war that generations would pass away before they would again appeal to it."

That is victory, and defeat. I am not sure we have the stomach for the kind of victory we need to defeat this enemy. I hope we do, but we may need have several more 9/11s before we untie our other hand and start fighting this war.

The Mounties put 17 terrorists on ice.

In the past few days we have seen terrorist plots on both sides of the Atlantic broken up by police and intelligence agencies. While the possibility of a nerve gas attack on a London subway and a three ton ammonium nitrate truck bomb taking down the CN Tower, Canada's tallest building, this was indeed a good week for the good guys. With details still sketchy, what I hope we will see is that the information that lead to these terrorist plots being broken up came from Muslims. I will wait and see.

What do we know right now? Well, we know that Muslim spokesmen in Canada are asking police to watch for anti-Muslim violence. It seems that anytime you have an arrest of Islamic terrorists, the next day there must be a press conference where law enforcement meets with local Muslim leaders to assure that the police will be not tolerate anti-Muslim violence.

'Terrorism is a dangerous ideology and a global phenomenon, as yesterday's arrests demonstrate, Canada is not immune from this ideology.'
CSIS and RCMP officials invited about a dozen members of Toronto's Muslim community to a meeting Saturday morning to discuss potential fallout.

'The police said they are cognizant of the fact that there could be a backlash and that they've taken all precautions to ensure that nothing like this happens,' Canadian Muslim Congress spokesman Tarek Fatah said Saturday.

"They are very conscious of the fact that this is a small group of criminals and they don't reflect the vast Muslim community in Toronto."

Why is it that you never see a news conference where the local Muslim leaders and the police are sitting side by side talking about how the local Muslim population turned in the terrorist from within their own community?

I would love to hear the leader of a Mosque speak at a news conference saying the poeple who make up his congregation have cleaned up the radicals who were using a Muslim holy place to recruit terrorists. The day that happens, we will have turned the corner in the War on Terror.

The UAE goes forward with Plan B

Having been stymied in their efforts to take control of port operations in the US, the UAE has come up with Plan B - Dirty Skyscrapers.

"This agreement will provide Emaar with an important gateway into the US real estate market," Mohamed Ali Alabbar, Emaar's chairman, said in a statement on Thursday

That's right, in a move to terrorize America, Emaar Properties, a Dubai firm has purchased John Laing Homes for $1 billion in cash. They own Dell Web and other high end home and commercial building companies. With their ownership of these builders, the UAE will build 'Dirty Homes' and 'Dirty Skyscrapers'.

These projects will have at their core and nuclear devise, or dirty bomb, hidden under the swimming pools and recreation centers. If we can't trust these people with operating our ports, why should we let them build our homes and skyscrapers?

Someone call Jon Corzine, and Peter King and schedule a press conference!

Sorry, I had to adjust my tinfoil hat.

Prison Ministry unconstitutional

You have to be kidding.

The case, brought by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, an advocacy group in Washington, has been widely viewed as a major challenge to the White House's faith-based initiative, President Bush's attempt to deliver more government funding to religious groups that provide social services, particularly in prisons.

Nope, you can't have those crazy Jesus people trying to convert prison inmates. What good would come of that?

Can someone please explain to me the harm being done. There are many, many examples of violent criminals who turned their lives around with help from this program.

As vice-president of the Sons of Silence biker gang, Ron Gruber knew the taste of power. He told those underneath him what to do and they did it. "I had drugs. I had women. I had a nice gun. I filled myself up any way I could."

Oh wait, I forgot how well we are doing with the traditional corrections system.

Perhaps the only way to turn criminals into productive citizens is to change their hearts. But that is now unconstitutional.

Attack Journalism 101

'The Woodlander' is a throw back to another time. The 18th century to be exact. Back when towns and cities had hundreds of small newspapers and tabloid sheets to feed the publics hunger for information, entertainment and mud throwing of the most viscous type. I still haven't finished the whole 'paper', I couldn't stop laughing. I wish 'The Woodlander' was on-line, I couldn't find it, but it may be out there somewhere. He even print cartoons that make the targets of his scorn look like the worst bunch of criminals and scoundrels you could imagine.

'The Woodlander' comes out every few years, right before the election and just slams and outright slanders local politicians the writer doesn't like. This year's target - Matt Rexroad the Mayor of Woodland and candidate for Yolo County Supervisor, 3rd district. I don't know where the Woodlander crossed paths with Mr. Rexroad, but safe to say, this guy flat out hates the air he breaths.

I know Matt, we have met at a few functions and I consider him to be a good guy and a smart politician. I don't live in the City of Woodland and never had to apply for a building permit or business license, so I really can't comment one way or another on his leadership as Mayor.

That being said, I guess it comes with the territory, if you want to live in the public eye, you just painted a big target on your chest and had better be prepared for slings and arrows. I am a big proponent of a free press, you can print almost anything, libel and slander can get in you in trouble, but for the most part, you can print your opinions until the cows come home and I will stand up for your right to do so. However, with that freedom comes some responsibility. Give your readers a little disclosure, who are you, what are your beliefs, what are your affiliations. In short, what dog do have in the fight?

Back in the infancy of our nation, people who wanted information were forced to chose between papers on one side of an issue and papers taking the opposite position. You could read both and decide who you believed, if you believed any of them. Today the press is supposed to be independent, publishing the unvarnished facts and letting the reader decide what is going on. Scandal sheets like 'The Woodlander' have their place in the process I guess, but I wish they would state their case without the outright character assassination that is so easy to engage in.