Shi’a Pilgrims Make Safe Journey From Najaf to Samarra and Back

[HT:WG]
Shi’a pilgrims traveled more than 620 miles round trip, from Najaf to Samarra, north of Baghdad, in order to attend a religious observance. Iraqi Army Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 37th Brigade of the 9th Iraqi Army Division closed portions of the Baghdad-Mosul highway as more than 3,000 devoted Shi’a Muslims crossed four governates on their way to Samarra.

The recent gains in security and stability enjoyed by Iraqi citizens were demonstrated as the convoy traveled the approximately 300 miles each way without incident.

READ MORE

West Bank village sues Canadian builders

Jerusalem - A West Bank village has sued two Canadian companies for building in an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, the village's lawyer said Thursday. It's the first time a private company has been sued for investing in settlements...

[another manifestation of the 'legal jihad' the Muslim world has learned the West's legal systems will permit, if not encourage outright {read: Boumediene}]

READ MORE

Palestinians: Obama to Visit West Bank

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will visit the West Bank next week as part of a swing through the Middle East, a Palestinian official said Monday, giving an important diplomatic boost to the Palestinians at a sensitive time in peace talks.

The Palestinians expressed satisfaction over the planned meeting with the presumed Democratic nominee, which comes months after Obama's likely Republican opponent, John McCain, passed on meeting with the Palestinians during a brief visit to Israel.

READ MORE

Star Wars-style laser technology to reach battlefield

[HT:BN]
Star Wars-style technology is about to take to the battlefield for the first time with the launch of a laser system to shoot down enemy missiles and mortars. The LADS system will utilise the phalanx system and literally shoot incoming missiles and mortars out of the sky using a laser beam.

In just 18 months the American defence firm Raytheon has turned a laser used in the car manufacturing industry into a weapon that can hit incoming rounds at the speed of light, melting the outer casing and detonating the explosive inside.

A laser has already been used in a test to destroy a 60mm mortar round and in September the company plans its first "shoot down" of a shell in flight in a test to be conducted with the US military. If successful it could be used on battlefields as early as next year.

READ MORE

BBC's shameful anti-Iraq bias

[this from the UK Telegraph]

Why is it that the BBC is totally incapable of delivering a straight good news story on Iraq? The news that the Iraqi government is opening its oil fields for development by international companies should be an occasion for rejoicing.

The fact that the Iraqi government now feels it is strong enough to tackle this crucial issue also shows that the new, democratic Iraq is now finally emerging from the shadow of Saddam Hussein's thirty-year reign of fear.

But is any of this goods news reflected in the the BBC's coverage? - not a word of it. On the contrary Nicholas Witchell's report on last night's Ten O'Clock News was full of snide remarks about how oil was the reason we went to war in Iraq, and now the West is gleefully cashing in...

READ MORE

Syria: We'll grant no goodwill gestures to weak Olmert

Syrian President Bashar Assad senses that he is in a strong position and has no intention of relinquishing his preconditions in the indirect peace talks with Israel, Syrian officials told Haaretz. [snip]

"Assad will also not make, at this stage, any gesture of goodwill to the Israeli prime minister, not even a handshake, because there is no reason to grant such a gesture to a weak prime minister,''...

[there's {yet another} lesson to be learned from his remark re: what 'diplomacy' means to much of the non-western world]

READ MORE

The hidden face of political Islamism

[HT:JK]
Visitors to Islam Expo would have witnessed such innocent activities as an Islamic arts and crafts workshop for under 12s, live Islamic storytelling performances and lute-playing and poetry recitals in the pomegranate and date gardens... [snip]

But behind the cultural soft power of Islam Expo, there is political hard power, and some of it comes in quite raw, unpalatable forms. The organisers gave floor space in the exhibition section to the genocidal regime in Sudan // and to the “Cultural Section” of the Iranian Embassy // and the Algerian junta... [snip]

This perhaps becomes less surprising when one examines some of the directors of Islam Expo. All oppose al-Qaeda violence, but they are anything but moderate Muslims. They include Azzam Tamimi, a supporter of Hamas suicide bombings in Israel and an admirer of Ayatollah Khomeini; and Ismail Adam Patel, who believes that women in the West who are raped share responsibility with their attackers...

READ MORE

Pentagon Officials Testify on Chinese Military Buildup

According to the report, the Chinese have engaged in a sizeable and sustained increase in military expenditures over the past few years. Their official budget is reported to be about $60 billion, but the Defense Department estimates that it’s twice that, Shinn said.

The buildup is across all of China’s services, Shinn added. “It’s comprehensive in the sea, land and air forces. It’s also particularly significant that it includes its nuclear as well as the conventional forces,” he continued.

China’s buildup reflects a deliberate and well-thought-through strategy to invest in asymmetric warfare, cyber warfare, and counter-space capabilities, Shinn told the House panel, and also has sophisticated cruise missile and under-sea warfare programs.

The buildup means the United States and its allies in the region could be at risk, because the increasing capabilities may alter China’s intentions, which currently seem to be peaceful, Shinn said. The increasing capacity may present the Chinese leadership with more options...

READ MORE

Taiwan Leader: U.S. Weapons Needed

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou said Saturday that the island needs to secure defensive weapons from the United States, despite warming relations with rival China.

The comments were the first direct response from the Taiwanese president following media reports last month that the U.S. had suspended weapons sales to the island to avoid the ire of Beijing.

Ma said that improving relations with China, including the start of the first weekend direct flights in almost 60 years, were no reason for Taiwan to let down its defenses against its communist rival. [snip]

Beijing has repeatedly threatened to invade if the island formally declares independence.

However, influential voices in the U.S. State Department are believed to favor an open-ended suspension of arms sales to Taiwan, reflecting China's growing economic and political clout in Washington.

In his comments, Ma acknowledged the new stance was creating problems for Taiwan. "It is a difficult situation for us," he said.

[I.e., another betrayal of an ally by our State Department - despite the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act explicitly requiring our sale of defensive arms "to assure peace in the Taiwan Straight". This den of career bureaucrats needs fumigating]

READ MORE

We should never expect justice from the UN - a club of tyranny and corruption

[TimesOnline-UK]
So, Russia and China have vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution to impose international sanctions on key members of Zimbabwe's government. The British government's entire diplomatic strategy on Zimbabwe has thus ignominiously collapsed. Our Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, says he is 'very disappointed'.

Is he really that wet behind the ears? Just what did he expect?

Apart from what this denouement tells us about our worsening relations with Russia, it has long been clear that the UN is the very last place to look for action against despotism, terror or tyranny... [snip]

As more and more countries joined the UN, its moral mission was turned on its head so that, by 2003, only 75 UN members were free democracies [out of 193 member nations]. The result is a UN characterised by endemic incompetence, corruption and worse... [snip]

The UN persistently ignores global abuses and supports their perpetrators instead. Astoundingly, it has passed not one resolution against despotic regimes such as China, Russia or Cuba. It has approved not one resolution against the Arab and Muslim state sponsors of terrorism.

With the support of China, Russia and Cuba, the Organisation Of The Islamic Conference - which represents the 57 Islamic states - forced through a measure which requires the UN Special Rapporteur On Freedom Of Expression to report anyone who speaks out against sharia law, on the grounds that such criticism represents religious discrimination.

This Orwellian diktat is but the latest evidence that, far from upholding freedom and human rights against their abuse, the UN is simply a club of tyranny. Yet, grotesquely, it is regarded as the supreme arbiter of international affairs, without whose imprimatur it is illegitimate to act. The fear is that without it the world will descend into anarchy.

But the dismal truth is that the UN is the principal engine for the perpetuation of chaos, terror, misery and injustice across the world.

It is high time we abolished this obscene institution and created instead a United Democratic Nations to promote freedom and justice...

[like all government, upon its creation the UN immediately embarked upon growing its membership in its own self interest (it's call power} - from 52 {I think} to 193. 'Membership' criteria made no-doc mortgages look strict by comparison. Now we're getting what we've wrought: an organization that provides cover for despots wanting to stay in power. And this outfit wants the power to tax us directly??? It's past time to dissolve {or, if no longer possible, withdrawal from} this sad joke and create a UDN]

READ MORE

The Irish Exception

The Lisbon Treaty represents the apotheosis of rule by international bureaucracy:

European elites have decided that consolidation is the wave of the future, and they certainly don't intend to allow the ungrateful Irish to stand in the way. Observed German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble: "a few million Irish cannot decide on behalf of 495 million Europeans."

No, a few million Irish certainly shouldn't decide the fate of 495 million Europeans. That's the job for a few thousand politicians, bureaucrats, and other members of the New Class across the continent, intent on creating a new Europe - irrespective of the people's desires. [snip]

Polls indicate that three-quarters of Europeans-and majorities in all 27 countries-would like to vote on the expansion of EU powers. And if such referenda were held, a majority of people would vote no in 16 of them, including in Germany. No wonder the Eurocrats won't allow anyone else to vote on their futures...

[what has happened to that continent to create such sheeple that tolerate such behavior by 'their' politicians?]

READ MORE

Why do Congressional Democrats fear free speech?

In the House, Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA) has proposed limitations on how Representatives can post information to the Internet in a time when we should be demanding more transparency, not less.

In the Senate, the problem gets even worse. Feinstein (D-CA) would have the Rules Committee act as a censor board, forcing members to get approval for the act of communicating on external websites. Further, it would appear that the Feinstein proposal would attempt to exercise editorial control over these sites, at least indirectly...

READ MORE then;

Want to ask Feinstein what she’s thinking? Be sure to e-mail her through her website or call the Senate Rules Committee at 202-224-6352 to express your support for free speech and transparency.

Update: And let’s not forget Feinstein’s other policy goal — re-establishment of the Fairness Doctrine. Hmmmm. Can we detect a pattern here?
.

California Democrats propose billions in tax hikes

California

Democrats on Tuesday proposed billions in tax increases on businesses and high earners to help bridge California's budget shortfall.

The proposed hikes include rolling back the dependent child income tax credit expanded in the 1990s, creating two higher income tax brackets for the state's biggest earners and increasing corporate taxes.

Business would lose its net operating loss deduction, bringing the state another $1.1 billion, according to the Senate plan. And the plan would restore the franchise tax rate for businesses from 8.8 percent to 9.3 percent

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers have yet to strike a compromise on how to close a $15.2 billion budget shortfall in the $101 billion general fund. The entire budget proposed by the governor is $144 billion, including bond and special funds.

Lawmakers missed a June 15 constitutional deadline for passing a balanced spending plan for the fiscal year that began July 1.

[yet they'll all be returned to office]

READ MORE

La Raza Facts - 15 things you should know.

Only in America could critics of a group called “The Race” be labeled racists. Such is the triumph of left-wing identity chauvinists, whose aggressive activists and supine abettors have succeeded in redefining all opposition as “hate.”

Both Barack Obama and John McCain will speak this week in San Diego at the annual conference of the National Council of La Raza, the Latino organization whose name is Spanish for, yes, “The Race.” Can you imagine Obama and McCain paying homage to a group of white people who called themselves that? No matter.

The presidential candidates and the media have legitimized “The Race” as a mainstream ethnic lobbying group and marginalized its critics as intolerant bigots. The unvarnished truth is that the group is a radical ethnic nationalist outfit that abuses your tax dollars and milks PC politics to undermine our sovereignty.

Here are 15 things you should know about “The Race”: [>]

[Recommended >]

READ MORE

Time.com Web Poll: Why, Yes, We Are a Nation of Whiners

Yes, it's unscientific and it is a Web poll, so it should be taken with a grain of salt, but a Time.com survey today finds 61 percent of respondents think that, yes, America is a nation of whiners. The screen grab at right was taken shortly before 12:45 p.m. EDT.

I'd suggest a follow up Web poll:
"Is the mainstream media collectively a profession of whiners?"

For more on that, see my colleague Scott Whitlock's post on how the media refuse to take responsibility for their role in hyping doom and gloom to make America's economic woes seem worse than they objectively are.

READ MORE

Sack race is banned as health risk

The sack race and three-legged race have been banned from a school sports day because the children might fall over and hurt themselves.

Parents and campaigners described the move as “completely over the top”. Teachers at John F. Kennedy Primary School in Washington dropped the events after discussions with Beamish Open Air Museum, where the Edwardian-themed sports day is being held today.

About 375 children are dressing up in period costume for the event. Running, hopping and throwing table-tennis balls into buckets will be allowed.

[the inevitable path of government-run-anything]

READ MORE

Thank you, Big Oil

... before you get all excited about tearing down the energy industry, stop and think for a moment about what makes your comfortable life possible. Your heat and most of your electricity are provided through the burning of oil and natural gas. The millions of plastic items in your home, car and office are all made from crude oil. Much of your clothing is woven of fibers made from petroleum... [snip]

So the next time you feel like blaming the oil companies for the price of gas, why don't you call your congressman instead; or go out and try to produce some oil yourself - if you can't, I suggest that you get down on your knees and thank God for the brilliant minds of oil company engineers, geologists, chemists, and executives who - in spite of the US Congress - have the creativity and courage to provide the energy that keeps all of us alive and enjoying our modern way of life.

READ MORE

The Trail...