Tim Rutten of the L.A. Times is not a big fan of blogging. (thanks to Glenn Reynolds) Guess what, Tim. I'm not a big fan of the L.A. Times. I only read it for local news that I can't get out of the Orange County Register.

• • • • •

 
Where does Cynthia McKinney get her money? According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, she has a large amount of Arab and Arab-American donors, including those with links to groups that sponsor terrorism. (link courtesy InstaPundit)

• • • • •

 
The Last Page takes issue with parents who let television babysit. (link courtesy Susanna Cornett) Point well taken, and should have been made long ago. That's one way to earn you a spot on my blogroll, girl. Keep up the good work.

• • • • •

 
The Ole Miss Conservative has referred to the Arizona bloggers on his blogroll as the Rattlesnake Brigade. (thanks to Desert Pundit)

• • • • •

 
Now the Senate has decided that it is okay for women in the military to receive privately funded abortions.

The Republican-led House voted 215 to 202 to reject a similar proposal as part of its defense bill last month and is regarded as likely to insist on its position in negotiations with the Senate.

Federal funding to help military personnel and dependents obtain abortions at military hospitals was outlawed in 1979, and the ban was extended by the Reagan administration in 1988 to cover abortions paid for with private funds except in cases of rape, incest or risk to a woman's life.

President Bill Clinton lifted the ban on privately financed abortions in 1993, but it was reinstated when Republicans took control of Congress in 1995. The Senate voted to drop the ban in 1996, but the House refused to go along. Two years ago, a proposal to repeal the ban failed in the Senate, 50 to 49.

Regardless of your view on this issue, when are these politicians going to wake up? It's not their place to decide the fate of this issue. This is a moral, spiritual and personal issue - not a political issue that can be marked down in black and white. That's likely why it gets overturned every time a new Congress enters.

Were I in Congress, I would abstain on all abortion measures, as I feel it is a non-political issue, despite the fact that I am personally not in favor of it. It's up to the mother, her church and her family.

• • • • •

 
Bill Cosby is joining the ranks in speaking out against MTV's "The Osbournes."

"This is a sad, sad family. It is a sad case. The children are sad and the parents are sad. And this is not entertainment," he told "Access Hollywood" in an interview airing Friday. "It is the kind of entertainment that you look at but you wouldn't want it in your home. And I don't like to look at things like that," added Cosby, who played wise and funny dad Cliff Huxtable in "The Cosby Show."

Bill, I'll admit that Ozzy and his crew can be a bit irritating, but look in the freaking mirror. Ever watch reruns of Cosby from the 1980s? You (the character) were far more lenient on Denise, Theo and company than Ozzy is on his kids - despite the language. Those brats had you wrapped around their fingers, and when I tuned in, I would yell at you to give them an ass-whuppin'.

Pretty much, times have changed, and audiences don't want to see "happy" families anymore, maybe because that's how that's not the way the majority of Americans live.

• • • • •

 
Lileks has a marvelous essay that compares the world view of Reagan-era college students and students of today.

• • • • •

 
Fast food as an aphrodisiac? It's the latest rage in Japan.

"Sex addiction, which involves having sex with numerous different partners over a short period, is related to bulimia. Fast food so popular among young people is absorbed unnaturally quickly by the body, making it easy for bulimia to develop," Sakai tells Shukan Gendai. "Bulimia makes it harder to control the central nervous system and a chain reaction makes it easier to develop other addictions. Sex addiction is a case in point."

Incredible.

• • • • •

 
There are unconfirmed reports from Al-Qaida's spokesman that Osama bin Laden will soon make a televised address to the Muslim world. (link courtesy Daily Pundit)

• • • • •

 
Best of the Web reports that Arab Jews are better off under Islamic rule. This according to an article in the Gulf News, a publication based in the United Arab Emirates. The article stated that:

A two-day symposium in the capital has concluded that Arab Jews have enjoyed greater fundamental rights and freedom under Arab Islamic rule than under Israeli Zionist regimes.

Participants of a symposium on The Jews in The Arab World, held at the Zayed Centre for Coordination and Follow-Up, said in their final communique that Arab Jews have always been denied their fundamental rights and freedom under Israeli regimes.

The participants called upon Arab research and study centres to conduct studies to reveal the true picture of how Arab Jews are treated in Israel and how they were treated under Arab Islamic rule prior to their migration to the Zionist state.

The participants also referred to the peaceful co-existence of Muslims and Jews in Arab Muslim countries, where Jews are treated equally and enjoy their fundamental rights and freedom, which they cannot under Israeli regimes.

They also reiterated the fact that what is being diffused by the international Zionist propaganda to sow deep-rooted hatred in the hearts of Arabs and Muslims towards the Jews will never serve the cherished goal of peaceful co-existence.

Yeah, and I can see where getting rid of a democratic government in favor of something like the Taliban is a great idea.

• • • • •

 
From the "No Kidding?" department - From Forward, 6/14/2002: - Study: Palestinians Target Civilians. (Link courtesy Juan Gato)

• • • • •

 
It may have taken two years, but Yasser Arafat has finally accepted the Clinton plan.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat yesterday issued a call for "no more war," declaring that he accepts the proposal first made by former U.S. president Bill Clinton as a framework for a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

He said that "foreign" forces were exploiting young hopeless Palestinians, encouraging them to commit attacks in exchange for money, adding that two families of suicide attackers from Jenin received $30,000 each from these foreigners. He also said he had imposed a house arrest on Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in Gaza. His advisers have expressed amazement that Israel has not taken any steps against Hamas and Islamic Jihad, preferring to focus its military campaign against the Palestinian Authority and Fatah.

Arafat said he believes it is possible to reach peace with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, saying that Sharon was ready to dismantle Jewish settlements in the Sinai, and as foreign minister, gave his blessing to the Wye agreement that Clinton had worked out during Netanyahu's term as premier.

I don't think Ariel Sharon will be easily convinced. Nor will Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

• • • • •

 
It's going to be real hard to vote against this guy. Fortunately, he's not in my district so I won't have to make that choice.

• • • • •

Placing value on a human life?

The IDF spokesman said Friday that the killing of four Palestinians Friday in Jenin was a "mistake." Troops fired on a market Friday in the West Bank city, killing four and wounding at least 24 others after Palestinians mistakenly thought a curfew had been lifted.

The dead were Ahmed Ghazawi, 6, and his 12-year-old brother Jamil, as well as a 6-year-old girl, Sajedah Famahwi and Helal Shetta, 50, the deputy director of the city's department of education, a doctor at a hospital in the city said. Hospital sources said that six people were in serious condition.

It seems that Ariel Sharon subscribes to the same theory that he continually accuses Yasser Arafat of. Shoot first, ask questions later. However, this article appeared in the same issue:

Five Israelis, including three children, were killed when Palestinian terrorists attacked a family home in the settlement of Itamar, south of Nablus, last night.

Shortly after 9 P.M., two armed Palestinians entered the settlement, only part of which is fenced. Both were carrying assault rifles and hand grenades. The two broke into a house and opened fire on the family inside, then holed up inside the house and began shooting in all directions. Israel Defense Forces officers said the attack did not appear to be aimed at taking hostages, but rather at killing as many Israelis as possible.

In other words, when Palestinians kill people, it's intentional, however, when the Israeli military does it, without question, it's a MISTAKE? Cut the crap, Ariel Sharon. You're just going to get more people killed.

NOTE: Best of the Web has also noted this, however, it is unclear what stance, if any, they are taking on the issue.

• • • • •

 
Please welcome Eric Raymond to the blogroll.

• • • • •

 
UPDATE on the Rancho Bernardo High School vice principal who checked the underwear of her students. They have relieved her of her duties as vice principal and made her a teacher. (link courtesy David Nieporent)

The district had few options for disciplining Wilson because she is tenured, Phillips said. Removing her credential or firing her could open the district to the threat of a wrongful termination lawsuit and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Tenure guarantees Wilson a teaching position within the district until she retires.

So they're simply trying to skirt a lawsuit by one teacher. Perhaps the board should have received better legal advice, as at least one parent was not moved by the board's decision.

Parent Alane Barnes Garvik, whose 16-year-old daughter was asked by Wilson if she was wearing a thong, said she is considering legal action against the school for violation of her daughter's civil rights.

"I'm not taking anything off the table," Garvik said. "I don't feel it's a good idea to stick her in charge of 25-plus students in any fashion. Teachers are the ones shaping our kids, and to put her in that position – that's not a demotion, that's a much more important position."

• • • • •

 
Juan Gato has a new address. Please adjust your bookmarks accordingly.

• • • • •

 
Here's a contender for the Darwin Awards:

A woman lost in the woods set a signal fire Thursday that quickly consumed nearly 200 acres of wildland and threatened the town of Heber, officials said.

The fire had burned 180 acres by early afternoon and was continuing to grow. It is about 10 miles south and east of Heber near the Gentry Lookout Tower. City officials went through Heber neighborhoods, telling residents to prepare to evacuate. If given the order, residents will have only about 30 minutes to get out.

Oops.

• • • • •

 
Now we may have our first supermodel in space?

Supermodel Cindy Crawford said Thursday she was considering taking a multi-million dollar trip into space with Russian cosmonauts.

Valery Korzun, the new commander of the international space station joked earlier this month he would rather see Crawford aboard the outpost than Lance Bass of U.S. boy band 'NSYNC, who is attempting to prepare for an October trip.

Really, do you blame him?

• • • • •

 
More PC sanitizing of movies and television. (link courtesy J. Bowen)

• • • • •

 
Is this really a surprise? (link courtesy Daily Pundit)

Saudi Arabia will not allow outside investigators to question al-Qaida suspects who tried to shoot down a U.S. military plane, according to a report in a government-controlled newspaper yesterday, a day after the kingdom announced its first such arrests since Sept. 11.

Does "outside" also mean "American?" We're getting screwed over by the House of Saud once again. Oh, that's right, Mr. President, the Saudis are our friends. The friends that supply our oil, that is. It's time we stopped playing politics with Islamofascist countries because they possess natural resources, and rearrange our prioirities.

• • • • •

 
Andrew Sullivan notes that Israeli "incursions" have now become "retaliation" according to The New York Times.

• • • • •

 
Desert Pundit says that the Clean Elections fund has a second wind, but sometimes that's just the way the Jell-O judicates. Here's a link to the story.

A state court on Wednesday decided to allow the state to temporarily continue providing public financing to election candidates pending an appeal of a ruling that overturned the chief funding source.

A three-judge Court of Appeals panel denied a motion by lawyers for a challenger to immediately prohibit the state agency which oversees the funding system from distributing money from the disputed source.

Also, the panel granted a competing motion by the agency to not have the panel's original decision take effect immediately in order to avoid "profound upheaval" in this year's elections until the Arizona Supreme Court rules on a planned appeal.

The new order said the stay will expire July 8 unless extended by either the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals. The state plans to ask the Supreme Court to extend the stay further when it files its appeal by next week.

• • • • •

 
Zachary Barbera reports that the Israelis are trying to win the war via the media.

As a result, news photographers had a clear view of the gruesome aftermath of Jerusalem's deadliest bombing attack in six years, and of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as he toured the carnage and walked along the line of bodies.

It was part of the Israeli government's new strategy to demonstrate to the world what an attack looks like here, an attempt to make television viewers understand what it's like for citizens to live every day in fear.

This is nothing new. It's another tactic that the Israelis have picked up from the Americans. Why do you think that every Palestinian (insert adjective here) bombing is breaking news, but the Israeli retaliatory strike, which may kill as many people, is relegated to the back burner?

"The media portrays the conflict with Israel as the occupier and Palestinians as the underdog," Katz said. "We see it differently, and we have to combat that portrait. Unfortunately, television speaks with images. One picture of a body is worth 10 times a picture of a spokesman."

Unfortuately, the Israelis have learned well from their biggest ally, and this is becoming not only a war of bloodshed, but also a war of media and propaganda - which the United States mastered years ago.

• • • • •

 
Our government wants to help the terrorists yet again: (link courtesy Daily Pundit)

Some politicians on Capitol Hill want to reinstate an expired immigration law that allows illegal immigrants to apply for permanent residency status.

The law, called 245i, was first enacted in 1994 and allowed all illegal immigrants to apply to become permanent residents. First they had to find a sponsor, an immediate family member here legally or an employer, then pass an INS background check and pay $1,000.

Nearly 1.5 million illegal immigrants have become legal under 245i, nearly 12,000 of them from countries considered sponsors of terrorism.

Rabih Haddad, the Lebanese-born head of the Global Relief Foundation, had begun the application process when the government linked him and the charity he ran to Al Qaeda. He's now in INS custody.

"This section of the law, 245i, is a creeping loophole that is a security threat to the country and has frankly crowded out people who play by the rules," the Federation for American Immigration Reform's Dan Stein said.

But some politicians want to reinstate the law, including Democrats like Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, and the White House and others who say it's pro-family.

Tom Daschle? Isn't that a name being dangled around for the Democratic presidential nomination? I certainly wouldn't want want the next president of the United States to be the guy that sponsored the bill that allowed Al-Qaeda to set up camp in the U.S. legally.

• • • • •

 
Via Daily Pundit:

After giving him an earful, a King County superior court judge gave Paul Trummel his freedom yesterday -- although it may be short-lived.

If the self-styled journalist wants to stay out of jail, he must by Friday remove phone numbers and addresses from his Web site that identify the directors of his old retirement center and stop bothering them.

Before releasing Trummel yesterday, Doerty called him a "mean old man" and said that nobody should be able to behave like he did, lurking the halls at night and invading the privacy of other residents at Council House.

He said the issue is not whether Trummel is a journalist -- it's about whether he's breaking state laws. Doerty called his writings "anti-Semitic, misogynistic, homophobic lies."

This is clearly in violation of the First Amendment, regardless of how the judge may interpret Washington state law. Glenn Reynolds has already commented on this subject, and agrees that it is an egregious violation of this man's rights. I'm waiting to hear from Professor Volokh.

• • • • •

 
I'm with Josh Marshall. I watched Hardball last night, and now I'm even more convinced that Pat Buchanan is Deep Throat.

• • • • •

 
Farewell, Scott Shuger, you will indeed be missed. I would have posted this sooner, but the L.A. Times just posted the item this morning.

• • • • •

 
More wonderful quips and quotes from Mexican soccer fans, who can't realize that this is all a freaking game.

"Excuse me, but the United States' team is terrible. And it is so much more humiliating to lose to the United States, where soccer has no real meaning," said Roberto Salcedo, 17, who mourned Mexico's loss with other students outside Antonio Caso High School in Mexico City.

But Francisco Valenzuela, 16, wondered if darker forces were at work.

"The Mexican team sold out," he said, winking and offering, as Mexicans are want to do, a conspiracy theory to explain the upset.

"George Bush," he said, "must have called up his pal Vicente and told him how it had to be."

To assuage their wounded pride, more than one Mexican indulged in fantasies that Fox had agreed to cough up something the United States wants in exchange for allowing the U.S. team to win.

"It's a shame that politics intervenes in sports," student Isaac Pinzon, 17, said, while his friends looked bemused. "I don't doubt that something was negotiated because Mexico gives up lots of things."

Puh-leaaze.

• • • • •

 
Another suspect in the September 11 plot is being held in Syria, of all places.

A key figure in the Sept. 11 plot who fled Hamburg, Germany, last October has been held in secret detention in Syria after being first arrested in Morocco and expelled to Damascus with U.S. knowledge, according to German and Arab intelligence sources.

The debriefing of Mohammed Haydar Zammar, a German citizen of Syrian origin who has told his interrogators that he recruited key hijacker Mohammed Atta, is an extraordinary example of the way Sept. 11 has redefined U.S. engagement with regimes it once vilified.

• • • • •

 
Here's a twist. Thirteen suspected terrorists have been arrested in Saudi Arabia. These guys must have really been nasty.

• • • • •

 
The Arizona Court of Appeals has found portions of the law that created the Clean Elections fund in Arizona unconstitutional. Why? Because a wealthy lawmaker didn't want to pay three bucks.

In a surprise move, the Arizona Court of Appeals said that paying for Clean Elections with 10 percent surcharges from criminal and civil fines violates the right to free speech. Those who pay the fines should not be compelled to support the ideas of candidates funded by the Clean Elections system, the court concluded. The opinion was written by Presiding Judge Sheldon H. Weisberg.

In December, courts struck down a $100 surcharge on registered lobbyists that also had been used to help fund Clean Elections. That money has been returned to lobbyists.

Opponents of Clean Elections were ecstatic Monday night, calling the ruling is a victory for free speech. Rep. Steve May, R-Paradise Valley, challenged the law in court after he received a $27 parking fine outside a Coffee Plantation in Tempe and realized that $2.70 would be funneled to the election fund

"Justice has been served in Arizona," said May, who's running as a privately funded candidate. "And I want my $2.70 back with interest. This is America. The Clean Elections Act runs against free and fair elections."

So what does that mean for people who want to run for office in Arizona? Basically, they have to be rich. After all, 30 of 39 statewide office seekers are running under the law, which attempts to limit soft money contributions. But not Matt Salmon, who's running for governor, and has possibly amassed more money than the other gubernatorial candidates combined.

"It just hides special-interest influence, and in some ways amplifies it," said Salmon, a Republican from Mesa. "I don't know if it will impact this election, but it's nice to see that our judicial branch agrees that it's a violation of the Constitution to compel taxpayers to support political causes they don't agree with."

Really, Mr. Salmon? Open your books, and tell us where your war chest really came from.

• • • • •

(thanks Damian)

• • • • •

 
Is there too much "Twin Towers PC" in the world? It's getting to the point of overkill. Starbucks is pulling a poster for just that reason. (link courtesy BizQuick)

Starbucks Coffee Co. pulled a promotional poster from more than 3,000 retail outlets over concerns the picture of drinks side by side might inappropriately recall the Sept. 11. attacks. The posters show the two tea drinks, with a dragonfly hovering to the left and the headline "Collapse into Cool."

Give me a break. This is almost as bad as the people who wanted the second "Lord of the Rings" film name changed. (For those of you who missed that one, it's called "The Two Towers", which is the same as the novel, which was written before the WTC was built.)

• • • • •

 
There are many reasons why the religious right should keep its nose out of politics, and this is another example. (link courtesy Andrew Sullivan)

Here we are, in the middle of a war against Islamism, and the religious right has "cultivated fresh links with a powerful bloc of more than 50 moderate and hard-line Islamic governments, including Sudan, Libya, Iraq and Iran."

Of course, recall this statement from Rev. Jerry Fallwell, a leader of the religious right, in response to the September 11 attacks:

"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"

So maybe the two groups aren't that far apart after all.

• • • • •

 
Ken Layne has posted some lengthy comments regarding the Aztlan movement, which has been discussed at length in this forum over on the the Daily Pundit site.

I disagree with the fact that it's "the final breath of the 1960s Aztlan movement," as Ken suggests, and challenge him, and others to read this, which has recently been updated to add new information. It appears that although the Aztlan movement of the 1960s may be in its final stages, the Mexican government is doing its best to revive it.

There are a few broken links, which the editor hasn't caught yet, however I caught them when I originally posted this item:

Mexican official in El Paso

Mexico Has a Plan for the U.S. Guess What It Is...

Corruption Index

Trust me, this is one of my pet peeves. I could go on all day about this subject, so bring on the comments.

• • • • •

 
Here's the transcript from The O'Reilly Factor where I first heard the poll results about Mexicans believing that the American Southwest belongs to Mexico. I did confirm those results before posting them, and I did notice yesterday that Right Wing News posted the same poll.

• • • • •

 
Happy Father's Day to all. Hope you spent time with your dad or gave him a call. My father lives across the country, and we spoke on the phone for about a half an hour.

• • • • •

 
PriceWaterhouseCoopers, a company with a foolish name to begin with, has come up with an even more foolish name for its consulting arm. They're changing it to Monday, and the folks over at Amish Tech Support make a great analogy. (link courtesy N.Z. Bear)

• • • • •

 
President Bush has been pretty good about following up on what his father started. This time he dropped the ball. I watched Pat Roush last night be interviewed by Judith Regan, and she said that she appealed to Bush's father when he was still vice-president. There was another girl who would have suffered a similar fate as Pat Roush's girls had she not escaped on her own.

Our government refuses to see that this is going on, mainly because of oil interests. We have to stop protecting these Islamofascists and supplying them with money. In fact, while the Saudis are saying that we should reduce the military presence in their country, I say we increase it, unless they cut the crap. Note to the House of Saud: If you're going to screw with us, make damn sure you're going to win. Otherwise, the Arabian Peninsula will become the world's largest parking lot.

• • • • •

 
UPDATE on an post I made earlier about Mexicans planning to take over the American Southwest. Global News Watch has posted an item which makes similar claims. (link courtesy Ye Olde Blogge)

• • • • •

 
Another man with suspected terrorist links has been arrested.

A man linked to an organization under investigation for terrorist ties was arrested in Florida on an alleged immigration violation, officials said Saturday.

Adham A. Hassoun, 40, was arrested Wednesday and was being held at Krome Detention Center, INS spokesman Rodney Germain said. He declined to provide further details on the investigation.

State records show Hassoun was listed as the Florida registered agent of Chicago-based Benevolence International Foundation, which in April was charged in federal court in Chicago with funding Al Qaeda terrorists. The foundation describes itself as an international charity organization benefiting refugees and children.

Hassoun's arrest came the same week the Justice Department announced the May 8 arrest in Chicago of Jose Padilla, also known as Abdullah al Muhajir, an American accused of conspiring to explode a radiological device in the United States.

The Miami Herald and South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Saturday that Padilla and Hassoun were acquaintances and attended the same Fort Lauderdale mosque, Al-Iman.

In November, Hassoun told The Herald that he briefly served as North American distributor for the Call of Islam magazine published by the Islamic Youth Movement, which advocates jihad and trains youngsters in guerrilla warfare. The magazine has featured exclusive interviews with Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden.

He's only being held on for overstaying his visa, so this may be nothing. However, it does sound a little fishy.

• • • • •