Say Anything Blog

Jay Nordlinger over at National Review points to an article at MEMRI, The Middle East Media Research Institute, with

“...excerpts from a speech by Libyan leader Mu’ammar Al-Qadhafi at the Arab League summit in Damascus. The speech aired on Al-Jazeera TV on March 29, 2008”

“The Israelis Did Not Occupy [The West Bank and Gaza Strip] in 1948 - They Left It To You For 20 Years, So Why Didn’t You Establish a Palestinian State?”

Mu’ammar Qadhafi: “People here talked about the pre-1967 borders. To tell you the truth, this is astonishing. Whatever happened to the [Palestinian] cause we had before 1967? Were we lying to ourselves or to the world? Thousands of martyrs fell before 1967. What for? How can you say that Palestine was occupied only in 1967, and that [Israel] must return to the pre-1967 borders?

“Does Palestine consist of only the West Bank and the Gaza Strip? If so, it means that the Israelis did not occupy it in 1948. They left it to you for 20 years, so why didn’t you establish a Palestinian state? Wasn’t the Gaza Strip part of Egypt and the West Bank part of Jordan? The Jews left them to you for 20 years - from 1948 to 1967. If that is Palestine, why didn’t you establish a state there? What is the justification for all the wars, the sacrifices, and the economic embargo on Israel before 1967? The Israelis can sue the Arabs now, and demand billions or even trillions in compensation for the damage caused them in 1948-1967.

Qadhafi is speaking frankly about the hypocrisy that exists in discussions about the Palestinian state. Too often, Palestinians become pawns in a larger game being played in the Middle East!

“You Arabs admitted that the [Palestinian] cause began after 1967. So the Israelis can ask: ‘Why did you fight us before that?’ They will demand Arab compensation for the so-called embargo on Israel and for the economic damage caused to the Israelis. If the Israelis sue you, they will win. They will say: We suffered an injustice. We are like an innocent lamb surrounded by wolves. We’ve been saying this since 1948.

“Now the Arabs themselves have admitted that Palestine was occupied in 1967. Now they demand that Israel return to the pre-1967 borders, saying this will resolve the problem, and they will recognize Israel. Why didn’t you recognize Israel before 1967?

“All the damage suffered in 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973, to this day - what was it all for, if the entire Palestinian cause began after 1967? Why didn’t you recognize the so-called Israel before 1967, if Palestine was not occupied before then?

“This is strange. It is illogical. It doesn’t make sense. What is this? There is no God but Allah. By Allah, this is unacceptable. It doesn’t make sense. You say that you will recognize Israel within the pre-1967 borders?! Maybe Israel will occupy more Arab land in, say, 2008, and a few years later, you will demand that it return to the pre-2008 borders, in exchange for recognizing Israel. This is exactly what’s going on now.

Had the plight of the Palestinians been the primary concern of the Arab world, the Palestinians would have had a homeland long ago.

Cross Posted at Proof Positive

Politico has a story, of a Lady Congresscritter, who prefers to be called “Congressman” over “Congresswoman”.
And why, do you ask, should that make any difference to anybody? It’s all about choice isn’t it? If she choose to go by “Congressman”, then more power to her!

“I am not one of those [people] who are sensitive about titles,” stressed Blackburn, a conservative Republican who champions low taxes and supports national security measures such as the Patriot Act.

“Not so fast!” say the Feminists!

But for some, name dropping — specifically the “woman” part — is a touchy subject. There’s a reason for that, say leading female academics, women’s policy analysts and other members: Names do matter.
“When they refer to themselves as congresswoman, this sounds different because it is different,” said Latifa Lyles, of the National Organization for Women, a feminist advocacy group. “I think that is significant,” added Lyles, who supports use of the term “congresswoman.”

“We don’t have to pretend we’re not women in order to be leaders in this country,” she said.

Barbara Kellerman, a professor of women’s and government studies at Harvard University, said women — like many minority groups — are repeatedly at odds with issues of nomenclature.

“Whenever we blend with the male appellation, we are diminishing the significance of the accomplishment,” said Kellerman.

Did you get that? “Whenever we blend with the male appellation, we are diminishing the significance of the accomplishment.” unless, of course, you’re from Hollywood!
There, the exact opposite is taking place. Many actresses (take note of that word, it’s disappearing, prefer to be called “actors”, which, the last time I looked was the male appellation! So why would it be a bad thing for Congresswomen to take the “male appellation”, while actresses apparently are trying to do the opposite?
Ah! There you go expecting logic from the liberals. They’re in a ”Logic Free Zone” I fear. But, on the plus side, there are no handguns there!

Cross posted at Proof Positive

WASHINGTON - Democratic lawmakers want to make sure people know where their food and drugs come from and the overseas plants producing them are regularly inspected.

Leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee proposed Thursday that all produce labels be required to show the country of origin. They also want food manufacturers of all kinds to identify on their corporate Web site where each ingredient in a particular food product originated.

Drug labels also would have to identify the source of a medicine’s active ingredient and its place of manufacture. Labels for all medical devices would have to show country of origin, as well.

The United States imports more than $2 trillion worth of products from more than 150 countries. Lawmakers and the Bush administration say the 62 deaths associated with contaminated batches of the blood thinner heparin and a variety of food and drug safety problems point to the need for improved oversight.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Terrorists are still operating freely in Pakistan along the country’s Afghanistan border, despite the U.S. giving Pakistan more than $10.5 billion in military and economic aid, according to a government watchdog agency.

The Government Accountability Office says in a report released Thursday that the U.S. lacks a comprehensive plan to deal with the terrorist threat.

Democrats called the report appalling because of congressional mandates demanding the nation do more to coordinate efforts by federal agencies.

“For anyone wondering how we’re doing in the fight to get the terrorists who killed 3,000 Americans on 9/11, this report pretty much says it all,” said Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.

Some federal agencies, including the Defense Department, agreed with the findings. But the State Department disagreed, saying that a comprehensive strategy does exist and is being implemented.

Some federal agencies, including the Defense Department, agreed with the findings. But the State Department disagreed, saying that a comprehensive strategy does exist and is being implemented.

GAO also found that while individual federal agencies, including the Defense and State departments, have efforts underway to address the problem, they do not have a single coordinated strategy “that includes all elements of national power — diplomatic, military, intelligence, development assistance, economic, and law enforcement support.”

In 2006, the Bush administration began developing plans to ramp up anti-terrorism efforts in the region using such tools as development and public diplomacy. According to GAO, the plans devised by the Defense and State departments and USAID still lack final approval, including from the Pakistan government, as well as money.

Fifth District Congressional candidate Derek Walker is charged with six crimes stemming from an incident last August. Two of those crimes are felonies. The allegations are sure to shake up the race for the Republican nomination in the Fifth District. But the Walker campaign says their candidate is still in the race.

Police filed felony charges of criminal trespass and burglary against Walker as well as four related misdemeanors. A criminal complaint says Walker allegedly broke into his ex-girlfriend’s apartment in Clearfield and video taped her in an intimate encounter with another man.

Walker told police he was inside the apartment, but said he only wanted to smooth things over with the woman. At the time, police told Walker not to have any contact with the ex-girlfriend, but Walker is accused of disobeying that order twice.

Alright, we have four cases to make here. Let’s be short and sweet:

1) Liars - Here I have in mind Toot and Bat. Their most recent, blatant fibbing can be viewed here and here. Intentional of not, it was posted. If ‘Liar’ is to strong… we’ll just have to settle for misrepresenters of truth or some other analogue.

2) Pedophile apologists - Well well. Recent events involving more religious fanatics who get their rocks of by marrying and raping girls who are well neigh the legal age to consent… have led Rob to come to their defense. Now we are hearing cries of ’return these children to their families‘.

3) Fascism - Whether or not you knew it or cared, a fascist coalition government was elected four days ago in Italy. While many view it as a sad step backwards and a strike against free society, two of our very own commentators (r108 & chief) are just giddy over the developments. See for yourself. Chief even had the gall to call it a victory of right over wrong.

4) Anti ME Democracy - Within days of authoring a call for ME democracy and the dissolution of the tribal system, BatOne has expressed his contempt for the results of a ME election of great importance that was forced on Palestine by pressure from Bush and Condi. Not only that, he lied in an effort to support Rob (see #1). Rob, the owner of this blog, has called an effort at diplomacy with the newly democratically elected leaders of Palestine ”nauseating”. Meanwhile, Bush and Condi back ‘terrorists’ in Palestine, and meet with them regularly. “Nauseating.”
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Edit: Oh, and Pilgrim ain't that cool either. And he's a fuzz. Rob says fuzz are a bummer, man.

Wow. Putting the screws to the ethicists!

Beginning next Tuesday, Shvarts will be displaying her senior art project, a documentation of a nine-month process during which she artificially inseminated herself “as often as possible” while periodically taking abortifacient drugs to induce miscarriages. Her exhibition will feature video recordings of these forced miscarriages as well as preserved collections of the blood from the process.

Wow. And people caused a ruckus when DuChamp showed a urinal? I guess its something to do next weekend if you are in the Yale vicinity. Get some popcorn and some Mike n’ Ikes and head down to see this girl’s ‘film’.

This needs to be said!

THIS QUAKER LADY’S LETTER TO MARINES SHOULD BE READ BY ALL AMERICANS. THE MARINES ARE COVERING YOUR BACKS! SEMPER FIDELIS!

“Dear Marines,

I worked nights as a waitress, paying my way through college, in Honolulu during the early 1980’s. Between work and school, I didn’t have much time to meet other people, and my family
was thousands of miles away. Several Marines frequented the bar, and one GySgt. of a Marine sniper platoon, Larry Hatfield, sensed my shyness and invited me to participate in a lot of Marine recreational events.

We became close friends, but I could never understandhow a person could look through a scope and willingly kill another human being. As a Quaker, the very concept of a sniper troubled me. I was raised that killing is always wrong - period. I often told him, and the other guys in the sniper platoon, my opinion on this. They usually remained silent on the subject.

As time went by, I lost contact with the Marines I knew from that sniper platoon, but I was privileged, later on, to be invited to
produce tours as a volunteer (USO/AFE) for Marines on various bases overseas. Those of you who have met USO/AFE entertainers know that we are nowhere near the combat zones, and are in fact well-insulated from the horrors of war.

We have fun entertaining you; we love eating with you at the mess halls or sitting out in the dirt and hearing your crazy jokes; we do our handshake tours of hospitals and PR tents and feel good and then are lucky enough to go home while you stay behind. But Iraq was different. For the first time I found myself weeping at night after I came back from doing handshake tours. I couldn’t adopt the USO maxim of looking the Marines in the eyes and shaking hands on the hospital tours, because there were teenage Marines with no hands and no eyes. A bomb at a well while I was there on my last tour left 200 women and children dead or injured at the hands of their own countrymen.

The image of a Marine, badly wounded, struggling to carry a small 3 year old girl to safety is forever seared in my mind.

I wondered - a lot - about the kind of sacrifice that it takes for a person to volunteer in the Corps and experience this kind of tragedy on a regular basis.

Iraqi women refugees would tell me, through translators, about how the Kurdish women would throw their infants from trucks on their way to being executed by Saddam Hussein in the hope that strangers would raise the soon-to-be-orphaned children, and how often it was only the U.S. Marines and military units who would help them get medical care if they did survive the terrors inflicted upon them.

This is what I have learned about war and the Marines: that I have never seen a U.S. senator cry while telling me about holding a dying friend in his/her arms, and there’s precious few senators who come home from work missing a leg or two.

That I have never heard a U.S. congressman tell me what it’s like to pass out soccer balls and writing paper to children who have been denied an education since birth.

That I have never heard any politician or corporate leader describe to me, as one Marine did after a show, that she wanted a better life for her child back home but wanted better lives
for the children of Iraq, too.

Marines are living - and sometimes dying - for democracy, not just talking about it for the CNN cameras. They do their jobs, and come home, quietly, to go back to farming in Iowa or driving trucks in Kentucky, and, for the most part, don’t talk about it.

And God knows we civilians don’t get an accurate picture back home of what is going on. I still think killing is wrong, but I have come to understand that sometimes it is necessary and that lack of intervention, especially in humanitarian missions in oppressed nations,
is tantamount to pulling the trigger on innocent civilians who only want what we want: a safe home for their children and food on the table and the right to be who they are.

I’m not naive enough to think that most of our political leaders go to war for compassion
(I think most of them want to protect corporate interests),but I do believe, from knowing the Marines I have been lucky enough to know, that Marines act from compassion, decency, and with hearts bigger than most people will ever experience.

I understand now that a sniper - or any Marine, in any job supporting the ideals of the Corps - does what he or she does because the Constitution of the United States is not some remote piece of paper; the idea of freedom is real to a Marine.

As one young lance corporal told me, as he guarded us during a show set-up in a particularly volatile area (after our show had been cancelled the day before because terrorists had blown up
another 27 children nearby), “Don’t worry - we got your back.”

It shames me to think that I had to leave my country on these tours in order to understand what precious gifts I have as an American,
that every day, somewhere in the world, a Marine is watching my back. I never considered that a sniper, or any Marine, may be asked to kill in order to save innocent lives but now I understand.

So to all of you Marines out there, please accept this heartfelt thanks for what you do. To the guys from the sniper platoon in Kaneohe - this is a late apology for questioning you, and a thank you for what you have taught me, but I hope some of you read this. In our American culture,
we don’t talk much about being noble, decent, loyal and honorable.

I have yet to meet a Marine who did not possess all of those qualities. You are the big kids in high school who didn’t let the bullies hurt the little kids. If you are reading this from Afghanistan or Iraq or Camp Lejeune; if you are reading this from a V.A. facility; if you are reading this from your home, know this: that what you do is important. When you are feeling weary and discouraged, remember that there are people in the world living in freedom because of you.
Not only the refugees from war - but me, too.

Sincerely,
Laura Minor

Semper Fidelis”

Call Girls at Nursing Home Fuel Debate in Denmark

By Christian Wienbergpril 16 (Bloomberg)—When a male resident at Kildegaarden nursing home in Denmark made an indecent sexual proposal to a member of the staff, the home’s director, Inger Marie Kristensen, told a nurse to telephone for a prostitute.

``There was a considerable change in his demeanor after the escort girl had paid him a visit,’’ Kristensen said in an interview. ``We do this for our clients just as we offer them other services that they need as human beings.’’

[...]

*snicker*

Marc Sheppard

When Barack Obama repeated his call to nearly double the capital gains tax rate last month, most observers wrote it off to fiscal naivety.  But during last night’s debate, the Democrat frontrunner let slip that his motives were more socially than economically driven.  And that his reasoning was nothing short of ridiculous.

Charlie Gibson reminded Obama of a March 27th statement he made to Maria Bartiromo on CNBC’s Closing Bell that he’d return the rate to the 28 percent it was under Bill Clinton.  Said Gibson: [emphasis added throughout]

“It’s now 15 percent. That’s almost a doubling if you went to 28 percent. But actually Bill Clinton in 1997 signed legislation that dropped the capital gains tax to 20 percent .... And George Bush has taken it down to 15 percent.

“And in each instance, when the rate dropped, revenues from the tax increased. The government took in more money. And in the 1980s, when the tax was increased to 28 percent, the revenues went down. So why raise it at all, especially given the fact that 100 million people in this country own stock and would be affected? “

And Obama’s remarkable response:

“Well, Charlie, what I’ve said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness. We saw an article today which showed that the top 50 hedge fund managers made $29 billion last year—$29 billion for 50 individuals. And part of what has happened is that those who are able to work the stock market and amass huge fortunes on capital gains are paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. That’s not fair.”

Wow.  Democrats have typically ignored or outright denied the supply-side benefits of lower taxes—particularly capital gains.

But with that statement, Obama betrayed first his intellectual dishonesty, then his economic idiocy.  The candidate is well aware that his hypothetical hedge fund manager pays a much higher rate on wages than does his supposed secretary.  And that they both pay the same rate on capital gains - yes Senator, millions of Americans of varying income, including secretaries, own stock.

Accepting the low tax / higher revenue premise by virtue of his silence, he argued that his own Marxist measure of “fairness” somehow trumps fiscal efficacy.  Shocking, yes, but remember - he was, after all, declared 2007’s “Most Liberal Senator” by the National Journal.

But then he threw all reason to the wind when he said he wants to:

“make sure that our tax system is fair and that we are able to finance health care for Americans who currently don’t have it and that we’re able to invest in our infrastructure and invest in our schools.”

Of course, many would argue the “fairness” of using tax revenues to help Americans who can’t afford health insurance or throwing more money into our already over-funded yet failing public school systems. 

But while accepting that raising the rate would effectively lower the tax revenues necessary to provide such questionably fair public benefits, Obama favors doing so, nonetheless, as benefiting both the beneficiaries and the benefactors would be unfair.

And George H.W. Bush once called Reaganomics “Voodoo Economics?”

[...]

And then imagine what we might look forward to when his foreign policies are finally fleshed out.

I have long believed that the leftie desire to raise taxes is not only counterproductive from the revenue standpoint, but illustrative of their real commitment to Marxist ideology.  Obama just admitted that.  Remarkable.

By Debra Baker

Claims that there were no links between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda are wrong. Documents just released by the Pentagon prove it.

In March 2008, the Pentagon released a document that details some of the classified documents from Saddam’s regime.  This document called the Iraqi Perspectives Project Saddam and Terrorism: Emerging Insights from Captured Iraqi Documents Volume 1 (Redacted) is an overview of “more than 600,000 original captured documents and several thousand hours of audio and video footage archived in a US Department of Defense (DOD) database. As of August 2006, only 15 percent of the captured documents have English translations."[1] This document provides insight into how Saddam operated his regime and his ties to terrorism.

[...]

Saddam and State Terrorism

Saddam was in the business of terror. From the recruitment, training, financing, and support of terrorism, Saddam formed an alliance with terror.  Of course Saddam obtained control of Iraq via his terrorist Baath party, but the Pentagon Papers on Saddam reveal much more to Saddam’s terrorist ties.  The UN sanctions imposed after the 1991 Gulf War,

“reduced Saddam’s ability to shape regional and world events, steadily draining his military, economic, and military powers. The rise of Islamist fundamentalism in the region gave Saddam the opportunity to make terrorism, one of the few tools remaining in Saddam’s “coercion” toolbox, not only cost effective but a formal instrument of state power."[10]

The UN sanctions were working, but Saddam being resourceful saw the jihadist movement as a vehicle to carry out his anti-American and anti-Israeli actions.

Terrorist Training Camps in Iraq

Saddam had terrorist training camps within Iraq.  The Pentagon report on Saddam goes on to say that “captured Iraqi archives reveal that Saddam was training Arab fighters (non-Iraqi) in Iraqi training camps more than a decade prior to Operation Desert Storm (1991).  A Saddam memorandum directed the IIS to submit a list of foreign nationals who were trained in Iraq and carried out operations during the 1991 war against the United States.  In response, the IIS sent a list of one-hundred names of foreign national fighters, categorized by country"[11]

[...]

The Pentagon papers only stated the EIJ link, not specifically the al-Qaeda link.  The second in command of al-Qaeda and the person who masterminded 9/11 is Ayman al-Zawahiri.  Ayman al-Zawahiri was the leader of the EIJ prior to its 1998 merging with al-Qaeda.  This truth has been subverted by the media.  All the major media outlets have just quoted what is written in the Executive Summary of the document which states that there is no “smoking gun[18].” But upon further investigation of the EIJ, a direct link between al-Qaeda and Saddam’s Iraq is seen.

The truth is out there.  Read the whole thing, which includes an exhaustive bibliography.

Iraq Cracks Down on Seat Belt Scofflaws

BAGHDAD — Iraqis often complain about the problems in their country and the government’s lack of obvious progress in solving them.
But as drivers in traffic-clogged Baghdad learned this week, Iraqi officials are taking action in one area: strict enforcement of a seat belt law.

Later this month, traffic police officers all over Iraq will start issuing tickets to anyone who drives without buckling up. Violators will be fined 15,000 dinars — about $12.50. “It is part of the healing process of this country and of Baghdad to enforce the law, law by law,” said Brig. Gen. Zuhair Abada Mraweh, traffic commander for the capital’s Rusafah district.

“The citizens are learning the laws step by step,” said General Mraweh, sitting in his office in the Karada neighborhood. “We have applied all the laws concerning traffic, so it’s time for the seat belt law to be practiced.”

DENILIQUIN, Australia: Lindsay Renwick, the mayor of this dusty southern Australian town, remembers the constant whir of the rice mill. “It was our little heartbeat out there, tickety-tick-tickety,” he said, imitating the giant fans that dried the rice, “and now it has stopped.”

The Deniliquin mill, the largest rice mill in the Southern Hemisphere, once processed enough grain to satisfy the daily needs of 20 million people. But six long years of drought have taken a toll, reducing Australia’s rice crop by 98 percent and leading to the mothballing of the mill last December.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who is basing his bid for the White House on his credentials as a decorated veteran and leader on defense policy, has become the target of veterans groups pushing hard for more aid and relief for troops returning from conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

At issue is a growing slate of legislation to boost veterans’ education assistance and to rest troops between combat assignments. Two of the bills were written by Sens. James Webb (D-Va.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), both fellow Vietnam veterans, and are expected to see votes in Congress soon. Those bills would substantially boost college assistance for returning war veterans to cover fully tuition at a state university, while mandating that troops spend a month out of the combat zone for every month in it.

A third measure, introduced yesterday by eight Democratic senators and two Republicans, would provide more education aid to National Guard members and reservists, especially those who have served on multiple tours in Iraq.

It is generally agreed that McCain is key to the bills’ prospects for passage.

“John McCain’s got a lot of things to focus on right now, but this isn’t one of them,” Webb said. “He needs to get on board.”

For McCain, the growing pressure is not the kind of attention he has been seeking. His status as a Vietnam War hero has helped broaden his appeal with independents and some Democrats. His campaign takes as a given his support among veterans.

But on Monday, the group VoteVets.org, backed by the political action committee of retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark and the liberal documentary film production company Brave New Films, delivered petitions with nearly 30,000 signatures to McCain’s Senate office, imploring him to back Webb’s updated GI bill.

In an Internet ad, viewed more than 104,000 times, Iraq veteran Joshua Drake intones, “If I could talk to John McCain, I would try to appeal to him as a fellow vet.” Robert Lopez, a former tank commander, adds: “He should put himself in our shoes.”

McCain told reporters on his campaign plane Monday that he is open to boosting educational benefits for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and is working with colleagues on language changes to the Webb-Hagel bills.

“We are working on proposals of our own. I’m a consistent supporter of educational benefits for the men and women in the military,” McCain said. “I want to make sure that we have incentives for people to remain in the military as well as for people to join the military.”

..."I know my friend John McCain is taking a serious look at this legislation, and he’ll do what he thinks is right,” Hagel said yesterday. “Our country has found enough money to send our troops to war. There surely is enough money to make education opportunities available to those who have earned it and sacrificed for this country.”

While Hagel took the soft sell, veterans groups have been considerably rougher. The group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America has begun advertising in Capitol Hill publications. The Veterans of Foreign Wars sent its lobbyists to demand action.

“He’s the odd man out,” Jon Soltz, chairman of VoteVets and an Iraq war veteran, said of McCain. “You have 55 co-sponsors on this bill, and he’s not one of them. He has to lead or follow.”

FRESNO, Calif. — Forced to leave the combat zone after his two brothers died in the Iraq war, Army Spc. Jason Hubbard faced another battle once he returned home: The military cut off his family’s health care, stopped his G.I. educational subsidies and wanted him to repay his sign-up bonus.

It wasn’t until Hubbard petitioned his local congressman that he was able to restore some of his benefits.

...Hubbard, 33, and his youngest brother, Nathan, enlisted while they were still grieving for their brother, Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Hubbard, who was 22 when he was killed in a 2004 bomb explosion in Ramadi.
At their request, the pair were assigned to the same unit, the 3rd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii, and deployed to Iraq the next year.