Monday, January 31, 2005

The Sistani Myth....uh, "disinformation"

It's funny to hear and see Liberals puff out their chests and crow that "I'm for free election in Iraq" but in the same breath say "I'm against this war!" Well, it was war that brought free election TO Iraq. There would be no other way to see this through. Saddam certainly didn't hold a free democratic voting process even though he got "100%" of all of the vote for him. Yeah, right. A real democracy in action there folks.

Most Liberals would have been much more happier to let the U.N. do their job when all they did was scam billions and billions of dollars from the Oil for Food program for several years after the Gulf War. And at the same time *ALLOWED* Saddam build palace after palace after palace costing several hundred million to a billion dollars each (not to mention he broke the cease fire agreement and violated the U.N resolutions umpteen times, and fired upon coalition jets in the "No Fly Zone" numerous times). With Saddam, UN, France, Germany, China, and Russia's greed and lack of moral compass caused several hundred thousand Iraqis (mostly children and elderly) to die of starvation, lack of medicine, unsanitary water and lack of attention over the course of several years during the Oil for Food program. The money was for the Iraqi people to help them get by during the sanctioning period imposed by the U.N resolutions. The money was not for Saddam or for the coffers of the United Nation. And you never wondered why France, Germany, Russia and China (all of them have U.N. veto powers) never agreed to going to war to oust Saddam when he violated numerous U.N. resolutions? Go figure! How dumb can these Liberals be? They want to have their cake (i.e. the Iraq voting success) and eat it too. Nope. Too EFFIN late. Many of the Liberals, most of UN people (notably France, Germany, China and Russia with holding VETO powers), and much of Europe were dead set against the war in Iraq and would rather have wanted Saddam there instead (clueless as ever).

If you want to bring free election to a tyranical country, the only way to do this is to oust the leader by force, and that means war. In this case, it was Iraq. You opposed the war.....you lose all credibility about "free election" given how many Lefty Liberals in their blogs and editorials still hold a negative and pessimistic tone about the successful Iraqi election. Had they gone your way and not oust Saddam, no free election would have even taken place! People would continue to suffer.

Scram, you ninnies!

And please, please don't insult us using Juan Cole's line that the Bush administration initially resisted the idea of holding elections so soon and only succumbed under pressure from Iraq's most powerful cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. Zot! Wot laughter!! Only an idiot would even dare say this.

It was this. At the request of the United States, the United Nations has sent a team of technical experts to discuss with Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the Shiite's most powerful cleric, whether *direct elections* (and not about "caucus-style" election) are feasible by June 30, the date when the U.S. proposes to turn over sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government. It was Sistani who demanded a *direct election* and the U.S. rejected the idea. The June 30, 2004 was the date the U.S. had in mind to transfer sovereignty over to Iraq. It actually took place a few days earlier, surprising everybody. "Let Freedom Reign." - Bush' famous quote.

What the U.S. proposed was a *caucus-style election" process in Iraq’s 18 provinces to choose a transitional national assembly. This took place a few days ago on January 30, 2005 with great success amid all the security details and planning that took place prior and during the election over who would be a part of the 275 seat National Assembly.

Sistani was demanding a direct election process which would have proved dangerous and lacked any assurances of relative diversity among elected officials. The "caucus-style" election would be the better choice and President Bush stuck by that and it has nothing to do with Sistani!

On the "Council on Foreign Relations" website it describes President Bush' plan called "Iraq: The New Bush Plan" dated November 21, 2003. Not 2004 but 2003. The U.S. occupation government agreed November 15, 2003 (it was updated) on an accelerated timetable to speed Iraqi self-rule. The proposed time table was presented to the United Nations Security Council as dictated by Resolution 1511. The proposed time table went like this:

February 28, 2004: Fundamental law approved.

March 31, 2004: Bilateral security arrangement approved.

May 31, 2004: Transitional National Assembly elected.

June 30, 2004: Transitional government appointed; CPA dissolved.

March 15, 2005: Elections for a constitutional convention held.

December 31, 2005: Elections for a permanent Iraqi government held.

Although these things were never firm and were subject to changes according to the amount of accomplishments that were completed. As with any plans, delays are bound to be inevitable. Iraq was the case and finally President Bush agreed to the plan to hold a National Assembly election on January 30, 2005 instead of May 31, 2004, which would have been much too early given the security problems they had at the time and to adequately guarantee the safety of millions of Iraqis when it came time to vote.

Now, I'm sure you guys are wondering about some of the Liberals' intelligence by now? What took you so long?

And hey, did you hear about the Baghdad Mayor wanting to erect a statue of Bush in the middle of Bagdad in honor of him who helped released millions of Iraqis from the tyrannical hands of Saddam Hussein?

Not bad for a President to get this kind of honor. Not bad at all. And in all places...a Muslim country.

Sunday, January 30, 2005

The "No Plan" Pre/Post Iraq War Myth

When Liberals continue to believe that military and their department do not plan for pre and post war activities goes to show just how dimwitted they are. An example of such spouting from the mouth of a typical Liberal extremist:
And I feel that we were not prepared to deal with Iraq right after the Iraqi War because we attacked the country with NO plans for the post-War reconstruction.
No planning for post-war reconstruction? Au contraire my feeble-minded friends.
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Planning in the U.S. Government for post-war Iraq was an interagency process involving officials from the Departments of Defense, State, Justice, Treasury, Energy, and Commerce; the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Central Intelligence Agency, as well as from the staffs of the National Security Council and the Office of Management and Budget.
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DoD mid and senior-level planners and officials engaged in multiple planning initiatives for post-war contingencies. DoD staff in the theater and in Washington evaluated a wide-range of possible outcomes, led efforts to merge and synchronize planning from various government agencies, and shaped planning for the major combat phase of the operation to allow for the best possible post-war conditions.
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Key to DoD planning for this operation was the assumption that liberating Iraq from 35 years of tyrannical rule and severe social and economic underdevelopment would be a challenging prospect.
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INITIAL INTERAGENCY PLANNING GROUPS
Beginning in July 2002, an assortment of working groups were formed to conduct and coordinate post-war planning.
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o Interagency Iraq Political-Military Cell (NSC, State Dept., DoD, CIA, Office of the Vice President): A staff-action-officer level group that focused on an integrated strategic effort to set the conditions for Iraq’s transition to stability and sovereignty.
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o Interagency Executive Steering Group (NSC, State, DoD, CIA, OVP): An NSC-chaired Deputy Under Secretary level meeting that addressed strategic planning and policy recommendations for NSC Deputies’ Committee meetings.
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o Interagency Humanitarian/Reconstruction Group (NSC, State, DoD, CIA, OVP, Treasury, DoJ, USAID): Prepared plans for immediate relief operations and longer term reconstruction in Iraq.
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o Interagency Energy Infrastructure Working Group (State, DoD, CIA, DoE): Prepared plans to repair and operate the Iraqi oil industry in order to return output to pre-war levels.
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o Interagency Coalition Working Group (DoD, State): A forum for coordination of military requirements, diplomatic strategy, and strategic support to build and maintain the coalition support (pre-war, war, and post-war).
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o Office of Global Communications (State, DoD, USAID, DoJ, Treasury, the U.S. military, and coalition partners): Coordinated public affairs efforts at the strategic level, working to counter Saddam Hussein’s disinformation campaigns.
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MILITARY/CIVILIAN PLANNING INPUTS
Military
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Additional organizations were created to continue in-depth planning, interagency coordination, and implementation. For example, the Joint Staff directed CENTCOM to create Joint Task Force 4 (JTF-4) in order to conduct detailed interagency planning for Phase IV stabilization operations.
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The most significant outcome was a CENTCOM produced 300-page Phase IV Operations Order. It was focused on seven lines of operation: unity of effort, security, rule of law, civil administration, governance, humanitarian assistance, and resettlement.
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Civilian
A wide assortment of other institutions prepared studies or assisted with planning sessions considering possible post-war challenges. Included among those is the Future of Iraq (FOI) project and the National Defense University (NDU) exercise.
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FOI offered many valuable insights and contributions to various aspects of post-war planning, as did the NDU event in February 2003. Over 150 U.S. Government representatives (including members from ORHA) participated in this interagency rehearsal and planning exercise at NDU. Lessons learned from the exercise were taken back to the interagency working groups for incorporation into the processes.
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Civilian officials on these interagency teams worked on post-war plans in the following ten sectors: health, education, water and sanitation, electricity, shelter, transportation, governance and rule of law, agriculture and rural development, telecommunications, economic and financial policy.
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DIRECTORATE OF SPECIAL PLANS
The Office of Near East and South Asia (NESA) Affairs was one of four regional offices (working under the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs) whose daily mission was formulating international security and political-military policy. (The other three regional offices being Africa, Asia and Pacific, and Western Hemisphere)
Expansion
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In September 2002, due to increased workload related to the Global War on Terrorism and the possibility of an Iraq contingency, the Deputy Secretary of Defense approved the expansion of the Northern Gulf Directorate within NESA.
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This office was responsible for exploring policy concerns in planning issues ranging from deployment, coalition building, potential war crimes investigations, Iraqi opposition and training issues, oil issues, postwar Iraqi media and many others. Their office was increased from 4 people to approximately 16 to handle the increased workload.
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In October 2002, the Directorate of Special Plans was formally established as an expansion of the NESA’s Northern Gulf Directorate to concentrate on policy issues with respect to Iran, Iraq and the Global War on Terrorism.
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Renaming
It was titled the “Directorate of Special Plans” because, at that time, the creation of an “Iraq Planning” group (or similarly named group) in the Pentagon conducting specialized planning for a potential Iraq contingency could have undercut ongoing diplomatic efforts in the UN and elsewhere.
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The Directorate of Special Plans was a policy planning group, nothing more. As such, it was a consumer, rather than producer of intelligence products.
Mission
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It developed defense policy options for senior decision makers, coordinated those options within DoD and across the interagency, monitored the implementation of defense policy and recommended course corrections to defense policy.
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It did not conduct intelligence collection, create intelligence products, conduct operational war planning, or implement policy.
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In 2003, when planning for Iraq was no longer a sensitive issue, the office’s name reverted to Near East, South Asia/Northern Gulf (NESA/NG) to reflect its regional focus.
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OFFICE OF RECONSTRUCTION AND HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE (ORHA)
In January 2003, the Department of Defense created the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA): an expeditionary interagency office with officials from all departments and agencies in charge of detailed planning and implementation.
Jay Garner created ORHA from scratch, staffed from over a dozen offices of the U.S. government, our coalition partners and from the private sector. ORHA managed the distribution of humanitarian assistance and began the process of building the new Iraq both physically and politically.
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COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY (CPA)
When General Franks, as Commander of the Coalition Forces, declared Iraq’s liberation, he announced the creation of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). The CPA served, in effect, as the acting government pending the Iraqi people’s creation of a new government. General Franks was the initial head of the CPA.
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The CPA reported directly to the President through DoD. The rationale for reporting directly through DoD was based on lessons learned from Bosnia and a desire to eliminate a dual reporting and command structure.
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In Bosnia, the U.N. was responsible for civil reconstruction, the judiciary and other ministries. The peacekeeping force however, operated under a different chain of command. Many contend the lack of coordination between the military and civilian entities has led to the prolonged involvement of all parties. We did not want to repeat past mistakes.
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The plan always was when major combat operations were completed, a senior civilian administrator would be appointed in Iraq and ORHA would report to that administrator.
The President named Ambassador L. Paul Bremer as his Envoy to Iraq, placing him in charge of all civilian U.S. personnel in Iraq, including ORHA.
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It is untrue that Mr. Bremer’s appointment reflected dissatisfaction with the work of Jay Garner. Mr. Garner’s job leading ORHA was complex, the conditions difficult, and the time short. His achievements however, were substantial. He is deserving of great praise for his efforts.
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COUNTER TERRORISM EVALUATION GROUP (CTEG)
While not involved in post-war planning, the CTEG is often confused with the Directorate of Special Plans.
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After the attacks of September 11, 2001, our nation found itself, for the first time in our history, engaged in a war against a non-linear foe with no identifiable boundaries and a global organization. The Department of Defense identified a need to analyze conflict with a terrorist network, versus a traditional nation-state. In October of 2001, a two-person team was set up to study this issue.
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The mission of the CTEG was to review the vast amount of existing intelligence on terrorist networks, think through how various terrorist organizations relate to each other and how they relate to different groups that support them; in particular, state sponsors. It did this on a global scale, not focusing on any particular nation or region.
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Its main conclusion was that groups and states were willing to cooperate across philosophical, ideological lines in order to achieve their goals. During this study, some interesting observations about linkages between Iraq and al-Qaida were discovered. These observations were shared with the CIA and other groups among the intelligence community in August, 2002.
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Somebody had one too many tacos at Taco Bell. Diarrhea of the mouth is, well, bad. You know?

Give 'em the finger.

Watch for the coming days of U.S. citizens actually staining their index fingers in blue/purple ink as a show of solidarity with the Iraqi people.

But I wonder what will happen if employees at University of Oregon (or at other state run offices) dipped their index fingers in purple/blue ink? It'll be "Oregon's Purple Streak" instead. And you know what else might happen? I bet those lefty Liberals will undoubtedly do the same thing except they'll dip their middle fingers in the blue/purple ink.

Just watch.

Lefty Blogs...nothing good to say about the Iraqi election?

From Slant Point:

We all know the expression, "When you have nothing good to say..."

Atrios - nothing

Daily Kos - nothing

Talking Points Memo - nothing

Political Animal (a peep about polls opening)

Blog For America - nothing

Burnt Orange Report - 1 post on polls closing, pessimism about "weeks worth of counting"

Talk Left - quotes a very negative excerpt from an Iraqi blogger: "
Our sources in the insurgency say the election will make no difference to them, so why expend a lot of energy?) Is the insurgency much weaker than previously thought? Or is the level of security sufficient to keep it in check? If that's the case, then that is discouraging, too, because the measures that have kept today safe (so far) are truly draconian. No driving, dusk to dawn curfews, states of emergency. If that's what it takes to provide security in Iraq, why erase one police state only to replace it with another?
However, here's that same quoted blogger later in the same post:

4:56:55 PM Just got back from a couple of polling stations. Things have gone very smoothly, all things considered. Everyone out on the streets is happy, even the Iraqi security forces who will laugh and joke with journalists—the first time they've done it in months. I saw one American convoy patrolling around, but that was it. A few American choppers. But the promise to put the Iraqis front and center seemed to have been kept.
...

“It's the first time for the Iraqis to express their opinions,” her father said. “It's the greatest national eid (holiday) for us.”

A National holiday. Indeed!

UPDATE: Here are some more lefty blogs who are pretty much sour about the successful Iraqi election.

Oliver Willis - "You know, I really wish Iraq were having an honest, safe, real election. But that isn't happening, and that's a shame. " (I guess those millions of inked Iraqi fingers are nothing but a scam? - Koko)

Crooked Timber - NADA...wants to talk about Google instead. Whoopee!

Official Day of Freedom in Iraq

Many Iraqis are proud to hold up their purple ink stained finger as proof of voter's participation. Despite about 30+ Iraqis killed and numerous people injured but people came to vote anyway. An Historic Turnout! In some polling stations they are reporting as high as a 90% voters turnout. Overall turnout is expected, according to the latest figures, to be at least 72%. An official figure will be known over the next 1 to 2 weeks. Compare Iraq's voters turnout to the United States' own highest voters turnout during the 1960s was 63%. Simply mind boggling. The first true sign of a spreading democracy.

You can almost hear many of the Liberals screaming and tearing their hairs out of their heads. First, they get eggs on their faces during the 2004 USA election (btw, John Kerry lost) coming out with President Bush at 51% - a mandate. Second, more eggs on their faces as a result of an extremely, extremely successful Iraqi voters turnout with at least 70% turnout - a clear signal that they want to finally take control of their destiny. Regardless, but the final tally will be much, much greater than 50%. A sign of the beginning of the end of the United States and coalition forces role. And when that end will come? That will all depend on how the Iraqis want to finally take control of their destiny.

All this would have been impossible under the U.N. sanctions who took advantage of taking billions and billions of food for oil money while they would have been all too happy to have kept Saddam in power despite the years and years of violation of the cease fire agreement.
Hey, yo! Most of you Liberal weenies, United Nation people, France, Europe (et al) who whined incessantly about Iraq's so called "quagmire" and other extreme hyperboles, and claimed that a democratic voting process would not be able to take place (or it's "too early" because of the threat) in Iraq and so on and so forth ad nauseum reminence of screaming "fire" and "the sky is falling" on a daily basis.........screw you.

Most Republicans and some Democrats have vindicated themselves with this positive voters turnout in Iraq and abroad. Several hours remain for those living here in the United States to vote. The final tally will simply be nothing but STUPENDOUS! Again, this is not the end of the voting. This was a vote for the National Assembly. The next vote, which will likely be a much higher result. This whole thing is only but the beginning of a democracy in action. It ain't over til all the troops come home if the Iraq people have the means to finally have control over their country and destiny. It'll be another 1 to 2 years until troop leave, or until Iraqi govt tell them to leave.

October 15, 2005 - Date by which a national vote is to be held regarding the ratification of the
proposed constitution.

December 15,2005 - Date that elections for a permanent government take place if the constitutionis ratified. If the constitution is not ratified, this is the date by which elections
for a new national assembly are to be held.

Semper Fi.


USAToday - Iraqis defy insurgents, cast ballots in election
BAGHDAD — Defying suicide bombers and mortar fire that killed at least 36 people, Iraqis voted Sunday in their first free election in more than 50 years.
Polls now have closed across the nation. Explosions rocked Baghdad throughout the morning as insurgents tried to disrupt an election to form a national assembly, but election centers successfully opened across the country. (Audio: USA TODAY's Steve Komarow from Baghdad) Iraqis formed long lines in some cities but appeared only sporadically in others. An Iraqi election official claimed Sunday that 72% of eligible voters had turned out nationwide. The official, Adel al-Lami of the Independent Electoral Commission, offered no overall figures of the actual number of Iraqis who have voted to back up the claim.

Before the election, Iraqi officials had predicted that up to 8 million of the 14 million voters — just over 57% — would participate. (Related item: How the Iraqi process works)

"This is our day. We should vote. It's freedom," said Firdoos Rasheed Al-Jaffer, 58, and after voting at Ataba bin Khazwa girls secondary school in a West Baghdad neighborhood.



CNN - Iraqis vote amid violence
Polls close on country's first free vote in a half-century

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Polls have closed in Iraq's first free election in a half century, with the independent election commission reporting a 72 percent turnout of registered voters nationwide by mid-afternoon amid attacks and threats of attacks to disrupt the vote.
The commission's Adil Al-Lami and Safwat Rashid did not release figures for Iraq's largest province, al-Anbar -- west of Baghdad, including Falluja and Ramadi -- or the northwestern Nineveh province, which includes Mosul.

"There has been a vast turnout in Iraq," Rashid said.
"The news is freedom has won," Al-Lami said. "We have conquered terrorism."



FOXNEWS - Polls Close in Historic Iraqi Elections
BAGHDAD, Iraq — The polls in Iraq have closed, ending the country's first open elections in more than 50 years and setting a course for what U.S. officials hope will be a long democratic future.

All around the country, Iraqis defied threats of violence and cast their votes. An initial estimate of turnout from the Independent Electoral Commission indicated that 72 percent of eligible Iraqi voters had turned out to cast their ballots.

But the day was not without bloodshed. Eight homicide bombings and mortar strikes at polling stations killed at least 36 people. A Web site statement purportedly from insurgency leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group claimed responsibility for the election-day attacks.

"What we're seeing here is the voice of freedom," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in the first response to the election from the Bush administration.

"Every indication is that the election in Iraq is going better than expected," Rice said on ABC's "This Week." "No, it's not a perfect election," Rice conceded, but she called it a positive development no one had foreseen three years ago when Saddam Hussein was still the dictator of Iraq.

Iraqi politicians also cast the elections as a huge success.

Casting his vote, Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi called it "the first time the Iraqis will determine their destiny."

"We have defeated the terrorists today," Ahmad Chalabi, a secular Shiite who is running for the National Assembly on the United Iraqi Alliance list, told FOX News. "The winds of freedom are sweeping across Iraq."



MSNBC News - Iraqi voter turnout picks up despite violence
Al-Zarqawi group claims attacks on polling stations; 31 killed
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqis danced and clapped with joy Sunday as they voted in their country’s first free election in a half-century, defying insurgents who launched deadly suicide bombings and mortar strikes at polling stations. Attacks across the country killed at least 31 people.
After a slow start, men and women in flowing black abayas — often holding babies — formed long lines, although there were pockets of Iraq where the streets and polling stations were deserted. Voters prohibited from using private cars walked, hitched rides on military buses and trucks, and some even carried the elderly in their arms, as officials said turnout appeared higher than expected.

Casting his vote, Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi called it "the first time the Iraqis will determine their destiny."

Turnout was brisk in Shiite Muslim and mixed Shiite-Sunni neighborhoods. Even in the small town of Askan in the so-called "triangle of death" south of Baghdad, 20 people waited in line at each of several polling centers. More walked toward the polls.

"This is democracy," said Karfia Abbasi, holding up a thumb stained with purple ink to prove she had voted



ABC News - Iraqis Cast Their Votes, Despite Violence
Iraqis Defy Insurgents to Cast Ballots as Polls Close in Historic Vote; Attacks Kill at Least 36

BAGHDAD, Iraq Jan 30, 2005 — Iraqis danced and clapped with joy Sunday as they voted in their country's first free election in a half-century, defying insurgents who launched eight suicide bombings and mortar strikes at polling stations. The attacks killed at least 36 people.
Polling stations officially closed as of 5 p.m., but the elecion commission said anyone still in line would be allowed to vote. An Iraqi election official said that 72 percent of eligible Iraqi voters had turned out so far nationwide.


And lastly, to earn the spot at the bottom of the totem pole....


CBS News/AP - Iraqi Voters Defy Insurgents
(ain't going to bother here, they reported more on killings than the good news on voting. Typical cBS news.)

Saturday, January 29, 2005

A Day of Democratic Reckoning in Iraq.

For the first time ever, a Muslim country called Iraq will have their first ever democracy vote to cast a single ballot for a list of candidates for the 275-seat National Assembly. There are more than 100 lists to choose from. Three hours from now we will see a country perform their first ever democratic process reaching across both male and female voters. This is unprecedented (other than Afghanistan).

Of course, this cartoon poliltical satirist believe otherwise that the election will be nothing but bombs and machine guns and no matter which survey you pick, it still reeks of negativism with as much stench as the inability to stop diarrhea from ruining your day earning the title of them being the "Poopieheads." Or maybe they ought to be the "anal rentative" types who just won't... let... go of.... their.....*grunt*.... past? Better take a laxative next time. Rule of thumb: never mix laxative and taco beans together when you go to Taco Bell to eat.

Typical of what many Liberal weiners do with their patented constant drum beat of "gloom and doom" whether it's Iraq, the war, the economy, global warming, vaccine shortages or whatever else you can think of. You say it and they'll put up an official "gloom and doom" banner just for you. How nice. Please, get over the post-election selection trauma (P.E.S.T.) and seek sanity and common sense for a change. You too Michael Moore. BTW, don't forget to stop by McDonalds and get your Big Mac meal.

Oh, it's two hours to go until the Iraqis vote for the very first time.....uncoerced! Huzzah!



My Aikido Blog Site

Yeah, check it out. I'm getting ready to get back into Aikido after a several month hiatus to get my affairs in order as well as to recuperate from my Aikido and other old injuries. I've been in Aikido since 1997 and not far off in getting a black belt (am training to get my brown belt (1st kyu) which is one belt below a black belt). Now you say, "What is the heck is Aikido?" Well, click on the above link and learn for a change. It's that simple. If you like martial arts, and you're deaf or hard of hearing, and you think you might like Aikido. Don't hestitate to contact me.

Now, it's not just politics I'm passionate about. So don't be fooled by my outward appearance.


Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Deaf Terrorists vs The Hearing World

Here's a 20 minute color video tape available at the Judicial Studies Board at the United Kingdom whose videotape shows a

group of young people plan to blow up a telephone exchange - a symbol of mass communication from which they are excluded. The tape is silent. The dialogue is subtitled. A ‘hearing’ audience is placed in the same position in what is not translated into sign language or subtitles is not understood. "Anything you say may be taken down in evidence and used against you in court ..." takes on a new meaning, especially if you don’t understand what is being said in the first place and how do you sign and swear on a holy book at the same time? Useful as a consciousness raising tool for people working with the deaf or for hearing people generally.

How ludicrous is this? Using examples of terrorism just to raise the consciousness of hearing people about deaf people's plight or problems? Can we give that video an "F" for creativity and an "A" for stupidity? Ye gods!

Sunday, January 23, 2005

When Mainstream Media Aids And Abets The Enemy

The mainstream media or MSM for the longest time during the Iraq war have provided articles and comments giving every bit of negative light about the U.S. and coalition soldiers as a way to depress, demoralize and defame their actions. Most of these, uh, "reporters" have never set foot in Iraq and all they can do is report on the killings of U.S. and coalition soldiers and never about the good deeds, actions and daily reconstruction efforts to constant improve the Iraqis standard of living. It is so easy to report on good news and get the Iraqis side of the story such as "Voices of Iraq" or "Iraq the model" with Iraqi brothers in Bagdad reporting what they see daily on the ground where MSM would never dare report because they want America to lose.

With the constant negative reporting by MSM the terrorists constantly see this as a victory on their part. And this is what the MSM and Liberals want. The actions by the MSM are simply aiding and abetting the enemy. Every headline they grab is a victory for the terrorists. Those who have read the ancient Chinese military theorist and army general Sun Tsu will recall the philosophy of "Kill one, scare ten thousand" as the basic theory behind the strategy of terrorism. The MSM and Associated Press are nothing more that propoganda scaring machines for the benefits of terrorists around the world.

Lieutenant Colonel Tim Ryan (CO, 2/12 Cav, 1st Cav Div) stationed in Iraq fighting the war has more than just a few choice words for the MSM.
In Fallujah, the enemy death toll has already exceeded 1,500 and still is climbing. Put one in the win column for the good guys, right? Wrong. As soon as there was nothing negative to report about Fallujah, the media shifted its focus to other parts of the country. Just yesterday, a major news agency's website lead read: "Suicide Bomber Kills Six in Baghdad" and "Seven Marines Die in Iraq Clashes." True, yes. Comprehensive, no. Did the author of this article bother to mention that Coalition troops killed 50 or so terrorists while incurring those seven losses? Of course not. Nor was there any mention about the substantial progress these offensive operations continue to achieve in defeating the insurgents. Unfortunately, this sort of incomplete reporting has become the norm for the media, whose poor job of presenting a complete picture of what is going on in Iraq borders on being criminal.

You can read the rest of his extensive piece that gives numerous examples of why MSM is aiding and abetting the enemy. In this case, in Iraq. He noted, however, in his post script an interesting fact:
Postscript: I have had my staff aggressively pursue media coverage for all sorts of events that tell the other side of the story only to have them turned down or ignored by the press in Baghdad. Strangely, I found it much easier to lure the Arab media to a "non-lethal" event than the western outlets. Open a renovated school or a youth center and I could always count on Al-Iraqia or even Al-Jazeera to show up, but no western media ever showed up – ever. Now I did have a pretty dangerous sector, the Abu Ghuraib district that extends from western Baghdad to the outskirts of Fallujah (not including the prison), but it certainly wasn't as bad as Fallujah in November and there were reporters in there.


We have the "Associated Press Admits Relationship With Terrorists" with Jack Stokes, the AP's director of media relations:

Several brave Iraqi photographers work for The Associated Press in places that only Iraqis can cover. Many are covering the communities they live in where family and tribal relations give them access that would not be available to Western photographers, or even Iraqi photographers who are not from the area.

Insurgents want their stories told as much as other people and some are willing to let Iraqi photographers take their pictures. It's important to note, though, that the photographers are not "embedded" with the insurgents. They do not have to swear allegiance or otherwise join up philosophically with them just to take their pictures.

Yet, it was the terrorists who tipped off the photographer (or the AP), and that's why they dragged the two election workers from their car, so they could be shot in front of the AP reporter's obliging camera. This goes to show that the AP was all too happy to cooperate with the terrorists in all respects. Rather than rely on photos that just happened to capture the moment. In this case, there were no moments here that were just a coincidence being at the "right time at the right place." It was a plan. Plain and simple. A sinister plan by both the terrorists, MSM and the Associated Press. Otherwise the AP reporter taking the picture several feet away from the actual slaughter of the two election workers would have been shot just as well for interfering with the killing plan.

Where are the stories on Iraq's reconstruction and rebuilding efforts in strengthening their infrastructures? Or note the positive daily Iraq updates? Or the weekly progress report? Or perhaps note the 19 terrorists nabbed in a joint raid in Iraq? And yet in the Defend America military website it provides both good and bad news. But you won't see the MSM provide a picture in their new report such as this one.



Saturday, January 22, 2005

Polls Finds Iraqis Overwhelmingly Favor Elections

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 19, 2005 – As coalition and Iraqi forces continue to kill and capture insurgents (they're called TERRORISTS! - koko) bent on disrupting or preventing Iraq's national assembly election, a new poll shows Iraqis overwhelmingly believe it's important for them to cast their ballots Jan. 30.

According to a public opinion survey in Iraq taken in early January, more than 90 percent of Iraqis believe it is important to vote in the election. A total of 82.9 percent said it was "very important," and 9.4 percent said it was "somewhat important."

The breakdown along religious lines shows 70.1 percent of Sunnis listing very important and 15.9 percent listing somewhat. A total of 86 percent of Sunnis, therefore, believe the election is important to the future of Iraq.

Sunnis make up about 20 percent of Iraq's population. They were the dominant group under the former regime. Some Sunni groups have called for Sunnis to boycott the election, but this poll seems to show that the calls are not effective.

In Shiia communities – the largest in Iraq, with about 60 percent of the population – 91.1 percent believe the election is very important and 5.5 percent say it is somewhat important. Shiia leader Grand Ayatollah Sistani has called on all Shiia to vote in the election. He has a slogan, "Vote or Die" that has struck a chord with the Shiia population.

The survey contacted almost 2,000 Iraqis from all parts of the country. An Iraqi company conducted the poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus three points.

On the all-important question of whether they will vote or not in the election, 87 percent said they were very likely or somewhat likely to vote on Jan. 30.

Along religious lines, almost 80 percent of Sunnis said they were likely to vote, and more than 90 percent of Shiias said they would go to the polls. Roughly 10 percent of the sample said they would not vote, and the rest didn't know.

The survey showed that 63.6 percent of Iraqis believe there will be free and fair elections in the country, with 17.8 percent responding they do not believe the elections will be free and fair. The rest listed don't know or not applicable. Overall, more women said they believe the elections would be free and fair than men – 65.1 percent to 62 percent.

Along religious lines, just over half – 50.5 percent – of Iraqis who list themselves as Sunni Muslim believe the elections will be free and fair, with 29.1 percent disagreeing. Among Shiias, 72.1 percent believe the elections will be free and fair, with 11.2 percent disagreeing.

Other interesting facets of the survey show that almost three quarters of Iraqis have at least some confidence in Iraq's interim government. A third of the people have some confidence, 29.5 percent have a lot of confidence and 10.8 percent have a little confidence. Only 15.8 percent have no confidence in the interim government.

Overall, more than 54.1 percent of Iraqis said they believe the country is headed in the right direction, with 28.1 percent saying the opposite. The Sunnis are almost evenly divided, with 42.6 percent 41.3 percent, respectively. Among Shiia Iraqis, the percentages are 61.1 and 21 percent.
========================

Interesting note...they're alot more optimistic than the Americans are about the United States! You can thank the MSM for helping that optimism.

UPDATE: From Captain's Quarters blog:

This was released on January 19th -- and according to Technorati, the only links to this story are from Kokonut Pundits and Cool Blue Blog. A Google search on the title and one on the reporter's name shows no mainstream media links. One would think that the news of a potential 80% turnout for the upcoming parliamentary elections might be major news, especially for an American public bombarded by doom-and-gloom stories from Iraq.

==========


I think the key to instant or dramatically increased exposure is through a blog site such as this one which is owned by Google. That way, any news will certainly get cached almost immediately by Google's search engine. With key words such as "Iraq" and "poll" would be enough to circle around the globe enough times to warrant a much closer (and celebatory) look.

Friday, January 21, 2005

When People Get the Wrong Idea....again.

It's amazing. Do a simple sign. And another country goes nuts thinking it means one thing when it was not case. I write a blog piece with a link about a nutty liberal's email (an actual bonafide email!) throwing epithets all over the place and people think it's about a particular person but never bothered to look at the link in the first place! Now it's highlighted in bright, bright blue for those who were blind to miss the underlined brown-colored hyperlink in the first place.

America's lesson of the day, don't jump the gun. Look around first. Breathe in...breathe out... breathe in....

My lesson of the day....color the hyperlink other than leaving it brown. That way, people won't hyperventilate when they miss a link and start thinking it's all about them.

By the way, recognize this person? He fiddled with his stick and blamed Christians for all his problems. The picture shows this "famous" person all "bronzed" up in a pasty kind of way. Maybe it's just the marble? The head is nothing but all rock?

A Funny Little Clip

A VW Polo car ad...an explosive moment for a really dumb terrorist in a short television clip. If you can't open it, go here.


Thumbs up...5 stars! Nothing but raves!

Thursday, January 20, 2005

GOP Bloggers Is Now Officially Up.

GOPbloggers is now officially up in celebration of President Bush inaugural address. A grand day for all Conservatives and Republicans.

Be sure to check out the full blog roll to see where bloggers are from. I'm listed under "New Mexico," of course.

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

AIRBUSTED! European Pride and Joy.

I was listening to the radio talk show on my home from work today and the subject on Airbus came up. Seems like Europe is having a big ego trip tripping over themselves about this Airbus, jumbo mumbo airplane to take the world by storm. Yet the number of planes ordered so far is 149 when 250 is needed to make a profit. Yet also a number of companies have dropped or delayed their orders simply because airports will have to make the needed but very expensive changes in order to accomodate the behemoths. Airports want to make money, too, not lose money. While I listened further on the radio the radio host made an important point. A good significant portion of the materials, equipments and machinery comes from the United States. And yet it's people like Jacques Chirac of France, Tony Blair of Britain, Gerhard Schroeder of Germany and Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain who praised the costly development project as a pinnacle of European technology. Wowza! European pride. Who knew it existed?

When we look at this monument of human achievement, we see that Europe can't be stopped," Zapatero told the crowd. "We're capable of being a leader in science and technology when we are highly determined."
Highly determined? A leader? America is already one. And yet they (the main stream media ) make these sickening accolades with comments like this:

With British-built wings spanning up to 80 meters, Spanish titanium, Rolls Royce engines, and German and French engineering and assembling, the plane is regarded as a symbol of European cooperation.
Oooh...a "symbol of European cooperation." Funny how MSM and Europe do not want to mention America as being one of the biggest contributors and cooperators on parts made in America shipped over to Europe for the Airbus.

Here's the irony when Europe and most of the mainstream media want to make sure you don't know. Half the aircraft parts, by value, are built by American companies. About half the engines will be made by General Electric/Pratt & Whitney Engine Alliance. B.F. Goodrich is building the landing gear. Honeywell is making cockpit electronics and an environmental surveillance system, which integrates weather radar, traffic alert and collision avoidance and a ground-proximity warning system.

Airbus has suppliers in 44 U.S. states, and spends more than $5.5 billion a year on aircraft parts built in the USA, and that number is expected to rise significantly when A380 production goes into full gear. Each A380 Airbus plane cost approximately $270 million dollars.

More money for the United States to make. So much for European independency. This where y'all American Liberals can scream about outsourcing. Now is a good time. Europe is outsourcing nearly half of the work to the United States. Scream all you want about outsourcing a la' Howard "Scream" Dean style. Scream louder so that deaf people can hear ya!!

The "Gay Bowel Syndrome"?

Diarrhea. Everybody at one time or another gets it. Nasty stuff. What I didn't know was the "Gay Bowel Syndrome" until somebody reminded me about tacos and spicy food. And so I did some checking from what I have heard about it earlier in the past. Yep, nasty stuff. The "gay bowel syndrome" is a common problem of homosexual patients in the emergency department.
"Sexually transmitted bowel and rectal diseases are common in gay men and are caused by a wide variety of infectious agents. Each of the entities implicated in the gay bowel syndrome is considered separately and epidemiologic considerations responsible for the appearance of such a syndrome are examined..."

Kind of make sense in how these types of condition get manifested. However, be noted that this condition is NOT exclusive to homosexuals. Heterosexuals can get it just that there is a higher prevelance and risk of homosexuals in getting these conditions. The "gay bowel syndrome" is a misnomer and falsely labels people that way. Mislabeling and mis/disinformation are not the smart way to go. Go to Amazon and get this book. Still the prevelance of such a condition is real among homosexual males. One study stated that:
A clinical pattern of anorectal and colon diseases encountered with unusual frequency in these homosexual patients is termed the gay bowel syndrome. The clinical diagnoses in decreasing order of frequency include condyloma acuminata, hemorrhoids, nonspecific proctitis, anal fistula, perirectal abscess, anal fissure, amebiasis, benign polyps, viral hepatitis, gonorrhea, syphilis, anorectal trauma and foreign bodies, shigellosis, rectal ulcers and lymphogranuloma venereum.
Ye gods! Half of them I don't even know what the heck they are. Good thing we have the internet to look them up and learn something for a change. The photos are pretty graphic. Ewwwww. Looking through I didn't see anything about diarrhea until I came across the Prufer-Kramer L. study on "Gastrointestinal manifestations of AIDS. 1: Basic considerations and viral infections" where it states that:

Fifty to eighty per cent of patients with AIDS-related complex or AIDS have gastrointestinal symptoms, the most common being dysphagia, diarrhea, orperianal lesions. The symptomatology varies from a mild "gay bowel syndrome" to a severe "diarrhea wasting syndrome."


And that was from a 1991 study. I don't reckon much has changed since then. Diarrhea isn't funny. People have died from severe bouts of diarrhea as a result of AIDS. Dysentery is even worse such as it was a common occurrence during the Civil War. Dysentery is having ultra-diarrhea 24/7 where you will dehydrate in a hurry and you go into shock. It's not funny. AIDS is not funny.

Anyway, it's true what they say about playing with fire. You get burned eventually. Play it smart and not act stoopid by being a potty mouth.

I Jib, You Jab...check out JibJab!

The latest JibJab's animation that pokes fun at Democrats AND Republicans is out. It is a riot to watch it. Although, not captioned (you can see the lyrics here) but you can watch an earlier clip a few months ago called "It's Good to Be in D.C." that pokes fun at Bush and Kerry, and everybody else, during the election time. It's "captioned" with a bouncing ball that follows to the singing. What's funny in this clip is the gay part. You'll have to see it to understand. Nobody is immune in these funny animated clips. N...o...b...o...d...y! From President Bush, Gore, Ashcroft down to Kerry.

Ahem, BTW, John Kerry lost the presidential election. The funniest thing I ever witnessed.

Anyway, check it out and watch the animated clips. The JibJab guys (two brothers) were on the Jay Leno show and now their website is getting to be very popular because these clips are so damn funny in how these characters sing. The music is good, too. None of that rock and roll screaming. Great political satire.

People need to have a sense of humour. Some people just don't get it.

President Bush Inaugural Address

Well, President Bush’ inaugural address starts tomorrow. Also a day to remind people that John Kerry lost the election no less. Still we have our group of extremists who wish ill death on President Bush during the inaugural address hoping to see a repeat performance like President William Henry Harrison who spoke for one and half hour in a snow storm only to die of pneumonia a month later. People who wish such ill will or death upon any Presidents whether a Republican, Democrat, Green Party, Libertarian or what have you are simply kooks and deserve to be treated as one. And when people who clap their hands over the news of Reggie White’s death, laugh at people who take delight in seeing other people who were raped, or wish or hope death of certain American leaders are certainly none other than extremists. Those who insist that they’re not extremists (e.g. Liberal extremists) and are not bitter people but continue to do these things are simply not fooling people. They belong to the same class of people seen in the Vonage television commercials of idiots jumping off roofs thinking they’re a kiddie comic book hero who think they can fly like the wind. How little do they know the laws of Physics and gravity.

It is your American civic duty to keep an eye and ear open for any suspicious activities aimed at causing damage, injuries, or deaths during the inaugural event (and any and all future inaugural events, too) need to report their findings to the FBI or police immediately, especially specific death threats.

I will be watching.

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Scattered Words...an interesting blogsite.

Scattered Words. Here's a blogsite where one guy is a gay, Christian, Washingtononian trying to blog his way out of homosexuality. I don't know if this is a first but certainly the first I've come across. But what struck me is the people's sheer cruelty by laughing and reveling at this blogger's demise who, supposedly so, experienced a rape by another man. Good grief! Whether or not if this blogger actually exist or made up, how is such a traumatic experience be made easier when people make nasty comments such as

"Hahahaha. Such a poetic justice."
or
"Someone want to donate a shotgun to this guy?"


Hmmm?

Boggles the mind when people actually take delight in other people misfortunes, or deaths of people who have never laid a hand on anybody by saying "good riddance." Here's a site that did an article on Scattered Words. An interesting piece.

Other people have made comments about the blogsite on their blogsites.

Gay or straight, it is never right to take in delight of other people's extreme misfortunes by saying that they "deserved it" just because of their sexual orientation. Neither is it right to take advantage of other people's misfortunes just to further an agenda or goal, including religion. It is just downright ugly to see people who think rape is funny. Let's hope they don't experience the same thing themselves someday. We can see how these people are really smarmy and cruel. An echelon higher than pedophiles.



Hey, don't like my blog article? Just click on the little "x" at the top right hand corner of your browser screen. Problem solved. Have a nice day.

Monday, January 17, 2005

Kiddie Comic Books and Clinton's Inaugural Address

Some people insist on wanking publicly without thinking first while at the same time read kiddie comic books for jollies is enough to question their sanity. Why should they complain about the cost of President Bush upcoming 2005 inaugural party just because of fat cats buying a bunch of the 2005 inaugural tickets, or even decry that tickets are not affordable? Yet, people weak on history easily and conveniently forget Clinton's own inaugural party and fat cats? How nice.

Maybe a clue is in order to check out Clinton's donor's list for a change? How about the 1993 list? Ring a bell? Ok. How about the 1997 list with over 2400 listed names? Ok, now you're complaining that I didn't put Bush's current 2005 list? Here it is so far. Oh, and yet during President Bill Clinton's 1997 inauguration, ball tickets cost $150 each while Bush 2001 inaugural tickets cost $125. But for 2005 ball tickets it will cost $150 dollars each. Not much difference from Clinton.

What? You people still complaining??

Get a friggin clue people. And stop that wanking while you're at it. It's bad enough to witness a bunch of "Captain Wankers" in blue capes and spandex tights running around trying to save the day using the power of empty intellect alone. The picture just doesn't seem quite right.




Continuing Saga of Lauri's Discrimination

You know Lauri. She's the Deaf woman who was denied by the CISS/Deaflympics to compete in the Deaf World Golf Championships that was held in Stockholm, Sweden in 2004 only because she wore her hearing aid at the U.S. Deaf Golf Championships in Pinehurst, North Carolina. This U.S. Deaf Golf Championships abide by the rules/regulations of the CISS/Deaflympics even though they tentatively allowed Lauri to wear her hearing aid.

Lauri's audiogram confirms that she is eligible to play in any CISS/Deaflympics games in the United States (and elsewhere). According to their regulations Lauri must have an average 55 dB loss in BOTH ears to play in their games. And for her to play she must remove her hearing aid in her right ear, unless the regulations are changed to allow hearing aids and cochlear implants. For any CISS/Deaflympics related games in the United States with the regulations unchange seems to be in violation of the U.S. current Social Security regulations and Americans With Disabilities Act (which also prohibits segregation).

(SSAregulations, Appendix I, Subpart P, for adults over age 18): Hearing Impairments (criteria for Legal Deafness), Section 2.08, using best available acoustic hearing aids). There are two requirements to determine how one is to be "legally deaf" :

A . Average hearing loss at 90 dB or greater in both ears (Laurie meets this criteris for her Left Ear, but not for her Right Ear, thus she is not "legally deaf" under this section);

OR

B. Speech discrimination scores of 40 percent or less in the better ear,with maximal use of acoustic hearing aids (In Lauri's audiogram report it says that "Speech discrimination testing could not be performed" meaning that Lauri cannot distinguish any sounds of speech in her left ear OR in her right ear (even with her hearing aid)).

In the B section LAURI IS IN FACT LEGALLY DEAF UNDER SECTION 2.08B of the Social Security regulations, which are the regulations of the United States federal government for determining legal deafness.

Despite her use of the hearing aid has not at all changed her status as a Legally Deaf person.

Lauri's rights have surely been violated according to U.S. Federal laws and regulations.

You can read past blog pieces and related links regarding Lauri and other similar discriminatory practices.

http://members.aol.com/deafcultureinfo/notepage.htm

http://kokonutpundits.blogspot.com/2004/12/when-political-correctness-goes-too.html

http://kokonutpundits.blogspot.com/2005/01/canada-to-prevent-discrimination-at.html

http://kokonutpundits.blogspot.com/2005/01/will-6th-deaf-world-golf-championships.html

http://kokonutpundits.blogspot.com/2005/01/disqualified-russian-wrestler-was-not.html

http://kokonutpundits.blogspot.com/2005/01/deaflympics-chinese-player-forgot-to.html

Surreal, ain't it folks?

Sunday, January 16, 2005

Hate Crime Against Christians

Four days ago an Egyptian Christian family of four murdered in Jersey City Heights.

The New York Post reports today that the father was an outspoken critic of Islamist:

Hossam Armanious, 47, who along with his wife and two daughters was found stabbed to death in his Jersey City home early Friday, would regularly debate religion in a Middle Eastern chat room, one source said.

Armanious, an Egyptian Christian, was well known for expressing his Coptic beliefs and engaging in fiery back-and-forth with Muslims on the Web site paltalk.com.

He "had the reputation for being one of the most outspoken Egyptian Christians," said the source, who had close ties to the family. The source, who had knowledge of the investigation, refused to specify the anti-Muslim statement. But he said cops told him they were looking into the exchanges as a possible motive.

The married father of two had recently been threatened by Muslim members of the Web site, said a fellow Copt and store clerk who uses the chat room.
"You'd better stop this bull---- or we are going to track you down like a chicken and kill you," was the threat, said the clerk, who was online at the time and saw the exchange...


Armanious’ fervor apparently rubbed off on his daughter, Sylvia — who would have turned 16 yesterday. “She was very religious and very opinionated,” said Jessica Cimino, 15, a fellow sophomore at Dickenson HS.

A family member who viewed photos of the bloodbath said Sylvia seemed to have taken the most savage punishment. “When we saw the pictures, you could tell that they were hurt really, really bad in the face; especially Sylvia,” said Milad Garas, the high-school sophomore’s great-uncle.

The heartless killer not only slit Sylvia’s throat, but also sliced a huge gash in her chest and stabbed her in the wrist, where she had a tattoo of a Coptic cross. The Newark Star Ledger has more on the Egyptian Copt community's outrage:

"This was a terrorist attack," said Amgad Zakhari, 32, a real estate investor who has known the Armanious family since their arrival in the United States. "It was to make an example of Egyptian Christians, to silence them. It has to be a religious motivation."

Friends also provided more details on Armanious' online debates: Relations between Muslims and Coptic Christians have historically been tense. Copts are a minority in Muslim-dominated Egypt, and Coptic Web sites contain numerous accounts of persecution at the hands of the government and the nation's residents.

In Jersey City, the heart of New Jersey's Coptic community, Copts and Muslims share an uneasy peace, residents say.

Armanious, a banquet waiter known as a very devout man, did not intentionally slight Muslims when he visited Internet chat rooms, friends said.
"He was trying to tell people about Christianity," Zakhari said. "He was a good Christian. He was trying to use the Internet to help the community. He was trying to give the Christian word."


Armanious was so involved in the Internet talks that he became an administrator in one of the chat rooms, reached through an instant-messaging portal (www.paltalk.com).

The friend, who recounted the threat against Armanious and who requested anonymity, said the slain man had been engaged in the hobby for about five years. The altercation that unfolded two months ago started when another user of the site took offense to Armanious' comments about Islam, telling him to "shut up."

"I can say whatever I want," the friend said Armanious responded. "I live in America..."

Will the patriotic leaders of CAIR--always quick to jump on the hate-crimes bandwagon when it fits their agenda--join the Egyptian Christian community in condemning the vicious Armanious slayings? If this is any indication, not likely. But of course, some of the more militant Liberal idiots would never put in their ounce of sympathy (or condemnation of such an act) even though the Egyptian Christian family voiced their beliefs strongly only because the United States gave them their freedom of expresssion, and speech. In essence, they'll go as far as saying that they "deserved" it putting them on par with those terrorists who believe in the same thing. And that would be you do not have a right to express your own viewpoints, no matter how extreme. Acting on murder is not a form of freedom of expression. Just goes to show their extreme insecurity about themselves. And it all starts with name calling, which is a sign of insecurity to compensate for what they already lack.

May the Armanious family rest in peace. They're in God's graces now.

Hat Tip to Malkin.

Saturday, January 15, 2005

Michael Moore - A High School Reject

Michael Moore is not getting much respect at his old high school which is good news. He has been rejected all four times to be nominated for Davison High School's Hall of Fame. No doubt Moore can get the award "Hall of Shame" without much problems.

From a high school student at Davison High: "I haven't talked to anybody yet who's for him. The word to describe Michael Moore is embarrassing. He embarrasses everybody."

No kiddin? Michael Moore? Embarrassing? Too kind. Let's hope Michael Moore continues to enjoy his big macs, shakes and fries like every living red-blooded Americans. Even I enjoy it, too.

Thursday, January 13, 2005

It's Da Love Bomb for Terrorists

A project was revealed today by the Pentagon made me laugh and, heck, even made the best sense to use these non-lethal chemical bombs described by the Pentagon in the already released de-classified documents. One of them is the "Love Bomb" would cause other enemies to have lusting desires by making them sexually irresitible to each other. If a chemical can be made to do this it would simply be a deeply and humiliating blow to the enemies morale. Wonder what would happen if Zarqarwi and Osama were in the same area and the "Love bomb" was dropped? If you thought that putting panties over the heads of prisoners was bad and a form of torture (uh, let me laugh for a sec...ha ha...hey, frat brothers did this all the time during the good old hazing days) then this chemical "aphrodisiac" bomb would be the Mother of all Humiliation bomb. Hey, I'm all for it!

The peaceniks have always been saying "Make Love, Not War." Well, this "Love Bomb" is the sure fire answer. Just don't drop it in NYC.


Wednesday, January 12, 2005

When A Liberal Goes Nutty

This is from an actual email from a rabid Liberal militant with nothing much between the ears with the typical fashion of wishing people from the opposite political party to die, even gruesomely. Anybody care to guess who? I think deaf ears need to see this and learn not to mimick such lout behaviors.


F** you. I hope you get cancer & die a horrible painful death all alone, with your collegues shunning you and the rest of us reading how wrong you are AND WHAT A CRUMMY WRITER YOU ARE.

Before you say anything, read the link for once before you make an ass of yourself and assume something which is not the case.

Disqualified Russian Wrestler Was Not Exactly Hearing

A Russian wrestler has been thrown out of the Deaflympics after it was discovered that his hearing was better than the allowable level for competitors.

Sergey Iankovsky was disqualified during the heats of the Greco-Roman wrestling after Iran launched a protest, claiming that he was responding to instructions from his coach during a bout against an Iranian wrestler last week.

All Deaflympic athletes must remove hearing aids before competition and an International Deaflympic Committee-sanctioned test conducted after the appeal found that Iankovsky had a 48-decibel hearing loss in his good ear, whereas the Deaflympic rules state that competitors must have not less than 55-decibel loss.

Well, the story is a little more clear now. The Russian wrestler was not at all a hearing person.

Click here to see more updates on the idiocy of CISS/Deaflympics officials disqualifying two other deaf/hh competitors for wearing a hearing aid. For the love of Zeus, you can't get any kookier than that.


140 students from FSDB to Perform at Superbowl

Five-time Grammy award winning artist Alicia Keys is scheduled to perform during the Super Bowl pre-game show at Alltel stadium.

Keys will be joined by 140 students from the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine." The kids are very excited," said Jill Storey, a spokesperson for the school. Keys has been tapped to perform, "America the Beautiful".

The students will sing and sign the song with Alicia Keys. The students are already practicing.

For those who don't know Alicia Keys, she's one cool beautiful chick and was raised as a classically trained pianist! She now performs Rhythmn and Blues, and Soul music. Go to Amazon and you can listen to several of Alicia Keys music samples. As always, I'll keep to my own Ragtime and early Jazz piano playing for myself to enjoy and listen as I practice them.

BTW, one of my good friend who lives in Miami went to FSDB, and then later to Gallaudet University where I met him there.





Tuesday, January 11, 2005

The First Trillionaire...guess who may be one someday?

Ah, billionaires...they're all over the place. But we haven't seen the first trillionaire and that may come about several years from now. Check it out how Bill Gates could possibly become the first trillionaire.


When a Stupid "Burglar" Does the Colossal

Former Clinton aide Sandy (aka "Burglar") Berger is under U.S. grand jury investigation for the removal (i.e. stuffing them into his socks, pants and jackets) of top secret documents while in the (closely monitored) screening room of the National Archives.

Berger admitted he removed as many as 50 top-secret documents from the archives, calling it an an "honest mistake." Er..let me laugh for a second...ha ha (weakly).

The stolen documents were for the Sept. 11 commission's inquiry into the terror attacks on New York and Washington. Sandy "Burglar" removed them solely to try and reduce any embarassment for the former President, Bill Clinton. He had a lot of embarassments, eh no?

Sandy Burglar also said he destroyed some of the documents, but claimed it was an "accident." Oops, there it is again, another "accident" comment made by Sandy the Burglar. Kind of like Bill Clinton's own little, "mind yer business", "accident" with Lewinsky. They just couldn't help themselves. Totally impossible. A force of nature to reckon with. Oops...had to have a little fun in the stalls at a bathroom stop off of the highway. Can't help it. Oops...just said the "F" word. Can't help that either. Maybe Hillary Clinton will "accidentally" find a way into Bill Clinton's bed for a change? Don't bet on it. She's one calculating little b...

Anyway, Sandy the Burglar pilfered (i.e. "stolen") documents were classified "Code Word," the highest security classification, above Top Secret! Wow. Sandy the Burglar had to sign his name and leave any kind of containers such as briefcases behind before entering the screening room to review any Top Secret documents in the National Archives. So, there is no way for him to forget where he was and to "accidentally" take these top secret documents stuffed into his socks and pants in beyond believability.

Anybody who believes otherwise has rocks in his head. You know who you are.

Three things...

1. Sandy the Burglar knew the place contained top secret materials.
2. Sandy the Burglar knew that the only way to get out undetected with the copied documents was to stuff them down into his socks, pants and jackets. That's 50 top secret documents! Now you know what a scarecrow feels like.
3. Sandy the Burglar knew what he threw away at home was Top Secret.
4. Sandy the Burglar knew what he was doing.

Ok..that was four things.

Bill Clinton knows the Burglar! John Kerry, too. He even bragged about it. Hmmm...and all this happened before the election, too. Could it be to try and help John Kerry's election? It wouldn't have helped anyway. Oh, btw, John Kerry lost the election.

"What information could be so embarrassing that a man with decades of experience in handling classified documents would risk being caught pilfering our nation's most sensitive secrets? Did these documents detail simple negligence, or did they contain something more sinister?"

Yeah, I wonder about that, too. Let's jail Sandy the Burglar for stupidity, and breaking the law, too. It's only fair. Just don't bend over while in jail.

BTW, Martha Stewart will be leaving her jail cell soon....completely rehabilitated...and a billionaire, too. Now, isn't that the ultimate Americana? Leave jail and be even richer?




Indoctrination into ASL at Gallaudet University

Many new students arriving at Gallaudet University attend the New Signers Program where for four weeks prior to the beginning of classes they learn only ASL and not PSE or SEE. They do not have that choice since Gallaudet University does not offer those choices to begin with. Even though it is well known that many professors, incidentally hearing, tend to sign more of a PSE signing than ASL. But still soon-to-be professors or teachers must pass the ASL-equivalency skill test before they can teach at Gallaudet University. Suppose a student wish to continue using SEE because of the continued use of correct grammatical English order whether it comes down to signing, speaking or writing English and do not want to learn ASL? What legal grounds can SEE, CUED, SimCom, non-ASL users have in the classes of Gallaudet University should Gallaudet University refuse such accomodations? Just thinking outloud here.

Deaf or hard of hearing students who are unfamiliar with sign language do not have to use sign language but can request note-takers, CART, or oral translators (e.g. CUED speech or verbal) according to the ADA law regarding equal access for students with disabilities. Unless they have thick skins and have the gumptions to take on the derisiveness from students and staffs, they can legally choose that route in classes at Gallaudet University, or elsewhere such as NTID. It's no different than requesting the same support mechanism in other universities or colleges. Why should it be different at Gallaudet University?

Students should have the right to decide which communication route they'd prefer and not be left with only one option...ASL. Bottom line is that there should be a choice. If a deaf or hard of hearing student chooses ASL, all the kudos for him. However, if not, and want to continue, for example, using SEE then he should have that right. Gallaudet University should make every efforts to accomodate his communication needs rather than to try and convert him into signing and learning ASL only. After all, Gallaudet University is a college for deaf and hard of hearing students by catering to their communication needs which are many. It's not about catering to ASL only.

Monday, January 10, 2005

The $240,000 Question....

Paid bloggers? Now, that should not be a new concept noting the fact that many of the well established and much visited blogging sites such as Powerlineblog, Little Green Footballs, The Daily Kos, Instapundit or Michelle Malkin do their bloggings out of the interest of their own hearts. But the latest flap over a paid blogger can be seen in the Armstrong Williams's final column for Tribune Media Services. In the article Armstrong's conflict of interest in secretly accepting money from the Department of Education brings about his apology to the masses. That's fine but he ought to return $241,000 belonging to the taxpayers. And he ought to stop spinning his apology which only makes him a bit more, well, of an imbecile than an honest person recanting only because he got caught. So, who got the bright idea to spend a quarter of a million dollars of taxpayer money to bribe one journalist? It was the Department of Education that paid him, and not President Bush (note to Bush ranters, nice try but no dice but keep it up...makes ya look real dumb). It was Rod Paige, Education Secretary, who suggested this payment but, alas, he's leaving. Go figure. This smacks of something illegal. More will need to be done to look into this for the improper spending of American tax-dollars just to push a political agenda.

Too bad most Liberals will continue to defend Dan Rather's faked "CYA" Memo and would rather, ahem, do so just to preserve their Liberal Fantasyland in a world reminescent of Neverland of wanting to play with little boys and justify their actions. Quite disturbing. That won't cut it. Yet, Conservatives and Republicans alike are going after William's bribery pay and hypocrisy. There's outrage from the Republicans, alright, but certainly not lopsided like the Liberals screaming for the need of an equal outrage as did the Conservatives and Republicans to Dan Rather's major faux pas with the 100% fake cBS "CYA" Memo solely to undermine President Bush' re-election.

Now, that's funny!

UPDATE: Looks like the White House confirms that this was an isolated incident.

Remember, it's "Making a mountain out of a molehill" is how you would say it correctly for those who insist on screeching like ET. Learn the English idioms, please! But in this case such screechings would be a lot of hand waving, signing and opinionated gestures instead. That alone could be considered as obscene. Whatever floats your boat.


Saturday, January 08, 2005

A Gay Pedophile to Get His Dues in Court?

This guy likes to play with little boys' nether region, give them wine, porno mags and videos and ask them if they have seen any of their "white stuff" come out while he does *it* for them. See the lurid in details in a now unsealed court document. He need to be castrated. He's done enough on his face already.

Video to 61,000 Public Schools to Promote "Family Values"

In an unprecented move to promote "family values" in a sort of quasi "religious-tolerance" training video aimed at 61,000 public schools to receive "We Are Family" lesson plan.

The cast of characters appearing in the video are from award-winning shows including "Arthur," "Bear in the Big Blue House," "Blue's Clues, Bob the Builder," "The Book of Pooh," "Clifford the Big Red Dog," "Dora the Explorer," "Jimmy Neutron," "JoJo's Circus," "Kim Possible," "Little Mermaid," "Madeline," "The Magic School Bus," "The Muppet Show," "Rugrats," and "Sesame Street."

"While we want everyone to respect other people's beliefs, we do not consider it appropriate for children's television to be used in an effort to indoctrinate children...," said AFA researcher Ed Vitagliano.

The distribution will coincide with the video's broadcast on major television and cable stations on March 11 in celebration of the proposed National "We Are Family" Day.

More information can be found at World Net Daily - a pro-religious family value site.

Now, children will see these cartoon characters and get the message of "family values." What would you say if somebody says "Well, it's about time!" ??

Friday, January 07, 2005

When People Do Dumb Things.

Now, why should a company try and get the FCC to order Fox station to air their $1.2 million dollar television advertisement for the next Super Bowl ad?

McDowell says he has been in talks with Fox since August about the 15-second spot, for which he planned to pay $1.2 million, 10% of the Carmel, Calif.-based company's annual ad budget. "We're disappointed and angry," says McDowell, 42. And while he admits that he hoped to create "buzz," McDowell thinks Fox is being "overzealous in their policing of the airwaves."

David Rice, McDowell's lawyer, sent a letter Monday to the Federal
Communications Commission, arguing the ad is "amusing and entirely appropriate for broadcast" and urging the commission to issue an order directing Fox to broadcast it.

An FCC spokeswoman said Thursday that the commission would never make such an order. The agency responds to complaints after material airs.

After all, Fox station is a private company. It is they who decide what to air and what not to air. If they want to risk getting fined, then that is their prerogative. McDowell is the over-zealous person trying to get the government to do his bidding.