Entertainment News Alert!

Riot in Sierra Leone Over Midget No-Show:

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone - Thousands of fans rioted at Sierra Leone's national stadium Saturday when authorities substituted two local dwarf comedians for a widely anticipated out-of-town midget duo. Police arrested 30 people, amid damage and dozens of injuries.

I'd be cranky too!

Sierra Leone's National Stadium was built as a gift from China. The stadium was under repairs for damage from the West African nation's devastating 10-year rebellion, ended in January 2002.

Even better.

I wonder how many votes Sierra Leone gets in the UN?

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 10:27 PM -

 
Idle hands do the devil's work

And no one has more idle hands than the United Nations - WHO wants 'Twinkie tax' to discourage junk foods:

The World Health Organization has proposed that nations consider taxing junk foods to encourage people to make healthier food choices, but some groups say that a "Twinkie tax" will be hard to swallow.

All the usual suspects are piping up to say that it's a swell idea. Even the critics can't seem to just say that it's none of their damn business.

On the other hand, I see a great future for the "Twinkie Deprivation" defense.

In related news - Drop That Ashtray!:

Where are the New York Civil Liberties Union busybodies when you really need them?

Just sitting on their butts?

While Mayor Bloomberg's ashtray posse is out there kicking down doors?

Recent reports demonstrate only too well what Mayor Mike's anti-smoking holy war has degenerated into.

Now they're busting folks for possession.

Not of cigarettes.

Of ashtrays.

Stacked in a back room.

But here's a relief - U.N.: Yellowstone no longer 'in danger':

The World Heritage Committee has decided to remove its "in danger" designation from Yellowstone National Park. In a lengthy report, the committee "urges the State Party (the United States) to continue to report on Yellowstone's snowmobile phase-out and other efforts to ensure that winter travel facilities respect the protection of the Park, its visitors and its wildlife," and "invites" the United States "to provide to the World Heritage Centre by 1 February 2004, existing recovery plans setting out targets and indicators for the six remaining long-term management issues (mining activities outside the park, threats to bison, threats to cutthroat trout, water-quality issues, road impacts, visitor-use impacts)."

"Urges," and "invites" is the language used by the U.N. to support its claim that it has no authority to dictate land-use policy in the United States. Nevertheless, ratification of the World Heritage Treaty obligates the United States to comply with the " urgings and invitations" of the U.N.

All these busybodies give me an urge too.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 8:20 AM -

 
Suckers!

(Via The Corner) 'Trampled' Wal-Mart Shopper Has History Of Injury Claims:

ORANGE CITY, Fla. -- A woman reported "trampled" last Friday by Wal-Mart shoppers desperate for $29.87 DVD players has a long history of claiming injuries from Wal-Marts and other businesses where she worked or shopped.
...
An investigation by WKMG-Local 6 reveals Vanlester has filed 16 previous claims of injuries at Wal-Mart stores and other places she has shopped or worked, according to Wal-Mart, court files and state records. Her sister, who accompanied her Friday on the visit to Wal-Mart, has also filed a prior injury claim against Wal-Mart, with Vanlester as her witness, a company spokeswoman said yesterday.

Asked whether Vanlester's frequent injury claims might cast doubt on the veracity of her latest allegation, her attorney, David L. Sweat, of Port Orange, said, "No comment." He did stress, though, that Vanlester "has not filed a claim nor have we decided to file one" related to last week's incident.

Wal-Mart is reviewing store videotapes "as we look into the claim," spokeswoman Karen Burk said from the massive retailer's Bentonville, Ark., headquarters. "We will investigate this claim as thoroughly as we have the other 10 claims that this customer and her sister have brought against our stores in the past."

Maybe she's just accident prone?

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 8:28 AM -

 
I was wondering about that too

Jonathan Adler reports at The Corner - Collusion Memo Fallout:

Several conservative groups are planning to file a formal ethics complaint with the Virginia State Bar against Elaine Jones of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund for her role in delying the confirmation of Judge Julia Gibbons to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the Washington Times reports. According to internal memos by Democratic Senate Judiciary Committee staff, Ms. Jones sought to delay Gibbons' confirmation so as to effect the outcome of the en banc ruling in the University of Michigan affirmative action case -- a case in which the NAACP Legal Defense Fund was a party.

Ethics? What ethics?

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 8:23 AM -

 
A really clever plan

Richard Johnson in the NY Post reports that the press is going to be a tad grumpy at the Democrat convention in '04:

THE Democrats brought 500 journalists into Boston to check out the media facilities for the party's July presidential convention - but there weren't any. There's barely room in the Fleet Center for the delegates. Dem honchos said the press might have to use a parking lot, giant tents, office buildings or a mix of them all. No one is sure which yet because money is a problem, as the visiting journos learned from a front-page story in yesterday's Boston Herald. (The situation is the opposite in New York, which is doing just fine raising the bucks to host the Republicans next summer.) What's more, insiders say Boston is short of hotel rooms.

That's why Terry McAuliffe gets the big bucks I guess.

Speaking of which:

Instead of showing the nonexistent facilities, the Dems yesterday served up Bush-bashing speeches, endured in stony silence by the press. Boston convention CEO Rod O'Connor even took a swipe at New York, saying: "All indications are that the Republicans have gone to New York to exploit a terrible moment in our history." Of course the Dems also contemplated coming here - and probably should have.

It's good to see that the Donks hire the "challenged". Rod O'Connor is hauling down $190,000 for this gig and the runner up for the job, Alice Huffman, is getting $130,000 for a "part-time post chairing the convention committee."

In the past, the convention committee chairman has been an unpaid post, Democratic sources said. But Huffman's job comes with a $40,000-a-year scheduler, an $80,000 travel and expense budget - and a $50,000 contingency fund.
...
A year ago, Huffman was highly critical of Boston's convention bid, saying she worried about the city's past racial tensions. Since landing her chairmanship, Huffman has had nothing but praise for Boston and O'Connor.

Indeed.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 8:16 AM -

 
It's easier to just call 'em wingnuts

Charles Krauthammer - Bush Derangement Syndrome:

It has been 25 years since I discovered a psychiatric syndrome (for the record: ``Secondary Mania,'' Archives of General Psychiatry, November 1978), and in the interim I haven't been looking for new ones. But it's time to don the white coat again. A plague is abroad in the land.

Bush Derangement Syndrome: the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency -- nay -- the very existence of George W. Bush.

Now, I cannot testify to Howard Dean's sanity before this campaign, but five terms as governor by a man with no visible tics and no history of involuntary confinement is pretty good evidence of a normal mental status. When he avers, however, that ``the most interesting'' theory as to why the president is ``suppressing'' the 9/11 report is that Bush knew about 9/11 in advance, it's time to check on thorazine supplies.

And the rubber room occupancy rates.

Until now, Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS) had generally struck people with previously compromised intellectual immune systems. Hence its prevalence in Hollywood. Barbra Streisand, for example, wrote her famous September 2002 memo to Dick Gephardt warning that the president was dragging us toward war to satisfy, among the usual corporate malefactors who ``clearly have much to gain if we go to war against Iraq,'' the logging industry -- timber being a major industry in a country that is two-thirds desert.

It is true that BDS has struck some pretty smart guys -- Bill Moyers ranting about a ``right-wing wrecking crew'' engaged in ``a deliberate, intentional destruction of the United States way of governing'' and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, whose recent book attacks the president so virulently that Krugman's British publisher saw fit to adorn the cover with images of Dick Cheney in a Hitler-like mustache and Bush stitched-up like Frankenstein. Nonetheless, some observers took that to be satire; others wrote off Moyers and Krugman as simple aberrations, the victims of too many years of neurologically hazardous punditry.

That's what has researchers so alarmed about Dean. He had none of the usual risk factors: Dean has never opined for a living, and has no detectable sense of humor. Even worse is the fact that he is now exhibiting symptoms of a related illness, Murdoch Derangement Syndrome (MDS), in which otherwise normal people believe that their minds are being controlled by a single, very clever Australian.

Then there's Hillary and the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. Dang, where's my tin foil Stetson?

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 6:52 AM -

 
PR Stunt Snooze

Abercrombie & Fitch is at it again - Clothing company withdraws catalogue backing group sex:

Putting out a Christmas catalogue stuffed with naked young models having sex is a sure-fire way of attracting attention, which is no doubt what the US retail chain Abercrombie & Fitch was aiming for. But it does seem like an odd way of selling clothes.

Yesterday, the company - well known for courting controversy in its effort to become the defining label for suburban teenagers - was trying hard not to sound apologetic even as it pulled its "Christmas Field Guide", with its endorsements of orgies and group masturbation, from stores around the country.
...
The catalogue, on sale for $7, featured so much naked flesh that the first item of clothing did not appear until page 122 of the 280-page volume. Among its images was a photograph of young men and women lying naked en masse beneath a Christmas tree. Alongside another image of 10 naked models was text discussing the possible varieties of group sex - "mixed-gender or same-sex, friendly or anonymous". And it added: "A pleasant and supersafe alternative to this is group masturbation."

News their customers can use!

And the whole thing seems to be a PR stunt:

While conservatives fumed, marketing experts marvelled at the sheer audacity of Abercrombie & Fitch's strategy, which appeared aimed at appealing to the rebel it suspects lurks within its clean-cut, well-mannered teenage customers.

Zzzzzz.

But there is some criticism from an unexpected source:

While groups such as the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families have called for a boycott of Abercrombie & Fitch stores for purveying "soft porn", liberal and left-wing groups noted that the naked models were exclusively white and accused the company of continuing a pattern of racial discrimination.

Ruh Oh! Now they're in big trouble!

Sigh. I'm old enough to remember when Abercrombie & Fitch was an upscale sporting goods store.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 6:27 AM -

 
And speaking of spam...

Everyone is getting in on it!

>From: Saddam.Hussein@Baath.org [SMTP: SADDAM.HUSSEIN@BAATH.ORG ]
>Sent: Wednesday, December 3, 2003 10:23:21 AM GMT
>To: < undisclosed recipients >
>Subject: URGENT HELP NEEDED
>
> You may be surprised to receive this message, as we have not known each other previously. However, I
> have been reliably informed of your Discretefulness and Ability in transactions of this nature. First, I must
> solicit your confidence in this Transaction, this is by virtue if its nature as being utterly CONFIDENTIAL
> and TOP SECRET! I came to know of you in my private search for a Reliable and Reputable person to
> handle this confidential transaction, which involves the transfer of a large sum of money to a foreign
> account requiring Maximum Confidence. Though I know that a transaction of this Magnitude will make
> any one apprehensive and worried, but I am assuring you that all will be well at the end of the day. I have
> decided to contact you due to the needful urgency of my Situation.
>
> Let me start by first introducing myself properly to you. I am MR. SADDAM HUSSEIN, a former high
> government official in Baghdad.

But in New Zealand, they're fighting back - Conman baiting a new net sport:

Computer buffs in New Zealand are "baiting" Nigerian fraudsters in a game dubbed the new internet bloodsport.
...
Scam-baiters start by replying to emails from African fraudsters trying to fleece recipients with fake charities or investments.

The baiters pretend to fall for the scams while secretly humiliating the fraudsters, whom they call "lads".

Typically, they make endless demands for proof of identity that force the lads to forge passports, bank accounts and documents.

Sometimes the lads are told to photograph themselves in ridiculous poses, with loaves of bread on their heads, or clutching signs with secret passwords.
...
Auckland baiter Vek, aged 17, told a lad he was the head of a multinational firm.

"Now I'm convincing him to take photos of various clothing items and generally make a fool of himself.

"These people have pretty bad English, and you can get a laugh out of the lengths they will go to to rip you off," Vek said.

The authorities are warning the kids that this could be dangerous. I haven't heard of any actual physical danger in dealing with these turkeys other than to some folks who actually went to Nigeria. On the other hand, you have to have a lot of time on your hands if this is at the top of the fun list.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 6:12 AM -

 
Now we're in real trouble!

You may recall that the United Nations is throwing a big shindig next week with 60 "heads of state", 6,000 attendees, and likely dancing girls and elephants to formulate a grand strategy to have the UN control the Internet. While that's a snoozer, the really bad news is that Kofi Annan has discovered spam as a marketing tool.

From: SophieCannon@un.org To: (recipient) Subject: Are You Big Enough To Really Satisfy? I know how it is. Another hard day around Government House. The populace are sick, starving, and rebellious. Your supporters want a bigger share of the take. The wife wants a new Mercedes AND a new palace. You were only able to execute a few of the traitors passing out the flyers demanding free elections. And the Americans are grumping about where their foreign aid dollars went. WHEW! I bet you thought that's the way it has to be for tinpot dictators everywhere, right? WELL, YOU'RE WRONG! Let Kofi Annan show you the way it should be! Kofi, a long time Third World bureaucrat, has used his vast experience to come up with a surefire plan for tinpot dictator success. He calls it The United Nations, but I call it the best deal ever!  And for a limited time only, he's willing to share it with you with my help! Would you like to: Have a guaranteed excuse every time you want to go shopping in New York City? Attend Summit meetings in tourist hotspots around the globe as an honored head of state? Have the big powers court you for your vote in a welter of organizations and committees? Haul in some heavy loot just for being you, that you can spend on whatever you want? Hang out with other dictators and pick up valuable tips, not to mention enjoying the camaraderie? Have a new source of jobs for your relatives and, even better, the wife's relatives? Be the Bigshot on the world stage that you know you really are? BE BIG ENOUGH TO REALLY SATISFY? If, you're like me you're saying, "Hell, yes!".  And if you're really like me, you're  also asking "What's the catch?"  Well, here's a hint - THERE IS NO CATCH! That's right!  There are no membership fees - we pay you! And there are no requirements for membership other than controlling some benighted pest hole and its residents long enough to run out a press release. You and a few of your heavily armed followers can manage that, can't you? Listen to what a few happy members say: The big boys said I was a wingnut and kicked sand in my face, but now I'm a respected member of the international community. Bobby M., Africa People used to claim I was just a vicious thug, but after I got UN recognition I was able to put away over $1 billion in foreign banks for my retirement! Yasser A., Middle East They even had me run their Human Rights Committee! Bwahaha! Muammar Q., Africa. WHAT'S STOPPING YOU? Reply now to SophieCannon@un.org for all the confidential details. Be seeing you soon in Manhattan! Sophie Cannon

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 7:20 AM -

 
Time to slop the hogs!

Fox TV has fun tormenting the farmyard rich chicks

The first episode of the new reality television series, broadcast on Tuesday, provoked horror and fascination in US viewers in equal doses. The critics were in shock.

"Can one TV show insult the overprivileged and the underprivileged at the same time?" asked The Washington Post, with the strong implication that it could.

Sounds like a new record in the making.

Most sympathies appeared to be with the Ledings, who must now put up with the two spoilt brats and their snotty comments for weeks.

After tottering around the farm on high heels and expressing outrage at sharing a bathroom with their host family, the girls announced that they would "rather die" than live there permanently.

OK

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 10:14 PM -

 
Where's Poirot when you need him?

Mystery Death at the U.N.:

The body of Michael Halton, 41, a 16 year veteran of the U.N.'s Safety and Security Service was discovered shortly before noon on Monday.

The officer was overdue to return from a one-hour break which was scheduled from 10am-11am.

Several U.N. security officers fanned out throughout the 40-acre complex to search for the missing officer.

At approximately 11:45am, a room adjacent to the cavernous General Assembly, used for occasional meetings and parties was entered. The room was darkened with curtains drawn. When the room's lights were turned on, the dead officer's body was discovered in a corner at the far end of the room.

But wait, there's more!

Surprisingly, the dead officer had some company.

Only a few feet away, was another U.N. security officer who had decided to take a brief nap, apparently not knowing the officer seated nearby was dead.

And there's more yet!

Officers on the scene were puzzled by what they saw next... The dead officer seemed to have committed suicide. Blood was spotted in the officer's right ear, leading investigators to believe the fatal shot was to his head.

However, those on the scene say the officer's head was in a raised, not slouched position, as one might expect in a suicide.

The officer's gun was also found wedged between his legs.

Nobody heard any shots fired.

If you read this in a book you'd think the author was a twit. Of course at the UN, stranger things happen every day.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 5:00 PM -

 
The Dynamic Duo of Dunces is back!

Yep, it's those crack "intelligence agents", Joe "Sweet Mint Tea" Wilson and "Secret Spouse" Victoria Plame in Whopper of the Week: Joseph Wilson:

Comment. Chatterbox spares Plame Whopper status, possibly on grounds of misplaced gallantry. But Plame's extended striptease, enthusiastically touted by her husband, now has Chatterbox wondering how much of Wilson's story to believe. (It also has Chatterbox wondering when the couple will start renting themselves out for birthday parties.) Regardless of the merits, this photograph will surely give the Bush Justice Department whatever slim justification it seeks in dropping its Plamegate investigation.

Follow the link for the now infamous picture. And someone please tell Joe his 15 minutes are over. Oh, and send him and the missus a bill for the salaries they bilked out of the taxpayers over the years.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 3:46 PM -

 
Life in the Academy

Tatiana Menaker reveals My Second Marxist Indoctrination:

After arriving in the United States with a diploma from Leningrad University (a university with such alumni as Vladimir Lenin, Ayn Rand and President Vladimir Putin), I realized that I had the extremely unmarketable skills of a Marxist-Leninist philosophy professor. Moreover, English was not my strong suit. So I became a staff writer for a Russian newspaper in San Francisco and free-lanced for émigré publications in New York and Los Angeles. Eventually, I decided “To bring my English to the level of my Russian" (as the Russian-born American novelist Vladimir Nabokov quipped) and enrolled at San Francisco State University. I majored in creative writing.

I couldn’t believe what I found.

I'm sure she found the flowers of freedom blooming, right?

Imagine the utter amazement of a refugee from a Communist country, where Marxism was forced on all students, now having to sink in a puddle of socialist propaganda again -- but this time in the middle of an American university!

Imagine the astonishment of a person who, after fighting the KGB and being a refusenik, finally comes so close to her dream of receiving a real education instead of indoctrination, only to find herself, once again, in the middle of a socialist brainwashing machine -- but this time in San Francisco.

Welcome to America, Tatiana!

Lots of heartwarming vignettes by following the link. Here's one:

I was especially fascinated by one middle-aged guy who had alcoholism written all over his face, in bathhouse flip-flops revealing dirty overgrown toenails, and with his belongings stuffed in a plastic grocery bag. If I hadn't seen him behind the teacher's desk, I would have mistaken him for one of San Francisco's deranged homeless, lost on the campus having wandered from the neighboring shower program. Instead of his subject, African Studies, he was teaching that America was rich only because it dishonestly made money on rebuilding Europe after WWII. If not for that lucky strike, he argued, this country would be even more terrible than it is now. He never had notes or a clear structure for his lectures; he just improvised on his well-worn, beloved topic of anti-Americanism.
...
This pointed out the major difference between my education in the Soviet Union and my education at SFSU. When I wanted to transfer credits from my Leningrad University degree to SFSU, I was told by the International Admissions Office that it couldn't be done, because as a professor of Marxist-Leninist philosophy, I had only gone through "indoctrination." I find this fascinating, because the difference between Leningrad University and SFSU is that my professors in Leningrad were forced to teach socialist propaganda for fear of brutal punishment; here a bunch of aged hippies, who put students through forced indoctrination instead of academic work, were materially rewarded for their radical activism.

They're probably just scared that the old Soviet Union pros would put the American amateurs to shame.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 7:24 AM -

 
And while I'm thinking about the taxpayers

Claudia Bermudez at Chronwatch has an interesting story about hijinks in Nicaragua - "Secretary Powell's Words Cause Chain Reaction in Nicaragua". I won't try to explain the main story which features Daniel Ortega, the Castroite thug and former dictator who still controls the army and the judiciary. Hence:

American Ambassador to Nicaragua, Barbara Moore, a lady with a lot of guts, in my opinion, sent a memo to the Supreme Court and accused it of being ''corrupt and politicized.'' The Supreme Court bounced back a memo of its own demanding the U.S. not meddle in their affairs and in Nicaragua's sovereignty.

On Friday, my holy-annual-holiday of holiday shopping was interrupted by a report that, in reaction to the Supreme Court's reaction, the U.S. complied with the request to butt out and WHACKED--or rather, cut--$49 million of financial assistance to Nicaragua's judiciary until it can ''reevaluate the programs.''

It's always good to know that the US taxpayers have $49 million to spare for Communist thugs.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 7:12 AM -

 
Isn't he dead yet?

Mugabe Envisages Alternative World Order Headed by China:

The current world order is "unjust and unsustainable" and needs an alternative headed by communist China, according to Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe.
...
Mugabe said the present order "is a source of conflict, and even of war, and calls for a more positive alternative order."

China was increasingly becoming "an alternative global power point," he said, suggesting this could form "the foundation of a new global paradigm." He referred in this regard, without elaboration, to "developments in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and here in Zimbabwe."

"Zimbabwe must work for this new paradigm, which is founded on principles of sovereignty and independence," he added.

A new global paradigm! My, my! I wonder who 'splained the big words to him. I guess we can be thankful he didn't rope in the Martians.

In related news:

According to relief groups, at least half of the country's 12.5 million people are affected by widespread food shortages, in part resulting from Mugabe's "land redistribution" scheme.

Unemployment is running at around 70 percent, and poverty is rife. Recent estimates indicate that around 34 percent of Zimbabweans aged 15-40 is infected with HIV-Aids.

No word on why China would even bother with him. But sooner or later, the US taxpayer will get to clean up the mess.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 7:04 AM -

 
Wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings

Prison officer sacked for bin Laden 'insult':

A prison officer was sacked for making an allegedly insulting remark about Osama bin Laden two months after the September 11 attacks, an employment tribunal heard yesterday.

Colin Rose, 53, was told he had to go because, although he did not know it, three Muslim visitors could have heard his "insensitive" comment about the world's most reviled terrorist.

Hmm, what could he have said about Osama Yomama that was so bad?

Goat botherer? Naw, too esoteric.

Suggest that he spent considerable time with his cranium inserted in his ventral orifice? Nope, too conventional.

Called him a murdering guano guzzler? That's pretty good.

So what was it?

The Norwich hearing was told that on Nov 15, 2001, he threw some keys into a metal chute at the prison gatehouse. When someone said it sounded as if he had thrown them so hard that they were going through the tray at the bottom of the chute, Mr Rose said: "There's a photo of Osama bin Laden there."

Ooooo, Owwwww, Oooo! That's right nasty!

Andrew Rogers, the assistant governor, told the tribunal: "I am not sure whether Mr Rose saw the visitors.

"I took offence at the comment. If the visitors had heard the comment, they might have taken offence, too."

Andy seems a trifle delicate. Not to mention full of more crap than a Christmas goose.

Mr Knight told the tribunal that the prison had a large Asian population, including many Muslims.

"On Sept 25, 2001, a staff notice was issued regarding the terrorist bombing of America, asking for staff to have continued sensitivity.

"I asked them to avoid inflaming the situation."

Prison officer Mark Ewels, who conducted the investigation, said he had not tried to track down the Asians to find out if they had heard the remark because he thought the issue was too sensitive to raise with them.

What planet are these people from?

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 10:52 PM -

 
It just keeps getting better

EU nowhere near meeting Kyoto targets :

The Kyoto climate change pact looked to be in trouble last night after the European commission warned that 13 of the EU's 15 member states were set to miss their emission reduction targets by a huge margin.

Probably from the gas put out by the EU politicians.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 10:31 PM -

 
It just froze over again!

Assembly Votes Down License Law:

SACRAMENTO — The Assembly handed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger his first legislative victory Monday, voting overwhelmingly to overturn a new law that would have given driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

The bill to block the license law from taking effect in January passed 64-9 after brief debate and will probably be signed by Schwarzenegger this week.

Republicans who had been gathering signatures to ask voters to repeal the law in March said they would halt their campaign because their goal had been accomplished, and Latino advocacy groups pressed ahead with plans for an "economic boycott" to protest the expected repeal of the law.

"This will be the beginning phase in the movement of immigrants and our families to use economic tactics to secure our rights in California," said Nativo Lopez, national president of both the Mexican American Political Assn. and Hermandad Mexicana, an immigrants rights group. He said those organizations were asking Latinos, immigrants and sympathizers to avoid work, schools and stores on Dec. 12 as a response to the repeal of SB 60.

As always with "immigrants rights groups", read illegal alien for immigrant. No word from Nativo on exactly what rights illegal aliens think they have other than a trip to the border. But I'm sure it's a long list.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 6:18 PM -

 
You really can't make this stuff up!

Allah:

Allah has just heard the news, kufr, and naturally there is only one question that comes to mind: What are the Jew's books doing being displayed in Egypt? Oho!

A nice touch that this was funded via UNESCO.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 5:59 PM -

 
There's bad news - Howard Dean is a raving moonbat!

And there's good news - it's obvious.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 4:16 PM -

 
All the usual asshats

Someone left the door unlocked and Crazy Uncle Jimmy got out:

Former US President Jimmy Carter unleashed a fierce attack against the Israeli and American governments in his speech at the Geneva Initiative's ceremony in Switzerland.

Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, blamed US President George W. Bush for anti-American sentiment and worldwide terror.

Then Deano piped up:

At another town hall meeting, in Manchester, Dean added: "Mr. President, if you'll pardon me, I'll teach you a little about defense."

And in related news, Deano met with Jimmy recently to swap a little spit. And share designs for tin foil beanies?

Then there's this inspiring note about Her Heinous - Bagram G.I.: Troops Waited While Hillary Chowed Down:

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton forced U.S. troops stationed at Bagram air base in Afghanistan to wait for their Thanksgiving dinner last Thursday, while she and her entourage arrived late, then cut in line and were served first.

A soldier who witnessed the scene tells NewsMax:

"Thanksgiving Dinner started at 3 p.m. that day, so the line was forming around 2:30 p.m. She didn't show up until around 3:30 p.m.

"Once she got there," our source maintains, "Clinton and her entourage bumped everyone in line, forcing them to wait almost an extra hour."

The brass at Bagram apparently had a hard time rounding up New Yorkers who wanted to have dinner with Mrs. Clinton. Only six G.I.'s responded to an email sent out last week that stated, "Looking for military members from New York and Rhode Island interested in meeting their Senator/Congressman."

People Magazine was on hand to cover the event and wanted to interview the troops for reaction to Mrs. Clinton's visit.

"But they were getting declined left and right," our source said. "People were actually telling the reporters 'You don't want to print what I think about her and her visit.'"

But there is some good news - French Diplomats Stage Worldwide Strike.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 8:42 AM -

 
Have I got a deal for them!

(Via FR) Russia Seeks To Attract Immigrants

Since we have a "surplus" of "immigrants", we ought to share the wealth! It's the right thing to do.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 7:53 AM -

 
Now we know why Howie won't release his records!

Up Your Tree Inc. Genealogy and family tree searches April 13, 2001 Dear Gov. Dean: We regret to inform you that rumors of a older half sister also born in New York may well be true.  We suggest you contact the relevant family members for further details. Good luck in your search! Your Pals at Up Your Tree

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 7:15 PM -

 
It's the memo, stupid!

About That Memo . . .

ON THE SURFACE, it might seem like a simple case of media bias. In the November 24, 2003, WEEKLY STANDARD, Stephen F. Hayes summarized and quoted at length a recent, secret Pentagon memo to the Senate Intelligence Committee. The memo laid out--in 50 bullet points, over 16 pages--the relationship between Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. Much of the intelligence in the memo was detailed and appeared to be well-sourced and well-corroborated.

The story generated lots of discussion on talk radio and on the Internet, but the establishment media did their best to take a pass.
...
Slate columnist Jack Shafer, who declares himself agnostic on the substance of the memo, scolded the media for their stubborn resistance to covering the story: "A classified memo by a top Pentagon official written at Senate committee request and containing intelligence about scores of intelligence reports might spell news to you or me." But "the mainstream press has largely ignored Hayes's piece. What's keeping the pack from tearing Hayes's story to shreds, from building on it or at least exploiting the secret document from which Hayes quotes? One possible explanation is that the mainstream press is too invested in its consensus finding that Saddam and Osama never teamed up and its almost theological view that Saddam and Osama couldn't possibly have ever hooked up because of secular-sacred differences."

Whatever the reason, we're not surprised by bias among the mainstream media. And we rarely complain about it, since we take it for granted. But we do have a complaint about the Bush administration. The administration says, repeatedly, that "Iraq is the central front in the war on terror." They produce a memo for the Senate Intelligence Committee laying out the connections between Osama and Saddam. We obtain the memo, and make public those parts that don't endanger intelligence sources and methods. But now the administration--continuing a pattern of the last several months--shies away from an opportunity to substantiate its own case before the American people and the world.

How 'bout it people? Time to put the boot in.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 7:54 AM -

 
For the "You have to be sh*tting me" file

Rapist wins his legal fight to stay in Britain

A refugee who kidnapped and raped a mother-of-two on Christmas Day has won a legal fight to stay in Britain because deportation would be "against his human rights".

Here's the deal:

Joel Naitamu, 29, from Kenya, pounced on his 43-year-old victim as she parked her car in east London late on 24 December, 1995. He threatened to stab her, told her that she would die if she screamed, held her captive for three hours and raped her three times.

Jailing him for 11 years in 1996 for abduction, false imprisonment, threats to kill and three counts of rape, the Old Bailey Judge Valerie Pearlman told him: "Nothing can excuse or explain your wicked behaviour.

"Her [the victim's] life has totally changed. She now has to have psychological help to deal with the nightmares. She finds it difficult to leave home at all and suffers dreadful nightmares and terrible flashbacks. You are a danger to the public."

His victim was assured repeatedly that he would be deported once he had served his sentence. Naitamu, however, was released from prison earlier this year, and, after five immigration hearings, has secured refugee status and the right to stay in Britain.

A Home Office attempt to have him deported as "a danger to the community" has been thwarted by Jeremy Gibb, an immigration adjudicator, who ruled that the convicted rapist was protected by the European Convention on Human Rights

Er, how's that work?

He accepted that deportation would contravene Naitamu's "right to respect for private family life", protected by Article 8 of the European Convention.

Naitamu, is now living in east London with a daughter and a wife from Dominica who is said to be claiming income support and benefits.

Indeed.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 7:48 AM -

 
Here's a nice eye opener

Betraying the rape victims:

When Crown prosecutor Margaret Cunneen and Superintendent Kim McKay addressed a conference on the prevention of violence against women earlier this year, they didn't expect a hostile response from any of the feminists present.

Note the presence of the "f" word.

After all, they had successfully prosecuted a series of gang rape trials in which the young female victims were degraded like animals. Bilal Skaf's historic 55-year jail sentence last year was their doing. McKay was commander of the gang rape task force Sayda and her nurturing of the victims was crucial. On Thursday, in Cunneen's latest prosecution, a jury found two more men, Pakistan-born Muslims whose names have been suppressed by the court, guilty of the violent gang rapes of two teenage girls in Ashfield last year. Through five such trials, Cunneen has cheerfully endured abuse and death threats from the rapists and their families and she has been the rock and warrior for the victims.

Throw the scum in the clink and lose the key. So what's the problem?

So when Cunneen and McKay addressed the legal conference in February they were happy to report the good news about rape prosecutions: that the shame has now shifted to where it ought to be - onto the perpetrator, not the victim. It was a theme that should have been welcome but, instead, a "small but vocal group" in the audience angrily asserted that the gang rape cases were "nothing but racist prosecutions", that Skaf would not have received such a long sentence if he hadn't been Lebanese.

This is how an influential part of Sydney's legal and media circles thinks; many, to their eternal shame, are women, for whom a politically correct stance on multiculturalism is more precious than feminist principles or the safety of young women and girls. It makes them uncomfortable to acknowledge the fact that young Muslim men have been roaming around Sydney gang raping non-Muslim women, or as the rapists like to say, "Aussie pigs" and "sluts" who ask for it. Despite the evidence, they refuse to acknowledge it, and that this same pattern has been occurring in other Western countries, notably France.

Sheesh, the usual delusionals have a big sad on. But unfortunately they have friends in high places.

There have been attempts to smear as racist, journalists or media outlets which present these facts to the public. In March, the Anti-Discrimination Board published a carefully concocted 123-page smear pamphlet Race For The Headlines, about "moral panic" and "anti-Arab, anti-Muslim" bigotry in the media. It was just one of many attempts by ideologues to diminish the real and lasting suffering of the brave young women who testified in court and ensured that at least some rapists were locked away.

But wait, there's more!

He cited a case in Auburn in 2001 when two uniformed police officers stopped a suspect car and found stolen property. The three occupants of the car threatened to kill the officers, and "f---" their girlfriends. When the police called for backup, so, too, did the thugs on their mobile phones, summoning 60 associates for battle. The response by police chiefs was to order the officers to retreat. And then, later, when the offenders drove to the police station, intimidating staff, damaging property and "virtually holding a suburban police station hostage," again the police did nothing. "By avoiding all confrontations with these thugs the police gave away the streets in many areas of south-western Sydney," Priest said.

In another speech last week for Opposition police spokesman Peter Debnam at Parliament House, Priest proposed a solution to the growing mayhem: zero-tolerance policing, which transformed New York in 1994. He spoke scathingly of academics and criminologists who oppose the model because it conflicts with their "root cause" theory of crime. Priest gets a lot of speaking engagements these days and his book with anthropologist Richard Basham, To Protect And To Serve, is a bestseller. But to the liberal establishment, he is a pariah and they take every opportunity to belittle him.

I think a more interesting study for the psychologists would be the erstwhile feminists and the perpetual hand wringers who are against rape unless it is committed by certain protected groups.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 7:26 AM -