Blast from the Past
CNN reported on Dec. 15, 2000 about everybody's pal, Salah Shehada:

Cheers erupted from thousands of Hamas supporters as a sheep bearing a picture of Israeli leader Ehud Barak was slaughtered Friday at a rally marking the militant Islamic group's founding.

The rally marked the 13th anniversary of the birth of Hamas, which has rejected Israeli-Palestinian peace deals and has carried out a spate of bomb attacks against Israelis in the past.

During the rally, the founder of the organization's military wing, Salah Shehada, vowed to persevere with an armed struggle against Israeli occupation and to resist peace negotiations.

"Our people are not in need of a new compromise. They are in need of a rifle," Shehada, protected by three armed bodyguards, told the crowd.

Salah was wrong, he should have tried cast iron underwear.

He's Baaaack!
Taking time off from sparking the staff, "Jesse Jackson pointedly criticized President Bush's handling of the Middle East and said he will seek to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on a peace mission to the region 'soon,' although he could not give a definite month."

Republican administrations tolerate Jesse's shenanigans, Democrats make him official.

The Vast eBay Conspiracy
The San Diego Union Tribune reveals that while the San Diego County Treasurer/Tax Collector rarely shows up at the County office building, he is a Power Seller of computer games on eBay with 22,000 positive feedbacks.

Meanwhile, according to an LA Times report, lawyers are bidding against each other for evidence on eBay. Anybody want an unopened pack of Kents with asbestos filters?

And then there is the suspended Baltimore priest

who served as youth minister at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen (and) pleaded guilty to a Internet pornography charge yesterday, admitting that he received graphic images of children on his computer in the church rectory.

Court records released yesterday also showed that authorities moved to arrest the Rev. Thomas A. Rydzewski last year after an eBay seller grew suspicious of Rydzewski's online purchases, which included anatomically correct dolls, photos of altar boys and adult "baby briefs" - men's underwear decorated with dinosaurs, trucks and tractors.

It seems that the mailing address he used for his more than $6000 worth of purchases was that of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen.

Don't Tell Yasser!
Agence France-Presse reports "Eight people were wounded today after a horse laden with dynamite exploded today in Guadalupe, in the province of Antioquia, northwestern Colombia, police said."

I'll Be Gobsmacked II
Is there something going around? First, the EU refuses to deposit anything in Cuba's tin cup. Now uberliberal Richard Reeves says that Terry McAuliffe should resign or be fired as the head of the Democratic National Committee.

This is what you need to know about his story: McAuliffe invested $100,000 in Global Crossing, one of the big companies that has screwed its employees, shareholders, customers and creditors, and then made $18 million on that investment when the company went public. Next, of course, it headed for disgrace and bankruptcy.

McAuliffe may have known nothing of the hype and hanky-panky that destroyed Global Crossing and the people who worked for it or believed in it. Doesn't matter. The fact is that anyone who can count knows there's something wrong here.

...

McAuliffe, a protege of former President Clinton (he was going to loan the Clintons the money to pay for their new home before cooler heads prevailed), is one hell of a nice guy -- so they say. He has been chairman of the party since the beginning of 2001, after serving as Clinton's finance chairman. But, unlike former political finance guys, he was never the quiet type. When he was asked about his Global Crossing killing, he said that just showed the miracle of capitalism.

...

But, whatever happens, if corporate corruption is the overriding issue, the Democrats will have to choose between their boy Terry and victory.

Mr. Reeves is rather too gentle in his condemnation of the Eddie Haskell of American politics. Some of Terry's other hijinks (courtesy of the New Republic) include:

More than almost anyone else, McAuliffe personifies Clinton-era sleaze. It was McAuliffe who, as Democratic finance chair, dreamed up the idea of parlaying White House hospitality into campaign cash. It was McAuliffe who broke down the barrier between hard money contributions, which are regulated and go directly to candidates, and soft money contributions, which are not limited but are supposed to be restricted to party-building activities. And it was McAuliffe who presided over Democratic fund-raising while the party surreptitiously sought illegal money from foreign donors--the scandal, you'll remember, that probably kept the Democrats from retaking the House in 1996.

And then there's the corruption drama that may ultimately bring McAuliffe down: the Democratic National Committee's role in Ron Carey's campaign against James Hoffa for president of the Teamsters. Four Democratic Party officials and Carey campaign workers have sworn under oath that McAuliffe tried to help Carey illegally launder contributions to his campaign through the DNC. Specifically, they say McAuliffe tried to convince donors who had no particular interest in the Teamsters to give money to Carey on the condition that the Teamsters would make equal or greater contributions to the DNC.

It looks like Terry will beat the rap on the Teamsters scam thanks to Mary Jo White's ineptitude which adds even more luster to his crown as Sultan of Sleaze.

The real question is how a young man of modest circumstances became a multimillionaire through a career as a political fund raiser. The question provides its own answer, but Byron York gives a brief catalog of some of the shadier deals. It's that darn miracle of capitalism again, eh Terry?

Pillar of Salt Alert!
Linda Stasi in the NY Post startles with Meat My Daughter. Puhleese. :

July 22, 2002 -- "Meet My Folks" Tonight at 8 on WNBC/Ch. 4

JUST when you thought television couldn't possibly sink any lower in the swamp, along comes "Meet My Folks," which should be titled, "Meat My Daughter."

Each week parents allow three strangers to come and spend a weekend with them and their single young daughter.

At the end of the weekend, the parents get to decide - get this - who will go away for a week on vacation alone with their daughter! I swear!

What is this? The Taliban? Who could be so horrible as to think it's OK to give your daughter away to a jerk you've all just met?

It's so sleazy that even Jerry Springer would be ashamed to participate.

In the premiere, one good looking blond girl, (Senta) who still lives at home, is basically given away by her chipper, overweight, extraordinarily annoying blonde mother, and her overweight, extremely annoying football-coach father.

...

The problem is that it's so amoral and decadent that it does have it's fascinating moments, like Senta telling one of the guys in front of mommy and daddy, "You need to get your little ding-a-ling cut off." This, mind you, is an NBC network show.

The parents go to bed and she hops into the Jacuzzi with all three guys. Unbeknownst to them, however, the parents are watching on closed-circuit as their daughter makes out with one of the guys in the tub, tries to act like a lap dancer at his request, and is all over the guys like a bad smell. Yuuuuck.

Daddy hops out of bed to put a stop to it, but the dopey mother - obviously living through her kid - "No, let's see what she does," or some damned thing. Skaaaanky.

God Save America!

Aren't the parents even a little embarassed at pimping their daughter for whatever the producers paid them? What do they say to people they meet after this little bonbon hits the airwaves?

Around here, folks tend to view the goings-on amongst City folks with a great deal of amazement, but this is so bizarre that it will likely rate special comment. When it comes to daughters, W. Bruce Cameron's 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter aren't comedy, they provide a useful guide.

Flying Fishstick Lounge Alert
FOXNews is reporting that

American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh is glorified and called Jesus-like in a country-rock song to be released soon by maverick singer-songwriter Steve Earle.

The controversial ballad called "John Walker's Blues" is backed by the chanting of Arabic prayers and praises Allah.

Earle's lyrics describe the United States as "the land of the infidel." Those fighting Usama bin Laden's declared jihad against the United States and Jews are said to have hearts "pure and strong."

The song says when Lindh dies, he will "rise up to the sky like Jesus."

It's really swell that washed up losers think this kind of drivel will get them some publicity so that they can break out of the Holiday Inn lounge circuit.

Earle had hits in the 1980s with "Guitar Town" and "Copperhead Road." But his career was derailed in the '90s by a heroin addiction that led to an arrest and time in prison.

Friends of the outspoken singer believe Earle will welcome any controversy generated by the new song.

"He can take care of himself if anyone confronts him on the issue," said Grant Alden, publisher of No Depression, the alternative-country music magazine. "He will not back down."

Yawn! Back to the gutter, Steve.

Programming the Guidance Systems
I noticed that the Iraqi military was high stepping around their Unknown Soldier monument the other day. It certainly would make a good aim point:



and the Federation of American Scientists even has it all mapped out.

While you're at the FAS page, check out the other funky Saddamesque architecture.

Buttheads Are Everywhere
The Great White North apparently has its share of the violently PC crowd. According to the Toronto Sun:

A Liberal MP blew his top at Pearson Airport early this month, berating customs agents for their lengthy questioning of two Middle Eastern men, airport sources have told Sun Media.

Scarborough-Agincourt MP Jim Karygiannis reportedly tore a strip off the officers July 1 in front of airport staff and passengers disembarking an Olympic flight from Greece.

Witnesses say Karygiannis accused customs agents of "racial profiling" for questioning the Middle Eastern men, who were brandishing U.S. passports, more extensively than other people.

"He started yelling at the officers," said a source. "He was belligerent... He's using words like racial profiling."

Customs referred the two men to the immigration office because they felt the duo weren't clear as to their place of residence or why they were in Canada, an airport source said.

A background check found a rap sheet for both men, which included convictions for drug possession.

Karygiannis has quite a checkered history including threatening political opponents and being voted "Laziest MP" by parliamentary staffers. He apparently feels he is Canada's immigration poster boy:

Jim Karygiannis, M.P., born, Athens, Greece, immigrated to Canada as a teenager with his family in 1966, settling in Toronto, Ontario. Graduating in Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto, he worked in the family business until 1988 at which time he ran for political office, winning a seat in the House of Commons as a Liberal Member of Parliament. Representing one of the most ethnically diverse federal ridings in Canada – Scarborough-Agincourt – Mr. Karygiannis has been an effective voice for small business, immigration, and multicultural matters in the House of Commons.

My advice to the customs agents is that when you see Jimbo, break out the shoulder length examination gloves.



And some really tall boots might be good too.

Price War!
The Financial Times reports that Opec warns of oil price war with Russia.

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries said on Friday it was prepared for a price war unless Russia took steps to curb its rapidly growing production.

A senior Opec official said the cartel, which supplies about a third of the world's oil, was becoming increasingly frustrated by Russia's improving relationship with the US and its growing share of the world market.

"The Russians are playing a dirty political game with Opec and it is becoming very hard to trust them. If they are keen on having a price war, so be it. It is time we abandoned the soft approach and became more aggressive," said the official.

...

In February this year Russia briefly overtook Saudi Arabia, the leading member of Opec, as the world's biggest oil producer.

Leo Drollas, oil analyst at the Centre for Global Energy Studies, said any move by Opec to drive down the crude price would be "nonsensical".

"The only way Opec could win the market share issue would be by dropping prices to $12-$15 a barrel and that would hurt Opec countries more than Russia," he said.

Looks like the Mercedes dealers in the OPEC countries will have to tighten their belts.