Koran Burning Called Off--Maybe

(Image from the movie Fahrenheit 451)

While the Big Apple is contending with the Ground Zero Mosque, the residents of the Sunshine State are dealing with a kooky pastor who wanted to ritualistically burn a Koran on September 11th.  He called off the event, but is now reconsidering...

From Yahoo News:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/quran_burning;_ylt=Amy.Qc76zhOyQiOyXVTOwh6s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNkbHBrMDcyBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwOTEwL3F1cmFuX2J1cm5pbmcEY2NvZGUDbW9zdHBvcHVsYXIEY3BvcwMyBHBvcwM0BHB0A2hvbWVfY29rZQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3J5BHNsawNwYXN0b3JjYW5jZWw-

As an aspiring writer, I'm detest the idea of burning books of any type--even ones from a political-religious idealogy I abhor. 
It sets a bad precedent and conjures up too many images like these:

Is He...Threatening Us?

Last night, Abdul Rauf, the man behind the Ground Zero Mosque, warned of a muslim backlash if he's not permitted to build the his Little Cordoba House in the Big Apple, from the NY Post:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/rauf_move_would_spur_muslim_backlash_vHnEtuAvT4ZAatCuzXDuGM?CMP=OTC-rss&FEEDNAME=

"Not With a Bang..."

The USS Olympia, Admiral Dewey's flagship at the Battle of Manila Bay, is literally rusting away.

Yahoo News has the story:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100906/ap_on_re_us/us_endangered_warship 

I find this story incredibly sad.  While in high school, I joined the US Naval Sea Cadets.  During one of our training excursions, we took a side trip to see this ship.  It was a fascinating glimpse of a pre-dreadnought era warship.

What is especially frustrating is, that with our current ballooning deficit-spending, nothing will be done to keep a piece of our nation's history from disolving.

Or as Comrade Karla put it:

Mind you, we have billions for questionable, nonsensical projects but nothing for this, apparently.

A short history of the Battle of Manila Bay:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Manila_Bay

Terrorist Dry-Runs: Nothing to Be Concerned About

Last week, two Yemeni men boarded a plane in Detroit bound for Amsterdam.  Both men had, what appeared to be explosive devices, in their stowed luggage.

The Examiner has the story:

http://www.examiner.com/homeland-security-in-national/tsa-and-usa-terrorist-dry-run-on-a-flight-out-of-detroit-a-success-for-the-bad-guys

However, since neither of these guys blew anything up, the Dutch let them go.

From CBS:

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/09/01/netherlands-yemeni-arrest-conspiracy-terrorism.html

As exasperating as this is, we're no better than the Dutch.  Especially since a federal judge in Virginia threw out the case against 6 Somali pirates on similar grounds.  (See my "Dismissing Piracy" blogpost, 24 Aug 10).

Or as Comrade Karla says:

...it’s like with piracy—attempted piracy isn’t really piracy, so “practice” terrorism isn’t really terrorism.

Magnitude 7.0 Earthquake hits New Zealand

(Image:  Christchurch, New Zealand from Associated Press)

I was at work today when this earthquake hit New Zealand.  We knew within minutes when it happened but didn't hear of any damage until later in the day.  Fortunately, the quake didn't generate a tsunami.

From the Seattle Times:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2012800405_apasnewzealandearthquake.html 

The US Geological Survey (USGS) has the statistical data:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/2010/us2010atbj/ 

Presidential Priorities

Military and foreign policy issues, like the war in Afghanistan, Iran's nuclear program, can be such a distraction to a president hell-bent on ruining America's power and economic well-being.

Charles Krauthammer rolls-in on these annoying disruptions:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/02/AR2010090203991.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions

Jihadi Collaborators Rogues Gallery

Yesterday, David Horowitz's News Real Blog featured the "Top 10 Victories Against Free Speech."

Today, Joe Blough posts a detailed account of the top 10 enablers/apologists/collaborators/dupes who've aided and abetted creeping sharia:

http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/09/02/top-10-islamo-fascist-apologists-1/

Free Speech: 0, Creeping Sharia: 10

Mark Tapson of News Real Blog came up with the "Top 10 Islamist Victories Against Free Speech:"

http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/09/01/top-10-islamist-victories-against-free-speech-1/

Targeting the Tea Partiers

(Image by Foden)

In conjuction with today's previous post, the NAACP along with Media Matters, Think Progress and New Left Media are launching their "watchdog" group Tea Party Tracker.

Matthew Boyle of the Daily Caller has the story:

http://dailycaller.com/2010/09/02/naacp-launches-%E2%80%98coalition-watchdog%E2%80%99-site-to-%E2%80%98monitor%E2%80%99-tea-party-%E2%80%98racists%E2%80%99/?utm_source=MadMimi&utm_medium=email&utm_content=The+DC+Morning&utm_campaign=Daily+Email&utm_term=3__29%2BProgressive%2Bgroups%2Bto%2Bdevote%2Bevery%2Bspare%2Bsecond%2Bto%2Bobsessing%2Babout%2BTea%2BPartiers%2B%2B 

In case you're interested in what the racist trackers are up to, here's the Tea Party Tracker's website:

http://www.teapartytracker.org/

I liked Andrew Breitbart's comment near the end:

“My trajectory from left to right was born of recognizing that my desire for a more integrated society and a more colorblind society ran afoul from the Democratic Party’s multicultural model which separates people into their different tribes and manipulates those different tribes for political gain...”

Liberals Play Their Tried & True Card (Over & Over Again)

(Click on image to enlarge and read the small print)

Roughly 2/3rds of Americans are against Obama's policies.  So what do liberals do?  Play their tried & true hand:  The Race Card.

Anyone against open borders, illegal alien amnesty, the Ground Zero Mosque; or anything else set by the liberal agenda is branded as a racist.  This is a cheap way of framing the arguement and shutting down debate.

Charles Krauthammer says it better than I can in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/20100830_Charles_Krauthammer__A_comeuppance_for_liberals.html 

What liberals don't realize is when the over-play their favorite card from the Deck of Political Correctness, they look like this:

State Dept Rats Out Arizona

(Image from Political Graffiti:  http://politicalgraffiti.wordpress.com/2009/09/23/u-n-american/ )

Four days ago, the story broke about the US State Department submitting it's first report to the UN Commissioner for Human Rights, discussing America's human rights issues--and highlighting the federal government's lawsuit against the Arizona's immigration law.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/08/27/brewer-condemns-state-department-mentioning-arizona-law-human-rights-report/

What upsets me is that any committee, or activity involving the UN often includes some, (or all), of the "usual suspects," like the two characters pictured above.

Michelle Malkin rolls-in on this subject:

http://michellemalkin.com/2010/09/01/arizona-vs-the-u-n-human-rights-police/