Unethical

The story appears to be not too special to begin with- twins put up for adoption were separated and, 35 years later, reunited for the first time.

Elyse, who had been living in Paris, had decided to seek her birth mother. She was told that the mother was not interested in meeting her, but was then informed that she had an identical twin, Paula. After not knowing her sister for three decades, with help from social workers she was able to find her within days.

But here's the kicker- they were deliberately separated.

On that first day Elyse did not reveal the secret she had discovered during her research. But soon afterwards she told Paula that they had been deliberately separated at birth and were the subjects of a unique study on nurture versus nature, a debate that has enthralled scientists for generations.

The real purpose of the experiment was hidden from their adoptive parents, who were vaguely told that the children were part of an ongoing study.

As you might expect the twins are not particularly happy that their very lives were the subject of an experiment.

"Nature intended for us to be raised together, so I think it was a crime we were separated," added Elyse.

And the scientists involved knew full well that tearing apart twin sisters was unethical.

They also tackled the scientist behind the experiment that changed their lives, Peter Neubauer, an internationally renowned child psychiatrist.

At first he refused to speak but he eventually agreed to meet them as long as their conversation wasn't recorded. They allege he showed no remorse and offered no apology.

35 years of having a sister stolen from them.

The twins found that he was willingly aided by the Louise Wise adoption agency that handled both their adoptions.

Viola Bernard, a child psychologist and consultant to the agency, had firmly believed that twins should be raised separately to improve their psychological development, and that dressing and treating them the same retarded their minds.

I'm sure that the twins all over the world raised together- sharing possibly the closest sibling bond imaginable- will be pleased to hear that they are somehow retarded. And I'd like to see the research that this so-called psychologist used to reach that conclusion- or has belief replaced facts in the field of psychology? And on the subject of the unethical nature of tearing apart twins, the man at the centre of the study understood completely and clearly that what he was doing was wrong-

Aware that his research would be criticised, Mr Neubauer reportedly locked the study in an archive at Yale University, not to be opened until 2066.

But he went ahead and did the study anyway, aware that he wouldn't be around to face the music when the information is eventually released- nope, he gets to cover up his wrongdoing for another few decades. For him the lost years of the twins didn't matter a damn- his "highly important" research trumped their lives. Apparently, there aren't enough twins around who had been raised separately anyway so he had to go and deliberately rip this family apart- and because this is a study, I'm sure that there are many more sets of twins who have also been separated in the name of one man's curiosity.

It's a disgrace- and if the scientist who conducted this research didn't have the moral fibre to behave ethically then whoever funded him should have. Since the "research" is being held by Yale, I'm assuming they're responsible.

Ponder this- since when did a university classify scientific research in archives? And what other research, that could be "criticised", is being held in secret?

A Mild Defence

While Olmert seems to possess a suicidal impulse regarding Israel's security, Barak appears to be a stronger character- although it has to be said that this is a pretty mild defence in the face of persistent aggression.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved a measure Thursday to begin cutting off electricity to Gaza, which Israel recently declared a "hostile territory," according to a spokeswoman for Barak.

The move is part of a plan put together by Israeli security officials in response to ongoing rocket attacks from Gaza into southern Israel.

According to figures compiled by the Israel Defense Forces, approximately 800 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel from June to September, compared with approximately 500 during the same period last year.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Israel must respond to the barrage of attacks.

"We've had a situation where day after day, week after week, month after month, we've had rockets fired from Gaza by extremists, designed to kill our people," Regev said. "The Israeli Cabinet has decided that this situation just can't go on and we will act to defend our citizens."

And, of course, Abbas complains-

"There should be no sanctions against the Palestinian people, neither individual nor collective punishment," he said days after the Cabinet's decision. "It will harm our bilateral relations, it will harm our discussions and negotiations, it will harm the atmosphere and even sabotage it."

Israeli measures to prevent further rocket attacks aimed at its population are harmful to bilateral relations? And rocket attacks aren't? Telling that Abbas doesn't publicly condemn the rocket attacks and demand they be halted- so as not to harm bilateral relations and negotiations. While he's at it too, he might want to tell his own bunch of terrorist thugs to stop attacking Israel.

The Wrong Advice

One would hope that Condi's reaction to these meetings would be to do the opposite of what was suggested to her- but given her track record of late I'm sure we can expect more of the same.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has sought the advice of former US presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton ahead of a planned Middle East peace parley scheduled to take place in Annapolis, Maryland, in November or December.

And while Fatah's armed wing continues to carry out terrorist attacks, the Bush administration continues to channel funds to them. The craziness continues.

An Israeli soldier was wounded in a drive-by shooting on Wednesday as he waited at a bus stop in the West Bank near a Jewish settlement, Israeli radio and police sources said.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, a militant group loosely allied to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s secular Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Actually they are a tad more than loosely connected- as Fatah themselves have pointed out. And the result of continued terrorist attacks against a key US ally in the Middle East? Why, more US cash of course!

The American government is planning to transfer $410 million to the Palestinian Authority in an effort to strengthen its president, Mahmoud Abbas and prime minister, Salam Fayyad, Ynet reported Wednesday.

The Bush administration has come to Abbas’ aid in the struggle against Hamas for public support, and is seeking to prove to the Palestinian people that choosing the path of peace pays off.

Nearly half a billion dollars taken from the pay-packets of American citizens and given to Fatah. How do you feel about your wages being taken in taxes and given to Fatah and their terrorist cohorts?

Compare and Contrast

With thanks to Hot Air.

Compare this-

They are devoted foster parents with an unblemished record of caring for almost 30 vulnerable children.

But Vincent and Pauline Matherick will this week have their latest foster son taken away because they have refused to sign new sexual equality regulations.

Earlier this year, Somerset County Council's social services department asked them to sign a contract to implement Labour's new Sexual Orientation Regulations, part of the Equality Act 2006, which make discrimination on the grounds of sexuality illegal.

Officials told the couple that under the regulations they would be required to discuss same-sex relationships with children as young as 11 and tell them that gay partnerships were just as acceptable as heterosexual marriages.

Mr Matherick, a 65-year-old retired travel agent and a primary school governor, said: "I simply could not agree to do it because it is against my central beliefs.

"We have never discriminated against anybody but I cannot preach the benefits of homosexuality when I believe it is against the word of God."

With this-

A homosexual foster couple were left free to sexually abuse vulnerable boys in their care because social workers feared being accused of discrimination if they investigated complaints, an inquiry concluded yesterday.

Even when the mother of two of the children reported her suspicions to the council, officials accepted the men’s explanations and did nothing. Instead of banning children from staying with Faunch and Wathey, they sent youngsters with more serious problems to them. Between them, the couple abused four boys aged between eight and 14.

And for these heinous crimes they were sentenced to a paltry five and six years each- British justice in action. It seems that political correctness trumps even the well-being of at risk children now- and homosexual activism is more important than people's personal beliefs. Since when did trying to prevent discrimination actually become promoting a certain type of behaviour? And what about the discrimination against Christians and their beliefs?

Packaging Problems

Sure, there's a lot of needless packaging that's filling up Britain's landfill sites quickly, but please, can we have a little perspective?

In Tesco, I pick up fresh cod, bacon, chicken, parmesan, and brie, ignoring the strange look I get when I ask if each item can each be wrapped in just one piece of plastic instead of the layers they usually use.

My basket is looking in good shape but a couple more hours wandering around the aisles puts paid to the idea that this challenge is going to be easy.

Many of the items on my list — milk, yoghurt, juice, cleaning products, toiletries, tea, biscuits, bread and cereals — prove impossible to buy without some kind of packaging.

She's seriously complaining that you have to buy milk and fruit juice in a container? And package-free washing liquid is also on her want list.

As a Northern girl I can't start the day without a cuppa, but unpackaged tea and milk prove hard to buy.

You don't say! Gee, I wonder why on Earth that is? Hmm, let me think about that for a while...

At the end of the day she decides that a recyclable package is okay- so in comes the milkman. And then, after much musing about how terrible it is that supermarkets just aren't doing enough gosh-darn-it, we come to this gem-

So will I be sticking to my new regime and giving up packaging for good?

I'm afraid the answer is no.

Shopping like this takes time, far more than would be feasible every week, and I've discovered that a comprehensive family shop is impossible without any packaging at all.

Especially with all those pesky liquids!

In short, convenience comes at a certain cost and at the end of the day even she isn't prepared to put herself out that much to do her bit to stop those landfills from being, well, filled. The moral of the story seems to be that doing a lot to be green is dashed inconvenient and more expensive so just carry on putting rubbish that can be recycled into the recycling bin.

Journalists- is there anything they can't teach us?

Flight of Fantasy

A little Sunday morning Frazetta for your enjoyment- this time featuring Buck Rogers.

Negligent Discharge

One of the "Only Ones" professional enough to carry handguns demonstrates yet again their superior firearms safety skills.

An off-duty state trooper was taken to Cooper University Hospital in Camden on Thursday night after accidentally shooting himself in the hand.

The trooper, whose name was not released, was cleaning a gun at home when it fired, said Sgt. Stephen Jones, a state police spokesman.

All snark aside, the officer was luckily not seriously injured- and the importance of always practising safe handling skills is again underlined for one and all.

Rambo

Here's the poster for the new Rambo flick. Apparently the name's being changed from just John Rambo to Rambo IV: To Hell and Back. Personally I prefer the former.

The first images of the much anticipated (by me) new knife for the film are also up over at Gil Hibben's website. I wasn't too impressed by the Hibben Rambo III knife- not compared to the Lile knives of the first and second film- but this new, primitive knife is growing on me. When I first saw it I was distinctly underwhelmed but I'm liking it more and more. It's big and crude, fashioned by Rambo himself in the movie and i think Hibben, better known for outlandishly elaborate designs, has nailed it. He's making a limited run of blades in D2 steel- for the princely sum of $1250- which I'm sure will be snapped up by collectors. The blade is 12" long and a 1/4" thick. No doubt there will be more affordable display items available soon (in low quality 420 steel).

Will it occur to anyone that a mid-range knife made from good steel but priced more reasonably might be a good seller? I know I'd lay down maybe one or two hundred bucks for a good Rambo replica like that- Ontario make an 1o" machete with quarter inch thick 1095 blade (SP8) that you can buy for about $60 or less so obviously it's do-able. Chances are though that we'll never see such a sensible item. The powers that be obviously think that consumers either want cheap and nasty knock-offs or outrageously priced custom numbers- and knife collectors unwilling to spend so much on a single item will go and buy themselves five or six great quality knives by other knife-makers and give them their twelve hundred dollars instead.

Call The Government

In the UK personal responsibility has apparently thrown its arms in the air, packed its bag and left the country.

Individuals can no longer be held responsible for obesity so government must act to stop Britain "sleepwalking" into a crisis, a report has concluded.

The largest ever UK study into obesity, backed by government and compiled by 250 experts, said excess weight was now the norm in our "obesogenic" society.

Obesity, the authors concluded, was an inevitable consequence of a society in which energy-dense, cheap foods, labour-saving devices, motorised transport and sedentary work were rife.

Back to the stone age! How dare people enjoy their technologically advanced and prosperous society.

In this environment it was surprising that anyone was able to remain thin, Dr Susan Jebb of the Medical Research Council said, and so the notion of obesity simply being a product of personal over-indulgence had to be abandoned for good.

I wonder how these "experts" explain all the people who aren't obese then? Are they freaks of nature impervious to the harmful effects of modern living? Yep, the only thing for it is to use millions of pounds of the taxpayers' money to make shocking and distasteful television ads- because that will be so effective in making sedentary people take up exercise. And if that doesn't work I'm sure they'll consider rationing the amount of food people can buy. For the greater good of course.

I'm sure tomorrow we'll go back to more stories of how it's imperative that the government ban underweight models from the London catwalks because it's making too many girls want to be thin.

Compare and Contrast

This-

Six years of investigations and prosecutions have turned up little evidence of Islamic jihadists at work in the United States, according to a study released Monday.

With this-

Osama bin Laden may be hiding in the impenetrable mountains near the Afghanistan border, but FBI counterterror officials say they have identified several of his associates in a far more accessible spot -- northern New Jersey.

The FBI's elite Joint Terrorism Task Force in Newark says it is not only monitoring a number of North Jersey residents with ties to al-Qaida, but that agents have quietly "disrupted" their activities and even deported a few.

Task force investigators have discovered that every major terrorist group in the world, including Hamas and Hezbollah, has at least one North Jersey contact. The lone exception is Afghanistan's ultra-fundamentalist sect, the Taliban.

Obama's Secret History

Of course, I suspect the dark hand of arch-genius and neo-con overlord Karl Rove.

Could it be possible that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and Vice President Dick Cheney share a common ancestor?

Cheney's wife Lynne says yes.

In an interview on MSNBC Tuesday afternoon, Mrs. Cheney said that in the course of researching her husband's genealogy for her new book, "Blue Skies, No Fences," she discovered that the two public figures share an ancestor eight generations ago.

Obama, darling of the progressives, a blood relation of Dick Cheney? I can almost hear the wails of liberal anguish from here. But wait! There's more-

But Obama's family ties to the Bush administration don't stop with Cheney. According to an article in the Chicago Sun-Times last September, Obama is also an 11th cousin of the president himself.

And there you have it- Rove's oh-so-cunning plan stretching back generations to take over America. Could it be that the Illuminati are also involved? Think about it for a moment- who else has the foresight and power to put this plan into action? If Obama isn't in on it himself, then he's nothing more than an elaborate Manchurian Candidate whose presidency was planned eight generations ago. And in one fell swoop it's revealed just why a no experience, nobody with absolutely zero qualifications to run the United States of America has been propelled by Big Media from obscurity to challenge a Clinton for the White House; he's a Karl Rove plant.

[pause to adjust tinfoil hat]

Rice's Legacy?

So what happened to Condi Rice?

The time has come for establishing a Palestinian state and it’s in the interest of the U.S. to do so, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday in one of her most forceful statements yet on the issue.

Really? Even after the stellar job they did when Israel handed over Gaza to them? Even though a terrorist organisation that is part of the ruling Fatah party (Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades) continues to try to kill Israelis?

As an aside, don't you think it's the very height of hypocrisy for the US government (and others) to not view Fatah as a terrorist organisation but to only apply that designation to their armed factions? Even though Fatah has publicly declared that the Brigades are a part of Fatah? Let that sink in for a moment: Fatah themselves admit that terrorist murderers are a part of their organisation- and yet they've still received money, arms and training from the US government. Bush's government that has allegedly declared war on terrorism.

"Moderate" Fatah's logo by the way is of a map of "Palestine" i.e. present day Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, overlaid with hands gripping rifles and a grenade. Does Rice or anyone at State really believe that these terrorist thugs will be happy with whatever land they get now- or do they know in their hearts that Fatah et al will use it to launch further attacks against the remainder of Israel and demand even more? I suspect this must be the case- either that or they are too stupid to be working as international diplomats- and yet they still go through with this disgraceful charade of appeasing terrorist murderers.

Rudy's Problem

LGF links to this calling it the Right's "self-defeating campaign to excommunicate Rudy"-

What do Giuliani’s Religious Right detractors really fear he will do about abortion? If he can overcome their suspicions, secure the GOP nomination, and win the White House, do Giuliani’s critics actually believe he would squander that victory and enrage the GOP base by pushing abortion? Do his foes honestly think Giuliani would request federal abortion funding in violation of the Hyde Amendment he says he supports or appoint activist Supreme Court justices, rather than Antonin Scalia- and Clarence Thomas-style constitutionalists, as he says he would?

Having kept or exceeded his mayoral promises on taxes, spending, crime, welfare, and quality of life, why would he break his presidential promises on such a signature GOP issue? What kind of bait and switch do Giuliani’s foes truly worry he will attempt?

The answer to this one is simple- look at the current Republican administration. Bush comes out and says he supports the 2nd Amendment and then announces he'll sign into law an assault weapon ban if it comes across his desk; he challenges Texas law by supporting an international court over it; he kicks supporters in the teeth by not only supporting an illegal alien amnesty but slandering those who criticise it; he announces to the world that you're either with America in the war on terror or against it, and then proceeds to funnel mountains of cash, arms and military training to Fatah; and on and on and on. For the past few years it as if Republicans in Washington have been doing their level best to drive away their core voters.

And people wonder why some conservatives are wary of Rudy- the guy who sued gun manufacturers, for example, but who now comes to the NRA begging for support when he needs it. Gee, why would voters not want to trust someone like that over issues that matter deeply to them? Rudy's opposition to the Second Amendment is loud and clear but now that he wants to be president, he's apparently had a change of heart- amazing what appealing to voters all over the USA as opposed to just New York will do to a guy's principles.

Is this what America has come to? Conservatives being asked to vote for a Republican who doesn't truly represent them and who they can't trust just because the Democrat alternative is worse? Some choice.

Kim's Favourite 100

Kim du Toit has his latest thought exercise up- pick your top 100 firearms to own. One hundred thought I, surely not! I've simple tastes, I won't be able to pick that many that I would genuinely want to own. Pah! Having started a list I'm thinking that perhaps a better limit would be 150 or 200 maybe. Blast the UK's absurd gun laws.

Mr. du Toit's selection is of course well rounded- many more rimfires than I would personally opt for, but that's balanced out by my yearning for a collection of 1911 pistols whereas he chooses only one- and it was interesting to see the many places where he chose as I would. A Winchester 1895 in .405 Win? Absolutely. I will of course post my own selection when I get it finished. I'm hoping some other gun bloggers follow suit.

One thing I have noticed is that I get older my preferences for firearms are becoming decidedly archaic. Sure I'd like a FN F2000, but to be perfectly honest if the choice was between that and a Martini-Henry, I'd go for the latter. At this rate, by the time I'm 50 I've be spurning the latest rail guns in favour of bronze swords.

PA Forces Kill Child

As LGF correctly notes- imagine the uproar if Israeli soldiers had shot dead a child who didn't stop when approaching one of their checkpoints. Now note the casual disinterest of the MSM when the Palestinian security forces do just that.

Palestinian Authority security forces shot dead two Palestinians on Saturday, including a five-year-old boy, in the West Bank city of Qalqilyah.

According to local resident, security forces opened fire after a 22-year-old man refused to stop at a PA roadblock in the city. The 22-year-old man was killed, as was five-year-old Yazid Obid.

The BBC, for example, don't even have the story on their Middle East page at all. Think the situation would be the same if the IDF had pulled the trigger instead?

Note this too, aPA roadblock in the West Bank- isn't it the Palestinians who are always complaining about Israeli checkpoints designed to stop terrorists killing civilians? Don't seem to have a problem doing the same thing themselves though.

Jongor

The Grand Master, Frank Frazetta, and his cover art for the first Jongor book- an item I've just snapped up on Amazon. The plot revolves around a mysterious area in Australia where aircraft are pulled out of the air. A small group heads into the lost land looking for the heroine's father and there meet Jongor- a Tarzan-type character who saves them from the assorted monsters present. Sounds like a good old fashioned adventure just like Mr. Burroughs would have written.

Flight of Fantasy

Budd Root's Cavewoman.

Murdering Children

Members of the Religion of Peace mark the end of their holy month.

A bomb hidden in a cart of toys killed two children and wounded 17 others in a playground in northern Iraq on Friday, the first day of a national holiday to celebrate the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Police Colonel Abbas Mohammed said a would-be suicide bomber pushed the cart into a play area in the predominantly Shi'ite northern town of Tuz Khurmato. He said the bomber was wounded.

The town's mayor, Mohammed Rasheed, told Reuters two boys aged between 10 and 12 had died and another 17 people under the age of 18 had been wounded in the deadly attack.

And of course the 3-page Reuters article dedicates only a couple of paragraphs to this headline story- the deliberate murder of young children- but gives the rest over to the accidental deaths of civilians killed in a US strike against a suspected Al Qaeda target. They, of course, make no mention of the fact that the terrorists the US troops were doing battle with at the time, fled into the building housing the civilians and began firing on the Americans from that location.

The sad thing is that there are too many people who will think that these accidental deaths during combat are as bad as, if not worse than, the deliberate targeting of children in a playground.

Space Gun

Trust the Russians to come up with an idea like this. Does NASA arms its astronauts just in case their have to come down in hostile territory? Or their space craft are attacked by rampaging alien scum?

Russia is sending a cosmonaut into space without a fearsome triple-barrelled "space pistol" for the first time in 20 years, due to a shortage of ammunition.

No mention of the calibre, capacity or anything of the sort.

Created in 1982 and in service since 1986, the TP-82 pistol was not primarily designed to fend off hostile extra-terrestrials.

Of course not.

The unique pistol has three barrels which fire hunting rounds as well as rifle bullets and signal flares. Its butt serves as a machete and a spade.

However, the gun's original ammunition has deteriorated so much it is no longer viable and no new bullets are available.

I presume he means cartridges. But why not? Can't this reporter even give us the details that matter?

Nevertheless, the cosmonaut will not risk going into space completely unarmed. "Malenchenko will be taking with him a simple pistol," a Russian space official said.

His will not be the only weapon on board the flight. ISS crew commander and US astronaut Peggy Whitson will be wielding a "kamcha" - a traditional Kazakh horse-whip, which a Russian space official advised her to take "as a symbol of a commander's authority on board".

"I do not believe I will have to use it," she said in Russian with a smile yesterday. "Well, let's have it, just in case."

Pistols, an intrepid female astronaut and a horse-whip. Half-way to a classic sci-fi movie. And while the Telegraph does seem to think that its readers deserve technical details there are other sources-

The triple-barrelled gun can fire flares, shotgun shells, or rifle bullets, depending on how it’s loaded. The gun and about 10 rounds for each barrel are carried in a triangle-shaped survival canister stowed next to the commander’s couch. The gun’s shoulder stock opens up into a machete for chopping firewood.

This according to Wikipedia-

The upper two smoothbore barrels use 12.5 mm caliber ammunition, and the lower rifled barrel use 5.45 mm caliber ammunition.

The latter is the same calibre as the AK-74 and is easily obtained (unless the Soviets decided to go for some weird round, which doesn't seem like the sort of thing they'd do back in the early '80s)- and the 12.5mm shotshells (just a bit bigger than .410) wouldn't appear to be too hard to find either. There's also a Russian revolver chambered in that calibre for example. So the "impossible to find ammo" story doesn't quite ring true for me. Perhaps their "simple pistol" is in fact a super-dooper secret ray gun. We can always hope so. BTW, here's an image of the TP-82 in question from The Firearm Blog-

Surplus Firearms Magazine

A little update- if you're in the US and want to get a copy of Guns and Ammo's Surplus Firearms magazine there's no problem. Pop along to G&A's website and click on Marketplace- there you can get back issues of a range of titles, including the current Surplus Firearms. If, like me, however, you're outside the continental US, you're out of luck- they only offer shipping to the contiguous states via UPS.

Is it really so difficult to offer your customers access to titles they want to buy from you? Would it be so hard to offer us subscribers to G&A the opportunity to click onto the subscriber section of the website and add other titles to our subscription?

Torture

Jimmy Carter claims to "know" that the US tortures-

Former President Jimmy Carter said Wednesday he is convinced the United States engages in torture that clearly breaches international law and told CNN President Bush creates his own definition of human rights to escape violating them.

"I don't think it. I know it, certainly." the former president told CNN's Wolf Blitzer when asked if he thinks the United States commits torture.

And what are the terrible and inhumane tortures that he refers to?

Carter's comments come on the heels of a New York Times report that disclosed the existence of secret Justice Department documents supporting the use of "harsh interrogation techniques" including, according to the Times, "head-slapping, simulated drowning, and frigid temperatures."

Meanwhile, his Palestinian friends engage not only in the real thing but also the murder of an innocent man.

The owner of a Christian bookstore in the Gaza Strip who was found dead this weekend was publicly beaten by Islamic gunmen accusing him of spreading Christianity, witnesses and Palestinian Arab security officials said.

The body of Rami Ayyad, director of Gaza's only Christian bookstore, was found Sunday riddled with gunshot and stab wounds. He had been abducted the night before as he closed his shop, a local Christian group said.

And the Islamists didn't bother with head clapping or anything even remotely like that.

The witnesses said they saw three armed men, two of them wearing masks, beat Ayyad repeatedly with clubs and the butts of their guns while accusing him of attempting to spread Christianity in Gaza. The witnesses said that after the three men beat Ayyad, they all shot him.

Hamas security sources said Ayyad's body showed signs of torture. He leaves a pregnant wife and two young children.

Carter doesn't seem to have to much to say about the Palestinian torture and killing of innocent people though, does he?

PA Wants To Kill Americans

Isn't America giving money, arms and military training to these people? Looks like it's well past time to rethink that plan, don't you?

From the Palestinian Authority daily newspaper, the official media outlet of our “partner in peace,” Mahmoud Abbas, a cartoon praying for the deaths of Americans.

The cartoon- showing missiles rising up towards a F-117 stealth fighter- says, "Allah scatter them, turn their wives into widows, turn their chldren into orphans, give us victory over them."

Moderate Palestinian Authority? Religion of Peace? Sure.

Religious Apartheid

A man loses his children for exercising his freedom of conscience and becoming a Christian.

It has been more than a year since Allabe Kaku Chibok lost his three daughters because he became a Christian – paradoxically, he lost custody of them only after his ex-wife died.

An Islamic court in this city in the northern state of Borno granted custody to Chibok’s wife’s Muslim relatives after a chain of events that began in November 2004, when he allowed his daughters to attend the funeral service of their mother; she had divorced him when he left Islam.

A member of the Church of Christ in Nigeria in the Gambaru area of Maiduguri, Chibok told the police commissioner that his efforts to rescue the girls had met with the blunt assertion that he was no longer capable of being their father because he had become a Christian.

Why is it that the so-called progressives are almost universally silent on matters of blatant discrimination like this?

Update - While we're on the topic of Nigeria and progressive silence in the face of Islamic fascism.

An Islamic court in northern Nigeria has banned a play written by a civil rights activist which satirises the implementation of Sharia law in 12 mainly Muslim states, court papers show.

The upper Sharia court in the Tudun Wada neighbourhood of the northern city of Kaduna issued an order restraining Shehu Sani from selling or circulating his play, "Phantom Crescent".

So, come on libs/leftists/progressives- got anything to say about a play being banned? There was no outrage over the Mohammed cartoons, so I'm not expecting much over a mere play either. I mean, free speech has to stop short of offending people- especially if they're Muslim and their offence might turn to violence, right? Wait, it's a religion of peace you say? Perhaps you'd better explain that to them.

Militant Islamists in this city in the northern state of Borno have sent three letters to a church warning that members would be attacked in the next few days, raising tensions where 50 Christians were killed and 57 churches destroyed last year.

Mosque calls to prayer were sounded at 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. last night, hours when Muslims do not usually observe prayers, putting police and security agencies on alert. By 6 this morning, police armored tanks were patrolling the streets to thwart any plans to attack Christians.

Most of Muslim converts to Christianity in the city, Mbaya said, have been threatened with death from family members and other Muslims.

“Recently, we had one Muslim convert, Hussaini Mohammed. But, because of the threat to his life, we were forced to take him to another state in order to protect him,” he said. “We also have another convert by the name Musa Mohammed Tukur, who has been disciple and has to be taken into hiding because of the threat on his life.”

Whenever Muslims convert, the church takes them into hiding because it is not possible for them to return to their families, he said.

“Becoming Christians means permanent separation from their families if they must remain alive,” he said. “If they return to their families they would certainly be killed.

Killed for their beliefs, for exercising their right to freely engage in the religion of their choice. And the only thing progressives seem to have to say about it is that pointing this out is somehow Islamophobic.

Self-Inflicted

Doesn't this strike you as a little odd?

A sheriff's deputy who killed six young people at a house party in Crandon, Wisconsin, apparently died after shooting himself three times in the head with a .40-caliber pistol, the state attorney general said.

Three head shots? Ouch. It gets worse though-

Although the final forensic determination could take several weeks, the attorney general said that Peterson had his personal .40-caliber Glock when police found him. The three gunshots to the head came from a .40-caliber.

"The three gunshot wounds to the head included two nonfatal rounds with entry points below the chin, and one fatal shot that entered Peterson through the right side of the head," Van Hollen said.

"Each of the three head shots were fired while the gun was in contact with his skin, or extremely close to the skin," he said. "These three head wounds are consistent with self-inflicted wounds, and not consistent with long-range rifle fire."

So he was able to fire two shots up into his head from beneath his chin- and was then still capable of putting a third round into the side of his head?

Initial reports that 20-year-old Tyler Peterson was killed by a police sniper's bullet were apparently incorrect, though it appears the sniper may have shot Peterson in the arm, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said.

The fourth gunshot wound, Van Hollen said, struck Peterson in the left bicep and appeared to have been fired from a rifle "at some distance."

So let me get this straight- mass murderer puts his pistol up beneath his chin and pulls the trigger twice. Somehow then puts the gun to the side of his head to fire a third shot and, at the same time, a police sniper decides that now is the time to shoot him- but he either misses or deliberately aims for the guy's arm. Was Peterson left handed and was the sniper trying to disarm him? Seems a bit far-fetched to me. Was he shooting him to stop him shooting himself?

Then there's this description of events-

Peterson ended up at a cabin in the town of Argonne shortly before 8 a.m. He told friends about the shootings, handed over the AR-15 and two other rifles and left the cabin. After meeting with family members, he returned to the cabin around 9:15 a.m.

Police arrived about 15 minutes later, Van Hollen said. Peterson was killed during a police shootout after police couldn't persuade him to surrender.

So there was a shoot-out- but it seems that Peterson was a little busy shooting himself three times in the head to be that involved. Question I want answered is why the shot from "some distance" from the sniper wasn't fired until Peterson started putting holes in his own head- did he have sight of the target during the "shoot-out" but not fire until Peterson tried to kill himself? Or did Peterson move into view to shoot himself? Was the sniper trying to get a disarming shot in the middle of a shoot-out? Or did Peterson move at the moment he fired- and was that before or during the three shots to the head incident?

Odd, odd story.

Para Regiment

There's trouble brewing for the Taliban in Afghanistan as Special Forces and the Paras are getting ready to go in.

BRITAIN is to deploy its biggest contingent of paratroopers and special forces since the second world war in a bid to crush the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Ministers are to send 3,000 paratroopers, including the entire Parachute Regiment, to southern Afghanistan in the spring, as well as trebling the number of special forces in the country.

This is a big mobilisation to counter another predicted Spring offensive from the bad guys.

It will be the first time in the regiment’s history that all four para battalions, including its reservists, have fought together on the same battlefield. The number of UK special forces personnel will rise to more than 800 and will include the bulk of the Special Forces Support Group, which is largely comprised of paratroopers.

Hence the pull-out from Iraq- Brown, for all his faults, is sending some of Britain's best, in force, to fight in Helmand province. Concentrating these combined forces there is sure to have an effect.

The plan will see the current force of 7,000 British troops return from Afghanistan and a total of 8,000 sent out, bringing together the army’s most battle-hardened elite. Officers admit that, with 81 killed and more than 250 wounded, the Taliban have provided some of the fiercest resistance seen since the Korean war.

Fighting which the British media is, by and large, ignoring. The only mention the troops get on the news is when one of them is killed. It's shameful.

UK special forces will also concentrate for the first time solely on southern Helmand and will be expected not only to target the Taliban but also the drug barons funding them. The RAF will increase the number of aircraft in the country, adding Tornado and Typhoon ground attack planes to its existing Harrier squadrons.

In short, the Taliban's Spring offensive is doomed.

Medical Aparthied

You've got to be joking. If these students aren't failed immediately and kicked out then there's something seriously amiss in the medical world.

Some Muslim medical students are refusing to attend lectures or answer exam questions on alcohol-related or sexually transmitted diseases because they claim it offends their religious beliefs.

Some trainee doctors say learning to treat the diseases conflicts with their faith, which states that Muslims should not drink alcohol and rejects sexual promiscuity.

And it's not just studying the subjects either-

A small number of Muslim medical students have even refused to treat patients of the opposite sex. One male student was prepared to fail his final exams rather than carry out a basic examination of a female patient.

The religious objections by students have been confirmed by the British Medical Association (BMA) and General Medical Council (GMC), which both stressed that they did not approve of such actions.

Not approve? Shouldn't they be sending a clear and unambiguous message that such attitudes won't be tolerated by the British medical profession? Would there be any such neutral language if a racist refused to treat black patients? Do you really suppose then that the BMA would mince words and say they "don't approve" of that?

The GMC said it had received requests for guidance over whether students could “omit parts of the medical curriculum and yet still be allowed to graduate”. Professor Peter Rubin, chairman of the GMC’s education committee, said: “Examples have included a refusal to see patients who are affected by diseases caused by alcohol or sexual activity, or a refusal to examine patients of a particular gender.”

He added that “prejudicing treatment on the grounds of patients’ gender or their responsibility for their condition would run counter to the most basic principles of ethical medical practice”.

So can we take it that the GMC is flat out refusing to even consider such requests and is informing those making them that they either get with the program or get out?

What's next is this becomes acceptable? Refusing to treat infidel patients?

The Congo Problem

Hot Air linked to this as the worst thing you'll ever read. The horrifying thing- the shocking brutality and violence reported here is likely only the tip of the iceberg.

Eastern Congo is going through another one of its convulsions of violence, and this time it seems that women are being systematically attacked on a scale never before seen here. According to the United Nations, 27,000 sexual assaults were reported in 2006 in South Kivu Province alone, and that may be just a fraction of the total number across the country.

It appears that such violence against women has become a matter of normalcy in Congo. And the violence that occurs in these attacks is shocking.

Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynecologist, cannot bear to listen to the stories his patients tell him anymore. Every day, 10 new women and girls who have been raped show up at his hospital. Many have been so sadistically attacked from the inside out, butchered by bayonets and assaulted with chunks of wood, that their reproductive and digestive systems are beyond repair.

Dr. Mukwege said his oldest patient was 75, his youngest 3.

These horrific crimes are being perpetrated by Congolese themselves and also by interlopers.

According to victims, one of the newest groups to emerge is called the Rastas, a mysterious gang of dreadlocked fugitives who live deep in the forest, wear shiny tracksuits and Los Angeles Lakers jerseys and are notorious for burning babies, kidnapping women and literally chopping up anybody who gets in their way.

In fact the epidemic of rape seems to have started when the Hutus, responsible for the 800,000 Tutsis massacred in Rwanda fled into Congo. Human monsters , truly evil people, who are still acting with impunity- despite the fact that the UN's largest peacekeeping force- 17,000- is in the country.

Recently, they initiated what they call “night flashes,” in which three truckloads of peacekeepers drive into the bush and keep their headlights on all night as a signal to both civilians and armed groups that the peacekeepers are there. Sometimes, when morning comes, 3,000 villagers are curled up on the ground around them.

Instead of hunting down and killing the scum responsible for mass murder and mass rape. And don't forget that the UN themselves have been guilty of abusing women there too.

The personal stories of the victims are terrible to read-

Honorata Barinjibanwa, an 18-year-old woman with high cheekbones and downcast eyes, said she was kidnapped from a village that the Rastas raided in April and kept as a sex slave until August. Most of that time she was tied to a tree, and she still has rope marks ringing her delicate neck. The men would untie her for a few hours each day to gang-rape her, she said.

“I still have pain and feel chills,” said Kasindi Wabulasa, a patient who was raped in February by five men. The men held an AK-47 rifle to her husband’s chest and made him watch, telling him that if he closed his eyes, they would shoot him. When they were finished, Ms. Wabulasa said, they shot him anyway.

Willermine Mulihano said she was raped twice — first by Hutu militiamen two years ago and then by Nkunda soldiers in July. Two soldiers held her legs apart, while three others took turns violating her.

“When I think about what happened,” she said, “I feel anxious and brokenhearted.”

She is also lonely. Her husband divorced her after the first rape, saying she was diseased.

The Sudan isn't the only part of Africa badly in need of real military force being applied to protect innocent people. I give the MSM a lot of criticism but the New York Times deserves credit for this piece.

Progressive Thought

I guess you could say that this falls under "coarsening the debate". Are the libs/leftists/progressives always whining about how hateful conservatives are?

At Media Matters tool ThinkProgress.org, the progressives are praying for George Bush and Dick Cheney.

They’re praying for them to die.

How enlightened of them.

Jackson's Hobbit

Looks like Peter Jackson might yet get to bring The Hobbit to the big screen.

For once, there's reason to be cautiously optimistic. At this writing, no agreements have been announced and details of the negotiations are sketchy (neither New Line nor Jackson's camp would comment to EW on any aspect of this story), but sources close to the talks tell us that they're detecting a lot less frost in the air, and that a deal may be reached that could help usher J.R.R. Tolkien's maiden Middle-earth masterpiece to screens before the end of the decade.

Let's face it, Jackson is probably the only person that can be guaranteed to do this story justice- and New Line would be shooting themselves in the foot to deny him the opportunity to make them a fortune in the process. Everybody wins.

Unseen Cartoon Rage

Mohammed cartoon rage inspired by...complete ignorance of the cartoons these people were condemning.

The film suggests the crisis began full-force when the man many consider to be Islam’s most powerful figure, Sheik Yussuf Al-Qaradawi, declared 3 February 2006 as ‘Anger Day’ on his TV programme. A wave of violent protests across the globe unleashing followed in the wake of that transmission.

In the documentary, Kjaer shows the Mohammed drawings to Al-Qaradawi, who views them for the first time.

Kjaer also shows the cartoons to Ali Bakhsi, the Iranian who spearheaded demonstrations in Tehran that led to the burning of the Danish embassy there.

So all that fuss (and people dead as a result) over something they hadn't even seen.

Gore For War

Behold the neo-con, warmongering Al Gore of the past.

Here’s a 1992 Al Gore speech rescued from the memory hole, in which he blasts George H. W. Bush for ignoring Saddam Hussein’s connections to terrorism and his quest for weapons of mass destruction.

Makes you wonder how the current war in Iraq would be perceived by the world if it had been conducted under the auspices of a Democrat president, doesn't it?

The Missing Gun

Arrested on hearsay?

A Woodrow Wilson student is accused of bringing a gun to school, even though police did not find a weapon.

Cpl. Sam McClure of the Beckley Police Department says the 17-year-old boy was arrested Wednesday and charged with bringing a dangerous weapon into an education facility.

So he's been charged with bringing a dangerous weapon (as opposed to a non-dangerous weapon) into school- even though they have no actual evidence of the weapon being present.

School officials told police Wednesday morning that a student reportedly had a handgun in his possession. The campus was placed under lockdown and searched by K-9 units but no weapon was found.

The arrest was based on witness reports that led police to believe the boy had brought a gun to school at some point.

And apparently belief is now enough for an arrest. Gee, I always thought that some proof was required.

No Flag For Obama

This guy turns my stomach.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said he doesn't wear the American flag lapel pin because it has become a substitute for "true patriotism" since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

A candidate for President of the United States who refuses to wear an Amercian flag on his lapel? Come again?

"The truth is that right after 9-11 I had a pin," Obama said. "Shortly after 9-11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq war, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security.

Let me see if I'm getting this straight- he won't wear an American flag because of the war in Iraq? No mention of the war to topple the fascist Taliban and their Al Qaeda cohorts in Afghanistan I see. And he thinks that "true patriotism" is speaking out about security issues- not, perhaps, loving his country? Maybe someone on his staff could hand his a dictionary and, while they're at it, a flag lapel pin.

"I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest," he said in the interview. "Instead, I'm going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testament to my patriotism."

I think I can translate this one into plain language- he won't wear the pin because he doesn't think America is great; nope, Obama wants to make America great.

And people want to vote for this jerk, why?

Lovecraft Movie

This news just blew me away- Guillermo Del Toro's next movie, after Hellboy 2 that is, will be H.P. Lovecraft's At The Mountains of Madness! And as exciting as that is, Del Toro's next film after that will be Tarzan.

If you're not the kind of person worried about spoilers, then Latino Review even has a sneak peak at the Lovecraft script.

Classic Comedy Moment

It's like something out of a bad comedy show.

A state legislator surprised a high school class when the computer he was using projected a photo of a nude woman during a lecture on how a bill becomes a law.

I guess nowadays the naughty slide in a projector is a bit low tech.

State Rep. Matthew Barrett was giving a civics lesson Tuesday when he inserted a data memory stick into the school computer and the projected image of a topless woman appeared instead of the graphics presentation he had downloaded.

Obviously, he has no idea at all where that image- and the others like it- came from.

The legislator said he finished his lecture using printouts and then met with the school's principal and technology staff, who examined the stick. He said the school's technology director determined the stick had a directory of nude images in addition to Barrett's presentation on civics lessons.

"I have no idea where these came from," the Democrat said.

Sure, sure, I mean he didn't check to see if anything was on the stick before he plugged it into a government computer, right?

Barrett said the data memory stick was a gift he received about three weeks ago from a legislative liaison from the state Library of Ohio.

Second hand data sticks, what a wonderful gift idea...