Terrorist attacks by Hamas have taken a new and ugly turn, with unwilling Palestinian children having bombs strapped to their bodies. In two separate incidents in Israel, the bomb carriers have been teenage boys who were terrified at what they were being forced to do. Near Nablus, Israeli soldiers stopped a 14-year old boy with a bomb vest strapped to his body. The entire incidenet was caught on videotape. To quote the referenced article: "In dramatic images caught on camera, the teenag...
In an online document, Al Qaeda posted their plan to use terrorist acts to influence the Spanish government and force a withdrawal from Iraq. This document was posted months before the bombings last week. What is astonishing is that Al Qaeda was able to execute the plan to perfection and get exactly the desired results. Posted in December on a message board, the Al Qaeda document predicted the Spanish reaction to terrorist acts: "We think the Spanish government will not stand more than t...
The French Communist party has leveled new allegations of the use of torture by the French in Algeria. In what has become for most of the world a forgotten war, France is widely believed to have used Nazi-style torture techniques in it's war against Algeria. Algeria was once occupied by France and France fought a war against Islamic rebels from 1954 to 1962. Current French President Chirac was a captain in the French army there. Recenty a senior officer admitted to have personally conduc...
This past Sunday, just days after the bombing in Madrid, two Palestinian teenagers armed with bombs attempted to detonate the toxic chemicals stored in the Israeli port of Ashdod. The terrorists fell short of their goal, setting off their bombs prematurely, but managed to kill 11 civilian workers at the dock. The story was overshadowed in terms of media coverage by the carnage in Madrid. Before news of the mission's strategic failure had spread, exultant Palestinians had begun victory parad...
My heart goes out to the victims of the bombings. As of this time, the death toll stands at 192 dead and 1400 wounded. An awful, awful tragedy. I must ask, what manner of creature would plan and execute such an action? How could they possibly feel that such an action was justified? This attack was not against military targets, but against civilians (if such a term is relevant anymore.) How many of the innocents were children? Less than 24 hours ago, I was posting my feelings about te...
I admire fairness. The truth is, it is hard to be fair when its not in your best interests. It can be hard to say that someone you usually disagree with is right, particuarly if you don't like them. That is why I find Rush Limbaugh's commentary on Howard Stern so pleasing. Rush doesn't like the Porn Jock (is Shock Jock the right term?) but he defended Howard Stern today. Rush's defense was motivated by Clear Channel Communications suspending Howard Stern for indecency. rush isn't a fan of S...
I've been following this story for a while now, and very frankly don't know what to make of it. Ivan Rybkin is the opposition candidate running against Vladimir Putin for the Russian Presidency. The election is scheduled for March 14th. Last week, his driver and bodyguard dropped him off at his Moscow home. That was the last time that he was seen for days. By Monday of last week an investigation into his possible murder started. Then stopped. About an hour after publicly saying that the ca...
Earlier tonight, researching a response to a post about Israel's supposedly one-sided war against the PLO, I came across an open letter from the head of the World Lebanese Organization to the American Congress. It is linked here and is certainly worth reading for anyone interested in the truth about the Middle East, about the fate of Christians in that part of the world and for humanitarians in general. The letter calls attention to the plight of the Christian community in Lebanon which lives...
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is donating $51 million to the City of New York to create small, academically rigorous high-schools to help students prepare for successful careers. “Nearly one of three eighth graders in America today will not graduate from high school,” said Bill Gates. “New York City is demonstrating how we can bring our schools into the 21st century to make sure that all students, not just a select few, are prepared for college and the workplace. Our country’s civic, ...
Researchers will begin testing an experimental HIV vaccine on 24 human volunteers in South Africa, a country where almost 5 million people are infected with the AIDS-causing virus. The vaccine contains parts of a weakened strain of Venezuelan equine encephalitis and a harmless gene from a South African HIV strain. It is very early on, but with millions of people effected by the AIDS virus, keep your fingers crossed for the success of this vaccine!
This is a reprint of a story that appeared on the HonestReporting.Com website regarding media bias. It seems that the AP and Reuters news services don't think that the terrorist attacks in Israel are worth reporting. Now that is different than saying the attacks are justified. To deny that the attacks are even worthy of being listed.....well, words fail me. *************************************************************************** AP, REUTERS OMIT TERROR IN ISRAEL Dear HonestReporting...
***WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS SOME SATIRE MEANT FOR ADULT SENSIBILITIES! THERE IS NO INAPPROPRIATE LANGUAGE, BUT THERE ARE SOME ELEMENTS THAT MAY BE OFFENSIVE TO SOME. SATIRE HAS LONG BEEN USED TO DRAMATIZE A POINT AND IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THE ORIGIANL "MODEST PROPOSAL' REFERENCES, I SUGGEST THAT YOU LOOK UP JONATHAN SWIFT. NO HARM IS INTENDED BY THIS POST.********* White collar crime has reached epidemic proportions in America today. The CEOs of WorldCom, Enron, Tyco and others hav...
I saw this article on CNN this morning: "President Bush next week will lay out his "vision for expanding the space program," which is expected to include long-term proposals for manned missions to the moon and an eventual manned mission to Mars, senior administration officials say." The proposed date for the next moon flight would be 2018. Also rumoured is an eventual manned flight to Mars. The current shuttle fleet would be retired and replaced with more modern technology and the curre...
If you were a baseball fan in the seventies, you will remember Tug McGraw as the pitcher that coined the phrase "You Gotta Believe." That was the rallying cry for the NY Mets in those years. Tug McGraw was a starting pitcher for the Mets in 1973 when, seemingly against all odds, they won the National League pennant. More than just a starter, Tug was a fan favorite for his irreverant (and sometimes off color) sense of humor. When asked by a reporter if he preferred an artificial surface such a...
The United States has rushed to the aid of earthquake victims in Iran. While we may end up at war with the government of Iran in the near future, I think that it shows the humanity of Americans that we have rushed to help the Iranian people. The death toll after the recent earthquake in the city of Bam now stands at 28,000. Without food, blankets and medical supplies, more people would have died. So far, the United States has rushed over 168.5 tons of supplies to the region. Now the US is ...