MaxRedline

Step Aside, Al-Quaeda

There's a new Jihad code that marginalizes bin Laden's group.

"Jihad has ethics and morals because it is for God. That means it is forbidden to kill women, children, elderly people, priests, messengers, traders and the like. Betrayal is prohibited and it is vital to keep promises and treat prisoners of war in a good way. Standing by those ethics is what distinguishes Muslims' jihad from the wars of other nations."

Reportedly, the new document (at 417 pages, less than a quarter of the size of the PelosiCare bill) has been written by leaders of what is described as the world's most effective jihad organization and is receiving wide acceptance among Muslim religious leaders.  It is believed that they have had more than 72 hours in which to read the document.

Passive Post-Traumatic Stress

What could possibly have motivated an army shrink to go on a rampage like that?  Post-traumatic stress, perhaps?  Nope - the 39-year-old Doctor has never served in a war zone; his job consisted of "counselling" soldiers who (unlike him) actually had served in war, and who returned with stress-related disorders.  According to news accounts, the shrink was about to be deployed and dreaded the thought of experiencing the horrors of war first-hand.  He had, after all, experienced the horrors of war through accounts gleaned from the stories returning soldiers had confided to him.

The shrink's experience, then, was entirely second-hand - and even had he been deployed, he wouldn't have been slated for actual front-line duty.  If he was suffering from post-traumatic stress, then, it was by virtue of his continued exposure to front-line soldiers in the course of his "counselling" sessions.  It seems a bit of a stretch to consider this as the underlying cause of his grisly rampage, although I must admit to bias in this regard: when I was in college, I wasted a portion of time in pursuit of a psych major.  My interactions with professors and fellow students ultimately resulted in the conclusion that the reason people gravitate to the field is largely due to their own imbalance, which caused me to drop that pursuit like a hot potato and move instead to the harder science of biology.

In other words, people who pursue psych majors tend to be nuts.

This guy had a doctorate.  That tells me that he's really twisted.

There are, however, plenty of twisted shrinks running around who don't load up and start blowing people away.  Even the combination of being twisted and exposed to second-hand stress doesn't really explain it.  Ah, but recent reports, some of which emanate from survivors of the attack, add a key element:  the shrink was also an adherent to the Religion of Peace™.  And according to survivors, he was yelling "Allahu Akbar" as he began firing away.

I realize that Political Correctness dictates tolerance and non-judgementalism.  But I've never subscribed to that religion, either.  The facts seem rather clear: in virtually every such event that occurs anywhere on the planet today, one commonality exists:  Islam.

The War On Terror Will Be Won

Just not by us. 

Islamic extremists are well down the road to losing it all by themselves.  In point of fact, most of the people that they mutilate and kill are not the "infidels" that they continually rail against; their victims are largely Muslim.  And much like those who lived under communism, the majority of Muslims will not continue to support a terrorist minority. 

As recently as five years ago, 41% of Pakistanis polled indicated that homicidal bombing in the name of Islam was acceptable.  Today, that number has dropped to 5%.

Moreover, people forced to live under extremist rule turn against the rulers.  In western Iraq, which is largely Sunni Arab, the al-quaeda group had, by 2006, become integrated with the population, affording them both safe haven and control.  That didn't last long, as al-quaeda enforcers began beating women for inappropriate dress and crimes such as wearing lipstick, chopping the fingers off of anyone caught smoking, and more.

At present, the Sunni who three years ago were fighting Americans are now allied with Americans against al-quaeda.  While the situation in western Iraq clearly remains far from settled, it is equally clear that Muslims are increasingly rejecting the offerings that their nutball minority groups bring.

This is how the War On Terror will be won.

HSUS, Other Animal "Rights" Groups Fight Feedlots

They're petitioning the EPA to regulate feedlots under the Clean Air Act.  You can see where all this "man-made global warming" thing is really going.  Cows emit gases, therefore they must be regulated.  Why is nobody going after politicians, animal "rights" zealots, and man-made global warming preachers? 

We will fight for Bovine Freedom

And hold our large heads high

We will run free with the buffalo

Or die.  Cows with guns.

Blow It Out Your ...er...

Al Qaeda has apparently come up with an innovation in the art and science of homicide: presenting himself as a "repentant militant", a guy named al-Asiri got close to Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef, head of Saudi Arabia's counter terrorism operations.

The homicider was able to evade security systems because a pound of high-explosives and a detonator were stuffed into his rectum.  A text message sent by cell-phone acted as a trigger , blasting him to smithereens and lightly injuring the prince.  While CBS makes a big deal out of the technique, Lewis Page, an "improvised-device disposal operator tasked in support of the UK mainland police from 2001-2004," pointed outthat this isn't much of a threat for three reasons: 1) you can't stuff a lot of explosives into a body cavity, 2) detonation is, um, problematic, and 3) the human body can stifle an explosion pretty effectively (think of someone throwing himself on a grenade to save his friends).

Nonetheless, you can expect the TSA to come up with some additional, deeply probing approaches to security at the airport.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Poor Polanski

Rarely do I find myself in agreement with anything published in Salon, but Kate's dead-on in her assessment of the Polanski arrest.

With any luck, he won't be extradited to Oregon, where induhviduals like Neil Goldschmidt and Sam Adams are not only accepted, but celebrated.

Has Nanny Pelosi's Vision Been Realized?

A couple of weeks ago, the body of a census worker was found hanging from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery, the word "fed" scrawled in ballpoint ink across his chest.  Well, at least we know that he didn't die hungry.

Pelosi had previously, and tearfully, claimed that the rhetoric from Teabaggers would lead to violence.  New York magazine claims that her vision has been fulfilled, and it's all the fault of conservatives.  Never mind that Bill Sparkman wasn't killed by people involved in teabag protests, nor by Rush Limbaugh.  His death is all their fault, because they say things that Leftists don't want to hear.

Blissfully missing from the New York mag report is the fact that the teabag protests have been nonviolent - and that the protestors didn't even leave any trash lying about.  By contrast, there is the scene that always arises whenever Leftists "protest" - most recently in Pittsburgh.  Where is Nanny?  Where's New York mag? 

Oh, right - violence and vandalism is really okay, as long as the Left is doing it.  Simply speaking up, on the other hand, is dangerous and incendiary - particularly if conservatives are talking.

3 Brit Muslims Sentenced In Terror Plot

For plotting to blow up transatlantic passenger flights, 3 British "Muslim extremists" were sentenced to 5 years or so in prison - or, as they like to call it over in the U.K. "life".  Oh, they were sentenced to between 32 years and 40 years, but we all know what that really means in the U.K. - they'll be out in four to five.  If that.  Charlie Manson's still behind bars in the USA, but if he'd done his thing in Great Britain, he'd have been released 30 years ago.

"Life" in prison is anything but that in the U.K.

Murder In Michigan

A well-known anti-abortion activist was this morning shot multiple times and killed in front of a high school, where he was apparently holding signs dpicting a baby and the word, "Life".  The 63-year-old victim wore leg braces and used an oxygen mask.  Apparently, people of his ilk represent a huge threat.

The Silence

I was sitting at my desktop computer a few years ago, when something unimaginable hit the screen.  I'll never forget that day. We live on a hilltop in southwest Portland, so we see (and hear) any number of planes and helicopters.  It was eerie to step out onto the deck and hear:

silence.

Yet after what we'd viewed on screens large and small, it seemed appropriate.