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Do you get the sense that our politicians and the media jerks alike are trying to make an issue with “skilled immigrants” in connection with the recently foiled terror plot in the UK?

I wish that for once they could just come out and say that the problem indeed are the Muslims and not all immigrants. When was the last time a Chinese or Filipino tried to fly a plane into a building? On the contrary, check this terror attacks map for the 21st century and you’ll soon find yourself running into the same lowest common dominator, A.K.A “Islamic Radicals”. So the …

Bush vetoed the war-spending bill again! In a repeat of the famous 2003 speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, President Bush, this time speaking from the Jedi Temple said “4 years and $500,000,000,000 dollars later, the mission remains accomplished”.

This leads me to the question, what else could we have done with a meager $500 billion? Experts say, $500 billion can fund our Social Security program for the next 75 years and a quick calculation tells me that we can give every individual on this planet, (terrorist or otherwise) $85 each!

In summary, somewhere along the spending spree, 1) we forgot all about bin Laden, 2) blindly theorized …

The whole blogosphere seem to be searching for the meaning of the phrase “ismail ax”, which I believe was scribbled on the Virginia Tech shooters arm! I think I may have the answer for it, here it is:

Get a life, we already know who did it and why, so knowing the meaning of the phrase will lead us no place but to corners of bigotry and sanctuary of skeptics, so why waste your time, read something light for a change!

My peeve with Saddam’s death is not so much because the world lost a kick-ass dictator, but because he was the only one capable of keeping the 28 million or so idiots of Iraq from killing each other. Looking back at his (Saddam) heyday, Saddam had the majority Shea and the non-Arab Kurds in check (although by sheer brute force), which the current Coalition (read US & UK) forces cannot in a hundred years. I think the real loser in this story is not Saddam (yeah I know he lost his life!), but rather all of us, so thanks for spoiling my day!

By now, we all know that we are not “really�? winning in Iraq. With body counts mounting on both sides, the Whitehouse decided to use it to their political advantage to use it. Of course it is just an sign as to how the current administration values Iraqi lives, but that did not stop President Bush from using it. In a speech at the Pentagon, Bush said that in the month of October, November and the 1st week of December the US and coalition killed or captured 5900 of the enemy!

Listen to it on NPR 
 
On a  side note, as of 12/17/2006 @ 14:23 EST, at least …

US ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad has said stabilizing the country is possible in a realistic time-frame, despite ongoing sectarian violence.

“Success in Iraq is possible and can be achieved on a realistic timetable.” [The outcome would] “profoundly shape the wider struggle and in turn the security of the world”. [The US] “should make adjustments in strategy ” [and redouble its efforts to succeed.]
 

America is at odds with more countries now than during the Cold War, many of who are in direct defiance of US and its interests and more dangerous than ever. Iran is on the verge of going nuclear, North Korea claims to possess such technology already, …

In a NY Times Op-ed, Friedman compared the upsurge of Iraq resistance during the holy month of Ramadan to the Tet offensive of 1968 that eventually lead to shift in the US public opinion about the war. This month alone, over 70 US soldiers have died, making it one of the worst thus far.

President Bush acknowledged Friedman’s comparison saying he could be right!

Read an excerpt of the NYT Op-ed:
I’d suggest that in time we’ll come to see the events unfolding — or rather, unraveling — in Iraq today as the real October surprise, because what we’re seeing there seems like the jihadist equivalent of …

Casey was in town last week and didn’t sound optimistic the situation in Iraq is not getting any better with over 100 civilians dying each day and the White House rejecting that over 655,000 people have died since the 2003 US Invasion. Bush however thinks otherwise, he wants his vote bank to believe that the US is winning the “War on Terror”. Which brings us to the question, Is Bush really listening to his Generals?
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A Syrian-born Canadian computer engineer was arrested late 2002 and secretly shipped to Syria for a year, where, according he was tortured and made to issue false confession. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales dismissed all allegation of US wrongdoing and in a profoundly stupid way said “I did not read the commission report on Maher Arar�?.

Listen to Maher Arar’s interview on NPR.

Ok, I am no fan of the Nazi Pope, but the recent speech that sparked a controversy in the Muslim world got me thinking about him again. Earlier this week, the Pope quoted a 14th Century Christian emperor who said the Prophet Muhammad had brought the world only “evil and inhuman” things. Though he never retracted the statement, he did release a statement as read by Vatican Secretary of State “The Holy Father is very sorry that some passages of his speech may have sounded offensive to the sensibilities of Muslim believers.” But not all accepted his apology, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said the statement did not go far enough and called on the pontiff to apologize in person. There are two ways of looking at this situation:
1) The Pope’s quote was wrong and Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance, in which case, his statement should be tolerated and his apology peacefully accepted.
2) The Pope’s statement was correct.
If Islam indeed was about tolerance, why are Muslims intolerant towards western ideas? If, Islam indeed was about peace, how then can we explain more than half the raging conflicts worldwide?

Not to say that western religions are tolerant or peaceful, but they neither claim nor pretend to be. 

And for those who want to know what the Pope really siad, here it is (Pope on Holy War):
I was reminded of all this recently, when I read… of part of the dialogue carried on - perhaps in 1391 in the winter barracks near Ankara - by the erudite Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Persian on the subject of Christianity and Islam, and the truth of both.

In the seventh conversation…the emperor touches on the theme of the holy war. Without descending to details, such as the difference in treatment accorded to those who have the “Book” and the “infidels”, he addresses his interlocutor with a startling brusqueness on the central question about the relationship between religion and violence in general, saying: “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

The emperor, after having expressed himself so forcefully, goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul. “God,” he says, “is not pleased by blood - and not acting reasonably is contrary to God’s nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats.”