Free In Idaho!

Shame on you, you pansies at Boise State University!  I thought this candy assed leftist crap happened in other colleges, but not here in Idaho.  I guess I was wrong.  The students here are just as coddled, and just as ignorant as every place else, I guess.

..Boise State University has turned down a request from veterans for a 21-gun salute on campus Monday to mark Veterans Day, saying it might scare bystanders still spooked by school shootings in other states.

Six BSU students and alumni have given their lives for the rest of us in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Monday is Veterans Day, and the Vet services department on campus had asked for a 21 gun salute as part of the flag raising ceremony scheduled for 12:30.  A bugler is also scheduled.  I certainly hope that doesn’t upset the sensitive children.

.. “having a 21-gun salute in today’s environment in the middle of classes didn’t seem to be an appropriate way to celebrate” Veterans Day, BSU spokesman Frank Zang said. He cited a student shooting rampage at Virginia Tech University last April that killed 33, including the gunman, and said students and staff might not realize gunshots are part of a ceremony and are safe.

“Gunfire on campus in the middle of the day would not be prudent or appropriate for safety and security,” Zang said.

This is not a safe world.  “Just say no to guns” doesn’t make it safer.  These are American kids, for crying out loud!  They know what Veterens Day is, and they know what a 21 gun salute is.  And those six who took up arms and laid down their lives for YOU and for me should be honored, as all our vets will be on that day.  And YOU, and I, need to be reminded just what it was they did for us.  Don’t take that away from them.  Don’t take it away from us.

Cowards.  Shame on you.

UPDATE: I just heard on the TV news that after a long day of talking about it, BSU has decided to allow a 21 gun salute at the stadium.  Much better!

Eminent domain..government taking of private property for the public good.  Don’t get me started.  But!  This article was too good to pass up, so I have to pass it along.  And the fact that this story can generate any traction at all says a lot about San Francisco.  So, without further ado, from the Perverts Republic of San Francisco, comes this

[San Francisco, CA] They wouldn’t sell at any price.  Now it doesn’t matter.  After four generations of Davidsons owning Orchards by the Bay, one of the few farms within San Francisco city limits stands to be seized under eminent domain… because San Francisco needs a steady supply of marijuana.

Eminent domain detractors say this is one of the most outrageous examples of the abuse of this long-standing law, which allows government to seize private property for public use or in recent years, if they deem it ‘for the public good’.   The fact that government officials plan to grow 400 acres of pot where walnut trees once stood is simply adding insult to injury.

“Don’t think for a moment that this is for public use,” says Grant Dennis, director of The Private Property Front, a Los Angeles based coalition of attorneys who work pro-bono in fighting eminent domain abuse.  “This is about someone pushing their pro-marijuana agenda, and using the livelihoods of innocent citizens to accomplish it.”

Not true, says San Francisco city councilman Ted Brenner.  Brenner claims that the Davidsons were offered fair market value for Orchards by the Bay, but refused to sell. 

“They were stubborn, so they get what they get, which is half that,” he says.

Read the whole thing. This site is a serious resource, I might have to blogroll it.

I’m as ready as the next guy to jump on folks who blatantly try to remove Christmas from our culture and try to substitute some PC “winter holiday” nonsense.  But let’s get real about it, can we?  In my strolling around the neighborhood this morning, I found a blog beating up on Mrs Fields Cookies for “banning Christmas”.  That’s interesting.  So I followed the link to the American Family Association’s “Project Christmas” fund raiser page. 

It’s hard to believe this kind of religious intolerance can happen in America in 2007.

Mrs. Fields, the maker of those good cookies, has banned any use of the word “Christmas” from their products and Christmas promotions.

BALONEY! I hate to see this bogus “Action Alert” fundraiser nonsense, whether it is John Edwards capitalizing on the Ann Coulter dust-up, or Harry Reid and the DNC capitalizing on the Rush Limbaugh “phoney soldiers” comments. But I hate it even more when the same kind of BS comes from right side blogs and Christian ministries. For crying out loud people, get a life! Complain about real offenses, don’t go making them up… you only succeed in making yourself look stupid, and diminishing the value of your message.  There is also an email spreading around, as these things often do… don’t be fooled.

I’ve got half a mind to send Don Wildmon a gift box of Christmas cookies from Mrs Fields. Which one do you think he’d like?

Speaking of Ahmadinejad, did you see that the Iranians have asked that he be allowed to visit the World Trade Center site and Ground Zero next week?  Now, we KNOW what Rudy’s answer would be, and we know he wouldn’t need a passle of advisors to think it out.  He’d tell that little sock puppet to get himself back to Iran.  But Mayor Mahmoud Bloomberg is working on it

In a move that has stunned New York, the Bloomberg administration is in discussions to escort the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to ground zero during his visit to New York next week, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said today.

Stunned is hardly the word for it.  LGF likens it to waking up in the Twilight Zone, and calls it “The Outrage of the Day”.  Several Presidential candidates have condemned it as well, including Romney and Thompson.   I don’t believe he should be allowed into this country at all, and the UN can pack itself out of here too.  But if he does come, he should be restricted to the main UN site and watched like a hawk.  The most dangerous national leader around does not deserve even the charade of respectability given to the rest of  them.  Just saying.

Mr. Kelly said the NYPD and Secret Service were in discussions with the Iranian Mission about the logistics for the possible visit, and whether it will take place at all. He said that for safety reasons related to ongoing construction at ground zero Mr. Ahmadinejad would not be allowed to descend into the pit.

Oh no, by all means, make SURE he descends into the pit. I’d always thought the hold up on rebuilding was a real shame. Perhaps not… maybe we were just waiting for one last item for the time capsule?

As the mainstream media breathelessly awaits another Osama bin Laden video, and the Democrats and MoveOn.org attempt to do a smear and bury campaign on General Petraeus, it is a wonder to me that nobody seems to be discussing just what the first Osama tape might mean.  I’m sure the beard dye job is right up the alley of many of our otherwise innept journalists, including the bozos on Fox, but that video was a serious “message to the enemy in time of war”.  Our multicultural, politically correct BS game of bowing down to the so called “religion of peace” continues.

One man who isn’t fooled, and who continues his seemingly one-man fight, is Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch.  He has an article this afternoon that is a MUST read.  Seriously, read it, sign it, pass it on. 

..Six years after 9/11, and a year and a half after Donald Rumsfeld observed that “We need to find ways to win the ideological battle as well,” the jihadists’ ideological challenge is not being answered adequately. Osama’s challenge to Christianity and advocacy of Sharia is an opportunity for Western leaders to stress the aspects of Judeo-Christian civilization that Sharia law denies: notably the equality of dignity of men and women and the freedom of conscience. But no Western leader will do this, because it would contradict the multiculturalist dogma that no civilization or culture has any virtues that any others do not possess.

I would say that the ideological challenge is not being answered AT ALL!  A large number of people who live in America are ashamed and embarrassed by the freedom, the liberty, the wealth, and yes, the Judeo-Christian foundation it is built on.  Add to those numbers those who are too lazy or self-absorbed to think for a moment about a challenge of any type, much less one coming from a strange man living in a cave in a country whose name they can’t pronounce and which most couldn’t find on a map.  Challenge?  What challenge?

..The ideological challenge that the jihadists are making to the West remains the single most misunderstood aspect of the war on terror. As Osama invites us once again to accept Islam, probably very few Americans would be able to articulate why they wouldn’t want to accept the invitation, and yet talk of Sharia and how it contradicts basic Western understandings of human rights remain taboo.

Like I said, read it, sign it, pass it on.  Double copies to Washington, and the dhimmi press corps.  Osama has invited you to lay down your false Western and Christian belief and accept Islam instead.  For the moment, he has left the “or else” for men like Spencer to warn us about.  Are you listening?

Actually, not THAT kind of holy water font, the Islamic foot-washing kind.  I’ve been seeing bits and pieces about this all summer long, but  I guess everyone is too busy playing outside and surfing the web looking for Hollywood skanklet pics.  It just doesn’t seem to be generating any big deal.  Is anyone paying attention here, or doesn’t anyone get vocal until they try to take the Christmas trees out of some public place, or tell everyone to say “happy middle to the end of December gift buying season” instead of Merry Christmas?   Accommodating a specific religion’s prayer requirements in the construction of a public building using taxpayer money goes a bit beyond the “free exercise” clause doesn’t it?  How long before we have Muslim only swimming?  Or separate entrances for believers and infidels?  From the Washington Times yesterday, this appears to me to be quite a different thing than a donated tree in a public place.

DEARBORN, Mich. — Plans to construct two foot-washing stations continue at the University of Michigan at Dearborn amid concerns that such action would constitute an establishment of religion by the public university.

The 8,700-student school near Detroit, which begins fall classes Tuesday, came under criticism in June when it announced that it would spend about $25,000 on the two foot-washing areas that were requested as an accommodation by a Muslim Student Association’s task force. The foot baths come while the state is in a budget crisis and tuition and fees have risen at all of the state’s public universities, up 7.9 percent at the Dearborn campus alone.

Data from a study of entering freshmen suggest that about 10 percent of students at the university are Muslim, and many have in the past used bathroom sinks for the foot washing, called an ablution, which Islam requires as a purity ritual before its five-times-daily prayers.

I’m at a loss as to how this gets past the “separation of Church and State” crowd and the ACLU (no I’m not).  But can you just imagine the anxiety attacks that would happen if some college wanted to install the holy water font in the picture, in order to accomidate the religious desires of the Catholic students?  Heck, I bet they could get a copy of the Bible for every student in the place who required on, and for much less than $25,000.

.. The new foot-washing stations, built at ground level, are part of a renovation project at two locations on campus and will be paid for with money from the school’s general fund.

The foot baths, while benefiting Muslim students, are open for use by all students and will be located in two new unisex bathrooms that will be renovated on campus.

Oh, that’s alright then… we’re accommodating the ever increasing population of unisex students as well.

..Zuhdi Jasser, a Phoenix physician who serves as chairman of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, said he is surprised there has not been more outrage.

“Supreme Court cases have been heard on far less-obvious violations of our Establishment Clause,” Dr. Jasser said. “Many if not most American Muslims are currently well able to accommodate our own prayers and ablution to the spaces and facilities provided to all other faiths on public grounds without special accommodations. Islamists use the ‘free exercise’ clause when it suits them and then turn around and use tax monies in the name of Islam when it suits them.”

Dr. Jasser said the foot bath marks the start down “a slippery slope of preferential treatment of one religion over another,” which he said is what the First Amendment was established to prevent.

Speaking of the ACLU, how about a little quote from an article on the Michigan ACLU’s website, written last December during the “war on Christmas” dust-up

..The United States does the best job in the world of protecting religion. Religion thrives in the American public sphere: Religious leaders preach on television and radio; religious books and magazines are a multibillion-dollar business; we have churches, synagogues and mosques of every kind.

That we do not have religious wars says something significant about the extent of our tolerance for each other’s beliefs. When there are so many places to display religious imagery, the issue is not “religion in the public sphere”; it is whether government property is the proper place for religious expression.

Emphasis mine… note, she omitted the word “Christian” religious expression.  Just pointing it out.

The Idaho Statesman today has an article proclaiming “Sali Apologizes to Muslim Congressman”.

..WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Bill Sali has apologized to the nation’s first Muslim congressman, whose election Sali suggested in an interview was “not what was envisioned by the Founding Fathers.”

A more complete version of what Sali said was

..”We have not only a Hindu prayer being offered in the Senate, we have a Muslim member of the House of Representatives now, Keith Ellison from Minnesota,” he told the Web site. “Those are changes — and they are not what was envisioned by the Founding Fathers. The principles that this country was built on, that have made it great over these centuries were Christian principles derived from Scriptures. You know, the Lord can cause the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike.”

Later in the article, the reporter said this,

..But Sali makes no apologies for the general thrust of the content. He firmly believes that religion is a “pillar of our freedom,” Hoffman said.

“What he was trying to say is that he’s a Christian, and that he believes this nation was founded on Christian principles and that it’s important to embrace those principles,” Hoffman said. “The congressman is a very strong believer in freedom of religion. The Founding Fathers used Scripture as a reference in devising the type of government we have today.”

Apology or not, I think Sali is missing a great opportunity to explain what he and many others see as the treat Islam is to the United States, and to the West in general.  There is no contradiction in the idea that the founding fathers believed in, and made place in our system of government, for freedom of religion, be it Christianity or Islam. 

..Officials in Massachusetts were equally insistent that their influential Constitution of 1780 afforded “the most ample liberty of conscience … to Deists, Mahometans, Jews and Christians,” a point that Chief Justice Theophilus Parsons resoundingly affirmed in 1810.

But many recognized the danger inherent in Islam, that it is not simply a “religion” but a complete worldview and political system as well.  There is NO “separation of Church and State” in Islam, not in the 7th century, not in the 19th century, and not in the 21st century.  That Sali recognizes that threat, but feels compelled to backpedal from his first statement is a shame.  This quote might explain why

..Both the Idaho Democratic Party and Sali’s 2008 Democratic opponent, Larry Grant, have capitalized on the hubbub in the blogosphere.

Democratic Party Chairman Richard Stallings called on Sali to either apologize or resign, and Grant wrote Ellison a letter calling his opponent’s comments “thoughtless, uninformed and inappropriate.”

Of course they’re capitalizing on it, and in typical Democrat fashion they’re calling for him to resign… no freedom of speech or open debate in the public square for these guys!  But really, just WHO is uninformed?  And what is “inappropriate” about bringing questions to the table about what the founding fathers might have intended?  Are they afraid to go back to root principles, and the history behind them?  A great opportunity here for Sali to teach Grant a little something about the distinctives of Islam, wouldn’t you think?  Again, “thoughtless, and inappropriate”?  I would like to hear what they think of this slam by Ellison’s spokesman

..”We will take Bill Sali at his word,” Rick Jauert said Friday. “That would be in keeping with Keith’s turn-the-other-cheek mentality. He figures if someone has a bad day, chooses their words poorly, we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.”

There is no “turn-the-other-cheek mentality” in Islam, and this is the kind of pompous one-upmanship that is one of the reasons this Congress has an approval rating in the low teens.  I would love to hear Ellison answer a question about how he can follow Islam and the American Constitution at the same time?  I would like to hear him explain what he would envision for the future of America, as it relates to the role of Islam in shaping society?  I would like to hear him answer what role Islamic sharia law should play in the this country is governed?  Just asking.

This reminds me of another bit of pompous showmanship by Ellison, and that is the use of Thomas Jefferson’s copy of the Koran for his ceremonial oath of office.

..Ellison took a ceremonial oath of office using a Koran once owned by Thomas Jefferson. In interviews at the time, he said he chose the Koran from the Library of Congress because “it showed that a visionary like Jefferson believed that wisdom could be gleaned from many sources.”

What goes unsaid, by the newspaper and the Democrats they quote in the article, is that Jefferson, along with John Quincy Adams and Benjamin Franklin, were commissioned by Congress to report on Islam and the Barbary Pirates (who just happened to be Muslim by the way, in case you slept through that part of your American History class).  For an excellent primer on the subject, check out this article at DhimmiWatch, which includes this quote

..did they know much about what prompted Muslim behavior? No. So they asked why the Barbary states (present-day Morocco, Algerian, Tunisia, and Libya) would continually attack American and all other Infidel shipping, seize the cargoes and the sailors, taking both back to Islamic lands and enslaving those Christian seamen who sometimes could be ransomed, sometimes not. So they asked the ambassador, Mr. Adja, why the Muslims of the Maghrib, the “Barbary pirates” as they were known in the West, did as they did.
He had no trouble answering them, as the report written by Jefferson and Adams to the Continental Congress shows:

“…that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise.”

and this one

..a piercing, no-nonsense quote from John Quincy Adams, writing in about 1829 after his retirement from public life:

“….he [Muhammad] declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind…The precept of the Koran is, perpetual war against all who deny, that Mahomet is the prophet of God…the faithful follower of the prophet may submit to the imperious necessities of defeat: but the command to propagate the Moslem creed by the sword is always obligatory, when it can be made effective. The commands of the prophet may be performed alike, by fraud, or by force.”

Another Adams quote

..“As the essential principle of his [Muhammad’s] faith is the subjugation of others by the sword; it is only by force, that his false doctrines can be dispelled, and his power annihilated.”

I agree with what Sali said in the first place, the founders didn’t intend for our freedom of religion or the so called “separation of church and state” to be undermined by a belief system that is antihetical to everything this Republic stands for, and I believe it is something that needs to be said over and over again.  But I’m greatly disappointed that Bill Sali appears to be missing a golden opportunity to stand tough, take the heat, and do a little teaching here.  It is important that this nation, including Democrats and newsreporters, hears these things, instead of putting on the same old tired outrage as a way to intimidate those who don’t agree with them, and thereby stifle free speech and debate.

Note: Yes, I’m aware of Mr Sali’s guest opinion piece in the Idaho Press Tribune, which included this remark

The Judeo-Christian principles on which our republic was founded can be embraced, defended and practiced by people of any faith. Anyone doing so will find an ally in me. But when principles outside of the Judeo-Christian tradition begin to be promoted within Congress, we should all recognize that the government given to us by the Founding Fathers will be at risk. That should give every American serious pause.

I think his remarks were great, as far as they went, and yes, I know they are being ignored, by the local media. But really, the Idaho Press Tribune isn’t exactly a large presence in Idaho, much less on the National scene, and that is where my comments about missing a good opportunity come from.

Are you aware that some real, and a lot of wannabe jihadis are using YouTube to spread their hate speech and graphically violent videos of our American soldiers being killed in Iraq and Afghanistan?  Have you ever watched one of those videos?  Doesn’t it just PYO?  Are you PO’d enough to do something about it?  How about joining Operation Smackdown?

Here is an excerpt from an Open Letter to YouTube posted over at Operation Smackdown

..YouTube removes videos on grounds of hate speech. Recently, a video was removed, and account closed, that contained nothing but a person sitting in front of a camera explaining how pleased he was that journalist Daniel Pearl had his head cut off. If that’s sufficient grounds to qualify as hate speech, why aren’t videos celebrating attacks on, and the death of, Coalition soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan also hate speech? YouTube removes videos of fights in schoolyards that kids upload from their cell phones. If it’s unacceptable violence to show school kids wrestling and pulling at each other’s hair, why is it acceptable to show videos of IED detonations, especially when they celebrate those deaths?

..YouTube removes videos on grounds of animal abuse. Can you explain why videos showing (and celebrating) IED’s detonating below a vehicle full of people doesn’t constitute unacceptable ‘human abuse’? Some videos require people to click a button to ‘verify’ they’re over 18 to view them, and some of the jihad videos are behind such screens. But you also claim such videos must abide by your Terms of Use. If you don’t allow porn behind such screens, why would you allow hate speech and graphic violence behind them?

Could be, YouTube doesn’t really give a rip that pictures of Americans being killed by snipers or blown up by IEDs could be considered “aiding and abetting the enemy in time of war”?  Some misguided “fundamentalist liberal” sense of free speech, perhaps?

..YouTube also claims it is not responsible for content uploaded by its users, and that if content is found in violation of its standards, it will be removed when users flag them as ‘inappropriate’. When you review flagged videos, and choose to keep them online, do you assume responsibility for those videos then? You might wish to consult with your legal staff on this question. If you aren’t responsible for content even after YouTube personnel have reviewed it, why review or ever delete anything at all? Perhaps you should add a note to videos that have been flagged, stating that YouTube has reviewed it and found the contents acceptable. It could prevent us from bothering to flag them in the future, and give everyone a clearer idea as to what you consider ‘appropriate content’.

At any rate, go read the whole letter, check out the site, read the posts, follow the comments, go see some of these disgusting videos, and get involved.  Flagging videos is not as immediately satisfying as making load booms and punching holes in targets, it will make you sad and angry, but ultimately, it’ll mean more.

Four firefighters have filed a sexual harassment complaint against the city of San Diego after being forced to participate in a “gay pride” parade.  If this doesn’t chap you,

In 28 years of responding to fires and saving lives, Fire Capt. John Ghiotto of the San Diego Fire Department never thought his job would require him to attend a Gay Pride parade.

“I’ve dealt with finding bodies in burning buildings, traffic accidents with kids, but I’ve never been so stressed out before until this incident,” Ghiotto told FOXNews.com in an exclusive interview.

Ghiotto and three other firefighters filed a sexual harassment complaint against the city’s fire department last week after being forced to attend the parade in uniform despite objections they made to superiors.

Yes, forced

The four men allege they were ordered by a battalion chief to attend last month’s parade and feared consequences for failure to do so, since refusing to follow a direct order constitutes disciplinary action.

If the men refused to follow the direct order, they could have been suspended on the spot and stripped of any chance for a promotion, according to their manual, Ghiotto said.

Out of control PC BS… I would love to see some higher-ups in San Diego get their heads handed to them at the end of all of this!  The whole idea of cities sanctioning, much less forcing employees to participate, in this kind of event is just wrong, and I hope these four men prevail.  If you have a strong stomach, read the whole thing.

I’ve gotta tell you, I’m about sick to death of all the dogfighting news stories.  All day long, on every channel, and on every talker, dog fighting talk.  Everyone is so upset about the dogfighting.  How many hours does it take to call evil, evil?

Frankly, I find it all pretty phony.  Where’s all your righteous outrage when it’s two human beings in the cage?  A couple of our local news outlets were pretty supportive of one of our local hockey players fighting a cage match a week or so ago.  They’re pretty offended by the dog fights tonight though. 

I think it’s interesting that the line is drawn for pitting two dogs against each other and gambling on the results, but we’ll stand IN line to see two human beings get in a cage together, and gamble on the results.  Like I said, phony PC BS…