Friday, May 26, 2006

Vasalam Ala Man Ataba’al hoda

This phrase is a warning, which should be heeded, from Iran's supreme nutjob Ahmadinejad. Most of the non-Islamic world has ignored this phrase, which was the closing sentence of his letter to President Bush.

It means: Peace only unto those who follow the true path.

The reason to take it seriously is summed up in this NY Sun editorial:

"It is a phrase with historical significance in Islam, for, according to Islamic tradition, in year six of the Hejira - the late 620s - the prophet Mohammad sent letters to the Byzantine emperor and the Sassanid emperor telling them to convert to the true faith of Islam or be conquered. The letters included the same phrase that President Ahmadinejad used to conclude his letter to Mr. Bush. For Mohammad, the letters were a prelude to a Muslim offensive, a war launched for the purpose of imposing Islamic rule over infidels."

Iran intends to start a worldwide jihad against non-Muslims. Will we take action to stop them, or revert to the ways of 1938 and let the dictator make the first move?

Hati-tip: Hugh

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Just Like The Holocaust

Iran: Worry Over Nuke Program 'A Big Lie'

There seems to be a lot of people out there perpetuating myths and lies.

Somebody get this guy a tin foil hat.

What a maroon!

Thursday, May 04, 2006

A Fate Worse Than Death?

It looks like Moussaoui will be spending the rest of his days in Colorado. For most people, that would be considered a dream, unless the part of Colorado that you get to live in is a 7x12 foot concrete cell in Florence.

I've never visited the Supermax facility (very few innocents or non-correctional workers have), but I did get to tour the Colorado maximum security prison in Canon City before it was opened in the mid-90's. While this prison is not a famous as Supermax, which is for federal prisoners, it had a lot of the same features - 23 hour lockdown, concrete furniture, pods so that even if you get out of your cell you are still locked down, medical care inside the pods so that if you hurt yourself, you are still locked down, an exercise room with a stool and a bar on the wall. Even the windows were set up so that once in your cell, there is no direct line of sight to another inmate. Of course, this prison was set up to hold the worst in the state, but to eventually move them out to lower security if they showed signs of improvement.

I'm sure that Supermax is all these things and more, so it may not be long before Moussaoui starts wishing that the jury gave him death so he could move on to his 72 virgins. Hopefully, for the families of the 9/11 victims, they can take some comfort in the knowledge that he is rotting away on the high plains of Colorado.

UPDATE: Apparently, his mama agrees:
"adding that the life sentence imposed for his role in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks was worse than the death penalty.

"Now he is going to die in little doses," she said. "He is going to live like a rat in a hole. What for? They are so cruel, they were wrong to want his head. They should have gone all the way to the end if they were capable.""

Monday, May 01, 2006

C-SPAN On A Saturday Night

Saturday night was a date night for me and my wife. We went to see The Sentinel (not bad, but probably better for a DVD rental). When we got home, I was flipping through the channels and managed to catch the White House Correspondents Association Dinner on C-SPAN. Fortunately, I got to see Steve Bridges doing an amazing impression of the President, while standing next to the President. HotAir has a roundup of the whole evening.

Honestly, this guy was hilarious. Colbert was rather lame, but that's to be expected from the Comedy Central political crew.

I'm keeping the unofficial countdown clock for how long it takes a columnist in the WaPo or NYT to criticize President Bush for making jokes about some of today's issues, a la looking under his couch for the WMDs.