The State Flag That Induces Instant Headaches.

Since before the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, there has been talk of secession for the Long Island of New York. Modern Long Island Secessionists have their own flag designed Cesidio Tallini.

Michael J. Trinklein, author of the Lost States book and blog calls it, "the state flag that induces instant headaches." I cannot disagree.

Introspection

me

I'm trying to decide "who I am" in the context of the liberals who are in power in Washington which means both the government and the mainstream media because you can't separate them.  They join arms in their universal hatred of Glenn Beck (even though the red phone never rings). They don't like anything about Sarah Palin even though they always talk about the need to empower women. They behave as if the only way I can become respectable is renounce my US Citizenship, become a fundamentalist Muslim and sneak across the US/Mexico Border illegally.

Ok, let's lay it out, so we can define who I should be -- and if I'm not -- then what I am:

If I oppose any policy of barack obama's and the Democrats, then I am a the worst kind of bigot.

If I am worried about the direction that obama and the Democrats are taking the country, then I am a bigot and a racist.

If I oppose the building of a 911 Victory Mosque and tribute to the martyred hijackers at Ground Zero, but still think there are decent Muslims in the U.S., then I am a bigot and Islamophobic.

If I understand that not all Muslims are terrorists, but that terrorism appears to thrive on the teachings of Islam and Mohammed, then I am a bigot and Islamophobic.

If I happen to think that Sarah Palin is attractive and intelligent, then I am a stupid bigot who is also a sexist.

If I feel that barack obama was NEVER qualified to be president of ANYTHING; and am concerned about his character because he stayed happily in a church run by a verifiable bigot for decades, and find his elitist demagoguery combined with a progressive utopianism, is troubling, then I am a stupid, bigoted, jingoist racist who is NOT Islamophobic -- because the liberals say that barack hussein obama isn't a Muslim - so I can't be Islamophobic in this instance.

(is your head spinning yet?)

If I think that abortion is a terrible idea and that it should never have been forced down people's throats by the Federal government, then I am a bigot and a sexist.

If I think that Gay Marriage (not civil unions) might have some unintended consequences on the entire concept of marriage, then I am a bigot and homophobic.

If I think the tea party is a genuine grassroots movement of people who are proud of "clinging to their guns and religion," then I am a bigot, racist, sexist, homophobic islamophobe.

If I feel that "illegal immigration" should be illegal and that the border should be defended against human traffickers, narcotics cartels, then I am a bigoted, racist, hatemonger.

Hijab - The future of American Women?

We start with the Miss Muslim Beauty Pageant (not a joke)



I have been among those following the development of the Ground Zero Victory Mosque in New York City -- you know, the triumphal fifteen story monument to Islam, to be constructed adjacent to the hole in the ground that they take credit for. And surprisingly enough there are a number of women who seem to be in favor of the mosque. If there were more Muslims in America than non-Muslims, this is how you'd be forced to dress. If you choose to go to many Islamic countries and decide not to dress in hijab, you can be killed for your conduct.

The Imam below discusses how if a woman is seen in public without her head covered, her hair should be cut off as a mater of political and religious doctrine within Islam.



He also expresses his feelings that if a woman is seen outside hijab, she is setting herself up to be raped (because Islamic men can't help themselves).



Pat Condell weighs in:



Islam has always been a 'religion' of conquest (convert or die) - and therefore is a political movement every bit as much or more than it is a religious movement. I am not suggesting that Islam not be allowed to be practiced in the Free World, however, the treatment of women, the wisdom of banning the burka/hijab, etc. is a logical first step in our response to their horrible treatment of women.

Restoring Honor

I give Glenn Beck a lot of credit for being a man true to his message, and true to the principles that has made America great.

As you can see in the photograph below of the Capitol Mall, there are people who have gathered. The mainstream media reported "thousands" even the number is somewhere in the hundreds of thousands. They reported that there are "thousands" at the Al Sharpton Rally across town and there are about a thousand. That's equal coverage for you...and what one would expect from the mainstream media.

The people who attended were there to make a courageous stand and to declare that faith, hope and charity are not dead, that they're not something from America's past -- and to the contrary, they are the core of One Nation Under God.

The liberals, the mainstream media and the obama administration would have us remove "IN GOD WE TRUST" from our currency, from our thoughts and from America's core. The people in the photo would disagree with obama, reid and pelosi.

I don't know who the next president of the United States will be, but I suspect that it won't be barack hussein obama.

Examining Polling Numbers

I thought I needed to address the Friday Funnies need here on Virtual Mirage -- and also to punch in some Rule 5 material (below)!

###

When you're holding a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Do you remember the sickening "I love barack hussein obama" songs that were sung in schools as President #44 swept into office?  How many of those teachers and principals were fired for doing that?

Now Bryan Glover, a 26 year old teacher has been fired for a conservative song as "News Channel 5 Reports"from Franklin, TN.

(h/t ResistNet)

http://www.holdingahammer.com/

They don’t care how the little people feel

 ‘Cause savin’ the world is a big freakin’ deal

They do their business behind closed doors

And pretend that the world is just beggin’ for more

When the stuff hits the fan they say “Don’t look at me

If you got trouble, blame 43”

The Flag Question in Malawi

There's been quite a bit of flag controversy recently in Malawi, the small and cartographically skinny country tucked up northwest of Mozambique and on the eastern edge of Zambia. You may recognize the current flag, which has been in use since the country became independent of the British Empire in 1964:


Last month, the government began using a new banner, like so:


Why the change? And why, as it turns out, are a lot of people in Malawi not delighted with this change? I did some skimming of the Nyasa Times online to dredge up the basics.

Malawi appears to be one of many African countries that have come a long way toward political stability in the last 20 years. The current President, Bingu wa Mutharika, has been accused of election fraud by the opposition, but he seems to have participated in something more or less resembling a free election twice. The Mutharika government decided a new flag was in order to represent the improved civic climate, as well as an apparent rise in the country's overall standard of living. From the Times:

Government spokesman, Reckford Thotho said authorities proposed to change the national flag replacing the rising sun with a full sun and change some colours “symbolising the development that has taken place.”

Said the Information Minister: “The essence of changing the national flag is that times have changed since 1964 when Malawi adopted the flag on attaining its independence.

“The symbol of the rising sun that time made a lot of sense because it was dawn for freedom and hope. But there has been a lot of development that has taken place since and we cannot still be at dawn.”

Opposition figures are not pleased. They question whether the country has really made such meaningful progress, and claim that a change to the national flag is destructive to the country's unity and identity. Although the new flag was officially put into use earlier this month, there is a case pending at the Supreme Court on whether the change was legal under the Malawian Constitution. (Comments on the Nyasa Times website seem generally irritable and anti-change, but I'm going to assume that comments on African newspaper websites are like comments on American newspaper websites -- that is, disproportionately made by the grouchiest one percent of the population, and not really reflective of what the average person might be thinking.)

In this political climate, Mutharika's language at the ceremony that officially unveiled the flag was kind of interesting. Instead of emphasizing the change to the flag, he stressed the continuity in the two designs:

“We are not necessarily changing the flag as it has been reported by other quarters but we were modifying it to reflect the modern Malawi,” he said.

Is he making an attempt at reconciliation? Is he floating a strategy for the Supreme Court case? Kind of hard to tell from this distance, of course.

Now of course, this whole debate is nobody's business but the Malawians'. But -- as a complete outsider (presumably), what do you think? Do you like the new design better, or would you stick with the old?

Holy Islamic Practice of Female Genital Mutilation

photo: BBC

(In Great Britian) FEMALE CIRCUMCISION ON THE RISE (Link to article)

Operations are usually performed on girls aged four to 13 Health workers in the UK are worried cases of female genital mutilation - or FGM - in the UK are rising...FGM, which involves the partial or total removal of the external female genital organs for cultural reasons, has been an illegal operation in the UK for almost 20 years.

There are no government figures on how many women have been cut because it is rarely reported to those in authority. But women's rights group forward estimates 74,000 women in Britain have undergone FGM and that 7,000 girls under the age of 16 are at risk.

>> WARNING - GRAPHIC <<

"Also, I think because we have set up a clinic here locally, by word of mouth, more and more women are coming to the clinics so our numbers are increasing quite significantly each year," she added.

Leila was eight years old and on her first holiday abroad when her grandmother decided it was time for her to be circumcised.

"My grandma was, like, 'Shut up, you know me - what are you screaming for, it's for your own good at the end of the day'"

"Basically two ladies were holding my legs and they were both sat on me," she said. "One was sitting on my chest, holding me back, holding my mouth. There were pure towels, a knife and hot water, and the lady went inside me and started proper chopping me and I was screaming. My grandma was, like, 'Shut up, you know me - what are you screaming for, it's for your own good at the end of the day'. It was just too much and I was in pain."

Photo Credit (h/t)

Clearly, Islam is not a civilizing influence. It seems to stress a return to the medieval as the desired norm and the human suffering that results is profound.

(h/t Infidel Bloggers Alliance)

Did the LA Times Suddenly Grow a Conscience?

Obama now blames poor job numbers on congressional inaction. Wait! His party runs Congress

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES!

Check the link above.

For quite some time now, this blog contained comments on how the Democratic Congress has been running the US Economy onto the rocks with worthless, porkbarrel stimulus spending, pay-offs to political cronies and corrupt labor unions, etc. Now I have to do a reality check because the Los Angeles Times agrees with me.

barack hussein obama, liar, charlatan and socialist spouts recovery while he lauds ObamaCare, a government take-over that swallowed 16% of the national economy. Now a majority of Americans have called for a repeal of ObamaCare and the fool in the White House thinks he can make a few appearances, read a prepared speech or two and convince us that it's not raining while he's pissing down our backs.

Unemployment numbers are on the rise - with no end in view.  Businesses brace for another round of tax increases.  I heard barack hussein obama on the television explaining how he was going to pay for ObamaCare by paying small businesses to cover employees. obama isn't paying for anything. He's talking about borrowing MORE money from the Chinese or anyone else who will float our paper to pay for ObamaCare, which only a small minority of Americans want.

Yes, ObamaCare was popular with ILLEGAL ALIENS (obama constituents), and the chronically unemployed, and with politicians who EXEMPTED THEMSELVES FROM IT. But most Americans don't want it. And we don't trust barack hussein obama because he's a liar.

Political Islam and the 911 Mosque - in Context

Islamic fundamentalism can not be separated from the religion itself, since Islam in practice penetrates and influences all aspects of a Muslim's life. Political action in the Muslim world is often linked to the power and influence of a religious leader. Islam retains a powerful hold over its members and differs from Christianity in key areas. Christianity, unlike Islam, has passed through a number of historical experiences: the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Age of Reason, the scientific revolution, and the appearance of secular philosophies such as Utilitarianism, logical positivism and Marxism. Consequently, Christianity lost importance as a political movement that can be summed up by the doctrine of separation between church and state. That is an idea that is COMPLETELY alien in Islam.

In Islam, religion is the state, all political action is based solely on faith. The most highly developed form of Islamic thought is Shari'a (the Law). It recognizes no difference between religious and secular and governs every aspect of a believer's life. Shari'a is infallible and immutable doctrine regulating the whole of the religious, political, social and private life of believers (and non-believers living under Muslim rule).

The 9/11 Victory Mosque, is therefore not a "church" in the sense that Christians or Jews would build a house of worship, but it is a political statement as well because in Islam there is no difference between politics and religion. To a Muslim, all politics is religious and all religion is political.

Traditionally a Mosque is not only a church but in many countries, it is also the seat of the local Islamic Court which dispenses Shari'a. Islamic justice (which includes beheadings, stoning, ritual mutilation, etc.) is dispensed from the Mosque by appointed clerics. There is NO Christian or Jewish comparison that can even come close. In the West there is a separation between secular and religious that is not found in Islam.

Barney Frank, Prop 8 and a rant

Is Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) missing out on his chance for a California beach wedding?

(h/t Dale)

Yes 

The Federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal put same sex marriage on hold.

Homosexual activists, Proposition 8 proponents, welcomed a federal appeals court decision Aug. 16 to stay U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker's recent ruling invalidating the 2008 voter-approved constitutional amendment declaring that only marriage between a man and woman is recognized in California.

Lawyers for Proposition 8 had filed court papers the morning of Aug. 16 asking the U.S. Nonth Circuit Court of Appeals to put a hold on Judge Walker's Aug. 4 decision in the Perry v. Schwarzenegger (challenge to Prop. 8) case, which would have paved the way for same-sex marriages to resume in California this week. The Ninth Circuit Court's three-judge panel said the court would hear the Proposition 8 challenge the week of Dec. 6.

The case could have wide-reaching ramifications for other state laws restricting same-sex marriages. Thirty states have constitutional bans on same-sex marriage similar to California's and while the Ninth Circuit Court decision, wherever it falls, would not have to be taken as binding precedent in other circuits, it could influence similar challenges elsewhere.

So the question of just how sick our society really is -- awaits the court's decision, that will likely be appealed to the Supreme Court.

And, moving on to Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), character counts, though there are those who would put him forward as the poster child for character NOT counting (see artist's rendering above). An individual can be fairly judged on lifestyle. However, he needs to be voted from office for other reasons that are more pressing. Barney Frank and Chris Dodd are largely to blame for the economic crisis now facing this nation. They used the CRA to force banks into lending money to people who were unable to handle the mortgages banks gave them. This resulted in large scale default which had a domino effect on Wall Street. In Frank's position on the Finance Committee, beginning in 2006, he pronounced them "sound" - and on the whole mortgage and lending practices issue, one can trace that all the way back to Carter.

Pelosi and Stoning: Islam Today

Comments in Islam -- today

Sharia Law: Leave no turn un-stoned

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban on Sunday ordered their first public executions by stoning since their fall from power nine years ago, killing a young couple who had eloped, according to Afghan officials and a witness. (New York Times - August 16, 2010 - this is my excerpt from a larger story. I invite you to read the entire story at the NYT website) (h/t Infidel Blogger's Alliance)

The punishment was carried out by hundreds of the victims’ neighbors in a village in northern Kunduz Province, according to Nadir Khan, 40, a local farmer and Taliban sympathizer, who was interviewed by telephone. Even family members were involved, both in the stoning and in tricking the couple into returning after they had fled.

Mr. Khan said that as a Taliban mullah prepared to read the judgment of a religious court, the lovers, a 25-year-old man named Khayyam and a 19-year-old woman named Siddiqa, defiantly confessed in public to their relationship. “They said, ‘We love each other no matter what happens,’ ” Mr. Khan said.

Mr. Nadery, from the human rights commission, pointed to a string of recent such cases of summary justice by the Taliban. In northwestern Badghis Province on Aug. 8, a 41-year-old widow, who was made pregnant by a man she said promised to marry her, was convicted of fornication by a Taliban court. She was given 200 lashes with a whip and then shot to death, according to Col. Abdul Jabar, a provincial police official, who said the killing was ordered by the local Taliban commander, Mullah Yousef, in Qadis district.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Calls for an Investigation into the Funding of the OPPOSITION to the 911 Victory Mosque in New York City.

She told KCBS Radio, San Francisco (listen to her below) that it's time to investigate the source of the opposition to the Victory Mosque.

WHAT?

The source of the opposition is the American People, Ms. Pelosi. Did you just have the skin on your face stretched again? Is that why you're so far out of touch? We don't want a frigging Victory Mosque at Ground Zero! There are over 90 mosques in New York City - and while I agree that people have the freedom of religion and freedom of worship, putting a mosque THERE is an insult to those 3,000 people who died there at the hands of fundamentalist Muslims who were cheered by fellow Muslims worldwide.

Ms. Pelosi calls the Victory Mosque a "zoning decision".  Is that really how she sees it? This is how people saw it from below, near the site of the mosque approved by Mayor Bloomberg. (above)

Listen to Nancy (LINK)

Unrestrained National Spending-The Obama Plan

It's a 13 minute video.

It's worth watching.



The "progressives" urgently want to see America become a new socialist nation.  It's up to the people (not legislators) to decide if the run-away Congress represents their best interests.

Freedom of Religion - and politics

Is Islam a religion or is it a political movement? Can Islam as a political system co-exist with a Republic? These are hotly debated topics under normal circumstances, but in the shadow of the proposed (but not yet built) 9/11 Victory Mosque that Islamic people want to construct, the matter has gone nuclear - a metaphor, not a reference to the nuclear weapons Iran is developing with the express purpose of using on Israel.

As of today, the plans to build the mosque are going forward despite suggestions that the project's organizers are contemplating moving this mosque elsewhere. There are approximately ninety mosques in New York City and nobody seriously suggests that Americans have abrogated the freedom of Muslims to worship in The City. If they build a mosque somewhere other than the place they picked, 600 meters from the hole in the ground (still), where the World Trade Center once stood, they may find it hard to locate a portion of the city where there isn't a mosque currently serving those of their faith.

So we come back to Islam, the faith of religious conquest - a faith with considerable political overtones, and issues of American law and the sense of fair play that Americans cherish. Robert Spencer's best selling book STEALTH JIHAD: How Radical Islam is Subverting America without Guns or Bombs suggests that Islamic charities, the ACLU and even members of the executive branch of government are pawns in a holy war that advances a jihadist/Islamic agenda that is not in the best interests of the United States. The Victory Mosque does seem to fit into that pattern - of political action, cloaked in religion.

See the American Perspective for more on Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller.

The Point of No Return

I am not a conspiracy theorist. I'm simply an observer who reports on issues that I feel matter to people who read my rather small and insignificant blog. And today I am telling you that things are more or less past the point of no return in the Middle East.

When? I don't know. I'm not an Israeli policy maker. Best guess is before March 2011 because that's when the Iranians are scheduled to complete their first atomic bomb(s). On August 21, 2010, the Iranian nuclear breeder-reactor at Bushehr is scheduled to begin operation manufacturing Plutonium 239.

Last week an issue of The Atlantic Monthly arrived at my door and the article by Jeffrey Goldberg (of the same name as this blog post) was featured on the cover. Goldberg predicted correctly that the State of Israel will attack Iran sooner than later because of Iran's unbridled pursuit of nuclear weapons. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeatedly and stridently affirmed that the only reason they want to develop nuclear weapons is to use them to wipe out Israel. 

Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is unlikely to offer Israel up for destruction. And not to make too fine of a point of it, Israel has been not so quietly preparing for war with the Iranians, both by launching a satellite to provide them with overhead intelligence and by tuning up their air and ground forces for a slug-fest. Iran too is ramping up for war and they want to see the war end with Israel overrun by Hizballah and Hamas and Jerusalem in their hands. It plays into Iran's larger plans where they can one day retake Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. I'm sure that the Saudi Royal Family won't want to take the side of Israel, however your enemy's enemy is often also your friend. (we'll watch and see how the Saudi's roll on this)

The Iranian leadership’s own view of nuclear dangers is perhaps best exemplified by a comment made in 2001 by the former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, who entertained the idea that Israel’s demise could be brought about in a relatively pain-free manner for the Muslim world. “The use of an atomic bomb against Israel would destroy Israel completely while [a nuclear attack] against the Islamic countries would only cause damages,” Rafsanjani said. (The Atlantic Monthly)

Immediately following the Israeli attack on Iran, the Iranians will attack US bases wherever they can reach them (Iraq and Afghanistan come to mind). They don't believe that America's weak, quasi-Muslim president has the stomach to do much and we'll see what sort of stuff the Democratic Party is made of. While it's not a war of Washington's making, we will be drawn into it. It's almost inevitable that weapons of mass destruction will be used (delivered by Israeli ballistic missiles).  The Iranian anti-aircraft defenses are formidable and it only makes sense that the Israelis will take them out first before the jets move in to finish the job.

Mr. Goldberg (in the article referenced above) put it this way: 

"When the Israelis begin to bomb the uranium-enrichment facility at Natanz, the formerly secret enrichment site at Qom, the nuclear-research center at Esfahan, and possibly even the Bushehr reactor, along with the other main sites of the Iranian nuclear program, a short while after they depart en masse from their bases across Israel—regardless of whether they succeed in destroying Iran’s centrifuges and warhead and missile plants, or whether they fail miserably to even make a dent in Iran’s nuclear program—they stand a good chance of changing the Middle East forever; of sparking lethal reprisals, and even a full-blown regional war that could lead to the deaths of thousands of Israelis and Iranians, and possibly Arabs and Americans as well; of creating a crisis for Barack Obama that will dwarf Afghanistan in significance and complexity; of rupturing relations between Jerusalem and Washington, which is Israel’s only meaningful ally; of inadvertently solidifying the somewhat tenuous rule of the mullahs in Tehran; of causing the price of oil to spike to cataclysmic highs, launching the world economy into a period of turbulence not experienced since the autumn of 2008, or possibly since the oil shock of 1973; of placing communities across the Jewish diaspora in mortal danger, by making them targets of Iranian-sponsored terror attacks, as they have been in the past, in a limited though already lethal way; and of accelerating Israel’s conversion from a once-admired refuge for a persecuted people into a leper among nations."

Why would Israel take such a high-risks gamble that is likely to cost it its entire air force, much of its army and the lives of hundreds of thousands of Israelis and Jews worldwide (as Iran retaliates against Jews outside Israel)?

“In World War II, the Jews had no power to stop Hitler from annihilating us. Six million were slaughtered. Today, 6 million Jews live in Israel, and someone is threatening them with annihilation. But now we have the power to stop them. Bibi knows that this is the choice.”

Will America stand with Israel? There is no doubt that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a danger to the United States and its allies (beyond Israel) and to Europe (sometimes also referred to as allies of the US). Notwithstanding, there is a quasi-Muslim in the White House and that complicates matters for America. French President Sarkozy has called barack hussein obama as "a purveyor of baseless hope". 

At the UN Security Council last September, Sarkozy said, “I support the extended hand of the Americans, but what good have proposals for dialogue brought the international community? More uranium enrichment and declarations by the leaders of Iran to wipe a UN member state off the map,” he said, (referring to Israel).

Barack Hussein Obama hasn't shown much inclination to do the right thing for America and for the world. Might he do us all a favor and take out the Iranian threat so Israel doesn't have to? I doubt it.

Cordoba Initiative

As most of you know, the Cordoba Initiative calls for a creation of an Islamic Mosque two blocks from Ground Zero in New York City. (cross-posted from CAN WE KEEP OUR REPUBLIC)

There are some who claim that the initiative does not go far enough. When you think about it the hole in the ground (still) that was once the World Trade Center could be filled with an even more impressive monument than an uber mosque...the first ever Islamic amusement park!

The brochures (below) were created by my friend Todd D. as examples of a new Islamic Amusement Park and monument to the fallen hijacker pilots of those aircraft who made Ground Zero possible in the first place:

Think of it as an even more impressive monument to religious tolerance!

###

911 Mosque - an insult to the fallen.

Now that the 911 Mosque has been approved by the New York City Council, some feel as if the matter has been resolved. The New York Times ran an interesting opinion article. Part of the article is linked to the MAINFO blog.

Charles Krauthammer (The Washington Post)-

A place is made sacred by a widespread belief that it was visited by the miraculous or the transcendent (Lourdes, the Temple Mount), by the presence there once of great nobility and sacrifice (Gettysburg), or by the blood of martyrs and the indescribable suffering of the innocent (Auschwitz). When we speak of Ground Zero as hallowed ground, what we mean is that it belongs to those who suffered and died there — and that such ownership obliges us, the living, to preserve the dignity and memory of the place, never allowing it to be forgotten, trivialized or misappropriated …

It’s why, while no one objects to Japanese cultural centers, the idea of putting one up at Pearl Harbor would be offensive. And why Pope John Paul II ordered the Carmelite nuns to leave the convent they had established at Auschwitz. He was in no way devaluing their heartfelt mission to pray for the souls of the dead. He was teaching them a lesson in respect: This is not your place; it belongs to others. However pure your voice, better to let silence reign.

The liberals are naturally furious with Krauthammer because we know from experience that the more 

"progressive" someone is, the more they seem to be immune to outrages such as this one.

Nobody objects to Muslims building a place of worship, but many people including me object most strenuously to having them build it THERE.

It has nothing to do with race, but the murderers who perpetrated this attack on US Soil did it in the name of Islam. They also murdered Islamic people. As Krauthammer suggests, a monument of apology in the name of Islam somewhere like the Battery Park would be appropriate. A mosque anywhere near Ground Zero is an outrage of the worst sort.

Harry Reid did something right--17 years ago

We need to use the LEGENDARY Way-Back Machine to transport ourselves to 1993.

In 1993:

• Bill Clinton was the president.
• A Los Angeles jury reached a verdict in the Rodney King case, which led to riots.
• Russian troops ended their occupation of Poland.
• The World Wide Web was born at CERN (and was not invented by Vice President Al Gore).
• The US fired Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Iraqi Intelligence office in Baghdad.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 3,734.53 (a record high)
• Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) introduced the “Immigration Stabilization Act,” that would have overhauled the nation's immigration laws, calling for a massive scale-down of immigrants allowed into the country. The bill also changed asylum laws to prevent phony asylum seekers. 

Harry doesn't want you to remember that.

This is what the ranking Senate Democrat, Harry Reid (D-NV) said, "I don't know how anyone of Hispanic heritage could be a Republican," at a campaign event with Latino supporters earlier this week.


Way back in 1993, Harry sang a different song on the floor of the US Senate, declaring loudly that illegal aliens (90% Hispanic) are scam artists and free loaders.

In 1993, Senator Reid's office released the following statements concerning illegal immigration:
“In response to increased terrorism and abuse of social programs by aliens, (I) today introduced the first and only comprehensive immigration reform bill in Congress. Currently, an alien living illegally in the United States often pays no taxes but receives unemployment, welfare, free medical care, and other federal benefits. Recent terrorist acts, including the (first) World Trade Center bombing, have underscored the need to keep violent criminals out of the country.” 


He feels differently today:

But in 1993, Senator Reid said that the U.S. open door policy is being abused at the expense of honest, working citizens.

"We are a country founded upon fairness and justice. An individual in real threat of torture or long-term incarceration because of his or her political beliefs can still seek asylum. But this bill closes the door to those who want to abuse America's inherent generosity and legal system.”

"Our borders have overflowed with illegal immigrants placing tremendous burdens on our criminal justice system, schools and social programs. The Immigration and Naturalization Service needs the ability to step up enforcement. Our federal wallet is stretched to the limit by illegal aliens getting welfare, food stamps, medical care, and other benefits often without paying any taxes.”

“Safeguards like welfare and free medical care are in place to boost Americans in need of short-term assistance. These programs were not meant to entice freeloaders and scam artists from around the world. Even worse, Americans have seen heinous crimes committed by individuals who are here illegally.”
(emphasis added)

The statements quoted above are from a press release issued by Reid’s office on August 5, 1993.


Specific provisions proposed by Harry Reid in the Immigration Stabilization Act include:

* Reduces annual legal immigration levels. Relatives other than spouse or minor children admitted only if already on immigration waiting lists and their admission does not raise annual immigration levels above approved level.

* Reforms asylum rules to prevent aliens from entering the United States illegally under phony "asylum" claims.

* Expands list of felonies considered "aggravated" felonies requiring exclusion and deportation of criminal aliens. Allows courts to order deportation at time of sentencing.

* Increases penalties for failing to depart or re-entering the United States after a final order of deportation order. Increases maximum penalties for visa fraud from five years to 10 years.

* Curtails alien smuggling by authorizing interdiction and repatriation of aliens seeking to enter the United States unlawfully by sea. Increases penalties for alien smuggling.

* Adds "alien smuggling" to the list of crimes subject to sanctions under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.

* Expands the categories of property that are forfeited when used to facilitate the smuggling or harboring of illegal aliens.

* Clarifies that a person born in the United States to an alien mother who is not a lawful resident is not a U.S. citizen. This will eliminate incentive for pregnant alien women to enter the United States illegally, often at risk to mother and child, for the purpose of acquiring citizenship for the child and accompanying federal financial benefits.

* Mandates that aliens who cannot demonstrably support themselves without public or private assistance are excludable. This will prevent admission of aliens likely to be dependent on public financial support. This requirement extends to the sponsor of any family sponsored immigrant.

* Increases border security and patrol officer positions.




Today's antics as a tool of the radical left are a stark departure from the old Harry Reid. Who is pulling your strings, Harry? Is it the same people who tell obama what to say? What happened to the old Harry who cared about America?

Obama Paraphernalia

(h/t Braden)

The obama doll/action figure was inspired by Democratic Senate Candidate Alvin Green from South Carolina. Green, you will recall, proposed that an action figure of himself be made in America and sold to Americans to help reduce the size of the national deficit.

Now the defunct (and corrupt) organization, ACORN is purported by this ad, to be selling the semi-official obama doll, made in China (I think).

Is obama an economic witch doctor?

According to ABC News (part of the mainstream media that very reluctantly reports anything negative toward the obama regime), the economic recovery is set to fade as government supports dry up. Maybe that's why Speaker Pelosi wants to borrow $26 billion just now to pay for state government jobs in states favorable to the obama regime who are bankrupt. It will keep the unemployment rate under 10% through mid-term elections. 

Will the American people ever stop asking the government to bribe them with their own tax money? There is only scant evidence that the average voter understands the tactics of the socialist left.

Meanwhile, the president continues in campaign mode, raising money, telling the American people that all is well and happy days are here again. (throw a little more smoke powder on the fire, barack) His plan to change and rearrange American society will take many years and many more borrowed trillions before you'll see prosperity. The words of a witch doctor or the president? Smoke and mirrors or solid economic sense?

The monthly Blue Chip poll of leading economists showed nearly 70 percent had lowered their economic growth forecasts in the past month. "Waning federal fiscal stimulus and smaller contributions to growth from business inventories are widely expected to weigh on GDP growth going forward," Blue Chip said.

What happened to the obama stimulus?

The Federal Reserve board members may have a gloomier outlook for the US economy this summer than they did in the spring. The released minutes from the last meeting of the FOMC members on June 22 -23 show that expectations for both economic growth and price inflation have been revised downward for the remainder of this year and 2011.

Americans need to think carefully about their choices for elected office in November. The Democrats boast that they've done a great deal. All I can see in the way of action on their part is a great deal of spending with nothing to show for it and a great deal of rhetoric.

Funding Hamas (and splinter terrorist groups)

What does "aid" for Palestine really mean?

This is a captured Palestinian garbage truck from Gaza . (h/t WoFat)

The truck is set up to fire 9 Kasem rockets and then drive off innocently. The note pasted on the drivers door says In case of traffic violations, please contact The Palestinian Authority.

Obama pledges $483 million for Palestinian aid (June 2010) Why would he do that when Hamas is the popularly elected government of Palestine and they are a TERRORIST ORGANIZATION? Does barack hussein obama have the American people's best interests at heart? The Council on Foreign Relations estimates Hamas's annual budget at $70 million. If that's true, what are they (the terrorists) doing with the extra $413 million that obama is pulling out of the taxpayer's pocket? 

Let me tie this up. We (the United States of America) have provided a terrorist state (according to the US State Department) it's annual operating budget and an extra $413 million to spend more or less anyway they want to.

"The wall along the US-Mexican Border is too expensive to build" (obama).

We know that the obama administration would like to see the State of Israel vanish. He shares those dreams with fellow Muslims.

Saudi Arabia is the largest provider of aid to the Palestinian people. Since 2002, Saudi Arabia has given more than $480 million in monetary support to the Palestinian Authority, and has supported Palestinian refugees by contributing to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Through the Arab League it has provided more than $250 million for the Palestinians, and pledged $500 million in assistance over the next three years at the Donors Conference in Dec 2007. Unlike aid from other nations, Saudi Arabian aid to Palestinians was not disrupted by the election of Hamas. (Source Wikipedia)

With the stroke of a pen, obama exceeded the entire Saudi contribution to Palestine over an 8 year period. That's quite a gift.  True Source: We borrowed the money from China at interest to pay for the gift.

Think on this a bit.

9-11-01 I have not FORGOTTEN

I don't know how many of you remember the morning of September 11, 2001. I do.

I had friends in Tower 2 who were killed.

A buddy of mine who then worked for the New York Police Department received the Medal of Valor for pulling people out of Tower 2 and nearly lost his life.

And I remember the television footage of Muslims cheering worldwide.

On 9/12/2001, NOBODY in America would have thought that 9 years later a Super Mosque would be approved by the City of New York two blocks from the site of the (still ruined) World Trade Center.

On 9/12/2001, NOBODY in America could have imagined that a utopian socialist/closet Muslim named barack hussein obama would be President of the United States.

On 9/12/2001, NOBODY would have thought that the events of the day before (9/11) would have been reduced to a day, when according to barack hussein obama, we would honor community organizers. (his statements last year) -- Not a day of remembering the events of September 11th, but a watered down version of that remembrance -- because as obama put it in his book,  


Audacity of Hope: 
"I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."


On 9/12/2001, New Yorkers would have hung the mayor of NYC by the neck until dead if he had suggested that erecting a mosque at the site of an attack on the United States by Radical Islam would be appropriate and would constitute 'healing'.

On 8/7/2010, we are winding down a war that turned out to be a war against ISLAMIC Extremists in Iraq. (though it started out as a war to topple the Baathist regime of Hussein - not the US President, the other Hussein).

On 8/7/2010, we have over 100,000 soldiers under arms fighting a war against RADICAL ISLAM in Afghanistan. Whether or not you agree with the war itself, you can't dispute the fact.

Some of you do not remember.

I do.

Some of you don't care that Americans die nearly every day in a war we are fighting against RADICAL ISLAM.

I do.

Flag Friday XII

Flag Friday is a periodic discussion of the world's national flags; the project is explained and indexed here.

These discussions are about graphic design, and perhaps about nationalism and national symbolism in general. They should not be taken as critical of the countries, ideals, cultures, or people that the flags represent.

Egypt


Parsons: Approving of "good colors" but disliking "graven images," he gives it a "C+", 60/100.

Michael5000: Egypt's color scheme is not entirely to my personal liking, but it is certainly a dignified and regionally distinctive palette, so I can get behind Parsons there. As for the "graven image, let's take a closer look:


There is some fussiness here, but it is redeemed in my book by strong geometries and, especially, that the insignia is rendered in a single color. The local Betsy Ross, if she or he has sufficient appliqué skills, should be able to render it out of whole cloth. There is writing on this flag -- I am surprised that Parsons, who is a real writing hawk, did not beat me to this observation -- but it is subtle. I suppose that if I could read Arabic, the presence of words might bother me more, but there you go.

Grade: B


El Salvador


Parsons: Complaining of bad colors, writing, and a design that is "too busy," Parson adds that "not only did they write the name of country on the flag, but its full mailing address, in a living language." He gives it a D-, 36/100.

Michael5000: This is another case, as with Ecuador last time around, where at first you might at first wonder if Parsons is actually seeing the flag in question, or is merely hallucinating. But he's not. The civil flag, shown above, is as innocuous a tricolor as one could imagine, but El Salvador is another of many Latin American countries where the formal state flag gets a lot of popular use. So, here's the flag that Parsons was commenting on:

The seal, with its text -- Republica de El Salvador en la America Central -- is indeed rather busy. Here it is in schematic:


Mrs.5000 noted last week that the Haitian flag contains an image of itself, and found this -- if I do not put words in her mouth -- totally trippy. Well, the state flag of El Salvador ups the ante, with a whopping five images of itself in its central seal. The central triangle discretely spares us the knowledge of whether those five flags have five flags of their own, and so on, and so on, and so on. In any event, this seal is exactly the sort of thing I don't like to see on a flag, but even so you really have to look pretty closely to find "bad colors" here.

But in any event, Flag Friday's policy is to critique the civil flags of the world, and the civil flag is a simple white-on-blue sandwich. It is nothing remarkable, but would certainly seem restful on the eyes if you'd been staring at the flag of Austria for a while.

Grade (for the civil flag): B


Equatorial Guinea


Parsons: Complains of "writing" and "graven images," assigning a "D+", 45/100.

Michael5000: Small, culturally isolated, and with worse-than-usual quality-of-life problems across the board, Equatorial Guinea hardly needs grief about its flag. Yet I confess that I feel that Dr Parsons is essentially correct in his complaints, if a bit harsh in his grading.

It's fussy. The central elements are all simple: a shield, a tree, words on a banner, six stars. But four elements (or five, or ten, depending on how you count them) add up quickly, and soon start to look just a bit like a yard sale happening on the central stripe. I like the blue chevron, but it seems a bit thin, a bit... timid. Equatorial Guinea doesn't need a new flag or anything; it's just that its existing flag could stand for a bit of a makeover.

Grade: C+


Eritrea



Parsons: Condemning "bad colors," he gives it a "C+", 60/100.

Michael5000: In reference to the flag of East Timor, frequent L&TM5K commenter Jennifer noted that "there's an optical illusion for me caused by the two triangles that makes the right side of the flag look wider than the left side." Well, Jennifer, welcome to Eritrea.

I rather like the colors of the Eritrean flag, and I like the emblem -- and in answer to your question, that would be an upright olive branch within a wreath. Yet the optical effect that Jennifer noticed in East Timor is very pronounced here, creating the illusion that the rectangle is way out of true on the right-hand side. This uncomfortable effect is, in fact, the dominant feature of the flag for me, and it makes it really hard to enjoy the other elements.

Incidentally, the Eritreans went with a 5:3 ratio for a few years before switching to 2:1. Camp followers will know that I am no friend to the 2:1 ratio, but there's two sides to that story and there were some great comments on that point made after Flag Friday XI. In this case, anyway, the point is moot: the flag seems to be swelling out of its seams on the right-hand side in either ratio.

Grade: C


Estonia


Parsons: Without comment, he assigns a "B-", 65/100.

Michael5000: You may already know of my enthusiasm for this unorthodox but mature tricolor, a striking and lovely banner which I awarded "Best Flag (Tricolor)" all the way back in 2008. (It was, in fact, the Estonian consulate's gracious response to this accolade which led to that Baltic country's Most Favored Nation status for this blog). Indeed, I am the kind of guy who, without a known drop of Estonian blood in his ancestry, might make a point of dressing up for Estonian Flag Day:


So you KNOW I'm not going to give it a measly B-. I am in fact going to give it an:

Grade: A