Shockingly, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer told George Stephanopoulos on GMA that he's not prepared to conclude that -- in the Internet age -- the First Amendment condones Quran burning
"Very troubling news from PogoWasRight on the creep of the surveillance state. In the latest blithe attempt to eliminate kids' expectation of privacy, aConnecticut school district wanted to require students to carry an RFID card-chipped ID so their location could be tracked:"
It's just too easy for the likes of Rauf to put one over on an American public that's enormously ignorant of what actual Islam actually entails -- and that goes for many American Muslims as well. Hitchens translates Rauf on Slate
The Islamic state clashes with the rest of the world in Suki IV: Finally A Vacation.
'A research team conducting a survey has found that about 86% of wild canola plants in North Dakota have genetically modified genes in them, and 'two samples contained multiple genes from different species of genetically modified plants.' Canola usually has little competition when cultivated but does not fare well in the wild. The Roundup Ready and Liberty Link strains of genetically modified canola appear to be crossing over to wild plants and helping it survive. The University of Arkansas team claims that the ease in which genetically modified canola has 'escaped' into the wild should be noted by seed makers like Monsanto because this is proof that it will happen.'
Reader n4djs notes that Monsanto has been known to sue farmers for patent infringement when their crops unintentionally contain genetically modified plants."
Okay, GenMod Luddites. Monsanto sues when it is obvious someone is using their seed without a license.
Furthermore, show me any food from a grocery store or a farmer's market that has not been genetically modified in some manner sometime between the stone age and now. Reason Magazine has covered both the GenMod and Monsanto topics extensively.
By-the-way, in the original series that I helped with, genetically modified future foods and materials are mentioned extensively. From the "lab grown" Kobe steaks to the stain and water repellent properties of Suki's suede boots that can be worn through slushy Beltway winters. The new series he does not mention them as much, but they are in there.
Newer update: Ronald Bailey gave a nice apology and updated his post with a hat tip pointing back here. Thank you Ron!
Update: Maybe I am being overly sensitive. I emailed a link to this blog post and a mention of the issue to Ronald Bailey, of Reason Magazine, shortly after posting. One day later, my blog partner sends me this:
Ron and I even exchanged some nice email about it. No hat tip, no mention, no nothing and I comment over there all the time too. I always make sure to link back to where I found a story. Even if it came from another blog's comment section, I link back to the comment. In fact, it is one of John's rules for this blog that I have never broken and never will. Neither does John.
Props to Amy Alkon. I cc'd her on the same mail I sent to Ron. She chose not to use the story yet, but she always credits her sources when we do not object to being mentioned.
"After my boyfriend and I returned from a teaching stint abroad, he broke up with me. I was devastated but eventually started seeing somebody else. He got really jealous and flew out a few times to see me until I said yes to getting back together. We've had a phone relationship since January, with visits whenever possible. Well, I'm starting grad school on the East Coast, and won't be mobile for three years. But, as for moving to be with me, he's now saying he doesn't know if he can leave San Francisco. It's not even a job keeping him there! He's unemployed and still unwilling to leave one of the most expensive cities! He simply just wants to live there. I'm wondering if all the waiting's worth it since he isn't willing to work very hard for us to be together.
WASHINGTON — Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, spoke publicly for the first time about the botched Christmas Day airliner bombing, praising the attempt — but not explicitly taking responsibility for it — in an audiotape broadcast Sunday that was aimed personally at President Obama.
An audiotape boradcast does not check the "spoke pubicly" block for me. Any word from Fort Hood terrorist/murderer MAJ Hasan? Same words, perhaps.
Mr. bin Laden said that the bombing attempt was a heroic act meant to recall the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington. He warned that more strikes against the United States were looming because of American support for what he called Israel’s repression of the Palestinians, one of Mr. bin Laden’s recurring themes in his occasional audiotaped anti-West invectives.
Sounds like it was written by Hasan. Plus, bin Laden has a US President that one would think he would love. Obama seems to want Israelis to willingly march into the sea. Maybe not announcing that he wants them all shot is a step too short for bin Laden, so he addressed this tape to Obama.
Oh, for you terrorist embracing PLO, Hamas and Hezbollah loving types. Stop denying that you are identical to al Qaeda, you are the same. Okay, there are a few Marxists in your ranks, but everything else is the same. You get your funding from the same idots who think they are donating to "schools and hospitals" (honest brokers call them armories and ammunition caches). You attack civilians as your primary targets. You are all terrorists and so are the ones who support you.
“America will never dream of security unless we will have it in reality in Palestine,” Mr. bin Laden said. “God willing, our raids on you will continue as long as your support to the Israelis will continue.”
Mr. bin Laden said his statement was “from Osama to Obama.”
The one-minute recording, broadcast by Al Jazeera’s Arabic news channel, was the first time Mr. bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding in Pakistan near the Afghanistan border, had issued an audiotape in four months.
White House officials said they could not immediately authenticate the recording, but did not dispute that the voice was Mr. bin Laden’s. David Axelrod, a White House senior adviser, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that whatever the source, the message “contains the same hollow justification for the mass slaughter of innocents.”
It was not clear why Mr. bin Laden waited nearly a month to say anything about the Dec. 25 bombing attempt on Northwest Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit, which was carried out by a passenger who sought to detonate explosives sewn into his underwear but was overpowered by other passengers. Federal investigators have said the suspect, a 23-year-old Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, received training and the explosives in Yemen.
“The message delivered to you through the plane of the heroic warrior Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was a confirmation of the previous messages sent by the heroes” of Sept. 11, Mr. bin Laden said.
More at the link above, to include a blurb for an al Qaeda expert quoted by the Times saying bin Laden is not claiming responsibility, he is just praising the December bombing attempt.
Other reports across the internet and on the air report the tape as a claim of responsibility.
Amy Alkon has some great comments and her readers offer some too.
From her linked article in the Independent: Abdulmutallab, 23, had lived a gilded life, and, for the three years he studied in London, he stayed in a £2m flat.
With the Bruce Schneier money quote: Only two things have made flying safer [since 9/11]: the reinforcement of cockpit doors, and the fact that passengers know now to resist hijackers.
Meanwhile, I also read that it's only been a couple of days since A.Q. put word out that people should attack the infidels (read: US and Europe) "at the grass roots level". It was a call to encourage isolated acts of terrorism. Would be interesting to know if this guy got the word.
I heard the same thing, through the media recently and it looks like Suki has too (see comments in the thread).
Someone in the same thread asked if Major Hansan was Jordanian or Palestinian. This report says Palestinian, but I am not sure of the accuracy. It has been confirmed enough for me, by additional sources.
Several reports that the Major was making extremist posts on blogs and had been under investigation for the past six months. Other reports of him being upset that President Obama did not pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan immediatly.
Bill O'Reilly segment with LTC(Ret.) Ralph Peters
A complaint of 'harassment' proved frivolous.
He gave away his posessions in the days leading up to the attack.
Several people in the Reason thread pointed out that he could have gotten out of the Army several different ways. IIRC, he has been in since 1997. Why he would continue staying in if he hated it so much is beyond me, so I am rejecting that theory and going with intentional disruption of the US Army. He was able to go around proselytizing to patients and staff alike and I am willing to bet he didn't stop when he got reprimanded. The reports of his being 'harassed' by other soldiers consist of statements from his relatives, at this point. It sound more like he was proselytizing to them too and he was told to shove it. See the video here. A fellow Soldier of Major Hasan recalls the batshit crazy Islamofascist crap this guy would talk about.
The bastard shot a pregnant Seargent in the back, murdering her (not sure about the baby).
Now that President of ours does not want us to jump to conclusions. To be fair, he IS in the command chain and if he is going to say anything, that's about all he should say. Okay, I didn't jump B. Hussein Obama, I am not president nor am I in the military any more. The bastard is a terrorist. A Palestinian Islamofascist Terrorist.
So, just for him, his pals and the other freaks who believe this nonsense, this "Zionist" Christian presents some fun erotica at the links below: Ladies, get your Hijab on (erotica, not safe for work). Personal favorite, one hot tea towel wearer (erotica, not safe for work).
