Sunday, September 30, 2007

Iran's Baztab News Outlet Shut

 
Just before Iran's genocidal president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was given a global public relations forum at Columbia University, he ordered popular Iranian news outlet Baztab to cease operations.

Debkafile reports:

Our Tehran sources disclose that the Iranian president made sure before he aired his racial superiority doctrine before Columbia University students in New York to shut the mouth of BAZTAB, a popular Iranian Website which is administered by the former Revolutionary Guards commander Mohsein Rezai and serves as ex-president Hashem Rafsanjani’s platform.

The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, controlled by the president’s loyalists, announced on Sept. 22 that all news activities by BAZTAB Website are banned. The ministry charged the prestigious BAZTAB with "spreading lies, insults and libels..."

A story on Baztab dated 9/25/2007 confirms the order:

BAZTAB News Site was shut down and its office was sealed Last Wednesday upon an order issued by Tehran Public Prosecutor Saeed Mortezavi...

The order has been issued following a 150-page complaint filed by the vice-president for legal affairs... Both Persian and English Baztab were filtered by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government last February... BAZTAB launched its site in Persian six years ago and soon turned into the most viewed Persian news site throughout the world.

Columbia President Lee Bollinger remained stoic after hearing the news.

"We have an obligation to honor our principles of wide-open discussion, even if it means assisting a global public relations effort by genocidal maniacs marketing their ideas of hate, censorship, and enslavement."

Well, Bollinger didn't really say that, but he should have.

Saturday, September 29, 2007

The long arm of the law appears to be closing in on Hillary

 
You may not have heard of Doug from Upland, but odds are you will in the months to come. Over at Free Republic, Doug describes his dogged pursuit of justice against Hillary Clinton's financial skulduggery.

In addition to publicizing the well known Peter Paul civil case against the Clintons, Doug has been on the warpath as the case heats up.

This afternoon, I spoke with a field agent of the FBI in Los Angeles. In broad daylight, a major campaign finance fraud was committed, and no one seems to want to do anything about it. After hearing the story, I was invited to come in on Monday to speak to a field agent. I'll be there...

The evidence to which Doug refers is the newly released "HIllary Clinton 'smoking-gun' video." The preface to the tape states that it "shows Hillary Clinton in the process of committing at least four or five felonies under federal election law".

The Federal Elections Commission already fined Clinton's 2000 campaign committee for underreporting cash it received at the fundraising event Paul sponsored. The underreported contributions led to the federal indictment of David Rosen, Hillary's campaign finance director. Paul says the video "proves Clinton and her campaign [lied to the] FEC [and] the grand jury investigation that led to Rosen's indictment."

Put simply, if Hillary participated in the planning or coordination of the Paul fundraiser, it "...would make Paul's contributions a direct donation to her Senate campaign rather than her joint fundraising committee, violating federal statutes that limit 'hard money' contributions to a candidate to $2,000 per person. Knowingly accepting or soliciting $25,000 or more in a calendar year is a felony carrying a prison sentence of up to five years..."

Did Hillary know? Well, in the newly released video, Hillary is heard exclaiming:

...What ever it is you're doing, is it okay that I thank you?

...I'm very appreciative... it sounds fabulous, I got a full report from Kelly... uh... today, when she got back, and told me everything that... uh... you're doing and it just sounds like it's gonna be a great event...

In other words, Hillary just got busted. She was involved, she helped coordinate the event, and her White House aide (Kelly Craighead) assisted as well.

So why was the video only released a few months ago, if it captures a conversation from 2000? Doug from Upland:

After the FBI, I'll be stopping by the federal courthouse to deliver a package to Judge A. Howard Matz, who presided of the criminal trial of David Rosen. A complaint against Matz for judicial misconduct is being prepared. Matz made incredible statements before a word of evidence was heard.

Among other things, Matz said: ["Hillary Clinton is not in the loop in any direct way and this is something the jury will be told... this isn't a trial about Senator Clinton. Senator Clinton has no stake in the trial, not a party or principal."]

Perhaps Judge Matz should hold in contempt someone in a US Attorney's office who withheld the "smoking gun video" while official investigations and a criminal trial were proceeding. The FEC exonerated Hillary without seeing that evidence. Then, the Senate Ethics Committee used the flawed FEC report and acquittal of Rosen to exonerate Hillary again. Even while the Republicans were in control of the Senate, they refused the offer of testimony from Peter Paul, claiming that they did a thorough investigation.

In other words, Matz was either horrifically ignorant or he flat-out lied to cover Hillary. The smoking-gun video seems to establish Hillary's culpability -- beyond a shadow of a doubt.

And just why was the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York sitting on evidence (for a half dozen years) that could corroborate Hillary's involvement in Paul's fundraising? Was it due to the fact that the Senator from New York supervises the US Attorney -- resulting in the obstruction of investigations that improperly exonerated Hillary Clinton?

In 2005, on Hannity & Colmes, Doug Schoen, former Clinton advisor, said: "[This case] has nothing to do with Senator Clinton... In this context, as Alan [Colmes] suggested, the prosecutors himself has said she has no knowledge."

Like Judge Matz, the prosecutors and Schoen are either corrupt or woefully ignorant. Perhaps the FBI can find out which. And, while they're at it, perhaps they could discover why the U.S. Attorney held on to evidence that the FEC could have used during the trial.

Update: The San Francisco Chronicle has picked up Doug's story, albeit under the theme of Hillary's polarizing effect. Author Carla Marinucci would do well to explore the Smoking-Gun Video, the bizarre redactions of the Barrett Report, the Rose Law Firm records, China-gate and the Cox Report, Travelgate, the cattle futures fiasco, etc., etc.

Related reading: Equal Justice Foundation, Hillary Clinton Accountability Project, and Peter Paul; Tom Fitton: Ten Unanswered Questions for Hillary Clinton

Line o' the Day: The Re-animators

 
Philadelphia doctors have developed a new treatment to bring life back to the dead. A nice development to be sure, but something Democratic poll workers have been doing for decades with a lot less fanfare.

                                                      --Clarice Feldman at the American Thinker

Parking lot psychoanalysis

 
Let me see if I understand:

* Wiretapping terrorists is bad.
* Ron Paul is good.
* Chimpy McBushitleralliburton blew up the World Trade Center (and somehow kept it secret).
* War -- for any reason -- is bad.
* A simultaneous Bush impeachment and troop "redeployment/surrender" would be a dream come true.
* And the man who convinced FDR to develop the atom bomb in order to defeat the Nazis (Albert Einstein) has been adopted by the moonbats.

Photo hat tip: Flopping Aces

Another Clinton Contributor Vanishes

 

Clarice Feldman:

Flip Pidot, the go-to-guy on the Hsu scandal, notices that Winkle Paw seems to have vanished. Paw, as you may recall, is a close business associate of Norman Hsu and fellow big-bucks contributor to Democrats.

"Paw has served as everything from project analyst to CEO at a handful of Hsu's companies, including Components, Ltd., Next Components, Next Electronics, and CoolPowers (though that last one could've been a poor transcription of the word 'Components' by a Tom Harkin campaign staffer)."

A pretty important potential witness in case with great importance. But apparently he was not being sought. Flip continues:

"We also don't know for sure that Winkle has deliberately vanished. It could simply be that the authorities aren't looking for him (he's not listed as wanted in California). But if they're not hunting for him, maybe they ought to be. The Orange County investors haven't been able to reach him since the morning Hsu lit out for Denver. That was three weeks ago. If - let's say - Paw was on that train too, keeping his cool a bit better than his pill-popping partner, and if he had access to even a small fraction of the millions in liquid assets at Hsu's disposal, Winkle just may have winked out of this story for good."

Perhaps It all depends on what the meaning of "missing" is...

More info: What is it with the Clintons, China, and Satellites? and Gateway Pundit's Clinton Administration Record Book

Movie Review: The Kingdom (of moral equivalence)

 
Debbie Schlussel has the must-read review of the week.

Which of the following is true in real life?:

a) After the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia allowed a team of FBI agents into the country to investigate, a billionaire Saudi Prince helped the FBI extensively, and a Saudi police Colonel enthusiastically helped the FBI track down the terrorist murderers inside the Kingdom?;

b) An American woman--an FBI agent, no less--is allowed to roam and gallivant around Saudi Arabia in a very short-sleeved tight T-shirt, bearing all of her arms, and without anything covering her long, flowing hair . . . and she carries a machine gun in the process?;

c) A Jewish man--an American FBI agent, no less--is allowed into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, despite the fact that his grandmother lives in Israel, and he has three stamps from Israel in his passport from three separate trips to visit her there. When asked whether he's "got a problem with that," a Saudi police Colonel says, "It is not a concern," and waves the Jewish-American with the Israeli stamps in his passport into the Kingdom...?;

d) Only a distinct, small group of Saudi Arabians are Wahhabis, with the rest being law-abiding moderate Muslims running and living in the Kingdom?;

e) The FBI Director will not pander to Muslims and tells off the U.S. Attorney General about it, saying "We won't cry uncle," when one of his agents is killed in a Saudi terrorist attack. He tells the pro-Saudi AG, "The end is coming no matter what. The only thing that matters is if you go out on your feet or on your knees." He insists on sending his men inside the Kingdom to investigate, and to get there, he has his top agent (Jamie Foxx) blackmail and threaten a Saudi Prince and Ambassador...?

Which if these five things is true in real life? Which would actually or has actually happened?

If you answered, "None of the above," then you are cleared to see "The Kingdom."

Read it all.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Memo to Iran: never buy an air defense system using coupons

 
PrairiePundit (newly added to our --er-- "prestigious" Blogroll) points us to a fascinating StrategyPage article.

Information coming out of Iran indicates that the military there is very dismayed at how ineffective new Russian anti-aircraft systems were during the Israeli September 6th air strike on a Syrian weapons development facility near the Iraqi border. Syria and Iran have both bought billions of dollars worth of the latest Russian anti-aircraft missile systems. Apparently the Israelis were able to blind these systems electronically. Syria isn't saying anything, nor are the Israelis, but Iranian officers are complaining openly that they have been had by the Russians. The Iranians bought Russian equipment based on assurances that the gear would detect and shoot down Israeli warplanes...

The Iranians fear an Israeli air strike against their nuclear weapons development facilities. It was thought the new Russian missiles and radars would persuade the Israelis to stay away. But now the raid on Syria looks like a dress rehearsal for one a little further east. Since Iranian leaders have openly called for the destruction of Israel, one can't deny the Israelis a little self-defense. Thus the cries and whispers in Iranian military headquarters. A lot of this is leaking on to Farsi language email and message boards. There is much angst and unhappiness.

Lesson learned for the Mullahs: never buy an air defense system with coupons.

And, if you do, read the fine print!

Khalid Sheikh O'Donnell

 
"We welcome Rosie O'Donnell to stay among us and to get to know the truth from being here," says Ala Senakreh, West Bank Chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terrorist organization, to journalist Aaron Klein, author of "Schmoozing with Terrorists.". The organization is a group of Palestinian terrorists that claims to have killed hundreds of Israelis in multiple suicide bombings since 2000.

Rosie is the noted nutjob who believes that "radical Christianity" is the equal of radical Islam and that the World Trade Center was brought down by explosives. The most unfortunate aspect of Rosie's life is that such a raving moonbat -- with only a 9th grade diploma -- received a national forum for her views.

Hat tip: Atlas Shrugs

Thursday, September 27, 2007

What is it with the Clintons, China, and Satellites?

 
According to Wikipedia, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is an "agency of the United States Government with the primary mission of collection, analysis, and distribution of geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) in support of national security."

The NGA website describes a declassification effort for satellite imagery that was initiated by Bill Clinton in 1995. The declassification process hit high gear in 1997 at the behest of then-acting DCI George Tenet.

At the time, Senator Bob Kerrey -- who is now president of the progressive New School -- funded the declassification project, providing several million dollars in support.

Kerrey has since been heavily involved with satellite imagery, attending various conferences and seminars.

“I watched our military use, analyze, enhance and distribute these new [GMT] images in order to prepare our war fighters for battle and to help our peacemakers avoid the battle in the first place,” Kerrey said last August at the 26th Annual International User Conference held by ESRI, a leading global information system company...

Put simply, Kerrey is an expert at satellite imagery and helped facilitate the declassification of the U.S. Government's satellite data in conjunction with Bill Clinton and George Tenet.

Here's where things get interesting.

1) Kerrey has secured DOD contracts for the famously progressive and anti-war New School, where he now serves as president.

2) The New School also has deep ties to Bernard Schwartz, former head of Loral. Schwartz was reportedly involved with donations by the Chinese military to the Democratic National Committee in exchange for the right to access sensitive missile technologies. This technology may have been one of the main reasons that China was able to destroy a satellite in space this year, touching off fears of an arms race in space.

3) The New School reserved a prestigious post for Norman Hsu, Hillary Clinton's fundraiser extraordinaire-cum-fugitive (also a Chinese national), possibly at Schwartz's request.

4) The New School has other close connections to China through its ICI arm (the India-China Institute).

5) The New School has at least eight large donation bundlers (Hillraisers) in various board-level or trusteeship positions; these are folks who have each funneled $100,000 or more to Hillary

6) Hillary has sent her own pork-barrel contracts to the New School (e.g., a $1 million federal grant).

What is it with the Clintons, China, and satellites?

And what the heck is going on with the anti-war New School, its bizarre relationship with the military-industrial complex, and its astonishing number of "Hillraisers" (the elite $100K+ donation bundlers)?

Where the hell is Mike Wallace when you need him? Not that CBS would ever investigate Democrats, mind you, but still.

Also see:

Is the New School a cutout between China and the Clintons?

Congressional Record: Timeline of Clinton-China Decisions

Update: PrairiePundit and Mitchell Langbert and have picked up the story. More to come. Unless, as Reliapundit speculates, I turn up dead. If so, I ask you -- all three of my dear and valued readers -- to avenge me.

Affidavit details "explosive" charges against Megahed & Mohamed

 
A newly released affidavit gives more details about the two USF students caught speeding in South Carolina. Ahmed Mohamed, 26, was arrested near a sensitive military installation in South Carolina on Aug. 4 along with fellow Egyptian national Youssef Megahed, 21. Deputies found what authorities describe as explosives in their vehicle's trunk.

Mohamed told investigators he made a videotape about remote bomb detonation to help people in Arab countries fight invading infidels, including U.S. military forces, according to the affidavit.




I don't know what the authorities are concerned about. Kids frequently use toy boats to launch powerful fireworks with long fuses near sensitive military bases. So I'm concerned that this might be a case of profiling. With their beards and all, these guys look like your classic militant Quakers.

Read more: Tamba Bay 10 and WCBD

Line o' the Day: Don't tell the progressives

 
There remains a very real danger that terrorists could obtain a nuclear bomb or the materials to make one and turn an American city into a modern Hiroshima...

                                    —Matthew Bunn, author of Securing the Bomb 2007 and a senior researcher at Harvard University’s Project on Managing the Atom

You trust me! You really, really trust me!

 
Courtesy of Powerline, BIGresearch surveyed Americans about the "trustworthiness" of various institutions.


Click to zoom

Congress and the mainstream media trail bloggers. And everyone trails President Bush.

If I'm reading this correctly, Americans trust me more than Maureen Dowd, Dick Durbin, Bob Herbert, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Frank Rich. With all due humility, I believe I am more trustworthy than that sorry lot. But then again, they've set the bar lower than the closing seconds of a game of limbo.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Kerry objects to the circulation of an old campaign photo

 
Set the dials on the way-back machine to 2003, Mr. Peabody! John Kerry is upset about some very old news. No, not his "I'd like a Philly cheese-steak with Swiss cheese" debacle:

Kerry, you may have heard, failed miserably... He ordered a cheesesteak with Swiss cheese... Now I suppose in some corners of the world, Swiss is a perfectly acceptable sandwich ingredient. Switzerland, maybe.

But in Philadelphia, ordering Swiss on a cheesesteak is like rooting for Dallas at an Eagles game. It isn't just politically incorrect; it could get you a poke in the nose.

Instead, he reportedly wants to suppress this photo taken by Dan Habib of the Concord Monitor in 2003.

The Washington Post explained the original situation:

As if things weren't going badly enough for John F. Kerry, the senator from Massachusetts has been bitten by a Psycho Chihuahua.

The attack occurred 10 days ago in Hopkinton, N.H., when Kerry went to speak to a class at Hopkinton High. This appearance resulted in a most unhelpful photo for the onetime front-runner for the Democratic nomination, snapped by Concord Monitor photo editor Dan Habib. The image is of Kerry making an earnest point to student Mark LaGuardia, who, unbeknownst to the candidate, is wearing a T-shirt that proclaims on the back: "Your mouth keeps moving but all I hear is 'BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.' "

Kerry asked that any copies of this photo are emailed to his staff immediately to ensure they can't be used against him in any future campaign.

Hat tip: Oriental Redneck.

Believe in global warming? $125K is up for grabs...

 
Have a favorite liberal progressive who still believes in the myth of anthropogenic global warming? Send 'em this offer.

The Ultimate Global Warming Challenge announced today that it raised to $125,000 the cash award to the first person to prove in a scientific manner that human emissions of greenhouse gases will cause catastrophic global climate change...

"Surprisingly no one has entered the contest yet," said Steven Milloy, founder and publisher of JunkScience.com and the sponsor of the Ultimate Global Warming Challenge. "I'm surprised since Al Gore, the United Nations and the mainstream media all seem to think that the notion of man made catastrophic global warming is a no-brainer," Milloy added.

The Ultimate Global Warming Challenge was launched on Aug. 7, 2007 with the popular and highly rated YouTube video entitled, "Can You Save Al Gore?"


"It appears that [the prize] is not enough to spur Al Gore and other climate alarmists to submit their proofs that humans are causing global warming," explained Milloy. "If it's a matter of money, Al Gore and the alarmists should just come out and tell us what sum it will cost the rest of us to see what proof they have..."

$125K probably isn't enough to fund Al Gore's private jet for a month. The carbon offset business is far too lucrative to risk over a measly $125K.

Update: Real scientists object to the AP's hysterical posturing on climate change.

Update II: "Dr. James Hansen, who approves and issues NASA climate change statements and is one of the most alarmist global warming advocates in the US, is apparently deep in the pocket of George Soros."

Hat tip: The Astute Bloggers

Newsday exposes Chuck Schumer to the light of day

 
Newsday's Michael Amon and Ridgely Ochs provide new insights into the Democrats' "culture of corruption". The article -- Did a nursing home company buy Schumer's help? -- flips on the light-switch in a roach-infested pantry: a Democrat-controlled Congress.

Faced with a crisis over complaints about its treatment of Filipino nurses, Long Island nursing home group SentosaCare turned for help last year to a friendly politician it had supported in the past -- Sen. Charles Schumer.

The Democratic senator then wrote four letters over the course of two months to Philippine government officials, including [the] President... [whose] former chief of staff said the Schumer letters were unprecedented.

Shortly after two Schumer letters sent the same day, the Philippine government lifted the suspension. SentosaCare's Filipino recruitment pipeline was back in business. Over the next two months, a national campaign fund headed by Schumer received nearly $75,000 from investors, attorneys and vendors for SentosaCare-affiliated nursing homes.

...In the last decade, [SentosaCare's] executives, investors and subcontractors have donated more than $750,000 to political campaign funds for both major parties. Nearly $198,000 of the largesse went to Schumer's re-election campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee -- led by Schumer...

...Schumer's actions struck at least one expert in campaign finance as unusual... On June 27, 2006, a letter from Schumer's office went to the Philippines' president... SentosaCare's investors, lawyers and business partners had given generously in the past...

After the letters, they wrote more and bigger checks... On four separate days over the next three weeks, the SentosaCare group would write to the campaign committee 26 checks totalling $74,480.

If Nancy Pelosi wants to "drain the swamp," she'll start with Schumer and John "unindicted co-conspirator" Murtha.

Newsday: Did a nursing home company buy Schumer's help?

Line o' the Day: Hitler airs his mind at Columbia

 
Regarding the comment made by John Coatsworth, acting dean of Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, that "if Hitler were in the United States and . . . if he were willing to engage in a debate and a discussion... we would certainly invite him."

In "Terror and Liberalism" (2003), Columbia alumnus Paul Berman observes the way in which prewar French socialists--keenly aware and totally opposed to Hitler's platform--nonetheless took the view that Germany had to be accommodated and that the real threat to peace came from their own "warmongers and arms manufacturers." This notion, Mr. Berman writes, rested in turn on a philosophical belief that "even the enemies of reason cannot be the enemies of reason. Even the unreasonable must be, in some fashion, reasonable."

...the fact that their ideas were finer and better than Hitler's will have done nothing to keep them and millions of their countrymen from harm, and nothing to get them out of its way.

                                                                       -- Bret Stephens, WSJ

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Columbia U. blacks out their logo for Ahmadinejad

 
Columbia was so proud of hosting genocidal madman Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that they completely blacked out the University's logo and its name on the podium.

Someone must have gotten concerned that photos with the University logo would be used to sabotage the annual alumni fund-raising drive.

I've helpfully modified several photographs of the event to include the Columbia logo.



This is one of my favorite photos from the event.

The genocidal midget should have been arrested upon entry to the country and charged with incitement of genocide.

Is the New School a conduit between China and the Clintons?

 
Possibly. At minimum, it's a bizarre tit-for-tat as funds go to the New School and board-members/trustees of the school send funds to Hillary. Consider these intriguing discoveries:

1) The New School -- a famously progressive, anti-war institution -- is quietly engaged in sensitive work for the DOD thanks to -- apparently -- Bob Kerrey's stewardship and possibly Hillary Clinton's direction

2) The New School also has deep ties to Bernard Schwartz, former head of Loral, who allegedly instigated donations by the Chinese military to the DNC in exchange for the right to access sensitive missile technologies

3) The New School reserved a prestigious post for Norman Hsu, Hillary Clinton's fundraiser extraordinaire-cum-fugitive (also a Chinese national), possibly at Schwartz's request

4) The New School has another deep connection to China through its ICI arm (the India-China Institute)

4) The New School has at least eight large donation bundlers (Hillraisers) in various board-level or trusteeship positions; these are folks who have each funneled $100,000 or more to Hillary

5) Hillary has sent her own pork-barrel contracts to the New School (e.g., a $1 million federal grant)

To summarize, a fugitive, bankrupt Chinese national -- connected to Bernard Schwartz, who played a role in the release of national security secrets working with the Chinese government -- somehow acquires huge wealth and donates hundreds of thousands of dollars to the leading Democratic candidates... along with several other folks at the New School.

Over at Daily Kos, commenter Golem666 comments:

...Bernard L. Schwartz, who worked for the Chinese shell company that the Clintons gave the ballistic missile technology [for] Bill Clinton's re-election, put Norman Hsu on the Board of Trustees of the New School in NY.

Hillary Clinton ear-marked 750,000 dollars to the New School recently as a pork barrel project.

Bernard L. Schwartz taught the Communist Chinese party how to build ICBM's which could make it out of the lower atmosphere.

This was one of the main reasons that China was able to destroy a satellite in space this year, touching of fears of a new arms race in space...

This is disturbing stuff.

Why does the New School appear to be both a beneficiary and a source of funds to Hillary? Given Hsu, Schwartz, and the tarnished history of the Clinton administration, is China's government linked somehow? If so, what is China getting in return -- besides access to a presidential front-runner? And why is the notoriously progressive, anti-war New School working for the DOD?

Also: the New School has a direct affiliation with China and India through its "India-China Institute".

My question is... is the New School a more clever cutout for China/Clinton linkages than Johnny Chung and the Lippo Group?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Hat tip: Larwyn

Monday, September 24, 2007

Toys You Had As a Kid That Would Be Outlawed Today

 
Jarts! a.k.a. "Lawn Darts." I'm not sure how many thousands of punctured limbs these things were responsible for, but the class-action lawyers must have cleaned up.

Tonka Dump Trucks: fabricated entirely from Ginsu knives by Tonka. They could slice fingers off if slightly mishandled.

Stretch Armstrong: the kind filled with jelly. If these were sold today, a hypo-allergenic, ADD nutcase would swallow the jelly, get sick, and his parents would sue the Chinese manufacturer. The entire episode would form a 20/20 special hosted by John Stossel; Nancy Grace would devote a week of shows to the injustice.

Bow and arrows: remove the suction-cups from the ends of the arrows and -- whhoooooeeee -- you really could put an eye out; and I'm sure some kids did.

Bangsite!: evil-smelling, granular crap that came in an industrial-strength toothpaste tube -- it may have been calcium carbide. Mixing Bangsite with water made an explosive gas. Some kids had Bangsite cannons, heavy cast iron things that were relatively safe to use. Normal kids took a metal baking soda can and punched a nail hole through the bottom. This turned the can into a three-man, crew-served weapon. One kid tipped some Bangsite into the can, spat on it, jammed the lid on, and placed the can on the edge of the curb. Second kid put his foot on the can to brace it. Third kid applied the match to the nail hole. KAF---INGBOOM!!! -- with a burst of flame, the lid goes flying clear across the street. I still cannot believe that my parents knew I was doing this, and let me.

Airplane and ship models: yep, we spent hours in our rooms with model glue... and our parents didn't care a bit. These days, a SWAT team might get called in.

Flexy Racers: a sled on wheels that was missing only one thing: brakes. These mysteriously disappeared from the market after -- I'm guessing here -- some kid slid into an Interstate and got pancaked by an 18-wheeler.

Wrist Rockets: basically a weapons-grade slingshot that fit around your wrist and used massive rubber tubes as the bands. The ammo was indistinguishable from a heavy ball bearing. Slightly less powerful than a .357 Magnum, and slightly more powerful than a .38.

All-aluminum snow sleds: on a decent hill, you could hit 70 MPH and some kids did, may they rest in peace.

Water-air rockets: I don't remember the brand, but this was a rocket that you filled with water and then pumped full of air. Let's just say that after a couple of hundred concussions and numerous missing teeth, it was removed from the market.

Adapted from a 2004 post

Columbia U. decides to publish Genocide Magazine

 
Not really. But since Columbia decided to offer a free public relations coup for genocidal maniac Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, I figured they'd publish a magazine for him as well. How off-kilter has the MorOn.org crowd become? One Cosmos offers a stellar synopsis of the irrationality endemic to the left (hat tip: Larwyn).

...the normal train of leftist logic would be ROTC --> Don't ask, Don't tell policy --> Homophobia --> Get off our campus, fascists! But Ahmadinejad -- whose government's policy toward homosexuals is [we'll execute you] -- is given a pass because he shares the left's passionate hatred of America and of President Bush. Their interests converge in the deep, symmetrical unconscious. Ironically, it is obvious that Ahmadinejad is much more conscious of this than the left to which his manipulative talking points are tailored. You might say that he is consciously speaking to the left's unconscious, pushing every one of their happy buttons he can think of.

Don't believe me?

Daily Kos: 45% Want Ahmadinejad As US President

or

Daily Kos: I Am a Jewish Lesbian, and I Have a Crush on Ahmadinejad

"... the guy speaks some blunt truths about the Bush Administration that make me swoon... Okay, I admit it. Part of it is that he just looks cuddly. Possibly cuddly enough to turn me straight. I think he kind of looks like Kermit the Frog. Sort of. With smaller eyes.... I can’t help but be turned on by his frank rhetoric calling out the horrors of the Bush Administration and, for that matter, generations of US foreign policy preceding...."

For the left, it is always feelings, nothing more than feelings....

But always with a reality-flattening dose of unconscious logic.

OC posted a little too early to catch another brain-dead Kosian post:

* Daily Kos: Ahmadinejad 'Sounds Entirely Too Reasonable'

No wonder those that are beating the war drums against Iran didn’t want Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak any place American [sic] might hear him. Thanks to Columbia University and CPAN [sic] he was heard by many. He sounds entirely to [sic] reasonable. Hearing his own word doesn’t help the cause of demonizing him as a madman and the most recent [sic] Hitler. This is someone we definitely should be talking to... in the interest of promoting peace and knowledge...

Yup. Peace and knowledge.

The dictator who flogs and executes homosexuals, who stones women for adultery, and who outlaws the practice of religions other than Islam has said peaceful, knowledgeable things like:

* Death to America: "I say accomplishment of a world without America and Israel is both possible and feasible."

* Death to Israel: "The efforts to stabilize Israel’s fraudulent regime have failed. Believe me, soon this regime will be no longer... Today, there is no reason left for it to remain, and it is about to disappear. ...[Israel is a] disgraceful blot [that should be] wiped off the face of the earth..."

* Holocaust is a Myth: "They have invented a myth that Jews were massacred... The West has given more significance to the myth of the genocide of the Jews... If you have burned the Jews, why don't you give a piece of Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska to Israel."

* Nuclear threats: "Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury... Remove Israel before it is too late and save yourself from the fury of regional nations... As it has lost its raison d' tre, Israel will be annihilated... Israel is a tyrannical regime that will one day will be destroyed... Israel is a rotten, dried tree that will be annihilated in one storm."

* Messianic Delusions: "...one of our group told me that when I [spoke at the UN and said] "In the name of God the almighty and merciful," he saw a light around me, and I was placed inside this aura. I felt it myself. I felt the atmosphere suddenly change, and for those 27 or 28 minutes, the leaders of the world did not blink. … And they were rapt. It seemed as if a hand was holding them there and had opened their eyes to receive the message from the Islamic republic..."

Reasonable. Peaceful. Knowledgeable. Daily Kos has turned into a sick joke. One wonders whether a nuclear detonation in Berlin, London, Tel Aviv or San Francisco would even get their attention.