2010

Two tapes and a link to a YouTube audiotape were sent yesterday to The Long War Journal website by a group identifying itself as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan). The YouTube message has the thought dead (but very much alive) Qari Hussain Mehsud claiming that the Pakistani Taliban carried out the failed May 1 car bomb attack in New York City's Times Square. Mehsud is a master bomb maker and senior commander in the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. 

 In the The Long War Journal’s report, Bill Roggio writes:

"The two Hakeemullah tapes consist of a videotape of Hakeemullah flanked by two masked fighters, and an audiotape with images of Hakeemullah superimposed over a map of the US with explosions in the background. In both tapes, Hakeemullah claimed that the Taliban have infiltrated the US and that their operatives would launch attacks in American cities…."

In the YouTube audiotape (opening image shown directly below), which was released as the work of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan News Channel, Mehsud takes credit for the failed car bombing in New York City.  Mehsud says: "This attack is a revenge for the great & valuable martyred leaders," and "revenge for the Global American interference & terrorism in Muslim countries, especially in Pakistan.”  Mehsud also warns NATO that it must denounce the US and apologize for "the massacres in Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Pakistani tribal areas otherwise be prepared for the worst destruction and devastation in their regions." 

The space shuttle Discovery is on its way to the International Space Station. Discovery and seven astronauts blasted off an hour before sunrise today to deliver thousands of pounds of supplies to keep the space station running after the shuttles retire in late 2010. Discovery carries three women: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Naoko Yamazaki, Stephanie Wilson, and Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger.

A fourth, California native Tracy Caldwell Dyson, arrived at the space station on Sunday (courtesy of the Russians). This is a YouTube video of her arrival:

At its website, the editors of MAD magazine say this about the newest issue on sale:

"…MAD is so full of life-changing awesomeness, you'll curse the fact that you've had to live without it up until now! MAD features our spoof of The Big Bang Theory, Sergio Aragones' look at Avatar, and the 38 Worst Things About Late Night TV! Plus, you'll also get our merciless mocking of Tiger Woods, Toyota, The Jersey Shore, and Iron Man 2!"

If that doesn’t capture your interest in the May 2010 issue, the cover featuring the grinning Alfred E. Neuman should:

Those of you that know me know that I like to troll the Internet. (I do it, because our news media has abdicated its role as the nation's gatekeeper.)  Anyway, I was trolling when I came across a story that led me to a video on You Tube that is introduced like this at that site:

Subscribe kekeke01

February 11, 2010 (more info)

The Israeli ambassador Michael Oren gets booed off stage by students of the University of California. Booed off stage just like he deserves to be.

The video is of a February 8th presentation by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren at the University of California-Irvine. It was sponsored by the Middle East Studies Student Initiative. If you go to the You Tube site to view the video, you will find other videos dealing with the same subject and more than a few comments full of hatred and vitriol that most Americans would find offensive.

 Pertinent UC-I Background

In case you are not aware of it, the University of California-Irvine campus has what some call an annual May "hate-fest" against Israel and the Jewish people. In spite of outreach and tolerance projects, some members of the resident Muslim student population are joined by outside agitators and together they repeatedly threaten and assault Jewish students. For some unknown reason, the administrators at this campus can’t seem to get a handle on the problem. I’m not a Jew or a Muslim, but I am an American and I have trouble understanding how California is able to maintain sanctuary cities for its illegal Latino residents, but California, the City of Irvine, and the University of California can’t seem to offer any sanctuary for American or foreign born Jews.

 ed. note: I've promoted this back to the top in order to remind people of what is happening in Iran.  Wear Green or think Green.

On January 28, Iran’s government executed another young Iranian to silence opposition forces protesting the re-election of Mahmud Ahmadinejad. Arash Rahmanipour, just 19 years-old, was one of a group of eleven people sentenced to death for “moharebeh”, which means “waging war against God”. I’ve posted his photo on the left, because his image is so unlike what one would expect given the accusation against him. It was taken in court as he faced his accusers. Arash looks like a lamb led to slaughter and that pretty much accurately describes what happened to him.

While the Iranian government spread its version of the story, Rahmanipour’s lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, has told the truth as she witnessed it. Tehran’s Chief Prosecutor General said that Arash Rahmanipour confessed to crimes and had been tried in the presence of his lawyer. But Sotoudeh, said that the confessions were extracted under duress, and that she was not allowed to attend the trial. According to the Islamic Republic News Agency, Rahmanipour had been arrested during the post-election turmoil. Sotoudeh says he was arrested two months before the election, and his case had nothing to do with the post-election strife. 

After Dr. Martin Luther King's death, US Rep John Conyers introduced a bill to make King's birthday a national holiday. It first came to a vote in the House in 1979, but fell five votes short of passing. The opposition’s main arguments were that (1) a paid holiday for federal employees was too expensive, and that (2) a holiday to honor a private citizen was not part of tradition.                                         

According to Wikipedia, soon after: