June 06, 2005

Amnesty Intl. moonbat describes US prisons as "gulags"

Amnesty International executive director William Schultz described the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as part of an "archipelago" of facilities, implying an old style Russian gulag -- not unlike the series of facilities run by the Soviets in Russia prior to the fall of the old Soviet Union. Those sorts of facilities were described in detail in Nobel Prize-winner Alexander Solzhenitsyn's award winning book, "The Gulag Archipelago."

Once the cat was out of the bag, the Amnesty moonbat tried to clean up his mess.

Schulz was pressed to substantiate Amnesty's claim in a May 25 report that the US prison camp at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba naval base -- where hundreds of foreign terror suspects are being held indefinitely -- represents the "gulag of our times."

The gulag claim, referring to the notorious prison camp system of the Soviet Union, has drawn withering criticism from the US president, who called it "absurd." Vice President Richard Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have also slammed the rights group's claim.

Russian 1970 Nobel Prize winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn described the Soviet prison camp system in his best-selling book "The Gulag Archipelago."

Schulz said the gulag reference was not "an exact or a literal analogy."

"But there are some similarities. The United States is maintaining an archipelago of prisons around the world, many of them secret prisons into which people are being literally disappeared -- held in indefinite incommunicado detention without access to lawyers," Schulz told Fox News Sunday.

Asked how AI could compare the detentions of millions of Soviet citizens in the gulag system to purported anti-US combatants captured on the battlefield, Schulz said some of those held in Guantanamo "happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"We do know that at least some of the 200 some prisoners who have been released from Guantanamo Bay have made pretty persuasive cases that they were imprisoned there, not because they were involved in military conflict but simply because they were enemies of the Northern Alliance," he said.

This, of course, continues to paint the war on terror as an infringement upon the rights of the "downtrodden," even if said "downtrodden" are terrorists, hell-bent on killing as many Westerners as possible.

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June 03, 2005

Howard "YARRGH!" Dean claims many Republicans don't make "honest living"

DNC Chairman Howard Dean stuck his Johnston & Murphy's into his mouth yet again yesterday when during an appearance the Campaign for America's Future annual gathering, he suggested that many Republicans "have never made an honest living in their lives."

Dean asserted in his 25-minute speech to the Campaign for America's Future annual gathering that some Florida voters stood in line for eight hours in November, Dean said that was a hardship for people who "work all day and then pick up their kids at child care."

But, he said, Republicans could stand in eight-hour lines "because a lot of them have never made an honest living in their lives."

Dean was supposed to be using his position as "Head Moonbat In Charge" to woo potential new voters from across the nation.

Guess what, Howard -- insulting potential voters is not the way to win friends and influence people.

Sounds like Dean enjoys the taste of shoe leather.

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June 02, 2005

So now I'm guilty of killing people (a little piece at a time), eh?

TheFacebook.com lets users create groups for "like-minded" individuals.

One of the user-created groups has the "original" name of "Every Time I See a Black Republican, a Piece of Me Dies a Little." The group's description reads "You know it's just wrong."

Just damn.

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Wachovia Bank forced to apologize for historical ties to slavery

Wachovia Bank, the nation's fourth-largest bank, issued a formal apology to black Americans for historical ties to slavery held by two of more than four hundred predecessor banks of the present day Wachovia.

While Wachovia itself did not have direct links to slavery, two banks it purchased through previous mergers and acquisitions were found to have ties.

The former Georgia Railroad and Banking Co. of Augusta had at least 162 slaves who were used to construct a railroad line.

The former Bank of Charleston accepted at least 529 slaves as collateral on mortgaged properties or loans and took possession of an unknown number of them when customers defaulted.

"We are deeply saddened by these findings," Thompson said in a statement. "We apologize to all Americans, and especially to African-Americans and people of African descent."

The apology was forced upon Wachovia by a city of Chicago ordinance that demands that companies doing business with the city disclose any ties to slavery in it's past.

I wouldn't be surprised if this did not satisfy the pro-reparations lobby. I'm certain they'll demand fiscal renumeration from Wachovia and other banks who end up yielding to this sort of strong-arm tactic.

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"And now, introducing your San Francisco 69ers!"

San Francisco 49ers public relations director Kirk Reynolds is looking for a new job, now that a "training" video that would have been more at home being shown late nights in a frat house has surfaced.

The video includes off-color racial jokes, lesbian porn and plenty of profanity. It features Reynolds as the "mayor" of San Francisco (including a segment taped in real SF Mayor Gavin Newsom's office), discussing how to deal with the press and comport one's self as a player for the 49ers -- and in one scene, cavorting with several topless women.

The 15-minute video (see it here), some of which was filmed in the City Hall office of Mayor Gavin Newsom — who comes in for a few unsubtle swipes — was intended as a primer on how players should handle the media in diverse San Francisco.

Instead, it's turned into a team embarrassment — with PR man Reynolds looking for another job.

The video, said team lawyer Ed Goines, "is absolutely contradictory to the ideals and values of the San Francisco 49ers."

"I thought it was one of the funniest things I ever saw," cornerback Mike Rumph said. "The locker room is like a fraternity. The outside world can't really judge that."

Just who knew about the video outside the locker room, and when they learned of it, is a bit murky.

Then-General Manager Terry Donahue showed a racy, 30-second snippet of the video to team owner John York in January, just one day before he was fired.

In March, Donahue sent a version of the tape to York at the request of his ex-boss. Apparently it sat unopened on someone's desk until about three weeks ago, when it was brought to Goines' attention.

A call to York's office was returned by Goines, who says he has been investigating the tape matter.

Reynolds believes that former 49ers GM Terry Donahue sent the video to team owner John York as retaliation.
Donahue believes Reynolds helped push him out the door during York's team house cleaning. Some people close to the team think he showed the tape to York to discredit Reynolds, and now the PR man is convinced Donahue is the one leaking the tape to the media.

"Absolutely'' he's behind it, Reynolds said Tuesday. "He made that clear to a couple of people close to me and a couple members of the media that he was going to do everything he could to take me out with him.''

Reynolds says Donahue didn't see the tape in advance but was well aware of the contents, having been told "the general premise'' ahead of time.

Reynolds points out that Donahue's roommate at the time appears in two scenes of the film — including one as a gay partner.

For his part, Donahue said, "I have never, nor would I ever, have been involved in any way with any kind of tape like this."

No word from the NFL on how the League views this yet, but I'm sure that e-mails and phone calls are sailing back and forth between the 49ers and League officials.

Reynolds says that he regrets some of the content of the video, but not the intent.

Wanna see the video? Take a look (Video contents NSFW).

(More coverage from Wizbang & others)

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June 01, 2005

The Politics of Star Wars

Wizbang has an excellent piece that compares and contrasts the Machiavellian politics of the Star Wars saga.

The sheer evil genius of Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious was simply ingenious!

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May 31, 2005

Ex-FBIer Felt says he's Deep Throat; Woodward confirms

30 years of pools are out the window. 91 year-old W. Mark Felt, a former FBI official, came out of the proverbial woodwork to announce himself as "Deep Throat," the near-legendary anonymous Watergate source.

Felt spoke to writer John O'Connor for a Vanity Fair piece in their July issue.

"I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat," he told John D. O'Connor, the author of Vanity Fair's exclusive that appears in its July issue.

Felt, now 91 and living in Santa Rosa, Calif. reportedly gave O'Connor permission to disclose his identity.

"The Felt family cooperated fully, providing old photographs for the story and agreeing to sit for portraits," Vanity Fair stated in a press release.

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the two Washington Post writers who originally broke the Watergate saga confirmed Felt's identity as "Deep Throat." Also coming clean on Felt's identity is former Post executive editor Ben Bradlee.
The confirmation came from Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the two Washington Post reporters who broke the Watergate story, and their former top editor, Benjamin C. Bradlee. The three spoke after Felt's family and Vanity Fair magazine identified the 91-year-old Felt, now a retiree in California, as the long-anonymous source who provided crucial guidance for some of the newspaper's groundbreaking Watergate stories.

In a statement today, Woodward and Bernstein said, "W. Mark Felt was 'Deep Throat' and helped us immeasurably in our Watergate coverage. However, as the record shows, many other sources and officials assisted us and other reporters for the hundreds of stories that were written in The Washington Post about Watergate."

Hmph. I had my money on someone actually inside the White House, and certainly someone much closer to Nixon.
(More coverage from damn near the whole blogroll including Wizbang, The Jawa Report, Protein Wisdom, Scared Monkeys, Political Teen, LaShawn Barber, Outside The Beltway & many others)

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Rome restauranteur may sue former President Bubba over missed reservation

The owner of one of Rome's trendiest eateries is considering a lawsuit after former President Bill Clinton was a no-show on a dinner reservation.

The owner is miffed because he stocked up on better food and drink, plus closed a section of his restaurant to accomodate Bubba and his Secret Service detail.

Whatever the reason for ClintonÂ’s no-show, the restaurant owner is apparently none too pleased. According to reports, the owner may sue the former president who, the owner claims, didn't bother to cancel his reservation.

the former president has definitely resumed his frenetic pace, last week traveling to Rome to promote links between Africa and Europe. But when he's not pressing the flesh, heÂ’s got to eat. And one afternoon Clinton's people reportedly booked a reservation at one of Rome's trendiest restaurants.

Having a president as your customer is obviously a big deal. And the restaurantÂ’s owner reportedly went to town, spending nearly $2,000 on extra food and wine. He even closed off a section of the restaurant to accommodate Clinton and his secret service.

But the president never made it in, and the restaurant is reportedly considering its options, which might include a lawsuit.

Sorry. Contrary to some folks out there, while I'm no fan of the former Prez, I don't see his no-show as a problem. Schedules change, delays happen.

Not cancelling is certainly a breach of etiquette, but a lawsuit? C'mon. Be serious.

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"A 35% chance of falling, flaming space debris is expected..."

The Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan, has been used for decades to launch space missions, including manned missions to the International Space Station.

In April, Russia announced that military Baikonur launches would end soon, shifting space shots to the Pletsnesk Cosmodrome in northern Russia.

All space-bound rockets consist largely of fuel tanks and booster stages that fall back to earth when spent, never reaching orbit. In landlocked Baikonur, Russia's primary launching complex in Kazakhstan, these spaceships crash to earth.

Apart from the fear of having a spaceship crash through their roofs, residents in the area complain of the ill effects of leftover toxic rocket fuel. With the relocation of Russian military launches, more than half of which currently take off from Baikonur, these people may get some relief. However, one group of people is probably sorry to see Baikonur lose business; the region's scrap metal dealers are getting rich trading metal from the rockets' titanium alloy hulls.

Commercial and manned missions will remain at Baikonur, so scrap dealers will still get a shot at some spare titanium, and the local cows still need to keep an eye to the skies -- lest a flaming hunk of rocket debris falls on 'em.

EurasiaNet has a photo essay showing some of the denizens of that part of the world, along with some of the space trash they collecct.

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May 28, 2005

Anti-war moonbat Rangel wants to bring back draft

Congressman Charlie Rangel (Moonbat-NY), for the second year in a row, is pushing a new bill that would reinstate the military draft. Rangel tried to get a debate going over his bill last year, but was thwarted when House Republicans brought the measure up for a vote without the extended floor debate that he wanted.

Rangel said he is again calling for a draft because military recruitment is falling short.

"Everyone knows that we went into this war with an insufficient number of troops, but the problem now is filling the ranks of those units that are already on the ground," said Rangel.

Rangel has insisted that the burdens of the war in Iraq have fallen disproportionately on blacks and other minorities.

I would hope that everyone would be able to see through Rangel's hypocrisy.

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May 26, 2005

Jesse Jackson, Democratic Party fined $200K for campaign finance violations

Jesse Jackson, his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, and his Citizenship Education Fund, along with the Democratic Party have agreed to pay $200,000 in fines stemming from campaign finance violations in the 2000 elections.

At issue in the Federal Election Commission case was about $450,000 in election spending by Jackson, the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and the Citizenship Education Fund using funds from the groups. The two non-profit groups were incorporated, making their money corporate and subject to restrictions under federal campaign finance laws.

According to the FEC, the money was used for a partisan get-out-the-vote effort and voter registration speaking tour that was coordinated with the Democratic National Committee and included appearances by Jackson and Democratic House and Senate candidates.

Anyone willing to take bets on how long before Jackson starts screaming that the FEC is being "racist?"
(More coverage from Michelle Malkin, Ankle Biting Pundits & others)

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Simply a great opening line...

A new LA Times piece on the survivor of a Golden Gate Bridge suicide attempt has one of the best opening lines I've ever seen.

The very moment John Kevin Hines jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge, he knew he'd made a mistake.
Makes you shake your head and say "Just damn."
(Linking to The Jawa Report's Carnival of the Fatwas & Outside The Beltway's Beltway Traffic Jam)

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Colin Powell joins group trying to buy Washington Nationals

Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell has joined a Washington-based investment group looking to purchase the Washington Nationals.

"In Washington, we have the opportunity to reinvigorate this city and bring baseball back to a generation of youth who have lost their connection to our nation's pastime," Powell said in a statement yesterday. "I'm encouraged by baseball's efforts to diversify its ranks and its reach, and the Washington Baseball Club shares that commitment to making this team accessible to every Washingtonian."
Major League Baseball is set to receive bids from several groups on the former Montreal Expos. MLB is hoping to fetch $400 million from the sale of the team.

Other groups looking to buy the Nationals include one fronted by one of Jesse Jackson's sons, another includes former Seattle Mariners owner Jeffrey Smulyan.

(More coverage from Outside the Beltway & others)

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May 25, 2005

The League of Conservatives - saving the world, one day at a time

I'm a huge comic book fan, and I don't believe this.

 
Members of The League of Conservatives include Ken Hamblin, Neal Boortz, Sean Hannity and Arnold Schwarzenegger in addition to the above pictured Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter.

The site's creators are taking nominees for the next League member.

They've also got shirts and posters for sale.

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North Korea threatens pre-emptive strike against US

According to published reports, North Korea is threatening a pre-emptive strike against the United States, while simultaneously promising to go ahead with the six-party talks aimed at reducing tensions in that part of the world.

The North poured out anti-US rhetoric -- a tactic it has used in the past before entering negotiations -- claiming that Washington's "hostile policies" led it to develop nuclear weapons as a deterrent, and warning against any attack to dislodge its leadership.

"The United States should be aware that the choice of a pre-emptive attack is not only theirs," the North's official news agency quoted the Cabinet newspaper Minju Joson as saying. "To stand against force with force is our unswerving method of response."

North Korea on Tuesday repeated claims that its nuclear weapons protect regional peace.

"It is in the East Asian region, including the Korean Peninsula, where the US moves for vicious attacks and war ... are carried out most seriously," the Minju Joson said. "It is our nuclear deterrent that basically guarantees peace and stability."

Lil Kim Jong Il definitely needs to have his head examined.

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"See we was talkin' 'bout light sabers and drinkin' tequila..."

You can't make this kind of stuff up!

Two Star Wars fans are in a critical condition in hospital after apparently trying to make light sabres by filling fluorescent light tubes with petrol.

A man, aged 20, and a girl of 17 are believed to have been filming a mock duel when they poured fuel into two glass tubes and lit it.

A police spokeswoman said the pair were taken to West Herts Hospital before being transferred to the specialist burns unit at Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, in Essex.

They are both said to be in a critical condition.

She added: "At this stage we are unable to confirm the exact circumstances, but glass tubes and traces of accelerant (flammable substance) were found at the scene."

These two sound like refugees from the moronic MTV show, Jackass.

Usually this type of thing is the result of a lot of drinking and one bright guy saying to the other, "Hey! Hold muh beer 'n watch this!"

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A new guilty pleasure on the tube

Fox Reality, the newest channel from the Fox stable, hit the airwaves yesterday on DirecTV Channel 250.

The new channel will show reruns of past reality shows from the US and abroad. They started out with reruns of the original Joe Millionaire, and will run the first season of Last Comic Standing next week. Love Cruise, The Swan, Temptation Island, My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance and Mad Mad House (the latter from SciFi Channel last year) will be on the schedule shortly.

Also, look for international versions of Temptation Island and Joe Millionaire, along with other imports from off-shore like the UK's Single Girls and The Villa. Negotiations are underway for the rights to The Bachelor, The Will and The Family.

I'm holding out hope for cancelled Fox reality shows Playing It Straight (the one with the gay cowboys) and Forever Eden (with the people living on a resort island). Both shows were dumped before their last episodes were aired.

Fox Reality is also airing extra content with behind the scenes info on the programs, and a fair amount of other shows like Arrest & Trial, The 5th Wheel and Cops.

Anyway, as the headline says, it'll be a guilty pleasure for me, at least.

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Scare America ratings are in the crapper everywhere

Brian Maloney at The Radio Equalizer has an in depth look at the latest on the Arbitron ratings for several Air America markets, and the results are the same across the board. No one's listening -- at least not in any kind of numbers that anyone can appreciate.

Sounds like the writing may be on the wall at Air America.

To the Radio Equalizer, most telling is the recent report that Al Franken has purchased a home in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, gearing up for a potential 2008 US Senate run. Franken's clearly making backup plans.
And contrary to the carping on Air America, there's no conspiracy. People just aren't listening.

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May 24, 2005

Baptist preacher urges Koran flushing

The Reverend Creighton Lovelace from the Danielstown Baptist Church in Forest City, NC is urging that the Koran be "flushed," according to a radio broadcast sermon and a sign outside the church.

"I cannot change my position just because it may offend someone else," Lovelace said.

Lovelace said he put the sign up in response to a Newsweek article that falsely accused U.S.soldiers of flushing the Quran down a toilet at the Guantamo Bay detention center. Newsweek later retracted that story, but not before the article sparked riots in some Muslim parts of world, killing at least 15 people.

"Where is the desecration of the Quran? Because from the viewpoint of Christ -- the Bible -- 66 books is his revealed word to mankind. Any other book trying to state they are God's revealed message to mankind would be false," Lovelace said.

He said he has a right and responsibility to expose what he calls false teachings to the world.

"Our position is that we stand on the Bible -- God's word -- and that any other book that teaches a way to God that is not scripture is false. It is wrong. It is not correct," Lovelace said.

As you can imagine, CAIR and other Muslim groups are NOT happy.

Regardless, Lovelace promises to keep the sign up through Friday.

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Moonbats in futile vote for filibuster

After the vaunted compromise yesterday, 17 Democratic Senators (along with Jumpin' Jim Jeffords (I-VT)) voted for filibuster in today's cloture vote (designed to limit debate on the Owen nomination):

Biden, Del.; Boxer, Calif.; Cantwell, Wash.; Corzine, N.J.; Dayton, Minn.; Dodd, Conn.; Dorgan, N.D.; Feingold, Wis.; Kennedy, Mass.; Kerry, Mass.; Lautenberg, N.J.; Levin, Mich.; Lincoln, Ark.; Murray, Wash.; Reed, R.I.; Sarbanes, Md.; Stabenow, Mich.
Their goal is to toss each and every Bush nominee under the bus. This is just to let everyone know that they are still alive and kicking.

Frist and his crew should have still lit the fuse -- just to show the moonbats who is truly in charge. Even though McCain handed the keys to the kingdom to the Democrats in order to both put the kybosh on Frist's Presidential hopes, and simultaneously trying to light the wet fuse on his own potential 2008 campaign.

(More coverage from Captain's Quarters and others)

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