In Search of Martyrdom

Look what Gateway Pundit is reporting from Dearbornistan, Michigan:

Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, MI November 18, 2010 8:00 AM – 8:30 AM Fred Phelps and the WBC [Westboro Baptist Church] will picket the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, MI, the largest mosque in North America, to remind the idolatrous, doomed Muslims that Mohammed was a pedophile and a false prophet. Like most other false religious systems of modern doomed America, Islam teaches rebellion against the Lord Jesus Christ. Muslims claim Christ was merely a prophet and that He did not die and live again. They claim His blood is not sufficient or even necessary for salvation. They shall learn the truth when Christ himself returns!

UPDATE: The Dearborn Press & Guide reports that the Westboro Baptist Church was only able to field a paltry 3 demonstrators at the Islamic Center, and that they faced 25 to 30 counter-demonstrators.

Following the Money

From Glenn Beck's TheBlaze.com:

"This week, Mark Hemingway of the Washington Examnier reported that George Soros owns over 11,000 shares of OSI Systems, the parent company of Rapiscan, which manufactures the controversial TSA scanners. But a search today reveals that Soros has divested himself of all those shares...."

These tantalizing tidbits of intelligence are just what prospective investors need to be on the lookout for.

Cute Country Music Videos

"Mogipbob" has created a series of animated videos of cars and trucks singing country classics.

"He Stopped Loving Her Today" - George Jones

"I Fall to Pieces" - Patsy Cline

"Elvira" - Oak Ridge Boys (The Smart Car gets to sing bass)

"Wichita Lineman" - Glen Campbell

"Ring of Fire" - Johnny Cash

But wait! There's more - if you look at the sidebar of each Web page you pull up, you will find links to other tunes, including non-country oldies such as "Stand by Me" by Ben E. King.

Promoting a False Sense of Security

Gizmodo has been waging an undeclared war against TSA's strip-and-grope "security" techniques. Check out the article, "TSA Full-Body Scanners: Protecting Passengers or Padding Pockets?" This is the same Web site that posted 100 supposedly confidential body scans on the Internet just to prove how easy it was to obtain this information.

UPDATE: An animated YouTube video from Taiwan (with English subtitles) could well go viral.

"Spooky Dude" - A New Song About George Soros

Glenn Beck, in TheBlaze.com, has brought this music video to our attention, which sums up the latest issue of "Cutting-Edge Conservatism" in a few minutes. Could become a Halloween classic.

Soldier Earns Medal of Honor - and Lives to Receive It

FOX News reports that Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta will be receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor today for outstanding valor during combat operations in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan in October 2007.

"Strip and Grope" May Be in Violation of 4th Amendment

Dan Miller of Pajamas Media raises an excellent point: The TSA may be barking up the wrong tree by installing full-body scanners and starting more intrusive body searches. Let us review the plain and simple language of the 4th Amendment:

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Worth Waiting 100 Years to Read

The NPR Web site announced that the first volume (with 2 more on the way) of Mark Twain's autobiography has been published by the University of California Press.

Robert Hirst, director of the Mark Twain Project, spoke about the resulting "talked" autobiography, which follows a less linear path than a more traditional written work. "If you think about it, this is really the culmination — Mark Twain comes out of an oral tradition of humor," says Hirst. "And if you look at any of the books, you'll see this method of digression, even in Huck Finn — basically it's a trip with digressions, strung off it like beads, beads on a string."

Inside the temperature-controlled room that houses the largest collection of Twain papers in the world, Hirst explains that Twain made only minor corrections on the stenographer's dictated notes. The elegant structure of Twain's autobiographical dictations shows that the writer was able to translate complex ideas into spontaneous speech. "The evidence is that he's capable of composing entire paragraphs in his head," says Hirst. " I have editors who would come in and say, 'Listen to this,' and they would read it to me. They couldn't believe that somebody could dictate that."

Since the autobiography includes Twain's false starts, Hirst recommends that you skip those pages if they do not interest you.

Here's an example of a Mark Twain quote that shows him at his acerbic best: "In the matter of slavish imitation, man is the monkey's superior all the time. The average man is destitute of independence of opinion. He is not interested in contriving an opinion of his own, by study and reflection, but is only anxious to find out what his neighbor's opinion is and slavishly adopt it."

An Interesting Fact About Terrorism in the USA

The FBI reports that in the United States, militant animal rights activists and the Earth Liberation Front were responsible for more terrorist incidents between 2002 and 2005 than al-Qaeda or other militant Islamic organizations.

"In keeping with a longstanding trend, domestic extremists carried out the majority of terrorist incidents during this period. Twenty three of the 24 recorded terrorist incidents were perpetrated by domestic terrorists. With the exception of a white supremacist’s firebombing of a synagogue in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, all of the domestic terrorist incidents were committed by special interest extremists active in the animal rights and environmental movements. The acts committed by these extremists typically targeted materials and facilities rather than persons. The sole international terrorist incident in the United States recorded for this period involved an attack at the El Al ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport, which claimed the lives of two victims."

Free At Last! Aung San Suu Kyi Released from Captivity

FOX News reports: "Burma's military regime frees pro-democracy leader and Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been jailed or under house arrest for most of the past two decades...."

Summary of Obama's Trip to Asia

On FOX News, Stephen Yates and Christian Whiton have written an article, "The Trip About Nothing," that reinforces conservative impressions of what President Obama has to show for his most recent overseas junket.

To paraphrase Winston Churchill, “An empty plane arrived in Asia and when the door was opened, Mr. Obama got out.”

Guaranteed to Stir Up Controversy

Phillip Greaves of Pueblo, Colorado has published a book (available on Amazon.com) with the title, “The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure.” Not surprisingly, it has stirred up instant controversy nationwide, particularly his assertion that children can make voluntary choices, which runs contrary to the bitter experience of many young people who have suffered sexual abuse from pedophiles.

UPDATE: FOX News reports that the book has apparently been pulled off Amazon.com.

First They Came - 2010 Version

First They Came - 2010 Version

Most everyone is familiar with the German anti-Nazi activist Martin Niemoller's renowned "First They Came" poem. It is an ageless and frightening reminder of the need for eternal vigilance in defense of human rights and freedom.

I submit the 2010 American version:

They first came for the light bulbs, and I didn't speak up because I'm okay with fluorescents.

Then they came for the salt, and I didn't speak up because I have high cholesterol.

Then they came for the air conditioners, and I didn't speak up because I live up north.

Then they came for the Happy Meals, and I didn't speak up because I'm a Wendy's guy.

Then they came for the Oreos at school parties, and I didn't speak up because I'd already graduated.

Tyranny is timeless. Whether it is born of good intentions or not, seeking to deprive citizens of their autonomy and independence is not a recipe for human happiness, but rather misery.

Though the outcry against it began on November 2nd, our "betters" continue trampling that which they are sworn to protect. May our resistance be fierce.

Peter is a public high school government teacher and radio talk show host in central Indiana. Email peter@peterheck.com or visit www.peterheck.com.

Majority of Top Ten Commentators in Newsweek's "Power 50" are Conservatives

Newsweek has compiled a list of top 50 "most influential political figures," and here are the first ten, with their annual earnings estimates:

1. Rush Limbaugh, $58.7 million
2. Glenn Beck, $33 million
3. Sean Hannity, $22 million
4. Bill O'Reilly, $20 million
5. Jon Stewart, %15 million
6. Sarah Palin, $14 million
7. Don Imus, $11 million
8. Bill Clinton, $7.7 million
9. Keith Olbermann, $7.2 million
10. Rudy Giuliani, $7 million

Still in Denial: Nancy Pelosi Announces Party to Celebrate "Accomplishments"

Human Events has run this incredible story:

Nancy Pelosi is having a party to celebrate the accomplishments of the Democrat-controlled Congress. Although this invitation sounds like a parody from The Onion or the start of a Leno joke, it’s actually true. The Drudge Report obtained a copy of the invitation, which reads:

Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the United States House of Representatives requests the pleasure of your company at a reception honoring the Accomplishments of the 111th Congress on Wednesday, the tenth day of November, two thousand ten at three thirty in the afternoon Cannon Caucus Room 345 Cannon House Office Building....

Obama Relegates Republicans to Back Seat

"Driving Miss Sarah"

Be Grateful for Small Blessings

A. We will have Nacy Pelosi to kick around a little longer, according to this Real Clear Politics article. This living lightning rod touts her success in raising money for the Democratic Party and pushing lesgislation through as justification for hanging in there as House Minority Leader.

B. Keith Olbermann has been suspended indefinitely without pay for contributing to 3 Democratic candidates, CNBC reports.

UPDATE: Olbermann has been reinstated by MSNBC, and will be returning to his show next Tuesday.

While Millions of Americans Are Suffering Hardship, President Obama Goes on a Junket to India

An Investor's Business Daily editorial calls it the "pasha tour;" moreover, we have NO ASSURANCE that America will gain anything worthwhile from sending President Obama and a retinue of 3,000 to Mumbai, India. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other representatives of the State Department are conspicuously absent. Gateway Pundit also commented on this obscene waste of the people's money.

The timing of this junket suggests that Obama is trying to avoid facing the many Democratic politicians who lost in yesterday's election. And even if they could catch up to him, he will deny responsibility for anything that happened.

UPDATE: This blogger is unconvinced that the imperial progress through Asia will cost $200 million a day; nevertheless, the picture of Obama in this posting will remain.

Kimberly-Clark Introducing Tubeless Toilet Paper in Test Markets

The Miami Herald has the following story:

USA Today is reporting that at Walmart and Sam's Club stores across the Northeast Kimberly-Clark will introduce tube-free loo rolls through the Scott Naturals brand. I first blogged about Scott Naturals back in August 2009 when Kimberly-Clark launched the recycled content brand, giving the company's sullied environmental reputation a boost. Well, it seems that K-C is on an, ahem, eco-roll with news of Scott Naturals Tube-Free toilet paper....

Eliminating waste is the drive behind Scott Natural Tube-Free toilet paper. By Kimberly-Clark estimates, 17 billion toilet paper tubes are produced each year in the U.S. When placed end-to-end, those tubes could stretch to the moon and back - twice. All and all, these cardboard toilet paper tubes account for 160 million pounds of landfill-bound trash....

The Election's Not Over Yet, and Already the Democrats Are Acting Like Sore Losers

This just in from the Wall Street Journal, which reports that the Democratic Party and the highly politicized "Justice" Department is mobilizing an army of lawyers and bureaucrats to engage in "voter protection":

Multiple close races raise the possibility of inconclusive or disputed results of balloting, party operatives say, and allegations of impropriety flew in the final hours.

The Justice Department, which investigates election crimes, said its Civil Rights Division plans to deploy more than 400 federal observers and department personnel to 30 jurisdictions in 18 states.

The Democratic National Committee said it expects to deploy nearly 10,000 lawyers and other trained monitors as part of its "voter protection" effort....