Apparently it is in New York City where a man has been arested for placing two Korans in toilets at Pace University, and Muslim groups are applauding the blatant violation of the First Amendment.

From Newsday:

NEW YORK (AP) A 23-year-old man was arrested Friday on hate-crime charges after he threw a Quran in a toilet at Pace University on two separate occasions, police said.

Stanislav Shmulevich of Brooklyn was arrested on charges of criminal mischief and aggravated harassment, both hate crimes, police said. It was unclear if he was a student at the school. A message left at the Shmulevich home was not immediately returned.

The Islamic holy book was found in a toilet at Pace’s lower Manhattan campus by a teacher on Oct. 13. A student discovered another book in a toilet on Nov. 21, police said.

Muslim activists had called on Pace University to crack down on hate crimes after the incidents. As a result, the university said it would offer sensitivity training to its students.

Source: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny–vandalismquran0727jul27,0,6882662.story

Now don’t get me wrong on this one, I’m not advocating that people should go out and throw Korans down the toilet, I’m simply shocked that an act of such clear free speech is being charged as a hate crime. I am aware that the Koran is very sacred to Muslims, but that doesn’t change the fact that this man has every right to his free speech provided - a sacred right to any real American.

Regardless, of how people view it, I see only a few ways he should be charged - if anything - for this crime.

Destruction of property because the Koran did not belong to him, perhaps a civil suit if he violated a student conduct code, and trespassing if he was not a student.

I’m sorry, but destroying a book is simply not a hate crime. Killing someone because they are black is a hate crime, beating someone up because they are gay is a hate crime, raping someone because they are a woman is a hate crime, calling people names because of some characteristic is a (very mild) hate crime. A hate crime - at least in my mind - is something that causes direct suffering of a specific person, and destroying a book simply won’t cut it.

Thanks to LittleGreenFootballs: http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=26436&only&rss

As I’m sure many of you know, there have been news stories and rumors going around recently that a number of major Republican Presidential Candidates may not be partaking in the CNN/YouTube Debate on September 17th.

I’d like to add my voice to the thousands of others calling for all Republican candidates to join in the debate and show the American people that you’re willing and ready to answer tough questions to our faces instead of spewing useless rhetoric to major media personalities.

Beyond adding my voice to the list, I encourage all readers - regardless of party affiliation or citizenship - to sign the petition located below and at http://www.savethedebate.org and tell the candidates that you want them to answer our toughest questions this September.

The YouTube Debate format may be unusual, but that’s no reason for any candidate to skip out on a unique chance to impress the voters.

Read the rest of this entry »

I am well aware that it has been months since I’ve actually posted anything, and I am sorry for that. I guess I’ve just never bothered to make myself actually post something.

I have, however, created a new theme for this site, which I think is a real improvement over the old one - far more open and inviting, if I do say so myself.

Check back in the near future for more updates.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bowing to President Bush, the Democratic-controlled Congress grudgingly approved fresh billions for the Iraq war Thursday night, minus the troop withdrawal timeline that drew his earlier veto.

“The Iraqi government needs to show real progress in return for America’s continued support and sacrifice,” said the commander in chief, and he warned that August could prove to be a bloody month for U.S. troops in Baghdad’s murderous neighborhoods.

The Senate vote to send the legislation to the president was 80-14. Less than two hours earlier, the House had cleared the measure, 280-142, with Republicans supplying the bulk of the support.

-The Associated Press

To be entirely honest, I haven’t been keeping up with the War in Iraq very much, but it seems to me that this is a sign the Democrats aren’t all insane people wanting to destroy our nation. That may be an exaggeration, but the point remains, that Congress should leave control of the military to the military.

I don’t know the slightest bit about military strategy, but it sure seems to me that in order for a nation to win a war, they should give the best commanders and generals nearly full control. In my mind, in finally passing a spending measure without a timetable, Congress is both sending a message that they still support American troops, and recognizing that sometimes the good of our nation must transcend politics.

I also find this to be an interesting turn, especially with so many prominent Democrats recently speaking out against bills without timelines. My best guess would be that, once the ball’s rolling - the war had begun - it’s not something any amount of political power can stop and it must come to an end on it’s own time.

What does this hold for the future and what will September bring? I guess only time can tell.

A bloodbath just south of the Mexican border has alarmed neighboring Arizona towns that have nervously monitored a rise in violence in the Mexican state of Sonora the past two months.

Mexican police killed 15 armed assailants in a fierce gun battle Wednesday after tracking a group that killed four policemen, leading to fears this morning that an armed outlaw convoy was headed to the U.S. border.

About 40 assailants apparently related to Mexico’s powerful drug gangs, drove in a convoy of up to 15 vehicles into the town of Cananea, 20 miles south of the U.S. border, to seize the policemen Wednesday. Mexican state police confronted the gunmen in the mountains 60 miles south of Cananea and reportedly killed 15 of the gunmen.

Source: WorldNetDaily

I’m really not sure what to say of this, but I guess it just goes to show further reasons that we need to be as careful as possible when it comes to border security and drug law enforcement. It seems to me that the best way to deal with these Mexican Drug Gangs would be to increase enforcement of our own laws and to more severely prosecute those who are caught smuggling drugs - or anything for that matter - across the border. Is that really too much to ask?

Then again, especially with Thursday’s travesty of an amnesty bill, I’m really not sure I have much faith left in our national leadership to make this happen. Even as Bush was pushing for immigration ‘reform’, I had confidence that the Republican congress would be smart enough to avoid it. When the Democrats took over, I was just about ready to start praying that they would never agree with Bush enough to get a bill through. Now that they all seem to agree, I guess the only option left is for public opinion to squash the bill - something I don’t see us having the power to do.

Yes, the proposed bill includes many security and enforcement procedures, but I refuse to accept any form on amnesty until every inch of the border is walled off with high fencing, barbed wire, and under video surveillance. Until every vehicle legally crossing is inspected and the cargo x-rayed, and until every police officer in the country is required to check immigration status when making an arrest. If all of this was done, then I’d be willing to discuss amnesty.

At the same time, I have to give props to the Senators for working out such a difficult agreement and, despite my many dislikes, making a number of important and needed reforms. Taking a look at the White House Fact Sheet, some of it actually looks decent.

• The plan establishes a merit based system for immigration, granting priority to the best of the best
• New English requirements and a push for greater assimilation
• An end to extended family (uncles, aunts, cousins, etc.) family migration benefits, which apparently account for nearly 2/3 of green cards issued
• Temporary worker program - although I don’t really support it, it seems like a good way to reduce future illegal immigration or at least track people - if we enforce the laws
• Increased sanctions on companies who hire illegal workers

Despite the good aspects, there are a few major things I still really want to see

• Recognition of English as the official language of the United States
• An end to the ‘birth right’ citizenship of the 14th amendment - you should be born a citizen if and only if one or both of your parents is a citizen
• Severe increases in the penalties for future illegal immigrants, including no-questions-asked deportation and a permanent bar from gaining a green card once that occurs, for both those who sneak in and those who overstay visas

If someone had a bill which included all that, I’d be ecstatic. Until then, down with amnesty and immigration ‘reform!’ Congress and President Bush, please give the American People what we want, don’t give in to illegals and huge corporations.

I’m a big fan of the approach that Lou Dobbs has taken to covering Illegal Immigration over the past few months and years - in fact I strongly believe he provides the most balanced coverage of the issue of any major news program - and I truly appreciate that fact. Now that he’s extensively criticizing the way most mainstream media handles the issue, I think he’s finally raising some issues that need to be raised. I’m not one to make predictions, but I hope others listen to him and stop the excessive appeasement of Illegal Aliens, the ACLU, and the Illegal Immigration Lobby.

That said, he has offered similar views in the past, but to see it in a concise and through segment is very pleasing. Among my favorite points:

“They’re selling an agenda. And they’re not applying critical judgment. And critical judgment and skepticism is our job as journalists. We’re talking about comprehensive immigration legislation as reform. We’re using the word ‘reform’ as if it were true. There’s no skepticism.”

Exactly. Calling what they want to reform is like calling a major heart attack or a ruptured cerebral aneurysm a ‘minor medical problem’ - it’s simply idiotic and everyone knows it.

And the fact that the president of the United States, the fact that the Congress of the United States, and the Democratic leadership, particularly in the Senate, could put this legislation before the American people — the Flake-Gutierrez bill, 700 pages of utter nonsense that, frankly, no one in Congress has read. But it’s an absurdity. It’s amnesty. It would cost this country a fortune. And for what? The issue is secure borders. The issue is not 12 to 20 million illegal aliens in this country. The issue is enforcing the law.

Any bill that needs 700 pages cannot be anything but nonsense. I bet more than half is pork and amnesty. Why can’t we have a bill to secure the border without amnesty or faulty funding?

We need immigrants in this country. That’s why we bring in more than two million. Has anybody over the past hour on this broadcast or this network reported, or any other network, reported that we bring in more than two million immigrants into this country lawfully each and every year? Has anybody on this broadcast, any news organization in the country, said, wait a minute, why in the world are we worrying about illegal immigration into this country and their — and their situation, before we’re worrying about how long it takes to become a lawful immigrant in to this country and what we’re doing with people who are playing by the rules? This is upside down. It’s wrongheaded. And it is simply, to me, a travesty that mainstream media journalists are not focusing on the facts.

I agree, we are a nation of immigrants and a healthy stream of immigrants is needed to maintain our status as the greatest nation on the planet. On that note, however, we don’t need millions of illegal aliens coming here and picking our fruit ro cooking our burgers - we need engineers and PhDs.

Check out the rest of the transcript (and a video clip) over at NewsBusters.org

WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court on Wednesday narrowly upheld a federal law banning an abortion procedure, giving the anti-abortion movement one of its biggest legal victories in years.

The justices ruled, 5 to 4, that a law passed by Congress in 2003 and signed by President George W. Bush did not violate the Constitution by imposing an undue burden on a woman’s right to end a pregnancy. The majority said its ruling reflected the government’s “legitimate, substantial interest in preserving and promoting fetal life.”

“The act, on its face, is not void for vagueness and does not impose an undue burden from any overbreadth,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the court, rejecting key arguments by opponents of the law.

Source: International Herald Tribune

Needless to say, I’m pretty excited about this ruling. What it means to me is that one of, if not the, most barbaric procedures in medical history will no longer be taking place in the United States. There may only be three to four thousand of these particular procedures in any given year, but by all accounts, they are unbearably gruesome.

For those who think this will snowball into a larger trend toward limiting or removing a women’s ‘right’ to choose to legally murder another human being, I really don’t think you have to worry. The judges have made it pretty clear that this was upheld because it did not interfere with that ‘right’ and that the old precedents still stand.

Regardless, congratulations to the Supreme Court on making a very good decision, and congratulations to the thousands of babies whose lives are now safe.

If you want to read the actual ruling or get more information about the case, it’s all available over at FindLaw.com.

A 76-year-old Jewish-Romanian lecturer was hailed a hero after blocking his classroom door long enough for many of his students to escape the Virginia Tech gunman, before being shot dead.

Liviu Librescu, a Holocaust survivor, pressed himself against the door of the classroom while shots were fired in the corridor and surrounding rooms. He stood firm, attempting to barricade the door, while his students clambered out of the windows.

His son, Joe Librescu, said in an interview from Tel Aviv that the professor e-mailed his wife to say that he had prevented the gunman getting into the classroom. However, the next e-mails received by the family were from students in the class informing them that Mr Librescu had not survived the shootings.

“My father blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee,” Joe Librescu said. “Students started opening windows and jumping out.”

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk

This article really got to me. The fact that a college professor was willing to risk - and as it unfortunately turned out, sacrifice - his life to help buy his students more time to escape is probably the most touching story to come out of this terrible tragedy.

In a world where ever so many college professors seem to be soulless monsters set on indoctrinating the youth of America, it’s truly amazing to see one who clearly cared for his students and was willing to take such risks to help protect them.

May God bless Liviu Librescu, all the victims, and their families.

Professor Liviu Librescu, 76, sacrificed his life to save his students

I honestly don’t know what to say about this one. The very idea that someone can have the heartless contempt for humanity and human life to engage in such a terrible act. At this point I’m not going to offer any analysis or try and politicize anything.

Thirty-two and the gunman dead. The worst single shooting, school or otherwise, in US history.

My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. May God bless.

Links:
Multiple Associated Press Articles
Virginia Tech Website
Wikipedia Article with many sources

This is my response, showing just how badly the Thai authorities are overreacting to videos that poke fun at and deface their king.

My message to the Thai Government?

Try leaving the middle ages behind and join the twenty-first century!

Edit: A number of YouTube users have pointed out that I used the United Kingdom and Japanese Prime Ministers as opposed to the monarchs. This new video includes Queen Elizabeth II and Emperor Akihito to further prove my point.

Edit - 5/19/2007: The above videos will no longer work. I have deleted them due to the fact that many people have been sending very rude messages and even a few threats to me as a result. If you really want to see them, e-mail me and we can talk thai_video[AT]newsvc[dot]us