Bush is Responsible for Global Jihad!

Betty Williams, Nobel Peace Prize Winner from Ireland (who won in 1976 for the formation of the Northern Ireland Peace Movement), had some fun things to say at a speech at the International Womens Peace Conference in Dallas, TX. Firstly and foremost:

“Right now, I could kill George Bush,” she said at the Adam’s Mark Hotel and Conference Center in Dallas. “No, I don’t mean that. How could you nonviolently kill somebody? I would love to be able to do that.”

It’s not the first time she said something like this. She said it in Brisbane at a similar conference.

But there’s more.

The Muslim world right now is suffering beyond belief,” she said.

“Unless the president of the United States is held responsible for what he’s doing and what he has done, there’s no one in the Muslim world who will forgive him.”

The Muslim world is still holding a grudge against Salman Rushdie. If Bush sent cargo planes over Iran with boatloads of candy, flowers, and money, they’d still hate him.

Mrs. Williams blames Bush for the deaths of children in the Middle East. Obviously she’s down with the Palestinian Mickey Mouse calling for a jihad against the west, or for Yasser Arafat’s Fatah party putting out videos encouraging young people to become martyrs for Islam.

And, of course, there’s stories like the jihadis who locked a family in a house and blew it up for collaborating with security forces in Iraq. Or the mass graves of men, women and children executed by Al-Queda in Iraq.

And don’t forget, we removed Saddam from power, a man who used chemical weapons on Kurdish villages filled with women and children.

But all of it, even the stuff before 2000, was the fault of George W. Bush. We wouldn’t have Global Jihad if it was for the Bu$$$$Hitler and his Cheney Dark Overlord, both of whom are controlled by Big Oil. And we know Big Oil directed Bush & Cheney to fly planes into the twin towers so the US could initiate a war against Iraq and Iran and seize all of their oil assets so they become as insanely rich as possible!

Hey, I’m no fan of GWBush, but turning a blind eye to the atrocities of Jihadists and their ilk isn’t going to help the situation. Bush is “killing children” because of the actions of these Jihadists. Our soldiers are working to free the decent people from the grip of hardcore theocrats and brutal dictators and allow children to grow up in a land and be free. When the hardcore Muslims in the Middle East take over, do you think they’re going to let the children be free? Or are they going to be egged into martyrdom for some imperceptible benefit to Global Islam?

Aquanet Moment: Sheryl Crow

You may have heard that Laurie David and Sheryl Crow are touring the country, “educating” people about global warming. (Nothin’ says college education on climatology like a tour with a TV producer and a rock star!)

But Sheryl had a major brainstorm on how to reduce emissions. I’ll let her tell you.

Although my ideas are in the earliest stages of development, they are, in my mind, worth investigating. One of my favorites is in the area of forest conservation which we heavily rely on for oxygen. I propose a limitation be put on how many squares of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting. Now, I don’t want to rob any law-abiding American of his or her God-given rights, but I think we are an industrious enough people that we can make it work with only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where 2 to 3 could be required. When presenting this idea to my younger brother, who’s judgment I trust implicitly, he proposed taking it one step further. I believe his quote was, “how bout just washing the one square out.”

How about just using your hand? Or a rag you carry around? Remind me to give Sheryl a Jose Canseco forearm bash instead of shaking her hand.

UPDATE: Even KKKarl Rove doesn’t want anything to do with “Frugal Wiper” Sheryl Crow.

Of course, the irony of this kind of talk is thick. A rock concert is once big pollution arena. From all the buses/cars/trucks needed to set up the stage & arena, to shipping in the bottled water, pop, alcohol, food, t-shirts, programs, and the tons of litter left over by a partying rock crowd– it’s just not an arena of conservation. But Sheryl derives most of her income from tours just like this, and she’s busing around the country talking about “reducing emissions”.

A commenter on her post, timmyslagle, provides a great retort to the critical analysis of one Sheryl Crow:

Trees are part of Agriculture. Like corn and wheat, they are planted by paper and lumber companies, with the full intention of being harvested. Were it not for the demand for wood products, a lot of trees would never be replanted.

A tree absorbs carbon from the atmosphere, and turns it into cellulose. When a paper napkin is disposed of, it goes into a land fill, and that carbon never returns to the atmosphere. Throwing away paper napkins (and used toilet paper) into the trash can is a great way to sequester carbon from the atmosphere. The more you use, the more carbon gets taken out of the atmosphere.

And while he’s mistaken (bacteria will break down paper just as they will a fallen tree, just not as fast), he really explains that the forestry industry does quite well in repopulating old-growth clear-cutting with new tree populations.

And I just had to repost these “FACTS” by guitarsandmore:

FACT: In 1950 there were just over 2 billion people on the planet. Today there are over 10 billion.

FACT: Each person who grows up in a developing country will use electricity for light and many other needs. Think, each person will want to buy a car and that car will spew pollution into the air. Each person will become a consumer of precious resources such as clean water, clean air, and fertile soil. Each new person will eventually become a polluter by purchasing goods that are not biodegradable.

FACT: It is the population growth that makes it a requirement to provide additional power sources from somewhere.

The hockey stick graph that Al Gore points to when he talks about carbon dioxide in the air can be directly tied to an increase in population.

In that case, he should be all for war. Kill people steal their resources, so that way they can’t use the resources, and there’ll be less people to pollute using those resources. All 10 billion of them (the other 4 billion are thetans– just ask Tom Cruise).

But to seriously suggest that we use “one square” without regard to the public health repercussions of such an endeavor is beyond stupid. It’s insane. And that’s why I’m handing Ms. Crow a can of Aquanet and a Zippo. Light ‘em up, Dan!

Sally Buzbee: Aquanet Moment

That’s what Sally Buzbee, AP Middle East Editor, thinks:

Iran’s abrupt release of 15 British sailors and marines is raising hopes the country might compromise on other disputes, most notably its nuclear program.

The move points to the growing influence of pragmatic conservatives, a faction that backs Iran’s Islamic clerical leadership but is still willing to deal with the West — at least to ensure that the country is not harmed in its confrontations with the U.S. and its allies.

British media credited the breakthrough to Ali Larijani, Iran’s top foreign policy negotiator who leads its diplomatic efforts in dealing with a demand by the West for a freeze in Iranian uranium enrichment.

While a religious conservative, Larijani is seen as a pragmatist with close ties to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He and his allies, including former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, are less anti-Western than Iran’s hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Sally, this had nothing to do with a more pragmatic Iran. This was an abduction intended to embarrass the West and get Iranian Quds forces out of US custody and back on Iranian soil. They attempted this back in September.

It’s a long-standing strategy of Hezbollah and Hamas to kidnap Israeli soldiers then ransom them for the release of 10 times the number of “suspected” militants. Now they are doing the same thing, except this time they’re forcing the hand of the UK to lobby Bush to release the Iranian prisoners. And release them he did. (Can’t blame Bush, really. He does owe Tony Blair a one for all the British support for the past 6 years.) The good news is we’ve had those Quds force members for a couple of months now and have probably gleaned some intel from them.

But to not see that this was not a political change by Iran but the end of a very calculated abduction and release is just idiocy, especially from someone in her position. You’d have to be insane to think the leadership of Iran is becoming more pragmatic. Sally, here’s your lighter & hairspray for your very own Aquanet Moment…. WOOOOSH!

Greenwald and Short Term Memory Loss

Greenwald over at Salon today:

Yet here are multiple comments from Johnson’s standard, regular followers — all of whom have to register as LGF users, a device Johnson uses to ban commenters of whom he disapproves — expressing explicit support for Al Qaeda’s plot against President Carter:

And here’s Greenwald on March 1st blogging about the comments posted on liberal blogs about Cheney’s health:

Why would Kurtz so prominently tout and condemn the meaningless and unrepresentative remarks of 200 or so anonymous blog comments, while ignoring the equally perverse behavior and ideas of some of his best-est friends on television, detailed here, here, here, and today by Arianna Huffington here? And why was Kurtz’s column so easily predictable — almost to a verbatim degree — given what a nonpartisan, objective referee he is of media bias? Isn’t it long overdue that someone tell Kurtz that he needs to try harder if he wants to maintain his pretense of nonpartisan, above-it-all, objective media observer?

So, now that the comments appear on a “right-wing” blog, it’s perfectly OK to then paint the Right-Wingers in such a light?

Bear in mind this guy has published books and writes for Salon.

I also find it curious that on the “Blogs I read” section, he doesn’t list Little Green Footballs, although he does have time to sift through the hundreds of comments to find comments on the article and then post them.

Additionally, on one of LGF’s open-registration periods, is Charles really monitoring the hundreds of ISPs that come in, banning those who he prognosticates may be liberals? How can he use the limited registration tool to weed out posters who disagree with him when they haven’t even gotten the chance to post yet!

Or you can just go the PuffingTons Host route and ban people like me who ridicule the lack of critical thinking that many of the posters there have.

Glenn Greenwald, you are a very odd, odd man. And for the banning/registration thing, you certainly earn an Aquanet moment.

Ann Redington’s Aquanet Moment

Who’s Ann Redington? She’s was a juror on the Scooter Libby trial. Why does she deserve a can of Aquanet and a lighter?

Well, just check her video out over at HotAir. “I don’t want him to go to jail.” Really? Then why did you convict him?! *spray…. wooooosh!*

Hey Doc, why did you set her hair on fire? “Well, I thought it would be fun to watch!”

From the ‘You’ve Gotta Be Freakin’ KIDDING Me’ File…

Al Gore may get an honorary doctorate in climatology from the U of Minnesota.

If that’s the case, I want an honorary doctorate for my work in marine biology and women’s studies. Because I like to talk about both subjects, but it’s clear I really don’t know what the hell I’m talking about.

Let’s give University President Bob Bruininks an honorary Aquanet Moment for such an insane idea.

Auqanet Moment: Karen Russell

Karen Russell at the PuffingTons Host says the Right is Swiftboating Obama.

Ugh. I’ve said before how much I hate that term.

So, essentially, Karen says the Right is behind spreading the “false rumor” that Barak Obama studied in a madrassa when he was young.

Karen offers no proof to counter the claim. But nonetheless, the rumor is “false” through some inherent standard. She says Obama’s books don’t say madrassa, so therefore it wasn’t one. Regardless of the fact that Jakarta is crawling with them, and that madrassas provide some of the best education (with a bit of Jihadism) children get in that part of the world (and they do it for free).

She quotes from Insight Magazine who ran the article. But she doesn’t believe them when they report the Clinton Presidential Committee was behind it. She actually believes it was Rush Limbaugh, even though they quote from the Insight article! Somehow they sent the article into the future so they could read from it later.

Obama’s a victim. He has to be, thinks Russell. He’s a black man running for President, so the evil Righties have to be smearing him! Even though it’s much more likely it’s one of his political opponents.

But I won’t stop Karen when she’s busy setting her hair afire in a fit of absolute insanity.

Bush proclaims ‘National Sanctity of Human Life’ day

I proclaim it’s time for an Aquanet Moment! And it goes to a previous recipient, Democratic lunatic Bob Geiger over at the PuffingTons Host.

Now, when we talk about respecting the sanctity of life, we’re talking about respecting life enough not to kill it. So, we’re talking about the death penalty, euthanasia, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and yes, Bob, war.

So, let’s see how Bob, high-up Democratic operative, sees it:

Bush then goes on to brag about all the steps his administration has taken to promote his famed “culture of life” saying “we are helping to make our country a more hopeful place.”

Naturally, this doesn’t take into account the many safety-net programs that have suffered under the Bush administration or that his party has blockaded a minimum wage increase for the last 10 years. What about so many elderly and disabled who have had to do without home heating assistance with Bush’s crew running the Congress?

Heating? It’s like Bush is leaving people out in the cold. What a cruel bastard! Oh, but the utility companies have heating assistance. And there are religious charities that assist the elderly. And their families. But, you know, if the Feds don’t step in regulate, well, it’s just cruel!

I guess there’s also no point in talking about the fact that, since Bush became president, almost eight million more Americans have no medical coverage of any kind or that his refusal to even acknowledge a health care crisis has left millions of elderly Americans and children with no ability to stay healthy. But, hey, once that little cell becomes a child, the GOP’s obligation to care seems to cease, doesn’t it?

So all of these people are turned away at hospitals, right? Oh, that’s right, they aren’t. In fact, anyone with or without medical insurance can be treated in our system, and it’s usually the state that picks up the tab.

But, you know, if the Feds are regulating it, it’s broken. Right, Bob?

And, of course, the saddest and most profound hypocrisy is that Bush’s little proclamation comes too late for the 3,030 U.S. military dead in Iraq, the thousands of troops who have come home maimed and bearing the scars of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome or the untold number of Iraqis killed in the name of Bush’s life-affirming effort in Iraq.

And Bush is the one killing the troops, right? Or is it the insurgents? And are the insurgents inspired by the anti-war sentiment that’s flooded our media since the first day we invaded Iraq? And the more divided we are, the more it bolsters the insurgents? So, in reality, when you openly talk about withdrawing from Iraq and getting out by the end of the year, you’re giving the insurgents incentive to continue attacking our troops because their strategy is working. And the more insurgents there are and the longer they fight, the more US Troops die.

So, in reality, you’re the one “killing the troops”, Bob. You and the 33% of Democrats who actively want the US to lose in Iraq.

And then there’s the omission of abortion and the millions of babies aborted each year. Those people are killed because they’ve been classified as “less than human” by people like Bob. One million children dead, and nothing from Bob. Of course, he’ll say he regrets every abortion, but that’s like saying, “I regret the law which allows us to legally kill young children. But I have no plans to change it.”

Such a stance is insanity. And to criticize a pro-life President on such a day from a pro-choice position is the height of insanity. One can of Aquanet and a match for Mr. Geiger.

CBS Gets Email From People With Hair Afire

CBS’ “Couric & Co” has a new segment: posting questionable email!

In a nutshell, Benedict’s argument against fanaticism is such: Violence is the enemy of reason. Violence has no place in religion because to act against reason is to act against the nature of God. Reason is the line he draws in the sand; it creates and interesting fulcrum from which to juxtapose comparisons of faith, fanaticism, violence and the secular proclivities of modern religion.

It’s smouldering…

Christianity has a rich history of sectarian violence. The Spanish Inquisition, the Crusades, the Anglican cleansing of Catholic England, the burning of heretics in Lutheran Germany and the removal of the Huguenots from France are a few examples. Many of these persecuted sects found their way to our American shores. Here they establish a relatively harmonious Christian conglomerate. Lately we have witnessed a revolutionary evangelical fundamentalism in America; faith based incursions into the societal and political arenas often fall short of the measure of reason. While such fanaticism seems minimal compared to the murderous intent of Sunni/Shiite sectarianism the religious right’s interference in human and constitutional rights is obsessive and unreasonable. Make no mistake; Benedict is also addressing this sort of secularism.

You can smell the smoke.

The pope’s remarks rekindle an examination of whether spirituality and religiosity can stand on faith alone. If faith stands at odds with scientific and moral truth it must assert itself through coercive means. Life is reduced to confliction in which the most powerful and violent among us reign supreme. Righteousness absolves the faithful from moral clarity and human charity. At once Moqtada al-Sadr and Pat Robertson appear more similar than dissonant.

That’s a fire.

Benedict seeks an alliance with Islam and other monotheistic faiths to confront the larger danger of liberal secular humanism, hedonism and unbridled consumerism that he feels corrupts the moral core of Western society. Beware! Pope Benedict XVI wants the keys to your SUV and the remote to your plasma T.V.

Hair fully ablaze! The evolution of an Aquanet Moment!

You can find comments like this all over the internet, and it’s easy to pick a comment out and make fun of it. I’ve gotten them on this tiny lil’ blog of mine, and I’ve gotten some interesting email. There are other sites & comment boards I’ve cruised where the level of lunacy is 10 times that of this guy. And then there’s the Yahoo! message boards and the guys who insist Roger Moore has died each day (one day they’ll be right– then what will their lives amount to?). But it’s essentially pointless to blog about comments and pick apart the ramblings of some unhinged individual. But it’s a different story when CBS thinks an email has enough merit to post it on their website– especially one that works itself into a irrational lather that culminates in a dire warning to guard your plasma T.V. with your life.

I would also like to point out one other interesting bit left by the Email Editor or Grab Bag Webguru or whatever he’s called over there:

A reader has some strong views about what Pope Benedict is up to in Turkey. Here’s part an e-mail we received this morning:

Part of an email? What was the rest of it? I’m dying to know. Actually, no. Nevermind. Let’s keep internet lunacy where it belongs– in the comments arena.

Thanksgiving Aquanet Moment!

It’s been a while. People seemed to calm down after the election. The Republicans were depressed, the Democrats jubilant– there was no need for insanity.

Well, that fog seems to be lifting. Enter Daniel Goldin, PuffingTons Host contributor. He’s melancholy because they’ve killed Bond’s “hero image” with the latest Bond incarnation.

The first bit I can get behind (although I haven’t seen the movie). His analysis seems reasonable:

And now we have a new, highly un-ironic James Bond to keep the debate going. Gone are the smirks and the double-entendres (”Just keeping the British end up, sir,” said Roger Moore mid-sex-act). Instead we have a guy who looks like he’s spent way too much time laboring in a gym, a guy who bleeds, who feels pain, who gets dewy-eyed when his girl dies. Gone is Bond’s trademark unflappability in the face of danger. This last loss makes me worry not just for irony, but for heroism — at least the kind of movie heroism Bond stood for.

Cool. A new Bond. I’m excited to see this when it comes to video. (Remember, I have children– no going to the movies for me.) Everything was going swimmingly in this light, introspective analysis of the new post-9/11 Bond. There’s nothing to light your hair on fire.

Until he says this:

If 9-11 ended irony, George Bush ended heroism.

You have to be KIDDING ME. George W. Bush changed James Bond?!

It’s ludicrous. What makes it even more ludicrous is that Casino Royale was a Flemming novel written 50 years ago! And, from what I hear, it sounds like Craig is adhering to the Bond model set up in Casino Royale rather than the Roger More flippant super-agent.

But to say “George Bush ended heroism” is going to go into the Top Ten Bush Derangement Syndrome Statements Ever Made.

Beware of flaming follicles, Daniel.