Month: September 2006

More Muslims Arrive in U.S., After 9/11 Dip

More Muslims Arrive in U.S., After 9/11 Dip – New York Times
In 2005, more people from Muslim countries became legal permanent United States residents — nearly 96,000 — than in any year in the previous two decades.

More than 40,000 of them were admitted last year, the highest annual number since the terrorist attacks, according to data on 22 countries provided by the Department of Homeland Security.

Many have made the journey unbowed by tales of immigrant hardship, and despite their own opposition to American policy in the Middle East. They come seeking the same promise that has drawn foreigners to the United States for many decades, according to a range of experts and immigrants: economic opportunity and political freedom.

Immigration Rally’s Low Turnout Disappoints Advocates

Immigration Rally’s Low Turnout Disappoints Advocates
A pro-immigration rally that promised to bring tens of thousands of marchers from across the nation to Washington yesterday managed to draw only a paltry number of demonstrators, raising questions about the movement’s tactics and staying power.

With fewer than 5,000 people attending, organizers from other localities expressed two worries about the turnout: that they were losing the momentum built up by the huge marches in the spring, and that the movement’s national organizers in Washington have lost touch with the people.

9/11 – The Day Nothing much Changed

Foreign Policy: The Day Nothing much Changed
Yet, if you look closely at the trend lines since 9/11, what is remarkable is how little the world has changed. The forces of globalization continue unabated; indeed, if anything, they have accelerated. The issues of the day that we were debating on that morning in September are largely the same. Across broad measures of political, economic, and social data, the constants outweigh the variations. And, five years later, the United States’ foreign policy is marked by no greater strategic clarity than it had on Sept. 10, 2001.

The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were theatrical terrorism of the worst kind. But, even in an age when image usually trumps substance, the tragic drama of that day did not usher in a new era. No, if there was a day that changed the world forever, it was 15 years ago, not five. New Year’s Eve, 1991. It was on that day, far away from any cameras, that the Soviet Union finally threw in the towel, dissolving itself and officially bringing an end to the Cold War. From that moment on, the United States reigned supreme—“the sole superpower,” “the hyperpower,” “the global hegemon,” call it what you like.

9/11 Phone Messages

OpinionJournal – Peggy Noonan
It has been noted that there is no record of anyone calling to say, “I never liked you,” or, “You hurt my feelings.” No one negotiated past grievances or said, “Vote for Smith.” Amazingly –or not–there is no record of anyone damning the terrorists or saying “I hate them.”

No one said anything unneeded, extraneous or small. Crisis is a great editor. When you read the transcripts that have been released over the years its all so clear.

Flight 93 flight attendant Ceecee Lyles, 33 years old, in an answering-machine message to her husband: “Please tell my children that I love them very much. Im sorry, baby. I wish I could see your face again.” Continue reading “9/11 Phone Messages”

Sidney Rittenberg, Sr. – Remarks at the Asia Society

Sidney Rittenberg, Sr. – Remarks at the Asia Society Hong Kong Center 12th Annual Dinner

Fascinating lecture with Q&A from the American turned Communist, who also spent 16 of his 35 years in solitary confinement as an accused U.S. spy. Click on the link above to read the whole thing.In this excerpt he recounts his role as an interpreter for Mao and a letter to the us government, even as he was fighting our ally and his enemy, Chang Kai Shek:

The first reason was that, “You are the only country in the world after World War II that can give us the kind of reconstruction loans that we need to rebuild our country”, and he said, “We are not asking for a hand-out. We are willing to pay at the going rates of international interest. We have gold”.
The second point was — and I think this is what Ronnie was referring to — he said, “We do not want to be in a position after the war where we have to depend, unilaterally, on the Soviet Union because the Soviets are our comrades, but we are Chinese communists and we do not agree with them on everything. We need to have good relations with both sides of the world.” And, of course, we were too smart; we slammed the door in his face, and if we had not done that, in my opinion, both the Korean war and the Vietnam war would never have happened. Continue reading “Sidney Rittenberg, Sr. – Remarks at the Asia Society”

Iraq post-war plan muzzled

Daily Press: Eustis chief: Iraq post-war plan muzzled
Months before the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld forbade military strategists from developing plans for securing a post-war Iraq, the retiring commander of the Army Transportation Corps said Thursday.

In fact, said Brig. Gen. Mark Scheid, Rumsfeld said “he would fire the next person” who talked about the need for a post-war plan. Continue reading “Iraq post-war plan muzzled”

Saudi religious cops ban dog, cat sales

Saudi religious cops ban dog, cat sales – Yahoo! News
Saudi Arabia’s religious police, normally tasked with chiding women to cover themselves and ensuring men attend mosque prayers, are turning to a new target: cats and dogs.
The police have issued a decree banning the sale of the pets, seen as a sign of Western influence.

“One bad habit spreading among our youths is the acquisition of dogs and showing them off in the streets and malls,” wrote Aleetha al-Jihani in a letter to Al-Madina newspaper. “There’s no doubt that such a matter makes one shudder.”

“Then what’s the point of dragging a dog behind you?” he added. “This is blind emulation of the infidels.”

Basketball Catfish

Catfish1

From Panama to the Great Lakes, Bill Driver’s done pretty well fishing over the past 50 years.

Now he’s wondering if he’d have done even better with a different kind of bait. “I never considered using a kid’s basketball,” Driver said. “Maybe I should have.”

Friday afternoon, Driver was standing on the deck of his house near 119th Street West and Central when he saw an eight-inch ball floating in Sandalwood Lake. Noticing the ball wasn’t floating normally, Driver wandered to his dock for a closer look. A catfish had its mouth stuck around the ball.

Catfish 3Driver hollered for his wife, Pam, to get a camera while he unrigged the sail from his nine-foot boat, wading into the lake and corralling the fish toward shore with the sail as a seine.Several times, the flathead tried to dive, only to have the ball buoy it back to the surface.

Catfish 4 The fish appeared to be exhausted and offered little resistance once in the shallows.Things may have gone easier had the fish the strength to struggle.”I just couldn’t pull that ball out of its mouth,” Driver said. “I was lifting up out of the water as best I could by the ball. I finally sent my wife to the house to get a knife.”

Driver carefully deflated the ball. Estimated at 50 pounds, the fish swam toward the deepest part of the lake. Driver has no plans of targeting the fish in the near future.Instead, he’ll probably continue to fish for the bass and panfish that swim within the one-acre lake.

“I guess I might try fishing with a golf ball,” Driver said. “Smaller fish, smaller bait.” Thanks to Mike Douso
Catfish 5

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards take over key policy body

Iran Focus-Iran’s Revolutionary Guards take over key policy body –
Tehran, Iran, Sep. 27 – As part of a plan to bring Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) under the complete domination of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), several highly-placed commanders of the elite military organisation are filling the top slots in the key decision-making body on security and defence policies, Iran Focus has learnt.

More analogies here that Iran sounds more like Japan in the 1930’s. Back then Tojo gained power, at the expense of the revered emperor, who was the symbol of the state-religion Shintoism. Now we have the military, in the form of the Revolutionary Guards, gradually replacing the Mullah-class of this Shiite theocracy of the revered Kohmenhi.

Japan attacked Pearl Harbor after the Allies imposed a oil blockade, to punish their military adventurism in China. Iran is Japan with Oil. Their military adventurism is in Lebanon and Palestine. While Iran doesn’t have an industrial power-house like Nazi Germany, they are courting China and Russia to create a new Axis counter-weight to the Free World.

The atomic bomb, which ended the war with Japan, empowers small countries like Korea to be treated with Great Power status, simply because the Bomb does have great power – power to destroy and therefore level-the-playing-field. In the hands of a non-state individual or group, such as Al Quieda, you have the rise of the Super-Empowered Individual – not a comfortable prospect.