The Basics of Co-existence and Inter-faith Dialogue

Via Sigmund, Carl and Alfred, a most interesting article:
The Basics of Co-existence and Inter-faith Dialogue, by Magdi Khalil Executive Editor of the Egyptian weekly Watani International

• To set a foundation for a constructive dialogue, the prominent Muslim organizations would first of all have to reject violence publicly

• The paradox of demanding an apology while continuing to practice that same violence profusely

• The dialogue should only revolve around shared human values as a means to reduce conflicts

Among the points he raises:

Holy violence features clearly in Islamic thinking, as a necessary undertaking, whether it is defensive or offensive. The reasons given to justify the use of violence are unsound; and not only used in a context of self-defense but also to validate acts of pure aggression. Muslim societies usually adopt that twisted and unacceptable logic in their dealings with the outside world. They have heaped insults upon insults on Pope Benedict XVI, as if he were the author of holy violence, while Muslim societies are actually witnessing acts of holy violence on a daily basis.
. . .
Quranic verses such as "there shall be no coercion in religion," and "Let him who pleases believe, and let him who pleases disbelieve," have never been applied throughout the history of Islam.
. . .
To acknowledge these [Human Rights] charters is to acknowledge that there is one purpose at the heart of all religions, which is the ultimate Divine purpose, namely the good and happiness of mankind. The Muslim countries hold an unyielding position in regards to those charters, maintaining that they are acceptable only as long as they do not contradict the Shari’a, thus subverting their content and significance.
. . .
The current Pope of Rome refuses to settle for this empty shell of a dialogue and is determined to address the real issues.

Read every word.

(technorati tags Islam Religion Christianity Judaism)

Fumento: Photo tribute to fallen SEAL Michael Monsoor, KIA in Ramadi

Reporting from Iraq, Michael Fumento has aphoto tribute to fallen SEAL Michael Monsoor, KIA in Ramadi

Make sure to visit, and watch the photos and video.

Also read Michael's excellent article, The Baghdad Brigade, about

reporters who pretend they can and are covering the war throughout Iraq from the IZ and hotel rooms in Baghdad

Remember that every time you see the BBC guy standing at the balcony of his Baghdad hotel, "reporting".

(technorati tags Iraq Michael Fumento Michael Monsoor)

Secret weapons, Soros, and today's Larwyn's links

How to insult your soldier, again
John Kerry has another brain fart storm via Cassandra.
Update Via chez Diva, the video:

Update 2 The Anchoress whacks down Kerry with a big stick.

How to support your soldier, now
Cassandra's posting on Project Valour Stop the ACLU's also participating.

Secret weapons and other news
It's true. Honest. And it's a quote from Robert Fisk.

If they can't lose clean, they'll lose dirty. Dr. Sanity HOW TO MAKE SURE YOU WIN AN ELECTION EVEN IF YOU LOSE

Zawahiri Target In Major Attack On Al Qaeda In Pakistan

Corker Takes on ACLU in Wilson County School Prayer Controversy
Also via Stop the ACLU, CHAPLAINS will be posted in schools across Australia under a federal Government plan to provide students with greater spiritual guidance.

Dr. Sowell's also underwhelmed about the Obamarama, and like me, wants to know, what has Obama ever actually accomplished that would qualify him for the highest office in the nation and the leadership of the free world?

A letter from the son of a woman who was stoned to death, via Watcher of Weasels

Soros, via Larwyn
American Thinker and Atlas Shrugs have the transcript of a Soros interview,

KROFT: No feeling of guilt?

Mr. SOROS: No.

KROFT: For example that, "I'm Jewish and here I am, watching these people go. I could just as easily be there. I should be there." None of that?

Mr. SOROS: Well, of course I c-I could be on the other side or I could be the one from whom the thing is being taken away. But there was no sense that I shouldn't be there, because that was well, actually, in a funny way, it's just like in markets that if I weren' thereof course, I wasn' doing it, but somebody else would would would be taking it away anyhow. And it was thewhether I was there or not, I was only a spectator, the property was being taken away. So the-I had no role in taking away that property. So I had no sense of guilt.

George Soros was only following orders

McCaskill's Angry Vet Busted Foot Playing Volleyball... Not in Action!

CBS Wants to Make You Look Racist, Possibly

Umbical Cord Stem Cells Grow Micro Liver. Not embryonic, umbilical.

Larwyn and MsUnderestimated like Douglas Hunter

From Maria
Metabolic Syndrome: The Silent Epidemic. Serious condition is linked to obesity, lack of exercise

In a lighter mode,
Australian sheepdogs are defending penguins

Bath time!

My kind of guy - look how he's even got the beer chilling, too!

(h/t SC&A)

This, however, would definitely spoil the mood:

Tired Old Ass Soak, for the Overworked and Underappreciated

Why use Violetta di Parma bath salts when you can have these:

Tired old hippie aromatherapy?

(humor)

France's burning buses

Dymphna writes,

It's hard to even look at French news anymore. Reading about events there, it's no longer possible to whistle past the graveyard - to make the metaphor hew more closely to the events - in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, - it's as though you are watching a large pot boil and all the frogs in the soup are claiming everything is "tres bien, merci"

Just last evening France2 news dedicated three minutes to the news item about the woman trapped inside a burning bus in Marseille who is now in a coma. France2 also dedicated three minutes to a feature on a musician who's been dead for 25 years.

I was going to do a post counting how many buses have burned in the past week. After the first half dozen, I gave up counting because the French aren't reporting about them. The stuff I found was from foreign news agencies.

As iNo Pasaran! says,

As last year, primetime news is no longer providing figures on the number of cars being torched each evening. News producers are directed to keep the number of items on urban guerilla violence to a minimum and to always balance them with reports about positive social programs aimed at surburban youth.

France is like a battered wife who keeps coming back to her handsome husband. They've gotten used to the abuse and put on the sunglasses and the pancake make-up to cover up the damage.

(technorati tags France)

Values

As Siggy once said,

the value system of a free society is much different than the value system of a society that is not free

This is what happens when you disagree with the Cuban government:

This is what happens when a child accidentally steps on the imam's prayer rug:

And it happens every day.

It's a matter of values.

Venezuela: No Jews allowed

Via Linda, Venezuela stops issuing tourist visas to Israelis

Venezuela has ceased issuing tourist visas to Israelis, its embassy in Israel said Monday, accenting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's harsh criticism of Israel.

They say it's because of "technical" issues. I say it's technical issues like this.

The next time you read about Hugo being a-charismatic-leader-helping-the-poor-offering-free-health-care-education-adult-literacy-and-job-training-initiatives-that-help-millions-of-Venezuelans^tm, bear in mind that he's lying about the drop in illiteracy rates:
Falsean cifra de analfabetos en Venezuela (Literacy rate data falsified in Venezuela)

En octubre del 2005, las autoridades venezolanas anunciaron que sólo había en el país uno por ciento de iletrados, gracias al esfuerzo de los planes oficiales de alfabetización, que contaban con asesoría cubana. Pero dos estudios de la Unesco y del Programa para el Desarrollo de las Naciones Unidas (PNUD) publicados este año pero con estadísticas del 2005, revelaron que en realidad la cifra de personas que no saben leer ni escribir ascendía a 7 por ciento
(my translation)

In 2005, Venezuelan authorities announced that the country had only 1% illiteracy, thanks to the efforts of the official literacy programs, which relied on Cuban advisors. But two studies published by UNESCO and the UN Development Program published this year with data from 2005 revealed that the actual illiteracy rate exceeds 7%.

(technorati tags Venezuela, UN Hugo Chavez)

Ole, ole ole ola, Lula, Lula, and today's items

Brazil's Lula captures a second term. At Publius Pundit, A. M. Mora y Leon comments,

In fact, I get the feeling that the fact that Brazil's seeing the best growth it's seen in years and the absence of a crisis might very well be the reason why sensible Brazilians reelected Lula. If all the other leaders you elected gave you whipsaw gutwrenching rollercoastering economic crises and this one didn't . . . wouldn't you want to leave good enough alone.

Comings Communique has the questions:

A few issues I see on the horizon:

1. Will Lula take a stand against the virulent leftism of Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales, or will he continue to be their plaything?

2. As he moves into his next term, will his overwhelming majority cause him to move in an increasingly leftist direction, or will he continue to defend the freedoms people have by and large enjoyed in his first term?

3. Will he make fighting crime a serious priority?

4. Will he participate in the fight against worldwide radical Islam, or will he continue to look the other way and pretend the problem doesn’t exist right under his nose.

This second term could be one of outstanding achievements, or it could be time to pay the piper. We shall see.

At the blogs
Bob Casey, Jr. Owes America An Apology

Blackface, again: What in the hell is wrong with the left today? It's OK for the Left to do this stuff but the Dems want to hang George Allen for having a Confederate flag in his dorm room 30 years ago, and for saying "macaca", a word I'd never heard in my 30 years of living in the Continental US. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Calling out the NYT

Via Instapundit, Burchismo ponders progress.

From Larwyn
Blitzer: We Show Snuff Films But Don't Question Our Patriotism! Let's Face It... Democrats Make America Weak

Just The Numbers, Please: The Bush-Rove-Mehlman Political Legacy

Lost in Translations

The rest of the family had other things to do, it was too windy and cold to be going for a long outdoors walk, and I didn't feel like going to the movies, so this afternoon at the very last minute I went to McCarter Theater to see Translations. It was too late to call friends so I went by myself.

I got to the ticket office at 1:20PM, and was given the choice of either a seat in the upstairs balcony or a front-row orchestra seat. Since the front row has more leg room and the upstairs seats are cramped, I was really really close to the action. I was in my seat by 1:35PM.

The first thing I noticed was the dirt.

The entire floor of the stage is covered with 6" of dirt, and a 3' wide section stuck out from under the curtain. I looked at the orchestra floor and it had been swept, so I sat down and hoped that none of the dirt would land on my clothes. The last time I sat that close to the stage was four years ago when we went to see Fortune's Fool and the entire family got sprayed by Alan Bates's wet dinner napkin and Frank Lagella's spit. Except for Langella's spit, we had a great time.

The curtain went up promptly at 2PM.

I knew nothing about the play, but it's a story about the Latin-and-Irish-speaking Irish being overtaken by the English-only English. Apparently the 19th century Irish had time to go to night school and study the Classics after spending their days toiling outdoors with the wheat harvest and the livestock. On stage, however, all the Irish speak fluent English and the Latin is translated into English. Once the first Englishman walked on the stage wearing a horse guards uniform it all started to feel like a Monty Python sketch; The character who got her hands blistered from the wheat harvest even smells the potato blight coming.

Since the location is supposed to be by the ocean, the sound effects include the sound of ocean waves reaching the shore.

Unfortunately, I have been falling asleep to that very sound nearly every night for the past two years thanks to my handy-dandy Timex Alarm Clock Radio and CD Player with Nature Sounds. It's gotten to the point where the sound ellicits a Pavlovian response. I dozed off and missed at least ten minutes of the action. For all I know dirt might have fallen on my clothes and I didn't notice.

I woke with a start and realized that the man to my left was in a deep sleep, chin over chest, hands on his lap, his chest breathing rythmically to the sounds of the ocean. At least he didn't snore.

We weren't alone. During the intermission a friend and her mom asked if I'd been having trouble staying awake, since they had dozed off up in the balcony and were in need of caffeine.

After the intermission the theater was so cold I had to watch the rest of the performance wearing my coat, while on stage a rain machine was working overtime and the actors were performing in soaked clothes, water dripping from their hair. I felt sorry for them. There had been a leak dripping on to the stage and the actors for all of the afternoon, so at least we in the audience found out why. Mercifully the Nature Sounds had been put to rest for the third act.

The acting was very nice, particularly Chandler Williams's energetic performance as George. However, this was one case when the production values really got in the way.

The Packet had an article about Translations, and here's a reviewer who thinks "the play resonates poignantly in light of the Americanization of Iraq". Must have been that rainy seashore atmosphere and those Latin-speaking local yokels. Thinking of Iraq obviously's preventing him from thinking of sex all the time.

Translations will be going to Broadway's Biltmore Theatre Jan. 4, 2007. Let's hope they lose the nature sounds by then.

(technorati tags McCarter Theater Brian Friel theater entertainment)

Come and see the violence inherent in the system!

. . . . Help! Help! I'm being repressed!

Not dead yet? At least not dead on video. (If you understand spoken Spanish, watch the video here and tell me if he's senile or not. He sounds senile to me). El Confetti lets it rip (h/t Pajamas), while Val announces Coming soon: the fidel castro ADIDAS Bionic Track Suit iPod interface. Twelve, six hour speeches for those heavy workouts.
Time again for another installment of Tierra de Poderes?
Nooooo!
You Tube has removed it: This video has been removed due to terms of use violation..

And here the Dixie Chicks are claiming that they're being repressed.
------------------------------------------

The Cotillion Colloquy is up


And I'm sure the gentlemen will love that photo.
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Dr Sanity has the Insanities:

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Before I go, the latest on fried Coke, which unlike fried chocolate sandwiches and deep fried pizza, was not invented by the Scots. I'll have a slice of deep fried pizza with vegemite on the side, please. The desserts would literally kill me.

(technorati tags Cuba Fidel Castro not dead yet)

Saturday blogging: Camille Paglia

I've been a fan of Camille Paglia for many years. Her writing is always interesting, always clear and always thought-provoking. You can go back and read her essays and they're still as fresh as the first time you read them.

She does tend to get carried away with the meaning of symbolism: For instance, while skyscrapers might be phallic, the very obvious reason men (and women) architecs design them is not because they are phallic, but because so far they're the most practical way to maximize the use of space in highly populated areas.

Be that as it may, while you might not agree with her views, it's worth reading her books. (I make an exception: I haven't read the one on Madonna because if it was up to me Madonna would still be working at the IHOP. 'Nuf said on Madge.)

I first started reading her work in the early 1990s when I came across her book Sexual Personae at a used book store in Manhattan. I bought it because of her essay on Pre-Raphaelite art, about which I have an interest, and after that I kept going back for more of Paglia's writing. This kind of writing is not light reading, however. It demands commitment and attention.

Her very successful book of commentary on poetry classics is much easier to read, and it lends itself to reading in brief intervals, as you want to read the poem, think about what it says to you and then read what she has to say. Reading is two minds communicating; in Break Blow Burn it's three minds.

Now she has a new book about visual images coming up, and Salon has an interview. Here's a sampler:

On Foley and the Democrats

And with the Democrats' record of sex scandals, what the hell were they thinking of? For heaven's sake, after we just got through the whole Clinton maelstrom! What Clinton did with Monica Lewinsky was far worse than any evidence I've seen thus far about what Foley did with these pages. Clinton, whom I voted for twice, used his superior power as an employer to lure Monica Lewinsky, who was perfectly willing, into these squalid sexual assignations on the grounds of the White House. There was a time when feminists were arguing, in regard to sexual harassment in the workplace, that any gross disparity in power cannot possibly produce informed consent. All of a sudden, all of that was abandoned for partisan reasons in the Clinton case. I take the European view that any government official has the right to conduct as many sexual affairs as he wishes -- off government property. But Clinton, with all his power, somehow couldn't figure out a way to discreetly meet his chosen women at the mansions of his many friends. I can understand why hotels and motels might have been difficult to manage, with the telltale Secret Service presence. But to use the hallway off the Oval Office for those encounters -- to be serviced by a young woman to whom he gave no other dignity and whom he used like a washrag -- he turned that hallway into a sleazy mosh pit! The Democrats are being extremely imprudent to arouse all those sleeping tigers again -- particularly if their next presidential nomination is Hillary Clinton. They've reignited the endless series of charges about Clinton's allegedly abusive physical encounters with women, beginning when he was governor of Arkansas. The Foley case shrinks in comparison to Clinton's rumored history of hitting on women in subordinate positions.

On Condoleezza Rice:

Every feminist who wants to smash the glass ceiling should realize she has a stake in Condi Rice's success.

On a woman president:

If we want a woman president, we need to start training ambitious young women not in women's studies, with its myths of universal male oppression and female victimage, but rather in military history and national security issues.

On Bob Woodward:

Oh, Woodward, what a big yawn! Who the hell cares about Woodward? I mean, at this point, he's just an inside-the-Beltway figure. I certainly don't need him to clarify my view of the Iraq debacle.

Chomsky certainly doesn't fare any better, and neither does robo-Hillary.

Read the interview, buy the books.

Prior Paglia post
(technorati tags Camille Paglia books)

Children are the salvation of their parents.

and here is one instance:

Related post here.

Lyrics for the song:

"I can only imagine what it will be like, when I walk by Your side...
I can only imagine, what my eyes will see, when Your Face is before me!
I can only imagine. I can only imagine.
Surrounded by Your Glory, what will my heart feel?
Will I dance for you, Jesus? Or in awe of You, be still?
Will I stand in Your presence, or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing 'Hallelujah!'? Will I be able to speak at all?
I can only imagine! I can only imagine!

I can only imagine, when that day comes, when I find myself standing in the Son!
I can only imagine, when all I will do, is forever, forever worship You!
I can only imagine! I can only imagine!

Surrounded by Your Glory, what will my heart feel?

Will I dance for you, Jesus? Or in awe of You, be still?
Will I stand in Your presence, or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing 'Hallelujah!'? Will I be able to speak at all?
I can only imagine! Yeah! I can only imagine!

Surrounded by Your Glory, what will my heart feel?

Will I dance for you, Jesus? Or in awe of You, be still?
Will I stand in Your presence, or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing 'Hallelujah!'? Will I be able to speak at all?
I can only imagine! Yeah! I can only imagine!

I can only imagine! Yeah! I can only imagine!! Only imagine!!!
I can only imagine.

I can only imagine, when all I do is forever, forever worship You!
I can only imagine."

(h/t for the video Pajamas)
Technorati tags men Dick and Rick Hoyt Dick Hoyt)

The misunderstood mufti

SCROLL DOWN FOR A LINK TO THE TRANSLATION OF THE SPEECH
Sigmund, Carl and Alfred has a post, "The mufti loves women in the same measure he loves Jews" directly quoting the mufti of Australia who thinks unveiled women are uncovered meat.

It seems the mufti feels misunderstood.

Not that this is the first time: He surely felt equally misunderstood back in 2004 when he praised the September 11 terrorist attacks as "God's work".

Or when he dismissed the Holocaust as a "Zionist lie" and when stated that he believes that Israel is a "cancer that is planted in the heart of the Ummah (Muslim community)".

But fear not, the Beeb finds him Neat, snappy and eminently quotable.

A change of clothes, and you'd think he's another Noel Coward.

On the BBC: The BBC's commitment to bias is no laughing matter (h/t SC&A)

Update: Via Pajamas, Advice from Imam Yahu al-Zirius
Spiritual Leader, Fostaz al-Vegimita Mosque

UPDATE, Saturday 28 October The Australian recorded and translated, and now has a new transcript of his speech (via Blue Crab Boulevard)
Here's the SBS translation (h/t Dr. Sanity)

A culture of ingrained evil

(technorati tags Islam, Australia, Sheik Taj Aldin al-Hilali, BBC)

Georgetown U bought for $20 million

Remember the prince who offered $10 million to Rudolph Giuliani after the 9/11 attacks, and Giuliani turned down the money after the prince suggested U.S. policies in the Middle East contributed to the September 11 attacks?

The prince found someone for sale: Georgetown U.

Via Phyllis Chesler, BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS: Georgetown gets $20 million from prince promoting Islam. Just months later, university ejects evangelical Christians from campus

The Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University has been renamed after Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal donated $20 million to its projects. And while that may be just the tail, the dog appears to be moving away from its historic Catholic and Jesuit teaching philosophy too.

The Center's leaders say it now will be used to put on workshops regarding Islam, fostering exchanges with the Muslim world, addressing U.S. policy towards the Muslim world, working on the relationship of Islam and Arab culture, addressing Muslim citizenship and civil liberties, and developing exchange programs for students from the Muslim world.

The "Christian" part of the center's projects at the university that has a history of 200 years of higher education following its Christian founding, is conspicuous by its absence in its website plans for its 10-year future.

But that won't be a surprise to leaders of a number of Christian evangelical groups whose leaders recently were told to leave the campus and not list Georgetown University as a site for operations in the future.

Read the whole article.

Phyllis also emailed information on how to contact Georgetown University:

President John J. DeGioia
Office of the President
204 Healy Hall
37th & O Streets, NW
Washington, DC 20057

Tel: (202) 687-4134
Fax: (202) 687-6660

I urge all Georgetown alumni and parents to make themselves heard.

Marathon Pundit has more on the prince and GU.

(technorati tags Georgetown University Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Christianity)

Cuba's non-cooperation campaign, Panama's canal, Brazil's second round, and other LA items

Cuba: the non-cooperation campaign: Mary Anastasia O'Grady reports on the latest trend in resistance: Cubans Begin to Just Say No

At this time the military seems to be loyal to Raul. Nevertheless, the dictator in waiting has at least two reasons to be worried. The first is Hugo Chávez, who pours an estimated $2 billion into the Cuban economy annually and seems to believe that he is the rightful revolutionary successor to Fidel. Rumor has it that attitude is not going down too well with Raul or his men. As Brian Latell, former CIA analyst and author of "After Fidel" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), pointed out this week: "It may also be reasonable to speculate that Raul and his military commanders feel contempt for the mercurial and often bizarre Venezuelan, who rose no higher than lieutenant colonel in the decidedly less professional and accomplished Venezuelan military."

Fold into this mix the tension that already exists between elements of the regime that see themselves as ideologically pure and loyal to Fidel and Raul's army, which seems to enjoy making money -- as Mr. Latell describes so well in his book -- and all kinds of complications arise.

Yet Hugo and the fidelistas might be the least of Raul's troubles. Less noticed by the international press but at least as threatening are the island's dissidents, who are once again stirring things up, this time with their "non-cooperation campaign." While conventional wisdom discounts the movement as weak, disorganized and easily infiltrated, every action of the government suggests that popular resistance to the regime is spreading, even after a brutal wave of repression was unleashed more than a year ago.

It is also worth noting that Lula, a left-wing president of a country that has traditionally supported the Cuban dictatorship, has publicly lamented Castro's failure to democratize. That doesn't bode well for continued international support for the island slave plantation.

Non-cooperation is a strategy aimed at whittling away at the most fundamental tool of every totalitarian regime: fear. The system can survive only if each Cuban believes he is greatly outnumbered by lovers of the revolution and that in speaking out, he is doomed. This is why the regime risked so much bad press to crush the dissidents in March of 2003 in a brutal island-wide crackdown. Intense, debilitating fear must be kept alive if the regime is to survive.

Opponents of the regime also understand the power of fear and it is why they are hopeful about the non-cooperation campaign, which provides a passive way for Cubans to quietly discover solidarity. Rather than calling on citizens to actively rebel against the government, "non-cooperation" asks them simply to refuse to participate in the oppression.

Last Wednesday, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro may have slipped into a coma (related post here). And here I thought he was in a freezer.
Update Val looks at The Home Stretch.

Panama: The biggest Caribbean story of the month, possibly the year: Panama votes to expand the Canal. You must read Publius Pundit's comprehensive round-up. This will affect world trade and international relations for a longer time and with more repercusions than the death of the island-prison's tyrant.

Brazil: second-round elections: In Brazil Campaign, A Barroom Brawl
And a Class War. Presidential Race Spotlights A Big Cultural Divide Between North and South. The divide is not only cultural, it's economic. The state of Sao Paolo has a greater DGP than the country of Argentina, while the north is poor. The BBC has a video, Brazil election divides nation

Argentina: Twelve years after the bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, prosecutors have charged high-level Iranian officials. Iran, of course, denies the charges. The 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires remains unsolved.
Update Michael Totten has more.

Mexico: No surprise at this reaction.

(technorati tags Cuba, Panama, Brazil, Brasil, Argentina, Mexico)

Friday Fun

This week I found out that one of the windows needs replacement. This bit of news gave me a twitch in my right upper eyelid, since earlier this year we had completed a huge remodeling, renovating, and updating project here at casa de Fausta. At least the old window's in a room that didn't get renovated.

Hence, the need for some levity:

Reverend Husband hosts a panty raid way down under (via SC&A)

Captain Underpants And The Preposterous Plight Of The Purple Potty Principal:
Captain Underpants Costume Foils Fun

For more pre-shrunk cottony goodness:


Meanwhile, across the big puddle, some girls were running an underwear black market out of their school's basement. Glad to see that the entrepeneurship spirit's still alive in the younger generation.

While on an underwear theme, I'm sure you'll be glad to hear that Rod Stewart's hanging up his panties.

------------------------------
Andrew Sullivan knows the Vatican better than the Pope. Now Lileks knows Andrew better than Andrew.
(h/t The Anchoress. See Hewitt for the original)
------------------------------
On a different subject, Baron Bodissey found my younger clone, Cecilia Malmstrom, university lecturer and EU parlamentarian,

who not only has the height, build, and hair color, but completes the look with my current eyeglasses and an old jacket I used to own. My son thinks the resemblance is "so close, it's spooky".

I wonder if her right eyelid twitches when she finds out the window needs replacing.

(and no, I won't post my picture, but thanks for asking all the same.)

Castro: Funeral for a tyrant

Via Elephants in Academia,
Funeral for a Tyrant
A morally disorienting gathering in Havana.

By Otto J. Reich

This time the rumors are real: Castro is dying of stomach cancer. He may have already died, even before the funeral preparations were finished, so the news is not out. Confirmation of the terminal illness comes from the usual sources but in a non-conventional manner. The Cuban government has been summoning to Havana representatives of the major international media to negotiate the best seats, camera angles, and interviews with the despot's political survivors, and to inform them of the ground rules for coverage of the state funeral.


The foreign media are being told that the model for Castro's funeral is that of Pope John Paul II a year ago. The Cubans actually believe — or pretend — that the death of a tyrant deserves the same attention as that of the world's great men of peace.

This is one of Castro's lasting legacies to his countrymen: moral disorientation. The Cuban ruling class has been so isolated from reality for so long by fear and Castro's airtight press control that they equate the burial of a mass murderer with that of a prince of the Church. No doubt there will be "dignitaries" at the funeral: fellow revolutionary leaders from the last repressive regimes on Earth: Iran, North Korea, Syria, and Sudan, for example; and leaders of failed states like Zimbabwe and Bolivia; and representatives of the world's resentful Left and the Hollywood Left (pardon the redundancy).

Read every word.

Pajamas Media and Babalu also are posting on it.

Update More on moral disorientation at Havana Split, which interviews Humberto Fontova:

Now Cuba's got crackdowns against corruption — everything from beer underpouring at the bars to gasoline-pump theft — in a supposed bid for "reform."

Problem is, it's not reform. There's no sudden change of government heart about ending the top-to-bottom corruption among Castro's successors. Nor is it a sign that Raul now has a free hand to "liberalize" now that his older brother isn't around to stop him.

It's a sign of something else — the often-misunderstood evidence of an internal power struggle at the top, explained Cuban writer Humberto Fontova, in a talk with IBD.

Fontova said Cuba has seen these crackdowns since at least 1965, with one notable wave in 1989, around the time the Soviet Union collapsed and Cuba lost its support from the USSR.

"A Cuban's got to know which party official is in favor within the regime. If your patron has fallen out of favor, it will be held against you." And you're likely to go down in a corruption crackdown.

(technorati tags Cuba Fidel Castro not dead yet)

Uncovered meat

THE nation's most senior Muslim cleric has blamed immodestly dressed women who don't wear Islamic headdress for being preyed on by men and likened them to abandoned "meat" that attracts voracious animals.

When I first read this statement I thought, "what nation is that? Iran? Saudi Arabia?"

The nation is Australia, and the cleric is Australia's mufti. The words, which he now denies, are undoubtedly his, since The Australian newspaper obtained a recorded copy of his sermon and translated it:

Sheik Hilali said there were women who "sway suggestively" and wore make-up and immodest dress ... "and then you get a judge without mercy (rahma) and gives you 65 years".

"But the problem, but the problem all began with who?" he asked.

The leader of the 2000 rapes in Sydney's southwest, Bilal Skaf, a Muslim, was initially sentenced to 55 years' jail, but later had the sentence reduced on appeal.

In the religious address on adultery to about 500 worshippers in Sydney last month, Sheik Hilali said: "If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it ... whose fault is it, the cats or the uncovered meat?

"The uncovered meat is the problem."

The sheik then said: "If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred."

He said women were "weapons" used by "Satan" to control men.

"It is said in the state of zina (adultery), the responsibility falls 90 per cent of the time on the woman. Why? Because she possesses the weapon of enticement (igraa)."

Sigmund, Carl and Alfred, who sent me the article last evening, asked What does a western woman make of this? What is she supposed to make of it?

What does a Western woman make of news like that monstrous Georgia man accused of mutilating his two year old daughter's genitalia with a pair of scissors . . . "to avoid bringing shame on his family"?

"He said he wanted (the girl) to have it done so that she will not be promiscuous," First added.

It's not shameful to mutilate a baby, but it's shameful to have a woman with all her parts intact? It's not shameful to believe that a woman has to be promiscuous simply from the fact of being a woman?

What will it take for political correctness to finally, finally, be shown for the farce it is, and will the moral people of the world come out and speak out?

Because, without a doubt, the immorality of believing that women do not have a right to their own genitalia, a right to have that that they are born with, by God's grace; the immorality of thinking that a father has the duty to inflict such harm on his own daughter; the immorality of believing that women are "uncovered meat"; and the immorality of sermonizing that not wearing a veil, "swaying when they walk", and wearing make-up deserves rape, is, or at least ought to be, clear beyond any question.

In Australia itself, the reaction to the mufti's words has been immediate, starting with Muslims themselves:

Muslim community leaders were yesterday outraged and offended by Sheik Hilali's remarks, insisting the cleric was no longer worthy of his title as Australia's mufti.

Young Muslim adviser Iktimal Hage-Ali - who does not wear a hijab - said the Islamic headdress was not a "tool" worn to prevent rape and sexual harassment. "It's a symbol that readily identifies you as being Muslim, but just because you don't wear the headscarf doesn't mean that you're considered fresh meat for sale," the former member of John Howard's Muslim advisory board told The Australian. "The onus should not be on the female to not attract attention, it should be on males to learn how to control themselves."

Australia's most prominent female Muslim leader, Aziza Abdel-Halim, said the hijab did not "detract or add to a person's moral standards", while Islamic Council of Victoria spokesman Waleed Ali said it was "ignorant and naive" for anyone to believe that a hijab could stop sexual assault.

Iktimal Hage-Ali, who will not be intimidated, gave a radio interview you can listen to. Let's hope more like her come forward.

SC&A also asked, How fearful/threatening is that kind of 'religion' or ideology?

My initial reaction last evening when SC&A asked was to explain how I've changed my mind when it comes to owning and using firearms - because, believe me, I've done an about-face on the subject. 2,000 rapes in any area of a city is definitely fearful and threatening, and not simply because of the violence of a rape. You have to assume that any man intent on raping you is willing to kill you, and there is no way the police can respond to calls (rape or otherwise) when there's that much going on.

However, there's a much larger issue.

Dr. Sanity has been writing on the issue of women's pervasive oppression under Islam (see hereand here). But it's not simply a matter of women's issues. It's a matter of the entire society being dragged into the Dark Ages, as Victor Davis Hanson writes today,

Who would have thought centuries after the Enlightenment that sophisticated Europeans - in fear of radical Islamists - would be afraid to write a novel, put on an opera, draw a cartoon, film a documentary or have their pope discuss comparative theology?

The intimidation is systematic: Tim Blair has found out that muslimvillage have apparently published the phone number and two email addresses of the Australian journalist who wrote the Hillali article.

Last year's French riots started a year ago tomorrow. Last night four buses were set on fire while their passengers were still inside. What the BBC article takes pains to avoid mentioning is that the "youths" (the euphemism for Muslim), who earlier in the day had presented a list of hundreds of grievances (20,000 complaints) to the National Assembly in Paris, live in housing projects where women who don't wear veils are gang-raped. It doesn't matter if the women are Muslim or not. Last night's "youths" didn't care if the bus passengers were male or female, Muslim or not.

Because what it all comes down to is that, in the long run, we're all "uncovered meat" for those intent on taking us back to the Dark Ages.

Related post: "Oppression brings out perversion in people."

Update Walking In Traffic

Update, Friday 27 October The misunderstood mufti

(technorati tags Islam, Australia, Sheik Taj Aldin al-Hilali, France)

Wretchard's interview, and today's items

Blography features Richard Fernandez, blogger at The Belmont Club, who discusses blogging as a means of discovery and a technology that fosters heretofore unlikely social connections. The internet facilitating face-to-face interaction, and many other interesting points. (Belmont Club here)

Boys worry about their happiness, men do what they must: Jeff Blanco posts on Life, or Something Like That.

Hugh Hewitt interviewed Andrew Sullivan, who knows more about the Church than the Pope himself.

The veil

The first time I went to England I went by myself. A friend from work and I had planned to take the trip together but she decided at the very last moment not to go because of fear of terrorism, since Lord Mountbatten and 18 British soldiers had been murdered by IRA bombs a few days before our flight.

I'm certainly not the bravest woman in the neighborhood, but I pondered the likelihood of my being a target of the IRA vs. the hundreds of dollars I stood to lose if I didn't take the trip (dollars that I would have been paying over a couple of months), so I went. I packed my stuff in a clunky old Samsonite suitcase that my mom had given me years earlier, which had temperamental locks that sometimes didn't open or close when needed. I'm sure that suitcase will survive the Apocalypse, but I gave it to the Goodwill shortly after that trip, preferring less temperamental duffle bags.

The flight was uneventful and after taking the train to Victoria Station, the Samsonite and I shared a cab to the B&B on Eaton Place with another lady from the plane (who was truly distressed as she had lost her very expensive camera) who was going to an address nearby. I dropped the Samsonite at the B&B - which nowadays has most likely been converted into five outrageously expensive flats - and went out by myself to check out the city.

Of course, the first thing I wanted to see in London was Harrods. Forget Big Ben; I wanted to see the store, and headed there right away.

I remember the moment exactly because it made a very deep impression.

I got to Harrods's main entrance at the exact moment that the chauffer of a black Rolls Royce was opening the door for his passengers. Out came a man in a business suit, and after him, a woman completely covered with a black veil. The man in the suit helped her get out of the car.

I had never seen such a sight. The veil she wore to cover the lower half of her face was attached to a leather-like mask around her eyes, but the rest of her was completely covered with a black tent-like garment. Other than the black veils, all you could see of her were her expensive-looking shoes, her hands with polished red fingernails, and her black eyeliner-rimmed eyes. The reason I remember the nail polish color is because I was wearing a similar color that day. Aside from her hands, you couldn't even tell if that person was a man or a woman.

I walked into the store at the same time as that couple. The man walked exactly by her side, and seemed to be on the alert.

After stopping for a snack downstairs, I took the elevator to the top floor, and shortly after, I came across the veiled woman and her escort. They were looking at a large matching set of Louis Vuitton luggage that included a large trunk with drawers and hangers, several suitcases, on down to a small cosmetic case. The woman, who spoke fluent English, told the man that she had decided to purchase the whole set, and the man in turn told the exact same words to the delighted salesman (who probably made two months' worth of commissions out of the huge transaction).

As young, naive and immature as was back then, at that very moment I felt exceedingly grateful that I could go anywhere in the world I wanted to go to by myself with my temperamental Samsonite, whenever I wanted, unveiled, unescorted, and unencumbered (except for budgetary considerations). I actually felt relief that I wasn't that woman.

I have thought about that woman often. I remembered her one time years ago when Dianne Sawyer was in Iran interviewing Ayatollah Komeni and a man on the street told Sawyer to cover her hair "because the sight of a woman's hair is like knives in the Prophet's heart, and it drives men crazy".

That was nearly thirty years ago.

I still feel, as I instinctively felt then - even when back then I couldn't articulate the thought - that the actual wearing of the veils in their many forms underlines the belief that men are incapable of self-control, even when men's self-restraint is a cornerstone of civilized society; and that women are simply a cipher, to be held as a nonentity, hidden under a mass of black cloth, unseen, never to be trusted, allowed to talk to no one other than a man that will speak for them.

Now we have Yvonee Ridley asking

What is more liberating: being judged on the length of your skirt and the size of your surgically enhanced breasts, or being judged on your character and intelligence?

What, Yvonne, you ask? Being appreciated for the length and shape of my legs (I'm not about to splurge on surgically enhanced breasts, thank you), while being judged and respected for my character and intelligence.

And even more liberating yet, being free to have the option.

Today's links on the subject
Rosie DiManno notices

One value: We are our faces.

Anne Applebaum looks at local customs (h/t Dr. Sanity). Girl on the right has an alternative.
Update Via Yeah, right, whatever, The veil: too obviously hidden

"Allah gave us faces, and we should not hide them," she says.

Also posted at Blogger News Network

(technorati tags Yvonne Ridley, Islam London)

Venezuela: Still not in the Security Council

So, where does the story stand?

It depends on what you read:
The Guardian (UK) Venezuela battles for security council seat while the Beeb was saying on TV this morning that Caracas offers UN seat compromise - and guess who would that be?

Bolivian President Evo Morales earlier said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had offered to let Bolivia take his country's place in the race.

That'd really make Evo Hugo's Triumph. All the same, Guatemala says won't make way for Bolivia in U.N. bid

While India's NDTV says that Venezuela pulls out of UNSC race, the WaPo says that Venezuela Denies Ending U.N. Bid.

Of course, no matter what, Hugo's proclaiming himself the winner: Objective achieved, says Hugo Chavez. The AP begs to differ: Chávez influence blocked: OUTSPOKEN LEFTIST SEES U.N. BID FALTER, FOREIGN ALLIES LOSE. Never mind the billion dollar tour Hugo took trying to make other countries vote for him at the UNSC. Call it Being obnoxious as raison d'état.

The Peruvian Prime Minister's saying el chavismo no tiene trascendencia (Chavismo lacks historical importance).

y en caso de que el petróleo baje se acaba el chavismo
and when oil prices decline, so will Chavismo

Is the worm finally starting to turn in Venezuela?

Chavez is running almost exclusively on his plan to make Venezuela into an superpower. Of course, he doesn't have much of a choice since his domestic programs have been a pretty unalloyed disaster. So he's attempting to inflame paranoid nationalism in voters by proposing an aggressive Venezuela that will challenge the imperial United States on the international stage.

Daniel explores Great moments in nationalist histrionics, while Gustavo Coronel went Protesting the intervention of Hugo Chávez in Latin America

Update, 4PM Venezuela, Guatemala to seek new U.N. candidate

The Venezuelan and Guatemalan foreign ministers intend to meet in New York on Thursday morning to try to agree on a consensus candidate for the seat, one of two earmarked for Latin America on the 15-nation council, the diplomats said.

(technorati tags Venezuela, UN UN Security Council Bolivia Peru)

Metric outlaws, and today's items at the blogs, Maria, and Larwyn.

Did you know about the European Commission's determination to make it illegal, in three years' time, for any products made in or imported into the EU to carry any reference to non-metric measures?

Not only will this cost industries on both sides of the Atlantic billions of dollars and euros, but it is in direct breach of US federal law.

Brussels Journal and EU Referendum ponder the problem.

A Dutch newspaper reported that Moroccan "youths" cheered loudly during showings of the movie World Trade Center in Rotterdam. Pieter confirms the translation at the prior link, and adds,

The translation is accurate although the Moroccans were clapping their hand rather than cheering.

The second paragraph basically says that various visitors left the theater in disgust and that the theater management reacted immediately by having security staff removing the Moroccan youths.

Good catch, it seems not a lot has changed since the real 9/11 when the same happened in some Dutch cities.

Contract-killer News Network

Ali Bubba's Tim Russert vs. My Fantasy Mehlman. Question the press? Mon Dieu!*

Blue Crab Boulevard is as bored as I over the Obama-Rama

"Pretty clear": Bob Casey explains

CAIR, Islamic Jihad, And Keith Ellison

Maria's articles
The Beltway Retreat: The insurgents are hitting their targets--in Washington. TERROR RULES STREETS: 'P.C.' COWARDICE DOOMS FIGHT AGAINST IRAQ'S KILLERS

I wish the world were as innocent as intellectuals pretend. But we're far from the Peaceable Kingdom. If we're unwilling to behave ferociously toward terrorists and thugs, they'll behave with greater ferocity toward the innocent. That's a consistent equation in humanity's moral algebra.

The Sanity Squad has been discussing that point.

Vlad the Persistent: I will retain influence even after leaving office

U.S. fears inside job at airports: British bombers had Muslim plant at Heathrow to test security But at least you can get to Hong Kong from London for $600 round trip, or to and from space for $1,764,000.

Larwyn's Links
Self-Defense: CNN Asks Rep. Hunter If People Have the 'Right to Know What War is Like'. To which I ask, if CNN is so interested, why didn't the show the execution of Daniel Pearl?

Larwyn said,

PJM linked to the Times article and see Hot Air's video of Repub Rep Duncan Hunter's appearance on Blitzer's "Day Room" today. Hope they have lots of baby wipes at the CNN executive suite right now. Tummies must be churning.

MoD bans TV news access to warzones

New York Times ordered to reveal anthrax sources

About Why Congress Is Gridlocked

In a ligher mode
Via today's WSJ, Robert shows you how to take a shower.

"Are you pondering what I'm pondering, Pinky?" Report finds sex always on men's minds.

Which brings us to the next item:

Chris Muir must have been visiting the three dead shrinks


Update Can someone explain to me how firefighters in boxer shorts is more "gender neutral"

(technorati tags Politics Media European Union Iraq Larwyn)

Jack's back - on previews

Blogs4Bauer has the skinny:
Special extended Season 6 Trailer
Season 6 Premiere:
Sunday January 14th (8-10pm EST)
Monday January 15th (8-10pm EST)

You know where I'll be.

24

Vegemite crackdown

Breaking news: Metroblogging Melbourne blows the lid off the Vegemite jar and gets to the truth beneath the goo.
Scroll for update!

The food police are at it: now there's a Vegemite crackdown. The Aussies are upset, with good reason.

Vegemite crackdown fears roil expats

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has long prohibited imports of Vegemite because it contains folate, a B vitamin approved as an additive for just a few foods, including breakfast cereals.

Now, with all the problems in the world, just how much busywork can the FDA be needing to make that they have to take on Vegemite? How many people in the USA even know what the hey Vegemite is, let alone use eat it?

I mean, I found out about Vegemite the first time I was in London and two of the people at the B&B where I was staying asked me if I wanted to go to Australia House with them. After we got back from Australia House, the landlady of the B&B told us about Marmite. That means I had to travel some 3,500 miles to even hear about the product.

TigerHawk posted on The outrageous ban on Vegemite and asks,

But searching Australian tourists for Vegemite? How is it we can profile Aussies for Vegemite and not young Muslim men for box cutters?

Now, I'm allergic to soy and all soy products and I use Vegemite or Marmite to flavor my stir-fry so it has the salty taste and the color (the rest of the family uses the usual, soy sauce). Apparently Marmite will be banned, too.

I better get to Wegmans and stock up.

(make sure to click on the jar)


Here's the food police video for your enjoyment:


PS Does anyone know how to photoshop one of those red circles with a diagonal on to the jar?

Update
Thank you, SmadaNek! Ken sent the photshop.

Faced with the imminent ban on Marmite, I went to the store and got some:
Life is good.

As the friends who took me to Australia House said, "that stuff will cover the taste of anything!". Maybe they went to the same school as the guy who said, "Imagine a world where institutional cooking was saved by vegemite!"

UPDATE 2
Metroblogging Melbourne uncovers the truth under the goo:
Vegemite ban or cheap shot at the US?

But the big question is will you get stopped for taking in Vegemite into the US? Apparently, out of all the articles reporting this story, only one person has been stopped at the Canadian border. Not anywhere else on the web have I seen an account of someone getting stopped for this Vegemite folate madness. In fact, I have been through the U.S. with Vegemite in hand with no problems.

So why is this story so big? Well, it's the Today Tonight / ACA phenomenon where we take a small story and make it huge. A guy from Geelong got stopped for having Vegemite while crossing the Canadian/U.S. border. Danny Lannen writes a story that relates to Geelong in an odd story. Kevin Healey from The Courier Mail sees this story and decides to rewrite it and make it a big story in the Sunday paper. News.com.au publishes his story online, which is picked up by everyone including all the news outlets.

If you have ever watched Border Security, they often find people confiscating foods from their respective countries so why does an unsubstantiated story of banning Vegemite make such waves.

Aussies tend to poke fun at other countries, which is generally tolerable when talking about cricket or rugby. We have to condemn the Crounola riots and we have to be sensitive to the Lebanese community. Making fun of Asians or black people is not acceptable. But when it comes to slagging off the U.S., its acceptable. Even The Age had a cartoon today depicting an Osama Bin Laden sign next to a Vegemite Kid sign. Is it funny comparing a mass murderer to someone who possesses Vegemite? This story is a poor excuse to find another reason to hate the U.S. Whether it's a fight over women on a beach or a fight over Vegemite, it shows that there will never be harmony between races or nationalities here. The media will continue to push its agenda whether for political reasons or for monetary benefit.

Sorry for the rant and I hope it makes sense. What say you?

I say I'm prepared!


More rich gooeyness: vegemite on a toasted English muffin as the first food item of the day when hangover recovery was job #1 was the perfect food.

vegemite - more dangerous than a dirty bomb? Or is the dirty bomb better tasting?

(technorati tags Vegemite, Marmite, FDA, food police)

The booming economy, and today's items

It's The Economy, Stupid MSM

Have the media learned anything? Apparently not. Despite 36 straight months of expansion, an unemployment rate of 4.6%, and inflation at an annual projected rate of 2.4%, the media still can't bring themselves to report on a Republican economy honestly. Business & Media Institute found that TV networks gave twice as much airtime to negative stories as positive ones (62% - 31%). Bad news was twice as likely to get full-length treatment as well. The people interviewed by the network were three times more likely to relate negative anecdotes. To no one's surprise, CBS took the lead in negative coverage, committing 80% of its economic coverage to bad news in the middle of a huge economic expansion.

Politics
'President Pelosi' even scares her
Talkin' 'bout My Generation
Men Without Chests and Women Without Breasts

Media and the war
CNN, Meet Marine 2nd Lt. Joshua Booth, a Sniper Victim
CNN's Anderson Cooper, Embedded Reporter
Reporting on the War and CNN's Betrayal: Briefly Stated

NYT-ea culpa: Times mouthpiece acknowledges error. Some questions for the Public Editor of the NYT, Mr. Calamity. Dan Riehl and Michelle Malkin are among the many posting on the subject.

The Lancet study
Middle East Madness

While we argue over various mathematical formulas to determine how many have died in the Iraq war, note that the passive is the voice of choice—as in "50,000 have been killed", or "100,000 have died."

Culpability is ignored. And so we have the following Orwellian situation: the aggregate number must include everybody who dies violently in Iraq: an "insurgent" in jeans who blows himself up in an IED mishap, a terrorist killed by a Marine, a child murdered in a school by Islamists, Shiites blown up by Sunnis and vice versa -all these are lumped together as collateral civilian deaths.

And how can it be otherwise, when the enemy wears no uniforms, counts on killing civilians to ruin the country, and most journalists will blame all deaths of any sort on the American presence in Iraq?

Stung by the dishonesty of "body counts" in Vietnam, and worried that in postmodern warfare, Westerners are not only not supposed to die, but also should not kill, our own forces release no figures on how many enemy terrorists they have killed. The result is that the narrative of almost all the mayhem coming out of Iraq is bifurcated into either how many Americans were killed, or how many "Iraqis" perished -a sure method to convince the reader that the entire enterprise is a complete disaster in which we are mere sitting ducks, whose presence alone leads to Iraqis dropping dead like flies.

EUrope and Islam
Veiled and Reviled

The ACLU
ACLJ Asks Appeals Court to Uphold NSA Surveillance Program

In a lighter mode
Hillary might want to read this one that my beautiful friend Maria sent: Natural Skin Care Treatments

Forget the plastic surgery and expensive products. Natural skin care experts say the secret to wrinkle-free, supple skin is right in your kitchen.

Of course, Hillary hasn't been to a kitchen since that day she was handing out cookies in the White House.

Today's video


(technorati tags Economy George W Bush Politics Media European Union Iraq Hillary Clinton Larwyn)

SC&A on faith

Sigmund, Carl and Alfred has a truly beautiful post Of Gold And God that you should read:

Believers look into the skies at night, and they know. Believers see a sunrise or sunset, and they know. Believers know that they don't know everything or have the answers to all the questions. Believers also know that it doesn't matter.

When a believer hears the ocean, he or she hears the same sound that God heard at creation. Whether it is that rhythmic soft sound, as water laps the shore or the mighty roar of the waves crashing in on each others, the believer understands he or she is hearing the sounds of the Creation event. Believers are instinctively drawn to those sounds, to reflect and ponder a mighty greatness. Whether it is the ocean, mountains or any other manifestation of nature, believers listen- and know.

To echo Maxed-Out Mama's words

Very, very few people write of what is real to me as you do.

Vote for his article at Real Clear Politics

(technorati tags God Faith)

Why focus on the issues when you can talk about plastic surgery?

Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Spencer did great during the debates, and even the NYT notices his Pressing Senate Bid With a Sharp Tongue and Strong Resolve, including, In startling turn, challenger praises Sen. Clinton in debate.

So what are the talk radio stations focusing on this morning?

Whether Spencer thinks that a. Hillary was unattractive, and b. whether he says that she had plastic surgery. His words "crossed a political line".

Well, Hillary has had "work" done.

Hillary had her overbite corrected while in the White House. I believe she used Invisaligns. I heartily recommend Invisaligns since I used them myself. Most Invisalign patients are adults who for a variety of reasons have used them. I did because teeth (even in the absence of disease) shift over the years and need correction; in my case I was waking up in the mornings with jaw pain. In fact, I wish Dr. Rice would use Invisaligns - the result would be stunning.

As far as plastic surgery, while Hillary might not have had a full facelift, I'd say she's had microdermabrasion, an eyebrow lift or two, and Botox. Microdermabrasion is done routinely as part of some facials, so I wouldn't count that as plastic surgery.

The eyebrow lift is obvious. Hillary's eyebrows are reaching the middle of her forehead, racing Nancy Pelosi's eyebrows for the highest spot at the top of their hairlines. Why do these women think that looking STARTLED makes them look young, you tell me.

The Botox didn't seem to have been working this weekend, though.

As far as Hillary's attractiveness, back when the co-President was in the White House changing her hairstyle every week, I saw her in the news and remarked to The Husband (my husband, not her poor excuse for a spouse), "Today she's got Martha Stewart's haircut!". To which The Husband, whose impeccable taste in women is clear, replied in his customary understated way, "Fausta, Martha Stewart is a good-looking woman."

Good thing The Husband's not running for office.

Now excuse me while I go to my manicure appointment. I'll be reading up on the issues while my nail polish dries.

Update Back from manicure! It's Been a Rough Week for a Homely Hapless New York Girl.

(technorati tags John Spencer Hillary Clinton Politics)