LIVEBLOGGING: From Trenton to San Francisco by train

UPDATED
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After I received the invitation to BlogHer in San Francisco I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to indulge in one of my greater eccentricities: my inordinate fondness for long-distance train travel, which even exceeds my dislike for air travel.

I have crossed the USA by train from Trenton to Seattle once, and from Newark to Miami. I have crossed Great Britain by rail. I have traveled from Amsterdam, Holland to Merida Spain.

I love trains.

When you tell people that it takes from Sunday to Wednesday to cross the country by train, six out of seven will tell you you're crazy for taking that trip. The seventh one is probably as crazy as you, and will immediately start a conversation about the last time they went from New York City to Vancouver by train.

If you're really lucky they might have taken the Trans-Siberian, the mother of all long-distance trains. You know you have a friend for life when you find a railway-travel enthusiast who actually volunteered, paid for and endured the whole Trans-Siberian enchilada.

My friend - who loves doing the NYC-Vancouver ride in early Fall - took me to the train station this morning, and now I'm on the train from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, which is clean, comfortable, and running on time. The dialup card is working, and will liveblog.

It feels like Christmas day!
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Trenton station:


Bruce, who's in charge of the cafe in the train. He commutes to work from Long Island.

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2:35PM EDT:
The landscape through Pennsylvania is mostly industrial, as the tracks follow the steel and coal routes. We just pulled out of Harrisburg PA.

The train continues to be on its Sunday schedule. It'll be interesting to see on the return trip how the schedule works, since freight trains get priority over passenger trains.

As expected, most of the passengers in business class are women traveling alone or elderly. The kind of folks who don't want to be doing long trips by car.

A friend had suggested that I drive to San Francisco. I don't enjoy long trips by car even when I'm in the company of good friends and/or family because of an old back injury which healed but which causes my back to go into muscle spasms after seating in the same position for more than four hours (yet another reason I dislike long flights). It takes nearly two days to recover from a 10-hr drive.

I don't like driving alone, either. The idea of driving alone cross-country reminds me of a Twilight Zone episode where a young blonde woman set out to drive across the USA and had an accident in Pennsylvania. She gets back in her car and keeps driving, but there is this weird-looking man in her car. He doesn't speak. He just stares at her from the rearview mirror. I'd rather take the train, thanks.

To each their twilight zone.



Susquehanna river, between Harrisburg and Johnstown:

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5PM EDT
Tyrone PA: The internet connection from the dialup card doesn't work too well now that the tracks are between mountains. The wooded landscape is punctuated with small towns, coal depots and commercial buildings. When we left Trenton it was 85F, dry and sunny. Now it's in the 80s and raining. The clouds are starting to break over the horizon.

I'm reading "Se acabo lo que se daba", by Luis Davila Colon, a political novel about Puerto Rico that my brother sent me last week.
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6:40PM EDT
The landscape through the mountains resembles at times that of western North Carolina, lush and green and chock-full of trees crowding one another while a river winds through it at times in shades of orange that changes into a silvery grey. They must have had a lot of rain. The cloudy sky changes from dark clouds to white clouds.

Every so often a cargo train comes by on the opposite track.

We're somewhere between Johnstown and Pittsburgh.



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Liveblogging the Defending the American Dream Summit

Go to my Star Ledger NJ Voices for details!

More recent posts on top:
Press Conference: The Wall of Pork at the Defending the American Dream Summit

Liveblogging, continued: Guess who didn't come to the Conference?

Liveblogging the Defending the American Dream Summit

Fast food as sin

My latest article is up at the Star Ledger's NJ Voices.

Corzine: Squeeze the towns for state trooper costs

Coalition of the Swilling has the story:

Rather than do something silly like, say, cut waste in Trenton or perhaps not add thousands of people to the state payroll our glorious bloated bureaucracy has instead chosen to charge people for what they already pay for.

Asbury Park Press has the details: As times change, so may NJ's free rural state police patrols

TRENTON — New Jersey State Police have patrolled the state's rural areas for 87 years at no extra cost to smaller towns that never created police departments.

In fact, the law that created the state police agency stated it would "primarily'' be used to protect rural areas.

But times have changed, and free rural New Jersey state police patrols may soon end.

As the state grapples with chronic state budget woes, Gov. Corzine has proposed requiring municipalities that get free state police patrols to pay a quarter of the estimated patrol cost to raise $20.5 million for the cash-strapped state.

"These are difficult times, and the decisions and choices we must make are difficult,'' state Attorney General Anne Milgram said.

Of course, reducing the bloated state bureaucracy would never cross their minds, would it?

1,550 words and the NYT doesn't mention party affiliation

I was riding the train to New York this morning and came across this front-page article in the NYT: Former Mayor Guilty of Fraud in Newark Sales

Fifteen hundred words, front page news. Not one mention of Sharpe James's party affiliation.

Only in the timeline does the NYT bother to mention "While serving his fourth term as mayor, Mr. James is chosen by Democratic leaders to complete the unexpired senate term of Winona Lipman, who had died."

The Times is not alone in its omission: The Star Ledger's 1400 word article couldn't, either.

UPDATE, Sunday 20 April
GUILTY: Tamika Riley is Former Newark Major Sharpe James Mistress



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Confessional governors

As if we hadn't had enough, here's another confessional governor:
Gov. Paterson admits to sex with other woman for years

Given the call-girl scandal that erupted last week and forced Spitzer's stunning resignation, Paterson conceded that top government officials are bound to come under closer scrutiny for their personal actions.

Here's a question: Did Paterson use public funds for his dalliances? Were any of the dalliances possibly connected to organized crime? Was he a staunch prosecutor of adulterers while indulging?

If the answer to any of the above is no, then I really don't care to hear it. His private life is none of my business.

But at least the Daily News respects his privacy and didn't mention at all his party affiliation.

How nice of them.

UPDATE
We're approaching a national Too Much Information crisis.
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Across the river in NJ, the loathesome McGreevey has yet another of his lovers come forward during the divorce proceedings but now says he and his estranged wife need to move forward for the sake of their 6-year-old daughter.
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Gina Cobb rips apart "The Myth of Morality"



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Paul wants to know, "WWBD?"

The other day my friend Paul Budline and I were discussing the fainting for Obama phenomenom and all the cult-like devotion, and Paul's now asking, "What Would Barack Do?"

To read Paul's questions go to my article at the Star Ledger's NJ Voices.

The Wall Street Journal Looks at the State of the Toll and Spend State

My latest article is now up at the Star Ledger's NJ Voices website.

Bill finds someone else to blame, again, and other items

Bill on going negative: media bias made her do it

Bill Clinton voiced his abiding anger at the media's coverage of him and his wife in Durham, N.H., today, and suggested that media bias will force Clinton to go negative on Barack Obama.

He also expressed his frustration that his wife is perceived by voters as divisive through, he said, no fault of her own.

because she is the most innocent. Plweeez!

Now Bill wants us to believe that it's all the fault of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy - and the media's part of it??

Just don't ask her questions, right?

Via Yid With Lid, Dick Morris sees BilHil as the couple that can't stop thinking about yesterday.

With the Clinton's, it's always someone else's fault.

Let me ask my readers, why does the American public keep Bill and Hillary in the political scene? Why aren't these two ostracized for their lies?

UPDATE
Hillary and the Psychic
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Via Instapundit, Siggy and Raven, blogger Andrew Olmstead died in Iraq. Here's his last post.

My heartfelt condolences to his loved ones.
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Via Larwyn, it's clear that NJ politicians have their priorities, while American Tort Reform Association Names Atlantic County, New Jersey a "Judicial Hellhole" for 2007.
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Cinnamon Stillwell posts CAIR's Rebuttal to her column on Savage vs. CAIR: The battle over free speech.
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Sudanese Thinker writes about the US Diplomat Shot Dead In Khartoum

You must read the whole post.
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Yesterday Siggy and I discussed Iowa in a 15-minute podcast. We had a great time and great feedback from our listeners. Siggy took the Dr. House approach to politics and referred to Obama and Romney as "the cabbage patch candidates", while I asked, "Who in the world is going to vote for Huckabee for president?"

You can subscribe to my podcast via iTunes here.



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Free Congo!

My latest article's up at the Star Ledger's NJ Voices.

On the Road in New Jersey: Americans for Prosperity

My latest article is up at the Star Ledger's NJ Voices

Special thanks to DynamoBuzz for his kind words.

Thank you for the nomination!

Fausta's blog has been nominated in the Best of the Top 251 - 500 Blogs. I am truly pleased, and, if you would like to, please vote for my blog. You can vote every 24 hours.

The 2007 Weblog Awards main page has all the categories, and you will find lots of interesting blogs there, too.

Thank you!

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Two and a Half Endorsements:
My new article is up at the Star Ledger.

Please go read it, and leave a comment, if you have the chance.



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A death in the neighborhood

My latest article is up at the Star Ledger's New Jersey Voices section.

Money for moving

My article's up at the Star Ledger.

Les enfants du paradis communiste

The title refers to an old French movie but the post has to do with the current propaganda trend in central New Jersey, which implies that the viewer should take it all in, in an attitude of child-like innocence.

First we had the Princeton "Human Rights" Film Festival, now there's the Che show at the Mason Gross Galleries in New Brunswick (emphasis on gross), gloriously promoted in the local paper as,

The continued power of Che Guevara as a symbol of hope and opposition across cultures is examined at Mason Gross Galleries.

I'll give you some data on the "symbol of hope and opposition": here's a list of 216 documented victims of Che Guevara in Cuba, 1957-1959 (pdf file). Here's another list compiled by Dr. Armando Lago for his book,

EXECUTED BY CHE IN THE SIERRA MAESTRA MOUNTAINS
ARUSTIDIO
MANUEL CAPITAN
JUAN CHANG
EUTIMIO GUERRA
DIONISIO LEBRIGIO
JUAN LEBRIGIO
EL NEGRO NAPOLES
CHICHO OSORIO
DOS "NO-IDENTIFICADOS'' EN EL 04/57

EXECUTED BY CHE IN SANTA CLARA CITY
RAMON ALBA
JOSE BARROSO
JOAQUIN CASILLAS
FELIX CRUZ
HECTOR MIRABAL
J. MIRABAL
FELIX MONTANO
CORNELIO ROJAS
ALEJANDRO GARCIA OLAYON
ALEJANDRO ROJAS
VILALLA

EXECUTED BY CHE AT LA CABA�A PRISON IN HAVANA
VILAU ABREU
HUMBERTO AGUIAR
GERMAN AGUIRRE
PELAYO ALAYON
JOSE LUIS ALFARO
PEDRO ALFARO
MARIANO ALONSO
JOSE ALVARO
ANIELLA
MARIO ARES POLO
JOSE RAMON BACALLAO
CEVERINO BARRIOS
EUGENIO BECKER
FRANCISCO BECKER
RAMON BISCET
ROBERTO CALZADILLA
EUFEMIO CANO
JUAN CAPOTE FIALLO
ANTONIO CARRALERO
GERTRUDIS CASTELLANOS
JOSE CASTA�O QUEVEDO
RAUL CASTA�O
EUFEMIO CHALA
JOSE CHAMACE
JOSE CHAMIZO
RAUL CLAUSELL
ANGEL CLAUSELL
DEMETRIO CLAUSELL
JOSE CLAUSELL
ELOY CONTRERAS
ROBERTO CORBO
EMILIO CRUZ
JUAN FELIPE CRUZ
ORESTES CRUZ
HUMBERTO CUEVAS
CUNY
ANTONIO DE BECHE
MATEO DELGADO
ARMANDO DELGADO
RAMON DESPAIGNE
JOSE DIAZ CABEZAS
ANTONIO DUARTE
RAMON FERNANDEZ OJEDA
RUDY FERNANDEZ
FERRAN ALFONSO
SALVADOR FERRERO
VICTOR FIGUEREDO
EDUARDO FORTE
UGARDE GALAN
RAFAEL GARCIA MU�IZ
ADALBERTO GARCIA
ALBERTO GARCIA
JACINTO GARCIA
EVELIO GASPAR
ARMADA GIL
JOSE GONZALEZ MALAGON
EVARISTO GONZALEZ
EZEQUIEL GONZALEZ
SECUNDINO GONZALEZ
RICARDO GRAO
BONIFACIO GRASSO
RICARDO GRAU
OSCAR GUERRA
JULIAN HERNANDEZ
FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ LEYVA (father of Pepe Hernandez)
ANTONIO HERNANDEZ
GERARDO HERNANDEZ
OLEGARIO HERNANDEZ
SECUNDINO HERNANDEZ
JESUS INSUA
ENRIQUE IZQUIERDO
OSMIN JORRIN
SILVINO JUNCO
ENRIQUE LAROSA
IGNACIO LAAAPARRA
JESUS LAZO
ARIEL LIMA LAGO
RAUL LOPEZ VIDAL
ARMANDO MAS
ENERLIO MATA
ELPIDIO MEDEROS
JOSE MEDINAS
JOSE MESA
FIDEL MESQUIA
JUAN MILIAN
FRANCISCO MIRABAL
LUIS MIRABAL
ERNESTO MORALES
PEDRO MOREJON
DR. CARLOS MUI�O
CESAR NECOLARDES ROJAS
VICTOR NECOLARDES ROJAS
JOSE NU�EZ
VITERBO O'RREILLY
FELIX OVIEDO
MANUEL PANEQUE
PEDRO PEDROSO
RAFAEL PEDROSO
DIEGO PEREZ CUESTA
JUAN PEREZ
DIEGO PEREZ CRELA
JOSE POZO
EMILIO PUEBLA
ALFREDO PUPO
SECUNDINO RAMIREZ
RAMON RAMOS
PABLO RAVELO
RUBEN REY
MARIO RISQUELME
FERNANDO RIVERA
PABLO RIVERA
MANUEL RODRIGUEZ
MARCOS RODRIGUEZ
NEMESIO RODRIGUEZ
PABLO RODRIGUEZ
RICARDO RODRIGUEZ
JOSE SALDARA
PEDRO SANTANA
SERGIO SIERRA
JUAN SILVA
FAUSTO SILVA
ELPIDIO SOLER
JESUS SOSA BLANCO
RENATO SOSA
SERGIO SOSA
PEDRO SOTO
OSCAR SUAREZ
RAFAEL TARRAGO
TEODORO TELLEZ
FRANCISCO TELLEZ
JOSE TIN
FRANCISCO TRAVIESO
LEONARDO TRUJILLO
TRUJILLO
LUPE VALDES
MARCELINO VALDES
ANTONIO VALENTIN
MANUEL VAZQUEZ
VERDECIA
DAMASO ZAYAS

Here's one instance of Che's modus operandi:

A Cuban gentleman named Pierre San Martin was also among those jailed by the gallant Che. A few years ago he recalled the horrors in an El Nuevo Herald article.

"Thirty-two of us were crammed into a cell," he recalls. "Sixteen of us would stand while the other sixteen tried to sleep on the cold filthy floor. We took shifts that way. Actually, we considered ourselves lucky. After all, we were alive. Dozens were led from the cells to the firing squad daily. The volleys kept us awake. We felt that any one of those minutes would be our last.

"One morning the horrible sound of that rusty steel door swinging open startled us awake and Che's guards shoved a new prisoner into our cell. His face was bruised and smeared with blood. We could only gape. He was a boy, couldn't have been much older than 12, maybe 14.

"'What did you do?' We asked horrified. 'I tried to defend my papa,' gasped the bloodied boy. 'I tried to keep these Communist sons of b**tches form murdering him! But they sent him to the firing squad.'"

Soon Che's goons came back, the rusty steel door opened and they yanked the valiant boy out of the cell. "We all rushed to the cell's window that faced the execution pit," recalls Mr. San Martin. "We simply couldn't believe they'd murder him! Then we spotted him, strutting around the blood-drenched execution yard with his hands on his waist and barking orders � the gallant Che Guevara.

"Here Che was, finally in his element. In battle he was a sad joke, a bumbler of epic proportions [for details see "Fidel: Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant"], but up against disarmed and bloodied boys he was a snarling tiger.

"'Kneel Down!' Che barked at the boy.

"'ASSASSINS!' We screamed from our window. 'MURDERERS!! HOW CAN YOU MURDER A LITTLE BOY!'

"'I said, KNEEL DOWN!' Che barked again.

"The boy stared Che resolutely in the face. 'If you're going to kill me,' he yelled. 'you'll have to do it while I'm standing! MEN die standing!'

"COWARDS! MURDERERS! Sons of B**TCHES!" The men yelled desperately from their cells. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" HOW CAN ...?!"

"And then we saw Che unholstering his pistol. It didn't seem possible. But Che raised his pistol, put the barrel to the back of the boy's neck and blasted. The shot almost decapitated the young boy.
"We erupted. We were enraged, hysterical, banging on the bars.'MURDERERS! ASSASSINS!' His murder finished, Che finally looked up at us, pointed his pistol, and BLAM-BLAM-BLAM! emptied his clip in our direction. Several of us were wounded by his shots."

To a man (and boy) Che's murder victims went down in a blaze of defiance and glory. So let's recall Che's own plea when the wheels of justice finally turned and he was cornered in Bolivia. "Don't Shoot!" he whimpered. "I'm Che! I'm worth more to you alive than dead!"

Don't expect to find any of that at the Mason Gross Galleries in New Brunswick.

This is what happens to artists in present-day Cuba.

Governor Corzine's car accident

CORZINE INJURED IN PARKWAY CRASH
He has broken bones and breathing tube, faces months of rehab

Gov. Jon Corzine suffered numerous fractures to his leg, breastbone, collarbone and ribs last night when the SUV carrying him from Atlantic City to the governor's mansion swerved and bounced off a wayward vehicle along the Gar den State Parkway, then slammed into a guardrail, officials said.
...
Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex) assumed the duties of acting governor last night.

Mr. Codey had also been acting governor after Jim McGreevey quit.

Hightstown looks the other way

At the WaPo this morning, Looking the Other Way on Immigrants
Some Cities Buck Federal Policies

HIGHTSTOWN, N.J. -- After federal agents launched a massive raid on an apartment complex here two years ago, other illegal immigrants in this quiet town near Princeton University grew so wary of the law, authorities say, that many began hiding behind headstones in a local cemetery when patrol cars approached.

But these days, the immigrants of Hightstown are more likely to be the ones calling the cops.

In the aftermath of a series of raids in 2004, the town council in this historic borough of 5,300 -- transformed in recent years by an influx of at least 1,300 Latin Americans -- unanimously approved a sort of immigrant bill of rights. Joining a growing list of cities enacting a no-questions-asked policy on immigration status, Hightstown now allows its undocumented residents to officially interact with local police and access city services without fear of being reported to federal authorities.

By doing so, Hightstown is subverting the principle of the rule of law.

The greatest problem I see, the most fundamental problem involving illegal immigration is that it subverts a basic principle on which the USA is founded: the principle of the rule of law.

I can not stress enough how erosive to our society is having,supporting and countenancing a group of people whose entire existence is predicated on evading the rule of law.

While the immigrants are calling the cops on those who break the law, they themselves are breaking the law. The message is clear: the immigrants are taught that the law applies to someone else.

The article continues,

It has opened new lines of communication here, officials say. One illegal immigrant at the complex where the raids were staged called on the police recently to help place a family member in alcohol rehabilitation; others have reported domestic abuse, extortion, theft and other crimes. Some are calling the town's pro-immigrant mayor for advice on City Hall weddings and landlord troubles. Hightstown has added services aimed at immigrants, including free bilingual computer classes last month. Noting the shift, one Spanish-language newspaper recently dubbed Hightstown the "Paradise Town" of New Jersey.

For pity's sake - when one's speaking in Spanish, half the terminology one uses in computer and internet is in English, and the other half is anglicisms. Are they using new, Spanish, keyboards? Or are they avoiding Insert, Home, Page Up, and all those other keys? Computer classes would be the perfect setting on which to teach English as a second language.

The best-paid professions in the world use English.

If the mayor and the people involved in implementing these policies really had in mind the well-being of the newcomers, they would have free computer classes in English. As I have mentioned time and time again, India's become an economic powerhouse in globalization because Indians speak English. Every person who comes to the USA should work hard to participate in all of our country's opportunities. Learning English is only the first step.

Additonally, there's the issue of integration:
In yesterday's Blog Talk Radio podcast, Pieter Dorsman mentioned how Holland failed to integrate immigrants:

Most of the immigrants who were brought in during the post war years when Holland became such an economic success was for lower-skilled labor jobs. Immigrants were brought in from Morocco, from Turkey, and there was a very strong belief that if let this people to their own devices and let them have their own culture, they would naturally fit into Dutch society and become a part of it, and not be too confrontational.

But what has happened is that there has been no integration at all, and we have created a group of people who are completely disconnected from mainstream Dutch society who have very little opportunities to climb the social-economic ladder.

That's exactly what we're setting ourselves for.

What it comes down to is: Every immigrant into the USA should be taught, in English, what it means to be an American.

Not doing so condemns those very immigrants who come here in search for a better life, to the same second and third-tier existence they tried to escape.

The "Paradise Town" of New Jersey? More like a fool's paradise.

Update, Wednesday 11 April Don't miss Sigmund Carl and Alfred's post Viva la immigracion
Enlighten NJ posts on New Jersey’s Boom in Illegal Immigrants

Of prawns and pawns

Yesterday around noon I was meeting a friend while trying to navigate the very noisy lobby of the Museum of Modern Art, which was packed to the gills with a very wet crowd of loud people on Easter Break who had ventured in the cold rain. The place felt like an airport the day before Thanksgiving, only with no departures, just arrivals.

My friend and I finally found each other and since the MoMA was mobbed with the crowd we decided to have lunch across the street at Gattopardo. We rushed out of the noisy MoMA across the noisy and rainy cold street, walked into the restaurant and were warmly greeted into a sanctuary of elegant quiet and excellent food.

I had a most excellent plate of prawns that must have come from Paradise. They were that good.

To make a long story short, I had a wonderful afternoon and was totally unaware of anything in the news until evening, when I was reading this post from Siggy (who's as fond of Bond as I am of Bryn). Siggy said,

Mahmoud Ahmadenijad's 'pardon' and release of those 15 British sailors and marines is no more a gesture of Iran's inherent 'goodness' than were Adolph Hitler's displays of affection for his dog - and it is important that we understand that.

Until then I had not heard that Mahmoud Ahmadenijad had been saying that he had pardoned the hostages.

Shortly after, the BBC newscast showed Tony Blair talking about "how much he respects the Iranians".

I couldn't believe my ears.

Yes, the hostages were not yet out of Iran, but for Blair to stoop down to praising a culture of shame with his respect was beyond belief. The same culture of shame who for two weeks publically paraded and humiliated IN COMPLETE DISREGARD OF GENEVA CONVENTIONS PROTOCOL fifteen members of the British forces.

Make no mistake, the hostages were political prisoners and as such were humiliated. For an explanation of this point, listen to the Sanity Squad, and listen to what Siggy had to say about the videos of the hostages.

By expressing his respect, Tony Blair, who apparently got gelded along the way, became a pawn.

Margaret Thatcher would have "pardoned" Ahmadenijad's grubby little butt into the ground from the get-go.

But we live in different times.

While we stand on the shoulders of giants like Thatcher and Reagan and are able to feast on prawns while we still can, undoubtedly because of the sacrifice of people like the hostages, the Democrats have ended the war on terror by banishing the term, because the

Democratic leadership doesn't like the phrase.

(h/t Alcibiades).

Mind you, I don't like the term either, and would definitely prefer to call it the war on Caliphate Islam. But that won't suit the Democrat mindset, whose delicate sensibilites has them doing anti-terror drills against Christians (during Lent, no less), just a few miles away from here. Because of course we don't want to upset Muslims

The real story is that it has become acceptable to discriminate against Christians with bigoted characterizations that portray them as gun wielding psycho killers. Such bigotry is a common occurrence in film, on TV and the internet, in schools and in city halls across America. Newspapers cover such stories with zest and a certain sense of shoulder shrugging normalcy.

Instead of the war on terror, we now have 'The War That Must Not Be Named'.

That way we can digest our prawns with ease. While my friend and I found temporary shelter from the daily grind at a lovely restaurant, the Dems are seeking permanent shelter from reality through a linguistic trick. This has become part and parcel of their grab for power.

The Dem's grab for power at any price includes having Nancy playing pretend at being Secretary of State, making new friends with our enemies, lying about our friends, and veiling herself with an Hermes scarf,

The Reform Party of Syria, which is not playing pretend because it can not afford to, explains what's really behind the veil:

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was seen roaming the streets of Damascus flaunting a Hijab. The Hijab worn by women across the Muslim world has come to symbolize either one of three things: 1) a symbol that men control women by forcing piety, or 2) a return to religiosity because of oppressive rulers, or 3) a fashion statement. If you ask any expert on the Middle East, you would get any one of three answers. The ones who usually claim it is a fashion statement are the political rulers who usually oppress people in general. A Hijab is NOT a confirmation of the rights of women in the Middle East but rather a symbol of their suppression.

At least Siggy was able to look at the bright side,

she could have been photograped wearing a Palestinian keffiyah.

Because a pawn is a pawn is a pawn no matter how expensive a scarf she wears.

Special thanks to Maria and Larwyn.
Update: Pratfall in Damascus
(Note To those who asked, my friend's a vegetarian - she had the spinach)

Technorati tags Nancy Pelosi

The upcoming Professional Protesters Agency of Central NJ

Used to be, in the olden days you could get a few unemployed to attend your protest by handing out a couple of bucks. In the developing nations you can still do that - and if there's a G8 summit, you can get demonstrators from other countries just by providing transportation and perhaps a meal. Of course that doesn't apply in France, where protesting is the national sport (and from what I've heard, more popular than sex and soccer) and people do it for free as a weekly family outing.

But there's a new development:

During yesterday's podcast Siggy sent this article: Germans put price on protesting.

The ever-enterprising and always well-organized Germans, in a grasp at entrepreneurship, have come up with the concept of professional protesters:

They refuse to rally for neo-Nazis, but as long as the price is right a new type of German mercenary will take to the streets and protest for you.

It's not just any slouch that qualifies, it's - to use Siggy's words - GOOD LOOKING protesters:

Next to a black and white posed picture, Melanie lists her details from her jeans size to her shoe size and tells potential protest organisers that she is willing to be deployed up to 100km around Berlin.

So you can cast your demonstration according to height, age, size, and so on - even by shoe-size. I speculate that the professional protester might even accessorize his/her apparel according to the protest's theme: love beads and mood rings for peace, kaffiyeh for Palestine, and so on. However, the casting is crucial.

Global warmers will probably prefer protesters with tiny-sized feet, say, men wearing shoes size 7 or smaller, women with size 5 shoes, as symbolic of a reduced carbon footprint. It'd probably end up being a demonstration of very short people, but oh-so-paradigmatic of the love of Gaia as its emission of carbon gasses would then be smaller.

But the high-quality protester doesn't come cheap:

Six hours of Melanie bearing your banner or shouting your slogan will set you back 145 euros.

That's about $180 per protester; $30/hr. Now you're talking. A good protester agent should be able to keep 1/3 of that, saving their clients' valuable time by taking care of the paperwork and providing a full range of well-qualified attractive protesters custom-cast for the special event, small feet and all, while not having do actually do any of the protesting herself.

And I won't even ask for your shoe size unless it's absolutely necessary.

Why Joe outed Valerie, and today's items

All the outrage over Valerie Plame's outing. But did Joe Wilson outed her? When And Why Joseph C Wilson IV Outed Valerie Plame (h/t Larwyn).

TownCommons posts about The New York Times at their most irresponsible and disingenious. Why are so few people outraged at the NYT??

Speaking of what the media doesn't cover, Michelle Malkin has a sensational round-up of the Gathering of Eagles. Follow every link! Jane has the pictures.

Patrick Hynes has a post and video of McCain's New Hampshire visit, and notes,

My friend Hugh Hewitt makes a point that candidates for high public office cannot reach their target audiences without the aid of conservative media. Hugh says this not because he is a member of the conservative media, but because it is true. No candidate, including my client John McCain, will successfully navigate the primary process without communicating with and through the talk radio/blog/Podcast/YouTube nexus.

If you haven't watched it yet, you must: Make time today and watch the entire 1-hour-and 15-minutes of The Great Global Warming Swindle:

Update: Dr Sowell writes,

"Global warming" is just the latest in a long line of hysterical crusades to which we seem to be increasingly susceptible.

(end of update)

Speaking of ecological shell games such as Global Warming, Dinocrat has an excellent post on The pimping, pumping, primping and propping of China's accounting and why Purchasing Power Parity is not a substitute for GDP figures (h/t Larwyn).

Louisiana Conservative posts brain bullets

Dr Sanity has The Carnival of the Insanities:

In a lighter mode, Maria sent the NOT SUITABLE FOR WORK The F'in Departed: The Acadamy Award winning best picture of 2006 in under two minutes. Had Maria sent me the link two weeks ago, I would have rented a different video!

Ace explores why Why Are Women So Easy When It Comes To Giggles? I laughed so hard when I did my podcast with Steve of Hog On Ice that one of his commenters asked if I have a speech impediment. (Steve's making pizza - go check it out).

I'll be blogging more later. Possibly because of the Gore effect (was Al in NJ two days ago?) we still have a couple of inches of ice on the driveway, so I'll be staying in today - might as well blog!
Update The temps went up to 40F and the ice melted enough that it could be scraped off the driveway. I like that.