I remember: Jospeh Angelini, Jr.

(Note: This post will remain at the top of the page until 9/12.)

Joseph Angelini Jr., age 38 of Lindenhurst, NY, died heroically on September 11, 2001 in the World Trade Center terrorist attack. He was a New York firefighter with Ladder Co. 4



Joseph Angelini Jr.
A Firefighter Passionate About Family, Gardening

October 22, 2001

Joseph Angelini Jr. may have lived for the New York City Fire Department, but he didn't hang around when his tour ended.

"Gotta get home to the kids," he'd tell the guys in Manhattan's Ladder Co. 4 before heading to the 6:33 p.m. train to Lindenhurst.

Angelini's wife, Donna, has scheduled a memorial service for today to help 7-year-old Jennifer, 5-year-old Jacqueline and 3-year-old Joseph Angelini III to finally understand that he won't be coming home anymore.

"My son asks everyone he sees in uniform, 'Did you find my daddy, did you find my daddy?'" Donna Angelini said Friday.

The seven-year department veteran followed in the footsteps of his father, Joseph Angelini Sr., 63, who was the senior member of Brooklyn's Rescue Co. 1 and also perished in the World Trade Center attacks.

The younger Angelini, 38, was assigned to a house that protects New York's theater district. Its motto: "Never miss a performance."

But at home, he was a cook, craftsman and avid gardener who grew pumpkins, zucchini, eggplants and hot peppers and filled the house with the smells of pizza and focaccia.

"He was the air in my lungs, and now that air is taken away from me," Donna Angelini said. "I keep waiting for him to come off a 24 [hour shift] and come through the door and say, 'You wouldn't believe what happened to me today.'"

Angelini also is survived by his mother, Anne, a grandmother, Mary, sister Annmarie Bianco and brother, Michael, all of Lindenhurst; sister Mary Angelini of Washington D.C.; and by seven nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held today at 11 a.m. at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Church in Lindenhurst.
-- Elizabeth Moore (Newsday)

CNN.com profile of Joe Jr.

Living Tribute to Joseph Angelini, Jr.

Joe's father, Joe Sr. also died that day:
The Veteran and His Son

Joseph J. Angelini Sr. and his son, Joseph Jr., were firefighters, and neither survived the twin towers' collapse. "If he had lived and his son had died, I don't think he would have survived," said Alfred Benjamin, a firefighter at Rescue Company 1 in Manhattan who was partnered with Mr. Angelini for the last six months.

The elder Mr. Angelini, 63, was the most veteran firefighter in the city, with 40 years on the job. He was tough and "rode the back step" like everyone else. His 38-year-old son, who worked on Ladder Company 4 on 48th Street, was on the job for seven years.

"If you mentioned retirement to Joey, it was like punching him," Mr. Benjamin said. Joseph Jr. was proud of his father's reputation and tried to copy him any way he could, said Joseph Jr.'s wife, Donna.

And they never gave up their tools. "Think about climbing 20 stories with bunker gear, ropes, hooks, halogens and other different types of tools and somebody wants to borrow a tool -- no way," Mr. Benjamin said. "You ask them what they need done and you do it for them. You carried that tool all the way up there, so you're going to use it. If they thought they were going to need a tool, they should have carried it up. Joey Sr. always said carry your own weight. He always carried his."

Joseph Jr. applied to the department 11 years ago. He got called seven years ago. "It was the proudest day for my father-in-law. It was a great opportunity," said Donna Angelini. "His father was a firefighter and he wanted to be one, too."

Mr. Angelini, who had four children, taught Joseph Jr. carpentry. Often they worked on projects together, including a rocking horse. Joseph Jr., who had three children, had started building a dollhouse for one of his daughters. Unfinished, it is sitting on his workbench.

Joseph Angelini, Sr.
The quilt

A brother, Firefighter Michael Angelini, was there as well, but, in a move that probably saved his life, left when asked to help carry out the body of the Rev. Mychal Judge, the fire department's chaplain.

From Newsday:

Between Funeral and 'Pile'

September 21, 2001

Michael's choice: remain with his mother, Anne, in Lindenhurst and support his family during the wake, today, and the funeral, tomorrow, for his father, New York firefighter Joey Angelini, 63; or, return to The Pile to continue searching for his missing brother, New York firefighter Joey Angelini Jr., 38.

Michael, 33, knew yesterday that his mother and Joey Jr.'s wife, Donna, his two sisters and his nieces and nephews needed him, needed a strong, grown, male Angelini nearby, perhaps as much or more than he needed to be nearer his brother. "It's hard to figure out what's the right place to be in," he said, already having decided to stay with the family. "I want so much to go back there."

Michael works for the Fire Patrol of New York, which operates under the New York Board of Underwriters, protecting the interests of insurers during and in the aftermath of commercial property fires. Wearing the same firefighting gear, except for the distinctive red helmet that denotes Fire Patrol, he responded to the World Trade Center disaster last Tuesday morning, as did his father, a 40-year FDNY veteran assigned to Rescue 1, and his brother, of Ladder Co. 4 in the Theater District. "We were all in the same area, and none of us knew it," he said.

In the lobby of one of the stricken towers, a fire supervisor suddenly ordered him out of the building. They passed firefighters who had just encountered the body of department chaplain Father Mychal Judge. Michael helped carry Judge away. "... but then my officer grabbed me and said, 'Let's go!'" he said. "We ended up a block or two north on West Murray Street."

Michael entertained a slender hope that his brother might have finished his tour early and gone home. He suspected otherwise, and he learned later that afternoon that Joey had done what his father would have done and what so many other firefighters did who were supposed to be ending their tours at 9 a.m. They went to work.

Once a jokester and a partygoer, Joey Jr. had undergone personality changes increasingly noticeable to Michael during the past seven years, since he had joined the department and Donna gave birth to the first of their three children, Jennifer. He had worked previously as an electrician with the Transit Authority. "I didn't want him to leave Transit," said his mother, "because they were about to make him a foreman. But, for some reason, he switched over to the fire department."

"Since then," Michael said, "I saw him taking on more and more of my father's traits. Before, we used to go out a lot, he and I. He was silly, funny. Now, getting him to go out was like pulling teeth. I tell old stories to guys he worked with, and they'll look at me like I'm talking about somebody they don't know. He had become so, like, straight. He just wanted to be with his family. He was showing more and more of that integrity, that seriousness, like my father.

"Three things were important to my father: his family, the church and the department, and I'm not sure in what order. My father was honest to a fault, religious. I remember walking back from the store with him. I was only little. He realized that the counter girl had given him 30 cents too much in change, and we had to walk all the way back. I mean, it was almost ridiculous. Joey was becoming more like that. It was good to watch, but it's hard to live up to."

The elder Angelini was in special operations that morning, and Michael hoped he too might have been sent elsewhere, but he really knew better. His father was legendary in the department for loving the work, for loving "to get dirty," for loving "making a grab [rescuing somebody]," for routinely walking out of a mostly extinguished inferno and lighting a cigarette while younger firefighters lay sprawled around him, exhausted.

Earlier this year, at a Holy Name Society communion breakfast tribute for his 40th anniversary as a firefighter, the short, wiry, gray-haired Angelini resisted efforts by his fellow firefighters to get him to wear more of his medals. "They convinced him to put on maybe a third of them," Michael said. "Then he said, 'Stop. I'm tired of pinning these on.'

"He kept them in the back of a drawer, in a box," Michael said. "He didn't tell us about half of them. He didn't talk about what he did. You would be eating dinner across from him and notice that he looked dif- ferent, like, strange, and then you would realize that his face was all red, and his eyebrows were completely gone, and his hairline had receded. He was burned. You would say, 'What happened to you?' And he would say, 'Aw, something flashed over me.'

"At the site, all week, guys were joking about him finding a pocket and eventually walking out. They said to me, 'He was probably buried in a void, and as soon as he runs out of cigarettes he's gonna come walking out.'"

Rescue workers found the body of Joey Angelini on Monday. He had been listed as missing since the day after the attack. Joey Jr. still is missing. After tomorrow's funeral Mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Lindenhurst, Michael probably will return to the site.
--Ed Lowe (Newsday Columnist)

Attacked.

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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Spitzer resigns

Here's the full text of the speech:

In the past few days I have begun to atone for my private failings

Only because you got caught, Eliot.

with my wife, Silda, my children, and my entire family.

If he had any honor at all he would NEVER mention them at all. If he was a man, he would have actually sent them out of the country to spare them all this humiliation.

The remorse I feel will always be with me. Words cannot describe how grateful I am for the love and compassion they have shown me. From those to whom much is given, much is expected. I have been given much: the love of my family, the faith and trust of the people of New York, and the chance to lead this state. I am deeply sorry that I did not live up to what was expected of me. To every New Yorker, and to all those who believed in what I tried to stand for, I sincerely apologize.

It's all about Eliot, Eliot and more Eliot: eleven "my", "me" and "I".

I look at my time as governor with a sense of what might have been, but I also know that as a public servant I, and the remarkable people with whom I worked, have accomplished a great deal. There is much more to be done, and I cannot allow my private failings to disrupt the people's work.

Translation: I'm setting up my comeback as we speak".

Over the course of my public life, I have insisted, I believe correctly, that people, regardless of their position or power, take responsibility for their conduct. I can and will ask no less of myself. For this reason, I am resigning from the office of governor. At Lt. Gov. Paterson's request, the resignation will be effective Monday, March 17, a date that he believes will permit an orderly transition.

Here you go: the start of the comeback tour is now official.

Then he did a little motivational speak to warm them up to the idea:

I go forward with the belief, as others have said, that as human beings, our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. As I leave public life, I will first do what I need to do to help and heal myself and my family. Then I will try once again, outside of politics, to serve the common good and to move toward the ideals and solutions which I believe can build a future of hope and opportunity for us and for our children.

Translation: Give it a couple of months, a carefully coreographed appearance with the Mrs on Oprah, a profitable book deal, and I'll be back "for the children" and "the common good".

And good luck to the guy who's left holding the bag,

I hope all of New York will join my prayers for my friend, David Paterson, as he embarks on his new mission, and I thank the public once again for the privilege of service.

As Siggy would say, "what a sanctimonious ass".



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The Spitzer investigation

While I certainly got a good chuckle out of the Spitzer news, I am rather intrigued by the question of why would a judge put his job on the line to approve the wiretap on the governor.

Surely, saying "we want to wiretap Spitzer because he's seeing call girls" wouldn't have been enough for a judge to go along.

It Wasn't the Sex; Suspicious $$ Transfers Led to Spitzer

The federal investigation of a New York prostitution ring was triggered by Gov. Eliot Spitzer's suspicious money transfers, initially leading agents to believe Spitzer was hiding bribes, according to federal officials.

Mind you, Spitzer prosecuted enough prostitution rings to KNOW that would be the sure way to get found out:

Spitzer, who made his name by bringing high-profile cases against many of New York's financial giants, is likely to be prosecuted under a relatively obscure statute called "structuring," according to a Justice Department official.

Structuring involves creating a series of financial movements designed to obscure the true purpose of the payments.

Prosecutors reportedly have a series of e-mails and wiretapped phone conversations of Spitzer.

In a interview two years ago, Spitzer, then-attorney general, told ABC News he had some advice for people who break the law. "Never talk when you can nod, and never nod when you can wink, and never write an e-mail because it's death. You're giving prosecutors all the evidence we need," he said.

He winked, he nodded, he email.

And he's not going to resign, even when he's exhausted all political goodwill. Whether the pressure from being investigated under the Mann act (for transporting prostitutes across state lines or persuading prostitutes to cross state lines for sexual purposes) by the Feds or by the state will force him to resign, remains to be seen.

For now he's staying put.

UPDATE
Today's WSJ editorial:

The stupendously deluded belief that the sitting Governor of New York could purchase the services of prostitutes was merely the last act of a man unable to admit either the existence of, or need for, limits.

In today's podcast at 11AM Eastern Rick Moran joins us to talk about Spitzer, and also about Barak Obama and Tony Rezko. I'll also rant about all these political "wee wifeys" standing by their men, too.

Chat will be open by 10:45 and the call in number is 646 652-2639. Join us!


UPDATE 2
The Governor, by the Competitive Enterprise Institute:




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SPITZER RESIGNING apologizing to his family AS GOVERNOR OF NY

Spitzer Is Linked to Prostitution Ring

Sources: Spitzer to Resign Following Reports of 'Involvement' With Prostitution Ring

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is expected to resign from office following news reports that he was linked to a high-profile prostitution ring, sources told FOX News Monday.

Spitzer scheduled an abrupt announcement from his office as news reports were breaking that the governor told staffers about his involvement.

Spitzer, who was especially tough on corporate crime as New York attorney general, told his staff Monday that he was involved in the ring, according to The New York Times' Web site, citing an anonymous administration official. No further details regarding his involvement were immediately available.

More later.

Client #9: I hear a song!



Another thing,
What's with these Democrat wives, standing by the philandering husbands? McGreevey's wife, Spitzer's wife, Hillary; What is wrong with these women??

The Smoking Gun has the daily rates at the Emperor's Club

Ace has more. More, as in this, which shows that for that much money ($4300) she still had to take the train.

UPDATE
Not surprisingly, On Wall Street, they're popping the champagne corks this afternoon. Yup.
Instapundit links to the complaint (pdf).
Donald Luskin

CNBC just said that the Emperor’s Club VIP offered "models, chaperones and investment advice."

Chaperones?

The word must mean something else. Let's look:

Chaperone: A guide or companion whose purpose is to ensure propriety or restrict activity

Chaperones! Bwahahahahaha!



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Explosion rocks Time Square Military Recruiting Station

A cyclist threw a bomb at the Times Square recruiting station at 3:45AM today: Explosion Hits Military Recruiting Station at New York's Times Square

An explosive device caused minor damage to an empty military recruiting station in Times Square early Thursday, shaking guests in hotel rooms high above.

Police blocked off the area to investigate the explosion, which occurred at about 3:45 a.m., shattering the station's glass entryway. No one was injured.

No one was at the station at that time.

UPDATE
Photos and video



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The USS New York sails tomorrow

The USS New York will be formally dedicated tomorrow. The event will be webcast at 9AM Central.

Fron the NY Sun editorial: The USS New York

Congratulations are in order to the captain and crew of the United States Ship New York, which will be formally dedicated according to Navy tradition tomorrow when a bottle of champagne is broken across her bow at the New Orleans boatyard where it was built. A Navy press release reports the warship, an amphibious transport dock ship that can carry a landing force of 800 Marines, is named New York "in honor of the state, the city and the victims of Sept. 11, 2001." The release says 7.5 tons of steel salvaged from the World Trade Center wreckage was melted and formed into the bow stem of the ship, symbolizing "the spirit and resiliency of the people of New York." The ship's first captain is himself a New Yorker, Commander F. Curtis Jones, of Binghamton. This is no small vessel — 684 feet long, it has a crew of 360 sailors and three Marines.
...
The Navy on Saturday will christen the New York, named in honor of the state, the city, and the victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, during a ceremony at Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding facilities in New Orleans. A unique characteristic of the ship is that 7.5 tons of steel salvaged from the World Trade Center wreckage was incorporated into the construction process.

The ship was built by Northorp Grunman Ship Systems. Here's the Wikipedia page.

Congratulations!

UPDATE
Rising from the ashes



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Put down the bong, it's snowing in Jerusalem, and the morning roundup

Cannabis bigger cancer risk than cigarettes: study

Smoking a joint is equivalent to 20 cigarettes in terms of lung cancer risk, scientists in New Zealand have found, as they warned of an "epidemic" of lung cancers linked to cannabis.
...
In an article published in the European Respiratory Journal, the scientists said cannabis could be expected to harm the airways more than tobacco as its smoke contained twice the level of carcinogens, such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons, compared with tobacco cigarettes.

The method of smoking also increases the risk, since joints are typically smoked without a proper filter and almost to the very tip, which increases the amount of smoke inhaled. The cannabis smoker inhales more deeply and for longer, facilitating the deposition of carcinogens in the airways.

Bill Clinton will certainly be relieved to hear it, considering how he didn't inhale

Doug Ross remembers When cigarette ads were legal.
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Brazilian Neocon sent this video he took of the snow in Jerusalem:

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Does New York City want to become the 51st state? A Secession Plan Is Floated for New York City.
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Bruce Kessler and The Anchoress take A trip down memory lane.
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Israel Guest of Honor in Turin Bookfair Offends Whining Arabs...


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Eid on the Empire State Building

One more step in the civil jihad:


Empire State Building goes green for Eid.

Gateway Pundit:

Muslim extremists destroyed the last two tallest towers in New York.
Maybe the owner of the next tallest building thinks this will keep his tower safe?

Investor's Business Daily:

In a monumental nod to political correctness, the Empire State Building is to be lit up green in honor of the Muslim holiday Eid. The separation of Islam from terror is officially complete.

Six years ago, Islamic terrorists screamed "Allah is Greatest!" as they slammed fuel-laden jumbo jets into two other New York skyscrapers. Six years ago, New Yorkers were worried about the Green Menace.

Now, for the first time, New York's remaining famous skyscraper will be aglow in green — the color of Islam — to mark the end of Ramadan, a month of intense Islamic renewal. Officials say it'll be an annual event, in the same tradition of the yearly skyscraper lighting for Christmas and Hanukkah.

IBD points out how we're adopting sharia by the inch:

• At airports, where authorities have agreed to Muslim taxi drivers' demands to build footbaths in public restrooms for Islamic washing and praying.
• On college campuses, where trustees have agreed to demands by the Saudi-tied Muslim Student Association to add Islamic holidays, prayer rooms and footbaths.
• In Congress, where officials have set aside a room for a growing number of Muslims to meet and pray inside the otherwise high-security Capitol building.
• At Quantico, where Marine brass have agreed to build an Islamic center at the request of a former Gitmo imam who previously insisted on Islamic meals, Qurans, prayer beads, oils and other amenities for the terrorists held there.
• At West Point, where Army officials have followed Quantico's lead and set up their own mosque for Muslim cadets.
• In Brooklyn, where school officials agreed to provide local Muslims and Arabs with their own publicly funded madrassa.
• In Detroit, where city planners have caved to demands to let mosques broadcast the call to prayer in Arabic five times a day, including the early-morning hours, noise ordinances be damned.

As Roger said,

Nothing yet on Buddhists or Hindus. Or whether Jewish and Christian holidays will be celebrated by similar illuminations in Dubai.

We continue to appease ourselves into sharia law.

Not With A Bang, But With A Whimper; Not With Destruction, But With Dhimmitude



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Take your wreath and shove it, Mahmoud

I did a roundup for Pajamas Media first thing this morning and then had to attend to other matters. (Yes, that You talking to me? was my idea.)

As I posted this morning at PJM, early this morning the story was,

On the same day that the Iranian air force commander announced that Iran has drawn plans to bomb Israel, NY Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly revealed that the Bloomberg administration was in discussions to escort Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Ground Zero. Mahmoud won't get there , but he will speak at Columbia University after addressing the UN on Monday.

The multi-culti Columbia U is dignifying a criminal, as Power Line explains,

Columbia and President Bollinger are a disgrace. They welcome to their campus a man who is a ringleader in the seizure of American hostages, a terrorist, the president of a terrorist regime, and the representative of a regime responsible at present for the deaths of American soldiers on the field of battle.

But that's not all; Imagine my surprise when I look again a few minutes ago and read,

UPDATE: The Iranian leader plans to go to Ground Zero on Monday at 10 AM with a Secret Service escort - over NYPD objections. (WABC-TV)

Ahmadinejad and the regime he represents hold the same radical, murderous philosophy that lead to the assasination of 3,000 on September 11, 2001. He will be laying a wreath for the murderous terrorists, not the victims.

I want to know, why are we even having this character touch American soil to begin with?

Because he's a head of state?

Well, then, if that is the reason, let's treat him like a head of state: Let's have Ahmadinejad indicted under the Genocide Convention, as Mitt Romney (pdf file) requested from the UN last Monday.

Iran is

intent on wiping Israel off the map,
financing Hezbolla,
arming Shiia terrorist in Iraq,
and swearing to develop nuclear weapons.

It doesn't take much more to recognize that we are at war with Iran.

I consistenly strive to keep a certain tone in this blog, but Michelle said it best,



Pamela has info on the rally.



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Radioactive in Jersey City, Hitchens, and other items

Via Pamela by way of Larwyn, Radioactivity at accident site in Jersey City? Conflicting reports...

13 August 2007: A minor accident that took place at Hoboken and Summit Avenues in Hoboken, New Jersey Sunday night - a mere 6-mile drive from the Empire State Building in Manhattan prompted the response of police to the scene as the driver of one of the vehicles fled on foot after the accident. But the police were summoned for another reason – the vehicle from which the suspect in the hit-and-run fled contained a “box” in the trunk containing “radioactive” symbols. According to a law enforcement source close to the Northeast Intelligence Network interviewed shortly after 5:00 this morning, sensors carried by police that measure radioactivity sounded an alarm that indicated higher than acceptable levels of radioactivity, prompting a response from HAZMAT and other officials. Police, fire and HAZMAT officials established a safe perimeter around the accident scene, and the driver of the car containing the box or device emitting radioactivity was caught several blocks from the scene.

This event took an unusual twist, however, when Fox Channel 5 news reporter from New York City was reporting live from the scene. As he was describing the event, a voice coming from the reporter's ear piece was picked up by his microphone: "TELL THEM NO RADIOACTIVITY" was the message clearly heard as isolated as a sound file HERE. Viewers can clearly see the befuddled reaction by the news reporter to the message from his ear piece in the video clip below, and the confused response to the complete change of information by the television anchor.

You must read the rest of that report.
Here's the video of the TV newscast mentioned in the report

The incident took place less than 72 hours from the NY city "dirty bomb" threat.
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Thomas Barnett has a Nice analysis of the sub-prime "crisis"
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Hitchens lays to rest the Foolish myths about al-Qaida in Mesopotamia:

To say that the attempt to Talibanize Iraq would not be happening at all if coalition forces were not present is to make two unsafe assumptions and one possibly suicidal one. The first assumption is that the vultures would never have gathered to feast on the decaying cadaver of the Saddamist state, a state that was in a process of implosion well before 2003. All our experience of countries like Somalia and Sudan, and indeed of Afghanistan, argues that such an assumption is idiotic. It is in the absence of international attention that such nightmarish abnormalities flourish. The second assumption is that the harder we fight them, the more such cancers metastasize. This appears to be contradicted by all the experience of Iraq. Fallujah or Baqubah might already have become the centers of an ultra-Taliban ministate, as they at one time threatened to do, whereas now not only have thousands of AQM goons been killed but local opinion appears to have shifted decisively against them and their methods.

The third assumption, deriving from the first two, would be that if coalition forces withdrew, the AQM gangsters would lose their raison d'être and have nothing left to fight for. I think I shall just leave that assumption lying where it belongs: on the damp floor of whatever asylum it is where foolish and wishful opinions find their eventual home.

A must-read!

Via Gateway Pundit by way of Larwyn, The US Military is more successful in Iraq than the world wants to believe. The astonishing part about this headline is that it comes from Der Speigel.

Davids Medienkritik says,

We would speculate that SPIEGEL editors have finally reached the realization that the version of reality they have painstakingly crafted for the German public since the conflict began - one of failure, disaster, debacle and quagmire for the Americans in Iraq - is no longer tenable when compared to the facts on the ground and will ultimately collapse on their heads like a flimsy house of cards. But with many American Democrats still in full irrational disaster-mode on Iraq (despite obvious recent improvement with the surge) this seems a somewhat unusual and perhaps premature move.

Don't expect the NYT to wake up any time soon, though.---------------------------------------------------------------
Phyllis Chesler has an excellent article on how The Legal Jihad Is Already Underway
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Moron in Macon.
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Exclusive: Hillary's first TV ad debuts
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More from Matt: 4 Million Muslims Marching for an Imam
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Behold the Trunki:

Intifada T-shirts, and today's items

In the NY Post:
CITY PRINCIPAL IS 'REVOLTING'
TIED TO 'INTIFADA NYC' SHIRTS

Activists with ties to the principal of the city's controversial new Arabic-themed school are hawking T- shirts that glorify Palestinian terror, The Post has learned.

The inflammatory tees boldly declare "Intifada NYC" - apparently a call for a Gaza-style uprising in the Big Apple.

The organization selling the shirts, Arab Women Active in Art and Media, shares office space on Brooklyn's Third Avenue with the Saba Association of American Yemenis.

Dhabah "Debbie" Almontaser, principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy - which is scheduled to open in Brooklyn next month - is a board member and spokeswoman for Saba.

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Excuse Me? "God Has Summoned Hillary Rodham Clinton"?
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Walid Phares proposes An Idealistic Alternative to the Saudi Arms Deal (h/t Larwyn)

Dedicate some significant funds to support the Iranian opposition, both inside the country and overseas. Establish powerful broadcasts in Farsi, Kurdish, Arabic, Azeri and in other ethnic languages directed at the Iranian population. That alone will open a Pandora's box inside Iran. Realists may find it hard to believe, but supporting the Iranian opposition (which is still to be identified) will pay off much better than AWACS flying over deserts.

Slate substantial sums to be spent in southern Iraq to support the anti-Khomeinist Shiia, the real shield against the forthcoming Pasdaran offensive. Such monies distributed wisely on civil society activists and on open anti-Khomeinist groups, would build a much stronger defense against Ahmedinijad's ambitions.

Lavish funding should be granted to the Syrian liberal opposition to pressure the Assad regime into backing off from supporting Terrorism. Without a Mukhabarat regime in Damascus, the bridge between Tehran and Hezb'allah would crumble. Hence, the Syrian opposition is much worth being backed in its own home than for Saudi Arabia to fight future networks in its own home.

Allocate ample funding to the units of the Iraqi army that show the most efficiency in cracking down on terrorists, and which prove to be lawful and loyal to a strong central Government, pledging to defend its borders, particularly with regard to Iran. That would include the moderate Sunnis in the center and the Kurdish and other minority forces in the North. A strong multiethnic Iraq, projecting a balance of power with Iran's regime, is the best option for the Peninsula.

Grant abundant aid to the Lebanese Government, the Cedars Revolution NGOs and the Lebanese Army to enable them to contain Hezb'allah on Lebanese soil. Earmark some of these grants to the Shia opposition to Nasrallah inside his own areas. When Hezb'allah is isolated by Lebanon's population, Arab moderates around the region can sleep much better at night.

Spend real money on de-radicalization programs inside the Kingdom and across the region. With dollars spent on moderate Imams and not on the readicals, Riyadh can shake off the radical Salafi clerics, and have an impact the Jihadists' followers. By doing so, it will prevent Jihadism from becoming (as it has already) the only other option on the inside, if the Iranian axis will put pressure on the country.

Forward meaningful sums to support the current Somali Government against the Islamic Courts and help the moderates in Eritrea and Sudan. The best defense against radicalism coming from the horn of Africa is to support the moderates in East of the continent.

Invite the US military to abandon Qatar as a regional base and to relocate to the Eastern provinces of the Kingdom, with as many billions of dollars as required to help in reinstallation and deployment facing Iran's threat. A military attack by the Iranian regime on Saudi Arabia would then become a direct attack on the United States.

With the remaining billions, the Saudi Government would renew, remodel, and retrain its forces so that along with its allies, the US, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Gulf states, they would deter an Iranian regime, which will be defeated by its own people.

---------------------------------------------------'Hamas forced professor to convert'

Fatah officials in Ramallah claimed over the weekend that Professor Sana al-Sayegh, who teaches at Palestine University in Gaza City, was kidnapped by Hamas militiamen who forced her to convert to Islam against her will.

The officials said the president of the university, Dr. Zaher Khail, had assisted Hamas in kidnapping the professor.

---------------------------------------------------Matt has the Real FOB Falcon video.---------------------------------------------------The real guy behind The Fake Steve Jobs, via Larwyn: Senior Forbes Editor Outed As Mystery Blogger---------------------------------------------------
Via Maria, Western European business travellers will be forced to give 48 hours’ notice of their plans to visit the US
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Today at noon, my guest will be Captain Ed Morrissey of Captain's Quarters
Don't miss it!

Yesterday's explosion near Grand Central...

... took place just as I was finishing my shift. I posted immediately that at the time (7PM Estern), there were no injuries reported.

Unfortunately, this morning we know there was one death and 30 injuries, two of them critical. Considering the location - near 41st Street and Lexington Avenue - and the time of day, it is a miracle that it wasn't worse.

CNN and the BBC have photo slide shows, and they are all too reminiscent of the 9/11 images that are so engraved in our minds.

Fortunately, the explosion was not caused by an act of terrorism but by a steam pipe explosion, which have occured before

Manhattan is home to the largest district steam system in the world, according to the Web site of the city's Economic Development Corp. While most of the city's buildings have on- site boilers to provide heat during the winter, the Con Edison Steam Business Unit heats 1,800 buildings, serving more than 100,000 commercial and residential customers through a series of underground pipes running from the Bowery in lower Manhattan to 96th Street.

Consolidated Edison's steam network links many end-users to central power plants through a network of pipes carrying either steam or heated/cooled water under high pressure. The New York Steam Co. began providing such service in lower Manhattan in 1882.

In 2000, a steam pipe explosion near New York University's Bobst Library on Washington Square blew a 15-foot crater into the street on Washington Square South, and spewed debris and traces of asbestos into the air. The 1989 blast that killed three sent debris several stories into the air.

The 83-year-old pipe exploded just before 6PM, right in the middle of rush hour, when cold water reached the hot steam pipe.

The WaPo has video of the scene.

Ed Driscoll and Dan Riehl have more.

Rosie, meet Penn and Teller

Last week we watched this disgraceful spectacle:


As it turns out, Penn and Teller had addressed the 9/11 conspiracy theories in their program, Bullsh*t (language not suitable for work):


Why was I thinking about this today?

Because this was the first thing I saw when I turned on the TV this morning:
Traffic mess coming to Lower Manhattan

Starting next week traffic in and around Lower Manhattan is about to get a whole lot worse.

The northbound side of West Street between Liberty and Vesey Streets will be shut down for more than a month so that crews can search for the remains of more 9/11 victims.

Think about that, folks. FIVE AND A HALF years later, there are remains out there that still need to be found and laid to rest.

Update, Tuesday 10 April: Gagdad Bob fisks Rosie.