Fireworks In Phoenix….3-2-1-

The Democrat Governor, Janet  Napolitano has figured out a way to stop illegal immigrant busting sheriff Joe Arpaio:

Much of the money for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s immigration-enforcement efforts lately has poured out of a special pool of state money.

But New Times has learned that Governor Janet Napolitano’s turning off the spigot.

In what appears to be a prelude to a major fight between Napolitano and Arpaio, the governor issued an executive order last week to develop a new task force–headed up by the state Department of Public Safety–to find and arrest tens of thousands of felons with outstanding warrants.

And, according to a letter from DPS Director Roger Vanderpool to Arpaio outlining the new effort, the task force will be funded with the money that Arpaio isn’t getting anymore.

I think we’ll be hearing more about this fairly soon.

The Thing That Wouldn’t Leave

So it seems that finally, the Democrat primary race is winding down, with Obama the presumptive nominee. Obama is shifting his focus to McCain, as Hillary battles on, seemingly unaware that the powers that be have already counted her out. But of course she does realize that she’s down for the count. The question on everyone’s mind is…’Why does she continue to campaign?’

One explanation is that she’s in it now for 2012, which of course benefits McCain. The other….scarier explanation is that she is gunning for a high profile spot in Obama’s cabinet; possibly his VP pick. This of course would be a nightmare scenario for Republicans because it would unite two Democrat constituencies that were previously at odds with each other. This of course is the smartest and most obvious move, but one that insiders are saying Obama will resist because of his dislike for Hillary.

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that according to Bill Clinton, Hillary and McCain are “close”. Remember this story from January?:

“She and John McCain are very close,” Clinton said. “They always laugh that if they wound up being the nominees of their party, it would be the most civilized election in American history, and they’re afraid they’d put the voters to sleep because they like and respect each other.”

Sens. McCain and Clinton last met publicly at an ABC debate earlier January, when presidential candidates of both parties shared the same stage. The two were seen exchanging pleasantries, and a Clinton side said she told the Arizona senator he’d done a “good job” staging a comeback in New Hampshire. He asked that she say hello to Bill Clinton for him.

I don’t think she has any warm feelings for Obama. Still, I tend to agree with Charles Krauthammer who predicts that this is what is coming:

There’s only one remaining chapter in this fascinating spectacle. Negotiating the terms of Hillary’s surrender. After which we will have six months of watching her enthusiastically stumping for Obama, denying with utter conviction GOP charges that he is the out of touch, latte-sipping elitist she warned Democrats against so urgently in the last, late leg of her doomed campaign.

At any rate, she’s making Democratic leaders nervous because she’s forcing Obama to spend his precious time and money on his primary fight against her, instead of the general election fight against McCain. She’s also been hitting him where it hurts with her “late leg of her doomed campaign” urgent warnings to the superdelegates: He’s not as electable as she is.

Meanwhile, on the McCain front, a couple of positive developments:

1. He seems to have a kick-ass top adviser in Mark Salter, who continues to impress.

2. Rush Limbaugh seems to be coming around.

Now if only we can get Ann Coulter on board.

Planned Parenthood Sends Out Mother’s Day Fund-Raiser Emails

Please help us Prevent More Women From Becoming Mothers:

With Mother’s Day coming up this weekend, Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion business, has a message for moms: send us more money. Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, sent out a fund-raising request this week one pro-life advocate says is grotesque.

Richards honored Mother’s Day by sharing part of an editorial her daughter wrote saying she got her pro-abortion views from her mother and grandmother, former Texas Gov. Ann Richards.

“It’s true that I have had lots of rewarding moments in my career. So did my mother,” Cecile wrote in the email LifeNews.com obtained. “But knowing that my daughter is carrying on the legacy of fighting that my mother passed to me trumps ‘em all.”

Richard couldn’t wait until the third paragraph of her Mother’s Day letter to PPFA supporters to ask them to open their wallets.

“This Mother’s Day, I’m honoring that legacy with a Planned Parenthood Federation of America Mother’s Day gift. Join me,” she wrote.

“You can help with a gift to Planned Parenthood Federation of America today in honor of your mother or daughter, and on behalf of all the women,” she added.

Pro-life blogger Jill Stanek called Richard’s exploitation of Mother’s Day for pro-abortion money-making purposes “grotesque” and said she couldn’t believe Richards would stoop to “using her dead mother and daughter as props.”

“This pathetic woman is so psychologically and emotionally invested in abortion she has no semblance of conscience left,” Stanek said. “If and when she has grandchildren, I’m sure she’ll use them too.”

It’s grotesque alright. Asking women around the Mother’s Day holiday to send them money so they can prevent other women from becoming mothers…by destroying their babies, is downright Orwellian.

Richards said passing on her pro-abortion mantra to her daughter Hannah and her younger children Lily and Daniel is “the best gift any mother can give her children.”

The mind reels…the best gift she can leave her children is the teaching that abortion is a wonderful right? “I had the right to kill you, but “chose” not to…isn’t choice neat-o?”

In the email, Richards also admitted that promoting abortion was more important to her mother than even promoting equal rights for African-Americans.

“In all of my mother’s activism — from the civil rights movement to the ERA — nothing meant more to her,” she said.

“I’m proud that, as the leader of Planned Parenthood, I get the opportunity every day to carry forward work that honors her and honors all who came before her,” Richards concluded.

“And, I’m proud that my own children carry on that legacy. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?”

Good lord. Planned Parenthood does all it can to deny such legacies.

Stanek said abortion advocates can leave no legacy to children and grandchildren because they’ve been responsible for the deaths of 50 million of them.

Exactly. The ghouls.

Sex Starved Woman Has Violent Meltdown

Pity the poor Deputies who had to answer this call:

The hooch-chugging woman screamed profanities at, threw a dog at, questioned the manhood of, and donkey kicked the poor guys:

The meltdown, which deputies witnessed along with the couple’s 3- and 4-year-old children, started when the husband, 24, had told his wife they had three hours to quit smoking, drinking, swearing and engaging in some sex acts because “they were going to be good Christians now,” the woman said.

The man said she had woken him up to have relations, but then became disappointed and angry.

A neighbor called the police after yelling, crying and slamming doors were heard.

When deputies arrived, the woman denied any assault had taken place, and repeatedly, without sparing a vulgar euphemism, told the deputies about how unsatisfied she was with her sex life — some of the time carrying around a half-gallon of whiskey while doing so.

Here’s where it starts to get really weird:

During an argument with one of the deputies, the woman picked up the family’s 20-pound dog and threw it at the deputy, who caught it, the report said.

The deputies convinced the couple to separate for the night, and the man said he was taking their children to a hotel. But the 28-year-old returned to the apartment and took her husband’s wallet, military identification card and keys.

The woman resisted being arrested for theft — her screams were described as “blood-curdling” by one of the deputies. The deputy who drove the woman to jail reported she questioned his manhood, asked God to forgive him because “he knows not what he does,” and “donkey-kicked” him in the shin while he attempted to walk her from his patrol car to the jail, reports said.

Talk about sexually frustrated!

She was booked for second-degree theft and third-degree assault.

Hat Tip: Crime Scene KC

“Not Something To Laugh About”!

Cheeky Monkey!

A UK man faces fines for “public order offences”, and……”not wearing a seatbelt”.

BBC News primly reports:

A front seat car passenger was photographed baring his backside at a speed camera in Northumberland.

The “mooning” man was snapped by the mobile camera as the black BMW X5 drove past on the A1171 Dudley Lane in Cramlington last month.

His behaviour has been labelled as “dangerous and offensive” by road safety campaigners.

Police may take action against the man for public order offences and not wearing a seat belt.

Officers have the registration of the car, which was not breaking the speed limit, and intend to contact its owner.

It is understood the driver will not face prosecution as no driving offence was being committed.

I guess the guy’s butt was a good driver.

Jeremy Forsberg, of the Northumbria Safer Roads Initiative, said: “This behaviour is simply ridiculous - it’s clear what he was thinking with what he had on show.

“Not only is it disrespectful, but distasteful and offensive, particularly to children who may have been exposed to this nonsense.

“This prank could have been a real distraction from the driver and that is not something to laugh about.”

Bwahahaha!

Hat tip: Crime Scene KC

Tortured And Mutilated Dogs Being Found In KC Area Cemeteries

I first heard started hearing about this story from my high school kids over a month ago, and I immediately figured it was one of those urban myths kids like to tell. But I looked into it and saw some news reports on the case in the smaller neighborhood newspapers. I’d link to the articles I found then, but they’ve already been archived.

Eventually bigger news outlets started reporting that tortured and mutilated dogs have been getting dumped at cemeteries for the past six months. At least 10 dogs have been found at the Lee’s Summit cemetery, alone.

NBC Action News reported on 3/29:

The Sheriff’s Department said officers were close to catching a suspect and had planned a surveillance operation to nab him or her in the act, but officers said another local media outlet ran the story before they could set the surveillance.

Various breeds have been discovered, Montgomery said in a press release Saturday, and none could be connected with any known missing dog reports.

I almost posted a story on it, but decided I’d wait and see if any more dog carcasses showed up.

One just did:

One of the earlier reports I’d read included a mutilated dog carcass that had shown up in a Kansas City neighborhood, that they thought might have been connected to the Lee’s Summit ones as well.

Something very creepy and evil is afoot in my community. Dog owners need to be on high alert.

19-Year-Old Skank Beats Up Little Old Lady In Road-Rage Incident

You can call this “road rage”, or “elder abuse”, but I prefer to call it an out of control, deranged bitch, who was never taught to respect her elders:

Jessica Vasquez (pictured), 19, was taken into custody after she assaulted Evelyn Page, 81, who she thought was driving slowly in the 6200 block of South Meridian Street, on Indianapolis’ south side, according to Indianapolis Metro police.Police said Vasquez sped around Page and then slammed on her brakes, forcing the elderly woman to stop.

Then, according to police, Vasquez jumped out of her car, opened the driver’s-side door of Page’s car and began beating her.Police said the victim tried to get away, but that Vasquez pulled her out of the car and continued beating her, forcing her to fall into two lanes of traffic.Page’s face was bloodied and her leg was broken in 14 places, 6News’ Jack Rinehart reported. She will also have to undergo knee replacement.”This is a crime that is outrageous, something that we don’t normally see,” said IMPD Detective Wendall Daniel. “We don’t normally see a female, 19 years old, beating an 81-year-old woman.”

Remind you of anyone?

Here’s the local News Clip:

The Mugshot:

The Victim:

Hat tip: Crime Scene KC

Happy May Day!

Jim Hoft calls it  “the left’s favorite Godless holiday”. That’s about right. See Gateway Pundit for pictures of May Day Che enthusiasts the world over.

Michelle Malkin’s calls it “all purpose, left wing grievance day”. Visit her site for coverage of coast to coast grievance mongering.

LGF says 100,000 demonstrators expected in LA.

Woo hoo. It looks like these freaks are growing in number.

I guess we’ll find out in November.

What Obama And Wright Hath Wrought

Michael Smirconish (filling in for Bill O’Reilly today on his radio show), played a clip from his interview with Hillary Clinton.

What an annoying piece of work, O’Reilly is. He says he feels sorry for Obama because his lunatic former pastor is derailing his campaign. Poor Obama is a nice guy, according to O’Reilly, and Reverend Wright is hurting him. What does Hillary think?

Frankly I don’t care. I realize she’ll just give a careful politician’s answer to that question. It’s O’Reilly’s sympathy for Obama that I’m interested in. As always, with O’Reilly, he wants to come off as a very mature, reasonable, independent thinker. So he basically implies that those of us whose hearts don’t bleed for Obama’s suffering in this cruel predicament are mean spirited wingers.

I can’t stress forcefully enough what utter bullshit that is. I don’t feel one teeny tiny bit sorry for Obama, and neither should anyone. In fact I think he owes me an apology for insulting my intelligence to the degree that he has. You don’t sit in the pews of a church for as long as he did and not notice the crazy, Marxist, race-baiting style of the Pastor. To try to convince us that Reverend McCrazyRace-baitingMarxist only came out when Obama and his family were not in the pews, strains credulity. It’s simply. not. credible. And that’s putting it nicely. Frankly, it’s BS - Barbara Streisand horse-hocky. Eh…I wish I had a really foul mouth right now…. if anyone deserves heaps of foul-mouthed scorn poured down on him, Obama does for being such an arrogant, insulting….!@#$%&* And what pisses me off the most are the dumcoffs who buy his bull, hook-line-and-sinker.

He also owes the country an apology for setting race relations in America back 50 years. By causing a spotlight to shine on his demonic church in Chicago, (because that’s the church he attended for nearly 20 years, and as he was running for POTUS, he had to know it would be looked at) he has forced millions of whites to recoil in disgust, and exclaim WTF??? What kind of pastor screams “God damn America”, and what kind of congregation whoops and hollers in appreciation at that kind of rhetoric…in church??? What kind of pastor blames the “US of KKK A” for the insane and unwarranted destruction on 9/11, the very weekend after the attack?

I used to believe that vast majority of Americans, both black and white, despised racism, and craved racial unity. Now we’re all forced to wonder how many of these black churches engage in that sort of “worship”, when normally we wouldn’t consider it any of our business how other congregations worship. I always assumed (mistakenly it turns out), that black churches were lively, but still reverent, and respectable, but in the case of TUCC, I can see I was wrong.

Christians are not supposed to damn anyone. That is why the curse “God damn” is such an egregious one. Christians are called to forgive their neighbors, not sit in supreme judgment of them. I understand that throughout history, there have been evil, or wrong-headed “men of God” preaching hate from the pulpit, I didn’t realize it was still going on to this degree.

How many more black pastors preach such hate from the pulpit. I shudder to think. I really don’t know the answer to that. I don’t think I want to know.

Thanks Obama.

Obama Unambiguously Throws Wright Under Bus

The press conference is ongoing as I type this. Allah will have the video as soon as it’s available. Also Michelle Malkin is liveblogging.

Obama appears to be seriously displeased by Wright’s performance, last weekend. Calls them “rants not grounded in truth”. Says it doesn’t reflect anything he believes. He’s annoyed by the damage Wright has done to him personally, but more importantly… his campaign. (I was expecting him to say race relations in this country, or something of that nature, but nooooo). Does Obama have any idea how depressing Wright’s words are to average Americans?

Incredibly, he asks us to believe that Reverend Wright’s view of America, which was on display over the weekend, (which Obama strongly condemns) was never on display during the 20 years he was a member of TUCC. He goes to church to pray, not see a spectacle. I’m sorry, but I call b.s.

The Fox Commentators (Edie Hill and ?) find Obama’s response to the questions, not satisfying. The problem still not going to go away…could be the “death knell” of his campaign. (Gosh! I hope not!)

Also, he disavows the claim that Wright was ever his “spiritual mentor”, or “adviser”, merely his pastor. He says the media has erroneously portrayed Reverend Wright as such. The implication being…they’re really not that close. I could be wrong, but I thought Obama was on record as describing Wright as his spiritual adviser.

I’ll be busy googling for the next few minutes.

Ace’s coverage here.

UPDATE:

As for the ‘Hey! He was only my pastor…not my spiritual mentor or advisor’ claim; Obama said back in January 2007:

Obama says that rather than advising him on strategy, Wright helps keep his priorities straight and his moral compass calibrated.

“What I value most about Pastor Wright is not his day-to-day political advice,” Obama said. “He’s much more of a sounding board for me to make sure that I am speaking as truthfully about what I believe as possible and that I’m not losing myself in some of the hype and hoopla and stress that’s involved in national politics.”

Sounds like he’s calling him some sort of spiritual adviser, (not to mention a ‘day to day’ political adviser!) if you ask me.

Should Obama “Disown” Reverend Wright?

I have to do one more quick post before I go to bed.

Some pundits like Byron York, and Andrew Sullivan are offering Obama free advice, strongly suggesting that he “disown” Reverend Wright.

York:

“I think he’s going to have to walk farther away from Wright, if he wants to win the general election,” one Democratic strategist told me Monday night. “He could say, ‘This is different now. Just to eliminate any questions, I am going to leave this church, because I believe the country is more important.’ It would say that Wright’s rhetoric has no place in his campaign or the lives of his children.” (As the Wright controversy has festered, observers on both sides of the political divide have wondered, usually in whispers, about Obama’s decision to take his young children to Wright’s church.)

Sullivan:

Obama needs not just to distance himself from Wright’s views; he needs to disown him at this point. Wright himself, it seems to me, has become part of what Obama is fighting against: the boomer, Vietnam era’s obsession with its red-blue, white-black, pro and anti-America fixations. That is not what this election needs to be about; and Wright’s massive, racially divisive and, yes, bitter provocation requires a proportionate response.

We need a speech or statement from Obama in which he utterly repudiates this poison, however personally difficult that may be, however damaging the impact will be.

(Here’s Ace’s hilarious take on St. Andrew’s change of heart).

First of all, STOP trying to help the enemy, Byron.

(Here’s Karl Rove trying to give him some free advice, too). Stop that!

Second of all, what can he possibly say as a means to explain how he was able to sit in Reverend Wright’s pews for 20 years, and listen to that garbage? He can “disown” Wright all he wants, but he can’t disown his participation in that loathsome church for 20 years; a church that practices the profoundly racist Black Liberation Theology.

He, and Wright, and the media can spin spin spin all they want that Wright was taken out of context, but the American people, (the majority, anyway) are not such ignorant buffoons that they would believe such unmitigated bullcrap. The unedited versions of his sermons, taken completely in context, (which he sells in his own church giftshop!) are even worse.

So to say that Obama just needs to “disown” his Pastor of twenty years doesn’t cut it. But don’t tell the panicky nutroots that. They’re still holding on to hope, (and change).

What Obama really needs to do is drop out before he does any more damage to race relations in this country.

UPDATE:

GOP operatives, always slow on the uptake, are finally noticing Obama’s weaknesses, and are preparing a $500,000 hit on him. Something tells me it’s going to be lukewarm, and unsatisfying:

Whereas Obama once seemed an almost cultlike figure who transcended race and class, the narrative that has emerged from his campaign’s recent trials has given Republicans hope that the Illinois senator can be tagged as an elitist with the same effectiveness with which Michael Dukakis and John F. Kerry were so labeled.

The elitist story line has provided Republicans with press release fodder against freshman Democratic House members and statewide elected officials in roughly two dozen states.

Whoa, Nellie! Hardcore! Elitist, eh?

The guy’s got our nations enemies, tin-pot dictators, known commies, radical pinkos, (and Reverend Wright) supporting him; he’s buds with a former terrorist, for crying out loud, and the best they can do is try to paint him as an elitist?

They had better do better than that, by God.

Paultards trying to subvert the National Convention (posted by Beth)

I saw this at Digg (where else?) last week, but ignored it after burying it. It seems, though, that Paultards are quite serious about hijacking the Republican Convention. If you don’t want to see the “plan” at the Paultards’ blogs, read it here. Snip:

*The Strategy:*

The strategy therefore must be to get as many Ron Paul delegates selected to represent their states at the National Convention.

That means our delegates need to stay low-key.

Resolutions are a dead giveaway, especially when they are fought over things like opposition to the war, or abolishing the Federal Reserve and the IRS, all signature issues of Ron Paul.

So, the best plan is to shut up, move along, do what you have to do to get selected, sign the pledge to “support” McCain (it doesn’t say you promise not to abstain!) and just get in short of outright lying, of course.

If there are any ethical concerns about this supposed “stealth tactic,” think about what ethical concerns you may have if you allow McCain to become president by your inaction. [Continue reading...]

Ethics? We don’t need no stinkin’ ethics! It’s REVOLUTION! Forget about the sheeple’s votes, this is a coup!
/vomiting

At least one person is fighting back. Heather Johnson of Moms4Mitt.com:

I am a Mitt fan and have a blog for his support. But I have also pledged on my blog my support for McCain as a our GOP nominee. I am trying to do my part in stopping these Ron Paul fans from overtaking the convention with their agenda nonsense and just get McCain officially nominated.

Heather is trying to just GET to the convention, but she needs help (financially) getting there. If you can drop a few shekels her way, you’ll be doing your part to shut up these asshat Paultards. Make no mistake, they are extremely well-organized (online activity and caucus results should tell you that much) and you can be sure they’ll make their presence known at the National Convention. Unless you want to see the GOP have an even more f’d up convention than it looks like the Dems will have, the Paultard kiddies must be stopped.

Ron Paul has even given tacit support to this idea (or that’s how it’ll be read by his fanatic supporters), while leaving his options open for a third party run:

“I’ll be very cautious about what I do,” he said, noting his effort to encourage his supporters to get involved with their local Republican committee.

And you know Ron Paul–he’s a stickler for the last letter of the Constitution. If it can be interpreted to allow this “loophole” that can get him nominated–or at the very least, create chaos–it’s A-OK. He’ll say this is exactly what the Constitution was designed for. (Nevermind the votes for the candidates–the votes for delegates matter more? LOL.)

Please help Heather out - I absolutely vouch for her honesty and ethics 100%. She needs help getting to the Convention, and we need to put the final nail in the Paultard coffin of crazy once and for all.

[Cross-posted]

Tsk: Poor Jimmah Gets No Respect

(Cartoon by: Michael Ramirez, Townhall)

Jimmy Carter is turning into the Rodney Dangerfield of ex-Presidents.

First the Palestinians said that the Carter/Hamas meeting achieved nothing:

Last week’s meeting between former US president Jimmy Carter and the exiled leader of Hamas militants did not produce any results, Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki said here Wednesday.

“President Carter came to the region thinking he could achieve something. Unfortunately president Carter left without anything concrete,” he told a conference in the Spanish capital.

“The only thing he achieved was permission on the part of Khaled Meshaal of Hamas to deliver a letter from a detained Israeli soldier to his family. Nothing else,” he said.

“Hamas offered nothing to president Carter. They reiterated the same positions. There was no change on the part of Hamas,” Malki added.

There was one teeny tiny effect, though:

Hamas officials said Wednesday that Jimmy Carter’s meetings with leaders of the Palestinian militant group will boost its legitimacy despite criticism by Israel and the U.S. government of the former president’s personal peace mission.

And now this:

Israel’s UN Ambassador Calls Jimmy Carter A Bigot:

Carter, “went to the region with soiled hands and came back with bloody hands after shaking the hand of Khaled Mashaal, the leader of Hamas,” Ambassador Dan Gillerman told reporters at a luncheon briefing.

The ambassador’s harsh words for Carter came days after the ex-president met with Mashaal for seven hours in Damascus to negotiate a cease-fire with Gaza’s Hamas rulers. Carter then called Mashaal on Monday to try to get him to agree to a one-month truce without conditions, but the Hamas leader rejected the idea.

The ambassador called last weekend’s encounter “a very sad episode in American history.”

He said it was “a shame” to see Carter, who had done “good things” as a former president, “turn into what I believe to be a bigot.”

Meanwhile Sue Myrick is going ahead with her proposal to have Carter’s passport revoked.

He’s getting hammered on all sides. Does anyone like what Carter did?

Oh…maybe one.

Official Obama Blogger: Hardcore Marxist

No that is not hyperbole. Meet Sam Graham-Felsen, official Obama blogger, and writer for The Nation, and The Socialist Viewpoint.

The Socialist Viewpoint? Sounds kind of left-wing, doesn’t it? Let’s visit the ‘About Us’ page and find out more:

The Socialist Workers Organization was formed to advance the revolutionary Marxist political program in the United States. Our members are long time active participants in the socialist and labor movements. We agree with Karl Marx that society is divided into social classes whose interests are irreconcilable.

The capitalist ruling class of the United States exercises a virtual dictatorship not only over American society, but also over the entire world. This capitalist class rule is the basic cause of the poverty, wars, and the degradation of the natural environment.

We advocate workers’ power to solve the pressing problems that plague our society—homelessness, hunger, AIDS, the lack of health care for those who can’t afford it, the poor quality and lack of resources for public education and other public institutions, and the destruction of the environment.

We believe that people have the human right to freedom, justice, and sharing of all the resources available for the makings of a good life. This means the right to jobs, decent housing, food and health care, and every aspect of education, clean water, air, and earth.

Workers power is the answer!

Working people are the overwhelming majority of the population and the ruling capitalist class is only a handful. They hold a monopoly over the media and the institutions of culture that create “public opinion”—the printed and electronic mass media, as well as all public and private educational institutions. In the final analysis, however, capitalists rule by military and police force and violence.

To break the stranglehold of the capitalist minority over all of society, workers need their own political institutions. Workers and their unions need to break definitively with Democrats, Republicans, and other capitalist parties, all of which are dedicated to preserving and advancing the capitalist system of social, economic and political injustice.

Socialism, the ownership and democratic control of the means of production by the working class, and the removal of profit from the system of production, is the aim of Socialist Viewpoint, which reflects the political views of the Socialist Workers Organization. Socialism is the prerequisite for the next stage in human development that will end class oppression and exploitation for all time.

The Common Ills has much more on Graham-Felsen (what’s with the 2-part name? He’s a dude!).

What more do people need to know about Obama? Have the super-delegates figured out that he’s unelectable yet? Should we just hush up about all this and save it for later… I mean…MY GOSH!

Hat tip: Moonbattery

Update:

Oh wow, why does this not surprise me:

Real or hoax? I can’t decide.

The Communist Party USA definitely seems to like him.

State Department Forbids Use Of Words, ‘Jihad’ And ‘Jihadist’

Oh brother.

Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch reports:

A reliable source has informed me that Condoleeza Rice has approved a new lexicon for State Department usage, absolutely forbidding the use of the terms “jihad” and “jihadist” by any State Department official.

The argument, of course, is the old Streusand/Guirard claim that by using the word jihad, we’re validating the jihadist claim to be waging jihad. Of course, it’s ridiculous to think that the U.S. State Department carries any validating authority within the Islamic world to determine what is Islam and what isn’t. This would be the first time that unbelievers have set the meaning of Islamic theology for Muslims.

Also, the claim is that by using the word “jihad,” we are insulting the peaceful Muslims who are waging the daily jihad of the struggle against sin…

Again with the argument that by using a word that implicates some of the more violent Muslims, we are insulting them all.

Just yesterday I was congratulating John McCain for refusing to cow under pressure from the ISNA to stop using the word ‘Islamic’ when describing Islamic terrorists:

Mr. Fareed, who is ISNA’s secretary-general, said such usages are wrong.

“I think this is just criminality, fair and square. We should just call them criminals. You want to call them terrorist criminals, fine,” he said. “But adding the word ‘Muslim’ or ‘Islamic’ certainly doesn’t help our cause as Americans. It’s counterproductive. It paints an entire community of believers, 1.2 billion in total, in a very negative way. And certainly that’s not something that we want to do.”

Michael Ledeen countered with the obvious, clear thinking rebuttal to this type of PC tripe:

“It doesn’t group the enemy under the Islamic brush stroke because there are plenty of terrorists and extremists who are not Islamic. So it’s just a way of specifying who they are.”

Of ISNA’s criticism, Mr. Ledeen said, “They’re just silly. What a silly thing to say. I talk of Marxist extremists and nationalist extremists. They just don’t want people to say there are Islamic terrorists, which there are. Too bad.”

Sadly, bureaucrats at the State Department aren’t capable of such clear thinking.

It’s true that the word, Jihad has more than one meaning, violent Jihad being just one, but the primary one. Muslihoon who wrote a series of posts about the meaning of the word ‘Jihad’, back in February put it this way:

… there are technically a number of types of jihad. However, in general and across Muslim peoples, jihad by force (“jihad bi-s-sayf”, “jihad by the sword”) is the type that is assumed by default.

By not allowing officials to use the word, ‘jihad’, the State Department is like an ostrich hiding its head in the sand. Everybody knows what it means, but they’re going to deny it and hope it goes away.

Hat tip: Weasel Zippers

UPDATE:

The inimitable Nick has a different take on this:

While I am generally appalled at political correctness or anything resembling it, this could be viewed in a different light. I can see how the term “Jihadist” could be viewed by a terrorist in a positive and emboldening light. Also, against political correctness doctrine she didn’t mandate an alternative term to replace teh forbidden words as is customary in enlightened circles, leaving the budding state department snob to use their own imagination to replace it.

UPDATE (May 1st):

Robert Spencer addresses this issue in a Jihad Watch video: