Iran: Justice tainted by western laws, says ayatollah

Actually, I think the guy has a point! I have often admired the Muslims for the way they deal with criminals. I just have a problem with how many people I consider innocent of a crime. Too many of their crimes seem completely innocent to me! They do go overboard with their punishments. Violent crimes should be handled the Islamic/old fashioned way, just to prevent recidivism.

AKI - Adnkronos international Iran: Justice tainted by western laws, says ayatollah: "'Justice in Iran does not work,' the Ayatollah said on Friday. 'People are unhappy because our penal code is tainted with principles of western law.'

'If we limited ourselves to follow Islamic legislation, many criminals would not relapse, and many others, in fear, would not commit crimes.'

According to the Ayatollah, a better deterrent would be punishment based on the Islamic Sharia law.

'The criminals' behaviour would be different if they were punished according to Islamic law with floggings and cutting of limbs,' said the Ayatollah during an interview with Tehran's Berna news agency.

'Sharia law does not consider a prison term an effective form of punishment. It is a legacy stemming from western law,' said Najafabadi.

'Criminals, instead of becoming reformed characters, actually improve their criminal techniques and as soon as they are freed, they go back to commit the same crimes,' concluded the chief prosecutor."

Passenger on Plane with Infected Woman Tests Positive for TB

Are we going to have to take a blood test of all passengers? Scary stuff.

FOXNews.com - Feds: Passenger on Plane with Infected Woman Tests Positive for TB - Health News | Current Health News | Medical News: "A passenger on an American Airlines flight from India who sat near a woman with drug-resistant tuberculosis has tested positive for TB, federal health officials said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention uncovered the second case after tracking down and testing more than two dozen passengers who sat near the woman on the December flight from New Delhi to Chicago.

But CDC officials cautioned Thursday that because the other passenger had lived in a country where TB is common, they could not determine how the infection was contracted.

'It's not really surprising to see people on a plane from a country with high TB prevalence testing positive for TB,' said Shelly Diaz, a spokeswoman for the agency.

The 30-year-old woman diagnosed with the full-blown version of the disease late last year arrived in Chicago on Dec. 13 and then traveled on to San Francisco International Airport. Health officials said the woman learned in India that she was sick with TB but still boarded the international flight.

About a week after the flight landed, the woman showed up at the Stanford Hospital emergency room with a fever and chest pain and coughing up blood.

The Silicon Valley woman has since been released from the hospital after months in"

Iwo Jima Veterans Blast Time's 'Special Environmental Issue' Cover

I have to fully agree with the Iwo Jima Marines on this. This is an act of fully stupidity on the part of Time. Can we just smack them all over the head for being so stupid?

Iwo Jima Veterans Blast Time's 'Special Environmental Issue' Cover: "For only the second time in 85 years, Time magazine abandoned the traditional red border it uses on its cover. The occasion – to push more global warming alarmism.

The cover of the April 21 issue of Time took the famous Iwo Jima photograph by Joe Rosenthal of the Marines raising the American flag and replaced the flag with a tree. The cover story by Bryan Walsh calls green “the new red, white and blue.”

Donald Mates, an Iwo Jima veteran, told the Business & Media Institute on April 17 that using that photograph for that cause was a “disgrace.”

“It’s an absolute disgrace,” Mates said. “Whoever did it is going to hell. That’s a mortal sin. God forbid he runs into a Marine that was an Iwo Jima survivor.”

Mates also said making the comparison of World War II to global warming was erroneous and disrespectful.

“The second world war we knew was there,” Mates said. “There’s a big discussion. Some say there is global warming, some say there isn’t. And to stick a tree in place of a flag on the Iwo Jima picture is just sacrilegious.”"

German charged with stabbing Frankfurt rabbi

Just another friendly member of the Religion of Peace.

At least this guy is honest and admits that Muslims are threatened by Jews! The rabbi might have tried to tell him the God is not as violent as the Muslims believe, which, of course, is a horrible insult to any Muslim.

German Muslim charged with stabbing Frankfurt rabbi - Israel News, Ynetnews: "A 23-year-old German Muslim went on trial Thursday for stabbing a rabbi in Frankfurt, telling a court that he felt threatened by the rabbi and had acted in self-defense.

Defendant Sajed Aziz testified that the Frankfurt-based rabbi, Zalman Gurevitch, approached him in a threatening manner on a street in the city in September. He said he reacted by pulling a knife and stabbing the rabbi, but did not intend to kill him. Prosecutors have said the rabbi told authorities at the time of the attack that his assailant said, 'I'll kill you, you (expletive) Jew,' Then pulled out a knife with a and stabbed him in the stomach. (AP)"

Winning an asymmetric war

I love Ms Phillips! Her analysis is so excellent that it is hard to dispute. It makes it so much easier when I deal with the Liberal fascists in my life.

The Spectator: "The belief that asymmetric warfare, in which conventional armies are forced to fight ostensibly weaker terrorists who don’t fight by the rules, can only be won by political rather than military means and that therefore states must talk to terrorists, currently commands enormous political support in the west and is to a large extent responsible for the mood of defeatism and appeasement that currently grips its elites. All the more bracing, therefore, to read this fine analysis by Maj-Gen Yaakov Amidror of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, which magisterially refutes this counsel of despair. An asymmetric war is certainly winnable against terrorist insurgents, he says, provided certain principles are followed. Unfortunately, this is far from the case at present, not least in Israel, but that’s another matter. Amidror lays down six basic conditions for victory of which the first is:

A political decision to defeat terrorism, stated explicitly and clearly to the security forces, and the willingness to bear the political cost of an offensive."

IRAN'S BUSTED IRAQ BID

I like that a major news paper has found something nice to publish! The NYP is generally more neutral than the NYT, so this is not a shock, but it is wonderful to see.

IRAN'S BUSTED IRAQ BID - New York Post: "A GAMBLE that proved too costly.

That's how analysts in Tehran describe events last month in Basra. Iran's state-run media have de facto confirmed that this was no spontaneous 'uprising.' Rather, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) tried to seize control of Iraq's second-largest city using local Shiite militias as a Trojan horse.

Tehran's decision to make the gamble was based on three assumptions:

* Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki wouldn't have the courage to defend Basra at the risk of burning his bridges with the Islamic Republic in Iran.

* The international force would be in no position to intervene in the Basra battle. The British, who controlled Basra until last December, had no desire to return, especially if this meant getting involved in fighting. The Americans, meanwhile, never had enough troops to finish off al-Qaeda-in-Iraq, let alone fight Iran and its local militias on a new front.

* The Shiite clerical leadership in Najaf would oppose intervention by the new Iraqi security forces in a battle that could lead to heavy Shiite casualties.

The Iranian plan - developed by Revolutionary Guard's Quds (Jerusalem) unit, which is in charge of 'exporting the Islamic Revolution' - aimed at a quick victory. To achieve that, Tehran spent vast sums persuading local"

ACLU: Harvard spied on protesters?

Why can't the cops take pictures of protests that have been violent in the past? If anyone says that the "Palestinians" are peaceful, they are obvious morons, so it is safe to say that monitoring this "protest" was a wise thing.

ACLU: Harvard spied on protesters? - Local News Updates - The Boston Globe: "The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts has denounced Harvard University for photographing protesters at a political rally last month near Harvard Square during which university police arrested two protesters.

Officials at the ACLU also want Harvard to explain why an undercover officer was taking photographs at the rally, what the university intends to do with the photos, and whether it is sharing information with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces, as have universities around the country.

“The concern we have is that Harvard police were gathering intelligence about a lawful political protest on public property,” said John Reinstein, the ACLU’s legal director. “A university is a place where we would expect there’s room for political discussion, where appropriate protests would be allowed, as part of academic freedom. We want to find out the scope of the university’s activities.”

In a statement, Joe Wrinn, a Harvard spokesman, said the university is not participating with the Joint Terrorism Task Forces and that it does not have a political intelligence unit or an undercover unit."

Mr. Zahar and Mr. Carter

The WaPo is allowing critisism of "Palestinians"? The End is near!

Mr. Zahar and Mr. Carter - washingtonpost.com: "Hamas is 'perfectly willing' for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas 'to represent them in all direct negotiations with the Israelis, and they also maintain that they will accept any agreement that he brokers with the Israelis' provided a referendum is held on it, the former president told the newspaper Haaretz. Compare that claim with Mr. Zahar's own words on the opposite page. In fact, Mr. Zahar has called Mr. Abbas 'a traitor' for negotiating with Israel -- a label that is, in the Palestinian context, an incitement to murder.

Mr. Carter justifies his meetings with familiar arguments about the value of dialogue with enemies. But he misses the point. Contacts between enemies can be useful: Israel is legendary for such negotiations, and even now it is engaged in back-channel bargaining with Hamas through Egypt. But it is one thing to communicate pragmatically, and quite another to publicly and unconditionally grant recognition and political sanction to a leader or a group that advocates terrorism, mass murder or the extinction of another state. That is what Mr. Carter is doing by lending what is left of his prestige to an avowed terrorist such as Khaled Meshal -- or Mahmoud al-Zahar."

Man at center of Las Vegas ricin case arrested, charged

I know that I am shocked that this guy has been arrested, but I still want to know who he planned to kill with this toxin! WHO???? Tell me!

Man at center of Las Vegas ricin case arrested, charged: "A man who authorities believe was sickened by the deadly toxin ricin was arrested Wednesday on federal charges after he was released from a hospital.

Roger Bergendorff, 57, had been hospitalized since Feb. 14.

He is charged with possession of a biological toxin and two weapons offenses stemming from materials authorities said were found Feb. 26 and Feb. 28 in his room at an extended-stay motel several blocks off the Las Vegas Strip.

'He was released from the hospital and he's in custody,' said Agent Joseph Dickey, spokesman for the FBI office in Las Vegas.

The three charges carry a possible penalty of 30 years in federal prison and a $750,000 fine. Bergendorff was scheduled appear Wednesday afternoon before a federal judge in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas."

Israel's Secret War - TIME

Who would have guessed TIME would cover the lack of suicidal Palestinians? Unless it has a "Blame the Joos!" spin on the article.

Israel's Secret War - TIME: "Abu Dhaim's killing spree--along with a suicide bombing in the Negev town of Dimona last month--highlights Israel's continued vulnerability to terrorist attacks. Just because fewer Palestinian terrorists are slipping into Israel from the Palestinian West Bank doesn't mean that they have stopped trying. Says an officer in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF): 'Our people sleep comfortably in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv because the IDF is putting in a huge effort, day and night, in the West Bank to prevent terror.'

Israel's secret war inside the West Bank is no less deadly--but a good deal less visible--than its fight in Gaza. In the West Bank, Israel relies on a network of Palestinian collaborators and wide-scale arrests. Last year more than 6,650 suspected Palestinian militants were rounded up, among them, claim Israeli intelligence officers, 279 potential suicide bombers."

Officials say they found FARC's uranium

Scary stuff! Why would FARC need this? Would contaminating a city with radioactive dust free the people like they keep claiming they are working towards? Or would it just make a bunch of people sick and force the people they support to leave their homes and belongings? Idiots.

Officials say they found FARC's uranium | The Australian: "COLOMBIAN officials have found low-grade uranium acquired by leftist rebels, according to authorities.
The news comes three weeks after files found on the seized computers of a slain FARC commander suggested the group had the dangerous radioactive material.

Informants on March 20 handed over to military intelligence a sample of the uranium referred to in the computer files, and experts at the state geological institute Ingeominas have sinced confirmed that it is depleted uranium, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The computers were seized March 1 following a controversial Colombian air raid on a rebel camp in neighboring Ecuador that killed FARC's second in command Raul Reyes."

Another Syrian armored division masses on Israeli-Lebanese borders

Nope, no threats here. Syria is peaceful!

This sounds like a good reason for Israel to continue to prepare for all out war. Since the Syrian leadership is directly involved, if anything, anything!, happens it will be intentional.

I will pray for peace, but prepare for war.

DEBKAfile - Exclusive: Another Syrian armored division masses on Israeli-Lebanese borders: "DEBKAfile’s military sources report that Damascus has deployed the 10th armored corps at the Massaneh crossing of Mount Hermon. It links up with the northwestern positions the 14th division took up last month on the Syrian-Israeli border which cuts through the Hermon range.

Syrian troops are now strung along a continuous crescent-shaped line from the central Lebanese mountains through Mt Dov on the western slopes of Mt. Hermon and up to southeastern Lebanon. This deployment, commanding Syria’s Israeli and Lebanese borders, is under the command of the president’s brother, Maher Assad.

The 10th armored corps was moved forward straight after Syria’s snap civil defense exercise which crashed after three hours last Thursday, April 10. The exercise was ordered without notice by president Bashar Assad on the last day of Israel’s five-day homeland defense drill."

Iraq: Dealing With The Desertion Disease

I love how much the Iraqis have changed for the better over the last few years. It is a wonderful thing to see!

Iraq: Dealing With The Desertion Disease: "Fighting is heaviest in the main Mahdi Army areas in Baghdad ('Sadr City') and Basra. U.S. troops have assisted by providing aerial reconnaissance and manpower to cordon off the battle areas. Everyone, except the foreign media, has been pleased with the performance of the Iraqi police and troops. But this was viewed differently overseas, where much was made by the foreign media, when the government fired 1,300 soldiers and police for deserting or refusing to fight. Locally, this is seen as tremendous progress. The Iraqi army and police have a long tradition of, well, bugging out when the going gets tough. Remember that the Iraqi army largely melted away in the face of the U.S. and British invaders in 2003. In 1991, about a third of the Iraqi troops occupying Kuwait in 1990-91, deserted by the time coalition troops attacked in January, 1991. During the 1980s war with Iran, desertion was such a pervasive problem that Saddam had to come up with some novel techniques (think 'carrot and stick' on steroids) to deal with it. Even before Saddam, Iraqi reluctance to stick around once the fighting begins, was just considered another national characteristic. But five years of troops selection and training have changed that attitude considerably."

Afghans and Pakistanis squeezing Taliban and al Qaeda

This must be the Right Wing crazies at Reuters just making things up.

Everyone knows that the US and their NATO slaves are just holed up on little bases while the heroic Taliban slaughter more of them every day!

HA! Having the MSM admit anything good in the War is scary! If they are forced to admit this, then just think of all the wonderful advances that they have been able to successfully ignore.

Afghans and Pakistanis squeezing Taliban and al Qaeda | Reuters: "Al Qaeda and Taliban militants on the Afghan-Pakistani border are increasingly facing pressure on two fronts and they can be squeezed with more coordination between the neighbors, a U.S. official said on Monday."

iowahawk: Blue State Blues as Coastal Parents Battle Invasion of Dollywood Values

Things are tough all over! You really need to read the whole article so that you can look for these warning signs in your friends and families.

iowahawk: Blue State Blues as Coastal Parents Battle Invasion of Dollywood Values: "'I'm not sure where we went wrong,' says Ellen McCormack, nervously fondling the recycled paper cup holding her organic Kona soy macchaito. 'It seems like only yesterday Rain was a carefree little boy at the Montessori school, playing non-competitive musical chairs with the other children and his care facilitators.'

'But now...' she pauses, staring out the window of her postmodern Palo Alto home. The words are hesitant, measured, bearing a tale of family heartbreak almost too painful for her to recount. 'But now, Rain insists that I call him Bobby Ray.'

Even as her voice is choked with emotion, she summons an inner courage -- a mother's courage -- and leads me down the hall to 'Bobby Ray's' bedroom, for a firsthand glimpse at the psychic devastation that claimed her son.

She opens the door to a reveal a riot of George Jones CDs, reflective 'mudflap mama' stickers, empty foil packs of Red Man, and U.S. Marine recruiting posters. In the middle of the room: a makeshift table made from a utility cable spool, bearing a the remains of a gutted catfish.

'This used to be all Ikea,' she says, rocking on heels between heaved sobs. 'It's too late for us. Maybe it's not to late for me to warn others.'"