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From Arizona Central:
Say what you want about the Minuteman movement.
Call the people involved vigilantes. Call them gun nuts. Call them crackpots in camouflage.
I’d call them fairly effective. Before they even set foot among the scrub oak and chaparral of southeastern Arizona, they have done what politicians and policymakers in this part of the country have been unable to do.
They have, as advertisers like to say, reached their target audience.
On Wednesday, just two days before the Minutemen assembled on the Arizona-Mexico border, the head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection hightailed it to Tucson to announce a “comprehensive strategy” to secure the border. Suddenly, Arizona is getting 534 new Border Patrol agents. Suddenly, Arizona is getting 23 aircraft to patrol the border, to bolster the 15 here. So urgent is the need, that 155 officers are en route. “The point is, we’re determined to take control of our border,” Robert Bonner, the border commissioner, said.
Well, that’s novel.
It kind of reminds you that the government is here to serve the people.
This is a first. A professor at an American university has been driven from a classroom due to a threat of violence from Islamofascists:
VCU professor will instruct via video
Richmond Times-Dispatch
A Virginia Commonwealth University professor of Islamic studies will be teaching her classes through video conferencing for the remainder of the semester because of concerns for her safety.
Amina Wadud sparked international controversy recently when she led an Islamic prayer service that was attended by both men and women.
Islamic tradition calls for men and women to pray separately. Many Islamic clerics condemned her participation in the service, which was conducted in New York.
A VCU spokeswoman indicated that the decision to move Wadud out of the classroom came after a security review.
This is a professor at a university on U.S. soil having her freedom of speech and of movement restricted by a threat of violence. This is the tip of the iceberg. It functions as a test case for the Islamofascists. They’ll be waiting to see how we handle it. If enough of us just ignore it—just pretend it will all go away—just pretend this is all somehow normal and to be expected—then it will probably get worse.
But if enough of us appreciate that this is unacceptable with regard to U.S. freedom, and perhaps even have a brief conversation about it with someone, we will be doing a great deal to keep it from happening again.
I’d like the Islamofascists to get a sense that we won’t stand for this. That will let them know that it’s not in their best interests for them to be pushing us like this.
(Hat Tip to Janet Levy.)
Frontpage has a panel debate discussing, among other things, the military options available with regard to North Korea and Iran.
Big Pharaoh sees Egyptian media daring to exercise more freedom of speech:
I noticed very new developments in the newspapers that belong to the opposition. They are becoming increasingly bolder in directly criticizing the president by name. For such a long time, the office of the presidency here was like the pope or the Grand Ayatollah, a position with a lot of reverence and fear. I can see this barrier crumbling down.
I was surprised to see this:
...forests are breaking out all over America. New England has more forests since the Civil War. In 1880, New York State was only 25 percent forested. Today it is more than 66 percent. In 1850, Vermont was only 35 percent forested. Now it’s 76 percent forested and rising. In the south, more land is covered by forest than at any time in the last century. In 1936 a study found that 80 percent of piedmont Georgia was without trees. Today nearly 70 percent of the state is forested. In the last decade alone, America has added more than 10 million acres of forestland.
There are many reasons for America’s arboreal comeback. We no longer use wood as fuel, and we no longer use as much land for farming. Indeed, the amount of land dedicated to farming in the United States has been steadily declining even as the agricultural productivity has increased astronomically. There are also fewer farmers. Only 2.4 percent of America’s labor force is dedicated to agriculture, which means that fewer people live near where the food grows.
The literal greening of America has added vast new habitats for animals, many of which were once on the brink of extinction. Across the country, the coyote has rebounded (obviously, this is a mixed blessing, especially for roadrunners). The bald eagle is thriving. In Maine there are more moose than any time in memory. Indeed, throughout New England the populations of critters of all kinds are exploding. In New Jersey, Connecticut, and elsewhere, the black bear population is rising sharply. The Great Plains host more buffalo than at any time in more than a century.
...Anyway, there’s more good news, of course. According to Gregg Easterbrook, air pollution is lower than it has been in a generation, drinking water is safer, and our waterways are cleaner.
Read the whole thing.
“Panel Denounces Spy Agencies,” says the somewhat hysterical LA Times headline today. It’s in large type at the top of the front page. But what the LA Times hides from its readers is this:
The bipartisan panel, co-chaired by Judge Laurence Silberman, a Republican, and former Sen. Charles Robb, a Democrat, and including members such as Republican Sen. John McCain and noted Democrats like Lloyd Cutler and Judge Patricia Wald, found no evidence that the intelligence community, under pressure from the Bush administration, exaggerated the truth about Iraqi WMD: “After a thorough review, the commission found no indication that the Intelligence Community distorted the evidence regarding Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. What intelligence professionals told you about Saddam Hussein’s programs was what they believed. They were simply wrong.”
No wonder the LA Times headline is so over-the-top. The paper is afraid its readers will find out that what’s really been denounced is the “Bush lied” story.
The LA Times has been caught once again suppressing the news that supports Conservative and Pro-America views, in an attempt to control what its readers think.
Sandy Berger’s admitted to shredding classified documents. I don’t know what’s more amazing: that he actually tried this dumb excuse, or that he got away with it:
...former Clinton National Security Advisor Sandy Berger admits that he shredded three copies of a top secret after-action review of al Qaida’s 1999 Millennium bomb plot.
Berger acknowledges removing the top secret material from the National Archives on at least two occasions in the fall of 2003 – and taking the documents home so he could check for differences.
...”In comparing the versions at his office later that day, [Berger] realized that several were essentially the same, and he cut three copies into small pieces.”
The associate gave no explanation for Berger’s decision to shred the top secret intelligence documents.
That’d be like a thief robbing a gas station and saying he later examined the money, found out it was counterfeit, and shredded it—and being let off from doing jail time.
TOP 100 APRIL FOOL’S DAY HOAXES OF ALL TIME.
To my right at today’s Harvey Kushner event, sat noted columnist Nidra Poller. She told me about what’s going on in France today as a result of the jihad, which is the Muslim policy of non-assimilation. In jihad, Muslims immigrate in large numbers into a country, and are taught not to assimilate, and not to work for the infidels. This of course has a damaging effect on the surrounding community, as well as on the Muslims who practice it.
Nidra was kind enough to say I could quote her. She said that in Paris, there are only two or three areas that still look like Paris; the rest look like “a third-world country.” This is the devastation wrought by jihad, and it’s what we need to avoid happening here.
She also said that there was recently a French TV documentary in which a man from Senegal was interviewed about his three wives. Bear in mind that bigamy is illegal in France. “I’m not French—I’m Senegalese,” said the man. He stated that he was therefore entitled to have his three wives in France.
And here’s the kicker: the guy’s not making enough money to pay for his three wives and thirteen children. Want to know who’s paying for them? The French taxpayers.
And if that’s not enough—each wife is getting her own apartment, at French taxpayer expense.
We need to take steps to keep something similar from happening here. And in this regard also Nidra had good advice.
She cited Israeli government policy of interviewing applicants for citizenship in detail, with the goal of finding out if the applicant wishes to assimilate and become a successful and productive member of society, contributing to the good of all. If not, the person isn’t granted citizenship.
Newt Gingrich said something similar last week at the Wednesday Morning Club. He said that applicants for citizenship must pass a U.S. history test given in English.
I’ll blog more on the Harvey Kushner event tomorrow. See you then!
