NGC 6302: Big, Bright, Bug Nebula

Now that's beautiful!

Credit: A. Zijlstra (UMIST) et al., ESA, NASA
Explanation: The bright clusters and nebulae of planet Earth's night sky are often named for flowers or insects, and NGC 6302 is no exception. With an estimated surface temperature of about 250,000 degrees C, the central star of this particular planetary nebula is exceptionally hot though -- shining brightly in ultraviolet light but hidden from direct view by a dense torus of dust. Above is a dramatically detailed close-up of the dying star's nebula recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope. Cutting across a bright cavity of ionized gas, the dust torus surrounding the central star is in the upper right corner of this view, nearly edge-on to the line-of-sight. Molecular hydrogen has recently been detected in this hot star's dusty cosmic shroud. NGC 6302 lies about 4,000 light-years away in the arachnologically correct constellation Scorpius.

Because They Hate ~ Brigitte Gabriel

Here's a quote from "Because They Hate" by Bridgitte Gabriel, speaking about when her mother was cared for in an Israeli hospital during the Lebanese civil war:

"I also learned about hatred, intolerance, and bigotry. The Muslim woman who was in the room with my mother and had stayed in the hospital for about twelve days. And even after ten days, when the doctors left the room after changing her bandages and checking on her in their morning tour, she said, with an evil, hate-filled look on her face, "I hate you all. I wish you were all dead." And for the first time in my life I saw evil. I realized that this Muslim couldn't love the Jews even after they had saved her life. And when you are unable to be grateful to the people who saved your life, you have no soul. When humans become devoid of compassion, a sense of forgiveness, and open-mindedness, when they surrender their humanity to hate, they become an evil force of darkness that is irreconcilable with hope, love and peace."

and this bit about the media coverage of the war:

"Their bias was shocking. The media reported a one-sided story, focusing only on the Palestinians and Muslims whose lives had been destroyed by Israel. I thought, What about our lives, which had been destroyed by the Muslims and the PLO? What about the massacres, slaughter, rape and torture of Christians and the destruction of our churces by Muslims shouting "Allahu Akbar"? What about Lebanese democracy now under the thumb of the Syrians? What about the people of Lebanon, who were so open-minded, tolerant, and fair? What about the hatred, intolerance, and bigotry of the Palestinians who were given refuge in Lebanon, and then destroyed and terrorized what was once the beacon of culture, education and modernity in the Middle East?"

Hmmmmm, that sounds a lot like what happened last summer! Doesn't it?

Carina Nebula Panorama from Hubble

Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (U. California, Berkeley) et al., and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Explanation: In one of the brightest parts of Milky Way lies a nebula where some of the oddest things occur. NGC 3372, known as the Great Nebula in Carina, is home to massive stars and changing nebula. Eta Carinae, the most energetic star in the nebula, was one of the brightest stars in the sky in the 1830s, but then faded dramatically. The Keyhole Nebula, visible left the center, houses several of the most massive stars known and has also changed its appearance. The entire Carina Nebula spans over 300 light years and lies about 7,500 light-years away in the constellation of Carina. Pictured above is the most detailed image of the Carina Nebula ever taken. The controlled color image is a composite of 48 high-resolution frames taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and released to honor its 17th anniversary. Wide-field annotated and zoomable image versions are also available.

Nonie Darwish

One more Nonie quote from her book "Now They Call Me Infidel". This is obviously a picture taken a while back:>D By the way, she is still a muslim, but she has plenty to say about the sad state of affairs in the muslim world, filled with hatred, intolerance, bigotry, and violence. She's a brave, intelligent soul. And here's her website:
http://www.arabsforisrael.com/

"To the people of Israel I want to say: You are an inspiration to people who choose to see the truth. You are my heroes. You are a people of faith who will not submit to the darkness and evil surrounding you. You live by honorable principles and moral standards and struggle even in your darkest hours to maintain them. Your courage, persistence, and faith have been an example to me and many other Arabs. Continue doing what you are doing; never give up; continue riding your buses, continue treating Arabs in your hospitals. Do not be in a rush for a quick peace agreement. The people in the area are not ready yet for peace. Protect yourself from terrorisma and, if necessary, keep the fence up high and one day the arrogance, intolerance, and cruelty around you will end when God takes away the oil weapon from the hands of the Arabs who have used it against you, the world, and ultimately themselves. The good people of the world must support you and they will. I believe that goodness always wins at the end."

Now They Call Me Infidel ~ Nonie Darwish

I'm about 1/2 way through this book, which was recommended by my mom. Hat tip MOM!

It's very interesting because she studied sociology, and hence looks at arab culture and problems from that perspective. Here's a little sample:

"The natural reaction for women to resolve this repression could be either to revolt or to end up becoming even more radical and religious than her male counterpart. Revolting is regarded as anti-Muslim and against Allah's commands, and that makes it out of the question for many Muslim women. For some, the solution ends up being, "If you can't beat them, join them." The only door left open for them to achieve power and respect is through compliance and becoming a part of the larger system that oppresses other women. To many the veil then becomes a woman's symbol of honor, power, and respect; her female form of jihad."

Makes sense...

Google's New Logo???

How funny... Google

Liviu Librescu

There's an excellent post at AOW, so I won't repeat the details here. He was a great hero all his life, repeatedly, in the face of all evil. I hate it when Christians say "If you don't believe in Jesus as Savior you will go to hell!" Isn't that judgemental? We're not the judge, and I don't believe Liviu went to hell. I am a Christian, but I don't think that gives me a right to judge others, only to plant seeds. For example, when Jesus said (John 14:6)"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." I believe that is an accurate statement. The question is, would you like Jesus to be your advocate, and say "She is mine" or would you like to depend on your own righteous acts? The point is God is the judge. You can 'go to court' with or without a lawyer, however, 'A lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client'.

The Force of Reason ~ Oriana Fallaci

Another good book, and great quote where Oriana Fallaci argues that the Left is every bit as religious as Islam:

“Like Islam it considers itself sanctified by a god who is the custodian of the Truth. Like Islam it never acknowledges its faults and its errors, it considers itself infallible and never apologizes. Like Islam it demands a world at its own image, a society built on the verses of its prophet. Like Islam it enslaves its own followers. It intimidates them, it makes them feel stupid even when they are intelligent. Like Islam it does not accept different opinions and if you think differently it despises you. It denigrates you, it punishes you. Like Islam, in short, it is illiberal. Autocratic, totalitarian, even when it plays the game of democracy. Isn’t it revealing that 95% of the Western people converted to Islam come from the Left?”

Republican Calls for $

So, the Republican Party is making their ‘please contribute’ phone calls. Here’s my opinion on the subject. When they call, pick your top ‘Action Items’ and tell them the ‘check is in the mail’ when you do A, B and C. Don’t make it too long, or they’ll just feel hopeless. Mine were simple things, any fool could easily accomplish:

1. Pardon the 2 border guards.
2. Do not extradite ‘Dog the Bounty Hunter’
3. Read Oriana Fallaci’s book “The Force of Reason’

That’s it. Without money, they will listen to us.

Gun Culture

Gun culture. I’m so sick of hearing that term about America. As if we’re all a bunch of gun tottin’ morons, and what happened 'serves us right'. Blaming the victims is really an ugly thing to do. Give me a break. These things didn’t happen pre-1966, so maybe something has changed in OUR CULTURE! OMGosh, could that be the culture of the 60’s????

For all who don’t know these things (which doesn’t include anyone likely to read this blog):

1. The 2nd Amendment was put into place to protect the citizens from an over-reaching government, a tyranny.

2. “Militia” in 1776 meant all citizens, and yes they provided their OWN firearms.

3. Counties with Concealed Weapons Permits have LOWER gun deaths. Criminals don’t attack someone if they think they might die in the process.

4. Many, many more people use guns to protect themselves, than crazy freakjobs like the VT murderer. Every month the NRA has at least 10 instances where people protected their families with guns. That’s at least 140 saved lives per year (assuming a minimum of one saved life per incident), but in reality it’s MUCH, MUCH higher.

So, fix the culture. A good place to start would be to pipe down on all the ‘hate America’ politics of the left that is so prevalent on campuses. If this guy is a foreigner, which they’re thinking at this moment, he probably thought he was doing the world a favor killing evil Americans, being fed a daily diet of ‘Death to America’, ‘Bush=Hitler’, ‘Imperialism’, blah, blah, blah…..

PS: Yep, he was a S Korean!!! Remember all the protest marches in S Korea??? To their credit, the older S Koreans (who remember the Korean war) marched in support of America.

Rungs of the Red Rectangle

Hat tip: The Merry Widow:>D

Credit: H. Van Winckel (KU Leuven), M. Cohen (UC Berkeley), H. Bond (STScI), T. Gull (GSFC), ESA, NASA
Explanation: A distinctive X-shape and ladder-like rungs appear in this Hubble Space Telescope image of the intriguing Red Rectangle Nebula. The dusty cosmic cloud was originally identified as a strong source of infrared radiation and is now believed to contain icy dust grains and hydrocarbon molecules formed in the cool outflow from an aging central star. So why does it look like a big X? A likely explanation is that the central star - actually a close pair of stars - is surrounded by a thick dust torus which pinches the otherwise spherical outflow into tip-touching cone shapes. Because we view the torus edge-on, the boundary edges of the cone shapes seem to form an X. The distinct rungs suggest the outflow occurs in fits and starts. About 2,300 light-years away toward the fanciful constellation Monoceros, the Red Rectangle nebula should be transformed into a glorious planetary nebula as its cool central star becomes a hot white dwarf over the next few thousand years. This sharp Hubble picture spans only about one third of a light-year at the distance of the Red Rectangle.

MWC 922: The Red Square Nebula

WOW! How weird is this one?

Credit & Copyright: Peter Tuthill (Sydney U.)
Explanation: What could cause a nebula to appear square? No one is quite sure. The hot star system known as MWC 922, however, appears to be imbedded in a nebula with just such a shape. The above image combines infrared exposures from the Hale Telescope on Mt. Palomar in California, and the Keck-2 Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. A leading progenitor hypothesis for the square nebula is that the central star or stars somehow expelled cones of gas during a late developmental stage. For MWC 922, these cones happen to incorporate nearly right angles and be visible from the sides. Supporting evidence for the cone hypothesis includes radial spokes in the image that might run along the cone walls. Researchers speculate that the cones viewed from another angle would appear similar to the gigantic rings of supernova 1987A, possibly indicating that a star in MWC 922 might one day itself explode in a similar supernova.

Imus

Genesis 50:20
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

This whole Imus thing was blown way out of proportion. One of our greatest freedoms is 'Freedom of Speech' which really is 'Freedom of Thought'. If someone has bad ideas, CHANGE THE CHANNEL! All that being said, I'm laughing my *ss off watching all the left-wing apologists trying to justify Rap Music... where they routinely call women whores, and every other disgusting thing that they can think of. HA! Well maybe they should just tone it down too!

My opinion of Imus is that he is a nitwit. I tried watching him a couple of times, but he bored me to death.

The Thinking Bloggers Award

Kevin at Amboy Times has awarded me the "Thinking Bloggers Award"! Thank you Kevin:>) Now it's my turn to pick 5 fellow bloggers for the award, and here they are!

1.My Republican Blog for her thoughtful analysis on many subjects, and her posts which honor our brave American soldiers.

2. The Merry Widow for her dedication to 'getting the word out'.

3. Neocon Command Center for her great comics and video finds, plus analysis of hot topics.

4. Eloivsdiablo for amazing photographs and artwork.

5. The Beak Speaks for really sharp writing and memorable phraseology.

Should you choose to participate, please make sure you pass this list of rules to the blogs you are tagging. The participation rules are simple:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.

2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme

3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.

P.S. Send an email or leave a comment for the blogs you have tagged for the award.
Congratulations, you won a Thinking Blogger Award.

What's WRONG with the UN

Sorry, I haven't figured out how to load video, but you HAVE TO WATCH THIS VIDEO:

HERE

It shows a good American at the UN expressing his exasperation over the inaction of the Human Rights Commission, but even more enlightening is the reaction of the President of the Commission, who basically tells him to shut up and never bring it up again or he'll be censored. It really does capture all that is wrong with the UN.

Hat tip: My Republican Blog

Mark Stein's Recommendations

From "America Alone" ~ by Mark Stein:

"1. Support women’s rights – real rights, not feminist pieties – in the Muslim world. This is the biggest vulnerability in Islam. Not every Muslim female wants to be Gloria Steinem or Paris Hilton. But nor do they want a life that starts with genital mutilation and ends with an honor killing at the hands of their brothers. The overwhelming majority of females in Continental battered women’s shelters are Muslim – which gives you some sense of what women in the Middle East might do if they had any women’s shelters to go to. When half the population of these societies is a potential source of dissent, we need to use it.

2. Roll back Ahab, Iranian, and other ideological exports that have radicalized Muslims on every continent. We have an ideological enemy and we need to wage ideological war.

3. Support economic and political liberty in the Muslim world, even if it means unsavory governments: an elected unsavory government is still better than a dictatorial unsavory government. It’s not necessary for Syria and Egypt to become Minnesota and New Zealand. All that’s necessary is for them to become something other than what they are now. And on the bumpy road to liberty, every Muslim regime that has to preoccupy itself with internal dissent has less time to foment trouble beyond its borders.

4. Ensure that Islamic states that persecute non-Muslims are denied international legitimacy and excluded and marginalized in international bodies.

5. Throttle the funding of mosques, madrassas, think tanks, and other activities in America and elsewhere by Saudi Arabia, Iran and others.

6. Develop a strategy for countering Islamism on the ideological front. Create a civil corps to match America’s warrior corps and use it to promote alternative institutions, structures, and values through a post-imperial equivalent to Britain’s Colonial Office, albeit under whatever wussy name is deemed acceptable: Department of Global Community Outreach or whatever (this, by the way, is what Washington should have created instead of the bloated bureaucracy of the Department of Homeland Security).

7. Marginalize and euthanize the UN, NATO, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and other September 10 transnational organizations and devote the energy wasted on them to results oriented multilateralism. We need real allies now.

8. Cease bankrolling unreformable oil dictatorships by a long-overdue transformation of the energy industry.

9. End the Iranian regime.

10. Strike militarily when the opportunity presents itself."

Robert Spencer Recommendations

We were out one night and a fellow traveler said that he thought we should kill all the muslims. I said "No. They just follow a bad ideology. When we say islam is a religion of peace, we are propagating a dangerous lie. People are just too lazy to read the koran, or anything analytical on the subject." But, I started thinking about some of the suggestions, from more rational souls, and decided to post them. Here are Robert Spencer's suggestions from his book "The Truth About Muhammad", and tomorrow I will post Mark Stein's suggestions. BTW, I agree more with Robert Spencers,,,,

"1. Stop insisting that Islam is a religion of peace. This is false, and falsehoods are never productive. There is in fact no need for the president of the US or that prime minister of Great Britain or any Western leader to make any pronouncements about the nature of Islam at all. They would be much wiser to limit themselves to declaring that their foes wish to impose Islamic sharia rule upon their countries and the world, and that they are going to lead the resistance to that.


2. Initiate a full-scale Manhattan Project to find new energy sources. During WWII, the US invested millions and set the brightest scientific minds in the world on the atomic bomb project. A similar effort must be made today to end the Western dependence on oil from the Islamic world – a dependence that deforms the foreign policies of Western nations, preventing them from taking all the steps that they must take in order to defend themselves from the jihad that Muhammad preached.


3. Make Western aid contingent upon renunciation of the jihad ideology. If Western states acknowledged the existence of a global imperialist Islamic imperative, they could make aid to states like Egypt and Pakistan – in which secular governments generally tolerate the proliferation of jihadist teachings in mosques and Islamic schools – contingent upon the active rejection of those teachings and positive steps against them by the governments of each state. These countries and others profess to reject the contemporary jihad of Osama bin Laden and like-minded mujahedin; let them make good on their rejection, if it is sincere, by developing programs for Islamic schools that explain why Muhammad’s exhortations to warfare and supremacism no longer have merit in today’s world or in the future.


4. Call upon American Muslim advocacy groups to work against the jihad ideology. Instead of endorsements of the US Constitution and American values, Islamic institutions in the US are filled with jihadist propaganda against Jews and Christians. A 2005 report by the Freedom House Center for Religious Freedom found material in American mosques teaching hatred of non-Muslims and stating that apostates from Islam should be killed, in accord with Muhammad’s directive. Here again, American Muslim organizations profess to reject the jihad of Osama bin Laden, but have been slow to back up their words with deeds. Five years after September 11 there are still no organized, comprehensive programs in American mosques and schools to teach against the jihad ideology or confront the elements of Muhammad’s life that today fuel jihadist violence and subversion. This is not surprising given the pedigrees of such groups (the Council on American-Islamic Relations, for example, emerged from the Islamic Association of Palestine, a Hamas front) and the centrality of jihad in Islamic theology, but government officials and the mainstream media nevertheless generally treat these groups as moderate. Courageous officials and politicians, if any exist today, should challenge these groups to put up or shut up – to produce genuinely moderate and reformist initiatives that teach against Muhammad’s warlike example, or to stop posing as moderate groups. And government and law enforcement officials should accordingly stop regarding these groups as trustworthy, loyal moderates who accept Western pluralism without reservation.


5. Revise immigration policies with the jihad ideology in view. Western nations should develop immigration applications that ask hard questions about the applicant’s views on pluralistic societies, religious freedom, women’s rights, and other features of Western societies challenged by elements of Muhammad’s teachings and Islamic law. Of course, savvy intelligence officials would not expect honest answers in all cases, but the very presence of such questions would make it clear that those who hope ultimately to transform Western republics into sharia autocracies are not welcome in those republics, and those who are found in them will be prosecuted and expelled. The need for immigration policies with such a focus has been obscured by fears of ‘racism,’ but this is not a racial issue. Muhammad’s teachings are available to all races, and people of all races adhere to them. "

Friday the 13th ~ hail.....

Yum yum yum...

The Rage and the Pride - Oriana Fallaci

Just finished this 'little book' by Oriana Fallaci... It's an excellent article she wrote after 911, about the islamic invasion of Europe, and more specifically Italy. Here's a little excerpt about 12 'impure men', all 'sons of allah' who were executed in Dacca Bangladesh in 1975:

"They executed them in the stadium, with bayonet stabs in the thorax, and at the presence of twenty thousand believers who sitting in the tribunes prayed Allah akbar, Allah-akbar. God is great, God is great... Oh, yes: I hear very well what you are thinking. The ancient Romans, you are thinking, those Romans of whom my culture is so proud, used to amuse themselves with watching Christians being eaten by lions. All over Europe the Catholics, those Catholics whose contribution to the History of Thought I acknowledge and respect, used to amuse themselves with watching the heretics burn alive. But a lot of time has passed by, in the meantime we have become a little more civilized, and even the sons of Allah should have understood that such things must not occur. Yet they do. After the impure young men, they killed a ten-year-old child who in order to save one of the condemned, his brother, had thrown himself on the executioners. Don't hurt him, don't hurt him. They crushed his head with the heels of the heavy boots."

Islamic Tolerance

“It is nothing short of staggering that the myth of Islamic tolerance could have gained such currency in the teeth of Muhammad’s open contempt and hatred for Jews and Christians, incitements of violence against them, and calls that they be converted or subjugated. While human nature is everywhere the same and Muslims can, of course, act as tolerantly as anyone else, the example of Muhammad, the highest model for human behavior, constantly pulls them in a different direction. The fact that Western analysts continue to ignore all this demonstrates the ease with which people can be convinced of something they wish to believe, regardless of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.” ~ Robert Spencer, "The Truth About Muhammed"

Jihad Watch

The Truth About Muhammad - by Robert Spencer

This in an excellent book! It puts the strange and violent verses of the koran into the cultural and historical context of Muhammad and his gang of thieves. You can see that he was a violent, egomaniac with messianic delusions, much like Jim Jones, David Koresh, or Warren Jeffs. It's a good book to have when and/if you read the koran, so you can see the background and results of various "revelations" from allah!

For example, M was frustrated that his own tribesmen wouldn't convert to his newly invented religion, so he met with them and came up with the brilliant idea that he would say allah told him it's okay to worship their gods and they would worship his.

Finally, "He received a revelation saying that it was legitimate for Muslims to pray to al-Lat al-Uzza, and Manat, the three goddesses favored by the pagan Quraysh, as intercessors before Allah." Ref: Ibn Ishaq, 165-166 (historian).

Convenient huh? He later changed his mind, when a friend told him it sounded like satan, not allah, had told him that. So these are the 'Satanic Verses' which in recent years earned Salman Rushdie a death fatwa.

The book also explores the reasons why muslims hate Jews so vehemently... They chose death rather conversion.

The Great Khomeini

Is that a 'face only a mother could love"??? Here's some quotes from Khomeini:

“Islam makes it incumbent on all adult males, provided they are not disabled or incapacitated, to prepare themselves for the conquest of countries so that the writ of Islam is obeyed in every country in the world....But those who study Islamic Holy War will understand why Islam wants to conquer the whole world”?

“Those who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war. Those [who say this] are witless. Islam says: Kill all the unbelievers just as they would kill you all! Does this mean that Muslims should sit back until they are devoured by [the unbelievers]? Islam says: Kill them, put them to the sword and scatter [their armies]….Islam says: Whatever good there is exists thanks to the sword and in the shadow of the sword! People cannot be made obedient except with the sword! The sword is the key to Paradise, which can be opened only for the Holy Warriors! There are hundreds of other [Qur’anic] psalms and Hadiths [sayings of the Prophet] urging Muslims to value war and to fight. Does all this mean that Islam is a religion that prevents men from waging war? I spit upon those foolish souls who make such a claim.”

He's as nice as he is good lookin'!

See Robert Spencer (here) for context. Hat tip Nanc

Blasphemy

Leviticus 24:16 "Anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death."

That sounds pretty serious! Let's see what the New Testament says:

Luke 12:10 "And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven."

Hmm, again, not something I'd want to do. So, what is "basphemy"?

Numbers 15:30 "But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or alien, blasphemes the LORD, and that person must be cut off from his people."

Seems clear enough to me. So, even Christians, if they sin defiantly (knowing it's sin, no remorse or desire to stop), they will not be forgiven.

Matt 22:36 - 40 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Some of things to avoid are (a list I made a while back from the NT):

Greed, covet, jealousy, murder, quarrelling, ill-will, gossip, slander, hater of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, plan evil, disobey parents, brainless, faithless, heartless, ruthless, stubborn, unrepentant, selfish, steal, adultery, idolatry, blasphemy, liar, fear, anger, vengeful, drunkeness, partying, sexual immorality, abusive, homosexuality, contemptuous language, conceited, hypocrasy, fighting, selfish ambition, disobedient, bitterness, violent assertiveness, spitefulness, obscenity, course language, vanity, impurity, lust, meanness, self-loving, money loving, proud, insulting, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasible, uncontrolled, brutal, hateful of good, traitorous, headstrong, loving pleasure rather tahn God, religious but without power, murder...

I'm sure there's more,,,, but that's a good start.

And then there's this one (hence the cool picture above):

Hebrews 4:13 "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."

X-Ray of a Moonbat's Head...

Hat tip: My Republican Blog

Stem cells from amniotic cells...

Just in case you missed this news bite, it looks like stem cells from amniotic fluid might be better than embryonic stem cells afterall:

"In addition, for reasons that are still poorly understood, the amniotic cells do not seem to form the tumors known as teratomas that sometimes arise from embryonic stem cells implanted in animals."

Read entire story here. Yep, I think I'll take a pass on the whole tumors bit if you don't mind.

It's a sad day in Texas

Hat tip: Jihad Watch
"Pro-Khomeini imam prays anti-Jewish, anti-Christian prayer in Texas Senate
An update on this story. Imam Yusuf Kavakci, like Husham Al-Husainy at the Democratic National Committee winter meeting in February, echoed the Fatiha, the most common prayer in Islam and the first sura of the Qur'an -- a prayer which has been traditionally understood as condemning Jews and Christians. And Kavakci followed its wording more closely than did al-Husainy, referring to it explicitly..."

You can give the guy who hatched this brilliant idea a piece of your mind here.

My comment:

Why on earth are you having a radical muslim cleric pray in Texas State Senate? Haven't you read the koran? They want to kill us!!!! I can send you a list of the applicable verses if you're not informed and too lazy to read the entire text, which is no longer than the New Testament. And by the way, since you seem to know nothing about islam, the 'peaceful' verses were written early in Mohammed's career, when he and his gang were a minority. The radical verses followed when they became powerful. Please read up, and educate yourself for the good of Texas.

Peace Kills

This is a funny bit from PJ O'Rourke's "Peace Kills". He was at a pro-Palestinian peace rally in Washington, early 2002, and observed the following:

"A dozen members of the New Black Panther Party marched (in the military sense) into Freedom Plaza. They were dressed in black fatigues, black motorcycle helmets, and combat boots. They scowled and did drill maneuvers, about-facing and attentioning. The New Black Panthers carried pictures of saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. Their picket signs were professionally printed: "The State of Israel has no right to exist"; "The American/Israeli white man is the devil"; "Jihad". They hollered, "Death to Israel," "Holy war, holy war, holy war," and "Kill every zionist in Palestine."

For a moment the other demonstrators were silent. They fidgeted. They backed away. "Excuse me, I'm so sorry," said a courteous Arab-American teenager who stepped on my foot. Then a chant began in the crowd: "Killing is not the answer, killing is not the answer." The chant grew louder. Demonstrators raised their fingers in peace signs and began to press in on the New Black Panther Party. Cacophonous drumming came from the Global Justice mobilizers. They shouted, "No more hate!" A woman about my own age began screaming into a bullhorn: "Jews and Arabs unit!" The New Black Panther Party, with somewhat less military elan than before, marched away."

At least in this one instance the peaceniks actually held true to their ideology!

21st Century Neville Chamberlin

Can you believe this? What a nitwit. So, let me see, Pelosi is the multi-culturalist extraordinaire, and yet she folds to another's cultural apparel and gives up her own freedom to choose? I guess that pretty much says it all for the left. BTW Nan, your hair is not supposed to show. That's the purpose of the scarf. Good grief.

New Horizons at Io

Credit: NASA, JHU/APL, SwRI - Additional Processing: Sean Walker
Explanation: Spewed from a volcano, a complex plume rises over 300 kilometers above the horizon of Jupiter's moon Io in this image from cameras onboard the New Horizons spacecraft. The volcano, Tvashtar, is marked by the bright glow (about 1 o'clock) at the moon's edge, beyond the terminator or night/day shadow line. The shadow of Io cuts across the plume itself. Also capturing stunning details on the dayside surface, the high resolution image was recorded when the spacecraft was 2.3 million kilometers from Io. Later it was combined with lower resolution color data by astro-imager Sean Walker to produce this sharp portrait of the solar system's most active moon. Outward bound at almost 23 kilometers per second, the New Horizons spacecraft should cross the orbit of Saturn in June next year, and is ultimately destined to encounter Pluto in 2015.

An Active Sunspot Viewed Sideways

Credit & Copyright: Hinode, JAXA, NASA
Explanation: Why are there dark spots on the sun? Although noted for thousands of years, sunspots have been known for decades to be regions of the Sun that are slightly depressed and cooled by the Sun's complex and changing magnetic field. High resolution pictures like the above image from Japan's new Sun-watching Hinode satellite, however, are helping to increase modern understanding. In the center of the above image is a sunspot, but not seen in the usual orientation --this sunspot is seen sideways. Of particular interest is erupting glowing gas that shows how the Sun's magnetic field comes right out of the spot center, but curves markedly around the spot edges. Better understanding of how the Sun ejects particles into space may result in more accurate predictions of solar storms that affect satellites, astronauts, and even power grids on Earth.

2nd Ammendment

“Raymond Hill’s 12 year old daughter woke him up with startling news: Two people were trying to break into their home. Police say Hill loaded a .40 cal handgun and went downstairs, where he saw one of the suspects removing a screen from the rear window. The suspect continued trying to break in, and Hill shot and killed him. Police nabbed the second suspect as he attempted to flee on a bicycle.” Las Vegas Review Journal, 1/25/07

"As the Supreme Court observed in US v Miller (1939), "the Militia comprised all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense... bearing arms supplied by themselves." - America's 1st Freedom, April 2007