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Remember when I, the feminine, supermodel-esque face that the media is putting on Terrorist-host dictatorship Syria? She’s the wife of Syrian President-For-Life and former opthalmologist Bashar Assad.
We’re supposed to forget that Syria tortures and murders human rights activists, that it is harboring Al-Qaeda terrorists who murder our troops in Iraq, that Syria is host to the world headquarters of every Islamic terrorist group you can think of, that Syria and Hezbollah have worked together in the gang-rape of Lebanon, and that Syria harbors Nazi war criminals and the only living Munich Olympic terrorist.
We’re supposed to forget it all because Mrs. Assad–the First Lady of terror central–is charming, has a sophisticated English accent, and worked on Wall Street. She is the ultimate example of lipstick on a pig, only far more ingenious since we never get to see the pig in the flesh, just the lipstick, eyeshadow, etc.

Lipstick on a Pig:
Asma & Bashar Assad Re-Cement the Syrian Dictat-Terror-ship
Well, guess what? Her hubby, Bashar Assad, just won re-election. He had stiff competition, seeing as he was the only candidate. Shocker: He won with 97.62% of the vote. The only thing that comes close here is Hillary’s support among New Square, New York Chassidim (only four out of over 1,000 voted against her in her inaugural U.S. Senate race).
The New York Sun tried to locate someone–anyone!–in Syria who voted in the “election.” But not only could the paper not find anyone in the 2.38% who voted for someone else, it could not find anyone who actually voted at all. Maybe Mrs. Assad was the 2.38%, since it appears no-one actually “voted.” The Mainstream Media told us that this was a real election because even though no-one was running against Mr. Assad, anyone could write anyone in. Well, ain’t “democracy” grand.
Meanwhile, Stateside, Assad’s chief ally in the U.S.–no, not Nancy Pelosi–is urging us to continue our useless one-sided flirting with Syria. Crybaby Republican Congressman wrote an absurd op-ed in today’s Washington Post, pretending that he, too, is appalled by Syria and that he went there only to meet with a dissident. But, insists this open fan of Hezbollah terrorists (Jihad Darrell), we must talk to his buddies the Syrians and continue to sup at the table of the outrageous.

Jihad Darrell, Prez of the Bashar Assad Fan Club, American Auxiliary
But here’s the real story. Jihad Darrell has for years . Since 9/11, he regularly feted Assad in Syria, and Jihad Darrell even helped close the deal on a multi-million dollar oil deal–in which our oil companies train their oil people to get more oil. That’s tough on Syria?
Then, there’s Jihad Darrell’s vote and lobbying against the Syrian Accountability Act. That’s because Darrell Issa doesn’t actually want Syria to be accountable on human rights, on terrorism, or on anything else. He just plays a human rights activist on TV, er . . . in The Washington Post, where–today–your paper already came pre-packaged with doggie excrement in the form of Issa’s column.
But Issa gets away with it because conservatives and Republicans let him get away for years and to date with what they rightly scream and whine about with Nancy Pelosi.
Fake elections there. Fake “human rights” reformers here (Jihad Darrell).
No matter how cosmopolitan the face, voice, and articulation of the Mrs., there’s nothing cosmopolitan about what goes on in Syria. And we reach out to it only at our peril.

Jihad Darrell’s Crying Game:
Pro-Hezbollah Rep. Darrell Issa Sells Out America

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Warren Buffett, Jimmy Buffett–Not Related.
Geeky Billionaire so desperate for cool, rocker hipness; Aging Millionaire Rocker so desperate for prestige of billionaire investment genius relation, that both take DNA test.
Close but no cigar . . . or blood relation. But, I’m sure that the richer Buffett is still welcome in Margaritaville, so long as he provides the cheeseburgers.

Not That We Care, But Not Related

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**** UPDATE: Video (scroll down, left-hand side) and Transcript of the Brian Morganstern interview on CNN are up (scroll down). ****
It’s official: One of the two Circuit City clerks (it’s actually two, not one), who caught and tipped off law enforcement about the Fort Dix Six, is Brian Morganstern.
He appeared, this morning, on CNN’s “American Morning” (video of the interview is not yet up on the CNN site).

Fort Dix Six Terrorist Tipster Brian Morganstern
Now, look for CAIR and every other Islamofascist group to dig up every detail of Morganstern’s life as they seek to take him down to save their jihadi terrorist buddies in the Fort Dix Six (really ten, but four are getting away with it).
More from Associated Press:

An electronics store clerk credited with making the tip that broke up an alleged plot to kill soldiers at Fort Dix went public Tuesday, saying he spent a day pondering his suspicions before going to authorities.
Speaking on CNN’s “American Morning,” Brian Morganstern described how two men brought him a videotape to transfer to DVD in late January 2006.
He said he went home from his Circuit City store that night and told his family what he had seen on the video: Ten men at a firing range with handguns, rifles and what he thought were fully automatic rifles. Authorities later said they were chanting in Arabic “God is Great.”
He said he did not know if he should breach the privacy of the customers, who seemed like ordinary guys.
“It was more of a moral dilemma at that point,” Morganstern told CNN.
The next day, he said, he talked to his managers at the Mount Laurel store, then called police, sparking a 15-month investigation that led to the arrests on May 7 of six men accused of plotting the attack on the Army installation being used largely to train reservists bound for Iraq.
First, Mount Laurel police visited the Circuit City to see the video. They asked Morganstern to make a copy, which was passed on to state Homeland Security investigators, then the FBI.
In about a month, an FBI informant had infiltrated the alleged plot. . . .
A Circuit City spokeswoman, Jackie Foreman, confirmed Tuesday that Morganstern was the tipster. Law enforcement authorities did not immediately return telephone calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Circuit City has said there were actually two employees who made the tip. The other has not been named publicly, and officials haven’t detailed what role that person played.
Morganstern told CNN the U.S. Attorney’s Office had asked him not to divulge certain details of from the video.
The clerk, who remained anonymous until his interview Tuesday, was celebrated as a hero by officials and in the media across the country. He received a proclamation of thanks from the Mount Laurel Police Department.
But that’s not how Morganstern sees his action:
“I don’t feel like a hero,” he said. “I feel like I did the right thing. I feel like I did the right thing, but I think the real heroes are the men and women overseas and the people in our law enforcement who handled the situation.”

G-d Bless Brian Morganstern for doing the right thing in this age of political correctness and Islamist retribution.

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Natl Guard Staff Sgt. Duane Dreasky is Buried in Arlington Natl. Cemetery
It’s trite but true: Today is a day that’s much more than hot dogs and picnics. It’s far more important. It’s about remembering those who gave their lives (and limbs) so that we could be and remain–to this day–free. Freedom isn’t free. For or against the war? Either way, they gave their lives so that you could travel, gather, associate, and speak your mind.
They’re great Americans, like (my posts about him , , , , and ), who volunteered to go to Iraq, even though–after a year serving at Guantanamo Bay–he was assigned to stay here in comfort as a recruiter. He died, last year, after a valiant 8-month fight to survive wounds from a terrorist attack near Habbaniyah, Iraq. The heroic Dreasky suffered burns over 75% of his body, but still tried to salute President Bush when he visited his bedside.

U.S. Army Sgt. Chris Moore @ the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
(Photo by H. Darr Beiser/USA Today)
Today, I think not just of those who gave their lives, but those who’ve returned home missing physical parts of themselves–the many amputees and other war-wounded, who were lucky enough to survive, but who also made a great sacrifice.

Marine Staff Sgt. Mark Graunke, Jr., Iraq War Vet, Hugs Pearl Harbor Survivor/WWII Vet Houston James (Graunke Lost a Leg, Hand, and Eye Defusing a Bomb in Iraq)

But many of us don’t think about the troops much. You might be on a plane, reading USA Today, and not know or appreciate that one of our first-class American Heroes is riding beneath you . . .

Meanwhile, our American institutions don’t think so highly of the contributions of our troops, those who gave their lives and those who continue to serve our country. With them, it’s not a matter of not knowing who is in the cargo hold of your plane awaiting burial. It’s more a matter of much more conscious, deliberate abhorrent behavior against our troops and our national security.
While U.S. Senators clamor to (part of the immigration amnesty bill), my alma mater, The University of Michigan, refused to give in-state tuition to Michigan resident, Joshua Guedesse, because his father is active in the Coast Guard and was transferred. Although the school finally relented after a deluge of bad publicity in the form of a front-page Detroit Free Press story, the University of Michigan refuses to give in-state tuition to military kids who are Michigan residents.
It’s a policy that takes place all over America, except in a few states with “hardship” exemptions, like Ohio:

“This is a big issue, and it’s one of our goals. … Military spouses and dependents shouldn’t be disadvantaged because of their employment,” said Rene Campos, deputy director of government relations for military family matters at the Military Officers Association of America.
While some states — such as Ohio — have created exemptions for military families, Michigan is among those that hasn’t. Instead, there is a patchwork of policies that vary from campus to campus that can cost those [military] families thousands of dollars a year in added fees and tuition if parents move.
U-M does not consider the children of the hundreds of active-duty military members at the state’s dozens of installations to be Michigan residents. And that distinction largely shuts the door to them receiving the cheaper in-state tuition rates if their parents are transferred and have to move.

This must change. Military service shouldn’t be considered a “hardship,” nor should it be discriminated against. It is a highly noble, volunteer pursuit, often thankless. And it should be honored and appreciated.
And then, there are our own government agencies, like CBP (Customs and Border Protection) and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). While our soldiers give their lives fighting terrorists over there, officials of these agencies here don’t even give a damn. They gladly let terrorists in and keep them here.
First, there are CBP officials in Orlando. Six CBP inspectors there–charged with checking those entering the U.S. there in terms of their immigration status and adherence with customs laws–said that CBP honchos forced them to rush through passengers entering the country, without checking them, and then enter false information on their paperwork. Like I said, our soldiers are fighting terrorists over there–and dying–while our officials here are letting them in.
And then, there’s ICE and it’s chieftess, . A Syracuse University study reports that, in the last three years, ICE has charged only 12 people with terrorist offenses in Immigration Court (known as the Executive Office for Immigration Review). While ICE may have charged other terrorists with other, more easily proveable offenses in Immigration Court, 12 is a paltry sum. That means only 4 terrorists per year. That’s embarrassingly low. They’re fighting terrorists over there–and dying–and we refuse to deport them in any significant numbers.
In the media, my friend, Peter Collier, writes in an excellent must-read Wall Street Journal piece, about how the New York Times spent 32 front-page days screaming and whining about Abu Ghraib, but not a single front page and hardly a mention to our military heroes who gave their lives in battle. Ditto for the rest of the media:

Once we knew who and what to honor on Memorial Day: Those who had given all their tomorrows, as was said of the men who stormed the beaches of Normandy, for our todays. But in a world saturated with selfhood, where every death is by definition a death in vain, the notion of sacrifice today provokes puzzlement more often than admiration. We support the troops, of course, but we also believe that war, being hell, can easily touch them with an evil no cause for engagement can wash away. And in any case we are more comfortable supporting them as victims than as warriors.
Former football star Pat Tillman and Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham were killed on the same day: April 22, 2004. But as details of his death fitfully emerged from Afghanistan, Tillman has become a metaphor for the current conflict — a victim of fratricide, disillusionment, coverup and possibly conspiracy. By comparison, Dunham, who saved several of his comrades in Iraq by falling on an insurgent’s grenade, is the unknown soldier. The New York Times, which featured Abu Ghraib on its front page for 32 consecutive days, put the story of Dunham’s Medal of Honor on the third page of section B.

Read his whole article, in which he details the bravery and courage of some of our Medal of Honor recipients.
But despite what American officials and institutions do at the top, the American people care about you, our soldiers, our fighting men and women. To all of our American soldiers, living and dead, we salute you, we pray for you, we appreciate you, and we thank you for fighting for our freedom and the continued existence of our beloved country. To those for whom Memorial Day is meant, thank you for making the ultimate sacrifice so that we may be free. Rest in Peace.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Graves of Some of Our Fallen Heroes at Arlington National Cemetery
***
Look up your relatives’/family’s military history (war records, draft cards, gravestone info) from 1607 through the end of the Vietnam War on Ancestry.com’s U.S. Military Collection, free until the anniversary of D-Day, June 6th. It’s very cool. I found a lot of my Schlussel relatives’ military info dating back to the 1800s, including Col. Albert H. Schlussel of the U.S. Air Force, who served in WWII and Korea and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. (FYI, the Ancestry.com Military Collection is not complete, as I noticed many members of my family who were drafted (or enlisted) and served are missing.
(Thanks to the MySpace page of USMC 03 Curt, from which I got some of the photos on this page and where you will find many more touching pics of our brave men and women.)

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As I’ve oft remarked on this site, the term “moderate Muslim” and a term that rarely fits anyone from the “Religion of Peace.”
Occasionally, though, there are exceptions. There are those rare, truly moderate Muslims who courageously speak out–at serious risk of life and limb–against the mass violence, hate, intolerance, and terrorism their religion has uniquely wrought. (And then they have to obtain personal bodyguards, asylum in the U.S., Conceal and Carry permits. and live in fear and danger thereafter.)
One of these brave, admirable Muslim exceptions was Tashbih Sayyed, who, very sadly, passed away unexpectedly on Wednesday in Los Angeles at the age of 66. He first came to my attention in the early ’90s, when he bravely appeared in the PBS documentary, “Jihad in America.”

Tashbih Sayyed, RIP: Courageous Moderate Muslim, Class Act Will Be Missed
Despite repeated threats of violence, Sayyed maintained the moral highground and courageously spoke out against Islamists throughout his life. And, unlike most Muslims, he was a proud American who loved his adopted country and also supported Israel. A great example of his work was his fantastic article, “A Muslim in a Jewish Land,” about his visit to Israel–a must-read for everyone. He was the type of alien immigrant and naturalized citizen America needs far more of, but rarely the type that lands on our shores asking for admission.
Tashbih Sayyed, a Shi’ite, was born in India and raised in Pakistan. He was a renowned journalist in Pakistan and founder of its current affairs television programming. But, because of his tolerant, liberal views (which were unacceptable to the extremist Muslim Paki rulers), he was forced to flee Pakistan for the U.S. in 1981. He lived the American dream, worked hard, and bought a house.
But instead of remaining silent and happy with the American dream, Sayyed dedicated his life in America to speaking out against the extremists who dominate his religion to this day. He did so in books, columns, speeches, on video, and in two newspapers he founded and ran, Pakistan Today and Muslim World Today (which is always an interesting read about what is going on in the international Muslim world, including an article on Yemen’s persecuted remaining Jews).
A relentless, prolific, and courageous writer and voice, Tashbih Sayyed will be sorely missed. And his death will leave yet another void in the largely non-existent category known as “Moderate Islam.” Sayyed’s many enemies throughout mainstream Islam can now stop their attacks and death threats against Sayyed. They will be happy that yet another ray of sunshine into their activities and views has ceased to shine and expose them.
But the rest of us should be sad. We mourn his passing.
Because he was a constructive critic and not a bottomless propagandist of Islamism, Tashbih Sayyed did not die wealthy, unlike his Saudi- and Iran-funded adversaries.
If you can help the Sayyed family to pay for his funeral and burial, you will help relieve hardship for his brave family. StandWithUs, a tremendously effective pro-Israel and anti-terrorist group, is collecting checks for any and all amounts, no matter how small.
Checks should be made out to Sayyed’s wife, Kiran Sayyed, and sent to:
StandWithUs
PO Box 341069
Los Angeles, CA. 90034-1069
Tashbih Sayyed was a tremendous friend to America, to Israel, and to all Westerners who value our freedom. Now, is our chance to be a friend to his family in their time of need. I hope you will honor and memorialize this rare, brave man by helping them give him the proper good-bye.
If all Muslims in America and the rest of the world–or even a significant portion of them–were like Tashbih Sayyed, we’d be batting 1,000. Unfortunately, very few Muslims are like him, and most are extremists.
Tashbih Sayyed, Rest in Peace.

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. . . Good-bye.

Buh-Bye
I hear that (and is now seeking a new President for the KSM fan club). Ditto for all the guys in Suite Block H at Gitmo.

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Reader/Blogger Mark L. Jackson of Mark’s Soap Box sends along a story that’s interesting, alarming, and–strangely–hardly covered by the media.
This morning, 21 California Airports simultaneously lost their radar screens for a full hour, making it impossible for planes to land, as air traffic controllers had no visuals.
We’re told it was just a “glitch” due to the installation of new mapping software. But the system crashed for a full hour. Was this merely a glitch or something worse (over which they don’t want us to panic)? We’ll never know for sure. And I’m as skeptical as Mark L. Jackson is.

More from the San Diego Union-Tribune a/k/a “the illegal alien/Jihad Darrell Issa amen rag”:

SAN DIEGO – The maps vanished from air traffic controllers’ screens for an hour early Friday morning, affecting 21 Southern California airports, including Lindbergh Field and Palomar-McClellan Airport in Carlsbad. . . .
The system failure occurred as thousands of travelers were preparing to depart for the long Memorial Day weekend.
About one-third of Lindbergh’s takeoffs and landings were delayed slightly as the impact of the system crash rippled throughout the air traffic network, a Lindbergh Field spokeswoman said.
The glitch occurred at 5:24 a.m. at the Southern California TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control) center based at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, said Ian Gregor, a regional spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. . . .
The radar centers control the airspace within a 5- to 50-mile radius of an airport. They direct pilots on their landing approach before “handing them off’ to the airport’s control tower, and direct them on takeoff before handing them off to an “enroute controller.”

If this is just a “glitch,” it’s quite an effective one.

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On Memorial Day, it’s important to remember that our troops are fighting–and giving their lives for our freedoms. There are our very important freedoms: speech, religion, assembly, etc.
And then there are our not so important freedoms–which you could never get away with in places like Iran–such as this freedom:
Freedom of Expression–The freedom of Mr. Demi Moore #3 a/k/a Ashton Kutcher to display his feminine sense of sartorial splendor . . .

Constitutionally Protected: Ashton Kutcher’s Freedom of Expression

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Taking inventory atop the State Department.
So, let’s see:
* Iran continues to threaten America and Israel and develop nukes.
* Syria continues to allow Qaeda terrorists to traverse its borders and kill Americans, and continues to harbor the World Headquarters of virtually every Islamic terrorist grou you can think of.
And . . . Our Secretary of State test drives electric cars?! I appreciate the urge to get off our dependence on Arab/Muslim oil (and it’s cool the car is named after unsung scientist Nikola Tesla), but isn’t this a job for the Secretary of Energy or Transportation or Commerce . . . or the President or Veep?

On the other hand, better she rides electric cars like she’s at a carnival, than more makey nice-nice with her buds, Palestinian and Syrian terrorist Presidents Abbas and Assad.
Hey Condi, I hear there are some nice pirate ship rides and roaler coasters awaiting you. “Return to Space Mountain” ride, anyone?

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If you’re looking for of Angelina Jolie’s/Brad Pitt’s Blame-America, Glorify-Muslims movie whitewashing the Al-Qaeda murder of Daniel Pearl–“A Mighty Heart“–the movie studio has asked me to take it down until the day the movie debuts. I have done so.
But you can still read it . Bottom line, .