By Debbie Schlussel
Yet another manifestation of America’s decline: Slacker Nation is taking hold.
Think the metrosexual man is bad. Meet the Hipster Dad a/k/a “Alternadad.” Oy.
Today’s USA Today profiles the “urban parent” coming of age. And when they say “urban parent,” they don’t mean a hip-hop dad (not that that is any better). They mean slacker, casual Dad, who is more of a cool buddy than a father.
There’s unfortunately even a new book, “Alternadad,” celebrating this new decline in fatherhood in America.
These excerpts from USA Today, say it all, as does the title of the article, “‘Hipster Dads’ Trying Hard to Keep Their Cool.” Yup, staying “cool” and “with it” are more important than being a good father. Think Mr. Angie Voight a/k/a Brad Pitt, or Travis Barker. Thank G-d my Dad wasn’t–and isn’t–like these:

Travis Barker, Hipster Dad Case Study

Hipster dad, aka alternadad, the guy who hasn’t worn a suit since his wedding and listens to the same music as the college kid who babysits his tots.
If metrosexual man exhibited a penchant for pressed Prada, hipster dad – and Junior – wear their rumpled, spit-up-stained Black Sabbath T-shirts with pride.
Hipster dad made his mainstream debut last April in a New York cover story. (The magazine’s term of choice: “grup,” taken from a Star Trek episode about a planet ruled by children.) . . .
[Hipster Dads] aren’t “vain or adolescent just because they have an iPod,” says editor in chief Ada Calhoun, 30. They want to hold onto the culturally rich life they had as childless adults, “and they want to be good parents.”

Memo to Hipster Dads: a “rumpled, spit-up-stained Black Sabbath T-shirt” does NOT make your life “culturally rich.”

“If you’re resting your kid on a pool table so you can hang out at the bar, maybe it’s not cool,” he [The Hipster Handbook author, Robert Lanham] says. “But maybe a pool table is a good place to change a diaper.”

Oy Gevalt. A baby in a bar on a pool table. Can it get any trashier than that? That’s a dad?
G-d help our declining, dumbed-down nation.

By Debbie Schlussel
Hmmm . . . 5.5 years after 9/11, and the TSA has just now decided to finally start monitoring rail shipments of potentially deadly cargo passing through cities.
Mazel Tov (“Congrats” in Yiddish). Glad the folks at the falsely name Transportation Security Administration have finally discovered America.
The TSA says that unguarded rail cars filled with toxic chemicals in cities are the single biggest terrorist threat related to the nation’s railroads.
Really? Then, why did it take 5 1/2 years to do something about it?
Just curious. More:

The U.S. Naval Research Lab has said an attack on such a rail car could kill 100,000 people. Railroads carry 105,000 carloads of toxic chemicals a year, and 1.6 million carloads of other hazardous materials such as explosives and radioactive items, the government says.
The new tracking system lets the TSA enforce an agreement it reached with railroads to cut the amount of time hazardous rail shipments spend unguarded in cities. The agreement, signed by the 257 railroads that transport toxic chemicals, aims to reduce by 25% this year the number of hours hazardous rail shipments sit unguarded in each of 46 major urban areas.

Uh, why do these rail shipments spend ANY time unguarded? Again, just curious.
The THSA (Transportation Hardly Secure Administration) at work.

By Debbie Schlussel
When I first heard news reports in the Detroit media that an area man was caught with $240,000 worth of counterfeit Nikes, I figured the man must be a Muslim and wondered whether the media would mention his name.
It’s well known that counterfeit items–especially counterfeit cigarettes, rolling papers, and apparel–fund terrorism. In the Detroit area, the counterfeit items–including designer perfumes, viagra, and batteries–have been traced to Hezbollah funding schemes. But they also are linked to funds for HAMAS and Al-Qaeda.
Well, once again, my instincts proved correct–on both counts. The man, Ibrahim Abdul Aoun, was not only Muslim, but his Muslim name was never mentioned in the print edition of The Detroit Newsistan (gee, whatta surprise!)–listed only as “a Dearborn man.”

And beside the quarter mill in fake Nikes, what authorities also found on Aoun was interesting:
* Stolen IDs
* Illegal Firearms
Gee, I’m sure he was just your average run-of-the-mill counterfeiter, right? Just wondering how much of the money went “back home” to our friends in Hezbollah.
Given that one of the top Assistant Wayne County Prosecutors, Abed Hammoud, is an open supporter of Hezbollah, it’s amazing this case got far in Wayne County.
More:

DETROIT — A 33-year-old Dearborn resident was charged with six felonies today after police found him with between 3,000 and 4,000 bogus athletic shoes earlier this week.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy charged Ibrahim Abdul Aoun with counterfeiting property, four counts of identity theft and felony firearm in connection with the shoes, which Nike fraud investigators valued at $240,000. The cache of shoes was found on Wednesday in a raid in the 19000 block of West Seven Mile Road.
“Numerous tips about the counterfeit Nike shoes came from everyday citizens,” Worthy said. “They should be commended for reporting the illegal activity that ultimately led police to make an arrest in this case.”
The charge of counterfeiting property carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Identity theft is punishable by five years and or a $25,000 fine. Conviction on felony firearm carries a mandatory two-year sentence.

BTW, even though Muslims frequently counterfeit Nike products for terrorism financing, that hasn’t stopped Nike from providing free Nike T-shirts to CAIR. It’s a practice that began long ago when the group whined that a Nike design on a shoe looked like the Arabic for “Allah.” It’s been free Ts to CAIR from the Beaverton, Oregon shoe and apparel giant, ever since.

By Debbie Schlussel
Get ready to hear CAIR and other Islamist groups whine about the Superbowl.
In preparation for the February 4th Big Game, increased suveillance and–yes–the evil “profiling” will begin later this month at Miami International Airport. Not only have airport police been trained, but they will train janitors and concession employees to “read suspicious body language and behavior.”
Even worse for whining Islamist groups, the profiling program was developed by–Gasp!–an “Evil Zionist”–Rafi Ron, former security director of Ben Gurion Airoprt in Tel Aviv. Ron is the Israeli security expert who was brought in to run security at Boston Logan Airport, a month after 9/11.

Israeli Airport Security Expert Rafi Ron Trained Miami Airport for Superbowl
For security reason, his four-hour training program’s behavioral cues aren’t bein revealed.
But that’s not exactly fail-safe. In Detroit, for example, the airport is packed with Muslim employees sympathetic to Hezbollah, HAMAS, and Al-Qaeda–people like Sadeq Naji Ahmed, who announced his loyalty to Qaeda and was on the job for almost a year before being removed, and Bassam Khalaf, on the job for half a year, until his pro-9/11 rap record was discovered. You can bet there are janitors and concessions employees there who will disclose to our enemies the plans and methods taught by Ron. In Detroit, most of the airport concessions are owned and operated by Muslims. And members of the Detroit terror cell worked for Sky-Chef and Edy’s Ice Cream at the airport.
And, again, the whole Israeli program is not just about profiling behaviors. It’s about profiling people. Guaranteed, that was excised out of Rafi Ron’s training program.
And until you do that, you’re in a losing battle.
Watch for the ACLU, CAIR, or some other Islamist group to find a reason to subpoena Rafi Ron’s security program. Watch for some Muslim “visitor” claiming to have traveled to Miami to see the Superbowl threatening to sue over this or that.

By Debbie Schlussel
We’re constantly hearing whines from the Jesse Jackson’s of the world, moans from the Pam Olivers of the world (Pam Oliver is a reporter for FOX NFL Sunday), and other assorted cries from America’s race merchants that there are not enough Black head coaches in the NFL.
Thus, the “Rooney Rule,” which requires NFL Teams to interview at least one Black candidate before they hire for any head coaching vacancy. The Detroit Lions got fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for not doing so, a few years ago. So, to avoid the fines, teams have meaningless interviews with those they don’t have the intention of hiring–not because of race, but because they have their chosen candidate.

Chicago Bears Coach Lovie Smith, Indianapolis Colts Coach Tony Dungy
Now, though, both head coaches of teams in this year’s Superbowl are Black–Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts and Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears. That assures that a Black coach will win the Superbowl. Doesn’t this mean that Blacks have achieved “parity” in the League? Does it mean that Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and the other professional race shakedown artists in America will finally shut up about their claim that the NFL is racist against Blacks, keeping them out of top “front office” jobs?
No, it doesn’t mean that at all. Reaching parity is not something race merchants can recognize or handle. Like the Palestinians and their phony “refugee” issue, they don’t ever want this to be solved. It would take away an issue that they wish to self-perpetuate, that they don’t want taken off the table . . . ever.
So don’t watch for them to recognize this monumental achievement by two Black head coaches in the NFL, who got their on merit–their teams won with talent, not a statistically engineered result.
And don’t ever expect the race merchants to get involved in that other statistic–the lack of Whites in the National Football League. over 75% of all players in the League are Black. And that’s the way it should be–because talent and ability on the field, alone, is the only thing that matters. But Whites are the decided minority. Shouldn’t they merit quotas now?
According to the Jackson/Sharpton/Oliver model, yes.
If it weren’t based solely on talent and merit, the NFL wouldn’t be Black in such vast numbers. That’s what the workplace is all about on the gridiron–talents and merit, not government-mandated equality of results.
Time to move that dynamic to the non-gridiron workplace. And time for Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and–yes–even Pam Oliver to shut up when it comes to head-coaching positions in the NFL.

By Debbie Schlussel
This one is from a frequent (unfortunately) correspondent. Just one question: How can they both praise and deny the Holocaust at the same time? Love the logic. It’s the same they employ for 9/11. Muslims and Bin Laden didn’t perpetrate 9/11, but at the same time, we’re happy they (Muslims and Bin Laden) did it.
This one is from IP Address 209.191.72.90 in suburban Los Angeles:

— NOUR IDRISS kayidriss@sbcglobal.net wrote:
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 08:26:40 -0800 (PST)
From: NOUR IDRISS kayidriss@sbcglobal.net
Subject: jews
To: dschlussel@yahoo.com
I have met a very interesting Jew yesterday,and I asked myself what if all Jews are like that,wouldn’t the world just love them,is possible that we just have the wrong idea,then I woke up,and I realized why that Jew was int resting he was baked in 1800 degree oven .

The “Religion of Peace” is populated by over a billion who think this way. Don’t forget it. And don’t forget Hitler’s special Muslim SS Unit, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (Arafat’s relative) begging Hitler to speed up the Final Solution and bring it to the Middle East, and the Muslim-run concentration camps (populated by Jews, of course) in North Africa during the Holocaust.

By Debbie Schlussel
While it was expected that the nomination hearings for John Wood for U.S. Attorney in the Kansas City area would be smooth sailing, that may not be the case.
In fact, Wood has a major conflict of interest in that cannot be waived, unless he gets divorced or his wife quits her job. As we’ve noted on this site, Wood’s wife is Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Chieftess Julie L. Myers a/k/a “The ICE Princess.”
And that presents problems . . . problems that will be cited by all defense attorneys in cases prosecuted by a U.S. Attorney Wood that have any involvement by ICE agents. As one senior ICE agent correctly points out:

Family Affair: Homeland Security’s John Wood, Julie Myers & Company
(Artwork by David Lunde/Lundesigns)

Will the defense attorney in the first RAC [office of the Resident Agent in Charge] Kansas City ICE case claim that his/her client was only prosecuted by the US Attorney because of the (apparent) conflict of interest of the Assistant Secretary for ICE and her husband Kansas City US Attorney John Wood? If I were the defense attorney, I would claim that the only reason the US Attorney accepted the case was because of the spousal pressure!

The rules are quite clear. Wood would have to recuse himself from each and every ICE related case. And even if he did so, everyone would know, he and/or his minions had some role in trying to make his wife look good by prosecuting cases her agents investigated. It is an untenable situation. The same goes for virtually all cases emanating from the Department of Homeland Security, since Wood only recently resigned from working as Chief of Staff for DHS chief Michael Chertoff a/k/a “Mr. Burns”
And the rules are quite clear. From the Code of Federal Regulations:

Title 28: Judicial Administration
PART 45-EMPLOYEE RESPONSIBILITIES
Section 45.2 Disqualification arising from personal or political relationship.
(a) Unless authorized under paragraph (b) of this section, no employee shall participate in a criminal investigation or prosecution if he has a personal or political relationship with:
(1) Any person or organization substantially involved in the conduct that is the subject of the investigation or prosecution; or
(2) Any person or organization which he knows has a specific and substantial interest that would be directly affected by the outcome of the investigation or prosecution.
(b) An employee assigned to or otherwise participating in a criminal investigation or prosecution who believes that his participation may be prohibited by paragraph (a) of this section shall report the matter and all attendant facts and circumstances to his supervisor at the level of section chief or the equivalent or higher. If the supervisor determines that a personal or political relationship exists between the employee and a person or organization described in paragraph (a) of this section, he shall relieve the employee from participation unless he determines further, in writing, after full consideration of all the facts and circumstances, that:
(1) The relationship will not have the effect of rendering the employee’s service less than fully impartial and professional; and
(2) The employee’s participation would not create an appearance of a conflict of interest likely to affect the public perception of the integrity of the investigation or prosecution.
(c) For the purposes of this section:
(1) Political relationship means a close identification with an elected official, a candidate (whether or not successful) for elective, public office, a political party, or a campaign organization, arising from service as a principal adviser thereto or a principal official thereof; and
(2) Personal relationship means a close and substantial connection of the type normally viewed as likely to induce partiality. An employee is presumed to have a personal relationship with his father, mother, brother, sister, child and spouse. Whether relationships (including friendships) of an employee to other persons or organizations are “personal” must be judged on an individual basis with due regard given to the subjective opinion of the employee.
(d) This section pertains to agency management and is not intended to create rights enforceable by private individuals or organizations.
[Order No. 993-83, 48 FR 2319, Jan. 19, 1983. Redesignated at 61 FR 59815, Nov. 25, 1996]

Then there are the Justice Department rules and regulations:

3-2.170 Recusals
When United States Attorneys, or their offices, become aware of an issue that could require a recusal in a criminal or civil matter or case as a result of a personal interest or professional relationship with parties involved in the matter, they must contact General Counsel’s Office (GCO), EOUSA. The requirement of recusal does not arise in every instance, but only where a conflict of interest exists or there is an appearance of a conflict of interest or loss of impartiality.
A United States Attorney who becomes aware of circumstances that might necessitate a recusal of himself/herself or of the entire office, should promptly notify GCO, EOUSA, at (202) 514-4024 to discuss whether a recusal is required. If recusal is appropriate, the USAO will submit a written recusal request memorandum to GCO. GCO will then coordinate the recusal action, obtain necessary approvals for the recusal, and assist the office in arranging for a transfer of responsibility to another office, including any designations of attorneys as a Special Attorney or Special Assistant to the Attorney General (see USAM 3-2.300) pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 515. See USAP 3-2.170.001 (M).

And finally, there is federal statute 28 USC 528, which is why the above DoJ rule regarding recusals was developed:

The Attorney General shall promulgate rules and regulations which require the disqualification of any officer or employee of the Department of Justice, including a United States attorney or a member of such attorney’s staff, from participation in a particular investigation or prosecution if such participation may result in a personal, financial, or political conflict of interest, or the appearance thereof. Such rules and regulations may provide that a willful violation of any provision thereof shall result in removal from office.

While the Senate may never hold another hearing with The ICE Princess (and they may let her nomination merely blow in the wind until her current recess appointment expires at the end of this year), they will hold hearings on the nomination of John Wood.
Hopefully, some astute Democrat will bother to grill him about this untenable issue.
Either she quits her current job, or he doesn’t get his new one. There’s simply no way around this gaping conflict of interest.
This conflict of interest also concerns whistleblowers and interested employees at Citizenship and Immigration Services who’ve complained about deliberate immigration benefits fraud at the National Benefits Center in the Kansas City area, which would be under Wood’s domain.
Those running the center are deliberately granting citizenship to individuals who may be terrorists, because they weren’t allowing or instructing employee/adjudicators to check names against full terrorism databases. Additionally, bonuses were given out for rushed citizenship applications being rubber-stamped through the system, without adequate scrutiny.
Writes one whistleblower:

Dear Ms. Schlussel;
I read the below article on Julie Myers’ husband being appointed to the U.S. Attorneys’ office in Kansas City. You interviewed Sultan Farakhan and myself about the problems at the National Benefits Center in Lee’s Summit, MO.
Well, with Mr. Ice Princess in the U.S. Attorneys office in Kansas City, MO which would make him the final authority on whether cases are accepted for investigation, I doubt if any of the fraud and corruption at the National Benefits Center will be either investigated or rooted out now? What do you think?
In spite of your comments and articles, Rob Cowan was promoted into a SES [Senior Executive Status–which generally means a salary higher than $140,000 per year] position by Emilio Gonzalez. USCIS follows a typical organized crime model. Pity the federal law enforcement personnel aren’t as good at catching the USCIS La Cosa Nostra as they are at catching the [mafia version]. Of course, Kansas City has been known for organized crime since the Pendergast days.
With this person as the U.S. Attorney, I guess its reputation will stay intact.

Just one of the many problems posed by the possiblity of a U.S. Attorney John Wood, Mr. ICE Princess. And that’s just one more reason why the continued nepotism and cronyism-uber-alles of the Wood-Myers family is a problem vis-a-vis our government.
We cannot afford to have terrorist, illegal aliens, and other criminals go free because of the Wood-Myers conflict of interest and the continued stubborn selfishness of this couple at the risk of America’s national security.

By Debbie Schlussel
Since I’ve gotten hate-mail from “Religion of Peace” members in the great home of Adolf Hitler and Kurt Waldheim before, I think it’s safe to assume that this one is from the Ikhwan (Brotherhood–meaning, Muslims). On the other hand, it could just be one of those followers in the tiny footsteps of Herrs Hitler and Waldheim. Who knows?
What I do know is this. The guy is too cowardly and inadequate to put his real name and e-mail address and, instead, used a re-mailer. How brave!
And he manages to wish me rape and death AND defame our brave American soldiers (by repeating the absurd John Kerry canards) in the same death threat e-mail (not sure what “they d” at the end means, or if that’s some sort of name):

— “Anonymous Remailer (austria)” mixmaster@remailer.privacy.at wrote:
From: “Anonymous Remailer (austria)” mixmaster@remailer.privacy.at
To: dschlussel@yahoo.com
Subject:
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 00:14:35 +0100 (CET)
In Vietnam,American soldiers carried little explosive devices
called finger charges.
Though they were elegantly designed, in the field they didn;’t
prove very helpful, so eventually GI used them only after sex.
When they’d finished raping Vietnamese teengers, they inserted
the charges into the girls’ vaginas and detonated them
Let’s pray somebody does that to you–rapes you, inserts a
finger charge in your vagina and detonates it.
they d

By Debbie Schlussel
Earlier this week, President Bush nominated John Wood for the position of U.S. Attorney in Kansas City. Wood a/k/a “Mr. ICE Princess,” the husband of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Chieftess Julie L. Myers a/k/a “The ICE Princess.”
Wood was previously Chief of Staff to Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff a/k/a “Mr. Burns.” Don’t these two EVER get off the public dole? You’ve heard of welfare. Meet Mr. & Mrs. Cronyfare.
If Wood is confirmed, and he probably will be, he will be living in Kansas City. He and Myers are the parents of a new baby.
Since Myers is supposed to be working a long workday to head up enforcement of our nations immigration laws, we wonder who will be raising the baby.

Family Affair: Homeland Security’s John Wood, Julie Myers & Company
(Artwork by David Lunde/Lundesigns)
Hmmm . . . father of the baby halfway across the country. Mother of the baby pretending to work long hours pretending to enforce immigration laws. Something (and someone) will suffer. And it ain’t Mr. & Mrs. ICE Princess.
It’ll be the kid and anyone who thinks we should actually enforce immigration laws. More like both. Look for that kid to be raised by a nanny. And look for our immigration laws to be enforced even less.
We’re hoping the Democrats finally grill and discard this incompetent. “Kansas City Here I Come” should be the theme song for the whole ICE Princess family.
In other ICE Princess family crony news, her uncle, retired General Richard Myers–who’s helped her get this and a lot of other jobs–was appointed to a silly new “External Advisory Board” by CIA Director Michael Hayden.
We call it silly because Hayden also picked one of the biggest failures in CEO-dom, Carly Fiorina. She was ousted as CEO of Hewlett-Packard after her recommended merger with Compaq was a huge flop. But she got $21 million in a nice golden parachute to go with the ouster. Please keep her away from the CIA.
Look for him to try to get The ICE Princess a job with the CIA, too. Nepotism is great. Especially when you’re related.

By Debbie Schlussel
Reader Gerry asks that we send reading material–magazines, catalogs, etc.–to a brave soldier in Iraq, Sgt. Eric From, and others in his platoon. I’m going to, and I hope you will, too. You can also e-mail Sgt. From.
Why did I pick this soldier? A reader asked. I’m happy to post info on others, too. But when Gerry asked me to send a signed photo, I decided to help out by posting this:

My wife and I met a soldier at DFW airport over the last Labor Day weekend (06) and after talking with him while awaiting our flights, I offered to write him. I have since sent a couple of care packages and even badgered the heck out of my co-workers and friends to the extent of buying Christmas cards at the Dollar Store and convincing them to write to our troops.
Anyway, I was wondering, if this is not too bold of a request, could you send over an autographed picture to him? To tell you the truth, even more than a photograph, any reading material from, catalogs to magazines you may be about to discard, would be welcomed by those guys.
So, here is his APO. He’s a very nice man and mostly, I think he misses his family and would appreciate anything that came from the U.S.A.
SGT From, Eric
1016th QMCO.
LSA Adder
APO AE 09331
Regardless of the outcome, I appreciate and enjoy reading your writings on the web. Via your website, I have discovered a number of links that have lead to more links etc. and a great many enjoyable hours in front of the computer. Unfortunately, I have missed your radio and T.V. spots. I have a mental list of people I would love to see you debate. . . .
Here is an excerpt of one of the last emails I have from him. This may
help you narrow down where he is exactly.

Thu 1/11/2007 9:15 PM
Hello everyone,
I am back at Tallil now and they are going to move me again. From what I have been told I will be going back to Cedar on the 16th and I will be back to the old job of ROM site.

Just in case you would like it, here is his email address:
eric.d.from@us.army.mil

Help our American men and women who are risking (and in many cases, giving) their lives and limb in service to our country.