Pirates Are Cooler Than Terrorists

The possibility of a struggle the likes of which the world hasn't seen since Godzilla took on Mechagodzilla in 1974 looms on the East African coast. Al Shabab, a Somali Islamist group affiliated with Al Qaeda, has moved into a coastal town with plans to retake a super-tanker from Somali pirates.

It seems Al Shabab considers piracy against the rules of Islam. Good for them, right? One little problem--it's only contrary to the Koran's teachings to pirate a ship belonging to other Muslims.

Oh well, I guess you have to start somewhere.

Not surprisingly, some American liberals are more than willing to support terrorists in the fight against pirates.

Sigh.

Poor Choice Of Words?

Jon Favreau, recently named director of speechwriting for the Obama White House, posted the above photo on his Facebook page. All in good fun, of course this is what you get with 27 year olds in senior positions.

The best part, though, is the transition team spokesman's responce:

Asked about the photos, Favreau, who was recently appointed director of speechwriting for the White House, declined comment. A transition official said that Favreau had "reached out to Senator Clinton to offer an apology."

"Reached out" indeed. The next four years are gonna be AWESOME!

Tragedy On Oak Island

Since man has been digging through mountains and spanning rivers for many years, we easily forget how dangerous these projects still are. Here on Oak Island we've been reminded.

On Wednesday a concrete girder fell from a new bridge being constructed across the Intracoastal Waterway, killing one man and injuring two others. Jose Montalvo, a Sumter, SC resident and father of three, lost his life working on a project we here on Oak Island have been clamoring for for decades. We tend to forget how much risk is still involved in the huge pieces of infrastructure that we've come to take for granted.

The accident will be investigated and the project will continue, but I hope all of us will feel a bit more humbled by the work and sacrifices of the engineers and construction professionals that make our convenience possible.

The State Port Pilot has a link to video of the collapse.

Just In Time For Christmas

It's a "Lego" Terrorist!!!! Complete with bomb belt!!!

(not approved by Lego, of course)

Capitol Odor Eater

The new US Capitol visitor center may have taken eight years to construct, come in $356 billion dollars over budget and completely misconstrued the Constitution, but it was all worth it. Now Harry Reid doesn't have to smell the stench of constituents at his work place. From the DC Examiner:

The Capitol Visitors Center, which opened this morning, may have tripled its original budget and fallen years behind schedule, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid found a silver lining for members of Congress: tourists won't offend them with their B.O. anymore.

"My staff tells me not to say this, but I'm going to say it anyway," said Reid in his remarks. "In the summer because of the heat and high humidity, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol. It may be descriptive but it's true."

But it's no longer going to be true, noted Reid, thanks to the air conditioned, indoor space.

And that's not all. "We have many bathrooms here, as you can see," Reid continued. "Souvenirs are available."

$621 million well spent.

If they don't confiscate all of my money to pay UAW workers to sit in a lounge, maybe I can afford deodorant.

Bailouts and Jet Envy

Well, now I guess we can feel good about "loaning" tens of billions of dollars of OUR money to three poorly run automakers with no profits and a market cap of under $7 billion. See, their executives drove there own bad selves from Detroit to Washington DC.

In hybrids. Oh joy!!!

While showing up for a bailout hearing in private jets was bad PR, the stink raised over it has been disgusting. Americans are outraged over the mode of transport and the salaries of corporate executives, but don't blink an eye about having their government seize their money to buy itself into private-sector businesses. That's called socialism, look it up.

While the auto makers have racked up a huge debt and made unrealistic promises to their employees, the US Congress is hardly in a position to lecture them.

As of September 30th of this year, the United States national debt stood at $10,024,724,896,912.49. That's ten trillion twenty-four billion seven hundred twenty-four million eight hundred ninety-six thousand nine hundred twelve dollars and forty-nine cents. The debt wracked up by GM, Chrysler and Ford is chump change compared to that.

The Social Security system will begin breaking down in the 2020's and be totally bankrupt soon after.

The people responsible for our national debt and fraudulent retirement plan are demanding oversight of the Big Three auto makers as they use our tax dollars to recover from their troubles. How comforting.

And the American citizen is fixated on an airplane.

Run Away! Run Away!

A relatively small US cruise ship outran pirates in the Gulf of Aden between Somalia and Yemen after being fired upon with small arms. The pirates, in two small boats, couldn't keep up with the cruise liner carrying almost 1,000 people. The cruise was on its way from Egypt to Oman via the Suez Canal when it was attacked in an area patrolled by international anti-pirate forces.

Aaaaarrrr!!!!!!!

Standing By India

Christopher Hitchens writes a passionate piece today at Slate.com arguing for standing by India as an important ally. India is more multi-ethnic and religiously diverse than many of us realize. They are becoming much like the United States in that area of the world. That may be a large part of the reason they find themselves under attack by jihadists.

With Europe on in inescapable decline, maybe India is just the ally we should be cultivating.

Mr. Hitchens also does the great service of explaining why Bombay is now called Mumbai:

When Salman Rushdie wrote, in The Moor's Last Sigh in 1995, that "those who hated India, those who sought to ruin it, would need to ruin Bombay," he was alluding to the Hindu chauvinists who had tried to exert their own monopoly in the city and who had forcibly renamed it—after a Hindu goddess—Mumbai. We all now collude with this, in the same way that most newspapers and TV stations do the Burmese junta's work for it by using the fake name Myanmar. (Bombay's hospital and stock exchange, both targets of terrorists, are still called by their right name by most people, just as Bollywood retains its "B.")

I hate name changes. I'm not real fond of changes at all, really.

New U.S. Capitol Building Misinformation Center Opening Tomorrow

The Capitol Building's new visitor center opens tomorrow, presenting a very modern view of the relationship between your government and the Constitution. That is to say a view entirely inconsistent with the document the framers produced almost 220 years ago. Matt Spalding with the Heritage Foundation toured the new facility at the recommendation of South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint and reports on the twisting of our country's Constitution away from the vision of its creators.

Wrong, Mr. Madison. Congress’ new Visitor Center decrees the Constitution isn’t a list of powers but rather of “aspirations” Congress is expected to define and realize. The exhibit specifies six:

1. Unity (as in “a more perfect Union” in the Preamble, which grants Congress no power).
2. Freedom (based on the First Amendment, which begins with the words “Congress shall make no law …”).
3. Common Defense (from Article I, Section 8).
4. Knowledge (authority to promote public education, support arts and sciences, fund extensive research).
5. Exploration (to justify funding “curiosity and boldness” — like 4, this comes from a convoluted reading of the clause granting Congress the power to issue patents).
6. General Welfare (found in Article I, Section 8’s restriction of the taxing power, but taken here to mean “improving transportation, promoting agriculture and industry, protecting health and the environment, and seeking ways to solve social and economic problems”).

At first I thought I'd be sure to skip this monstrosity on our next trip to DC, but on second thought maybe the best use of this is as an example to our children of what can happen if we don't guard our liberty from those in power, whether elected or not.

I think I'll take my son here after reading the Constitution ourselves, or maybe bring a copy along, and let the elementary school brain of his pick apart the work of our present political leaders.

That shouldn't take long.

Great Reporting on the Indian Terror Attacks

The Wall Street Journal has a great report on the Mumbai terrorists and the Indian security forces' response. It's really scary how easy it is for a small group of highly motivated men to cause such havoc in a major city. Sure the government response could have been better and they could have been better prepared, but this sort of thing is impossible to stop in a free society. Let's hope this brings home the wisdom of George Bush's strategy of fighting the terrorists in their homes instead of ours.

Lest we forget that this is MUSLIM terror, religiously motivated and carried out by true-believing Islamists, read this excerpt from the WSJ's story:

On the 20th floor, the gunmen shoved the group out of the stairwell. They lined up the 13 men and three women and lifted their weapons. "Why are you doing this to us?" a man called out. "We haven't done anything to you."

"Remember Babri Masjid?" one of the gunmen shouted, referring to a 16th-century mosque built by India's first Mughal Muslim emperor and destroyed by Hindu radicals in 1992.

"Remember Godhra?" the second attacker asked, a reference to the town in the Indian state of Gujarat where religious rioting that evolved into an anti-Muslim pogrom began in 2002.

"We are Turkish. We are Muslim," someone in the group screamed. One of the gunmen motioned for two Turks in the group to step aside.

Then they pointed their weapons at the rest and squeezed the triggers.