Riehl World View

Lieberman Warns Democrat Party

Update: There are some dots to connect between the DNC and the move to take down Lieberman. Were I him, I wouldn't be too happy with Dean, who seems to be manipulating things behind the scenes to drag the party to the Left.

The money quote from this piece comes all the way at the end.

"I know I'm taking a position that is not popular within the party," Lieberman said, "but that is a challenge for the party -- whether it will accept diversity of opinion or is on a kind of crusade or jihad of its own to have everybody toe the line. No successful political party has ever done that."

The Kos Kids can yell all they want, but if the adults in the Democrat Party don't appreciate what is going on as regards Connecticut, it could spell the Democrat Party's doom. They suffered significantly enough by refusing to allow a PA governor, Bob Casey, to speak at a convention one year. The consequences of losing a Senate seat in CT for similar reasons would be more severe.

Connecticut politics may be Democrat, but three of their five current Representatives are Republican. Connecticut is also battling a terrible corruption problem right now that cuts across both parties. And if you total the votes in the last House elections, CT only went Democrat by 10%. That might seem like a lot, but traditional Liberals who are mostly Democrats are nothing like the Far Left who may try and take the primary.

If Lieberman leaves the party, it's they who are going to be more alone. As a moderate, Lieberman should be able to find a home in either party. He's already more conservative than some New England and Northeast Republicans, but far from an ideologue of any stripe.

Also, CT has a fairly stable history of electing incumbents. Any state race would be his to lose and with him on the ticket as an Independent, the RNC might not give the race much attention, focusing those resources elsewhere. That would have the added benefit of making Lieberman quite a friend.

Between the recent rhetoric of the Democrat Leadership, they appear to be headed back to being pinned down as Far Left. It's as if the last thirty-plus years haven't taught them anything.

The Kos Kidz may not realize it, but they are helping to give Republicans precisely what they want. The ability to marginalize the Democrat Party due to its all too Liberal base.

There Is No Middle Ground In War

And war, of a cultural nature, along with the current war on terror is precisely what we are fighting when it comes to Islam. As I pointed out recently in this post, the so-called middle ground so-called moderate Muslims talk about is tenuous, at best. But don't expect the New york Times to depict the reality of it.

Most American mosques import their clerics from overseas — some who preach extremism, some who cannot speak English, and most who cannot begin to speak to young American Muslims growing up on hip-hop and in mixed-sex chat rooms. Mr. Yusuf, 48, and Mr. Shakir, 50, are using their clout to create the first Islamic seminary in the United States, where they hope to train a new generation of imams and scholars who can reconcile Islam and American culture.

But read the fine print - there is no reconciliation with an America based on the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Their message is that both Islam and America have gone seriously astray, and American Muslims have a responsibility to harness their growing numbers and economic power to help set them straight.

Oh, I get it. According to the New york Times, we must continue to remove any hint of Christianity from the culture, but some new moderate islamic doctrine is going to put America straight? I don't think so, not if Americans have anything to say about it.

Mr. Yusuf once was a source of the kind of zealous rhetoric he now denounces. He said in 1995 that Judaism was based on the belief that "God has this bias to this small little tribe in the middle of the desert," which makes it "a most racist religion." On September 9, 2001, he said the United States "stands condemned" for invading Muslim lands.

I see, he's had a come to Jesus moment? Oh no, that can't be.

While leading a mosque in New Haven, Conn., in 1992, he wrote a pamphlet that cautioned Muslims not to be co-opted by American politics. He wrote, "Islam presents an absolutist political agenda, or one which doesn't lend itself to compromise, nor to coalition building."

Asked now about his past, he said, "To be perfectly honest, I don't regret anything I've done or said."

He said he still hoped that one day the United States would be a Muslim country ruled by Islamic law, "not by violent means, but by persuasion."

"Every Muslim who is honest would say, I would like to see America become a Muslim country," he said. "I think it would help people, and if I didn't believe that, I wouldn't be a Muslim. Because Islam helped me as a person, and it's helped a lot of people in my community."

When you peel apart just about everything there is to read on so-called moderate Islam, you still find a religion bent on domination. And this stupid multicultural, PC perspective America has largely adopted opens the door wide to just this type of exploitation. This is one reason why the Left is so dangerous for America. They're so misguided, they can be co-opted by just about anyone, or anything. No doubt they'll find an ally in so-called moderate Islam, until it's too late.

Islamic Hackers

Apparently a group of Turkish Islamic hackers have been playing hell with certain blogs. Rusty seems to have gotten his fatwa, albeait it from some wannabe Ji-hacker. Ace has the details.

The Lieberman Ad I would Have Run

Senator Joe Lieberman has been taking a little heat for his Care Bear ad. Here's the one I would have run.

Haditha Reporting Still Inconclusive

Allah has a post up linking to a New York Times piece on Haditha. I've no intention of defending the indefensible. But for now I'm not as pessimistic as Allah might sound. The Times piece suggests the killings of the men in the taxi may be the most "problematic." Here's what I don't get.

Two people briefed on the investigation said Thursday that evidence gathered on the shooting of the taxi passengers now appeared to be the most at odds with the account given by marines through their lawyers.

One Defense Department official said photographs indicated that the positions of those corpses — and the pooling of their blood — can be viewed as sharply inconsistent with the marines’ version that the Iraqi men were shot as they fled.

Okay, then why did one of the Iraqi witnesses tell the Washington Post that they were indeed fleeing when shot?

The final victims of the day happened upon the scene inadvertently, witnesses said. Four male college students -- Khalid Ayada al-Zawi, Wajdi Ayada al-Zawi, Mohammed Battal Mahmoud and Akram Hamid Flayeh -- had left the Technical Institute in Saqlawiyah for the weekend to stay with one of their families on the street, said Fahmi, a friend of the young men.

A Haditha taxi driver, Ahmed Khidher, was bringing them home, Fahmi said.

According to Fahmi, the young men and their driver turned onto the street and saw the wrecked Humvee and the Marines. Khidher threw the car into reverse, trying to back away at full speed, Fahmi said, and the Marines opened fire from about 30 yards away, killing all the men inside the taxi.

As for this:

Investigators have also concluded that most of the victims in three houses died from well-aimed rifle shots, not shrapnel or random fire, according to military officials familiar with the initial findings…

There are a few issues here to take into account. First, what pictures are any conclusions being based upon? If they are the Marines own intelligence pictures taken after the action, that absolutely spells trouble for the Marines. At the same time, if several pictures which have emerged later are being relied upon, then only autopsies can serve as definitive proof of a cause of death. Obviously, an ideology which beheads the living would think nothing of making a precise looking wound in a corpse.

Also, as Allah points out, one Times source suggests there was an absence of bullet and shrapnel holes in the house walls. That's contradicted by pictures many have already seen.

Virtually all of the inconsistencies the Times source points to in statements by various Marines can be explained by different groups acting in Haditha that day.

Moving to a third house in the row, Marines burst in on four brothers, Marwan, Qahtan, Chasib and Jamal Ahmed. Neighbors said the Marines killed them together.

Meanwhile, a separate group of Marines found at least one other house full of young men. The Marines led the men in that house outside, some still in their underwear, and away to detention.

It's also stated that one Marine is said to be co-operating. If that Marine can help get to the truth, that would be a very good thing. But I can't help but reflect on the so-called Camp Pendleton 8. See family and related websites here, here, here and here.

It has been reported that those Marines were experiencing some very heavy handed interrogation tactics, including threats of execution in an attempt to get them to talk. According to a report yesterday, their shackles have been removed.

For now my feeling as regards Haditha is that some amount of misinformation has obviously been introduced, making drawing any conclusions extremely difficult, even for investigators, perhaps. If anything, I would expect to find that one or a few Marines may have gone off and committed a crime - and some other number exercised the poor judgment to attempt to cover it up. But, for now, we don't have enough solid information to draw even that conclusion.

Ironic that depending on the day and the media involved, they seem to go from admitting there are still not sufficient answers, to concluding some atrocity has been committed. But then, Murtha opened the door to that.

Additional analysis at RUA with links to several other blogs commenting. And Bruce Kesler at The Democracy Project offers some analysis, as well.

Be sure and check in with Allah for updates. I'll have some here at top, if and when they become appropriate.

I Have A Disease!

Granted, it's sort of like a Steve Martin ala The Jerk moment when he first saw himself in the phonebook; though I confess to having gotten a thrill out of that very thing when I first moved away from home.

I guess this is sort of like - Hey! The New Physician's Desk Reference is out! And there I am:

Riehl melanosis is a nonpruritic pigmentary dermatosis affecting the face. It was first observed in 1917. It is characterized by brownish grey facial pigmentation that is more marked on the temples and the forehead. Riehl melanosis was later noted to occur in people with dark complexions in whom hyperpigmentation with pigment incontinence may be the main sign of contact dermatitis caused by certain allergens.

Okay, maybe it's sort of like a rash, only worse - but at least it isn't something growing out of some niether region, or anything having to do with yeast.

I suppose it could be worse.

Iran - Before and After

Here's an interesting video, obviously put together by someone who would like to see the government in Iran fall.

Found it through Gateway Pundit, who has the latest on violent protests going on in Iran.

Turning to Iraq, TexasRainMaker goes through facts linking Iraq to terrorism.

And Steel is swallowing the recall on cloth pop-up books out of concerns for choking.

If they're going to start worrying about books causing choking, Al Franken shouldn't be allowed to publish in the first place.

Iraq Update: This Could Be Troubling

Ever since Zarqawi was killed, I've been reading around foreign sites, most notably from the Middle East. The new leader, whether it is Abu Ayyoub Al-Masri, or not, has been promising something rather horrible. My first thought was a possible kidnapping of a US serviceman with a gruesome video to follow.

I hope I'm wrong - but this can't be good, no matter how you view it. Al-Masri is said to be rather ruthless and al-Qaeda seems to look to the past when formulating strategy. Events in Mogadishu under Clinton represent their last great military success.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A soldier in the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq was killed and two others were missing after an attack on a checkpoint southwest of Baghdad on Friday, the U.S. military said. The attacked took place around 8 p.m. near the town of Yusufiyah, about 12 miles southwest of Baghdad.

"After hearing small arms fire and explosions in the vicinity of the checkpoint, a quick reaction force responded to the scene," a military statement said. "Coalition forces have initiated a search operation to locate and determine the status of the soldiers."

The statement didn't provide any other information.

A spokesman for the U.S. Central Command in Baghdad, asked whether the missing soldiers could have possibly been abducted, told The Associated Press by telephone that the military didn't know.

Pentagon officials told the AP that they had no additional information other than what was in the statement.

Can Bill Gates Save The World?

Pundita thinks that, not only can't he, he shouldn't even be trying. An interesting read on the Gates George Soros method of International aid that could come back to haunt us in the end.

Democrats Propose Bold New Agenda

If anyone figures out what it is, please leave a comment. I'll be damned if I see anything much at all. Except the usual, we'll raise that tax when we get to it BS.

WASHINGTON -- If Democrats regain control of the House of Representatives this fall, they are vowing to pursue an aggressive agenda in their first week in power that would hike the minimum wage, slash interest rates on student loans, and install a new package of restrictions on lobbying activities that is designed to increase accountability in government.