Not what we mean when we say "The Most High"...

Woman Charged With Sending Cocaine-filled Bibles To Inmate:

Authorities in Indiana say they found cocaine hidden in the spines of two Bibles that a woman allegedly bought and tried to send to her husband in jail.

Anthony Duckworth, who's been in the Huntington County jail for months, and his wife, Amy, have been charged with two counts of trafficking with an inmate.

The cocaine was found in the Bibles last month.

Bar-code stickers led authorities to a Wal-Mart, where they found one Bible had been bought with cash and the other with a credit card.

Police say the receipt was signed by Amy Duckworth and a surveillance video showed her making the purchase.

She later admitted buying the Bibles but said someone else supplied the cocaine and that she enlisted two other people to deliver them to the jail, where her husband planned to sell the drugs.

Stevin said it best, "Is it just me, or is there a missing Tarantino movie here?"

Reuters...censored?

Found this when I tried to click on the Drudge link to the article, "Chinese Internet writer charged with subversion": (click image to enlarge)

Hi-larious.

Update: The real non-hi-larious article is up now.

United 93 at Tribeca

'United 93': Sobs and Applause

"United 93" is a movie of firsts. It was made from the heart and not to make money, certainly. It’s a short movie but one that you never want to see end — not because the story is so appealing, but because you know what the end is, and you never want it to come.

Lord willing, and though it is with grim anticipation, I plan on seeing this film on opening night.

Just reading the reviews and commentary is wrenching enough. Nevertheless, if the film is as "tastefully" done as most reviewers say, I believe everyone should see this film...

...if for any reason, to remember. I can only imagine how the families and friends of the heroes of Flight 93 felt when they left the theather.

Friedman ponders, "I don’t know if 'United 93' has given them closure or permission to keep reliving this horror."

While I prefer not to speak of anything regarding how the survivors cope with this tragedy... for the rest of us, I say we keep the wounds open.

Never submit. Never forget.

Wang Wenyi: "Consistent with the American spirit"

White House heckler says protest against Chinese president unplanned.

A woman who heckled Chinese President Hu Jintao on the White House lawn, said her protest was a spontaneous reaction to China's suppression of the Falungong spiritual movement. [...]

"[sic] when I saw President Bush shake hands with Hu Jintao, I couldnt help but cry out," she said.

"I cried out for those who have been tortured and suffered genocidal persecution," she added.

Specifically, Wang said she was motivated by Falungong claims that hundreds of its practitioners detained in China were being "dissected alive" and their organs sold on the international transplant market.

"I acted in a way consistent with the American spirit. I also acted to protect the dignity of America and human kind," she said.

Amen.

Pray that any charges against Ms. Wang would be reduced or better yet, dropped.

ANZAC Day 2006

Anzac Day services draw thousands.

Thousands of Australians around the nation have gathered at dawn services to commemorate Anzac Day.

It is the 91st anniversary of the Gallipoli landing after which more than 8,000 Australian troops lost their lives.

It is also the 90th anniversary of the arrival of Australian troops on the Western Front.

The traditional services coincide with the pre-dawn hour the first Anzac troops waded ashore at Gallipoli in 1915.

In Brisbane, a group of ex-servicemen marched through the city to Anzac Square and the Shrine of Remembrance.

There, they listened to 14-year-old Ipswich girl Elissa Coates, whose great-grandfather was among those who took part in the ill-fated landings.

"Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn," she recited.

"At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them."

In Sydney, Martin Place has been the focus of the ceremonies.

There are no World War I diggers left but some of their descendants have turned out.

The are also veterans of other wars and thousands of the young and old who just wanted to pay their respects.

Canberra's main dawn service has been held at the National War Memorial.

Many people carried candles as they listened to the Anzac dedication and observed a minute's silence as dawn crept over the horizon.

At Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance, thousands are expected to line up for hours after the dawn service to place floral tributes in the shrine sanctuary.

Prayers of thanksgiving for all of the brave Australian and New Zealand servicemen and women who have served their nations well in the name of freedom.

Prince Harry has the royal cajones to serve

Prince Harry: Send me to war or I'll quit.

24-04-2006
From: The Daily Telegraph

PRINCE Harry has threatened to quit the British Army if commanders refuse to send him to the frontline.

The prince and his older brother William have both made it clear they want to see active service with their units.

Earlier this month Harry, 21, was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Household Cavalry's Blues and Royals, the army's oldest and most senior regiment.

The Blues and Royals have been deployed in almost every major operation of the past 25 years, including the Falklands, Bosnia and both Gulf wars.

And now it has been revealed the determined prince told top brass at the Sandhurst military academy: "If I am not allowed to join my unit in a war zone, I will hand in my uniform."

This poses serious problems for advisers tasked with protecting William and Harry, the second and third in line to the throne, and those fighting alongside them.

A Clarence House spokeswoman said: "Harry is very clear that he is joining the Army to serve his country as an operational soldier."

But she added: "There may be circumstances in which his presence could attract attention, which could lead to additional risk to those he commands or himself.

"In these instances it is a judgment call made by his commanding officer."

Good for them.

I applaud their willingness and determination to serve regardless of their royal status.

Socialist-led coalition wins in Hungary

Hungary's Socialists achieve historic election win.

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's Socialist-led coalition won a general election on Sunday with an increased majority in parliament to become the country's first government to retain power since communism fell in 1989.

With 98 percent of the vote counted in the second round of polling, the election commission projected the Socialist Party and its Free Democrat allies would increase their majority from 198 to 210 seats in the 386-member parliament.

It was a personal triumph for 44-year-old Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, who rescued the Socialists from what looked certain defeat when he became premier in 2004, and provides him with a stronger platform to push through reforms.

"We understand the responsibility we have been given. We have to create a better, more successful Hungary that is better to live in," Gyurcsany, a millionaire businessman, told hundreds of ecstatic supporters, some of them waving the national flag. [Maybe my knowledge of Euro-socialism is a bit foggy... but something about a "millionaire businessman" and "socialism" seems odd to me. --ed.]

Gyurcsany now faces a test to convince investors holding billions of dollars of Hungarian bonds and the European Union that Hungary will finally take action to cut its budget deficit, the biggest in the EU relative to the size of the economy.

His charisma played a role in his victory and, unlike many other leaders across central Europe, he did not have the stigma of having held a senior post under communist rule.

He has so far avoided taking the tough decisions that are needed to reform the economy but which could have turned off voters, and gained from rifts in the right-wing opposition.

DIVIDED OPPOSITION

Conceding defeat, opposition leader and former Prime Minister Viktor Orban told supporters: "Those who join forces win and the losers are those who are unable to cooperate."

[...]No government had been re-elected in the four other free elections since the collapse of communist rule.

Fmr. President Ford on the Circus of Generals, Rumsfeld.

Gerald Ford 'troubled' by former generals' Rumsfeld complaints.

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. - Former President Ford said Friday he is troubled by the efforts of retired generals to force the ouster of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

Ford, who appointed Rumsfeld as his White House chief of staff and then chose him to be defense secretary during his administration, said in a statement that President Bush was right to keep Rumsfeld in his post.

The statement was released by spokeswoman Penny Circle as Bush arrived in California for the weekend.

Ford, 92, said the decision on keeping Rumsfeld is the president's alone.

"Allowing retired generals to dictate our country's policies and its leadership would be a dangerous precedent that would severely undermine our country's long tradition of civilian control of the military," Ford said.

"It would discourage civilian leaders at the (Defense) Department from having frank and candid exchanges with military officers. And, today, at a time of war, such an effort sends exactly the wrong message both to our troops deployed abroad and to our enemies who are watching for any signs of weakness or self-doubt."

Ford suggested that the issue stemmed from Bush's efforts to change the military.

"He knew that Don, who had been in the job before, was extremely well-suited to take on this challenge and contend with a bureaucracy that has a built-in resistance to change. The president knew that successfully carrying out these missions, against stiff resistance, takes someone with a certain amount of steel," Ford said.

Thank you, President Ford, for speaking up about this ridiculous circus. If only other former presidents had the same respectful decency.

Hu, China publicly accused of being... murderous freedom-hating communists.

Hu knew having a commie leader visiting the free U. S. of A. could be a GOOD thing? Protester Disrupts Hu Arrival Ceremony

By JENNIFER LOVEN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON

President Bush expressed personal regret to Chinese President Hu Jintao for a protest during an elaborate welcoming ceremony on the White House lawn Thursday.

The protester interrupted the ceremony by shouting to Bush to stop the Chinese president from "persecuting the Falun Gong."

Bush later addressed the matter when he met with Hu in the Oval Office. "He just said this was unfortunate and I'm sorry it happened," said Dennis Wilder, acting senior director for Asian affairs on the National Security Council staff.

Wilder said Hu was gracious in accepting Bush's apology. The two leaders moved on in their talks and it was not mentioned again in several hours of meetings.

While realistically, I realize Bush needed to formally save face for this outburst, I hope in his heart he recognized the genuine anguish behind her words.

[...] "I would be extremely surprised if the Chinese blamed us for this," Wilder said.

The woman began shouting from the top of a camera stand that had been erected in front of the two leaders on the South Lawn.

The Secret Service identified her as Wenyi Wang, 47.

Secret Service spokesman Jim Mackin said that she had been charged with disorderly conduct and that a charge of intimidating or disrupting foreign officials was also being considered.

Meanwhile, In the Land of Kyer, a medal of commendation is being considered for her standing up to a successor of Mao Tse Tung.

[...] She shouted in Chinese and in heavily accented English: "President Bush, stop him from killing" and "President Bush, stop him from persecuting the Falun Gong."

Bush, standing next to Hu, leaned over and whispered to him, "You're OK," indicating the Chinese leader should proceed with his opening remarks. Hu, who had paused briefly when the shouting began, resumed speaking.

The protester was waving a banner with the red and yellow colors used by Falun Gong, a banned religious movement in China. She kept shouting for several minutes [Wait, they allowed this for SEVERAL minutes? --ed.] before Secret Service agents were able to make their way to her position at the top of the camera stand. They led her off the stand.

A photographer who was standing next to the protester tried momentarily to quiet her by putting his hand in front of her mouth.

"It's hugely embarrassing," said Derek Mitchell, a former Asia adviser at the Pentagon and now an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

China "must know that this Bush administration is good at controlling crowds for themselves, and the fact that they couldn't control this is going to play to their worst fears and suspicions about the United States, into mistrust about American intentions toward China."

Good. Let it embarass us.

I'm embarassed of that photographer who attempted to silence Ms. Wang.

I mean, how often do you get the chance to (sneak in and) call out the leader of the pseudo-commie tyrannical goverment of Red China for all the world to hear?

Click to see a slideshow of how China
handles such "subversive" forces as Falun Gong.

Warning: Images of extreme torture and cruelty

A Woman's Breasts Disfigured and Infected from Severe Electric Shock Torture

Third World nations prefer Marine trainers over SOF

StrategyPage: "We Prefer The Marines"

April 14, 2006: As good as the U.S. Army Special forces are at training foreign troops, many of these foreign armed forces now prefer U.S. Marines. This began when some U.S. officers, responsible for assisting in the training of military forces in Third World countries, began declining, when offered Special Operations Forces (SOF) personnel. Publicly, the reasons offered are usually couched in terms that suggest the SOF people are needed elsewhere, which is certainly true, given ongoing operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere. But privately some of the advisory personnel cite the fact that SOF personnel usually bring with them all sorts of specialized equipment that the host country will never be able to afford. Moreover, the capabilities for which SOF trainers provide training for are often much too sophisticated for local, and usually poorly educated, troops to absorb. An additional objection is that the nature of the way in which SOF operates is just too "undisciplined" for Third World forces. Apparently when asked, experienced advisors will ask for American marines rather than Special Forces. The marines have been helping out with the foreign troops training since the war on terror began, and the more basic and down-to-earth approach of the marines has been more attractive to many nations.

The SOF are still very good at organizing and training irregulars. But when it comes to turning a bunch of civilians into disciplined troops, the marines have an edge.

Speaking of special forces, I still can't get over the fact the DOD is creating SOF for the Marines.

I mean, how do you take something as hXc as the Corps and make it even more bad ass?

Warporn: F-22A Raptor tears up the skies

H/T: Ace.

Death comes like a bolt from the blue:

The aircraft is simply the most advanced ever built. There is nothing on earth to touch it. In simulated dogfights it has wiped the floor with the opposition.

In one such encounter, six F-15 Eagle air-superiority fighters — which the Raptor is replacing and which has a perfect combat record of 101 victories with zero defeats — were sent up to “kill” a single Raptor. All six were shot down.

A bit of perspective is needed here. The Eagle is the most lethal air-superiority fighter in the US arsenal and its pilots are the best in the world.

One of those “aura” pilots I was talking about earlier is Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Huffman, the commander of the 64th Aggressor Squadron.

The Aggressors are the dogfighting experts of the US Air Force. In aerial combat training they act as the “enemy”. It’s their job to give the opposing fighter jocks a hard time. It’s also their job to “kill” them. A sort of baptism of fire — a wake-up call.

Huffman and his hot-shots were sent up against the Raptor. I’ll let him finish the story.

“We still joke about our missions against the Raptor, because they can be fairly boring.

“We fly to the [designated combat] range. Die. Go to the tanker [to refuel]. Go back out to the range. Die. Go back to the tanker. Go back out. Die. After the third time we go home.”

Same thing the next day, and the next.

As Huffman told Code One magazine, the 64th flew almost 300 sorties against the Raptors “and we never once got to merge [make visual contact] against a single Raptor”.

Another hard-assed air combat supremo, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Garland, a former F-15 Eagle pilot and now a Raptor jockey, told Code One magazine: “Six adversaries provide a good workout for two F-15 Eagle pilots. But for two Raptors, defeating six adversaries is about as difficult as eating breakfast. We [Raptor pilots] don’t even break a sweat.”

...

So how do you fight something you can’t see, fire at or out-turn? The short answer is: you don’t. You just die.

UPDATE: The Navy's F-18F's show they can play, too. (Tip again: Ace)

Colombia's AUC "formally" disbands

Last members of feared Colombian militia disarm.

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - The last fighters of Colombia's most feared paramilitary militia, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, blamed for the killing of thousands of civilians, laid down their weapons on Tuesday, the government said.

The last 1,765 members of the paramilitary army known by its Spanish initials AUC handed in their arms to the government in the town of Casibare in Meta province, central Colombia, in a ceremony presided over by government peace negotiator Luis Carlos Restrepo.

All of the AUC's 30,140 members have now handed in their arms in a demobilization that began in late 2003, said Restrepo, announcing the end of an organization classified as "terrorist" by the United States and responsible for many of the worst human rights abuses in Colombia in recent years.

"We can say that the AUC formally stopped existing today," Restrepo said.

Keyword: "formally".

Immigration loopholes & the importation of violence

A most EXCELLENT article on the violence we export to -and import from- from Central America. Deportation Feeds a Cycle of Violence in Central America.

Since the early nineties, criminal gang networks operating across the border between the United States and Central America have exploded in power and number. The gangs take advantage of loopholes in international immigration and deportation policies to spread their influence through extreme violence.

The Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, has become one of the "Most Wanted" of these gangs. What began as a loosely-connected group of Salvadoran immigrant youth banded together for protection in the join-or-die gang culture of Los Angeles has now grown into a transnational criminal hydra involved in murder, extortion, and some gun and drug smuggling.

U.S. deportation policies aggressively send undocumented gang members back to their home countries in Central America. They export U.S. gang culture and hardened criminals to countries whose internal security forces are ill-equipped to deal with the new threat. The street gangs have rapidly grown beyond being just a neighborhood problem to presenting a real national security threat in these countries.

Criminal deportees bring tactics, organization, and other criminal skills learned in U.S. prisons. These abilities translate into more sophisticated networks that have created a web that spans across Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Over time this network has made some links with organized crime, acting at times like foot soldiers to help with smuggling, assassination, and other duties.

Street gangs remain distinct from organized crime. But they have become a leading cause of insecurity in Central America. The region's history with clandestine death squads, drug and gun smuggling, corruption, and violence during the U.S.-supported "dirty wars" provided a propitious culture for the gangs' insertion into society. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation as well as national police in three Central American countries actively seek solutions to break this 20-year-old cycle, but U.S. authorities and their Central American colleagues face a difficult game of catch-up.

MS-13 is no joke --- and if you think they're not coming soon to your backyard, think again.

USS New York -- 45% complete

Didn't see too many people talking about this story --- again, several days old:
New Navy Ship Being Built With WTC Steel.

NEW YORK - With a year to go before it even touches the water, the Navy's amphibious assault ship USS New York has already made history — twice. It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center, and it survived Hurricane Katrina.

[...] "It sounds trite, but I saw it in their eyes," Teel said in a separate interview. "These are very patriotic people, and the fact that the ship has steel from the trade center is a source of great pride. They view it as something incredibly special. They're building it for the nation."

USS New York is the fifth in a new class of warship — designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. It will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft.

"It would be fitting if the first mission this ship would go on is to make sure that bin Laden is taken out, his terrorist organization is taken out," said Glenn Clement, a paint foreman. "He came in through the back door and knocked our towers down and (the New York) is coming right through the front door, and we want them to know that."

[...] Months later, New York Gov. George Pataki asked the Navy to commemorate the disaster by reviving the name New York for a ship whose role would include fighting terrorism. That required an exception to Navy policy of assigning state names only to nuclear submarines, as they had been to battleships in earlier era.

Then-Navy Secretary Gordon England, in announcing the decision, said the New York would "project American power to the far corners of the Earth and support the cause of freedom well into the 21st century." Its motto is "Never Forget," a slogan among New Yorkers since Sept. 11.

Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite, La., to cast the ship's bow section. When it was poured into the molds on Sept. 9, 2003, "those big rough steelworkers treated it with total reverence," recalled Navy Capt. Kevin Wensing, who was there. "It was a spiritual moment for everybody there."

Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the "hair on my neck stood up."

"It had a big meaning to it for all of us," he said. "They knocked us down. They can't keep us down. We're going to be back."

Well put, brother.

Battle Cry held throughout San Francisco

Almost 2 weeks late, but I've been wanting to post on this worthy event: Evangelical teens rally in S.F.

Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, March 25, 2006

More than 25,000 evangelical Christian youth landed Friday in San Francisco for a two-day rally at AT&T; Park against "the virtue terrorism" of popular culture, and they were greeted by an official city condemnation and a clutch of protesters who said their event amounted to a "fascist mega-pep rally."

"Battle Cry for a Generation" is led by a 44-year-old Concord native, Ron Luce, who wants "God's instruction book" to guide young people away from the corrupting influence of popular culture.

Luce, whose Teen Mania organization is based in Texas, kicked off a three-city "reverse rebellion" tour Friday night intended to counter a popular culture that he says glamorizes violence and sex. The $55 advance tickets for two days of musical performances and speeches were sold out, but walk-up admission was available for $199.

After stops in Detroit and Philadelphia in the next few weeks, Luce wants to unleash a "blitz" of youth pastors into the communities to do everything from work with the homeless to find new ways to bring others to Christ. He challenged youth leaders to double the size of their groups in the next year.

And then he plans to return to San Francisco next year to chart their progress.

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