In this particular instance, it's actually a figure of speech.

Al-Jazeera headline of the day.

H/T: Israellycool.

Not to Be Outdone

As everybody knows by now, a Danish newspaper published some unflattering cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed a few months back, and the incident has been seized on as a pretext for a worldwide orgy of Muslim rage against all things non-Muslim. (Not all Muslims are going along with this nonsense, of course, only those who are willing to let themselves be manipulated by the fascist regimes.) Many in the West have stood firm in defense of freedom of speech against intimidation (again, by no means all).

Suddenly seized with a passion for free expression, an Iranian newspaper announced a Holocaust cartoon contest:

Farid Mortazavi, graphics editor for Tehran's Hamshahri newspaper, said that the deliberately inflammatory contest would test out how committed Europeans were to the concept freedom of expression.

"The Western papers printed these sacrilegious cartoons on the pretext of freedom of expression, so let’s see if they mean what they say and also print these Holocaust cartoons," he said.

From a certain standpoint, this was a stroke of genius. The islamofascists in Tehran enjoy nothing better than tying the liberal West in intellectual knots, and this latest tactic is surely a scheme that Sayyed Qutb himself would have been proud of.

But wait! The mullahs have met their match:

Eyal Zusman (30, back from anonymity) and Amitai Sandy (29), graphic artist and publisher of Dimona Comix Publishing, from Tel-Aviv, Israel, have followed the unfolding of the “Muhammad cartoon-gate” events in amazement, until finally they came up with the right answer to all this insanity - and so they announced today the launch of a new anti-Semitic cartoons contest - this time drawn by Jews themselves!

“We’ll show the world we can do the best, sharpest, most offensive Jew hating cartoons ever published!” said Sandy “No Iranian will beat us on our home turf!”

Heh. The ayatoilets slipped on a banana peel and stumbled into that most potent Jewish secret weapon: humor.

Portland's Barry Deutsch is going to enter the contest! The mullahs are doomed.

{dark, malevolent laughter}

cartoons
international Zionist conspiracy

Oregon: Ben Westlund Quits GOP, Will Run for Governor as Independent

Oregon State Senator Ben Westlund of Tumalo has announced he is quitting the Republican Party to campaign for the state's governorship as an Independent.

The Bend Bulletin:

In his career, Ben Westlund has been known by many labels.

Rancher. Legislator. Innovator. Addict.

Tax reform advocate. Consensus builder.

Republican in Name Only.

Tuesday, the state senator from Tumalo added to that list - and with a title that could shake up Oregon politics: independent candidate for governor.

In two press conferences Tuesday, one in Bend and one at the Capitol, Westlund stood with his family and announced his intent to take Oregon in a new direction.

"Paralyzing partisanship is keeping us from the challenges of our day," he said. "I cannot stand for that, and I hope you can't either."

After the Bend speech, he walked upstairs to the Deschutes County Clerk's Office and switched his party affiliation from Republican to independent. ...

The Oregonian:

Westlund, who has been in the Legislature since 1997, now must gather 18,368 signatures from Oregon voters by Aug. 29 to qualify for the ballot. Under a new state law, the signatures must come from people who don't cast a vote in a party primary.

His announcement stirred an immediate and intense political debate about whether his moderate stands might suck votes away from a Democrat or whether his conservative voting record would hamper the Republican.

"What's clear now is there's going to be two Republicans in the general election," said Cameron Johnson, campaign manager for incumbent Gov. Ted Kulongoski, a Democrat who is seeking re-election.

Naomi Inman, spokeswoman for Kevin Mannix, a Republican candidate, predicted Westlund would appeal most to Democratic voters, despite his longtime standing as a Republican.

Citing his past support for a sales tax, Inman said, "We just think he's another liberal in the race." ...

Oregon gay rights activists remember Westlund's name from the SB 1000 cmpaign. Basic Rights Oregon:

Friday, May 20, 2005

Republican Sen. Ben Westlund of Bend has been flooded with phone calls, mail, e-mail and facsimiles attacking him for his support of SB 1000, a measure that would allow same-sex Oregon couples to form civil unions and protect gay, lesbian and transgender individuals from discrimination. The Source Weekly submitted a freedom of information act request to Westlund’s office asking it to provide us with one day’s worth of e-mails on the topic—which are legally considered public records when they deal with public business. Westlund’s office complied. ...

Go to the BRO link for a selection.

Gay Rights Watch is also covering Westlund.

This story is a couple of days old but I'm going to be following it closely here at Dreams Into Lightning, not only because of the gay rights angle but also because I'm interested in Westlund's candidacy all around. Watch this space.

Meanwhile, please visit Ben Westlund for Governor - official site.


Ben Westlund
Oregon

New Fiction

Here.

Who's next?

Will Cheney be replaced? Dr. Sanity cites Peggy Noonan:

It would have to be a man [sic! - aa] wildly popular in the party and the press. And it would have to be a decision made by Dick Cheney. If he didn't want to do it he wouldn't have to. If he were pressed--Dick, we gotta put the next guy in here or we're going to lose in '08 and see all our efforts undone--he might make the decision himself.

Who should it be? Pat Santy thinks she knows ... and I agree.

Here and There

Trevor at The Will to Exist has a few thoughts on literacy:

Yes, literary standards are changing. Yes there is more mediocre writing flooding the market. But language is supposed to evolve. It has to evolve. It’s in the nature of the users for that to happen. Standards are critical if you want to reach any meaningful level of success in writing, but in an increasingly diverse and complex world, you tailor your language to your audience. As the number and type of audiences for various information palettes grows so does the range of the language. English has always been spoken differently by different groups. I don’t think the growth of mediocrity and the growth of the English language are that closely related.

Tom the Redhunter spies a monkey wrench in the attempt to reform the UN commission on human rights:

'A drive by a bloc of Islamic nations for a global ban on "defamation of religions and prophets" has thrown a major kink into U.S. hopes for an overhaul of the leading U.N. human rights body.' ...

The entire affair is an attempt to intimidate the West into making concessions to radical Islam, and what's happening in the UN is only the latest example.

DCat at Razor Sharp Claws has the last word on Cheney and the lamestream media.

Random Thought for the Day

Prediction: A social-conservative backlash in country music will inspire a single titled "Mamas, Don't Let Your Cowboys Grow Up to Be Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other."

Let's blogroll!

City of dreams: Michael Totten looks into the future of Kurdistan. It's located in a place called Dream City, a fitting name for a city located in a nation whose borders exist only in the minds of its inhabitants. But that's not stopping the Kurds, and Dream City is fast becoming a very concrete reality:

The heart of the new Kurdistan is soon to be known as the Dream City, a massive construction site going up on the outskirts of Erbil.

The Baath regime’s agoraphobic totalitarian urban planning model will be replaced with a cityscape fit for human beings. Neighborhoods will be built for people, not cars. Tree-lined streets will be pleasant to walk along. Open public green space will beckon people outside their homes and into their community. Restaurants and shops will add the perfect grace notes. Erbil, as a city, is a hard city to love. That may not be true for very much longer. ...

Read the rest - and view the pictures! - at the link.

Thanks to AmbivaBlog for the link! Don't miss Amba's latest roundup on religion - and this post on mortality in 19th century America.

Somewhere on A1A, Ocean Guy thinks the Mideast is going to get worse before it gets - hopefully - better:

A few days ago, I asked if it was starting already... it wasn't. Those incidents were simply a continuation of the low grade conflict the Arabs have been engaging in against Israel. The bigger fight is coming sooner rather than later... and it will come regardless of what happens in Iran. ... Two dates to watch will be Purim on March 14... and Passover begins on April 12...

Read the rest at the link.

"We are America." That's good enough for Pamela at Atlas Shrugs, and it's good enough for me. We can make a difference ... you, me, and John Bolton. You know what this is about ... so don't wait any longer.

After you have fulfilled your obligations as a human being, you have Dreams Into Lightning's permission to enjoy the refined entertainments offered by Friday Fishwrap and Samantha Burns.

Do this now.

First, read Jonathan Gurwitz in the Jewish World Review:

The death toll from the Sudanese government's three-year campaign of ethnic cleansing against black Africans in Darfur is now approaching 400,000. The Sudanese military and their Janjaweed allies have driven more than 2 million refugees from their homes. Last year, an investigation by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights found as many as 2,000 villages and towns had been depopulated by a brutal scorched-earth policy.


Beyond the abstract numbers are the horrific violations of human dignity taking place in Darfur. The High Commissioner and numerous human rights organizations have documented a widespread, deliberate campaign of terror and sexual violence: women and young girls taken into slavery or gang-raped in public; men castrated and left to bleed to death. ...

This month, the United States holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council. Ambassador John Bolton is in a unique position to dispel the council's inertia and initiate actions that will save lives on the ground in Darfur.


Bolton has already accomplished something of consequence. The Security Council has approved a statement that would initiate contingency planning for a U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur. The proposed U.N. force would replace a poorly equipped, undermanned and largely ineffectual African Union force of 7,000 monitors whose mandate runs out at the end of March.

At the moment, however, a U.N. peacekeeping force is only hypothetical. And despite Bolton's modest achievement, there's little reason to believe the Bush administration's policy of benign neglect has changed. In a Feb. 7 interview with journalist Jim Lehrer, Vice President Dick Cheney offered this deplorable assessment of the U.S. response to Darfur: "I am satisfied we're doing everything we can do."

Whenever I write about the situation in Darfur, readers ask me: "What can I do?" Invariably, I refer them to aid organizations such as the Save Darfur Coalition or tell them to contact their representative and senators.

This month, my answer is different. Contact the White House. ...

Here's all the information you need:

Phone Numbers

Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461

TTY/TDD

Comments: 202-456-6213
Visitors Office: 202-456-2121
E-Mail
Please send your comments to comments@whitehouse.gov.

Go have a quick chat with the nice folks at the White House switchboard. They've heard from me; they're waiting to hear from you.
Darfur
Sudan

Condi: A Nice Big Chunk of Cash for Iranian Democracy

... and I hope Congress comes through with it, and quickly. Via Free Iran News:

By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer
10 minutes ago

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060215/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/rice_12

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is asking Congress for $75 million in an emergency spending bill to support U.S. efforts to build democracy in Iran, Bush administration officials said Wednesday.

The money, to be included in a supplemental 2006 budget request the White House is expected to send to Congress as early as this week, will be used for radio and satellite television broadcasting and for programs to help Iranians study abroad, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because Rice had not yet announced the request.

"The United States wishes to reach out to the Iranian people and support their desire to realize their own freedom and to secure their own democratic and human rights. The Iranian people should know that the United States fully supports their aspirations for a freer, better future," Rice was expected to say based on remarks prepared for delivery before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Over the past two years the State Department has invested more than $4 million in "projects that empower Iranian citizens in their call for political and economic liberty, freedom of speech, and respect for human rights" and in the current budget year will invest at least $10 million in such efforts, according to Rice's remarks.

The $75 million is in addition to that money, which Congress already has approved. ...

Go read the rest at the link.
Rice
Iran

Morning Report: February 14, 2006

Where is the love? Part 1: Pakistan riots target US officer. Pakistani Muslims turned their anger against Colonel Harland Sanders and other Western business interests, according to news reports. 'Thousands of protesters rampaged through two cities Tuesday, storming into a diplomatic district and torching Western businesses and a provincial assembly in Pakistan’s worst violence against the Prophet Muhammad drawings, officials said. At least two people were killed and 11 injured. Security forces fired into the air as they struggled to contain the unrest in the eastern city of Lahore, where protesters burned down four buildings housing a hotel, two banks, a KFC restaurant and the office of a Norwegian cell phone company, Telenor.' (MSNBC, KFC)

Where is the love? Part 2: Basra council breaks coalition ties. Feeling wounded over allegations of British abuse and offensive Danish cartoons, the provincial government of Basra, Iraq, has temporarily cut ties with the UK and Denmark, CNN reports: 'Basra's provincial government temporarily has cut ties with the Danish and British contingents in Basra, the council's head told CNN on Tuesday. The move -- which calls for what a British official referred to as a "period of noncooperation" -- comes amid the Muslim protests over Danish cartoons and the alleged beatings of Iraqis by British troops. Mohammad Zaher Sadoun said the Basra Provincial Council demanded the withdrawal of Danish troops and an apology to Muslims worldwide from the Danish government amid the publications of caricatures of Islam's Prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper. ... The council also demanded that soldiers accused of beating "innocent Iraqis" be brought to justice and demanded clarity from the British government on the incident seen on the videotape.' (CNN)

Where is the love? Part 3: Heartsick Saddam refuses to eat. Devastated at the prospect of facing trial for genocide, torture, and various crimes against humanity, Saddam Hussein has declared a hunger strike. 'Saddam said he had not eaten in three days, while his former intelligence chief, Ibrahim Barzan, said he had been on strike for two days. Their claims of a hunger strike could not be independently confirmed.' LATE-BREAKING UPDATE: Nadz has exclusive coverage. (AP via MSNBC; Nadz)

Where is the love? Part 4: US, Israel to play homewrecker to Hamas and PA. Washington and Jerusalem are working to engineer a breakup between Palestine and its new beau, Hamas. Debka reports: 'The United States and Israel are working on ways to destabilize the Hamas-led Palestinian government, the New York Times reported Tuesday, Feb. 14. The plan is said to center largely on money and on Mahmoud Abbas playing his part. The Palestinian Authority payroll amounts to $100 m per month. Israel will withhold its regular $50-55 million a month in collected revenues and place the money in escrow, creating a large cash deficit. The US and Europe will follow suit. In other words, the US, Europe and Israel propose to impose economic sanctions against the Palestinian Authority, even before putting them in place against Iran. ...' Read the rest of Debka's analysis at the link. (Debka)

Where is the love? Part 5: Hindu, Muslim fundamentalists burn valentine cards. Also via MSNBC, 'Hardline Hindu and Muslim groups burned Valentine’s Day greeting cards on Tuesday and held protests across India against celebrating the festival of love, saying it was a Western import that spread immorality.' No word on whether chocolate-covered cherries were also consigned to the flames. (MSNBC)

It must be love. Irshad Manji treasures her readers' love notes. Go to the link for the heartwarming details. (Irshad Manji)

news
February 14, 2006
Where is the love?

"They stuffed the corpses of children with explosives."

Letter from the mayor of Tall 'Afar:

In the Name of God the Compassionate and Merciful
To the Courageous Men and Women of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, who have changed the city of Tall’ Afar from a ghost town, in which terrorists spread death and destruction, to a secure city flourishing with life.

To the lion-hearts who liberated our city from the grasp of terrorists who were beheading men, women and children in the streets for many months.

To those who spread smiles on the faces of our children, and gave us restored hope, through their personal sacrifice and brave fighting, and gave new life to the city after hopelessness darkened our days, and stole our confidence in our ability to reestablish our city.

Our city was the main base of operations for Abu Mousab Al Zarqawi. The city was completely held hostage in the hands of his henchmen. Our schools, governmental services, businesses and offices were closed. Our streets were silent, and no one dared to walk them. Our people were barricaded in their homes out of fear; death awaited them around every corner. Terrorists occupied and controlled the only hospital in the city. Their savagery reached such a level that they stuffed the corpses of children with explosives and tossed them into the streets in order to kill grieving parents attempting to retrieve the bodies of their young. This was the situation of our city until God prepared and delivered unto them the courageous soldiers of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, who liberated this city, ridding it of Zarqawi’s followers after harsh fighting, killing many terrorists, and forcing the remaining butchers to flee the city like rats to the surrounding areas, where the bravery of other 3d ACR soldiers in Sinjar, Rabiah, Zumar and Avgani finally destroyed them.

I have met many soldiers of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment; they are not only courageous men and women, but avenging angels sent by The God Himself to fight the evil of terrorism.

The leaders of this Regiment; COL McMaster, COL Armstrong, LTC Hickey, LTC Gibson, and LTC Reilly embody courage, strength, vision and wisdom. Officers and soldiers alike bristle with the confidence and character of knights in a bygone era. ...

Read the rest at the link.
Iraq