LEAVWORLD: GRAFFITI POLITTI

Let me suggest a novel way to protest the NY Times; something I've been doing for years. Every so often, I come across one of their subscription ads, with the little postage-paid envelopes. I take the form, and write in big, fat marker: "I WOULDN'T WIPE MY ASS WITH THIS RAG!" Then, I put it in the envelope, and mail it off to them. I'm sure that no-one of consequence reads these, of course, but I bet it gives their mail room, or subscription department workers a big laugh!

Crossposted from STOP THE ACLU. If it is a tool we use in the fight against terror one can bet that the ACLU will be against it. When the NY Times revealed classified information that we are trying to track international phone calls of suspected terrorists, the ACLU took that ball and are still running with it. When the NY Times leaked classified information that we are trying to track international bank transactions in order to catch terrorists the ACLU jumped on board with that too. If the NY Times doesn't leak it to everyone, the ACLU will do its best by filing freedom of Information Act requests. In the face of suspicions that the government is using cutting-edge brain-scanning technologies on suspected terrorists being held overseas or at home, the American Civil Liberties Union today announced that it has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with all the primary American security agencies. "There are certain things that have such powerful implications fo...

A couple of items from the Saturday NY POST's Page Six caught my eye. First, the idiocy: June 24, 2006 -- ROGER Waters doesn't like walls. After spray-painting "Tear down the wall" and "No thought control" on the concrete barrier that separates Palestinians from Jews in Bethlehem, the Pink Floyd rocker told 50,000 cheering fans on Thursday night, "We need this generation of Israelis to tear down the walls and make peace with their neighbors." Earlier, he told a reporter, "It's a horrific edifice, this thing . . . how extraordinarily oppressive . . . how sad it is to see these people coming through these little holes. It's craziness." Waters, who performed in 1990 at the Berlin Wall, will probably come to Arizona next to sing at the wall on the Mexican border. Let's get this straight: First, he milks his 1980 "The Wall" recording after the fall of the Berlin wall. Now, he's milking it again, while imploring Isra...

Crossposted from Stop The ACLU Hat tip: Danegerus The American Civil Liberties Union asked a federal judge to stop the Miami-Dade County school district from removing a series of children's books from its libraries, including a volume about Cuba which depicts smiling kids in communist uniforms. The ACLU and the Miami-Dade County Student Government Association argued in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Miami on Wednesday that the school board should add materials with alternate viewpoints rather than remove books that could be offensive. Last week, the board voted 6-3 to remove "Vamos a Cuba" and its English-language version, "A Visit to Cuba" from 33 schools, stating the books were inappropriate for young readers because of inaccuracies and omissions about life in the communist nation. The book, by Alta Schreier, targets students ages 5 to 7 and contains images of smiling children wearing uniforms of Cuba's communist youth group and a carnival celeb...

What I am writing about is serious, and from the heart. In NYC, the threat of terrorism is VERY REAL. We are under direct threat here, repeatedly. While I live a few miles east of the NYC border on Long Island, my fiance, Anna, lives in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. She works in Queens, and has to use the subway through Manhattan every day, often stopping to shop while switching trains. This is how she came to tell me about the strange, sweet smell permeating Manhattan one day. It wasn't widely reported until the second or third time it happened, some weeks later. When it finally got reported, I had to take it as more serious than it sounded, especially with the sparse reporting. The origin of this "smell" has not been determined. There is also the matter of the Iranian embassy personnel expulsions, for doing things like filming the No. 7 line, in Queens. This is an excerpt from Sen. Chuck Schumer's press release about this: Schumer warns Iranian Ambassador that if his mi...

This week's STOP THE ACLU blogburst is from BOB G, author of SWEET SPIRITS OF AMMONIA , a man with some smelling salts for this nation to inhale! Crossposted from Via Miami Herald The recently passed Florida law that essentially bans state academic travel to Cuba promised to escalate into a constitutional battle when Gov. Jeb Bush signed it into law last month. .......snip... The American Civil Liberties Union, representing several professors from state universities, filed a lawsuit against Florida officials in federal court, claiming the travel ban is unconstitutional. The group also demands a temporary injunction to prevent the law from taking effect while the case is in court. ''This act is terribly misdirected,'' Randall Marshall, legal director of the ACLU of Florida, said of the new law. "This is unconstitutional, and we hope to have this law struck down very shortly.'' The Florida Masochist has the right question: Tell me Mr. Marshall where it s...

Crossposted from NEXTLEAV , and linked at ASSORTED BABBLE BY SUZIE . The latest of my TALES FROM THE VENDOME . I don't know exactly what posessed us, but I suppose it was all of the domestic terrorism in the '60's that we grew up watching on TV, if I was to blame it on something other than ourselves. We had a copy of "Steal This Book," by Abbie Hoffman, when I was in my pre-teen formative years. This book is another convenient scapegoat for my young, impressionable mind. Our parents didn't know half of our subversive tendencies. CASE IN POINT: One day, we decided to see what would happen if we called a bomb threat to the bank on the corner of 72nd & Columbus Ave. We looked up their number, and called them, disguising our voices with some cloth over the phone. Sure enough, within 20 minutes or so, there were police in the street outside our window, which faced the bank. If you've read some of my other Tales , you can guess what we did next: We egged the...

I'm taking the opportunity of this week's STOP THE ACLU Blogburst to republish my edits to an NYCLU email form letter, first published back in April. I originally published both their version, and my edited version. For the record, here is what I emailed to my elected representatives: Immigration reform should not punish individuals who come to this country legally seeking a better life for themselves and their families. Rather, immigration reform must be consistent with American values, primarily obeying the law and customs of our nation. I ask you to support any immigration bill that contains the following provisions: Section 202 - The indefinite detention (possibly for their entire lives) of undocumented immigrants who cannot be returned to their countries of origin, if they are legally determined to be a danger to society. Section 231 - The expansion of the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database to include data on millions of immigrants who are here illegaly. P...

ABC News is reporting that Abu Musab Al Zarqaw has been blown up in a US bombing raid. DING-DONG, THE WITCH IS DEAD! I know it's not Christian to celebrate another human's death, but God forgive me, I'm happy about this! For those who don't know, he trained with the Taliban, and found refuge in Saddam's Iraq, after we invaded Afghanistan. He was treated at a hospital under Saddam's late son's control, which is something that still seems to escape the notice of those who claim Saddam had no links to terrorists. This has deprived the terrorists of a vital leader and figurehead. Here's hoping Osama meets a similar fate! UPDATE: It is also reported that he lived through the bombing, and was handed over to Iraqi authorities, and then he died. Well, that's interesting. ABC keeps repeating that his "spiritual advisor" was also killed in this attack. Sympathetic, or just pathetic? UPDATE II: 06/09/06 CNN and FOX are reporting that Zarqawi lived thr...

There is one thing missing from any commentary I've heard or read yet about the Haditha massacre. Marines are not trained to kill innocent civillians, but the terrorists are. What is alleged to have been done by these Marines is ordered on a daily basis by those we oppose in Iraq. Ordered by who? Zarqawi and others like him. Pres. Bush is not to blame for Haditha, regardless of how many want to pin it on him. Zarqawi orders his people to target civillians, while we prosecute war crimes by our own. The fact that there is a seperate investigation into a possible coverup by the military proves this point, hopefully leading to tighter scrutiny of the mid-level military bureaucracy. Since Haditha, Zarqawi has blown up hundreds of innocent Iraqis. Why hasn't the media focused their criticisms on these insurgents? The majority of innocent civillian deaths in Iraq are caused by the "insurgents," better known as the terrorists. The western media support the terrorists by not p...

Charles E.F. Millard has an excellent piece in the NY POST about the NYS Republican party. (free registration req'd) An excerpt: The Republican Party in this state has a big decision to make: Is it Republican or is it Democrat? The party faces this crossroads up and down the ballot, and all across the state - but an anecdote from the battle for the gubernatorial nomination between former Assembly Minority Leader John Faso and one time Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld really brings it home. He goes on to describe one of many ridiculous attacks against Faso, this one over a "comparable-worth bill" that Faso voted against. His point is well taken. Weld, a "country club" Republican, is very "socially" liberal. I don't know much about Faso, but the negative attacks from the Weld camp have only made him look better to me. Either candidate will probably lose to Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer, but if the Republicans nominate Weld, they aren't anything but ...

This one is pretty incredible. NYS Comptroller Alan Hevesi (D), giving a commemcement speech, said the following about NY Sen. Chuck Schumer(D): "The man who, how do I phrase this diplomatically, who will put a bullet between the president's eyes if he could get away with it. The toughest senator, the best representative. A great, great member of the Congress of the United States." Way to "phrase this diplomatically," Alan... NOT! I heard a report about this on Fox, but have a link to the WNBC story, thanks to one of Michelle Malkin's readers . Comptroller Hevesi made a complete mea culpa : "I apologize to the president of the United States" and to the fellow state politician, Sen. Charles Schumer, Hevesi said. "I am not a person of violence. "I am apologizing as abjectly as I can. There is no excuse for it. It was beyond dumb." Alan Hevesi is a typical NY pol, who is moderately liberal on most issues. I liked him for putting his na...

Crossposted from STOP THE ACLU The banner linked here and slogan is quite deceptive and an utter joke to those that are truly aware to the ACLU's workings. Just in the past week the ACLU has launched a massive campaign against the NSA's efforts to trace terrorist phone calls into the U.S. This campaign with full page ads has even been denounced by media that usually defend the ACLU as completely lacking in context. In just the last few days the ACLU has pounced at the chance to bash America, applauding the decision of an EU Court that struck down an anti-terrorism agreement that allows the European Union and the U.S. to share information on airline passengers. And in the same day the ACLU of Florida came out against a new law that restricts colleges and universities from using state funds for travel to countries classified as terrorist states by the U.S. government. The ACLU consistently allign themselves with groups like CAIR , and other organizations that have known te...