Blogging Now at Blogspot

This is my backup site. Main BackyardConservative is here.

I also blog at The Middle Coast, and at Potluck.

Call Me Crazy

From Iran Focus:

Tehran, Iran, Feb. 16 – Iran’s military chief warned Tehran’s enemies on Friday not to make the “crazy” mistake of launching an attack on the Islamic Republic.

The commander of the regular Armed Forces, Major General Atta’ollah Salehi, said that any attack on Iranian soil would be harmful for the aggressors themselves.

“We tell the enemies not to act crazily. But if they do, then they will definitely not go home in one piece”, Salehi said while attending Navy manoeuvres in the southern port city of Bushehr.

Terror Ties in Chicago

CHICAGO AP:

An Islamic charity director accused by federal prosecutors of having links to Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network was resentenced Friday to 10 years in prison – about a year less than his original sentence.

Enaam Arnaout, 42, pleaded guilty to racketeering in 2003, admitting he defrauded donors to his Benevolence International Foundation by diverting some of the money to Islamic military groups in Bosnia and Chechnya.

The sentence was slightly reduced because an appeals court found the number of donors defrauded to be fewer than originally charged.

A Real Public Service

Got a media email from the Independent Women’s Forum:

IWF visiting fellow Leslie Sanchez will be a guest on the PBS program “To the Contrary,” airing this weekend. Leslie will be discussing humanitarian and development assistance in the president’s proposed 2007 budget, new polling that suggests the Bush administration is losing support among women and minorities, and the increasing demand for part-time jobs for working mothers.

I checked the Channel 11 schedule online, but couldn’t find it so did a search.

It’s on at 5:30 am Saturday morning, under the Friday evening schedule, of course.

So the public television people here have buried this show. You’d think if they were really serving the public in a state like Illinois, airing a contrary opinion would be a real public service.

UPDATE: IWF vice president for policy, Carrie Lukas, will be a guest on the C-SPAN program “Washington Journal” airing live on Sunday morning (should be at 6:30 am Central). Carrie will be discussing the news of the day.

The See no Evil Peaceniks

I was out walking my dogs the other day and strayed over the border into the People’s Republic of Evanston. I came across this sign (See LEFT, naturally).

Looking at the date I thought maybe this leftie was recycling an old sign or would have a long time to wait until November. A typical muddled message from the left. (See earlier post “We Can’t Wait for This” for who World Can’t Wait really is)

But apparently something is going on this Saturday—a Cindy Sheehan rally with the aging peaceniks, as described by the Tribune. The kickoff is at Democrat Congressional Committee Campaign Chairman Rahm Emanuel’s office in Chicago. (To his credit, Emanuel has refused to meet with Sheehan.)Here is an amazing list of sponsoring organizations, including several communist party groups and at least one anti-Semitic group.

The left continues to show great compassion for the terrorists or enemy combatants being held in Guantanamo. The UN recently issuing a report condemning the treatment of prisoners there without even having visited, a report the US vigorously disputes.

And for the few who were abused a la Larry Flynt at Abu Ghraib, those maverick soldiers who abused prisoners at Abu Ghraib were turned in by their fellow soldiers and are now serving time themselves. Pictures that have surfaced recently on Australian TV are not new, most from the convicted soldier’s hard drive. The few dead bodies shown were killed in a prison riot, not as a result of interrogation.

While the silhouette on the sign gives the impression the terrorists being held were crucified or hung, they were not, they were forced to stand on a bucket blindfolded with their arms out.

Real hangings happen in Iran, where they hang teenage girls for defending themselves from rapists. (See my earlier post: Real Oppression in Iran)

And real torture under Saddam Hussein in Iraq here from a British government dossier, and here, according to the State Dept:

A system of collective punishment tortures entire families or ethnic groups for the acts of one dissident. Women are raped and often videotaped during rape to blackmail their families. Citizens are publicly beheaded, and their families are required to display the heads of the deceased as a warning to others who might question the politics of this regime.

And mass murder of hundreds of thousands occurred in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, who is now being tried for his war crimes.

One of the leaders of the Evanston group, said “social justice and peace movements have changed over the years”:

The activists, young and idealistic, were impatient in the past. Now, the peace movement has come of age, she said.

Perhaps they’re feeling their age….See no evil, hear no evil….

But by not recognizing and speaking of real evil and injustice how can they claim any credibility at all?

Oz vs. Them

In the Sun Times today, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, in his usual freewheeling style, had a few things to say about taxes (he lives in Illinois) and political correctness:

What kind of life are we living here? You work seven days a week and get paid for four because of taxes, and you don’t have a right to say anything?”

His recent US citizeship:

“I’m rich because of the United States, not Venezuela. My sons got a great education because of the United States, not Venezuela. I’m 42 years old, and I’ve [lived] 26 years in this country, not Venezuela. That doesn’t mean I’m not a Venezuelan. But you think this is not the greatest country in the world? Prove me wrong. Tell me why we don’t have Americans going to live in Venezuela and why we have Venezuelans coming to live here.”

And Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez:

“I’m more Venezuelan than Chavez is because I represent Venezuela. He’s our leader, but you ask people who they’d rather have [running] the country? They’re going to vote for me.”

Sheriff on Cheney, No Charges

CTV News:

Sheriff Ramon Salinas said it was determined Cheney shot his hunting companion Harry Whittington by accident and no legal action was needed.

“No charges will be filed against anybody — that’s it,” Salinas told the Houston Chronicle.

San Miguel wrote that Salinas called him about within an hour of the shooting on Saturday evening to say he should report to the Armstrong Ranch on Sunday morning at 8 a.m.

He was told he would be receiving more information on a hunting accident, but it was not clear if he knew he was going to interview the vice-president.

Secret Service deputy assistant director Jim Mackin told AP that it was the sheriff who decided not to interview Cheney on Saturday, but to wait until the following morning.

“If they had said we’re coming out now (Saturday evening), we would have facilitated it,” he said.

Mr. Whittington is recovering and according to the sheriff, supported Cheney’s version of events:

San Miguel said he also received written affidavits from four other members of the hunting party, visited the scene of the accident and interviewed Whittington in the hospital.

He said Whittington repeatedly said the shooting was just an accident and that there was no alcohol during the hunt.

The liberal-dominated major media, led by the White House press corps, has blown this way out of proportion.

For more on this, Charlotte Allen of the Independent Women’s Forum, including a link to Backyard Conservative. Also here from Allen, and here from Charlotte Hays.

Brady for Illinois Governor

I support Bill Brady for Governor of Illinois.

Illinois is bankrupt; has the largest underfunded pension liability in the country, ranks 46^th in job growth, and unlike other states has not rebounded from the recession of a few years ago. Illinois is usually an economic leader among the states with its great natural advantages of fertile farmland, transportation and energy.

The governing culture is corrupt, with pay-to-play the norm.

Doctors and businesses are leaving the state as a result of prohibitive insurance rates and a hostile regulatory climate.

Illinois medical school graduates are leaving the state to find good jobs elsewhere.

Governor Blagojevich has added nearly 300 new fees—a tax increase.

Bill Brady is an economic conservative. He is a small businessman, the backbone of our economy, an entrepreneur who knows what it takes to grow jobs in Illinois.

Brady represents the next generation of leadership in Illinois. Elected and re-elected in his Bloomington district, Bill Brady is a principled, experienced legislator, who has worked across party lines when he can find common ground.

Bill Brady is the only candidate who has signed a pledge not to raise taxes.

Vote Bill Brady for Governor, for honest, principled and fiscally responsible leadership.

We need a new generation of Republican leadership in Illinois—Vote Brady! (site & online ad)

France Finally Comes on Board

From Reuters:

France accused Iran on Thursday of pursuing a secret military nuclear programme, drawing a swift rebuke from Tehran ahead of talks next week on a Russian proposal for resolving the dispute.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said Iran’s nuclear work, which Tehran says aims to generate electricity for its energy-hungry economy, could not possibly be designed for civilian uses alone.

Cartoons Published, Suspension Daily Illini

University of Illinois suspends Daily Illini editors for running cartoons.

Marathon Pundit, Michelle Malkin.

Update from the Tribune (which hasn’t run the cartoons):

NIU runs Mohammed cartoons, also Harvard’s conservative alternative newspaper (my alma mater, didn’t know they had a conservative alternative).

Link to Harvard Salient here. (They printed the cartoons on their back cover, scroll down to that link.)

The Salient also publishes two anti-Semitic cartoons, which they point out are published by state-run newspapers throughout the Islamic middle east.

Another Update, Hugh Hewitt interview with suspended Illini editor, via Bill Baar here.