Target Centermass

Author: Gunner

  • In U.S., 44 Percent Say Restrict Muslims

    The libertarian in me was initially dismayed when I saw the above headline. Then I read the story.

    Nearly half of all Americans believe the U.S. government should restrict the civil liberties of Muslim Americans, according to a nationwide poll.

    The survey conducted by Cornell University also found that Republicans and people who described themselves as highly religious were more apt to support curtailing Muslims’ civil liberties than Democrats or people who are less religious.

    Researchers also found that respondents who paid more attention to television news were more likely to fear terrorist attacks and support limiting the rights of Muslim Americans.

    “It’s sad news. It’s disturbing news. But it’s not unpredictable,” said Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society. “The nation is at war, even if it’s not a traditional war. We just have to remain vigilant and continue to interface.”

    The survey found 44 percent favored at least some restrictions on the civil liberties of Muslim Americans. Forty-eight percent said liberties should not be restricted in any way.

    ….

    Cornell student researchers questioned 715 people in the nationwide telephone poll conducted this fall. The margin of error was 3.6 percentage points.

    As with most surveys, the key lies in the questions and how the answers are interpreted. According to this story, the polling consisted of only four questions.

    The survey asked respondents about four specific restrictions, all of which have been seriously suggested, noted Shanahan.

    Specifically, the survey found:

    • 27 percent of respondents said all Muslim Americans should be required to register their location with the federal government.
    • 26 percent said mosques should be closely monitored by U.S. law enforcement agencies.
    • 29 percent agreed undercover law enforcement agents should infiltrate Muslim civic and volunteer organizations to keep tabs on their activities and fund raising.
    • 22 percent said the federal government should profile citizens as potential threats based on the fact they are Muslim or have Middle Eastern heritage.

    Apparently a “yes” response to any one of these four questions lumps would lump a respondent into the 44% favoring restrictions, while a “no” to all would go into the 48% opposing restrictions.

    Well, lump me in with those 44% bastards. I’d go no to the first question, but feel that, to a certain degree, the other three should be considered and pursued given the nature of our current enemy. Welcome to the realities of this war, folks.

    I wonder about the unmentioned 8% whose answers apparently consisted of some combination of “no” or “beats the hell outta me, fella” or “what’s a Muslim?”

  • San Antonio Requires Strippers to Wear Permits

    We’d better be talking about some unobtrusive permits here.

    The City Council today approved a measure that will require strippers to wear permits while they are on stage.

    City Councilman Chip Haass pushed the amended human display ordinance as making it easier for police to identify dancers.

    But a lawyer representing several strip clubs in the city said it would also create a physical danger by making it easier for an obsessed customer to find out a dancer’s real name and where she lives.

    Attorney Jim Deegear has said he will file a lawsuit challenging the measure, which the 11-member council passed unanimously early Friday during a marathon meeting that began Thursday afternoon.

    Deegear says the city’s strict rules are part of an effort to drive his clients out of business.

    The strip clubs’ attorney makes a very valid objection about the publication of a dancer’s personal information. This is a rather poor idea.

    There is one lingering question, though: is some sort of test needed to obtain such a permit and, if so, how is it scored?

  • Taiwan Says China Creating Legal Basis to Attack

    Always at least simmering on the back burner, relations heated up a bit between China and Taiwan as a Taiwanese official called proposed Chinese legislation a potential legal foundation for attack.

    Taiwan condemned China’s proposed anti-secession law on Saturday, calling it a move to establish a legal basis to attack the island.

    Chinese state media said on Friday that Beijing planned to send the draft law for deliberation during a parliament session on Dec. 25-29. It was seen as a move to head off a formal declaration of Taiwan independence from the mainland.

    “They are looking for a legal basis to invade Taiwan,” said Chiu Tai-san, vice chairman and spokesman for the Mainland Affairs Council, which sets policy toward Taiwan’s arch-rival.

    “If they want to punish or invade Taiwan they must have some legal basis to make it okay to attack,” Chiu said.

    China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has threatened war if the self-governing, democratic island declares statehood.

    The official Xinhua news agency did not say why China was enacting an anti-secession law instead of the tougher reunification law it had floated earlier. That law would have bound a Chinese leader to order an attack on Taiwan if the island formally declared nationhood.

    China should be very careful with this legislation, as they may be codifying a means by which Taiwan could maneuver them into a war, if only for the Chinese to save face. Though they are working to upgrade and enhance their forces, it is doubtful that China currently has the air and naval capabilities to attack and bring about a successful conclusion before the impact of U.S. assistance to Taiwan is felt. A failed assault by China could possibly serve to strengthen Taiwan’s position in international circles while weakening China’s at home.

  • Marines Face More Cunning Foe in Fallujah

    The Associated Press is trying to put the worst spin possible on the aftermath of the Fallujah operation, perhaps the most stunningly successful urban operation in military history.

    American troops face sporadic but cunning resistance from insurgents as they sweep the city of Fallujah more than a month after U.S. and Iraqi forces invaded the militants’ stronghold, U.S. officials said Friday.

    So the terrorist remnants are more cunning? Hell yeah and a great big “Duh!” to the AP. The dumb and crazy are now serving as corpses.

    They characterized the insurgents who remain as less suicidal than those who fought the initial battle, using a newly discovered tunnel system or knocking holes in walls to move unseen and avoid American troops.

    “Pretty much the ones who have wanted to be martyrs outright have been killed and the ones who remain are the smart ones, or the ones who have been able to avoid our clearing forces, so we continue to clear, to back clear, and to clear again,” said Lt. Col. Daniel Wilson, deputy for current operations for the 1st Marine Division.

    “We know that they’re slithering around in the tunnels from one place to another,” Wilson said.

    The U.S. military claims that 1,200 insurgents were killed in the weeklong invasion to destroy what were believed to be the insurgents’ main bases in Iraq. At least 50 Marines and eight Iraqi soldiers also died. No civilian casualty figures have been released.

    Weeks later, the city is in ruins. The bodies of dogs lie in the streets, piles of rubble line the roads and what little infrastructure there was before the onslaught has been shattered.

    More cunning but numerically shredded. I can live with that.

    The Marine officials said the insurgents are far weaker now, pointing to a 60 percent drop in the number of attacks in western Iraq from the week before the Nov. 8 invasion to last week. They said a cordon is keeping insurgents from coming back in large numbers and that the destruction of the guerrillas’ Fallujah bases would help counter the new threats ahead of Iraq’s Jan. 30 elections.

    “It hinders their ability to interfere with the election process and it hinders their ability to discredit the government because they’re not able to set up these bases like they had in Fallujah,” Marine Maj. Jim West, an intelligence planning officer, said at a briefing with two other Marine officials. “They don’t have a safe haven where they can conduct the horrific torture that they did.”

    Fallujah was believed to be the focal point for kidnappings and beheadings orchestrated by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s terror group al-Qaida in Iraq. Al-Zarqawi is believed to have slipped out ahead of the U.S. ground assault.

    Dang those Marine officials for pointing out facts showing not only the success of the operation, but also overall improvement it has rendered.

  • AMA Concerned About Teens, Sweet Alcohol

    As the years go by, I grow to understand the saying that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

    Sweet alcoholic drinks aggressively marketed to young people are anything but “cool and fashionable” and are luring troubling numbers of teens — especially girls — to engage in underage drinking, the American Medical Association said Thursday.

    A nationwide AMA poll of 741 youngsters aged 12 to 18 found that 31 percent of girls and 19 percent of boys had consumed drinks some call “alco-pop” or “malternatives” in the past six months.

    The products include fruit-flavored malt drinks with soda pop-like flavors and packaging that critics say disguises the alcohol content. The beverages, such as Mike’s Hard Lemonade and Smirnoff Ice, are this generation’s version of wine coolers.

    Teen girls said they drank the sweetened beverages more than any other alcoholic drinks, while women 21 and over ranked them as their least-consumed alcoholic beverage, a second poll showed.

    Jeff Becker, president of the Beer Institute, an industry trade group, said brewers “share the AMA’s concern over illegal underage drinking regardless of the type of beverage being consumed.”

    “Flavored alcohol beverages are not new products in the marketplace, and marketing for these is directed at adults,” Becker said.

    Where were you when I was a teen, AMA? Granted, a few more options now, but back then we bought beer and whiskey for the boys and Boone’s Farm, Strawberry Hill and Mad Dog 20/20 for the chicks. Then came wine coolers.

    Perhaps we can get another survey on teens playing Truth or Dare and the related effects of surging hormones.

    Man, I miss those days. Man, should I ever have a daughter, I pity the boy who hopes to go out with her.

  • Soldier Charged With Having Himself Shot

    If the allegations are true, this so-called soldier disgusts me.

    Police have arrested a soldier they say had his cousin shoot him so he wouldn’t have to return to Iraq.

    Army Spc. Marquise J. Roberts, of Hinesville, Ga., suffered a minor wound Tuesday to his left leg from a .22-caliber pistol, police said. He was treated at a hospital, then arrested after he and his cousin allegedly admitted making up a story about the shooting.

    After giving differing accounts of the incident, “they just broke down and confessed that they concocted the whole story so he didn’t have to go back to the war,” Philadelphia police Lt. James Clark said Thursday.

    Police charged Roberts with filing a false report and charged his cousin, Ronald Fuller, with aggravated assault and other charges.

    Roberts, who was visiting family in Philadelphia, initially claimed he was shot during an attempted robbery, but Fuller had said the incident occurred at another location during an argument, according to Clark.

    Roberts, 23, was on a two-week leave from the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, which led the assault on Baghdad in 2003. He is scheduled to return to Iraq within the next few months. The division has been home since the summer of 2003.

    Police said Roberts, a supply specialist who had spent seven months in Iraq, was distraught about having to return to combat duty and wanted to stay with his family.

    Lt. Col. Cliff Kent, a 3rd Infantry spokesman, said Roberts had been scheduled to return this week to Fort Stewart, Ga.

    Roberts could face military discipline if the charges prove true, Kent said, but the civilian case probably would proceed first.

    There is no evidence that this is a story of a stand on principle or conscience, but rather one of cowardice and an absence of a sense of duty. If this man is as guilty as it seems, he should face and endure his civilian punishment, followed by as much prosecution and punishment called for by the UCMJ. After he departs (preferably dishonorably) from the service, he can bide is time until that fateful day when his grandchildren ask him of his service.

    “Well, your grandpappy served, came back and then decided to have ol’ cousin Ron to cap him in the leg so grandpappy didn’t have to go help his buddies again. Maybe I should’ve just shoveled shit in Louisiana.”

    Such a disgraceful story to break on the sixtieth anniversary of the opening of the Battle of the Bulge.

  • Sixty Years Ago: the Bulge

    Today marks the sixtieth anniversary of the opening of the Battle of the Bulge, Hitler’s last offensive and one of the most desperate and courageous stands in the storied history of the U.S. Army.

    American veterans mark and remember the day. The day is also remembered and honored by the people of Belgium, who lost thousands of civilians during the fighting.

    More on the U.S. veterans of the battle can be found here.

  • Taxi Driver Shoots Man in bin Laden Mask

    People just freaking amaze me.

    Osama bin Laden take note: You wouldn’t be safe in Costa Rica. A startled taxi driver shot and wounded a jokester wearing a plastic mask of the al-Qaida leader, police said Tuesday.

    Leonel Arias, 47, told police he was playing a practical joke by donning the bin Laden mask, toting his pellet rifle and jumping out to scare drivers on a narrow street in his hometown, Carrizal de Alajuela, about 20 miles north of San Jose.

    Arias had startled several drivers that way on Monday afternoon. But when he jumped out in front of taxi driver Juan Pablo Sandoval, the motorist reached for a gun and shot him twice in the stomach. He was hospitalized in stable condition.

    “For me and I think for anybody else at a time like that one thinks the worst and so I fired my gun,” Sandoval told Channel 7 television.

    Police declined to detain Sandoval, saying he had believed he was acting in self-defense.

    Arias is lucky to be alive after this stupidity. Unfortunately, the human gene pool is not so lucky.

  • Hamas, Jihad Slam Abbas Call to End Armed Attacks

    Palestinian terrorists are dissing PLO chairman and interim terrorist-in-chief Mahmoud Abbas as not being enough of a terrorist.

    Hamas and Islamic Jihad on Wednesday dismissed PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s call for an end to armed attacks, saying such statements don’t serve the interests of the Palestinians.

    Farouk Kaddoumi, who has replaced Yasser Arafat as chairman of the Fatah Central Committee, also rejected Abbas’s call, saying there would be no cessation of violence until Israel withdraws to the pre-1967 borders.

    Trust me, even a withdrawal to pre-Six-Day-War borders would not bring peace to the Palestinians and Israelis. Instead, it would only bring about a fixation on the next excuse for murder, probably the right of return. The problem is not Israel’s borders but its existence.

    In an interview with the pan-Arab London-based daily Asharq al-Awsat published on Tuesday, Abbas called for an end to violence against Israel.

    “The intifada should be kept away from arms because it is a legitimate right of the people to express their rejection of the occupation by popular and social means,” he said.

    “The use of arms has been damaging and should end,” Abbas added.

    Abbas, who arrived in Qatar on Wednesday, suggested that some people might have misunderstood his comments.

    “All I meant is that we, at this stage, are against the militarization of the intifada because we want to negotiate,” he told reporters shortly before leaving Saudi Arabia on his way to Qatar. “And because we want to negotiate, the atmosphere should be calm in preparation for political action.”

    Abbas said the Palestinian Authority wants to “stop the military aspect of the intifada, especially by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, in order to achieve our objective of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and a just settlement for the refugee problem.” He said the PLO is working towards achieving an agreement with all the Palestinian factions leading to a cease-fire and Israel’s withdrawal from Palestinian cities and villages.

    The PA-controlled media highlighted Abbas’s interview with Asharq al-Awsat, but did not comment on his statements. PA officials in Ramallah also refused to comment on his remarks, noting that Abbas had simply reiterated his long-standing position that the Palestinians had made a mistake by resorting to terrorism over the past four years.

    Of course the terrorism of the Intifada was a mistake if the goals were independence and prosperity for the Palestinian people. With Arafat pulling the strings, however, those were never the goals.

    Also, note that even Abbas calls for Israeli concessions on two of the key sticking points, a Palestinian capital in Jerusalem and the refugee problem (code for right of return).

    Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhari said Abbas’s remarks are in contravention of the Palestinian consensus over the legitimacy of the “resistance.” “The problem is the occupation and not the resistance,” he said.

    Asked if his movement would agree to lay down its weapons, Abu Zuhari said “We hope that any dispute [over this] would be solved through negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian factions,” he added. Otherwise, he warned, there could be a clash between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

    Muhammad al-Hindi, a senior Islamic Jihad leader in the Gaza Strip, also rejected Abbas’s statements against the militarization of the intifada. “The resistance groups have the right to keep their weapons and to strengthen themselves as long as the Israeli occupation and the aggression continue,” he said.

    Hindi too stressed that his group would nevertheless avoid a confrontation with the PA and said the two sides should resort to dialogue to solve their differences.

    It should be quite obvious from these statements that neither Hamas nor Islamic Jihad recognize the authority of the Palestinian Authority, demanding to be negotiated with as equals.

    The Palestinians have spent decades twisting entire generations of children. Is it any surprise that no Palestinian with any real voice is speaking of the concept of peacefully promoting their own people?

  • U.S. Fears Iranian Influence in Iraqi Elections

    The Iranians, along with the Syrians, have been promoting and assisting the instability in Iraq, knowing the danger of a successful democracy next door. Now, it seems that Iran is also working on an insurance plan — pouring people and resources into Iraq to influence the elections they seem unable to stop.

    Kicking off his country’s first democratic election campaign Wednesday, Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi declared his own candidacy, saying the country can handle the challenge.

    But as Iraqis register to vote, the United States worries that the real winners could be the ayatollahs in neighboring Iran. U.S. intelligence sources tell NBC News that 1 million Iranians have already poured across the border to register to vote in Iraq. And Iran is spending as much as $100 million to elect its favored slate of candidates in Iraq — and may have thousands of spies in Iraq.

    “They’re putting money into Iraq,” says Danielle Pletka, an Iraq expert at the American Enterprise Institute. “They’re promoting candidates. They’re sponsoring terrorist groups that are pressuring people in Iraq. They’re doing everything they can.”

    And while Iraq’s defense minister warned Wednesday that both Iran and Syria are cooperating with Iraq’s No. 1 terrorist — Abu Musab al-Zarqawi — the United States has no proof of that.

    On Wednesday, President Bush, after a White House meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, told Iran and Syria to stay out.

    “We will continue to make it clear to both Syria and Iran — as will other nations in our coalition, including our friend, the Italians, that meddling in the internal affairs of Iraq is not in their interest,” said the president.

    But, it is not clear what the United States can do.

    The United States says Iran is funding the leading Shiite candidate Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, who is expected to emerge as the country’s most powerful figure. A new Shiite government could oppose controversial military operations, like Fallujah, or even demand a rapid U.S. withdrawal.

    “I think we have to accept it might not be an outcome that we particularly desire, but if it’s a free and clear election, then that’s what our policy has been all about,” says Geoffrey Kemp, an Iranian expert at the Nixon Center.

    U.S. officials hope that Iraqi voters will resist Iran’s influence and remember that less than 20 years ago, Iran was their enemy in a brutal war.

    The rulers in Iran know they are sitting on a powderkeg next to an open flame. A sizable and restless portion of their country’s population stirs with a desire for democracy. The thought of a successful democracy taking root in neighboring Iraq without strong Iranian influence could only mean a growing threat of instability at home.