Courtesy of Reuters/Yahoo News:

Senate lawmakers in Florida have voted to ban the fake bull testicles that dangle from the trailer hitches of many trucks and cars throughout the state.

Yes, you read that right: Fake Bull Testicles. But why?

Republican Sen. Cary Baker, a gun shop owner from Eustis, Florida, called the adornments offensive and proposed the ban.

First of all, I don’t understand what Sen. Baker being a gun shop owner has to do with this, unless it’s to A) prove that he’s REALLY a Republican (i.e. gun nut, and unstable in general), B) denigrate all gun shop owners by tarring them by association with this legislator.

My personal issue with Sen. Baker is that he wants to ban something just because HE finds it “offensive”. In particular, I find the misuse of government time and resources even debating such an issue as offensive.

And what fate does Sen. Baker suggest for transgressors?

Motorists would be fined $60 for displaying the novelty items, which are known by brand names like “Truck Nutz” and resemble the south end of a bull moving north.

But it seems that there is some common sense among Sen. Bakers fellow legislators:

In a spirited debate laced with double entendre, Senate lawmakers questioned whether the state should curtail freedom of expression in vehicle accessories.

Because, in the end, ones sense of Taste and Propriety in such issues in ultimately dictated by a higher power:

Critics of the ban included the Senate Rules Chairman, Sen. Jim King, a Jacksonville Republican whose truck sported a pair until his wife protested.

Charlton Heston was an iconic actor, with a voice rivaled by Alex Hailey.  He was the star of many of Hollywood’s most memorable films, from the Ten Commandments, and Ben Hur (which endeared him in the American Heartland), to Planet of the Apes (the original, not the schlock that followed).

A statement from the family is available here.

The BBC (curiously) seems to have the best, and most respectful obituary of this screen legend:

Charlton Heston’s life story reads like a film script. From the backwoods of Michigan, he became one of the world’s most famous faces, a high-profile campaigner for Civil Rights and an unapologetic president of America’s National Rifle Association.

Of course, while the Hate-mongers and smear merchants to the left of the political spectrum in the US will never forgive Heston for his term as president of the NRA, this WWII Army Air Force veteran was a very public and vocal supporter for Civil Rights, at a time when most Democrats (including Al Gore’s father) were opposed.

In New York City on January 15, Charlton Heston received the “2001 Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Award” from the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a leading U.S. civil rights organization. CORE chairman Roy Innis praised Heston: “He’s been a civil rights fighter most of his career.” Yoko Ono, a member of the Awards Committee, said: “I respect Mr. Heston for lending his name to the cause of racial equality.” (Chuck led the Arts Contingent at the 1963 March on Washington, where Dr. King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech……

 Heston was, throughout his life, and in the end, an American Original.  He was one of the best of us.

After a busy summer of relatives coming to visit; a catastrophic reorganization at work; a near frantic pace of business; all capped off by a well earned mini-vacation; I am back online, and will be spooling the blog back up.

As I write this, there are reports that the Pakistani Government has finally had enough of the stand off in Islamabad at the Red Mosque, and has ordered a breach of the compound.

The clerics who run the Mosque have been attempting to impose Taliban like law in Islamabad.  After 6 months of confrontation, last week the Government had finally had enough, and decided that it was necessary to shut down the Mosque.  The Imams retaliated by shutting themselves in, with many hundred students, and defying the government forces.

Echoes of this standoff have been felt in other cities in Pakistan, where other radical clerics have turned out their supporters to protest the governments actions.

3 days ago, Gen. Musharraf, currently the Secular leader of Pakistan, survived an attempt to shoot down his aircraft, and this may have spurred his decision to conclude the siege at the the Red Mosque.

But the Red Mosque is not the only source of Islamic Radicalism in Pakistan.  In fact, at least half of the students in Madrassas in Islamabad are taught by radical sects aligned with the Red Mosque.

And on Pakistan’s frontier with Afghanistan, many of the tribal areas are either controlled by, or under threat from, the Taliban.  The Pakistani government essentially ceded these areas to the Taliban and Al Qeada earlier this year, in what were called Peace Accords, but were, essentially, a recognition that the Pakistani Government could not exert it’s authority in the region, short of massive military force, and agreed to leave the Radicals alone, if they would not promote their agenda in greater Pakistan.

Unfortunately, as always happens with appeasement, the radials now want more, and the Red Mosque siege gives them a vehicle:

…the mosque’s supporters in the Northwest Frontier Province have attacked the government. In Swat, a settled district in the Northwest Frontier Province, Maulana Qazi Fazlullah, a 28-year-old radical cleric, has called for his followers to strike at government agencies for taking action against the Lal Masjid. “In broadcasts on his FM channel on Tuesday and Wednesday, [Fazlullah] asked his supporters to take up arms against the government to avenge the action taken against Lal Masjid and carry out suicide attacks,” Dawn reported on July 4.

Fazlullah’s followers have carried out his call for violence. In the five days since the Red Mosque standoff began, four major attacks were carried out against police forces in the district. Six have been killed and thirteen wounded in shootings, roadside bombings and ambushes throughout the region.

North of Swat in the district of Dir, four soldiers were killed, including two officers, and another was critically wounded in an IED attack. The army convoy was reported to be heading into Swat in preparation for a possible “showdown between supporters of Maulana Fazlullah and law-enforcement agencies.”

The former President of Pakistan, General Zia Ul Haq, promoted the radical Madrasas as a source of mujahedin to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan.  It seems that the swords other edge is now becoming obvious, and those same madrasas are now turning warriors of god who aim to take down the Secular government of Pakistan, and create a new Taliban state in its place.

The possibility of Pakistan falling to the Taliban and Islamic Radicals should be chilling to the bone.  Pakistan has a modern military, with high tech weaponry (mostly US) and a proven Nuclear arsenal.

The only reasonable response of the Western World to this situation - indeed, the only response that will give Western Civilization any chance of seeing the next turn of the century - is to put our support squarely behind Musharraf; greatly increase the NATO mission in Afghanistan to fight the resurgent Taliban; and finish the job of pacifying Iraq.

Failure to stamp out the Taliban, Al Qeada, and Radical Islam is not a viable option.

The Dane links us to a great report by Robert E Rector of the Heritage Foundation, on the true costs of the Shamnesty Immigration Bill that failed in the Senate last week:

Heritage research has shown that low skill immigrants (those without a high school degree) receive, on average, three dollars in government benefits and services for each dollar of taxes they pay. This imbalance imposes a net cost of $89 billion per year on U.S. taxpayers. Over a lifetime, the typical low skill immigrant household will cost taxpayers $1.2 million.[4]

 Future taxpayer costs will be increased by policies which increase (1) the number of low skill immigrants entering the U.S., (2) the length of low skill immigrants’ stays in the U.S., or (3) low skill immigrants’ access to government benefits and services. Unfortunately, this is exactly what the Senate immigration bill does:

 The bill would triple the flow of low skill chain immigration into the U.S.

• By granting amnesty to at least 12 million illegal immigrants, the bill would greatly lengthen their stay in the U.S., particularly during retirement years.
• The bill would grant illegal immigrants access to Social Security and Medicare benefits and, over time, to more than 60 different federal welfare programs.
• Although the bill does not currently permit Z visa holders to bring spouses and children in from abroad, this would likely be amended at some future point on humanitarian grounds, resulting in another 5 million predominantly low-skill immigrants entering the country.

Heritage research has concluded that the cost of amnesty alone will be $2.6 trillion once the amnesty recipients reach retirement age.

This explains why the White Hoise and the Senate Democrats (and several Republicans) were trying to push this thing through so fast.  They didn’t want to give anyone tiime to read it, and do these kind of pencil figures on the cost and impact of shamnesty for 12 to 20 million illegals.

Small Dead Animals points out that:

POPE IS WARNED OF A GREEN ANTICHRIST

An arch-conservative cardinal chosen by the Pope to deliver this year’s Lenten meditations to the Vatican hierarchy has caused consternation by giving warning of an Antichrist who is “a pacifist, ecologist and ecumenist”.

Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, 78, who retired as Archbishop of Bologna three years ago, quoted Vladimir Solovyov (1853-1900), the Russian philosopher and mystic, as predicting that the Antichrist “will convoke an ecumenical council and seek the consensus of all the Christian confessions”.

The “masses” would follow the Antichrist, “with the exception of small groups of Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants” who would fight to prevent the watering down and ultimate destruction of the faith, he said.

Cardinal Biffi said that Christianity stood for “absolute values, such as goodness, truth, beauty”. If “relative values” such as “solidarity, love of peace and respect for nature” became absolute, they would encourage “idolatry” and “put obstacles in the way of salvation”.

And to support the argument:

Hmmm. Do the ASCII values of the letters “al gore” add to 666?

Of course they do.

Todays food for thought

I am sure this will shock and amaze the reader, but courtesy of Gateway Pundit and My Way/AP News:

Patrick Ishmael was browsing an AP article last week when he came upon this:

Apart from legislation, Democrats have embarked on an effort to undermine public support for the war by holding numerous hearings.

Of course, the results of this strategy will be obvious…

“If you’re not for victory in Iraq, you’re for failure,” (Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, his party’s leader) said. “The consequences of failure are immense. I think it destabilizes the entire Middle East, encourages Iran and on top of that it’s pretty clear that the terrorists will just follow us home.”

Seemed to go really smoothly.  If you notice anything tweaky, please let me know.

At the *NEW* Wal-Mart Super center that just opened on South Hill, in Pierce County!

No longer have to make that long and painful 3.5 mile drive to the Wal-Mart Mega-Center at the South Hill Mall.

They have brought with them (so far) an Applebees, with Popeyes Chicken (The Shiznit!), Panda Express, and I would estimate at least 6 more storefronts on the property (all currently under construction).

The big losers?  The Subway store down the street (there is one inside of the Wal-Mart).  And now Albertsons and Fred Meyer will have to get aggressive (both have stores within 1 mile).

Looks like a net gain of jobs to the area to me.  But then, I am just looking at life through Capitalist/Consumerish lenses (available in the Wal-Mart Optometry kiosk).