MSM fabricators

The below post links to Michelle Malkin's blog, who hammers Kathleen Parker very hard (deservedly so) on her screeching anti-blog column, where Parker writes that newsrooms:

"...are filled with carpal-tunneled wretches, overworked and underpaid, who suffer near-pathological allegiance to getting it right.

Michelle mentions some of the recent lowlights (there are so many!) of those journalists who fell way short of "getting it right."

I have one addition to Michelle's list, former Chicago Sun-Times reporter Wade Roberts.

From the Chicago's Columbia College Chronicle:

"...Wade Roberts refused to accept the top spot in the newly created School of Media Arts. Then chair of the Interactive Multimedia Program, Roberts was appointed new dean in May 2001—a controversial move that resulted in Carolyn Hulse’s stepping down from her post as interim chair of the Journalism Department in protest of Robert’s credentials.

In 1985, Roberts was fired from the Chicago Sun-Times after his editors accused him of fabricating a story about a group of fans in a Texas bar during the Chicago Bears’ failed Superbowl bid. (My note, that game was a regular season contest, the Bears defeated the Dallas Cowboys 44-0, and the Bears went on to become Super Bowl Champs that season.) Roberts is currently acting director of the Interactive Multimedia Program...

Wade Roberts remains a member of Columbia College's faculty, you can find him in the Interactive Arts and Media Department of the downtown Chicago school.


Technorati tags: Columbia College MSM Chicago fabrication Chicago Bears Da Bears Kathleen Parker

2005 blogging in review

Yes, 2005 was a great year for blogs--unless you're a mainstream reporter (I'll make exceptions for MSM reporters who do blog).

Michelle Malkin has a great rundown of the closing year's best moments in blogging.

As far as this blog, I take pride in helping along the Thomas Klocek-DePaul free speech story, as well as being among the earliest of the bloggers to sound the alarm on that vile group of military funeral protesters, Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church.

Here's to a great 2006. Happy New Year!

Technorati tags: weblogs Michelle Malkin 2005

Illinoisans to be able to "vote early and vote often" until 2008

We can't let that great tradition of vote fraud in Illinois just whither away, can we?

Not till 2008, according to AP. More from that article:

Even though they'll miss a Jan. 1 deadline to have voter fraud-busting measures in place, Illinois' top election official says current systems safeguard against abuse and authorities are making progress in complying with the federal Help America Vote Act.

The law, passed three years ago after the 2000 presidential-election snafu in Florida, requires states to have comprehensive voter-registration databases working by Sunday to ease authorities' search for duplicate names, removal of outdated registrations and other anti-deception measures.

Illinois is in a precarious position when it comes to complying with election laws, given its history. The adage, "Vote early and often" originated in Chicago, where decades of machine politics managed to get dead people to the polls and spawned the legend of thousands of votes for Richard Nixon in the 1960 presidential election resting at the bottom of Lake Michigan.

State Board of Elections Executive Director Dan White said Friday that a statewide database of voters was available to local election officials in 2004 so that they could compare their voter rolls to the state list. But the board still must create a two-way system, allowing counties and other local election bodies to send updated records to the state.

Of the statewide offices, all but one are held be Democrats, and all of those Dems are running for re-election in 2006. So voters will be able to fully participate in the 2006 state elections in Illinois, before the voter database is up and running two years later.

This message has been brought to use as a public service. And for more information on this topic, read Hugh Hewitt's If It's Not Close, They Can't Cheat: Crushing the Democrats in Every Election and Why Your Life Depends on It.

Interesting, isn't it, that this story comes out on a very low readership day.

Technorati tags: vote fraud Illinois Chicago Democratic Party

Christmas Muslim conversions to Christianity in France

Interesting story, much like the previous post, because of the source. This time it's Islam Online reporting.

At the Porte de Clingncourt underground terminal in northern Paris, a couple of youths are busy distributing gospels among passers-by in their annual tradition on the eve of the New Year. But most of the receivers were apparently Muslims and Arabs at the heavily populated Muslim area of Saint Quen.

“An increasing number of Muslims convert to Christianity especially on Christmas,” Fadila, a Parisian of Algerian origin, told IslamOnline.net while handing out gospels translated into Arabic to people of North African appearance.

“Arabs and Muslims are fed up with the badly damaged image of their faith [in the West] and escaped to the Messiah. Every Sunday the Church of Saint Quen receives a new batch of Muslims,” added Fadila, who converted to Christianity three years ago.

French Arabs have changed their names to spare themselves police and employers' discrimination, and dozens have opted for the new lease of life to escape the harsh reality.

Technorati tags; Christmas Religion Francaise France Islam Muslims Roissy

Gaza's gone out of control

And this is from the Arab News, a Saudi publication. It's likely that the situation is worse than described in this article.

Angry over the killing of a colleague, Palestinian policemen yesterday stormed the Rafah crossing point in the Gaza Strip and forced its closure for much of the day. The unarmed European Union observers — responsible for enforcing the terms of the Israeli-Palestinian agreement that opened the border last month — fled to a nearby Israeli military base.

Gaza has experienced a wave of shootouts, kidnappings and armed takeovers of government buildings in recent months, undermining Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ efforts to impose law and order in the wake of Israel’s withdrawal from the area last September. Two days after the abduction of three Britons, the police were completely in the dark about their whereabouts or the identity of their kidnappers.

(Those hostages were released yesterday.)

Just a real mess. These are the same people who one day could be in charge of, nominally I guess, of the West Bank.

Technorati tags: Gaza Israel Terrorism Palestine

American Council of Trustees and Alumni blog on the "Scandal Fatigue" at DePaul

Second to last day of the year, and it's time for perhaps my last DePaul posting of 2005. A tipster sent this one my way.

From the blog of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni; the first two links go to Erin O'Connor's blog, the last to FIRE.

DePaul University deserves to be on the list of universities whose bad administrative behavior has been a repeated source of embarrassment this year.

Last spring, DePaul suspended adjunct professor Thomas Klocek for getting into an argument with some pro-Palestinian students who were promoting their views at an informational table. The students were offended that Klocek disagreed with their position, and filed a complaint against him. Without according Klocek the minimal due process of allowing him to face his accusers, and in blatant disregard for the free expression and open debate that is supposed to characterize university life, DePaul punished Klocek by removing him from the classroom and then defaming him. Klocek is currently suing the university for defamation of character.

This fall, DePaul confirmed the impression it created last spring: that it is a campus where a political double standard reigns supreme, and where individuals who do not subscribe to the university's official ideological orthodoxy are silenced and punished. DePaul paid political provocateur Ward Churchill thousands of dollars to come speak--but then punished the College Republicans when they sought to criticize both Churchill and the university's decision to invite him. When the CRs posted a flyer that protested Churchill's visit simply by citing Churchill's own words, they received a disciplinary warning and were banned from attending the follow-up discussion session with students Churchill had scheduled. When they protested this treatment, they were also banished from DePaul's Cultural Center.

DePaul has worked hard this year to shame itself publicly and to make it clear to all that it is not a university where a genuine concern for intellectual diversity and robust, open debate thrives. The university's culminating effort on this front was its bad faith response to FIRE when that organization intervened on behalf of the College Republicans. Misquoting school policy and misrepresenting the facts of the case, DePaul responded to FIRE that the university's actions toward the CRs was entirely consistent with school policy and that no wrong had been done. FIRE has gone public with the details now, after giving DePaul a substantial period of time in which to think better of its indefensible stance.

DePaul is now in for another fatiguing round of self-induced scandal. One might ask at this point what the university would do differently if it were actively trying to destroy its own reputation.

Incidentally, yesterday in the Chicago Tribune, free registration required, Kathleen Parker had a mainly negative column about bloggers.

This is the concluding paragraph:

We can't silence (bloggers) but for civilization's sake--and the integrity of information by which we all live or die--we can and should ignore them.

Well, speaking from my little corner of the blogosphere, the above paragraph is a load of garbage. The Klocek case is just one example of a story that has seen the light of day because of blogging.

Technorati tags: Kathleen Parker DePaul Chicago Illinois Ward Churchill Academic freedom Left Wing Extremists

Welcome Right Wing News readers

Marathon Pundit was chosen as site of the day by Right Wing News!

Awesome! And thank you, RWN!

Welcome Eric Zorn readers

Chicago Tribune columnist is having a "Bloggapalooza" today with a rundown of what local bloggers think were the top stories of 2005. My choices can be found by scrolling down to yesterday's posts. Eric and I agreed that the Chicago White Sox winning the 2005 World Series was the top local story.

Eric's Bloggapalooza is here.

Some friends-of-the-blog took part too, including Rich Miller of Capitol Fax, Cal Skinner of McHenry County Blog, and Jason Hinds of "Song of the Suburbs."

Technorati tags: Eric Zorn Chicago Tribune blogging Illinois Chicago White Sox

North Dakota: The nation's safest state

So says the attorney general of North Dakota in a Grand Forks Herald article, although driving-under-the-influence arrests are up.

The picture is from one of our family trips, this trip was in 2004.

Those pockmarks on the "Welcome to North Dakota" sign are bullet holes. There is room for improvement in North Dakota crime prevention.

UPDATE December 31: Commenter WC Varones suggested those bullet holes are a crime deterrent. Could be!

Technorati tags: North Dakota bullets photos Grand Forks crime Guns

Predictions for 2006 from the National Review

Can be found here. Some are unlikely to happen, some are tongue-in-cheek, some hopefully will happen.

Here's one from Victor Davis Hanson:

Serious social unrest in Iran by midyear.

More holocaust denial from the Tehran Times

Sad, but it must be a weekly feature at the Tehran Times, the World Weekly News (where Bat Boy Lives!) of Middle East journalism. This time the Times, a tool of the Iranian government, drags out Australian holocaust denier Frederick Toben to spill his sewage onto the internet.

Toben says that the holocaust was "a lie" and Israel was built on that "lie."

Holocaust denial, it seems, is becoming a very popular topic in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Call me an alarmist, but it's becoming clear to me that the Iranian government, by attenuating its demonization of Israel, is prepping its population for something more sinister than the name-calling against Israel it has engaged in since 1979.

I hope I'm wrong.

Below are recent some MP postings on the Tehran Times and holocaust denial:

Tehran Times interview with a holocaust denier(Nov 11)
Tehran Times cites DePaul's Norman Finkelstein in hateful
editorial (Dec 11)
Tehran Times digs up another Nazi lover (Dec 26)

Technorati tags: Iran Farsi Israel Frederick Toben Holocaust Holocaust-denial Australia

Tea with terrorist lovers at Georgetown University

Earlier this month, Georgetown accepted a $20 million dollar donation from Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia. Harvard received a gift for the same amount from the aforementioned Prince Wally.

The money for Georgetown, a Catholic university run by the Jesuit order, is designated for its Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. To be sure, there is no such Christian-Muslim Understanding Center in Saudi Arabia.

The prince first came to the attention of the American public in 2001, when Rudy Giuliani turned down an offer of $10 million for post 9/11 charities when Prince Wally emitted this remark at a ceremony where the prince announced his donation:

From CNN in 2001:

The prince's statement said the United States "should re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stand toward the Palestinian cause.

"While the U.N. passed clear resolutions numbered 242 and 338 calling for the Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza Strip decades ago, our Palestinian brethren continue to be slaughtered at the hands of Israelis while the world turns the other cheek,"

This coming February, a group of radicals, the International Solidarity Movement, will descend upon Washington DC to for this event, according to Front Page Magazine.

The following announcement was put out to ISM activists in the United States:

Palestine Solidarity Movement
Announcement

Fifth Annual Divestment Conference
("Fifth Annual National Student Conference of the Palestine Solidarity Movement")

Georgetown University

February 17 - 19, 2006

More information to come.

The Palestine Solidarity Movement is a front group for the International Solidarity Movement. Who is the International Solidarity Movement? They're a group of terror apologists who specialize in recruiting westerners to serve as protesters in the Middle East, indoctrinating them with the faulty logic that they enjoy some sort of de facto diplomatic-type immunity to do whatever they want to promote their version of "peace" in that part of the world.

That belief led to the unfortunate death of ISM protestor Rachel Corrie in Gaza in 2003.

It gets worse, though, for Georgetown.

From Front Page:

The Palestine Solidarity Movement has held national conferences on major university campuses four out of the last five years, first at UC Berkeley, then U Michigan, Ohio State and Duke University. At the last conference held at Duke University in 2004, Huwaida Arraf, one of the PSM's main organizers, admitted that the Palestine Solidarity Movement works with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, all illegal terrorist groups per the US state department. That particular event was also found to be an anti-Semitic hate fest which also produced articles in the campus newspaper later attacking Jews in America as a "privileged class." At the earlier event at U Michigan, chants of "Kill the Jews" were heard among the attendees. Divestment from Israel is a major theme, an attempt to hurt the Israeli population and force it to capitulate to PLO demands; in other words, an extension of the Arab boycott against Jews in the Middle East for having their own country. Public reaction to the 2004 Duke event no doubt made finding a venue for another conference difficult which might explain why there was no such conference held at a major university in 2005.

Clearly Georgetown University is a hotbed of radicalism. Oh, because of the "Don't ask, don't tell" controversy, GU is one of those universities that bans military recruiters from its campus. Those recruiters of course, are seeking soldiers and sailors to fight in the War on Terror.

Technorati tags: Georgetown washington dc ISM Palestine Rachel Corrie international solidarity movement Israel War on Terror Catholic anti semitism

2005's top local stories: Cross blogging with the Chicago Tribune's Eric Zorn

As I've noted before, Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune is an MSM reporter who understands new media. Last month, I contributed on Eric's Change of Subject blog for his November Month in Review posting.

Eric asked a whole bunch of Illinois bloggers to take part in his year-in-review entry on his site. Below is my view of things, Illinois-wise, in 2005. For the lesser-known stories, I've added links.

Top story: The Chicago White Sox end 88 years of World Series championship-free baseball in Chicago.

2) The various scandals involving the Governor Rod Blagojevich's administration.

3) The various scandals involving Mayor Richard Daley's City Hall.

4) The corruption trial of former Governor George Ryan.

5) The near-perfect season for the University of Illinois men's basketball team.

5) The scrum of Illinois Republicans lining up to run for statewide office in 2006.

6) The Chicago Bears coming out of hibernation.

7) The unraveling of Hollinger International (parent company of the Chicago Sun-Times).

8) The East St. Louis vote fraud convictions.

9) Campus free speech controversy comes to Illinois: Professor Jonathan Bean at Southern Illinois University, Former Professor Thomas Klocek of DePaul, and Ward Churchill's speech at DePaul.

10) Barack Obama's first year in Washington.

Look Eric's 2005 posting here.

Technorati tags: Chicago Illinois White Sox Chicago White Sox blagojevich Corruption Daley DePaul SIUHollinger Metro East East St. Louis 2005

UMass Mao-book hoax-ster update

Mid-month, a University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth student made up a story that he checked out a book written by Mao Tse-Tung from that school's library and got a scary visit from the Feds for his effort.

Here's what the New Bedford Standard-Times wrote on December 17.

A senior at UMass Dartmouth was visited by federal agents two months ago, after he requested a copy of Mao Tse-Tung's tome on Communism called "The Little Red Book."

Two history professors at UMass Dartmouth, Brian Glyn Williams and Robert Pontbriand, said the student told them he requested the book through the UMass Dartmouth library's interlibrary loan program.

The student, who was completing a research paper on Communism for Professor Pontbriand's class on fascism and totalitarianism, filled out a form for the request, leaving his name, address, phone number and Social Security number. He was later visited at his parents' home in New Bedford by two agents of the Department of Homeland Security, the professors said.

The professors said the student was told by the agents that the book is on a "watch list," and that his background, which included significant time abroad, triggered them to investigate the student further.

Lefty bloggers jumped all over this story with glee, since it gave them yet another opportunity to denounce "that fascist Bush." As I mentioned here last week, Teddy Kennedy bellowed his complaint about the Mao book "visit" from the authorities. (Free registration required on that last one.)

On Christmas Eve, the student confessed his sins to the New Bedford Standard-Times. The paper said they wouldn't reveal the scammer's name.

And UMass Dartmouth administrators told the liar that he wouldn't be punished. Bloggers such as InstaPundit cried "foul!"

Now a UMass professor, with the familiar sounding name of Clyde Barrow, joining the growing numbers who feel the fabricator should be punished.

From this morning's Boston Globe:

The head of policy studies at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth wants the university to suspend a student who made up a story about being grilled by federal antiterrorism agents over a library book and to reprimand faculty members who spread the tale.

Following the student's admission Friday that it was a hoax, Clyde Barrow, chairman of the policy studies department, said UMass should punish the student and faculty members, in particular two history professors who repeated the unsubstantiated assertion of the history student to a New Bedford Standard-Times reporter.

More...

''It's unbelievable that this student is not being suspended for a semester," wrote Barrow, who said he does not know the student's identity. ''It's even more unbelievable that the faculty who jumped the gun on this story and actively promoted it on campus, the Internet, and blogs will walk away from their misconduct without any consequences."

Barrow said further in an e-mail to the Globe that the professors' apparent lack of skepticism came as little surprise to him because they are a ''dogmatic and zealous group of politically correct but chic anti-Americans."

This Barrow guy rocks. DePaul needs a guy like him.

Technorati tags: UMass Massachusetts Anti-American

Bloggers on the road

Tee Bee at Guide to Midwestern Culture is taking a circumnavigation tour of Lake Michigan. The Crazy Politico is certainly the only person on the planet who commutes between Zion, IL and Fredericksburg, VA. He's back in Virginia, with photos on his blog taken in Maryland.

Pat at Brainster is traveling too, and says his postings will be light. He's made such predictions before, and blogged a lot all the same.

Technorati tags: Road trip weblogs Maryland Lake Michigan

Patriot Guard Riders form to control Fred Phelps protests

Hat tip to Third Wave Dave again. The loudmouth kooks of the Westboro Baptist "Church" and the Reverend Fred Phelps have organized opposition against them, the Patriot Guard Riders. There have been significant counterprotests against Phelps, notably this bad day for the Westboro folks a few months ago in Tennessee.

I've been closely following the nuts from this church for almost six months. The congregation consists of Reverend Phelps and his 100 or so relatives and in-laws. Phelps first gamed infamy for picketing the funerals of AIDS victims in the 1980s.

The mentally unbalanced Kansan is operating under the delusion the God is punishing America for its toleration of homosexuality--he views each soldier's death as a message from God that America needs to "repent." The group's web site is here, it's called God Hates Fags.

For the most part, wrongly, the MSM has chosen to ignore Phelps and his protests. As often the case these days, once again, this is a blog-driven story.

Bill Hobbs' blogging ignited the August Tennessee protests. Some Soldier's Mom sounded the alarm in Arizona. Here in Illinois, Peoria Pundit and Capitol Fax filled in the sizable void that the local media left for us.

Michelle Malkin has more on her blog.

Technorati tags: Fred Phelps Westboro Baptist Church Gay Military Iraq Blogging Peoria Pundit MSM Patriot Guard Riders

Knight-Ridder writer latest to predict Iraqi Civil War

Previous predictions of post-Saddam civil war in Iraq have been wrong. Tom Lasseter of the Knight-Ridder Newspapers feels the Iraqis are getting ready for their Fort Sumter.

He writes:

Kurdish leaders have inserted more than 10,000 of their militia members into Iraqi army divisions in northern Iraq to lay the groundwork to swarm south, seize the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and possibly half of Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, and secure the borders of an independent Kurdistan.

Five days of interviews with Kurdish leaders and troops in the region suggest that U.S. plans to bring unity to Iraq before withdrawing American troops by training and equipping a national army aren't gaining traction. Instead, some troops that are formally under U.S. and Iraqi national command are preparing to protect territory and ethnic and religious interests in the event of Iraq's fragmentation, which many of them think is inevitable.

The soldiers said that while they wore Iraqi army uniforms they still considered themselves members of the Peshmerga -- the Kurdish militia -- and were awaiting orders from Kurdish leaders to break ranks. Many said they wouldn't hesitate to kill their Iraqi army comrades, especially Arabs, if a fight for an independent Kurdistan erupted.

The latest from our Saudi allies: No gym classes for girls

Our steadfast friend in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, has once again exhibited it's wisdom in handling women's issues: There will continue to be no physical education classes for girls at Saudi schools, as the Arab News reports.

Technorati tags: Saudi Arabia Muslim Women Saudis

Illinois may crack down on military license plate fraud

I see these license plates all the time here in the Land of Lincoln--commemorative license plates honoring Illinois vets who've been awarded Purple Hearts or Bronze Star. There are also special plates for ex-POWs.

Sadly, there are some fabricators of the autobiographical sort who have those license plates--and they haven't earned the right to place those tags on their vehicles.

Now, something may be done about that.

From CBS 2 Chicago:

It takes battle scars to earn the Purple Heart medal but only a military discharge to get an Illinois Purple Heart license plate.

Recent cases of fraud are moving politicians to crack down.

More..

The bill itself provides for a $1,000 fine, but it could grow stronger. The bill will be ready for introduction to the state legislature this spring.

"It's wrong and it's ugly and we won't stand idly by and let it continue," said Secretary of State Jesse White.

The Illinois secretary of state, a veteran of the 101st Airborne Division, is pushing legislation that would make it a crime with a $1,000 fine for anyone who lies to get military license plates.

One more idea: Put their names in the local newspaper with an accompanying photograph.

Technorati tags: Military Vets veterans Illinois Jesse White

Too much Yuletide spirit: Bears-Packers Christmas Day game rowdiest of the year at Lambeau

And to top it off, the Packers are having a dreadful year. But let's give a congratulations to the 2005 NFC Champion Chicago Bears!

From AP:

Green Bay police say that while the Bears were taking care of the Packers on the field, officers were taking care of a record number of rowdy fans.

Sunday's game earned the dubious distinction of being the season's most disorderly in the stands. Police arrested 25 people and ejected 60 from the stadium.
Commander Ken Brodhagen says those numbers eclipse the rap sheet from a Monday night game in November. In that game against the Vikings, 15 people were arrested and 52 kicked out.

The arrests were for charges ranging from possession of marijuana and underage drinking to unlawful conduct and resisting an officer.

The ejections were for smoking or urinating in inappropriate places, disrupting fans and being disorderly.

And once again, the Green Bay Packers play at Lambeau, not Lambert Field.

Technorati tags: Green Bay Packers Chicago Bears Chicago Bears nfl drunks Christmas

2006 Turin Olympics: Keeping an eye on terror

Looks like the Italians are doing a lot of sensible things in trying to prevent a 21st Century version of the Munich terror attacks at next year's winter games in Turin, as AP reports.

Fearing possible terrorism at the Turin Olympics, Italian authorities are conducting surveillance on "numerous" people through telephone wiretaps and other intelligence operations, an Italian security official said Tuesday.

Luigi Rinella, the Italian police's liaison with the U.S. government, said those under surveillance included suspected Islamic militants, but he stressed that anti-globalization protesters and anarchists could also make trouble during the Feb. 10-26 Games.

"Clearly at this moment, the sensibility is to groups that we call Islamic terrorist that are connected to al-Qaida," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Washington.

Al-Qaida has been quiet lately, and would surely enjoy a comeback in a big way at such a high profile event such as the Olympics.

Technorati tags: Olympics Turin Torino Italy Italia eventi

Lightblogging.....

The post Christmas respite is over at work. It was like waking up to find 3 feet of unforecasted snow outside. Hard to believe I just have one post today so far, and it's about Jeff Reardon.

Former Twins pitcher arrested on robbery charges

Another sports star has gone astray. This time it's Jeff Reardon, a former relief pitcher for the Minnesota Twins, Boston Red Sox, and the Montreal Expos.

Those bloggers with the Northern Alliance won't be happy when they hear this news.

From AP:

Jeff Reardon, one of the top relief pitchers in history, blamed medication for depression after his arrest for a jewelry store robbery.

Police said Tuesday that the 50-year-old Reardon, retired since 1994 and sixth in career saves, walked into Hamilton Jewelers at the Gardens Mall (Florida) on Monday and handed an employee a note saying he had a gun and the store was being robbed.

Neil Steinberg on Muslims' "privacy violations"

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg, no fire breathing conservative, weighs in on the recent media reports that federal investigators have been testing radiation levels near mosques.

Would you feel offended -- persecuted, oppressed, trod upon -- if you discovered that the federal government had parked a van outside your church, bowling league, supper club, sniffing the air for excess radiation as part of a larger attempt to keep terrorists from blowing up an atom bomb in the center of the Loop?

Me neither.

So though this spot usually waves the flag for privacy, it holds less than the usual sympathy for the protests from Muslim groups, who feel wronged because the government for some strange reason feels that future terrorism might come from their direction, and has conducted a few rather desultory checks for heightened radiation levels.

Ignoring reality is a luxury we can't afford. It is ludicrous to waste limited security resources patting down Lutheran grandmothers as a smoke screen for checking guys from Saudi Arabia. Muslims in America have a legitimate grievance, but not with the United States government. I wonder how much they complain to those elements of their own culture that have placed them in this awkward situation in the first place? My bet: not much.

Technorati tags: Muslims Neil Steinberg Chicago Sun-Times War on Terror

Dershowitz, Finkelstein, and Chomsky

You need to be a subscriber of The Times Higher Education Supplement to see the whole article. If you want the whole thing, I've got a copy that was e-mailed to me, leave a comment below if you'd like to read the whole thing with your e-mail address.

DePaul's holocaust-minimizer Norman Finkelstein usually teams up with MIT's far-left guru Noam Chomsky to attack noted author and Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz.

But here, they seem to differ on the correct tactics to go after Dersh.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Noam Chomsky, for example, thought that he should focus on the "facts of the matter" with regards to Dershowitz and "his devastating refutation of Dershowitz's claims (either unsourced, or distorting the few sources) supporting Israeli criminal actions" rather than on the allegations of plagiarism, particularly since he says it is unclear what counts as plagiarism. Dershowitz, for instance, has responded to extensive claims by Finkelstein that he plagiarised from Joan Peters' From Time Immemorial (which argues that Palestinians do not have a strong claim to Israel) by saying that he may have used some of the same sources, but he had them checked independently from the original documents. Shlaim believes the plagiarism charge "is proved in a manner that would stand up in court."

Chomsky says he told Finkelstein that if he insisted on the plagiarism line, Dershowitz would "seize on it to try to evade the main topics", as would the media "which tend to prefer gossip to contents" and that this would marginalise "the crucial parts of the book, which have to do with the real world and what is happening to people - and for the US in particular, the decisive role the US is playing in blocking a political settlement for 30 years and supporting serious crimes". He adds: "The interesting question is what we learn about the intellectual/moral culture from the fact that [Dershowitz] can get away with it."

Technorati tags: Alan Dershowitz Noam Chomsky Norman Finkelstein Harvard MIT DePaul

Tehran Times digs up another Nazi lover

Some Canadian guy named Paul Fromm is featured in today's Tehran Times, and he's another of the Norman Finkelstein ilk who claims that Jews are using the holocaust for financial gain and political power. The Jew-hating at the Tehran Times has increased of late. Not a good sign going in to 2006.

Here's a quote of his:

The holocaust religion serves the purpose of controlling people. It buys Israel substantial immunity from criticism. It allows special treatment of Jews in most Western countries. It allows Jews to have disproportionate control of the media and the economy in Western countries, while all the while portraying themselves as a persecuted minority. Discussion of the holocaust would undermine the privileged and powerful position Zionists hold in most Western countries. Therefore, anyone discussing or questioning aspects of the holocaust story must be silenced.

Technorati tags: Israel Middle East Paul Fromm Iran Farsi

Another Marathon Pundit guest blog appearance

Marathon Pundit will be one of the participating bloggers on Eric Zorn's Change of Subject blog for his end of year review. Eric's a longtime Chicago Tribune columnist, and a one time Marathon runner. His Tribune blog is here.

The War on Christmas: The Chicago Front, A Marathon Pundit Exclusive

On December 17, Chicago attorney Andy Norman wrote the op-ed, Misunderstanding Constitution leads to censorship at school, decrying the secularists' attack on Christmas.

An excerpt:

Historically, students and teachers across America have celebrated the Christmas season by decorating classroom bulletin boards and Christmas trees, learning songs for the annual Christmas program and exchanging Christmas cards and gifts with classmates.

Yet, in recent years, misconceptions have arisen about the legalities of Christmas celebrations in public schools. As a result, many school officials have removed nearly all references to this historic day, including references to Jesus and the history of Christmas, and have begun new "traditions" that violate the Constitutional rights of students and teachers by prohibiting seasonal religious expression.

Daniel Elbaum of the Anti-Defamation League, disagreed, as he explained in his retort to Norman on December 22.

Here's an excerpt from his letter to the Sun-Times. (Note, this letter is no longer available as a free link on the Times' site.)

In ''Misunderstanding Constitution leads to censorship at school'' [Commentary, Dec. 17], Andy Norman overgeneralizes an important area of constitutional law and denigrates efforts to make our schools inclusive to students of all faiths and backgrounds. Norman writes that public school officials are not required to ''obliterate religious observance and expression.'' True, but the Supreme Court has made very clear that schools must not cross ''the laudable educational goal of promoting a student's knowledge of an appreciation for this nation's cultural and religious diversity, and the impermissible endorsement of religion.''

Now we (finally) get to the exclusive part. Marathon Pundit has obtained Andy Norman's response to the ADL letter.

Dear Mr. Elbaum,

I enjoyed reading your letter in the Sun-Times yesterday, which responded to my op-ed piece. You have a legitimate perspective and I agree with most of what you wrote. However, I'd like to correct two misimpressions. First, I am not simply dealing with isolated examples of political correctness run amok. There is a concerted attack in our country to drive the free exercise of religion completely out of the public square and even some private settings, which is highly offensive to many of us who were raised in the Judeo-Christian tradition. In the (false) name of separation of church and state our religious liberties are being eradicated. This is a critical issue because our country has always embraced and accommodated religion. Moreover, there is no better time to raise this than now, at the time of Christmas and Chanukah, when people are listening.

Second, I disagree with your "heckler's veto" implication for the same reason you accuse me of citing isolated examples of political correctness. Jewish children adjust easily to the concept that they are a minority and we should not fear such minor offenses. I am Jewish and grew up in East Rogers Park, a mixed neighborhood, in the 1960's. Yes, I was uncomfortable because I did not know the words to the Christmas carols we sang and did not celebrate Christmas. But it never occurred to me or any of my Jewish friends to complain, or try to stop the Christian celebrations. I knew then as I know now that we live in a Gentile culture and they are entitled to commemorate their faith; indeed God chose us for His people because we were small and nondescript, and knew that we would be minorities in the Diaspora. Deut. 7:7. It is my belief that the "heckler's veto" approach taken by the ADL over-emphasizes the Establishment Clause to the point of endangering Free Exercise Clause freedoms. This is a dangerous imbalance which we will continue to fight against.

Chanukah Sameach v' Baruch HaShem.


Andy Norman

There is a book by Fox News' John Gibson--I read the first 50 pages of my niece's copy last night--about similar scenarios, and it's called The War on Christmas.

Technorati tags: Christmas holidays Secularists political correctness Jewish Chanukah ADL

LAPD coming to Chicago to recruit cops at the Gay Games

The 2006 Gay Games will take place in Chicago. Actually, athletes don't have to be gay to participate in the festivities, and there is a marathon.....

Back to the reason I'm posting this. The Los Angeles Police Department will be in the Windy City in July at these games to recruit cops for the force in an effort to make the LAPD more diverse, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

There are gay people in Southern California, right?

Not only will the police force that formerly employed Sgt. Joe Friday be there to wook for a few good men and women, they'll be a co-sponsor of the games.

Technorati tags: LAPD California Gay GLBT Gay Games Marathon Chicago

One year ago: The Asian tsunami

The world remembers.

Marathon Pundit Christmas card

That's Little Marathon Pundit there, at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Merry Christmas!

Christmas greetings from the blogosphere

Merry Christmas from Cal Skinner at McHenry County Blog.
As well as Michelle Malkin.
Freedom Folks.
Cao's Blog, too.
And the Right Place.
And over there is Crazy Politico.
And from sunny and warm Australia, courtesy of Australian Politics.

Merry Christmas!


Technorati tags: Christmas

Merry Christmas from Marathon Pundit!

Here's one more Christmas card from the blog. One more tomorrow. Cal Skinner, yet another friend of the blog, mentioned in the comments section, "What no picture of a runner?" Well, here you go, Cal. Cal's internet home is the McHenry County Blog.

Blogroll addition: DePaulCA

DePaul student and friend-of-the-blog Derrick Wlodarz sent me a Christmas Eve e-mail telling me that the DePaul Conservative blog, DePaulCA, is up and running. It's because of Derrick and young Illinoisans like him that I'm confident Illinois will be a Republican state once again. The blog is here, and it's a good one.

A couple of DePaul odds and ends I wanted to get out there again, since a lot of new people have been visiting Marathon Pundit. One of the ironies of Ward Churchill's appearance this autumn at DePaul was that Todd Beamer, who shouted at "Let's Roll" on ill-fated Flight 93 on Sept. 11, was a DePaul alumnus.

And DePaul is one of the plaintiffs in the case FAIR vs. Rumsfeld. DePaul and other universities, organized as FAIR, are asking the government to take their side in okaying its ban on military recruiting on their campuses, in response to the Defense Department's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the armed forces.

Liberalism, for now, is deeply entrenched at DePaul. Big things have small beginnings, and DePaulCA may be the impetus for change there.

Technorati tags: DePaul Gay Lincoln Park Chicago metroblogging Military conservative Catholic

News from Massachusetts: Another liberal hoax, and Solomonia contributes to new blog

Hat tip to Bill Baar's West Side for this first one. Did you know that some student Massachusetts checked out a book from a library on Chairman Mao, and got a visit from the FBI because of his literary interest? It's from the Universal Unitarian Service Committee Human Rights blog.

Media Nation cites an op-ed written by Ted Kennedy, or one of his staffers, parroting the same whine as the Unitarians on the Mao book tale.

Blog of M'Gath says this story is a hoax.

Shocking. (Sarcasm off.)

This is the original article, I think, about that Mao story, from a New Bedford, MA newspaper.

More news from the Bay State. Good friend of the blog, Sol from Solomonia, will be assisting Aaron Margolis with his Hub Politics blog.

Technorati tags: Massachusetts Boston Dartmouth Ted Kennedy Unitarian Mao

22 Democrats vote against Christmas resolution

From NewsMax again. This resolution was passed by the House of Representatives last week by an overwhelming vote of 401-22.

The text of the resolution read as follows:

Whereas Christmas is a national holiday celebrated on December 25; and

Whereas the Framers intended that the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States would prohibit the establishment of religion, not prohibit any mention of religion or reference to God in civic dialog: Now, therefore be it resolved, that the House of Representatives –

(1) Recognizes the importance of the symbols and traditions of Christmas;
(2) Strongly disapproves of attempts to ban references to Christmas; and
(3) Expresses support for the use of these symbols and traditions, for those who celebrate Christmas.

Those 22 who voted against the resolution were all (surprise!) Democrats. Here they are, they include my own rep, Loony Leftist Jan Schakowsy of Evanston, IL. Another member of the Illinois house delegation, Bobby Rush of Chicago's South Side, is an ordained minister.

Of course, the Democrats are by their own admission, having trouble connecting with "people of faith." It's easy to understand why.

Here are the Grinches of the Democratic Party:

Congressman Party-State District
Ackerman D-NY 5th
Blumenauer D-OR 3rd
Capps D-CA 23rd
Cleaver D-MO 5th
DeGette D-CO 1st
Harman D-CA 36th
Hastings D-FL 23rd
Honda D-CA 15th
Lee D-CA 9th
Lewis D-GA 5th
McDermott D-WA 7th
Miller, George D-CA 7th
Moore D-WI 4th
Moran D-VA 8th
Payne D-NJ 10th
Rush D-IL 1st
Schakowsky D-IL 9th
Scott D-VA 3rd
Stark D-CA 13th
Wasserman Schultz D-FL 20th
Wexler D-FL 19th
Woolsey D-CA 6th

Christmas grinch Jan Schakowsky Democratic Party Democrats

Intellectual diversity of campus? No way!

So says this report available from Front Page Magazine. Hat tip to Steven Plaut.

NewsMax the latest major online publication to report on DePaul censorship

Posted Thursday evening on NewsMax.

Alistair Cooke's bones stolen by transplant crooks

The famed broadcaster, best known in the US for his years as host of PBS' Masterpiece Theatre, suffered the indignity of having the bones from his corpse stolen by body parts snatchers--those bones were sold for tissue transplants for about $5,000.

A Brooklyn, NY mortuary is under investigation for similar illegal sales of human bones and tissues, according to Britain's Daily Telegraph.

Technorati tags: Alistair Cooke Brooklyn New York City UK

Christmas at Arlington National Cemetery

Courtesy of Chicago bloggers Freedom Folks. Congrats on making it on to Malkin's blog.

Technorati tags: Christmas Virginia Military

Head of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood leader calls holocaust a myth

And (see previous post) while we're on the subject of the holocaust, I came across this article on al-Jazeera this afternoon.

The head of the Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition force in Egypt's parliament, has echoed Iran's president in describing the Holocaust as a myth.

"Western democracy has attacked everyone who does not share the vision of the sons of Zion as far as the myth of the Holocaust is concerned," Mohamed Akef said in a statement on Thursday.

More...

"American democracy ... steers the world into the American orbit delineated by the sons of Zion, so that everyone must wear the Stars and Stripes hat and keep away from the Zionist foster child," he wrote in his weekly statement.

Also this afternoon, this AP article reports on the December 15 death of Dr. Heinrich Gross, an Austrian psychiatrist who'd been accused of taking part in Nazi atrocities and "experiments" at a clinic in the early 1940s.

Besides concentration and death camps, inhumane "research" on people was another evil manifestation of the holocaust, which of course Mohamed Akef says never occurred.

Technorati tags: Holocaust Israel Austria Wien Egypt Muslim Brotherhood Holocaust denial

DePaul: No friend of Israel

So said Bill Dennis yesterday in Peoria Pundit. Also yesterday, an online publication I hadn't heard of, Axis of Logic, published this op-ed by Mark Weber about his opposition to the United Nations' decision to name January 27 Holocaust Rememberance Day.

Axis of Logic has a whole section devoted to far-Left terrorism apologist Robert Fisk, so ths gives you an idea of what type of publication it is.

A little more than a week a ago, that halcyon for truth, the Tehran Times carried a slighly different version of Mark Weber's article, which I blogged about here. Axis of Truth has the whole thing in its unabridged ugliness.

Weber quotes Norman Finkelstein, an Assistant Professor of Political Science at DePaul University.

Norman Finkelstein, a Jewish scholar who teaches at DePaul University in Chicago, writes in his bestselling book, The Holocaust Industry, that "invoking The Holocaust" is "a ploy to delegitimize all criticism of Jews." He adds: "By conferring total blamelessness on Jews, the Holocaust dogma immunizes Israel and American Jewry from legitimate censure... Organized Jewry has ex­ploited the Nazi holocaust to deflect criticism of Israel's and its own morally indefensible policies."

Sounds like the stuff David Duke churns out.

Klocek, who defended Israel, is gone from DePaul, as prior posts explain.

Technorati tags: David Duke Norman Finkelstein Israel Robert Fisk Chicago catholicism

More lumps of coal in DePaul's stocking

It just keeps getting worse for Chicago's DePaul University. FrontPage Magazine once again adds to the discussion the Thomas Klocek free speech case.

This Phyllis Chesler article discusses campus Muslims crying "racism" every time someone doesn't agree with them.

Incidentally, Islam is not a race. They should be using the word "bigotry" instead of racism, as I digress into a William F. Buckley mode.

Okay, I'm back. This paragraph of Chesler's piece deals with Klocek and DePaul.

Then there is the 2004 case of De Paul university professor Thomas Klocek. Professor Klocek, who had taught at De Paul University for fifteen years, visited a student fair on campus and engaged in dialogue with some Muslim student supporters of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. He defended Israel. He questioned whether Rachel Corrie had indeed been murdered in cold blood and whether Israelis were really treating Palestinians in the same way that Hitler treated the Jews -- as the Muslim students' literature and posters claimed. He insisted that "the Israeli Armed Forces have exercised very careful restraint in their responses to what has been almost daily suicide bombings." Whereupon eight students descended on the single professor. A verbal melee ensued. Despite their clear superiority in numbers, the students donned the garb of victims, complaining that they were "harassed" and "threatened." They further alleged that Klocek had made "racist remark." The students met with their advisors who alerted various administrative deans. The deans wasted no time capitulating to the student agitators. They apologized to the offended students and suspended Professor Klocek. As of this writing, a lawsuit is under way.

WorldNetDaily has a write-up too, based mostly on FIRE's interest in the College Republican free speech struggle there. (See previous post.)

WorldNet does a good job putting together, at the end of the article, a nice summary of Thomas Klocek and Ward Churchill articles.

Technorati tags: Ward Churchill the Left Catholic education DePaul Illinois Chicago metroblogging Israel

FIRE puts DePaul University's feet to the fire

Big hat tip to DePaul student Nick Hahn of My Political Agenda.

First, a flashback to Tuesday's Chicago Tribune article about Thomas Klocek's free speech struggle at DePaul University, as the Chicago college's president, Father Dennis Holtschneider, speaks out about free speech:

"I get accused of being against free speech," Holtschneider said. "But freedom of speech for students requires they have a professor who treats them with respect."

Well, the free speech problems at DePaul go beyond its reprehensible conduct in the Klocek affair.

FIRE, by the way, is short for Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

From the organization's mission statement:

The mission of FIRE is to defend and sustain individual rights at America's increasingly repressive and partisan colleges and universities. These rights include freedom of speech, legal equality, due process, religious liberty, and sanctity of conscience—the essential qualities of individual liberty and dignity. FIRE's core mission is to protect the unprotected and to educate the public and communities of concerned Americans about the threats to these rights on our campuses and about the means to preserve them.

Protecting the unprotected is FIRE's specialty, which is why it agreed to take up the cause of suspended DePaul Professor Thomas Klocek and the abuse of his free speech rights at DePaul.

It's apparent that the bullying of Klocek was not an isolated incident at the Catholic university.

On October 20, Ward Churchill spoke at DePaul. Churchill is best known for his comment that the victims of the September 11 terrorist attack were "Little Eichmanns," as in Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi bureaucrat who oversaw Hitler's holocaust.

The DePaul Republicans were almost completely stymied in their attempt to utitilize their free speech rights to protest Ward Churchill's on-campus appearance there. That speaking gig, it's important to point out, was partly paid for by tuition dollars.

It's believed Churchill was paid about $5,000 for his 90 minute speech.

FIRE has opened a second case against DePaul, the first one of course involved the Klocek incident.

Here is that new case, DePaul University: Censorship of Student Group Protesting Ward Churchill, which includes some really creative anti-Ward Churchill posters.

More from FIRE, specifically its online publication, The Torch:

DePaul = Deceit

Every so often, FIRE gets a case where the behavior of university administrators is truly mystifying. Our most recent case at DePaul is one example, and is the subject of today's FIRE press release. That press release, and particularly its related links, is chock full of information about how DePaul went about silencing a group that was critical of the university's decision to sponsor a campus lecture and workshop by Professor Ward Churchill. It's truly a chilling story.

Oh, that man who gets "accused of being against free speech," DePaul President Fr. Holtschneider, can be reached at dholtsch@depaul.edu.

Technorati tags: Free Speech DePaul Republican GOP Chicago Illinois Thomas Klocek Ward Churchill

News you missed: Vice President Cheney to lead coup in Iraq

Thank heaven for the Tehran Times. After all, even the New York Times overlooks important stories such as Dick Cheney's coup plotting.

I'm sure the folks at Democratic Underground will take this claim quite seriously.

From the esteemed Tehran Times:

During his meeting with the leaders of Arab regional countries, Cheney convinced them to recognize a government that would assume power in Iraq after a coup.

Therefore, it is quite certain that the U.S. vice president had taken the preparatory measures in Baghdad to stage a coup with the help of former Baath leaders, some members of Iraq’s minority communities, and Allawi.

The U.S. wants to stage a coup before withdrawing from Iraq in order to establish a secular government with Arab nationalist tendencies led by Allawi that would oppose the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Technorati tags: Iraq Iranian Cheney Democracy

Castro, Chavez...and now Morales

The left has a new hero in Evo Morales, Bolivia's president-elect and latest champion of "the people."

The socialist is off to a predictable start: Today he reiterated his promise to nationalize the Bolivian oil and gas industries.

Of course he won't stop there, and what will result in about 10 years will be a completed destroyed economy.

Just like Castro's Cuba. The process is going on now in Chavez' Venezuela.

Oh, Morales is a coca farmer.

Buh-bye, Bolivia.

Technorati tags: Bolivia evo morales Castro Castro Chavez Coca

Senate blocks ANWR drilling

Think about the move by the Senate to not allow the drilling of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge when gasoline prices go back up to $3.00 per gallon next summer.

Gas prices oil prices ANWR

Syrian president stresses Iran's right to peaceful nuclear technology

So says the Tehran Times....

Is this suppossed to make us feel more comforatable with a nuclear Iran?

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stressed Iran's right to gain access to peaceful nuclear technology in accordance with international laws and regulations.

Making the remark at a meeting with the visiting Iranian Vice-President Hossein Dehghan here Wednesday, al-Assad hailed Iran's efforts in the political arena to safeguard the interests of regional countries.

Technorati tags: Iran Syria Farsi اولین واکنش به Axis of Evil

Saddam claims jailhouse beatings

Is this ploy a tactic of Ramsey Clark's legal strategy?

From AP:

Saddam Hussein launched into an extended outburst at his trial Wednesday, alleging he had been beaten and tortured by his Americans captors while in detention after a witness testified that his agents had tortured people by ripping off their skin.
Chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Mousawi said he would investigate and that if American-led multinational forces were abusing the former Iraqi leader, he would be transferred to the custody of Iraqi troops.

"I want to say here, yes, we have been beaten by the Americans and we have been tortured," Saddam said,, before gesturing to his seven co-defendants around him, "one by one."

After sitting quietly through several hours of testimony, Saddam said he'd been beaten "everywhere on my body. The marks are still there."

More on the Alstory Simon case...

Monday night Paul Meincke of ABC 7 Chicago became the latest local media outlet to report on the Alstory Simon/Anthony Porter case.

Anthony Porter was just a couple of days away from being executed, until Northwestern University Professor David Protess and some of his journalism students presented evidence to the state that not only blocked that execution, but led to then-Governor George Ryan pardoning Porter. In turn, the Porter case directly led to George Ryan's decision to commute all Illinois death penalties to life-in-prison.

Last month, Anthony Porter's civil suit against the City of Chicago ended with a victory for the defendant.

Walter Jones, an attorney representing the city made this statement during the trial:

"The killer has been sitting in that room right there all day,"... pointing to the table where Porter sat.

Alstory Simon, the man who confessed to the murders Porter was originally convicted of, has now recanted.

He raises some interesting allegations.

From Paul Meincke's ABC 7 Chicago report:

Simon's confession meant freedom for Anthony Porter who was convicted and nearly executed for the Green-Hillard murders. His confession wasn't the only evidence against Simon. His estranged wife Inez Jackson Simon, after 17 years of silence, told private investigators and later a grand jury that her husband committed the murders.

Inez Simon's cousin Walter Jackson, who is in prison, signed a statement saying Simon told him years earlier that he had taken care of Jerry and Marilyn.

Case closed.

But in a recent interview taped for Simon's lawyers, Inez Jackson Simon, now suffering from years of drug and alcohol abuse, says she was not even in the park when the murders occurred.

Simon claims seven years ago she was coached and coaxed into fingering her husband with promises of money from future book and movie deals on the Anthony Porter story. Walter Jackson has now told Alstory Simon's lawyers that Simon never told him he was the killer.

But then what of his convincing confession given to a private investigator?

"He had me convinced this was my only way out. He had me convinced the police was coming to arrest me, and that they had enough evidence to put me on death row," Simon said.

Northwestern's Protess denies these new accounts of what occurred in the Green-Hillard murders.

However, I find it intriguing that an attorney in court made the statement that Anthony Porter was the real killer. This is a man with a lot to lose, not a jailhouse snitch

Technorati tags: David Protess Northwestern Anthony Porter Alstory Simon Chicago Capital Punishment Death Penalty

Welcome Little Green Footballs readers

The next three posts are about the Klocek case and his free speech struggle with Chicago's DePaul University.

More Klocek: Ill. AAUP writer speaks out on the former DePaul prof

The Thomas Klocek news (I have two prior posts) is coming in bunches today. A tipster sent me this article, from the Illinois Chapter of the American Association of University Professors. The article is by John K. Wilson, it's there on the site, you just have to scroll down a bit.

An excerpt from A Tale of Two Professors Under Attack at DePaul:

The DePaul administration accuses Klocek of ‘threatening and unprofessional behavior,’ although it never specified any threats made by Klocek. AAUP guidelines protect extramural speech of all academics, including adjunct instructors. Removing an instructor for an argument outside of class is a violation of due process, and firing him is even worse. Extramural comments are only subject to punishment if they indicate professional misconduct, and hostile arguments may be unpleasant but certainly do not rise to that standard.

Although some critics point to Klocek’s firing as an example of political correctness, it primarily reflects the powerlessness of adjunct faculty and the corporatization of colleges where students are seen as customers and those who offend them will be removed.

Technorati tags: Thomas Klocek DePaul political correctness colleges AAUP Illinois

Thomas Klocek's free speech struggle with DePaul: A blog-ography

With this morning's article about the Thomas Klocek case in the Chicago Tribune, a lot of people are just now hearing about this sad story. So I thought I'd put together a series, by no means complete, of excellent articles and blog postings about this case.

Neil Steinberg and the Chicago Sun Times: In September, 2005, Professor Klocek read this Steinberg column. What Neil wrote was the intellectual basis of Klocek's ill-fated discussion with the Muslim students at DePaul.

That column was based on this op-ed by Abdel Rahman al-Rashed, the general manager of the al-Arabiya television network. This is the opening sentence of that article:

It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims.

March 1, 2005: My first posting on the Klocek case. The ABC 7 Chicago article that I based my blog entry is no longer available unfortunately.

Later that night, Michelle Malkin became the first big blogger to cover the Klocek story.

About two weeks later, the Chicago Jewish News published this excellent account of the what happened in the cafeteria at DePaul's downtown campus between Klocek and the Muslim students.

On March 19, Roger L. Simon, another big blogger weighed in.

The next day, mega-blogger Little Green Footballs made the Klocek case its "Outgrage of the Day." Many LGF visitors, 447 of them in fact, added comments to the Klocek posting.

The story was now everywhere in the blogosphere.

On March 22, Israeli Professor Steven Plaut published the first of his several articles about Klocek and DePaul. Plaut brought up DePaul's resident holocaust minimizer, Norman Finkelstein, in that column. Yes, Klocek, who defended Israel is gone from DePaul, but there is a professor who the Anti Defamation League called a holocaust denier among the DePaul faculty.

Around this time, Jay Ambrose of the Scripps Howard News Service wrote several columns about Klocek. Here is one of them, "A Question of Decency."

Chicago writer Richard Baehr has been a great supporter of Thomas Klocek, his well-circulated American Thinker piece hits DePaul hard.

Associated Press joined in on May 14, in this article by Nicole Dizon. It was published by many news sources--this reprint is from FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. That organization has been very supportive of Professor Klocek.

Klocek filed his defamation suit against DePaul a month later.

On June 20, the Klocek case was briefly mentioned on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor.

September 15 marked the first anniversary of Professor Klocek's discussion with the Muslim students at DePaul.

On October 10, John J. Miller's detailed account of the Thomas Klocek case appeared in the National Review.

Later that month, the hero of the extreme left, Ward Churchill spoke at DePaul. Churchill was paid about $5,000 for a 90 minute speech at the school's Lincoln Park campus to exercise his free speech rights. We all know what happened to Klocek when he tried to express his....

Ward Churchill's visit to DePaul gave the Klocek story new momentum in the blogosphere, as this press release points out.

There is plenty more "out there" in the blogosphere about Professor Klocek and DePaul, as the reader will learn by typing "Klocek" and "DePaul" into any internet search engine. See what you find.

Technorati tags: Thomas Klocek DePaul Illinois Academic freedom Chicago blogging Ward Churchill

Chicago Tribune article on Thomas Klocek

Ron Grossman of the Chicago Tribune has written an excellent piece on Thomas Klocek and his free speech struggle with Chicago's DePaul University. Outside of ABC 7 Chicago, the local media until now has ignored this compelling story of political correctness gone out of control.

That article is here. Free registration may be required.

Since his suspension and de facto firing from DePaul after attempting to have a discussion about Israel in front of some Muslim students, Klocek's financial situation has gone from uncertain to frightening.

One thing I didn't know about Klocek, his father was a Chicago bridgetender. My maternal grandfather was too.

A few excerpts from that article:

Meanwhile, Klocek does what he long has -- eke out an adjunct's living. Just before 6 p.m., he parked the car at Daley College. Sensing the handful of students in his first class hadn't done the assignment, Klocek had them read it aloud. He has learned to cut a little slack for young people who come to class after a day's work.

More...

Some newfound friends have turned his predicament into a demonstration of Karl Marx's proposition that history repeats itself: first as tragedy, a second time as farce. In his case, both are playing simultaneously.

More..

"I'm not the ideal poster boy," Klocek said. "But freedom of speech is a cause worth fighting for."

I'll have more on Klocek and DePaul later today.

Technorati tags: Free Speech Chicago DePaul Thomas Klocek

Ohio man runs a marathon in all 50 states in 2005

Third Wave Dave sent this my way. This AP article discusses the accomplishments of Craig Holcomb of Streetsboro, OH, formerly chief financial officer at a company called Little Tikes. Holcomb quit his job, sold his home and ran 48 marathons, plus two ultra-marathons, in each of the 50 states.

All in one year.

Curiously, the AP article left out Holcomb's marital status.

Craig has a website that documented his achievement. I noticed in addition to running two ultramarathons, he actually ran three. Craig ran in Chicago's starcrossed and presumably now defunct Lakeshore Marathon: That Memorial Day race inadvertently--but stupidly--added an extra mile to the official marathon distance of 26.2 miles.

I ran two marathons in 2005, one of those, the excellent Rite-Aid Cleveland Marathon, was one that Holcomb also ran.

Interestingly, there is a club, perhaps support group is more accurate, of runners who've run 50 marathons in 50 states. Craig is believed to be the first person who's achieved the 50 marathons in 50 states distinction in one calendar year.

A friend of mine finished his "50 marathon in 50 states" a couple of years back. I asked him upon completion if there was a "typical" 50-stater. He replied that for the most part, "the typical runner who does this is a retired person living in an RV and running 6 hour marathons."

Craig smashes that stereotype, he's just 38, and he won two of the marathons he entered: a race in South Dakota and one in Kentucky.

Technorati tags: Marathon running Ohio

House approves ANWR drilling

Well, it's about time! Hats off to House Speaker Denny Hastert for finally getting this through the lower chamber.

From AP:

House lawmakers opened the way for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and approved $29 billion for hurricane relief during an all-night session today, bringing their legislative year to a close.

The House also narrowly passed a plan to cut deficits by almost $40 billion over five years in legislation hailed by GOP conservatives as fiscal discipline and assailed by Democrats as victimizing medical and education programs for the poor.

The ANWR provision was attached to a major defense bill, forcing many opponents of oil and gas exploration in the barren northern Alaska range to vote for it. The bill, passed 308-106, devoted money to bird flu preventive measures and $29 billion to hurricane relief, including funds for reconstructing New Orleans' levees.

Technorati tags: ANWR Alaska Political Blogs

Iran's descent into lunacy: All western music banned

Even classical music. If George Orwell was still alive, he'd say "I told you so!"

Will the Left jump up and scream "censorship?!?"

Will President Bush reciprocate and ban Iranian music? If he does, will anyone notice?

From AP:

Hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has banned all Western music from Iran's state radio and TV stations — an eerie reminder of the 1979 Islamic revolution when popular music was outlawed as "un-Islamic" under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Today, though, the sounds of hip-hop can be heard blaring from car radios in Tehran's streets, and Eric Clapton's "Rush" and the Eagles' "Hotel California" regularly accompany Iranian broadcasts.

No more — the official IRAN Persian daily reported Monday that Ahmadinejad, as head of the Supreme Cultural Revolutionary Council, ordered the enactment of an October ruling by the council to ban all Western music, including classical music, on state broadcast outlets.

Technorati tags: Iran Farsi Music Axis of Evil Islam

DePaul's Thomas Klocek nominated by Jihad Watch as "American Anti-Dhimmi of the Year"

Well, I want to vote for Thomas Klocek.

Robert Spencer, who runs the web sites Jihad Watch and Dhimmi Watch, in addition to being the author of this book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (And the Crusades), has on online poll here to choose the American Anti-Dhimmi of the Year.

Not sure if voting is still open, or I'm just not doing it right.

"Dhimmis" are non-Muslims, for the most part Christians or Jews, living in a Muslim ruled country as a semi-protected underclass. For the most part, Dhimmitude was stricken from the legal code of most Muslim countries in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Ayatollah Khomeini and his Islamofascists brought dhimmitude back into play in 1979. Thank you, Jimmy Carter.

Klocek, as regular Marathon Pundit readers know, was the DePaul University professor who was fired by DePaul University after speaking up for Israel in front of some Muslim students on the campus of the Catholic university.

Andy Whitehead of Anti-CAIR was also nominated. He and I have exchanged a few e-mails and he's one heck of a nice guy. He's being sued by CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations, because of some postings on his web site that CAIR found objectionable.

Meanwhile for DePaul, its shameful conduct in the Thomas Klocek affair remains the story that just won't go away.

Tecnorati tags: Jihad Watch CAIR Robert Spencer DePaul Chicago metroblogging Jimmy Carter Illinois Thomas Klocek

Time Persons of the Year an annual gimmick

The "Person of the Year" feature at Time Magazine is out, and 2005's Person of the Year is Bono, Bill Gates and Melinda Gates.

Because of their philantropical work, they have been singled out by Time this year.

With no disrepect to those deeds by Bono and the Gates couple, but Time's Person of the Year issue has been for years just a silly gimmick that has strayed from its original purpose.

Time's first Man of the Year was Charles Lingbergh back in 1927. When initiated, the idea of that Time feature was to honor the person who most effected the news in calendar year. That's how bad guys such as Adolf Hitler (1938), Joseph Stalin (1939), and Ayatollah Khomeini (1979) were "honored." Yasser Arafat got a share of the 1993 award as one of the year's "Peacemakers."

1982's issue brought us the Machine of the Year, the computer, and 1989 Earth was the Planet of the Year. (My heart was set on Saturn and it's ring back then.)

The whole "Person of the Year" bit by Time has gotten ridiculous; it's time to end the media fawning of this "great event."

Technorati tags: Time Magazine time Bono Bill Gates 可爱的程序员们

Pajamas Media speaks out on the president's speech

It's all here, featuring commentary from Michelle Malkin, Solomonia, InstaPundit, and others.

Technorati tags: Bush Iraq Pajamas Media

Virginian forms Hillary Clinton for President committee

There's a guy in the Old Dominion with a lot of time on his hands.

From NBC 4 New York:

A Democratic activist in Virginia has formed a national Hillary Clinton for President campaign committee and says his dream ticket for 2008 is to have New York's junior senator paired with his own Gov. Mark Warner.

"A Clinton-Warner ticket would be the best thing this country could see," said Peter Feddo, a computer Web consultant and former top official with the Young Democrats of Virginia.

Neither Clinton nor Warner has said they are running for national office, but both are considered hot prospects for 2008 by party leaders. National polls show the former first lady, who is seeking re-election next year, far ahead of her potential 2008 rivals. Warner, who leaves office at the end of this year, is steadily improving in those polls.

Of course there is a web site, Vote Hillary.org.

Hillary's people are distancing themselves from Feddo's efforts.

From the same article:

"Senator Clinton is focused on doing the best job she can for New Yorkers in the Senate and her re-election in 2006," said adviser Howard Wolfson.

Although, when (I know, if...) but when she runs for president in 2008, I'm sure Hillary will eagerly gobble up Feddo's cash.

Technorati tags: Hillary HILLARY CLINTON 2008 Mark Warner Virginia New York

What part of "illegal" don't they understand?

News from Minnesota that does not involve the recent indictments of some Minnesota Vikings players. From Friday's St. Paul Pioneer Press:

Gov. Tim Pawlenty's controversial report on the cost of illegal immigration apparently has created an emerging political storm that will play out in the 2006 legislative session and next year's elections.

The report, which estimates undocumented immigrants and their children cost Minnesota taxpayers about $175 million a year for state services, may have roused a "sleeping giant" in immigrant communities that have been politically apathetic until now.

Pawlenty told a group of police chiefs Thursday that illegal immigration is a large and growing problem that will be at the top of his public safety agenda in the coming legislative session.

Meanwhile, Democrats accused the Republican governor of using illegal immigration as a wedge issue to "fire up his base" of social conservatives. They said it was part of a national strategy on the part of Republicans.

Technorati tags: immigration Minnesota Tim Pawlenty illegal immigration

Steyn on the Iraq elections, the Democrats

Another (what's new) great Mark Steyn column. If you're a liberal Democrat, you probably won't agree, but the truth hurts.

Well, that old Iraqi quagmire just keeps getting worse and worse, if only for the Democratic Party. What was the straw they were clutching at back in January? Oh, yeah, sure, gazillions of Kurds and Shiites might have gone to the polls, but where were the Sunni? As some of us said at the time, the Sunni'll come out tomorrow. And so they did. On Thursday, they voted in record numbers, leaving Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democrats frantically scrambling for another disaffected Iraqi minority group they could use as proof that the whole crazy neocon war-for-oil scam was a bust.

Technorati tags: Mark Steyn Steyn Iraq Copperhead Democratic Party

CBS' 48 Hours tonight to feature Ill. murder case--show likely to feature Northwestern prof tarnished by recent lawsuit (w/exclusive material)

Tonight at 10pm Eastern, CBS' 48 Hours will run a story on the 1986 murders of Dyke and Karen Rhoads of Paris, IL. Herb Whitlock and Randy Steidl were found guilty of the murders--Steidl was initially sentenced to death, but later that was commuted to life in prison by then-Gov. George Ryan.

48 Hours has covered the Paris story before. It's believed tonight's show will feature an interview with Northwestern University Professor David Protess.

Will 48 Hours mention the recent lawsuit filed by Alstory Simon in Chicago? In that suit, Simon pleaded guilty to two murders that led to the exoneration of Anthony Porter in a well publicized case. Simon now alleges that he was coerced to testify falsely that he was the killer. Protess, as he continues to have in the Paris case, had a very prominent role in the Porter/Simon case.

More on the case here.

In the exoneration business, there is a dirty little secret. The discovered "real criminal" is tarred by innuendo by media figures--these same media figures are of course the champions of the whoever has been exonerated.

This seems to be the predicament Alstory Simon faces. As for the Paris murders, for years a local man has been targeted by a smear campaign.

Last month, an attorney for the City of Chicago, Walter Jones, said in court "The killer has been sitting in that room right there all day," while gesturing to the table where Anthony Porter was sitting. Porter sued Chicago for false arrest. Last month, a jury ruled in the favor of the City of Chicago, rejecting Anthony Porter's claims.

Sometime next week, Marathon Pundit has learned, a major Chicago area media outlet will have an extensive account of the Porter "exoneration" story. And no, this won't be a refashioning of what's in the above link.

This letter was sent to CBS recently by friends-of-the-blog John Pearman and Dan Curry. It's available exclusive to Marathon Pundit.

Please be advised that both of us represent an Illinois man, in legal and public relations capacities. Our client is being smeared by those who are seeking to exonerate two men for the 1986 murder of Karen and Dyke Rhoads in Paris, Illinois.

We contacted you in May as CBS prepared to do an "update" story on the murders on the program 48 Hours. We understand that update story may be ready to air on Dec. 17. In addition to our previous admonition that we stand prepared to take whatever legal, public relations or other action at our disposal to fight back against CBS
if it directly or indirectly implicates our client in the heinous crime, a new and pressing concern has arisen that we believe warrants your immediate review.

The "star vehicle" in your June 21, 2001 show was Northwestern University Journalism Professor David Protess and his students, who were chronicled investigating the Paris murders. Reference was made and footage shown of Protess' work on the highly publicized Anthony Porter murder exoneration in Illinois, a case that led directly to Illinois' death penalty moratorium.

A new and explosive post-conviction petition was filed Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court that alleges that Protess, his investigator, and an attorney, in effect "framed" an innocent man in order to trigger the Porter exoneration. The assertion is backed by newly revealed evidence including recantations by all known witnesses to the crime.

These new allegations already have received news coverage in the Chicago Tribune, and Chicago and Milwaukee TV stations. Other major media outlets are planning stories.

What should be of great concern to CBS is that the allegation states that Protess' investigator coerced a confession from the innocent man using as leverage a news program that may have contained false information. That news story aired Feb. 2, 1999 in a newscast anchored by Dan Rather.

Of course these allegations have to be tested in court and we have no direct knowledge of their accuracy. But we know the attorneys filing the action and they are highly respected in the Chicago area legal community.

We are asking you to fully review this new petition before again featuring Professor Protess as the centerpiece of your show. Should these allegations in the Porter case prove meritorius, it would mean that CBS is relying on a discredited individual to serve as a central spokesperson regarding the network's point-of-view in the Paris
murders.

We make this request without any knowledge of what role Professor Protess plays in your upcoming show. What concerns us is that he pointed the finger at our client in your 2001 show when Susan Spencer said:

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Professor Protess thinks there could be a link between what Karen saw and the shadowy men from Florida. Could this have been murder for hire?

I'll TIVO the show tonight.

Technorati tags: David Protess Northwestern Anthony Porter Alstory Simon CBS Illinois Law

Cindy Sheehan leads anti-war protest in Spain: She's still around, too

It doesn't say in this AP article what Cindy's opinion of the elections in Iraq a couple of days ago.

The latest on Mother Sheehan's attempt at keeping relevant brought her to Madrid today, where she said "Iraq is worse than Vietnam."

It always leads back to Vietnam with these people

Technorati tags: Iraq Spain Espana

Gary Hart, the proto-Clinton: Still around somehow

Gary Hart, best known for that 1987 infidelity cruise on the boat Monkey Business that sunk his political career, is still trying to draw attention to himself (and away from his randy reputation): he has new book out about religion and politics, as he explains in this BuzzFlash interview.

Republicans are the bad guys, the "religious right" are the really bad guys.

Haven't we heard this before?

On the flipside, Donna Rice Hughes, his companion on that escapade, has managed to make something of herself, becoming an expert on child internet safety, and has written a book on the subject.

Her book sounds much more useful that Hartpence's

Oh, Donna's a born again Christian.

Technorati tags: Gary Hart Christianity
politics religion

Patriot Act extension gets senate majority, but not a filibuster proof total

The headlines in the MSM has it as "Senate Rejects Extension of Patriot Act."

It got a majority of the senate votes, 52 of them, but far short of the 60 needed to overcome a certain Democratic filibuster. It's a shame someone like myself has to reposition this story.

Technorati tags: Patriot Act Terrorism filibuster senate

News to watch next week: Cong. Schakowsky's husband to be sentenced by federal judge on Wednesday

Not that I forgot about this event, but I posted on Illinoiz, a blog I contribute to, alerted me to next week's sentencing date, Dec. 21, for Robert Creamer, who pleaded guilty this summer to charges largely involving kiting checks while heading the goo-goo organization Illinois Public Action Council.

Although she has not been implicated in any crimes, it's curious that Jan was serving on the board of directors of this self-appointed consumer watchdog group while her husband was shepherding the financial improprities at IPAC.

This August 31 USA Today article has more details on Creamers transgressions.

Congresswoman Schakowsky, a quite-liberal Democrat from Evanston, IL, is politicking the Dem politicos in the House--in spite of this impending bad news--with the goal of her becoming the vice chair of the House Democratic caucus, which would make Jan the fourth-ranking member of the House Democratic leadership. This write-up from The Hill explains it all. Two northeasterners, Joe Crowley of New York and Ruben Hinojosa of Connecticut, are also candidates for that position. As far as I know, they don't have spouses awaiting sentencing.


Technorati tags: Jan Schakowsky Democratic Party Robert Creamer Illinois Congress

Iraqi vote turnout estimated at 70 percent

Read about it here. Wonder what Dean, Murtha, Kerry, Schakowsky etc have to say about this news.

More Pajamas Media coverage of the Iraqi elections

You can find that here on the Pajamas site. Scroll down a post for the local angle on the elections.


Technorati tags: Pajamas Media Iraq Iraqi election

Cong. Schakowsky silent on Iraq election even though balloting took place in her district

My representative in Congress is Jan Schakowsky of Evanston. As I've noted before, she's part of the far-left wing of the Democratic party. Proof? Well, in January, she called for an immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.

Thursday, elections took place in there. Turnout was very high, and even in the Sunni areas, the level of violence was low.

Of course, Jan being a liberal means she is for "the people," yet she has not issued a statement on these elections. Quite ironic.

Especially since one of the 15 polling places in the US for Iraqi expatriates (and one of just three in the Midwest) was located in Schakowsky's 9th District.

Pictured above is the Caldo-Assyrian Community Center, located just south of Golf Road in Skokie. From Monday through Thursday, Iraqis living abroad traveled there to exercise their recently gained right to vote, something that would've been impossible if Saddam Hussein was still in power.

Visiting Jan's web site this evening, there is no mention that a small part of history was being made in the heart of her district.

Not even local pride, I guess, can encourage Jan to speak out if it makes President Bush and the Republican Party look good.

Technorati tags: Iraq Iraq election Jan Schakowsky Congress Northwest Chicago Suburbs Extreme left

Arab media mostly quiet on Iran-Israel confrontation

From CBS 2 Chicago:

The (anti-Israeli) comments by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, broadcast live Wednesday on state-run Iranian television, drew quick condemnation from Israel, the European Union and the United States.

However, in the United Arab Emirates, the top three Arabic-language newspapers buried the remarks deep in their Thursday editions, with no commentary. Newspapers in the country are government-controlled.

In neighboring Saudi Arabia, government-controlled newspapers picked up the statements from international news agencies and ran them on inside pages. They did not comment on them.

I checked out the al-Jazeera web site, they had an article about Hamas jumping up to defend the Iranian position against Israel.

And that's why bloggers (on the right) call it al-Jihad.

Technorati tags: al-Jazeera Iranian Farsi Israel Middle EastMahmoud Ahmadinejad Bomb עברית

Madison County, IL verdict tossed out by state supreme court

Madison County, Illinois is to trial lawyers what Jerusalem is to monotheists: sacred ground. This county, near St. Louis, is the origin of many of the nation's most irresponsible vericts.

Such as this one that led to a $10 billion judgement against Philip Morris USA. A class action lawsuit against the cigarette maker charged that the marketing of its light brand of cigarattes implied that the smokes were safer, a jury in Madison County agreed.

Of course, reasonable people realize that any cigaratte smoking is harmful. Which is why the Illinois Supreme court threw the suit out of court.

Technorati tags: trial lawyers Madison County Philip Morris Metro East

Cong. Danny Davis: Silent Night, Holy Night

Laura Ingraham was discussing on her radio show this morning the debate on a resolution in the House of Representatives honoring the symbols of Christmas.

It might be a silly thing for the House to get involved in. What's sillier is West Side Chicago Congressman Danny Davis reciting the lyrics of "Silent Night" on the floor of the House of Representatives. However, I'm sure there have been more inane things uttered there than what Davis said.

Laura was impressed by Davis' powerful speaking voice. He has a good one. But he did say "Have a productive Kwanzaa" with that voice."

Is that the traditiona Kwanzaa greeting?

Technorati tags: Christmas Danny Davis Laura Ingraham Chicago Chicago Illinois Kwanzaa Congress

High turnout for Iraq elections

This might for a day or two quiet down the Democrat copperheads such as John Murtha, Howard Dean, John Kerry, because as of this writing, the elections in Iraq are a fabulous success, as AP reports.

And Pajamas Media's Iraq the Model continues to report from Iraq.

Technorati tags: Iraq Iraqi election Copperhead Pajamas Media

More East Chicago vote fraud indictments

Indiana authorities have indicted five more people in an ongoing investigation of voting irregularities in East Chicago, bringing the total number of indictments in this case up to 22. AP has more details here.

Oh, they're Democrats.

Which brings to mind this Hugh Hewitt book: If It's Not Close, They Can't Cheat: Crushing the Democrats in Every Election and Why Your Life Depends on It

Technorati tags: Indiana Democrats Vote Fraud East Chicago Hugh Hewitt

High voter turnout expected in Fallujah; Pajamas Media coverage of the election

Good news from Iraq shortly before the polls open.

From AP:

Buildings still lie in ruins, pulverized by one of the most intense urban battles of the Iraq war. The city is sealed off, with only residents allowed into or out of the tight security cordon.

But despite continuing violence and intimidation in Iraq's insurgent heartland, turnout for Thursday's election in Fallujah, once the effective headquarters of the insurgency, was expected to be high.

And as for a second reminder, Pajamas Media will be closing watching the Iraqi elections. Visit Pajamas' Iraq the Model for updates.

Technorati tags: Pajamas Media Weblog Iraq Iraqi election Iraq the Model

Blogroll addition: Leslie's Omnibus

Leslie's Omnibus comes to the blogroll with one key credential: A recommendtion from fellow Illinois blogger Mr. Right of The Right Place.

A Chicagoan, Leslie's blog has an edgy, urban feel--with some excelleng photoblogging thrown in.

How best to describe "Leslie's Omnibus?" Eclectic.

Visit and enjoy.

Part 3 of Hillary's Park Ridge photoblogging: The Pickwick Theater

Okay not a really strong Hillary tie-in, but this magnicent art-deco building, the Pickwick, is still a movie theater. It's located about three blocks from the former Rodham home on Wisner Street, and less than a block from the First United Methodist Church of Park Ridge. (Those were the subjects of parts one and two of this photoblogging series.)

In 1975, the Pickwick Theater was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Still, there is a HRC connection to the Pickwick. From the Chicago Sun-Times in 2003:

Clinton, in her long-awaited autobiography, Living History, paints a picture of an idyllic childhood in the northwest suburb, going to the Pickwick Theater, attending high school at Maine East and then, when Maine South opened, becoming a member of the first class in the new school.

Next is Maine South High School.

Oh, on a personal note, I took my daughter, "Little Marathon Pundit," to her first movie at the Pickwick. We suffered through "Muppets in Space" there.

Technorati tags: Hillary Photography Art Deco Park Ridge Northwest Chicago Suburbs architecture

Georgetown, DePaul and some other schools: No military recruiters, please

Last night I posted about Georgetown's acceptance of a $20 million gift from a controversial Saudi prince for the Catholic university's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.

Today's Wall Street Journal's Opinion Journal points out that Georgetown's law school is one of 24 law schools who've agreed to be publicly acknowledged as a plaintiff in the case FAIR vs. Rumsfeld. This case, which was argued before the US Supreme Court earlier this month, is about the plaintiff's disagreement over the Solomon Amendment, which has progressively cut off funding to universities that ban military recruiters from their campuses.

The point of contention in all this is the military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding gays in the military.

Opinion Journal juxtaposes the Georgetown stance with that of Saudi Arabia in regards to gay rights. Although the death penalty hangs over the head of any practicing Saudi gay, homosexuality in the kingdom is surprisingly open--in a "Don't ask, don't tell" sort of way, according the Opinion Journal.

But the point is obvious. For Georgetown, Saudi "Don't ask, don't tell" must be okay--just not for our military recruiters.

Oh, I almost forgot, one of the other plaintiff law schools is DePaul. The Chicago Catholic school, who I've blogged quite a bit about, in fact as recently as this morning, has firmed up its leftist credentials by taking part in FAIR vs. Rumsfeld.

Technorati tags: Georgetown washington dc metroblogging Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Saudi Arabia DePaul Gay Military glbt Catholic

Pajamas Media presenting a special report on the Iraq parliamentary elections

Tomorrow Pajamas Media, of which I'm a member, will be the host of extensive coverage of tomorrow's parliamentary elections in Iraq. Iraq the Model is one of the featured bloggers for this project. Welcome to the world of citizen journalism.

Reuters reports Iraq is calm on the eve of these elections.

I traveled to the Caldo-Assyrian Community Center earlier this snowy afternoon in Skokie, IL; it was calm there as well when I took this picture. Absentee voting continues there through Thursday.

Technorati tags: Iraq Pajamas Media Journalism Iraq election Illinois

Jane Fonda: US soldiers are "Killing Machines"

Hat tip to Third Wave Dave, our man in Central California. Dave lives near Folsom Prison. I'm mentioning that because I just saw the awesome movie "Walk the Line." Of course that prison figured prominently in the film.

From NewsMax:

Hanoi Jane" Fonda is claiming that ever since Vietnam, U.S. troops have been trained to commit atrocities against innocent civilians as a matter of military policy.

"Starting with the Vietnam War we began training soldiers differently," the anti-American actress says in an email to the Washington Post.

More...

"This began," Fonda maintained, "because the military discovered that in World War II and Korea, [U.S.] soldiers weren't killing enough."

"So they changed training procedures" to teach troops how to commit atrocities.

After years of semi-quiet, Fonda has been back in the public eye, with disappointing results. Her feeble attempt at comedy, Monster-In-Law, is currently stinking up cable TV. This fall Jane was planning an anti-war bus tour with slimy British MP and Saddam apologist George Galloway across the US, the bus was to be powered by vegetable oil (where does one go for a fill-up for such a vehicle?) but the Ken Kesey flashback journey was cancelled.

Now Jane has resorted to sending tin-foil hat deduced e-mails to the Washington Post.

Technorati tags: Jane Fonda George Galloway Iraq Liberals

Tookie supporter says executed gang leader deserves a statesman's funeral

Sorry, I disagree. Looks like we'll get to see Mike Farrell, Jesse Jacskon, Joan Baez, etc. moan one more time about this "tremendous loss" of this "great man."

The victims of Stanley "Tookie" Williams surely didn't receive statesmen's funeral.

From AP:

The argument over whether convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams was a man of peace or a death-row con artist raged on after his execution Tuesday, with supporters announcing they would give him a funeral "befitting a statesman."

Tookie's four murder victims were:

Albert Owens
Yen-I Yang
Tsai-Shai Chen Yang
Yu-Chin Yang Lin

Technorati tags: Tookie Tookie Williams Capital Punishment

Iran's president calls holocaust a myth

We've got a real problem with this nut president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran. The possibly soon-to-be-nuclear-armed Islamic Republic seems itching for a fight.

From AP:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad escalated his anti-Israeli rhetoric Wednesday, calling the Holocaust a "myth" used by Europeans to create a Jewish state in the heart of the Islamic world.

His remarks drew swift condemnation from Israel, Germany, France and the European Commission. Germany said the remarks would affect upcoming negotiations over Iran's nuclear program, and European Commission President Jose Manual Barroso said Iranians "do not have the president, or the regime, they deserve."

Ahmadinejad last week questioned whether the Nazi destruction of 6 million European Jews during World War II occurred and said Israel should be moved to Europe. He also provoked an international outcry in October when he called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."

To bolster it's holocaust denial credentials, the de facto English language mouthpiece of the Iranian government, the Tehran Times, drew upon the scholarly work of DePaul University's resident holocaust-minizer, Norman Finkelstein, in this front page editorial. DePaul should be ashamed.

UPDATE 6:15PM CST: Courtesy of Michelle Malkin's blog, here is a way to let the Mullah's aware of your opionion on their loon president.

Technorati tags: Iran نگاه ديلير Israel Axis of Evil Farsi DePaul Norman Finkelstein עברית

Georgetown U. gets $20 million gift for its Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding from Saudi prince who Guiliani rebuffed

Georgetown University, the Jesuit college in Washington DC, received a $20 million dollar donation for the school's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.

From Wednesday's Arab News:

Kingdom Holding Company Chairman Prince Alwaleed ibn Talal announced yesterday his donation of $20 million to Georgetown University to support and expand its Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (CMCU).

The Center, part of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown, is an international leader in inter-religious scholarship and research, in particular Islamic studies and Muslim-Christian relations. The center will be renamed The Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.

And just who is Prince Alwaleed ibn Talal? Well, he's the wealthy--even on Saudi royal family standards--prince who shortly after 9/11, waved a $10 million dollar check at then-New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani to support the disaster relief effort going on then.

But Wally the Prince had something to say first.

From CNN in 2001:

The prince's statement said the United States "should re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stand toward the Palestinian cause.

"While the U.N. passed clear resolutions numbered 242 and 338 calling for the Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza Strip decades ago, our Palestinian brethren continue to be slaughtered at the hands of Israelis while the world turns the other cheek," the statement said.

Giuliani flatly rejected the prince's position. "To suggest that there's a justification for [the terrorist attacks] only invites this happening in the future," he said. "It is highly irresponsible and very, very dangerous.

Well done, Rudy.

The prince turns up in odd places. He owns a little more than five percent of NewsCorp., the parent company of Fox News.

In 2002, he was the largest named donor--about $2.5 million worth--to the "Terror Telethon" in support of the Palestinian Intifada.

And of course in late 2005, Catholic Georgetown gets $20 million from the prince for the new Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. Harvard got a similar $20 million gift yesterday too.

Just wondering? Are students at an Islamic college in Saudi Arabia able to learn anything about Christianity? Very unlikely.

Don't look for a Mel Gibson Center for Christian-Muslim Understanding in Riyadh any time soon.

So enjoy the money, Georgetown. And of course, Wally the Prince expects nothing in return from you.

Technorati tags: Georgetown Saudi Arabia Prince Alwaleed ibn Talal Catholic Islam Religion Jesuit

Ten hour drive to Skokie to vote in the Iraqi election

Hmmm...Ten hour drive to the Chicago suburb of Skokie to vote! Will this be on the front page of the New York Times tomorrow?

From CBS 2 Chicago:

Iraqis from all across the Midwest are flocking to the north suburbs to vote in Iraq's historic national election.

Iraq is choosing a 275-member national assembly.

CBS 2’s Sylvia Gomez reports from Skokie where some people drove 10 hours to get to the polling place.

“God bless America. God bless Iraqi freedom. I’m very happy,” said Iraqi voter Hawa Giliana.

Technorati tags: Iraq Iraq election Skokie Chicago

View on the Australian riots from an Australian blogger

Jon Ray is a blogger from Australia who is covering the riots going on down there. Just click here and start scrolling. His blog is called Australian Politics.

Technorati tags: Sydney Riots Cronulla Australia Sydney

Iraqi expatriates vote in Skokie, IL

Not too far away from Marathon Pundit world headquarters, Iraqis living in the US are voting today and the next few days to choose the Iraqi government.

Oh, for those leftwing trolls visiting. This didn't happen under Saddam.

From AP:

The chance to cast his ballot in the Iraqi national election was all the encouragement Haidar Al Latif needed to drive 10 hours in a rented car from South Dakota to a polling place in suburban Chicago to vote.

"This is the first time I had the opportunity to vote," said Al Latif, 34, who works as a mason in Sioux Falls. He said a snowstorm prevented him from making the trip in January to cast a ballot for a constitutional assembly, Iraq's first free elections in decades.

Iraqi expatriates began voting Tuesday in the Chicago area and in other cities around the United States to help elect the 275-member National Assembly, which will legislate over the next four years and choose the first fully constitutional government since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's rule in 2003.

Tookie Williams dead at San Quentin

And apparently L.A. is calm, at least for now. AP has the story.

It was quite a scene outside the legendary central California prison, a freak show, according to Michelle Malkin.

Technorati tags: tookie Tookie Williams Capital Punishment

Part 2 of Hillary's Park Ridge photoblogging: The First United Methodist Church

Part one of Hillary's Park Ridge photoblog is here. All the pictures for this series were taken last Monday afternoon.

Hillary Clinton was once, according to the late Barbara Olson in her indispensable book about Hillary, Hell to Pay, a teenage supporter of Barry Goldwater and his 1964 presidential run.

HRC has changed since then.

How did it happen? Barbara dug into Hillary's Park Ridge, IL past and focused on the First United Methodist Church on Touhy Avenue, near the Rodham home at 235 Wisner Street.

Donald G. Jones was the youth minister there, according to Olson, when Hillary Rodham was a high school student.

Olson writes:

(Jones) conveyed his deep commitment to the theology of Paul Tillich, who redefined Christianity in terms of the German idealistic tradition and existentialism. Jones believed, as Tillich wrote, that the major flaw of contemporary Christianity was its deep roots in middle-class culture.

The Reverend Jones jolted his students with a bracing mixture of counterculture and high culture, the poems of e.e. cummings, J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, and a discussion of Picasso's Guernica.

In 1965, Hillary wrote a letter to the Reverend Jones, expressing glee over liberal Republican John Lindsay's election as mayor of New York City.

As Olson writes, at that time Hillary "was still a Republican but 'leaning left.' She added 'See how liberal I'm becoming.'"

The transformation was far from complete.

Technorati tags: Hillary HILLARY CLINTON Park Ridge Barry Goldwater Methodist Liberalism photoblog

Blogroll addition: Extreme Wisdom

Illinois blogger and part-time WIND-AM 560 radio host Bruno Behrend of Extreme Wisdom has been added to the Marathon Pundit blogroll.

Outside of sports programming, WIND is an all conservative talk-radio outlet. Michael Medved, Lauran Ingraham, Hugh Hewitt, and Michael Savage are among the talkers to be found on the far-left (geographically speaking) side of the AM dial.

Bruno has a great blog. Visit it often.

I like his blog's slogan, similar to this blog's credo:

Do not wait for leaders - do it alone, person to person. -- Mother Teresa

Technorati tags: blogging Illinois WIND Radio Mother Teresa

Justice in at least one "honor killing"

About a month ago, the Chicago Tribune had a long article about European Muslim immigrants bringing the odious custom of "honor killings" to the West.

Many times these crimes go unsolved.

Well, justice was served in England yesterday in this case.

From Britain's Times:

A Father who ordered his two teenage sons to carry out the so-called honour killing of an Oxford student who made his daughter pregnant was told yesterday that he must serve a minimum of 20 years in jail.

A High Court judge told Chomir Ali, 44, that there was “no honour in murder”.

The body of Arash Ghorbani-Zarin, a 19-year-old electrical engineering student, was found with 46 stab wounds after he was ambushed in his car in November last year.

Mr Justice Goss described it as a cold-blooded killing, adding that “the sooner the term honour killings are seen for the grotesque misnomer they are, the better”. He told Ali, a Bangladeshi-born waiter: “Far from vindicating your family’s honour you have permanently dishonoured your family with the stain of murder.”

Technorati tags: Bangladesh UK honor killings England Oxford

Arnold gives Tookie one last look: No clemency

From AP:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to block the execution of Stanley Tookie Williams, rejecting the notion that the founder of the murderous Crips gang had atoned for his crimes and found redemption on death row.

Early voting begins in Iraq

Most of the electorate votes in three days. No quotes in this AP article from Copperheads such as Howard Dean, John Kerry, Cindy Sheehan, or Ill. Rep Jan Schakowsky as Iraqis exercise their right to vote, something they could not do under the Saddam Hussein regime.

Technorati tags: Iraq Copperhead Left wing extremists

I'm dreaming of a White Sox Christmas

Sunday afternoon, I was at the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago for the annual Christmas around the World celebration at the South Side institution. My daughter, Little Marathon Pundit, performed as a dancer at a Latvian Christmas event.

Christmas around the World has been a regular feature at the museum since the 1940s. Nations such as Belarus, Egypt, India, Iceland, and many more are honored by a Christmas Tree decorated in its respective traditional fashion.

This year, precedent may have been broken, as a Chicago White Sox tree was erected this year.

Hey, Chicago has a World Series champion for the first time since 1917--precedent deserves to be broken.

Technorati tags: White Sox Chicago White Sox Christmas Museum of Science and Industry Latvia Latvija Belarus

Tehran Times cites DePaul's Norman Finkelstein in hateful editorial

The Tehran Times, in my opionion, could be the world's worst newspaper. As far as I know, the Times has no official link to the Islamic Republic of Iran, but it sure acts as if it does.

From Monday's front page editorial:

The United Nations General Assembly has voted to designate January 27 as international Holocaust Remembrance Day. The UN resolution to commemorate Jews who lost their lives in Europe during the Second World War was introduced by Israel and approved on Tuesday by most UN member states. What’s behind this resolution and the Holocaust remembrance effort? Whose interests does it serve?

It is, of course, fitting and proper to remember all victims of war and genocide. But Holocaust remembrance is not, as its supporters claim, a noble effort motivated by sincere concern for humanity. It is, rather, a one-sided campaign designed to further Zionist interests.

Since the late 1970s, remembrance of “the Holocaust” – usually defined as the genocidal killing of six million Jews in Europe during the Second World War – has grown tremendously. This media and political campaign, which Jewish historian Alfred Lilienthal calls “Holocausto­mania,” includes a relentless stream of propagandistic motion pictures, television specials, books, education courses, museums and commemorative events.

Blah...blah..blah.

And more..

Norman Finkelstein, a Jewish scholar who teaches at DePaul University in Chicago, writes in his bestselling book, The Holocaust Industry, that “invoking The Holocaust” is “a ploy to delegitimize all criticism of Jews.” He adds: “By conferring total blamelessness on Jews, the Holocaust dogma immunizes Israel and American Jewry from legitimate censure... Organized Jewry has exploited the Nazi holocaust to deflect criticism of Israel’s and its own morally indefensible policies.”

I don't know who's crazier. The Tehran Times or DePaul's in-house holocaust minimizer, Norman G. Finkelstein.

Read more on DePaul and Norman Finkelstein (and suspended pro-Israel prof Thomas Klocek) here, courtesy of Dr. Steven Plaut.

Back to the Finkelstein book, Beyond Chutzpah; I'm not aware that it's a best-seller, as the Tehran Times claims.

Technorati tags: DePaul Norman Finkelstein Israel Iran Farsi Chicago Holocaust עברית

Richard Pryor's Peoria roots

Yes, Richard Pryor was a son of Peoria.

From AP:

Comedian Richard Pryor's comedy was shaped by his childhood on the wrong side of the tracks in this central Illinois city.

His experiences growing up in a brothel run by his grandmother were fodder for standup routines, as well as the semi-autobiographical 1985 film "Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling."

Pryor, 65, died Saturday of a heart attack in Los Angeles. He had been ill for years with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease of the nervous system.

Friends and former neighbors remembered him as a reed-thin, sarcastic kid who performed in plays and talent shows at the local community center.

Technorati tags: Richard Pryor Peoria Comedy Illinois

"..and may all your Christmases be white."

Taken on Gross Point Road this morning in Skokie. Ironically, this Chicago suburb has a large Jewish population.


Technorati tags: Photoblogging Skokie Northwest Chicago Suburbs Illinois White Christmas

Jesse Jackson calls on Arnold to spare Tookie's life

Gangs have done immeasurable harm to the Black community. The Reverend Jesse Jackson would make a similar statement in the right context.

The context was different this morning in Chicago.

From AP:

With only two days left before the scheduled execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, the Rev. Jesse Jackson made another appeal for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to spare the life of the reformed gang leader Saturday.

Jackson said Williams had changed dramatically while in prison, worked to discourage troubled youths from joining violent street gangs, and could serve humanity better if allowed to live. Williams' execution is scheduled for 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.

Reformed gang leader??? That's AP in the first paragraph, not Jesse.

If Tookie truly is reformed, he'd be telling the authorities what he knows about the surely many unsolved crimes the Crips have been implicated in. Yes, that means he'd be "ratting out" his former (or is it former?)friends still in the Crips.

And Williams would be dictating to California law enforcement everything--and I mean, everything--he knows about he vicious gang he helped create.

That is, once again, if he was truly a changed man.

Technorati tags: Jesse Jackson Tookie Tookie Williams Arnold California Schwarzenegger death-penalty

Gene McCarthy dies at 89

Former Minnesota Democratic Senator Eugene McCarthy also died today. Of course he's best known for his 1968 presidential run; his near-win in the New Hamphshire primary that year was the impetus for President Lyndon B. Johnson's withdrawl from the presidential race.

Although his highest office was senator, he was a kind of philosopher-king, writing poetry and several books.

McCarthy's 1988 view of the Democratic Party was dead on-accurate. From AP:

The racial, social and political tensions within the Democratic Party in 1968 have continued to affect presidential politics ever since.

"It was a tragic year for the Democratic Party and for responsible politics, in a way," McCarthy said in a 1988 interview. "There were already forces at work that might have torn the party apart anyway — the growing women's movement, the growing demands for greater racial equality, an inability to incorporate all the demands of a new generation.

"But in 1968, the party became a kind of unrelated bloc of factions ... each refusing accommodation with another, each wanting control at the expense of all the others."

Technorati tags: Eugene McCarthy Minnesota Politics Democrats

Richard Pryor dies at 65

Peoria, IL native Richard Pryor, a legendary pioneer in the comedy field, died this morning.

Bill Dennis, the Peoria Pundit, has a couple of posts on this story. I'm sure as I type this he's working on a "Peoria angle" on Pryor.

Truly one of the greats. Rest in peace, with a some laughter of course.

Technorati tags: richard pryor Peoria Comedy

Murtha on Fox News tonight

Pennslyvania Congressman John Murtha will be on John Kasich's Hearland program tonight at 8pm Eastern (7pm Central), according to the Fox News web site. Murtha, a Democrat, is the latest hero of the anti-war crowd.

Lawyer accused of stealing from another lawyer who stole

Both of these guys shouldn't practice law again. From AP:

A Joliet (IL) lawyer is facing a theft charge for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars from one of his clients -- who just happens to be an attorney convicted of theft himself.

Forty-five-year-old J. Kevin Davis of Morris was arrested yesterday, charged with one count of theft and taken to the Will County Jail. Davis is accused of stealing more than ten thousand dollars, and if he is convicted his punishment could range from probation to seven years in prison.

Authorities have accused Davis of pocketing money former Romeoville attorney Charles Hahn stole from clients and was supposed to return under the terms of his 2002 plea bargain. Davis represented Hahn in that case.

Ramsey Clark, Saddam Hussein's chief apologist

Christopher Hitchen's latest op-ed is in Thursday's LA Times. Free registration required. However, I found the same write-up in Saturday's Arab News, where no registration is needed.

Hitchen's on fire. An excerpt:

In an interview with the BBC last week and another in the New York Times on Tuesday, Mr. Clark addressed the charge that in 1982, after an apparent attempt on his life in the Iraqi town of Dujail, Hussein had ordered the torture and murder of about 150 men and boys from the area.

Far from denying that any such horror had occurred--and it is one of the smaller elements in the bill of indictment--Clark asserted that it was justifiable. He has now twice said in public that, given the war with the Shiite republic of Iran, Hussein was entitled to take stern measures. "He had this huge war going on, and you have to act firmly when you have an assassination attempt," he told the BBC.

Technorati tags: Ramsey Clark Saddam Hussein Saddam Iraq Christopher Hitchens

Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church planning two Saturday pickets in Illinois

Fred Phelps and his maniacal followers can't show up to picket the funeral and a memorial service for two Illinois soldiers killed in Iraq, even if the events are in different parts of the Prairie State, can he?

Phelps and his followers generally shows up for most of his promised pickets, but my guess he'll show up for just one of them.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch had an article in yesterday's edition about that nutcase from Kansas, Fred Phelps, the pastor of the Westboro Baptist "Church."

The deluded goofball believes God is punishing the United States for American acceptance of the gay lifestyle.

Saturday, Phelps is threatening to picket the memorial service of Army Sgt. Gary Harper in Virden, IL, as well as to protest the Beach Park funeral of Army Sgt. 1st Class James Ochsner.

As I noted on Marathon Pundit earlier this week, Illinois Lt. Governor Pat Quinn, who attends most of the military funerals of Illinois soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, will soon propose legislation limiting the protest options at funerals by groups such as Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church.

Technorati tags: Fred Phelps Gay Illinois Military Iraq

Last night's plane accident recalls anniversary of 1972 Midway jet crash

Last night, a Southwest Airlines plane skidded off a runway at Chicago's Midway Airport, killing a six year-old boy who was a passenger in a car on Central Avenue.

On a another snowy December 8 thirty-three years ago, a United Airlines plane crashed into some homes near Midway, killing 45 people.

Among the passengers on the flight was West Side Chicago Congressman George Collins and Mrs. Dorothy Hunt, wife of Watergate scandal figure Howard Hunt. In Dorothy's luggage was over $10,000 in cash, widely believed to be "hush money" for her husband's "silence."

Technorati tags: Midway Chicago Airlines Watergate nixon Richard Nixon

Israel calls Iranian president "very dangerous"

Just Israel? There is serious trouble brewing in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Alan Dershowitz' next book will be about the Iranian problem. He talked about it on Tony Snow's radio show, I think the book will be called "The Case for Preemption."

Dershowitz offered this comment on Iran: "The one constant is this: Iran must not get a nuclear bomb."

This report comes from Al Jazeera:

Israel has called Iran's president "very dangerous" after he expressed doubt that the holocaust occurred and suggested the Jewish state be moved to Europe.

"This was not a mis-statement or a passing remark," Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told Israel Radio on Friday. "It is a systematic way of thinking which is intended to bring about the annihilation of the state of Israel."

On Thursday Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that if Germany and Austria believed that Jews were massacred during the second world war, a state of Israel should be established on their soil.

Ahmadinejad, who said in October that Israel must be "wiped off the map", was being interviewed on Al-Alam, an Iranian state satellite channel while in Makka, Saudi Arabia, where he was attending a summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.

Technorati tags: Israel Middle East Iran Alan Dershowitz Dershowitz آلبوم عکسها

Blogroll additions: Peter Paul and Hillcap

Yes, that Peter Paul. He sent me an e-mail earlier this week, praising my post from last week about his nemesis, Hillary Clinton, choosing to have a fundraiser right next door to the former site of Thee Doll House, a strip club owned by James Levin. A Chicago area resident, Levin was the finance director of Hillary's 2000 senate campaign. Levin is currently awaiting sentencing for financial improprieties involving a snow removal contract with the Chicago Public Schools.

Peter is still on the Hillary trail, he has a blog, Peter F. Paul. Here is the title of his post from yesterday: Hillary Clinton: When Will You Correct Your 3 False FEC Returns and Refund the $1 Million Plus?

Peter also directed me to this site, Hillcap, the Hillary Clinton Accountability Project.

I'm adding Hillcap as a blogroll addition too.

By the way, it was really cool to open up my e-mail box and see an e-mail from Peter Paul there.

Technorati tags: Peter Paul HILLARY CLINTON Hillary Chicago metroblogging strip clubs

Reader book and site recommendations

Reader Vince S. from Chicago's Northwest Side has a couple of books he's recommending to me and Marathon Pundit visitors. The first is 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America by Bernard Goldberg. I read his first two books, and gave it as a gift to one of my brothers. Bernie skewers many left-wing icons, such as Ward Churchill, Michael Moore, Howard Dean.

The second book is Unlimited Access by Gary Aldrich. He was in charge of issuing security passes at the Clinton White House and he has a lot to tell.

Since leaving the Clinton White House, Gary founded the Patrick Henry Center.

Here is an excerpt from its mission statement:

The Patrick Henry Center's Mission Statement is to assist in the uncovering of serious wrongdoing in the federal government, will promote and protect every citizen's right to know, to speak out, and to correct corruptions no matter where they may occur. The Center will identify, encourage, support and protect those who believe in free speech, particularly as it applies to ethics and honesty in federal government.

Technorati tags: Books
Bernard Goldberg
Gary Aldrich

New photoblog series: Hillary's Park Ridge

Park Ridge, Illinois is a few miles west of where I live. Until recently I worked in that Chicago suburb. Park Ridge of course is where Hillary Rodham Clinton lived until she met that smooth-talker from Arkansas. I took this photograph and all of the others in this mini-photoblog series on Monday afternoon December 5.

Hillary and the other Rodhams were like most Park Ridge residents then and now: Republican and conservative.

But Hillary changed. More on that later.

As mentioned in Wikipedia, the corner of Elm and Wisner was renamed "Rodham Corner" in 1997. The "Hillary House" is at 235 Wisner Street, just north of Touhy Avenue.

Technorati tags: Hillary HILLARY CLINTON Illinois Park Ridge Northwest Chicago Suburbs Photoblog

Wisconsin legislators want "Holiday tree" to be called a Christmas tree

Earlier today it was Purdue University in Indiana and the "Union tree." Now up in Wisconsin, ironically where many Christmas trees come from, almost fifty legislators want the Christmas tree the state calls a "Holiday tree" to be called a Christmas tree.

From AP:

It's a 35-foot-tall balsam fir decorated with lights and ornaments and stands in the Capitol Rotunda for almost the entire month of December.

So should it be a ``Holiday Tree'' or a ``Christmas Tree?''

Forty-six lawmakers, most of them Republicans, sent Gov. Jim Doyle a letter Wednesday urging him to rename the tree the ``Wisconsin State Christmas Tree,'' saying the tree is one of the great symbols of Christmas and should be named as such.

The state first put a tree up in the rotunda over the holidays in 1916, and officials began referring to it as the ``Holiday Tree'' in 1985, according to the governor's office. The moniker has continued through four different administrations

.
Let's hope Governor Doyle does the sensible thing. However, Doyle is a Democrat.

Technorati tags: Wisconsin Christmas Jim Doyle

Next photoblog series: Hillary Clinton's Park Ridge

To the left is my favorite photo from my last photoblog series. This one was taken in remote Cherry County, in the heart of Nebraska's Sandhills.

My next series will center on Park Ridge, IL, where Hillary Rodham Clinton grew up. I took the pictures Monday, the first one will be the house Hillary grew up.

Technorati tags: Nebraska Photography Sandhills

2005 Weblog Awards voting going on 'til Dec 15

Vote now, in a myriad categories, for best blog in the 2005 Weblog Awards.

Marathon Pundit was not nominated for anything, but I did get an honorable mention of sorts from fellow Illinois blogger Mr. Right of The Right Place. He also singled out two other friends-of-blog, Brainster and Third Wave Dave.

Technorati tags: Weblog Awards Weblogs Blogging

Hitler nominated for Nobel Prize

Well, it happened a long time ago, but it did occur, according to UCLA Law Professor Eugene Volokh.

From the LA Times, free registration required:

Many advocates of clemency for Stanley Tookie Williams note that he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and the Nobel Prize in literature for his anti-gang work, which includes writing children's books. How could a convicted murderer and co-founder of the Crips be nominated for such prizes?

According to Nobel Prize nominating rules, any "professor of social sciences, history, philosophy, law and theology" and any judge or national legislator in any country, among others, can nominate anyone for a Nobel Peace Prize. Past nominees include Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Benito Mussolini and Fidel Castro. Any "professor of literature [or] of linguistics," among others, can nominate anyone for a Nobel Prize in literature.

Naturally, many nominees have real merit. But being nominated by one or a few of the hundreds of thousands of eligible nominators is little evidence of such merit. This is especially so when the nominee is a source of controversy, and when it may seem that nominating him may prevent his execution.

Professor Volokh left out one other controversial Nobel nominee, former Illinois Governor George H. Ryan, currently on trial on various corruption charges in Chicago. Here is CBS 2 Chicago's George Ryan Trial Blog.

Technorati tags: Tookie Nobel Prize George Ryan Volokh Crips Death Penalty Hitler

Barack Obama nominated for Grammy Award

The sanctification process of Illinois Senator Barack Obama continues.

Take note of the other Leftists nominated in the same category. From the Chicago Tribune, free registration required:

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was nominated Thursday for a Grammy Award, joining the ranks of Mariah Carey, Kanye West, Bruce Springsteen and a host of artists recognized for their musical genius.

But when the Grammys are handed out early next year, Obama will not be competing against musicians or songwriters. His nomination comes under a different category: Best Spoken Word Album.

The senator turned his autobiography, "Dreams From My Father," into an audio book that was released earlier this year. His narration of his own life story earned him one of five spots in a somewhat obscure field known as Grammy Category 77.

The other nominees in the Spoken Word category include Garrison Keillor for "The Adventures of Guy Noir;" Al Franken for "The Al Franken Show Party Album;" Sean Pean for "Bob Dylan Chronicles - Volume One;" George Carlin for "When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?"

UPDATE 4:45PM:Pat Curley over at Brainster has a post on his blog about Obama, which leads to The Political Teen blog's noting the Grammy nominee's doubletalk about Iraq.

Technorati tags: Obama Barack Obama Grammy Awards Al Franken Garrison Keillor Sean Penn Illinois George Carlin

Purdue "Union tree" now a Christmas tree

The battles against PC thought never end. But this one has a happy ending.

From AP:

The Norwegian spruce in the Purdue Memorial Union's Great Hall is a Christmas tree again.

The Purdue Student Union Board, which had christened the 28-foot tree the ''Union tree'' in the interest of diversity, voted this week to return to the traditional name.

The decision followed a lengthy discussion over what the tree has been called over the years -- and why, said Heather Owen, program director at the Purdue Memorial Union

This story is true. Mr. Right at The Right Place has an ACLU Christmas story that's not true. Yet. Read here.

Technorati tags: Purdue Christmas Indiana Academia

John Lennon's murder, 25 years later

Today marks the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's murder in New York. I've read several articles about Lennon and the anniversary. They typically go like this: "An era came to a screeching halt on December 8, 1980...."

Lennons' shooting ended that era in a tragic fashion, but that era, the Beatles era, began to unravel in 1970 with the group's break up.

As for Lennon, his first two solo albums, Plastic Ono Band and Imagine, were brilliant.

What followed was a sea of mediocrity.

Commenting on Elvis Presley's 1977 death, Lennon quipped that "Elvis died when he went into the Army."

As a creative force, John Lennon died sometime around 1972. Lennon's work preceding that year, of course changed the world.

Technorati tags: John Lennon THE BEATLES New York

White Sox and Frank Thomas part ways

Frank Thomas is no longer a member of the Chicago White Sox. The two time Most Valuable Player (it should've been three times, "The Big Hurt" finished a close second to since disgraced Jason Giambi in the 2000 MVP voting) was set free by the World Series Champion Sox when they refused to offer salary arbitration to Thomas.

Injuries slowed Frank the last few years, and that's what kept him of the White Sox World Series roster in October.

It's time for the South Siders to retire Frank's 35 jersey. His career in Chicago may be over, but there is speculation that the Minnesota Twins may be interested in "The Big Hurt."

Technorati tags: Frank Thomas baseball MLB White Sox Minnesota Twins

Ann Coulter confronts hate at UConn this evening

Ann Coulter is on Fox News' Hannity & Colmes as I write this, and among her comments were that she was attacked (they missed) by two pie-throwers during a speech at the University of Connecticut.

This is not the first time Ann has been similarly assaulted. Two pie-throwers missed Ann in Arizona last year.

And it's said the original meaning of the word "liberal" is open-minded.

Ann was shouted down, cat-called, and forced to attempt to speak on top of the racket caused by a boom box. She was not able to finish the speech.

Leftist hate, pure and simple.

UPDATE 8:35PM: An eyewitness report from FreeRepublic is here. No mention of pies, but everything else Ann talked about is in this report.

Technorati tags: Ann Coulter Liberalism

Happy Birthday Tom Waits

One of my favorite performers is Tom Waits, who celebrates his Tom Waits' birthday today.

Regular Marathon Pundit reader Dan C. of Chicago's South Side e-mailed me the reminder this afternoon.

The perfect end to this post would that the raspy-voiced singer shares the same political views I do. But sadly, he's a lib. Last year, he contributed a song to a MoveOn.org CD, called Future Soundtrack for America. Waits' contribution was "Day After Tomorrow."

Happy Birthday, all the same, Tom! And yes, Tom Waits belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Technorati tags: MoveOn.org Tom Waits Liberalism

Florida Congressman Jeff Miller calls for Howard Dean to resign

Heard about this on Sean Hannity's show this evening. Jeff Miller, a Republican congressman from Florida's panhandle, has called for the resignation of Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. The press release was sent out yesterday, and the mainstream media (surprise!) has ignored it.

From Congressman Miller's web site:

Congressman Jeff Miller (R-FL-01) issued the following statement in response to DNC Chairman Howard Dean's comments that the "idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong."

"Yesterday, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee said our troops can't win in Iraq. Howard Dean effectively signaled to insurgents and terrorists everywhere that his party was ready to wave the white flag in the War on Terror.

For the sake of political gains, Dean's Party has chosen to trivialize the sacrifices our men and women in uniform have made in Iraq. His Party has gone from attacking the liberation of Iraq, to attacking the Bush Administration, to attacking the Armed Services of this country and saying they cannot win.

Howard Dean's comments were a direct attack on the morale of our military and border on treasonous.

Regardless of your opinions on Iraq, it is wrong to attack the capabilities of our military for the purposes of political gain. I call on Mr. Dean to resign as chairman of the Democratic National Committee."

Lots of straight talking from Miller about Copperhead Dean.

Copperhead Howard Dean Jeff Miller Florida Iraq DNC

Cong. Bobby Rush no longer facing double foreclosure

Well, for now, Bobby Rush's foreclosure problems seem to be over.

From today's Chicago Sun-Times:

Just as quickly as they were filed, a pair of mortgage foreclosures against Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) have been "resolved."

Rush was just days from losing his Michigan condo and was also facing being kicked out of his Chicago home because he hadn't been paying his monthly mortgage.

But in an e-mail, a spokeswoman for Washington Mutual said "we consider the situation with Congressman Rush's mortgage to be resolved."

Likewise, a Michigan lawyer -- set to sell Rush's condo on the steps of a courthouse Thursday -- indicated the foreclosure action there "has been closed."

More...

Cook County records show a series of liens have been filed against the Rush family home in the 3500 block of South Calumet, including federal tax liens. Legal notices show his Buchanan, Mich., condo -- in a private, gated community about 25 miles from Lake Michigan -- has twice been the subject of foreclosure actions this year.

I'm still troubled by this guy managing the money of our nation.

Saddam trial without Saddam

Is this behavior part of Ramsey Clark's legal strategy? Saddam was not in court today, but the trial went on.

UPDATE 9am CST: The trial has adjourned until Dec. 21.

Technorati tags: Ramsey Clark Saddam Iraq

December 7, 2005

Not many left who were at Pearl Harbor in 1941.

From this morning's Chicago Sun-Times:

Tom Decker was a 22-year-old pharmacist's mate from Alton, Ill., on Dec. 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy."

"I was in my bunk. The first thing I remember is looking out the porthole and I saw the Arizona going up in flames, smoke and damage everywhere, bombs landing," Decker recalls.

It has been 64 years since Japanese warplanes attacked Pearl Harbor. Decker is 86 years old, a past national president of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association.

Its remaining members are in their mid-80s and older.

The bell ringing ceremony in Chicago's Loop today will be one of many ceremonies memorializing December 7, 1941 today.

Pearl Harbor Chicago Military Illinois

The conclusion of My Fall Road Trip series--On my way home

This last one was taken about 50 miles west of Des Moines. Pictured is the appropriately name--for me--Chicago Road, since it's the Chicago area I was heading back to that evening.

My next photo blog will begin very soon, It's called Hillary's Park Ridge; I took the photos Monday afternoon.

Technorati tags: Iowa Photography Landscapes

CAIR starts anti-Patriot Act blog

Welcome to the world of blogging, CAIR!

Of course, pretty soon every one and every organization will have a blog. CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations has a blog. CAIR fashions itself as a mainstream civil right organization, but at best, the organization serves as apologists for Islamic extremists.

The blog, CAIR Patriot Act, which does not allow comments, can be found here. CAIR, as is obvious, is opposed to the Patriot Act.

But CAIR's connections to extremism are not tenuous. Ghassan Elashi, founder of CAIR-Texas, was convicted on money-laundering charges involving the terrorist group Hamas.

Randall "Ismail" Royer, who held various positions with CAIR, is currently serving a 20-year sentence for weapons and explosives violations.

Then there is Bassem K. Khafagi, who in 2003 pleaded guilty to bank and visa fraud involving his role with the Islamic Assembly of North America, a group believed to have terror ties.

Anyway, welcome to the world of blogging, CAIR. There are times where I have "bloggers block" and have difficulty coming up with stuff to post. With your new blog, CAIR, lack of material to write about won't be a problem you'll face.

Technorati tags: CAIR Terrorism Patriot Act Weblog

"Closed for Christmas" includes some churches

No, this is not from the Onion, but the Chicago Tribune. Free reg. may be required.

Willow Creek Community Church, one of the largest churches in the Chicago area, will be closed on Sunday, Dec. 25--because it's Christmas.

Although thousands of the faithful usually flock to the South Barrington church and its satellites on Sundays, Willow Creek is joining several other evangelical megachurches across the nation in choosing not to worship as a congregation on Christmas Day.

Instead, they will urge members to focus on family at home, rather than filling the pews.

More..

But some religious scholars say letting people decide what is convenient for them on one of the holiest days on the Christian calendar is an example of American evangelical Christians' concessions run amok.

I know some people who've attended mass there. From what they tell me, Willow Creek's church services have little preaching but a lot of dramatic skits.

Technorati tags: Willow Creek Religion Northwest Chicago Suburbs Christmas megachurch

Copperhead Kerry: At least he didn't mention "Jenjis Khan"

I was waiting for to find a transcript of Kerry's Face the Nation comments from Sunday before I posted a comment on John Fraud Kerry's odious statements that day.

So via Drudge, I've got it, via Rush Limbaugh's site:

I don't agree with that. But I think what we need to do is recognize what we all agree on, which is, you've got to begin to set benchmarks for accomplishment; you've got to begin to transfer authority to the Iraqis, and there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the -- of -- of -- of -- historical customs, religious customs, whether you like it or not. Iraqis should be doing that. And after all of these two and a half years, with all --

Kerry offers no proof that such behavior as this is occurring. The man is a fabulist.

Technorati tags: John Kerry Iraq The Left Copperhead

Ill. Lt. Governor Pat Quinn proposes law to control funeral protests (Fred Phelps)

From today's Daily Herald:

The signs still haunt Jesse Alcozer.

On the day he would bury his 21-year-old son, Christopher, an Army private from Villa Park who died Nov. 19 while serving in Iraq, protesters stood across the street from the church, holding placards that read “Thank God for Dead Soldiers.”

All Jesse Alcozer saw was the hate in the signs and the distraction it served to keep him and his family from properly mourning his son’s death.

“For (soldiers) to come back and be faced by radicals that don’t respect them, it shouldn’t be like this,” said Alcozer, himself a Vietnam War veteran.

Now Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, who spoke at the funeral, is trying to spare military families the extra grief the Alcozers experienced. He’s proposed a state law that would prohibit protesting within 300 feet of any military or civilian funeral.

Oklahoma has a similar bill working its way through the legislature. Laws controlling Fred Phelps and the despicable actions of his Westboro Baptist "Church" do not control free speech. His group can always protest a half mile away when there is a funeral going on.

Today there is very likely a Fred Phelps protest going on as I write this. From the Westboro web site, here is a flier about a picket planned this morning in for a soldier's funeral in Florida.

Technorati tags: Fred Phelps Westboro Baptist Church Illinois Military Pat Quinn

My fall road trip: The Mormon Trail

Back to my photoblogging about my fall road trip. I've crossed the Missouri River and I'm now in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The Mormon Trail ran through Council Bluffs, here is some more information on that trail, courtesy of the National Park Service. A map of the trail is here.

As with the previously discussed here California Trail, the Mormon Trail paralleled much of the same Platte River route through much of Nebraska.

The Mormon Trail is one of 16 designated National Historic Trails.
One more photo from this series. Today, much closer to home, I took photos for my next photo blogging project.

Technorati tags: Mormon Trail Mormon LDS Blog Post History Iowa Council Bluffs Photos

Marthon Pundit is down

Have no idea how this has happened. I can create posts but not view them. I believe it is a blogger.com issue. I can still post though.

UPDATE 10:15PM CST. Looks like it's up again. It was a blogger.com problem.

Technorat tags: Blogger Blogging Blogspot

Copperhead Howard Dean: US cannot win in Iraq

So much for a "loyal opposition." From the San Antonio News via Drudge Report.

More on Copperheads here. Got the idea from a commenter on this blog.

Technorati tags: Copperhead Howard Dean Treason leftists

Journalists and politicians score low on ethics poll

Found this on Lucianne.com.

From Editor & Publisher:

The annual Gallup Poll asking Americans to rate, on a scale of one to five, the honesty and ethical standards of those in 21 professions again placed nurses at the very top with an 82% favorite score. Journalists, U.S. senators and congressmen trailed badly.

In fact, the senators and congressmen, near the very bottom of the list, should heed this call: They finished behind lawyers and building contractors.

Technorati tags: Journalism Politics

Ben Barnes, "Rathergate" figure, to co-host DC Blagojevich reception

A tipster informs me that this is indeed the same Ben Barnes who appeared on the infamous September 8, 2004 60 Minutes II broadcast that also introduced the since discredited Killian memos to the American public.

Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, is the Governor of Illinois.

From Sunday's Lynn Sweet column in the Chicago Sun-Times:

On Dec. 12, Blagojevich discusses the program in an event at the National Press Club hosted by Families USA.

Blagojevich timed it to coincide with Democrat Governor Association meetings taking place at the same time.

Later in the day, key Blagojevich kitchen Cabinet member John Wyma, a state and federal lobbyist, and his business partner, Ben Barnes, will also host a reception for Blagojevich at their D.C. offices to give the governor another chance to talk about "All Kids."

More on Barnes, from Wikipedia:

In 1999, Barnes claimed that while Speaker of the House he had "personally interceded" with Texas Air National Guard officials to get George W. Bush into the Guard. Barnes repeated the claim in the U.S. presidential election, 2004, specifically stating that he had assisted Bush while Lieutenant Governor. The charge met heavy criticism over its inconsistency (Barnes did not become Lieutenant Governor until 1969 - after Bush joined the guard) and after his daughter Amy publicly challenged the veracity of his story.

Technorati tags: Rathergate Ben Barnes Blagojevich All Kids John Wyma Bush

More mortgage troubles: Cong. Bobby Rush's Michigan condo to be sold by bank Thursday

Hat tip to Cal Skinner at McHenry County Blog.

I blogged about the mortgage problems of South Side Chicago congressman Bobby Rush last week.

Well, in addition to the possibility of losing his Chicago home to the repo man, his Michigan condo, a vacation home in a gated community, is set to be sold Thursday by a Michigan bank because Congressman Rush hasn't been making payments on that mortgage either. The Chicago Sun-Times has the story here.

Yes, a gated community! Rush, a fervent supporter for slavery reparations, is a member of the House of Representative's Progressive Caucus, a far-left group dedicated to "social justice," equality and the like.

Congressman Rush has been in the local news a lot lately. Last week, in a classic case of race-baiting, Rush had this to say about Tom Dart, who is running for Sheriff of Cook County:

"Dart represents to me a kind of Klansman," Rush said. "One that don't wear a hood over the head but one that has a hood in the head."

Rush's comments on Dart were not widely publicized in the Chicago media. I came across only one person who's called on Rush to apologize for his obnoxious comments, Walter Jacobson of Fox News Chicago, according to this Pat Hickey post from the Illinoize blog.
Technorati tags: Bobby Rush Foreclosure Chicago metroblogging Illinois Progressive caucus

Defense seeks more liberal jurors from Bloomington, IN area in "Oprah Show" child molestation case

I'll just let this one speak for itself. From AP:

Jurors in the Posey County trial of a sex offender who was profiled on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" will be selected from Monroe County. That's the home of Indiana University, and the defense lawyer believes jurors from a more liberal community will be more sympathetic to his client.

Thirty-three-year-old William Davis was convicted in 1992 of molesting a child and was wanted on 10 felony sex charges in Vanderburgh and Posey counties. He was one of several fugitives profiled on Winfrey's show in October. He had been living in Fargo, North Dakota, where a neighbor saw his picture on the T-V show and
reported him to the F-B-I.

Back in Indiana, his lawyer asked for a change of venue but agreed to keep the trial in Posey County when Prosecutor Jodi Uebelhack let him pick Monroe County to supply the pool of jurors.

Jury selection will start February 21st in Bloomington. Once jurors are chosen, they will be driven to Mount Vernon for the trial.

I saw both Oprah episodes about this creep. Sorry, alleged creep. Okay, I didn't let the story speak for itself.

Technorati tags: Oprah Indiana crime liberal

Steyn on Murtha, Lieberman

Mark Steyn comes up once again with a brilliant column.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Sen. Joe Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut, came out with a big statement on Iraq last week. Did you hear about it? Probably not. Everyone was still raving about his Democrat colleague, Rep. Jack Murtha, whose carefully nuanced position on Iraq is: We're all doomed unless we pull out by next Tuesday! (I quote from memory.)

Also, the United States Army is "broken," "worn out" and "living hand to mouth." If the reaction to Murtha's remarks by my military readers is anything to go by, he ought to be grateful they're still bogged down in Iraq and not in the congressional parking lot.

It's just about acceptable in polite society to disagree with Murtha, but only if you do it after a big 20-minute tongue bath about what "a fine man" he is (as Rumsfeld said) or what "a good man" he is (as Cheney called him) or what "a fine man, a good man" he is (as Bush phrased it). Nobody says that about Lieberman, especially on his own side. And, while the media were eager to promote Murtha as the most incisively insightful military expert on the planet, this guy Lieberman's evidently some nobody no one need pay any attention to.

Here's why. His big piece on Iraq was headlined "Our Troops Must Stay."

Technorati tags: Murtha Iraq Lieberman

Hillary heckled by anti-war activists at Roosevelt University

No word on the Hillary Clinton fundraiser that took place last night at the Crobar--scroll down a few posts for more information on that event.

Earlier Saturday, Hillary spoke at Roosevelt University in Chicago's Loop. She was "greeted" by anti-war activists.

From WBBM-AM News Radio's web site:

Two dozen or so student activists didn't stop U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton during a speech today at Roosevelt University.

Clinton was interrupted several times during a speech at Roosevelt University Saturday morning by young adults protesting the Iraq war.
The Democratic New York Senator was the keynote speaker during the American Democracy Institute's First Leadership Development Summit.

She was there to give a speech about the power young people have in affecting policy in their communities.

Clinton did address the protesters, but she never stopped her speech.

First, a group in the balcony chanted and held signs that together read "Out of Iraq."

They were silenced after a minute or so while someone else held up a sign nearby.

Then a group elsewhere in the auditorium starting chanting.

Some of it was inaudible, but they could be heard at one point saying "Troops Out Now."

Technorati tags: Hillary HILLARY CLINTON Roosevelt University Chicago

Cong. Schakowsky: Bush "Warrants at least consideration of impeachment"

Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, my rep in DC, is at it again. In an interview with AP, she discussess the possibility her of husband going to prison.

The liberal from Evanston also had this to say about President Bush:

"I think this administration will be looked at as the worst in the history of our country and that lying about an intern pales in comparison to lying about going to war, that it warrants at least consideration of impeachment," she said. "That only happens if we're in the majority."

But everyone knows the worst president, at least in the 20th century, was Jimmy Carter.

Technorati tags: Jan Schakowsky Impeach Bush Illinois Loony Left

Update on the Anthony Porter/Alstory Simon case

I blogged about this delevoping story Webnesday night. Here's an update from the Chicago Tribune. Free reg. may be required.

A man whose confession to a 1982 double murder resulted in Anthony Porter being freed from Death Row now alleges he was coerced into making the statement by investigators working for a Northwestern University journalism professor.

Alstory Simon, who eventually pleaded guilty in the case, contends he was forced to falsely confess in 1999. Simon's lawyers on Thursday filed a post-conviction petition on his behalf in Criminal Court seeking a new evidentiary hearing in his case.

The document accuses the professor, David Protess, and his investigator, Paul J. Ciolino, of freeing Porter by constructing a case against Simon.

Lawyer Terry Ekl, who represents Simon, said, "I really think it's so ironic that the same people who have been telling us for so long that they are acting in the interest of justice have taken the attitude that they can do whatever they want, including lie and cheat, to get people to say what they want them to say.

Technorati tags: Death Penalty Anthony Porter Alstory Simon Northwestern Capital Punishment

Prosecutors: Man killed ISU student to get in news

Just sickening news from Bloomington, IL. The full story, from NBC 5 Chicago, is here.


Technorati tags: Crime Illinois Bloomington-Normal Illinois State University

Peace activists to protest Hillary's Saturday fundraiser in Chicago--location of party next to Clintonista's former strip club

UPDATED! I Heard about the protest during a news report on WIND-AM, Chicago's new talk radio outlet.

Hillary Clinton is having a fundraiser at Crobar Saturday night. When he was playing for the Chicago Bulls, Crobar was Dennis Rodman's favorite night club. And Crobar is where Hillary's big event will be. But Crobar is just steps away James Levin's old strip club Thee Doll House. More on that later.

But according to WIND, peace activities will be there to protest her somewhat hawk-ish stand on Iraq. And there will be a protest, as I discovered on Chicago Indymedia.

Here's the scoop on Hillary's Crobar bash:

Saturday Night Live with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
Crobar
1543 N. Kingsbury St.

Live from Chicago
Forget the sax; we always knew this former first lady was just waiting to step into the spotlight and bust a move. Hill--er, Sen. Clinton to us--has teamed up with DJ Biz Markie for Saturday Night Live with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, a hip-hop re-election stop, with an open bar from 8-9 p.m.

Dec. 3: 8 p.m. - 11 p.m.

Price: $50-$200. Tickets: hillaryclinton.com/december3
Produced by: Friends of Hillary
Phone: 312-943-8371

Now some more about Kingsbury Street in Chicago. At 1531 N. Kingsbury, not even a half a block away, is the site of Thee Doll House, a strip club partly owned by James Levin. There is still a strip club there, VIP's, Levin has no equity in that club. But just who is James Levin?

From a 2001 NewsMax article:

Million-dollar Clinton Library donor Jim Levin, a former Chicago strip club owner who became Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign finance director last year, allegedly supplied ex-President Clinton with lap dancers at the White House, according to former Clinton money-man, Hollywood producer Peter Paul.

"Jim Levin became a very close friend of the president because he supplied female companionship to him in the White House," Paul told Judicial Watch officials Larry Klayman and Russell Verney, along with California radio host Jane Chastain, during Judicial Watch Radio's Saturday broadcast.

Levin acted as an intermediary between the Clintons and Mr. Paul, who spent $2 million bankrolling a star-studded Hollywood gala fund-raiser for Mrs. Clinton's Senate campaign last August.

The Clinton accuser told Judicial Watch Radio that after Levin's background as a one-time topless club owner was revealed in the press last year, he was told point-blank about Levin's role providing Clinton with women.

"He was introduced at one point to me as 'the lap dancer provider to the president,'" Paul said.

Levin has his own problems now. He's agreed to plead guilty to fraud and bribery charges involving a snow plowing contract with Chicago's public schools.

So when Hillary is at Crobar Saturday night, I wonder if she'll reminisce about her old fundraisng pal, James "Thee Doll House" Levin. That is, when she's not dodging anti-war protesters.

This post revised at 9pm CST.

UPDATE Monday, December 5. Michelle Malkin has more on dem Dems fighting other Dems.

Technorati tags: Hillary HILLARY CLINTON Bill Clinton Strip club Chicago metroblogging metblogs crobar James Levin

Chicago's Mayor Daley "We just can't leave the Middle East"

This is not why I chose Richard M. Daley as last month's "Biggest Winner" as my choice in Eric Zorn's November in Review column.

However, he made a lot of sense yesterday about Iraq. Daley, who son is an enlisted man in the Army, spoke about the war yesterday.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

"We can't just leave the Middle East . . . Let's forget about the Middle East. Just walk away. I don't think anybody wants that. What I think we're trying to do -- some way -- is trying to slowly allow Iraq to take full control of their country," Daley said.

A history buff, Daley drew a comparison between the fight for democracy in Iraq and three earlier conflicts that also centered around a quest for freedom: the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and World War II.

"No one likes war because it's the death of someone's son or daughter, father, mother or son. . . . No one was for the Revolutionary War. . . . Maybe today they would doubt the Civil War -- whether or not slavery was worth fighting for. I think it was. Lincoln was right to fight slavery. No one likes war. But those people went to war at that time for an emotional issue about slavery. Were they wrong? Were people wrong when they fought Hitler? He didn't do anything against us. He didn't invade the United States."

Daley advised his fellow Democrats to stop being one-note Charlies, reading the declining poll numbers of President Bush and becoming bolder and bolder in their opposition to the Iraq War with every passing day.

Daley did not flat out say he supported the war. But he made a lot of sense.

Jewish group denounces Chicago Protestant group's meeting with Hezbollah

From the Chicago Tribune, free registration required.

Chicago Jewish leaders on Thursday criticized the head of the Chicago Presbytery and a retired seminary professor for a recent meeting with Hezbollah, a Lebanese faction labeled by the U.S. as a terrorist group.

The discord comes a little more than a year after two employees of the national church were fired for planning an earlier unauthorized meeting with the Lebanese group. The most recent meeting has prompted the denomination to develop guidelines for future encounters with radical organizations.

Rev. Bob Reynolds, head of the Chicago Presbytery, said the hour-long meeting in in southern Lebanon in early November was part of a three-week tour of the Middle East. The meeting, not included on any written itineraries, was announced one day before it took place.

"The goal of my trip was educational," he said. "I think one way people can learn from one another is to learn the way people talk about themselves and describe their own reality. In some small measure that did happen on this visit."

That's good. Now, how 'bout more groups speaking out against this "educational" trip.

Murtha's 33 minutes of fame up yet?

Okay, he is a congressman and the like, but I think it's time that John Murtha goes back to being an obscure congressman from Pennsylvania.

From AP:

Most U.S. troops will leave Iraq within a year because the Army is "broken, worn out" and "living hand to mouth," Rep. John Murtha told a civic group.

Two weeks ago, Murtha created a storm of comment when he called for U.S. troops to leave Iraq now. The Democratic congressman spoke to a group of community and business leaders in Latrobe on Wednesday, the same day President Bush said troops would be withdrawn when they've achieved victory, not under an artificial deadline set by politicians.

I'm not saying he's been imbibing the most famous product from Latrobe. But perhaps he got hit in the head by one of those famous green bottles?

Technorati tags: Murtha Rolling Rock PennsylvaniaIraq 33

Ward goes psycho again

Hat tip to the Bald Chick at Freedom Folks.
Some college Republicans at the University of Colorado decided to confront the F-Troop Indian at his home classroom wigwam in Boulder.

From World Net Daily:

Protesters confronted controversial professor Ward Churchill at the University of Colorado yesterday, asking him to circle the names of 9-11 victims who deserved to die on a 12-foot banner memorializing them.

And more...

The protest organizer said Churchill then came out into the hallway to get the guest speaker and that he "took a swipe at" a video camera that was recording the event.

VanBuskirk said several students came out of the class and yelled at the protesters, one of whom was reportedly led away after destroying some of the demonstrators' literature.

CU is a big school, it must have a psychiatry department. He's a case study that could last decades.

Technorati tags: F-Troop Colorado Ward Churchill Liberals in Academia

Bush called for jury duty

So says AP.

This is what happens when you register to vote.

Complete text of Bush's Naval Academy speech

...is available here, courtesy of the Jewish World Review. According to a Lucianne.com poster, the word "vicory" is used 15 times.