New Weapons Against Religious Extemism

Dr. Pipes' raises good points on how to combat extreme Islamist though here in the US using new laws: I qoute in it's entirety:

Deport Saudi Diplomats on Religious Freedom Grounds? With the passage of the "Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004," it is now possible (according to section 5502, on p. 108) to deport "foreign government officials who have committed particularly severe violations of religious freedom." This is then spelled out to mean "Any alien who, while serving as a foreign government official, was responsible for or directly carried out, at any time, particularly severe violations of religious freedom, as defined in section 3 of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998."

That section specifies "particularly severe violations of religious freedom" to mean
systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom, including violations such as—

(A) torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment
(B)prolonged detention without charges;or c
(C)landestine detention of those persons; or
(D) other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or the security of persons.

William West, formerly of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, writes me that
Such violations are administrative (civil) statutes, not criminal statutes, and so are retroactive from the date of enactment of the law.

One can only speculate how many foreign government officials from majority Muslim countries might fall into this category, especially from places like Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian Authority, Iran and a number of other authoritarian Islamic regimes who sponsor religious hatred against any religion other than Islam and even against moderate Muslims. The recent Freedom House report on the vitriolic Saudi-provided religious hate literature found in American mosques is just a beginning.

This is powerful new law, and it will be very interesting to see how the U.S. government enforces it.

Further, such violations would arguably also be human rights violations. That means that former foreign government officials who came to the United States and became naturalized U.S. citizens could, as human rights violators, be subject to revocation of that naturalization. This is provided for under Section 5501 (on page 107) of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. They are also subject to investigation by the Department of Justice's newly re-empowered Office of Special Investigations (Section 5505, on p. 108).
(February 28, 2005)

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State auto insurance claims fund out of money

Blago's budget woes continue...from CBS 2 Chicago

By JOHN O'CONNOR Associated Press Writer
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) You might want to drive defensively around official state vehicles. Illinois has run out of money to pay some auto-accident claims.
With a $1.6 million insurance fund exhausted, 62 Illinois motorists or their insurance companies are awaiting $233,000 for accidents involving state vehicles. And new money won't be available until the next budget year starts in July, so more accidents and more delays are likely.

The rest of it is right here.

Daniel Pipes on the Tribune's "US Citizen" Headline

Professor Daniel Pipes is possibly the most insightful commentator on the Middle Eastern politics and the War on Terror. From his blog.

How the Mainstream Media Headlines the Abu Ali Indictment The American government yesterday indicted Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, a raging Islamist, with plotting to kill the president of the United States. Details have emerged about his attending the Islamic Saudi Academy and the University of Medina. His fervent hatred of the United States apparently led to his joining up with Al-Qaeda. He had connections to Ismail Royer and the paintball jihadists. His mother wears a niqab. Islamist organizations like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim American Society (MAS) jumped on his cause.

Given all this, how might mainstream media headline the story of Abu Ali's indictment? Here are three examples:
Chicago Tribune: "U.S. citizen charged with plot to kill Bush"
The Guardian: "American accused of plotting with al-Qaida to assassinate Bush
"The New York Times: "American Accused in a Plot to Assassinate Bush."

And then there is this gem:
Detroit Free Press: "Valedictorian suspect in plot on Bush's life."
Comment: Yet again, over-sensitivity to Muslim sentiments obstructs the plain telling of facts – as though Abu Ali's citizenship or class rank were the key factor in motivating him.

A useful headline would read something like "Islamist Charged in Plot to Assassinate Bush." (February 23, 2005)

Dave Matthews' Band's Troubles Continue

Well, now the architectural tour co. which one of Dave Matthews' drivers "sprayed" last August is suing the self-proclaimed "environmental rocker."

Dave was part of the Vote for Change tour which was nominally a pro-Kerry swing states concert tour last year, but in reality was an anti-Bush city to city bash. No surprise, as the tour's organizer was the hard left PAC, Move On.org.

We'll keep an eye on this story, and see if DMB starts whining about overzealous trial lawyers. The Dave Matthews Band has not been shy about filing lawsuits, as they've been aggressive about suing CD bootleggers. In those cases, DMB was legally in the right, but you have to wonder how much money these bootleggers cheated DMB in royalties. Probably not a lot, as a Dave Matthews Band fan couldn't walk into a Wal-Mart or other major retailer and buy one of these CDs. And as is often the case in the music bootleg business, it was probably fans making CDs for fans.

Chicago Tribune Headline "U.S. citizen charged with plot to kill Bush"

Yeah, that much is true according to the Tribune article. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali was born in Texas of Jordanian immigrant parents. He was the valedictorian of Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria, VA.

This school promotes, or promoted until they got caught, extremist rhetoric. As an August 2004 article in the Washington Times pointed out:

"One page in the manual for the first-grade textbook instructs teachers to tell students that any religion other than Islam is false. "These first-grade students are very impressionable," said Kamal Nawash, a Palestinian and practicing Muslim who runs the six-month-old Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism. "The extremist version of Islam encourages violence. We don't need to be teaching that anymore in this diverse world. We need to teach people to get along."

Of course, none of this is in the Chicago Tribune article, but a 30 second web search directed me to this article. But the Trib thought it important to emphasize that Mr. Ali is a US citizen. The important part, the frightening part, was left out. Shame on the Trib.

Thousands attend Paris IL Welcome Home Troops Rally

Paris is a small town, so a turnout of 5,000 to welcome home the 1544th Transortation Co. (which acc. to the AP suffered the 2nd most fatalities of any guard unit in Operation Iraqi Freedom), is monumental.

An excerpt from the CBS 2 Chicago site:

Crowds stood up to 10-deep along flag-lined streets as three charter buses dropped off soldiers for the long-awaited homecoming. In desert camouflage, guardsman paraded past pole-mounted signs bearing all of their names as people cheered and cameras clicked.

Two fire department ladder trucks draped a massive flag across Main Street. ``They told us to expect a crowd, but I didn't expect anything like this,'' said Lt. John Harvey, 26. ``It's overwhelming.''

Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn said the event was the largest of the dozens of military farewells, homecomings and funerals he has attended since the war began two years ago.

Read here for the rest.

Paris IL unit back home from Iraq today!

The 1544th Transportation Co. National Guard unit from Paris, IL will be back home today. Five of the soldiers were killed in action, 33 were wounded (the highest casualty rate of any Illinois unit).

There will be a welcome home rally this afternoon in downtown Paris.

George Will on Blago

Urbana, IL native George Will wrote about Governor Rod Blagojevich a few days ago. He was not impressed.

Sleek is the mot juste to describe Blagojevich -- elegant dark suit, glistening white shirt, subdued tie and a shock of jet-black hair that Elvis would have envied. He has mended his ways since being criticized for sending six Illinois State Police cars and 10 bodyguards for his fund-raising trip to Beverly Hills, where at one point they blocked intersections to speed his passage.

Read the entire article.

Kerry's daughter part three

Going back a couple of posts, Vanessa Kerry is raising money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, which--according to it's web site--is a teaching affiliate of Harvard University.

In the interest of fair play, for those interested in donating money for basic cancer research, here is Vanessa's Donor Page.

Kerry's daughter, part two

In the below post, it mentions that Vanessa Kerry is a Fulbright Scholar. Interesting paragraph from the Fulbright Scholar Program web site:

"The primary source of funding for the Fulbright Program is an annual appropriation made by the United States Congress to the Department of State. Participating governments and host institutions in foreign countries and in the U.S. also contribute financially through cost-sharing and indirect support, such as salary supplements, tuition waivers and university housing. The Congressional appropriation for the Fulbright Program in fiscal year 2001 was $118.7 million. Foreign governments, through their binational commissions or foundations, contributed an additional $28 million directly to the Fulbright Program."

Okay, she may be a smart woman, and deserving. But shouldn't the scholarship go to someone who (financially) needs it? And did Vanessa get special treatement because she is a daughter of a senator?