GOP Vixen

Really scary photos!!! Boo!!

A Halloween fright-fest provided by GOP Vixen. Cover eyes and shudder in fear when applicable.

26,000 Iraqis murdered by terrorists

Time to take a moment and remind everybody -- we're talking to you, anti-U.S. peaceniks -- who the real enemy is in Iraq. From Reuters:

"The Pentagon estimates that 26,000 Iraqis have been killed or wounded in attacks by insurgents since January 2004, with the daily number increasing fairly steadily.

In the first partial public count of Iraqi casualties, the Pentagon said more than 60 are killed or wounded by insurgents every day. ... 'Approximately 80 per cent of all attacks are directed against Coalition Forces, but 80 per cent of all casualties are suffered by Iraqis,' the report said."

Interestingly enough, a "peace group" downgrades the Pentagon figure:

"... Iraq Body Count, a peace group which counts casualties based on media reports, says on average 38 Iraqis a day die violently. In a report in July, the group said that nearly 37 per cent of the deaths it had recorded were caused by US-led forces, with the rest caused by insurgents and criminal gangs.

(By the way, the unofficial Reuters translation of their favored word "insurgent" is "terrorist." Can't say it plainer than that.)

Ahmadinejad stooges fall in lockstep

The Iranian president's desire to see Israel wiped off the face of the earth has apparently brought forth the best and the brightest (please read the sarcasm) in his country to do their part. From the Gulf News:

"... About 300 men and women turned up on Sunday at the offices of the Headquarters for Commemorating Martyrs of the Global Islamic Movement to volunteer for suicide bomb attacks against Israel.

A spokesman for the group said it had signed up more than 45,000 volunteers to undergo training for suicide attacks since it began recruiting in June 2004."

At least former president Mohammad Khatami has called Mahmoud a numskull, or at least in gentler terms:

"... Former reformist president Mohammad Khatami criticised Ahmadinejad and was quoted by IRNA as saying that 'those words have created hundreds of political and economic problems for us in the world.'

'We should not say things that create economic and political problems in the world,' said Khatami, a pro-reform cleric who for the past eight years had sought to improve relations with the outside world."

 

Sharon in danger of assassination?

Carmi Gillon, who headed Israeli domestic intelligence under Yitzhak Rabin, thinks Ariel Sharon will go the same way, as he said in his first interview since the Rabin assassination. From the Gulf News:

"... He broke his silence over shock at poll results which said that 45 per cent of Israelis thought that Yigal Amir (who gunned down Rabin in1995) should be allowed to marry and have children.

Gillon said in the interview that '“they (rightist Jews) all think Rabin's murder paid off because it derailed the Oslo process. They believe now that (if) Sharon will disappear, that the process in Judea and Samaria will also disappear.  We've seen the first one (murder), which proved to be a success. Today, they are focusing their hatred on a different person - Prime Minister Sharon.'

The former intelligence head added 'Yigal Amir is alive today due to a mishap. He should have died that night after firing the first shot, definitely after the second. I'm sorry to say the security guards did not act in accordance with the lessons we taught them. They failed, because they didn't shoot him like a dog, like any despicable terrorist. From a security point of view, it was a failure.'"

Incidentally, Gillon was sacked because of the security gaps that failed to prevent the Rabin assassination.

Heads and tales

The highlights and lowlights of the headlines for October 31, 2005:

• Bush to Announce Supreme Court Nominee, AP -- Mercy, mercy! Can't we have at least a week's break before another go-round?!?
• Hong Kong to Stage Bird Flu Drill, AP -- Stage One is expected to include throwing one's hands up and running down the street screaming. Or is that current media reaction?
• Birds vs. windmills battle heads to California courts, Reuters -- Well, that's an easy one. Aren't the killer windmills just our bird-flu defense?
• Democrat Urges Rove to Quit Over CIA Leak, AP -- Do any of us listen to Harry Reid?
• Prince Charles: Climate Change Terrifying, AP -- Because when humidity hits Camilla's hair, it is one scary sight.
• Jordan bans airing of anti-Semitic TV series, AP -- So does Ahmadinejad now want them wiped off the map, too, as a result?
• Alarm in U.S. as 'gangsta bible' goes mainstream, Daily Telegraph -- Don Diva magazine, once just popular with inmates, offers tips on where to hide drugs and what tires can withstand bullets.

I would call that magazine the gospel according to Snoop, but he's given up the G thang to run a kids' football league...

Weekend blogging break

I have so many deadlines pressing this weekend that there is a good chance I will spontaneously combust, so excuse me while I take a weekend blogging break to work like hell and attend to said deadlines. Conditions under which I'd break this blog fast include:

• the sky falling
• bird flu wipes out half of Los Angeles
• Harriet Miers elopes with Hugo Chavez

Otherwise, see you all after the weekend!

(Enjoy this shot of Don-Don at the Friars Club roast Friday night in New York, where King used his podium time to praise Prez Bush!)

(Trump's looking a little Yushchenko-ish, ya think?)

Our Heroes

The holidays are coming, the liberals are celebrating "milestone" death counts, and the media goes out of their way to ignore their stunning, brave, selfless achievements...

What can you do?

You can adopt a soldier; write letters, send packages, exchange emails... The Hot Little Number has been working with this organization for over a year now. It's a terrific idea run by generous people with nothing to gain. Everything goes directly to your soldier from you.

It's the least we can do.

Different shades of the Hollywood right

Check out my Los Angeles Daily News column today that gives an overview of the Hollywood right-wingers who host conservative film festivals, the Hollywood right-wingers who quietly work within the studio system (more than you think!) and some food for thought on the differing aims of GOPs in Tinseltown:

"... Before last year's Liberty festival, I spent much time immersed in the conservative film movement, hearing the filmmakers' beefs with the entertainment industry and seeing some of the work offered up in response to leftist bent in mainstream film. This past year, I've spent more time in the mainstream entertainment industry, meeting conservatives within who would rather not jump into this movement but are far from ashamed of how they vote. These industry conservatives aren't necessarily shy about sharing their political views with entertainment colleagues if prompted but aren't keen on political squabbles escalating into something that creates an intolerable working environment or breaks valuable working relationships.

Many who identify themselves as part of a conservative film movement take the position that those closeted should not remain so, but should become vocal instruments of change in turning the tide of left-leaning film. The movement, some theorize, needs all the foot soldiers it can get if it's going to shake up Hollywood.

The goals of the conservative film movement are usually defined as asserting the right of right-wingers to work in Hollywood - though the degree to which political preference affects those in Tinseltown anecdotally ranges from blacklisting to a non-issue - and to foster the propagation of films that reflect more 'red state' values.

Yet these values don't necessarily have a uniform on-screen translation. ..."

Read the whole thing! Make my bosses happy.

Final Volcker report released...

... and there's more blame to go around than hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma combined! From the AP:

"... The 623-page document exposed the global scope of a scam that allegedly involved such name-brand companies as DaimlerChrysler and Siemens AG, as well as a former French U.N. ambassador, a firebrand British politician and the president of Italy's Lombardi region.

It meticulously detailed how the $64 billion program became a cash cow for Saddam and more than half the companies participating in oil-for-food — at the expense of Iraqis suffering under U.N. sanctions. It blamed shoddy U.N. management and the world's most powerful nations for allowing the corruption to go on for years.

... The investigators found that companies and individuals from 66 countries paid illegal kickbacks using a variety of methods, and those paying illegal oil surcharges came from, or were registered in, 40 countries...."

Kofi to Paul Volcker: "Can I PLEASE trade you that pack of Twinkies for a quart of Penzoil?"

Arab world wimpy on Iran cracks

What do you do when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls for the destruction of Israel, and you're neighbor to both? Keep mum, apparently! From the AP:

"... Newspapers across the Middle East reported Wednesday's speech by Ahmadinejad without comment, many of them on their front pages.

Egyptian Foreign Ministry and Cabinet officials said Cairo would have nothing to say on the address.

Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher also declined comment, apparently to avoid further aggravating relations with Iran, which the kingdom has accused of interfering in Iraq to strengthen the Shiite influence in the Middle East."

Though the story said there could be an upside to the policy of sound-bite nonaggression:

"Analysts said Ahmadinejad's uncompromising line highlighted Iran's differences with other Middle East governments and will make it easier for the international community to take a tough line against Iran for its defiant nuclear policy."

Yet there was this little thing called a peace process that was supposed to be taking place in the Middle East, though terrorists in Gaza are trying their best to damn that and fulfill Ahmadinejad's prophecy.

"Mohammed Wahby, a former diplomat and member of the Egyptian Council on Foreign Affairs, said it was a mistake to remain quiet about the speech, which he said undermined Mideast peace prospects.

'Recognizing Israel as an integral part of the Middle East is no longer in doubt,' he said, saying Iran was only encouraging hard-liners on both sides."

Within Iran, the government is playing upon the publicity as best it can, using Ahmadinejad's speech as a rallying point for the annual al-Quds — or Jerusalem — Day protests.

"'The world will see the anger of the Islamic world against this regime' in Israel, state-run television quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki as saying."

Now Iran has a Jewish minority; many Iranian Jews are exiled in L.A. Last time I was down at KRSI Radio Sedaye Iran, I specifically asked the station manager what the attitude among the general Iranian population was toward Israel. Not like the regime would like to portray, he told me.