U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Destroys Part of Ancient Road with her Convoy

http://www.assafir.com/Article.aspx?ArticleId=538&EditionId=2378&ChannelId=57180

Here’s a story that’s only in the Arabic-language papers. The U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, Maura Connelly, visited an ancient historical site near Tyre, and one of the SUVs in her motorcade crushed a small portion of ancient wall. (Or just some wall–the papers I’ve seen so far are not entirely clear). In any case, you can see from the photo that the path is not intended for vehicles.

An English version of the story here: http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=81959&frid=23&seccatid=14&cid=23&fromval=1

On Jihad, Ignorance Stands Still

The Washington Post had an article the other day about an ad campaign in DC to inform the public on what ‘jihad’ actually means.

With a four-week ad buy in the Shaw, Waterfront, Rockville and Dunn Loring Metro stations, organizer Ahmed Rehab, who is also executive director of the Chicago branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, says that he is hoping to change the narrative around the word jihad.

“We kind of got tired sitting there watching people tell us what we believe or what we don’t believe.”

The posters feature photos of Muslims sharing their religious struggles, and uses lines like “my jihad is to build bridges through friendship” and “my jihad: modesty is not a weakness.”

Twelve years after 9/11 and the initial bout of screaming American ignorance, the country’s morons are still as ignorant and still as vocal as ever. Some comments from the WaPo:

You can try to give a newer softer meaning to the word “jihad” but it is too late.
For too many non muslims, the word jihad is associated with terrorism.

This is not a newer, softer meaning. This is the meaning.

Painting Jihad in any other way than getting rid of whoever believes differently is like sprinkling sugar on blood or painting lipstick on a pig’s snout.

“Lipstick on a pig” will always remind me of Sarah Palin.

Jihad means islamic holy war and it has no any other meaning.Jihad in german language is Mein Kampf.
Jihad does not mean to build bridge through friendship.
Jihad is war,jihad means killing infidels/non-muslims.
Jihad is an obligation in House of War/Infidel Country(America,Europe)
Jihad ads at metro stations are Lie Propaganda and Deception

Congratulations, you’re exactly wrong.

But I’m happy to say that the really awful comments I saw the other day have largely been addressed by thoughtful, patient people, and there’s real discussion going on in the comments today.

And people can still see the humor:

My jihad is to get laid this weekend

That’s not quite the meaning, but good luck to you, ma’am.

Huckabee on Why Some Nut Shot Up an Elementary School Today

“When we ask why there is violence in our schools, but we’ve systematically removed God from our schools. Should we be so surprised that schools have become a place for carnage because we’ve made it a place where we don’t want to talk about eternity, life, responsibility, accountability?” –Mike Huckabee, former Republican presidential candidate, 2012

Edited to add: Because Huckabee is a freaking insane lunatic jackass. And I’ve added this quote to my Fanaticism page. Some great company you’re keeping there, Huckabee.

Israeli Army Social Media Director Poses in Blackface

http://www.yourblackworld.net/2012/11/black-news/israeli-armys-social-media-director-poses-as-obama-in-blackface/

Found on Jezebel. Follow the link to see the picture.

Romney Describes Arab Spring as a “Problem”

Mitt Romney on Saturday explicitly sought for the first time to turn the Arab Spring into an issue in the United States presidential race. In an interview with an Israeli newspaper to set up his visit to Israel this weekend, Mr. Romney made several provocative statements distinguishing himself from President Obama.

Mr. Romney discussed the Arab Spring revolts as a problem rather than progress. He asserted against some evidence that the Obama administration had abandoned an agenda of pushing for democratic reform pursued by George W. Bush, and he characterized even the most moderate and Western-friendly Islamists – those in the political parties leading legislatures in Tunisia and Morocco – as political opponents.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/28/in-interview-romney-brings-arab-spring-into-presidential-race/

An actual Romney Olympics pin

Is Bachmann the Real Government Infiltrator?

Juan Cole had an excellent post the other day. Michele Bachmann has charged Clinton aide Huma Abiden of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood…turns out Bachmann has deeper ties of her own.

http://www.juancole.com/2012/07/is-michelle-bachmann-an-agent-of-the-muslim-brotherhood.html

3. Bachmann is a supporter of the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan and tried to visit with them.. The Northern Alliance was a coalition of forces fighting the Taliban. It consisted in part of the Jami’at-i Islami, to which many of its prominent members belonged. The Jami’at-i Islami is the Afghanistan branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, founded by Egyptian missionaries in the 1960s. Another component of the Northern Alliance was the Shiite Hizb-i Vahdat or Unity Party, which was allied with Iran in the 1990s.

So Bachmann is, once again, closely connected with the Muslim Brotherhood via the Afghanistan Northern Alliance.

Billions Wasted/Lost in Iraq

In unsurprising news: http://news.yahoo.com/auditors-billions-likely-wasted-iraq-174443860.html

 

“The precise amount lost to fraud and waste can never be known,” the report said.

The auditors found huge problems accounting for the huge sums, but one small example of failure stood out: A contractor got away with charging $80 for a pipe fitting that its competitor was selling for $1.41. Why? The company’s billing documents were reviewed sloppily by U.S. contracting officers or were not reviewed at all.

With dry understatement, the inspector general said that while he couldn’t pinpoint the amount wasted, it “could be substantial.”

Also, I highly recommend the book We Meant Well; How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People by Peter Van Buren. It’s entertaining as well as informative. Man can write.

Unabashed Fear-Mongering by Presidential Candidate Santorum

So now we have campaign ads that seem to be trailers for horror movies. As a horror movie fan, I like it. As a responsible voter, I think it’s terrible. I like to think everyone who sees this will react appropriate, with incredulous laughter.

Since Santorum wants us to tremble in fear of Ahmadinejad, here’s a great post by Juan Cole: http://www.juancole.com/2012/03/khamenei-takes-control-forbids-nuclear-bomb.html

““The Iranian nation has never pursued and will never pursue nuclear weapons. There is no doubt that the decision makers in the countries opposing us know well that Iran is not after nuclear weapons because the Islamic Republic, logically, religiously and theoretically, considers the possession of nuclear weapons a grave sin and believes the proliferation of such weapons is senseless, destructive and dangerous.”

Guess the Benighted Wasteland VI – Birth Control Edition

So there’s this country where a council of elders is deciding on whether or not requiring insurers to cover birth control violates religious freedom of people who don’t believe in science. The committee is chaired by a male and consists of eight men. Invited to testify: five men. And no women.

Saudi Arabia? Iran? Ha! It’s the United States of America. Jezebel has the story here: http://jezebel.com/5885672/congressional-birth-control-hearing-involves-exactly-zero-people-who-have-a-uterus

Al-Qaeda Infiltrates Pr0n

Story here.

This from a Mason, Michigan, police blotter …

A Mason resident called to report receiving subliminal messages he detected while watching a pornographic movie purchased in Jackson on Jan. 1.

The complainant replayed the portion of the DVD in slow motion for the officer, who did note four words he could read and a series of other words that passed so quickly they could not be read.

The complainant stated he reported the incident only because he had read where Al Qaeda was inserting messages into pornographic movies.