Just Checking In!

No, I haven't forgotten about the blog. I have been distracted by the impending move of my firm and the many activities of the little BHG's. So.......here are some thoughts on various issues in the world:

1) A strange way to start this, but I read in this week's Sports Illustrated that former UConn Huskies women's basketball star Sue Bird (who, to be honest, I've always thought was very cute--let's just get that on the table right now!) was Jewish. Curious, I googled her name and the term "Jewish". Several inane entries popped up, including a Wikipedia entry on her (apparently, her dad is Jewish). However, the fifth entry that popped up on the Google search page was a posting on the Stormfront webpage (no, I'm NOT going to link to it). For those of you who don't know, Stormfront is a neo-Nazi/White Supremacist website. It asked if she was really Jewish, made some comments about how Jewish women are unattractive, etc. I felt sick just reading it. The thing is, there are people out there who really believe this crap............

2) We are now two weeks after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Here's a note to Agence France Presse, the BBC, Associated Press, New York Times, etc.: The subhumans who did this were not GUNMEN. They were not MILITANTS. They were not ACTIVISTS. THEY WERE TERRORISTS. And, as an aside to the New York Times, you can stop speculating about how the Chabad House may have been "an unintended target". It's already come out that in the city of almost 20 million people, this one, tiny oasis of Jewish life was specifically targeted over a year before the terrorist attack. This was no coincidence, you morons at the Times.........

3) What's $243.5 million between friends? That's the price tag on the New York Yankees spending spree on two pitchers so far this off-season ($161 million over seven years for CC Sabathia, $82.5 over five for A.J. Burnett), and there is no sign that the Yankees are done. After, Derek Lowe, Mark Teixeira and Manny Ramirez are still out there, as is Ben Sheets. It's pretty clear that the Bronx Bombers will spend whatever it takes to return to the playoffs next year, and even if they stopped now, they're a virtual lock in my mind to get there. Apparently, missing the playoffs once ever fifteen years is unacceptable. I just don't see how other teams can compete with them from a financial standpoint. Right now, it's very depressing to be a fan of any other team in Baseball.

4) The on-again, off-again bailout of the Motown Three (GM, Chrysler and Ford) is off again, for now anyway. I have little doubt that it will be revived again in the very near future. The fact of the matter is that there are hundreds of thousands of jobs (not just those employed by the Big Three, but all of the various businesses who service the auto industry) depending on the viability of the Detroit automakers. If they go under, much of the country's economy will go down with them. That said, I have opposed a bailout, if for no other reason than the exorbitant wages being paid those affiliated with the United Auto Workers (UAW). What's the point in pouring money into any automaker when it's simply going to end up in union hands, leaving GM, Chrysler or Ford to come begging for more money in a year, or two, or three, or whatever. Until union wages are scaled back, no bailout as far as I'm concerned.

5) The stench emanating out of the Governor's Mansion in Illinois just grows more powerful by the day. I know that Chicago politics have an unsavory reputation around the country, and there's a reason for that--the city is rife with corruption. But, even by Chicago standards, what Governor Rod Blagojevich tried to do (allegedly, I know), which was sell off the soon-to-be vacated Senate seat of President-Elect Barack Obama to the highest bidder while daring the FBI to catch him doing it, was obscene. The man had and has no shame; if he did, he would have resigned already. The question now, will this become somehow tied to Mr. Obama? I personally doubt it, because A) I truly don't think that Obama knew what Blagojevich was doing (the same may not be said for certain members of his transition team, however), and B) Even if he did, NOTHING sticks to the guy. He's going to the first teflon President.

6) Has anyone else watched the pandemonium in the Canadian government. First, we had the three opposition parties, the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois, try to stage an informal coup by banding together to form a coalition which would oust the governing Conservative Party. That was followed by the leader of the Conservatives, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, tracking down the Governor General and getting her to suspend Parliament until January. Not to be outdone, the Liberals, who form the largest opposition party, promptly turfed out their only occasionally coherent leader, Stephane Dion, and are replacing him with Michael Ignatieff. Once Parliament is back in session, it is anticipated that the coalition maneuvering will resume. What fun! Who said that Canada is boring?

Mumbai

The dust has now settled after one of the most devastating terrorist attacks the world has seen since 9/11. Note to the BBC, Reuters, AP, etc.: It was NOT an attack by "militants", "gunmen", etc. These WAS a terrorist attack. 195 people dead (so far), with over 300 (again, so far) reported injured. Contrary to initial reports, the terrorists do not appear to have been targeting foreigners such as Americans, Britons and Israelis. If they victims from those countries, it was by and large happenstance, with the glaring and obvious exception of the Jewish Community Center, Nariman House.

So, what is the practical effect of this week's devastation? Well, the Muslim world has already determined who was "responsible" for what happened (I'll give all of you ONE clue--It's the only country in the Middle East mainly inhabited by Jews). The MSM reporting was full of mealy-mouthed, amoral pronouncements, and not much else. We learned that the Indian security forces were clearly not ready for prime time. Most of all, we learned once again how fragile life is, and how life can be ended by virtue of simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

God bless those who were killed or injured.

I guess that this would solve the problem

A Pakistani newspaper editor has advocated that Pakistan use nuclear weapons to "free" Kashmir from Indian control: http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/6072.htm. That this would cause a nuclear conflagration which would result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of the border, if not millions, seems to concern him not in the least.

An unfathomable possibility

Imagine the Taliban (and its al Qaeda brothers) with nuclear weapons. That is the goal of the Jihadist movement, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto was but one step along the road towards that goal: http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110011053.

The Wall Street Journal has it exactly right. Blame has been leveled at Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf for Bhutto's assassination, and Bhutto herself had written an e-mail just days before her death in which she apparently said that Musharraf should receive the blame in the event that she was killed. Logically, though, and ironically, Musharraf is the one with the most to lose by what happened yesterday, and like him or not, trust him or not, he is no dummy. He realized that. As facts continue to come out, I may be proven wrong, but I would be very, very surprised if he was behind the assassination.

On the other hand, the instability created by Bhutto's death benefits the Islamofascists (and their many supporters in the Pakistani military apparatus). The more unstable the Pakistani government becomes, the more likely it is that an Islamist could end up in charge of the country and its nuclear weapons. That would and should concern everyone in the West, and equally importantly, it would cause a lot of concern in the country directly to the east of Pakistan, India. You can be sure that New Delhi is watching the goings on in Pakistan with great concern, and don't be surprised to see an increase in the military preparedness of the Indian Army. As well, I wouldn't be shocked if there were some kind of plan put into place to seize the Pakistani nukes in the event of an Islamofascist takeover of the country.

Religion of Peace strikes again

The death toll, this time in India, is over 40, and it could have been much higher: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/HuJI_behind_blasts_in_Hyderabad_Centre/articleshow/2310796.cms.

I'd like to ask a couple of questions of Christiane Amanpour and the rest of the amoral dhimmis at CNN: Was it those evil followers of Jimmy Falwell who did this? No? Okay. Well, then, it MUST have been disgruntled "Zionist settlers" from Gaza or the West Bank, or at least followers of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane? What's that you say, it wasn't them either?

Well, it COULDN'T have been delusional, psychotic, homicidal followers of the Religion of Peace? Why, the Religion of Peace is NO DIFFERENT AT ALL FROM ANY OTHER WESTERN FAITH! IT IS NO MORE VIOLENT THAN JUDAISM OR CHRISTIANITY. GOT IT???????? Isn't that what you and the rest of the politically correct members of the MSM keep telling us, even as the death toll mounts ever higher?

An Imam from India visits Israel

Better yet, he actually LIKED the country: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3439462,00.html.

Of course, how long do you think it will be before there is a fatwah issued against him and he is either killed or forced into hiding? Because, you know, the Religion of Peace is SO tolerant of dissenting voices within its ranks.