Laissez-faire

Starting the New Year off on a lighter note, here’s I am with 2 of my 3 grandkids (taken 12-26-07):

– Smitty, 1-1-08

“You don’t appreciate a lot of stuff in school until you get older. Little things like being spanked every day by a middle aged woman: Stuff you pay good money for in later life.”

– Emo Philips

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“Sex-segregation in a public educational institution” ?? Hello ?? National Organization of Women ???

“Every sink and toilet stall had someone washing his feet” ?? Hello ?? MN Dept of Health ???

“No evidence of any faith but Islam. No Bible, no crucifix, no Torah.” ?? Hello ?? ACLU ???

Hello ????? This is a publicly funded college where I spent 2 years.

Someone in charge needs to grow a pair, man-up and take a high-pressure fire hose into this “meditation room” and flush away these brownshirts and their religious fascism.

And remember, according to MN politicians, YOUR taxes are too low ……… YOU need to open your wallet to help support religious fascism.

– Smitty, 12-19-07
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Source: http://www.startribune.com/featuredColumns/12551256.html

Normandale’s ‘meditation room’ is home to a single faith

By Katherine Kersten, Star Tribune
Last update: December 16, 2007 - 8:53 PM

Last week, I visited a Muslim place of worship. A schedule for Islam’s five daily prayers was posted at the entrance, near a sign requesting that shoes be removed. Inside, a barrier divided men’s and women’s prayer space, an arrow informed worshippers of the direction of Mecca, and literature urged women to cover their faces.

Sound like a mosque?

The place I’m describing is the “meditation room” at Normandale Community College, a 9,200-student public institution in Bloomington.

Until recently, the room was the school’s only usable racquetball court. College administrators converted the court into a meditation room when construction forced closure of the previous meditation room.

A row of chest-high barriers splits the room into sex-segregated sections. In the smaller, enclosed area for women sits a pile of shawls and head-coverings. Literature titled “Hijaab [covering] and Modesty” was prominently placed there, instructing women on proper Islamic behavior.

They should cover their faces and stay at home, it said, and their speech should not “be such that it is heard.”

“Enter into Islaam completely and accept all the rulings of Islaam,” the tract read in part. “It should not be that you accept what entertains your desires and leave what opposes your desires; this is from the manners of the Jews.”

“[T]he Jews and the Christians” are described as “the enemies of Allaah’s religion.” The document adds: “Remember that you will never succeed while you follow these people.”

A poster on the room’s door advertised a local lecture on “marriage from an Islamic perspective,” with “useful tips for marital harmony from the Prophet’s … life.” Other fliers invited students to join the Normandale Islamic Forum, or participate in Ramadan celebrations.

One thing was missing from the meditation room: evidence of any faith but Islam. No Bible, no crucifix, no Torah.

Normandale’s administration is facilitating the room’s Islamization. The college’s building crew erected the barrier separating men’s and women’s sections, according to Ralph Anderson, dean of student affairs. College officials also posted signs at the room’s entrance asking students to remove shoes — a Muslim custom before prayers. This was “basically a courtesy to Muslim students,” Anderson said.

Despite the room’s Islamic atmosphere, Anderson says it “is open to everyone.”

Why is the meditation room segregated by sex? “Muslim students prefer that areas be divided into male and female,” he said. “Other students don’t care.”

Doesn’t sex-segregation present a constitutional problem in a public educational institution? “I don’t want to comment on that,” he said.

And the literature regarding Jews and Christians? “I would probably take it out if I knew it was in there,” said Anderson.

Normandale’s zealous effort to accommodate Muslim students is not new. Chad Lunaas, a former student who works at the college part time, cites examples.

Last year on Fridays, he says, he often entered the bathroom to find that “every sink and toilet stall had someone washing his feet.” Other students couldn’t use the bathroom at these times, and those who tried felt awkward.

Lunaas finally expressed his concerns to a Muslim student who “seemed to be in charge.”

“His attitude was, ‘We don’t have to listen to you, we can do whatever we want,’ ” he said.

Confrontations also erupted in the sex-segregated meditation room, according to Lunaas. “Muslim students just took it over. They made people who were not of the Muslim religion feel very uncomfortable, especially if they were female.”

One female student tried to use the room when Muslim students were in it, said Lunaas. “She believed she should be treated equally. They were telling her to leave, to take off her shoes, to go to the other side of the divider.”

Anderson says he met several times with concerned students. But “the whole thing was just basically swept aside,” according to Lunaas.

Anderson said that in the incident involving the young woman, “both sides were probably out of line.”

Howard Odor, who advises the college’s Somali Student Association, said he has not been aware of “any issues” since the meditation room has been in the racquetball court. “I can guarantee that college policy is that anyone who wants to go in there and pray or meditate can do so.”

But many at the college see a bigger issue.

“For all practical purposes, this meditation room is essentially a Muslim prayer room,” said Chuck Chalberg of Normandale’s history faculty. “Something this unprecedented goes beyond religious toleration.”

Katherine Kersten • kkersten@startribune.com Join the conversation at my blog, Think Again, which can be found at www.startribune.com/thinkagain

“I’ll tell you what it’s like to be No. 1. I compare it to climbing Mount Everest. It’s very difficult. Lives are lost along the way. You struggle and struggle and finally you get up there. And guess what there is once you get up there? Snow and ice.”

– David Merrick

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Source: http://www.twincities.com//ci_7655973

Minnesota / Early snow cover has depth, staying power

BY RICHARD CHIN
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 12/06/2007 11:37:24 PM CST

We’re covered.

Minnesota has been coated by the most complete and early blanket of snow in more than 10 years, Department of Natural Resources climatologist Greg Spoden said Thursday.

A foot or more of snow smothers much of central and northern Minnesota, according to a snow depth map released Thursday by the DNR. The entire state has at least 3 inches or more of snow.

The last time the state had such early and complete snow coverage was in 1996, Spoden said.

Snow depths currently range from about 3 to 4 inches in southwestern Minnesota up to 18 inches on the ridges just inland from the North Shore.

Temperatures have been above average in the past nine out of 10 winters in the state, Spoden said. But so far, the end of November and beginning of December this year have been colder than normal.

A white Christmas seems likely. The National Weather Service one-month outlook calls for below-normal temperatures.

Spoden said the early snow is likely to be a boost for businesses related to winter recreation in the state including resorts, downhill and cross country ski areas, and retailers selling skis, ice-fishing gear and snowmobiles.

It’s especially helpful for winter recreation in the state that the metropolitan area is well covered early in the season. The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport has received about 8 inches of snow, almost up to the 10 inches it gets on average for the entire month of December.

“In December, we sort of set the emotional tone for winter,” Spoden said.

Although snowmobilers and skiers may be rejoicing, an early winter produces some losers. Heating bills will be higher. The construction season is curtailed. Traffic snarls and accidents rise. State and municipal snow removal budgets take a hit. The snow covering inhibits ice formation, requiring extra caution before venturing out on lakes.

And after the winter of 1996-97, the last time we saw such early snow, there was disastrous flooding in the Red River basin when all that snow melted in the spring.

Richard Chin can be reached at rchin@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5560.

Fyi

Heading out to enjoy winter? Here’s some information.

Ice fishing: Lake of the Woods had 7 to 10 inches of ice, and resorts were expected to begin ice-fishing operations Saturday.

On Upper Red Lake, there were 8 to 10 inches of ice, and anglers were driving on the lake with snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles.

Snowmobiling: Northeast Minnesota snowmobile clubs and the DNR were actively packing and grooming trails.

Cross country skiing: Trail grooming has been under way across the state including the metro area.

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Smitty, 12-11-07

The first case of mad cow disease has been discovered in Israel. Gee, I hope this doesn’t make any people in the Middle East go crazy!

– Jay Leno

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Wait a minute ………. what if some extremists within the Jewish faith are offended by this (below) ?? Shouldn’t they take to the streets and demand the beheading of the organizers ?? Isn’t that the proper response ???

– Smitty, 12-4-07

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22080072/

Giant menorah made of Legos in St. Louis Park will mark Hanukkah

By / StarTribune
startribune.com
updated 9:30 a.m. CT, Mon., Dec. 3, 2007

A menorah made entirely of Lego pieces will rise 8 feet high as part of this year’s Hanukkah celebration in the Twin Cities.

Organizers are saying it will be the largest menorah that the state has every seen. It will be on display starting Tuesday at the Byerly’s grocery store in St. Louis Park. It will remain there all through the holiday, which begins Tuesday at sundown and lasts eight days.

Children are also being invited to enter a Lego menorah competition and enter their most creative Lego menorahs. Then, the public can vote on the entries at the store or online.

See www.livinglegacymn.com for details.

The Lego menorah events are sponsored by the Minneapolis Chabad Lubavitch worship house in Minnetonka.

Hanukkah, known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day celebration of the Jews’ victory over the Syrian-Greek oppressors nearly 2,200 years ago. When the victors arrived in Jerusalem, only a smidgen of oil remained to light the Temple’s menorah. Somehow, the tiny flame burned for eight days, until messengers showed up with more oil. Jews light candles for eight days to commemorate the miracle.

PAUL WALSH

I once had dinner in a German-Chinese restaurant. The food was delicious, but an hour later, I was hungry for power.

– Anonymous

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Come on you culturally-insensitive SOB’s ………. instead of giving your local MN food shelf things like macaroni & cheese mixes, pasta and soup, YOU instead need to start donating things such as meat that is halal (certified for the Muslim community), Fufu (an African porridge) and plantains !!

What’s the matter with you ?? Get with the program !!!
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Source: http://www.twincities.com/news/ci_6117161

Same hunger, different diets
From fish sauce to fufu, Minnesota food shelves need more donations for recent immigrants. They’re encouraging contributors to think beyond the basics while homesick taste buds adjust

BY MARY BAUER
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 10/26/2007 05:23:40 PM CDT

Move over, mac and cheese. The local food shelf could use a little fufu.

Twin Cities’ food banks and food shelves are racing to stock more ethnic foods to keep up with the area’s growing number of new immigrants.

“Not all rice is created equal,” said Renae Oswald-Anderson, vice president of community building at Neighborhood House, a community center on St. Paul’s West Side that includes a food shelf.

“The vast majority of our participants do not speak English as a first language,” she said. “They’re immigrants and refugees.”

But getting enough fufu, an African porridge, to go around is proving no easy task. Although the Midwest is growing more culturally diverse - 11.8 percent of Minnesotans say they’re from a nonwhite ethnic group - food donations are not.

Food shelf organizers say they don’t have enough ethnic items to go around, which means they have to buy them. They’re launching a variety of efforts to diversify donations and to teach newcomers how to love Spam and Cheerios.

Providing culturally specific food is essential to feeding recent immigrants for nutritional and emotional reasons, food shelf organizers say.

Over time, newcomers assimilate and learn to incorporate new foods into their diet. But in the beginning, people can go hungry despite a cupboard full of items from a food shelf, said Mustafa Sundiata, food shelf coordinator for NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center Inc. in North Minneapolis.

They don’t know how to prepare the foods or eat them, he said.

“For the average person, mac and cheese is not a problem - unless you just came from Laos and you’re used to cooking in a pot over an open fire,” Sundiata said.

And don’t underestimate the power of comfort food. Many of their clients have endured suffering and loss to come to the United States, food shelf workers said. When you’re homesick, you want food just the way Mom made it, with basmati rice.

“It’s what you are used to in your diet,” said Annette Bauer, public relations director for the northern division of the Salvation Army, which operates five food shelves in the Twin Cities. “And at the beginning, when they first get here, it’s what we can do to make them comfortable.”

The glitch lies in how the food chain filters down to the needy. About 70 percent of the food for Second Harvest Heartland, the largest food bank in the Midwest, comes from donations, said Heidi Stennes, director of communications for the bank. The organization distributes food to 950 agencies and food shelves.

Shelves at its Maplewood warehouse are packed with misprinted labels, product line overruns and flavors that didn’t pan out. Those foods come through established relationships with large food manufacturers like Hormel and Nestle, Stennes said.

While they’re making inroads, banks have fewer partnerships with ethnic food manufacturers and specialty grocery stores, she said.

“Here in the Midwest, there aren’t large producers of ethnic foods,” Stennes said. “Most of the ethnic food, we have to buy.”

A lot of ethnic foods are imports. Specialty importers are often small family businesses that can’t afford to give away food on the same scale as Kraft, said Oswald-Anderson.

“African-style foods like plantain or fufu are not hard to find,” said Sundiata, who manages the largest standalone food shelf in Minnesota. “We have importers who import that kind of thing. But it’s difficult getting them to donate to the food bank because these foods are very, very expensive.”

On the small-donor side, people give what they eat, Bauer said. And food shelves are not well connected in ethnic populations.

“We’re beginning to ask, ‘How do we reach out to donors who are diverse?’ ” she said.

Neighborhood House recently organized a workshop on culturally sound food shelf practices and produced a workbook for donors that lists ethnic items found at any large chain grocery. The reception has been positive, she said.

“You can go to Cub Foods and Rainbow and find fish sauce on the shelves,” Oswald-Anderson said. “So we can encourage donors to purchase those things for families.”

Sundiata said he believes that eventually, the supply side will catch up. Meanwhile, food banks and food shelves must buy ethnic foods themselves. Second Harvest Heartland is applying for grants to buy ethnic foods. The Salvation Army gives out food vouchers its clients can use at neighborhood groceries. Neighborhood House buys in bulk, repackaging 100-pound bags of specialty rice into 2-pound bags.

The long-term solution is education, Sundiata and others said. The larger food shelves have education programs designed to teach nutrition, menu planning and food preparation. Neighborhood House offers recipes that incorporate typical food-shelf fare into ethnic dishes.

“We need to take what we have and teach everybody how to use it,” Sundiata said. “If we’d spend our money that way, we’d come out better than trying to import these culturally specific expensive foods.”

Mary Bauer can be reached at mbauer@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5311.

OLD STANDBYS

Food items on the typical food bank want list:

# Macaroni and cheese mixes
# Pasta
# Soup
# Peanut butter
# Fresh fruits and vegetables
# Cereal
# Bread
# 100 percent fruit juices

NEW FAVORITES

Culturally specific items sought at food banks and food shelves:

# Different kinds of rice: basmati, jasmine, saffron and brown rice
# Beans of all kinds
# Meat that is halal, certified for the Muslim community
# Fufu, an African porridge
# Plantains
# Fresh fruits and vegetables
# Guilin rice noodles
# Bean thread
# Soy milk or beverages
# White gourd juice
# Corn meal, corn flour and corn oil
# Fish sauce

IN FLANDERS FIELDS

By John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

“Murder, robbery, rape, adultery and incest will be openly taught and practiced, the air will be rent with cries of distress, the soil soaked with blood, and the nation black with crimes. Where is the heart that can contemplate such a scene without shivering with horror?”

– New England Courant newspaper (1801), on the election of Thomas Jefferson

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Such vigilantism (see story below) is an unfortunate side effect of a city (with a bleeding-heart liberal mayor, council and judicial system) that continues to coddle gangs and other criminal elements. Protecting the public from lawlessness and anarchy is supposed to be the #1 reason that government was created 10,000 years ago. Everything else is so far down the list that it’s off the charts.

Cutting the heart and guts out of gangs should be the life’s mission of the mayor in St. Paul. Double the size of the police force if necessary. Appoint and support judges who pity victims instead of criminals. All necessary resources should be thrown in the mix (even if it means dramatically cutting back on “free stuff” that you want to give to your favored constituencies to buy votes).

The creation of the RICO act all but destroyed the mafia on the east coast. Why the hell can’t a gaggle of fed, state or local lawyers come up with a “RICO” act targeted at gangs? Do we have a shortage of lawyers in this country ???? Are they all too “busy” doing good deeds more important than this ????

Methinks you’re going to see more and more and more of this. If the powers that be aren’t going to take gang violence seriously then it’s hard to condemn someone who was so fed up and frightened that he took the law in his own hands. Now he’s facing a second-degree murder rap. I’ll bet that no resources will be spared to put this “criminal” away. That will sure keep our streets safer !! In the meantime, the gang members all scattered and presumably headed back to their 9-5 at Wal Mart.

P.S. Good thing that it was an Asian killing an Asian. That at least keeps the racist nonsense out of the picture that the bleeding hearts would be screaming about. It’s just too bad that no one is screaming about the real issue here.

– Smitty, 10-30-07

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Reference: http://www.twincities.com/newsletter-morning/ci_7316499

Gang gathers; father shoots

Man charged in teen’s death told police his son, 19, was threatened

BY EMILY GURNON
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 10/30/2007 12:04:02 AM CDT

He had been shot by gang members before. So when a group of Bloods threatened his son in a dispute over a girl, Nai Vang grabbed the rifle he used for hunting squirrels and pulled the trigger.

Police said that’s what Vang told them after a Friday night incident in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood left one teen dead and one injured.

Vang, 37, of St. Paul, was charged Monday by the Ramsey County attorney’s office with killing 18-year-old Chia Neng Yang of Brooklyn Park, who was found dead in a nearby alley after the shooting.

The medical examiner provisionally determined that Yang died of a gunshot wound to the chest, complicated by injuries “from pedestrian vs. motor vehicle,” according to police. Yang had a severe head injury after he was run over by a car shortly after being shot. Investigators were initially unsure what had killed him.

Vang was at home with his children and some friends about 7 p.m. Friday when a group of Bloods drove up to his house at 837 E. Jessamine Ave., according to the complaint.

The complaint describes events this way:

An argument erupted between the Bloods and Vang’s son, who is dating an ex-girlfriend of a Bloods gang member. The son, Gary Vang, 19, and his friends are Asian Crips members, one witness told police.

Investigators later searched the home on a warrant and found photos of Asian men and women flashing gang signs, as well as gang wear and a notebook with “crips vs. bloods” written on the back.

Confronted by the other gang, Gary Vang said, “If they want to fight, let’s fight,” and he, two brothers and friends started to gather up sticks and knives.

Nai Vang then walked out of the house and told the other group of about 20 to leave, but they approached his three boys, he told police. When a fight seemed imminent, he went into the house and got his gun.

Witnesses saw him raise the rifle to his shoulder shoot into the crowd. The Bloods began to scatter. Two, including Yang, were hit. A friend saw Yang lying in the alley and yelled at him to get up, but he didn’t move.

Seconds later, a car roared through the alley, running over Yang, witnesses said.

A 15-year-old boy was treated at Regions Hospital for gunshot wounds to his arms.

Nai Vang told police that gang members shot him when he lived in the 600 block of Wells Street a few months ago. He believed the gang members were “coming back to finish him off,” the complaint said. On Friday, he said, he first shot in the air, then lowered his gun but did not shoot directly into the other group. He thought he was the only person to shoot. After the incident, he put his gun back in the bedroom.

Police that evening ordered at least a dozen people out of the house after the shooting, including several young children.
Nai Vang was charged with second-degree murder and two counts of assault.

St. Paul police arrested Gary Vang on suspicion of homicide Saturday. The investigation into the younger Vang continues, said officer Pete Crum, a police spokesman.

Mara H. Gottfried contributed to this story. Emily Gurnon can be reached at egurnon@pioneer press.com or 651-228-5522.

“I do not believe people are born evil. You have to work at it. You have to make many bad choices, turning again and again toward the dark until finally, you can see nothing and no one beyond yourself.”

– Mark Hare, Rochester (NY) Democrat & Chronicle

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Reference: http://news.aol.com/story/ar/_a/america-tortures-prisoners-carter-says/20071010165209990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001
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Dear Former President Carter: You continue to prove over and over what a despicable person you are. Of all ex-Presidents in the 20th Century, you are the least qualified to criticize the performance of others.

Obviously, you must think the electorate are a bunch of idiots with a short memory ……… too short to recall what an absolute disaster your tenure as President was.

Well I remember …..

- I remember the nice “hat trick” your economic incompetence gave us: Double digit-inflation, double-digit unemployment, AND double-digit interest rates. A hell of an accomplishment. You must be so %$#@ proud.

- I remember being ecstatic that I was able to secure a “low” 13% home mortgage interest rate for my first home in 1980.

- I remember Islamic-fascism being born under your incompetent watch. The savages were emboldened once they knew that the US had a complete hamster for a President, so they kept our Iran Embassy staff hostages for 444 days knowing that they had nothing to fear from you. To this day, countless civilian and military lives (US and foreign) have been lost directly or indirectly due to your absolute inability to deal with evil, which has immeasurably strengthened these savages to this day.

- I remember you giving America-hating Michael Moore an honored seat next to you at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. Why don’t you just save some time and spit on the US flag ??

I still have nightmares imaging you as our President on 9/11. That would have been a disaster beyond the pale. Your “endorsement” of John Edwards was the kiss of death for his campaign. Hillary and Barock fared far better ………… they were only endorsed by Castro.

Based on the nonsense you’ve spouted over the years, I’m formulated the “Jimmy Carter 180 Rule”: Whenever you say the US should do something, in reality we should do the exact opposite as rapidly as possible if we truly love our country.

Please keep your filthy, slimy, misguided, anti-semitic, American-hating terrorist-enabling, dictator-loving “opinions” away from those of us who actually care about this country and where it’s headed.

– Smitty, 10-14-07

“Counter-terrorism experts say that Osama bin Laden may be hiding secret messages on pornographic websites. You know what that means, Clinton could find this guy before Bush.”

—Jay Leno

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………. for continuing to do triple-backslips in your efforts to enable terrorism. It’s bad enough that we have to fight Islamofascists; with you as their defacto ally it’s far worse ………

– Smitty, 10-7-07

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Source: http://www.newsmax.com/kessler/FISA_act/2007/10/05/38477.html?s=al&promo_code=3AF5-1

Do We Want Another 9/11?

Friday, October 5, 2007 11:29 AM
By: Ronald Kessler

In their efforts to demonize the American intelligence community, Democrats and the media are playing with our safety.

The latest example is the way these critics are minimizing and distorting warnings from Mike McConnell, director of National Intelligence, about how defenseless America would become if warrants were required to intercept terrorists’ calls and e-mails even when those communications are in foreign countries.

The issue should not be controversial. Going back to the founding of the National Security Agency in 1952, the government could intercept calls and e-mails of targets situated in foreign countries without a warrant. But because most such communications now pass through U.S. switching systems in fiber optic cables, a Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act (FISA) court judge ruled on May 31 that intercepting such communications requires a court order.

Obtaining a FISA court order requires an average of 200 man hours of preparation. Often, people who speak Arabic, Farsi, or Urdu have to be pulled off tracking leads to possible plots to help prepare the applications. Moreover, by the time an order is obtained for a new targeted phone number, the call is finished.

Because of the ruling, tens of thousands of calls and e-mails were not being examined. Any one of them could have contained clues to an al-Qaida plot to detonate nuclear devices in Manhattan and Washington. As FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III has told me, these are al-Qaida’s twin goals.

In August, Congress — over the objections of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi — voted to continue to allow intercepts of calls based in foreign countries without the need for a warrant. But already, Pelosi and other Democrats have vowed to gut that law, called the Protect America Act, before it expires on Feb. 5.

To illustrate the need for an extension of the revision, Director of National Intelligence McConnell recently cited a delay “in the neighborhood of 12 hours” to obtain a warrant under the emergency provision of FISA. The warrant was to listen to calls made last May by insurgents who captured American soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division. The bodies of some of those captured have since been found; the other soldiers are presumed dead.

That example should have been enough to put the issue to rest. What could be more absurd than having to obtain a warrant to listen to conversations of foreign insurgents? But Rep. Rush Holt, a New Jersey Democrat, accused McConnell of trying to “politicize the debate” over electronic surveillance by citing the soldiers’ case.

Rep. Silvestre Reyes, a Texas Democrat who heads the House Intelligence Committee, blamed government officials, not the law. Reyes claimed an emergency request under FISA should take “only a few minutes” and “one call.”

When McConnell subsequently released a time line showing that the delay in obtaining a warrant was nine and a half hours, the press pounced. The Washington Post ran a story focusing on the difference between McConnell’s initial rough estimate of the delay to obtain an emergency warrant and the more precise time line he later released.

“Iraq Wiretap Delay Not Quite As Presented,” the headline over the story said. “Lag Is Attributed to Internal Disputes and Time to Reach Gonzales, Not FISA Constraints.”

The story claimed that the delay of nine and a half hours was caused “primarily by legal wrangling between the Justice Department and intelligence officials over whether authorities had probable cause to begin the surveillance.”

The delay included “nearly two hours” spent trying to reach then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who was speaking to U.S. attorneys in Texas, to obtain authorization of the emergency application, the story said.

In what has become standard practice in the mainstream media, the Post buried the Justice Department’s response that the case “presented novel and complex issues that we had to resolve” in the 11th paragraph of the story.

In fact, based on the original intent of FISA, since the communications were in a foreign country, no warrant should have been required in the first place. The point of revising FISA was to make that clear so that such calls could be intercepted instantly. But since the revision had not been passed last May and the communications happened to be routed through the U.S., authorities were obliged to carefully line up the facts and examine all the legalities before applying for an emergency authorization.

If, as Reyes claimed, that process normally took only a few minutes and one phone call, it would be a sham exercise. Moreover, the time required to obtain authorization from officials like Gonzales under emergency conditions only underscores why tolerating such onerous legal procedures when Americans’ rights are not at stake is foolhardy.

Rep. Holt’s claim that McConnell was politicizing the issue by presenting a case history has become a standard tactic of many Democrats. If intelligence officials like Mike McConnell or military officers like Gen. David Petraeus cite evidence to back up their case, they are accused of either being pawns of the White House or of using scare tactics.

The Washington Post’s story illustrates how the media undermine the war on terror by obscuring the truth. In highlighting a difference of two and a half hours between McConnell’s rough estimate of the delay compared with the actual duration of the delay, the paper sought to undermine McConnell’s credibility.

The problem was not “legal wrangling,” the term the Post chose to apply to legal deliberations. The problem was that FISA had not kept up with technological changes and needed to be revised to make it conform to its original intent.

If al-Qaida succeeds at its goals, it could literally wipe out millions of Americans and institute a nuclear winter. Yet between the Democrats’ efforts to handcuff those who are trying to protect us and the mainstream media’s efforts to malign those officials and distort the truth about the issues we face, we as Americans are at the mercy of people bent on committing suicide.

Osama bin Laden, known to follow the media closely, has to be laughing.

Ronald Kessler is chief Washington correspondent of NewsMax.com. View his previous reports and get his dispatches sent to you free via e-mail

You don’t stop laughing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop laughing.

– Anonymous

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A future voter reacts as the Democratic Party’s plan to protect the US from Islamic Fascism is explained to him point-by-point…………

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P6UU6m3cqk

– Smitty, 9-16-07