Month: April 2006

From Agence France Presse via Yahoo! News:

In a project unknown in Islam, Morocco has just graduated its first team of women preachers to be deployed as a vanguard in the kingdom’s fight against any slide towards Islamic extremism.

Preachers might be a little strong here, judging from the rest of the article. But be that as it may, I wonder how Muslims respond to them.

And I wonder if the fanatics will see them as tamers or targets.

Maybe both.

So we have this:

Congress considered billions of dollars in new taxes on oil companies Thursday, looking for ways to punish the cash-rich industry and soothe growing anger over high gasoline prices.

Wait a minute. Punishing an industry by socking it with new taxes is supposed to soothe my “anger” over high gasoline prices? That seems so childish, political, and class-warfare-ish. But if that is Congress’ job to do . . . .

Senate Republicans also proposed a $100 fuel-cost rebate for millions of taxpayers, and Democrats talked of suspending the 18.4-cent federal gasoline tax for two months to ease Americans’ pain at the pump.

In this case, I support the Democrat idea, but for six months, please.

But even as lawmakers jockeyed for political advantage on the volatile issue, there was widespread agreement among economists and energy experts that the government has few if any weapons to quickly drive down gasoline prices that have rushed past $3 a gallon across much of the country.

Oh, political advantage. Never mind what’s right?

Is this chart really true?

Because if it is, my business (http://www.anabaptistbooks.com) has roughly twice the profit margin of “Big Oil”!

So I guess I qualify as “Big AB” — and I hope it isn’t a mistake to post that in a public forum like this. I might have the politicians and activists after me.

From the New York Times via International Herald Tribune:

The Senate’s latest immigration bill is an awkward, unappetizing compromise, which would shut out many newer immigrants and impose daunting red-tape hurdles on the rest. But at least it remains wrapped around a vital principle: the option of citizenship for those who want and deserve to become Americans.

So if I break into the NYT offices, I deserve to become a reporter for them?

Or if I hack my way into their Web site, I deserve to become a reporter for them?

That’s how I read it.

WorldNetDaily: ‘Tangible proof’ al-Qaida deploying nukes

A terrorism symposium featuring leading experts will begin with presentation of “tangible proof” al-Qaida not only has developed an arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons but also has begun to deploy them for use in its jihad against the United States and Israel.

Do you believe that?

How long can Abbas last? That’s the question that came to my mind when I read this:

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday that he would not fire the new Hamas-led government at this time despite the Islamist group’s refusal to renounce violence and embrace peacemaking with Israel.

Abbas, leader of the more moderate faction Fatah, last week vetoed Hamas’s nomination of a Gaza Strip militant to a senior security post, prompting violent street confrontations and warnings of a looming Palestinian civil war.

Unless Abbas was grandstanding and playing to the international audience (with Hamas knowledge and consent), I think they’re going to taken him down. Violently.

And where’s his face that some people fret he lost?

More importantly, where’s Wang Wenyi?

And if you don’t have answers to those questions, maybe you could tell me what’s going on here: