AP reports: “Actress and activist Jane Fonda says she intends to take a cross-country bus tour to call for an end to U.S. military operations in Iraq.”

(Hattip: Michelle Malkin)

Jane Fonda poses for a portrait at the Four Seasons Hotel Sunday, April 10, 2005, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Stefano Paltera) - Slightly “modified” by CaliforniaConservative.org

Wouldn’t it make more sense for her to actually go to Iraq?

The terrorists ( “rebel fighters” in Fonda parlance ) would surely show her a warm welcome.

“I can’t go into any detail except to say that it’s going to be pretty exciting,” she said.

Fonda said her anti-war tour in March will use a bus that runs on “vegetable oil.”

Well, ain’t that special. And we bet her SUV and luxury automobiles run on pixie dust, too.

RELATED:
Others blogging on the story…
Political Teen
La Shawn Barber
DailyPundit
Mark In Mexico

Mukhtar Said Ibrahim (R) and Yassin Hassan Omar (L). British police named two men who allegedly staged failed attempts to blow up a London bus and a subway train last week, releasing a new photograph of the suspected bus bomber. Peter Clarke of the Metropolitan Police told a press conference that Mukhtar Said Ibrahim, 27, was the name of the man who tried to blow up the bus and Yassin Hassan Omar, 24, was the one who tried to bomb a subway train.(AFP-HO/File)

New image of suspected bus-bomber Mukhtar Said Ibrahim, as released by the police. British police named two men who allegedly staged failed attempts to blow up a London bus and a subway train last week, releasing a new photograph of the suspected bus bomber.(AFP-HO)

The coffin of Helen Jones, who died in the London bombings on July 7, is carried from Laigh Kirk church in Paisley, Scotland July 25, 2005. Helen Jones, 28, was travelling on the Piccadilly line when the bombers struck. REUTERS/Jeff J Mitchell

A floral tribute laid by one of the bereaved families at Aldgate tube station in London is pictured. The police allowed families of victims and some of the victims of the suicide bomb attacks on July 7, to visit the scene to pay their respects and to understand the events of that day. Sombre defiance tinged with anxiety prevailed at Aldgate Street Underground station in London as commuters flowed through for the first time since seven people lost their lives to a suicide bomber there on July 7.(AFP-Pool/Alastair Grant )

Over the sunny weekend, liberals came out to bathe in the warmth of their own self-absorbtion.

S.F. Chronicle reports: “In Berkeley, they explored the spiritual side of being liberal. In Oakland, they blasted the Bush administration over the war in Iraq at a town hall meeting with Rep. Barbara Lee. And all over the region, Bush bashers heard former Ambassador Joseph Wilson rip into Karl Rove via conference call.”

Such a harmonic convergence of activism could almost be dubbed “liberal bliss” day — if everyone weren’t so fighting mad.

“Just because they run the show doesn’t mean we’re not going to put up a fight,” said Lee, D-Oakland, who spoke to a standing-room-only crowd of 850 at the Grand Lake Theater. “We will demand answers, we will demand accountability, and we won’t stop until we get them.”

Predictable rhetoric: Bay Area liberals speak out

“People are dying because of the lies that Bush is telling, and it’s just repugnant,” said John Glynn, 54, an Oakland health care consultant at the town hall meeting. “It’s got to be stopped.”

“It feels like you can’t sit by and do nothing,” added Sheryl Lipari, a 50-year-old mother who is trying to prevent military recruiters from visiting her son’s high school in Castro Valley. “Slowly I’m seeing our freedoms taken away.”

What freedoms are being taken away from Ms. Lipari? God only knows.

Speaking of faith, over in Berkeley, liberals are trying to find a new religion.

Chronicle reports: “Liberals have complained for two decades that conservatives misuse religion for political gain, but it wasn’t until well-organized evangelicals powered President Bush’s election in November that some decided that they had to do more than gripe.”

The latest post-election attempt at transforming the spiritual energy of the left into political clout began Wednesday at UC Berkeley, where 1,200 people attended the opening of a conference on “Spiritual Activism.”

The goal of the four-day conference is to create a spirituality-based platform to counter the religious right, but organizers are also intending to connect with “religio-phobic” liberals through seminars such as, “I Don’t Believe in God, But I Know America Needs a Spiritual Left.”

“This is not an attempt to put spiritual words on the old liberal agenda, ” said conference organizer Rabbi Michael Lerner, an antiwar activist in the 1960s who is now editor of the Tikkun magazine in Berkeley. “This is about transforming the society away from materialism and selfishness.”

What’s the point?

“The right has developed a network of churches that gives people love, whether we agree that it is a real love or an imperfect one,” said Peter Gabel, a longtime activist and professor at New College of California in San Francisco. “Progressives have not developed the same world view that speaks to that pain.”

God help them — and give us the strength to endure their folly.

What else is he going to say, right?

AFP reports: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf rejected as “absolutely and totally baseless” suggestions that Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network had its headquarters in Pakistan and said their communications structure had been broken.

“So in this situation, is it possible that an Al-Qaeda man sitting here is controlling events in London or Sharm el-Sheikh or other parts of the world,” he said, speaking to journalists in Lahore. “This is absolutely wrong.”

He added that “the world must understand that this Al-Qaeda has become a phenomenon.”

Indeed. But it’s a phenomenon inherent only to radical Islam.

That should also be understood by the world.

RELATED:
7/27: Terrorists Strike London, Again

Why bother voting? The courts shall decide.

SacBee reports: “For the second time in two days, a state court Friday threw out an initiative, leaving only six measures on the dwindling Nov. 8 special-election ballot.”

Dwindling…a choice word.

“In a setback for consumer groups seeking new controls on the energy industry, the 3rd District Court of Appeal invalidated Proposition 80, billed by proponents as a ‘re-regulation’ of power companies that would help avoid rolling blackouts.

The move came the day after a Sacramento Superior Court judge tossed out Proposition 77, a plan for changing how political districts are drawn. That measure was a key part of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s government-overhaul agenda.

Both decisions are likely to be appealed.

This represents a setback not only for the public, but also for Gov. Schwarzenegger’s political momentum. While special interests are prevailing through the courts, the Guv’s opponents will be promoting the decisions as news for discrediting Arnold’s reform ambitions.

[Assembly Speaker Fabian] Núñez, D-Los Angeles, also criticized Friday’s ruling.

“This decision is a wake-up call to the governor to work with the Legislature to craft a long-term energy solution for our state,” he said in a statement.

Two words: Gray Davis. That was the wake-up call, and Democrats were snoozing.

“Friday, the appeals court unanimously sided with the Independent Energy Producers Association, a trade group that sued to block Proposition 80.

In their ruling, a panel of three judges said Proposition 80 was “unquestionably invalid on its face” so it wouldn’t be fair to ask voters to consider it.”

Basically, saying: The courts will dictate, either before — or after — the public votes on something.

It’s been done before, and the courts will do it again.

RELATED:
No Appeasing Democrats: Schwarzenegger Proves
It Doesn’t Pay To Be Conciliatory

When simple-minded Hollywood hero Forrest Gump ran across the country, he gathered followers faster than he grew facial hair.

CNET reports: “Steve Vaught–a 350-pound self-described ‘Forrest Lump’ who’s walking across the country to shed weight–has the same such following, only his real-life fame has been fueled by the Internet.”

“Tens of thousands of people are regularly checking in on 39-year-old Vaught’s progress through his busy Web site, TheFatManWalking.com. Vaught’s wife, April, who has been penning his online journal, alludes to a Web audience of about 100,000, and that was before Vaught was featured on the “Today” show earlier this month.

Vaught left his hometown outside San Diego on April 10 in an attempt to walk to New York City to ‘lose weight and regain my life.’ While he embarked on the journey for personal reasons, he hoped his story might ’serve to encourage others to take their lives back–to get up and do something about it today,’ according to a Web site posting written before he left.

As of Friday, Vaught was only near Flagstaff, Ariz., where it’s monsoon season. He’s fallen way behind his goal of traveling about 20 miles a day, which would have put him in Missouri by now.

But he’s already accomplishing his goals. He’s lost about 50 pounds (he was 400 pounds) and has been the source of great inspiration.”

Happy trails, Steve. You are leading by great example. Safe travels, and enjoy the experience.

We salute you.

UPDATE: (5/9/06)

AP reports: Steve Vaught has lost more than 100 pounds on his walk across the country, but he’s regaining his sanity.

At 410 pounds a year ago, the 40-year-old father of two from San Diego was battling a severe eating disorder and deep depression, caused by the guilt over accidentally killing two elderly pedestrians 15 years ago.

“It threw me into a tailspin. In the three years after the accident I gained 150 pounds,” Vaught said. “When something like that happens, you lose the ability to care about anything. You don’t put value on anything, because you know it can end at any second.”

Vaught’s tipping point came last year when he was so obese that he couldn’t walk across a department store. So he decided a walk from Oceanside, Calif., to New York City would be just the cure.

He set out on his journey on April 10, 2005, hoping to complete the trip in six months. By early November, he had reached the halfway point after walking 1,400 miles. After taking a break for the holidays, he resumed walking in January.

He has kept a running log of his trek on his Web site, TheFatManWalking.com, which has gotten hundreds of thousands of hits, while others have watched him on Oprah Winfrey’s TV show.

READ MORE

Two great articles from the Wall Street Journal this morning…

London, Again: Second terrorist attack in the UK.
It’s time to learn from Israel.

“Due to some combination of good luck and possible incompetence, Londoners were spared serious casualties in yesterday’s apparent bus and train bombings. This is not something to take much comfort in. As the second attack in as many weeks, it means the Israelization of the war on terror may now be upon Britain and, sooner or later perhaps, Europe and America, too.

By “Israelization,” we refer to the steady stream of bus, cafe, grocery, mall and street bombings to which Israeli civilians have been wantonly subjected these past several years. Unlike the September 11 attacks in the U.S. or last year’s Madrid bombings, none of these have been terrorist “spectaculars,” in the sense that they required extensive preparation and resulted in three- or four-figure death tolls.”

The full article here.

The Future of Tradition: Can it withstand the onslaught of abstract reasoning?

Lee Harris explores the rise and fall of past culture wars.

“America has been in the midst of a culture war for some time and will probably remain so for some time longer. But culture war is not peculiar to this country. Indeed, there have been at least three great culture wars fought in the course of Western history, including one contemporaneous with the rise of the Sophists in ancient Greece, the epoch identified with the French Enlightenment and the German Aufklärung, and our own current battle. The first two ended in disaster for the societies in which they occurred–and the outcome of the third is still pending.

Each of these wars has its own particular antagonists, each its own weapons of combat, each its own battlefield. But the essential nature of a culture war is invariant: A set of traditional values comes under attack by those who, like the Greek Sophist, the French philosophe and the American intellectual, make their living by their superior proficiency in handling abstract ideas, and promote a radically new and revolutionary set of values. This is precisely what one would expect from those who excel in dispute and argumentation.”

The full article here.

May we learn from history to guide us thru the present.

Reuters reports: “A California judge on Thursday threw out a referendum backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that would have changed the way the state’s legislative districts are drawn.”

“Schwarzenegger was seeking to take the responsibility for redistricting out of the hands of the Democratic-controlled California Legislature. The governor wanted to put the measure, known as Proposition 77, before voters in a November special election.

Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian ruled the measure could not be put on the Nov. 8 ballot. Problems arose because the wording on petitions circulated to build support for the measure differed from text submitted to state officials.”

The power of special interests, once again, prevails…

Wake up, California.

RELATED:
SoCal Law Blog has more.

Flap says, “the gloves are off”…

(Photo credit: Cao’s Blog)

The Anchoress reminds us.
(Hattip: Michelle Malkin)

Photos capture the horrors of terrorism.

Responding to those arguing that “Blair and Bush are to blame”: History proves you’re wrong.

Learn from the past…
or be doomed.

RELATED:
Ace of Spades explains why appeasement won’t work.

Reuters reports: “Four small explosions hit London’s bus and underground train network on Thursday, without causing major casualties, exactly 2 weeks after bombers killed more than 50 people in the capital.”

Suspect possibly on the loose.

MSNBC reports: “Staff at a central London hospital were told Thursday to look out for an Asian or black man with wires protruding from his shirt after witnesses reported seeing someone of that description fleeing an Underground station hit by a small blast, British TV reports said.”

Panic on the streets.

This Is London reports: “Eyewitnesses to today’s incidents in London described scenes of panic as passengers were evacuated from Tube trains”

The best defense is an offense.

AFP reports: “Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf said the July 7 London bombers could not be called human and urged Britain to do as much as his country to crack down on Islamic militants at home.

He pledged in a national address that Pakistan was waging a strong campaign against extremism and, switching from Urdu to English, said on Thursday “there is a lot to be done in England”, too, where he said extremists operated with impunity.

“I very strongly condemn this act of terrorism. I don’t think that the perpetrators of this act can be called human beings,” said Musharraf, who this week ordered the arrests of more than 200 militant suspects.

He’s definitely right on about one thing: There is a lot to be done.

Tony Blair calls for calm.

AP reports: “Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday he hoped that London would return to normal “as soon as possible” after explosions struck three Underground stations and a bus at midday.”

“We can’t minimize incidents such as this,” Blair said during a news conference with visiting Australian Prime Minister John Howard. “They’re done to scare people, to frighten them and make them worried.”

Australian Prime Minister John Howard weighs in:

“Terrorism is about the perverted use of an ideology for evil intent…the determination of the British people to continue their daily lives is one of their great characteristics…the terrorists want otherwise…the best answer to terrorism is to carry on unperturbed…”

“Terrorism is an enemy to all free people,” Howard said. “Terrorism is not just about individual circumstances and individual events.”

British press asks: “Aren’t your policies to blame for this attack?” Howard sets the record straight.

“My response was, I didn’t believe it was,” he told reporters.

Howard said the motivation was the same as that which prompted the October 2002 bombing of a nightclub in Bali, where 202 people died, including 88 Australians, which was before the March 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

He dubbed this driving force: “A perverted, twisted and totally immoral depiction of extreme Islam.”

Echoing words spoken Tuesday by Blair, Howard said, “I remind you that terrorist attacks occurred before Iraq was on the radar screen, and those people who argue that this is really because of Iraq simply ignore those facts.”

Shameful that the liberal media — both here and abroad — has to be reminded, repeatedly, to consider the facts.

Trey Jackson has video.

President Bush is standing firm. Agrees with Howard.

AP reports: “President Bush, speaking after new attacks in London, said Thursday that terrorists are trying to shake the will of the free world by killing innocent people.”

“They don’t understand that when it comes to the defense of universal freedoms, this country won’t be frightened,” the president said during an appearance before members of the Organization of American States.

Perspective: Amateurs, maybe. But terrorism, nonetheless.

Guardian reports: “One thing is clear about this afternoon’s events: the bombers and bomb makers were very different from the suicide bombers whose attacks exactly two weeks ago killed more than 50 people.

First indications suggested those responsible for today’s attacks were “amateurs” and their bombs were crude. There is a report for example, that one of the devices was a nail bomb.”

Experts: Latest London Blasts Amateurish

Financial market reaction:
New London Attacks Prompt Stock Selloff

“The security issues have just got 500 percent greater,” said Jeremy Hodges, head of foreign exchange sales at Lloyds TSB bank. “It will reflect badly on the economy, on tourism, and you have got to suggest that we are going to cut (interest) rates.”

Scene of the crime

Reporting from the blogosphere:
The Command Post
Tim Worstall
Wizbang!
Backcountry Conservative
Secure Liberty
Conservative Outpost
Mark In Mexico
Michelle Malkin
La Shawn Barber
Les Enfants Terrible
The Jawa Report
Hyscience
Conservative Rant has an important photo message:
“We’re Not Afraid”