The Thanksgiving holiday has passed and now we move into the celebration of the Christmas holiday season.

With it will come the usual litany of criticisms against the Christian connections associated with this time of year. They will be repeated like the repertoire of a pull-string talking doll.

I am well aware of the pagan traditions behind numerous aspects of Christmas, such as, the Christmas tree, the significance of the date December 25th, and numerous other objections that contentious folks may want to throw out there, thinking they are providing arcane information.
But my argument heads in a different direction.

Three renown leaders of the neo-skeptical/atheist movement, have written tomes in the past year or so, reviving old canards about belief in The Almighty being tantamount to belief in Zeus, Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny or The Flying Spaghetti Monster. Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens are the new triumvirate representing the Village Atheist nation, in their contemporary battle against the “superstitious” throes of Christianity.

Since Christmas is less than a month away, let’s look at the comparison with Santa Claus and the Almighty. Without getting into a lengthy analysis, we might quickly observe one obvious distinction: Most people quit believing in Santa Claus in their childhood, while some people profess a belief in God for the first time in adulthood.

I am sure they will say that there is no need to offer such a rebuttal because nobody actually believes in Santa. But we should keep in mind the following: (continue reading post »)

The Utah Department of Safety has concluded that trooper Jon Gardner’s use of a TASER against a “speeding motorist” was reasonable and justified.

Motorist Jared Massey said, “I don’t feel the use of the TASER was justified because I feel the police officer is the one who is the professional and escalated this situation to where he had to use it.”

The TASER

When operated correctly, the TASER fires two small darts that hook into the clothing or skin of the suspect. Connected by thin wires, the darts close a 50,000 volt circuit through the suspect’s body. Like a baton, the TASER is a pain compliance device that renders suspects helpless during arrest without producing physical injuries the way batons, punches, and kicks do. But unlike those more primitive applications of force, the TASER works well on intoxicated violent suspects who often do not feel the pain that convinces suspects to comply with verbal commands.

Reasonable & Justified

After reviewing the video, I agree that Gardner’s actions were reasonable and justified.

Officer Gardner didn’t use the TASER against a “speeding motorist.” Officer Gardner used it against a speeding motorist who 1) argued with a lone officer, 2) on a remote stretch of interstate highway, 3) refused to sign the citation, and 4) and walked back toward his vehicle against the officer’s lawful commands. Taxpayers must decide whether their officers are employed to ignore suspects who resist arrest.

When back-up officers arrived later, Gardner said that Massey “took a ride with the TASER.” In the context of real cops asking other real cops questions at the scene, Gardner’s response was clear, concise, and appropriate. But to students of crime dramas like TJ Hooker and CSI, the comment may seem inappropriate.

Call My Lawyer!

Lawyers like Stephen Yagman make millions by bringing ridiculous cases like this into court. But when Yagman’s cases were jeopardized by his criminal clients, he often gave this kind of closing argument:

“We know my client is a low-life felon and doesn’t deserve a million dollars. We also know that excessive force is a serious problem with the police department. Therefore, I ask you to award my client one dollar – one dollar to send a message to the LAPD that excessive force will not be tolerated.”

Sounds reasonable, right? What the jury doesn’t know (and what the court is prohibited from disclosing) is that a one dollar judgment requires the defendant to pay millions of dollars in Yagman’s legal fees.

Two of LA’s biggest shake-down lawyers are no longer in action. Johnny Cochran is vacationing in hell and Yagman begins his three year sentence for tax evasion and bankruptcy fraud next month.

If Massey sues, let’s hope that Utah jurors are smarter than their LA counterparts.

Jason Whitlock responds to members of the black press after they complained that news outlets were disrespecting Taylor’s victimhood by reporting on his troubled past:

No disrespect to Taylor, but he controlled the way he would be remembered by the way he lived. His immature, undisciplined behavior with his employer, his run-ins with law enforcement, which included allegedly threatening a man with a loaded gun, and the fact a vehicle he owned was once sprayed with bullets are all pertinent details when you’ve been murdered… Black men are targets of black men. Period. Go check the coroner’s office and talk with a police detective. These bullets aren’t checking W-2s.

Rather than whine about white folks’ insensitivity or reserve a special place of sorrow for rich athletes, we’d be better served mustering the kind of outrage and courage it took in the 1950s and 1960s to stop the white KKK from hanging black men from trees…

More here

So you’ve all heard this story, right? Young girl gets gang-raped at knife point and then, according to her country’s Islamic law, she is sentenced to 200 lashes and 6 months in jail. No? Surprise.

Evidently, there’s no campaign for change* from Moveon.org. Code Pink isn’t taking to the streets. Katie Couric isn’t expressing outrage, and neither are the opinion-shapers on The View. Major newspapers aren’t making this headline news, either. Things have been pretty quiet over at The Huff, and NOW isn’t leading a public battle cry to end the injustice. Why? Perhaps this is one thing they can’t all blame on Bush. Coverage is therefore scarce. Best we could find is a few angry moms.

CNN reports: “A Saudi Arabian human rights attorney is asking the government to allow him to represent a woman who was gang-raped — and then sentenced to prison for speaking out about the case.” [See the video]

The attorney, Abdulrahman al-Lahim, had his license revoked last week by a judge for speaking to the Saudi-controlled media about the case, al-Lahim told CNN.

The judge more than doubled the sentence against al-Lahim’s 19-year-old client because she spoke to the media about the case, a court source told Arab News, an English-language Middle Eastern daily newspaper.

The woman — who was initially sentenced in October 2006 to 90 lashes — had her sentenced increased to 200 lashes and was ordered to serve six months in prison under Saudi Arabia’s strict Islamic law.

“We were shocked,” al-Lahim said of the increased sentence.

CNN has been unable to reach Saudi government officials for comment on this report, despite repeated requests.

Shocked? Why? Seems entirely reasonable coming from the same culture that coined “honor killings“?

Celebrate diversity. Respect other cultures and religions, right?

But in all seriousness, we’re not against the Saudis. They’re our “friends“, after all. But let’s face it: as long as they have these kind of practices and laws to protect them in place, what should modern civilization, or perhaps more importantly, what should all modern women who enjoy western freedom, think of them?

Hoping we’ll read about it, somewhere, soon.

RELATED: Not holding our breathe. More from Michelle Malkin…
Human rights outrage in Iran
The New York Times cowers…
Beheaded for Wearing Western-style trousers

Huckabee: America enslaved to Saudi oil
Pakistani Kills Daughter to Save Honor

It’s difficult to have a civilized debate on the topic of illegal immigration because of the hateful rhetoric that infuses the issue. To even question the situation leaves one open to charges of nativism, xenophobia and racism.

But the truth is neutral; truth cannot be nativist, xenophobic or racist.

Here are some of the inconvenient truths about illegal immigration.

Illegal immigration depresses wages: An inconvenient truths is that whenever an illegal immigrant takes a job for below minimum wages or without benefits, the entire workforce suffers. Why would an employer hire legitimate workers when illegals are so much cheaper? The entire system of using illegal immigrants for labor smacks of the old plantation system of slavery.

Illegal immigration takes jobs from legal residents: An inconvenient truth is that every job held by an illegal immigrant is a job a citizen or legal immigrant does not hold.

Illegal immigration increases crime crime: The inconvenient truth is not whether illegals commit more crime than other groups. The truth is that every crime committed by an illegal immigrant is a crime that would not have been committed if they weren’t here. Whether it’s murder or shoplifting, these are crimes that did not have to be committed.

Illegal immigration harms the education system: This is a huge inconvenient truth. Would there be overcrowding in our local school systems if illegal immigrants were not in those classrooms? How does the lack of English skills impact overall school performance? Even higher education is adversely affected. Every illegal immigrant admitted to a college or university deprives a citizen or legal resident of that educational slot. (continue reading post »)

The good ol’ U.S. of A. Red, white and blue, stepping up to help the third world, as usual. Our tax dollars at work…

AFP reports: The United States expressed “its deepest sympathy” for the victims of the cyclone that struck Bangladesh as it took part in international efforts to provide emergency relief.

“The United States government would like to express its deepest sympathy for the victims of the cyclone,” US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, reading a statement.

“We’re ready to work with the (Bangladesh) government and foreign donors to assist in relieving the effects of the disaster,” he added.

Is it fair to politicize this issue? Why not? Altruism is a thankless job. We can only hope that next time there’s a controversial cartoon or some other major offense, the great Muslim nations will remember the generosity of America. Or is that why they hate us to begin with? Just sayin’…

As early as 1645, the militia and minutemen were formed to protect their towns from foreign invasion and ravages of war.

Like King George, the Las Vegas Police Department now considers them a gang or subversive group:

57. Have you, your spouse, any members of your family, or any members of your spouse’s family ever been associated with gangs or subversive groups (Minutemen, Aryan Brotherhood, etc.) “ YES “ NO IF YES, EXPLAIN IN SEPARATE STATEMENT

A town built by mobsters and dedicated to racketeering, gambling, and prostitution now considers Minutemen a “subversive group.” That’s rich.

Volunteers who protect our borders because our government refuses to are PATRIOTS - which might be why Las Vegas’ mayor finds them unsuitable for appointment.

h/t Dave Hollenbeck

Not just in America. What will they say?

AP reports: “An 18-year- old gunman opened fire at his high school in this placid town in southern Finland on Wednesday, killing seven other students and the principal before mortally wounding himself in a rampage that stunned a nation where gun crime is rare.”

Being raised in today’s violent video game “culture,” it’s no surprise to see this happening. Or the message he’s wearing.

Police were analyzing YouTube postings that appeared to anticipate the massacre, including clips in which a young man calls for revolution and apparently prepares for the attack by test firing a semiautomatic handgun.

Investigators said the gunman, who was not identified, shot himself in the head after the shooting spree at Jokela High School in Tuusula, some 30 miles north of the capital, Helsinki. He died later at Toolo Hospital in Helsinki.

The teen killed five boys, two girls and the female principal with a .22-caliber pistol, police said.

Revolution? Against what? Blondes?

At least he wasn’t wearing a Che Guevara shirt.

UPDATE: BREAKING 11/12/07
Lawyer: Finnish teen, Pa. boy chatted

AP reports: “A teenager who admitted plotting a school attack near Philadelphia had communicated online about the Columbine massacre with a teenage outcast who killed eight people and himself in a high school shooting in Finland, the Pennsylvania boy’s attorney said Monday.
. . .

Finnish police said material seized from the computer of Pekka-Eric Auvinen suggests the 18-year-old had communicated online with Dillon Cossey, 14, who was arrested in October on suspicion of preparing an attack at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School in suburban Philadelphia. The attack never took place.

Cossey’s attorney, J. David Farrell, said that he showed Auvinen’s online screen name to the Pennsylvania boy Monday and that his client remembered communicating with the Finnish teen in August or September about video games and the 1999 Columbine massacre in Colorado and exchanging videos they found on the Internet.

“They had discussed certain video games and shared videos with each other,” Farrell said. “Obviously, Columbine was a shared topic of interest.”

The two met through the YouTube video-sharing site, Farrell said. They also exchanged posts on a Web site dedicated to the Columbine killers, traded e-mail and likely chatted on certain Web sites, he said.”

–

..what were we saying about a “violent video game ‘culture’”?

Despite the fact that US citizens have repeatedly told both states and federal governments not to do it, illegals are now to be given a huge step towards US citizenship. Illegals are to be given drivers licenses in New York State. In a joint Saturday news conference, Democrat NY Governor Eliot Spitzer and Department of Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff were all smiles. It appears that Congressional Democrats and the pro-illegals Bush administration have found yet another way to bypass We-the-People.

Although federal law provisions are quoted in order to stop states from enforcing illegal immigration laws (you know—the ‘only the feds have the right to enforce stopping illegals’), now Chertoff is saying that he can (or will) do nothing to stop any US State from issuing drivers licenses to anyone—which essentially make illegals legal. Apparently, issuing said licenses to illegals, gang-bangers and terrorists is also not an issue for our US government “leaders.” This way the pro-illegals/pro-North American Union contingents can have their cakes and eat them too!

US citizens told their Senators and Representatives they didn’t want and wouldn’t accept any illegals’ amnesty bill. So, our state and federal leaders have apparently decided to avoid passing any laws, in order to bypass the US legal electorate, and just do it! Note: It would strongly appear that members of our government have learned a great deal from Venezuelan Dictator Hugo Chavez. Or, perhaps they were the ones who taught him. (continue reading post »)

(Credit: AP Photo/Bernd Kammerer)

AP reports: “SAN FRANCISCO - City health officials took steps Thursday toward opening the nation’s first legal safe-injection room, where addicts could shoot up heroin, cocaine and other drugs under the supervision of nurses.”

The City already provides needles, so why not a lounge for drug addicts and other derelicts to engage in their “lifestyle choice,” borrowing the phrase from liberal parlance.

“Hoping to reduce San Francisco’s high rate of fatal drug overdoses, the public health department co-sponsored a symposium on the only such facility in North America [...]

“Having the conversation today will help us figure out whether this is a way to reduce the harms and improve the health of our community,” said Grant Colfax, director of HIV prevention for the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

Don’t liberals prefer fish-with-feet instead of faith and christian charity? In other words, if we let nature take its course and allow Darwin to prevail, these addicts will sink or swim as prescribed by the secular science of ’survival of the fittest.’ (Crutches not included)

Bertha Madras, deputy director of demand reduction for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, called San Francisco’s consideration of such a facility “disconcerting” and “poor public policy.”

“The underlying philosophy is, ‘We accept drug addiction, we accept the state of affairs as acceptable,’” Madras said. “This is a form of giving up.”

Not giving up. Not San Francisco. It’s call giving in - to the so-called ‘progressives’ who believe there are no “standards” or notions of “common decency”, because everyone should be “entitled” to pursue whatever degenerate lifestyle he/she/it desires, without accountability or responsibility to community. That is, unless you’re a hardworking taxpayer, who should be tapped to pay for every new whim and socialist program.

Advocates plan to work on building community support for a safe-injection center, including backing from Mayor Gavin Newsom and the Board of Supervisors.

The mayor’s spokesman, Nathan Ballard, said Thursday that although he does not want to discourage debate, he “is not inclined to support this program because, quite frankly, it may create more problems than it supposedly addresses.”

…y’think?

So, what’s next? A City-run porno parlor for pedophiles?

Nevermind. In SF, any bad idea will find support.