This is suspicious and certainly cause for greater attention to man’s activities:

First this:

The executive producers and cast of NBC’s Emmy-nominated hit drama HEROES announced today that it will join The Conservation Fund to help fight climate change, restore wildlife habitat, and enhance recreation areas by planting trees.

And then this:

Rosie O’Donnell in Talks to Join MSNBC

Perhaps NBC is working on offsetting the certain increase in CO2 emissions from a Rosie O’Donnell MSNBC show?

Item number one: Lt. Gen. Odierno, commanding general of Multinational Corps- Iraq, reports that improvements have been seen in Iraq. In the past four months, there has been the longest decline in attacks and security incidents seen since the war started. This also includes the Ramdan period, a time that in the past three years has always been violent. Also, the levels of attack are at their lowest point since February 2006. IED explosions are also continuing to decline, being at their lowest level since October, 2004. Iraqi civilian deaths have also declined, and coalition forces killed are down to a level not seen since February 2004.

All good news, right? I would say that’s damn good news. Speaker Pelosi said this today in commenting on President Bush’s remarks at the Heritage Foundation:

“What does he have to show for his presidency?” Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked today, with her hands outstretched. She said that the president is talking about his library, but all he will have to put in it is “tax cuts for the wealthy” and “a war with no end that is a failure.”

Failure? Speaker Pelosi is anything, if not consistent when it comes to keeping to the script. What would be her idea of success? Do we really want to know?

Iraq is not a rose garden yet, but can we at least recognize improvements when they happen? Is that to much to ask of our elected political heroes?

Rambling here. I’m piecing together several points on the subject of these cartoons.

The only argument I see towards not publishing them, “for fear of offending…” is if they were considered for editorial use. While originally they were editorial statements, they are news now. Period. The story is bigger than the cartoons. See point 2 below.

Love the NYTimes today. The Old Grey Hag runs a story on the cartoons titled “A Startling New Lesson in the Power of Imagery.” Not surprising, they completely miss the boat on what really is happening. But hey, the house Duranty built can’t stray from the course…

1) The NYTimes will not run the Mohammed cartoons even in a neutral news sense, but it will run an image of the “dung virgin Mary” to illustrate how it raised the ire of Christians. We all remember the anger, burnings, and violence on that day, right? </sarcasm>

2) The cartoons were published last September. Why the outrage now? Because radical Danish imams have been touring the Mid East with these cartoons and three fake ones that never ran, stirring up the sheep, so to say. The Muslim Brotherhood led much of the protests, quickly followed by two other radical Islamic groups. Not wanting to be left out, Syria and Iran soon followed. There are no protests of any size in those states allowed unless the state allows them.

3) The anger is not about the images. Islam allows for humor, self-satire, and imagery of Mohammed. The Islamic world throughout time has instances of such things. The Times, and the other ignorant Media types are missing the boat. They are being led into a trap of cultural proportions. By not focusin on what really is going on, they play right into the Radislamists hands. Islam gets special treatment, everyone else takes it up the wahoo.

Got dhimmi?

Buried in this CNN.com story over the Muslim world’s rage at the depiction in Danish newspaper, “Jyllands-Posten,” of Mohammed is this neat little tidbit that illustrates how strong CNN’s resolve is towards freedom of the press:

Muslims consider it sacrilegious to produce a likeness of the Prophet Mohammad. CNN has chosen to not show the cartoons in respect for Islam.

Here’s why CNN’s stupid. The Islamic world has depicted Mohhamed in art form for centuries. See this collection put together by the intrepid Zombie. Can you say precedent, boys and girls?

As for the Muslims up in rage over this, where are the moderate Muslim voices? Is this what we, the rest of the world, are supposed to see as “what a Muslim is?” Actions like these rampages don’t speak well for your faith amongst us infidels and every time a riot takes place because of a piece of art, or a sentence spoken or a book published, we lose a bit more respect for your entire faith.

A faith that can’t coexist amongst the rest of the world has no place existing at all. It is a self-destructive force that threatens the race of man and is in total conflict with modernity.

To Muslims everywhere, please, please, please fix your faith. There have to be good traits somewhere in that religion. Where is your Council of Nicea? Your Reformation? Your Magna Carta? Do not let the cancer of Radical Islamism consume you. If Radical Islam further consumes your faith, there will be a breaking point and the rest of the world will hammer you into subjugation. Islam will be scattered many times worse than the Jews ever were. Islamic surnames will be shunned many times worse than German names were in America during World War 2.

Fix your faith. Come into the modern world. Join the rest of the world and learn to coexist with us. It’s not that hard. You just have to want it.

Google Lewinskied China, agreeing to “base its censorship decisons on guidance provided by Chinese government officials.”

Will Collier points out the Google company motto, “Don’t be evil,” and rightly clarifies this corporate move as “willingly acting in concert with the far greater evil of the Chi-Com dictatorship.”

CNN and Saddam, CNN and Iran, Microsoft and China, Google and China, NewsCorp and China. All instances where corporations went along with the facist oppression of a nation’s people in order to be the ones making the bucks.

I thought of three or four possible graphics that should be the new face of Google. Here is my Google Earth, China Edition logo:

Anyone want to mashup old Mao propaganda posters and Google’s logo?

More: Michelle Malkin is displaying several other great graphics edited to reflect the Google-China deal.

Read this, then go play outside in the sunshine.

Those strong statements coming from the United Nations must be having an effect on Syria. Oh wait, the UN’s as effective at discipline as a crack whore is at remaining clean. Syria, linked to assassinations in Lebanon and the Hezbollah terror group, not to mention links to terrorists operating in Iraq and a possible resting place for Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, is now offering to house weapons from Iran.

Maybe Syria figures, in for a penny, in for a pound? Time to direct a broadcast of this, from the President, in the direction of Syria:

Third, we’re determined to deny radical groups the support and sanctuary of outlaw regimes. State sponsors like Syria and Iran have a long history of collaboration with terrorists, and they deserve no patience from the victims of terror. The United States makes no distinction between those who commit acts of terror and those who support and harbor them, because they’re equally as guilty of murder. (Applause.) Any government that chooses to be an ally of terror has also chosen to be an enemy of civilization. And the civilized world must hold those regimes to account.

It’s going to be us and Israel, by the time this is all over with. Screw the UN; they’re nothing but a parliament of whores, anyway. At least these weapons moving into Syria will be much closer for the Israeli planes to strike.

THE CENTRAL FRONT in the War on Terror is now on Capitol Hill.

The Indepundit is calling for support. He’s right in his tactical assessment of the conflict. The war, this media-centric long war, is here, on our shores, in our institutions. It’s time to let our opinions and beliefs known. We can’t lose the homefront.

Call or email your congressman and let them know what you believe. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Smash has an outline of steps to follow so you are an informed citizen and you can make your point directly. Start here and follow his lead.

What Prime Minister Arial Sharon said:

What Prime Minister Ariel Sharon really said:

“Israel, and not only Israel, cannot accept a situation in which Iran would be in possession of nuclear weapons. We must do everything possible to prepare for such a situation. While Israel is not spearheading any campaign against Iran, our planes are warmed up and the pilots are flying weapons hot.”

When the former director of the CIA, R. James Woolsey, pens a column on South Park, you just gotta read it.

[tip to National Review's TKS]

Over at Winds of Change, Bill Roggio and Marvin Hutchens have put together a Flash presentation of al Qaeda’s activities since Ol’ Sammy declared war on civilization in 1998.

There have been 30 major mass casualty attacks directed against the United States, Britain, France, Spain, Pakistan, Kenya, Tanzania, India, Iraq, Morocco, Yemen, Tunisia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and North Osetia. 14 of the 30 attacks were conducted prior to the invasion of Iraq, making claims of the occupation of Iraq as a casus belli for al Qaeda’s terrorism to be disingenuous at best. 4,895 people have been killed in these attacks, and 12,345 plus have been wounded. The majority of the countries attacked are Muslim countries. And although not stated, the vast majority of the victims of al Qaeda’s violence are Muslims.

The ideologues, leaders and foot soldiers of al Qaeda have no reservations about slaughtering the innocent. The majority of their attacks have been directed against civilian infrastructure such as embassies, consulates, shipping, transportation, hotels, resorts, nightclubs, bars, synagogues, churches, temples, mosques, markets, housing complexes, office buildings and schools. Each of al Qaeda’s targets were purposefully selected and carefully timed to inflict mass casualties as well as to provide the maximum media exposure. The radical Islamists embrace Muslim casualties, as many are considered infidel for embracing Western culture and rejecting the “pure” Islam espoused by al Qaeda. This is an enemy that deserves no quarter.