Snapped Shot

... other than being really happy about it. It's about time somebody started bringing the propaganda back to the Palestinians—This one's going in the blogroll for sure.

This is Sami Husein Afana, a virtual hero of the Palestinian terrortories. What's so special about Sami? Well, according to our "partners for peace" over in Hamas, Sami was incredibly pious towards his parents. Whatever that means, I'm not so sure, but I suspect that it means he put idols of them all over his apartment and bowed down to them constantly.

Sami had every chance in the world to become something, to be somebody. He went to school like everybody else, and was reported to have been intelligent enough to have been accepted into a university.

But alas, what does every good shaheed do with the talents that G-d gave them? This dolt decided that he wanted to end the occupation, regardless of the fact that his land wasn't occupation in January. So Sami here decided to use his G-d-given gifts to become a bombmaker.

This is the #1 reason why I support Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries.^*



Update: Oh, the schadenfreude:



From Bryan Preston:

The problems with Blame Bush! are that a) Bush’s stance isn’t the GOP’s stance, b) Hillary herself agreed with Bush’s stance, and c) it’s unpopular with the American people. So is the Spitzer plan. Clinton and her campaign can’t answer the question satisfactorily because it requires taking a principled stand on an issue that divides Democrat interest groups, and that divides some of those groups from the majority of the American voters. Like Spitzer, Clinton may soon find herself feeling the wrath of just about everyone.

Hello, NYT Blog readers: Please notice that the above text was written by Bryan Preston over at Hot Air. I claim no credit for his brilliance, and regret that his words were attributed to me, as I'm not anywhere near his league. I've clarified the quote above, and apologize for causing such confusion.

Warner Todd Huston has come up with what could be the perfect solution to our infinite government largesse, brought upon us by nearly 100 years of "Progressive" politics: FIRE THEM ALL:

We conservatives are fond of wanting to oust everyone in office and for wanting to “vote the scoundrels out.” But, I’d like to add one more level to the throw-them-out-of-government genera. Let’s fire every government worker from the smallest village receptionist or sewer worker to the staffers of the highest Senator and every menial clerk and recalcitrant paper shuffler in between.

It’s not just pique at the famous laziness of a government worker and it’s not just the fact that the only reason they got their jobs is because they are pals with one politician or another. It’s not just that they are better paid than just about any real American in the private sector — whether they deserve it or not — and it’s not because they are impossible to fire, nor is it because they get a better pension and health care than anyone who really contributes to society… well, OK, it is because of that stuff. All that stuff and more.

But, the biggest reason I’ve about had it with government workers is reflected in an editorial by Investor’s Business Daily, “The New Beltway Babylon,” where it is reported that Washington D.C. has replaced Silicon Valley and even New York as the center of affluence in the U.S.A.

As a government contractor who benefits from said government largesse, I must admit that I'm rather conflicted on this. On the one hand, the spoils system worked just fine for Andrew Jackson, not to mention every single President before the passage of the Civil Service Act, so who knows? Maybe we could use a good old dose of uncertainty to shake Washington up a bit.

Booooooogedy boo:



(Click here if you can't figure out who it is...)

The IDF has been blamed for bombing a Hamas "police station." I don't have any details yet, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least to learn that the "police station" in question was being used as a shelter by a handful of Hamas terrorists. Either way, the crocodile tears are definitely out in force:



I'll be keeping an eye on this to see if any more information shows up. We'll see if my initial cynicism is on target here or not, pun intended. Continue reading »

Keep in mind that this article deals with Arizona, and also that I'm not a doctor—but last time I went through INOVA Fairfax (our largest local hospital here in Northern Virginia), over 2/3rds of the E.R. waiting room was filled with "foreign nationals" with various non-emergency-looking maladies.

This, of course, is only one reason of many—but it's a rather big one:

PHOENIX (AP) — The federal government has reimbursed Arizona hospitals and doctors $92 million over the past two years to offset unpaid bills for emergency care provided to undocumented immigrants.

Arizona hospital executives say they are grateful for the financial help, but it’s still not enough to offset the bulk of costs associated with providing emergency health care to illegal immigrants.

To make up the shortfall, hospitals say they are forced to raise the costs of basic hospital services for everyone else. [Ed.:—This Means Us.]

...

Carondelet operates one hospital in Nogales at the U.S.-Mexican border and three in the Tucson area. The Carondelet hospitals provided about $15.5 million worth of care to immigrant patients over the past two years, and the hospital network collected $2.4 million under the program, the company said.

That means less than 16 percent of the hospital group’s undocumented-immigrant-related bills were paid.

Seriously, we've got to start repealing some of our government's more misguided "humanitarian" programs, before they completely bankrupt us all. There is no logical reason in the world to provide subsidized "emergency" care to "undocumented" immigrants—heck, without documentation, how can we even tell if they are poor enough to need such "free" [Ed.:—I.e., paid for by you and me.] services?

(h/t BGHater)

As a side note, let me clarify my above remarks regarding "non-emergency care" as thus: There is no justifiable reason that someone should be provided free "emergency" care for a cough, sniffle, or slight fever—yet our hospitals are forbidden from turning people who show up to the emergency room with such ailments, or at the very least, are afraid to do so due to onerous regulation. We could cut at least $100 million in health costs annually if we were even allowed the basic ability to turn away such abusers of the "emergency" room system. But again, I'm not a doctor—if any of y'all are, I'd love to hear what your take on this issue is.

Sounds remarkably familiar, though I think Frank's super-secret plan would work better.

Ron Silver still rules, though, so I guess we've got to take his word for it:

The world will shine all the brighter when it’s unburdened by American arrogance and banality. Let’s return to our roots. Good ole’ American isolationism. America, first, now and forever. Return our fleets in the Pacific and Persian Gulf to our shores. Get our troops out of Korea, Germany, the Emirates, wherever. There’s plenty to do here at home. Leave nation building to the Europeans who worked wonders and did their thing in the 20th century. Our beloved land will once again bask in the world’s approval. George McGovern lives, ‘Come Home America.’ To paraphrase the immortal words of one of my fellow artists, we can hold hands, open a Coke and say, “They like us, they really like us.”

Continue reading »

Shortly after the news of the wildfires in southern California reached Iraq, local troops there did something unheard of: They made a tremendous sacrifice to collect donations toward Californian relief efforts, despite the fact that their nation's economy is less than 1/10th the size of California's.

The Taliban-aligned Pakistani tribesmen? Not quite so helpful:

Michael Goldfarb over at the Weekly Standard enjoys taking a HuffPo's analysis of the military completely apart. I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but I do generally know enough to know that I need to do my homework before publishing anything of substance. These are words of wisdom for the other Barry Sanders to heed, indeed.

Keep up the great work, Michael!

The Huffington Post routinely allows its authors to write about subjects with which they are completely unfamiliar, largely uninformed, and generally ignorant--take Laurie David and global warming for example--but today's post by Barry Sanders (I wish it was that Barry Sanders) sets a new standard. Sanders's piece is about "the military's addiction to oil," and his point is to illustrate the military's contribution to global warming, but not content merely to opine on something he didn't understand...he had to make his own facts up, too.

This comes as a complete surprise to nobody, but it would appear that the "mainstream" media is exhibiting something of a preference for Democratic candidates this election cycle.

The source? No, not some ultra-conservative Richard Mellon Scaife-funded think tank. Nor is it Halliburton Blackwater!, either.

No, you'll have to blame the leaking of this latest über-secret on the Evil Zionist Conspiracy at Harvard this time.

... "Illegal Immigrants." Gimme, gimme, gimme—that's all I ever hear from them.

You've gotta read it to believe it, folks. I won't ruin the surprise with a quote here—you've got to see the whole kit and kaboodle.

Oh yeah, and if any of y'all are suffering from the same maladies that these people nutcases are, I strongly recommend seeking help. Your friendly psychiatrist is not (to your knowledge) a mind-controlled robot of the Chimpy Bushitler Halliburton Blackwater! Regime.

What's the best way to "stick it" to a bunch of insurgents after they've kept you awake all day in a firefight? Why, returning the favour, of course. God bless the United States Marine Corps! (No shock here: Language warning)



(h/t Pat Dollard)