Morales and Bolivia---

Bolivia's president Evo Morales is attempting to push through some reforms and ensure the presidency certain powers and authority that are both applauded and denounced by the Bolivian masses.

Since winning the presidential election by a margin of over 25% last year Morales has been reviewing promised changes for Bolivia and has discussed ways to effect those changes. Now he's ready to move from the research and development phase of his reforms to the next steps--- set up and implementation.

Morales, Bolivia's first indeginious president, promised to assign power and wealth to Bolivia's Indian majority. He has also suggested the country's new constitution eliminate the Senate which is controlled by the opposition, effectively removing the dissenting Senators from any government decision making processes.

Further, of the country's nine state governors only three support Morales. The remaining six have severed ties with him and his administration in angst and three regional assemblies have denounced his policies and declared states of emergency.

However, his popularity has been buoyed recently by an October 28th. agreement between major foreign oil companies and Bolivia that would give the government a majority of the company's oil revenues, part of Morales' nationalization decree.

Recently, the United States agreed to extend a key trade agreement and the Inter-American Development Bank has decided to forgive hundreds of millions of dollars of Bolivia's foreign debt.

Morales' political party, Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) is in complete control of the movement to write a new Bolivian constitution. Morales is calling upon Bolivian legislators to adopt a bill that would give him the authority to remove and replace state governors, his most vocal opponents at this time.

The party's majority in the lower house of Congress recently approved and forwarded a controversial land bill backed by Morales that allows the government to seize private land it deems unproductive for redistribution to the landless poor.

The opposition controlled Senate has yet to approve of both the land reform bill and the bill assigning the president authority to remove sitting governors. These will most likely face very stiff opposition in the coming months.

Morales is loved and hated almost equally within Bolivia. His opponents and supporters hold rallies and demonstrations throughout the country decrying or hailing Morales' suggested reforms and the new constitutional challenges.

According to comments from those in opposition and support alike his direction remains cloudy, not fully revealed.

From the opposition and some of those "in the middle" there is concern that Morales' proposed reforms mirror those of previous Bolivian leaders--- Those who tended to use strong arm tactics to rule the country.

Still, others are simply uncertain. They're uncertain what Morales truly wants for Bolivia.

Either way, his "revolution" is under way--- only time will tell.

6 imams removed from U.S. Airways flight---

According to an article in the Associated Press 6 imams were removed from U.S. Airways flight 300 bound for Phoenix from Minneapolis at around 6:30 p.m. Monday, November 20, 2006. The six were returning to Phoenix after attending a conference in Minneapolis of the North American Imams Federation. There were approximately 150 attendees at this conference, including Representative-elect Keith Ellison, Democrat-Minnesota--- the first Muslim elected to the United States Congress.

Evidently three of the imams said their evening prayers in the airport terminal before boarding the aircraft. At least one other passenger became alarmed and passed a note to a flight attendant expressing concerns about the imams and their activities in the terminal.

The flight attendant transferred the information to the aircraft's captain who in turn called for airport security and eventually the police. The imams were subsequently removed from the aircraft by the police and the police "humiliated us in a very disrespectful way" according to Omar Shahin of Phoenix, president of the North American Imams Federation.

"Unfortunately, this is a growing problem of singling out Muslims or people perceived to be Muslims at airports, and it's one that we've been addressing for some time," council spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said.

The other 141 passengers on the flight were rescreened and departed Minneapolis for Phoenix 3 hours later.

The 6 imams stayed behind.

My thoughts:

Perhaps if the imams in this country took a more vocal, up front approach to denouncing their radical, intolerant, militant muslim counterparts then much of this angst and fear would diminish.

This is nothing more than a response to islam as it is perceived in the United States. It seems to me if the imams truly wish to turn this around they'd be best served taking an aggressive and very obvious approach against the fundamental, radical islamist factions. To date, they remain silent on the subject--- silently condoning the militant muslims.

Acts or omissions are tell tale signs of participation, one way or the other.

CNN dumped by Stoney Creek Inn!

The Stoney Creek Inn chain has pulled CNN from their television offerings for “CNN's decision to show video of Iraqi insurgent snipers targeting U.S. troops,” according to Brit Hume of Fox News.

James Thompson, the president of Stoney Creek Hospitality Corporation made the decision in deference to CNN's "apparent willingness to support terrorists by broadcasting footage of U.S. soldiers being assassinated in Iraq."

Thompson- "“I am repulsed by that judgment, and I made a decision of conscience for myself,” said Thompson, whose company operates 10 hotels in the Midwest. “There comes a time when you either stay silent or speak out, and this was wrong.”

News Busters has a pretty good article on the event. The November 8 news disclosure by Hume revealed that all 10 midwest hotels owned by the Des Moines, Iowa based Stoney Creek Hospitality Corporation will no longer subscribe to CNN.

It's too bad it's a midwest chain. I travel a lot in the Pacific Northwest and would definitely be staying at their motels if they were out this way!

Detroit Metropolitan Airport arrest---

Airport Arrest Turns Up Nuclear Info
Nov 16 9:36 AM US/Eastern
Associated Press

A man was arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after officials say they found him carrying more than $78,000 in cash and a laptop computer containing information about nuclear materials and cyanide.

Sisayehiticha Dinssa, an unemployed U.S. citizen, was arrested Tuesday after a dog caught the scent of narcotics on cash he was carrying, according to an affidavit filed in court.

When agents asked him if he had any cash to declare he said he had $18,000, authorities said. But when agents checked his luggage, they found an additional $59,000. When they scrolled through his laptop they said they found the mysterious files.

At a court hearing Wednesday, Dinssa was ordered held in custody until at least until Monday at the request of prosecutors.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Leonid Feller argued Dinssa was a potential risk to the community and federal agents want to get a warrant to search his computer more thoroughly, The Detroit News reported Thursday. U.S. Magistrate Donald Scheer approved Feller's request to detain him.

Dinssa, who is from Dallas, arrived in Detroit from Nigeria by way of Amsterdam and was headed for Phoenix, Feller said. He is charged with concealing more than $10,000 in his luggage, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, the Detroit Free Press reported.

South Korea balks---

On Monday, November 13, South Korea decided it will not impose any new sanctions on North Korea in response to their northern neighbor's nuclear weapons program. Further, the Seoul government refuses to sign the 2003 Proliferation Security Initiative which calls for member nations to interdict and inspect ships suspected to be carrying weapons of mass destruction for rogue states. They fear that such interdictions would jeopardize the fragile cease fire between the two nations.

It appears to me that South Korea's bluff was called by Kim Jong Il and the southern country backed down.

Some Global Views, November 06, 2006---

Here's some opinions from elsewhere, a day late:

At Iviews.com the muslim vote and what affect it will have on the mid term elections here in the United States is discussed. Note how Dr. Aslam Abdullah is Editor-in-Chief of the Muslim Observer tosses out the "loss of almost 650,000 Iraqi civilians", a grossly overestimated figure that has been positively refuted. I guess if it's in print elsewhere and it serves particular needs then it's going to be quoted, right or wrong. I just thought an "Editor-in-Chief" would have a bit more integrity than this. But then again---

Daniel Ortega is moving ahead in the Nicaragua presidential elections.

Bishop Nazir Ali of Rochester, the Church of England’s only Asian bishop criticizes muslim behavior.

Iran is ready to provide missiles to Lebanon. Like they weren't providing them already???

South Korea is planning on working closely with Japan and the United States at the renewed 6 nations disarmament talks that are being proposed with North Korea.

That covered a lot of ground--- eh?

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Saddam got the death penalty. But then again, is that news?

A quick look at islam---

---over the past 34 years. This list does not include those who were murdered, injured, maimed, tortured, mutilated or otherwise killed for "violations" of sharia law.

This list was received from a person who evidently wishes to remain anonymous

1972 Munich Olympics Sep-5,1972 (Black September)

1976 Entebbe Hostage Crisis, June 27, 1976

1979 Iran Hostage Crisis, Nov. 4, 1979 444 days
1979 Grand Mosque Seizure, Nov 20,1979

1981 Assassination of Egyptian President, Oct 6,1981
1981 Attempted Assassination of Pope John Paul the Second

1982 Assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister, Sept 14, 1982

1983 Bombing of US Embassy in Beirut, April 18,1983
1983 Bombing of Marine Barracks, Beirut, Oct 23,1983

1984 Hezbollah Restaurant Bombing, April 12,1984

1985 Egyptian Airliner Hijacking, Nov 23,1985
1985 Rome Airport murders
1985 TWA Flight 847 hijacked, U.S. Navy diver murdered
1985 Achille Lauro hijacking, Homicidal maniac lived in saddam's Iraq

1986 Aircraft Bombing in Greece, March 30, 1986

1988 Pan Am 747 Flight 103 Bombing, Lockerbie, 100's murdered
1988 Berlin Discotheque Bombing, Dec 21,1988

1990 A Muslim Named El Sayyid Nosair Murders Israeli Political activist Meir Kahane. Nov 1990

1991 Bombing in Israeli Embassy in Argentina, March 17,1992

1993 Attempted Assassination of Pres. Bush Sr., April 14,1993
1993 First World Trade Center bombing, February 26th, 7 Killed, Hundreds injured, Billions affected

1994 A small bomb explodes on Philippine Airlines Flight 434, killing a Japanese businessman. It is later discovered that Ramzi Yousef planted a bomb on the aircraft to test a bomb for his terrorist plot.December 11, 1994
1994 Air France Hijacking, Dec 24,1994
1994 A Muslim Named Rashid Baz shoots at a van filled with Hasidic boys, on the Brooklyn bridge murdering one of them. FBI calls it "Road Rage". March 1, 1994

1995 Attack on US Diplomats in Pakistan, Mar 8,1995
1995 Saudi Military Installation Attack, Nov 13, 1995
1995 Kashmiri Hostage taking, July 4,1995

1996 Khobar Towers attack
1996 Sudanese Missionaries Kidnapping, Aug 17,1996
1996 Paris Subway Explosion, Dec 3,1996

1997 At Empire State Building; Ali Abu Kamal shoots at tourists, kills one and wounds six before killing himself, Mayor Giuliani informs the public "he had many enemies in his mind".Feb 24,1997
1997 Israeli Shopping Mall Bombing, Sept 4, 1997
1997 Yemeni Kidnappings, Oct 30,1997

1998 Somali Hostage taking crisis, April 15,1998
1998 U.S. Embassy Bombing in Peru, Jan 15, 1998
1998 U.S. Kenya Embassy blown up, 100's murdered
1998 U.S. Tanzania Embassy blown up, 100's murdered

1999 Egypt Air flight 990's co-pilot crashes plane killing all 217 people on board, officials post no link to terrorism, even though the co-pilot is heard on black box tape exclaiming "I rely on Allah" 11 times as he crashed the plane.-Oct 1999
1999 Plot to blow up Space Needle (thwarted)

2000 USS Cole attacked,17 U.S.Navy sailors were murdered and 39 others were injured- October
2000-2003 Intifada against Israel - 1000's dead and injured
2000 Manila Bombing, Dec 30,2000

2001 4 Commercial airliners hijacked, 250+ murdered
2001 World Trade Center attacked, 2800+ murdered
2001 Flight 93 murders
2001 Pentagon attacked, 180+ murdered

2002 Los Angeles Airport; Hesham Mohamed Ali Hadayet shoots and kills 2 people, FBI begrudgingly admits this as a terrorist act after evidence reveals it to be. July 4, 2002
2002 Reporter Daniel Pearl, kidnapped and murdered
2002 Beltway Snipers, John Muhammad & Lee Malvo;converts to Islam,goes on a shooting spree killing 10 people.Oct 2002
2002 Philippines American missionary, Filipino nurse killed
2002 July 4, El Al attack Los Angeles LAX, several murdered
2002 Bali bombing - 200 dead, 300 injured
2002 Yemen, French Oil Tanker attacked
2002 Marines attacked / murdered in Kuwait
2002 Washington D.C. sniper
2002 Russian Theater attacked, 100+ dead
2002 Nigerian riots against Miss World Pageant, 200 dead, dozens injured
2002 Mombasa Hotel Attacked, 12 dead, dozens injured
2002 Israeli Boeing 757 attacked by missiles, fortunately no one injured
2002 August Hotel bombing in Jakarta, Indonesia. 12 dead, dozens injured.

2003 Russian concert bombing
2003 Mohahammad Ali Alayed Slashes the Throat of friend Ariel Sellouk (a jew) Alayed had broken off his friendship with Sellouk after he became a "more devout follower of Islam".Aug 2003
2003 Philippines airport and market bombing
2003 Foiled SAM plot in the USA
2003 UN Baghdad HQ Bombing
2003-2004 Murders of coalition forces

2004 American contractors burned alive, dismembered, strung up on bridge
2004 Beheading of private US citizen Nick Berg
2004 Beheading of private US citizen Paul Johnson
2004 Beslan:Take over of Russian school.350+ dead,500+ injured.many are babies & small children Sep 5 2004
2004 Madrid Bombing. 200 Dead
2004 Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, brutally murdered by an angry Muslim on the streets of Amsterdam, he created the 10-minute movie Submission. The movie deals with the topic of violence against women in Islamic societies; telling the stories of four abused Muslim women.
2004 The Khobar assault; militants dressed in military-style uniforms opened fire inside two oil industry office compounds, then moved to an upscale residential area. They took 45 to 60 hostages.Twenty-two people were killed in the 25-hour rampage, almost all of them foreigners, including one American.

2005 London Bombing. 56 Dead
2005 Bali 25 Killed, 100 Wounded in Bali Explosions
2005 NALCHIK, Russia. Scores of Islamic militants killed at least 108 people.
2005 Iraq Insurgents Kill U.S. Hostage Ronald Schulz,40, an industrial electrician from Alaska

2006 a 22 year-old Iranian student named Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar drives his SUV onto the campus of the University of North Carolina deliberately trying to kill people and succeeding in injuring nine. After the incident, he seemed singularly pleased with himself, smiling and waving to crowds after a court appearance on Monday, at which he explained that he was “thankful for the opportunity to spread the will of Allah.”
2006 JAMMU, India - Islamic militants raided a village in Indian-controlled &killed 22 Hindus, lining them outside their homes and shooting them execution-style
2006 2 Somalis killed Radical Islamic militia fighters for watching World Cup-07-05
2006-July 11 INDIA- bombings of Bombay's rail network that killed at least 20

---and there's scores of other events that were left off of this list, I'm sure! If you know of any more drop me an email so I can update it.

A little personality test---

I followed Joseph's lead at his blog over at Western Wisdom and took the quiz.

Here's the results:

Which South Park kid are you most like? Stan You're pretty normal. In fact you're usually the sane voice of reason when everyone else is going crazy.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

I thought the results were a bit off the mark but hey, others told me my results were right on. I guess they see me more than I do.

Whatever.

Iowa, one step closer to dhimmi-land.

As I was reading through some of the blogs this morning I came across this post on the "Militant Islam Monitoring.org".

It's disturbing, at best!

"Iowa Muslims are waging political, and demographic Jihad aimed at transforming Iowa into the first state in the United States of Allah. Last year Governor Tom Vilsack was praised for is dhimmitude by radical Islamist Ibrahim Dremali , Imam of the Islamic Center of Des Moines, when he proclaimed 'Muslim Recognition Day' and Des Moines Mayor Cownie followed suit, making Iowa's transformation to the Umma official. For their part Muslims could not contain their glee at the blissful submission displayed by public officials and saw their public acknowledgement of Islam and regarded it as the first step before conversion."

Read the entire post here.

I guess we continue to appease at all levels.

Conventional newspapers.

Circulation “ups and downs” of the nations top 25 newspapers

1. USA Today: 2,269509, (-1.3%)
2. The Wall Street Journal: 2,043235, (-1.9%)
3. The New York Times: 1,086,798, (-3.5%)
4. Los Angeles Times: 775,766, (-8.0%)
5. The New York Post: 704,011, 5.3%
6. Daily News: 693,382, 1.0%
7. The Washington Post: 656,297, (-3.3%)
8. Chicago Tribune: 576,132, (-1.7%)
9. Houston Chronicle: 508,097, (-3.6%)
10. Newsday: 413,579, (-4.9%)
11. The Arizona Republic, Phoenix: 397,294, (-2.5%)
12. The Boston Globe: 386,415, (-6.7%)
13. The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J.: 378,100, (-5.5%)
14. San Francisco Chronicle: 373,805, (-5.3%)
15. The Star Tribune, Minneapolis: 358,887, (-4.1%)
16. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 350,157, (-3.4%)
17. The Plain Dealer, Cleveland: 336,939, (-0.6%)
18. The Philadelphia Inquirer: 330,622, (-7.5%)
19. Detroit Free Press: 328,628, (-3.6%)
20. The Oregonian, Portland: 310,803, (-6.8%)
21. The San Diego Union-Tribune: 304,334, (-3.1%)
22. St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times: 288,676, (-3.2%)
23. The Orange County (Calif.) Register: 287,204, (-3.7%)
24. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch: 276,588, 0.6%
25. The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee: 273,609, (-5.4%)

There are only three positive gains on this list that I acquired from an article authored by Stephen Spruiell, Media Blog (October 30,2006- 11:39 a.m.).

Perhaps the American public is tiring of being played.

"Toning down" traditional fiestas---

The Spanish have practiced the tradition of burning effigies of the prophet muhammed for centuries to celebrate the end of their annual festivals.

The festivals are normally held in Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands and include active participation by local residents. These residents don medieval costumes and re-enact ancient, historical battles that occurred between the Moors and the Christians during the Reconquista (reconquest) period.

The fiestas celebrate events in 1492, when the Catholic kings of northern Spain defeated and expelled muslim forces, effectively ending more than 800 years of brutal muslim rule.

In the past the festivities culminated with the burning of mannequins of the Mahoma, a figure based on the prophet mohammed to represent the final defeat of islam in the region. In some villages the head of the figure is stuffed with gunpowder and detonated with a cigar, while in others the dummy is decapitated and its head is thrown from the castle walls.

However, this year the local authorities have opted to “tone” down the rituals, hoping to appease the muslim and avoid a repeat of the lawless rioting that followed last year's publication of Danish cartoons of muhammed.

Organizers of the festival in the Valencian village of Bocairent will not be filling the head of the Mahoma with fireworks this year. "As it could hurt some people's feelings, we decided not to do it," Antonio Valdes, the mayor of Bocairent told El Pais, the daily newspaper.

The festival at Beneixama was also toned down, following a trend to avoid inflaming tensions in Spain which is, again, home to a growing number of Muslims.

Another concession to islam, the religion of peace.

Sharing a post from---

Gateway Pundit. The news that's not reported!

Iraqi Sunni tribe helps protects Iraqi Shiite tribe
By Ali Alshumary in Alkut Iraq

The Sunni Aljuhaishat tribe helped protected men from the Alkufaifan Shiite tribe after armed fighting broke out between the Alkufaifan and an armed group. Men from the Aljuhaishat tribe answered a call for help from Alkufaifan even though there were light clashes between these two tribes just a few days ago.

As soon as Aljuhaishat answered the call of the Shiite Alkufaifan tribe it became evident that the attackers were not from a local Sunni tribe. The attackers were creating strife between the two tribes by attacking the Shiite tribe and making it seem as if the local Sunni tribe Aljuhaishat was attacking the Shiite Alkufaifan tribe. After all day fighting the Shiite Alkufaifan with the support of the Sunni Aljuhaishat tribe, seven of the attackers were killed and three were captured. It became evident that the attackers were members of a murder and robbery gang or militia. Later men from both tribes praised and thanked each other for helping ending the attackers and help the truth come out.

This incident proves the national unity of most Iraqis while turning a blind eye to their sect or origin.

Haider Ajina comments:

The cooperation and comradeship amongst Sunni & Shiite displayed here is very similar to the Iraq I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s before Saddam came to power.

Incidences such as these (Sunni & Shiite helping each other) happen frequently in Iraq. They go unreported in the Western media (see CNN). It is mostly the former Baathists and Alqaida and some Shiite militia who are creating the sectarian strife in Iraq. The foreign influences of Iran and Syria especially fund and aid the strife. Criminal gangs or militia, who can be Sunni or Shiite, are trying to ignite fighting amongst Tribes in Iraq. I could not find further details about these criminals who tried to get Aljuhaishat and Alkufaifan to fight each other. Gladly, cooler heads prevailed and the truth came out.

Regards,
Haider Ajina

The only question I have here is how do we know these criminals weren't from a far more demonic organization--- al qaeda?