Video clip of the day

Commenter to this YouTube clip advises us that this kid's Arabic matches the accompanying close captioning for whatever it's worth.


Consider yourself forewarned as kid may be smarter than you and certainly displays a grasp of the concept of a liberal, secular constitutional republic better than 98% percent of the people we send to Washington.


Ladies and Gentlemen, behold Ali Ahmed, a 12 yr. old Egyptian:


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Pray for this kid's safety as that is not the sort of Tahir Square smack you run without facing some type of consequence.

Quickies

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A weekly round-up of news items, articles, columns and blog posts that caught our eye this past week.



In the wake of the massacre at Newtown, CT, we perceived this notion that in someway and somehow, the NRA was supposed to answer for what happened there. And we perceived this as coming from both sides of the gun debate, though, obviously more so on the gun control side of the aisle.

And then the NRA buys into this ridiculous notion by holding that press conference on Friday that called for armed policemen in schools. We haven’t thought this through long enough to opine on whether or not this is a good idea but the press became predictably apoplectic that the president of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, did not take questions afterwards. Mind you, this is the same press that has not ever seemed to mind the lack of press conferences held by this current administration.

Let us modify the above paragraph: The press became predictably apoplectic that the NRA was holding a presser at all. This notion that somehow the NRA had to provide answers to what happened two Fridays ago was met with howling and raging criticism from the press who would’ve behaved in exactly the same manner no matter what LaPierre said, so from a strategic stangpoint, we fail to understand what the NRA gained by deciding to go forward with the presser.

And as usual, the anti-gun left continues to demonstrate what hypocrites they are when it comes to civility and having civil discourse on anything they reflexively hate by blowing up twitter with death threats against members of the NRA and gun owners in general.





IBD headline: States Give ObamaCare a Massive Vote of No Confidence

In order to purchase health insurance through the federal government, ObamaCare envisioned the states setting up exchanges or marketplaces through which individuals could purchase insurance for themselves and/or their families.

Unfortunately, the rules and regulations for just how these exchanges would operate have been slow in rolling out. Add onto that the fact that the IT infrastructure that would give the state exchanges the ability to “talk” to the federal administrators of ObamaCare is nowhere close to being set up, you have a massive bureaucratic/administrative nightmare on your hands just a year before ObamaCare is implemented in anger.

The Obama administration wins the Capt. Louie Renault award for being shocked, shocked that just 18 states have agreed to set up these exchanges. The 32 others, including 8 with Democratic governors have said no thanks for shouldering the massive costs associated with setting up and running the exchanges and who, given the current set of circumstances, could blame them?

ObamaCare is already churning out the results one would expect of legislation cobbled together to garner just enough votes to pass but not necessarily to improve the state of healthcare in our country.







How’s that whole Arab Spring working out?

Egypt's new Sharia-based constitution has been approved in a second round of voting, the ruling Muslim Brotherhood party said. The country's opposition leveled accusations of fraud, saying it will appeal the referendum results.

The new charter was approved by 64 percent of Egyptian voters in a “resounding victory,” state news agency al-Ahram reported on Sunday. The preliminary tallies were calculated from reports by polling station officials. Egypt's election committee will confirm the final results on Monday.

Egypt's main opposition party the National Salvation Front (NSF) announced Sunday it will appeal the results of the referendum. NSF members alleged there were multiple instances of “fraud and violations” during the voting process.

“The referendum is not the end of the road. It is only one battle,” the NSF’s Abdel Ghaffer Shokr said, pledging to continue “the fight for the Egyptian people.”

The opposition has asked the electoral commission to “investigate the irregularities” before the vote's official results are announced on Monday.

“They’ve seen a number of instances of possible vote rigging, including unsupervised polling stations, missing ballot papers, stuffed ballot boxes,” Cairo-based journalist Bel Trew told RT. There were also reports of Salafist groups at polling stations coercing people into voting 'yes' on the new document, Trew said.

The opposition also criticized the first round of voting last Saturday, citing various incidents of fraud that have yet to be investigated.

Leading from behind: Putting guns and RPGs into the hands of rebel Islamists, our sworn enemies, to overthrow existing regimes in the Middle East which has only served to further destabilize the region and which has also resulted in restrictions on human rights and civil liberties more so than those previous regimes.

That’s pretty much the sum of it, no? Please let us know if we’ve left out any of the essentials.







They keep telling us they aren’t coming for our guns but emboldened to take cynical advantage of the massacre in CT, lawmakers and tastemakers in this country feel free to unburden themselves of their true intentions ever more increasingly:

In a radio interview on Thursday with Albany’s WGDJ-AM, New York governor Andrew Cuomo said that he plans to work with state legislators next month to submit a proposal for new gun-control laws; in particular, Cuomo said, “our focus is assault weapons,” because current state laws regulating the weapons “have more holes that Swiss cheese.”
“I don’t think legitimate sportsmen are going to say, ‘I need an assault weapon to go hunting,’” he said.

Cuomo continued, “Confiscation could be an option. Mandatory sale to the state could be an option. Permitting could be an option — keep your gun but permit it.”

The governor will propose the new gun-control legislation in his State of the State address on January 9.

(italics, ours)









B-Daddy at The Liberator Today has some advise for his son and his union job at a local grocery store here in San Diego.






KT over at the Scratching Post is unimpressed with your fiscal cliff:

I'm not sure what just happened. As I understand it, the House Republicans decided not to offer President Obama a bill he had promised to veto which would have done practically nothing to avert our upcoming fiscal catastrophe. Of the major problems facing the nation,

1. Fiscal collapse from massive debts and deficits,
2. Economic sclerosis from metastasizing, omnipresent regulations and
3. Social stratification from the growth of secular, libertine religious values

The fiscal cliff deal would have changed none of them. If it's not tackling any of our top three problems, I don't see why the event is such a big deal.

Now, we're not digging the potential of paying $2,000 more in taxes next year so there is a visceral compoenent for us but taking the long view, KT is exactly right. But unfortunately, the country voted to keep in the party in power in the Senate and the Oval Office; a party of which does not even acknowlege those three problems exist.





OK, gang. That's it for today. We hope everyone is enjoying Christmas and Holdiay festivities with family, friends and loved ones as we have had the joy in doing for the past week. We hope to see it continue for another week or so.


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And the Captain Louis Renault award goes to...

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... Reuters!


How's that Arab Spring working out?

After months of reassuring secularist critics, Islamist politicians in Tunisia and Egypt have begun to lay down markers about how Muslim their states should be - and first signs show they want more religion than previously admitted.

Islamist parties swept the first free elections in both countries in recent months after campaigns that stressed their readiness to work with the secularists they struggled with in the Arab Spring revolts against decades-long dictatorships.

With political deadlines looming, a key Tunisian party in the constituent assembly and the head of Egypt's influential Muslim Brotherhood both made statements this week revealing a stronger emphasis on Islam in government.

Popular List, the party tasked with writing Tunisia's new constitution, announced on Monday its draft called Islam "the principle source of legislation" - a phrase denoting laws based on the sharia moral and legal code.

On Tuesday, Egyptian Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie said his group wanted a president with "an Islamic background." That term is vague, but not as vague as the conciliatory "consensus candidate" talk heard from most parties until now.

Secularists in both countries warned voters against trusting the Islamists and these subtle changes could have come straight from a secularist playbook on how Islamists would gradually insert more religion into the political and legal systems.

(italics, ours)


Reuters is shocked... shocked that previous moderate signals from various Islamist factions would take a turn for the Sharia.

It's eerily similar to their reporting (along with the rest of the American press) on bad economic news... unexpectedly!

And subtle changes? Let's call it for what it is gang... minority groups from women and Christians to gays and adulturers (alleged or otherwise) are screwed now more than ever.

How it is that Reuters seems to be taken off-guard by these as-predictable-as-the-Sun-rises-in-the-East developments is beyond us.

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Quickies

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A round-up of news items, articles, columns and blog posts that caught our eye this past week or so.





George Will on the importance of the Supreme Court's decision on ObamaCare:

The Obamacare issues of Medicaid coercion and the individual mandate are twins. They confront the court with the same challenge, that of enunciating judicially enforceable limiting principles. If there is no outer limit on Congress’s power to regulate behavior in the name of regulating interstate commerce, then the Framers’ design of a limited federal government is nullified. And if there is no outer limit on the capacity of this government to coerce the states, then federalism, which is integral to the Framers’ design, becomes evanescent.

So, the time the court has allotted for oral argument about Obamacare is proportional to the stakes. This case is the most important in the more than half a century since the Brown v. Board of Education cases because, like those, it concerns the nature of the American regime.

Evanescent. Ahem. vanishing; fading away; fleeting.


Will's right, however, as if the Supremes uphold the mandate, the precedent will have been set that there is effectively nothing Congress cannot compel you to do. Crazy notion but we don't think that's what the Founders had in mind for the federal government.







Sarah over at Lipstick Underground is no fan of Newt Gingrich but appears to dislike his wife even more:

The REAL ick factor in all this is wife #3, Callista Bisek Gingrich, mistress during marriage #2 and potential First Lady of the United States. Just let that sink in for a minute.

I hold women to a higher standard then men. I’m hardly a prude, and stuff happens in marriages that is just between spouses. But the simple truth is, we are the gate keepers to societal standards around here...and I’m not interested in having to call some home wrecking hussy “First Lady.” She’s no lady and I don’t want her in my White House.

We... had not considered that angle before.






Sir Charles at Doo Doo Economics attended the 28th annual San Diego County Economic Roundtable and provides his round-up here ending with this observation:

All the economists and speakers shared one common sentiment. The 2012 election year will decide if small or big government will rule our futures. My take on the situation is that a smaller government role is warranted. Keynesian economics has run its course. Small tweaks to capitalism work but socialist cronyism is not a small tweak. Making poverty and dependence comfortable and allowing the state to pick winners and losers is not wise in any civilization. Only the passion of self interested individuals who believe in their own ideas and benefit from taking risks can create a vibrant economy. No amount of marketing "green" or other state solutions will impassion true believers, investors and customers like an individual with an innovative idea.

Look no further than Europe to see how that statist/entitlement model is working. Yet, the ruling party at the federal level and in many states including our home state of California seem quite content to be just that... content to follow the status quo when the status quo will lead to certain ruin.






So, just how did that "open marriage" request/demand that was to end Newt's candidacy work out?

Gingrich trailed Romney by double digits just days ago. But that changed quickly after Gingrich's performance in Thursday's night CNN Southern Republican debate. The former House speaker was able to turn his biggest liability -- accusations by his second wife, Marianne, that he wanted an "open marriage" -- into an asset, drawing two standing ovations for assailing the media for bringing up the allegations.

If there was going to be a primary out there where allegations of marital infidelity were going to register with the state's social conservative-leaning Republican voters, it would've been South Carolina and yet Newt wins going away. So, what is it?: Newt's skillful debate performance in criticizing the (northeastern) media or a collective electoral shrug of the shoulders seemingly saying, "It's Newt, of course he's going to want to get a little freaky." Next.

Oh, by the way, Newt carried the majority of married women.


Totally related (via Instapundit):

MORE STILL: A female reader writes that Gingrich may not have been so hurt by ex-wife Marianne’s TV interview:

Hate to say this and don’t use my name, but I watched the interview and thought

“You bitch, he cheated on his first wife with you. What the heck did you expect?”

Kinda parallels what Sarah was saying above, don't it?









How's that Arab Spring working out over in Egypt?

Terrific: Egypt Islamists win 70 percent

Islamists won a combined 70 percent of parliamentary seats in the first election after Egypt’s revolution, according to official results Saturday that cemented the victory of rival religious parties belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood and the more fundamentalist Salafists.

More fundamentalist? Again, terrific.

Don't think we're going out on a limb by saying life won't be getting much better for this particular set of protesters.

KT links to a fine piece by Charles Murray on the changing face and increasing isolationism of the elites in our country:

And the isolation is only going to get worse. Increasingly, the people who run the country were born into that world. Unlike the typical member of the elite in 1960, they have never known anything but the new upper-class culture. We are now seeing more and more third-generation members of the elite. Not even their grandparents have been able to give them a window into life in the rest of America.

It's long but worthwhile and caused us to recall Angelo Codevilla's epic manifesto from the summer of 2010 "America's Ruling Class -- And the Perils of Revolution"

A sampling:

Today's ruling class, from Boston to San Diego, was formed by an educational system that exposed them to the same ideas and gave them remarkably uniform guidance, as well as tastes and habits. These amount to a social canon of judgments about good and evil, complete with secular sacred history, sins (against minorities and the environment), and saints. Using the right words and avoiding the wrong ones when referring to such matters -- speaking the "in" language -- serves as a badge of identity. Regardless of what business or profession they are in, their road up included government channels and government money because, as government has grown, its boundary with the rest of American life has become indistinct. Many began their careers in government and leveraged their way into the private sector. Some, e.g., Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, never held a non-government job. Hence whether formally in government, out of it, or halfway, America's ruling class speaks the language and has the tastes, habits, and tools of bureaucrats. It rules uneasily over the majority of Americans not oriented to government.

And dig this from Russell K. Nieli:

Participation in such Red State activities as high school ROTC, 4-H clubs, or the Future Farmers of America was found to reduce very substantially a student's chances of gaining admission to the competitive private colleges in the NSCE database on an all-other-things-considered basis. The admissions disadvantage was greatest for those in leadership positions in these activities or those winning honors and awards. "Being an officer or winning awards" for such career-oriented activities as junior ROTC, 4-H, or Future Farmers of America, say Espenshade and Radford, "has a significantly negative association with admission outcomes at highly selective institutions." Excelling in these activities "is associated with 60 or 65 percent lower odds of admission."

Exit question: Sorry for going all pitchfork-wielding populist but how have all those Ivy League degrees littered about Wall Street and Washington D.C. been working out for this country, lately?



OK, gang. That's it for now. It's a new week so let's get to it.

Your Arab Spring update

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Ah well, who said the slide into an Islamist third-world state was not going to be rough on a few people?

This year, mobs have looted and attacked Coptic churches, homes and shops throughout Egypt. Churches have been burned down, and one Copt had his ear cut off by a Muslim cleric invoking Islamic law.

Strong gains by Islamist parties in the recent elections have further raised fears among the Christian minority that they won't have a place in the new Egypt.

The plight of the nation's roughly eight million Copts poses a quandary for the U.S. The pivotal Middle East ally receives $1.3 billion annually in military aid, and the administration has riled some critics who say it has failed to strongly rebuke the transitional rulers amid recent violence against women, Copts and other minorities.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a federal advisory agency, asked the State Department to place Egypt on its list of "countries of particular concern"—egregious violators of religious freedoms. The department declined, saying that its goal is to work with the Egyptian government to improve conditions for Christians.

Kathleen Fitzpatrick, a deputy assistant secretary of state, says her department has been "very concerned with the attacks on the Copts in Egypt in recent months," and has shared its views with "the highest levels of the Egyptian government."

(italics, ours)

Glad we're sharing.

Quandry: $1.3 billion/year in tax-payer money in return for rubbing out Copts. We'd say someone is getting quite the sweet deal.

As we've noted previously, some persecuted minority groups are just a little more equal than others.



Bonus round: Leslie at Temple of Mut has her thoughts on the fire at one of Egypt's most important library.

"Insensitive" is the new "sexual assault"

We suppose this is some more of that "new civility" they've been talking about.

On Friday, Feb. 11, the day Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, CBS chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan was covering the jubilation in Tahrir Square for a "60 Minutes" story when she and her team and their security were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration. It was a mob of more than 200 people whipped into frenzy.


In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers. She reconnected with the CBS team, returned to her hotel and returned to the United States on the first flight the next morning. She is currently home recovering.

Nothing "new" about that from that particular neck of the woods, rather we were referring to this tool, a fellow at NYU.

On Egypt...

Obviously, it's far too early to be uncorking the bubbly as cautioned by advise from both the past and present.

Edmund Burke, British MP, on the French Revolution:

I should, therefore, suspend my congratulations on the new liberty of France until I was informed how it had been combined with government; with public force; with the discipline and obedience of armies; with the collection of an effective and well-distributed revenue; with morality and religion; with the morality and religion; with the solidity of property; with peace and order; with civil and social manners.

All these, in their way, are good things, too; and, without them, liberty is not a benefit while it lasts, and is not likely to continue long.

And Charles Krauthammer from this past week echoing those same sentiments:

(2) Democracy is more than just elections. It requires a free press, the rule of law, the freedom to organize, the establishment of independent political parties and the peaceful transfer of power. Therefore, the transition to democracy and initial elections must allow time for these institutions, most notably political parties, to establish themselves.

(3) The only U.S. interest in the internal governance of these new democracies is to help protect them against totalitarians, foreign and domestic. The recent Hezbollah coup in Lebanon and the Hamas dictatorship in Gaza dramatically demonstrate how anti-democratic elements that achieve power democratically can destroy the very democracy that empowered them.

We hope the best for Egypt and its people.

Not working very hard to get off the schneid

Now, call us crazy but we don't recall hearing quite the hue and cry to get behind the Iranian uprising and potential revolution/overthrow of the mullahocracy back in 2009 as we are hearing now with respect to Egypt.

But now the likes of Eugene Robinson, Maureen Dowd and George Soros have all caught democracy fever.

And after remaining largely silent on the matter, the administration has taken up the cause of seeing Hosni Mubarak removed from power. From earlier this week:

The Obama administration said for the first time that it supports a role for groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned Islamist organization, in a reformed Egyptian government.

The organization must reject violence and recognize democratic goals if the U.S. is to be comfortable with it taking part in the government, the White House said. But by even setting conditions for the involvement of such nonsecular groups, the administration took a surprise step in the midst of the crisis that has enveloped Egypt for the last week.

The statement was an acknowledgment that any popularly accepted new government will probably include groups that are not considered friendly to U.S. interests, and was a signal that the White House is prepared for that probability after 30 years of reliable relations with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

In fairness to the Obama administration, they're in kind of a bind as we've been stuck with Mubarak for the past 30 years as he has kept relative piece in the region for those 30 years but... the Muslim Brotherhood? Since when do these types of groups renounce their evil ways let alone actually carry through with any sort of positive action towards that end? The depth of naivete' displayed by the smartest kids in the room is breathtaking.

So, let's get this straight: the administration remains silent when they had a chance to support an uprising in Iran that was uniformly more pro-democracy and was without the taint of Islamists, yet we throw in with the anti-government factions in Egypt, of which a group that wants to tear up the peace treaty with Israel among other retrograde Islamist features, is a part.

Combine that with our deplorable handling of the situation down in Honduras and the amatuers of Team O are now 0 and 3 in 3 blowouts when it comes to responding to foreign policy crises.

Helping explain soccer's lack of popularity over here

Via Left Coast Rebel.


Some pretty incredible footage of the protests from Egypt last week.



Though the video shows only 10 minutes of the confrontation between the protesters and the riot police, we have it on good word that no soccer matches broke out during the unrest.


And if the protests/demonstrations are good for Egypt then they ought to cure what ails us as well, right?

Here is one such gentleman from this past weekend demonstrating at a conservative conference in Rancho Mirage, CA.




So, he wants to run Obama out of office? That would be rather intemperate now wouldn't it? In keeping with the new tone of civility, we'll wait for the opportunity to do it in another 21 months.

Quote and video clip of the day

"Soccer fans constitute a well-organized and feared pillar of the marshalling grassroots coalition,"

The Muslim Brotherhood? Labor unions? Sure, these two groups may be major factors behind the unrest in Egypt, currently. But who, really, can get their rowdy on like soccer fan?

After all, this is what they look like when they're happy as displayed after a 2010 World Cup qualifier victory.



Gawker has more, here.

No word if they were also outfitted with... lasers

A Sharm El Sheikh marine biologist slammed the conspiracy theory circulating around the country that last week's shark attacks off the South Sinai resort of Sharm El-Sheikh were part of an Israeli conspiracy, but the South Sinai governor supports it.

Mahmoud Hanafy, a professor of marine biology at the Suez Canal University, told Ahram Online that it is "sad," that Egyptian national TV helped propogate the theory that the shark attacks, which resulted in one death and four serious injuries this week, may have been controlled by Israel.

Speaking on the public TV program "Egypt Today" yesterday, a specialist introduced as "Captain Mustafa Ismail, a famous diver in Sharm El Sheikh," said that the sharks involved in the attack are ocean sharks and do not live in Egypt's waters.

When asked by the anchor how the shark entered Sharm El Sheikh waters, he burst out, "no, it's who let them in?"

When the Joooooooos are done taking out tourist bathers, we'd request that they pass these sharks along to this guy.

Credit due

Work held us up so we’re a little late to the party but the transcript of the President’s Address at Cairo University can be found here. It’s long but we encourage everyone to read it in its entirety.

Current mood: Pleasantly surprised. Encouraged, perhaps?

Yes, there is the obligatory make-nice but this speech was, after all, an attempt at beginning a dialog between this country (and the West) and Islam and the degree of pandering was not much more than we heard from President Bush with respect to Islam. But there was also some uncompromising language and mild scoldings.

On the War on Terror:

The situation in Afghanistan demonstrates America’s goals, and our need to work together. Over seven years ago, the United States pursued al Qaeda and the Taliban with broad international support. We did not go by choice, we went because of necessity. I am aware that some question or justify the events of 9/11. But let us be clear: al Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 people on that day. The victims were innocent men, women and children from America and many other nations who had done nothing to harm anybody. And yet Al Qaeda chose to ruthlessly murder these people, claimed credit for the attack, and even now states their determination to kill on a massive scale. They have affiliates in many countries and are trying to expand their reach. These are not opinions to be debated; these are facts to be dealt with.

Make no mistake: we do not want to keep our troops in Afghanistan. We seek no military bases there. It is agonizing for America to lose our young men and women. It is costly and politically difficult to continue this conflict. We would gladly bring every single one of our troops home if we could be confident that there were not violent extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan determined to kill as many Americans as they possibly can. But that is not yet the case.

On Iraq:

Let me also address the issue of Iraq. Unlike Afghanistan, Iraq was a war of choice that provoked strong differences in my country and around the world. Although I believe that the Iraqi people are ultimately better off without the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, I also believe that events in Iraq have reminded America of the need to use diplomacy and build international consensus to resolve our problems whenever possible. Indeed, we can recall the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said: “I hope that our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us that the less we use our power the greater it will be.”

Much of the tone of the speech hinged on the inclusion/omission of any “…though I opposed…” phraseology. We’re pleased the President chose wisely while speaking of this overseas.


On Israel and the Jews:

Around the world, the Jewish people were persecuted for centuries, and anti-Semitism in Europe culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust. Tomorrow, I will visit Buchenwald, which was part of a network of camps where Jews were enslaved, tortured, shot and gassed to death by the Third Reich. Six million Jews were killed – more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today. Denying that fact is baseless, ignorant, and hateful. Threatening Israel with destruction – or repeating vile stereotypes about Jews – is deeply wrong, and only serves to evoke in the minds of Israelis this most painful of memories while preventing the peace that the people of this region deserve.

We couldn’t resist posting this paragraph, though, for it’s high irony content:

Freedom of religion is central to the ability of peoples to live together. We must always examine the ways in which we protect it. For instance, in the United States, rules on charitable giving have made it harder for Muslims to fulfill their religious obligation. That is why I am committed to working with American Muslims to ensure that they can fulfill zakat.

(italics, ours)

Whaaaa…? Isn’t this the same guy who wants to tighten-up on the exemptions for charitable contributions?


Anyway... Ralph Peters was on Fox News last night and he said that he wanted the President to speak as America’s President, not the World’s President. We believe, he succeeded.



P.S. We couldn’t help but note that the title of linked article that provided the text of the President’s speech is: “What Barack Hussein Obama told Muslims in Egypt”.

First time we’ve seen that in print, or at least in the title of an article from a Big Media outlet. We’re pleased Big Media has, behind the strength of a single speech, seen fit to sweep away restrictions concerning previous taboos. The “H”-word that dare not speak its own name is officially back on the table.

It appears they have neglected mention of "The Sanchez"

We’ve no earthly idea what is going on here but its MEMRI so we’ll assume its perfectly legit so let's just uhhh, roll tape:

Following are excerpts from an interview with members of the Egyptian Unique Moustache Association, which aired on Egyptian TV on July 11, 2008.

Interviewer: "I'm sure many people have pressured you to shave off your moustache, saying, 'What is this? Enough of that.'"

Association head Fathi Ahmad Mahmoud "Moustache": "My personality forces people to treat me with respect."

Interviewer: "Didn't your friends, relatives, your wife, or your children say 'Enough is enough?'"

Fathi Ahmad Mahmoud "Moustache": "They are all proud of me. My youngest boy, Nader, calls himself 'Nader Moustache.' Get it? All his friends call him 'Nader Moustache.'"
[...]
Interviewer: "Do you respect all types of moustaches - regardless of their size, length, or width?"

Allam Muhammad Abdel Al-Halim: "Of course."

Interviewer: "Even Hitler's moustache?"

Captain Sayyed Shahada: "By the way, I respect the moustache of this Hitler, because he humiliated the most despicable sect in the world. He subdued the people who subdued the whole world - him with his '11' moustache. By the way, that kind of moustache is called '11.' The generation of this Hitler... When I was little, my father, may he rest in peace, grew that kind of moustache, and so did all his classmates. They all had this '11' moustache. That was in the days of Hitler...

Fathi Ahmad Mahmoud "Moustache": "We have different styles. One style is 'the Douglas.' Then there's 'the Pretzel,' which is rolled like this... The 'Two Swords' style stands up like that... The 'Mafroud' is flat like a ruler. Another style is the 'Carter,' which comes out from here and is very wide."

Interviewer: "What is it called?"

Fathi Ahmad Mahmoud "Moustache": "The 'Carter.' We have two special hair designers, Muhammad Salomon and Yasser Imam. They are the association's designers. They designed all these styles." [...]


Video of this auspicious and enlightening occasion can be found here.

And what of Hitler's mustache and this "11" business? Ah, wait a minute. It seems the #11 holds strange and mystical powers over those who come under its spell.



We will be standing by for reaction from the American Mustache Institute who has been crusading for a Super Bowl Saturday vs. a Super Sunday, an idea of which we whole-heartedly concur. We can't imagine the lads will be treating the EUMA with a soft touch.

Bush Unleashed

Text of Bush’s excellent speech to Middle East leaders gathered in Egypt over the weekend, here.

Linda Chavez wonders, when Camp Obama gets done whining about Bush’s Knesset speech from last week, whether or not it will praise Bush for his call for liberty, tolerance and freedom in that part of the world.

After reading the text of the speech, ask yourself if the “politics of fear” that Bush has been accused of implementing in political warfare, exists in this speech. Bush speaks of a defeated Hezbollah, Hamas and Al Queda and of a free and democratic Syria, Iran and yes… an independent Palestinian state. …audacity?

P.S. Story circulated a few years back about liberal hipsters participating in a self-styled drinking game while watching one of Bush’s state of the Union addresses. Each time Bush mentioned the word “free” or “freedom”, a drink or a shot of liquor would have to be imbibed, the inference being in the comical or passe’ nature of using “free” in a political context. We hope nothing of the sort was attempted with this speech, however. We imagine a swelling of emergency wards with ‘Kos kiddies that had tried to knock back 29 shots of vodka. … in an Absolut world…