It’s the Islamic way.

(Daily Mail) — Life can be lonely on the high seas and one pirate has decided enough is enough, it’s about time he got himself a wife.

But the Somali pirate chief has taken a fancy to his 13-year-old Danish hostage — and he is so besotted with her he’s willing to let the rest of her family go free, and even forget the $5million dollar ransom his pirate colleagues demanded.

According to The Times, the pirate made the bizarre proposal during a conversation with a Danish reporter, who visited the African nation to track down the Johansen family who were taken hostage in the Indian Ocean more than a month ago.

Jan Quist Johansen, his wife Birgit Marie Johansen, their sons Rune and Hjalte and their daughter Naja, were kidnapped along with their two crewmen.

Keep reading…

Now it’s time to admit you’re a fraud.

Via RCP

What happened to all that “dissent is the highest form of patriotism” rhetoric the left spewed when they vehemently opposed Bush during the Iraq War?

ED SCHULTZ: Republicans are attacking the Commander-in-Chief during a time of war! . . . There should be no debate: we should be kicking [Gaddafi’s] ass . . . Whose side are you on, Sarah: are you with the terrorists, Sarah, or are you with the President of the United States? . . . And I have to ask the question tonight: where is the patriotism from all of these war-hawks? Where’s the patriotism of the Republican party? . . . What about being a patriot? . . . So the question now for the doubters who are out and about: why don’t you support the president? . . . We’ve been talking about the lack of patriotism from prominent Republicans . . . Laura [Flanders] what about the patriotism?

I’m thinking Mexico poses a bigger threat to our national interests than Libya. But that’s just me.

Maybe SEIU could get them to unionize.

You thoughts? I’m always wary when a politician apologizes for an unpopular opinion.

Eff the United Nations.

(Haaretz) — United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Israel Wednesday to halt settlement building in the West Bank and put a stop to all forms of violence and incitement, the UN News Center reported.

Speaking in Uruguay at the UN Latin American and Caribbean Meeting in support of Middle East peace Ban said it was a “crucial time” for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

“Time is of the essence in realizing the two-State solution,” Ban said, “the occupation that started in 1967 is morally and politically unsustainable, and must end. The Palestinians have a legitimate right to the establishment of an independent and viable State of their own.”

And how exactly are they planning on circumventing their own arms embargo (which has no exemption for non-regime forces)? By claiming the weapons can only be used to “protect civilians.”

(Independent) — The United States paved the way to arming rebel groups in Libya as leaders from nearly 40 countries met in London to discuss the next moves against Colonel Gaddafi’s regime.

The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, said she believed that UN resolutions allowed for the “legitimate transfer of arms” to the rebels should any country wish to do so. She added that no decision had been made “at this time” by the US on arming the rebels.

William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, said that while Libya was under a United Nations-mandated arms embargo that did not mean arming the rebels was impossible. France said it would also consider supplying weapons. “I remind you it is not part of the UN resolution… but we are ready to discuss it with our partners,” the French Foreign Minister, Alain Juppé, said.

British sources said weapons supplied to opposition groups would, under the UN resolution, have to be used to “protect civilians”. They did not, however, suggest how this could be verified. Asked about arming the rebels, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jabr al-Thani said: “We have to find a way to stop this bloodshed.”

RINOs suck.

Washington — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), after speaking to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, told reporters that the way to fix the illegal immigration problem in the United States is to secure the border first.

Graham also repeated his contention that birthright citizenship should be denied to children of illegal aliens.

He said illegal aliens already in the United States should get a pathway to citizenship after learning English, assimilating into the American culture, paying fines, and getting in line behind those who came into the country legally.

“If you secure your border, control who gets a job in America, I’m more than willing to give a legal status to the 10 or 12 million so they don’t have to live in fear,” said Graham, speaking at a Washington, D.C., hotel. “But they come out of the shadows, they identify themselves, they pay a fine, they work, pay taxes, they learn our language, and if they want to be a citizen, they get in the back of the line.”

Also a good description for his presidency.

And the President is obviously not happy with his set of choices. One person told me, in a meeting he called this military action in Libya a “turd sandwich” but he was quoting one of his national security aides who likes to use that term.

HT: Mike Opelka

Thanks for proving our point.

(CNS News) — A Muslim civil rights activist told Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) that she stands by the advice posted on her Web site that tells Muslims not to speak with the FBI or other law enforcement personnel unless a lawyer is present.

Kyl said he was “stunned” that Farhana Khera, president and executive director of Muslim Advocates, would “issue those kind of instructions,” given the connection between many domestic terror attacks and radical Islam and the importance of cooperation from American Muslims to help thwart those attacks.

“I would think that Muslim Americans would feel a special obligation to help intelligence agencies root this out,” Kyl said Tuesday at a hearing on the civil rights of American Muslims held by the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights.

On the home page of the Muslim Advocates Web site under the heading “URGENT COMMUNITY ALERT: Seek Legal Advice Before Talking to FBI,” the warning reads:

“The FBI is contacting Pakistani, South-Asian and other Muslim Americans to solicit information and advice about addressing violent extremism. Muslim Advocates strongly urges individuals not to speak with law enforcement officials without the presence or advice of an attorney.”

The two-page alert states cooperation with law enforcement without a lawyer present “places you and your family at great risk of criminal prosecution or adverse immigration consequences (including deportation),” and “there is no legal obligation to speak to law enforcement officials.”

And by “freelance jihadists” I’m guessing he’s talking about non-Libyan foreign fighters. Either way, they’re not “doctors and lawyers” like Obama told us yesterday.

(Washington Times) — A former leader of Libya’s al Qaeda affiliate says he thinks “freelance jihadists” have joined the rebel forces, as NATO’s commander told Congress on Tuesday that intelligence indicates some al Qaeda and Hezbollah terrorists are fighting Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s forces.

Former jihadist Noman Benotman, who renounced his al Qaedaaffiliation in 2000, said in an interview that he estimates 1,000 jihadists are in Libya.

On Capitol Hill, Adm. James Stavridis, the NATO commander, when asked about the presence of al Qaeda terrorists among the rebels, said the leadership of the opposition is made up of “responsible men and women.”

“We have seen flickers in the intelligence of potential al Qaeda,Hezbollah,” the four-star admiral said. “We’ve seen different things. But at this point, I don’t have detail sufficient to say that there’s a significantal Qaeda presence, or any other terrorist presence, in and among these folks.”

The military is continuing to “look at that very closely,” he said, because “it’s part of doing due diligence as we move forward on any kind of relationship” with the opposition.

Outside observers generally estimate the number of trained Libyan fighters to be about 1,000.

Now he’s just making stuff up.

(Australian) — The US is considering giving weapons to rebels battling Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in Libya, despite concerns that some could have terrorist links to al-Qa’ida and Hezbollah.

“We are examining all options to support the opposition,” President Barack Obama said yesterday. His comments, a day after his nationally televised address on the reasons for US military involvement in Libya, came as leaders from countries involved in the military operation now under NATO leadership met in London to co-ordinate efforts against the Gaddafi regime

US officials also appear unclear about the allegiances of rebel groups and what sort of governmental system might replace the dictator’s rule after 41 years.

In one of three interviews yesterday, Mr Obama said the rebels were “saying the right things” so far. “Most of them are professionals, lawyers, doctors, people who appear to be credible,” he told CBS.

“That doesn’t mean that among all the people who oppose Gaddafi, there might not be elements that are unfriendly to the United States and our interests.”

He told the American ABC News he believed the dictator’s inner circle “understands that the noose is tightening” and that Gaddafi would step down.

He’s like the teenage idol whom all the girls adored — until they grew up, which usually takes no more than three years. Then they see that he was nothing more than an empty prop.

(Inside TV) — President Obama’s speech viewership keeps on slipping.

Monday night’s policy address on Libya delivered 25.6 million viewers, continuing the president’s trend of declining ratings for his issue-oriented telecasts.

The speech was down 12% from Obama’s address on Iraq last August (29.2 million), which fell 9% from his speech on the Gulf Coast oil spill in June (32.1 million), which in turn dropped 21% from his Afghanistan speech back in December of 2009 (40.8 million). Last night’s address could have been dinged by starting slightly before primetime, at 7:30 p.m. (which also kept Obama from making ABC choose between the commander-in-chief and airing Dancing With the Stars at its usual time).

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And Obama is now considering arming these same rebels. Insane.

(Telegraph) — Anwar al-Awlaki, al-Qaeda’s most influential English-language preacher, said revolts sweeping the Arab world would help rather than harm its cause by giving Islamists freed from tyranny greater scope to speak out.

Western and Arab officials say the example set by young Arabs seeking peaceful political change is a counterweight to al-Qaeda’s push for violent militancy and weakens its argument that democracy and Islam are incompatible.

But al-Awlaki, who has been linked to a series of terrorist plots, said the removal of anti-Islamist autocrats meant Islamic fighters and scholars were now freer to discuss and organise.

“Our mujahideen brothers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and the rest of the Muslim world will get a chance to breathe again after three decades of suffocation,” he wrote, using a term that refers generally to Islamic guerrilla groups or holy warriors.

“For the scholars and activists of Egypt to be able to speak again freely, it would represent a great leap forward for the mujahideen”, wrote Awlaki, who is believed to be hiding in Southern Yemen.

Al- Awlaki made his remarks in the fifth edition of Inspire, an online al-Qaeda magazine aimed at Muslims in the West.

He said it did not matter what sort of government succeeded Arab autocrats, as these were unlikely to be as repressive. Imagining that only a Taliban-style regime would benefit al-Qaeda was “a too short term way” of looking at events.

“We do not know yet what the outcome would be (in any given country), and we do not have to. The outcome doesn’t have to be an Islamic government for us to consider what is occurring to be a step in the right direction,” he said.

“In Libya, no matter how bad the situation gets and no matter how pro-Western or oppressive the next government proves to be, we do not see it possible for the world to produce another lunatic of the same calibre of the Colonel (Gaddafi).”

Al-Awlaki said the revolts had broken “the barriers of fear” among Muslims whose “defeatism” under tyranny had deepened after Algeria’s crushing of an Islamist uprising in the 1990s.

Oh the humanity!

(Ballot Box) — President Obama’s approval rating has hit an all-time low, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University.

The survey measured Obama’s approval at just 42 percent, with 48 percent of voters disapproving of the job he’s doing in office.

Fifty percent of voters surveyed believe the president does not deserve election to a second term next year — just 41 percent said he does.

The 42 percent approval number marks a four percentage-point drop over the past month. A Q-poll released March 3 had Obama at 46 percent approval; 45 percent of voters said he didn’t deserve a second term.

Obama is now in a dead heat with a generic Republican challenger, trailing an unamed Republican in a hypothetical 2012 match-up 36 percent to 37 percent.

“President Barack Obama’s approval numbers are at their lowest level ever, slightly below where they were for most of 2010 before he got a bump up in surveys after the November election and into the early part of this year,” said Peter Brown, assistant director at the Quinnipiac Polling Institute.

Side note: 42% is still way too high.

Hands off our taxpayer-funded baby-killing slaughterhouse!

(The Hill) — A top Democrat said Tuesday evening that some of the most controversial “riders” attached to a House spending bill would be a dealbreaker in the Senate.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said riders to defund Planned Parenthood and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wouldn’t fly in the upper chamber.

“The bottom line is that whether it’s Planned Parenthood or EPA, we will not accept those riders,” Schumer said on MSNBC. “And any thought to the contrary is wrong.”

“We believe that they don’t belong in a budget bill,” he added. “There can be debate on these issues. We believe they would be defeated in the Senate.”

House Republicans included a number of riders — measures attached to spending legislation to pursue a broader policy goal, often having to do with social issues — in their legislation funding the government the rest of this year.

The most controversial were those to cut off federal funding to Planned Parenthood, because it provides abortion services, and the EPA.

The blame-America-first crowd seen nodding in approval.

No other way to view this other than a tacit approval of the anti-Israel, pro-Islamist UNHRC agenda.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration announced on Wednesday that it will seek a new term on the United Nations Human Rights Council despite concerns that the panel remains a hotbed of anti-Israel sentiment and a forum for repressive nations to deflect attention from abuses they may have committed.

The State Department said the U.S. intends to run in 2012 for another three-year term on the oft-criticized council. Officials said the U.S. believes its presence on the panel for the past two years has helped steer it in the right direction and that it can continue to do so.

The department said that the U.S. has helped mobilize the council to take on crises in countries such as Iran, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kyrgyzstan and Libya — which was a member until earlier this month, when it was suspended over its violent crackdown on anti-government protesters. The officials said U.S. membership had also been key to the council taking on issues that include women’s rights, discrimination based on sexual orientation and restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly.

“Taken collectively, the actions taken by the 16th Human Rights Council represent a significant positive change in the council’s trajectory,” State Department spokesman Mark Tonier said in a statement announcing the decision.

The U.S. had shunned the council and its predecessor, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, during President George W. Bush’s administration because its membership included rights abusers that Washington said focused unfairly on Israel and ignored atrocities throughout Asia, Africa and the Middle East. But when President Barack Obama came into office in 2009, his administration sought to re-engage the council, arguing the U.S. could do more good as a member than as an outside critic.

Obama and his foreign policy team were roundly criticized for running for, and winning, a seat on the 47-nation, Geneva-based council, particularly after it considered the so-called “Goldstone Report,” which called equally on Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas to probe and prosecute any war crimes stemming from the 2009 Gaza conflict or face scrutiny by the International Criminal Court. The U.S. and Israel fought to keep the report from being referred to other U.N. bodies.

Margaret Sanger’s vision becomes reality.

(Mail Online) — Campaigners have denounced a ‘despicable’ anti-abortion advertising campaign targeting black people which includes the slogan: ‘Every 21 minutes, our next possible leader is aborted’.

The billboard in Chicago is aimed at the city’s black community and includes a picture of President Barack Obama alongside the controversial tagline.

Texas-based abortion group Life Always created the campaign and have placed the advert on 30 billboards in the Chicago area.

The group claimed on its website that the adverts, erected at 58th and State streets in Chicago’s predominantly black Englewood neighbourhood, were part of a campaign to ‘encourage reflection on the disproportionate number of abortions among African Americans’.

But the advert’s wording and its use of President Obama on the billboards has been heavily criticised by pro-choice campaigners as ‘cynical and misleading’.

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I bumped this from the ZipWire because it’s caught fire throughout the day. Michael Yon takes exception to the Rolling Stone article that has taken liberties with the alleged “The Kill Team” story that has been dubbed as “Obama’s Abu Ghraib,” which the MSM isn’t touching.

(Michael Yon Online) — Seldom do I waste time with rebutting articles, and especially not from publications like Rolling Stone. Today, numerous people sent links to the latest Rolling Stone tripe. The story is titled “THE KILL TEAM, THE FULL STORY.” It should be titled: “BULLSHIT, from Rolling Stone.”

The story — not really an “article” — covers Soldiers from 5/2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) in Afghanistan. A handful of Soldiers were accused of murder. It does in fact appear that a tiny group of rogues committed premeditated murder. I was embedded with the 5/2 SBCT and was afforded incredible access to the brigade by the Commander, Colonel Harry Tunnell, and the brigade Command Sergeant Major, Robb Prosser. I know Robb from Iraq. Colonel Tunnell had been shot in Iraq.

The brigade gave me open access. I could go anywhere, anytime, so long as I could find a ride, which never was a problem beyond normal combat problems. If they had something to hide, it was limited and I didn’t find it. I was not with the Soldiers accused of murder and had no knowledge of this. It is important to note that the murder allegations were not discovered by media vigilance, but by, for instance, at least one Soldier in that tiny unit who was appalled by the behavior. A brigade is a big place with thousands of Soldiers, and in Afghanistan they were spread thinly across several provinces because we decided to wage war with too few troops. Those Soldiers accused of being involved in (or who should have been knowledgeable of) the murders could fit into a minivan. You would need ten 747s for the rest of the Brigade who did their duty. I was with many other Soldiers from 5/2 SBCT. My overall impression was very positive. After scratching my memory for negative impressions from 5/2 Soldiers, I can’t think of any, actually, other than the tiny Kill Team who, to my knowledge, I never set eyes upon.

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