News Round up, Vol. 1

The once venerable, now borderline treasonous, New York Times, after having already published classified documents on NSA monitoring of international Al Qaeda phone calls to and from the US – which the media calls “domestic spying” for some odd reason – is now suing the Pentagon to obtain even more classified information, that they no doubt will publish. I’m sure the terrorists will be pulling for a NYT court victory in this case.

Here’s a news flash. Apparently, according to AP writer Pauline Jelinek, the “chaos” in Iraq is a result of poor planning on the part of the Bush administration. Really? So it’s not the result of good planning? I guess Pauline started her life working for the Redundancy Department of Redundancy.

Chikungunya fever, a painful and deadly illness spread by mosquitoes, is on the rise in Mauritius. The PM of Mauritius, Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam, was quoted as saying that he was thankful for the junk science in the 1962 book, Silent Spring, and the demagoguery of militant environmentalists for eradicating the use of DDT, so that today, the people of his tiny tropical nation can suffer painful deaths. Oh wait, that wasn’t him, it was me. My bad.

Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian has moved to close the 15 year old National Unification Council and in doing so state the obvious fact that the Democratic nation of Taiwan has no desire to be absorbed by Communist China. This story can be summed up thus: Chen Shui-bian – “We don’t want to be commies”, Chinese President Hu Jintao – “Rattle rattle rattle, saber saber saber”, US State Department – “God dammit you two”.

Basketball Bucks

Tip of the hat to the Ohio State basketball team, men and women’s. This week marks the first time that both teams are ranked in the top10. The men’s team is ranked 9/8 while the lady Buckeyes are a consensus 5th.

Jessica Davenport posts up against Penn State.
The women’s team was expected to do well this year and having finished the regular season with a record of 25-2 have not disappointed. They also have finished as the lone Big Ten champions. They have the Big Ten tournament this weekend where, if they win out, should be able to garner a #1 seed in the NCAA tourney.

Terence Dials takes it home as the Buckeyes sweep michigan.
For the men it’s a different story. They started out the year off the radar, completely ignored with people thinking they’d be a middling team at best waiting for next year’s stellar recruiting class. Ha! The team has come together around a core of three 5th year seniors to surpass everyone’s hopes and with two games left and a 21-4 record are alone in first place in the Big Ten. They currently have an RPI ranking of 5th and with the boys can win out, and win the Big Ten tourney they have an outside chance at getting a #1 seed as well. Not bad for a squad no one thought would even make the NCAA brackets.

There is still a lot of ball left to play but both teams are playing hard, especially on the defensive side, so here’s hoping they can make some noise next month in the tournaments. Go Bucks!

NOTE: If you are reading this Swade next year the Buckeye’s have 4 of the top 29 prep players on their class including Greg Oden, who, if it had not been for an NBA rule change was expected to be the #1 pick in the NBA draft this year.

Is there a laugh track for Iran?

Recently more complete absurdity has come forth from another official organ of the mad mullahs of Iran. This time in the form of the cultural advisor to the Iranian Education Ministry, one Hasan Bolkhari, who appearing on Iranian state television (as if there was any option in Iran) started blathering gibberish about how the cartoon series Tom and Jerry are put of the big Jewish conspiracy.

There is a cartoon that children like. They like it very much, and so do adults--"Tom and Jerry." . . .

Some say that this creation by Walt Disney [sic] will be remembered forever. The Jewish Walt Disney Co. gained international fame with this cartoon. It is still shown throughout the world. This cartoon maintains its status because of the cute antics of the cat and mouse--especially the mouse.

Some say that the main reason for making this very appealing cartoon was to erase a certain derogatory term that was prevalent in Europe. . . .

If you study European history, you will see who was the main power in hoarding money and wealth in the 19th century. In most cases, it is the Jews. Perhaps that was one of the reasons which caused Hitler to begin the anti-Semitic trend, and then the extensive propaganda about the crematoria began. . . . Some of this is true. We do not deny all of it. Watch "Schindler's List." Every Jew was forced to wear yellow star on his clothing. The Jews were degraded and termed "dirty mice." "Tom and Jerry" was made in order to change the Europeans' perception of mice. . . .

It should be noted that mice are very cunning . . . and dirty. . . .

No ethnic group or people operates in such a clandestine manner as the Jews. . . .
Read the history of the Jews in Europe. This ultimately led to Hitler's hatred and resentment. . . .

"Tom and Jerry" was made in order to display the exact opposite image. If you happen to watch this cartoon tomorrow, bear in mind the points I have just raised, and watch it from this perspective. The mouse is very clever and smart. Everything he does is so cute. He kicks the poor cat's ass. Yet this cruelty does not make you despise the mouse. He looks so nice, and he is so clever. . . .

This is exactly why some say it was meant to erase this image of mice from the minds of European children, and to show that the mouse is not dirty and has these traits. Unfortunately, we have many such cases in Hollywood shows.

Next stop, loonytown. So, as you can imagine this newest gem from the Iranian government is being banded around the blogosphere to great ridicule. However, I have not yet seen one site point out the greatest failing of Bolkhari’s argument, and that is the fact that Tom & Jerry have nothing, what so ever, to do with Walt Diseny.

So if Jerry is a dirty Jew mouse does that make Tom a Nazi?
Tom & Jerry was created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera while they were working for MGM in 1940, before they left to start the famed Hanna-Barbera. While MGM has gone through a series of owners since the fall of the Hollywood studio establishment in the 1960’s they have never once been courted by or owned by Disney. Currently MGM is owned by Sony.

This is the blindness of the hate the mullahs have for Jews and all other infidels. Simply take something, create some story about how it part of the Jewish conspiracy, ignore things like conflicting facts and state story as reality. These are the same mad mullahs ginning up a nuclear weapons program, just to let you know, in case you got distracted by the important news, like why the newspaper in Corpus-Cristi got the Cheney gun accident story first instead of the Washington press core, and had forgotten.

I wonder how long until the Chrysler built Chevrolet Mustang or the new Boeing A380 get added to the list of dirty Jewish tricks? But seeing as Bolkhari seems zoned into cartoons I bet his next attacks will be on either NBC’s “The Simpsons” or perhaps PBS’s “Southpark”.

Friday's offensive cartoon

Mohammed brand suicide belts! Ha!
To go along with today’s amazingly blasphemous Mohammed cartoon I will discuss my views on the UEA Port deal.

Why I am okay with the deal:
All they are going to be running is the machinery that loads and off loads the cargo. They will not have any control over security of the containers. Security will be run by the US Coast Guard and US Customs, just as it is now, and has been for years. What dose it really matter who owns the machines? The UAE is more mini 19th century capitalist den than it is a 7th century theocracy. The UEA gave $100 million to the US to help the Katrina victims, more than all other nations, combined.


Why I am not okay with the deal:
Principal. The UAE gave the Bush family $1 million dollars for the Bush Presidential library. The UAE was the location the 9/11 attackers started their operations. The UAE has been less than helpful in helping track down terrorist financing, which is to say UAE banks are “terrorist friendly”.

Why I don’t care:
It’s my birthday. Terrorists will or won’t hit us (I lean towards will, eventually) and who runs the machines unloaded boats will have little or no impact, compared to how well Homeland Security is or isn’t botching things up.

Bottoms up!

Proof of God? I say it can be found in sweet yummy poetic justice and I just heard on Paul Harvey on hell of a dussy. According to Paul Harvey’s Wednesday Morning report a monument erected to Carry A. Nation was demolished.

For those who don’t know Carry A. Nation was a nut job fascist anti-alcohol vandal in the later part of the 19th century. She had married a drunk after the Civil War and then blamed all her problems on alcohol. Her response was to go around with a hatchet and smash things, namely bars, bottle and kegs. She didn’t drink, she didn’t want you to drink and she was willing to use violence to achieve her goals.

Vee haf vays ov makink you trink.
Someone willing to use violence in order to force me to live the way they think I should live is, I believe, the very definition of a fascist. So, what’s the delicious justice doled out that Paul reported? Well in Wichita, a place where she was very busy with her famous hatchet, a drinking fountain had been erected in her honor, a drinking fountain that was smashed to bits by a run away beer truck. Ha!

NOTE: This post marks the occasion that DublinSaab with 132 posts has now exceeded the 131 posts on the An Old Saab blog in which Evil Jeremy and I were teamed up.

Thumbs UP: Dodge Super Bee

The 2006 Dodge Super Bee is in once sense shameful for being a sedan, where as the original Super Bee was of course a 2 door muscle car. I myself was all, “What?! A sedan?”. My opposition lasted about 2 minutes. This car is American. It’s so American that owning one could almost be described as jingoistic.


What makes this car go wonderful is that it’s emotion on wheels. Reliability? Fuel efficiency? Fit and finsh? Who cars… I want one and you should want one, and if you don’t then there is something terribly wrong with you.

If you don't like this go to the hospital so they can begin to establish your time of death.

Thumbs DOWN: Chrysler Imperial

Back in the long lost mist of time Chrysler had a long list of brands, including; DeSoto, Plymouth, Dodge, Chrysler and Imperial. Imperial was the top shelf brand going after Cadillac, at a time when Cadillac owned the Earth. In the early 1970’s they gave up and dropped the Imperial line, which had only ever been one car. Then in the 1980’s the Imperial name was revived for a gussied up New Yorker that was embarrassed by the Cadillac’s of the Eighties, ouch.


Now, as a concept car, the Imperial is back. It’s big. It’s bold. It’s uber luxury. It’s everything the Imperial should be. It’s also a blatant copy of the current Rolls-Royce. Cadillac’s Sixteen concept uber lux ride from a few years back looked great, and 100% Caddy, can’t Chrysler make their own car.


Part of the problem may be that Chrysler hasn’t had a consistent look since the mid 70’s and I am not a fan of constantly reinventing your look, not at all.

I'm not scared

Mohammed selling beer! Ha, let the death threats begin.
Sorry for the delay.

So, here is the first Mohammed cartoon, the first of many. And on the occasion of me finally getting this on the blog I am forced to admit that terrorism works. The constant, and continuing violence over the cartoons – which is in reality just normal hatred for non-Muslims being vented in a particular direction – has resulted in a victory for the Islamists as the Danish government has now stepped down from their stand, denies the right to free speech, when it relates to Islam, and apologized for the cartoons. They have also taken the extraordinary step of shutting down the offending paper.

How far has Europe traveled away from the teachings of the Enlightenment that they would shutter a press for blasphemy? Voltaire wept.

Bully for them, part III

And the staged protests continue.

Three tolerant Muslim men call for assistance after their Danish flag accidentally catches fire.
With onlookers watching from behind a saftey barrier a fire fighter (foreground) rushes off in search of a fire extinguisher.

Starting Friday I will be taking a stand with the Danes and publishing cartoons on this blog that may be offensive to Muslims. Keep and eye out for them, but in the mean time check out these two commentaries published today in the Washington Times:

Inflamed awakening

Cartoons, but not the funnies

Yap yap yap grrrrrrr!

Liberals have again used the eulogy of a prominent person to take swipes at Bush. This is low class and tasteless. Amidst continual complaints from Liberals that Republicans aren’t doing enough to “reach across the aisle” to their congressional counterparts, speakers at Coretta Scott King’s funeral took to the pulpit, not to lead the way on points of agreement, but rather to make political cheap shots.

Carter took the cake by trying to compare the NSA taping Al Queda phone calls to the tapping of MLK’s phone in the 1960’s. Come on man, first of all it was the Democrats, including Saint Bobby Kennedy, who as USAG approved the wire taps, and not evil Republicans. Second, they were trying to dig up dirt on MLK in order to then ruin his name, influence and marriage – a far cry from national defense.

The Liberals, with their inappropriate harpy-like ankle biting comments, managed to make Bush’s speech look like something form a statesman. Some wonder why Bush doesn’t get upset about things like this. I know why, it’s the fat friend theory. The same mechanism that ensures there is always one fat ugly friend with any group of girls out on the town is why Bush loves their spiteful speeches. They help make an otherwise awful public speaker look good.

Thumbs DOWN: 2007 Chrysler Aspen

The Chrysler Aspen has several problems, as I see it. First, that name Aspen recalls the awful Dodge Aspen of the 1970’s – one of the worst recalled vehicles ever. Is that the kind of thing you want to recall? Second, its styling is incredibly bland. Bland is not how you make your product noticed in the crowed luxury SUV segment. Third, the Aspen is based on the lowly Dodge Durango and you can only really get away with that when you are creating a segment – Escalade. All in all I don’t see this selling beyond the die-hard Mopar crowd that until now hasn’t had a Luxury SUV option. ZZZZZZ.

The 2007 Chrysler Aspen, dated looking from day one.

Thumbs UP: Infiniti Coupe

I don’t see how this is a “concept” car. It’s almost a carbon copy of the current G35 coupe. Take a look at the pictures for yourselves. Where’s the conceptual part? That said I must admit I like the G35 and so I also like the new G… er, Coupe Concept.


The Infiniti information provides nothing beyond babble like, “double wave design philosophy” – whatever that is – forgoing talking about the power train and other things typical to concept cars. This leads me to think this is not a working car but just a mock up.

Rear of 2006 "concept".

Rear of 2003 G35.
Even if it is a mock up, if it the next G35 looks like this, good.

Bully for them, Part II

As the row over the Danish cartoons of Mohammed continues to grow I have to shake my head at just how correct the Danish caricature of Islam, as a violent religion was. The Danes should say, why thanks for proving our point. It’s as if someone, after being accused of being an alcoholic, went to the bar and drank 14 beers to prove the accuser wrong. Anyway, mucho has been written on this growing issue and I’m coming down with a cold so instead of trying to come up with something new I will take you to link town.

Andrew Stuttaford – Provides a little more back ground and perspective on the row.

George Neumayr – Writes on the irony of reacting violently to being called violent.

Rocco DiPippo – Piss Christ vs. Cartoon Jihad

Cox and Forkum – Draw up their own little bit of cartoon jihad.

Michelle Malkin – Buy Danish products

And now that you have enjoyed those enlightening links lets take a look at how the Religion of Peace® handles the tiniest pin prick of criticism, through the lens of the camera.

From CNN, covering protests in London, England.

Be Prepared for the real Holocaust!
Front: Butcher those who moch Islam. Back: Europe will pay, demolition is on it's way.
Europe is the cancer, Islam is the answer.
Front: Behead those who insult Islam. Middle: Europe you will pay, your 3/11 is on it's way!!! Back: Kill those who insult Islam!!!


From the LA Times, covering protests around the Middle East.

Peaceful Muslim man calls for the firedepartment in front of the Danish embassy in Beirut.
Muslims try to put out a fire at the Danish Embassy in Damascus.
Gentele and loving Muslims, worried by the delay in emergency services response, attempt to put out a fire at the Danish embassy, in Beirut.


At some point people on the left are going to begin to realize that Islam is not their friend.

How can this be?

According to this AP article the economy in Zimbabwe is in shambles and looking down the barrel at 800% inflation.

Shortages of new bulbs means many traffic signals have only one working light. "You take your life in your hands when you think the lights are down but there's an oncoming green on the other side and people are speeding through thinking you are on red," said Harare driver Jonas Mashu.

It took Mashu a week to find imported brake and clutch fluid for his van. He said he used a viscous mixture of soap and water as a temporary measure, something he learned from a mining prospector in the bush.

This report has me confused, confused on how people can still think that socialism works. It don’t and it’s not a matter of “just doing it right”. Sometimes it’s not that you didn’t follow the recipe correctly, sometime it’s the recipe.

Mugabe and Chavez all buddy buddy last year. Chavez has a bunch of oil, maybe Mugabe should give him a call.

One thing to take note of, years ago I read an article in National Geographic about Cubans keeping ancient pre-Castro American cars on the roads. In the article it was mentioned that the Cubans sometimes used a soap-water mixture in lieu of proper hydraulic fluid. So, what is it with Socialist paradises and hydraulic fluid?

Thumbs UP: 2007 Nissan Versa

A few years ago it seemed like the subcompact car segment was due to fade away in the US. Things change. Welcome the 2007 Nissan Versa to what is shaping up to be one mighty vicious dog fight in the subcompact segment in the next few years.

The 2007 Nissan Versa

From my first look at the show I’d say Nissan is coming to play. The Versa has attractive styling without being too cutesy or too weird. The wheels of the Versa fill out the side profile very well, making the Versa look more upscale than the larger, more expensive Sentra.

One nice interior for the segment, except that little nubbin sticking out to the lower left of the steering wheel.

The interior of the Versa is very well put together, nothing feels cheap on the inside, however one big problem looms. The center stack hangs low from the bottom of the dash and creates a little squared off bit of plastic that, when the seat is adjusted correctly, vies for the same area of space my knee should be occupying. The only way I could comfortably drive this car is to have the seat father back that I would like and making it impossible for anyone to sit behind me. I could not buy this car.

The rear of the Versa looks sporty. Also the low tailgate is a nice functional touch.

The problem is I’m only 6 foot so there will be many people that will end up in the same camp as I. This saddens me because I give the Versa a thumbs up and wish I could put it on my list.

Thumbs DOWN: Nissan Urge

The Nissan Urge concept is awful. To start with the name Urge is ripe for ridicule such as, “Nissan Urge to buy something else”. Unfortunately the name is the best thing going for the Urge.



The exterior of the concept is so dang busy that there’s not one single relaxing place for your eye to rest on. It even has clear plastic panels on the hood which would wonderful to have to clean up in real life.



The interior is nothing but a flight of fancy. Not one bit of it looks at a practical from the headache inducing color combination to the glass panels in the doors and squared off steering wheel. The Urge has just too much going on to get anything but a bug thumbs down.

Thumbs UP: 2007 Nissan Sentra

Nissan had on display an example of the next generation, 2007 Sentra. The first thing I thought when I came upon the display was, “Hey! Someone used a shrink ray on a Ford Fusion.”. The front of the new Sentra is surprisingly similar to the Fusion. For me that means I am fond of the overall look, since I am fond of the Fusion. On the downside is that from the side view the wheel look a little small.

The 2007 Nissan Sentra
When compared to competitors like the Cobalt or Civic the new Sentra looks a little top heavy and more subcompatish than it should, especially since it’s not a subcompact. The good news is that the Sentra will offer a standard 6-speed manual to go with the 130hp 2.0L 4 banger. The bad news is that’s less than the 140 in the Civic and 145hp in the Cobalt, also considering that most cars are sold with automatics that extra gear on the manual won’t make much difference.

The 2006 Ford Fusion.
Nissan expects to offer the base Sentra for around $15,000 which is right inline with the Civic but $2,000 more than the Cobalt. This is pass-fail so I have to go thumbs up, even with the reservations as while I don’t think it can hang with the two C’s, I do think it is yet another compact that is superior to Toyota’s dull and aging Corolla.

What'd you do this morning?

Well I don’t know what you did but here at DublinSaab I was busy repairing the front brakes on Heidi, who is the senior member of the DublinSaab family at 20 years and 277,000 miles. Her front driverside caliper locked up and was only using one of the two pads. As a result the rotor was toast and needed replaced as well.

Before

If your rotors look like this you had better not be tailgating anyone.

After





Of course those estimates are based upon the assumption that you can find a shop that will only replace one caliper and rotor, most shops won’t. The bill for today’s repair could easily have been over $800. Ouch.

Bully for them!

Wow, this is a refreshing bit of news from the press in the old country. Newspapers in France and Germany have decided to run cartoons depicting Mohammed, even if it does piss off the Islamo-fascists.

French and German newspapers on Wednesday republished caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that have riled the Muslim world, saying democratic freedoms include the "right to blasphemy."

Followers of the Religion of Peace® show how loving and peaceful they are after cartoons depicting Mohammed run in a Danish paper by joining together to repair this old, torn Danish flag. Why you can see the peacefulness in their faces... can't you?

Well done! You can’t achieve anything, including protecting the freedoms we currently enjoy by being silent or giving in to those who opening wish to take your freedoms away. More of this is needed to help draw the line between the “okay” secular Muslims and the other kind that opine away for a world wide caliphate.

UPDATE: Click HERE for a very thurough follow up on the Mohammed cartoon issue that is just overloaded with an afternoon's worth of links.

I can disagree with you, you can shut up.

Momma Sheehan is up to her antics again, not much to report there. For a thorough Fisking of her actions and the violent cook left fringe she hangs out with check out this article from Ben Johnson that is so chock full of links you better pack a lunch.


Cindy "peace mom" Sheehan hangs out with her good buddy Hugo Chavez, the budding tyrant of Venezuela.
One thing that Ben doesn’t get into, that always gets a chuckle from me, is the blind intellectual dishonesty on the part of the left when it comes to dissent. From shouting conservative speakers off stage, stealing of conservative papers on campus to Momma Sheehan’s attempt to heckle the SOTU address last night, people on the left are constantly taking “direct actions”, not to counter conservative ideas, but rather to try and see that conservative don’t get to voice their ideas. Then on the flip side if anyone so much as voices disagreement with the left they then cry foul, accusing those who disagree of censorship or violating their First Amendment rights. Huh.

Even on the campus of my little community college I have seen people – wearing the ubiquitous Che shirts – removing postings for things such as Christian meetings or announcement of conservative speakers from the bulletin boards. I even got into a heated argument with a militant vegan that was putting PETE stickers on the walls, mirrors and doors in the restroom after I told him that he should use the many bulletin boards around campus instead of vandalizing the restrooms and creating work for the cleaning staff.

In a recent issue of Time there was an interview with Hollwood lefty George Clooney who was lamenting on how Bush has been using extra-constitutional powers to crush dissent in America. This was at the end of an article, in TIME, in which he had been bashing the Bush administration, the war et al. Does it ever occur to George that in light of Time’s willingness to publish his dissenting opinions and the fact that he hasn’t been arrested for his dissenting opinions sort of make his accusations ring hollow?

No. For when the left takes action to limited the freedom of speech of the right they label it as “patriotic dissent” but when we tell them their actions and idea are wrong they turn and accuse us of that which they themselves are guilty of. Projection?

Oil, Schmoil

I didn’t watch the SOTU speech last night, I was in a statistics class, but reading the news articles and postings on conservative websites (no need to read lefty sites as they’d just be demanding to know why the criminal Bush hasn’t yet been arrested) it appears that the main thing people are taking away is Bush’s call to get off of Mideast Oil.


Bush chastizing Americans for using oil. Will this be Bush's "maliase" speech?
Bush stated that he hoped Ethanol and “other break through technologies” would help the US achieve the “great goal” of reducing Mideast oil consumption by 75% over the next two decades.

After reading that my head exploded.


69 mpg in combined driving, not bad for a Frenchie.
All I can say is I don’t get it. Yes, I’m all for new technologies, such as Citroen’s new 69 mpg diesel hybrid and have for the last 16 years been a proponent of hydrogen, but what is this continual mindset emanating from Washington that the Middle East has all the oil?! It’s like a urban legend gone horribly wrong. What’s that you ask? They don’t have all the oil? But surely they do you insist, remembering back to the 456,000 times you heard the major news producers state clearly that the Middle East does.

Known Middle East oil reserves with full exploration, after this it's gone. (in barrels)


Known oil reserves in ANWR, Shales and Tar after minimal exporation.


Estimated total maximun oil reserves in ANWR, Shales and Tar after full exploration.



And so with 2.2 to 12.3 trillion barrels North America has anywhere from 3 to an astounding 18 times the oil in the entire Middle East, please explain to me exactly, and in simple words so that I may understand, why is it we are so God damn hamstrung by the oil barons of Islamostan. Where are our oil barons?

There are, as I see it only two explanations.

A) The leftists, eco-nutters and other anti-Western leaning people have spent a productive 30 years shaping the rules of the battle field for oil and the “protection” of lands that even a know ultra conservative, brown shirted Republican, with a radical Republican congress and newly super duper conservative Supreme Court (which is no doubt now flipping coins to see whether it’s the 14th, 15th or 19th amendment that’s first to go) is afraid to even broach the idea of using our own oil for a change.

Or…

B) The Prince is alive and well, looking forward to the day when his minions bleed the Saracens dry so that only then he may tap his incomparable supplies and lord over the swarthy savages as God certainly intended.

Nuanced? Nope, you have to buy me a beer for that.

ANWR, Oil Shale, Tar Sands. Just three links out of many. Not reported in big media – including Fox – but it’s real and I encourage you to investigate for yourself.