I Am Exceptionally Smart And Independent...

... at least according to Glenn Beck, who says that conservative talk radio listeners "are exceptionally smart, independent people." Beck wrote a good commentary on the main stream media claiming that "Conservative talk radio is dead."

Here's how his piece starts ...

The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Well, actually, it's not just the rumors of my demise; it's me, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and every other conservative talk radio host.

Here's how the theory goes:

1. Rush Limbaugh is the most powerful and influential conservative talk radio host around.

2. Rush Limbaugh spoke out on the air against John McCain.

3. John McCain still did well in the primaries.

4. Rush Limbaugh must have no power or influence.

5. Conservative talk radio is dead.

But that cute little theory leaves out a few important facts.

First, no one -- from Rush, to Schwarzenegger, to Ted Kennedy, to Oprah -- has enough power to dictate an election. Nor should they. The founding fathers thought that might be a bad idea -- remember, they had already gotten their fill of the whole monarchy thing.

Secondly, I don't wake up every morning hoping to influence anyone to do anything. Unlike Air America (the liberal radio network that has consistently failed) I don't consider it my job to win elections for any one candidate, let alone an entire political party. My job is to entertain. Period. If people relate to what I say, and maybe find a little piece of themselves in the process, then great, I get to keep my job for another day.

... and ends:

The biggest irony in all of this is that most of the people who are claiming (or is it hoping?) that talk radio has no influence are the same people who are hoping for a Hillary/McCain match-up this November.

Why is that ironic? Because nothing -- absolutely nothing -- will drive more listeners to conservative talk radio than a liberal back in the White House.

The whole piece is a good read.

Higher Learning?

I love this. A student at Ohio State University shows the amazing education available in the institution's journalism department. Junior Frank Blechschmidt writes about Glenn Beck, and how his "slanderous antics pollute airwaves, TV":

On his radio show Wednesday, Beck went on about a 20-minute rant on how Hillary Clinton is a racist and anyone who supports her or her policies is probably one too.

His proof? First, he said her policy to remove troops from Iraq is racist and only benefits whites because the Army is 71 percent white and only 11 percent black. Next, he said her policy to raise taxes on the rich clearly hurts minorities and the "American Dream" because seven of the top 10 richest professional athletes are black and one is Hispanic.

He also had similar outrageous claims of racism in regard to health care reform. Finally, he even went as far as to contend Hillary's lack of support for oil and coal companies has some underlying racist sentiment as well (because oil and coal are black).

If the oil & coal companies part doesn't finally have you convinced that Glenn was not being serious, you're not alone. (I'm not even not going to not try to clean up the multiple negatives in that sentence. I'm not that unintelligent. Or am I?) Blechschmidt wasn't convinced, either:

In reality, Beck is just the latest in a long line of conservative spin doctors. These pundits will always be around and that is fine - it is a free country. I just hope anyone listening to his or similar shows during this election season will think critically before they start believing everything they hear. Most college students can easily find the flaws in these skewed arguments, but there are so many Americans who will believe anything.

I haven't read anything this unintentionally funny in quite some time. Thanks, Buckeyes!

UPDATE: If you want to, you can read the transcript of Glenn's original "racist" comments here.

UPDATE II: Check out some of the 300+ comments on Blechschmidt's article. Funny stuff.

Election '08

I got a kick out of these t-shirts, available at the Glenn Beck Studio Store:

An Inconvenient Book

I recently started reading Glenn Beck's new book, "An Inconvenient Book." In it, he shares "real solutions to the world's biggest problems," ranging from dating, marriage, and parenting; to radical Islam, America's oil dependence, and the UN; to tipping, movie rentals, and how to remember names. If you're familiar with Beck, from his radio and/or tv shows, his book comes across in a similar, funny yet informed fashion - "the fusion of entertainment and enlightenment" to use a tag line from his radio show.

The first chapter is on global warming, and I was amazed by some of the quotes included from various global warming extremists advocates:

• "Climate change [provides] the greatest chance to bring about justice and equality in the world." - Christine Stewart, Canada's former environment minister
• "No matter if the science is all phony, there are still collateral benefits" to global warming policies. - Christine Stewart
• "To capture the public imagination, we have to offer up some scary scenarios, make simplified dramatic statements and little mention of any doubts one might have. Each of us has to decide the right balance between being effective, and being honest." - Stephen Schneider, lead 2007 UN IPCC (United Nations International Panel on Climate Control) report author, who made this statement in 1989. Schneider also wrote one of the reports that led to the global-cooling scare of the 1970s.
• "Phasing out the human race will solve every problem on earth, social and environmental." - Dave Forman, founder of Earth First!
• The Kyoto Protocol is "the first component of an authentic global governance." - Jacques Chirac, then president of France, 2000.
• "I would take even money that England will not exist in the year 2000." - Paul Ehrlich, current president of the Center for Conservation Biology at Standford. Ehrlich made this statement in 1969.
• "In ten years all important animal life in the sea will be extinct. Large areas of coastline will have to be evacuated because of the stench of dead fish." - Paul Ehrlich, 1970.
• "Giving society cheap, abundant energy ... would be the equivalent of giving an idiot child a machine gun." - Paul Ehrlich, 1978.
• "If I were reincarnated, I would wish to be returned to Earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels." - Prince Phillip, World Wildlife Fund
• "Every time someone dies as a result of floods in Bangladesh, an airline executive should be dragged out of his office and drowned." - George Monbiot, environmental author, 2006.
• "Free enterprise really means rich people get richer. They have the freedom to exploit and psychologically rape their fellow human beings in the process. ... Capitalism is destroying the earth." - Helen Caldicott, Union of Concerned Scientists
• "Every time you turn on an electric light, you are making another brainless baby." - Helen Caldicott
• "The only hope for the world is to make sure there is not another United States: We can't let other countries have the same number of cars, the amount of industrialization, we have in the U.S. We have to stop these Third World countries right where they are." - Michael Oppenheimer, Environmental Defense Fund

Seriously, I'm all in favor of conserving energy and being good stewards of the Earth and our natural resources. But can we can the rhetoric already? I think you're going to find change much easier to make if you lead by example rather than by verbally attacking people and making senseless, outrageous claims.

In completely coincidental, unrelated stories:

• Low-energy bulbs 'could cause skin cancer'
• Energy-saving light bulbs blamed for migraines

And I saved this one for last:

Congress pulls the plug on incandescents:

The light-bulb design Thomas Edison created in 1879 has been relatively unchanged for more than a century, but its days are numbered.

The death sentence comes courtesy of the federal energy bill signed into law in December. A provision will make it unlawful for stores to sell incandescent light bulbs beginning in 2012.

Customers will instead be asked to purchase compact fluorescent lights, which are more expensive but are said to last more than 10 times longer while using only a fraction of the wattage.

Are you kidding me? "Unlawful" to sell incandescent light bulbs? Not only are compact fluorescent bulbs more expensive, they are environmentally dangerous. I'm pretty sure the EPA doesn't have instructions for disposing of broken incandescent light bulbs, but the do have instructions for disposing of broken compact fluorescent bulbs, which contain mercury.

First, the EPA's general warning:

Humans use mercury in a variety of manufacturing processes and products such as thermometers and fluorescent lamps. If you improperly dispose of products with mercury in them, they may break and release mercury vapors which are harmful to human and ecological health.

• Dispose of used mercury-containing items properly.
• Clean up mercury spills properly and report them to the proper authorities when necessary.

You might want to write this next part down, because you'll need to have it handy by 2012, at least:

What Never to Do with a Mercury Spill

• Never use a vacuum cleaner to clean up mercury (but see the "What to Do if a Fluorescent Light Bulb Breaks" section below for more specific instructions about vacuuming broken fluorescent light bulbs). The vacuum will put mercury into the air and increase exposure. The vacuum appliance will be contaminated and have to be thrown away.

• Never use a broom to clean up mercury. It will break the mercury into smaller droplets and spread them.

• Never pour mercury down a drain. It may lodge in the plumbing and cause future problems during plumbing repairs. If discharged, it can cause pollution of the septic tank or sewage treatment plant.

• Never wash mercury-contaminated items in a washing machine. Mercury may contaminate the machine and/or pollute sewage.

• Never walk around if your shoes might be contaminated with mercury. Contaminated clothing can also spread mercury around.

What to Do if a Fluorescent Light Bulb Breaks

(EPA is continually reviewing its clean-up and disposal recommendations for CFLs to ensure that the Agency presents the most up-to-date information for consumers and businesses.)

Fluorescent light bulbs contain a very small amount of mercury sealed within the glass tubing. EPA recommends the following clean-up and disposal guidelines:

1. Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.

2. Carefully scoop up the fragments and powder with stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a sealed plastic bag.

   1. Use disposable rubber gloves, if available (i.e., do not use bare hands). Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes and place them in the plastic bag.

   2. Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces.

3. Place all cleanup materials in a second sealed plastic bag.

   1. Place the first bag in a second sealed plastic bag and put it in the outdoor trash container or in another outdoor protected area for the next normal trash disposal.
      Note: Some states prohibit such trash disposal and require that broken and unbroken lamps be taken to a local recycling center.

   2. Wash your hands after disposing of the bag.

4. If a fluorescent bulb breaks on a rug or carpet:

   1. First, remove all materials you can without using a vacuum cleaner, following the steps above. Sticky tape (such as duct tape) can be used to pick up small pieces and powder.

   2. If vacuuming is needed after all visible materials are removed, vacuum the area where the bulb was broken, remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister) and put the bag or vacuum debris in two sealed plastic bags in the outdoor trash or protected outdoor location for normal disposal.

Ah, yes. The magic of two sealed plastic bags.

Here's a good question & answer from Energy Star's FAQ about compact fluorescent bulbs and mercury:

What precautions should I take when using CFLs in my home?
CFLs are made of glass and can break if dropped or roughly handled. Be careful when removing the bulb from its packaging, installing it, or replacing it. Always screw and unscrew the lamp by its base (not the glass), and never forcefully twist the CFL into a light socket. If a CFL breaks in your home, follow the clean-up recommendations below. Used CFLs should be disposed of properly (see below).

How do you unscrew a bulb by it's base?

An Illegal Alien Drug Dealer Also Lied?

Big news in the ongoing saga of imprisoned U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. Yesterday, their appeal came before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals:

From the Dallas Morning News:

Judge E. Grady Jolly, one of three judges from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals hearing the case of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, questioned
whether the two agents would have been charged if they had reported the
shooting.

"For some reason, this one got out of hand, it seems to me," he said of
the agents' prosecution.

And from the El Paso's Newspaper Tree:

U.S. officials also admitted that confessed drug dealer Osvaldo
Aldrete-Davila lied under oath.

"He told some lies on the stand," Attorney Mark Stelmach was quoted as
saying. Stelmach is representing U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, who prosecuted the
two agents, in front of the Appeals Court.

Wow. First off, to the comment in the Dallas Morning News about "if they had reported the shooting," I've shared before the fact that there were 7 agents and 2 supervisors at the scene of the shooting when the casings were being picked up, and that an oral report is all that was required - no written documentation. But then you get to the fact that the prosecution's star witness, the illegial alien drug dealer, committed purjury. And it's taken more than a year since Ramos and Compean were convicted for the prosecution to disclose that Aldrete-Davila lied under oath?

Glenn Beck spoke with a handful of people about this latest development on his radio show today:

• Tara Setmayer from Congressman Dana Rohrabacher's (CA) Office and Congressman Ted Poe (TX)
• David Botsford, appeals attorney for Ramos
• Sara Carter, Washington Times writer who has been following this story for quite some time

Slippery Slope In Action

I hate the phrase "slippery slope" because I think fallen man is far beyond a slippery slope and is on more of an iced-over black diamond mountain. But I digress. The title above is the same used in an email newsletter from Glenn Beck, with the following explanation:

What do you do when five out of 135 middle school students say they are sexually active? Of course, you give them condoms! If you are in Maine at King's Elementary School, you don't stop there. King's free loving administrators are looking to hand out birth control pills to those who want them. Glenn hopes that, for the sake of consistency, the MIDDLE school is also handing out clean syringes, for those students who wish to use heroin. After all, kids will be kids---and we don't want them using dirty needles. Glenn appeared on Good Morning America to talk about the subject with Diane Sawyer---and sexologist Logan Levkoff who argued the school is doing the right thing. She, by the way, has a website that is sponsored by Trojan. ABC neglected to disclose that this guest was in the pocket of 'big condom'. Watch the Video from GMA.

Go watch the video. It's tremendous. I especially enjoyed this quote: "I think providing birth control pills may encourage some kids to have sex if they think that it's safe, but what's the alternative? Unsafe sex? Pregnant 12 year olds?" How about the alternative is parents that teach their kids that sex is for marriage? I also enjoyed the "Sexuality Educator" talking about "sexual health." What in the world does birth control for middle school students have to do with sexual health? Pretty sure last I checked the pill did not prevent against STDs. What's next, free abortions for high school students?

I'm sick of this garbage. Does this trickle-down from our government, or "trickle-up" from parents and families? It's the whole attitude of, "Well, people are going to do it anyway..." Whether it's illegal immigration, sex, underage drinking, drugs, whatever, it seems like we have lowered our expectations to the point that anything goes - we'll encourage dangerous behavior and try to make it safe somehow, because "they're going to do it anyway." How about standing up for convictions, and teaching our children to have some? How about enforcing laws? How about wanting our children to be better than us?

Slap In The Face

I just had to post this for the last line. It's from Glenn Beck's email newsletter (which you can receive by signing up on the front page of GlennBeck.com):

Democrats are pushing legislation that will declare Ottoman-era slaughter of Armenians a 'genocide', which will likely anger Turkey and threaten to strain relations enough that critical supply routes to US troops would be cut off. According to the New York Times, 'The issue is nettlesome for both the Bush administration and Democratic lawmakers, exposing the former to charges of seeming apathetic about Ottoman-era atrocities, and the latter to charges of being indifferent to American troops in Iraq.' Hmmm, which side do would you err on? Being apathetic about Ottoman-era atrocities? Or indifferent to US Troops currently involved in war? It would seem at first glance that those in Congress of The United States of America would consider this a 'no brainer'---at second glance it appears that most in congress simply have no brains. Read the transcript. (Insiders listen here).

Find Your Candidate

Don't have any idea who you want to vote for to be our next President? Try this quiz. I like these things, even if they aren't all that accurate - Mike Huckabee answered it on the Glenn Beck show today, and he only agreed with himself 71% of the time according to the results.

Umm...I just went to Glenn's website and found the following video posted. It's apparently from when Glenn worked in Baltimore in the early 90's. For any of you who listen to or watch much of Glenn, the guy on the right is his best friend and current Houston area talk show host, Pat Gray.

"Perfect Day" Part 4

From the show:



From the email:

A Note from Glenn:
If this is the first special report you're reading, please take a minute to review the ones from Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday first so that you have a better understanding of exactly what "The Perfect Day" is.

Today's report is all about preparation, not panic. Our report, from Kenneth Trump, one of the country's foremost school security experts, has many great tips-but there is a lot more you need to know (especially when it comes to terror scenarios) so please be sure to also take a look at his website, which is included at the end of the article.

Also, as I've been telling you all week, we've obtained a video that allegedly shows terrorists in Afghanistan training for a school takeover scenario and barking out commands in English. Although there were at least eight hours of footage captured by our military, we were asked by our source to only release a very short clip for security reasons and we are honoring that request. Click here to see the video.

AWARE AND PREPARED, NOT SCARED!
By Kenneth Trump

Fear is reduced by education, communication, and preparation-not by sticking our heads in the sand.

Before we can talk about specific steps to prepare kids, families, and educators, we first have to prepare ourselves mentally by acknowledging (in a non-alarmist, pragmatic manner) that a terror attack on an American school is not an unrealistic possibility.

We cannot change the climate if we do not change the conversation. Most public officials inside the D.C. Beltway have publicly taken a "downplay, deny, and deflect" position about this threat for fear of creating panic, but how can we prepare for something if no one will talk about it?

Below is some practical advice, directed to three distinct groups: parents, children, and school officials. Following these steps will put your family and your school way ahead of the pack when it comes to preparedness.

Tips for Parents
1. Create a family plan. Simple steps can make a difference: Identify a long distance family member for everyone to call if the family is separated. Identify neighborhood and distant family reunification locations and create a "code word" known only to your family members.

2. Have age and developmentally-appropriate communications with your kids. Be honest and open. Focus on facts and context. Reassure them of measures that adults have taken to keep them safe. Reduce fear of the unknown by teaching kids what to do.

3. Ask your kids where they see weaknesses and how they would improve security at their schools.

4. Talk with school leaders to make sure they have active crisis plans, not just plans sitting on shelves collecting dust. Ask probing questions to make sure they are implementing best practices in school emergency planning, including those listed below.

5. Support school administrators in their safety efforts. Follow security procedures set by schools-the rules apply to everyone. Volunteer for safety and crisis committees. Help put together parent awareness presentations on school security and emergency preparedness. Support principals and boards that do the right thing.


Tips for Children
1. Know your family plan.

2. Know what school officials need you to do in a crisis to keep you safe.

3. Take your school's drills, such as lockdowns and evacuations, and your family's crisis plans seriously.

4. If you have questions, ask them. If you have ideas and suggestions, share them!


Tips for Schools
1. Have an active, updated emergency plan. Most schools have crisis plans and crisis teams on paper, but fewer schools involve first responders in developing the plan contents, updating their plans at least annually, and requiring crisis teams to meet regularly. Make school emergency planning and safety a part of your school's culture.

2. Practice drills such as lockdowns and evacuations. Participate in tabletop exercises with hypothetical scenarios with first responders and other community partners to make sure school crisis plans written on paper may work in a real emergency.

3. Train teachers and support staff on crime prevention, security, and emergency preparedness best practices, and on their school's specific crisis guidelines.

4. Improve physical security measures and crime prevention policies. Have security assessments conducted by specialists knowledgeable in professional security best practices.

5. Conduct thorough background checks for all school employees. Most schools do the minimal criminal history checks of select employees required by their state laws. Fewer do comprehensive background investigations that include criminal history checks along with examinations of work histories and validation of educational credentials.

6. Work closely with public safety officials. Meet at least annually to review and update school plans. Make sure police and fire officials have updated floor plans of the school. Invite police to use school facilities after-hours or on weekends to train for active shooter and other tactical operations.

Our public officials need to know that we, as Americans, recognize how serious the potential threat of terrorism in our schools really is. Take just 10 minutes today or tomorrow to call your Congressman and Senators' offices to let them know that you want federal homeland security policy and funding to better include our nation's schools. Our elected officials need to know that they will be held accountable if something happens while they continue to deny the threat and fail to include our schools on the list of potential terror targets.

Kenneth S. Trump, M.P.A. is President of the National School Safety and Security Services. For additional information and resources, visit www.schoolsecurity.org.

"Perfect Day" Part 3

From the show:


From the email:

A Note from Glenn:
If this is the first special report you're reading, please take a minute to review the ones from earlier in the week (Tuesday, Wednesday) so that you have a better understanding of exactly what "The Perfect Day" is.

Tonight's reports focus on both the practical and emotional impact an attack like this would have on America. Bernard Kerik, former New York City Police Commissioner writes about Al Qaeda's new definition of "spectacular" and focuses on what life in America might look like in the aftermath of something so horrific. Meanwhile, Dr. Zhudi Jasser looks at "The Perfect Day" from the radical's perspective and tells us why a backlash against Muslims and Islam is exactly what they want from us. And why we must not give that to them.

And don't forget, tomorrow's newsletter will feature practical tips for parents and will also include a link to a video clip of terrorists in Afghanistan practicing a school takeover. Their commands, not surprisingly, are in English.

Can We Win?
By Bernard Kerik

In a recent video message, Osama bin Laden, is heard calling for a caravan of martyrs to follow in the footsteps of the 9/11 suicide hijackers-which proves that he still dreams of spectacular attacks against the west and the American people.

Fortunately, many of the lessons we learned from 9/11 have helped prevent similar attacks on U.S. soil so far, but the bad news is that I strongly believe that Bin Laden's definition of "spectacular" has changed; it doesn't have to mean jumbo jets into skyscrapers, a nuclear device at a port of entry or multiple oil refinery explosions anymore. The attacks we've seen in London, Madrid, Glasgow and Denmark, along with the foiled attacks against western targets around the world demonstrate that. They've all focused on easier, softer targets and that's lead many Americans to believe that "spectacular" attacks are no longer what they crave.

But that is wrong...dead wrong.

Imagine this: it's the morning of September 11, 2001. The 19 hijackers split up into four groups just as they did, except this time they don't board four jetliners bound for California. Instead, each group travels to a different part of the country-perhaps small towns in Pennsylvania, Florida, Colorado and California. They each enter an elementary school or junior high school and they simultaneously begin a murderous rampage just as Islamic fundamentalists did in Beslan on September 1, 2004 (a massacre that ended with 330 dead, including at least 170 children).

Or, imagine that instead of schools the groups strap themselves with explosives and take over four movie theaters, as they did in Moscow in October, 2002 (a siege that ended with 129 civilians murdered). Or what if it were four tourist locations around the country?

Although far from the enormity of the 9/11 attacks, these attacks would certainly be "spectacular" in their own right. Tourism would come to a stand still, the airline industry would suffer, the stock markets would tank and the economical and emotional damage could be far greater than we suffered in 2001.

Would parents really send their children to school in the days and weeks following an attack (whether or not it even occurred in their town), not knowing where and when the next one might occur? What would happen to employment as at least one parent stays home with the children for weeks or months?

Thanks largely to the Bush administration, we are much better off today than we were on September 10, 2001—but until our political leadership unites, we will never defeat the enemy we face. Unfortunately, as our politicians battle and bicker in Washington, Al Qaeda and radical Islam continues its mission.

It's only a matter of time until victory is achieved. The real question is, by whom?

Bernard Kerik is Chairman of the Kerik Group and was the Police Commissioner of New York City during the 9/11 attacks.


The Ends Islamist Terrorists Seek
By M. Zuhdi Jasser, MD

The entire goal of Al Qaeda-type monsters is to provoke a reaction from mainstream America by pursuing evil against those who stand in the way of imposing theocracy. These fascists have no value for life other than that it's simply a means to their end of a totalitarian theocratic state. It is their ideology. In their warped view of religion they are God.

These are not the actions of psychopaths. Instead, they are the calculated actions of those seeking power and those afraid of freedom. They know that liberty's greatest weakness is its wide exposure to attacks against noncombatants (i.e., you and me) and the way in which protections against those attacks alter the very liberties we all seek to protect.

The biggest threat to the Islamists gaining power is the free world, especially the Muslims who believe in, practice, and advocate universal religious freedom and secular democracies. In fact, a Muslim manifestation of liberty is the greatest antidote to global jihad and political Islam.

What better way for radical Islamists to destroy their most potent enemy (moderate pro-freedom Muslims) than to sow chaos in the belly of America and stimulate a visceral reaction like no other? The Islamists know that their ideas are oppressive and far less appealing to Muslims and non-Muslims alike than things like freedom and liberty. Thus, their strategy is to put moderates on the defensive so that their rational ideas are lost in the din of terror.

An attack on our schools would do just that. The more barbaric and grizzly the attack, and the more they can get Americans to associate it with Muslims and Islam, the more possible it is that they fuel a hateful response from some Americans. That would leave moderate Muslims' quest to defeat political Islam lost in the chaos of a divided America.

We witnessed just such a visceral hate crime here in Phoenix after 9/11 when a Sikh man, Balbir Singh, was murdered for appearing to be Muslim. And that's why this very discussion is so vital; if we know that the primary goal of our enemy is to enrage our citizenry against Muslims and Islam then we can inoculate ourselves against it. Al Qaeda's aim is to enrage and get non-Muslims to do their dirty work of targeting moderate Muslims for them-and we must not give that to them.

If American Muslims declare open war against Al Qaeda, Americans will rush to defend our mosques rather than allow them to be burned. Otherwise, with rage and vengeance, the freedoms so protected by our Constitution will quickly dissipate into a nation gripped by fear and hate of the "other." And that is the ultimate goal of such horrific acts: to create a reaction which ultimately destroys the very fabric of our nation-the trust of one another, under God, under our Constitution. The children they would kill in schools on this "Perfect Day" would be a utilitarian mechanism (ends justifying the means) to achieve the destruction of the "American" way of life.

It is vitally important for Americans to see that, for most Muslims, being Muslim is not about preserving our mosques and our own rights; it is first about preserving the rights and freedoms of all Americans against the jihadists. But the longer Muslims stay silent against jihadism the greater chance the next incident like this Perfect Day scenario will have the impact the militants actually seek.

M. Zuhdi Jasser is the founder and Chairman of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy based in Phoenix Arizona. He is a former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander, a physician in private practice, and a community activist.

"Perfect Day" Part 2

From the show:

From the email:

A Note from Glenn:

It's the day that Americans are killed on an unprecedented scale. It's the day that no one, not even our children sitting in their classrooms at school, are safe. It's the day that seemingly isolated incidents all converge into the greatest threat this country has ever experienced or imagined. It's the day that the Islamist jihad against the West begins in earnest. It's "The Perfect Day" - and it's only perfect if you're a terrorist.

All this week on Headline News we are focusing on one part of The Perfect Day theory: the threat of massive, coordinated attacks against our schools and school buses. On last night's show, John Giduck, author of Terror at Beslan told us the real story about what actually happened in that middle school over a three day period in 2004. It was a horrible, gruesome, unimaginable account of human depravity - but it was also exactly what some experts believe could happen here. Brad Thor, author of The First Commandment and a former war-gamer for the Dept. of Homeland Security was also on hand to talk about how terrorists might use the lessons they learned at Beslan to pull off an attack here.

I asked John Giduck to write an article summarizing his thoughts and including anything that we didn't get a chance to cover on television. It appears below, along with some video footage from the aftermath in Beslan that, to our knowledge, has not been shown in the media before.

Day 2: The Beslan Massacre - Lessons for America

WARNING: This video contains raw images of violence and suffering that may [probably] be disturbing to [most] people. It was shot outside the middle school in Beslan, Russia while terrorists staged a three day siege of a middle school. 330 people were killed in the attack, including 172 children. To our knowledge, these clips have never been shown on American television.


Lessons from Beslan
By John Giduck

America is a nation at war, and some of the battles in that war will be fought on American soil. Thus, it is incumbent upon every American to not only educate themselves, but prepare for the types of attacks we are likely to see. But it's difficult to prepare when one of the most likely targets is hardly ever talked about publicly.

There are two basic categories of terror attacks: the first, called "Decimation Assaults," is where terrorists plant bombs or use suicide-homicide bombers. Because these are so easy to execute, they are the more frequently used type of attack - but their impact is minimal because the body counts and are usually pretty low.

The more preferred, but more difficult to accomplish, attack is the "Mass Hostage Siege." Terrorists know that when they take hundreds of innocent people hostage and hold them for days they are really holding an entire nation hostage. By doing that they attract the attention of the news media, which helps them to accomplish their real goal, which is to spread terror as far and as wide as possible. It's the psychological impact that's most important, and nothing is better at promoting that than a Mass Hostage Siege, especially one that involves innocent children.

To understand how credible the threat is, we need only to look at the achievements of so many terror groups. In the first six months of 2006, 204 schools were attacked in Afghanistan. Three of them were attacked in two days in the first week of July 2007. Between 1984 and 1994 more than 300 schools were attacked in Turkey.

The number of school attacks are rising in places like Pakistan, Iraq, Indonesia and Thailand as well. A new girls' school in Iraq was found to have dozens of bombs hidden in the floor and walls and, just two weeks ago, a school was targeted in Great Britain. I also bet you never heard that the backup plan for the Madrid train bombers was a school attack.

But, despite all of these incidents, Beslan was the terrorists' best case scenario - which means that it is our worst case scenario. So what is the likelihood of it happening here? Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders have publicly stated that before this jihad is over they will see to the deaths of 4 million Americans, including 2 million American children. After several attacks involving children in Russia he said that what he was doing in Russia he would do to America. The head of the Chechen terrorists, Shamil Basayev, made a similar pledge before his death at the hands of Russian Special Forces. Afghan terror camp training tapes depict jihadists attacking students in a school, issuing instructions in English.

In addition, emergency response plans of numerous schools have been found in the hands of people who should not have them and intelligence gathering of schools and school facilities has been occurring in places like Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Texas, Florida, Virginia and California for some time now. People with no affiliation to any school have been crossing the border from Canada attempting to buy school buses, and buses in other locations, like Houston, have been stolen.

These are but a very few of the incidents occurring in America today, yet the schools, parents and citizens of our country refuse to acknowledge the threat, or to allow those we turn to for protection - our police - to be properly equipped, armed, informed, and trained for such an event.

There is a Kliebold and Harris in every single school who has at least planned to outdo Columbine. There is a Cho at every college who would love to get the same kind of publicity. There are even the Morrisons and Robertses from the Bailey, CO and Nickel Mines, PA attacks who are just waiting to exact their own revenge. And in every state across this country there are al Qaeda related groups that are, at a minimum, putting together information and plans to attack a school. No matter what the threat, the defenders of those schools are all the same: American police departments.

If Beslan is the worst thing that could possibly happen to our children, then it is incumbent upon our nation to be prepared for it. If we're fortunate enough that Beslan does not ever come to pass, our preparation will not have been in vein as we will be so much better prepared to respond to any other threat to our children and the supposedly safe places they happily trundle off to every day.

John Giduck is the author of Terror at Beslan: A Russian Tragedy with Lessons for America's Schools.

"Perfect Day" Part 1

Here's the video from the first part of the "Exposed: The Perfect Day" series that Glenn Beck did on his CNN Headline News show this week:

The following is from Glenn's free email newsletter (sign up at GlennBeck.com if interested):

A Note from Glenn:

It's the day that Americans are killed on an unprecedented scale. It's the day that no one, not even our children sitting in their classrooms at school, are safe. It's the day that seemingly isolated incidents all converge into the greatest threat this country has ever experienced or imagined. It's the day that the Islamist jihad against the West begins in earnest. It's "The Perfect Day" - and it's only perfect if you're a terrorist.

All this week on Headline News we are focusing on one part of The Perfect Day theory: the threat of massive, coordinated attacks against our schools and school buses. Last night on television, Lt. Col. Joe Ruffini, a counterterrorism expert, told us about some of the evidence and suspicious incidents that have occurred recently - both overseas and right here in America. Former FBI Special Agent Don Clark lent his credibility and experience to the threat and helped explain the fine line that government officials must walk between panic and preparation.

I've asked both Lt. Colonel Ruffini and Agent Clark to write about any thoughts on this threat that we didn't get to cover on television, and their reports are included in this newsletter. In tonight's episode, we'll reveal what really happened during the Beslan school siege and tomorrow's newsletter report, from John Giduck, author of Terror at Beslan, is an absolute must-read.


Americans Can Handle the Truth
By Lieutenant Colonel Joe Ruffini, U.S. Army (Ret)

Glenn Beck is right on the money: America must acknowledge, prepare for, and, most importantly, work together to prevent Al Qaeda attacks against our schools.

Knowledge is power - power to be a more informed citizen, power to be a more enlightened voter, and power to protect our communities and our schools. Sometimes the information is hard to swallow, and sometimes it's downright frightening -but how can we be prepared without it?

We can't. That's why it's so important that federal and state officials start figuring out a way to keep this nation adequately informed. In their (often times noble) efforts to keep us from becoming alarmed, they are encouraging complacency. But we cannot allow that to happen; we must remain vigilant.

Based on my years of experience in conducting terror awareness seminars for communities, law enforcement agencies, and school officials, I can assure you that everyday Americans CAN handle the truth. I give it to my audiences straight, and they keep asking for more. In fact, the two comments I hear back the most are, "Why aren't we hearing this information from our officials?" and "Where can I learn more?"

Remember, denial has never and will never be a strategy for victory.

Lt. Col. Ruffini is a counterterrorism expert and the author of When Terror Comes to Main Street: A Citizens' Guide to Terror Awareness, Preparedness, and Prevention. He's also the President and Founder of JPR & Associates, LLC.


Our Schools: The Ultimate Soft Target
By Fmr. FBI Special Agent Don Clark

Terrorist don't just target big buildings, airports, refineries or ship channels. They also target something very near and dear to our hearts and souls: our children.

Most of us understand that terrorists' primary objective is to instill fear in each and every one of us. Fear makes everything else possible. What better way to achieve that goal than to attack our schools and murder our children?

A plot that shocking would, without question, strike fear into all of our hearts. No one, from the farmer in Wisconsin to the banker in Manhattan would feel safe anymore.

Remember Columbine? That was kids killing kids, yet the entire nation was truly stunned and saddened. Can you imagine how we would feel if that attack had been carried out by a terrorist organization? The rage and bloodlust would be palpable.

No one, including me, wants to think about that, but to help minimize the chance of it ever happening we need to ensure that we treat schools with the same level of caution that we treat more obvious targets, like airports and cargo ports. We also need to start employing top priority screening of employees at all levels, from professors to grounds keepers.

There are also other practical things we can do to make terrorists think twice about choosing our community. All school facilities should be secured with cameras and other technical equipment to alert authorities immediately in case of an attack. School districts should also institute TIP LINES to seek leads and information.

Finally, one of the most important things that local school districts can do is ensure that their police departments are connected with the FBI and Department of Homeland Security so that they continuously receive the latest information relating to any school threats.

Don't leave it up to others to make sure that your town is ready; the burden for preparing lies with each and every one of us. And remember: simply refusing to believe that schools are a terrorist target does not make it so.

Former FBI Special Agent Don Clark led the investigation after the first World Trade Center attack. He recommends the website www.counterterrorismblog.org as a great resource for staying up to date with the threats that veteran intelligence officials are most concerned about.

RFK Jr.

In case you missed it (and I'm betting most of you did, since the ratings were rotten), Robert F. Kennedy Jr. went off during a speech at the Live Earth concert at Giants Stadium on Saturday, July 7. Advertised as a non-political concert (or series of concerts) "to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis," Kennedy proved otherwise in his rant:

...And so I am going to tell you this, that the next time you see John Stossel or Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity --- these Flat Earthers, these corporate toadies, lying to you, lying to the American public, and telling you that global warming doesn't exist --- you send an email to their advertisers and tell them that you are not going to buy their products anymore....

Kennedy referred to "these Flat Earthers" along with the "rotten policiticans" who may likewise question global warming, or at least man's effects on global warming, or even just possible solutions, as "traitors."

Last week, Thursday night, Glenn Beck had Kennedy on his CNN Headline News show to ask Kennedy what his sentence should be for being a traitor (taken from transcript):

KENNEDY: You asked me a question, what your sentence should be. Your sentence should be that you should have to read the IPCC report and from cover to cover. And I know you don`t have it. I don`t mean this with any particular disrespect, but I don`t believe that you have a long attention span.

BECK: I am trying to ask questions, sir, honest questions. And yet you call me a fascist for asking questions. You, sir -- and I know you probably, and I mean no disrespect -- probably have even a shorter attention span, because I'm only asking you to read the definition of fascist. What, sir, is a definition of fascist? In your world, someone who says, "Wait a minute, slow down, let`s just talk about this before we spend all kinds of money and raise all kinds of taxes, let`s just slow down, sir."

KENNEDY: Let me answer your question. You asked me what the definition of fascist is. The American Heritage Dictionary defines fascism as the domination of government by corporate power. You and John Stossel, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh have made yourselves the primary spokesman for the domination of corporate power over American government, and that is...

A couple points of clarification here. There's a bit of history between Kennedy & Beck. Earlier this year, Kennedy referred to Beck as "CNN's chief corporate fascism advocate."

The other point is the actual definition of fascism, taken from the American Heritage Dictionary, which Kennedy misquoted:

• Kennedy's version: "the domination of government by corporate power."
• Actual AHD definition: "A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism."

Hmmm, "suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship"? Like calling people who question the human effects on global warming "traitors"? And I'm no political/government expert, but I think that "stringent socioeconomic controls" might keep "corporate power" from dominating the government.

Johnny Sutton

FoxNews.com has this story about Johnny Sutton, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas. Sutton, you may recall, was the prosecutor of U.S. Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, which I've been following. Sutton continues to stand his ground, basically saying they got what they deserved. A while back, I pointed to the transcript of an interview Glenn Beck did with Sutton, but didn't take the time then to break it down at all. Here's some of the interview:

BECK: Let`s start with the alleged cover-up. The two agents go, and they shoot at the drug smuggler...

SUTTON: Fifteen times.

BECK: ... 15 times, they shoot at him. He`s running away. He`s shot in the butt. Forensics show that it looks like he may have been turned around, which shows that he was running. They go and pick up the shell casings, right?

SUTTON: Yes.

BECK: OK. There are two agents -- I`m sorry, seven agents and two supervisors there. What kind of cover-up is going on when they`re picking up the shell casings with seven -- or, I`m sorry, nine other people?

SUTTON: Right, and that`s another big part of the misinformation here. At the time of the shooting, there were not seven agents. There was three. And that`s Compean, Ramos and Agent Juarez, who is standing right there. I mean, they have this drug dealer in a ditch with his hands in the air. All they had to do was put the handcuffs on him. And, instead, someone yells in English, "Hit him," and Compean tries to hit him with the shotgun.

BECK: According to the drug smuggler.

SUTTON: No, no, Juarez says that, and Compean says that. I`m sorry, the drug smuggler and Compean say somebody said, "Hit him," in English. I mean, Compean admits that in his own testimony.

BECK: But you said -- I`ve heard you on several problems -- you said the real problem here is the cover-up. So, again, I`ve got nine agents, including two supervisors, there, watching people pick up the...

SUTTON: No, all those people show up later.

BECK: Really?

SUTTON: All those people show up later. And even Compean and Ramos admit that the supervisors weren`t there. They admit that in their own testimony at trial, supervisors weren`t there. There were agents who were involved in a cover-up. Agent Vazquez picked up the shell casings with Compean. Compean only found nine of his 14 shots, so he was missing five shells. Vazquez went back and picked those up and threw them away and called them on his cell phone.

If you read that closely, you can see Sutton twisting his responses to avoid the facts that Glenn received from official government documents regarding the case. Glenn is asking where the cover-up is when there are seven agents and two supervisors there when the casings are being picked up. Sutton's response is to say that those agents weren't there at the time of the shooting. So to clear this up, there were three agents there at the time of the shooting, then by the time the casings were picked up, there were seven agents and two supervisors there.

So if Ramos and Compean are being prosecuted for the cover-up, Sutton's got some explaining to do about why the other five agents and two supervisors weren't prosecuted as well. Sutton himself says that Vazquez was involved in picking up the casings, but Vazquez (or Juarez as Sutton previously referred to him) was not prosecuted.

And I don't get the "somebody said, 'Hit him,' in English" argument. So an agent who sees his partner with his firearm ready, and thinks the suspect is armed and ready to shoot, cannot say "Hit him"? Or can he just not say it in English? But I do continue to appreciate the U.S. Government building a case on the testimony of an illegal alien drug smuggler. That's nice.

Here's some more:

BECK: ... Let me give you -- this comes from the Department of Homeland Security. This is the actual report. You didn`t have the FBI. You had the Department of Homeland Security investigate this. So this is from their actual report, that they were on location during the shooting incident or of the shooting incident. They assisted in destroying the evidence of the shooting and/or knew or heard about the shooting, and it lists all of them, including the two supervisors.

SUTTON: Everyone agrees, including Compean and Ramos, their supervisors were not on the scene. And even their own testimony says, "We didn`t tell our supervisors. We just assumed someone else did."

Look, when you shoot somebody, you`ve got to say that you shot somebody. You don`t have to incriminate yourself, but you at least have to explain that guns were fired so the investigation. And, by the way, Ramos is on the sector evidence team, so he knows, whenever there`s a shooting, you`ve got to mark it, you`ve got clear it off, you`ve got to pick up the evidence.

BECK: Sure. But you don`t write a report, do you?

SUTTON: No, you do write a report.

BECK: No, you report to your supervisor orally, I understand.

SUTTON: Right, what you do is you must report within one hour of a shooting. And then you don`t have to...

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: And if your supervisors were coming to the scene, you would just assume that it...

(CROSSTALK)

SUTTON: You`re supposed to tell them that, "I shot 15 times at a guy who pointed a gun at me."

BECK: So is that 10 years for assuming that nine people there on the scene pretty much understood it? Is it 10 years...

SUTTON: No, 10 years is for committing a number of serious crimes. When you shoot an unarmed guy in the back.

Again, there's Sutton twisting the timeline, in addition to forgetting what the reporting procedure is. I find it extremely believable that Ramos and Compean didn't tell their supervisors "I shot 15 times at a guy who pointed a gun at me" because they were there while the casings were being picked up. To me, that's a bit like going into your boss's office each day to tell him that you're at work. It's not like they needed documentation - it's supposed to be an oral report, remember Johnny?

One final portion:

SUTTON: Then it becomes a debate about punishment. And that is a different -- I have a lot of sympathy for those who say, look, punishment is too high, you know, 10 years. I agree. Punishment in this case is extremely...

BECK: Really? You agree?

SUTTON: I agree it`s extremely high.

BECK: Have you written the president? Have you written your good friend, Gonzales, about this?

SUTTON: What I say about that is the punishment is set by Congress. They set...

BECK: So you have no discretion, you can`t write the president and say, "Come on"?

SUTTON: I do have discretion.

BECK: Have you made that? Have you written it?

SUTTON: And we have discretion at the beginning of the trial with regard to plea bargains and things like that. And what people have said...

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: So you can`t make a recommendation?

SUTTON: We have no interest. We have no interest.

BECK: You can`t make the reconstruction?

SUTTON: With regard to a pardon or clemency, at some point, the Department of Justice will probably ask for my recommendation. And when that comes, we`ll make one.

Another great part. I love the "I have a lot of sympathy ... the punishment is too high ... I have discretion ... We have no interest ... at some point they'll probably ask for my recommendation" part. This is what I hate about politicians - and yeah, I consider this guy a politician. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I call it a duck. Stop talking out of both sides of you butt, say what you mean, mean what you say, and stand up for your convictions!

My New Favorite Song

Take a listen:



Here are the full lyrics, if you want to play it again and sing along:

Please don't melt our glaciers
Please don't kill us all
Please don't destroy our atmosphere
The sun will kill us all

Global warming
It's not just a prediction anymore
It's not just a prediction anymore
It's true
Help

Bush is such an idiot (I know)
He won't sign the Kyoto Treaty
Why doesn't he care?
Why won't he help?

Global warming
It's not just a prediction anymore
It's not just a prediction anymore
It's true
Help

Icebergs are falling into the ocean
The ozone layer is thinning
Make good choices
Don't use so many resources
Every single day
Don't drive your car as much
Find alternatives
Don't be careless
Recycle
Don't use so much electricity
Don't use styrofoam
Be friendly to the earth
It will be friendly back

Global warming
It's not just a prediction anymore
It's not just a prediction anymore
It's real
Help

They've got a point: "The sun will kill us all." That's why Evil Conservative Industries has launched the following campaign:

(Click picture for larger image)

(A little clarification for the totally confused: the song is serious, and was written & performed by a band called Blübird, while the picture is sarcasm courtesy of EvilConservatives.com, a production of the Glenn Beck Program.)

Poster Boy For Liberal College Professors?

I'd like to introduce you to Dr. Brian Tschanz, Assistant Research Professor at Utah State University. Brian received his PhD from the University of Utah in 1998, and specializes in "social psychology and the self and personality and self." Dr. Tschanz is teaching a Social Psychology class this summer. I enjoyed reading this part of the class syllbus:

A Note to Fans of Right-Wing Pundits: I promise to make fun of right-wing television and radio pundits early and often (Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, and Ann Coulter will be on the receiving end of this abuse most frequently). To be sure, I derive a great deal of personal satisfaction from this activity. However, these individuals also tend to illustrate classic social psychological principles on an almost daily basis. They almost beg me to reach out and take a poke at them!

If you are a fan of one or more of them and tend to defend them in the manner that they defend themselves - that is, lie about what they have either said or done and then cut to a commercial before anyone has a chance to challenge them -- be assured that I will be back the very next day with proof positive that they are schmucks. Unlike you and your heroes, downloaded videos from YouTube do not lie! Hell, I might have the video ready to go at a moment's notice! This computer has an Internet connection, baby! Don't make me use it!

If it were not for the fact that a member of the Bill O'Reilly Fan Club attended a talk that I gave and attacked me with bald-face lies that I didn't have the time to refute (nor the inclination, I really wanted to use my limited time to take psychology questions), I wouldn't even bother bringing this up. For example, the student at my talk made the laughably false claim that Bill has only said shut up on his show four times (and had apologized for two of them). My only consolation was showing my personality theories class a video of Bill yelling "shut up" many more than four times (the official count on this matter is that he's said shut up too many times to officially count).

And, while we're on the topic, whereas I absolutely forbid you folks to make stuff up, I reserve the right to do so myself. I often tell stories about historical figures, celebrities and renowned psychologists that are only loosely based in fact. The skeptical among you will be able to discern when I'm pulling your legs (And for those of you who may have been in my personality theories class this Spring, this would be as good as time as any to confess that Babe Didrikson Zaharias was not the runner up to Enrico Fermi for the 1938 Nobel Prize in physics. Nor, to my knowledge, did Carl Gustav Jung's friends call him "Gus").

I don't even know what to say about this. The blatant infiltration of personal views into class material/lecture? The professor who taught me the most, outside of my major, was a religion professor who refused to tell us his personal feelings in class. And this was at a "Christian" college. How about the assertion that "right-wing pundits" lie to defend themselves? Is that just because Dr. Tschanz is liberal and therefore anything that comes out of the mouth of a professed conservative is a lie?

I think my two favorite parts are his claim to bring "proof positive that they are schmucks" and his up-front hypocrisy stating that "whereas I absolutely forbid you folks to make stuff up, I reserve the right to do so myself." How do you prove that someone is a schmuck? Just by saying it? And finally, Dr. Tschanz, I'd like to congratulate you for holding yourself to a higher standard. I mean, you criticize these "right-wing pundits" for lying to defend themselves, and forbid your students to make things up, yet you have no problem lying in your attempts to teach (or should I say, re-educate) your students. To paraphrase the words of the legendary Ron Burgundy, "Stay classy, Dr. Tschanz."

Miscellaneous Beck

Just wanted to post a couple links to things that Glenn Beck has covered recently. I hoped to spend some time reading through them myself and writing more about them, but I haven't yet taken the time and wanted to be sure to at least point you in the direction if you're interested.

First, last Friday (May 18) Glenn's CNN Headline News show aired a "Spotlight on Immigration Reform" that featured interviews with Congressman Ted Poe & Dana Rohrabacher regarding the imprisonment of former U.S. Border Patrol Agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos. Beck also spoke with "U.S. attorney for the western district of Texas and the man behind the prosecution of the border agents, Ramos and Compean, Johnny Sutton." The interview with Sutton (about halfway down the transcript) is interesting.

Second, Glenn broke down some of the numbers from the Pew Research Center's report on Muslim-Americans. Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, says the report shows that "Muslim Americans are very much like the rest of the country. They do not see a conflict between being a devout Muslim and living in a modern society." Among some of the interesting facts & figures:

• U.S. Muslims have only a 2% higher rate of low income than the general public - while the average of Britain, France, Germany, and Spain is more than 10 times as high.
• 76% of US Muslims are either very or somewhat concerned about the rise of Islamic extremism around the world, including 85% of long term immigrants (came here before 1990).
• 61% of US Muslims are either very or somewhat concerned about the rise of Islamic extremism in America.
• 71% of Muslims believe most can get ahead with hard work (including 76% of young Muslims), compared to 64% in the general public.
• Muslims here believe Jews and Palestinians can coexist---only 16% say no---in comparison in Morocco 90% say no.
• Only 1% of US Muslims say suicide bombings are "often" justified.
• 7% say suicide bombings are "sometimes" justified.
• 5% say suicide bombings are "rarely" justified.

What's shocking about the justified suicide bombing numbers are that this wasn't just about suicide bombings in general but "suicide bombings against civilian targets ... to defend Islam." So 13% of U.S. Muslims think there's justification for killing "innocent" civilians to defend their religion.

The Real Story: The Oil Weapon

From last night's Glenn Beck show on CNN Headline News:

The media was all over the story that broke last Friday about Saudi Arabia arresting 172 Islamic militants, likely from Al Qaeda, who were apparently planning suicide attacks on a variety of targets, including Saudi oil facilities and refineries, possibly by crashing airplanes into them. In addition to the extremists, authorities also found $5.3 million dollars in cash and a stock of weapons buried in the desert.

Unfortunately, just because the media covers a story doesn't mean they're covering it right. This story isn't just about Saudi Arabia dealing with extremists...it's about Al Qaeda continuing to pursue their long term goal of bringing down the U.S. economy.

Read the rest (with links to supporting research articles) here.

Climate Of Fear

From the Glenn Beck show on CNN Headline News:

Exposed: A Climate of Fear

Who's responsible for global warming and what can be done to fix it? Why would someone be harassed just for raising questions? Glenn Beck takes on the media hype surrounding the global warming debate and asks whether some proposed solutions would do more harm than good.

Don't miss "Exposed: A Climate of Fear," a one-hour Glenn Beck special report, Wednesday at 6, 8, and 11 pm, Central time.

Global Warming?

If you've been paying any attention to any form of media over the past year or so, you've seen your fair share of coverage detailing global warming, how mankind has contributed to it, and how "we have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced." (this from the official website for An Inconvenient Truth) From Al Gore's movie, which is now being shown in high school and college classrooms across the country (even in high school English classes - don't ask me why), to various TV shows, to cover stories in magazines including Sports Illustrated and my alma mater's alumni magazine, we're being bombarded with the "science" of global warming.

My biggest problem with this media storm is that it seems like this "science" is not up for further investigation. You've got the Weather Channel's Heidi Cullen advocating, "If a meteorologist can't speak to the fundamental science of climate change, then maybe the AMS shouldn't give them a Seal of Approval." Al Gore refuses to debate critics of his view - not even the existence of global warming, but the "fact" that it's a crisis. British climate scientists are demanding that the DVD version of The Great Global Warming Swindle (which can be seen here) be "heavily edited."

Add to that the fact that Time magazine featured a story in their June 24, 1974 issue titled "Another Ice Age?" According to the story:

...the atmosphere has been growing gradually cooler for the past three decades. The trend shows no indication of reversing. Climatological Cassandras are becoming increasingly apprehensive, for the weather aberrations they are studying may be the harbinger of another ice age.

Among the "telltale signs" of global cooling, the article includes:

• Since the 1940s the mean global temperature has dropped about 2.7° F
• ....the area of the ice and snow cover [in the Northern Hemisphere] had suddenly increased by 12% in 1971 and the increase has persisted ever since. Areas of Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic, for example, were once totally free of any snow in summer; now they are covered year round.
• Man, too, may be somewhat responsible for the cooling trend. The University of Wisconsin's Reid A. Bryson and other climatologists suggest that dust and other particles released into the atmosphere as a result of farming and fuel burning may be blocking more and more sunlight from reaching and heating the surface of the earth.

Why does it seem like global warming proponents are so adamant about silencing any opposing views, and refusing to let their "science" be further investigated? Tonight on his show, Glenn Beck spoke with the director of The Great Global Warming Swindle, Martin Durkin. Wednesday night, Beck will be airing a special entitled "Exposed: The Climate of Fear" on the "other" side of global warming. Beck asked Durkin, "What should I expect after airing a documentary very similar to yours?" Durkin's response? "Oh, welcome to hell."