The following video (courtesy: Mahone Productions) of LTC Randolph C. White delivering a graduation speech to Infantrymen who completed training at Ft. Benning, Georgia, on April 21st, 2006. This is a must-see video and a reminder to everyone why America is engaged in an important struggle against Islamo-fascists.
(H/T: Blackfive, US Army Infantry Graduation Speech.)
UPDATE: AllahPundit posted the Centanni / Wiig hostage video over at HotAir.com (audio enhanced).
UPDATE: New Group Claims Fox News Kidnappings
A previously unheard of Palestinian group, the Holy Jihad Brigades, claimed responsibility on Wednesday for kidnapping a Fox News cameraman and correspondent, Al-Jazeera satellite TV reported.
Fox News Channel reporter Steve Centanni and freelance cameraman Olaf Wiig are still missing a week after they were kidnapped in Gaza by unknown gunmen. I am surprised at the lack of persistent MSM coverage of the kidnapping. Especially by competing news agencies.
Michelle Malkin has more information about what's been going on, on her blog.
As a recent immigrant to this country (from Canada) I find it puzzling whenever I hear about an American citizen burning the U.S. flag in the name of free speech or to protest something they don't agree with. This is the sort of behavior you see on the evening news in the streets of Tehran, Palestine or Lebanon. Not in the heartland of America, and certainly not in the presence of young impressionable seventh graders.
I'm willing to bet the "progressive" liberals, bloggers and activist will jump to this guy's defense because he's done something they all fantasize about. But what he did was wrong. It wasn't fair to those school kids. Not one bit. Especially those that may have family members serving in the armed forces.
The parents of those children have every right to be offended and angry. My four year old daughter just learned to recite The Pledge of Allegiance and sing You're a Grand Old Flag. It was a proud moment the first time I heard her say the pledge. I would be just as horrified as she if one of her teachers decided to burn the American flag in her classroom.
If this teacher was attempting to fulfill a liberal fantasy he should have done so in the presence of like-minded adults. Not in front of a young, impressionable captive audience. If these kids want to see people hating their country all they need to do is turn on the news or read the New York Times.
I don't question this man's right to free speech, or his right to burn a flag, I question his poor judgment and his sense of responsibility to his students and the community.
From the CourierJournal.com:
A Stuart Middle School teacher has been removed from the classroom after he burned two American flags in class during a lesson on freedom of speech, Jefferson County Public Schools officials said.
Dan Holden, who teaches seventh-grade social studies, burned small flags in two different classes Friday and asked students to write an opinion paper about it, district spokeswoman Lauren Roberts said.
Entire article: Stuart Middle School teacher burns U.S. flags in class
Note: Important updates at the end of this post.
"The time of the bomb has passed. It's behind us. Today is the era of thoughts, dialogue, and cultural exchanges."
This is a quote from Iranian president Ahmadinejad during an interview, by journalist Mike Wallace of CBS, on August 8th, 2006. Today, August 22nd, the IranPressNews Agency (via Bloomberg) reports that an Iranian naval vessel has attacked and boarded a Romanian oil rig operating in the Persian Gulf. (H/T: Jawa Report.)
I suppose this is Ahmadinejad's version of dialogue and cultural exchange:
Iran's Navy Attacks and Boards Romanian Rig in Gulf
Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) — Iran attacked and seized control of a Romanian oil rig working in its Persian Gulf waters this morning one week after the Iranian government accused the European drilling company of “hijacking'' another rig.
An Iranian naval vessel fired on the rig owned by Romania's Grup Servicii Petroliere (GSP) in the Salman field and took control of its radio room at about 7:00 a.m. local time, Lulu Tabanesku, Grup's representative in the United Arab Emirates said in a phone interview from Dubai today.
"The Iranians fired at the rig's crane with machine guns,'' Tabanesku said. “They are in control now and we can't contact the rig." The Romanian company has 26 workers on the platform, he said.
Iran, which holds the world's second-largest oil and gas reserves, is due to respond today to a European Union-led offer of incentives aimed at persuading it to halt uranium enrichment activities that are crucial to its nuclear program.
Neither the press office of Iran's oil ministry nor the one of Iran's revolutionary guards could be reached for comment when called. Today is a national holiday in Iran.
Crude oil for September was at $72.56 a barrel, up 11 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 12:06 p.m. in London. The contract expires today. The more-active October contract was up 7 cents at $73.37 a barrel.
Straits of Hormuz
Iran urged the United Arab Emirates last week to help it return another oil rig owned and operated by the Romanian company in the same waters close to the Straits of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world's daily oil supply moves on tankers.
Grup said it recovered its rig last week because of a contractual dispute with its Iranian client, Oriental Oil Kish.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suspended Oriental Oil's activities in 2005 on alleged corruption activity and ties to Halliburton Co. of the U.S. The U.A.E.-registered drilling company had signed a preliminary contract with Halliburton after winning an estimated $310 million contract to develop phases 9 and 10 of Iran's offshore South Pars gas reservoir.
Mircea Geoana, the head of the Social Democratic Party, the main opposition party in Romania, called on the government to “undertake all diplomatic measures necessary'' to persuade the Iranians to release the rig.
He also called on President Traian Basescu in a news conference broadcast on Realitatea television to invite all political party heads to the presidential palace to "discuss what Romania's reaction will be to this provocation."
Confederate Yankee points out that this story isn't being widely reported. CY also notes a connection between Romainia's GSP and Haliburton which could provide the "blame America first" croud fertile ground for a Bush / Cheney conspiracy in which a ground war campaign against Iran is initiated.
Interestingly, the Islamic Rebuplic News Agency (IRNA) reports that Iran's ambassador to Romania, Aliakbar Farazi, recently met with vice speaker of the Romanian Senate, Theodor Melshkanoon, on Monday to discuss issues of "mutual concern":
Iran's Ambassador to Romania, Aliakbar Farazi, met with vice speaker of the Romanian Senate Theodor Melshkanoon Monday and stressed development of bilateral ties.
The two sides expressed consent over the expansion of mutual cooperation in different sectors.
They also followed up the holding of the 16th joint economic commission and the joint meeting of traders of the two countries which will be held to develop commercial ties as well as the upcoming trip of the Romanian Senate speaker and head of its foreign policy commission to Tehran.
So far, nothing in the way of headline news on any of the major Romanian news websites.
UPDATE (August 22nd): A Statement from Gabriel Comanescu, president of the Administration Board of S.C. Grup Servicii Petroliere S.A. The company that owns and operates the Romanian oil rig:
Terrorist Iranian Act against the ORIZONT Romanian Offshore Drilling Rig Act
The Romanian personnel aboard the rig is in great danger
After having blocked illegally the Orizont rig, under Romanian flag, belonging to the Romanian company Grup Servicii Petroliere, in the Iranian waters. The authorities are trying, flagrant breach of all the international rules, to occupy the rig. Starting from yesterday 21 August, Iranian military helicopters and ships abuse from their force position, trying to intimidate the Romanian crew aboard the rig. The situation created by the Iranian authorities was further complicated this morning. At 9:15, Romanian time, an Iranian military cutter boat opened fire against the Orizont rig, in the stern crane. At 9:15, the rig was occupies by Iranian military troops, equipped with armament. Aboard the rig there is Romanian crew made up of 26 persons. Since 10:00 we have no contact with the crew. We do not know if anyone is hurt.
We are hereby requesting urgently the support to establish the contact with the crew aboard.
GABRIEL COMANESCU,
President of the Administration Board of S.C. Grup Servicii Petroliere S.A.
Taken from GSP's corporate website. If you don't want to wait the entire six minutes for their website to load, the PDF version of the statement (33 Kb) is available.
UPDATE (August 23rd): Romania’s GSP vows to recover oil rig from Iran
UPDATE (August 24th): Iranian Military Returns Gulf Rig to GSP Amid Contract Dispute
Since this story barley made frontpage news today, I'm adding to the Beltway Traffic Jam and hope word gets around.
I'm not going to file this story under Global Jihad until the cause of the blast is confirmed. Interestingly, this story doesn't seem to be splashed all over the front pages of Russian newspapers (yet) like it would be if this had happened in the West. MOSNEWS.com was one of the few Russian news sources that published the story.
From CNN World via Reuters:
At least 8 dead in Moscow blast
Monday, August 21, 2006; Posted: 6:19 a.m. EDT (10:19 GMT)MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) — A bomb killed at least eight people and wounded about 40 at a Moscow market on Monday. Prosecutors said it was most likely linked to organised crime, though terrorism could not be ruled out.
The bomb may also have caused a nearby gas canister to explode, giving rise to earlier reports that a gas leak was to blame.
Moscow's chief prosecutor Yuri Syomin said the blast was caused by a homemade bomb of a force equivalent to up to 1.2 kg (3 lb) of TNT explosive.
"We are not excluding that it was a terrorist attack …. (but) most likely it was a business or criminal settling of scores that was behind the explosion," he told reporters at the market.
Read more at the CNN World home page.
From Kavkaz.com (where you'll almost always get the pro-jihadi viewpoint):
Moscow blast kills ten
Publication time: Today at 12:16 Djokhar timeAn explosion has killed 10 people - including at least two children - at a Moscow market, Russian officials say. At least 31 other people were injured in the blast at 1030 (0630GMT) at the eastern Cherkizovsky market. It brought down a two-storey building.
There are conflicting reports about the cause of the explosion.
According to Moscow's First Deputy Mayor Vladimir Resin, a "makeshift explosive device" blew up. Earlier police blamed a faulty gas cylinder.
Latest reports from Moscow police say a bomb had been hidden in a bag and left in a cafe.
According to some witnesses, there were two explosions at the market.
"As far as I know, there was one explosion, but the way I see it, it was not an accident but a premeditated act," Mr Resin told Russia's Itar-Tass news agency.
Full story: Moscow blast kills ten.
From MOSNEWS.com:
Moscow Market Blast Possible Act of Terrorism — Russian Emergency Officials
Created: 21.08.2006 11:51 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 13:02 MSK, 5 hours 2 minutes agoA powerful blast ripped through a market in eastern Moscow on Monday morning, Russian emergency officials reported. Preliminary reports said the blast was triggered by a hand-made explosive device, although police earlier blamed the explosion on a faulty gas cylinder, the Gazeta.Ru news website reported.
The latest reports say at least ten people were killed and about 30 injured.
“The explosion occurred at around 10:30 a.m., at 2 Sirenevy Boulevard [eastern Moscow],” a police source told the RIA-Novosti news agency. “Then the fire broke out,” he added.
Fire brigades and rescuers arrived at the scene.
The Emergency Ministry said the blast occurred after a hand-made explosive device went off at the market.
Some reports said two blasts had been registered at the market, the first having occurred at 10:01, the second followed fifteen minutes later. The blasts caused the market roof to collapse, the ministry said.
From Iran Press News:
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran test-fired a short-range missile during the second day of nationwide military exercises in a demonstration of its readiness to "respond to any threat,".
The surface-to-surface missile, called Saegheh or lightning in Farsi, has a range of between 80 and 250 kilometers (50 and 155 miles).
"The upgraded Saegheh missiles have been tested today," Iranian Brigadier General Kiumars Heydari was quoted as saying Sunday.
"Surface-to-surface as well as surface-to-sea missiles built by domestic defence industries with considerable range, high precision and large production numbers, will enable us to prevent any type of threat."
The missile was test-fired from Kashan, 200 kilometers (120 miles) south of the capital Tehran as part of the massive war games which began Saturday with the aim of testing new weapons and tactics against a potential enemy.
Twelve army divisions along with air and naval forces and missile units are involved in the military operation, named "Zolfaghar Blow" after the two-point sword of Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed.
The exercises, which began in the restive southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, will continue in 15 other provinces around Iran.
Full article: Iran tests tactical missile during war games.
I commented about this back in June:
Also, The Jawa Report has been following this story too.
Here's an excerpt from Tamara's blog on myspace regarding the resignation:
Under advice of my lawyer (and not without great resistance on my part)
I have agreed to settle the matter with AISD out of court.
With this agreement the district asked that I resign my position as an art teacher at Austin High School.
My legal bills were mounting and my lawyer felt that the settlement was in my best interest. : (I am proud of the things that I saw happen through this incident. I saw a city come together and celebrate individuality, diversity and love.
There is work to do. I plan on being right in the middle of it.
Meanwhile, I will get my masters and hopefully teach at a university somewhere.
I sincerely wish her luck and great success. And applaud her positive attitude. I'm also relieved she didn't do something silly like get the ACLU involved. That organization's charter needs to be revoked. But that subject can wait for another day.
From Statesmen.com:
Art teacher Tamara Hoover has resigned from her job at Austin High School, extinguishing a firestorm that began when nude pictures of her online were brought to the attention of school administrators.
Hoover submitted a resignation letter Wednesday and, pending expected school board approval Monday, will receive a $14,850 settlement from the Austin school district, several months' salary.
"The district believes strongly in an individual's right of free expression, but as we all know, such rights are not absolute," district officials said in a statement Thursday. "The district and Ms. Hoover disagreed as to the propriety of explicit nude photographs of her and others in sexually suggestive poses being placed on the Internet, and its impact on students and families, and thus, on Ms. Hoover's ability to be an appropriate role model and effective classroom teacher in AISD."
Hoover said she's sad about the outcome but will focus on moving forward. "I wasn't prepared to stop teaching. I never wanted to resign from teaching. I don't think this is the most ideal outcome. I was definitely impressed by (the district's) willingness to come to the table. I just wish they would have done that in the beginning."
Hoover had been on paid administrative leave since May 22 after another Austin High art teacher, Gayle Andrews, told a colleague about the nude pictures of Hoover. That co-worker then informed school officials.
Read the entire article.
In the short span of five years since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the flight that went down in a Pennsylvania countryside this country and the World has slowly lost its collective mind.
The United States found itself fighting a ground war in Afghanistan, Iraq and other low-intensity conflicts around the World. During this time some of America's own citizens in government and the population at-large have seen fit to wage war against our president and his administration. In fact, since September 11th, 2001 the World has become more polarized than ever. The divide between the Right and Left side of the political spectrum has increased to the point of sheer madness.
If you survey the political landscape today here's what you might observe:
A World that condemns a stable democracy in the middle east for defending itself against a known terrorist group.
A World that would sooner criticize a modern army for using tactical weapons designed to minimize civilian deaths, while ignoring terrorists and criminals who explode bombs in public places full of women and children. Where some argue that no matter how horrific the outcome, the bombers were justified in their actions. After all, they don't have tanks and jets and other weapons of modern warfare…
A World that overlooks the words of a man who has threatened several times to "wipe" another country off the map. In fact, just the other day I read about several fellow Americans who are angry because one of our most prominent journalists was too rude while interviewing this man who has pledged to annihilate another nation. These fellow Americans even expressed sympathy for this man while accusing their own leader of being far more threatening. I'm sure these people feel the press isn't rude enough to their own president. I don't recall our president ever threatening to completely eliminate another nation.
We are living in a time when fascist dictators are exalted as heroes even though some manipulate oil and energy markets to further their own political goals and line their own pockets. While our own democratically-elected leaders are condemned as liars and thieves in spite of our own programs and billions of dollars in aid doled out to improve the lives of impoverished people around the World.
We live in a World where, not even five years after a savage attack on three thousand of our fellow countrymen and global citizens, some are fighting tooth-and-nail to condemn and dismantle programs our president has instituted to protect us from another attack. More or less because of the political party he belongs to.
A World that views super-heroes as villains, and villains as the heroes. Where a woman who loses her son in a war she didn't like becomes the face of a movement that believes our president is more evil than Osama bin Laden.
A World media that is being manipulated by a group of self-proclaimed victims of so-called American imperialism. Even though that's just an excuse made by a culture obsessed with death instead of life. A culture that has been paralyzed and hijacked by religious extremists with fascist dreams who use religion to justify their crimes against humanity and fear mongering to maintain control. A media which marvels at the tactics and skill of our enemy while downplaying the achievements of our own army.
A World in which human rights groups are quick to criticize America for its treatment of prisoners while remaining silent when our enemies cut the heads off their own prisoners in front of television cameras while proclaiming "God is great" over and over again like brainwashed monkeys.
A World in which we've become so blinded by political correctness that we can't see the forest for the trees. Where many people on the Left side of the political landscape deny the existence of terrorism. And where there is a belief that our own government planned and staged the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11th.
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