Said Zacarias Moussaoui, when asked if hearing a naval officer weeping made him happy. The officer broke down in tears when describing the deaths of two subordinates in the attack on the Pentagon.
"No regret, no remorse," Moussaoui responded to a question from his attorney.
When he left court after the judge and jury, he yelled: "God curse America. We will win. It's just a question of time."
Moussaoui didn't captivate the jury as he had March 27 when he first admitted a role in 9/11. This time jurors did not keep their eyes on him throughout; some even chuckled when he momentarily forgot to use his standard hardline al-Qaida rhetoric and quickly corrected himself.
In a lengthy explanation of why he hates Americans, Moussaoui said Islam requires Muslims to be the world's superpower as he flipped through a copy of the Quran searching for verses to support his assertion. He said one verse requires Muslims "to fight against all who believe not in Allah."
This is what we're fighting, folks. Try to remember that.
Stephen Green has some words of advice for the Republicans.
Better do something fast on immigration. Or see the Republican party splinter with a potential third party. I think he's got this about right. I don't see a third party actually winning, but it would act as a spoiler and hand the White House to the Democrats.
So my advice to the Republican Party is this. Do whatever you can, and quickly, to pass some kind of sane immigration reform that Democrats and Independents can all live with. If you don’t, then you’re in trouble. History doesn’t actually ever repeat itself, except when it does. Assuming a Secure Borders guy did no better than Ross Perot in 1992, he could easily tip the entire Southwest, and bits of the South, over to the Democrats. That’s a recipe for defeat.
Unlike Green, I am a secure borders guy, and I think that legal immigrants would back secured borders more than he's giving them credit for. But he's dead on about the potential for a big fracture here.
In today's Washington Post, David Ignatius calls for Rumsfeld to resign. He tells us that most serving officers want him out. I have no way to judge that statement, since he couches it in the 'I talk to insiders' framework which doesn't really transmit any real information. But he makes one statement that may answer something.
Rumsfeld's replacement should be someone who can help restore a bipartisan consensus for a sensible Iraq policy. One obvious candidate would be the centrist Democrat Sen. Joe Lieberman. Another would be a centrist Republican with military experience, such as Sen. Chuck Hagel or Sen. John McCain. The administration would have to swallow its pride to take any of them on board, but that's the point: Without bold moves from the White House, support for the war will continue to slip away.
Notice who leads the list of candidates?
How many here think there will be a big push by the left to get Lieberman out of the Senate and into the SecDef position? A show of hands please.
Said Omaha Senator Gwen Howard.
In a move sure to be challenged on constitutional grounds, the Nebraska Legislature passed a bill dividing the Omaha School District into three parts, essentially drawn along racial lines. The person pushing hardest for the segregation was Senator Ernie Chambers, the legislature's only black member.
For those who are unaware of Nebraska's odd structure of government, they use a single legislative body, the Unicameral, rather than the common two-house system. Also for those who don't know of Senator Chambers, he's obnoxious as hell.
UPDATE: LaShawn Barber is not at all happy about this.
The judge in the Libby case is threatening a gag order. He's unhappy with the way both the prosecutor and the defense attorneys are suing every opportunity to try this case in the media.
U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walston did not explain exactly what provoked his pique, but he wrote in his order that "on several occasions information has been distributed to the press by counsel, which has included not only public statements, but also the dissemination of material that had not been filed on the public docket."
He complained that the parties to the case did not heed an earlier warning that he would not tolerate "this case being tried in the media," and he said such disclosures could impair the court's ability "to ensure that both sides receive a fair trial." Walton gave both sides eight days to state any objections before he imposes the gag order.
I hope he does issue the gag order. The place for a trial is in court, not in the newspapers or the blogospere.
Cox and Forkum are, in my opinion, the best political cartoonists working today. Today's cartoon is especially outstanding.
Courtesy Cox & Forkum
I have locked this post at the top, so it should stay up there all day. If you blog, know someone who does, or even just comment on some and you support our troops, help get the word out on this. The Capitol Hilton in Washington, DC is evicting the Fran O'Brien's Steakhouse. The folks at the restaurant have been hosting free steak dinners for recovering wounded soldiers from Walter Reed medical Center. Every Friday for more than three years now, with no fanfare, publicity or hype, they have opened their doors to these wounded troops. But the Hilton wants them out.
Via Mudville Gazette:
Hello all,
This past Friday night I was privileged to visit Fran O'Brien's steakhouse in the Capitol Hilton, Washington, DC. Every Friday night, Hal Koster, the restaurant manager and Vietnam Vet, invites our wounded soldiers convalescing at nearby Walter Reed Army Center to a free steak dinner and drinks. It was supposedly a "slow" night for our heroes as many were on a ski trip in Colorado. But I walked into an absolutely packed room of wounded soldiers and their families enjoying a minor but well-deserved recognition for their service to our country.
I've also discovered since then that the Hilton Corporation will not be renewing the lease. Apparently, there are too many "liability issues" in accommodating American heroes in wheelchairs. In fact , the lease (and therefore the dinners) will expire in a few short weeks. If America had responded as we would in the past, this would be inconsequential really. Obviously we have not and it is a tragic commentary on today's PC-ness.
Please read the attached e-mail with more of the details.
Best,
Buzz
Buzz Patterson
Lieutenant Colonel, USAF (Retired)
Please join in letting the Hilton know how unhappy this makes you.
Here are the people to call:
*Dan Boyle (212) 838-1558
daniel_a_boyle@hilton.com
Brian Kellaher (202) 393-1000*
Much electronic ink has been spilled over the "did Comedy Central censor South Park" issue. I've been silent on it because I really don't watch the show. Brendan Loy, though, is on the case of the video clip that is circulating that allegedly shows the censored footage.
He concludes that the clip is likely faked due to the bad animation. As I said, I really don't watch the show, but have seen it a few times. I'll only point out that I have no idea how you could tell the animation was any worse than usual!
That said, if Comedy Central did, indeed, cut the footage out of fear they deserve our complete derision.
At the New York Times and two other major publishers.
We here at Blue Crab Boulevard have not been really complimentary of much of what the Times has been putting out lately. However, we also don't want to see the Times disappear, that would be one less fish in the barrel and we wouldn't want that.
Our advice to the Times (which we're sure they will take note of - not) is to try reaching the people you diss - in other words, try fair coverage instead of slanted coverage. It's worth a try.
Clint Taylor has a couple of questions about the trailers found in Iraq that the mainstream media folks seem to be unwilling to ask. His article is over at
The American Spectator. Full disclosure: he links to one of my posts. Thanks, Clint.
