Oh Goody, A Replacement

Wesley Cook, the guy who likes to be called Mumia Abu-Jamal, just isn't generating the kind of star power he used to muster. The Hollywood types have been distracted by other bright shiny objects and moved along to their next cause de jour. So it's handy that the next one has already popped up. Oh, it will take a few years to generate all the falsehoods and the massive web of distortions to match up to the Mumia mountain, but consider it in the pipeline, Hollywood! Your next rallying cry. And he's been sentenced to die for killing two police officers. Hollywood gold, I tell you.

Killer of 2 N.Y. Detectives Is Sentenced to Death

By MICHAEL BRICK
Published: January 30, 2007 - The New York Times

A jury in Federal District Court in Brooklyn this evening sentenced Ronell Wilson to death for killing two New York City detectives.

The sentence came just one day after closing arguments ended and jurors began their deliberations.

Mr. Wilson, 24, was ordered to die by lethal injection for killing Detectives Rodney J. Andrews and James V. Nemorin. They were shot in the back of their heads during a weapons sting on Staten Island in March 10, 2003. He was convicted of their murders on Dec. 20 and also found guilty of racketeering, robbery, attempted carjacking and firearms charges.

The detectives were the first two officers killed by gunfire in a single day since 1988. The killings drew scrutiny to the work of undercover narcotics and firearms investigators, their mission perilous by nature and furtive by design.

It was never proved whether Mr. Wilson knew his victims were detectives. But a witness testified that Mr. Wilson gave a reason for the shootings in the minutes after he pulled the trigger. He did not care, the witness quoted him saying, “about anybody.”

Only three men have been executed in federal prison since 1988, when the modern death penalty statute was enacted, though the states have put hundreds to death. No federal jury in New York has ordered a death sentence in half a century.

On Monday, Mr. Wilson watched the lawyers debate whether his life was worth sparing. - The New York Times

I’m sorry to admit that I have a vindictive personality when it comes time to animals that kill law enforcement officials. Personally, I don’t even have one friend that is a police officer or even a sheriff. From my perspective they provide a service to our communities and our nation so that regular folks can sleep at night, send their kids off to school, go to work and just know that society is controlled. Those of us that get out of line are immediately pinpointed and taken out of the equation of what is right and what is wrong. Given that fact, I personally thank everyone that wears a badge and serves our communities across our great nation. Your presence is greatly appreciated by the folks that you do not have to talk to every day on the job. Thank you.

I just want to assure Matthew O'Keefe that Ronell Wilson will pop back into the media spotlight in a few years under a new name and will be the darling of Hollywood and Amnesty International. These cop killers have a knack for getting that attention. A way of getting Hollywood media whores and leftist college professors to sell whatever is left of their sad little souls to rush to the defense of the poor misunderstood cop killer.

Me, I'd rather mourn Danny Faulkner, Rodney J. Andrews and James V. Nemorin. But Hollywood has other priorities.

Most Newlyweds Go On A Honeymoon

Others come up with something new and different.

Like knocking over a bank.

Kylee Rich, 20, was arrested Saturday, shortly after swapping cars with her husband, who is accused of robbing $3,100 from a Wells Fargo branch in Lindon that day, the FBI said. Police caught him Sunday in Pleasant Grove.

Besides that heist, Joshua Rich, 25, was charged with robbing the same bank on Nov. 10 and Nov. 27.

"The wife was supposedly involved in only the third one," FBI agent Scott Wall said.

The Riches were married in November, shortly after the first robbery, Pleasant Grove police Capt. Cody Cullimore said.

The money was spent on the wedding and trips to Las Vegas and Palm Springs, Calif., he said.

In an affidavit filed in federal court, FBI agent Steven Fillerup said the couple admitted their roles.

I guess the honeymoon will be in a Federal pen.

Hillary! Is No Lincoln

Lee Harris has a really good article up over at TCS Daily that I highly recommend reading. It takes a look at the statement Hillary Clinton made over the weekend in Iowa. She demanded that President Bush finish up everything in Iraq before she (presumably, at least in her mind) takes office. I mentioned it here and called her unserious. Harris uses a look at history to dismantle that arrogant statement she made.

There is, however, a problem with Senator Clinton's analogy—a problem so serious that it forces us to wonder if she genuinely understands the nature of the office that she is currently seeking, and to see what I mean let us go back to the case of Mr. Lincoln.

When Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as President, he inherited a mess in comparison with which Iraq pales to insignificance. The states in the Deep South had already left the Union. The previous President, James Buchanan, had not lifted a finger to keep the vast majority of Federal forts and arsenals from falling into the hands of the new Confederacy. Buchanan's position was that the Constitution did not allow for states to secede, but at the same time, neither did it allow the Federal government to use coercion to keep them in the Union against their will. So what to do, except to do nothing?

The biggest mess of all, however, arose from the fact that the newly inaugurated President's government was still in control of two remaining military outposts in the Confederate States, Fort Moultrie in Florida and Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Had Buchanan given the order to evacuate both forts while he was still President, then Lincoln would not have been faced with the dreadful decision of whether to abandon them or to re-supply them when it was his turn to be President. By abandoning these forts, Lincoln knew he might avoid a civil war; by re-supplying them, he knew he would almost certainly begin one. Yet by abandoning the forts, Lincoln also knew that he would be abandoning the Union. Thus the choice that confronted Lincoln on obtaining the office of Presidency was the hideous alternative of disunion or civil war—in short, the mother of all messes.

Historians have, by and large, been exceedingly harsh on Buchanan. He should have done something decisive, the way Lincoln did. Yet Buchanan himself had no more choices than Lincoln did. Yes, Buchanan in theory could have acted decisively: he might have decisively let "the erring sisters" go in peace, or else he could have decisively started the blood bath that became known as the American Civil War. But in either case, Lincoln would have inherited the horrific consequences of Buchanan's very decisiveness—a raging civil war already in progress or a Confederacy of Southern States whose legitimacy had already been recognized by the North. In other words, no matter what Buchanan did or didn't do, Lincoln was bound to become President with an enormous mess on his hands. But that, we must remind ourselves—and Senator Clinton–is the nature of the American Presidency. If you become President, the chances are very good that you will have to start by taking responsibility for someone else's mess.

Just like Bush had to own the failures of the Clinton administration to do anything about Osama bin Laden before he had a chance to unleash 19 hijackers and cause 9/11. There is a certain justice in handing the mess right back onto another Clinton, but I really doubt she is going to win for a number of reasons. Not the least of which is that she really does not understand history and how we got to where we are.

Please do read the whole thing - it is worth it.

The Kangaroo Courts Of The Animal Uprisingâ„¢

We've mentioned that when the Animal Uprising™'s lawyers badger a witness, they use real badgers. Well, it turns out that when they have a kangaroo court, they use real kangaroos as judges, too. So it is no surprise that when the animal warlords discovered a moose that was passing information to humans about the schemes of the animals, they summoned a kangaroo court immediately. It did not take long to render a verdict and carry out the sentence.

Evil Never Dies

Apparently, anyway. Fidel Castro still won't croak, despite reports to the contrary.

HAVANA - Cuban state television on Tuesday showed a video of a healthier looking Fidel Castro meeting and speaking with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the first images of the ailing leader shown in three months.

The report said the 10-minute video clip was taped on Monday during a in a two-hour private meeting in Havana that was not previously publicized.

The newest images seemed to be aimed at knocking down the most recent round of reports about Castro's health, including a report in the Spanish newspaper El Pais earlier this month that described his health as "grave."

Both leaders appeared to take pains in the video to make clear when the session occurred. Chavez could be heard saying that it began at 3 p.m. on Jan 29. Castro read aloud a headline of an article dated Saturday from the Argentine newspaper Clarin.

Castro, who was standing, more looked alert and heavier than in previous images that had showed him much more thin and frail. Dressed in a red, white and blue track suit, the 80-year-old was also shown sitting and drinking orange juice.

"Fidel has said that we have not lost this battle," Chavez said in the video. "I'll say something more: we have won it."

In honor of the unkillable zombie monster Fidel, we'd like to direct readers to this site where they can register their wishes for him. Take the opportunity to wish (T)Hugo all the best as well.

Letting Them In

We continue to be surprised by the people who simply will not listen to our thoughtful and calm warnings about the Animal Uprising™. Some people think animals are "cute" and don't see the danger they present. So it is today we read of a woman who has let the enemy into her own house. Poor thing, she has no idea what she is in for.

EUGENE, Ore. - Saws buzz and carpenters hammer nails, set up ladders and run an air generator. Al doesn't give a hoot. The brownish Western screech-owl showed up at Laura Fenimore's house as she began adding what will be her new great room.

"I thought the construction noise, the dog or the power tools would scare him off, but the next day he comes right back," said Fenimore, 50, a lawyer who works from home.

But it seems Al is handy to have around. He doesn't make a mess, he isn't noisy and he helps with rodent control.

When she moved into her house in 2000, Fenimore spent a couple of years battling mice, and hired exterminators who shooed them into burrows in her backyard.

But now the yard has been completely uprooted for the remodel.

"This is like feast time for Mr. Owl," Fenimore said. "I sure hope he stays."

The bird, which is full-grown and about eight inches high, seems well-fed as he rests with his feathers puffed among the plywood beams.

Longtime readers know that this is a bad sign. When they look like they are making themselves at home, they are planning to take over. We have incoherent information about that owl. He's actually the lead scout for a crack team of commandowls from the Animal Uprising™. Soon, he and his team will be hunting more than mice. 

(It was a nice USFWS Photo by Gary M. Stolz before we got ahold of it)

Pentagon Gets Clue

The Pentagon announced that it has halted all sales of F-14 parts unilaterally. Stunningly, common sense seems to have broken out.

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon said Tuesday it had stopped selling surplus F-14 parts, announcing the step after congressional criticism of security weaknesses that had given buyers for countries including Iran access to the aircraft parts and other valuable gear.

Sales of parts from the recently retired fleet were halted last Friday, Defense Logistics Agency spokesman Jack Hooper said, adding that marketing of the parts will remain suspended until a "comprehensive review" is completed. He did not immediately elaborate.

The decision comes as a Democratic senator moves to cut off all Pentagon sales of surplus F-14 parts, saying the military's marketing of the spares "defies common sense" in light of their importance to Iran.

Smart move so far. Now destroy the parts rather than risk them falling into Iran's hands. That negates the need for any bill to be passed at all on the matter.

This Is Actually Sad

The small Canadian town of Herouxville in Quebec is making the news today because of a new set of rules the town council voted into place. The new rules say immigrants to the town must "not stone women in public, burn them alive or throw acid on them" among other things.

Why is this even necessary?

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Immigrants to the small Quebec town of Herouxville must not stone women in public, burn them alive or throw acid on them, according to an extraordinary set of rules made public by the local council.

The declaration, published on the town's Web site, has deepened a debate in the predominantly French-speaking Canadian province over how tolerant Quebecers should be towards the customs and traditions of immigrants.

"We wish to inform these new arrivals that the way of life which they abandoned when they left their countries of origin cannot be recreated here," said the declaration, which also says women are allowed to drive, vote, dance, write checks, dress how they want, work and own property.

"Therefore we consider it completely outside these norms to … kill women by stoning them in public, burning them alive, burning them with acid, circumcising them etc."

No one on the town council was immediately available for comment on Tuesday. Herouxville, which has 1,300 inhabitants, is about 100 miles (160 km) northeast of Montreal.

Andre Drouin, the councillor who came up with the idea of the declaration, told the National Post newspaper that the town was not racist.

"We invite people from all nationalities, all languages, all sexual orientations, whatever, to come live with us, but we want them to know ahead of time how we live," he said.

The regulations say girls and boys can exercise together and people should only be allowed to cover their faces at Halloween. Children must not take weapons to school, although the Supreme Court of Canada has already ruled that Sikh boys have the right to carry ceremonial daggers.

This should not even be a topic of conversation. And yet it is in Canada. How far does Canadian society have to go to accommodate immigrants or tolerate other's beliefs? How long until this debate rears its ugly head here in the US? If you want to live in the West, you must be willing to live with its rules. This should not even need to be discussed.

Responses To Nick Cohen

I linked to a book excerpt in the Guardian written by Nick Cohen earlier. The book takes a very hard look at the left and where it has lost its way. I thought it was brilliantly written and devastating. The paper prints a review and a number of responses to Cohen this week. It is very interesting to see the variations in the responses. The reviewer, Peter Oborne, admits the book scores a number of major hits, but then says Cohen is being overly broad and missing the honorable, decent people who oppose the war. I wonder, in reading the responses, if there is more than enough sting in Cohen's book that people are reacting to it because it hits close to home.

As with the original, I'll send you over there rather than trying to excerpt it. It needs to be read in context, I think.

Hell Duck

We keep trying to warn people. But will they listen? Nooooooo. We told everyone (except those who have taken out restraining orders, we hasten to add) that the Animal Uprising™ had perfected the Florida Ring-Necked Zombie Duck in an earlier report. Said duck was shot by a hunter and thrown - dead, mind you - into a refrigerator, only to rise two days later. Now the feathered fiend has gone and died again. And has been reanimated once more.

A ring-necked duck nicknamed Perky is garnering international fame after surviving at least three brushes with death.

Perky was shot, left for dead in a refrigerator, then, as Mike Vasilinda reports, stopped breathing while a vet repaired her broken wing.

Perky spends most of her time huddled in the corner of her cage on the heating pad. She was shot by a hunter January 15 and spent the next two days his refrigerator until his wife discovered that Perky was still alive. Noni Beck has been caring for the duck ever since.

"She would normally be outside now, so that… the cold doesn't really surprise me that she made it through. You know? I guess there's enough oxygen in the refrigerator to keep the ducking going, so…"

The duck's story has traveled around our daffy world. T-shirts went on sale with the cash going to wildlife rehab. Then it appeared Perky was no longer such a lucky duck.

"It was while Perky was being operated on over the weekend to have her broken ring fixed that she stopped breathing… temporarily

"She looked dead…"

Doctor David Hale was performing the operation

"Probably 30 seconds later, you know, up comes the head and her little wings start to move and lucky the duck does what lucky the duck does so well."

We know how to make sure "Perky" stops perking. We watch all the important training films like Dawn of the Dead. All you need is a good sized cleaver. If you don't you'll have to deal with the Hell Duck without our help.

Undermining Morale

This video, which unbelievably comes from NBC News, captures exactly what my son has said to me on several occasions. What is hurting the troops is the failure of support back home. The steady, relentless undermining of the war effort has a price. Opportunistic posturing and positioning by politicians in Washington also has that effect. Got that, Chucky?

UPDATE: Dean Barnett points to yet another feckless bit of politics. All I can say here is that our troops deserve better than they are getting from Washington right now. Here's a clue: Stop undermining support for the troops, all of you, both parties.

UPDATE: Others also posted this today: Instapundit, Hot Air, Gateway Pundit, Scared Monkeys, Hang Right,

Palestinian Ceasefire Goes Into Effect, One Dead

I don't think they quite understand the concept. Shortly after a ceasefire was put in place with much media attention, a top Hamas commander was shot in the head. Palestinian "ceasefires" are funny like that.

GAZA (Reuters) - Gunmen shot dead a Hamas commander in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday and the Islamist group blamed a Fatah-dominated security service for the first killing in the territory since a ceasefire went into effect overnight.

Hospital officials in the southern town of Khan Younis said Hussein Shabasi was shot in the head.

A spokesman for Hamas's armed wing said he was killed by the Preventive Security Service, most of whose members belong to President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction. The security service denied any connection with his death.

The ceasefire had appeared to be holding, bringing people out of their homes for the first time in five days as shops reopened and traffic again clogged Gaza's narrow streets.

Appeared to be holding what? An AK-47? It amazes me that the media just keeps dutifully reporting this insanity with a straight face.

Dawn Of The Dead Moose

We here at Blue Crab Boulevard work tirelessly to warn the world about the dangers of the Animal Uprising™. Oh, sure, it's a thankless task but we keep at it as a service to all of human kind. We're so altruistic, we amaze ourselves. But we despair sometimes when we come across stories that indicate that some people are actually help the animals in their evil plots. Like those darn Norwegians.

The moose, believed to be a yearling, had apparently tried to cross the frozen Hobøl River in Østfold County, southeast of Oslo. The ice, however, had collapsed several places in the river, forming a sort of bobsled track that made it too difficult for the young moose to make his way up to the bank.

Exhausted, the moose had finally given up and was found lying down in the icy water that had seeped up through the ice.

He would have surely frozen to death if Jørgen Helgestad and Håkon Paulsen hadn't come along and found him.

"When he (the moose) saw us, he tried to get up and get away, but looked just like Bambi on the ice," Jørgen told Aftenposten.no, referring to the classic Disney animated film where a baby deer repeatedly tries to stand on some ice but slips and falls every time.

So Jørgen hurried home to his family's nearby farm and summoned his father, who in turn enlisted the aid of his neighbour and brother-in-law Trond Bystrøm.

Together, the two boys and the two men attempted a rescue operation. They placed a ladder over the narrow river, Tor Arne Helgesen climbed over it and after five attempts, managed to get a rope around the moose's neck. The four of them then carefully towed the moose on to land.

They dragged the moose out with a rope around its neck to rescue it. This is also known as "hanging". The now dead moose was then reanimated as a zombie with the "help" of the humans.

The moose was dangerously cold and weak, so the four tried administering first aid, drying and massaging the animal to boost circulation. The moose "was so exhausted it just kept lying there," Jørgen said, but after awhile it stood up and ambled off into the woods.

We sincerely hope we never get rescued by these guys. (We prefer the "deer hockey" method of rescuing stranded animals). Incidentally, they shot the zombie moose a few days later, presumably with a silver bullet.

Congealed Constrictor Captured

Workers clearing debris along the banks of the Great Miami River (which is actually in Ohio, not Miami - they do that just to confuse everyone) found a solid boa constrictor stretched out on the bank. The snake-sicle was dead. Which means that the Animal Uprising™ is making new recruits for the Zombie Animal Program®.

"We never expected this to happen," said Chris Miller, who was working with other McGraw-Kokosing Inc. workers to clean debris from recent floods and fill a sinkhole. "We've been entertaining ourselves. It's been a lot of fun, really."

The snake was stretched out when found near a bike path along the river.

"It's very unusual," Miller said. "It'd be like finding an alligator down here."

Boas generally don't coil when cold, said Niki Treadway, a saleswoman at Jacks Aquarium & Pets in Middletown.

Snakes also are unable to generate their own body heat and survive by taking heat from external sources, such as the sun or rocks.

They've been entertaining themselves? Doing what? Playing lawn darts with the solid snake? We here at Blue Crab Boulevard strongly caution against thawing the boa berg as it is likely a zombie waiting to happen. But carry on with the lawn dart game.

Murder Street

Shaun Mullen, writing at the Moderate Voice, has links up to some online petitions. You can choose to vote for or against naming a street in Harlem after convicted cop killer Wesley Cook. Don't remember that name? That's the name Mumia Abu-Jamal was born with. Mullen is very frank about the murderer of Danny Faulkner:

A perversely interesting aspect of the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the convicted killer of Philadelphia police officer William Faulkner in 1981, is that the further you get from the scene of the crime the more people think he is innocent.

I happened to have known Abu-Jamal. And while the criminal justice system did not exactly cover itself in glory in prosecuting him, he is as guilty as sin, period.

But in the 25-plus years since the murder, Abu-Jamal has become a jailhouse pundit and international cause célèbre, a darling of Amensty International and lightning rod for opponents and proponents of the death penalty. He enjoys little support in Philadelphia, but the further one gets from there the more people consider him to be the victim of political prosecution.

Harlem is a mere 120 miles or so from Philadelphia, but it might as well be on another planet. This is because some well intentioned but clueless folks want to have a street there renamed for Abu-Jamal. You can bet they don’t want it called Cop Killer Boulevard.

He has more, including a statement by a former member of MOVE who is very angry at the idea of naming a street after a murderer. And he has those handy links to go register your opinion. Cook has managed to con a lot of people into believing his lies. Go over and read this if you haven't already. Forget Wesley Cook. Remember Danny Faulkner.