Overnight Open Thread

Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 9:11:25 pm PDT

All things one has forgotten scream for help in dreams.

— Elias Canetti

And Now for Some Don Ross

Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 6:30:49 pm PDT

Youtube Video

Terror-Linked Subway Imam Promotes Islamic Creationism

Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 5:04:40 pm PDT

As we noted yesterday, Imam Siraj Wahhaj (named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing) is planning a series of subway train advertisements in Manhattan—during September—proselytizing for Islam.

The organization behind this effort runs the web site whyislam.org, and featured prominently on their homepage we find: The Collapse of Darwinism. Clicking the image on their page (not here) brings you to an expensively produced presentation by Harun Yahya, the Turkish creationist whose organizations have collaborated with US groups like the Institute for Creation Research.

(Hat tip: LGF readers.)

Video: Cdesign Proponentsists

Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 3:35:18 pm PDT

An interesting presentation from the National Center for Science Education on the part they played in the Dover School District creationism case, and their analysis of differing drafts of the creationist textbook Of Pandas and People.

The smoking gun moment was when they discovered the nonsense words “cdesign proponentsists” in the latest draft—a sloppy cut and paste job that resulted in a telltale mix of “creationists” and “intelligent design proponents.”

When people say that “Intelligent Design” is simply repackaged creationism, this is one reason why.

Youtube Video

Karadzic Arrested, Was Disguised As Doctor

Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 11:54:46 am PDT

Serbian nationalist Radovan Karadzic, one of the most wanted men in Europe, has been arrested in Belgrade working as a doctor.

“Karadzic used false documents with the name Dragan Dabic,” said Rasim Ljajic, the minister in charge of cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

He had been posing as a doctor of alternative medicine, sporting long hair, a beard and glasses to hide his face.

A picture shown to reporters showed an unrecognisable Karadzic, markedly thin, with a long white beard and flowing hair. Serbian officials said he was walking freely around town and earned money from practising medicine.

They said they could not divulge more details because it might jeopardise efforts to arrest two other war crime suspects on the run.

Karadzic was arrested late on Monday night in Belgrade by the Serbian security services, the office of Serb president Boris Tadic said. The 63-year-old former war leader is accused of orchestrating the worst acts of brutality Europe has seen since the Nazi campaigns of the Second World War.

Obama Photo of the Day

Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 10:02:00 am PDT

As Barack Obama prepares to visit the city of Ramallah in the West Bank, a Palestinian artist sketches Obama among his other portraits of Jesus, “martyred” Hamas terrorist Abdel Aziz Rantisi (“The Pediatrician of Death”), and Che Guevara.

With a peace dove, of course. You couldn’t make this up.

(Hat tip: Killgore.)

UPDATE at 7/22/08 10:38:54 am:

Here’s another photo of the same artist and the same Obama portrait, this time posed with portraits of Che Guevara and Yasser Arafat: Photo from Reuters Pictures - Daylife.

Obama to Reporters in Mideast: Don't Wear Green

Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 9:32:39 am PDT

Barack Obama is afraid.

When he or his wife give speeches in the United States, the staff makes sure there are plenty of white people visible, because he’s scared of creating the impression that only black people support him.

He prevents Muslim women wearing headscarves from sitting behind him, though, because he’s scared American voters will think he’s a Muslim.

He has refused requests for interviews from foreign media, because he’s afraid of being asked questions a teleprompter can’t answer.

And while in the Middle East, he’s banned reporters from wearing the color green—because he’s scared of being linked to Hamas: Obama ban: What not to wear where?

AMMAN, Jordan—An Obama campaign ban on green clothing during the candidate’s visits to Israel and Jordan has created wide puzzlement among observers of the Middle East.

In a memo to reporters, described as “a few guidelines we sent staff before departure to the Middle East,” Obama advance staffer Peter Newell laid out rules on attire for Jordan and Israel.

First among them: “Do not wear green.”

An Obama aide explained to reporters that green is the color associated with the militant Palestinian group Hamas. But while the color does appear on Hamas banners, there is no particular symbolism to wearing green clothes, experts said.

Moreover, green is more generally seen as a symbol of Islam. “A ban on wearing green seems bizarre,” said Richard Bulliet, a professor of Middle Eastern history at Columbia University, who said the color is associated with the family of the Prophet Mohammed.

All of these desperate attempts to control his image by controlling the people around him are an indication of how much these subjects frighten Barack Obama. He’s living in fear, and practicing identity politics writ large.

(Hat tip: Tom Gross.)

Obama Combines Flip with Flop

Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 8:54:26 am PDT

Barack Obama sees “an enormous improvement” in Iraq, but he’s still, you know, opposed to the surge.

Welcome to the new Democratic Party, in which it’s possible to advocate two completely contradictory concepts at the same time, and pretend you don’t even notice the massive cognitive dissonance: Obama: If I had it to do over again, I’d still oppose the surge; Update: “Clearly there’s been an enormous improvement”.

Also see:
Soccer Dad: I’d rather we didn’t win

Another Palestinian Bulldozer Attack in Jerusalem

Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 8:01:08 am PDT

Another Palestinian ran amok with a bulldozer (actually a front loader) in Jerusalem today, near the hotel where Barack Obama plans to stay: Sixteen wounded in copycat bulldozer attack in Jerusalem.

Sixteen people were wounded, one of them moderately, as a bulldozer driver went on a rampage in central Jerusalem Tuesday afternoon in an apparent attempt to recreate the terror attack in the capital earlier this month.

The vehicle reportedly left a construction site near the Yemin Moshe neighborhood and set off towards Liberty Bell Park (Gan Hapa’amon), near the corner of Keren Hayesod and King David streets. It drove a distance of approximately 160 meters, attempting to overturn a bus and crashing into four other vehicles - one of which it flipped over. The man was then shot dead by a civilian and a border policeman.

The wounded were evacuated to hospitals in the capital. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police sealed off possible escape routes into east Jerusalem, and were searching for two suspects who fled the scene.

The attack took place in a busy part of downtown Jerusalem, several hundred meters from the luxury hotel where US presidential candidate Barack Obama is supposed to stay Tuesday night as he kicks off a visit to Israel.

The bus that was hit, No. 13, belonged to the same line of the bus that was overturned in the previous attack.

“I was driving on the main road when the (construction vehicle) hit me in the rear, on the right hand side,” the bus driver, who was not identified, told Channel 10 TV.

“After I passed him he turned round, made a U-turn and rammed the windows twice with the shovel. The third time he aimed for my head, he came up to my window and I swerved to the right, otherwise I would have gone to meet my maker,” he said.

Witness Moshe Shimshi said that the bulldozer driver, who was wearing a large, white skullcap commonly worn by religious Muslims, slammed into the side of the bus, then sped away and went for a car.