August 22nd

I'm definitely no Doomsayer but tomorrow could very well be problematic. As reported earlier on NCT, August 22 is an important date in the Islamic culture. Many are speculating the dangers that could occur tomorrow, The Blotter reports:

While no extra safeguards are in place, U.S. law enforcement are not ignoring the possible significance of tomorrow's date, August 22, a date that marks an important historic event on the Islamic calendar.

Internet websites have been full of speculation that it could be a target date for terrorists in commemoration of the return of the 12th imam, a supposed day of reckoning for Shiites.
August 22 was rumored by intelligence experts to be a possible date that the London plotters would blow-up passenger planes headed towards the United States, though it is not known if the suspects were Shiite extremists.

This year, August 22 marks the holy day on the Islamic calendar that is the day of reckoning for Shiites. Some Shiite sects believe that August 22 could correspond to the end of the world. And just today, after much hype, Iran has announced that it will continue to develop its nuclear program. To followers of Iranian President Ahmadinejad, this is a well-timed affront to Israel, the United States and the world. The United Nations had given Iran until the end of the month to respond, but Ahmadinejad had made it clear to all Iranians and the world that he intended to respond on the eve of August 22.

Whether or not this announcement is the end of Ahmadinejad's plans for August 22, one expert says we will have to wait and watch.

"The only thing we can know is that the date was not chosen by accident," said Robert Spencer, Director of Jihadwatch.org and an adjunct fellow at the Free Congress Foundation, a conservative think tank. "It does seem very likely, very probable, that he has something major in mind, whether only a major announcement or a major attack, we will soon see."

I guess we'll all have to wait and see...

2996

Recently I've come across a site and I encourage all of my readers to check it out. The site is called 2996, in honor of the 2996 American citizens killed on 9/11. You can find a good explanation of the site here. They are asking 2996 bloggers to all pay tribute to one individual apiece on September 11, 2006 with a post about that victim. I'm honored to pay tribute to Robert E. Russell, age 52, killed at the Pentagon. He's originally from Oxon Hill, Md and served our nation proud.

I'm proud to say that I'm the 1805th blogger to sign up for the project. I implore you all to do the same. This is a honor for me and I will make Mr. Russell's family proud.

Thank you President Bush, Thank You Prime Minister Blair.

It seems as if everyday our government in concert with the British parliament are constantly thwarting the attacks of Arab fascist, terrorists. On both US and British soil, our governments are arresting these pathetic, terrorists before they can attack.

I'm proud of that. I'm proud that my government is protecting me even when they're battling terrorists, France, and liberals. Every time they can, terrorist sympathizers are trying to help the terrorists and even with this in the way, our government is still succeeding in the war on terror. Here are just a few situations of where our governments are working:

All missing Egyptian students in custody

Men held in Michigan suspected of plan to attack Mackinac Bridge

University students at centre of terror plots

Suspicious Item forces Plane Evacuation

All of these articles are links of where the government and its citizens work together and thwart a potential attack. In the Michigan case, Wal-Mart employees phoned in the suspicious cell phone activity. In the Alaskan plane situation, a passenger felt that a package was suspicious. With the work of local and federal agents, all of the Egyptian students were wrangled up. Even in the British case, there was a synergy between local and national forces.

That makes me proud. Citizens are calling in with suspicious activities, the government is preventing attacks, and the West is safer. The US and Britain have programs in place that are stopping these attacks even though we can't profile, tap phones, or illegally apprehend suspects.

My hat is off to both George Bush and Tony Blair. May God bless you both and know that we support you. Even though it sounds like we're the minority, we're in fact the silent majority.

HT: Drudge Report.

Seriously...

This is the crap that ABC News deems worthy of coverage.

How Much Is Too Much: Is the President Too Chunky?
His Body Mass Index Puts Him in Overweight Territory, but What Does That Mean?

Straight from the Drudge Report

WSJ: Scholar Warns Iran's Ahmadinejad May Have 'Cataclysmic Events' In Mind For August 22Tue Aug 08 2006 10:22:35 ET

In a WALL STREET JOURNAL op-ed Tuesday, Princeton's Bernard Lewis writes: "There is a radical difference between the Islamic Republic of Iran and other governments with nuclear weapons. This difference is expressed in what can only be described as the apocalyptic worldview of Iran's present rulers."

"In Islam as in Judaism and Christianity, there are certain beliefs concerning the cosmic struggle at the end of time -- Gog and Magog, anti-Christ, Armageddon, and for Shiite Muslims, the long awaited return of the Hidden Imam, ending in the final victory of the forces of good over evil, however these may be defined."

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "and his followers clearly believe that this time is now, and that the terminal struggle has already begun and is indeed well advanced. It may even have a date, indicated by several references by the Iranian president to giving his final answer to the US about nuclear development by Aug. 22," which this year corresponds "to the 27th day of the month of Rajab of the year 1427. This, by tradition, is the night when many Muslims commemorate the night flight of the prophet Muhammad on the winged horse Buraq, first to 'the farthest mosque,' usually identified with Jerusalem, and then to heaven and back (c.f., Koran XVII.1).

"This might well be deemed an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and if necessary of the world. It is far from certain that Mr. Ahmadinejad plans any such cataclysmic events precisely for Aug. 22. But it would be wise to bear the possibility in mind."

Developing...

Bloggers Against Red China

I'm starting a blogroll due to my strong feelings for China and the dangers that they present. In the future, I hope to expand this topic to its own blog but for the meantime, Neo-Con* Tastic will be the home of "Bloggers Against Red China."

BARC will be a collection of blogs from all political avenues that agree that a Communist country with dangerous leaders don't belong in the 21st century and we support its demise. On a daily basis, this communist regime has been torturing its own citizens, lying to the United States, and is building up a lethal arsenal. I'll try to continuously keep everyone up-to-date on the current situation in China.

Please email me with your URL and blog title to mr.tastic@yahoo.com and I'll add you to the blogroll. I'm busy as it is but I'll make it a point to add people as soon as I get the email.

Here's the picture that you can use as the link back here:

(script language="javascript" type="text/javascript"src=http://rpc.blogrolling.com/display.php?r=2fb0248baed41b5999d2ba2235b89fd4)(/script)

Don't forget to replace the parentheses with brackets.

China Follow Up

Let's paint a picture of what China's is doing to its citizens' property.

HT: AP

Crooked Press?!?

This just goes to show that no one should trust the press. After numerous allegations of doctoring documents, fake sources, and a variety of other claims; now Reuters is accepting doctored photographs.

The story is in full force now across many sources including Ynet, Reuters, Editor & Publisher, and blogs, My Pet Jawa and Michelle Malkin - all laying out the story in great detail. Apparently a certain "Lebanese freelance" photographer, Hajj, has submitted over 920 photos to Reuters - some being doctored to make the Israeli attacks seem more fierce. This doctoring has an obvious agenda of demonizing Israeli forces and implying excessive assaults on Hizbollah. Reuters has pulled the photos and states:

Global Picture Editor Tom Szlukovenyi called the measure precautionary but said the fact that two of the images by photographer Adnan Hajj had been manipulated undermined trust in his entire body of work.

"There is no graver breach of Reuters standards for our photographers than the deliberate manipulation of an image," Szlukovenyi said in a statement.

"Reuters has zero tolerance for any doctoring of pictures and constantly reminds its photographers, both staff and freelance, of this strict and unalterable policy."

That sounds all fine and dandy but how come it took numerous complaints and a wave of bloggers pointing out the manipulation before Reuters pulled the ads? It's apparent that Reuters would've let this slide if it weren't for the national attention.

It's kind of ridiculous how people are so trusting of the press and in the long run, this will all turn out to be a part of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy.

HT: Drudge Report.

Finally

... the Senate showed some sense today when they voted to pass funding of the new border fence. This came after the same vote that failed over two weeks ago to fund the wall. Apparently, the Senate realized that the public is watching and if they don't do as we say, they get phone calls. The Washington Times reports:

The Senate did an abrupt about-face yesterday, voting overwhelmingly to begin paying for 370 miles of fencing and 500 miles of vehicle barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border, just three weeks after voting against the same spending.

The amendment's sponsor said senators were so embarrassed by that July 13 vote that most felt they had to reverse course and vote for it this time -- especially after so many were on record in May voting to build the fence in the first place. The amendment, which provides nearly $2 billion for the project, passed 94-3, with 66 senators switching from "no" to "yes" votes since last month.

Now, we just have to wait for them to come back from their month-long vacation to see if they keep it up...

Murtha's about to put his money in front of his mouth.

A marine is suing for defamation...

A Marine Corps staff sergeant who led the squad accused of killing two dozen civilians in Haditha, Iraq, will file a lawsuit today in federal court in Washington claiming that Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) defamed him when the congressman made public comments about the incident earlier this year.

Attorneys for Frank D. Wuterich, 26, argue in court papers that Murtha tarnished the Marine's reputation by telling news organizations in May that the Marine unit cracked after a roadside bomb killed one of its members and that the troops "killed innocent civilians in cold blood." Murtha also said repeatedly that the incident was covered up.

What took him so long?

HT: Washington Times

And they call me paranoid.

Taken from Insight:

The U.S. intelligence community has determined that Beijing has developed and deployed a series of missiles that would give China second-strike nuclear capability in any confrontation with the United States. The determination of a sea-based deterrent is said to have significantly increased Beijing's threat to the United States.

China is preparing for battle and we have our thumbs up our asses. Pardon the language but there's no better way to put it.

China + PETA = Odd Couple?!?

Well, in my last post, I was called conspiratorial but in this case, it's pure down, right socialism. China is now killing dogs off to destroy the rabies rampage running throughout the country. Covered here, the article goes into great detail how China is not only killing dogs, they're paying off the citizens to do it first.

Apparently, the country has a problem with rabies and instead of countering the problem, they're erasing the source:

A county in southwestern China has killed as many as 50,000 dogs in a government campaign ordered after three people died from rabies, official media reported Tuesday.

The five-day massacre in Yunnan province's Mouding county spared only military guard dogs and police canine units, the Shanghai Daily reported, citing local media.

Dogs being walked were taken from their owners and beaten on the spot, the newspaper said. Other killing teams entered villages at night, creating noise to get dogs barking, then honing in and beating them to death.

If this isn't communism at it's finest, I don't know what is.