By Debbie Schlussel
. . . I-S-R-A-E-L:

With the Monday morning start of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting, Israeli forces gave directives to soldiers manning 470 checkpoints in the west Bank to avoid eating in front of Palestinian citizens when they pass through checkpoints.
The directives also instructed soldiers to avoid smoking and drinking in front of Palestinians as a sign of respect for those who fast as a religious act.

Thanks, Israel, for Being Nice to Us on Ramadan (& Every Other Day)

The Israeli civil administration further decided to allow Palestinians living in Israel access to the West Bank (what they called “Palestinian Authority areas”) in order to visit their families. Money will also be permitted to be transferred to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, so they can buy the appropriate foods for breaking their fast.
Israeli authorities also promised to coordinate with the Palestinian ministry of endowment about increasing number of permits given to Palestinian Muslims to enter Jerusalem so they can perform their Ramadan prayers at the Al-Aqsa mosque.
Several international organizations have urged Israel to issue an additional directive during this holy month: to remove the checkpoints that humiliate, disrupt and create suffering to the daily travels of Palestinians between work, home and family.

Absurd. If the Israelis had any clue how to save their country and their dignity, they’d host feasts at checkpoints and eat and drink to their hearts’ content. Muslims do not respect or fear pandering infidels. They laugh at them.
Reader Paul sends this photo of how the Israelis should be responding to Ramadan pleas from their enemies (he says this helmet is the kind Israeli soldiers wear):

Meanwhile, here’s how their Muslim neighbors thank Israel for their Ramadan kindness: an Imad Mugniyeh Museum, honoring the head Hezbollah mastermind of terrorist operations (thankfully now dead). Mugniyeh is also the guy who helped stomp to death Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem on the Hezbollah-hijacked TWA Flight 847 in 1985. Check out the picture of “Religion of Peace” mothers taking their kids to this “museum.” Check out the Israeli coffin front and center on the billboard.

“Religion of Peace” Members Take Their Kids
to the Imad Mugniyeh Museum
Carl in Jerusalem has the details.

By Debbie Schlussel
It used to be that U.S. Secret Service agents on a protective details were required to wear a coat and tie, except when, for example, they were jogging or bike-riding or hunting with the protectee. But at most appearances, they had to wear the suit and tie, even in 95-degree summer heat. And it used to be that they were required to be clean-cut.
But, apparently, that’s no longer the case. Check out the Secret Service agent on the right with the long hair–a Ward Chuchill clone–in the background, on the Sarah Palin protective detail in O’Fallon, Missouri, yesterday. He and a few other agents in the photo are also not wearing ties, just like Barack Hussein Obama and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (the Iranian leader won’t wear one because it symbolizes Western dress; and Obama–maybe the same reason). Awesome.
The dumbing down of every area of American life continues.

The death of standards and discipline in America continues its rapidity downward.

Alhamdillullah [Praise allah]: U.S. Secret Service
Gets Fashion Tips From Ahmadinejad and Hussein Obama
*** UPDATE: Some people believe the guy in the photo is really a woman. Looks like a man to me. Here’s some related video.

By Debbie Schlussel
I know I’m likely to offend a lot of readers (depending on your or your kids’ first names) with this post, but I’m writing it anyway.
Unlike a lot of liberals–and contrary the constant accusations against me by liberals–I don’t apply a double standard to conservatives and my side of the aisle.
In the past, I’ve mocked the absurd names with which vapid celebs afflict their kids for life. For instance, Penn Jillette named his first kid, Moxie Crimefighter. Jason Lee’s first-born is Pilot Inspektor. And then, there’s Gwyneth Paltrow’s Apple. I’ve dissed them all.
But I’m fair.
And that’s why I have to say that Sarah Palin’s choices in names for her kids are just annoying as all get out. Whacked out and pretentious. And frankly, stupid.

The Palins: Normally-Named Sarah and Todd
w/ Kids Track, Willow, Piper, Bristol (Trig Not Shown)
When Jillette named his daughter, I was quoted in the Las Vegas Weekly:

To further show us how much he “values” free speech–or wants to push its limits beyond acceptability and normalcy, Jillette recently named his new daughter Moxie CrimeFighter. She will be tortured all her life with this absurd name. No problem since her father’s house resembles a bizarre sado-masochism den mixed with macabre death penalty implements.

And I don’t feel differently about the Palin’s choices. Five choices. (Minus the bizarre, macabre stuff, which Jillette really does display all over his home.)
As I noted on Friday, her oldest kid, son Track, is named that because she likes to run. One story goes that the pregnant teen daughter, Bristol, is name after the city in Connecticut where ESPN is located (Sarah Palin was once a sportscaster who longed to make it in the biz). Though, the Palins are now saying it’s not true and that she’s named for Alaska’s Bristol Bay. And then there are Willow, Piper, and Trig.
When I heard names like this, I think: “hippy parents” or “very plastic”.
Um, whatever happened to names like John, Sam, Sarah, Rachel, Jim, and Bill? Not one of her kids has a conventional, normal name. Ditto for the Hussein Obama kids, Sasha and Malia. Funny, Sasha doesn’t look like a Russian male. Not impressed with Hunter Biden, either.
Whenever I hear of parents who name their kids with these pretentious and bizarre names off the beaten track, I feel these parents are saying: look at me, I’m special, I’m fancy, I’m different, and, oh yeah, did I mention, look at me? It’s annoying.
And the same goes for Governor Sarah Palin. If you name your kid after something you run on or a city where you longed to work (though, again, they’re now saying Bristol is named for the well-known Alaskan bay), I have to question your judgment. I wonder where the Miss America pageant was held the year she became runner up for Miss Alaska. If memory serves me correctly, perhaps she should have named one of her kids Atlantic or Boardwalk. Or Talent.
In the past, WASPy upper class women gave their children–particularly their male children–their maiden surnames as first names. Soon, though, those names became adopted by the aspiring middle class and, finally, the aspiring working class, from which they ultimately became stripper names. Tiffany, Taylor, Hunter, Carter, Cullen, Spencer, Lyon, Logan, Sterling, Walker, Tucker, Prescott, Grayson, Brittany-cum-Britney were all last names of some rich guy’s clan. Why would you name your kid after some old, fat, inbred rich guy you’ve never met? Trust me, he’s not reciprocating the favor. (Would you name your firstborn son, “Bush“? He fits the same bill.)
People who do this–who choose these fancy-sounding or obscure name–really strike me as ignorant and common. Some of them are immigrants, who want their kids to sound upper crust. Others are native born. They want to sound classy, but their choice of names for their kids betrays from where they really come. I knew someone whose parents named her Remy after a bottle of Remy Martin. Dumb (and she changed her name). Giving your kid a name like this is akin to a nouveau riche lottery winner buying a bright yellow Ferrari. Look at me–I’m fancy, I have class; Really, I do. No, really.
Logan, Ryan, Reagan (unless the kid is named after the great President Ronald Reagan–then it’s okay), Murphy, Kennedy, Campbell, and Reilly (in various spellings) all began as Irish surnames, which they still are. But I’ve seen a lot of Jews–especially those who don’t keep much of the religion and seem embarrassed by it–name their kids with these as a first name. I always think: Funny, you don’t look Irish. I can’t imagine any Irish person naming his/her kid Cohen or Feldman. Horowitz O’Houlihan doesn’t exactly have a great ring to it (though it makes for a great tongue-twister). Katz Flannagan is an improvement, but not by much–don’t look for that to happen.
I also laugh when I see offspring of my fellow co-religionists with the names Hunter and Fisher. Like they or their parents ever did either. Hunting for sport and for food is prohibited in Jewish law (because of Jewish law requiring animals to be slaughtered in captivity, not shot). And even though most Jews are not religious, they just are not sportsmen in general. I know, I know–it’s a stereotype, but largely true. You don’t see a lot of Jews at Gander Mountain or Cabela’s looking for gear.
That said, my father and I loved the great outdoors and he took us whitewater rafting on the Colorado River, to see the rocks of Sedona, Arizona, in and around the Florida Everglades, on regular hikes, and encouraged us to learn how to identify different birds and animals in a field near our house. He was very much into nature and wildlife and taught it to me–subscribing me to “Ranger Rick” Magazine. And, yes, a few times my dad took me fishing. None of this inspired him to give me a pretentious name, though, and it doesn’t inspire me to have kids and name them thusly, either. Thank G-d, I’m not Ranger Schlussel. Or Sparrow.
My dad longed to see Montana (which he eventually did and was disappointed). Thankfully, that didn’t inspire my parents to name any of us after the state. I think the same thing about people who name their kids, “Dakota“–North or South? Isn’t that an American Indian name?
My own siblings are guilty of this phenomenon, sort of. One of my sisters named her kid, Bella (like an old lady or the guy who played Dracula–though he used one “L”). My other sister named one of her kids, Isabelle (that mistaken old-lady-name-as-chic thing, again) and another, Elliot. Why must everything be so fancy and pretentious? My father and I used to mock these haughty names, as we did someone at our synagogue who named his daughter Brittany Erin, which struck us as the name of someone more familiar with a pole and six-inch platforms.
Simple, Biblical, average names are where it’s at. They do well, when you’re applying for and interviewing for a job. Unusual names don’t.
Problem is, no one in America wants to be average. Sadly, they express their “aspirations” with their kids’ names, only to have themselves and their kids be average–frankly, below mediocre–anyway, in the way they live their lives. Better to have an average, plain name, and to achieve greatness in your accomplishments and deeds. But everyone wants their kids’ names to sound like they walked off the set of a soap opera.
It’s fraud, really. People who give their kids these kinds of names want to pretend they’re something they’re not.
Here’s a good rule of thumb. Don’t name your kids after any of these:
* fruits, vegetables, spices, drinks, or other foods (no Apple, Cherry, Pepper, not to mention Lasagna, Pizza, Lutefisk, Gefilte Fish, Jambalaya,Salsa, Shawarmeh, or CousCous);
* jobs, especially when you misspell them with a “k” (Hunter, Fisher, Pilot Inspektor, Moxie Crimefighter, Poet, Carnie Wilson);
* colors (Amber, Blue, Azure, Turquoise, Teal, Silver, Grey, Gray);
* places (Bryce Dallas Howard–Ron Howard’s daughter, named after the city in which her parents conceived her (real classy–well, at least she wasn’t named, “Buick Backseat Howard”), Bristol Palin, Paris Hilton, Paris Jackson (one of Michael’s other pseudo-kids) Tehran, Karachi, Dearborn, Walla Walla);
* natural phenomena (Leaf, Twig, Willow, Flower, Sierra, River, Lake, Sunshine, Sunset, Sky, Dawn, Tornado, Earthquake, Mudslide)–these names are the domain of American Indians;
* household items (Michael Jackson’s pseudo-kid, Blanket);
* fake royalty and weird perversions of real words (Jermajesty Jackson–Germaine Jackson’s kid, Prince Jackson–another of Michael Jackson’s pseudo-kids, Star Jones–real name, Starlet Jones);
And now a new one:
* sports equipment (Track Palin, Mitt Romney (to be fair, his is a middle name–real first name is Willard), Baseball, Jock.
(I won’t even go into the inner city, urban names that have nothing to do with Africa, despite the belief that they do. LaDainian, Condoleezza (supposed to be based on a musical term)? Who names their kid that?)
I’m sure you can add some other rules.
The bottom line is that a name is like a tattoo. Sure you can have it lasered off (or go to court to get your name legally changed), but the scars and a hint of it remain, and in general, this is a permanent, lifelong decision. If you treat it lightly or absurdly, I wonder how you make other decisions.
And I conclude that you don’t really think too much or too hard. It may sound trivial or old fashioned to you, but her choice of kids’ names makes me wonder all of these things about the woman who may be our next Vice President.
Even though I like Sarah Palin and I’m still voting for her, I wonder.
****
Reader Sean and his wife Rebecca put this list of naming rules together over the years. Some are the same as my own (great minds think alike!) and others are great additions:

1. Don’t name your kid after a season. That includes, Summer, Autumn, Spring, and especially any FRENCH versions of the same.
2. Don’t name your kid after a city/place. That rules out Dallas, Houston, Austin, Atlanta, America, etc.
3. Don’t name your kid after an occupation/pastime. No Hunter, Tanner, etc.
4. Don’t name your kid after a spice. No Cinnamon, Saffron, Sage, etc.
5. Don’t name your kid after a fruit. Sorry Gwyneth, that means Apple, too.
6. Don’t give your kid a normal name with a weird spelling. For example, Aymie, Ondray, Alyce, etc.
7. Don’t name your kid to show how artistic and/or freaky you are. So Moxie Crimefighter, Rumer, Scout, Moon Unit and the rest are pretty much headed for therapy at some point.
7. Finally, the “Boy Named Sue” test. This is named after the song sung by Johnny Cash in which a man leaves his family after naming his new son Sue. Needless to say, the kid’s life was hard. So while babies may seem cute when you name them Percival, Sidney, Gertrude, etc, you have to picture what life will be like when they go through middle school with that name. It’s a VERY different experience.
Here’s another way of looking at it. How would your child do if he/she was left stranded on the island from “Lord of the Flies” with that name?

Great advice. Too bad the Palins didn’t get the memo.
*** UPDATE: Reader Breda, a loyal reader in Ireland, writes:

My name in english means Brigid (St. Brigid of Ireland) When I lived in the U.S., I knew many Jewish people and they always loved my name, but when they asked what it meant and I explained, they would say it is a very obviously Christian name and we can’t use it. We use to have a great laugh.
I always said to them why do you want unusual names? We were brought up to use Biblical or Saint names which have great histories.
There is nothing more inspiring than having a name which has historical or religious connotions. [DS: Amen, Breda!]
God Bless you and your common sense which unfortunately is now an endangered species.

By Debbie Schlussel
If you like “Sanford and Son” and “The Beverly Hillbillies” reruns–as I do–don’t look for them and other classic TV shows on TV Land.
Soon, Lamont and Mr. Drysdale won’t be living there anymore.
The cable network is getting MTV-ized and will dump many classic TV reruns in favor of reality shows. Because we don’t have enough dumb reality shows on TV. And it will add reruns of newer sitcoms like “Friends” because a gazillion cable networks running re-runs of “Friends” every single moment of the day isn’t enough. We need more.
TV Land–part of the MTV networks–is making this move to attract more younger baby boomer viewers in their mid-40s. But I predict it’ll fail. There are already plenty of networks with this garbage kind of programming on. People watched TV Land for something different and to reminisce back to the day when TV sitcoms were actually entertaining. Now, the network will be a homogenized waste of time.

And it’s a dumb strategy because, right now, TV Land is the only successful cable network among the MTV networks group. If it ain’t broke . . . .
Here’s the lowdown:

Viacom Inc.’s TV Land cable network is set to announce a new programming strategy this week — scaling back its traditional emphasis on nostalgia in pursuit of younger viewers.
The new programming plan, which the network plans to present to advertisers this week, will more than triple the number of hours of original programming on TV Land’s prime-time schedule. By the end of 2009, TV Land — which has for years served baby boomers a diet heavy with shows from their youth — wants to fill half its prime-time lineup with original programming, up from about 15% today and 4% in 2007.
Aimed primarily at people in their mid-40s — the younger end of the boomer spectrum, which spans those born from 1946 through 1964 — the new slate includes reality shows like “The Cougar,” in which a fortysomething woman picks among younger bachelors, and series pilots like “First Love/Second Chance,” which reunites long-lost lovers. The channel’s also importing reruns of more recent shows, like the ’90s-era “Friends.” And it is exploring creating its own sitcom.
Viacom’s investment in the new programming comes as TV Land has put in a robust performance in a challenging advertising climate. Viacom posted disappointing U.S. ad-revenue growth of only 1% in the second quarter. But TV Land’s ad revenue grew faster than that of younger-skewing Viacom channels like MTV. . . .
When it started in 1996, TV Land found quick success as a 24-hour network dedicated entirely to TV throwbacks like “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and “M*A*S*H.” But in recent years, old reruns have become old hat. The entirety of “The Andy Griffith Show” is available on DVD; “The A-Team” streams free on hulu.com. And classic-TV viewers have been getting older, pushing the median age of TV Land watchers in prime-time above 55 in 2007, according to Nielsen Media Research. That’s relatively high even for a network targeting baby boomers.
The new strategy, approved by Viacom brass in a series of long-range planning meetings earlier this summer, is intended to help the channel expand its audience, lower its viewers’ median age by increasing the number of shows that attract people in their mid-40s, and pursue new advertisers that will pay higher prices for original fare. . . .
Slowing ad growth at channels with younger audiences didn’t affect the decision to invest in TV Land, says Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman. . . .
One big focus of the new original shows will be dating and romance. (“Your libido doesn’t leave you after 35,” says Mr. Herzog of MTV Networks’ entertainment group.)

Yeah, but your brain and taste doesn’t either.
And people wonder why mine is a cable-free household.

Down & Out: Fred & Lamont Sanford Look for a New Home

By Debbie Schlussel
Another of the many things I don’t expect either John McCain or Barack Hussein Obama to change is the downward spiral of our publick schoolz and the all-around desperate state of education in America. American kids are stupid. Dumb. Ignorant. And it’s only getting worse.
Now, the latest is the comic book textbook. And, predictably, like most comic books, these are dumbed down, left-wing exercises in political correctness. And your federal taxes are heavily subsidizing it. . . through the EPA?!
As a kid, I loved comic books, spurred on by my father who was a big fan of Captain Marvel. And I still have my collection. But reading them was an avocation, not a vocation. They were something to read on the side during free time, not my textbook.
Well, sadly, as kids returned to school in Oregon this week, that changed. If only John McCain would have the guts to denounce this kind of BS:

Doubtful: Betty & Veronica Teaching Your Kids to Spell

Educators are bringing comics to class, and they’re using them to teach kids to get along, appreciate literature and learn more effectively.
Since Dark Horse teamed with Columbia University in New York seven years ago to create the Comic Book Project, the curriculum has spread from one after-school class in Queens to 850 schools across the United States, including at least two Oregon schools, Glenfair Elementary in Portland and Ash Creek Elementary in Monmouth.
Dark Horse says libraries and schools are among its fastest growing markets, with sales rising about 25 percent a year. Comic-book-based curricula include such topics as environmentalism, anti-bullying, teamwork, child abuse, vocabulary, grammar and understanding epilepsy.

Um, why are environmentalism, anti-bullying, teamwork, child abuse, and epilepsy part of any curriculum in elementary schools? No wonder kids can’t read, do math, or write. But they know how to be eco-friendly.

“The demand for comics in education has exploded,” said Michael Bitz, founder of the Comic Book Project at Columbia University. . . .
The Comic Book Project has a budget of $200,000, most of it grants from agencies and institutions such as the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Airways and the New York State Banking Department. . . .
Surveys and interviews with students and teachers showed comic books taught children to write, listen and speak better, he said.

Sure, they did. Puh-leeze.
Students — especially hard-to-reach students — find comic books less intimidating than textbooks, and they can frequently express themselves in comic books better than they can in traditional writing classes, he said. Plus, the visual medium can be more memorable, which means more lasting learning.
Some educators are skeptical, worrying Superman will replace Shakespeare and that comics dumb down lessons.
“If children want to read comic books, that’s their prerogative,” Diane Ravitch, a professor at New York University and a former U.S. assistant secretary of education, said in an e-mail. “But they are not good ‘tools’ for teaching reading.”
Comics use limited and superficial vocabulary, and they fail to teach children to read and think at the same time, she said.
Amen. I’ve always been a fan of Diane Ravitch. The woman is a genius . . . who never learned from comic books. Her books are must reading.

“Now that they’re being used in school, people are seeing that comics aren’t just guys in tights,” said a Dark Horse spokesman, Aaron Colter. “Yes, they’re pictures, but they’re a medium that should be respected,” he said, noting that comic books — now bound together and referred to more respectfully as graphic novels — get reviewed in The New York Times, sold at Barnes & Noble and used as study materials in colleges.

Yes, and we know what geniuses colleges now turn out. Ever see “Jaywalking” on “The Tonight Show”?

He described the acceptance of comic books in classrooms and libraries as part of a larger movement of graphic novels cementing their status as sophisticated literature and art. It’s only a matter of time before they become a standard supplement to the more traditional educational tools, Colter said.

G-d help us. Why not just have Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan reality shows to “teach” kids? Kids like those better than standard textbooks, too.

Andrea Daret used a comic-book curriculum last year with her fifth-graders at Glenfair Elementary School. The anti-bullying course she tried teaches children to resolve conflicts and consider different viewpoints.
“I really think it helped them get along better,” she said. “And best of all, they loved it.”

Again, why the heck are fifth-graders taking courses in anti-bullying? That’s fluff. Can they read? Can they add, multiply, and do division? Can they write and spell?
Say good-bye, America. I guarantee you that in China, in Japan, in India, in our most successful industrialized competitors’ countries, they are NOT learning from comic books.
And they aren’t taking dumb courses in anti-bullying and environmentalism either. They’re learning how to beat us.
They’ll be producing the best products, and we’ll be . . . reading Archie and the Green Hornet.
The movie, “Idiocracy“, comes closer and closer to prophecy, every day.
***
Given this, it might be a good idea to discourage your younger kids from marrying anyone from Oregon. If they have kids, it’ll dumb down your family’s future progeny.
But they’ll be experts on important things like Kryptonite and Jor-El.

By Debbie Schlussel
This is something that, sadly, will not change under John McCain and will only get worse under Barack Hussein Obama: an immigration enforcement hierarchy that is devoted to making life easier for illegal aliens in our midst.
Exhibit A is Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesmodel Carl Rusnok.
He admonished a potential employer for turning in an illegal alien who admitted she bought a phony social security number. The woman was arrested and deported.
But employers don’t have the “training” needed, he claims. And he found himself agreeing with immigration lawyers and illegal alien advocates who say the employer “overreacted” by doing the right thing.

Gee, why don’t we just tell citizens when they see a crime in progress not to call police. After all, they’re “overreacting” and “don’t have the training.”
Nauseating that this is the question being asked and that ICE is siding with illegal alien criminals on the answer:

Did a suburban Dallas employer go too far when it told police about a job applicant who presented what turned out to be a counterfeit Social Security card?
Relatives and advocates for Maria Martinez say that’s what happened when she was arrested, jailed and deported as an illegal immigrant after applying for a hospital cafeteria job.
But a spokeswoman for Trinity Medical Center in Carrollton contends the hospital was simply following policy and has a responsibility to report criminal activity, including possible identity theft, to the proper authorities. . . .
[T]he case raises questions about what employers can or should do if they discover an applicant is not authorized to work legally in the U.S.

What questions? Why are their questions on this no-brainer? Sickening.

Martinez, a single mother of a 3-year-old son and a teenage daughter, showed the hospital’s cafeteria director a Social Security card when applying for a job there in July and also included the card’s number on her application, according to police reports. About a week later, however, a background check revealed the number had been issued to a person who had since died.
The hospital’s personnel director notified Carrollton police of the discrepancy. Detectives also were informed that Martinez had an appointment the next day at the hospital’s human resources office, according to documents filed in the case.
Police were waiting at the hospital and arrested Martinez on a charge of tampering with a government record.
According to police, Martinez acknowledged buying the Social Security card for $110 at a Wal-Mart. She also had a second Social Security card and two counterfeit cards stating she was a legal permanent resident.
Martinez initially planned to fight the state charge but after being held in jail for nearly three weeks, she agreed to be deported to Mexico in August. Her son later joined her in Mexico.
“She told me to please forgive her. She told me she wasn’t strong enough to fight,” said Martinez’ 19-year-old daughter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she also is in the U.S. illegally.
What makes Martinez’ case stand out is that employers aren’t required to report someone suspected of a crime, attorneys say. They also aren’t mandated to report a worker or applicant suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, say immigration attorneys and enforcement officials.
“For an employer to go ahead and take it upon themselves … to report that is unusual,” said immigration attorney Kathleen Walker. “There’s no obligation on my part to go call law enforcement.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Carl Rusnok agreed, saying employers and local police typically don’t have the training needed to determine whether someone is in the country illegally.

HUH? Are you kidding me, Carl? ICE: Don’t call us, we’ll (well, we won’t, actually) call you.

Hospital spokeswoman Susan Watson said . . . [t]he hospital reported what it considered a crime, said Watson. “Regardless of whether they were an illegal alien, legal immigrant or an American citizen, it still wouldn’t have mattered, they still would have been reported,” she said.
Watson said it was the first time in at least two years that the hospital reported a possible crime involving a worker or applicant to police. But officials are always on alert because many employees have access to patients’ medical records and other private information, she added.

Three cheers for Trinity Medical Center for caring about America and doing the right thing. A gazillion jeers to ICE for piling on the hospital along with open borders advocates.
And you wonder why there are 12-20 illegal aliens in our midst. A big part of the problem is three letters: I-C-E.
Note that this investigation was conducted NOT by ICE agents, but by local police. Kudos to them for doing the real investigation into the woman’s immigration fraud, the work some Americans (ie., ICE) won’t do.

ICEfeld by David Lunde/Lundesigns

By Debbie Schlussel
Well, at least he didn’t do it from the Republican National Convention floor. Thank Heaven for small favors. I’ve added my own commentary in brackets. And by the way, no matter who replaces Bush, this pandering message will continue:

I send greetings to Muslims observing Ramadan in America and around the globe.
The holy month of Ramadan is a special time of prayer, fasting, and service [DS: and Muslims killing each other and, later in the year, trampling each other to death on the Hajj]. For Muslims, these days commemorate the revelation of God’s [DS: allah’s, not G-d’s] word to the prophet Muhammad [DS: various Jewish and Christian beliefs plagiarized by cultist moongod worshippers] in the form of the Qur’an [DS: and a reminder of their duty to deceive, cheat, and kill infidels, unbelievers, and apostates].

Bush: “I thank the men and women of the Muslim community
for their contributions to America.”

I thank the men and women [DS: second-class chattel possessing uteruses] of the Muslim community for their contributions to America [DS: money laundering, mortgage fraud, Hezbollah protests, immigration fraud, sham marriages, extremism, the shooting at the Seattle JCC, the spread of jihad]. Your love of family [DS: honor killings, forced arranged marriages for underaged daughters, etc.], and gratitude to God [DS: gratitude to allah, disrespect of Christian and Jewish beliefs] have strengthened the moral fabric of our country. Our Nation is stronger [DS: farther along the path of becoming a Muslim nation] and more hopeful [DS: of our chances of committing national suicide] because of the generosity [DS: while they defraud and leech off of Medicaid, welfare, food stamps, etc., they make millions in donations to HAMAS and Al-Qaeda “charities” that fund terrorist attacks], talents [DS: making twin skyscrapers disappear faster than David Copperfield, ability to lie to the FBI, buy disposable cellphones and send them overseas for conversion to IEDs], and compassion [DS: honor killings, harassment of women] of our Muslim citizens [DS: and tens of thousands of Muslim student-visa holders and illegal Muslim aliens, whom I allowed into the U.S., never to leave].
Laura and I send our best wishes [DS: and look forward to our upcoming gazillion dollar speaking deals in the Gulf]. Ramadan Mubarak. [DS: Next Ramadan with Barack.]
GEORGE W. BUSH

Exit question: How many Muslims will die at the hand of other “peaceful” Muslims this Ramadan? How many homicide bombings between Muslims in Iraq? Elsewhere in the “peaceful” Muslim world? How many will be trampled to death at the Hajj in Saudi Arabia later on in the Islamic calendar?
I’m putting the toll at between 500 and 1,000 total.
Ramadan . . . the natural selection of Islam, though not quite selective enough.

Bush: “The generosity, talents, and compassion of . . . Muslim[s]”
(Palestinian Woman Cheers 9/11 Attacks, Passes Out Candy)

By Debbie Schlussel
. . . Or are you almost as sick of Mrs. Laura W. Bush as you are of her hubby, George “Islam Is Peace”/Quintuple-Muslim-Immigration-and-Visas-to-America W. Bush?
I was never a fan and couldn’t understand the fawning, other than she was post-Hillary, so the benchmark was set low. That’s sadly symbolic of the way everything is with America these days. A lot of hype over sheer mediocrity, because we’ve set our expectations so low. That’s Mrs. Bush in a nutshell–she was mediocre. Average.
There’s a new novel out, which is fiction but is supposed to be about Laura Bush. The book sounds vapid and absurd, but it reminded me of something that’s always bothered me about Mrs. Bush. Laura Bush ran a stop sign and killed her boyfriend, into whom she crashed in an odd freak coincidence. And, yet, she never did a day of jailtime for it.

You think you or I could run a stopsign, commit vehicular manslaughter, and get away with it? Think again. It’s negligence, it’s manslaughter, and it’s not without consequences . . . if you’re one of the little people. We’d be ex-cons, if we were even “ex” at this point.
Let’s face it. This woman–after telling the press she’d never don a hijab on her phony Mid-East breast cancer PR tour–went and donned a hijab and pandered to the future payers of her husband’s high-dollar speaking fees and exorbitant Presidential Library: The Gulf State Emirs and Kings. And, just to make sure the future deals are sealed, she also smilingly posed with women in niqabs, or as I call it, “The Full Ninja” (complete face veil).
She also hinted–over the years–that she’s pro-abortion. And she and hubby surrounded themselves with liberals like Colin Powell and Condi Clueless.
And, most important to me, Laura Bush made fun of her husband when he said one of the few spot-on things he’s actually said in his administration (but didn’t follow), which was how he wanted Bin Laden “Dead or Alive.” What was wrong with that (other than not actually pursuing it)?
She said her husband was being too much of a cowboy and went up to him and said, “Bushie, are you gonna git ‘im?” Translation: With that one phrase, he was being too much of a man. And that masculinity ended with that, back in fall 2001. We know who really wore the pants in the Bush 2 White House. And she likes red lipstick. The guy was emasculated. And she was the emasculator, though in a much more behind-the-scenes way than Hillary Clinton was and Michelle Hussein Obama is.
A guy just murders 3,000 Americans on the same day, and the President’s shrew has a problem with wanting to get him no matter what it takes. If only he’d listened to his words and not to her criticism of them. It makes Nancy Reagan’s consulting of psychics for the Presidential schedule look like political mastery.
There’s a reason the Bush twin daughters are liberals who acted like Paris Hilton during their father’s Presidency and who say they might vote for Barack Obama. They think like their mother.
So, while it’s nice that Mrs. Bush is fundraising for people in the Hurricane Gustav area, big whoop. She’s the Prez’s wife. That’s what she’s expected to do. It’s the baseline, not the cherry on top. And so was her tour as the First Lady. She wasn’t as offensive or political as Hillary Clinton, so anything she did was acceptable. But, don’t fool yourself, behind the scenes she was as political as Hillary, minus the secret socialized medicine committee (she admitted she set policy in an interview on FOX News Sunday–funny, she wasn’t on my ballot; how ’bout yours?). Where Bush was never a conservative–if anything, he was a moderate Republican–she was even less so, your basic liberal-to-centrist.
Sorry, but in eight years, this tough, truly liberal, ex-librarian/teacher chick did not impress. And sadly, because I believe pillow talk is the most effective form of free speech, she had a forum even more important the that of the actual leader of the free world. She’s his boss.
I will not miss Laura Bush. Though, I know, if Michelle Hussein Obama is elected President, er . . . First “Lady”, we’ll forget it all. Most of us will, anyway.
Like I said, Mrs. Bush was lucky to arrive after the First Lady considered the bitchiest and most hated in recent decades. If Mrs. Bush is luckier still to be sandwiched between bitchiest and even bitchier (Michelle Obama), she’ll be remembered fondly . . . but far more fondly than she deserves.
In the end, President Bush listened to his mother, er . . . wife, like a good boy. He didn’t get Bin Laden–Dead OR Alive–and Al-Qaeda is stronger than ever and more decentralized. But, hey, Bush’s wife wore the Islamic female headdress of oppression. The manslaughter of one guy and a show of dhimmi solidarity with a whole world of hurt for the West that goes a lot further than the “accidental” death of a former boyfriend in Texas.
Really, she wasn’t that much better than Hillary after all. Just less openly offensive.
T Minus Four Months for them all.

Halal YAAAAWN

By Debbie Schlussel
As many of you know by now, McCain’s Veep choice, Sarah Palin is the proud mother of five and recently chose to have a baby, despite warnings that it might have Down Syndrome.
As many of you also know, Barack Hussein Obama is pro-abortion, even for his own daughters–his own grandchildren–and supports partial-birth abortion and other extreme measures, which are basically murder of an already partially born fetus. He said he did not want his daughters “punished with a baby.”
Reader Abraham has a great idea for a commercial which shows us who really cares for the less fortunate:

Here’s an idea for Palin v. Obama commercial. Palin keeping her baby with Down’s Syndrome while Obama said he couldn’t “punish my daughters with a baby.”
Talk about differences. Obama–The same man who voted for infanticide while in Illinois legislature.
Palin is someone who follows and believes her faith, not someone who speaks about his relationship with God and then does anything but.

Abraham, great idea. I’d hire you to make ads if I were running the campaign.

By Debbie Schlussel
**** Bumped Up b/c of Bad Link, Yesterday; Link Fixed, Check It Out ****
Michael Reagan Show and longtime Rush Limbaugh fans know the name Brett Winterble. Brett produced Rush’s show for years and now produces Michael’s show.
And he’s the very talented and brilliant host of the “Covert Radio Show,” which posts podcasts virtually daily and will be on terrestrial radio next year. Covert Radio covers the important terrorism, defense, and national security topics in which you and I have a keen interest.
Recently, Brett invited me on to discuss immigration, ICE, and national security. Listen to the Podcast and (hopefully) enjoy.