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Morale at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is at an all-time low.
As , ICE is ranked at the bottom of federal agencies in workplace satisfaction. But DHS officials piled on the double idiocy of and also requiring ICE about how many college graduates it has.
So, yesterday, ICE chieftess had a meeting about morale in “her” agency–something, which after a year and a half on the job, she just noticed is very low. Here is what one agent in the know writes (there is salty language because that’s the stage of frustration at which this agency hovers):

Julie Myers Diet Coke by David Lunde/Lundesigns

Myers held a meeting yesterday with her upper management staff to address morale issues. Maybe if she got off her lazy fucking ass and hit the road, she would get the answers she is looking for. I hear that nobody wanted to talk during the meeting because of what might happen to them. I can’t believe what has happened to my law enforcement career since this sham [ICE] was put together. It’s unbelievable that nobody in Congress gives a shit about these things. Instead of having those who are protecting their jobs testify, maybe they could put a few of us up there to actually tell the truth. God help us . . . .
Former Customs

I can think of a great way to instantly improve morale. First, the ICE Princess should fire all of her directors and top “leadership.” And immediately after, she should resign and tell the President to pull his absurd renomination of her. Pronto.
Meanwhile, another ICE agent says that ICE could have prevented some of the Fort Dix Six Islamic terrorists from ever plotting, because they should have and could have been deported. And he has some important insights. (I don’t agree with his general attack on all former Customs agents–I think there are good and bad agents that came from both the INS and Customs. But the “leadership” is overall horrid. And with morale being the way it is, it’s hard for people–even law enforcement–to succesfully do their jobs.):

Debbie,
What does the Fort Dix plot and 9/11 have in common? The answer is both had alien overstays involved in the crimes. Three of the six plotting to shoot up the fort had overstayed their admissions just as the majority of the hijackers on 9/11.
The learning curve has never been approached as this country still allows illegal aliens to wander about. If ICE investigations had more agents working immigration leads instead of priortizing Customs work there could be at least some semblance of control in locating overstays. (In Orange County, California alone, there are only four agents devoted to employer enforcement as well as locating targeted aliens that have overstayed with something like a 17% success rate in arrest and removal).
I wonder what would have been said had this plot hatched. The FBI has a video store clerk to thank for escaping this embarassment. However, where did these people get their money to operate? This cell had some support and I am highly suspicious that this was not home grown terrorism as is being touted.
The legacy Customs people involved in ICE who abhor arresting aliens illegally in the United States need to be shown the door, like Ms. Myers and Ms. Forman. None of them are dedicated to immigration enforcement.

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Verizon announced yesterday that it will no longer sponsor singer Gwen Stefani’s concert tour because it features “Muslim American Idol,” criminal thug, and child-molestation simulating anchor baby , about whom I .
Friday, Verizon announced that it would no longer sell Akon ringtones. This was a result of the work of Laura Ingraham and Michelle Malkin, who urged their respective listeners and readers to contact Verizon and pull their business from the company. Kudos to them, as they and their listeners/readers deserve all the credit for these positive developments.
And thanks to both of them for recognizing . Ingraham mentioned it on FOX News Channel’s “Your World with Neil Cavuto,” on Friday (video at Hot Air) and Michelle did so, Monday Night, on FOX News Channel’s “O’Reilly Factor” (video at Hot Air).

Thanks to them both, not just for the mention, but more importantly for stopping Verizon. This just goes to show that all is not completely lost in the continuing culture war America fights every single day.
The pornification of America–while seemingly winning the war–does not win every battle. And corporations must be responsible in their capitalism . . . or, occasionally, face the bottom-line consequences.

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Last year, I told you about , the Hezbollah-supporting Judge who was, sadly, elected in Dearbornistan Heights.
As I , I watched his father, Mohammed Turfe, at a private , a/k/a Hezbollah Social Club, make sickening anti-Semitic statements:

Haj Mohammed Turfe, Founding Chairman of the Bint Jebail Cultural Center, gleefully and repeatedly spoke of how “only a few thousand Jews will survive Armageddon.” This mantra, repeated often throughout the event, got raucous, deafening applause and cheers. Well, for once–I thought–extremist Muslims have respect for Christianity. . . when they can twist it to suit their fascist hopes and dreams.

Well, yesterday, David Turfe’s sister and Mohammed Turfe’s daughter, Wanda Saad, lost her race to sit on the Dearbornistan Heights School Board. That’s important because the school district is in the throes of fighting off jihadist invasion. And it is losing.
Dearborn Heights has the second or third highest percentage of Muslim students in its public school system in the nation. It was threatened with violence by “former” Islamic terrorist Imad Hamad, unless Muslim holidays were official school district holidays. And as I , at least two of its schools have had serious terrorist threats scrawled within.
With the loss of Wanda Saad, yesterday, at least it is one small victory in the rain of ideological bullets aimed at us all over America, and especially here in the Detroitistan area.
As one of my friends said: “Yeah! The Jihadi-ette lost!”
Well, yes, she lost the battle (and this is the second time Saad ran for this post and lost). But we are losing the war. That Mrs. Saad got nearly 20% of the votes cast in the race is bad enough.
One down. Way too many to go.

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You know Crocs–those faddish, ugly rubber clogs that come in every color of the rainbow?
They’ve been all the rage for a year now. But they could put your kids–and you–in danger. It’s apparently old news reported by ABC News, last year, but for some reason I’ve been hearing a lot about it in the news, lately.
And this news about the safety risk of wearing Crocs makes yet another point for me about Vegans and others who refuse to wear leather. A lot of them wear Crocs instead, and it apparently leads to “natural selection” on escalators:

Some people have reported that kids wearing Crocs have had their feet sucked into the side of escalators.

(Photo from That Shirt Site)
Some businesses have even posted warning signs near their escalators saying if you’re wearing Crocs, be careful.
Chloe Johnson, 10, from Kansas City, is one of those kids who had a frightening experience while wearing the shoes. . . .
Last year on an escalator at the Atlanta Hartsfield Airport, she had a huge scare.
“Chloe said, ‘My toe, my toe,'” said her mother, Kay Hopkins. “And we took the Croc off and seeing the blood and seeing her toe — it was frightening.”
The escalator was crowded, and the toe of Chloe’s left shoe was sucked between the escalator stair and the side wall.
Some people have reported that kids wearing Crocs have had their feet sucked into the side of escalators.
Some businesses have even posted warning signs near their escalators saying if you’re wearing Crocs, be careful.
Chloe Johnson, 10, from Kansas City, is one of those kids who had a frightening experience while wearing the shoes.
She loved her Crocs. “I wore them almost everywhere,” she said.
Last year on an escalator at the Atlanta Hartsfield Airport, she had a huge scare.
“Chloe said, ‘My toe, my toe,'” said her mother, Kay Hopkins. “And we took the Croc off and seeing the blood and seeing her toe — it was frightening.”
The escalator was crowded, and the toe of Chloe’s left shoe was sucked between the escalator stair and the side wall.
“To have this happen with your child standing right next to you ends up being pretty shocking,” said Chloe’s father, Neil Johnson.
Chloe’s foot recovered, but last month, two children wearing Crocs in Arkansas had more serious injuries.
“Imagine that you are taking a child shopping and out of the blue their foot is mangled, trapped,” said James Yuen, a plastic surgeon at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. “Can you imagine a child stuck for almost an hour? It is a very traumatic event.”
It’s not just Crocs that pose a danger — any soft, pliable shoe, even flip-flops, can be dangerous on an escalator.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates about 10,000 people go to the emergency room every year after accidents on escalators. Of those, 20 percent involved having hands, feet or shoes trapped. . . .
The makers of Crocs are designing a new tag that includes escalator safety tips. . . .
To be safe, experts say parents should make sure children ride in the center of the escalator step.
Parents of small children should carry them, and kids should not run their foot along the wall — that creates friction and heat, which could explain why the Crocs seem to melt around the edge of the step.
And remember that escalators are now outfitted with emergency stop buttons.
If you run into trouble, you can shut it down pretty quickly.

A better solution: Teach your kids to take the steps (they’re healthier), or better yet . . . don’t buy them Crocs.
Yes, animal rights activists, it’s official: We were meant to wear leather shoes.

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**** SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATES ****
Earlier today, I noted that the (for the pizza shop his family owns).
I wondered why this is the case. A military reader very much in the know has the scary 411:

Fort Dix Entry Point Piece of Cake:
A Muslim Pizza Deliveryman Can Bypass This Easily

In your post you mentioned that one of them had “secure access to the base” as a pizza delivery man. In fact, most military bases allow delivery people on the installation. There is usually a segregation at the entrances. People with DoD [DS: Dept. of Defense] decals on their cars move forward to simply get their IDs checked. Those without the decals go to a separate line and must show license and registration to get a one-day pass. On most posts, these vehicles are routinely inspected. Sometimes the inspection is cursory, sometimes it is very detailed. The same is true of locations where city buses and school buses go onto the base. It depends on the location and what the installation commander deems the right security precautions are.
Hopefully this will wake up the stateside installation commanders so that they’ll ratchet up their security.

Yes, hopefully, but don’t count on it. 9/11 didn’t achieve that. What will?

I love how the FOXNews [DS: a/k/a ] article ends:

“If these people did something, then they deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law,” said Sohail Mohammed, a lawyer who represented many of the detainees. “But when the government says ‘Islamic militants,’ it sends a message to the public that Islam and militancy are synonymous.”
“Don’t equate actions with religion,” he said.

Well, that’s actually a good point. I don’t EQUATE actions with religion. It’s just that in this case, I think they’re closely related. And by “closely related” I mean “cause and effect.” But you know, the term “Islamic militants” isn’t inaccurate or misleading. Are they Islamic? Yes. Are they militant? Well, I’d say the jury is still out ‚Äì literally ‚Äì but given that they wanted to buy AK-47s and RPGs to attack soldiers at Ft Dix, I’ll have to give that a qualified yes also.

He adds, and I agree:

If these guys are recent converts who became militant, shouldn’t we be looking at the people who converted them? Because OBVIOUSLY those guys are also militant. Otherwise, you’d have to go with the idea that Islam is so militant in and of itself that anyone who converts to it wants to attack his own government.
As you said before, move along, nothing to see here, go back to sleep.

Yes, who converted them (if we are to believe the apparently phony convert story)? As , the man who converted Adam Gadahn a/k/a Azzam Al-Amriki (Azzam the American), , remains a target for gushing by the media and law enforcement bureaucrats of the Bush administration (as well as most Democrats).
**** UPDATE: Reader Mike writes:

I grew up an Air Force Brat, spent 4 years in the Army, and have been working on an Air Force Base as a civilian since 1992. I’ve commented on the ease with which pizza delivery vehicles bypass security since I was in the Army in the mid-80s. When I enter the base, a guard takes my DoD-issued photo ID, examines it for authenticity/tampering, and compares the picture to my face. A pizza sign on your car at lunch time seems to earn you a wave-through (though I admit I haven’t observed the lunchtime gate process for a couple years, so it may already be “fixed” here).
I hope the Dix Six will lead to a fix. (Sorry ‚Äì couldn’t resist.) We already have fast-food places on bases ‚Äì why not pizza places that deliver on base? That way, the employees can be subject to background checks, issued photo IDs, and be screened on their way to work (assuming they’re not family members living on base), completely obviating the need for pizza delivery vehicles to pass through the gate during lunch. For those who want pizza delivered, require them to meet the delivery driver outside the gate, complete their transactions, then return to base under the normal scrutiny. Lunch is no justification for short-circuiting security.
Also, I just thought I’d pick one exceedingly minor nit. While the Marines, the Navy, and the Air Force refer to their major installations as “Base,” the Army used the term “Post.” Thus, Fort Dix is a “Post,” not a “Base.”

Another reader, a Police Detective in a major American city writes me:

Deb,
That photo looks to me like the soldier has a blank adapter on the muzzle of the M-16 rifle he is holding which would make it useless for doing anything but making noise with blanks. If it is an adapter the rifle is unable to fire live ammo while it is attached.
What gives?

What gives is that America is, like Adam Ant, Desperate but Not Serious.
**** UPDATE, 05/09/07: Reader Joe, a retured U.S. Army man provides answers about the “blank adapter”:

Hi Debbie!
In answer to the question about the blank adapter on the front of the rifle, it is obviously just a stock photo of troops undergoing training. It is not a picture related at all to the actual story. Troops “train” with blank ammo, which does not have the oomph to cycle the rifle’s action. The blank adapter provides the resistance to the light powder load of the blanks, thereby allowing the rifle to cycle properly on semi auto and automatic.
Plus, no one gets killed while training, which is seen as a good thing.

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My absolute all-time favorite “Saturday Night Live” skit is this one, below (my second fave is William Shatner telling the Trekkies they’re losers). I’ve been waiting for someone to post the entire skit, but no-one has. I always thought the late Chris Farley won the audition (that would have been funnier), but in re-reading the script (posted below), it appears that won. In searching for the vid, I found a hilarious online petition demanding that Hollywood ban Swayze from all future movies (not a bad idea). Lots of funny comments on it, but the best one: “Swayze is Gayze.” Hmmm . . . a guy who does ballet, loves dancing, dresses in drag, is married but no kids–Naah:

I suggest an update of the Chippendales audition (is Chippendales still around?) with someone impersonating Hezbollah Chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah replacing the late Chris Farley, or Mike Reno, the lead singer of “Loverboy” who sings the “Working for the Weekend” track, since he’s now in Farley “fighting shape”.
Put one of these in an update of the Chippendales Audition:

Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah or Loverboy’s Mike Reno Would Make Excellent Chippendale’s Replacements for Chris Farley
(Sheikha Hassan Nasrallah Girlie Man by David Lunde/Lundesigns)

Chippendales
Barney…..Chris Farley
Adrian…..Patrick Swayze
Male Judge #1: This is impossible! Can’t we just hire them both?
Male Judge #2: No. We’ve been through this. We’ve only got the budget for one dancer!
Female Judge: Yeah, but they’re both so great.. I can’t decide between them..
Male Judge #2: Well, that’s our job. That’s what Chippendales pays us for.
Male Judge #1: Yeah, but these guys have been through hell! Five hours of auditions, three callbacks..
Male Judge #2: Well, look.. if you want to give up your salary so Chippendales can hire both these guys – that’s fine with me.
Male Judge #1: Okay, okay..
Male Judge #2: [to offscreen] Marcy? Bring ’em in?
Male Judge #1: This is the part of the job that I hate.
[Adrian, a well-built dancer, walks in, followed by Barney, a flabby dancer]
Male Judge #2: Adrian. Barney. [sighs ] Listen, before we start, I just want to say once again that either of you would make a wonderful addition to the Chippendale family. I know you’ve been put through a long, long addition, and I know it’s been hard.. But I think that in itself is a testament to how good both of you are, and just how difficult our choice is. I wish I could just flip a coin and be done with it.. but we can’t. We’re Chippendales. Marcy? Music?
[Loverboy’s “Working For The Weekend” blasts the stage, as Adrian and Barney begin their final audition. Adrian strikes many sexy moves which show off his fantastically fit body; all of Barney’s sext moves accentuate the fact that he has a big belly hanging over his belt. ]
Male Judge #2: Thank you. Adrian, Barney, if you could just give us a minute, we’ll make our decision.
[Adrian and Barney exit to the back room]
Adrian: Oh, Adrian, you were great out there, man! I know it’s gonna be you
Barney: Oh, Barney, what are you talking about? You got it, and you know it!
Adrian: Whatever happens, you’re the best!
Marcy; [peeks in] They’re ready for you, guys.
[Barney and Adrian shake hands and walk back out]
Male Judge #2: Adrian? Barney? We’ve made our decision. But before we tell you, I just want to tell you again how truly difficult it was for us to make our choice, and to thank you for your patience throughout this long, arduous audition. [ pause ] We’re gonna go with Adrian.
Barney: I knew it, man! [shakes Adrian’s hand]
Adrian: [starts to weep] I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I just never wanted anything so much in my life, and now that I’ve got it, I’m having a hard time dealing with it!
Male Judge #2: Well, that’s okay, Adrian, we understand. [pause] Barney, we all agreed that your dancing was great.. your presentation was very sexy. I guess, in the end, we just thought Adrian’s body was much, much better than yours. You see, it’s just that, at Chippendales, our dancers have traditionally had that lean, muscular, healthy physique – like Adrian’s – whereas yours is.. well, fat and flabby. [Barney starts to vamp ] No, Barney. No, no, no. Barney, we’ve made our decision.
Adrian: Excuse me, can I make a point? [ wraps his arm around Barney ] I just want to say that this guy is one hell of a dancer, you know? I mean, he’s got some of the sexiest moves I’ve ever seen! And if you’re really serious about going with me, it can only be because his body’s so bad!
Barney: Thanks, man.
Adrian: I mean, on straight dancing, in presentation, ain’t no way I’m better than him!
Male Judge #2: Amen. Amen. You see, Barney, we considered the possibility that our heavier female customers might actually prefer a heavier, heavier man that they could identify with.. but then we decided..
Adrian’s Thoughts: [as Male Judge #2 drines off] Even as I stood there listening to them explain why they’d chosen me, I still couldn’t believe it! Ever since I could remember, I had dreamed about becoming a Chippendales dancer, and now I was one! I never saw Barney again.. but I would never forget how, for one moment, he brought out the best in me. That was the time of my life.
[Music Bed: “Time of My Life”, by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, over a photo of Adrian striking a sexy Chippendale pose to fade]

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Time for Part II of Today’s edition of “Guess the Religion.” Earlier today, I of those involved in the plot to murder U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix where, as I pointed out, America made the idiotic mistake of yet again giving refuge to Muslim “refugees” a/k/a Invaders.
Now, here’s today’s Detroitistan version of “Guess the Religion.”
* Crime Story #1: Dearbornistan police, yesterday, broke up a retail fraud ring, whose members bought and sold stolen merchandise from Target, including video games, DVDs, computers, TVs, and other electronic devices. The goods were bought from an “inside man” at Target (who was stealing them from the retailer) and resold in video stores and homes in Dearbornistan and other Detroit suburbs.
Guess the religion.

Well, if you’re like me, and you read today’s Detroit Free Press, you would NOT know the religion or even the names of the suspects. Why? Well, because on a page of its local section in which all crimes from the day before are listed, strangely there is only one article in which the names of the suspects charged were not disclosed.
We learned about Dr. Rolando Santa-Ana of Shelby Township, who killed his wife and committed suicide. We learned of Anton Freed, a Detroiter who crashed without a seatbelt and died. We learned about Rodney William Bumstead, a tanning salon peeping tom in Waterford. We learned about Michael Tourle of Canton, accused of firing a dun in a drunken episode. And we learned of Deshawn Steven Johnson of Farmington, charged with robbing three Detroit banks. We even learned of Arlene Denise Newsome of Brampton Ontario, caught smuggling ecstasy into the U.S.
But for some strange reason, the article on the Dearbornistan fraud ring–written by the Detroit Free Press’ resident Islamist Niraj Warikoo–does not sey the names of the suspects charged in that matter. Unlike all the others accused of crimes on the Local Briefs page, the fraud ring members are identified only as “charged . . . suspects.”
And maybe here’s why–their names: The two main suspects, courtesy of Detroit’s Channel 7/WXYZ-TV, are Naddeem Awada, owner of Game Stop, and Jamal Salman Bazzi, owner of ICON Computers. FYI, Bazzi’s family is the well-known Shi’ite Muslim family from Lebanon that openly supports Hezbollah. His cousin, Ali Bazzi, is Mayor of Hezbollah stronghold Bint Jbeil, Lebanon and openly supports Nasrallah and Company. Gee, I wonder where the cash from this stolen merchandise is going. Hmmm . . ., what a shame the FBI isn’t involved, now that they’ve taken all terrorist-related money-laundering investigations (ie., Operation Greenquest) away from ICE.
Other participants in the ring: Adnan (Eddie) Samona, Sawsan (Sue) Najeeb Haji and Danny Najeeb Haji. Samona is a Chaldean (Iraqi Christian) surname. But basically, Mid-East values have been brought to the Midwest to stay, especially when it comes to crime.
So why did Niraj Warikoo and the Detroit Free Press leave out their names and not those of every other charged suspect they wrote about throughout the Detroit area? If you even need to ask, you haven’t been reading this site enough. Clearly, we aren’t ever supposed to know when criminals are Muslims and/or Arabs. They don’t want you to be able to . . . guess the religion.
Read and Watch the video of WXYZ-TV’s reports on this Muslim Arab Fraud Ring. It was the only media outlet in Detroitistan–TV or print–to identify the men by name. The Islamist-occupied Detroit Newsistan–surprise!–didn’t even cover the story.
* Crime Story #2: Dearbornistan Heights’ Crestwood High School and Riverside Middel Schools were locked down for three hours, yesterday, and students have not been allowed to wear jackets or bring backpacks to school for days because of threats made at the school. Students’ lockers have also been searched daily.
Dearbornistan Heights and its Crestwood School District were the target of open violent threats before. In some of his well-known, documented hate speech, “Former” Islamic terrorist threatened violence against the school district and its school board members unless they made Islamic holidays Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha school district holidays. The Dearbornistan Heights school district has the second or third largest Islamic student body in it public schools in the United States, only behind Dearbornistan and possibly Hamtramckstan.
So, what were the threats and who made them? The school won’t say and parents are angry about it. Guess the religion.
BTW, on this story, too, Detroit’s WXYZ-TV/Channel Seven Action News is the only media outlet–print or broadcast to cover this story at all. Gee, I wonder why. Read and watch the videos of Channel Seven’s report on this by Peggy Agar.
* Crime Story #3: An adult daughter in the ritzy Detroitistan suburb of Bloomfield Hills murders her mother in a rage, by hitting her with an SUV. All Detroit TV news outlets, yesterday, covered this as a revenge murder of a mother by her daughter after a fight, but none identified the names of those involved. Today’s Detroit Free Press presents a far more sympathetic approach on the front page (in a story written by a Muslim reporterette), saying the daughter didn’t really mean to kill her mother. She feels bad about it, and it was an accident. Uh-huh. Maybe that has something to do with the names of the people involved:

Rabia Deen, 58, died from head wounds after she either fell from the Ford Explorer her daughter attempted to back out of the driveway or was hit by the vehicle’s open door, police said.
The daughter, Anisa Deen, 20, was hospitalized Monday, too grief-stricken to speak with police.
She is described by friends of the family as a brilliant student who graduated in 2004 from Detroit Country Day School. Police said she is a student at the University of Michigan. She is the daughter of Meer Jamal Deen, a podiatrist with an office in Southfield.
“There’s nothing at all that indicates the daughter was trying to injure the mother,” Bloomfield Township Police Chief Kirt Bowden said. “But the fact that there was no intention does not necessarily eliminate charges.”
Police are gathering evidence to forward to prosecutors, who will decide whether to charge the daughter. Possible charges include manslaughter and negligent homicide.
Police would like to interview her in more detail but say she is too distraught to speak to them.
“You can imagine the shock she is in right now,” Bowden said.
Bowden said police were called once before to the one-story brick home in response to a family argument, but he could not give an exact date. No charges were filed in that incident.
Noor Mohammed, a family friend, is helping to make funeral arrangements. He said services will be held at the Islamic Association of Greater Detroit in Rochester Hills.

Guess the religion.
So, do non-Muslims get this kid-glove treatment after they murder their parents in the passionate rage of an argument? Just askin’ (rhetorically, of course).

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Hmmm . . . Washington Times’ reporter Jerry Seper must read this site to get ideas for his stories (so many others at the paper do, but they give credit where it is due).
Two stories I broke here about ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)in the last week have been re-written today (without credit, of course) by the Washington Times’ Jerry Seper. Thanks, Jerry–you can pay me later for leading the way for you. (It’s a tiny source of solace that my tiny blog is ahead of the curve of a major newspaper in our nation’s capital.)
As I reported last week, the Department of Homeland Security (and the Justice Department–but ICE wouldn’t respond to that agency, which has basically no authority over it) (ie., arms smuggling and money-laundering investigations) it performs–as a (which Seper missed) or the FBI (which is unlikely because DHS would not willingly hand things over to the Department of Justice, would it?).

Seper also regurgitates my story from yesterday, about the controversial and inaccurate , which does not list ICE as a “Law Enforcement” agency.
Seper fails to note the Muslim woman prominently in the ad and the fact that all those pictured in the ad are minorities.
Remember, you read it here, first.
One career-ICE and Customs man writes:

See attached from this morning’s Washington Times – you had both of these stories before the “mainline” media did, congratulations! I find particularly interesting that the WT’s picked up on the continuing review re: breaking up ICE, note the distinction between legacy INS investigators (who would remain with ICE) and legacy Customs investigators (who would presumably make moves to Secret Service, etc.). I would be skeptical of any FBI plans to take any of the legacy Customs agents, however – FBI might take the functions, like they did re: GreenQuest, but I doubt they’d take anyone on and make them FBI agents.

As many ICE agents have noted, President Bush is at fault for destroying the U.S. Customs Service, the nation’s oldest law enforcement agency and the most successful at stopping money-laundering, weapons-smuggling, and interdicting drugs at the borders. Joe Lieberman’s Homeland Security bill would have allowed Customs to remain a separate agency within DHS, a la FEMA and the Secret Service. Immigration enforcement fuctions would have been separate. But Bush chose to push two largely-unrelated agencies into one.
Now, one of those agencies is about to be lost forever. And the chick atop it is clueless that her agency being carved up is a sign that she is a failure.
So, why should you–the average American–be concerned with this intra-agency inside baseball? Because more drugs, more smuggled arms, more money laundering will be present in the post-9/11 U.S. than before 9/11 with this latest development.
Bet on it.

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Time for another edition of “Guess the Religion.”
So, six people are arrested in a plot to shoot to kill as many U.S. soldiers as possible at Fort Dix. One of the six has secure access to the base . . . as a pizza delivery man?! Guess the religion.
Here are more hints. One was born in Jordan, another in Turkey, and four born in the former Yugoslavia are “ethnic Albanians” living near Fort Dix where Muslim “refugees” of the Kosovar war have been taken in and sheltered by us stupid, pathetically generous (to our death) Americans. Guess the religion.
On a tape of their plans here is some of the dialogue:

On the videotape there is significant discussion of martyrdom. “Who is going to take care of my wife and kids?” one suspect asks on the tape, according to investigators. Another responds, “Allah will take care of your wife and kids.”

Guess the religion.
Well, if you finally guessed Islam, guess what else? Since you guessed it, their fellow members of the club at “Religion of Peace” Headquarters are racing to distance themselves.
FOX News Channel a/k/a the foes out of its way to tell us:

A law enforcement source told FOX News that all of the suspects are recent converts and were not born Muslims.

So, let’s see: One born in Turkey, another born in Jordan, the remaining four were Albanians living in Fort Dix where “refugees” of the Kosovo war (ie., Muslims) have been taken in. I think it’s pretty safe to assume they, indeed, were born Muslims.
But what if they weren’t? It’s a BFD red herring.
It’s quite clear they are definitely Muslims now and wanted to kill “as many [U.S. soldiers] as possible.” And “Allah will take care” of their relatives. Whether or not they were born Muslims is an irrelevant issue, a distinction without a difference, designed to make us think “well, real Muslims would never do that.”
Riiiiight.

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. . . is not David Hasselhoff drunk and trying to eat a burger (Micky D’s or Burger King?) while forcing his young daughter to videotape it. My fave video of the Hoff is still, by far, this one, and it’s only 11 seconds long (other great ones are any videos of him singing–cheesier than Velveeta). As I wrote last year, America’s cheesiest man later tried to (also, ) what he did in this video. Never thought we’d long for the days of “Baywatch” and “Knight Rider”:

A clearer view (4 seconds long):