By Debbie Schlussel
Eighteen years ago, today–one December 21, 1988–Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up by Islamic terrorists over Lockerbie, Scotland.
All 259 passengers and crew aboard–mostly Americans–and 11 people on the ground were murdered.
The plot was begun by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) and finished by Libya’s Muammar “Daffy” Qaddafi.
Today, the victims’ silence has been bought off by a forced settlement of $10 million per family. Libya bought its way off the State Department terrorist list. And “former” PFLP (the PFLP-GC was a splinter group of PFLP) personnel like Islamic activist, Imad Hamad, are now U.S. citizens and favored cronies of the likes of U.S. Attorney (and Bush Federal Court of Appeals nominee) Stephen Murphy III a/k/a “Abu Porno” and Brian Moskowitz a/k/a Abu Moskowitz, Michigan/Ohio Special Agent in Charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Pan Am Flight 103. We remember. Too many others have forgotten.
Visit the Official Site of the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103.

By Debbie Schlussel
We constantly hear about the “generosity” of celebs like Oprah and Bono (well, he’s generous with OUR tax money, not his money). The reason we hear about it is that they really aren’t generous. They’re merely interested in hyping their image.
But the truly generous Americans are not celebrities with slick PR. They’re modest, unknown Americans you never hear about. Earlier this year, we wrote about Buffalo’s late Waldemar Kaminski, who lived modestly and quietly gave millions to the poor. Today, USA Today’s Nanci Hellmich brings us the inspiring story of a truly generous, modest American–real-life Santa, Larry Stewart.
Stewart embodies everything that’s great about America. Until now, an anonymous donor of over $1.3 million in cash to various poor, homeless, and unfortunate Americans, Stewart was a poor guy who arose from poverty to become a millionaire and wanted to give something back because G-d and others helped him when he was homeless, hungry, and couldn’t afford to pay for a meal at a diner.

Secret Santa & Great American Larry Stewart
Stewart is the Secret Santa Claus you’ve been reading about for years, anonymously giving $100 bills anonymously to Kansas City, Missouri residents. He never wanted his name to be known, but a tabloid was about to out his identity, and he beat them to it.
Sadly, Stewart has esophageal cancer that has metastazised to his liver. He’s being treated at Houston’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Check out Stewart’s Secret Santa site. It features a book written about his deeds by a Kansas City reporter.
Here are some excerpts from this VERY INSPIRING story:

Stewart carefully guarded his identity for years; only his family and a few close friends knew the truth. USA TODAY profiled him in a front-page story in 2001 but did not publish his name. That holiday season, he handed out $25,000 in $100 bills to New Yorkers who were reeling from the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
Over the years, Stewart estimates, he has given away $1.3 million. He says he has been amply rewarded in return.
“I see the smiles and looks of hopelessness turn to looks of hope in an instant,” he says. “After all, isn’t that what we were put here on Earth for – to help one another?”
But now his secret is out. Contrary to published reports, Stewart says, he didn’t reveal his identity because he is sick. He has esophageal cancer that has metastasized to his liver. He is being treated at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
Instead, Stewart says, he went public when it became apparent a tabloid newspaper was going to reveal his name. Now he hopes his story will inspire others to become Secret Santas.
Although he’s a millionaire now, Stewart says he understands the pain of poverty. He was reared by his grandparents in the small town of Bruce, Miss. They could barely afford to feed and clothe him.
In the winter of 1971, Stewart was working as a door-to-door salesman in the little town of Houston, Miss. After the company he was working for went out of business, he ran out of money. He hadn’t eaten for almost two days when he went to the Dixie Diner and ordered a big breakfast, then acted as if he had lost his wallet.
Ted Horn, the owner of the diner, who also was the waiter and cook, came over near the stool where Stewart had been sitting and picked up a $20 bill off the floor. “Son, you must have dropped this,” he said. “It was like a fortune to me,” Stewart says. “I said to myself, ‘Thank you, Lord.’ ”
He paid for the breakfast, left a tip, pushed his car to a gas station and left town. Then it dawned on him: Nobody had dropped the money, but Horn had helped him out in a way that wouldn’t embarrass him. “Right then, I just made a promise. I said, ‘Lord, if you ever put me in a position to help other people, I will do it.’ ”
Eventually he moved to Kansas City, where he made money first in cable television, then with his own long-distance telephone company. He was married in the early 1970s and has adult children. (To protect their privacy, he is reluctant to discuss his family members.)
Stewart started helping the less fortunate in 1979. Right before Christmas, he stopped at a drive-in in Independence, Mo., and ordered a hamburger and soft drink. He gave the carhop a $20 bill and said, “Keep the change.”
“You’re kidding,” she said. “No, ma’am. Merry Christmas,” he said. She started sobbing and said, “Sir, you have no idea what this means to me.”
That felt so good, Stewart says, he went to the bank, got more cash and started giving it away. And his Secret Santa was born, although he doesn’t disguise himself in full Claus regalia, sometimes opting just to wear something red.
He has no strict criteria for who receives the money. He sometimes works with social service agencies, or he has police officers and firefighters help him identify people who have been devastated by a fire or other calamity and gives the victims $1,000 or more. But much of the money he gives away is handed to people he sees on the street, in diners, Laundromats, pawnshops and fast-food places.
There are no tax breaks for the way he distributes his money. Besides helping people in Kansas City, he has traveled to other areas of the country, including the Washington, D.C., area, Chicago and communities in California, Florida and Mississippi.
Stewart never forgot the diner owner. In December 1999, he tracked down Horn in Tupelo, Miss., and gave him a bank envelope with $10,000 in it. Horn opened it and said, “Oh, my Lord. You don’t have to do this.” He tried to hand it back, but Stewart said, “No, sir, I’ve come to pay you back.”
Horn, 88, says about all this: “It’s an amazing story. He’s the best. He’s a Christian man. He enjoys giving away that money.”
Tom Phillips, the sheriff of Jackson County, Mo., who has been accompanying Stewart on his holiday rounds for 17 years, agrees. “The best part about Larry is, he is giving from his heart. He is doing it to see the smiles on people’s faces.” . . .
Stewart isn’t hanging up his Santa gear yet. He was doling out money in Kansas City on Tuesday and Wednesday. He’ll be giving away $100,000 before Christmas. And he’s working with four newly trained Secret Santas, who are handing out a total of $75,000 of their own money.
Before he started this role as a Secret Santa, Stewart says, “I had not found my purpose. Part of my daily prayer was, ‘Lord lift me up and let me be a better witness to you and for you and somehow reach more people.’ I had no idea this is what He had in mind.”

Read the whole heart-warming article.

By Debbie Schlussel
Who can blame Susette Kelo for the Christmas card she sent out, this year?
On the front is a snowy photo of her home in New London, Connecticut–you know, the home that was forcibly taken from her by power-hungry, money-hungry politicians and developers using “eminent domain”; the home that was the subject of a U.S. Supreme Court case that obscenely ruled against her and the property rights that are a hallmark of America.
Inside is this message:

Here is my house that you did take
From me to you, this spell I make
Your houses, your homes
Your family, your friends
May they live in misery
That never ends.
I curse you all
May you rot in hell
To each of you
I send this spell
For the rest of your lives
I wish you ill
I send this now
By the power of will

Kelo sent the card to all those who took her home out from under her. Some would call that “Bah, Humbug.” I call it, an extreme understatement of what the recipients really deserve.
Right on, Susette!

By Debbie Schlussel
After going on and on and on and on and on and on and on to any and every party that would listen–about how his “beautiful wife” Valerie Plame was outed as a CIA agent–former Ambassador Joe Wilson, a pan-Arabist, anti-Israel fanatic, is now trying to keep mum.
After demanding an investigation and prosecution of the source of the leak that his wife worked for the CIA, Wilson is now asking the judge in the trial of former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby–the only indictee as a result of the investigation–not to force him (Wilson) to testify.
Karma is a bitch, Joe Wilson. You asked for it. Now, you got it.
There is absolutely no reason why Wilson should not be forced to testify as anyone else in his position would be required to do.

Suddenly Silent Joe Wilson (& Wife Valerie Plame): Time for Him to Talk

By Debbie Schlussel
My new heroes are William Carsola and Dave Stewart. They put on several different disguises that were quite obvious and went to the Virginia Dept. of Motor Vehicles to get driver’s licenses. They were never turned down, even though some DMV employees even recognized them from previous visits.
No matter how absurd the disguises, they were allowed to get licenses. This should be a wake-up call on how easy it is for anyone to get phony (costumed) driver’s licenses. And how easy it is to get multiple ones. These guys are heroes for exposing the absurd ease with which most states dole out driver’s licenses to anyone, including terrorists and criminals.

William Carsola, Dave Stewart w/Their “Disguised” VA Driver’s Licenses
It’s all on these two videos from YouTube. Watch ’em. They’re Hilariiiiiiiious!!!!


Yet, now that it’s embarrassed by this, the VA DMV is demanding that the men take new license photos or lose their driving privileges. Huh? Well, maybe Carsola and Stewart should have donned hijabs or other Muslim garb. Then, they’d cow everyone in the State of Virginia or anywhere else. And be able to threaten a lawsuit. And scream, “Islamophobia.”
More from AP:

With their skin painted bright red, spray-on hair and oversized fake teeth, the Virginia men looked a little like teenagers from Pluto but the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles issued them driver’s licenses all the same.
But after videos of the prank gained notoriety on the Internet, it was the DMV’s turn to be red-faced, and has ordered the men to pose for new license photos or lose their driving privileges.
Posted on Youtube.com, the video features scenes of Will Carsola spray-painting his face and neck bright red and Dave Stewart painting the top of his head black and sticking a row of fake buckteeth in his mouth in an Asian caricature. They each enter the DMV office and return with real licenses with photos of their new likenesses.
In another video, a shaved-headed Carsola comes out of the DMV with a photo of his eyes crossed, and another friend obtains a license after spray-painting on a thick, black beard and monobrow.
“We were like, ‘There’s no way this is going to work,'” Stewart said. “Even when I did the kung-fu guy, it surprised me how little they laughed. Will had red skin and they didn’t even tell him to come back when it was normal.”
The independent filmmakers, both 27, did the pranks as part of a new movie, “and it escalated from there,” Stewart said. . . .
Stewart said it was obvious that the oversized plastic teeth and spray-painted face weren’t physical disfigurements, and speculated that apathetic DMV workers probably just didn’t feel like questioning their appearance.

They just didn’t feel like it. Maybe that’s how so many 9/11 hijackers got driver’s licenses so easily. Some things never change . . . until we’re dead.

By Debbie Schlussel
Today, “Rocky Balboa” opens in theaters. I’ve already written two semi-reviews–here and here. And I’ve seen the movie twice. I liked it and recommend it. It’s especially great for those of us nostalgic for the Rocky of yesteryear. This film does not disappoint. It is vintage, classic Rocky. Our beloved Rocky, the symbol of everything that is great about America–hard work, grit, and the belief in yourself that you can succeed.
This 6th installment of the almost 31-year-old Rocky–written, directed, and starring Sylvester Stallone–is a fitting tribute, a fitting end to the Rocky series of movies. It has everything–the scenes of Rocky training, the run up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art to the tune of “Gonna Fly Now,” Paulie, and flashbacks of Adrian (Talia Shire) and trainer Mickey Goldmill (the late, great Burgess Meredith) (both characters are now dead).

Rocky, still poor (he lost everything to bad accountants and bankruptcy in Rocky V), still lives in a humble, working-class Philadelphia neighborhood. The neighborhood is now more decrepit and gritty. The pet shop where Adrian once worked is papered over and abandoned. And Rocky’s son, Rocky, Jr., is now a stockbroker-trainee embarrassed by his father’s working-class aura and upset he lives in the shadow of his famous boxing champ dad.
Rocky works nights at his restaurant, where he tells fan/diners boxing tales, much like real-life boxer Rocky Marciano is said to have done in his twilight days.
But something is left unfinished. There is “still fire in the furnace,” and Rocky still has demons to fight, he tells Paulie. Hype over an ESPN computer-generated fight between the Rocky of yesteryear and the current undefeated heavyweight champ Mason “The Line” Dixon (played by real-life former boxer Antonio Tarver) makes Rocky yearn for one last fight, the fight of his life. His yearning for the deceased Adrian is one of those “demons.”
It is entertaining, if a little slow-moving at the beginning. It features a great pep talk about life delivered by Rocky to his son (played by Milo Ventimiglia), that is something like a Rocky version of Teddy Roosevelt’s great “Man in the Arena” speech. A father’s love for his son never gets old–even when both father and son do.
If there are any complaints with this movie, it’s the brief girlie-manification of Rocky & Company. I did not need to live to see Rocky and Paulie cry. Or Paulie painting watercolors. But the sensitive man is soon done away with, as Rocky trains for the big fight.

Like the other Rocky movies, there are no celeb actors in this movie, but for Stallone. There are cameos by real-life sports personalities. But the key co-stars (other than Paulie) are unknowns. Rocky takes a single mother–once a young girl he protected from the street life–and her son under his wing. He is kind to them. That’s the Rocky we always knew.
The scenes of Rocky fighting a man, Dixon/Tarver, who is more than 20 years his junior are somewhat incredible. But they are still inspirational, as is this classic Rocky film. And, unlike most, Stallone and Rocky are in great shape for a man of 60–and even a man of 40.
Stallone says he made this latest installment–more than 15 years since the last sequel–because he felt he let his fans down with Rocky V. This one is definitely a fitting ending. Rocky goes out with class, style, and above all, dignity.
There is no violence (except the boxing) or obscenity in this film. You can take your whole family to this one. It’s uplifting and agenda-free. It has the same feel-good inspiration that the first Rocky movie had in January 1976. That was a different time, another era.
But some things never get old. Rocky will always be a classic. And Rocky Balboa continues in that tradition.
Yo, Adrian! Rocky Is BACK!
Go see this film. And take your whole extended family.
***
Read, “One Last Bout for a Beloved [Rocky] Franchise” by USA Today’s Anthony Breznican. A great piece.

By Debbie Schlussel
More judicial moves in favor of the “Muslims who deliberately murder non-Muslims are lone nutjobs” school of thought.
Remember Mujtaba Rabbani Jabbar? The 25-year-old Muslim medical student from a wealthy Baltimore neighborhood went to a movie theater in a Jewish neighborhood in June, looking to murder someone. He said he’d been planning it for some time. And he succeeded. He murdered 62-year-old Paul Schrum, firing four bullets into his head and other body parts.
Well, for this pre-meditated act, Jabbar was found guilty of first degree murder, but sentenced to a Maryland psychiatric facility.

Muslim Mujtaba Jabbar Murdered Jewish American Paul Schrum
Writes reader Gary G.:

I live in Baltimore – the chances of shooting a non Jew in this theatre is slim and none. . . . You are an Attorney. How can one be convicted of First Degree Murder – premeditated – and then be found unfit? UNREAL – Keep up your good work Debbie. I read you all of the time.

Gary, the answer to your question is: When wimpy prosecutors are unwilling to pursue justice and buy into the “any Muslim who deliberately murders non-Muslims in America must be insane” philosophy. That was the case here.
And Jabbar’s parents’ “apology” to the Schrum family was half-assed and sounded more like they were upset their murdering Muslim son is not home with them. They didn’t even have the guts to read it themselves and had their lawyer do so:

Having Mujtaba away from home, detained in prison, has marred our lives in an irreconcilable manner. Each and every night we pray that he may be forgiven for his tragic act and that he might recover from his woeful ailment.

So, an insane asylum is going to cure him from the ailment that is extremist Islam? Dream on.
One wonders what Mujtaba Jabbar’s parents taught him about Jews and other non-Muslims. Or, rather, we don’t wonder at all. Because we’ve seen the “fruits” of his upbringing: The headstone on Paul Schrum’s grave and the tearful video interview with his wife, Rona. They would have celebrated their 39th anniversary, this past Sunday:

I dont know how such a young man could do such a terrible thing. I don’t think he has any remorse.
He adored me and I adore him. Most of all, I’m so sad that our two grandchildren will know their grandfather from pictures, that they will never get to know him.

“Religion of Peace,” once its victims are all Resting In Peace.
This wasn’t a case of mental illness. It was a hate crime.

By Debbie Schlussel
Well, here’s one for truth in advertising. This neo-Nazi, Islamist, or perhaps both (he posts links to both a White supremacist site and a 9/11 conspiracy theory site), at least, labels his e-mail “Junk Mail.” Indeed:

— Junk Mail junkmail102979@hotmail.com wrote:
From: “Junk Mail” junkmail102979@hotmail.com
Subject: Your website
To: dschlussel@yahoo.com
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 05:26:45 +0000
Just wanted to let you know that I, like you, want peace. It’s too bad Hitler couldn’t finish the job and gotten rid of all those judens. We’d have peace today. Agree? Of course you do. jews suck, have small dicks and smell like shit.
stormfront.org
whatreallyhappened.com

Since this man is so certain he knows the penis size of Jews, we can only imagine the number of Jewish men he’s slept with in his research for that rather profound thesis.

By Debbie Schlussel
Is a CD recorded by a Muslim extremist the “perfect gift for the music maven”?
Borders thinks so and is marketing “Another Cup,” by Yusuf Islam ne Cat Stevens ne Steven Georgiou, in its glossy “Holiday Guide” magazine insert, urging Americans to buy “Yusuf’s first pop collection since he adopted the Muslim faith in 1977.”
In 2004, Islam was on the “no fly list” and denied entry into the United States, after a plane he was on was forced to make an emergency landing in Maine, due to Islam’s ties to Islamic terrorists. The government reversed that decision and granted Islam a visa to promote his new CD.
And today and tomorrow, Sirius Satellite Radio will devote several hours to broadcasts and an entire channel to interviews and performances by Islam.

Extremist Muslim Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam & His Extremist Muslim Family
The world is littered with former folk singers and pop stars from the ’60s and ’70s who’ve tried to make a comeback. But none has received the endless hype that pop culture outlets are providing to Yusuf Islam.
And none has uttered the extremist views spewed by Islam throughout the years, without apology.
In 1988, he authored the pamphlet “Eyewitness,” in which he claimed:

The Jews seem neither to respect God nor his creation. Their own holy books contain the curse of God brought upon them by their prophets on account of their disobedience to Him and mischief in the earth. We have seen the disrespect for religion displayed by those who consider themselves to be ‘God’s chosen people.’…There will be no justice until all the land is given back to its rightful owners… Only Islam can bring peace back to the Holy Land.

Islam’s description of the Jews makes no specific exemption for Mel Karmazin, the Jewish Sirius Satellite CEO who is providing Islam a forum to promote his CD for the next two days. Attention, Mr. Karmazin . . . .
In 1989, a week after Ayatollah Khomeini issued his fatwa for the murder of “Satanic Verses” author Salman Rushdie, Islam agreed:

He must be killed. The Koran makes it clear: If someone defames the prophet, he must die.

And Islam’s views haven’t changed much. A map of the Middle East currently on his website doesn’t recognize Israel. There is only “Holyland” on his Map of Hate. In 2004, Islam told ABC News’ Elizabeth Vargas that he supports HAMAS.
The entertainment industry wants to shove all of that under the rug. “Enough time has passed since the [Rushdie] fatwa,” says Billboard’s director of charts, Geoff Mayfield. “His faith is established and less of a negative than it might have been earlier.”
But objections to the embrace of Yusuf Islam are not about his “faith”. They are about his extremist statements and actions. A May 2003 expose on Islam in GQ documented his many ties to Osama Bin Laden and HAMAS. The author–Jake Tapper, now with ABC News–detailed Islam’s tight relationship with Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, the leader of the London based Al-Muhajiroun, which is believed to be Al-Qaeda in Britain. Bakri organized the famed London celebration of “The Magnificent 19” on the 1-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Islam was denied entry into Israel twice because on two previous trips there, he met with senior HAMAS officials and donated money to them, according to Israeli court documents. One of those officials, Sheikh Jamil Hamami, is a key figure in the federal investigation of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which President Bush shut down and designated as a global terrorist entity laundering money to HAMAS.
Now, in an attempt to moderate his image, Islam is pretending these things never happened. And so is the music industry.
“Don’t let me be misunderstood,” Islam told USA Today. That’s also the name of a song he covers on his new CD.
But the problem is that we understand him very, very well. Now, how do we get Billboard Magazine and Sirius to understand?
The man who sang “Peace Train” isn’t so peaceful.
****
Read my October 2006 piece, “Cat Stevens: Simmering HAMASnik, CrotchWoman & the Ignoble Nobel Peace Prize.”
Read my original 2004 piece on Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam, when he was denied entry into the U.S., “Islam Denied Entry: Cat Stevens'”Peace Train” of Islamic Hate Derailed.” Looks like that train is back on track. And, unfortunately, our government has allowed it to leave the station.

By Debbie Schlussel
Recently, I wrote about courageous Hamtramckstan, Michigan Judge Paul Paruk, who refused to allow Muslim convert Ginnah Muhammad to wear a niqab (the “full ninja” Muslim face veil, leaving only the eyes showing).
The case of British cop killer Mustaf Jama shows why it’s necessary for Western societies NOT to tolerate the niqab and to force “women” to remove it. According to The Times UK, he fled Britain, using his sister’s passport and wearing the niqab to mask his identity. At the time, the Muslim Somalian was Britain’s most wanted man, but escaped scrutiny because he was wearing the full face veil:

The use of the niqab, which leaves only a narrow slit for the eyes, highlights flaws in British airport security. At the time, Jama was Britain’s most wanted man, while Heathrow was on a heightened state of alert after the 7/7 terrorist atrocities in London five months previously.

Muslim Niqab-Wearers Ginnah Muhammad & Cop-Killer Mustaf Jama

The Times has learnt that British immigration officers rarely carry out a visual check to match a passport photograph with a departing female passenger’s veiled face.

It’s not the first time this has been done, and it isn’t confined to Europe either. In 1998, Fawzi Mustapha Assi–a Lebanese man who was working as an engineer for Ford Motor Company–fled the U.S. to Canada from Detroit by wearing a hijab and niqab, pretending he was a woman. Assi was indicted for obtaining night vision goggles and other military equipment and trying to transport them to Hezbollah in Lebanon for use against Israel.
An incompetent federal magistrate and then a similarly-skilled Federal Judge, Denise Page Hood, allowed Assi to remain free on bond and an electronic tether, against the objections and appeals of federal prosecutors. He escaped by dressing as an Islamic woman and escaping proper law enforcement scrutiny at the border.
(Recently, in an unusual move, Assi surrenedered himself and returned to the United States. But that almost never happens. He remains in jail awaiting trial.)
It’s apparently not the first time it’s happened in Britain either:

In October The Times revealed that a male suspect in a major anti-terrorist investigation evaded capture in Britain for several days by dressing in a burka. He was eventually arrested and is awaiting trial.
The full-face veil has regularly been used as a disguise in Iraq and Afghanistan by Islamist fighters, including several suicide bombers and at least one senior al-Qaeda leader.