By Debbie Schlussel
Thanks to the many readers who’ve been sending me the story, all week, about Khalid Adem, the Ethiopian Muslim immigrant on trial for “circumcising” his daughter’s genitals in his Atlanta-area (Lawrenceville, Georgia) apartment.
He was convicted, yesterday, and sentenced to 10 years in prison for mutilating his daughter.

Khalid Adem Convicted, While His Co-Religionists Cry @ Courthouse
But not a single story mentions that Adem is a Muslim. Why not? You know why. Same reason the AP story on this went out of its way to note that

The practice, intended to deny women sexual pleasure, crosses ethnic and cultural lines and is not tied to a particular religion.

Uh-huh. But, it just so happens that most of those who practice this happen to be Muslim. As is convict Khalid Adem.
While this is believed to be the first time this has been prosecuted in the U.S., it, in fact, goes on here, every single day. As do polygamist marriages and assorted other practices that usually emanate from one group of people.
Hint: It’s not the Mormons we’re talking about here. Another Hint: Look at the photo of his Adem’s friends, above.

By Debbie Schlussel
Leave it to the flailing Scripps Howard News Service (and Ohio University) to invent a connection between supporting getting tough on terrorists and being a “bad” parent.
That’s what the news service is trying to tell you with a silly survey of 1,031 adult U.S. residents.
The survey found that those who support using torture to get information from a suspected terrorist were more likely to support spanking their children to maintain discipline. Oh, and they found, that Democrats and Independents–surprise, surprise!–are more likely to be against torture and spanking, Republicans more likely to support both.

Absurd Study: This is a Liberal Scientist’s Brain on Drugs. Any Questions?
But the attempt to defame those who are tough on terrorism doesn’t stop there. Scripps Howard reporters presented the findings along with a quote from a left-wing Ivy League psychiatrist who sounds like he’s an ACLU lawyer and says that those who are tough on terror and support spanking are unstable and bad parents:

“We know that when parents spank, it’s a way to manage the frustrations of parenthood. It’s usually done when there are a lot of emotions, generally when parents are at the ends of their ropes,” said Kyle Pruett, a psychiatry professor and director of medical studies at Yale University’s Child Study Center.
Pruett said he’s not surprised attitudes on spanking are linked to – although not necessarily the cause of – attitudes on torture.
“I can see why people would think that terrorists have frustrated us enormously, to the point that we struggle to see them even as human beings,” he said. “We feel we can violate them because they have so frustrated us. So we say it is all right to spank. It is all right to torture.”

Oh, and by the way, this absurd study claims men and Whites are more likely to be torturing, bad parents. Women and minorities, less likely.
And the “scientists” who conducted the study were more likely to have checked their testicles and their Americanism (if they ever had any) at the door.

By Debbie Schlussel
Some people in America need to lighten up and stop being so sensitive. Some try to say that about us, but we think these stories illustrate the absurd extent to which the speech police have gone:
* Winterhaven, Florida Police Chief Paul Goward is out of a job for something so offensive on October 11th, he was fired. His “outrageous” offense: He sent a memo to his 80-member police force calling them “jelly bellies” and calling upon them to get in shape.
Apparently, Goward’s department was the butt of jokes about fat cops and doughnuts. But he hurt the feelings of his donut-chomping minions, and he was forced to resign. Are they women? Just asking.
And yes, your cop uniform makes you look fat. When you are.

Ex-Police Chief Paul Goward’s Fat Cop Memo
Thomas Roe Oldt, a columnist for the Ledger of nearby Lakeland, has an excellent column on Goward’s memo and his chubby cops. Here are some excerpts:

It seems like stating the obvious, but shouldn’t a basic requirement of police officers be the physical ability to tackle fleeing felons? That would necessarily exclude the overweight and the out of shape, one would think.
For that very reason, Paul Goward, who abruptly became Winter Haven’s former police chief last week, sent an e-mail to some of his officers sensibly pointing out that ‘if you are obese and/or out of shape you are a predictable liability to yourself, your family, your partner, this department, the city of Winter Haven and the citizens of our city.’
Goward went on to suggest those who needed to should ‘see a professional about a proper diet and a fitness training program, quit smoking, limit alcohol intake and start thinking self-pride, confidence and respectability. And stop making excuses for delaying what you know you should have been doing years ago.’
He wasn’t even mandating, merely suggesting. In short, he offered tremendously good advice, yet he was sacked. . . .
Isn’t the whole point of government to protect the governed?
In the case of police officers, can that function reasonably be expected to be carried out by the obese and the out of breath?
Surely it is axiomatic that the apprehension of criminals is a basic police purpose, and let’s face it, a lot of these folks are literally running from the law. You can see it yourself on Court TV’s ‘Cops,’ so it must be true.
A side from the apparently not universally obvious need to physically apprehend perps, you want your police force to project an image of competent authority— born of actual competence presented authoritatively.
Nothing detracts from that projection like a fat cop. . . .
Is there something inherently wrong with the theory that those charged with enforcing the law ought to have the demonstrable ability to chase fleeing criminals and make an arrest? Put them on the ground? Bust their felonious butts?
Sometimes physical strength is part of the job description. . . .
What’s next? Firefighters who can’t climb ladders and lift hoses? EMTs who can’t stand the sight of blood? Meter readers who can’t read?

Amen. Someone ought to tell the cops of Winterhaven that “Chubby Chasers” is the moniker for people who like fat chicks, NOT cops who are supposed to be pursuing criminals.
* Texas Independent Gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn is in a lather over an ad by her opponent, incumbent Republican Governor Rick Perry. In it he calls her,

Mrs. Corrupt Comptroller Politician Woman.

Independent Carol Strayhorn vs. GOP Gov. Rick Perry in Texas
Strayhorn claims that the ad is sexist and suggests a woman is imcapable of holding office and “not tough enough to be governor.” Huh? That’s not at all what it says. Curiously, Strayhorn is not complaining about Perry’s ad against Democratic challenger Chris Bell, which calls him,

Mr. Way Too Liberal For Texas Guy.

Using her logic, isn’t the implication of that one that men are incapabe of holding office and “not tough enough to be governor”?
We like Perry’s response to Strayhorn’s complaint. His spokesman, Ted Royer, said he found it curious that Strayhorn was complaining about the word “woman” and and not the word “corrupt.”

By Debbie Schlussel
Here’s a quick quiz on Immigration Enforcement. If you pass, you, too, could be the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Or, actually, you’d be qualified, so you couldn’t possibly get the job.
Question: What is the most dangerous problem in illegal immigration to America?
Your Answer: Various causes–lax immigration enforcement; an immigration chieftess who has no law enforcement, immigration, or customs experience; lack of a wall on the border; immigration resources used for Tommy Lasorda and embroidered beach chairs with coolers; a President who doesn’t care about enforcing immigration laws; businesses who are willing to sell out American workers for a buck, etc.
Julie L. Myers’ a/k/a “The ICE Princess” (head of ICE) Answer: Cuban Pro Baseball Players and their sports agents.

The New Immigration “Enforcement”
Question: How many 9/11 hijackers played baseball in Cuba? (Or, How many Cuban baseball players hijacked planes on 9/11?)
Your Answer: None. They were all Muslim Arabs, 15 of whom were Saudi Arabian nationals.
The ICE Princess’ Answer: Who cares? The most serious post-9/11 threats to America right now are some Cuban pro baseball players and their sports agent in Beverly Hills.
Well, I was wrong to criticize The ICE Princess and her top people, yesterday. I thought they didn’t really care about enforcing immigration laws. But I was SOOOOOOOOOO WRONG. My apologies. Why, they are finally getting tough on those millions of Cuban baseball players bleeding into our borders on makeshift boats. And those sports agents? Can you believe that they take 20% of endorsement deals, and like 4-6% of Major League Baseball contracts? Incredible.
Yup, Julie L. Myers is finally getting tough on the biggest immigration problem in our country.
Yesterday, she and the Justice Department announced indictments of Gustavo “Gus” Dominguez, a sports agent and his minions. Dominguez has represented several Cuban defectors who have played pro baseball in America. He tried to get Cubans to the States, twice. The first time, the Coast Guard intercepted him. But the second time, he succeeded, getting 19 Cubans, including 5 baseball players onto our shores.
For that, he’s been indicted? Whatever happened to the dry land policy? I thought it was a good thing to get Cubans to America to freedom. But, apparently, if they have a ready, money-making skill that will help them live here without going on public assistance, that’s not a good thing? If they have a sports agent who’s willing to put them up and take care of them, that’s bad, too?
According to the indictment:

The Defendants transported the athletes to Los Angeles by van, rented an apartment for them, provided them with food and clothing and began training them.

Horror of horrors. The nerve of them.
Listen to The ICE Princess’ justification of this absurd investigation and prosecution, when there are smuggling cartels that aren’t getting her attention, Muslim smuggling and marriage fraud rings that she and her boy, Abu Moskowitz in Detroitistan, are ignoring:

Though this case involves a Beverly Hills sports agent and talented baseball players, it is remarkably similar to the human smuggling operations that ICE encounters every day. The ringleaders put the lives of illegal immigrants at risk and sought to profit from their labor.

A-ha! So that’s why ICE needed to pay Tommy Lasorda $30-50K. He was a “consultant” on this important national security matter, right?
Gimme a break! This sports agent is hardly akin to smugglers who bring in female slaves to serve as prostitutes or Muslims who bring in Indonesian maids to act as sex slaves and free nannies to be beaten and tortured.
Has our government truly lost its mind in setting immigration enforcement priorities? Afraid so.
And this sure doesn’t help her friend Georgie B. and party, come Tuesday’s election. Please, Julie, do yourself a favor and stop invading our Sports Page. It doesn’t make your phony lines–like the ones, this morning on FOX News–any more believable.
Everyone knows you aren’t doing the job. Let’s see: 19 hijackers and people of their religion and hate smuggled in every day vs. 19 Cuban baseball players. Which group should we pay attention to?
Not a question for which Einstein is needed. But very apparently, someone other than Myers is.
***
Full disclosure: I was a sports agent and represented minor league baseball players among my clients. But I got smart and got out of the biz. For the record, I never smuggled anyone from Cuba or anywhere else.

By Debbie Schlussel
Fixed. Feel free to comment away! We love your feedback and views.

By Debbie Schlussel
In honor of its tenth anniversary as an Arabic language channel, Al-Jazeera–the Terrorist News Network–claims it will launch its “new” English language channel, Al-Jazeera International, on November 15th.
But, in fact, the channel has already launched in April of this year. And it was a complete failure. No cable providers would carry it. It was the sound of a tree falling in the forest, and no-one being there to hear it (thankfully, in this case). They’ve actually had several launches of the English channel. Hopefully, this latest one will be as successful.

I’ve written about the dummies and suck-ups they’ve reached out to (and I’ve been cited for my work on that), including the idiotic Marine Lt. Josh Rushing of “Control Room” fame (read my column on this dolt and Jazeera’s terrorists, “Al Jazeera’s American Boob“). He was supposed to be the military press liaison to Jazeera and other America-haters in Iraq. But Rushing was demoted back to Hollywood when the pro-Jazeera producers of “Control Room” got him to agree with every bit of anti-Israel, anti-American jingoism and propaganda his Islamist press buddies pimped to him. He was supposed to be the press handler but they sure handled him. Al-Jazeera was the only company that would hire him.
From Incompetent Marine Press Person to Al-Jazeera Tool . . .
Semper FOOLis: Former Marine Lt. Josh Rushing
Then, there’s former “Nightline” hack Dave Marash, the anchor of this “network.” He was picked because he’s a Jew–so he could see, “Well, I’m a Jew, and I don’t think the only place that would still pay me after ‘Nightline’ is anti-Semitic because . . . .” As I’ve said before, trust me, Marash wasn’t hired for movie-star anchor looks. He told the Philadelphia Daily News’ Gail Shister:

I do not see Al Jazeera as the antagonist of the Jews or the Israelis. It is a friend of the Jews, a friend of Israel, a friend of peace and harmony in the Middle East.

As I said then:

Uh-uh. Keep telling yourself that, Dave.

And then, there’s Ted Koppel. He considered working for Jazeera, too. But why work for them, when he can find an American tax-funded media outlet that hates America as much as Jazeera (or even more)–NPR (a/k/a National Palestinian Radio)?
Yes, I’ve appeared on Al-Jazeera. Somebody has to defend the Infidel position. But that doesn’t mean I’m a fan. I’m not.
Like I said, I only hope that Al-Jazeera’s gazillionth launch of it’s English network is as successful as the previous ones . . . and that it quickly goes the way of the 8-track, disco, the VCR, and Hillary Clinton’s cookie-baking career.
And, by the way, Josh Rushing, you’re nothing more than an Islamist tool. Useful idiot, baby.

By Debbie Schlussel
While elected Iraqi President Noori Al-Maliki is out to protect Shi’ite terrorist Muqtada Al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army from U.S. troops, there is one light amid the darkness: Mithal Al-Alusi.
Heath Robinson’s piece on Al-Alusi in today’s Wall Street Journal editorial page is cause for a glimmer of hope. If all leaders–or even half of them–in the Muslim world were like the courageous Al-Alusi, we’d be at peace. Both of his sons gave their lives for his democratic ideals and daring to want peace with Israel.

Iraqi Legislator Mithal Al-Alusi:
He Lost His Sons For Supporting Peace w/ Israel
Al-Alusi, a 53-year-old Sunni, is an elected member of the Iraqi Parliament. Surely, there was no-one like him under dictator Saddam Hussein. Al-Alusi

served as director general of the National Commission on de-Baathification. Mr. al-Alusi ran on a platform of religious pluralism, human rights, free markets and a free press. He calls for an alliance among democracies–including the U.S., Iraq, Israel and Turkey–to fight terrorism.
Not only does Mr. al-Alusi champion values many in the West hope will define the new Iraq, he has risked his life–and lost more than his life–for the cause. In September 2004 he attended a counterterrorism conference in Herzliya, Israel; after which insurgents threatened his family. The following February assassins opened fire on Mr. al-Alusi’s car as it approached his Baghdad home. He wasn’t in the vehicle, but his sons, 30-year-old Ayman and 22-year-old Gamal, were. Both were killed as their father watched. Still, Mr. al-Alusi was unbowed. “Even if these terrorists try to kill me again, peace is the only solution,” he told reporters minutes after the attack. “Peace with Israel is the only solution for Iraq. Peace with everybody, but no peace for the terrorists.” He continued to build his Iraqi Nation Party, which his fallen sons had helped establish, and which now has 15,000 members.
He describes his views less in ideological terms than in human ones. “An Iraqi mother, she has the right to have normal feelings for her baby. It’s the same for an Israeli mother,” he told me in a phone interview from Baghdad. “This is the best way to drive the world’s politics. Not to make it complicated.”

Should we abandon a brave guy like this in Iraq? He believes he will be killed, but our leaving Iraq will certainly assure and hasten that move. And then, there’s the Iran angle:

Mr. al-Alusi told me that “Iran is fully involved in terrorist activity in Iraq.” He believes Tehran is playing both sides, backing Sunni terrorists as well as Shiite ones.
Polls suggest a majority of Americans think it was a mistake to enter Iraq. Mr. al-Alusi respectfully disagrees. “We didn’t have any kind of hope, and now, even with all our difficulty, we have hope.” Iraq today is a central front in a war against extremists who view the murder of civilians as political expression. “I will be killed–if not today, tomorrow,” Mr. al-Alusi says. “The point is not me, but children–for a child to be a child, not a killer; for a teenager to be a teenager, not an extremist.”

A brave man, indeed. That he has 15,000 Iraqi followers is good news. If only there were even more.

By Debbie Schlussel
Thanks to those who’ve contacted us about comments and trackbacks not working.
* Comments: We think this site may have been hacked with regard to the comments, and we’re looking into it. Apparently, readers have been unable to post comments since mid-yesterday, getting some sort of error message. That’s why there are zero comments on all entries, since yesterday afternoon. We apologize and hope to have the problem fixed shortly. We love reading your comments and feedback.
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Thanks for your patience and understanding with these issues.

By Debbie Schlussel
A front pager in today’s Wall Street Journal, “Migrants’ Money is Imperfect Cure for Poor Nations,” whines about how money illegal aliens (a/k/a “migrants” in sanitized WSJ euphemism style) send back to their “home” countries fuels spending there (NOT here), but not much investment there (and that a lot of it is extorted by thugs).
But there’s some interesting and disturbing info in tiny print on graphics in the piece. It shows the enormous amount of money that is sucked out–vacuumed out!–of our economy by immigrants–mostly illegal ones. And it shows how illegal aliens are funding–in great part–the economies of Islamofascist nations that breed terrorists.
One graph shows the geometrically rising billions sent away from the States. According the World Bank, in 2004, aliens sent $160 BILLION out of our economy. In 2005, it’s $167 billion.

Yup, sucking the life and funds out of our economy–it’s “the job that some Americans just won’t do.”
Far worse is where that money goes. According to the World Bank, Al-Qaeda and HAMAS hotbeds of Bosnia/Herzegovina and Jordan are among the top six countries that depend most on these “remittances” of money from aliens out of our country and into theirs.
A whopping 22.5% of the 2004 GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of Bosnia/Herzegovina–not sure how they can call this “Domestic” with a straight face–is from money wired or otherwise sent from here. 20.4% of Jordan’s GDP comes from U.S. “remittances.”
As we noted here, Jordan is the most anti-American, anti-Semitic, pro-Bin Laden, pro-homicide bombing country in the world according to a recent Pew Global survey. 100% of respondents hated Jews. Only a few less hated America and supported Bin Laden. It is mostly Palestinian and is home to refugee camps that breed terrorists, taking them from cradle to grave.
In addition, aliens’ “remittances” (more WSJ euphemism speak) of money from our country to theirs props up failing economies and governments. Even far-lefties at the World Bank, which previously promoted this transfer of aliens’ funds to America, now opposes this. Ditto for liberal immigration policy wonks, reports the Journal:

“Remittances are a band-aid on fundamental development problems,” says Dean Yang, a public-policy professor at the University of Michigan. “Labor export and remittances won’t turn El Salvador, the Philippines and other poor countries into the next development tigers.” Even the World Bank, which has pushed the development potential of remittances, is having second thoughts. In a report on Latin America released yesterday, the bank says that remittances are “neither ‘manna from heaven,’ nor a substitute for sound development policies.”

Draining our economy. Propping up their bad regimes. Yet another reason why we support Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard’s work in stopping the illegal alien money flow away from our country out through Western Union’s spigot.

By Debbie Schlussel
Two weeks ago, Ekin Deligoz, a Turkish-born Muslim German lawmaker and member of the Green Party, said, “the head scarf is a symbol of women’s oppression.” She urged Muslim women in Germany to remove their hijabs.
Since then, Deligoz has received a myriad of death threats and is now under police protection. More on Deligoz’s comments and the reaction from India’s Zee News:

“I appeal to Muslim women: Arrive in the present day, arrive in Germany – you live here, so take off the head scarf,” she added. “Show that you have the same civil and human rights as men.”

The Greens’ co-leader in Parliament, Renate Kuenast, wrote in a letter to turkey’s ambassador in Berlin that Deligoz had been “insulted in writing, by telephone and also in person … Overwhelmingly by Turkish men.”
She complained of “unacceptable” reactions in Turkish media to Deligoz’s comments – including a newspaper report that, she said, compared the lawmaker with the Nazis. Kuenast said Turkey should make plain that “such a media hate campaign is incompatible” with fundamental democratic and legal values.
The German government official responsible for integration, Maria Boehmer, was quoted as telling the Tagesspiegel that she was “shocked at how the courageous call by Ms Deligoz was received.”
“The right to freedom of opinion is not negotiable,” she added.

Yes, it is. You’re in Germany, babe. They’ve basically capitulated, but for these last gasps. That’s why Deligoz used the wrong tack in asking them to arrive in “present day Germany,” because it is fast becoming the nation of the headscarf and veil. That’s basically its “present day.”
Hmmm . . . Where are all of the “moderate” Muslims denouncing the violent threats? Are there actually any moderate Muslims?
Well, if there are a few thousand grains of sand in an entire beach, do they count? Not if you’re counting on the “Religion of Peace” allowing you to live in peace.
First, Netherlands legislator Muslim Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s death threats. Now, German legislator Muslim Ekin Deligoz’s threats. Does the American Enterprise Institute have room for all of Europe’s embattled moderate female Muslim legislators who dare to speak out?
Maybe they should start “Moderate Muslim European Legislators Under Siege” Scholars in Residence Wing.