Don't open the door

Humor the Roscoe. Try an experiment. Do a search--Google, Technorati, whatever--on blog comments on the Ahmadinejad interview by Der Spiegel. (See yesterday's post, "Got that Mojo Workin'.")

See what people have to say. Then be afraid, very afraid. We thought some of the comments--like, wish we had a president half as smart as Ahamdinejad--were tongue-in-cheek. Then we realized they were serious.

Yikes!

For a moment there, we imagined we were Lot in Sodom, with the pagan moonbats outside, howling to be let in so they could "know" the angels. (See Genesis 19.)

Oh, Lord, if they only knew...

How sweet the sound

If you want to see where we will be as a society in a few short years, look at Europe. They just happen to be on a little faster track to perdition. In Holland—where even there a glimpse of stocking was once looked on as something shocking—sex with children and animals is the new cutting edge. Pedophiles are forming their own political party to advance their agenda of eliminating all decency laws.

We have no doubt we'll be seeing that here, too, if trends continue. Probably Massachusetts first.

The good news is that only willful ignorance outright condemns us to repeat history. And as long as we have voices like Grace Dailey—Roscoe’s little Sis!—there is no excuse for ignorance. She, I'm proud to say, is a strong new voice for the cause of righteousness in our land. Read her alert about the Dutch depravities—and much more—on her new blog, Amazing Grace.

Got that Mojo workin’

Meanwhile, Der Spiegel’s interview with Iranian President Mahmoud "Mojo" Ahmadinejad is a must read. The interviewer really goes after him on a number of fronts, especially Mojo's nutberger Holocaust denial. The interview is rife with insights into this very strange mind, not to mention the German mind. (The interviewer, for example, refers to America's "de facto defeat" in Iraq as if a commonly accepted fact beyond dispute.)

Mojo gets called to account on a number of things where he dances fairly nimbly. Not so when he's read back a quote from his own letter to President Bush, where he's clearly indicating that the U.S. government was in cahoots with the 9/11 terrorists. How does he get out of that one? He simply denies that's what he meant. Incredible. You're tempted to label him whacked out, but that would be wrong. The real explanation? It's called the criminal mind, that condition that has no regard for truth or falsehood, right or wrong—just what works, what's expedient.

Like nuking Israel.

You can read the interview here.

Some good news for a change

Do journo-bloggers have the same legal protections as professional journalists in the mainstream mediocracy? It's a very unsettled area of law. But an appeals court in California has ruled in a case involving Apple Computer that bloggers are entitled to the same protections under the state shield law. Read all about it here.

Our tax dollars at work

Any idea what radical group advocates anything-goes sexual expression for our children without any restrictions, down to the elementary school level? Who roundly condemns people of faith and the abstinence movement—and who even calls the institution of marriage "homophobic"?

The Human Rights Campaign? Act Up? Americans United for the Separation of Church and State? The Symbionese Liberation Army?

Would you believe our esteemed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)? At least, that was about the size of it at a recent CDC conference in Florida for public health officials on Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Linda Klepacki, a brave and articulate public health educator who happens to support abstinence over so-called "safe-sex" approaches with youths, was shocked at the radicalism and vitriol on display at this government-sponsored boondoggle.

"The mantra of sexual activity as a Human Right echoed from numerous speakers -- sex at any age, with any gender, with persons of any age -- makes one wonder if anyone at CDC has looked at age-of-consent laws lately," she wrote after the event. Another group coming in for special disssing—parents, who were portrayed as irrelevant inconveniences.

Klepacki concluded, "Maybe it's time to stop all government money from flowing into the coffers of the CDC until it includes more diversity of opinions in its ethical think tank."

That may be. And somehow I don't think this is the last we're going to hear of this. Read the rest of Linda’s hair-raising account here.

Back in off the ledge

Whew! That was a close one. We really thought we'd lost the boy there for a while. What a relief to see the Roscoe back to his old self, feet up, sipping a glass of shiraz and contemplating his next move in the culture war. Guess he's back in the game, for what it's worth.

We'll let you read about it in his own words:

I'd really hit a wall, man, and lost it. Lack of sleep. A 40-page term paper due—half in Greek. A final exam in New Testament Exegesis. A major project due at work. Neuroma in both feet that kept me from stress-release via running. Trying to warn the world about the ulterior motives of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Iranian president's ominous letter to President Bush. Worrying about the End of the World, etc.

I was posting all this stuff instead of sleeping when the worst thing of all happened—a great, huge collective yawning sound from the blogosphere.

Snore. . . Fwuf, snore. . .

No, not that! The one thing I'd begun to trust in to save the world for truth, justice and the American way. Anger welled up, as I remembered the only story that ever rewarded me with big numbers—my obituary for the world's ugliest dog. So, is that how it is? I'm going to have to learn to speak American Idol before anyone will listen?

Well, that ain't gonna happen. . . No way, no how. Yeah, maybe threatening to jump was just a cry for help. But seriously, if nobody had said 'please don’t go,' I wouldn't have come back.

Oh, yeah. And then George died. George Reitz, my liberal pastor friend in Queens who's birthed bunches of cross-cultural urban ministries and was rewarded with terminal cancer. I could tell you a lot of stories there, but it's just a bit too tender right now. Irrepressible George, who continued to minister to others till the end with his cancer-journey notes on-line. And, most of all, his laugh and his smile. George, my friend. Gone.

Damn. . .

THIS BLOG Temporarily Discontinued

For lack of interest. :(

Prison stripes for the Mainstream Mediocracy?

It's just inevitable if members of the elite enemedia are hellbent to find out where the line is between national security and the First Amendment. Now U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is finally acknowledging there is a line and that prosecutions may not be out of the question. Read all about it here.

Roscoe says: About time Al, baby. There may still be some cattle left in the barn.

You know, for a lot of this stuff we really don't need more laws; we just need to enforce the ones that are already on the books. I'm thinking pornography, broadcast indecency, immigration, national security and espionage. If the James Risens and Dana Priests and Seymour Hirsches of the world and their employers are going to insist on pushing until they find where the pushback point is, let's show them.

Or let's hear the reasons why the aforementioned should not be prosecuted for the damage they've already caused. Not only that, they and their ilk are only helping to perpetuate a very dangerous, pre-9/11 denial syndrome in America. The fact needs to be faced that we are, in fact, at war.

ASK ROSCOE: The End of the World and Stuff

Dear Roscoe:

I am a Jew living in an undisclosed location in Iran. There are about 25,000 of us here. We are hearing rumors that Christians and Jews are going to have to start wearing badges identifying themselves by religion. Is that true? I cannot believe the world would stand by and just let something like that get started again.

Herman Z.

Dear Herman:

Believe. It's true. But you have nothing to worry about, really. The United Nations will no doubt spring into action any year now. Meanwhile, Herman, I would definitely avoid traveling by cattle car anywhere for a while. Just as a precaution.

Roscoe

Dear Roscoe:

Are you doing a Week in Review this week? How about next week? And the week after? (I don't have time to keep up with the news myself.)

Go, Yankees.

Hillary C.

Dear Hillary:

Y'know, that's what’s wrong with America—people getting too spoiled and lazy to do for themselves. That, and people moving into other people's states they never lived in before just to run for public office. Sleazy, politically opportunistic carpetbaggers are what they are.

And furthermore. . . Uh, what was the question?

Oh, yeah—Week in Review. Sort of. We're playing around with the format to see what catches on. So, it'll be a little different. But yeah, it's around here somewhere.

Roscoe

WEAK-END REVIEW

A lot of stuff happened this week, but the really big news, according to us, was today. That's when word got out about the End of the World. (See, if you paid closer attention, you'd already know about these things.) It's what we call in the news business a fairly significant development.

This is according to Israeli intelligence reported in the daily paper Ha’aretz and then in Weak-End Review’s favorite source, Regime Change Iran. It seems Iranian President Mahmoud "Mojo" Ahmadinejad has been overheard promising the "end of history in two or three years." Guess he should know. He's got a starring role.

Reader Input Department

Hey, now that we're done answering the Ahmadinejad letter (all week), we're going to put it all together and actually try to get it to the boy. Any ideas how to deliver it? Anybody got any, oh, ICBMs?

Also, would there be any interest in seeing a list of the 100 Worst Journalists in America? We've been making the list for a while, and we're now up to 80-something. When we hit 100, we'll shop it around for a book contract. Would you like to see it? You might have an idea for no. 84. We'd like to see that.

End of Reader Input Department

Meanwhile, in other Weak-End Review news, we have a couple of good dog-biters. (As in man-bites-dog.) This time it's justice actually being done for a change:

o Moonbat prof gets his—University of Colorado's America-hating, trash-talking, Indian-impersonating history professor, Ward Churchill, was found guilty by an academic review committee of a zillion counts of plagiarism, misrepresentations and bad hair. It do appear the boy be headin' for some kind of separation, if you know what we mean. We say it couldn't happen to a nicer fake Indian.

o Zacarias who?—Yeah, I guess we're going to savor this for a little while. Zacarias Moussaoui began his long, long solitary stretch at Colorado's Super Max pen. That's the place where every day seems like a year and minutes seem like hours because it's just you and the four walls forever and ever, amen. It won't be long before people say "Zacarias who?" And all the while, Z-boy has nothing to do but ask himself over and over, "What in the world was I thinking?" Except for the $75,000-a-year cost to taxpayers, it's not a bad runner-up to lethal injection.

Letter to Mojo: Part 5

So, there you have it, Mr. Ahmadinejad. Don't judge the credulity and naivete of Americans on the basis of the news media in this country. We are not as stupid as our media would lead you to believe. In fact, we recognize your letter to Mr. Bush for what it is—a formal last chance to repent and turn to Allah or face the consequences as infidels.

You knew that wouldn't happen, but in your twisted way it allows you to posture as the great Islamic leader speaking truth to power. If you only knew how nutty and rabid it makes you appear, you would be embarrassed—assuming you have any sense of shame.

Your situation is like the classic criminal mind of the evil schemer who inevitably gets caught because he deludes himself into thinking he's smarter than everybody else and makes fatal mistakes because of his over-confidence. That is, in fact, your very situation. You are playing with fire, Mr. Ahmadinejad, in your threats and hectoring of America. Make one mistake, sir, and you are so dead.

And when you die, sir, don't expect 72 virgins. That, too, is a lie. Seventy-two demons, maybe. You will be going to the place where the fire is never quenched and the worm never dies and where there is great weeping and gnashing of teeth. I would not rejoice over anyone going there—not even you.

But now I play turnabout and offer you one last chance, sir. The vilest offender anywhere may cry out to the Savior, Jesus Christ, and be saved from God's wrath. Admit your hateful sins, Mr. Ahmadinejad, repent and ask Christ to take over your life. Renounce these demonic forces that control you, and you will be free. Receive Christ and have eternal life.

That, in turn, is my invitation to you, knowing you are unlikely to accept it. You are right to think that "Christian" America is a moral mess. You are not correct, however, to think America is Christian. Our moral mess is due to our lack of spirituality, not because of it. Those of us who really are Christians are as distraught over that failure as you profess to be. But while we work to restore righteousness to our nation, don't let this failure blind you to the truth of Christ.

Your eternal life depends on it. "No one comes to [God] except through me," says Jesus. That includes you, Mr. President.

Letter to Mojo: Part 4

Speaking of fiction and fantasy, Mr. Ahmadinejad, you have challenged President Bush and Americans in general to turn to God Almighty—whom you identify as Allah—and embrace Islam. Let me say this as politely as I can:

Please do not refer to God in such terms. It is disrespectful, blasphemous, misleading, offensive and false.

Like many Muslims, you attempt to confuse the issue by implying that Allah is the same as the God of the Bible. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just in case you’ve never heard this before, let me explain. This may be painful, but I think in the end it's actually the kindest thing we can do.

When Muhammad arrived in Mecca in the 7th century A.D., the people there were polytheists, worshiping 360 gods, the chief of whom was the moon god. In the interest of introducing monotheism along the lines of Judaism and Christianity, Muhammad attempted to eliminate the rest in favor of this deity, Al-Ilah. Again, there is all kinds of physical, archaeological evidence for this. And it's why to this day the crescent moon is the symbol of Islam throughout the world.

The only problem was that this was a hard sell for Muhammad, and the earliest drafts of the Quran included three daughters—Al-Lat, Al-Uzza and Al-Manat—along with their father, Allah, as a concession to the traditionalists. This, of course, defeated the purpose of monotheism, so those references were edited down in later versions—a process called, apparently with a straight face, abrogation. And, of course, Salman Rushdie, who had the bad manners to point some of this out in his book The Satanic Verses, ended up with a death fatwa on his head from Ayatollah Khomeini for his trouble.

Right there are at least three major points of departure for us:

1. The true word of God is inerrant and does not need to be edited or "abrogated" because Almighty God, who gave it, is perfect and infallible.
2. A prophet whose utterances miss the mark in any way is a false prophet—and the Bible clearly stated that such offense was a capital crime.
3. Today, through the grace of God and civilized society, ordinary individuals are free to believe and speak as they see fit without fear for their life or limb or personal freedom.

True religion--faith in Jesus Christ--is a matter of the heart, not brute compulsion. I deeply regret that such is not the case with your system. I'll leave it to you to figure out the remaining point—what exactly is a false god that is set up against the knowledge of the true God Almighty. That, sir, is your god.

And, no, we are definitely not interested.

Letter to Mojo: Part 3

Frankly, people are getting a little concerned, Mr. Ahmadinejad, about your, uh, mental health. We've heard of your experience at the United Nations, where you believe you were bathed in an aura of light while you sort of hypnotized the delegates. Not to mention your visits to Samarra, where you talk to, um, someone—or something—down in a well. Some say that's the 12th Imam character, who's waiting to beam down from the Twilight Zone at just the right time.

You know, Mr. Ahmadinejad, that just ain't normal.

What's worse, it seems like your condition is epidemic in the Islamic world these days. Like the ones who say it was the Jews who caused 9-11, because everybody knows they didn't show up for work that day at the World Trade Center. Or like the ones who claim the Jews never lived in ancient Israel. Just like the Temple was never in Jerusalem. Those lying Jews.

My favorite one is the rap that says your Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem was built 2,000 years before Solomon's Temple. Says writer Randall Price (Unholy War, Harvest House, 2001): "That’s a pretty neat trick, for Islam's founder wasn't born until 1,500 years after Solomon; there were no Muslims in Jerusalem until six years after Muhammad's death; and history shows that the Caliph Abd El-Wahd built the Al-Aqsa Mosque 80 years after that!" Details, details. . .

Yes, I know, you're an engineer. But there's this whole other science called archaeology. They've got utensils and weapons and documents and writing and all kinds of stuff. You could look it up. But you won't. You're too committed to your fantasies.

OK, maybe that's your business. But could you maybe understand, just a little bit, why some of us might not want you playing around with thermonuclear weapons?

Could we maybe interest you in a video iPod or a Play Station 3 instead? Pretty please?

Next: Bad religion.

Letter to Mojo: Part 2

Perhaps, Mr. Ahmadinejad, you think Americans are ignorant of history and we won't know any better when you play fast and loose in rewriting it. You underestimate us. Facts are facts, and the truth is that Israel is fact; "Palestine" is fiction.

There was never a real country called Palestine. That was merely a name given by the Romans to eradicate the Jewish identity from this province after they expelled the Jews from Jerusalem in 135 A.D. It then existed for many centuries as a southern region of Syria under the administration of successive conquerors including the Byzantines, the Islamic Empire and the Ottomans.

The Allied victory ending World War II may have provided the occasion for re-establishing Israel in their ancestral homeland. But it was not, as you have asserted, a guilt-driven European dirty trick on the poor Palestinians. At that time, "Palestine" was largely an undeveloped wasteland. When the Ottoman Empire was defeated and dismantled at the end of World War I, the land was up for grabs. Under a League of Nations mandate, the British designated it as a national homeland for the Jews.

To appease the Arabs, the larger territory of Transjordan was allowed to separate and become an independent Arab state (Jordan). Sounds more like a dirty trick on the Jews, to me. First, their homeland is cut by more than half. Then, Jordan tires of the violence-prone Palestinians and kicks them out—an event known as Black September, creating an enormous refugee problem for Israel--whose massive public works projects were what made the area a desirable place to live in the first place.

Historically, the Jews have been there far longer than anybody else. The Israelites first occupied the land as early as 1400 B.C., about 2,000 years earlier than the Arabs, who arrived in the area in the seventh century A.D. during the Islamic conquests. Only the Canaanites—a Hamitic people unrelated to the Arabs—predated the Israelites. Scripture says God gave the land to Israel in the Abrahamic Covenant and commanded the Israelites to conquer Canaan completely and to drive out the inhabitants.

The Palestinian people themselves are actually a conglomerate by intermarriage of Arabs and many different peoples from the larger region, as opposed to a true ethnic group. This included Canaanite, Philistine and Bedouin peoples along with myriad others—Turks, Greeks, Syrians, Egyptians, Sudanese, Druze and Armenians—recorded in the census of 1931.

So, if you want to hate the Jews, don't blame it on history. That won't wash. The real reason, sir, is what you see when you look in the mirror—the naked evil of racism.

Special Announcement: Free Alaa

Thanks to our friend Yaakov Kirschen at the Dry Bones Blog, who passes this important message along:

An Egyptian blogger, Alaa Abdel Fatah, has been imprisoned along with a number of others for trying to exercise their freedom of speech in support of a free Egyptian judiciary. A blogger named Sand Monkey gives this report:

Alaa is a secular democracy activist, and a tireless advocate of freedom, free speech and human rights. He organizes demonstrations and engages in protests against all kinds of injustices in Egypt and is the winner of the international Best of the Blogs award from Reporters Without Borders last December.

Alaa was arrested while protesting to support Egypt's Judges fight for independence. 2 weeks earlier he had organized a "National Unity" protest to show solidarity with Egypt's Christians who suffered a sectarian attack on 3 churches on Good Friday. Before that he was one of the few voices that urged calm and peaceful dialogue while the cartoon crisis was hitting its peak. He is a desperately needed voice of moderation and democracy in Egypt, and one of the few flickers of hope in a country whose future seems mire between the crushing rule of the regime and the fanaticism of the Islamist opposition.

And now Alaa needs your help. We have started an e-mail campaign to the Egyptian embassies and the US State Department in order to push for his release, and have started protests in front of the Egyptian embassy and consulates in the US for his release. We will also hold protests in France, Italy and Gemany. We could use your help in getting the word out and sending them an e-mail demanding his release.

Addresses for the Egyptian embassies in the US and Canada are available here, templates for e-mails to be sent to the embassies here, and the contact information for the person to e-mail in the US state department is here. If you are a journalist or know one, help us spread the word by writing about this or demanding your local newspaper write about this. If you have a blog or a website and would like to raise awareness about this issue, banners for the Free Alaa campaign can be found here and here. We could use any help we can get, so if you have any ideas or ways to help us, please do.

For further information, go to Free Alaa and to Sand Monkey here and here.

Letter to Mojo

[NOTE: This will take a few posts to complete. So, please note this is a work in progress. When it is complete, we will try to find a way actually to deliver this to His Excellency.]

Dear Mr. Ahmadinejad:

Since our government has not chosen to respond to your recent communiqué to President Bush, let me take this opportunity to make a personal response on behalf of Americans in general.

You, sir, are seriously deluded and dangerously detached from reality. Your view of the world is the most distorted version I've ever heard, other than from the criminal mass murderer Osama bin Laden and his ilk, like the butcher Abu Musab al Zarqawi. At least they aren't heads of state. You need to get out more. Your mind is so full of the most twisted propaganda, you must have to insulate yourself from reality to avoid having your worldview challenged by facts in plain sight.

Let's start with Israel and the Palestinians. Fact: The Holocaust did happen. There is no lack of undeniable physical evidence—photographs, eyewitness testimonies, etc. I have visited Dachau and seen some of it with my own eyes. Have you? Or is this outrageous denial of truth something you and your fellow Islamo-cultists have fabricated and recited for so long that you really believe it?

Fact: Israel is, without serious dispute, the ancient homeland of the Jews. In fact, it was one of your ancestors, Cyrus, king of Persia, who gave the Jews back their land, freeing them from captivity after defeating the Babylonian empire. While living in your country, the Jews were almost exterminated by an evil Jew-hater named Haman, until another noble Persian king, Xerxes, put a stop to it.

You tell us you are a teacher. Then, Teacher, instruct thyself. You apparently are so poorly instructed an educator that you don't know basic facts of your own proud history—far prouder, I should say, than your current disgraceful condition. Otherwise, you would know this:

Fact: The Persians and the Jews historically have been friends and allies. This stems largely from circumstances involving common enemies, usually among Arab peoples. Or has your deceitful, hateful religion so poisoned your mind that it can no longer remember clearly or think straight? Have you, in fact, stopped being noble Cyrus and become instead the wicked, hateful Haman?

From your very own words, sir, the answer, to us, couldn't be clearer.

Next: Part 2—The truth about Israel and the Palestinians.

ASK ROSCOE: What's an Ahmadine-wackjob?

Last week was the maiden voyage of a new feature, a regular Friday advice column called "Ask Roscoe." And by popular demand, here we go again.

Dear Roscoe:

Is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran, for real? You think he might be nuts? What's your take? What should we do about him?

--D. Cheney

Dear D:

"Do"? What makes you think we need to do anything? It'll be months, probably more than a year, before Iran gets the bomb. Don't sweat it. We've got tons of time. Heck, Ahmadinejad might get hit by lightning or bird flu or felafel poisoning in the meantime. How do we know what might happen?

No, and even if they do get nukes, who's to say they'd really use them? All that talk about wiping Israel off the map—I wouldn't pay any attention to that kind of political rhetoric. It's all for internal consumption—you know, keep the mullahs happy. Nor would I pay any attention to that "12th imam" stuff. I mean, just because he hears voices telling him to blow up the world and roll out the carpet for the coming Mahdi doesn't mean he'd actually do it.

And, the President doesn't really have the political capital to spend with those numbers as low as they are right now. Another military engagement with popularity below 30 points? I don't think so. Besides, there might even be another administration in office before anything hits the fan. Let the Democrats sweat it, right?

That's what I say.

--Roscoe

OK, folks. Keep those cards and letters pouring in. Glad we can help.

Week in Review

The biggest news: Iran's president gives President Bush and America a last chance to repent and convert to Islam. Once again, the mainstream mediocracy miss the point and spin it as either an important diplomatic overture disregarded or irrelevant bloviating. Since the real story was broken here Tuesday and then a couple of other places, word is beginning to spread in the blogosphere. Today the national radio network Family News in Focus picked it up after Christian media personalities Gary Bauer, Janet Parschall and Steve Adams went on the record endorsing this interpretation of the Iranian communiqué.

Bauer related this insight from Iranian scholar Amir Taheri: "Ahmadinejad's move fits into a 14-century-long Muslim tradition, initiated by the Prophet Muhammad himself, of writing letters to 'the rulers of the world.' . . . To each, the prophet's offer was simple: Convert to Islam and secure a place in paradise—or cling to your beliefs and face the sword of Islam."

"Can you imagine," asked Bauer, "what the media's reaction would have been if President Bush had sent a letter to Ahmadinejad if he wanted to convert to Christianity?"

Yes, we can. In other news:

o Hasta la vista, baby--Zacarias Moussaoui, the reality of spending the next 40 or 50 years in solitary confinement finally settling in, petitions the court for a do-over of his terrorism trial. Like, just scratch all that previous testimony. Um, we don't think so, says the judge. You're history.

o No more, Mr. Nice Guy—New presidential Press Secretary Tony Snow comes out swinging, accusing major media outlets, such as CBS News, of unfair coverage of the White House. Talking heads immediately cluck about being counterproductive and needlessly antagonizing the press. As if nice would actually get you anywhere. Come to think of it, wasn't that the same argument opposing action against the terrorists?

o Spin this--Somebody takes a poll and, lo and behold, it turns out Americans actually favor tracing private phone records in the pursuit of al Qaeda operatives, by nearly a 2-to-1 margin. It will be interesting to see how much traction this story gets in the mainstream mediocracy. (We're not holding our breath.)

AMERICA: Convert or die

The Roscoe Daley Report first broke the story this week about the real meaning of Iranian President Mahmoud "Mojo" Ahmadina-wackjob’s letter to President Bush—an ultimatum to repent and convert to Islam or face dire consequences. We wanted to get some info-generation going for the good of the country. But we were beginning to wonder if we were the only ones hearing these voices. Kinda scary. . .

But then today our friend Robin at Chickenhawk Express and Little Green Footballs began to pick up the ball and run with it with a little new info here and there. Best of all, an editorial writer at The New York Sun advanced the ball far enough with the following (copyrighted) piece for a first down:

Iran Declares War

President Ahmadinejad's letter to President Bush, widely interpreted as a peaceful overture, is in fact a declaration of war. The key sentence in the letter is the closing salutation. In an eight-page text of the letter being circulated by the Council on Foreign Relations, it is left untranslated and rendered as "Vasalam Ala Man Ataba'al hoda." What this means is "Peace only unto those who follow the true path."

It is a phrase with historical significance in Islam, for, according to Islamic tradition, in year six of the Hejira - the late 620s - the prophet Mohammad sent letters to the Byzantine emperor and the Sassanid emperor telling them to convert to the true faith of Islam or be conquered. The letters included the same phrase that President Ahmadinejad used to conclude his letter to Mr. Bush. For Mohammad, the letters were a prelude to a Muslim offensive, a war launched for the purpose of imposing Islamic rule over infidels.

Much of the rest of Ahmadinejad's letter is devoted to portraying Mr. Bush as an infidel. Given that Mr. Bush is not about to convert to Islam, what the letter presages is, if anything, an Islamic attack. So the thing to think about is what this implies for American policymakers. For one thing, no step short of converting to Islam will avert the planned attack so long as the regime in Tehran remains in power. All the "carrots" that the doves in the American foreign policy establishment want to offer - abandoning Israel, offering Iran "security guarantees" and economic and political relations - fall short of what Iran's president demands. He demands that America "follow the true path," that is, convert to Islam. Short of that, America will not receive peace from the Iranian regime.

Mr. Bush has been clear that America wishes the Iranian people well and supports them in their quest for freedom from their clerical regime. He needs to do everything he can to help the Iranian people oust the regime in Tehran before the regime has a chance to launch its offensive against America. Such an offensive by Iran would be dangerous enough with conventional weapons; we certainly don't want to permit a nation that is about to attack us to have nuclear weapons. And our president would do us all a service by telling Americans about this Iranian declaration of war. When Al Qaeda issued its February 1998 fatwa, only a few Americans recognized its significance as a declaration of war. That took until September 11, 2001. This time around, let's not miss the warning.

Bravo! The New York Sun? Yeah, we did a little checking. It's a four-year-old conservative, pro-free-market broadsheet—in the Big Apple, of all places. Kind of restores our confidence in America.

OK, folks. We're going to stay on top of this story. Anybody can play. Let's show what an army of Davids can do.

COUNTDOWN: Michael Medved the winner

The Daley Report searched the blogosphere and the mainstream mediocracy--only to find the cupboard all but bare. Virtually no one has figured out what Iranian President Mahmoud "Mojo" Ahmadinejad is really up to with this supposed 18-page rant to President Bush.

The Report broke the story here yesterday of the likelihood--not a certainty--that this is the same kind of cease-and-desist letter that Osama bin Laden sent the United States prior to 9/11. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, disappointingly, told Matt Lauer on NBC's Today show that there was no significance to the Ahmadinejad letter to the U.S. government beyond some religious and philosophical ranting. It's scary to think no one in the administration--including the intelligence community--is putting two and two together here and connecting the dots. Then again, would they tell us if they were?

The only exception was radio talk show host Michael Medved, who invariably gets so much right when it comes to affairs in the Middle East. As far as we know, he is the only media outlet to carry any part of this dark side of the story about the possible start of a countdown clock toward jihad, now that the Great Satan has refused to see the light and bow en masse before Allah. And for that, he had to endure an hour's worth of domestic moonbats denouncing America as the source of all evil in the modern world. Even Michael seemed somewhat taken aback by the extent of the irrationality on the loose these days.

Lighter moment: While most of the rest of us struggle to pronounce Mojo's full name correctly, Michael's got it nailed. It rolls trippingly from his tongue: Mahmoud Ahmadina-wack-job. Yes, that's about the size of it.

ROSCOE EXCLUSIVE: Ahmadinejad letter triggers jihad countdown

A mistake is in process. A big one. One with global implications.

It concerns the extraordinary 18-page letter Iranian President Mahmoud "Mojo" Ahmadinejad just sent to President Bush. Everybody's got it wrong. And we mean everybody.

It's definitely not, as The New York Times termed it, a "diplomatic overture that was immediately dismissed." Those guys never miss a chance for a cheap shot, do they? "Diplomatic overture," indeed. To these irredeemable mediacrats, even a wack job like Mojo has more credibility than their own president.

Nor is this letter the laughable, delusional rant that's being painted in the blogosphere and on talk radio. Today we read it—and were chilled to the bone: It's a time bomb. We can only hope that someone in the administration recognizes its true nature.

Bin Laden did the same thing during the Clinton administration before declaring war on America. Now Mojo is doing it. It's a formulaic warning: "Repent, America. Here are our grievances. You now have your last chance to repent and turn to Allah and be spared." It's part of a rather formal process entitling the faithful to slay the infidel once the warning has been delivered and disregarded, as they know it will be.

You can see it very clearly toward the end of the letter, after Mojo's tedious list of grievances and appeals to Allah, the Almighty: "Will you not accept this invitation? . . . We increasingly see that people around the world are flocking toward a main focal point—that is, the Almighty God. Undoubtedly through faith in God and the teachings of the prophets, the people will conquer their problems. My question for you is: 'Do you not want to join them?'"

After the private communique comes the bayan, a public list of grievances against the infidel. Then the dua—when this is brought to the attention of all the faithful at Friday prayer. Then the fatwa, the formal declaration of war. Much of this info is contained in a book, Bin Laden, the Man Who Declared War on America, by Yossef Bodansky, who, by the way, would be a good radio interview.

So, this is the first shot at Ft. Sumter. It is the official start of the jihad countdown clock. We most likely will be at war in a matter of weeks now. Unless Bush converts to Islam, apologizes for American atrocities across the world, closes Gitmo, releases all political prisoners, leaves Iraq, abandons Israel and pays His Excellency 500 Texas she-goats. (OK, so we made up that last one.)

So, remember where you heard it first: The Roscoe Daley Report. And stay tuned. There's more. Sorry, Jimmy Boy Risen. You'll have to wait a little longer for the rest of your whacking. We've got breaking news here.

Illustration courtesy of the Dry Bones Blog.

JAMES RISEN: Pulp fiction for the Bush Delusional Disorder crowd

Before we leave Dana "Judas" Priest, let us not forget to mentally bookmark this subject as "unfinished" for future investigation. Thanks to WizBang, we have this wonderful graphic reminder to help us.

This week is dedicated to James "Royalties, Not Loyalties" Risen, another Pulitzer Prize winner and the New York Times author of stories that tore the lid off the heinous National Security Agency "warrantless" wiretaps by the Bush administration in the GWOT. Those revelations have created no end of legal and political trouble for a nation at war, not to mention the great aid and comfort provided to the aforementioned nation's mortal enemies.

From the heart of the fever swamp, Mr. Risen also alleges the Bush Administration is responsible for transformation of Afghanistan into a "narco-state," from which comes 80 percent of the world's heroin. And, most ignominious and shameless of all, aforementioned revelations were also delayed and timed not so much to embarrass the President as to coincide with a book deal. Oh, the boundless treachery and perfidy of the mainstream mediocracy.

Just let the record show, Jimmy boy, that there are still Americans who believe that wiretapping enemies like al Qaeda is the least that should happen to them. And if they're communicating with American citizens, we actually want to know why.

Just like we want to know how you think you’re going to get away with your treachery. The truth has a way of coming out in the end. And in the end, you will most likely suffer the fate of most cowards and traitors—a name synonymous with shame and disgrace.

Atwar Bahjat and the return of the Dark Ages

When will the civilized world finally have enough of the kind of butchery that befell Atwar Bahjat? Remember, by the time they actually come for you, it's already too late.

The last time there was this kind of rampant savagery and brutality on a global scale was the Dark Ages, when the Islamic Empire was in its heyday and dhimmi (non-Muslims) were routinely beaten, tortured, raped, etc., everywhere they ruled. (And that was the just the livestock. . .) Read all about it in Paul Fregosi's uber-important book, Jihad in the West. Beheadings were as common as camel droppings in those days.

Sound familiar? Think Daniel Pearl and Nicholas Berg. And now Atwar Bahjat, intrepid Iraqi woman television journalist, to whom many other unspeakable things were done. There's a video floating around the Web of her brutal murder, but we recommend the written account. That's bad enough.

This must be stopped.

The Dark Ages came to an end with the Crusades, the Age of Exploration and the forcible expulsion of the Muslim cutthroats from France, Spain and elsewhere in Europe, ending their bloody rule. And now today the Crusades are almost criminally misrepresented to our own children in the public schools by NEA-indoctrinated teachers and textbooks. Just the truth that they were a natural response to decades, and even centuries, of unspeakable evil was the first casualty.

Yes, we are in a similar situation today. The Dark Ages are returning—if we let it. Make no mistake. We are in a fight for our civilization, whether we like it or not. It's time we join the battle. Groups like Hezbollah and al Qaeda, for starters, need to be eliminated, down to the last man. Period. They are unmitigated evil incarnate.

If this sounds radical, read the account of the slaying of Atwar Bahjat, who is just one recent example, and then decide. We may be faced with a familiar choice all over again—the Dark Ages or the Crusades.

And remember: They are coming. Let's not wait for that to happen.

DANA PRIEST: What’s the frequency, Kenneth?

Let's see. Where the heck were we before United 93 and Zacarias Moussaoui and the reader queries interrupted?

Oh, yeah. Dana "Judas" Priest. And why she isn't made to answer for herself under oath in a federal courtroom.

The way we see it, Ms. Judas has done grievous harm to the national security of the United States. Which by rights should qualify her for a room down the hall from Mr. Moussaoui in the Super Max, at the least. We are talking capital crime here, after all.

The elite mediocracy has become, in effect, our domestic al Qaeda, sleeper cells of agents who are different from enemy combatants only in that the seditious services they provide the enemy are fully voluntary, rather than paid or conscripted.

Please don't give us any stuff about the duties of professional journalism. Professional journalists are expected, at a bare minimum, to report real facts. These alleged terrorist prisons in Eastern Europe appear to be sheer paranoid fantasy. We've seen at least one account of foreign intelligence officials saying of course, there's cooperation among the civilized nations in the apprehension of terrorists. And, of course, prisoner transfers necessarily involve short-term stays in temporary holding cells. What else would you expect?

But to turn this into secret prison facilities run by evil puppets of the Bush regime is pole-vaulting to conclusions in a fashion that belongs in the supermarket checkout line—you know, along with those publications with headlines like "Elvis Statue Found on Mars" and "Aliens Impregnated My Dog."

We considered spending some bandwidth on all of Ms. Judas' leftist connections. But that would be reinventing the wheel and going back over plowed ground. Suffice it to say that Ms. Judas' interests appear to go far beyond journalistic. So, for her to hide behind journalistic privilege is the height of hypocrisy.

In a nutshell, these connections involve her husband, William Goodfellow, who is executive director of a leftist outfit called the Center for International Policy, and fired CIA official Mary McCarthy, Ms. Judas' deep-throat source and a former aide to Clinton national security henchman Sandy Burglar. A little bit of Googling, and you can get a pretty good picture. Rush Limbaugh's staff has dug a lot of it up. Another great source is Jennifer Verner's article, "America's Red Army," published by FrontPageMagazine.com almost two years ago.

It appears that Mary McCarthy was a central player in the CIA's anti-Bush cell. We'd like to see a lot more investigation. It's intriguing, for example, what light Sandy Burglar's purloined documents might shed on the subject. Can you imagine what kind of mediocracy hysterics there would have been if a Bush operative had done something like that—and got off as lightly? There'd be no end to the shrieks and wails.

Anyway, there's one heck of a story here, if somebody would just put it together. Heck, someone could even win a Pulitzer—if they ever gave those for honest journalism, rather than propa-freaking-granda.

ZACARIAS MOUSSAOUI: ‘Look at yourselves—I fight for my belief’

Due to explosive demand, the RDR has little choice but to open up these pages to the inquiring minds of our irrepressible readership. If it proves serviceable, perhaps this advice forum can become a regular Friday fixture. Let's give it a shot, anyway.

The following are probably the two most provocative inquiries we've received to date:

Dear Roscoe:

Aren't you being a bit mean-spirited with this Moussaoui business? Do you really think it would be good for this country to make a martyr out of this guy by imposing the death penalty?

G. Clooney

Dear G:

"This country"? Nah. A people with no moral will to execute terrorists and murderers, enforce the borders, protect classified information or defend the national security may be a lot of things—a group, a club, an association, a gang. But a "country" is not one of them.

Dear Roscoe:

I'm confused about my sexuality. Do you know where I can meet penguins?

Jim (last name withheld)

Dear Jim:

No, Jim. I'm not too up on my penguins. I suppose you could try E-Harmony—or the Cleveland Zoo—and see what they say.

But let me address a larger issue, if I may. You mention being "confused." In that case, are you sure you're prepared for the social opprobrium such a relationship would surely entail? Most dining establishments, for example, do not serve penguins. For that matter, have you thought about how you would explain the situation to either set of parents?

Then there are the health issues. Surely you've heard of avian flu.

So, Jim. There you have it. I don't want to be too picky here, but I don't think penguins are a good idea.

Have you ever considered something a little closer to your own species--say, like Democrats?

Sure, an awful lot of them are mean and stupid and you can't trust them around children. But, hey, at least nobody cries when you have to put them down. Right?

Roscoe

ZACARIAS MOUSSAOUI: Is this a great country or what?

Want to come here and get a good job and health care and public assistance and free public education without the bother of learnng the language or even legally immigrating? No problem. Come on in.

Want to attack the President and expose classified national security information during wartime without fear of prosecution? No problem. In fact, we might even give you one of them Poolitzer Prizes if you do it with enough flair.

Want to hijack airplanes and crash them into skyscrapers and important government buildings? No problem. We'll put you up in the ol' Super Max with three squares for the next 50 years to the tune of about $100 grand a year at taxpayer expense.

Want to publish some wild and crazy caricatures of the Prophet? Now, wait just a minute, pal. There are limits, you know.

Only, as they say, in America. . .

UNITED 93: Escape from denial

It's taken four and a half years, but America is finally emerging from its shock and denial over 9/11. At least, some of us are starting to. The rest still have their heads in the sand—and you know what part of the anatomy that exposes to the world.

I saw the movie last night. Or, I should say, I experienced it. Every American should. I would go so far as to say it's the reality test of our time. If you won't see it, you should examine yourself. You may be detached from reality.

There are some who just can't bear cinematic violence. Understood. This is, after all, an R movie.

But there are others who refuse because they can't bear reality. So, they prefer to live in unreality. I'm no psychoanalyst, but I believe at some level it's this denial that fuels Bush Delusional Disorder. That is, it's far less threatening to project animus on the President than to admit there are thousands—maybe millions—of people who would like to see us dead.

I don't care how uncomfortable it may make you feel: See this movie.

You have a choice. You can stay in your comfort zone and pretend someone will wave a magic wand and make the bad people go away. Or you can join the rest of us—and charge the cockpit.

It's up to you.

DANA PRIEST: 'Eggs Benedict,' please

Anybody ever try to tell you that the Pulitzer Prize was named after Alfred Pulitzer, the inventor of dynamite journalism? Ha! There's one born every minute, isn't there?

Of course, as everybody should know, it was actually named after Abdul Pulitzer, the inventor of the Dynamite Sporting Vest and Ronco EZ-Decapitator. That's why every year Pulitzer Prizes are given out to patriotic Americans like Dana "Judas" Priest and James "Royalties Not Loyalties" Risen who have done the most to further the understanding of the evils of American foreign policy and the virtues of foreign insurgents and freedom fighters in the Middle East.

But seriously, folks, we can understand, sort of, why Dana Priest isn't sitting on death row along with (we hope) Zacarias Moussaweenie and his ilk. Mainstream mediocracy journalistas are apparently exempt from most of the laws affecting the rest of us lesser mortals in such areas as national security, treason, sedition, accuracy and normal human decency. But, geez Louise, a freakin' Poolitzer Prize?

Why, at the very stinkin' least, she should share the fate of her co-conspirator, Mary McCarthy, the former high-ranking CIA operative and Clinton-Kerry loyalist who sold her country down the river for a cheap shot at Bush and is now presumably selling pencils—or, more likely, book rights—on some street corner. But Dana "Judas" Priest is lauded with the highest plaudits as a freedom fight- . . . er, courageous journalist.

Oh, the boundless hypocrisy of the mainstream mediocracy, which weeps and wails and gnashes its teeth when it thinks someone in the Bush administration may have leaked classified information. But when the Birkenstock is on the other foot and the leaks help the terrorists make America look bad—well, that's another story.

But, wait. It gets better. It looks almost like this entire affair could be the press' own dirty little Watergate. It all depends on how much can be gleaned about the relationships of a tawdry cast of characters including Mary McCarthy, Judas Priest, her husband William Goodfellow and an outfit called the Center for International Policy.

The plot, as they say, thickens.