Running Down a Dream

If I listened long enough to you
I’d find a way to believe that it’s all true
--Reason to Believe, Tim Harden
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Faisal Shahzad, the New York Times Square bombing ace (not) was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for being a total failure as a Jihadist bomber (Times Square bomber sentenced, warns of more Attacks.)

His scare comments are not worthy of comment ("Brace yourselves, because the war with Muslims has just begun. Consider me the first droplet of the blood that will follow"), for if he is the first impotent droplet of blood, we haven't much to fear. His training and operation skills were in the minus figures, and he is a joke, were anyone in the laughing mood.

However, it is U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum's comments that deserve censure.

Cederbaum gave a Judge Judy performance, saying "I do hope you will spend some of the time in prison thinking carefully about whether the Quran wants you to kill lots of people." Her directive was totally inappropriate in a legal setting.

Cederbaum's moral directive plays right into the Jihadist propagandists. Shahzad was not on trial for a faulty interpretation of the Koran, but rather for attempting to set off a bomb in Times Square -- a criminal act. The judge's comment is straight from the Hollywood playbook, and confirms to the world that the Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©) and the US Judicial system is engaged in religious warfare and persecution of Islamist beliefs.

Cederbaum's statement shoved Judeo-Christian values down the defendant's throat and it will come back to haunt us somewhere down the line. It was unnecessary inflammatory rhetoric. The US judicial system works quite well sans the intrusion of religious edicts. We fail when we forget our most basic tenets.

The real war is over nothing less than the survival of our precious democratic values. When we lose those, THEY have won.


. . . to be continued

Quid Pro Quo

But here, cleverly disguised
as a bomb, is a bomb
--The Bullwinkle Show (1961)

I like to watch
--Chance the Gardener,
Being There (1979)
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Eric Holder's announcement of the foiled Times Square would-be bomber's ties to Pakistan was hailed as an intelligence victory, despite the rather large hint that Mr. Faisal Shahzad boarded a plane to that country after his would-be firework show fizzled.

Forgetting the suspicious fact for the moment that the car was left parked illegally at one of the busiest intersections in the country, as one source close to the investigation told AOL news today, why are we seeing a small cottage industry among these Bombers Manque, Inc.? The source noted:

"The Nissan Pathfinder carrying fireworks, nonexplosive fertilizer, gasoline tanks, propane and alarm clocks was left Saturday in a turn-only lane -- lights and flashers on and motor running -- in one of the busiest intersections in the world, this person noted to AOL News (Times Square Bomb: "It Doesn't Make any Sense.)"

On the same page as the original 5/5 story (Catching Bomb Suspect was rare Moment for Holder to Celebrate) was an article stating that a U.S. missile strike killed six (last Sunday, 10 more were killed, and today, 14 --"U.S. Drone Strikes Kill 14.") And the would-be Times Square bomber has ties to Pakistan ... imagine that? As Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. would say, GOL-LY!

This isn't rocket science. The U.S. is killing Pakis and Talibs, and of course, they will respond. Stimulus - Response, a physical reaction. Does the U.S. imagine they will sit on their thumbs forever in the face of such provocation?

Why does the U.S. not consider ceasing aggressive killings in Pakistan, thereby defusing their need to reactively target the U.S. homeland?

If killing Pakistanis in Pakistan is o.k., then why isn't it o.k. for Pakis to kill Americans in America? Why is one o.k. and the other is not?