No one Expects the Belgian Inquisition!

hat tip: grayp on Little Green Footballs.

Brussels Prosecutes Aramaic Priest and Fugitive for Islamophobia

Father Samuel has been prosecuted for “incitement to racist hatred” by the Belgian government’s inquisition agency, the so-called Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism (CEOOR), because of a remark he made in a 2002 television interview when he said:

“Every thoroughly islamized Muslim child that is born in Europe is a time bomb for Western children in the future. The latter will be persecuted when they have become a minority.”

... the Belgian judiciary decided that the priest will have to stand trial before the penal court in Charleroi. He reacted by repeating his time bomb statement and added that he would be honoured if he had to go to jail for speaking his mind.

Father Samuel knows of what hew speaks: "he was born 1942 in Midyat, Turkey, as Samuel Ozdem" and later "fled to Belgium, claiming that the Aramaic Christians were being persecuted in Turkey".

Simply amazing prosecution on the part of the Belgians for something far less inflamatory than has been said by Muslims in Belgium.

For example:

“Leader of Arab-European group calls on Arabs to use Danish flag as substitute for toilet paper” (IRNA, Iranian national news agency, February 4, 2006)

The leader of the Belgium-based Arab- European League (AEL), Dyab Abou Jahjah, has condemned the double standards of the West regarding freedom of speech as far as Muslims are concerned… “Muslims and others in Europe cannot say everything they often want to say and they risk being arrested and prosecuted if they do.

“Muslims and other religious people cannot express their disgust from homosexuality and clearly state that they believe it’s a sickness and a deviation without being persecuted for being homophobic.

“People in Europe are not allowed to make a free historical examination of the Second World War and the holocaust and freely express an opinion on it that is different from the dominating dogmatic line…

“Yes Arabs and Muslims are uptight when you touch their religious and national symbols, but Europe had made of political correctness and the cult of the holocaust and Jew worshiping its alternative religion,” he went on to say.

Abou Jahjah concluded by saying, “I am for the absolute freedom of speech everywhere, and that’s why I call upon every free soul among Arabs to use the Danish flag as a substitute for toilet paper.”…

One wonders if Abou Jahjah was prosecuted for this speech.

When You're in a Hole, Stop Digging

Some people have never learned this basic truth (From the Detroit Free Press):

Detroiter is sentenced in court threat

A 29-year-old Detroit man who pleaded guilty Nov. 22 to threatening to blow up the federal courthouse in Detroit to avoid meeting with his probation officer was sentenced Wednesday to 87 months in prison.

. . .

Russell made three bomb threats in July and August 2004 while on supervised release from a 2-year prison sentence for cashing $93,243 in stolen DaimlerChrysler checks in 1998-99.

Mr. Russell your probation officer will see you now.....

So who did Harvard get?

The Instapundit reports on the troubling story of Yale University accepting the propaganda Minister for the Taliban as a special student. The reason Yale apparently gave for its accepting Mr. Hashemi is as follows:

Richard Shaw, Yale's dean of undergraduate admissions until he took the same post at Stanford last year, told the New York Times that Yale had another foreigner of Mr. Hashemi's caliber apply but "we lost him to Harvard" and "I didn't want that to happen again." Mr. Shaw won't return phone calls now, but emails he's exchanged with others offer insights into his thinking. . . .

Ok, its bad enough and an amazing showing of a lack of critical thinking skills among academia that Yale took in "Mr. Taliban" as a special student. But, the interesting question is who was the other "foreigner of Mr. Hashemi's caliber" that Yale lost to Harvard?

[Update: Thanks to all for visiting and Thanks to Prof. Reynolds for the Instalanche! Feel free to look around at the other posts while you're here, and feedback is always appreciated.]

Scuba show cancelled but the Scuba lessons must go on!

The North American Shipwreck and Dive Show set for saturday the 18th here in Michigan was cancelled. Of course I didn't hear about the cancellation and went to the facility and saw the sign that it was cancelled.

Unfazzed, I went on my merry way to Sea The World Scuba Center, a scuba shop that was going to be exhibitng at the show and also having a presenter on some amazing dive trips.

I entered the store to a party like atmosphere - food and drink, and very helpful staff. They were offering a show cancellation special on their open Water certification and after talking with them I signed right up.

I also bought the basics there- boots, fins, mask and snorkel, and a gear bag to carry it all in. The staff were very helpful in outfitting this complete Scuba newbie. The presenter had some very interesting DVDs showing amazing dive trips to exotic locales like Truk, with its plethora of Japanese WWII ships resting on the bottom, and carribeamn locations with many amazing fish.

I'm looking forward to the lessons and getting certified and will post about the experience as it goes.

Michigan bill introduced to ban Funeral protests

A bipartisan bill has been introduced in Michigan to ban protests within 500 feet of a funeral.

This bil was sparked by the contemptible actions of the Westboro Baptist Church, of Topeka, Kansas. These "church people" and I've put the terms in quotes as they seem to have forgotten any real church principles I've ever heard of, show up at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq and disrupt the soldiers funerals. As reported in the Kalamazoo Gazette

Twice in one week protesters from Westboro Baptist Church came to Genesee County. They stood on American flags while holding signs condemning soldiers, the country and homosexuality at the funerals for Pfc. Allan Morr, 21, of Byron, on March 6 and for Sgt. Joshua Youmans, 26, of Flushing Township, on March 11.

Of course far more decent people show up to block these contemptible idiots from view of the mourning families.

Hundreds of people showed up at Youmans' funeral to support the family and shield funeral-goers from seeing and hearing the protesters.

Sadly, none of these protestors seem to have gotten their butts kicked back to Topeka, and given thier actions seem to fit the very definition of the fighting words doctrine, I'm amazed at the restraint of the decent people at the funerals who do not indicate their displeasure in a physical form.

The bill is a valid time, place, and management on such contemptible speech. Thankfully,

The American Civil Liberties Union has no objection to the proposals as they've been outlined so far, said Flint attorney Gregory T. Gibbs, of the Flint-area ACLU.

Good on the ACLU for being on the side of right this time.

Beware the Ides of March

Which is today. Try to avoid attending meetings with people who may have it in for you today, ok?




On the Ides of March in 44 BCE, Julius Caesar was assassinated.

This silver denarius, with a portrait of Julius Caesar was struck in 44 BCE prior to his death. P Sepullius was the moneyer who struck the coin.

On the Obverse: CAESAR [DICT PERPET]VO Head of Caesar wreathed and veiled facing right.

On the Reverse: [P S]EPVLLIVS [M]ACER Venus standing left holding Victory and scepter, shield on ground behind her.

The coin is in EF/gVF condition and currently on sale in Harlan J. Berk's Bid or Buy sale.

This coin and others depicting Caesar were the first Roman coins to depict living rulers rather than honoring ancestors or the roman deities. This was likely one of the many irritants and impetuses for the assassination, yet another sign that Caesar was intending to end the old ways of the Republic and instead be installed not just as a perpetual dictator but as a Tyrant.

No Takings on Souter's House

Voters in Justice Souter's hometown in New Hampshire have rejected a proposal to condemn his house and turn it into a hotel.

The taking was proposed by the group Natural-rights.org after the Supreme Court ruling in Kelo v New London, 125 S. Ct. 2655 (2005).

From Findlaw:

(AP) - WEARE, N.H.-In a largely symbolic gesture, voters in Supreme Court Justice David Souter's hometown on Tuesday rejected a proposal to seize his 200-year-old farmhouse as payback for a ruling that expanded government's authority to take property.
. . .
Originally, the ballot measure called for the seizure of Souter's home so that it could be turned into an inn called the Lost Liberty Hotel. But at a town meeting in February, residents of this town of 8,500 watered down the language.

Voters decided 1,167 to 493 in favor of the reworded measure that asked the Board of Selectmen not to use their power of eminent domain to take the farmhouse, and instead urged New Hampshire to adopt a law that forbids seizures of the sort sanctioned by the Supreme Court.

"It makes Souter the only person in the United States that would be given special protection against his own ruling," said Logan Darrow Clements of Los Angeles, a businessman who led the campaign to evict Souter.

British Museum Buys medieval Coin for £350,000

If you've never had a chance to visit, its a fact that the British Museum has an absolutely fantastic and impressive collection of ancient and medieval coins. If you're a numismatic enthusiast, a visit can take hours and is well worth it. To add to the fun, Ed at hobbyblog and other numismatists can play "got it, got it, need it, need it" with the collection :-)

The British Museum just added to their collection by purchasing a gold coin of King Coenwulf of Mercia for £350,000.



Understand of course that it wasn't necessarily the free market price that this coin might have actually brought had it been sold in a free and open market:

A metal detector enthusiast found it next to the River Ivel in Bedfordshire in 2001, and it was later bought by a US collector.

When the owner put it up for sale last year, the Government put a temporary export ban in place hoping it would be saved for the nation.

This coin is both wonderfully rare and historic:

It is one of eight known gold coins - of which the museum now owns seven - which date back to the mid to late Saxon period.

Hat Tip: London News and Things of Muse.

Puerto Plata Resort Pics

Ok, finally here's some pictures of the Bahia Principe Resort where we stayed in Puerto Plata.

Here's a view leading to one of the resort's 3 story villas (each villa has about 4 or 5 guestrooms on each floor).


Oh, did I mention it rained a lot?



The beach and ocean, when the weather cooperated was magnificent:



All in all a fantastic time and a great resort. Certainly the sunny pics will helpd us get through the remains of this year's Michigan winter.

Vaction Report - Puerto Plata

For our first real vacation in over three years, the Wife, kid, mother-in-law and myself went to The Bahia Principe Resort San Juan in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.

The Bahia Principe resort was fantastic. While it rained for at least a third of the seven days wer were there, that's not the Resort's fault, merely the vagaries of the weather. In any case, torrential rain and 80 degrees beats snow, ice and bitter cold any day of the week. The all-inclusive resort had great food (ok we all had some minor illness but that happens during travel) and excellent service.

Interestingly enough, the resort is mainly visited by Canadians. Over 85% of the guests are from there with about 10% Brits and everyone else (Americans, Europenas etc) rounding out the remaining 5%

One of the best experiences in addition to the beaches and fine ocean swimming,was Scuba Diving. Run by Scuba Caribe, based out of the resort, I did the PADI Discover Scuba Diving class. 1 lesson in the pool (safety procedures and techniquest that are enough to keep you from doing something stupid while under supervision of a Instructor) and an Open water dive.

Of course, it was raining the day of the dive and the Ocean was way too rough to dive in, so instead we went to a freshwater lake that was formed when a cavern collapsed many hundreds of years ago. Impressively, the cavern has full sized trees and a cave system. We got to poke our heads into the cave but not go in, which made a lot of sense safety-wise.

Here's a picture of the sign at the road by the lake/cavern:


I had a cheapie Kodak MAX water/sport camera. As it has no flash, it is uniquely unsuited for diving pictures. It may suffice for waterparks and shallow pools but it is horrible for diving 10 meters down. It may be waterproff to 50 feet, but it won't take decent pictures when you get there. However, some of the 27 pictures taken did come out at least somewhat:

Two of the other divers who were on the dive with me. We had a party of 5 divers: 1 Instructor, 1 Rescue Diver, an Advanced diver (all from scuba Caribe) a newly certified open water diver from Canada and myself.
An amazing experience indeed.

Here I am underwater, about 10 meters down. (I'm the guy in front with the instructor right behind me).

I'll post some pictures of the beautiful grounds of the resort and more of the Puerto Plata area tomorrow.

Henry VII's Palace of Placentia uncovered in London

Interesting article from the BBC on a recent archaeological find in the City of London. The article highlights the finding of King Henry VII's Palace of Placentia located under the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College in an area that will soon be covered over to become a parking lot.

Hat Tip: London News and Things of Muse.

'Tis not wise to defy a Judge's order and post pictures on the net

In a clear example of how not to defy a Judge's order(From the Detroit Free Press):

The judge had chastised nine students caught drinking at a Troy high school prom last spring. That would be the end of it, he figured.

It was, until Judge Michael Martone stumbled across a Web site weeks after the students had been sentenced to probation. Leering back at him from his computer screen were some of the same students from Troy Athens High School, now in college.

On the site, they were giving him the finger. They were toasting him with cups of beer and chugging shots of Jagermeister liqueur. They were posing with beer cans stacked almost to the ceiling, and retching into toilets at Michigan State University.

A judge's contempt power can be either "ruthless or toothless". Mocking the order and the judge, online no less, that you cannot drink while under probation for a minor in possession charge is a certain way to feel the ruthless side of a judge's contempt power.

One can understand why the Judge ordered these minors to refrain from alcohol use. Nevermind that its against the law for minors to consume alcohol, if they so lack basic judgmental skills when not under the influence that they post pictures of themselves drinking and mocking the court's order, one can only wonder at how dumb they can be under the influence.

Oh, and the penalty for their contempt? The sentences ranged from 10 to 30 days in jail.

Netflix Gripes

As I've written before, I'm a subscriber to, and generally a fan of, Netflix. Usually I'm very pleased with their service, at least until recently.

It seems to me that the level of service they provide is declining.

Every one of the last three discs I was sent had problems:

1. The first Disc failed to arrive, after a 5 day estimated arrival time from the date it was shipped. Netflix usual arrival time is one day after shipping.

2. One disc had a small crack in it, along with a matching crack in the disc sleeve. There were no obvious tears in the envelope so it appears it was sent in its cracked state. The crack made it unplayable.

3. One disc was cracked completely through from center to edge. Once again you can't play such a broken disc.

I also noticed that Netflix instead of shipping new titles the same day they receive the return, typically will not ship until the next day, which obviously slows down the service considerably.

So out of three discs, one never arrived and two were broken. Not good. I've seen an increase in cracked/severely scratched DVDs from Netflix recently, some so broken that they actually folded themselves in half once removed from the sleeve. Anyone else having a similar experience?

Michael Moore Bank Bandit Busted

Not actually Michael Moore, but on first glance it certainly looks like him:

They apparently have caught the guy, otherwise Moore is taking up a new career.

Local police and FBI agents are investigating to see if the man who robbed an Okemos bank Friday is the "Michael Moore bandit."

An armed man drove away in a gray 1990s BMW after robbing National City Bank, 2260 Jolly Oak Road, at about 1 p.m. Friday, Meridian Township police Sgt. Al Spencer said.

Police would not release what the man was armed with or how much money he took but said he gave a bank teller a note requesting money.

No one was hurt, Meridian Township police Sgt. Greg Frenger said.

The next day a man was arrested for the armed robbery of a Key Bank in Ypsilanti Township, Washtenaw County Sheriff's Commander David Egeler said.

Source: The Statenews

Conservatives win a minority government in Canada

As the Toronto Star Reports, the Conservatives have won a minotrity govenrment in the election.

Interestingly, the onservatives were completely shut out of Toronto, failing to win any seats in the ridsings there, and very few seats in the surrounding suburbs. This failure to win Toronto seats, is not surprising given the incredible pro-Liberal tilt of the Toronto Star, along with its editorials of gloom and doom should the Conservatives win.

The Maritime provinces having been beat down by the Liberals on multiple occaisions (who can forget Chretein threatening them if they failed to elect the liberals there?), like a battered wife voted fot the Liberals yet again.

For a nicely done website showing the results that can be broken down to a riding-by- riding basis, you can check out the election results here.

Unfortunately this resulted in the Conservatives formiung a minority government, which will likely dilute the Coservative program. Given there is no other right of center party (even as the Conservatives are truly only slightly right of center themselves)to form a coalition with governing should be interesting to say the least. Either the Conservatives will move cautiously and make alliances where they can, or move boldly and when defeated request a larger mandate in order to enact some badly needed reforms. My bet is they will begin cautiously in order to make the current Liberal scare tactics evaporate.

However, one area the Conservatives should move boldly in is forging a stronger relationship with the US and repair the damage caused by the Liberals' anti-american rhetoric of this past election cycle.

Hopefully with clean government the Conservatives will be able to win a majority in the next election. Good luck and may Canada be a better place due to their governance.

DOJ's white paper on NSA surveillance program

The US Department of Justice has released a white paper detailing the legal authorities for the NSA surveillance program (source: Findlaw).

The paper heavily relies upon the Authorization for Use of Military Force, and points out the power of the Executive to act under the Youngstown Supreme Court case analysis. Further, the analysis points out that the surveillance program does not violate the FISA statute, and as it intercepts international communications going into and out of the United States fits with the already established special needs exceptions to the Fourth Amendment.

its a well-written and convincing document that many of those who are misinformed about the surveillance program should read.

Detroit ordinance banning selling tickets for or below value is overturned

From the Detroit News:

A federal judge declared the city of Detroit's ban on selling tickets at or below face value to events unconstitutional Wednesday -- a ruling that could cost the city more than $1.5 million. Detroit's ordinance applied to such ticket sales within 500 feet of sporting and music venues.

"The city offers no explanation how the (anti-scalping) ordinance with its broad reach directly advances its alleged interest in traffic safety and security," U.S. District Judge John Corbett O'Meara wrote in a 17-page opinion.

"Therefore, the ordinance is unconstitutional."

The judge's order on the city's ordinance has no effect on state law and the companion city ordinance that bans scalping tickets above face value.

Some of the examples of the heavy-handedness involved in enforcing this improper ordinance is incredible. It also made buying such tickets illegal as well:

Wayne Schreck had sought to buy two tickets to a Thanksgiving Day game at Ford Field. Instead, he got a ticket from the police.

. . .

Others who attempted to buy tickets also were cited and fined. One Kentucky resident drove to watch a 2003 Michigan State University basketball game in Detroit with his wife. She attended with their only ticket; he was detained for three hours by police after he attempted to buy a ticket from an undercover officer, Cecil said.

One would have thought that with Detroit's growing violent crime rate the Police would focus more on the violent criminals rather than going after people trying to buy sporting events tickets. Then again, there was far more revenue to be made from citing these ticket buyers and sellers than .

A class action for all those victimized by this law is ongoing, and it looks like the City will be facing millions in damages, especially as it continued to enforce the law even after a Federal Magistrate issued a preliminary ruling holding it unconstitutional.

Did the Liberals manufacture an incident with the US for political gain?

It's starting to look that way.
Check out Paul Martin's Spat With The US - Was It A Setup? at Small Dead Animals for details.

As predicted the Anti-American Card Comes out

As I mentioned in a previous post, whenever a Canadian politician thinks he's losing he pulls out the Anti-American card.

Indeed, the liberals and Prime Minister Martin, on the verge of being defeated, began playing anti-american advertising for his campaign:

Trailing in polls, Canadian premier plays anti-Bush card

With a militant drumbeat and an ominous tone, a campaign ad here warns that election of Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper "would bring a smile to George W. Bush's face."

Well behind in the polls heading into a parliamentary election, the governing Liberal Party led by Prime Minister Paul Martin brought what in Canadian politics is a most damning indictment: Martin's opponent is too close to the Americans, the party's ads say.

"Mr. Harper, the United States is our neighbor, not our nation," warns one.

Harper is "pro-Iraqi war, anti-Kyoto, socially conservative ... Bush's new best friend," says another ad Yet another ad speculates that Harper may have received illegal campaign funds from American conservatives. The ads are running before an election in which Martin's party appears likely to lose its hold on the government. After Christmas, the Conservatives, the main opposition, jumped suddenly from behind and lead the Liberals by 10 percentage points, 38 percent to 28 percent, according to a poll for the Globe and Mail newspaper.

Roman Coins found in British Field

Old Roman coins dug up in field
From the BBC:

A handful of ancient Roman coins have been dug up in a playing field in West Wickham, near Bromley, south London.

The artefacts may have been thrown into water for good luck by superstitious Romans, an archaeologist suggested.

They were discovered at the Sparrow's Den field during work by Thames Water to reduce flooding risk from sewers.

The low denomination coins, two of which depict Roman emperors Constantine and Diocletian, are said to date back to the Third and Fourth Centuries.

The BBC has a nice picture of one of the coins in uncleaned condition, to give you an example of what they look like when they are discovered.

It must be nice to be in a country where ancient coins are inadvertantly dug up out of the ground every now and then.

Hat Tip: London News and Things of Muse