The NRA swiftboated him?

1877 is also notable as the comeback book for a celebrated U.S. historian. Michael Bellesiles is perhaps most famous as the target of an infamous “swiftboating” campaign by the National Rifle Association, following the publication of his Bancroft Prize-winning book Arming America (Knopf, 2000) — “the best kind of non-fiction,” according to the Chicago Tribune — which made daring claims about gun ownership in early America.

That will come as a surprise to Emory University, which fired him over gross misconduct (part of their report at the link).

Jim Lindgren also rebuts the "NRA conspiracy" myth here.

Because Bellesiles was fired, I guess, he's not required to acknowledge the findings against him. If he'd been kept on at Emory, he'd have been disciplined, and I imagine part of that discipline would have involved and admission and a forbidding of ever downplaying his guilt.

But what he did was so blatantly fraudulent they canned him.

So he can say whatever he likes.

Just as Dan Rather was framed by a conspiracy of closet conservatives at CBS, so too was Michael Bellesiles.

Posted by: Ace at 12:46 PM | Comments (79)
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He's alive. Some reports say he was merely "attacked," which suggests a less dangerous attack than a stabbing.

And some reports don't mention anything about the perp.

I'm posting this not because it's so terribly important but because I guessed that if I searched further some report would let slip out the news everyone else is concealing, that is, to which demographic group this attacker belongs to.

This report says she's "Asian," which in England usually means "Pakistani." (It could also mean Far East/Pacific Rim Asian, as we in America use it, but it does frequently mean Pakistani. And that's not some sort of euphemism -- it's just that in Britain they've noticed Pakistan is in fact part of the Asian continent, and so use that descriptor.)

Friday, former UK Treasury Minister and sitting Labour MP Stephen Timms was stabbed by a woman while attending his first advice session with his constituents since the 6th May general election, said officials.

...

The incident happened at the Beckton Globe Library in east London when the former Treasury minister was holding a constituency surgery. Police officials said a 21-year-old woman has been arrested in connection with the attack on the lawmaker, but the motive behind the attack is not yet clear.

This usually means the motive is fairly clear but they're looking for alternate possibilities.

...

Though the police did not provide any further details about the incident

The police refusing to provide further details about the incident usually means the details are precisely as I am imagining them to be.

...British news agencies reported that Timms was stabbed twice in the abdomen. The suspect arrested in connection with the attack was reportedly an Asian woman with mental health problems.

A local imam just announced plans to erect a 27-story mosque in Stephen Timms' punctured kidney, in order to "bring a message of peace and harmony to his digestive organs."

This may turn out to be merely a deranged woman, and it could turn out that here "Asian" means Chinese.

But you usually know what it means when the cops start getting all coy.

Posted by: Ace at 12:11 PM | Comments (136)
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Is this happening live?

I'm putting it up quick without checking so you don't miss it.

Here.

Update: It was live, and was a clean launch. This is the last flight of the Atlantis. There are two more shuttle missions schedule as the two remaining shuttles will each get a curtain call.

Posted by: Ace at 10:16 AM | Comments (135)
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Remember the guy who murdered his parents and then pleaded for mercy, on the grounds he was an orphan?

He just emailed me to say, "This is shameless."

Plans to bring what one critic calls a "monster mosque" to the site of the old Burlington Coat Factory building, at a cost expected to top $100 million, moved along for months without a peep. All of a sudden, even members of the community board that stupidly green-lighted the mosque this month are tearing their hair out.

Paul Sipos, member of Community Board 1, said a mosque is a fine idea -- someplace else.

"If the Japanese decided to open a cultural center across from Pearl Harbor, that would be insensitive," Sipos told me. "If the Germans opened a Bach choral society across from Auschwitz, even after all these years, that would be an insensitive setting. I have absolutely nothing against Islam. I just think: Why there?"

Why, indeed.

A rally against the mosque is planned for June 6, D-Day, by the human-rights group Stop Islamicization of America. Executive director Pamela Geller said, "What could be more insulting and humiliating than a monster mosque in the shadow of the World Trade Center buildings that were brought down by an Islamic jihad attack? Any decent American, Muslim or otherwise, wouldn't dream of such an insult. It's a stab in the eye of America."

Called Cordoba House, the mosque and center is the brainchild of the American Society for Muslim Advancement. Executive director Daisy Khan insists it's staying put.

"For us, it's a symbol, a platform that will give voice to the silent majority of Muslims who suffer at the hands of extremists. A center will show that Muslims will be part of rebuilding lower Manhattan," said Khan, adding that Cordoba will be open to everyone.

It's a symbol for me, too, Khan. It's symbolic of how there is a lot of undeveloped space in Lower Manhattan, now had for discount prices, because a group of Muslims made a smoking crater of one of the world's most densely populated places and killed 2,996 people.

It's a symbol of the old rules of dhimmitude, whereby dhimmis' churches and buildings would be, by law, restricted to be shorter than Muslims', thereby symbolically affirming Islamic dominance. Except here, the dominance was first established by flying bomb filled with jet fuel.

In case you weren't sure of what the symbolism was intended to be, Khan's eager to remind you. The super-mosque -- the world's largest Temple of Murder -- is set to open on the ten-year anniversary of 9/11 -- September 11, 2011.

Do I believe his crap about this being a voice of moderation? No, not at all. These guys make that sort of claim all the time and then it turns out that a lot of them are actually jihadi sleeper agents. Al Alawi, for example, was supposedly "moderate" too, and anti-terrorism, until he turned into the new top Cantor of Carnage for Al Qaeda. His apologists claim he was "driven" to this (as they always do). Others say he was always Al Qaeda, but merely hiding his allegiance until activated by the great murderous cause.

So I don't believe this rotten bastard. And I don't believe it because anyone with the merest speck of regard and respect for his victims would be sensitive to the obvious symbolism of this action and refrain from it. Someone with the vaguest appreciation of the carnage unleashed that day, and the murderous impulses of many Muslims, would realize that this will soon become the most popular mosque outside of Mecca, and not for its message (supposedly) of peace and moderation.

Someone who cared for what the dhimmi thought at all would recognize this as singularly, incandescently inappropriate.

Someone truly interested in peace and moderation would not build a temple to the religion that killed 2,996, allowing jihdis to literally -- literally -- dance on the unmarked, uncollected remains of their victims.

It will become a top pilgrimage site for violent jihadists and their numberless supporters because it represents the triumph of violent Islam over the decadent West.

And if we let them build this, we are decadent indeed.

More: Pamela Gellar of Atlas Shrugs is organizing protests against this vicious insanity, and her blog is a one-stop repository for articles on the issue.

Oops: I was writing this as Drew was putting his up... Ah well, I wanted to weigh in too.

More, from Human Events:

Worse still, the design for the Ground Zero Mosque is a mockery of the World Trade Center building design. Islamic jihadists took down those buildings when they attacked and murdered 3,000 people in an act of conquest and Islamic supremacism. What better way to mark your territory than to plant a giant mosque on the still-barren land of the World Trade Center?

Any decent American, Muslim or otherwise, wouldnÂ’t dream of such an insult. ItÂ’s a stab in eye of America.

Joan Brown Campbell, director of the Department of Religion at the Chautauqua
Institution in upstate New York and former general secretary of the National Council of Churches, admitted that a mosque at Ground Zero could anger infidels. But it was worth it, she said: “Building so close is owning the tragedy.”

This best demonstrates the territorial nature of Islam. The very idea of building a mosque at Ground Zero is a manifestation of Islamic domination and expansionism.

The location is no accident. Just as it was no accident that the Al-Aqsa Mosque was built on top of the Temple in Jerusalem.

Video: From a couple of weeks ago.

Posted by: Ace at 10:01 AM | Comments (343)
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Of course it's to promote peace and tolerance and not serve as some sort of stealth victory monument or anything.

"This is a place which is 600 feet from where almost 3,000 people were torn to pieces by Islamic extremists," said Debra Burlingame, whose brother died in the attack on the Pentagon that day.

"I think that it is incredibly insensitive and audacious really for them to build a mosque, not only on that site, but to do it specifically so that they could be in proximity to where that atrocity happened," said Burlingame, who is co-founder of 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America.

The 13-story mosque and cultural center will be built on the site of a four-story building that was a Burlington Coat Factory retail store until 9/11, when part of a plane's landing gear crashed through the roof. The building, which will be razed, currently houses a mosque.

...Though the Cordoba Initiative's website calls part of the $100 million-plus project a mosque, its founder, Imam Rauf, says the project is not a mosque but a community center for all faiths that will include recreational facilities, a prayer space and a 500-seat theater that can be a part of the neighborhood's trendy Tribeca Film Festival.

Rauf insists the effort is meant to help heal the wounds of 9/11, "We've approached the community because we want this to be an example of how we are cooperating with the members of the community, not only to provide services but also to build a new discourse on how Muslims and non-Muslims can cooperate together to push back against the voices of extremism."

But Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, says there are more productive ways to fight Islamic extremism.

"Even when they have the resources, they are using it for a place of worship, a cultural center for organizations," he said. They are not using it for a counterterrorism research center.

"They are not using it to lead the war like Americans need to see us do and they are wasting our resources, not to mention that being close to the hallowed ground that is so sensitive in the souls of the families of 9/11. I think it is extremely poor judgment."

Here's an idea, if Rauf is so interested in trying to "push back against the voices of extremism", why doesn't he open his mosque/community center in Saudi Arabia or Pakistan? Those are the places where this alleged hijacking of Islam is taking place. Go there and show the people running the Islamic purity police or the madrassas the error of their ways. Help to bring them into the 21st century world where people are supposed to respect one another and coexist.

The very fact that there were not riots and wanton killing of Muslims after 9/11 or any of the other Islamic attacks here shows we Americans pretty much have this tolerance thing covered. If Rauf is so damn worried about the future go where the next set of killers are and put them on the right path. Allow me to offer Rauf a bit of assistance in this noble mission...they aren't in lower Manhattan and they aren't learning about Islam as a tile in some post-modern American mosaic.

I'm rather fed up with the assumption that it America that needs to be reached out to, that it's American that must accept others. We get it, we do it.

Ground Zero is sufficient testament to the influence of Islam in the modern world, we don't need a mega-mosque next door to remind us.

Speaking of which...Lt. Col Allen West (USA Ret.) and candidate for Congress, was asked at a symposium awhile back about the nature of the enemy we face. While others on the panel stammered, Col. West got right to it: It's the Islam, stupid.

Posted by: DrewM at 09:55 AM | Comments (79)
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A Worthy Cause

**Please excuse this pure bleg. I tend to frown on this sort of thing when other people do it. If Ace wants to delete this, I understand completely.**

David Heim is a disabled man who runs a non-profit business, The Wheelchair Recycler, that provides motorized wheelchairs to needy people.

Very often these folks have been refused a wheelchair by Medicare, even though they are incapable of walking or standing on their own.
He has provided independence and indoor and outdoor mobility for hundreds of people in the US and around the world who otherwise would be stuck in a bed the rest of their lives or sitting waiting for someone to give them a push.

David has given this extremely costly equipment to these folks for FREE or for a pittance. He has sent FREE wheelchairs worth tens of thousands of dollars to the VA hospital when even the VA would not or could not provide them to some of our disabled vets.

His little shop even customizes wheelchairs with big round tires for traversing the beach, snow plows, or tank-like treads for folks who like to take rugged outdoor jaunts.

David has a soft spot for the plight of disabled children, and will redesign small wheelchairs for their needs and even put nifty touches on them, like special seats, paint jobs, cute backpacks and bike horns.

He does all this with funds he can generate through the wheelchair donation process and through monetary donations. When Christopher Reeves' widow donated her late husband's wheelchair to David, he used it to improve the lives of six other people with refurbished wheelchairs. I know you'd rather the Federal Government take over providing all forms of health care, but you just don't get this kind of passion and efficiency with government-run 'charity' (snort).

David has recently had some health difficulties and is now in the uncomfortable position of needing help himself in order to continue his mission.

Please.

That's all I got to say.

Posted by: LauraW at 08:06 AM | Comments (110)
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FIAF

Posted by: DrewM at 05:55 AM | Comments (335)
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According to Bloomberg, the Europeans are starting to realize that their common-currency experiment isn't working out quite the way they'd hoped it would.

Posted by: Monty at 05:19 AM | Comments (180)
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Happy Thursday all.

The 7 Most Bizarre Shows on TV

And of course the Japanese win with their version of Oh My Balls! where men have to repeat a tricky tongue twister and whoever gets it wrong gets slapped in the nuts. The genius of simplicity and nut shots.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:36 PM | Comments (863)
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Good stuff.

This flies directly counter to what I was saying earlier about politicians profiting from fudging their positions in order to pander to that segment of the polity who wish to be spared the intellectual and moral burden of making decisions.

Maybe Christie has decided that segment of the population isn't going to rouse itself from its slumber anyway so might as well just speak bluntly.

Will it work? Hey, I've got a some sort of scientific curiosity about stuff. Conventional wisdom says that it's usually the other kind of politician -- slippery, evasive, platitudinous, gray, poll-tested and blow-dried -- that prospers, but who knows. I'm open to contrary evidence.

Posted by: Ace at 04:34 PM | Comments (410)
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