Can't We All Just Get Along?

Its December. Which means its time to attack those who don't believe the same as you do, right?


Alongside a Nativity scene at the Legislative Building in Olympia, Washington, a sign put up by an atheist organization celebrates the winter solstice. But it's the rest of the sign that has some residents and Christian organizations calling atheists Scrooges for attacking the celebration of Jesus Christ's birth. "Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds," the sign says in part.
Dan Barker, a former evangelical preacher who now heads up the atheist and agnostic Freedom From Religion Foundation, said it was important for atheists to see their viewpoints validated alongside everyone else's.




Now, I have nothing against the atheists putting something up outside a legislative building. Its public land right? Go for it. You have just as much right to put something up about your beliefs as I do. I just don't like the way you're doing it. It sounds so very...angry.

Your very own words illustrate that you're missing the point. You see the Nativity is an attack and intrusion.

"Most people think December is for Christians and view our signs as an intrusion, when actually it's the other way around," he said. "People have been celebrating the winter solstice long before Christmas. We see Christianity as the intruder, trying to steal the holiday from all of us humans."

So then what you're saying here Barker, is that you're a Pagan? 'cause I was taught that they were the ones who celebrated the winter solstice( and still do), and that is why the christian church celebrates Christmas this time of year. It was easier for the Pagans to accept the christian faith if they were kept to the same schedule.

And I could be wrong, perhaps Nicki can correct me, but my understanding of Pagans leads me to believe that they aren't ones to be so exclusionary or dispresectful of another's religion. And if you're really celebrating the solstice the way it "should" be, or just fighting the good fight to get the pagans back their holiday then why not a pagan symbol rather than your sign?

But my real beef is this. He says that the Nativity is viewed as a threat, an intrusion and an attack.

I was raised Catholic, went to Catholic school and then had the benefit of going to a non-demoninational highschool. They taught us to THINK about religion and to view everything in its historical context. Shocker, I know. That being said, I don't go to church regularly, and my belief system would probably make the religious right condemn me to hell. (Since you're a former evangelical preacher you probably would have been one of the ones telling me I'm going to hell, btw.) But at no time was I ever taught that the nativity or Christmas is "this threat of internal violence if we don't submit to that master ."

I was taught that it was supposed to be a celebration and that the nativity was a symbol of hope and joy. I was also taught that we should be tolerant of everyone's religious views. That Christmas is a time of peace and acceptance, not judgement, anger and hatred. Which is what your sign smacks of. Perhaps you'd best look at your own actions before pointing fingers Mr. Barker.

Another ATHIEST says it best. "They are shooting themselves in the foot," said iReport contributor Rich Phillips, who describes himself as an atheist. "Everyone's out there for the holidays, trying to represent their religion, their beliefs, and it's a time to be positive."

And before the athiests start harrasing me, let me reiterate that I'm not against them putting something on the lawn of the legislative building. Neither do I dislike athiests or think all of them are like Mr. Barker here. Like I said I am not a devout Catholic, or a religious fundamentalist. I'm just someone who thinks there is more to the universe than just this life and I'm taking issue with the attitude of the message on the sign. Rather than the one below, which is on the DC buses.


So, for you Mr. Barker I have a suggestion on what you can use as a symbol of your hate-filled version of athiesm. And a gift.

First, your symbol.



And now, the gift.



Merry Christmas.

*on edit- this posting came as a surpise to those who know me and are aware of how reticent I am to bring up topics like this, and resulted in a number of emails. But it just hit the wrong button at a time where I was developing a migraine which made me more irritable than usual. And I'm not sure I fully got my point across because of the distracting pain. Religions, whatever they may be, take this time of year to display their particular symbol of hope and grace. Barker and his group instead chose to display an antagonistic, condescending message laced with ridicule. You don't see the Christians putting up a sign that says "don't listen to those Jews, they killed Jesus" next to the Nativity, or a sign that says " those Christians, they've got the wrong guy, but hey- they only really care about santa anyway" next to the Menorah, do you?


Also, I know people complained about the poster on the DC buses. And if someone complained about them to me, I'd defend the poster. I don't find it offensive, and it was paid with private money so why not? I see it as a completely different animal from the plaque.

oh yeah- and I read that the plaque was removed and founs in a local ditch. Which disgusts me just as much as the plaque does.

ok, thats it. I'm going back to bed.

Protesters In Congress

Why is it that MoveOn, Code Pink, et al seen to think they have to chant during every friggin' hearing on the hill? Oh right... they only do it when the cameras are rolling.

I Notice The Nazi Didn’t Get Them Jazzed Up

Islamic Rage Toy?A Lego-style Islamic terrorist figurine has sparked outrage among Muslims and others.
Outrage among Muslims? I am shocked… shocked I tell you!

The controversial toy mini-figure, made by American Will Chapman as part of his BrickArms line, is a masked militant with an assault rifle, grenade launcher and belt of explosives. The character is called "Bandit — Mr. White" and sells for $14.

A Lego figurine with a rag on it’s head, an assault rifle, and some grenades has some Islamists feeling a little defense? But why?

Shocked by the plaything, British Muslim organization the Ramadhan Foundation has branded the figurine "absolutely disgusting."

Absolutely disgusting that we’re not getting a cut. This is a clear cut case of copyright infringement!

Chief executive Mohammed Shafiq said the toy is "glorifying terrorism."

Um, and your belly bomb bearing buddies in Bagdad aren’t?

"I don't think there's any difference between someone that shouts hatred through a megaphone and someone that creates a doll that glorifies terrorists," he said. "As a parent myself, I'm going to teach my children respect for the law and respect for each and every community.

Um, yeah… there is a slight difference. I’ll give an example: Hitler shouted through a megaphone. Hitler was a terrorist. This doll is a representation of radical Islamists. You’re a terrorist.

"These are the lessons parents should be giving to their children — not lessons about weapons and violence."

You mean respect for Sharia law and the Islamic community, right?

Father-of-three Chapman, whose company is based outside of Seattle, boasts on his Web site that his 9-year-old son gave him the idea for the toy line, which includes 31 different Lego-style weapons and 10 miniature militant figurines.

His nine year old son must also be a terrorist.

Other fighters in the line include World War II troops, U.S. marines and a Nazi SS officer.

But you notice those toys didn’t get mentioned by Mohammed… just the one that made his guys look bad. Apparently it’s okay to be portrayed as a villain if you’re a kafir. Apparently it’s okay if we get offended… but God forbid we offend a Muslim. No, I mean literally… apparently god forbids it.
Here is a big picture of the various other toys that Chapman produces. You’ll notice that none of those toys appears to be offensive except for the one wearing a tablecloth on his head and size C-4 pants.

New Feature Item: Girl Of The Month

This is November’s GoM… I have no idea who she is, but she is not only hot, but she can simultaneously throw a clay pigeon, shoot it down with a12 gauge, AND belittle her boyfriend for “throwing like a girl”.

Oh, AND she's wearing a tank top. How much better can you get?

Why I would be moving to MN if I didn't have a girlfriend...

During interviews, Larson admitted to actions such as spitting water on a resident, lying in bed with a resident, touching a resident on the buttocks, inserting her finger into a resident’s rectum, antagonizing a resident, humping a resident and putting her hand over a resident’s mouth because that resident would scream, court papers state.

One stated Broitzman put her bare rear end in one resident’s face and that Larson would rub vigorously on residents’ genital areas to sexually arouse them.

Who the hell complained? Dude, most guys have to pay for that kind of fun. Give these girls car batteries and jumper cables and this would remind me of my 4 days in Budapest.

Linked above, H/t to BarStoolSports, of course.

And just in case a disclaimer is needed here, these girls are really mental cases. I think the law will straighten them out a little, and no one should have to ever worry about their elderly family members.

Ever So Slight Difference

In fact, a huge difference.

Ebonics is an ignorant bastardization of English rife with bad grammar combined with accent and slang. Ebonics is the butchery of the English language. If Sarah Palin’s accent was combined with a ridiculously poor grasp of grammar and vulgar slang, then it would be comparable to Ebonics there Whoopi.


Apples and oranges, Whoopi. Apples and oranges.

What The Hell Is Rated “R” For These People? A Snuff Film?

What version of Cinderella is considered reasonable for kids 7 and up (as advertised)?

“We were expecting fairy godmothers, pumpkins and mice — not violence, bloodshed and swearing,” one mother, who brought her 8-year-old daughter to the play, told the paper.

Despite the uproar, the word “slut” and a scene containing violence will remain in the play, The Mail reported.

“A scene in which the stepmother is called a ‘fat bitch’ has been removed by the director,” a Lyric spokeswoman told The Mail. “A lot of work has been done since the previews.”

Yeah, I think I’ll be skipping the “slutty bitch” version of Cinderella with my kids.

The Great AIDS Swindle

Okay, before everybody on the left starts jumping on my back for being a heartless homophobic racist, let me state that I lost my brother to AIDS way back when it first started breaking out. He engaged in risky behavior and paid the price before anybody knew there was a price to pay. That being said, I think we’ve gone a bit overboard on AIDS and HIV spending. I have no problems funding research to eradicate diseases of any type, but I think that the cost should be balanced against the severity and lethality of the diseases being cured.

I was going to write something about this the other day after a dinner at a friend’s house, but I never got around to it and then I saw the article quoted below. My friend’s wife is the head of pharmacy operations for a major local hospital and when the subject of AIDS came up (how it came up, I don’t remember) she glibly and bluntly said “well, hardly anybody dies of that anymore. I mean, I don’t think I’ve heard of anybody dying from that lately. We can control it with drugs and we do so at a 100% success rate as long the patient isn’t suffering from other ailments and they follow the pharmaceutical regimen.” I was kind of taken aback, but it was instantaneously clear to me that she was right. Deaths in America from HIV/AIDS have become more unique than lottery winners.

I then asked about children born with HIV. Her response this time was earth shattering. “Most if not all of them are treatable and the really strange thing is that a lot of them are testing HIV negative by the time they get to about 11 or 12 years old.” Huh. Interesting.

Now that you’ve read the intro, read the real meat of the post…

"AIDS is a terrible humanitarian tragedy, but it's just one of many terrible humanitarian tragedies," said Jeremy Shiffman, who studies health spending at Syracuse University.

Roger England of Health Systems Workshop, a think tank based in the Caribbean island of Grenada, goes further. He argues that UNAIDS, the U.N. agency leading the fight against the disease, has outlived its purpose and should be disbanded.

"The global HIV industry is too big and out of control. We have created a monster with too many vested interests and reputations at stake, ... too many relatively well paid HIV staff in affected countries, and too many rock stars with AIDS support as a fashion accessory," he wrote in the British Medical Journal in May.

Paul de Lay, a director at UNAIDS, disagrees. It's valid to question AIDS' place in the world's priorities, he says, but insists the turnaround is very recent and it would be wrong to think the epidemic is under control.

"We have an epidemic that has caused between 55 million and 60 million infections," de Lay said. "To suddenly pull the rug out from underneath that would be disastrous."

Of course Paul de Lay disagrees. Paul is the head UNAIDS and if UNAIDS doesn’t exist, then Paul’s job doesn’t exist. Even if they cut funding by half instead of in toto then he stands to lose a lot of international pull. Nobody wants to lose their job or take a cut in pay or responsibility, but when you’ve fattened the calf to the point that all it’s doing is eating and not moving forward, it’s time to slaughter it.

You also note that Mr. de Lay mentions how many people are getting infected, not how many people are dying from it. I’m sure this distinction is no accident as much as I’m certain that there would be a disparity between the two numbers.

England argues that closing UNAIDS would free up its $200 million annual budget for other health problems such as pneumonia, which kills more children every year than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.

"By putting more money into AIDS, we are implicitly saying it's OK for more kids to die of pneumonia," England said.

His comments touch on the bigger complaint: that AIDS hogs money and may damage other health programs.

So why doesn’t anyone stand up and take notice? Because rock stars, movie stars, and playwrights don’t get malaria or measles. Who ever heard of a movie star who died of pneumonia (I mean, who already didn’t have AIDS)?

In a 2006 report, Rwandan officials noted a "gross misallocation of resources" in health: $47 million went to HIV, $18 million went to malaria, the country's biggest killer, and $1 million went to childhood illnesses.

Wow. Just wow. In 2006, 80% of American aid for health and population issues went to AIDS. 80%. Just a quick glance at the numbers without any deep analysis would have even the basest simpleton scratching his head and mumbling “that don’t look right.” Five times as many children die from diarrhea than from AIDS, but you don’t see the funding flooding towards diarrhea, do you? No… and you never will.

Diarrhea isn’t a sexy cause. Celebrities won’t be holding diarrhea galas or diarrhea concerts. You’ll never see George Clooney or Elton John wearing a brown “Diarrhea Awareness” ribbon. 200 million dollars could build a lot of wells. 200 million dollars could help build a lot of sewer systems and combat bugs that cause diarrhea. But you won’t be seeing that happen anytime soon because the heads of the various UN departments love their little fiefdoms and giving up 200 million dollars for the common good is inconsistent with retaining your power at the UN if you’re the head of UNAIDS.

Diarrhea isn’t a cause célèbre, but it is killing children at a rate five times higher than AIDS… and it will continue to do so. It will continue to do so because celebrities don’t get diarrhea unless it’s the run-off from them getting HIV in the first place. It will continue to do so because the UN throws around money without forethought. It will continue to do so because nobody really cares who dies unless Sean Penn tells them to anymore.

As I said before, my brother died of AIDS… and I still think we should cut spending on it and concentrate on other, more vital areas. We don’t pour that much money into malaria anymore, why should we bother with a disease that affects a much smaller demographic? Am I a racist? No. Am I a homohpobe? No? But I am a realist... and the reality is that we're pouring money into a hole when others need in it much more desperately.

Tuesday On Wednesday

So I’m a day late. So sue me. Anyway, I got the idea from the paintball post I put up earlier in the week.

You can find more gear and pics here at Splat Magazine if you care to take a look.

A Quick Video Regarding The Second Amendment

Just a little food for thought since I don't have time for a proper post today.

Jeff Spicoli was actually a Chinese Shaman

Researchers find 2,700-year-old marijuana stash

Researchers have found a bag of marijuana weighing nearly two pounds buried in a tomb in a remote part of China.

The grass, all 1.79 kilograms of it, was obviously "cultivated for psychoactive purposes,"according to a paper in the aptly named Journal of Experimental Botany. Marijuana grown for fiber to make clothes and rope is far more common at archaeological sites.
"To our knowledge, these investigations provide the oldest documentation of cannabis as a pharmacologically active agent," Dr. Ethan B. Russo told The Toronto Sun.

Though it had lost most of its odor, it appeared to be in good shape, having maintained most of its color. Scientists attribute this to the dry conditions in the tomb and the alkaline soil, which acted as a preservative. They also believe the pot was rather strong, but sadly it was too old to be properly tested for its THC content.

Strangely, though, the bag was buried with a long-haired, blue-eyed white guy, whom researchers believe was likely a shaman of Gushi culture, hailing from Turpan in northwestern China.


Alternate titles for this post:

• Ancient Chinese Secret, Huh?
• Confucius say, "It no wonder China so uptight...somebody buried the weed!"
  

h/t to Defcon5 for the title(s)

My Weekend

I had what might be called a “family weekend”. The whole weekend was kind of updated Norman Rockwell with a few twisted twists. I’ll skip the fluff and just give you the interesting highlights.

Friday:

Friday night Mrs. Sniper and I took the kids to the roller-skating rink. We loaded up our three youngest and a few of their friends, hauled them off to the rink, and let them skate while we watched from the side. The entire time the kids were skating there were a group of idiots that looked to be about in their late teens and early twenties. Most of the group was comprised of guys and there were only three women in the whole place of an appropriate age and esthetic value (my wife included in that number) to stir any interest among those guys. Each one of them acted like the biggest buffoons they could so as to attract the attention of said 3 females and only managed to lure one to them. Mrs. Sniper stayed close by me and the other available female just skated around in an oval all night acting aloof and skating like a snake slithers.

When we were getting ready to leave, one of the buffoons and the only remaining attractive adult female approached me and started a short conversation. This is what I gleaned from this guy: He was 25, she was 23. She was engaged, but not to him. Her fiancé was at home in West Virginia because his truck was broken so she was out without him. Apparently she did this often as his truck was unreliable and so was she. The guy said that he came here every Friday night… and had been doing so since 2003. This was his life. He did odd jobs, but couldn’t find a steady one because of the ECONOMY. He had applied to several reputable firms such as Walmart, K-Mart, etc, but none of them would hire him because of the ECONOMY. The only job he had on anything that could be considered a steady basis was sweeping up the roller rink after skating of Friday nights… because of the ECONOMY.

I wanted to help this guy so I suggested that he might consider the Armed Forces. He said that he had anxiety issues and that he didn’t think he could handle the rigors of combat. I said that the military wasn’t for everyone and that those could be construed as valid concerns (phrased more like “okay, gotcha”). I then suggested the Coast Guard as a valid alternative because they were far less likely to be deployed to combat zones, you spent most of your days searching inbound ships, filling out paperwork, and/or rescuing people. Plus, pretty much every Coast Guard posting is on the shore (ocean, Great Lake, major river, etc) and those are pretty sweet gigs. He agreed and then dropped the bomb: “But don’t they, like, want you to have, like, at least a GED or something?” “Uh, yeah. They do,” I said.

So this dipshit thinks that it’s the ECONOMY that is keeping him down? I had to let him know that it was his complete and utter lack of direction, effort, and education that was his major (nowhere near his lone) stumbling block. He said it was cool because when Obama takes over in January he’s going to make, like, 2 million new jobs (one of which, no doubt, is earmarked for our sage friend) and the ECONOMY will bounce back in February. I told him, “um, yeah sure. Maybe in Frebruary 2011 or 2012.” The look on his face was priceless. You could actually see all of that “Hope” drain from his face. You could see the whole process of a child learning that “there is no Santa Claus” running through his mind. The betrayal, the denial, the harsh reality… it was beautiful.

I left him looking forelorn, confused, and broken… even the girl had left. That simultaneously made my night (because I got to stomp some of the naïve out of an Obama puppy) and scared the hell out of me because there really are people out there who think that the problem is the government and not their lazy, shiftless selves.

Saturday:

Saturday we had a typical family outing… we took the boy and some of his buddies to play paintball. I’ll make this short because it really doesn’t merit a whole lot of time. Ten people went out including Mrs. Sniper. Mrs. Sniper came home with more welts than Tina Turner after Ike got good and liquored up. I came home with none. None is what I got for the rest of the day. I think it was the throat shot that did it.

Sunday:

We went to our loony church. “Why loony” you might ask? Well, because they let me in the pulpit for one thing, because my particular religious beliefs are considered fatal heresy by 98.7% of the world’s religions, and I did all of my parts in Dr. Seuss rhyme. I think I managed to offend everyone at some point while amusing everyone at others. Enough said.

After church we put up our X-mas tree. Ten feet of plastic, wire, and green paint. Glorious… especially when the kids do the lion’s share of the work. After we put the kids to bed, the wife and I retired to the hot tub. Now her welts from the previous day’s paintball have turned to bruises. Big, ugly, viscous bruises. She has no less than eight. I still have none but I don’t know how long that will last.

Monday:

School is delayed twice due to weather that we would consider “late summer” up north. This affords me the opportunity to take the cat to the vet while my eldest watches the kids. Why do I have to take the cat to the vet? Because we found three inches of her tail on the downstairs bathroom floor and she’s walking around with three inches of bloody bone sticking out of the rest of her tail. The kids are a mess. No one knows how it happened. None of the kids fess up and neither does the dog. I’m guessing it got caught in the door and the cat took off leaving it where it was caught. Completely plausible and probable since the dog wasn’t downstairs and the cat is super quiet even when in pain.

That’s my weekend. Sorry if it bored you, but I felt I had to share.

This Isn’t Really About The Children So Much As The Parents

What the Obama children will be doing at The White House: Chores

CHICAGO – President-elect Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, said their young daughters will still have to do chores in the White House, including picking up after their new puppy.

Sasha, 7, and Malia, 10, will have to "scoop the poop," the president-elect said in an interview with Barbara Walters broadcast Wednesday. "We've been talking to them about that. We don't want litter on the White House lawns. They're going to have to do their job."

What the Obama children will not be doing at The White House: Attending public school

Continuing a tradition among Washington's power elite, President-elect Barack Obama and his wife have decided to send their kids to Sidwell Friends School. Michelle Obama confirmed yesterday that Malia and Sasha, the incoming first daughters, will enroll at the pricey private school when the family moves into the White House in January.

So much for the candidate of the people sending his kids to the same public education system that he’s been touting (and for which he has been an influence in many ways) for years. Public schools: good enough for your kids, not good enough for his.

This reminds me of a little quip from a George Orwell story by the name of “Animal Farm”; "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

Indeed.

Yeah, They Would Have Pretty Much Gotten Us All

Uganda's police warned male bar-goers to keep their noses clean after a probe found a gang of robbers had been using women with chloroform smeared on their chests to knock their victims unconscious.
(AFP/File)

The worst part is that they would have drained us completely dry (in the fiscal sense) because we wouldn’t have had the common sense to quit going back there after experiencing the first rack full o’ roofies.

It’s Okay To Blame The Current Financial Crisis On Irresponsible Lending Now That We Can Tag It On Bush!

WASHINGTON – The Bush administration backed off proposed crackdowns on no-money-down, interest-only mortgages years before the economy collapsed, buckling to pressure from some of the same banks that have now failed. It ignored remarkably prescient warnings that foretold the financial meltdown, according to an Associated Press review of regulatory documents.

"Expect fallout, expect foreclosures, expect horror stories," California mortgage lender Paris Welch wrote to U.S. regulators in January 2006, about one year before the housing implosion cost her a job.

So, more than a decade of loose rules, no down payments, counting unemployment and welfare as income, and shifty political affiliations (hint: FM+FM+BO=SOL) get pushed to the wayside as the REAL culprit gets caught red-handed… Bush and his knuckling under to greedy bullies back in 2006! Wait, what was the party that was arguing that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac didn’t need more stringent oversight during that time period? Anyone? Anyone?

The “Ex-Lax Smooth Move” Award Goes To…

Signs like this are made because of people like the police officer about whom you are about to read.

This twit:

MONROE, Ohio — Police in southwestern Ohio say a police chief mistakenly shot himself in the thigh after giving his daughter a gun safety lesson.

A police report says 54-year-old Middletown police Chief Greg Schwarber was preparing to clean his Glock .45-caliber pistol on Friday and didn't realize the gun was still loaded.

The report written by officers from neighboring Monroe says the bullet entered Schwarber's leg just above the knee.

There are two downsides to this story:

Number One: Now his daughter is terrrified that every time she cleans a gun she'll be required to shoot herself.

And...

Number Two: Now all of the other policemen don’t like him because he shot a cop. He’s his own Vick Mackey.

And a little side note to all of those moonbats who think that the people shouldn't be allowed to own guns because the police will protect them (because police have a kind of spidey-sense that tingles when they think you're going to be the victim of a crime)... if this guy can't even keep from shooting himself, what the hell do you think he'll be able to do for you?

When Pandas Attack

BEIJING (Reuters) – A panda at a zoo in southern China attacked a student who snuck into its pen hoping for a cuddle with the endangered bear, state media said Saturday.

The 20-year-old male student surnamed Liu jumped over the fence at the zoo in the tourist city of Guilin, ignoring warning signs not to, Xinhua news agency said.

"The panda, named Yangyang, was wide awake. Apparently scared by the intruder, he bit at Liu's arms and legs," it quoted an unnamed worker as saying after zoo keepers managed to calm the bear and rescue Liu, the report said.

"Yangyang was so cute and I just wanted to cuddle him," Liu was quoted as saying from his hospital bed. "I didn't expect he would attack."

After reading this article, the Secretary of the Army has determined that there needs to be a paradigm shift in camouflage. No longer will US Army soldiers be wearing digital camo or ghillie suits… they will wear big, cuddly panda suits instead.

Secretary of the Army Pete Geren said “It’s a no brainer, really. All we have to do is dress up our soldiers in panda costumes and the terrorists will run out for a quick snuggle and ‘BAM!’ we just shoot them in the face. Then we exfil and it’s like we were never there. It’s also keeping in character with the noble panda’s long held warrior ethic. It’s true. If you look them up in the dictionary the definition says ‘an animal that eats, shoots, and leaves’… nobody would be the wiser. We would have an entire “ninja panda’ army… how cool would that be?!?”

Army commanders are leery of the new plan.

A soldier demonstrates the new PDU (Panda Dress Uniform).

H/T to TSO for the link

Ahhh Ghazni… Ain’t It A Drag

Or should I say, “ain’t he in drag?”

KABUL, Afghanistan — Gunbattles and airstrikes by NATO and Afghan troops killed 53 militants in Afghanistan, including a wanted Taliban commander who tried to hide from soldiers under a woman's burqa, officials said Saturday.

The U.S. forces targeting the commander surrounded a house Friday in Ghazni province and ordered everyone inside to leave, a military statement said.

Six women and 12 children left the building, but while soldiers were questioning the women they discovered one was actually a man dressed in a burqa, the traditional all-encompassing dress that most Afghan women wear. The man, later identified as the targeted commander Haji Yakub, tried to attack the soldiers and was killed, the military said.

The Taliban and Al-Qaeda: dressing up like the women the hate and subjugate to avoid having to answer to real men since 2001.

You know, it seems to me that there are a lot more bad guys in Ghazni and Wardak now that we aren’t there… or maybe Blake just wasn’t looking as hard as he should have. Although I imagine it’s pretty hard looking for the bad guys when you’re busy having tea with them.

Concealed Carry - Second Amendment Quote of the Week (Year?)

"I Wish I'd had a gun, not a camera."

--Sebastian D'Souza, Photographer that took this picture of the Mumbai Terrorist.