ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS RIDE AGAIN:
This time in Pakistan, where the Taliban apparently is behind several serious bombings over the past 24 hours. Note that Taliban leaders claim to be doing this because, according to them, the recent Pakistani offensive against them is supposedly being done at the behest of the United States. In other words, fervent anti-Americanism is again at the heart of all this.
Despite the fact that George W. Bush is no longer president. Barack Obama is.
Many of our liberal friends claimed repeatedly that Bush administration policies created new terrorists. So do these events mean that now Obama administration policies are creating them, too?
SOTOMAYOR UPDATE: so some on the left are "uneasy" about her, too--they fear she's not strong enough on abortion rights.
It wouldn't surprise me if this is why Obama chose her--she ticks off some on the left AND the right, thus appearing "moderate", centrist, etc...and thus difficult to beat.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM UPDATE--it's hard to believe California's San Diego County is doing this:
"Pastor David Jones and his wife Mary have been told that they cannot invite friends to their San Diego, Calif. home for a bible study — unless they are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars to San Diego County. "On Good Friday we had an employee from San Diego County come to our house, and inform us that the bible study that we were having was a religious assembly, and in violation of the code in the county." David Jones told FOX News. "We told them this is not really a religious assembly — this is just a bible study with friends. We have a meal, we pray, that was all," Jones said. A few days later, the couple received a written warning that cited "unlawful use of land," ordering them to either "stop religious assembly or apply for a major use permit," the couple's attorney Dean Broyles told San Diego news station 10News. But the major use permit could cost the Jones' thousands of dollars just to have a few friends over."
Unbelievable. We'll have to follow this story. If necessary, this couple should definitely pursue this in court.
FAVORITE TEAM UPDATE: The Detroit Red Wings are in the Stanley Cup Finals again--they beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 2-1, last night in OT to win their Western Conference final series, 4 games to 1. Given all the Wings' injuries, this was an impressive win. Good for Darren Helm, who scored the winning goal--he's worked hard in the minor leagues to earn his shot. Again, good job by the Wings of overcoming tiredness, maintaining their poise, and beating a good, tough young team.
BASEBALL DIARY: the Detroit Tigers won yesterday as well, beating Kansas City 8-3. Another good start from rookie pitcher Rick Porcello, who gave up only 2 runs in 6 innings. Timely hitting came from Placido Polanco, Josh Anderson, and Miguel Cabrera. The linked article wonders whether the Tigers can pull away in this division. Man, don't jinx 'em! It's still early. But yes, with their pitching, with all the youngsters stepping up, with question marks like Joel Zumaya, Dontrelle Willis, and Porcello doing the job, sure...the Tigers can win this thing.
But did I mention it's still early?
Meanwhile, the Cubs have won two in a row--they beat the Pirates yesterday, 5-2, despite Carlos Zambrano's tantum and ejection. They seem to be playing better--maybe they needed a big blowup to get them going (remember Lou Piniella's base-throwing tantrum of a couple of years ago, which led to a big Cub winning streak?) It's also important that Zambrano is back off of the DL.
The Texas Rangers though got pounded pretty good by the Yankees, 9-2. A.J. Burnett shut the Rangers down. It's unfortunate for Texas that they caught the Yankees while the pinstripers are on a hot streak. It would have been better to play them in April...
