This is Nicola McLean, Miss Scotland 2006, who just finished competing in the 2006 Miss World Pageant.



I wish that all women looked that good in a plaid skirt . . .



. . . or in a swimsuit.

Now, don't let the glamour shots cause you to misjudge Nicola's sense of morality. As it turns out, Nicola is a supporter of World Vision, one of the world's best Christian charities.

Now here is Nicola in a tartan:

Posted by Dodo David at 11:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Czech Out Miss World 2006

Posted by Dodo David at 09:09 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Steve Irwin, R.I.P.

The following is a statement released by Billy Campbell, president of Discovery Communications, Inc., parent company of Animal Planet. (Source)

---

Our entire company is deeply saddened by the tragic and sudden loss of Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter. Steve was beloved by millions of fans and animal lovers around the world and was one of our planet's most passionate conservationists. He has graced our air since October 1996 and was essential in building Animal Planet into a global brand.

Steve was killed during a filming expedition on the Great Barrier Reef. While we are still collecting specific details, it was a rare accident in which Steve swam over a stingray and was stung by its barb in his chest. A doctor on board Croc One, Steve's research vessel, was unable to resuscitate Steve and by the time he was reached by the rescue helicopter he had passed away.

DCI Founder and Chairman, John Hendricks said, "Steve was a larger than life force. He brought joy and learning about the natural world to millions and millions of people across the globe. He was a true friend to all of us at Discovery Communications. We extend our thoughts and prayers to Terri, Bindi and Bob Irwin as well as to the incredible staff and many friends Steve leaves behind."

DCI CEO and President, Judith McHale said, "I don't think we will ever get over the loss of Steve Irwin, a human being of enormous heart, irrepressible enthusiasm and dedication to everything he touched."

Steve's loss has been felt around the world, evident by the hundreds of heartfelt condolences that have already flooded into Steve's fan site on AnimalPlanet.com.

To honor Steve and the enormous contribution he made to the world and to our company, DCI will rename the garden space in front of Discovery's world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, the "Steve Irwin Memorial Sensory Garden."

DCI is looking at the creation of the Steve Irwin Crocodile Hunter Fund, which we'll affectionately call "The Crikey Fund" to honor Steve's passion and exuberance for conservation and the animal kingdom. This fund will allow people from across the globe to make contributions in Steve's honor to support wildlife protection, education and conservation. The fund in addition to contributions by DCI will also aid Steve's Australia Zoo in Breewah, Australia as well as educational support for Bindi and Bob Irwin.

Right now, our focus is on Terri and the children. We will keep you informed as plans unfold to pay tribute to our beloved Steve Irwin.



Steve with wife Terri, daughter Bindi and son Bob.

Posted by Dodo David at 12:02 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Steve Centanni Still Missing

FOX News reporter Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig are still missing. Michelle Malkin writes, "The disappearance of Centanni and Wiig is at least as newsworthy as--and far more threatening to our national security than--people falling off cruise ships or getting eaten by alligators or attacked by bees." Please keep these men in your prayers.

Posted by Dodo David at 06:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Secret War with NoKo

This is a good thing to hear:

A PROGRAMME of covert action against nuclear and missile traffic to North Korea and Iran is to be intensified after last week’s missile tests by the North Korean regime.

It has so far involved interceptions of North Korean ships at sea, US agents prowling the waterfronts in Taiwan, multinational naval and air surveillance missions out of Singapore, investigators poring over the books of dubious banks in the former Portuguese colony of Macau and a fleet of planes and ships eavesdropping on the “hermit kingdom” in the waters north of Japan.

I just wonder which 13 nations are working together to do this...

Here are my guesses:

1. US (given)
2. UK
3. Japan
4. Austrailia
5. Italy
6. ???

That's as far as I get (except perhaps Israel).

Who else do you think?

Posted by Aaron at 08:24 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Mexican Left Demands Recount

Has Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador joined the U.S. Democratic party?

Lopez Orbrador is demanding a recount in Sunday's Mexican presidential election, and is threatening the organization of street protests if the recount is not done.

If you can't win the hearts and minds of the voters, then do your best to manipulate the results.

Posted by Pam at 12:07 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Lima, Peru

Eat that, Chavez.

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France Surrenders, again

The more things change the more they stay the same.

Posted by Aaron at 07:28 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Europe Shows Solidarity with Denmark Regarding Muslim Cartoons

For once, I approve of some of the goings on in Europe.

Newspapers across Europe have reprinted caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad to show support for a Danish paper whose cartoons have sparked Muslim outrage.

Reporters Without Borders said the reaction in the Arab world "betrays a lack of understanding" of press freedom as "an essential accomplishment of democracy."

And therein lies the problem. As religious practitioners who prefer theocracy, hardline Muslims don't understand the concept of democracy. They believe that any affront to their religion must be quashed and those who perpetrate the affront be punished severely.

In democratic societies, this kind of behavior doesn't cut it. After all, no one died as a result of the cartoons (unless it was because of Muslim rioting), and no one living was libeled. In other words, no law was broken.

This is part of the reason that supporting democracies in Iraq and Afghanistan is so important. While it is taking time for them to get up and running, and they may not do everything the way we might here at home, the longer these democracies are in place means the less chance there is for this kind of nonsense.

As for the idiot owner who fired the managing editor of France Soir for reprinting the cartoons (saying, "We express our regrets to the Muslim community and all people who were shocked by the publication,") I wonder if he would fire anyone over cartoons that upset Christians or Jews.

Just asking.

Posted by Pam at 10:06 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Talkin' 'bout a Revolution

The bloodless kind.

While columnist Kathleen Parker may bemoan the blog explosion in the US, it's a sign of (better) times in Wahabbi-controlled Saudi Arabia. It seems that along with men, women are electronically shedding the burqa and reveling in the freedom the Internet provides.

Men and women blogging together, of course, represents a total flouting of Saudi rules mandating sex segregation. And there can be no turning back. Saudi authorities cannot confiscate all the computers, Blackberrys, and cell phones in the kingdom. Nor can they forbid the use of the English language.

Some women are quite bold in their blogging entries. One blogger, Farooha, discusses many of the challenges that women face in Saudi Arabia, and some of the less savory aspects of fundamentalist Islam.

The same article condemns Saudi-Wahhabi incitement to rape non-Wahhabi women: "Imagine that women in the 21st century follow fatwas of scholars who at one point start to discuss the viability of capturing the enemy's women, and then having sexual relations with them. Some even go on to discuss the capturing of this enemy's women at time of peace, as well; and all the while, you do not even know who the enemy in question is."

Discussions like this could never take place in the open, especially by women. But the blogsphere is providing a forum for people to stand up and be heard, albeit anonymously.

The MSM elite in this country dislike the blogosphere because they fear the masses are wresting control of popular opinion away from them. In countries like Saudi Arabia, the stakes are much higher, as an entire way of life is at stake.

The ruling Wahabbists in Saudi Arabia may well be fearing their grip on power. Thanks to modern technology, there's no telling how long they'll stay on top.

h/t: GD

Crossposted at Blogmeister USA

Posted by Pam at 11:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Americans Hog too much Night Light

Well, I guess Americans are unilaterally lighting the night sky (with those refusenik Euro's):

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Rioting: It Isn't Just for France Anymore

Muslims aren't just rioting in France these days. They're rioting in Denmark too:

While there is almost no mention of the concomitant Intifada in Denmark by the former mainstream media, that country has also seen nearly two weeks’ worth of nightly rioting along with the attendant mayhem and arson. The Danish rioting was sparked by the publication of a series of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed in the Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper. The reason the paper published these cartoons in the first place was the result of a Danish author complaining that he could find no artists that would illustrate his book about Mohammed. Consequently the Jyllands-Posten sent out requests to 40 Danish illustrators to submit illustrations of Mohammed. Of the 40 only 12 sent in drawings that the paper subsequently published.

The result was outrage among the Muslim community and 5,000 took to the streets in protest against the publication. The protests were followed by nights of rioting by mostly Muslim youth in Aarhus, Denmark’s second largest city.

What is Denmark doing about it?

Denmark’s Prime Minister Andres Fogh Rasmussen was quick to absolve the rioters of the label "terrorists", and Danish police said they had no plans to stop the rioting other than to initiate "dialogue and peaceful negotiations" with the rioters.

In other words, political correctness trumps common sense and reality.

What they need in Europe isn’t "more tolerance and less racism". How tolerant can one get? What’s really needed are more cops and prisons to convey the message that equality under the law means just that whether you’re white, black, Christian or Muslim.

Will Europe figure this out in time? So far the prognisis isn't good.

Posted by Pam at 07:27 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Iron Curtain vs. China's Firewall

Good stuff from Stanley Crouch:

Even the supposedly all-powerful Internet, which is supposed to liberate through the free flow of information, has been put on permanent hold. The big dogs in the party know that the Soviet Union fell, at least partially, because the reality of the world was able to get into the country electronically, where it contradicted so much of what the people were told. Consequently, Google and Yahoo, for instance, filter out the information that China does not want its population to see. Beyond that, China has built one of the biggest and most effective firewalls in the world so as to block out all unwanted computer information. The Iron Curtain has become electronic.

Posted by Aaron at 10:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Paris is Burning...Why?

Paris is burning. Rather, the Parisian suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois is the scene of nearly a week's worth of nightly rioting. Amir Taheri writes,

But who lives in the affected areas? In Clichy itself, more than 80 percent of the inhabitants are Muslim immigrants or their children, mostly from Arab and black Africa. In other affected towns, the Muslim immigrant community accounts for 30 percent to 60 percent of the population. But these are not the only figures that matter. Average unemployment in the affected areas is estimated at around 30 percent and, when it comes to young would-be workers, reaches 60 percent.

The result is often alienation. And that, in turn, gives radical Islamists an opportunity to propagate their message of religious and cultural apartheid.

In other words, France lost its chance to stop this from happening years ago. By expecting the Muslim immigrants to just "fit in" without making any attempt to make sure they did, they wrote their own prescription for today's misery.

Will they be able to do anything about it?

Posted by Pam at 09:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Attack on Russian City

I just walked by the television in the lobby, which is always set to a news channel (this time CNN), and they are reporting that "armed militants" have attacked police and government buildings in Nalchik, Russia. Nalchik is not far from the Chechnyan border.

I found links about it here and here.

The use of the word "militant" is annoying. But of course, the media must do what it can to keep the folks at CAIR happy.

The religion of peace is once again in the news...

Posted by Pam at 02:11 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Ontario's Good Decision

With all of the talk here at home centering on Katrina and the Roberts SCOTUS nomination, it's easy to forget the things that are going on elsewhere in the world. Germany, for example, had a ho-hum election that promises nothing to no one. Mark Steyn has some excellent words on the matter.

In other interesting news, Ontario made the decision on September 11 (an ironic date, considering the topic) to outlaw all forms of religious arbitration--including Islamic law, known as Shari'a. The whole thing goes back to a precedent set in 1991 that allowed family and business legal suits to be passed on to religious bodies by the Ontario courts.

Things rolled along fine until December of 2003 when the proposition was made to include Shari'a law a part of the above precedent. It was then that Homa Arjomand, exile from Iran and director of the International Campaign Against Sharia Court, did all she could to prevent it.

Why the outcry against Shari'a? Arjomand explains:

Within the first five years of Iranian revolutionary rule, Arjomand says, the government executed more than 150,000 people under the Shari'a law. “I knew 2,000 to 3,000 people who were killed,” she says today, “including my closest friends. These were the activists, the ones who organized hospital workers, [who agitated for] safety and health [and] children's rights, who were all arrested. Within the first two days, there were mass executions. According to the United Nations, these are not lies. The papers are there.”

Click here to read more about Arjomand's crusade on FrontPage Magazine. And, click hereto read more about her organization.

It's something we should all pay attention to.

Posted by Pam at 09:19 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Australia Deports American Peace 'Hippy'

From CNSNews.com:

An American "peace activist" was kicked out of Australia Thursday after Prime Minister John Howard's government declared him a threat to national security and revoked a six-month tourist visa.

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock told Australian radio Parkin was arrested because his visa was canceled. And it was canceled, he said, because ASIO had given an "adverse security assessment" relating to concerns about "politically motivated violence, including violent protest activity."

Read the rest here.

Heh.

Posted by Pam at 10:41 PM | Comments (12) | TrackBack

Jesse Jackson Steps into Chavez Cowpie

As if things weren't bad enough after Pat Robertson's comments calling for the assasination of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, Rev. Jesse Jackson has stepped up to the plate to offer Chavez his support.

The U.S. civil rights leader condemned last week's suggestion by Pat Robertson that American agents should kill the leftist Venezuelan leader, calling the conservative commentator's statements "immoral" and "illegal."

Getting corporations to fork out big bucks to Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition isn't getting even? Wow, I sure was fooled.

It was embarrassing enough that Robertson had to come out with the comments he did. Now we have Jesse "Photo Op" Jackson calling press conferences about it and chatting with Chavez during the Venezuelan president's weekly radio and television address. Chavez is a thug whose best pal is Fidel Castro. While Robertson was wrong in his public pronouncement, Jackson doesn't do us any favors by sucking up to Chavez in the "let's kiss and make up" mode.

Just as not everyone thinks Pat Robertson has all of his gears running, not everyone thinks Jesse Jackson is the last word on moral authority. And as Pat Robertson doesn't speak for all of America, neither does Jackson.

Perhaps we'd all be better off if they stuck to preaching.

Posted by Pam at 09:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

War Games

From the AP:

Nearly 9,000 Russian and Chinese troops began a mock assault on the beaches of northern China Tuesday in the final stage of unprecedented joint war games between the two former Cold War rivals.

Russia is also seeking to sell more arms to China, one of its leading customers, including long-range strategic bombers able to carry nuclear weapons

Somehow I don't find this news to be comforting.

Posted by Pam at 12:34 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Sub Crew Rescue: Keep Your Fingers Crossed

The British and American navies are doing their best to save the crew of a Russian submarine that got entangled in cables in the Pacific Ocean.

The Russian navy made contact with the crew late Saturday, and Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Viktor Fyodorov said earlier that their condition was"satisfactory" despite temperatures of 41 to 45 degrees.

Thankfully the Russians called for aid immediately...unlike in 2000, when the nuclear submarine Kursk lost all 118 crew members because their government waited too long before asking for help.

A British remote-controlled vehicle has cut away the cables, and now plans are being made to help the sub to surface.

We're pulling for their safe return.

UPDATE (Sunday 8:30 a.m.): They made it!

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