Because the two year old girl wouldn’t say “Please”:

Zeigler wanted his wife to spank Riley with a belt when she failed to say things like “please” and “yes sir” or “no sir,” Stickler said Wednesday. Zeigler didn’t believe Trenor was doing it, however, because the 2-year-old’s behavior wasn’t changing.

The fatal beating happened after Zeigler stayed home from work to make sure his wife was following his discipline plan, Stickler said.

In her statement to Galveston authorities, Trenor said the girl was beaten with leather belts, had her head held underwater in a bathtub and then was thrown across a room, her head slamming into a tile floor.

Although the affidavit said the couple abused Riley over a four- to six-hour period, Stickler said it wasn’t a continuous event. Instead, Zeigler grew increasingly enraged as he spanked Riley and she kept forgetting to do things the way he wanted.

In cases like this, the death penalty is too swift, too easy, too painless for me. This was a beautiful, two year old little girl named Riley and they beat her to death. Try to imagine the fear as she looks to her mother for protection and there was none there. Imagine the fear as her head was held underwater or she was throw into walls. Imagine the wails of pain as she was beaten with a leather belt.

These are monsters to me, not people. Death for them is too easy. Too quick. As a Christian man, I shouldn’t wish for them to suffer, but I do. That’s wrong, I know and I’ll work that out with God.

Monsters.

Fred’s performance last night at the CNN/YouTube debate is being hailed a lackluster. Following that debate, he called for a different style of debate, one a little more intimate:

“I would like for each of us in small groups … to sit in small groups and have a discussion, a round-table discussion,” Thompson said. “Anybody who’s a serious contender for the nomination — I would get to decide as to who I’d get to sit down with, and it’d be several. And I’d do it one-on-one, one-on-three or whatever.”

He’s already called for this once before, and Mike Huckabee said he was all for it. Fred declined. Maybe Huckabee will answer his call again and this time Fred will accept.

I would like a format that allows the candidates more than thirty seconds to answer. Let’s get into detail about where these guys stand.

Here’s the story as I have heard it. There was a group of landscapers that arrived at the job site too early and were instructed to wait in their car until it was time to start. They didn’t. Instead they followed the woman of the house, Elizabeth James, to the back of the house, where the dogs were being fed. The dogs then came running towards James. One guy swings a rake at the puppies who came running and hits one of them in the head. Another one of the men, Giovanni Rivera, grabbed the woman and pulled her to the ground when the owner’s dog approached, causing her to scream. The dog, Congo, tried to protect its owner and went after the landscaper.

Now the dog is going to be killed:

The James’ have appealed the judge’s ruling that the dog be put down. Until the appeal is heard, Congo is permitted to stay with his family with some restrictions such as wearing a muzzle while he’s outdoors.

James said he’s rejected a plea deal that would allow Congo to escape euthanasia, provided the pet be labeled “potentially dangerous.” He said his dog is not dangerous, and admitting so would be wrong.

The other dogs, who were not ordered to be put down, were deemed to have joined in the attack after Congo.

The New Jersey police report says the attack was unprovoked, but does say that Congo did not attack until Rivera, grabbed James and made her scream:

According to Castro’s report, the closest contact between Rivera and Elizabeth James that Rivera initiated was when some of the Jameses’ dogs attempted to get at him.

“He then grabbed her and forcibly attempted to use her as a shield between himself and the dogs,” Castro wrote, citing information he got from Elizabeth James.

Um….hmmmm. That seems to me to be, oh, what’s the word I’m looking for here…oh yeah, PROVOCATION.

Did I mention yet that Rivera changed his story three times?

“I don’t know why they would believe Rivera,” James said. “He’s changed his story five times.”

Johnson refuted that claim. “He’s only changed it three times,” the animal warden corrected.

Let’s look at how vicious this dog Congo is. Animal control has stated that Congo’s behavior was unprovoked, but also stated that when he came to pick up Congo, the dog rolled over and exposed its belly and allowed the officer to rub it. Vicious beast, indeed.

And, there is this:

Guy James also garnered statements from several people who had been on his property and attested to the dogs’ friendly behavior, including John Pettenati, the township building inspector. In fact Pettenati nicknamed them “the happy dogs” because they were so pleasant.

Another animal expert brings some common sense to the issue:

Bill Olesky, a trainer from Belleville who has been training dogs for 21 years, said he has worked with and owned German shepherds since he was a child, including training dogs for the blind.

“The reason the guy got bit was he was afraid of the dogs. Olesky said. “He was the aggressor, grabbing the woman. In that action to a dog, he’s reading it as an aggressive action. A German shepherd will die for his master. All he was doing was protecting his pack. The owners were negligent. They deserve to be sued but they don’t deserve to have the dog put down.”

NO JUSTICE. NO PEACE. NO JUSTICE. NO PEACE. NO JUSTICE. NO PEACE. NO JUSTICE. NO PEACE. NO JUSTICE. NO PEACE.

Free Congo.

As if planting questions for herself isn’t bad enough, now Hillary has a plant at the Republican CNN/YouTube debate:

According to the post-debate wrap=up on CNN as well as Town Hall one of the questions in tonights CNN/YouTube debate was asked by retired colonel Keith Kerr who is a member of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transexual Americans For Hillary Steering Committee, or in short someone associated with her campaign.

Bill Bennet (sic) who broke the news to Anderson Cooper on the post-debate wrap-up used the word “plant” in describing his question, which seems to be how Drudge & Town Hall are describing it.

Here’s the question:

If it isn’t bad enough that CNN selected his video to use during the debate, it should be noted that they also invited him to speak from the audience. How did this happen without asking on simple question:

• Are you associated with any of the campaigns in any way?

To think that this was just overlooked requires a “willing suspension of disbelief.”

Do you believe every word of the bible?

Rudy on Farm Subsidies

Ron Paul on Why Terrorists Target America

Mitt on Preventing Black on Black Crime

Romney v. Giuliani: Immigration

McCain v. Paul: The War in Iraq

Huckabee on Cutting Spending

I’d add more, but none of the other candidates have uploaded any videos of their performance.

Hat Tip: Concealed

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Remember folks, it’s the Religion of Peace^TM:

A powerful Sudanese newspaper urged authorities to call a hardline Islamist leader linked to Osama bin Laden to give evidence at her trial, to stress how offensive the case was to Muslims.

Extreme Islamic groups said Mrs Gibbons “must die” and urged Muslims to hold street protests after prayers tomorrow.

In London, Foreign Secretary David Miliband called in the Sudanese ambassador , while Downing Street made it clear that Gordon Brown was ‘disappointed’ the 54-year-old teacher had been charged.

The Muslim Council of Britain said it was “appalled” at the decision.

Legal sources in Khartoum said it is possible the case could be dealt with in a single hearing.

One lawyer said that if Mrs Gibbons pleads guilty and makes profuse apologies, she could emerge with a “relatively minor penalty”, such as a hefty fine or a jail term equivalent to the four days she has already spent in custody.

But he warned that rising anger in Sudan, as news of the case spread, might affect the court’s decision.

All because some kids named a teddy bear “Mohammed.”

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been blogging for about two years now, and he’s asking folks for some feedback. He’s got some:

Hey! Do all you non-Iranians realize that if you were in Iran, you wouldnt have any rights?! You couldnt serve in the military or police force…youd be discriminated against!!!! Why the hell do you support someone like this?! – Xochitl in the United States

You are a terrible, despicable human being. You WILL be attacked by the US or Israel and will be destroyed! – “Your gone” in the United Kingdom

How does it feel to be the most hated person on the planet? – Martha in the United States

There are the folks out there playing the role of useful idiot though. Like Allison:

After watching video of your experience at Columbia University I felt tryly ashamed to be an American. The ignorance and intolerance exhibited by Mr. Bollinger in his introduction speech was totally unacceptable and certainly not a befitting welcome for a world leader and scholar such as yourself.

Allison, Allison, Allison. Exactly what part of his policy do you like? Is it his refusal to accept the Holocaust as historical fact? Maybe it’s his death to Israel rhetoric? Or are you a fan of his policy of killing homosexuals?

I know. It’s probably the policy that allows women to be raped and then given forty lashes and a prison term for adultery. Allison, I get the feeling you are a very liberal young college student with more heart than brains. You scare me more than Mahmoud.

Hugo is getting a little paranoid. Now he’s claiming that CNN has a hit out on him:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Wednesday CNN may have been instigating his murder when the U.S. TV network showed a photograph of him with a label underneath that read “Who killed him?”

Well, that is weird. How did that happen? CNN is know for making mistakes like this. Remember the big “X” on Vice-President Cheney’s face a while back.

In this instance, it turns out the caption on Chavez’s photo was intended for Washington Redskin’s Safety Sean Taylor, who was shot and killed in his Florida home this week. Showing this true leftist spirit, he refuses to let facts get in the way of his reality and has called for an investigation.

“I want the state prosecutor to look into bringing a suit against CNN for instigating murder in Venezuela,” he said. “… undoubtedly it is part of the psychological warfare.”

Nutcase.

Gotta love Scrappleface:

Official statistics show the Big Apple’s murder rate is now less than a quarter of what it was in 1990, but Democrats in Congress say the reduction has nothing to do with the actions of the New York City Police Department or the policies of the last two Republican mayors.

“The dip in the murder rate is certainly temporary,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, “and it presents us with a window of opportunity to safely extract our brave men and women in uniform before the slaughter returns to normal levels.”

Hat Tip: Jay Butler

There is no buzz at all over this blockbuster story. I heard it on Rusty Humphries, or I would have totally missed it:

According to the Sun, which shines brightly through the dark clouds emanating from The New York Times building, Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, the Iraq war tsar has “quietly announced that the American and Iraqi governments will start talks early next year to bring about an end to the allied occupation by the close of Mr. Bush’s presidency.”

To put it simply, what is in the works is an end to our occupation of Iraq, withdrawal of all but 50,000 U.S. troops in non-combat roles, all taking place next July, long before the November elections.

The Times, of course, could not find space to report this incredible breakthrough although it has to rate as the most important development in the long and dreary saga of the Iraq war.

Maybe it’s just me, but that seems like some important news. Something the New York Times would want to cover:

Speaking to reporters in the White House Monday, General Lute said, ‘The basic message here should be clear. Iraq is increasingly able to stand on its own. That’s very good news. But it won’t have to stand alone.’”

The key point here is that as of the summer of election year 2008, the Iraq war will cease to be the key issue in the presidential and congressional elections, the issue could be transformed from being a signal failure of the Bush administration to a substantial vindication of the Bush administration’s present war policy.

Not only that, but it also puts the Democrats on the wrong side of this war, meaning the side against victory in Iraq. They have put all their eggs in one basket, and that is probaly going to hurt them in ’08.

Not of American troops into Iraq, but of Iraqi refugess returning to thier country. The improved security conditions have encouraging results:

Syria has absorbed the lion’s share of Iraqi refugees during the war. But the Times of London reports that as a result of the Iraqi return, “Saida Zaynab, the Damascus neighborhoods once dominated by many of the 1.5 million Iraqi refugees, is almost deserted. Apartment prices are plummeting and once-crowded shops and buses are half empty.”

Hussein Ali Saleh, director of the National Theatre in Baghdad, stages plays for refugees in Damascus. He reports that the al-Najum theatre was filled with 400 Iraqis on an average night. Lately, barely 50 show up.

“In the last month, 60% of the Iraqis I know have returned,” he told the Times. “The situation has changed completely. They all want to go back. Even my own family back in Baghdad is telling me the situation is much better.”

“There is a large movement of people going back to Iraq. We are doing rapid research on this,” added a spokesman for the United Nations High Commission on Refugees.

Let us all hope they go back and take advantage of the security and are motivated by the progress both our military and the Iraqi Army and police have made since the surge began. Hopefully, they will see the citizens taking part in the progress and be motivated to lend a hand as well.

Things are getting better. Are you willing to fund the war yet Dems, or do we still need to pull out now?

I’m sure it’s for peaceful purposes:

Iran’s military said Tuesday it has manufactured a new missile with a range of 1,200 miles capable of reaching Israel and U.S. bases across the Mideast, the official news agency IRNA reported.

Let’s recap, before we go any farther. Iran has been working on nuclear power, has bragged about having 3,000 centrifuges running and is now touting a new missle with enough range to hit Israel. This will end well.

Iran already had reported improvements in a previous missile that would give it the same range as the Ashoura, and Najjar did not elaborate about whether there are any differences between the two weapons.

First thing I thought was: And where did China get their missile technology to pass on to Iran? Oh right…President Clinton.

President Clinton, who transferred the power to regulate sensitive satellites to Commerce, under Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, ultimately overruled Christopher.

Clinton’s transfer allowed the Chinese army to acquire advanced U.S. technology for military purposes.

Israel’s resposne:

In Israel, there was no official reaction to Iran’s statement. But missile expert Uzi Rubin, formerly head of the Arrow anti-missile project in Israel’s Ministry of Defense, said the announcement had long been expected.

Rubin said Israel already was in range of other Iranian missiles, so “the people who need to be really worried about the new missile are in Europe.”

That makes me laugh. It’s like: “Hey, welcome to our world.”

he named the bear, because it is his name:

“The teacher asked me what I wanted to call the teddy,” the boy said shyly, his voice barely rising above a whisper. “I said Mohammad. I named it after my name,” he added.

Sitting in his garden wearing shorts, his family, who did not want their full names used, urged him to describe what had happened.

He said he was not thinking of Islam’s Prophet when asked to suggest a name, adding most of the class agreed with his choice.

The teacher, Gillian Gibbons, faces forty lashes and six months in prison, or a fine. All in the name of the Religion of Peace^TM:

Justice Minister Mohamed Ali al-Mardi told Reuters formal charges would be leveled once investigations had been completed.

“(The charges) are under the Sudanese penal code … insulting religion and provoking the feelings of Muslims,” he said.

Thank God for our freedoms in America. Here’s hoping this woman is freed without any further punishment.