Can't get that file for you right now, Jim. It's time for afternoon prayer.

That sounds kind of funny, doesn't it? I mean it's not like the United States is an Islamic nation. Hold on just one minute. There are people who want just that. To be fair, there are people who want everyone in the country to be Christian too. The wacky evangelical Christian zealots just want to annoy you until you give in. If you don't, they'd love to get rid of that pesky First Amendment prohibition of a state religion. (Admit it, you know there are folks like that.) Militant Muslims also want you to "join" their religion. But here's the difference. They want to blow you up! Here is a quote from Mahmoud Zahar, the leader of Hamas, speaking about a recent female homicide bomber. "She is not going to be the last (attacker) because the march of resistance will continue until the Islamic flag is raised, not only on the minarets of Jerusalem, but over the whole universe." Doesn't that just fill your heart with sunshine? As with any religious nut cases, everyone must be like them. But just like Christianity had the Crusades and the Inquisition, Islam now has global terrorism. And it's happening at about the same time in the development of the religion. The various Crusades lasted from 1095 to 1270 C.E. The Spanish Inquisition started in 1478 C.E. (My favorite line from Mel Brooks' History of the World, Part 1 - "Let's face it. You can't Torquemada anything.") Consider that Islam came into being 7th century C.E. That puts their current activity roughly at the same time frame as the heretic-killing sprees by the Christians in past centuries. Trouble is that unlike the Crusades where the pope would send in knights on horses with swords and the Inquisition with its torture chambers, today's infidel-killers have the capability to do so in the thousands with little effort. If they get a hold of chemical, biological or nuclear means, the purge of non-believers will be on an apocalyptic scale. There is no doubt that the stakes are a bit higher now.

Back to Hamas. There are so many well-meaning people who dismiss terrorist groups like Hamas as just one of the players in that messy Israel-Arab conflict that we wish would just go away. After all, they are just fighting for an Arab Palestinian state and then they'll leave everyone alone. I'm going to clue you into something, Jack. That's not it. They want you living under an oppressive Islamic regime. Here. In the U.S. If we do not succumb, their plan is to destroy us. (Obligatory disclaimer: Not all Muslims want to destroy the West. Most do not. I'm just talking about a small but very dangerous minority who have the will and are gathering the means.) As far as I am concerned, that statement by the Hamas leader is reason enough for the U.S. to use military action to completely eliminate the Hamas organization and those who provide them safe harbor. They have stated their intent. We must take that as a declaration of war. The Bush Doctrine can and should be used to ensure our safety. Those little punks who have been throwing punches at Israel for so many years have made the mistake of saying "And we're going to get your big brother too." Little do they realize that the big brother has now taken a punch and he's pissed.

And another thing...

We should all know by now that facts don't matter to the left. A lie that they are trying to propagate is that the U.S. is acting unilaterally in Iraq. Let me give you a list:

Do you know what this group of nations is? It is George W. Bush's "coalition of the willing" in the war to topple Saddam Hussein's regime as a result of Iraq's non-compliance with United Nations Resolutions 686, 687, 688, 707, 715, 949, 1051, 1060, 1115, 1134, 1137, 1154, 1194, 1205, 1284 and 1441. It is even larger than the coalition from the Gulf War in 1991. The nations in bold are those who have contributed troops as of January 23, 2004. Some of the caring anti-war types will sneer and say "Oh yeah, I'm sure Mongolian, Estonian and Dominican troops are making the Iraqi resistance quake in their boots!" Sure, support from Micronesia and the Marshall Islands might not seem like much, but the fact is that they are standing up for what is right while larger more powerful nations do nothing. In fact Maureen Dowd, the smarmy, arrogant, elitist columnist for the New York Times, recently wrote "Can you believe President Bush is still pushing the cockamamie claim that we went to war in Iraq with a real coalition rather than a gaggle of poodles and lackeys?" It's too bad that Ms. Dowd will never meet any soldiers from the Czech Republic, Italy or New Zealand in her Manhattan office. (Okay, I'm assuming she has an office in Manhattan.) Don't the silly people in Moldova, Thailand and El Salvador realize that they are meaningless? That their blood is less important that that of the Germans and Russians? That they just don't matter? You see, in order for the Bush-haters to maintain their stance, they have to convince themselves and others that fact is fiction and fiction is fact. I hope the mothers of the Australian, British and Polish troops who have been killed in the war aren't too concerned about it. I hope they realize that their sons' lives and efforts didn't really amount to anything. After all, it's not like they were French.

And another thing...

Take me back! or We are gathered here today...