Blue Star Chronicles

This story has been around since last fall, but I just found it today and found it very disturbing. This is an example of the main stream medias ability to put a pretty face on an ugly, grotesque, horrific act.

The picture above is of a lovely young woman in her twenties who exudes a sense of serenity. Its actually a pleasant picture to look at. This is the picture that was used as the branding for a New York Times review of a film called ‘Hot House’. The movie was about the lives of palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. The film, of course, focused on the need to release prisoners from Israeli prisons.

As the lovely face above peers out at you, you read the article of how these people are being held in Israeli prisons. The imagery and verbiage are all geared to engender sympathy for the prisoners. The problem is, they leave out part of the story. Actually, they leave out the biggest part of the story …. like why this angelic looking youthful woman is in an Israeli prison to begin with.

She’s a mass murderer. And she has no remorse for her acts. She unequivocally states she would do it again.

The parents of one of her victims wrote a letter about this film:

[Last June] the New York Times carried a review of a film called “Hot House” that goes inside Israeli prisons and examines the lives of Palestinian prisoners. We’re not recommending the film or the review. But we do want to share our feelings with you about the beaming female face that adorns the article [above].

The film is produced by HBO. So it’s presumably HBO’s publicity department that was responsible for creating and distributing a glamor-style photograph of a smiling, contented-looking young woman in her twenties to promote the movie.

That female is our child’s murderer.

She was sentenced to sixteen life sentences or 320 years which she is serving in an Israeli jail. Fifteen people were killed and more than a hundred maimed and injured by the actions of this attractive person and her associates. The background is here.

Neither the New York Times nor HBO are likely to give even a moment’s attention to the victims of the barbarians who destroyed the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem and the lives of so many victims. So we would be grateful if you would pass along this link to some pictures of our daughter whose name was Malki. She was unable to reach her twenties — Hamas saw to that.

Though she was only fifteen years old when her life was stolen from her and from us, we think Malki was a beautiful young woman, living a beautiful life. We ask your help so that other people — far fewer than the number who will see the New York Times, of course — can know about her. Please ask your friends to look at the pictures — some of the very few we have — of our murdered daughter. They are here.

And remind them of what the woman in the Israeli prison — the woman smiling so happily in the New York Times — said last year. “I’m not sorry for what I did. We’ll become free from the occupation and then I will be free from prison.”

With so many voices demanding that Israel release its terrorist prisoners, small wonder she’s smiling.

With greetings from Jerusalem,
Frimet and Arnold Roth
On behalf of Keren Malki

Has anyone done a film on the kidnapped Israeli Soldiers that palestine refuses to give any accounting for? No? I didn’t think so.

h/t: Real Israel
also at Powerline with more info here.
Digg this story here.

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Trackposted to Rosemary’s Thoughts, Democrat = Socialist, The Beauty Stop, Right Truth, Adam’s Blog, A Newt One- MAF letter, Stuck On Stupid, Cao’s Blog, The Amboy Times, Conservative Cat, Adeline and Hazel, D equals S, Nuke Gingrich, third world county, McCain Blogs, DragonLady’s World, The World According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Wolf Pangloss, , Rant It Up, Tilting At Windmill Farms, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

This is not surprising news, but its certainly not what was hoped for.

(CNN) — After nearly four years of hoping, waiting and praying, an Ohio family learned Sunday their missing son died in Iraq.

“It hurts — it really hurts. You go through four years of hope,” said Carolyn Maupin, whose son, Staff Sgt. Keith Matthew Maupin, was captured by insurgents in April 2004.

“It’s like a letdown to me. I’m trying to get through that right now.”

His father, Keith Maupin, said military officials informed the family Sunday afternoon that the remains of the 24-year-old Army reservist had been identified.

“Every parent knows the possibility exists that they may have to face the death of their child when they volunteer to go to war,” he said. “However, those who are fortunate make peace with that and support their soldier, because they enlisted at their own free will.”

A Defense Department official also confirmed the identification, saying Maupin’s remains were found last week but DNA results just came in.

Maupin, who was 20 at the time of his capture, and another soldier, Sgt. Elmer Krause, 40, were captured by insurgents April 9, 2004, after their convoy came under attack near Baghdad International Airport. A week later, Maupin was shown on a videotape, surrounded by several armed masked men.

“My name is Keith Matthew Maupin,” he stated in the video. “I am a soldier from the First Division. I am married with a 10-month-old child. I came to liberate Iraq, but I did not come willingly because I wanted to stay with my child.”

Krause’s body was found two weeks later.

Later that summer, Al-Jazeera aired a videotape purportedly showing the execution of Maupin, but U.S. officials haven’t confirmed the identity of the person on the tape.

The U.S. Army continued to promote Maupin, who was a private first class in the Army Reserves at the time of his capture, to sergeant and then staff sergeant as they searched for him.

Three U.S. troops remain missing in the five-year-old Iraq war: Pvt. Byron W. Fouty and Spc. Alex R. Jimenez have been missing since their military convoy was raided west of Mahmoudiya May 12.

Spc. Ahmed K. Altaie disappeared October 23, 2006, and his status was changed to “missing-captured” nearly two months later.

I saw Sgt. Maupin’s mother on television this morning. She tearfully said that she was just happy that Matt was able to finally come back to America, even though its not the way they wanted him to come home.

I’m so sorry for Sgt. Maupin’s parents and family. I’m so sorry for whatever he had to go through. There just aren’t words ……

Related:

• My name is Matt Maupin - Please remember my face
• Wednesday Hero - SSgt. Keith Matt Maupin
• Where is Private First Class Keith Matthew Maupin?

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Trackposted to Rosemary’s Thoughts, Democrat = Socialist, The Beauty Stop, Right Truth, Adam’s Blog, A Newt One- MAF letter, Stuck On Stupid, Cao’s Blog, The Amboy Times, Conservative Cat, Adeline and Hazel, D equals S, Nuke Gingrich, third world county, McCain Blogs, DragonLady’s World, The World According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Wolf Pangloss, , Rant It Up, Tilting At Windmill Farms, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

A Royal Marine who threw himself onto an exploding grenade to save the lives of his patrol has been put forward for the UK’s highest military honour. Lance Corporal Matt Croucher, 24, a reservist from Birmingham, survived because his rucksack and body armour took the force of the blast.

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Photo-Essay >…This rally — with at least 400 participants at any one time and probably well over 500 grand total — was much larger than any of the previous anti-troop protests at the office organized by Code Pink or World Can’t Wait, which usually range from less than ten people to perhaps 50 at most on a few rare occasions…..>>

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What is with these guys? There’s Kwame, Spitzer, Patterson and who else?

Puerto Rico governor, Obama supporter, indicted

Puerto Rican Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila (D), who is a superdelegate supporting Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for president, was indicted on 19 counts Thursday stemming from financial dealings in three political campaigns.

Acevedo reportedly denied the charges of illegal fundraising and election fraud, and The New York Times reported he will turn himself in to authorities.

The Obama campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Acevedo becomes the third Democratic governor in recent days to find himself in an unwelcome spotlight.

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D), a supporter of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), resigned earlier this month amid allegations that he was part of a prostitution ring.

Spitzer’s successor, Gov. David Paterson (D), acknowledged in interviews after taking office that he and his wife both engaged in extramarital affairs and that he used drugs in the past.

At this rate they are going to run out of superdelegates to make the nomination choice for the democrats. Unless, of course, they can cast their vote from the state pen???

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Trackposted to Rosemary’s Thoughts, Democrat = Socialist, The Beauty Stop, Right Truth, Adam’s Blog, A Newt One- MAF letter, Stuck On Stupid, Cao’s Blog, The Amboy Times, Conservative Cat, Adeline and Hazel, D equals S, Nuke Gingrich, third world county, McCain Blogs, DragonLady’s World, The World According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Wolf Pangloss, , Rant It Up, Tilting At Windmill Farms, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Don Baird

I have been blessed with a very large family. I have a ton of brothers and sisters, inlaws, nieces, nephews and cousins. I never really realized until recent years what a gift that has been. I have noticed that it has its pros and cons. Over the years I have had a number of friends who either were only children or had very small families. I have noticed that they take much more effort with their friendships than I do. Its not that I don’t value friends, I certainly do. But those friends with smaller families call me more than I call them. They plan lunches more often than I do. Not too long ago I asked one of those friends of mine why she goes to so much trouble to arrange get togethers with friends. She said she doesn’t have any family so she makes her own family with her friends.

My cousin, Don Baird, was one of those people. He was an only child and never had any children of his own. Over the years he became another one of our siblings. My mother always made sure he was invited to whatever family gathering we had and over the years he came more often until finally, he was just one of us. I don’t know if he felt that way, but I did and I believe my siblings did as well. He was just another one of us. When you have 50 or so people at every family gathering it doesn’t seem odd to add a few more.

One of my earliest memories is of the pride my grandmother took in Don’s beautiful voice. She made him sing at every family gathering. That was a huge family as well and most of the people at those early gatherings are gone. His beautiful voice worked well for him as a radio personality.

When I was a child I was proud of my cousin Don. He was a radio personality in town. I could tell people that was my cousin and they knew who he was. He never acted like a celebrity and he was really a moderate local celebrity, but to a little girl that was something I was proud of. In later years he worked for the Atlanta Journal Constitution and then for CNN until he retired. Don always took the time to send cards, call and remember people. He always asked about my children and remembered everyone’s names and what they were doing.

My son called from Germany earlier tonight. He had gotten the email about Don’s death and was upset about it. He had connected with Don. He said that when he got out of boot camp he had been at a family gathering and Don talked to him like he was an adult. He said he didn’t feel like an adult at the time and it made him feel good that Don was so open with him. He said Don told good stories. Don did tell good stories and he had a lot of them. He had lived an interesting life.

Years ago when Don’s ex-wife became ill and was dying, he took her in and took care of her even though they were divorced. He married a wonderful woman a few years ago who was quite a bit younger than him. They seemed crazy about each other. She got sick one December and was dead in January. It was so sudden and so shocking that it was hard for any of us to wrap our minds around. She had been an only child and her mother was alone now. Don has continued to look after her mother since then. I found myself thinking about how hard this must be for her mother to have lost Don now. He took care of her as if she was his own mother and now she really doesn’t have anyone else. He had only been married to his current wife a couple of years. She and her children became Don’s family and looked after him in this final illness.

Don loved Atlanta. He had been actively involved in the Civil Rights movement of the 60s and had covered most of the important events that impacted Atlanta over the years he was in journalism. He liked country music lyrics. He would find fun ones and pass them along. He would write some and pass them along. He wrote songs, some getting recorded by the likes of Willie Nelson. He talked about a book he was writing about Cabbagetown, a neighborhood in Atlanta.

I don’t know where this post is going. Just random thoughts, I suppose. Yesterday the trees in our yard were bare. Today I noticed buds were suddenly bursting from the limbs. I thought that Don would have liked to have seen the spring. I like to think that Don is with loved ones who have been gone so very long.

Lillian Asplund was born in southern Sweden. Her father was a laborer who had dreams of moving the family to California so he could build a better future for his family as part of the American dream. He copied what California had to offer his family from a brochure, apparently so he could tell his wife about it. The family planned the move to America. Ms. Asplund’s father bought third class tickets for himself, his wife, his four sons and his daughter on the maiden voyage of the state of the art ship, Titanic.

Lillian Asplund never talked about her trip from Sweden to America. She never talked about the night the Titanic sank taking with it her father and three older brothers. She, her mother and her baby brother were the only ones in that family to survive that night. When Ms. Asplund died at age 99 years of age, she was the last survivor of the Titanic who had memories of it. Only one other survivor remains, but he was a baby at the time. After her death, family members found a shoe box in which she had kept her memories from the night that defined the rest of her life. The contents of that shoe box are some of the rarest historical artifacts from the Titanic and are going up for auction soon.

Among them were notes Mr Asplund had copied from a flyer promoting the benefits of living in California, an American dream that enticed the family to set sail for a new life.

An incredibly rare and water-stained ticket for the luxury liner was also found. Only a handful of Titanic tickets are in existance as most of them sunk with the ship.

The paper documents recovered from his body miraculously survived for 12 days after the disaster because Mr Asplund’s lifejacket kept his coat’s breast pocket out of the water.

His pocket watch which stopped at 19 minutes past two - the exact time the liner sank - was also found on him. And a heart-rending note written by his grief-stricken mother in which she wrote of how she hoped to see her son again in heaven formed part of the collection.

The stunning archive includes a sad photograph of Lillian, her mother Selma and three-year-old brother Felix, who both survived, at her father’s grave in 1912.

Aside from the interest of the rare items from the Titanic, the belongs of Ms. Asplund could be pieced together to give insight into the events that happened that night culminating in the demise of her family.

Carl Asplund, a 40-year-old labourer, bought seven third class tickets for the Titanic’s maiden voyage from Southampton to New York on April 10, 1912.

With him were wife Selma, then aged 38, and five children Filip, 13, Clarence, nine, Carl Edgar, five, Lillian, five, and Felix, three.

When the ship hit an iceberg and started to sink on the night of April 14, the Asplunds made a decision that the family should die together along with the 1,500 who perished.

But, according to an account Selma Asplund later gave, at the last moment Felix and Lillian were thrown into lifeboat 15 by an unknown person. Mr Asplund then pushed his wife forward to go with them.

She was haunted by the memory of the faces of her husband and three sons peering over the rail moments before the ship sank. Her husband’s drowned and frozen body was recovered from the Atlantic 12 days later but there was no sign of his three sons.

Found in the pockets of his brown overcoat were his gold watch, two small keys for a safety box on board which stored the family’s life savings, and his gold wedding ring.

Also recovered were two pocket books, one of which contained his notes on their new life in California. It is thought he had copied out a flyer designed to entice people to California to show his wife.

Part of it read: “California wants people like you, now is your time to come here. We have green grass and wild flowers at this time of year and all the facilities you can have.

“An ideal home we can offer you we think. Perhaps you don’t believe what we are saying about our climate and city. Come and see it with your own eyes.”

Other papers on him included a letter dated February 28, 1912, telling Mr Asplund he had as job waiting for him.

His possessions were handed to Mrs Asplund who also kept a cold and heartless letter from White Star Line dated May 11, 1912.

It told her they were giving her late husband’s effects back as they were of “small value”. Mr Aldridge said: “This letter states that the items were of low value which is ironic considering just how much they are worth now.”

Mrs Asplund stored the moving letter written by her mother-in-law, Kristina Samuelsson, 16 months after the tragedy, in the box.

In it she states how much her eyes hurt from where she has been in mourning.

She wrote: “My nerves are so weak and my eyes are so poor because I have been crying so much but I hope that my grieving days soon will have an end and I will join the final rest where God has promised to wipe out the tears from all the faces.”

Mrs Asplund died aged 91 on April 15 1964 - 52 years to the day of the disaster. After her death Lillian Asplund put her mother’s wedding ring in the box alongside that of her father’s gold band.

Felix Asplund died in 1983 aged 73 and Lillian passed away in 2006. The auction takes place on Saturday, April 19.

source

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Trackposted to Rosemary’s Thoughts, Democrat = Socialist, The Beauty Stop, Right Truth, Adam’s Blog, A Newt One- MAF letter, Stuck On Stupid, Cao’s Blog, The Amboy Times, Conservative Cat, Adeline and Hazel, D equals S, Nuke Gingrich, third world county, McCain Blogs, DragonLady’s World, The World According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Wolf Pangloss, , Rant It Up, Tilting At Windmill Farms, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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There’s just a big brouhaha going on because of the Geert Wilders film, Fitna. Obviously, a lot of people saw that coming and many people and groups tried to stop it from being released from the get-go.

I watched the film and saw acts of terrorism committed by islamic jihadists against the West and Western interest. The film didn’t exaggerate the atrocities and in fact barely scratched the surface of the outrageous behavior of the jihadists. So what’s the problem? The problem apparently is that we are not supposed to acknowledge that jihadists are jihadists. I guess we are supposed to pretend the are a loving group of people who are just badly misunderstood.

Or …. as a few commenters on my previous post have pointed out … we should all just admit that America is the big bad bully in the world and its all our fault for everything the Jihadists do around the world to anyone who does not submit to their will.

I don’t think I’ll do that, thank you very much. The jihadists have made no secret of their goal of destroying us and to pretend that is not true is akin to Chamberlain declaring that Hitler wasn’t so bad after all and there’d be peace in his time. He was wrong and the people who excuse the behavior of these evil doers are just as wrong and are part of the problem.

Its hard to blame the commenters and the ‘moderate muslims’ who refuse to condemn this behavior or who even defend the behavior. After all, look what happens to any muslims who DO speak out against jihadists in the name of islam … if they aren’t murdered they have to go into hiding. Just ask Ayaan Hirsi Ali what happens to muslims who speak out.

The jihadists are pulling out all the stops to intimidat the West into suppressing any information being distributed to the people that reminds them of the atrocities committed in the name of islam.

Its hard for me to believe how badly we are being played. On the one had they openly tell us they will destroy us and make no secret that they are developing the technology and weapons that can and will do just that. The examples of this are almost endless. And still we pretend that they are not a threat and would rather blame ourselves than name the enemy what he really is.

When did we become such cowards????? It is certainly not our heritage to be cowardly, yet we seem to have lost our will to protect our own interests. We tsk-tsk about beheadings, but then are outraged when someone reminds us that the ones doing the beheadings are islamic. Some even feel sorry for them when they are killed by our Troops!

Here’s a little bit of what’s going on now …..

I already posted that the courageous European Union has condemned the movie. They even went so far as to state the the whole concept of free speech is probably over-rated. Oh yeah? Tell our Founding Fathers that and every man who has died in every war defending our freedoms. COWARDS!

Muslim nations condemn Dutch Koran film

Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigration Freedom Party, launched his short video on the Internet on Thursday evening, prompting an al Qaeda-linked website to call for his death and increased attacks on Dutch soldiers in Afghanistan.

“The correct Sharia (Islamic law) response is to cut (off) his head and let him follow his predecessor, van Gogh, to hell,” a member of Al-Ekhlaas wrote on the al-Qaeda affiliated forum, according to the SITE Institute, a U.S.-based terrorism monitoring service.

The 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) said: “The film is solely intended to incite and provoke unrest and intolerance among people of different religious beliefs and to jeopardize world peace and stability.” [If they didn't blow up people, fly planes into buildings, behead people and kill anyone who disagrees with them they wouldn't be subjected to films about what they do. They are who jeopardize world peace and stability, not a film about what they do.]

Of course the UN had to weight in ….

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the film as “offensively anti-Islamic” and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said it was “hateful.”

Its not surprise that Iran disapproves …

Iran called the film heinous, blasphemous and anti-Islamic, and Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation and a former Dutch colony, said it was an “insult to Islam, hidden under the cover of freedom of expression.”

Network Solutions suspended the website that Geert Wilders had reserved to publish his film.

An American network provider Sunday said it had suspended a website that Dutch MP Geert Wilders had reserved to post his anti-Islamic film, which has sparked wide condemnation and fears of a backlash.

LiveLeak removed the video because of threats to their staff. Their statement is here. Gates of Vienna has a list of sites on which you can still see the video. You can view it at Jawa, LGF, Pat Dollard, Atlas Shrugs and Menorah Blog.

Dutch Leftists Apologize to Islam. They have their problems there too.

PoliGazette has two reviews of Fitna.

Others posting: Fausta’s Blog, Phyllis Chesler, The Psychotic Core, Wake Up America!, Sister Toldjah, Michelle Malkin, Powerline, Flopping Aces, Eddie Bear, The Spanish Pundit

More at Tailrank and memeorandum

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Following the release of Geert Wilders’ film Fitna, the European Union is quick to reassure the Islamic world that the whole idea of “free speech” is probably overrated: EU condemns Dutch anti-Islam film……….>>

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Footnote has taken the initiative to digitize all 58,256 names inscribed into the Vietnam War Memorial. It has also correlated them with military personnel records from the National Archives and made this information searchable from within an interactive Flash application.

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