[penguino]

At Godzilla's post 2034 there's a link to Jill's site containing a machine translated Arabic forum written by some foreign guy who had just posted for the first time at FreeRepublic.

I translated the beginning of his story.

What he actually posted at FR was something different (also linked there) and was written in such bad English, (i.e. talking about "earthquicks", and beaches filled with nude people being the cause of the tsunami, etc.) and sounded so ridiculous, that it started off a long and humorous thread.

He, however, was not at all amused and in fact got very insulted. He then (on this Arabic forum) threatened each FReeper who had posted a joke about him, which is probably why this ended up at Homeland Security.

[penguino]

I found this article at an Islamic woman's blog where she signs herself " veiled for Allah, Al-Muhajabah, part of the reality-based community."

Congress passes `doomsday' plan
By Noelle Straub
Sunday, January 9, 2005

WASHINGTON - With no fanfare, the U.S. House has passed a controversial doomsday provision that would allow a handful of lawmakers to run Congress if a terrorist attack or major disaster killed or incapacitated large numbers of congressmen.

     ``I think (the new rule) is terrible in a whole host of ways - first, I think it's unconstitutional,'' said Norm Ornstein, a counselor to the independent Continuity of Government Commission, a bipartisan panel created to study the issue. ``It's a very foolish thing to do, I believe, and the way in which it was done was more foolish.''

     But supporters say the rule provides a stopgap measure to allow the government to continue functioning at a time of national crisis.

     GOP House leaders pushed the provision as part of a larger rules package that drew attention instead for its proposed ethics changes, most of which were dropped.

     Usually, 218 lawmakers - a majority of the 435 members of Congress - are required to conduct House business, such as passing laws or declaring war.

     But under the new rule, a majority of living congressmen no longer will be needed to do business under ``catastrophic circumstances.''

     Instead, a majority of the congressmen able to show up at the House would be enough to conduct business, conceivably a dozen lawmakers or less.

     The House speaker would announce the number after a report by the House Sergeant at Arms. Any lawmaker unable to make it to the chamber would effectively not be counted as a congressman.

     The circumstances include ``natural disaster, attack, contagion or similar calamity rendering Representatives incapable of attending the proceedings of the House.''

     The House could be run by a small number of lawmakers for months, because House vacancies must be filled by special elections. Governors can make temporary appointments to the Senate.

     Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.), one of few lawmakers active on the issue, argued the rule change contradicts the U.S. Constitution, which states that ``a majority of each (House) shall constitute a quorum to do business.

     ``Changing what constitutes a quorum in this way would allow less than a dozen lawmakers to declare war on another nation,'' Baird said.

[Oorang]

Funny looking missile. Looks like a cross between a missile and a hypodermic needle:

http://www.thekra.org/open.php?id=37

[Oorang]

Well that's interesting penguino, thanks for posting. I was posting on that thread. Guess I better stock up on heavy duty tin foil for my personal protection :-)

[Godzilla]

He, however, was not at all amused and in fact got very insulted. He then (on this Arabic forum) threatened each FReeper who had posted a joke about him, which is probably why this ended up at Homeland Security.

Yeppers, the kitties had a field day with him.

[WestCoastGal]

Do you have a link to FR thread?

I hate to have to go back through all my posts to find it, I'm sure I am in there.