Time to stop flying.

Fox News reports the Imams tossed off the US Airways flight are not only suing the airline, but are thinking of suing the passengers too:

NEW YORK — Six Muslim imams who were forcibily removed from a US Airways flight last year and are now suing the airline for discrimination may also be suing some passengers who were aboard the flight.

In the lawsuit filed last week, the imams say that unnamed “John Doe” passengers at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport reported that they engaged in “suspicious” behavior — praying in the terminal — before they boarded the plane on Nov. 20.

Omar Mohammedi, the imams’ New York-based lawyer, said that the imams have not yet decided whether to pursue this complaint, but if they do it would affect only those passengers who were prejudiced in their suspicions.

“I think there is a difference between someone reporting suspicious activity and someone making false reports about a fact that did not exist,” Mohammedi said. “We are not saying that people should not report; we are saying people should not abuse that process just because someone was praying or someone looked religious.”

He said that if the passengers were suspicious based only on the imams’ appearance, “then they should be liable . . . these people should be careful not to abuse the process and be responsible.”

[ … ]

FOX News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano said the imams have grounds against the passengers if they feel they were unjustly discriminated against.

“Can you sue somebody for complaining about them? Yes. Will you prevail in that lawsuit? You will if there’s a reasonable basis for your complaint,” he said. “These imams turned out not to be terrorists, they had no weapons, they had no bombs. As far as we know, they had no plan to harm anybody, so the harm was illusionary.”

Napolitano said that if the case ever makes it to court, it will be up to a jury to decide whether the fears of the passengers who reported the “suspicious” behavior were founded, and whether the passengers were biased.

Have we learned nothing from September 11? Perhaps it's time for Americans to just stop flying if this is going to be the result; after all Mohammed Atta and crew “had no weapons,” as regulations of the time defined them, either, and had they been stopped they’d likely be sitting on a pile of cash from our legal system.

Imagine the newspaper reports of September 12: “I can't understand what these passengers were thinking. No one hijacks planes anymore, these assertions are insane. We have no proof of ill intentions on the behalf of any of these passengers. Why, to fly a plane into a building would be suicidal.”

Grassroots "Draft Fred Thompson" campaign gains steam...

Wow... it's not just me. The grass roots "Draft Fred Thompson" campaign is truly gaining steam!



Both Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham have reported their emails indicate excitement like exists for no other candidate.

All I can state is my anecdotal experience, and that's that the conservatives and Republicans I've talked to, every day folks, are truly excited at the prospect of a Thompson run like no other candidate that's announced. Even Giuliani seems to be at most a "hold your nose and pull the lever" candidate for most conservatives, but Thompson's truly a breath of fresh air. He's a true conservative, not a poseur, and is unafraid to say what he really thinks. We could only hope for a candidate like him.

There's an energy around this man right now that's like nothing I've seen around a Republican since Reagan, and it's certainly far stronger than any of the other candidates have around them. (The press seems fixated on Gingrich - why?!?!).

So what can you do? Register at the grass roots Draft Fred Thompson web site, and sign the online petition urging him to run. Call talk shows, talk to your friends and neighbors. Tell them about Thompson - what he thinks, what he's stated - and allow them to make up their own minds. I'll bet most of them will feel the way I do - that we must do everything we can to get Fred Thompson to run for President.

He's the best bet I've seen for the future of the United States.

GOP 2008

Short but sweet statement:

Fred Dalton Thompson for President.

It may fall to another actor/politician to resurrect the GOP in 2008. Is there another candidate that has so clearly enunciated their views and shown themselves to be a true conservative?

As he stated on Fox News Sunday on March 11:

On the issues, Thompson said he:

—Is "pro-life," and believes federal judges should reexamine the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 which established a woman's right to an abortion.

—Opposes gay marriage, but would let states decide whether to allow civil unions. "Marriage is between a man and a woman, and judges shouldn't be allowed to change that."

—Supports President George W. Bush's decision to increase troops in Iraq. "Wars are full of mistakes. You rectify them. I think we are doing that now," he said. "We've got to give it a chance to work."

—Would pardon former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice now, rather than waiting until all his appeals are exhausted. Libby was found guilty of perjury and obstruction in the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.

Libby is "bearing the political brunt of something that should've never come about," Thompson said, noting that "practically every witness at trial had inconsistent statements."

Has there ever been a more clear-cut choice?

Granted, I'm sure if his candidacy moves forward, there will be issues on which I disagree with the man, but for now he's the only potential candidate I could possibly vote for in 2008, period.