The International Herald Tribune is reporting that the military is apologizing because some soccer balls they gave away in Afghanistan had Allah’s name on them.

The offending soccer ball(s) were dropped from a helicopter to children.

The offending balls have an image of a flag on every patch. One of the flags shown is the flag of Saudi Arabia and it contains the Islamic declaration of faith. The Islamic declaration of faith contains the name of Allah and the Prophet Muhammad. HE is a quote from the military apologizing for doing nothing wrong. Sgt. Dean Welch, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, said “the distribution of soccer balls was done in the spirit of good will, something that we hoped would bring Afghan children some enjoyment.” “We regret any disturbance that was caused in this case,” he said. “If we hurt one person, that is one too many.” Yep, outrage, protest, demonstrations, the whole bit. Over soccer balls. YOu just can’t make some people happy no matter what you try to do. Remember these are the same people that were burning MREs that were dropped to them even though they were starving.

It amazes me that their country is in shambles, war ravaged, with people being killed every day and they have nothing better to get upset about than an image on a soccer ball.

Michelle Malkin has more on it here.

UPDATE As of 09/05/2007 I have received no reply. The holiday could contribute to a slow responce.

After reading Sanctuary or sovereignty on Michelle Malkin’s blog I decided to write and email the following letter to Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley

Martha Coakley 1 Ashburton Place Boston, MA 02108-1698 Madame Attorney General, I am writing to you today to ask what your position is on the enforcement of immigration law in Massachusetts is. In the wake of the murders in Newark New Jersey it is clear to me that amnesty for illegal aliens with criminal records is a very dangerous position. Had those people been deported when they were taken into custody originally than those students would not have been executed and would be alive today. I want to know what you will do to prevent this type of tragedy from occurring in Massachusetts. Many other states have agreements with ICE that allows them to hold illegal aliens until ICE can pick them up and deport them. That looks like a great way to prevent such things from happening. Disallowing law enforcement to determine if someone is in violation of immigration law only tells that person that our laws mean nothing, as we don’t value them ourselves. How can we expect people that are coming to our country from other countries to respect any of our laws when they blatantly violate laws and we just release them? Are you in favor of enforcing immigration laws or are you in favor of setting an example that our laws are meaningless? Are you in favor of deporting illegal aliens or in favor of risking further tragedies such as the one in Newark New Jersey? Sincerely,

I sent it via email and US Mail. I will post an update if I should get a response. The response I expect will be a “Not My Job” response. She will likely answer the way Massachusetts Governor “Cadillac” Deval Patrick wants.

Massachusetts GovernorDeval Patrick

He has already made his agenda known. He plans to give them driver’s licenses and “In State” tuition rates. For those that don’t know what “In State” tuition is, it’s a 1/2 price tuition break that Massachusetts residents get to all state schools. United States Citizens that are residents of the other 49 states pay full price tuition to attend any of the state schools in Massachusetts. However “Cadillac” Deval plans to put these United States Citizens in a category under Illegal Alien law breakers as he will allow them to attend Massachusetts state schools for 1/2 price. The lawful residents of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts footing the bill for the other half of their tuition. “Cadillac” Deval has said Denying kids who qualify in every other way to be an in-state student is unfair. We shouldn’t be trying to erect barriers. In every other way except that they are Illegal Aliens, hence NOT residents. Seems quite a large disqualification for a resident discount to me. And not erecting barriers is what got us in this mess in the first place.

This image and caption appears at this link: Yahoo Link <– Link no longer works.

 For anyone who doesn’t have any experience with guns those “bullets” have NEVER been fired.  If she was holding bullets that had been fired she would only have the pointed copper part at the very top of those cartridges.  The cylindrical brass part that is below the bullet is called a casing.  And when a gun is fired only the pointed copper part comes out of the barrel.  The cylindrical brass part stays in the gun until it is ejected automatically or manually.  So if those bullets had been fired at her house the brass part wouldn’t be there.  In other words it’s completely impossible that those bullets were fired at her house because they have never been fired.

UPDATE: AFP has released a dishonest correction.

CORRECTS BULLETS TO UNSPENT An elderly Iraqi woman holds up two unspent bullets at her house following an early coalition forces raid in the predominantly Shiite Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, 14 August 2007. US and Iraqi troops carried out massive assaults against Shiite militants, killing four in Baghdad’s volatile slum of Sadr City, and arresting several more across Iraq, the military said today. AFP PHOTO / WISSAM AL-OKAILI (Photo credit should read WISSAM AL-OKAILI/AFP/Getty Images)

The dishonest part is where they neglect to mention that they had previously said that those bullets hit her house.

From CBSNews.com

William Beebe, 42, pleaded guilty in November to one count of aggravated sexual battery for his attack on Liz Seccuro while at the University of Virginia. In March, a judge ordered a 10-year prison sentence with all but 18 months suspended.

6 months for rape. That’s disgusting.

The victim didn’t even get a chance to address the parole board.

Seccuro was shocked when informed Tuesday by Beebe’s parole officer of his impending release. She said she was never given the opportunity to speak to the parole board.