Links and Minifeatures 03 29 Wednesday

Carnival of the Vanities Recommended: Critical Mastiff

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Do they know the Taliban isn't running things any more? Christian Convert Vanishes After Release. With mobs shouting "Death to Christians", and his family being the ones who turned him in, does anyone have an idea whether he went into asylum, sanctuary, or an unmarked grave somewhere?



LATER: Via Strata-Sphere, The Anchoress has a lot of worthwhile things to say.



LATER STILL: Justus For All links to a story that shows Rahman arriving in Italy. So much is good. I just hope the Islamists don't chase him down there.



Jawa Report notes that the Afghani parliament is still obsessing. I wish I could say that I was surprised, but I'm not.



neo-neocon has a post comparing the Inquisition to the Afghanistan situation. It's not every day the Inquisition comes out more civilized than anything else.



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A hopeful sign. Kadima Party Projected As Winner in Israel Being a RINO, in my opinion a Kadima-type party would likely be good for the US.



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Fed Boosts Interest Rate to 4.75 Percent, thus underscoring the fact that the Fed is composed of bankers, not economists, whatever their credentials. Their primary goal is to keep inflation in check, not to grow the economy at a healthy pace. I'm seeing some very troublesome indicators, both in statistics and in terms of anecdotal evidence. A lot of big money is looking for rocks to hide under, and the Fed isn't helping matters.



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Boxing Alcibiades has a good article about top level predators.



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Opinion Journal has an excellent editorial about the "waiting for Bush's term to expire" idea that's going around the middle east (among other places).



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There's a big stir about the Donkey's new strategic direction today. Dr. Sanity has the only take on the matter that makes any sense.



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Armies of Liberation reports that the UN is moving to replace the African Union peacekeeping force. Given UN Peacekeeper's proclivities, I'm not certain whether this is a good thing or not, but given how militarily weak the Janjaweed are, at least the UN troops will have the option of doing something helpful.



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Moderate Voice has a guest article that demonstrates what is wrong with the immigration bill under consideration.