Palestinian Sympathizers Boat Rammed Attempting To Run Israeli Blockade

The boat, chartered by a bunch of Palestinian supporters and useful idiots, including former Rep. Cynthia McKinney, was involved in a collision with an Israeli navy vessel off the coast of Gaza.

The people on board were attempting to run a blockade imposed by Israel to prevent weapons and terrorists from being resupplied by sea.

Of course, look for the media to play up the fact that there were civilians, especially McKinney, on board or somehow blame Israel for this incident. The people on board the boat were entering an active war zone and refused to stop when demanded by the Israeli navy. International law permits such actions, and the ship refused to comply.

The groups behind the incident? It's a coalition under the banner Free Gaza including the detestable International Solidarity Movement (ISM), Israel Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR). All of those groups are financed by European governments. The ISM is responsible for sending useful idiots into Gaza and the West Bank to protect smuggling tunnels and terrorists. It's also important to keep in mind that the Palestinian Center for Human Rights doesn't bother cataloging the human rights abuses heaped upon Gazans by their fellow Gazans- Hamas. Instead, their focus is solely on Israel's rights to defend itself and prevent terrorists from infiltrating Israel through the use of checkpoints and other security measures.

Israel gave her and her cohorts the warm welcome she deserves for propagandizing on behalf of the Islamic terror group Hamas.

Michelle Malkin notes that McKinney's sponsors and donors help explain her anti-Semitism and pro-Palestinian statements.

UPDATE:
Here's some more context on this stunt by the anti-Semites courtesy of Elder of Ziyon:

Just for context: The Free Gaza boat was supposed to have 3 tons of medical aid. During the past three days, Israel has sent 186 trucks filled with aid to Gaza - plus ten ambulances. Each truck, from past experience, holds between 10 and 20 tons of material.

Which means that for all the noise the FGM makes about how necessary their trip is to help Gazans, their "aid" equates to roughly 0.1% of what the hated, lying Zionist enemy has given while under direct attack from Gaza. Proving yet again that the off-key moonbats' purpose is not to help Gazans (they could coordinate sending aid through Israel, as Jordan does, or through Egypt, which sent 72 trucks of its own) but to hurt Israel through PR.

Exposing the Lunatic Fringe For Who They Are

The woman speaking these inanities is none other than former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. She was a Democrat, but is now the Green Party candidate for President.

She makes the completely unsubstantiated claim that the National Guard and the Department of Defense murdered 5,000 prisoners in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and dumped the bodies. Someone making those kinds of claims would ordinarily get dismissed out of hand, but she was a former Member of Congress, and is running for President and will be on the ballot in many states.

She has no proof of course that any of this ever happened, but it's a smear that will persist because the lunatic fringe encourages this kind of behavior. Missing prisoners would show up in records - and families of those missing would be raising questions as well. In other words, this is pure unadulterated BS.

It's nothing short of vile, reprehensible and thoroughly disgusting.

Hot Air has more.

No Indictment for Rep. McKinney

And so ends another episode of members of Congress gone wild. It would actually appear that Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) got off easier for her incident with the authorities than did Rep. Patrick Kennedy. A grand jury could not find sufficient evidence to indict Rep. Cynthia McKinney for an incident at a security checkpoint at the Rayburn House Office Building. That incident including McKinney shoving or otherwise hitting a Capitol Police officer who sought to obtain proper identification from McKinney.

The grand jury had been considering the case since shortly after the March 29 incident, which has led to much discussion on Capitol Hill about race and the conduct of lawmakers and the officers who protect them.

"We respect the decision of the grand jury in this difficult matter," said U.S. Attorney Kenneth Wainstein.

His statement, released late Friday, also included support for the officer involved, Paul McKenna, and the Capitol Police. He said, "This is a tremendously difficult job, and it is one that Officer McKenna and his colleagues perform with the utmost professionalism and dignity."

With that, Wainstein closed a case that has simmered with racial and political tension.

"I am relieved that this unfortunate incident is behind me," McKinney said in a statement Friday night. "I accept today's grand jury finding of 'no probable cause' as right and just and the proper resolution of this case."

The encounter began when McKinney, D-Ga., tried to enter a House office building without walking through a metal detector or wearing the lapel pin that identifies members of Congress.

McKenna did not recognize her as a member of Congress and asked her three times to stop. When she ignored him, he tried to stop her. McKinney then hit him.

McKinney described the encounter as "racial profiling," insisting she had been assaulted and had done nothing wrong.

McKinney is black. McKenna is white.

Others noting McKinney's non-indictment: Stop the ACLU, Hot Air, Sister Toldjah, and Outside the Beltway.

Upon Further Review

The New York Daily News editorial page from Friday, April 7, 2006 [can't locate the link, so if you can track down the piece, please leave the link in the comments] suggested the same thing that I did back on March 31, 2006, when the McKinney kerfuffle first broke. To refresh your recollection:

So, here's what I think. Rep. McKinney should be arrested, tried, and if found guilty, should be forced to do the time.

More importantly, the courtesy extended to members of Congress for avoiding searches through the metal detectors should be eliminated. There's no reason to take any chances, and it eliminates the problems that McKinney claims were at the heart of the disputed events yesterday.

Nice to see that the Daily News come around to the same conclusion that I reached a week after I first made that observation.

Eric at Speak Speak who was also quoted by the National Journal Hotline offers a slightly different take - he thinks that:

...there should be locked turnstile where Congresspersons line up, and get buzzed through as they show their ID.

I don't think that goes far enough, as all bags should be checked upon entry in the Capitol and other federal office buildings, but it would likely be route that the Capitol Police take.

Better Late Than Never

Rep. Cynthia McKinney, who got into an altercation with Capitol Police has made an apology on the Capitol floor, expressing "sincere regret." Took her long enough. And it's skillfully written to muddy her actual role in the kerfuffle:

"There should not have been any physical contact in this incident," McKinney said in brief remarks on the House floor. "I am sorry that this misunderstanding happened at all and I regret its escalation and I apologize."

I'm sure she's sorry that the misunderstanding happened, but it appears that she was blaming the officer for the initial contact. Nice. She refused to answer the officer's request to stop, and when he went to stop her, she slugged the officer. Real nice.

The District of Columbia's prosecutor's office had taken this issue to a grand jury.

McKinney's apology came as a District of Columbia grand jury was to begin hearing testimony Thursday related to the confrontation, sources said Wednesday.

A decision on whether the Georgia congresswoman will be charged could come as early as next week, federal law enforcement sources said.

Senior congressional sources said that two House staff members -- Troy Phillips, an aide to Rep. Sam Farr, D-California, and Lisa Subrize, executive assistant to Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Michigan -- have been subpoenaed to testify.

Police say McKinney struck a Capitol Police officer last week when the officer did not recognize her as a member of Congress and tried to stop her from entering a House office building when she did not present identification.

She claims she was inappropriately touched (codewords usually associated with sexual misconduct, not assault btw).

And again, her lawyers comments indicate that the 'courtesy' of permitting members of Congress to enter without going through the checkpoints needs to be eliminated:

McKinney and her attorneys insist that Capitol Police officers should be trained to recognize all 535 members of Congress on sight.

But while Myart has said McKinney was "assaulted" and that her reaction to the officer was appropriate, Gainer argued that McKinney has turned an officer's failure to recognize her into a criminal matter.

It would be far easier if all members had to go through the checkpoints and wear their own ID. Instead, McKinney wants to make this all about the officer's fault in not recognizing her.

UPDATE:
And Myart is a piece of work who continues to proffer the race baiting angle.

UPDATE:
Confederate Yankee reminds readers about the death of two Capitol Police officers, John Gibson and Jacob Chestnut, were gunned down trying to protect members of Congress in 1998 just like McKinney at the same kind of checkpoint she bypassed and ignored.

UPDATE:
Ian has the video of McKinney's statement. See for yourself if she actually apologized for her actions.

UPDATE:
Sister Toldjah also notes the tone of McKinney's remarks. Malkin notes that McKinney has taken to hiring a bodyguard, and Capitol Police are none too pleased. And Mac Ranger notes that should McKinney be found guilty (hey, gotta go through an indictment and trial before you get to that point) - she'd have to give up her seat.

The Race Rap

So, Rep. Cynthia McKinney is trying to play the race card. That's not playing very well, even among her fellow Democrats, who shunned the press conference she attempted to call this past Friday shortly after the incident took place. They need to get this issue out of the way so that they can get back on message (attacking the GOP with the "ethically challenged" meme). Throwing out race and gender discrimination as a spurrious claim to an incident at a security checkpoint in the Capitol building only serves to undermine the message and the messengers.

The Capitol Police deny the charges, of course and Rep. McKinney essentially makes the point that I first made when this story broke:

Police also have said that McKinney was failing to wear a pin that lawmakers are asked to display when entering Capitol facilities.

But she said Wednesday: "Face recognition is the issue .... The pin doesn't have my name on it and it doesn't have my picture on it, and so security should not be based on a pin ... People are focused on my hairdo."

Get rid of the 'courtesy' of permitting Members of Congress to avoid the security checkpoints and require everyone entering the buildings to be searched. Not only does this avoid this problem going forward, but it actually enhances security in the building should someone manage to smuggle items into secured facilities without the Members of Congress knowing.

And in case your sense of irony needed recalibration, this might do the trick: And soon to be former Rep. Tom DeLay (the ethically-challenged one himself) weighed in claiming that...

'Cynthia McKinney is a racist. She has a long history of racism. Everything is racism with her. This is incredible arrogance, and -- that sometimes hits these members of congress, but especially Cynthia McKinney'...

To top that off, he's considering filing an ethics complaint against McKinney. Pot meet kettle.

Yet, on the merits, McKinney surely needs to be called out. Her actions were inexcusable and throwing bogus claims of racial or gender bias into the mix only undermines those who have genuine complaints.

UPDATE:
The Capitol Police chief says McKinney escalated the incident. Michelle Malkin slams McKinney's fellow Democrats, by and large have not stood up for the Capitol Police who are sworn to protect members of Congress from threats. I'm not sure if I agree with her assessment, but that's not what I'm tracking. I'm more interested in why people aren't taking more of an interest in why the police feel it acceptable to not search everyone entering the facilities where they are in charge. I understand that Congress would like the special treatment because it is expedient, but that expediency could get someone killed (and it did in New York City).

UPDATE:
It's going to the grand jury. Lucky us. While a grand jury could indict a ham sandwich, this case has political ramifications that should go well beyond the simple assault case. Other blogging McKinney's ongoing troubles: Mac's Mind and The American Street.

Will She Stay Or Will She Go?

Will Rep. McKinney be arrested? Who knows. Her case is going to a federal prosecutor. But this much is clear - her supporters are playing the race card for all it's worth. If you don't have the law on your side, you argue the facts. If you don't have the facts on your side, you pound your fist on the table. It appears that McKinney's hands are getting tired, because that's all she was able to muster. No laws, no facts, just bluster.

Michelle Malkin has more.

The McKinney Assault Rap

So, Rep. Cynthia McKinney appears to have assaulted a Capitol Police officer and the police have issued an arrest warrant. Democrats are making excuses and Republicans are making fodder out of it.

I have a slightly different take.

I can recall a situation in New York City not too long ago involving a metal detector, a city councilman, and a murder - all caught on tape. Councilman James Davis was murdered shortly after entering City Hall with his assailant in tow. Neither man was required to go through metal detectors; councilmembers were not required, and they were able to waive through associates, friends, and others. It was a courtesy back then.

Davis's assassin struck just as a full Council meeting was about to begin; the chambers were filled with the Council's members, as well as scores of spectators and guests, including many small children. When the gunfire erupted, an understandably chaotic situation ensued. In the midst of that turbulence, Officer Burt, a nine-year veteran, calmly and heroically put himself in harm's way. He fired his gun from the Council floor-a distance of some 45 feet -mortally wounding the councilman's assailant without harming anyone else. Although Councilman Davis's killer had discharged the entire magazine of his gun, it was later discovered that he had brought more bullets with him, so Officer Burt almost surely prevented further bloodshed on that terrible day. For his quick and courageous action, and because we're confident he'll continue to distinguish himself in protecting our city, he has received a well-deserved promotion to the rank of detective.

Unaware that his killer had marked him for death, Councilman Davis actually escorted him into City Hall as a guest, and neither man passed through the metal detectors that are posted outside the building. For many years, we have extended that courtesy to all elected officials, but from now on and without exception, everyone who works at or visits City Hall, including me, will go through the metal detectors.

So, here's what I think. Rep. McKinney should be arrested, tried, and if found guilty, should be forced to do the time.

More importantly, the courtesy extended to members of Congress for avoiding searches through the metal detectors should be eliminated. There's no reason to take any chances, and it eliminates the problems that McKinney claims were at the heart of the disputed events yesterday.

UPDATE:
Others blogging McKinney's cop assault and attendant issues: Wizbang, Ankle Biting Pundits, Decision '08, Wonkette, and Florida Cracker.

UPDATE:
So, her excuse is going to be "Member of Congress while Black"?

A lawyer for Rep. Cynthia McKinney, the Georgia congresswoman who had an altercation with a Capitol Police officer, says she was "just a victim of being in Congress while black."

McKinney awaited word Friday on whether she would be charged for apparently striking the officer after she entered a House office building this week unrecognized and did not stop when asked.

Two law enforcement officials said it was unlikely a warrant would be issued this week. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Her lawyer, James W. Myart Jr., said, "Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, like thousands of average Americans across this country, is, too, a victim of the excessive use of force by law enforcement officials because of how she looks and the color of her skin."

Forgotten in all this is the fact that McKinney struck the officer. Oh, and Councilman James Davis, who I refer to above, was black. So was his assailant. Not that it matters, but race is not the issue here either. It's about McKinney's actions and those of the police officer who had the temerity to not recognize McKinney.