The Definition Of Insanity... is doing the same thing over and over and
expecting a different result:
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh ruled out any talk of the Hamas-led government he heads recognizing Israel or ending the fight against the Jewish state until Israel commits to withdrawing from Palestinian land. But, the international community keeps on trying, proving that Hamas is sane, while the international community is, well ...
Afghanistan:
What We
Have WroughtI am very angry about the fact that Afghanistan has become a Sharia state. I have been venting my anger here, and at Infidel Bloggers Alliance, in a series of emotional posts.
Several commenters have thought it important to point out to me that it is better that we rid the world of the Taliban, and that therefore, things are better in Afghanistan because of the our work there.
I agree. Let me be clear, I never said that I regret the war to remove the Taliban. I am lamenting the fact that we have participated in the creation of a new government in Afghanistan, which is still one of the worst human rights abusers on Earth.
Our nation-building project has gone awry. We have not stood by our principles and we ought to be ashamed of ourselves. To simply stand back and say that this is what "Democracy" has created in Afghanistan, because this is the will of the Afghan people, is a pathetically insufficient way to deal with the problems we helped create.
In the aftermath of World War II, we forced our will upon the people of Japan and Germany. We forbade them to continue on with their inhuman policies. Afghanistan still having a law against "apostasy" is the equivalent of the Germans still rounding Jews up and taking them to concentration camps on our watch after WWII.
Think about that. We are allowing this, so, I say, we are creating it, because we are responsible for what is becoming of Afghanistan.
Here's an excerpt from a very thoughtful article from
David Warren:
We forget that we are in Afghanistan only secondarily to create a democratic constitutional order. This is a means only, towards the primary end of eliminating Afghanistan as a refuge and staging area for international terrorism. The same end could be achieved, hypothetically, by other means. I don't have the stomach to list them. But according at least to the "Bush doctrine", it would be a lot easier, and ultimately less costly in blood and money, if the country could be made responsibly self-governing.
It is difficult to achieve responsibility in politics, even in the West. Those who argue that, given the violence and fanaticism we are encountering, we should get out of such countries as Afghanistan and Iraq, and leave them to their squalid fate, take an extremely irresponsible position. They must first explain what their alternative would be, to eliminate these countries as hatcheries of terror. They must consider the consequences of leaving elected, pro-Western governments, to be overthrown by ruthless psychopaths. They must justify abandoning the huge numbers of innocents who will be butchered and massacred when our troops withdraw -- including everyone who trusted us. And contemplate the effect this spectacle will have on our remaining allies.
"Cut and run" is the opposite of a moral position. But neither is it a practical position. The bargain it offers, even to us, is less pain now, for more pain later -- as Afghanistan and Iraq shift back from being importers to exporters of jihadis.
Yet among those willing enough, for the moment, to send troops and keep shooting, there is the alternative irresponsibility -- which consists in underestimating the size of the task. You have not won a war until your enemy ceases to be your enemy. And by this standard, we are a long way from victory.
Osama's Bodyguard Speaks In 60 Minutes InterviewFrom
Drudge:
In the First Television Interview of an Al-Qaeda Member Close to Osama Since 9/11, Abu Jandal Offers First-Hand Details About the Most-Wanted Man in the World. A former personal bodyguard of Osama Bin Laden says he is certain the al-Qaeda leader is planning an attack on the U.S.
In the first television interview with an al-Qaeda member close to bin Laden since 9/11, Abu Jandal tells Bob Simon first-hand details about the world's most wanted man for a 60 MINUTES report to be broadcast Sunday, April 2 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
Abu Jandal, who was with bin Laden in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2000, says bin Laden's last tape on which he threatened consequences to the U.S. is not a threat, but a promise. "When Sheik Osama promises something, he does it.
So I believe Osama bin Laden is planning a new attack inside the United States, this is certain," he tells Simon in the interview conducted in Yemen earlier this month.
It's been long speculated that bin Laden is hiding in the tribal areas of Pakistan, but Abu Jandal says Afghanistan is the place. "Not Pakistan. I know the Pakistani tribe along the border very well. Yes, they can be very trustworthy and faithful to their religion and ideology, but they are also capable of selling information for nothing," he says.
Even if found, bin Laden will not be captured, says Abu Jandal, whho says the al-Qaeda leader gave him the authority to kill him if he was surrounded. "If he was going to be captured, Sheik Osama prefers to be killed than captured," he tells Simon. "There was a special gun to be used if Sheik Osama bin Laden was attacked and we were unable to save him, in which case I would have to kill him," says Abu Jandal.
GethsemaneLyrics Tim Rice
From Jesus Christ Superstar
I only want to say
If there is a way
Take this cup away from me
For I don't want to taste its poison
Feel it burn me,
I have changed
I'm not as sure
As when we started
Then I was inspired
Now I'm sad and tired
Listen surely I've exceeded
Expectations
Tried for three years
Seems like thirty
Could you ask as much
From any other man?
But if I die
See the saga through
And do the things you ask of me
Let them hate me, hit me, hurt me
Nail me to their tree
I'd want to know
I'd want to know my God
I'd want to see
I'd want to see my God
Why I should die
I'd have to know
I'd have to know my Lord
I'd have to see
I'd have to see my Lord
What will be my reward?
I'd have to know my Lord
Then I was inspired
Now I'm sad and tired
After all I've tried for three years
Seems like ninety
Why then am I scared
To finish what I started
What you started
I didn't start it
God thy will is hard
But you hold every card
I will drink your cup of poison
Nail me to your cross and break me
Bleed me, beat me
Kill me, take me now
Before I change my mind
More "Apostates" Arrested In AfghanistanIslamic Democracy?Our allies the Afghanis, those of the new "Islamic Democracy" we helped to create, are
arresting more Christians in the wake of being forced to give up their first Moloch meal:
KABUL, March 28 2006, (LifeSiteNews.com) – US-based Christian news source, Compass Direct, reports that more Christians have been arrested for their faith in Afghanistan in the wake of the release of Abdul Rahman. Compass, a news service that tracks persecution of Christians mostly in Islamic countries, says harassment of the Christian community has been stepped up.
Compass says two more Christian converts have been arrested in other parts of the country, but further information is being withheld in the “sensitive situation” caused by the international media furor over Rahman.
Reports of beatings and police raids on the homes of Christians are filtering out of the country through local Christian ministers.Let us, the creators, take responsibility for our creation. Those are our tax dollars at work. Lives, guns, bombs, all our resources, went to creating this.
We are responsible for Christians being arrested for their beliefs. We are responsible for the fact that Afghanistan is a Sharia State where the punishment for believing in any religion other than Islam, is death.
Death.
We are responsible for it. The blood is on our hands. We sign the death warrant of Christians.
The Falcon Cannot Hear The Falconer"The best lack all convictions, while the worst are filled with passionate intensity."- W.B YeatsThe Second ComingThe recent case of Abdul Rahman, the accused Afghani "Apostate" who was then pardoned, and has fled to Italy, is being seen by many as a victory for Democracy in Afghanistan. I have a hard time seeing it that way. It is very clear that Afghanistan succumbed to international pressure, and that they did so against their will.
Nowhere has there been any mention that this law has been taken off the books in Afghanistan.
Here is a little post from one of my favorite blogs,
YARGB, which discusses the Rahman case as a kind of victory:
The case against Afghani Christian Abdul Rahman has been dismissed. I do not pray often, but I will admit I prayed for this man. And I still do. This incident points out once again that democracy is a process not an event. Do we have the patience to stick with it? I think that remains to be seen.Yes, Democracy is a process. But, let us be clear that there was nothing Democratic about this process. The world pressured Afghanistan into changing it's mind.
And let us also be clear, when we say Democracy we, vaguely (for we seem to think very vaguely on this subject), mean Constitutional Democratic Republic. We mean a Bill of Rights which respects our understanding of Human Rights. We mean Freedom of Conscience. We mean Freedom of Speech and Religion.
That is not at all what is going on in Afghanistan. Let us fool ourselves no longer. It is not moderate to fool yourself. It is not patient to fool yourself. The wages of fooling oneself is death. Your mind will die, and soon after that all that you hold dear will begin to move beyond your grasp. You will be removed from the world that you love. You will find yourself at the whim of chance.
Here's a question to ponder,
Would we have allowed the Germans to keep anti-Jewish laws after World War II?
We have lost to courage of our own convictions. We are forgetting who we are, and the principles we stand for.
Afghanistan is a Sharia state, and we paid for it with our blood and our money.
Is The World Failing Its Test?The Anchoress says so:
Iran is the test case. It is the most dangerous political entity on the planet, and yet the world response has been catastrophically slow and reluctant. Years of knowingly useless negotiations, followed by hesitant international resolutions, have brought us to only the most tentative of steps–referral to a Security Council that lacks unity and resolve. Iran knows this and therefore defiantly and openly resumes its headlong march to nuclear status. If we fail to prevent an Iranian regime run by apocalyptic fanatics from going nuclear, we will have reached a point of no return. It is not just that Iran might be the source of a great conflagration but that we will have demonstrated to the world that for those similarly inclined there is no serious impediment.- Charles Krauthammer, Time Magazine.Anchoress asks:
Is it possible that the “end” could be brought about - finally - not by those who scream “war, war,” but by those who have cooed, “peace, peace” and have displaced the moral certitude which centered past crisis-points (and which is required in order to take any action) with a nebulous theory of political correctness and “sensitivity” that has left us crippled, and unable to make a move for fear of…of what? Of being called a name by the rest of the world?And she gives us this verse to ponder:
1 Thessalonians 5: 1-3 1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.Iran is our last chance. If we do not put an end to the evil in Iran, we will have past the point of no return, as, in my opinion, Europe has already done.
Reconquista Pt. II: Dupes, Ingrates, and the Politically Naive
A few quick thoughts here:
1. I agree with Michelle Malkin about the affect of the protests. Unwittingly these walk outs will only help push the reforms that they are protesting (to the extent that they even know what they are protesting). This same thing happened in the mid '90s with prop 187 in California (that sought to deny social services to illegals). As memory serves, the measure was pretty close in the polls; that is until there were similar walk outs with thousands of students waiving flags and stopping traffic. The front page of the LA times had a 16 yr old hoodlum on the front page with a huge Mexican flag running down the middle of the street. I and many others knew that day, that 187 would pass. It would pass because those images symbolize everything that actual voters in this state actually fear. These walk outs are counter productive to their own interests and do not trigger sympathy but rather fear and outrage from those who actually have political power in this country. These protests will more likely lead to the opposite of what these students want (assuming most of them really want anything but an excuse to skip class thinly veiled as a principled stand).
2. Second, I fully agree with Dennis Prager's comment that the flaunting of the Mexican flag is simply ingratitude and there is nothing worse than an ingrate. The parents of these students fled the corruption, poverty, disease, and chaos of Mexico for the opportunities, stability, wealth, and order of the United States. Yet they celebrate the country whose ruling elite would rather engage in graft than provide a stable and prosperous society for their own citizens? Ingratitude is a very ugly thing and most Americans will not stand for it.
3. I have seen some talking heads on TV say silly things like this is the maturation of the Mexican political movement in the US. There is nothing mature or sophisticated about mobilizing teenagers to skip class. They are not voters, they will not impact voters (except to vote against them) and they will not be taken seriously. To impact this system one needs to build sustained grass roots organizations that can put pressure on government at all levels for years, even decades. These walk outs are not evidence of this. That being said, some day these students will be voters, and the hispanic vote is growing and that is something that in time cannot be ignored. But these students are not hispanic voters nor do they represent them.
4. On the Hispanic vote. The good news is that these protestors are still a minority of the hispanic community. Hispanic voters are often conservative on social issues but trend liberal on economic issues. Even on immigration, while most of them would be for more liberal policies, more than one would think favor tightening border security. For instance one recent survey found that 56% of hispanics favor maintaining or reducing immigration levels, but not increasing. Also 53% of latino voters favor laws denying drivers licenses to illegals. Also 55% believe they have to speak English and 79% believe they have to believe in the US Constitution to be considered American. High numbers also believed that moral values and the war on terror were important policy issues. My point is that these punk students do not represent most of the more responsible hispanics (legal or illegal) in this country. I also believe in the historical ability of American culture to assimilate those who come to our country (that is provided that we can actually control the amount of people that come at any one time).
5. In my view there is only one responsible party on the issue of the war on terror and only one party that recognizes the serious threat that radical Islam truly is. If that party is to maintain power, they must find a way to address security issues at the border. Meaning they must close it and control it. And they must do so without alienating hispanic voters with nativistic rhetoric or unreasonable policies, because a significant proportion of those hispanic voters could be allies (and increasingly so) in sustaining a political coalition. Republicans must maintain a winning political coalition well into the future; a coalition that will in turn allow Republicans to continue to fight the war on terror, rather than denying it exists as their opponents do. Hispanics must increasingly be considered part of this coalition an can be if the issue is handled correctly.
I believe Republicans must focus first and foremost on closing and controlling the borders and do so primarily for security purposes. That is the single most threating problem in terms of security and immigration. If this is not done then there is no reason to discuss any other programs guest worker or otherwise. However, I would not rule out such programs if the border were truly controlled.
ReconquistaAmerica's Palestinians:
03/28 : Student protest
Whittier area students from Pioneer, California and Whittier high schools walked out of classes to protest the proposed federal immigration bill March 27, 2006. The protestors put up the Mexican flag over the American flag flying upside down at Montebello High. (Leo Jarzomb/Staff photo)
Michelle Malkin sees reason for hope:
"I predict this stunt will be the nail in the coffin of any guest-worker/amnesty plan on the table in
Washington. The image of the American flag subsumed by another and turned upside down on American soil is already spreading on Internet forums and via e-mail.
The battle for borders and immigration laws that actually mean something, however, hasn't even begun. "
I hope she is right.
By the way, Rush Limbaugh said, yesterday, that the Immigration Demonstrations are being organized with the help of the communist organization International ANSWER.
I have a hunch, and I am going to do some research to see if I can dig up evidence to support it. I believe the French employment riots are also organized by International ANSWER. And, I believe that we will soon see them working in conjunction with the Islamofascists in Europe. And, I believe this will spread as the spring sets in on Europe.
Cat Emerges From
Bowels Of Hell,
Terrorizes
Frightened CitizenryLewis, the malevolent six-toed feline has
emerged from the gaping mouth of hell to terrorize Connecticute citizenry:
FAIRFIELD, Conn. (AP) - Residents of the neighborhood of Sunset Circle say they have been terrorized by a crazy cat named Lewis. Lewis for his part has been uniquely cited, personally issued a restraining order by the town's animal control officer. "He looks like Felix the Cat and has six toes on each foot, each with a long claw," Janet Kettman, a neighbor said Monday. "They are formidable weapons." The neighbors said those weapons, along with catlike stealth, have allowed Lewis to attack at least a half dozen people and ambush the Avon lady as she was getting out of her car. Some of those who were bitten and scratched ended up seeking treatment at area hospitals. Animal Control Officer Rachel Solveira placed a restraining order on him. It was the first time such an action was taken against a cat in Fairfield. In effect, Lewis is under house arrest, forbidden to leave his home. Solveira also arrested the cat's owner, Ruth Cisero, charging her with failing to comply with the restraining order and reckless endangerment.Note the six toes on each foot, the Hitler mustache, the intense stare. This cat is, clearly, on a demonic mission. Somebody, quick, get the silver bullets.
Goodnight,
My Sweet
PrincessEurope is gone. Decisions that should have been made in the past few years, in the aftermath of 9/11, 3/11, 7/11, and Beslan, have not even been discussed. I have held out hope that Europe would awaken and join us in the fight, help us increase the momentum, and the power of our couter-Jihad, but alas, other than Sarkozy, there has been little on the horizon on which we can focus and find hope.
The sad thing is,we need Europe, whether we want to admit it to ourselves or not. It has never been an easy relationship. She is mad, jealous, unfaithful, and addicted to a gaudy lifestyle of affectation and artifice, which we have never been compfortable with, but we must admit it to ourselves, before we let her go, we love her.
Read here, about how she grasps onto her pathetic poesies, even as the breath of her life and history escapes from her fainting soul:
Europe’s botched civilization, perverted by socialism and lost faith, seems to have lost the will, the passion to sustain itself. If it continues to practice today’s multiculturalist leftism, Europe’s demographic doom will be sealed. Some harbingers:
In Brussels, Belgium, the most popular name for baby boys is now Mohammad. Sustaining the population of a nation requires that on average each couple gives birth to 2.1 children. The average European couple now has fewer than 1.4 babies, compared to 3.6 babies born to the average Muslim immigrant couple in Europe. Across Western Europe 16 to 20 percent of babies are being born into Muslim families.
In France at least 12 percent of the population is already Muslim, the fruits mostly of immigrants from former French colonies in North Africa. If present birth trends continue, by 2030 a quarter of France’s people will be Muslim, more than enough to determine who controls the national parliament and executive. As this columnist recently noted, the nuclear-armed French military is already 15 percent Muslim.
Adjacent Switzerland is now 20 percent Muslim.
The German newspaper Deutsche Welle days ago reported that Germany’s birth rate in 2005 fell to a level lower than at the end of World War II, to a “historic low,” more than fifty percent lower than those of France and Great Britain. But at a meeting this week in Berlin that brought together the interior ministers of six European nations, Germany’s leftwing Social Democrats continued to oppose the application of any test or standard that would restrict who could migrate into Germany.The burgeoning Muslim population within Europe is not evenly spread. It is largely concentrated in and around big cities, whose local politicians feel its pressure acutely and often bend to that pressure. In the Netherlands the cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam nearly have Muslim majorities now.
These Islamic enclaves are already taking on the character of conquered provinces that no longer belong to the European countries around them. As FrontPage Magazine recently quoted from the new book While Europe Slept by liberal American expatriate Bruce Bawer:
In France, a public official met with an imam at the edge of Roubaix’s Muslim district out of respect for his declaration of the neighborhood as Islamic territory to which she had no right of access. In Britain, imams have pressed the government to officially designate certain areas of Bradford as being under Muslim, not British, law. In Denmark, Muslim leaders have sought the same kind of control over parts of Copenhagen. And in Belgium, Muslims living in the Brussels neighborhood of Sint-Jans-Molenbeek already view it not as part of Belgium but as an area under Islamic jurisdiction in which Belgians are not welcome.If Europe continues as it is now, the rising Muslim tide will, one at a time, transform the members of the European Union into Islamic Republics under Islamic Shari’a law as Muslims become the majority population.Who will save Europe? What Superman will come and proclaim her gods dead? Who will give them the will to sponge away the entire horizon of socialism and illusion to which they cling? Is not the night sky starless? Do they not already rotate gently in the icy breath of nothingness?
Europe is dead and we have killed her.
In the coming decades, we shall see wars unlike any man has ever known.
The Tipping Point Of Truth:The Revelations Of The Saddam Regime DocumentsEven though we don't hear about it in the news, the translations of the Saddam regime documents are showing, beyond a reasonable doubt, that
we were right about Saddam all the time:
These documents – though only 2% or so are translated and available – substantiate without doubt the following allegations: Saddam Hussein and bin Laden, the Baathist regime and al Qaeda had extensive, wide reaching ties. Saddam was, at a minimum, a supporter of the 911 attacks if not a sponsor of them. Saddam’s intelligence services trained more than 8,000 al Qaeda terrorists, primarily from Somalia and Sudan, at camps such as Salman Pak and Ansar al-Islam within Iraq. And Saddam helped finance al Qaeda and similar terrorist groups.
Further, the documents substantiate a broad, on-going program Iraq had to develop nuclear weapons. Indeed, Saddam had instructed his minions to begin preparing to re-energize the program after UN sanctions were lifted, a hope he had reinforced by French, Russian, and German diplomats, and traitors like British Parliamentarian George Galloway, all of whom convinced him that delay and obfuscation of the UN would get him off the hook.
We also know, thanks to the work of former Iraqi Air Force General Georges Sada, that Saddam had several civilian aircraft – one Boeing 747 and a “group” of 727s - stripped of passenger equipment and converted into cargo planes. The aircraft flew 56 sorties between Iraq and Syria, delivering drums of the chemical weapon Sarin along with other chemical and biological weapons. The deal with concocted on Saddam’s orders by “Chemical Ali” his general in charge of special weapons, and Bashar Assad’s cousin, General Abu Ali. It was a rare occasion for cooperation between the rival Baathist states, but as Sada notes, “there was complete agreement between them.”
Up to 20 tons of these chemical agents were intended for use by al Qaeda terrorists in attacking three targets in Amman, Jordan in 2004 – the Jordanian Ministry of Defense and Intelligence Service buildings, and the American Embassy. These were to be simultaneous truck bomb attacks that were thwarted by good counter-intelligence work. The trucks were large 15-ton capacity powerful vehicles that could power through barriers and obstacles to crash into the buildings. At that time the homicide drivers would detonate the ammonium nitrate load triggered by plastic explosives – probably C-4. Resting atop the explosive load were Saddam’s chemicals, sufficient to kill upwards to 100,000 people in downtown Amman, by conservative.
I believe the Bush Administration carefully timed the release of these documents to coincide with two upcoming events;
1) the 2006 elections
2) the destruction of the Iranian regime
In the coming months, we will see the case begin to be made for the fact that the Bush Administration and the Republicans had been correct from the beginning, and that the Iraq War was absolutely justified.
British Parliamentary Commitee On Anti-SemitismBritish Member of Parliament, John Mann, has agreed to chair the bipartisan
Parliamentary group against anti-Semitism. Here is a link to
an article from The Guarian where he explains the his concerns about the rise of the new anti-Semitism:
As chair of the all party parliamentary group against anti-semitism, I am delighted to see a group of cross-party MPs taking the time to examine anti-semitism in Britain. Having attended only one of the sessions of this inquiry, David Clark rushed into print to judge an inquiry which is still proceeding and whose evidence he has not read (Accusations of anti-semitic chic are poisonous intellectual thuggery, March 6). It is clear from evidence presented to the inquiry that anti-semitism has not gone away and that its nature is now more varied. Traditional anti-semitism still exists, with fascist leaflets as crude as in the 1930s distributed on the streets of the UK. Attacks on Jews continue.Clark skirted round this issue and failed to differentiate between hostility to Israel, and aggression against Jewish institutions and people. What other community has to spend over £5m annually defending itself because its places of worship, schools and community buildings have been seen as legitimate targets worldwide? Undoubtedly there are strong views on Israel and on the Palestinians, but those views can cloud debate and hide racism. When I visited Tel Aviv and Ramallah 20 years ago, I was vilified by some for even talking to the Israeli government. For some on the left, the mere recognition of Israel's right to exist has become a defining issue. I have not spoken in parliament on the Middle East, yet I receive hate mail inaccurately addressed to "Jewish bastard Mann" and relating my views on anti-semitism to my supposed support for the actions of Israel. Clark may describe this as "plain obnoxious", but he fails to grasp the mindset of someone who would take time to send such stuff. One aspect that is particularly frightening and unacceptable is the incipient growth of anti-semitism on the left under the cloak of anti-Zionism. Clark is clear that dismissing anti-Israel sentiment and anti-Zionism as anti-semitism "cheapens the term". However, he does not draw a line beyond which legitimate debate becomes illegitimate, and where hostile becomes offensive. It is a crucial line to draw if language itself is not to become an actor rather than a descriptor. The imagery and some of the language is familiar. A cabal of Jewish conspirators, well funded, close to or in power, working to their own agenda. It is not just the MP Tam Dalyell who expressed such thoughts, others have done so in private and, increasingly, in public. When I commissioned this inquiry, one MP commented with surprise: "I didn't realise you were Jewish." Neither did I. Anti-semitism is like all other racism: unacceptable without qualification. I hope that this inquiry will recommend some practical conclusions that can help redraw that line.
Historical Facts
Vs.
Articles Of Faith:
Another
Battleground
In Our War One of the best blogs on the internet is Anti-Chomsky, by Benjamin Kerstein. Here, Mr. Kerstein points us to an article by French Philsopher Andre Glucksman, a leader in the 1968 Socialist movement in France, who later broke with his colleaguesover the issue of Soviet Totalitarianism.
Here Mr. Glucksman discusses
the new totalitarianism and its stace on Mohammed Cartoons, and Holocaust denial:
[N]ow [radical Islam] has all of Europe in its sights, which it accuses of having a double standard. The European Union allows the Prophet to be denigrated with impunity, but it forbids and condemns other "opinions" like Nazism and denial of the Holocaust. Why are jokes about Muhammad permitted, but not those about the genocide of the Jews? This was the rallying call of fundamentalists before they initiated a competition for Auschwitz cartoons. Fair's fair: either everything should be allowed in the name of the freedom of expression, or we should censor that which shocks both parties. Many people who defend the right to caricature feel trapped. Will they publish drawings about the gas chambers in the name of freedom of expression? Offence for offence? Infringement for infringement? Can the negation of Auschwitz be put on a par with the desecration of Muhammad? This is where two philosophies clash. The one says yes, these are equivalent "beliefs" which have been equally scorned. There is no difference between factual truth and professed faith; the conviction that the genocide took place and the certitude that Muhammad was illuminated by Archangel Gabriel are on a par. The others say no, the reality of the death camps is a matter of historical fact, whereas the sacredness of the prophets is a matter of personal belief.(…)When the Islamist fanatic affirms that Europeans practise the "religion of the Shoah" while he practises that of Muhammad, he abolishes the distinction between fact and belief. For him there are only beliefs, and so it follows that Europe will favour its own.Civilised discourse analyses and defines scientific truths, historic truths and matters of fact relating to knowledge, not to faith. And it does this irrespective of race or confession. We may believe these facts are profane or undignified, yet they remain distinct from religious truths. Our planet is not in the grips of a clash of civilisations or cultures. It is the battleground of a decisive struggle between two ways of thinking. There are those who declare that there are no facts, but only interpretations - so many acts of faith. These either tend toward fanaticism ("I am the truth") or they fall into nihilism ("nothing is true, nothing is false"). Opposing them are those who advocate free discussion with a view to distinguishing between true and false, those for whom political and scientific matters – or simple judgement – can be settled on the basis of worldly facts, independently of arbitrary pre-established opinions.Refusing to face the cruellest historical facts, on the other hand, heralds the return of cruelty. Whether the Islamists - who are far from representing all Muslims – like it or not, there is no common measure between negating known facts and criticising any one of the beliefs which every European has the right to practice or poke fun at.(…)What is at stake here is not only the freedom of the press, but also the permission to call a spade a spade and a gas chamber an abomination, regardless of our beliefs. What is at stake is the basis of all morality: here on earth the respect due to each individual starts with the recognition and rejection of the most flagrant examples of inhumanity.Benjamin Kerstein says this reminds him of Noam Chomsky's technique of obliterating distinctions and turning the whole world into one big conflated totem of totalitarian idiocy:
This extraordinary essay cuts to the essence of one of the issues which caused me to start this blog: the absolute importance of distinctions. The Chomskyite phenomenon is most horrifying in its negation of distinctions, its annihilation of the possibility of thought. No utterance of the good professor represents this better than this one on the subject of Holocaust Denial, which represents precisely the horror of which Glucksmann speaks:"I'm saying that if you believe in freedom of speech then you believe in freedom of speech for views you don't like, I mean Goebbels was in favour of freedom of speech for views he liked, right, so was Stalin. If you're in favour of freedom of speech that means you're in favour of freedom of speech precisely for views you despise, otherwise you're not in favour of freedom of speech."This is an obliteration of distinction, because Chomsky fails to see the difference between an article of faith and a fact of history.
As an American I would say that a person has the right to deny the Holocaust, and even to publish books doing such, but there is no right for such ideas to be taught in public schools, or on public airwaves, because there the Holocaust is a historical event, and we can not as a society permit lies to be taught as truth.
Jason Pappas, of Liberty and Culture,
has some thoughts in an excellent essay comparing the Enlightenment vs. the Judeo-Christian critiques of Islam.
Here's a money quote:
Islam requires extreme blind faith and obedience because of the extent that its teachings are at odds with living a full life in a free society. If Islam is to be practiced in full, and not merely perfunctory or selectively practiced, it will lead to continued impoverishment, oppression, war, and death. It is interesting that the post-modern left, to retain its dream of socialism after all the evidence of its failure and capitalism’s success, needs to maintain the epistemologically nihilistic doctrine of postmodernism that denounces the very concept of truth. Both flee from reality to hold on to cherish dogma. And they are united by a common enemy: America.Chomsky, the Postmodernists, and the Islamofascists are all interested in destroying the tenets of Western Culture. However, the Islamofascists, unlike the other two, do believe in absolute truth. They simply use our nihilistic philosophies as a weapon against us. It's interesting ponder whether the postmodernists do, in fact, believe there is objective truth, or whether, perhaps, they have invented the idea as a way to destroy the West.
The Myth Of "Palestine"From
Little Green Footballs:
The “Palestine” lovers are so concerned with a right to a state for a completely new and unprecedented nationality, whereas for some reason the right to self-determination for the world’s oldest nationality— one which has acted, by any moral barometer, with infinitely more compassion, civilization, and care for human life than the new-fangled murderous one he is championing—seems to be extremely limited if it exists at all. That is the classic definition of anti-Semitism: one standard for everyone else, and then an impossible one for the Jews.
Afghanistan Drops Case Against ChristianI guess
he's not an "apostate" after all:
KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan court on Sunday dismissed a case against a man who converted from Islam to Christianity because of a lack of evidence, and he will be released soon, an official said.The official told The Associated Press that the case had been returned to the prosecutors for more investigation, but that in the meantime, Abdul Rahman would be released."The court dismissed today the case against Abdul Rahman for a lack of information and a lot of legal gaps in the case," the official said Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter."The decision about his release will be taken possibly tomorrow," he added.Honestly, while I am happy that he is being released, this sounds like bullshit to me. They dropped the case because of legal gaps in the case?
I think we can surmise that means they do not agree that they were doing anything wrong, which, of course, means this will happen again.
Consider Afghanistan a Fear Society, not a Free Society. People in Afghanistan live under threat of physical intimidation, and death, for disagreeing with the government.
According to writings of Natan Sharansky, author of The Case For Democracy, one of George Bush's favorite books, Afghanistan is not a free country.
We need to be clear with ourselves about that, because if we are not we will sit back, instead of continuing to apply the intense pressure that will be needed to drag them kicking and screaming into the modern world.
By the way, it sounds to me like some international force had better be there to protect this guy when he is released.
Here is another paragraph from the AP article:
Earlier Sunday he was moved to a notorious maximum-security prison outside Kabul that is also home to hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaida militants. The move to Policharki Prison came after detainees threatened his life at an overcrowded police holding facility in central Kabul, a court official said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.This guys life is still in danger.
Newsflash:
Tony Blair And
Pastorius
Agree With
Islamofascists
Mark Alexander at
A New Dark Age Is Dawning, sent an email with a link to an article about how Tony Blair thinks the Koran was a forward thinking book.
I say, it's time for Tony Blair to go.
Little Green Footballs says Afghani President Hamid Karzai is intervening in the case of Ahmad Rahman, the "apostate" who is on trial and under threat of beheading for becoming a Christian.
It seems the international uproar has caused Karzai to put a stop to the trial.
Good.
Afghani clerics, however, are blaming the cessation of the proceedings on the Jews.
In a way, they are right. The Jews were chosen by God to carry the Law forward through time. Because of them, the Judeo-Christian roots of Western Civilization grew mighty.
So, yes, this time I agree with the Islamofascists. It's the Jews fault.
Harvard Paper Alleging Jews Control U.S.May Have Origins In Hate SitesFrom the
New York Sun:
WASHINGTON - A prominent Harvard law professor, Alan Dershowitz, is alleging that the authors of a Harvard Kennedy School paper about the "Israel lobby," one of which is the Kennedy School's academic dean, culled sections of the paper from neo-Nazi and other anti-Israel hate Web sites.
"What we're discovering first of all is that the quotes that they use are not only wrenched out of context, but they are the common quotes that appear on hate sites," Mr. Dershowitz, who is identified in the paper as part of the "lobby," told The New York Sun yesterday.
"The wrenching out of context is done by the hate sites,and then [the authors] cite them to the original sources, in order to disguise the fact that they've gotten them from hate sites."
The paper, "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," was written by the Kennedy School's Stephen Walt and a political science professor and the codirector of the Program on International Security Policy at the University of Chicago, John Mearsheimer, and published by the Kennedy School.
In the 83-page "working paper," the professors suggest that a vast network of journalists, think tanks, lobbyists, and largely Jewish officials have seized the foreign policy debate and manipulated America to invade Iraq.
The paper, the law professor said, was "simply a compilation of hateful paragraphs lifted from other sources and given academic imprimatur." Mr. Dershowitz said that he and his research assistants were currently working on a comparative chart showing the parallelism between parts of the Walt-Mearsheimer paper and quotes available on neo-Nazi Web sites.While Mr. Dershowitz stressed that the comparison project was a "work in progress," one particularly noticeable example of the authors' alleged culling from hate sites was found in the Walt-Mearsheimer paper's use of a quote from a former executive editor of the New York Times, Max Frankel.Under the section "Manipulating the Media," on pages 19 and 20 of the paper, Messrs. Walt and Mearsheimer write: "In his memoirs, for example, former Times executive editor Max Frankel acknowledged the impact his own pro-Israel attitude had on his editorial choices. In his words: 'I was much more deeply devoted to Israel than I dared to assert.' He goes on: 'Fortified by my knowledge of Israel and my friendships there, I myself wrote most of our Middle East commentaries. As more Arab than Jewish readers recognized, I wrote them from a pro-Israel perspective.'" The footnote cites Mr. Frankel's 560-page book, "The Times of My Life and My Life with the Times," published in 1999.Yet the Frankel quote used by Messrs. Mearsheimer and Walt, Mr. Dershowitz said, is nearly identical to the quote used by a neo-Nazi Web site in its own take on Jewish press influence, "Jewish Influence in the Mass Media." The document, posted on Holywar.org, quotes more extensively from the same section in Mr. Frankel's memoir.
GrowlAllen Ginsberg(
Snap, snap, snap, snap, snap)
by Gerard Allen Van der Ginsberg
For Karl Rove Solomon
I SAW the second-best minds of my not-so-Great Generation destroyed by Bush Derangement Syndrome, pasty, paunchy, tenured, unelectable, and not looking too sharp naked,
bullshitting themselves through the African-American streets at cocktail hour looking for a Prozac refill,
aging hair-plugged hipsters burning for their ancient political connection to the White House through the machinations of moonbats,
who warred on poverty and Halliburton's Wal-Mart and bulbous-eyed and still high from some bad acid in 1968 set up no-smoking zones on tobacco farms in the unnatural darkness of Darwinistic delusions floating a few more half-baked secular notions like "Let's all worship zero!",
who bared their withered breasts and, he or she, bleated their vaginas' mawkish monologues to John Kennedy's ghost under the capitol dome and french-kissed Mohammedan agents in the gore-drenched redrum rooms of Guantanamo,
who passed gas and on into universities with radiant cool eyes hallucinating President Al Gore and Vice-President Noam Chomsky envisioning world peace among the masters of war and stayed on and stayed on and stayed on sucking off the great teat of academe in upaid student loans and over-paid professorial positions the better to molest the minds of children for decades with every third year off for bad behavior,
who were embraced by the academies and hired by the New York Times for crazy & publishing obscene odes or anything else that trashed George W. Bush without regard for truth since there were no consequences for these posturing poseurs of puke,
who cowered in their marble-countered plasma screened media rooms in underwear which was no longer Victoria's Secret, burning their money by donating it in carloads to every half-assed Democratic PAC that promised impeachment in a nano-second without the losing proposition of actually holding an election and listening to Rush Limbaugh through the wall,
who got bombed at public wine-tastings by chugging the slops bin and referencing Sideways,
returning to their summer house in the Hamptons where they ate smoked salmon, smoked $200 marijuana, wore $250 denims, and bitched about how the economy was a mess but did not really, as they claimed, send their $36,000 tax cut back to the government, and continued to suffer the secret shame of Affluenza,
who breathed fire and bile about "that crooked administration" among their friends and shut up around people with real jobs and drank turpentine to get through "A Night with Gloria Steinem", claimed bogus ego-death, and Ab-busted their torsos night after night,
with dreams of real electoral victory without elections, with seven different mood-soothing drugs, with waking Birkenstock nightmares of Bush, Bush, Bush, alcohol Jello shots and the soon to be sanctified Holy Matrimony of cock and endless balls,
who blathered continuously about the Florida "theft" for the entire ninety-six months of the two Bush terms while the Evil One put one, two, maybe three or even four justices on the Supreme Court, causing a million fatal air-embolisms during consenting acts of mutual humm-jobs,
a lost battalion of a multi-million man and mom marching platonic conversationalists jumping to conclusions about WMD off fire escapes off windowsills off Empire State out of the moon,
yacketayakking screaming vomiting whispering "BUSH LIEEEEEEEEED!" and moronic memories and false anecdotes and eyeball kicks and yearning for the electroshocks of hospitals and the briefness of jails and the endless Bush wars .... oh my sorry little schmos.... ,
who wandered around and around at midnight at the Democratic National Committee wondering where Howard Dean hid his dildos, got the address of his love nest in San Francisco and went there with fresh batteries, and found Barbra Striesand drooling in the alley set on leaving no child behind,
who had double-standard vision while their baby seals died, turned into a pair of mucklucks by Halliburton, Halliburton, Halliburton,
who thought they were only mad when Bush appeared in the clouds above their Iowa Caucuses proclaiming "Neener, neener, neener,"
who in humorless protest turned Cindy Sheehan into their personal hand-puppet, which she enjoyed, and complained that she looked far too much like the devil spawn of Howdy Doody and Alfred E. Newman,
who scribbled celebrity porn from scuffed kneepads in the offices of Vanity Fair and collected and shaved stray cats far into their barren Pecksniffian nights until that bleak dawn when,
waking from their stupor, rolled over in bed and discovered they had slept, not with their sixth spouse, but with Ward Churchill, and thought, "Well, that's an upgrade,"
who dreamt Hilary Clinton hectoring and shrieking in the White House until in galactic luminosity that crass and shabby woman stood revealed on "Fleece the Nation"in her SupportHose of pallid played-out policies, while being frisked by a thousand agents of Al Sharpton, avenging angel of the Democratic Party, now and forever recreating the syntax and measure of poor human prose and then all of them in their faded glory standing before you speechless and pseudo-intelligent and shaking with unshamed shame, a whole once proud party now unable to get elected to high-school treasurer, reduced to bribing judges with dinner parties and invitations to Hollywood "events,"rejected yet confessing to the rhythm of thought in its naked and endless head as it proclaimed its new positive program for "Mourning in America,"
"Yes, yes, yes, like our patron saint Teresa Heinz Kerry ,we too have a two-inch political penis, give us your money, give us your votes, give us THE POWER, we and we alone can promise you appeasement, defeatism, pacifism, penury, and death!",
and rose reincarnate in the tattered rags of bluster and blabber in the goldhorn shadow of the ballot box and blew the suffering of America's lumbering liberals' lust for unearned power into an eli eli lamma lamma sabacthani saxophone bleat still pandering for the Jewish vote, as the people, no fools they, shivered the elite and blew them off again and again right past the last bus stop of democracy
with the absolute loss of political significance butchered out of their own body politic good to lose a thousand years.
(snap, snap, bongo, gongo, snap)
Trinity
The New York Times On The Afghani "Apostate" CaseIt seems like the even New York Times is up to speed on
Freedom of Religion:
"The case is more than deeply troubling, it's barbaric," wrote the New York Times. "If Afghanistan wants to return to the Taliban days, it can do so without the help of the United States."Of course, this could simply be another attempt by the Times to undermine the efforts to change the course of history in the Middle East. Because all previous evidence would seem to point to the idea that the New York Times would rather that Muslims in the ME continue to live in the Middle Ages.
Moderate Muslim WatchWell, we've been looking for the appearence of the rare and coveted Moderate Muslim,
and it seems ABC News has found one for us. And he's speaking out on the Afghani Apostate who is being threatened with death:
“Rejecting Islam is insulting God. We will not allow God to be humiliated.
This man must die,” said cleric Abdul Raoulf, who is considered a moderate and was jailed three times for opposing the Taliban before the hard-line regime was ousted in 2001.
Well, it's good to know that the Moderates are finally sticking their head out in the sun and looking around. Spring should soon be here.
The Jewish Left
Hates Christians
While Ignoring The Rise Of The New Anti-SemitismFrom
Front Page Magazine:
One thing must be noted at the outset – Not only is there nothing authentically Jewish about the agenda of the Jewish Left – It is, in fact, anti-Jewish in every detail. It rejects Torah-based morality, sanctions Muslim and left-wing anti-Semitism and champions causes that would lead to the extinction of the Jewish people – not to mention the end of civilization.
OK, now I’ll tell you what I really think.
Though they occasionally try to justify themselves with vague references to what they call "Jewish tradition" – and often include in their ranks those to whom the title "rabbi" is misapplied – there is nothing remotely Jewish about their worldview.
By Jewish left, I mean those occupying the modest territory to the left of the Anti
-Defamation League (ADL) and Reform Judaism’s Religious Action Center.
Which brings me to an article in the influential Jewish Forward by E. J. Kessler, published on March 17th ("Activists Prepare for New Church-State Battle").
The Forward quotes me on the upcoming War On Christians Conference (March 27-28), where I’ll be speaking on a panel called – "Jews Confront The War On Christians," along with Rabbi Aryeh Spero, Michael Horowitz (a Hudson Institute scholar), and Joseph Ben Ami of the Institute for Canadian Values.
For an opposing point of view, the Forward presented a website called Jews on First! – whose self-proclaimed mission is to "expose the intimidation" tactics of "right-wing Christian fundamentalists." (As opposed to middle-of-the-road Christian fundamentalists? But then Jewish leftists have always been big on verbal overkill.)
The Forward says Jews on First! (love that exclamation point) was formed to "expose and counter the people at the March 27-28 conference." The site is the joint project of Jane Hunter ("a one-time Pacifica Radio journalist and longtime leftist organizer") and Rabbi Chaim Dov Beliak.
Point of information: California-based Pacifica Radio makes the rest of Public Radio look like the Rush Limbaugh Show. In June of 2003, Pacifica’s KPFK-FM in Los Angeles hosted a 32-hour marathon by one Dr. Kwanku Person-Lynn (could I make up something like this?) called "African Mental Liberation Weekend."
Among other liberating factoids, Person-Lynn claimed Jews ran the slave trade and that Jews and white gentiles were "the pale horse (of Revelation) with Death as its rider and Hell close behind" – probably not intended as a compliment. These reflections were interspersed with pre-recorded ravings of the always informative Louis ("Judaism is a gutter religion") Farrakhan.
How proud Ms. Hunter must be of her association with Pacifica. And what excellent credentials for putting oneself forward as a defender of the Jewish people.
Jews on First! and its allies – Tikkun Magazine, Michael Lerner, Noam Chomsky, Barbra Streisand, Ed Asner, etc. – might be called the Left’s kvetching amen corner.
The site warns of the "intimidation of judges by Christian fundamentalists." By "intimidation" it means – criticism, analysis, reform proposals – really, anything other then acting like a puppy that wants its belly rubbed, in the face of judicial assaults on representative government.
Among other smears, Jews On First! accuses
Focus on the Family of "an anti-Semitic attack on (a) federal appeals judge."
Focus is headed by Dr. James Dobson (who would bleed for Israel, if it came to it). The anti-Semitic outrage in question? The February issue of the organization’s Citizen magazine contains a cover story on Appeals Court Judge Stephen Reinhardt (think Ruth Bader Ginsburg on crack cocaine), who, in a recent ruling, said parental rights stop at the school house door. Reinhardt also wants to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance.
According to Jews On First!, the Focus publication "unnecessarily called attention to the fact that Judge Reinhardt is Jewish in a way we find offensively anti-Semitic." (To wit: It interviewed his ex-wife, who observed that Reinhardt "thinks about his Jewish heritage a lot.")
Oh, no, say it ain’t so!
How I wish all of the long, bloody, history of Jew-hatred amounted to no more than this. Imagine the stereotypical Nazi from central casting in a bad B-movie, telling his victim: "Ve haf vays of unnecessarily calling attention to the fact that you are Jewish." Not exactly "Schindler’s List" stuff.
The site also denounces another stalwart friend of Israel, Pat Robertson, for calling Islam "satanic."
Now, let’s see:
The imam who’s paid $76,600 a year to serve as a chaplain for New York City’s correctional system rails against Zionist control of the media;
French Muslims fire-bomb synagogues, and Jewish day schools;
a French Jew named Ilan Halimi is kidnapped and tortured to death by a Muslim street gang;
the president of Iran says Israel "should be wiped off the map;"
Saudi clerics preach the annihilation of Jews (calling us "the descendants of pigs and apes");
Egyptian television serializes a dramatization of "The Protocols of The Elders of Zion";
Syrian President Basher al-Assad told Pope John Paul II that Jews "try to kill all principles of divine faiths with the same mentality of betraying Jesus Christ and torturing Him";
and
the party that constitutes the new government of the Palestinian Authority boasts that its minions drink the blood of Jews.
...And Jewish leftists run around denouncing Pat Robertson for saying mean things about the religion that introduced "jihad" into our political vocabulary?
At least the Nazis hated Jews for the right reason: because they perceived authentic Judaism as the principal moral force opposed to their values. The Jewish Left hates Christian conservatives for upholding Jewish values. It’s almost funny – in a sick sort of way.
News Executives Are Allowed To Have Their Own OpinionsDrudge has the story of John Green, an ABC News Exec who sent out
personal emails criticizing Bush:
A top producer at ABC NEWS declared "Bush makes me sick" in an email obtained by the DRUDGE REPORT. John Green, currently executive producer of the weekend edition of GOOD MORNING AMERICA, unloaded on the president in an ABC company email obtained by the DRUDGE REPORT. "If he uses the 'mixed messages' line one more time, I'm going to puke," Green complained. The blunt comments by Green, along with other emails obtained by the DRUDGE REPORT, further reveal the inner workings of the nation's news outlets. A friend of Green's at ABC says Green is mortified by the email. "John feels so badly about this email. He is a straight shooter and great producer who is always fair. That said, he deeply regrets the sentiment expressed in the email and the embarrassment it causes ABC News."This is interesting, but it isn't surprising, is it? We know the media doesn't like the President. They tell us everyday.
When they lie in their stories, and try to pass off editorial content as news, it is an abuse of their position. However, they are human beings (believe it or not), and, as such, they are entitled to their own personal opinions.
Al Jazeera Is Reporting Better Than The Western MediaYesterday, CAIR came out stronger than Bush against the Afghani apostasy prosecution and
today this positive article from Al Jazeera:
Iraqi marriages defy civil war spectreBy Ahmed Janabi above is right next to the asp:img closing tag with Thursday 23 March 2006, 11:06 Makka Time, 8:06 GMT
Despite widespread speculation at home and abroad that Iraq is on the verge of civil war, couples from different backgrounds have been defying the theory by marriage.
Young men and women – as was the case before the US-led invasion three years ago - from different ethnic, religious and sectarian backgrounds still flock to the civil courts every morning for marriage contracts.
Sahira Abd al-Karim, a civil lawyer in Baghdad, confirmed to Aljazeera.net that Iraqis from different backgrounds are still marrying each other.
"Sectarianism is something shameful among Iraqis, especially the middle class," she said. "As a lawyer in the civil courts in Baghdad I have seen Sunni marrying Shia, Arab marrying a Kurd.The weaknesses of the West's belief in it's own defining principles are brought out by the stark contrast between the reality our enemies readily acknowledge and the dark fantasies, and weak assertions, of our own leaders.
We ought to be ashamed of ourselves that we don't know well enough who we are, so that our enemies are more able to acknowledge reality than we are.
MatisyahuI know you're gonna think I'm making shit up, but there is a Hasidic Reggae singer named Matisyahu, and he kicks ass.
I heard this tune on the radio the other day called King Without A Crown, so I asked some of the younger people at work if they had ever heard the tune. Must have tripped them out to have the suit guy come in to the "plant" and start asking about the tune on "their" station. Little do they know about me.
:)
Anyway, this one 19 year old kid told me the band is called Matisyahu. I told him, "Wow, that sounds like a Hebrew word."
Turns out I was right.
Dude is a real life Hebrew-spouting hardcore reggae-toasting singer.
Check out his lyrics:
What's this feeling? My love will rip a hole in the ceiling Givin' myself to you from the essence of my being Sing to my God all these songs of love and healing Want Meshiach (the Messiah) now so it's time we start revealing You're all that I have and you're all that I need Each and every day I pray to get to know you please I want to be close to you, yes I'm so hungry You're like water for my soul when it gets thirsty Without you there's no me You're the air that I breathe Sometimes the world is dark and I just can't see With these demons surround all around to bring me down to negativity But I believe, yes I believe, I said I believe I'll stand on my own two feet Won't be brought down on one knee Fight with all of my might and get these demons to flee Hashem's rays fire blaze burn bright and I believe Out of darkness comes light, twilight unto the heights Crown Heights burnin' up all through the twilight Said, thank you to my God, now I finally got it right And I'll fight with all of my heart, and all a' my soul, and all a' my might Let the blessings come down Strip away the layers and reveal your soul Got to give yourself up and then you become whole You're a slave to yourself and you don't even know You want to live the fast life but your brain moves slow If you're trying to stay high then you're bound to stay low You want God but you can't deflate your ego If you're already there then there's nowhere to go Ask Hashem for mercy and he'll throw you a rope You're looking for help from God you say he couldn't be found Looking up to the sky and searchin' beneath the ground Like a King without his Crown Yes, I wanna get downA King without his CrownYes, you keep fallin' down Dude's on fire.
Oh, For God's SakeA St. Louis air personality had a slip of the tongue, and
his politically-correct boss fires him:
A radio personality at 550 KTRS was fired on the spot this morning after using the word “coon” on the air in a conversation about Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.Dave Lenihan was dismissed after what he called an inadvertent slip of the tongue. Within 20 minutes, station CEO Tim Dorsey apologized on the air to listeners and announced that Lenihan, who had been with the station for less than two weeks, had been let go.“I don’t know what was in Mr. Lenihan’s mind,” Dorsey said in an interview. “I know what I heard. I know it was reprehensible.”Lenihan’s comment was made during a discussion about Rice’s credentials to become commissioner of the National Football League, a topic that has been fodder for sports talk radio since the current commissioner announced he would retire later this year.Lenihan was listing what assets Rice could bring to the league, including her tenure as a top academic officer at Stanford University and the fact that she is African-American. “She’s just got a patent resume, of somebody that’s got such serious skill,” Linehan said on the air. “She loves football, she’s African-American, which would kind of be a big coon, a big coon – oh my God, I am totally, totally, totally, totally, totally sorry for that, OK? I didn’t mean that. That was just a slip of the tongue.” Lenihan later said he meant to use the word "coup."Reached at home, Lenihan said he was still trying to figure out what happened, and was drafting a letter of apology to Rice."I was trying to say 'quite a coup' but it came out 'coon,"' he said. "I caught myself and apologized. It wasn't anything I was meaning to say. I never use that word."I think she's a fantastic woman. I was even talking about if she ran for president, I'd work on her campaign."It's very clear to me what happened here. The words "coup" and "boon" got crossed in his head.
The technical term for that is Brain Fart.
This guy should be given his job back.
Switzerland Considers Hamas A "Partner"Yes,
it's true. They made an official announcement and everything.
Considering Hamas' stated goal is to kill Jews, I guess we can safely assume Switzerland is
once again angling for some of that dead-Jew cash.
MadonnaPainting by Edvard Munch
Song by Jude
Lover come and set me free from my restraint
Take the rags away that bind me
Stare me down and cut me deeply to the bone
Give me every tooth and blind me
You are Madonna
You're lady divine
Part Mother Theresa
Ad my Valentine
Some man's pariah
And a slippery slope
But, to me, you are my fire
And I fly to my home
NATO Ready To Help UN In The SudanJust this morning I was complaining about how the worl has been ignoring the genocide that the Arab government of the Sudan has been enacting on its black citizens.
Well, apparently, that is about to come to an end:
NATO Ready to Help U.N. in Darfur AP NATO is prepared to support a U.N. force in the Darfur region of Sudan, the alliance's secretary-general told President Bush in a White House visit on Monday.Hallelujah!
North Korea Says It Is Capable Of A Pre-Emptive Nuke Strike Against U.S."I'm so ronery."Is this a threat, or just a case of
a nation suffering from Tourette's Syndrome?North Korea suggested Tuesday it had the ability to launch a pre- emptive attack on the United States, according to the North's official news agency. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the North had built atomic weapons to counter the U.S. nuclear threat. "As we declared, our strong revolutionary might put in place all measures to counter possible U.S. pre-emptive strike," the spokesman said, according to the Korean Central News Agency. "Pre-emptive strike is not the monopoly of the United States."
Last week, the communist country warned that it had the right to launch a pre-emptive strike, saying it would strengthen its war footing before joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises scheduled for this weekend.
Why Is The Media Silent On Muslim Crimes Against Humanity?He was tortured for weeks in an apartment in Paris. Neighbors came by to watch and help.
The BBC worked hard to avoid using the word Muslim:
Like many news junkies, I've noticed that stories putting Muslims in a bad light tend to be sketchy and underreported. A minor example is this comment by the head Muslim chaplain of New York City's prisons: "The greatest terrorists in the world occupy the White House." In Manhattan, remarks like that are nearly as conventional as talk about the weather, so the controversy was fairly small. It might have been larger if the media had shown any interest in other points the imam made. For instance that Muslim prisoners are being tortured in Manhattan, and that Muslims must be "hard against the kaffir" (i.e., nasty to infidels), which presumably city employees are not paid to recommend. (By the way, why are clergymen city employees at all?)A much bigger example is the misleadingly low-key reporting of the Ilan Halimi murder in Paris. We now know that Halimi was killed as a classic expression of Jew hatred. But with so much evasiveness and misdirection by police, government and press, it took a month to get that fact clearly on the table. Halimi, a cell phone salesman, was kidnapped and held for ransom by a mostly Muslim gang. He was horrifically tortured for three weeks, then slain. From time to time, neighbors had come to watch the torture or to participate in it. Nobody called the gendarmes.
At first the government and the press presented this story as a straightforward kidnapping for ransom. A spokesman said Jewishness may have played a role simply because the kidnappers thought Jews were rich. AP and UPI, in feeds to the United States, barely mentioned the possibility of anti-Semitism. After arrests were made, the BBC worked hard to avoid using the word "Muslim," though verses from the Quran were recited during the torture.The Los Angeles Times account of Feb. 28 shows how hard candor can be. It reported that the gang made hundreds of abusive phone calls to Jews and had systematically tried to kidnap Jews. But the reporters wrote this: "Rather than a premeditated anti-Semitic murder, it seems a more complex product of criminality and dysfunction in the narrow world of thug culture: a poisonous mentality that designates Jews as enemies along with other faces of 'outsiders.'"
Oh, please. If whites had tortured and killed a black man, I doubt that reporters would be carrying on about how complex and unpremeditated it all was. They would just say it was a lynching.In an excellent article last week, Colin Nickerson of The Boston Globe said the crime was being attributed to a "predominantly Muslim youth gang" notorious for "virulent anti-Semitism." The gang's taunting phone calls to Halimi's father were filled with anti-Semitic slurs and a rabbi had been told, "We have a Jew." The Globe said hatred of Jews is now a hallmark of what's cool in France, even among young immigrants from non-Muslim nations. Very strong article. No dancing around, just good reporting.Governments and the media often avoid calling terrorism by its proper name. Presumably the idea is to calm the public and avoid embarrassing Muslims. It took nine months for the FBI and the government to admit that the attack on L.A. airport in 2002 was a terrorist operation. We had been told that personal reasons might explain why a pro-Palestinian gunman, who openly admitted the desire to kill civilians, would kill two people at an El Al counter. The same verbal dance took place recently when an Iranian student rented a large van and tried to run down and kill as many students as possible in North Carolina. He said he was attempting to "avenge the deaths of Muslims around the world." But the university tried desperately to avoid the obvious T-word.Tony Blankley wrote a Washington Times column, March 8, on the underreporting of Muslim violence. He said British politicians tell him there is increasing radical Muslim street violence, explicitly motivated by radical Islam, but not reported or characterized as such. Blankley said rioting Moroccan youths in Antwerp went on a rampage, beating up reporters and destroying cars, but police were instructed not to arrest or stop them. A database search shows little reporting on Antwerp riots.The scary riots in Australia last December, pitting Lebanese immigrants against native whites, were well-covered. But nobody seems quite sure that we are getting the full story about other serious disturbances. From time to time the Internet carries reports of riots that don't make the newspapers, but they are mostly uncheckable.Suppressing news, whether out of multicultural deference or fear, is a perilous business. We can't know how to react to upheavals if we aren't told about them.Another good question is why has the media focused so much attention on the "Middle East Conflict" between the Palestinians and the Jews, (which has, of course, resulted in thousands of deaths over the past forty years), while ignoring the fact that the Arab government of Sudan has systematically killed over two million black Africans over the past twenty years.
They started with the black Christians.
Then, they killed the black animists.
Then, when they started to run out of Christians and Animists, they began killing the black Sufi Muslim, because Sufism is the one sect of Islam that is peaceful; that preaches love instead of Jihad.
To this date, the Arab government of Sudan has not gone after Arabs.
But, the media is silent. So silent that I bet many of the readers of conservative blogs don't even know the truth.
Actor Charlie Sheen Questions Official 9/11 StoryBoy, that Charlie Sheen is really thinking,
all gears cranking, gaskets blowing, steam spewing; I hope he doesn't hurt himself, or anyone unlucky enough to be standing near him:
Speaking to The Alex Jones Show on the GCN Radio Network, the star of current hit comedy show Two and a Half Men and dozens of movies including Platoon and Young Guns, Sheen elaborated on why he had problems believing the government's version of events.Sheen agreed that the biggest conspiracy theory was put out by the government itself and prefaced his argument by quoting Theodore Roosevelt in stating, "That we are to stand by the President right or wrong is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.""We're not the conspiracy theorists on this particular issue," said Sheen."It seems to me like 19 amateurs with box cutters taking over four commercial airliners and hitting 75% of their targets, that feels like a conspiracy theory. It raises a lot of questions."Sheen described the climate of acceptance for serious discussion about 9/11 as being far more fertile than it was a couple of years ago."It feels like from the people I talk to in and around my circles, it seems like the worm is turning."Sheen described his immediate skepticism regarding the official reason for the collapse of the twin towers and building 7 on the day of 9/11."I was up early and we were gonna do a pre-shoot on Spin City, the show I used to do, I was watching the news and the north tower was burning. I saw the south tower hit live, that famous wide shot where it disappears behind the building and then we see the tremendous fireball.""There was a feeling, it just didn't look any commercial jetliner I've flown on any time in my life and then when the buildings came down later on that day I said to my brother 'call me insane, but did it sorta look like those buildings came down in a controlled demolition'?"This is a perfect example of actor as Critical Theorist. Charlie Sheen spends his life in an artificial world making movies, which are, of course, artificial themselves.
So, when the real world all of the sudden hits Charlie Sheen in the face, something just doesn't feel quite right.
Iran's Nuke Facilities
Could Be Destroyed
In Two DaysFormer Senior CIA operative, Gary Bernsten, says we could
take out Iran's nuclear facilities with just two days of bombing:
Gary Berntsen, the former senior CIA operative who led the search for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in late 2001, believes the United States has the ability to easily destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities. He said the US could use bunker-buster bombs and other weapons to carry out the operation.“We can dig those things out. We can destroy them,” he told The Jerusalem Post in an interview.“We can take care of it in a couple of days with air strikes and they wouldn’t be able to stop us,” he added. “It wouldn’t be difficult to plan. They’d be some dangers but I think the United States can do it.” Berntsen, who left the CIA in June last year after more than 20 years of service, believes it will be difficult to persuade Iran to stop its nuclear program.“I know the Iranians. I’ve worked against the Iranians for years. They are determined to get this no matter what, and they will lie and cheat and do whatever they have to do to get themselves a weapon,” he said.Berntsen ruled out covert action because of the scale of Iran’s nuclear program. “This is a huge system of facilities they have. This is not going to be a small sort of engagement. We are probably going to have to destroy 30 facilities in 30 locations. Or at least 15,” he said.Of course, what does he know?
But honestly, I can't imagine that Iran has had the money or the time to build redundant facilities. Therefore, one would presume that each facility houses something which is necessary to the completion of an Iranian nuclear weapon.
Therefore, it would seem to me that, for now, we only need to destroy some of the facilities.
And then, we will need to do it again every year or two, until another solution comes along.
How am I wrong on this? I hear so much bellyaching about how we can't do anything about this problem that it would seem that I must be wrong. But, I think my analysis here is logical.
Isn't it?
Bush Warns Iran: We Will Defend IsraelFrom
Agence French Presse:
US President George W. Bush said he hoped to resolve the nuclear dispute with Iran with diplomacy, but warned Tehran he would "use military might" if necessary to defend Israel.
"The threat from Iran is, of course, their stated objective to destroy our strong ally Israel. That's a threat, a serious threat. It's a threat to world peace," the US president said after a speech defending the war in Iraq.
"I made it clear, and I'll make it clear again, that we will use military might to protect our ally Israel," said Bush, who was apparently referring to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's call for the destruction of Israel.
On the atomic dispute, Bush said he hoped "to solve this issue diplomatically" with a "united message" to Tehran from Washington, London, Paris, Berlin as well as Russia "hopefully" and China.
The message would be that "your desire to having a nuclear weapon is unacceptable," he said.Bush really couuldn't make it any clearer than that.
Stunning Numbers On Casualty Rates In The War On TerrorCompare casualty rates during war under Bush with casualty rates during peacetime under Clinton:
Total military casualties under Clinton's first term from Jan 1993 to Dec 1996 inclusive, vs. Bush's first term from Jan 2001 to Dec 2004 (which includes the Iraq war) is interesting. Those numbers are Clinton's 4302 dead during peacetime vs. Bushe's [sic] 5187 dead during war.In fact more people died under Clinton due to accidents, 2241, than died under Bush due to hostile action, 1102, during those periods.
Our Disaster In AfghanistanAnyone who has read me over the past two years know that I am a supporter of George Bush and the War on Terror. I am a supporter of our attempt to spread Democracy within the Middle East. I am a believer in the idea that the desire for freedom beats within the breast of all human beings.
But,
I am not a supporter of a Democracy project that allows this:
An Afghan man who allegedly converted from Islam to Christianity is being prosecuted in a Kabul court and could be sentenced to death, a judge said Sunday.The defendant, Abdul Rahman, was arrested last month after his family went to the police and accused him of becoming a Christian, Judge Ansarullah Mawlavezada told Associated Press in an interview. Such a conversion would violate the country's Islamic laws.Rahman, who is believed to be 41, was charged with rejecting Islam when his trial started last week, the judge said.During the hearing, the defendant allegedly confessed that he converted from Islam to Christianity 16 years ago when he was 25 and working as a medical aid worker for Afghan refugees in neighboring Pakistan, Mawlavezada said.Afghanistan's constitution is based on Shariah law, which states that any Muslim who rejects their religion should be sentenced to death."We are not against any particular religion in the world. But in Afghanistan, this sort of thing is against the law," the judge said. "It is an attack on Islam. ... The prosecutor is asking for the death penalty."In the aftermath of WWII, we banned aspects of the Japanese state relgion; Shinto Buddhism. No longer would we allow the Japanese people to teach that the Emperor was God. No longer would we allow the cultivation of Kamikaze warriors.
Why are we allowing this? The Afghans don't have the right to do this, no matter what law they voted into place.
I've said it before and I will now say it again. Mob rule democracy is not a Constitutional Democratic Republic.
What you have going on in Afghanistan, apparently, is a group of humans, having been infantilized and enslaved by a religious ideology over the course of centuries, have now voted their slave masters into power, and are now carrying out their self-loathing as government.
That we are allowing this is the equivalent of participating in it. It is an abuse of human rights, if we don't make sure these things no longer happen, then our war will have been a colossal waste of money and blood.
Islam Says, "Kill Homosexuals"The Iraqi Ayatollah Sistani, the man who couldmost accurately be called the spiritual leader of the new Iraq, says
homosexuals should die:
Friday, March 17, 2006 Sistani: "Gays Should Be Killed in Worst Way Possible."His Eminence, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, the supreme religious authority for Shi'ite Msulims in Iraq and worldwide, decrees that gays and lesbians should be killed in the worst manner possible, according to this news article from a London-based gay rights group.A quick search through Sistani's official website turns up this page, translated as:Q: What is the judgement on sodomy and lesbianism?A: "Forbidden. Those involved in the act should be punished. In fact, sodomites should be killed in the worst manner possible."Thus says the Iranian cleric who was nominated by Iraqis for the 2005 Nobel Peace prize.Dag has some
comments that are right on target:
Muslims in the West and homosexuals are both minority groups. So what? Muslims are violent, hate-filled killers who prey on homosexuals. That is almost without exception. Christians often do not have any higher opinion of homosexuals than do Muslims. There is a fundamental difference: Christians generally don't kill homosexuals. Individual people might bash gays, and when they do we all press till the criminal is captured and prosecuted. It is the law that saves homosexuals from the few who would harm them; in Islam it is the law that kills homosexuals. Now, some homosexuals are too stupid to understand the difference, and they side with Muslims in their stupidity, thinking that one minority is the same as the next so long as both hate America and share a number of the same cliches.
The Left Is About To Curl Into A Fetal Position And Wet ThemselvesFrom
Atlas Shrugs:
In literally one of the most
bizarre attacks ever mounted on a sitting President, a respected former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, former contributing editor for National Review, and a
former assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury, Paul Craig Roberts suggests the President Bush, aided by evil "bloodthirsty neocons" will detonate a nuclear device close to the United States to justify attacking Iran.
"...a low yield, perhaps tactical, nuclear weapon will be exploded some distance out from a US port. Death and destruction will be minimized, but fear and hysteria will be maximized. Americans will be told that the ship bearing the weapon was discovered and intercepted just in time, thanks to Bush’s illegal spying program, and that Iran is to blame. A more powerful wave of fear and outrage will again bind the American people to Bush, and the US media will not report the rest of the world’s doubts of the explanation."
Craig Paul Roberts is now the chairman of the
Independent Institute. This man has fallen off the deep end and needs profesional help.
Hat Tip:
http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/
Books Are In FashionGive a model a book and
see what she does with it.
She holds it in her hands, looks at it, head cocked sideways. Turns it over and around, and then opens it up and puts it on her head.
Voila, a hat.
Of course.
A model wears a dress by Ukrainian designer Andre Tan during fashion show at the traditional spring-summer pret-a-porter Fashion Week in Kiev, Ukraine Friday, March 17, 2006. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
AP - Mar 17 10:48 AM
Pajamas Media Doesn't Just Report History, It Helps To Make ItTalk about
Gonzo Journalism:
Back in mid-February Pajamas Media went to Washington to cover the Intelligence Summit and did
video interviews with Congressman Hoekstra (chair of the House Intell Committee), former DCI Woolsey and Richard Perle, among others. In all those interviews we discussed our idea - new to all of them - that the myriad untranslated Saddam tapes and documents be released to the blogosphere for translation.
The three men all, to one degree or another, liked the idea, although they were surprised by it. Today, it was announced that at the instigation of Hoekstra these documents have been
released by the Pentagon for ... and this is how it was worded on the Brit Hume Show on Fox News ... for translation by the blogosphere.
UPDATE: One of the documents already translated by Iraq the Model
here.Here's some
info on some of the documents already translated:
If you read nothing else today, make sure to
go to this site.Jveritas provides a translation of a document linking Iraq and Osama bin Laden
CMPC-2003-001488 (hat tip:
Jawa Report):
In the Name of God the Merciful
Presidency of the Republic
Intelligence Apparatus
To the respectful Mr. M.A.M
Subject: Information
Our source in Afghanistan No 11002 (for information about him see attachment 1) provided us with information that that Afghani Consul Ahmad Dahestani (for information about him see attachment 2) told him the following:
1. That Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban in Afghanistan are in contact with Iraq and it that previously a group from Taliban and Osama Bin Laden group visited Iraq.
2. That America has proof that the government of Iraq and Osama Bin Laden group have shown cooperation to hit target within America.
3. That in case it is proven the involvement of Osama Bin Laden group and the Taliban in these destructive operations it is possible that American will conduct strikes in Iraq and Afghanistan.
4. That the Afghani Consul heard about the subject of Iraq relation with Osama Bin Laden group during his stay in Iran.
5. In light of this we suggest to write to the Commission of the above information.
Please view… Yours… With regards
Signature:……, Initials : A.M.M, 15/9/2001
Foot note: Immediately send to the Chairman of Commission
Signature:………….
There's more there and more to come.
I BELIEVE THE RELEASE OF THESE DOCUMENTS WAS CAREFULLY TIMED. THEY ARE BEING RELEASED NOW AS PART OF THE EFFORT TO PREPARE US FOR A MAJOR ASSAULT ON IRAN.JUST WATCH.
Comedy Central Pulls South Park Episode Spoofing ScientologyWould you care to taste my little white vinegarey Scientology balls?Scientologists must be geeks who have no sense of humor. Or maybe, they are totalitarians like the radical Islamists. Well, no matter what they are,
they need to be made fun of, and criticized, just like any other group. Like us Christians for instance:
The battle between "South Park""South Park" creators Trey ParkerTrey Parker and Matt StoneMatt Stone and Scientology is escalating.
The dust-up gained steam last week when Isaac Hayes, a practicing Scientologist who has long been the voice of the character Chef, quit after objecting to a "South Park" episode called "Trapped in the Closet," which lampooned both the religion and Tom CruiseTom Cruise.
The skirmish continued this week, when Comedy CentralComedy Central abruptly pulled a repeat of that episode that was scheduled to air Wednesday evening. Showing instead was another memorable segseg which featured Hayes's character, called "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls."
Blog reports pegged the mysterious episode switch to objections raised by Cruise, who, the reports stated, threatened to not promote "Mission: Impossible 3," the summer tentpole for ViacomViacom-owned Paramount.
Turn The Other Cheek?And Then What?Check out
Atlas' post on war and winning:
For Those About To RockWe Salute YouBush will "reaffirm" his pre-emptive strategy. Why? Well, because
Ohmydumbjihad is in big trouble, that's why:
President Bush plans to issue a new national security strategy today reaffirming his doctrine of preemptive war against terrorists and hostile states with chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, despite the troubled experience in Iraq.
The long-delayed document, an articulation of U.S. strategic priorities that is required by law, lays out a robust view of America's power and an assertive view of its responsibility to bring change around the world.
Future Methusaleh Is Alive And, Well ...has a
very long life ahead of her:
Modern medicine is redefining old age and may soon allow people to live regularly beyond the current upper limit of 120 years, experts said on Wednesday.It used to be thought there was some built-in limit on lifespan, but a group of scientists meeting at Oxford University for a conference on life extension and enhancement consigned that idea to the dustbin.Paul Hodge, director of the Harvard Generations Policy Program, said governments around the world -- struggling with pension crises, greying workforces and rising healthcare costs -- had to face up to the challenge now."Life expectancy is going to grow significantly, and current policies are going to be proven totally inadequate," he predicted.Just how far and fast life expectancy will increase is open to debate, but the direction and the accelerating trend is clear.Richard Miller of the Michigan University Medical School said tests on mice and rats -- genetically very similar to humans -- showed lifespan could be extended by 40 percent, simply by limiting calorie consumption.Translated into humans, that would mean average life expectancy in rich countries rising from near 80 to 112 years, with many individuals living a lot longer.Aubrey de Grey, a biomedical gerontologist from Cambridge University, goes much further. He believes the first person to live to 1,000 has already been born and told the meeting that periodic repairs to the body using stem cells, gene therapy and other techniques could eventually stop the aging process entirely.Our life becomes, icreasingly, all about short-term gratification. Already, we are so frustrated at that which we can't attain that we hurt each other, lie, cheat, steal. Already, we are so bored that we have taken to beating ourselves for sexual gratification.
Just what we need; an eternity to do ourselves in.
Dude ...I broke my hand.
And, today they put it in a cast. At this point it is pretty damned hard to type. I might not have much to say for awhile.
But, it seems you can't shut me up. W'll see, huh?
It's All His Fault: Sacrificing George BushTerrye, from YARGB, says George Bush is being made into
the Sin Eater for our society:
We most often associate BDS with the left, but it seems to me that a lot of people on the right are not immune. Bush is either too conservative or not conservative enough, take your pick. I have posted here before that I thought Bush had become a sort of political sin eater. His function is to absorb all the shortcomings of the political class and leave them free of sin. Whether it be the existence of wmd, the ongoing and ever present promise/threat/prediction of civil war in Iraq, government spending or natural disasters it is this one man who bears the weight of it all.So George Will can question Bush's intelligence just as easily as any Koskid. Blogs like Malkin's and LGF can assume that Bush is soft on security over a port deal with Arabs while Feingold can threaten censure because Bush is over zealous in protecting the same.There is a certain measure of self gratification here. These folks are saying If only he had listened to me everything would be ok now. There would be no AlQaida, no over the top government spending, no illegal immigration, Americans would own and run America and everyone would either be our friend or be too afraid of us to strike. If only he had listened to me.I am wondering if the very office of the president is being somehow transformed here. The President of the United States is not a deity. He can not control the weather, solve all the world's problems, make people agree with one another. In fact often as not he can not even give an order and be sure it will be carried out. I read somewhere that Truman once said {I paraphrase} that he could not wait until that General {Eisenhower} got in there and gave an order and nothing happened. Things are just not the simple, the United States is not the Enterprise with the president standing on the bridge, saying Make it so. I wonder if the BDS is about Bush or if in fact it is about our growing fear and uncertainty about the world. When I see the wrong direction/right direction numbers it seems to me that nobody..right or left feels we are going in the right direction. This feeling is I believe exacerbated by the incessant doom mongering and bad news from a 24 hour news cycle that does its best to present the world as a place of misery and chaos. Forget the wonder in life, the great strides in science and technology, the improved standards of living.... it all sucks all the time all the world over.I think Bush is being blamed by both sides for his failure to make it all go away. Once upon a time that was not a president's job...when and why did that change?The cultural drama used to be played out by the gods and godesses of mythology. When the gods were not sacrificed to properly, or sufficiently, the people could expect trouble.
With the advent of the convenient, instant-gratification society, we have turned the basis of religion on its head. Instead of sacrificing to our god in hope of getting what we want, now, when we don't get what we want when we want it, we sacrifice our god.
Because the human psyche does not change appreciably over short expanses of time, such as a couple thousand years, it seems to me that this change is an obvious case of Koyaanisqatsi (life out of balance).
I have to wonder if the gods will be back to punish us for the punishment we are leveling on them, via the totem of George Bush.
Ahmadinejad: Those Westerners Want Us To Let Israel LiveSometimes Charles at LGF puts it so perfectly that I can do nothing but just
lift his post verbatim:
Iranian madman Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has figured out the secret reason why the West is so opposed to Iran’s nuclear ambitions: because they don’t want him to nuke Israel.
Iran’s Ahmadinejad: West opposes our nukes to let Israel live on. “Our enemies on the one hand oppose our nation’s acquisition of nuclear energy and on the other hand want to divert the attention of other nations from the key issue of Palestine to give an opportunity to the Zionist regime to prolong its existence”, he said.“One of the main reasons why the big powers oppose Iran on the nuclear issue is for the sake of the Zionist regime, so as to let this regime live on. But they are unaware that not only will the Iranian nation continue in the path of obtaining nuclear energy till the end, it will not even for one instant divert its attention from the issue of Palestine”.“The regime occupying Qods [Israel] is the key to [Western] countries’ domination in Muslim lands, and with every blow at this occupying regime, it’s the pillars of the Global Arrogance (the West) that are targeted”.So, this is rock solid confirmation that Iran intends to nuke Israel. There really is no question anymore. The Iranian regime must be destroyed.
Calm Down, It's Just A JokeBill, Hillary, and Al were in an airplane crash. They're up in heaven, and God is sitting on the great throne.God addresses Al first. "Al, what do you believe in?"
Al replies, "Well, I believe that the combustion engine is evil and that we need to save the world from CFC's and if any more Freon is used the whole earth will become a greenhouse and we will die."
God thinks for a second and says "Okay, I can live with that. Come and sit at my left."
God then addresses Bill. "Bill, what do you believe in?"
Bill replies, "Well, I believe in power to the people."
"I think people should be able to make their own choices about things and that no one should ever be able to tell someone else what to do."
"I also believe in feeling people's pain."
God thinks for a second and says, "Okay, that sounds good. Come and sit at my right."
God then addresses Hillary. "Hillary, what do you believe in?"
Hillary says, "I believe you're in my chair."
God Bless Wafa SultanThis from Atlas Shrugs:
Wafa Sultan, in the pantheon of Atlas Heroines, please
consider contributing to a fund for her protection, a fatwa has been issued and she is in
hiding here;.
She speaks here of the Jews;
''Speaking of the Holocaust, she said, "The Jews have come from the tragedy and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror; with their work, not with their crying and yelling." She went on, "We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people."
She concluded, "Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people and destroying embassies. This path will not yield any results. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them."
Hopefully, Atlas will provide a link where we really can donate money. I'll donate for sure.
Former NBA Player Spends His Entire Fortune To Save His PeopleAnd winds up in prison:
MANUTE BOL SPENT HIS ENTIRE FORTUNE TRYING TO SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM THE NORTHERN ARAB ISLAMIST INVASION - SPENT TIME IN SUDANESE PRISON ONLY TO ESCAPE BACK TO THE US AS A PENNILESS REFUGEE.
HBO
Realsport's Frank Deford profiles Manute Bol and his tragic life after basketball.
Bol tells Deford that during his career he wanted to go back to Sudan and fight alongside his Dinka tribesman in Southern Sudan. Considered the tallest people in the world, Christian and black, according to the show lived peacefully in Southern Sudan - until Arab Muslims from the North invaded with an intention to take over and Islamize them.
Bol and his best friend went to over 39 Congressmen personally and met with the Pentagon in the 90's telling them that their people were being decimated by the Arab Muslims from the North and would disappear if the US did not help. He said they got nothing.
His friend said he told the US the greatest threat they would face in the future would be from Islamist Fundamentalism, at which most laughed.
Read the whole thing.
Anti-Semitism Rising Among French MuslimsWhy is it that evil people so often
focus their hatred on Jews?BAGNEUX, France -- In the bleak housing project where a young Jew named Ilan Halimi was held captive and tortured before being dumped in a vacant lot to die, there's scant sympathy for the victim.''It's too bad this happened, because we immigrants are always blamed," said Ibrahim Ag Ahmalou, a lanky man of West African heritage who shares his girlfriend's apartment in the project. ''But Jews have all the money and power. Everyone knows this and resents them. That's why they have these problems."
Last week there were three more attacks on Jews by Arab and African immigrants in suburban Paris, according to police. None of the latest victims was seriously injured, but the attacks heightened the nervousness of French Jews. There is alarm that the antipathy of French Muslims toward Jews, long based on opposition to Israel, is reverting to the even more sinister prejudices that once pervaded Europe, making Jews the scapegoats for all social ills.''Anti-Semitism is rising in our country," said legislator Dominique Strauss-Kahn.Halimi, 23, son of Moroccan-born Jews of modest means, sold cellphones at a shop in Paris. He disappeared on Jan. 20, allegedly abducted by a predominantly Muslim youth gang dedicated to crime, street fighting, rap music, and virulent anti-Semitism. The thuggish crew sought a cash ransom of more than $500,000 because they assumed all Jews were rich, according to French authorities. And when Halimi's hard-strapped family could not produce money, they killed their captive because he was a Jew.In taunting calls to Halimi's family, the abductors addressed his parents with anti-Semitic slurs and told them to get cash ''from your synagogue." They also contacted a French rabbi, boasting, ''We have a Jew." Even more shocking, investigators believe that many inhabitants of the project were aware that the youth gang was holding a Jewish captive, but none called police or urged the abductors to show mercy.Everyone knew, and no one said anything, which indicates there must be an awfully deep hatred of Jews among the French Muslims.
Why would that be?
"You're Not God Anymore"Check out
these words from Richard Edelman, President and Chief Executive of the public-relations firm Edelman, spoken recently at
PR Week’s annual public-relations awards:
“It used to be I would schmooze you and I was your flack,” said Mr. Edelman, whose firm netted about $260 million in 2005. “Today, if we want to get a message into the public’s conversation, we just make a post on a blog. If The Wall Street Journal goes after a client, we don’t have to accept that anymore. Let’s post the documents we gave The Journal; let’s show the interviews the newspaper decided not to show.
“You’re not God anymore,” he said.
Miserable CatAfter some of the miserable discussion that went on here at CUANAS last night, I thought maybe we should all look at a cat who is even more miserable than us.
When you are down, it always helps you feel a little better when you can laugh at the despair of others, right?
Here It ComesThe Mullahs are
digging themselves in, literally:
Iran's leaders have built a secret underground emergency command centre in Teheran as they prepare for a confrontation with the West over their illicit nuclear programme, the Sunday Telegraph has been told.The complex of rooms and offices beneath the Abbas Abad district in the north of the capital is designed to serve as a bolthole and headquarters for the country's rulers as military tensions mount.The recently completed command centre is connected by tunnels to other government compounds near the Mossala prayer ground, one of the city's most important religious sites.
Offices of the state security forces, the energy department and the Organisation of Islamic Culture and Communications are all located in the same area.The construction of the complex is part of the regime's plan to move more of its operations beneath ground. The Revolutionary Guard has overseen the development of subterranean chambers and tunnels - some more than half a mile long and an estimated 35ft high and wide - at sites across the country for research and development work on nuclear and rocket programmes.The opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) learnt about the complex from its contacts within the regime. The same network revealed in 2002 that Iran had been operating a secret nuclear programme for 18 years.The underground strategy is partly designed to hide activities from satellite view and international inspections but also reflects a growing belief in Teheran that its showdown with the international community could end in air strikes by America or Israel. "Iran's leaders are clearly preparing for a confrontation by going underground," said Alireza Jafarzadeh, the NCRI official who made the 2002 announcement.US intelligence believes that if Iranian nuclear facilities were attacked by either America or Israel, then Teheran would respond by trying to close the Strait of Hormuz with naval forces, mines and anti-ship cruise missiles.A senior American intelligence officer said that the US navy would be able to reopen the strait but that it would be militarily costly. Hamid Reza Zakeri, a former Iranian intelligence officer, recently told Mr Timmerman that the Iranian navy's Strategic Studies Centre has produced an updated battle plan for the strait.Its most devastating options would be to use its long-range Shahab-3 missiles to attack Israeli or American bases in the region or to deploy suicide bombers in Western cities under its strategy of "asymmetric" response."The price to the West for standing up to Iran is clear," Gen Moshe Ya'alon, the former Israeli defence chief said last month in Washington. "It includes terror attacks, economic hardship… and consequences resulting from fluctuations in Iranian oil production."Oh yes,
all that, and more:
MEMRI reports: Purported "Al-Qaeda Undercover Soldier, U.S.A": Last Warning to American People - Two Operations Will Occur; Your Homeland Security Agency Must Surrender; States Far Away From Washington, D.C. Such as Arizona Will Be Hit; We Await Orders From Our Commander Osama Bin Laden; America Will Be Brought to its KneesOn March 10, 2006, the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) posted, on the Islamic websites, a final warning to the American people, on behalf of "Rakan Ben Williams" who defines himself as "Al-Qaeda under cover soldier, USA [sic]." It is not clear exactly who is behind this name. Moreover, according to a previous statement by GIMF public relations bureau director Saif Al-Din Al-Kinani on the GIMF Internet newscast Sout Al-Khilafa, GIMF is not affiliated with Al-Qaeda. [1] But on November 8, 2005, the London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported: "The Global Islamic Media Front has threatened [the West] on the Internet by means of its new soldier, whom it calls Rakan Ben Williams, and whom it claims is a white Englishman who converted to Islam." [2] In the following warning, Rakan Ben Williams warns that, unlike after the 9/11, Madrid, and London attacks, which are still being investigated, "[after] the coming attack there will be no one to analyze and investigate, because the mind and the heart will be unable to comprehend it… This will not be a single operation", the report added, "but two; one bigger than the other, but we will begin with the big one and postpone the bigger one, in order to see [how] diligent the American people is [in preserving] its life. If it chooses life, [it must] carry out the demands of the Muslims, and if it chooses death, then we are its best perpetrators." "O’ you helpless Americans, especially those living in States far away from Washington, D.C.! Your country is comprised of many States that should not have anything to do with Muslims. Take the State of Arizona for example; what does this State have to do with killing Muslims in Palestine, Afghanistan, and Iraq? What interest of theirs serving, helping, and siding with the Jews and Israel? Now, why Arizona? What is significant about Arizona?
Well, of course, this is just my dumb speculation, but Arizona is a border town, easily penetratable by those coming up from Mexico.
If you were an Al Qaeda operative and you wanted to smuggle a big weapon into the United States, you know, a really big, important weapon, how would you bring it in?
Through the ports? Well, possibly, but that contingency just got a little harder, didn't it? And besides, I think Al Qaeda might believe the ports are monitored by devices which can detect really big, important weapons.
But, you can bet the hundreds of miles along the Arizona border are not. Right?
Yes, maybe Al Qaeda can get a big, important weapon into the U.S., across the Arizona border, but they are afraid, possibly because of previous experiences, of attempting to move it anywhere very far away.
See what I'm saying?
So, why not just take out Phoenix?
And, after that, maybe take out Dallas?
Of course, I'm just reading between the lines here.
Heck, if Al Qaeda thinks we are stunned by what they did in NYC, Madrid and London, then it could be that they are going to set off a stink bomb, and then drop an anvil on our heads, because as vicous as those attacks were, they certainly weren't stunning in the technological sense.
Whatever. If what this Raca Ben Williams guy says is true, then the days of the moderate Muslims are numbered. The real war will be on.
Should We
Allow Muslims
To Call For Murder
In The Name
Of The Koran?Yesterday, I posted here about the fact that there are groups in Germany who are proseucting the Koran as hate speech. When I first read of these prosecutions, I was very happy that someone was finally doing something about the obvious incitement to violence. However, having given the subject more thought, and having read Dag's fine article over at No Dhimmitude, I have decided that even the Koran's violent incitement against Christians and Jews needs to be protected by our right to free speech.
TruePeers has
a very thoughtful post, over at YARGB, on the subject. Check it out:
The real target in this action, it seems to me, must eventually be not so much Islam, as the present liberal order that would set itself up as the arbiter of what is or is not acceptable speech or writing. Liberalism, having decayed into a wholly victimary politics in which "progressive" forces appoint themselves the judges of what groups or individuals may claim a victim status, which one is not permitted to publicly criticize (if one is to share in the world of our liberal institutions), has reverted to a primitive system of demonization.What is left of public debate is largely ritualized denunciations and contests over victim status. Lacking more sophisticated forms of discrimination that would appeal to universal truths - by explaining not indulging the human reliance on sacrificial or victimary forms - our contemporary liberalism leaves itself unable to even begin figuring out the problem that the rise of Islam in Europe presently poses for traditional liberal values, like free speech. ... this attempt to ban the Koran should only go to show that the liberal dream of a humanity united in some multicultural harmony (a "multiculturalism" which is actually conceived as a unity - "we are the world" - in opposition to some patriarchal oppressor of old who has been cast out of politically-correct society, the oppressor often being figured as a white imperialist or a rabid, often Jewish, free marketeer) is unrealistic in its denial of some basic facts about human differences ...Having now given this issue more thought, I believe that an adherence to absolute free speech is what we need. As I always say, "You gotta love your enemies when they tell you the truth."
The truth will, indeed, set us free. And, obviously, the suppression of free speech makes it that much harder to learn the truth.
But, the thing is, eventually,
- if a large moderate Muslim contingent does not make itself heard,
- if a large moderate Muslim contingenet does not join us in the fight against Islamofascism,
- if a large moderate Muslim contingent does not assert itself, and reform Islam as we know it,
then we are going to be forced to do some very illiberal things in order to rid ourselves of the fascists in our midst.
One of the ideas that I have been playing with is this:
Sharia is itself a Constitution for an Islamic state.
Therefore, anyone advocating for the establishment of Sharia law within a Western state is advocating for the overthrow of that state.
They are also advocating for the abolishment of a generally-accepted set of Human Rights.
As such, anyone advocating for the establishment of Sharia law within a Western state is a treasonous criminal and should be thrown in jail.
I am not sure if I am, in this reasoning, attacking free speech, or if I am upholding the rights of the state to protect itself.
What do you think?
Blue Scarf RevolutionI like where Dag and his friends are going with this. The idea is for people to get together in public and talk about
how to fight back against the Worldwide Islamic Jihad:
We hope to do more 'outreach' work in the coming weeks by printing leaflets on issues of concern to women and homosexuals and Christians in relation to Islam. There are ethnic communities who might be open to working with us as a broad coalition of those who will not allow further encroachments of sharia and Islamic triumphalism here. We can, for example, reach out to Christians and ask that they support their co-religionists under threat and often at risk of death from jihad; that Christians refrain from funding jihad through charitable donations to Islamic groups such as HAMAS, which the Presbyterians do so often, and that instead they give relief to fellow Christians who risk being murdered by Muslims. We hope to produce effective leaflets showing that homosexuals, for example, should not be worrying themselves over the likes of Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson, marginal people who pose no real threat to anyone, but that homosexuals should worry themselves to action to prevent Islam from gaining any strength in the West if homosexuals wish to live, not simply as homosexuals, but at all. We hope to make leaflets and give them to various representatives of their respective communities in order that we might all unite against this common violent and immediate threat to our lives.United we stand, divided we fall.
One of the problems with the West is our freedom allows us to break up into widely variant groups, each with our own special interests. And, yes, many of our special interests truly are important.
Yes, I as a Christian am rightly concerned that there are many in my society who are working overtime to eliminate any mention of our Judeo-Christian roots in the public square. My gay friends are rightly concerned that there are many in our society who would like to eliminate any expression of the gay lifestyle from the public square. Women are rightly concerned that they sometimes do not have equal opportunity in the marketplace. Blacks are rightly concerned that most of their brothers and sisters are raised in neighborhoods whose schools are little more than starter-prisons.
But, these issues, while important, pale in comparison to the fact that in places like the Sudan and Nigeria, Arab-run Muslim governments are initiating campaigns of genocide, in the name of Islam, whereby they are
1) stoning gays to death
2) gang-raping women and children
3) mutlilating women sexual organs
3) killing all black Christians, and when they are done with the Christians, they kill the black Sufi Muslims, and when they are done with the black Sufi Muslims, they kill the rest of the black Msulims, after all, they are not Arab.
4) killing Christian men, and taking the remaining women as booty to be raped and mutilated
You see what I mean? The reality of being killed and raped and mutilated is so much worse than the tiny psychological stones we throw at each other here in the West.
We've got to lay down our differences for awhile, get together, and fight for our beautiful Western culture, because it's the closest thing this world has ever had to civilization.
C'mon people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together, we've got to help one another right now.
:)
Koran Prosecuted As Hate Speech In GermanyAbout two weeks back I had posted on the idea that any person caught advocating for the establishment of Sharia in a Western country is advocating for the overthrow of the state. Sharia is an all-encompassing set of laws. As such it is, in effect, a constitution-like document.
Well, it looks like some Germans have the same kind of idea.
In Germany, the Koran is being prosecuted as hate speech anti-thetical to the Constitution:
Koran under legal attack in Germany: "At the prosecutor's office at Gorch-Forck-Wall 15 in Hamburg, an unusual letter was received Monday morning, containing an indictment filed this weekend. The indictment targeted the Quran, charging that the holy book of the Moslems, according to the accuser, is incompatible with the German constitution. The accuser is "Bundesverband der B_rgerbewegungen (BVB)", which concerns itself with, in its own words, "defending basic rights and freedoms" against Islam....The indictment has been filed in several states, including Hamburg, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Bayern and probably more. In several talkshows on German TV, conservative politicians have pointed out that the Quran is incompatible with the German constitution. The Turkish-born writer Serap Cileli said on January 29 this year that "the Quran must be considered a historic document. It is not compatible with our constitution and Human Rights." Now the alliance wants the matter tried at the courts....The indictment is against the 200 verses of 114 suras (ED:chapters) of the Quran that are not compatible with the constitution, including demagoguery, incitement to murder, murder and mutilation, war, acceptance of thievery against infidels, meaning all non-Moslems. Verses are also pointed out where the equal rights of men and women are not upheld and where people of different faiths are oppressed."This is very good news. Can't wait to see how it turns out.
Dubai Port Deal
The Hand Reaches Up
From The GraveSomeguy, at Infidel Bloggers Alliance,
smells something fishy in the Dubai pullout from the port deal:
While I slept, some apparently good news came out about the proposed Dubai Ports World takeover deal:
WASHINGTON - Bowing to ferocious opposition in Congress, a Dubai-owned company signaled surrender Thursday in its quest to take over operations at U.S. ports.“DP World will transfer fully the U.S. operations ... to a United States entity,” the firm’s top executive, H. Edward Bilkey, said in an announcement that capped weeks of controversy.But Barak of IRIS Blog thinks there's less to this than meets the eye. (Hat tip: Little Green Footballs.) One article, however, quotes a statement that "we will continue to hold our U.S. operations separate while this process continues." In other words, the Dubai corporation will maintain a separate incorporation status for the American subsidiary. A few comments:-This is a standard legal fiction for corporations who maintain complete operational control over their foreign subsidiaries. As an Information Technology consultant to many multi-national corporations, I can say with certainty that corporate management has access to the information systems of local subsidiaries.-Note the key word "continue." This strongly implies that there is no change. In other words, there is no news here.-While it is possible that the government-owned firm will indeed be forced to sell, it should be noted that all Arab governments routinely lie. Here is this week's biggest example.David Thompson at YARGB has
this to say:
I am going to make a bold prediction. The Dubai World Ports agreement will ultimately be approved. What, am I some sort of crazy person? Didn’t the company officially pull out? I suspect the devil is in the details. It only said that it would turn over the managerial functions over to an American firm. There is a major problem with this option: there are no companies in the United States ready to handle these responsibilities! And especially to do so profitably. We are going to see all hell break out in the next few days. The majority of the American public can be persuaded that this deal is not a security threat. Much of its fear and outrage was based on bigotry and misinformation. These decent Americans will soon start to feel ashamed of themselves.
Terrorism Is Good After All -The Koran Says SoWe're used to organizations like CAIR telling us they "abhor" terrorism, and condemn it when it happens. Well, the other day, an Egyptian MP from the Muslim Brotherhood Party clarified for us that
terrorism is ok after all:
"'Terrorism' is Not a Curse When Given its True Meaning"
Question: "Does it make sense to you that a Muslim should claim that the Koran incites to terrorism?!"
Egyptian MP Ragab Hilal Hamida, from the Muslim Brotherhood: "I said these things in an [Egyptian] parliament session dealing with the Inter-Arab Agreement on Combating Terrorism. I noticed that the report of the [Parliamentary] Committee for Defense and National Security and the Egyptian Foreign Ministry were inaccurate when [they] dealt with terrorism, since [they] dealt with it in general [terms]. I specifically wanted to explain that [the term] 'terrorism' is not a curse when given its true meaning. [When interpreted accurately,] it means opposing occupation as it exists in Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq!... "From my point of view, bin Laden, Al-Zawahiri and Al-Zarqawi are not terrorists in the sense accepted by some. I support all their activities, since they are a thorn in the side of the Americans and the Zionists... [On the other hand,] he who kills Muslim citizens is neither a jihad fighter nor a terrorist, but a criminal and a murderer. We must call things by their proper names!" Question: "Do you regard the Palestinians who are prepared to sacrifice their lives as terrorists?" Hamida: "Yes. According to the shari'a, a Palestinian who is prepared to sacrifice his life deters the enemy, in the way [sanctioned by the Koran]: 'Make ready against them your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah and your enemies, and others besides, whom ye may not know, but whom Allah knows.'" [3] "This Palestinian is therefore [called] a terrorist, but he does not care that he is called a terrorist, since the Koran calls him so! We must realize that all religions forbid the killing of Muslim citizens. But anything related to countering occupation - is not a crime or [an act of] violence, but rather jihad or 'terrorism' in the sense of deterring and scaring [the enemy], and this is emphasized by the language and by shari'a!" Question: "Do you think that this is the [appropriate] time to repeat such provocative statements, when we are trying to improve the image of Islam in the West and to refute the accusation that [Islam] is a religion of terrorism, as [some] are claiming?" Hamida: "Islam does not need improvement of its image... But there are some ignorant Muslims who do not understand the tenets of their faith... It is [our] duty to repel any enemy of the Islamic and Arab countries, using 'terrorism' rather than using violence. We need an accurate definition of [the term] 'terrorism' in the negative climate in which we live - a climate that makes no distinction between a criminal and one who is prepared to sacrifice his life or a terrorist. In defining [this term], we must not be influenced by American pressures, but consider the issues in the light of shari'a. They should not tell us to fight terrorism and to fight it as they command us to. The Americans are the ones who perpetrate violence in the Arab countries!..."Well, what do you know, the Koran sanctions terrorism, so it's ok.
Gee, who woulda thunk it?
Change Your MindSong by Andy Pratt
I'm afraid for you
You're going astray
There's nothing I can do
But wait for you
To change your mind
Change your mind
It's hard around you
It's beautiful - It's good
It's more than you know
Waiting for you
To change your mind
Change your mind
Oh so many people
So many dreams gone bad
It's alright - don't worry
Don't think too much
Just change your mind
Change your mind
Atlas Shrugs, Little Green Footballs, And Err, CUANASPamela, at Atlas Shrugs, was
interviewed by the National Journal. She has some important things to say, as usual. In addition, there is a nice little compliment for yours truly buried in the article:
Describe your typical blogging schedule. And what is your average output?My blogging schedule is nuts and has taken over my life... any free moment for the blog, I blog. Get up, get outta bed, drag a comb across the kid's head. Head 'em up, move 'em out... hit the newspapers and best news sites, check the emails, start writing. Sometimes I find I have been blogging all night, it's 6 am and so I nod out for a half hour then do the kid thang.I am so impassioned by it because we are working against a clock, a scary clock. And we have got to get the word to as many people s possible as fast as we can. The world is at war, pretending it to be anything else will be fatal.I am so much in agreement with Pamela on this, and in fact, my habits are similar to hers, unfortunately. I have developed bags under my eyes, and my excercise regimen has dropped off the charts. Often I find myself up in the middle of the night worrying about the state of the world, as if I have any control over it.
The sad and glorious thing about blogging is, it gives us little guys a sense of personal responsibility for the world around us. There may be little we can do about it, but we can do a little, and we know that any little bit helps.
Now, check out what Pamela says about Charles Johnson, and know that I wholly agree:
Who is your favorite political blogger? Little Green Footballs. Hands down. When the history books are written, Charles Johnson will surely go down as a great American that made a critical difference between victory and defeat. His role has been largely ignored but so what? Most of the greats are ignored in their time.Now, here's CUANAS compliment time:
What non-MSM websites (i.e. blogs) do you visit on a daily basis?Always Little Green Footballs, I check out Glenn, Roger, adore Wretchard's Belmont Club, Malkin (of course), Tom over at Bizzy Blog should have been Greenspan's replacement, CUANAS just started a brilliant little gem -- Infidels Bloggers Alliance, Jihad Watch, No Pasaran, Vital Perspectives, there are so many... check my blogroll.I guess I'll have to post this over at IBA as well. Everyone should know.
Disproportionate Response Reveals The Real War Is About To BeginWhile we watch the spectre of a nuclear Iran dancing on the horizon, we are also being treated to what may seem like a sideshow;
the United Arab Emirates is threatening the United States with an economic boycott (including a cutting off of oil), if we don't give them the $6 billion port deal.
This is a completely disproportionate response to what is just one deal among many possible deals. The UAE is the wealthiest nation per capita in the entire world. They do not need this deal, and yet, they are willing to pull out all the stops if they don't get it. In fact, as of right now, they say they will not even relinquish their hold on the deal, no matter what our duly elected representatives have to say about it:
DUBAI (Reuters) - Dubai Ports is pressing ahead with a takeover that gives it control of six major U.S. ports despite a Congress committee vote to block the deal, sources familiar with the deal said on Thursday. Government and company officials in the United Arab Emirates declined comment on Wednesday's vote by U.S. lawmakers to block the deal on the grounds that handing the ports over to a Gulf Arab state-owned firm would threaten U.S. national security. But the sources said the vote had not taken Dubai Ports any closer to relinquishing the six ports at the center of a political firestorm. "The vote in the House of Representatives has not change anything in that respect. We are not at that point," one Dubai-based source said. Analysts said the political furor was bound to provoke businesses in the world's biggest oil exporting region, which is an increasingly important source of financing for the huge U.S. current account deficit. "It's American double standards. Do you think that businesses and governments here won't react and even retaliate?" said Wadah Al Taha of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi. Wednesday's 62-2 vote, by the House Appropriations Committee, will be followed next week by another vote by the full House of Representatives. Dubai Ports officials said they were pushing ahead with plans to integrate British ports group P&O which runs the U.S. ports. A Dubai Ports spokesman said the company would soon announce the de-listing of P&O now that shareholders had approved the $6.8 billion takeover.The UAE is a close ally of Washington and a frequent port of call for American warships. Concerns are growing that the fallout from the ports row will affect U.S. economic ties with the Gulf. UAE Economy Minister Sheikha Lubna al-Qassimi said last week the furor could prompt other countries to divert funds away from the United States. American businesses in the UAE warned on Wednesday that trade worth more than $8 billion between the United States and the United Arab Emirates could be in jeopardy.People who read CUANAS may know that I am not opposed to the Dubai port deal, as many of my fellow right-wing bloggers are. However, while I am not against the deal, I can still recognize when a business partner has more invested in a deal than seems reasonable.
If the UAE is willing to declare an economic war on the United States, over a deal they don't need, then that is an indication that they have something else at stake in this port deal.
It could simply be that their Arab egos have been bruised.
Or, they could have had some grand plan thwarted.
I have expected that eventually the Arab world would lock together in step and attempt to hit the West economically. This is the first evidence of that.
Simply put, I have my doubts that this is all about something to UAE wants. Instead, I think it is likely they are upset because they will not be able to fulfill obligations to other Arab nations.
What do you think?
All Things
That Last
Must Come To PassNothing Gold Can Stay
By Robert Frost
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Israel:We'll Move On IranIf The UN Does NotAs well they should:
BERLIN (Reuters) - If the U.N. Security Council is incapable of taking action to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, Israel will have no choice but to defend itself, Israel's defense minister said on Wednesday.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was asked whether Israel was ready to use military action if the Security Council proved unable to act against what Israel and the West believe is a covert Iranian nuclear weapons program."My answer to this question is that the state of Israel has the right give all the security that is needed to the people in Israel. We have to defend ourselves," Mofaz told Reuters after a meeting with his German counterpart Franz Josef Jung."The Israeli approach is that the U.S. and the European countries should lead the issue of the Iranian nuclear program to the table of the U.N. Security Council, asking for sanctions. And I hope the sanctions will be effective," Mofaz said.Mofaz, who was born in Iran, added that Israel believed the 15-nation Security Council should grant the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N.'s Vienna-based nuclear watchdog, sweeping inspection powers so that it can smoke out any secret nuclear arms-related activities in Iran."We need to have very deep and large inspections within all the nuclear locations in Iran because Iran has two nuclear programs -- one is a covered one and the second is uncovered," he said.
Jesus CartoonMichelle Malkin points out that The Sheaf, the student newspaper at the University of Saskatchewan, refuses to run the Mohammed cartoons, but they are more than happy to run this cartoon.
I publish this here, not because I like it, but because
I BELIEVE THAT PEOPLE OUGHT TO BE ALLOWED TO PUBLISH SUCH CARTOONS
AND THUS,
I AM SHOWING MY SOLIDARITY WITH THEIR RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH.
I would appreciate it if they would do the same, but they are probably just too angry with their parents, and too pussified to stand up for anything truly dangerous.
CAIR: Islamofascists Fooling The EstablishmentCAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, passes itself off as a human rights group for Muslims. Don't be fooled by their pose. From Daniel Pipes at
Front Page Magazine:
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), headquartered in Washington, is perhaps the best-known Muslim organization in North America. CAIR presents itself as an advocate for Muslims’ civil rights and the spokesman for American Muslims. “We are similar to a Muslim NAACP,” says its communications director, Ibrahim Hooper.[1] Its official mission—“to enhance understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding”—suggests nothing problematic.
But there is another side to CAIR that has alarmed many people in positions to know. The Department of Homeland Security refuses to deal with it. Senator Charles Schumer (Democrat, New York) describes it as an organization “which we know has ties to terrorism.”[2] Senator Dick Durbin (Democrat, Illinois) observes that CAIR is “unusual in its extreme rhetoric and its associations with groups that are suspect.” Steven Pomerantz, the FBI’s former chief of counterterrorism, notes that “CAIR, its leaders, and its activities effectively give aid to international terrorist groups.” The family of John P. O’Neill, Sr., the former FBI counterterrorism chief who perished at the World Trade Center, named CAIR in a lawsuit as having “been part of the criminal conspiracy of radical Islamic terrorism” responsible for the September 11 atrocities. Counterterrorism expert Steven Emerson calls it “a radical fundamentalist front group for Hamas.”[3]
Of particular note are the American Muslims who reject CAIR’s claim to speak on their behalf. The late Seifeldin Ashmawy, publisher of the New Jersey-based Voice of Peace, called CAIR the champion of “extremists whose views do not represent Islam.”[4] Jamal Hasan of the Council for Democracy and Tolerance explains that CAIR’s goal is to spread “Islamic hegemony the world over by hook or by crook.”[5] Kamal Nawash, head of Free Muslims Against Terrorism, finds that CAIR and similar groups condemn terrorism on the surface while endorsing an ideology that helps foster extremism, adding that “almost all of their members are theocratic Muslims who reject secularism and want to establish Islamic states.”Go read the rest.
Note that Dick Durbin, the Democratic Senator from Illinois who compared Guantanamo Bay to the Soviet Gulag, thinks that CAIR is beyond the pale.
How is it that this organization is the go-to group for the media when they want a quote from a "moderate" Muslim? Is the problem that there are no significant moderate Muslim political organizations?
Do you think?
Moderate Muslims unite. We are getting pretty tired of waiting.
Iran Threatens U.S. With "Harm and Pain"Does anyone else hear that whistling sound?Oh,
the nuances of diplomacy:
VIENNA, Austria - Iran threatened the United States with "harm and pain" Wednesday for its role in hauling Tehran before the U.N. Security Council over its disputed nuclear program."The United States has the power to cause harm and pain," Iran said a statement meant for delivery at the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board meeting in Vienna on Iran's refusal to freeze uranium enrichment."But the United States is also susceptible to harm and pain. So if that is the path that the U.S. wishes to choose, let the ball roll."Iran's statement against the United States was unusually harsh, reflecting Tehran's frustration at failing to deflect the threat of Security Council action against it in the coming weeks.It attacked the "warmongers in Washington" for what it said was an unjust accusation that Tehran's nuclear intentions were mainly for military use. And it suggested the United States was vulnerable, despite its strength."Surely we are not naive about the United States' ... intention to flex muscles," said the statement. "But we also see the bone fractures underneath."Ohmydumbjihad, we hardly knew ye.
Anti-Jewish Attacks In ParisWow,
what a surprise:
More anti-Semitic attacks in France Three anti-Semitic attacks in a Parisian suburb over the weekend led the country's interior minister to increase security measures in the community.Nicolas Sarkozy announced at a meeting Sunday night that further police reinforcements would be put in place in Sarcelles. "Anti-Semitism is on the rise in our country," said Dominique Strauss-Kahn, deputy of the Val d'Oise, a region near Paris, as he exited the meeting.On Friday afternoon, a local rabbi's 17-year-old son was attacked by two men near the synagogue, and suffered a broken nose.Also on Friday afternoon, an 18-year-old man was attacked by a group of five men, who insulted him and stole his cell phone. On Saturday night, a 28-year-old man wearing a kipah was verbally and physically abused by four men and suffered a dislocated shoulder, according to police sources. The culprits were found and placed in police custody.Sammy Ghozlan, president of the National Office of Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, said that "after the anti-Jewish murder of Ilan Halimi, these aggressions against the Jews of Sarcelles are perceived" by the culprits "as threats and provocations." http://jta.org/page_view_breaking_story.asp?intid=1650Thanks to Dag for making me aware of this.
US And Russia:Iranian Enrichment UnacceptableHey, WTF is that whistling sound?The US and Russia appear to be
closing ranks on Iran:
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration told Iran on Tuesday that any enrichment of nuclear fuel on Iranian territory was unacceptable, as Russia appeared to close ranks with the United States over Tehran's nuclear program. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice delivered the tough message — but shied away from warning of immediate U.N. sanctions — after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.At a joint State Department news conference, Lavrov said there was no compromise in sight with Iran. Russia has been negotiating with Iran and has proposed enriching fuel on Russian soil for Iran's energy need.OhMyDumbJihad, we hardly knew ye.
Israel May Target New Palestinian/Hamas Prime MinisterIncoming Hamas Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail HaniyehAs well
they should:
JERUSALEM - Israel's defense minister advised the incoming Palestinian prime minister Tuesday to fear for his life if Hamas militants start attacking Israel again. Meanwhile, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed that his Kadima Party would shave billions off settlement spending — the first time he has said explicitly he would scale back funding for Israel's 40-year-old settlement enterprise, which has cost tens of billions of dollars.Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz's warning to Hamas, recently elected to rule the Palestinian Authority, was the first to identify Hamas' prime minister-designate, Ismail Haniyeh, as a potential target for an Israeli pinpoint attack."No one is immune," Mofaz told Army Radio, a day after an Israeli airstrike on an ice cream truck killed two Islamic Jihad militants and three bystanders in Gaza City. Two of those killed were aged 8 and 14.Maybe the Hamas Prime Minister better not drive around in Ice Cream Trucks, huh? Because, the implication of this Associated Press article is that, clearly, the evil Israelis particularly like to target any vehicle that attracts children.
Guess Who's Coming To CollegeThat's right, Yale, with full knowledge of his past, admitted
a guy from the Taliban:
"I could have ended up in Guantanamo Bay. Instead I ended up at Yale."So said Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, former deputy foreign secretary of the Taliban, who has been admitted as a student at Yale.This story originally broke on February 26th in the New York Times Magazine. (The article is now behind the TimesSelect barrier and is available for a fee.) OpinionJournal.com's John Fund has a couple of columns on this subject, here and here.As Fund points out, Yale continues to block ROTC training from its campus and argues for the right of its law school to exclude military recruiters.What did Rahmatullah's regime stand for? Hosts for Osama bin Laden and terrorism! Beheadings, amputations, mutilations. etc. And what about women's rights? Not!And Yale is proud of its catch. The Times reported that Yale "had another foreigner of Rahmatullah's caliber apply for special-student status." Richard Shaw, Yale's dean of undergraduate admissions, told the Times that "we lost him to Harvard," and "I didn't want that to happen again."That's our Yale.
UPDATE: Eyes All Around reminds me that this Taliban mofo only has a 4th grade education. (That comes from Jed Babbin, who, yesterday, hosted the Hugh Hewitt show.) And that's good enough for Yale.
Yale is sick.
The PueoWe belong in the land of the Pueo
Yes everyday me and Tara
We would watch it dance across the land
Ooh Ooh
The Pueo - The Pueo
Yes brother I saw the Pueo
Everyday we watch it spread its wings so free
As it floated into the sunset of my city home
Waiting for me
Ooh ooh
The Pueo - The Pueo
Yes father I saw the Pueo
It reminded me of how it must have been so long ago
To have lived in village forested by sandalwood
And Tara woke me up and asked me "Where did it go?"
It went home
Please sing for Tara, the Pueo, and me
Forever free
HollywoodThy NameIs Moral InversionHollywood loved the movie suicide bomber propaganda film, Paradise Now, enough to give it an Oscar nomination. The reason Hollywood loved the movie is because it treated the Middle East Conflict with nuance, attempting to understand the motivations of the bombers, because no matter how disgusting their actual methods may be, they do have legitimate grievances which must be heard.
Oh, if only it were legitimately about grievances.
Today, we find that the film's director hates Israel so much that, indeed,
he would be a suicide bomber himself:
In other words, had you been living in the territories, you would have become a shahid (martyr)? Abu-Assad hesitates for a second before replying, "yes." He recounts an episode in which he was humiliated by a soldier at the Kalandiya checkpoint near Jerusalem, and says this was what made him realize what runs through the heads of people who later become suicide bombers.
You feel like such a coward it kills you, he describes, saying this cowardice makes people start hating life and feel impotent.I realized, Abu-Assad explains, that when a man systematically goes through such humiliation, he chooses to kill his own impotency by carrying out an act of "let me die with the philistines."
And there are no suicide bombers who do what they do because of anti-Semitism? That's a racist notion. No one hates Jews because they are Jews like in Europe, he replies. People have a reason for hating Israelis. You force them to live in refugee camps, and they tell you 'our home is in Ashdod'," he states. Do you really believe they kill in order to kill Jews, He asks. They are no different than you as people. If you believe they are different, that's racism, he adds. According to Abu-Assad, it is the situation that brought about the loss of control. I think, he says, that you have been "brainwashed" by the country to believe all Arabs are either a security risk or a danger to democracy. When asked what he believes could be a solution for the conflict, Abu-Assad says equality is the key.Robert Spencer points out that the kind of equality the Palestinians have voted for in their recent elections is that of
the jizya and dhimmitude instituted by Hamas.
The Astute Blogger offers
some thoughts on Hollywoods' bizarre obsession with leftist propaganda and moral relativism:
... the Leftism of H-wood is killing the industry and driving people to other forms of entertainment and other media.NEED PROOF? Everyone predicts that this year's Oscars will be the lowest rated. (Pastorius note: In fact, viewership was down by an astounding 10%.) And it's the first time in HISTORY that H-wood's ticket sales have declined three years in a row. And it's the first time dollar sales of gross BO have declined. YUP: and the major reason is that H-wood is not giving people what they want; H-wood is telling people what they think the people should want - but don't becasue we're dumb bourgeois cretins. That effete and elitist attitude may make H-wood popular in Paris, Aspen and Tehran, but not in Peoria. It might make Clooney a hero in Madrid and Damascus, but not in Dallas.In a way, you have to admire Hollywood. They are making it very clear that they are willing to produce work which they believe in, whether it will make money or not.
UNC Students Will Protest University's Reluctance To Call Terrorism By It's NameThe students at the University of North Carolina apparently have more sense than the administrators and professors of their asylum ... uh,
I mean school:
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Protests are planned for Monday in the same area of campus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where, authorities said, a former student plowed a sport utility vehicle into nine people Friday afternoon.The College Republicans, Americans for an Informed Democracy and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies are sponsoring the event, scheduled for 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Monday in “The Pit,” a central area of the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. The event is open to the public and free of charge.Police said Mohammad Taheri-azar, a 2005 UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, admits he acted to “avenge the death of Muslims around the world.” UNC police and local authorities, however, say they have not taken a stance on that interpretation, but are simply repeating what the suspect has told them.UNC-Chapel Hill student leaders said that Monday’s protest is aimed at the reluctance of the university to label Friday’s incident as an act of terrorism. “This is innocent people being attacked by an SUV, driven by a man who was doing it for retaliation for treatment of Muslims around the world,” said Jillian Bandes, with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. “To me, that spells terrorism.”Taheri-azar, who is currently in Raleigh’s Central Prison under a $5.5 million bond, is charged with nine counts of attempted first-degree murder and nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury with intent to kill. ...But were Taheri-azar’s alleged actions acts of terrorism?“I think (what Taheri-azar did) is extreme,” said Dan VanAtta, a friend of the suspect. “But then again, I don’t know what was going through his head. … Mohammed was a good guy.”David Schanzer, the director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security at Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill, said it is fine for students to voice their dismay, but that they should be cautious. “(They should) understand the roots of it and understand the strategies for addressing it in a constructive way,” Schanzer said.He takes the same position as officials at the Islamic Center of Raleigh...Yes, we need to understand the legitimate grievances of a man who would get behind the wheel of an automobile with the sole intent of murdering as many innocent strangers as he possibly can.
I'm Back, FinallyI went on vacation fully intending to continue posting at least once a day. I knew I might miss a day or two, but I think I ended up missing nine straight days.
Wow.
The hotel I stayed in promised internet access, but alas, there was none.
It was probably for the best anyway. I found out what it was like to not care about the news anymore, and I found out what it is like to only get your news from a newspaper. Here's what I knew about:
Bush was captured on video being told that the levees in New Orleans would probably break in a Category Four Hurricane.
Bush went to India and signed a pact to give nuclear technology to India.
Bush went to Pakistan, even though they hate him and want to kill him there.
Iraq is descending into civil war.
There you go. That's all the papers wrote about. I didn't read anything about Iran, Ahmadinejad, or the emascualted UN.
So. here's what we can learn from this; the average person, at this point in time, has little or no idea that we are on the brink of a nuclear confrontation.
The average person might as well just party for nine days straight.
:)
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