Vladimir Putin
A Very
Dangerous ManOk, so I'm guessing there is no one who has not heard about the Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko, who was murdered using the radioactive agent Polonium 210. But, I do wonder if everyone is aware that there are many who believe that Vladimir Putin ordered this man's murder.
Litvinenko is not the first political opponent Putin is suspected of having offed. In recent weeks, it has been suspected that he also ordered the murder of a journalist who was working on a story which Putin did not want to get out.
The thing is, how does one go about proving that Putin had anything to do with the murder. Well, for one thing, it just isn't that easy for a person who is not involved in nuclear weapons projects, or black ops of some sort, to get their hands on Polonium 210.
But, of course, one would presume the Polonium 210 could have originated in Britain. Maybe Litvinenko had enemies high up in the British government, or in some other European government.
Or, maybe not:
33,000 BA passengers alerted over radiation The Telegraph
British Airways is trying to contact all 33,000 passengers who may have been exposed to radioactive traces that were found on two of its planes. Thousands of BA passengers were caught in the radiation scare last night after traces of a substance, thought to be the same that killed the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, were found on the planes. A spokesman for the airline said that, so far, 2,500 of the 33,000 passengers who are believed to have flown on 221 flights across Europe since the traces were found have called in to BA's dedicated helpline. The Government grounded one plane on Tuesday and another yesterday. A third is in Moscow awaiting tests. Police are focusing on flights from Moscow to Heathrow Airport on Oct 25 and 31 and in the other direction on Oct 28 and Nov 3. Since then, the planes, all Boeing 767s, have flown to Barcelona, Dusseldorf, Athens, Larnaka, Madrid, Vienna, Istanbul, Frankfurt and Stockholm. BA has set up a helpline for affected passengers and those with symptoms of radiation poisoning, such as vomiting or bleeding gums, were advised to telephone NHS Direct. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said the risk to the public was low. Mr Litvinenko was killed by polonium 210, which must be swallowed to be lethal. The search of the planes points the finger of suspicion more firmly at Moscow.
And now, comes this:
Mystery illness hits former Russian PM Yegor Gaidar, Russia’s former prime minister and the architect of the country’s market reforms, last week suffered a sudden, unexplained and violent illness on a visit to Ireland, a day after Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB spy, died in London from an apparent radiation poisoning.
If it is true that Vladimir Putin is boldly and even cavalierly murdering his political opponents wherever he can find them, then he is a very dangerous man. These are the machinations of a terrible dictator; a totalitarian. But, wait, isn't Russia a free state? I thought the Evil Empire, the Soviet Union had fallen away, to be replaced by a Democracy.
Well, it did. And, Putin was Democratically elected. Even now, it is suspected that the Russian people would re-elect Putin if he were to run again, which legally he can not do. Legally.
How did things get this way? How is it that once again we face having a totalitarian Russia led by a murderous dictator?
Joel Rosenberg has some answers:
Who Is Putin?
The assassination of a KGB-operative-turned-critic-of-Vladimir-Putin in London by radioactive poison has stunned the West and raised chilling new questions about who Putin is, what he wants, and how far he's willing to go to get it. It's about time.
For the last six years, few in Washington -- including conservatives -- have been willing to carefully assess, much less confront, Putin's increasingly anti-Western rhetoric and actions. But the murder of FSB Colonel Alexander Litvinenko may change all that. The cold hard truth is that Putin is not a friend of the U.S. or the West. He is neither a partner for peace nor worthy of G8 or WTO membership. He is dismantling democracy in Russia, re-socializing the Russian economy, taking over the Russian media, rebuilding the Russian military, forming alliances with radical Islamic nations, arming our worst enemies -- including Iran and North Korea -- and positioning himself as Russia's new Czar.
For a man who was trained by the KGB and at one time was Russia’s top spy, Putin has been surprisingly candid about his long-term objectives and his strategies for achieving them, at least to those who are watching closely and listening carefully. In 1999, for example, Reuters ran the following headline: “RUSSIAN PREMIER VOWS TO REBUILD MILITARY MIGHT.” Putin, then prime minister under Yeltsin, had just delivered a speech declaring that “the government has undertaken to rebuild and strengthen the military might of the state to respond to the new geopolitical realities, both external and internal threats.” He focused special attention on “new threats [that] have emerged on our southern frontiers.” Putin also announced a 57 percent increase in military spending in the year 2000.
No sooner had Yeltsin stepped down than Putin repeated the vow to rebuild his country’s badly withered military machine. “Our country Russia was a great, powerful, strong state,” he declared in January 2000, “and it is clear that this is not possible if we do not have strong armed forces, powerful armed forces.”
Putin has kept his word. Consider 2004, for example.
* In January, Putin ordered the largest maneuvers of Russian nuclear forces in two decades, scrambling strategic bombers, launching cruise missiles, test-firing ballistic missiles, and sending new spy satellites into orbit, in what analysts described as “an imitation of a nuclear attack on the United States.”
* In February, Putin insisted that Russia “does not have and cannot have aggressive objectives of imperial ambitions.” Yet he ordered dramatic improvements in the Russian military to achieve a more “combat-capable army and navy,” causing one of China’s leading dailies to worry about “the resurrection of the Russian military.”
* In August, Putin ordered a 40 percent increase in Russia’s defense budget, including new fighter aircraft, new rockets, and two new army divisions.
* In December, as the election crisis in Ukraine was still unfolding, Putin ordered the test launch of a Cold War–era Russian intercontinental ballistic missile known as the SS-18 Satan, the first time the Russians had fired such a missile since the Soviet Union collapsed.
With the rebuilding of Russia’s conventional military and strategic nuclear missile forces underway, Vladimir Putin then delivered a speech on April 25, 2005, that I believe ranks as the most dangerous presidential address of our times. “First and foremost,” he declared, “it is worth acknowledging that the demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century. As for the Russian people, it became a genuine tragedy. Tens of millions of our fellow citizens and countrymen found themselves beyond the fringes of Russian territory.”
Putin went on to argue that since the threat to Russia from terrorism was “still very strong,” the Kremlin must be strong to eradicate such terror. “The moment we display weakness or spinelessness, our losses will be immeasurably greater.” Then he insisted that Russia should remain “connected” to “the former republics of the USSR.” He argued that Russia and her neighbors have “a single historical destiny” together, and said he wants to “synchronize the pace and parameters of [the] reform processes” in Russia and those former Soviet republics.
Consider for a moment what such a speech says about the lenses through which the leader of Russia views his country and the world. When Vladimir Putin looks out over the vast expanse of the twentieth century, he is not primarily concerned with the 20 million people who perished under Stalin’s reign of terror. Or the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust under Adolf Hitler. Or the 3 million who died in the killing fields of Cambodia under Pol Pot. Rather, he believes that the disintegration of the Evil Empire ranks as the “greatest political catastrophe of the century” and that its reintegration and synchronization is a matter of “historic destiny.”
Such fondness for an empire so murderous and cruel would be chilling if it were voiced by the leader of any country possessing 10,000 nuclear warheads. But it is particularly chilling coming from the leader of Russia, a country described in the Scriptures as having expansionist ambitions in the last days.
Yet this was not the first time Putin had discussed such views or such ambitions on the record. In 2000, three Russian journalists—Nataliya Gevorkyan, Natalya Timakova, and Andrei Kolesnikov—published First Person, in my view the most important book ever written about Putin. It is important not because the journalists offered their own insights or analysis into Putin but because they let Putin speak for himself. They interviewed the Russian leader six separate times. Each interview lasted about four hours. The book is merely a transcript, and when it comes to understanding Putin’s ambitions and approach, it is a goldmine of intelligence.
Putin on his mission in life — “My historical mission,” he insisted, is to stop “the collapse of the USSR” (p. 139). To do this, he vowed to “consolidate the armed forces, the Interior Ministry, and the FSB [the successor to the KGB, the “secret police” of the Soviet Union]” (p. 140). “If I can help save Russia from collapse, then I’ll have something to be proud of” (p. 204).
On his style — “Everyone says I’m harsh, even brutal,” Putin acknowledged, without ever disputing such observations. “A dog senses when somebody is afraid of it, and bites,” he observed. “The same applies [to dealing with one’s enemies]. If you become jittery, they will think they are stronger. Only one thing works in such circumstances—to go on the offensive. You must hit first, and hit so hard that your opponent will not rise to his feet” (p. 168).
On the czars — “[F]rom the very beginning, Russia was created as a supercentralized state. That’s practically laid down in its genetic code, its traditions, and the mentality of its people,” said Putin, adding: “In certain periods of time . . . in a certain place . . . under certain conditions . . . monarchy has played and continues to this day to play a positive role. . . . The monarch doesn’t have to worry about whether or not he will be elected, or about petty political interests, or about how to influence the electorate. He can think about the destiny of the people and not become distracted with trivialities” (p. 186).
On his choice of history’s most interesting political leader — “Napoleon Bonaparte” (p. 194).
On his rise from spy to president — “In the Kremlin, I have a different position. Nobody controls me here. I control everybody else” (p. 131).
On his critics — “To hell with them” (p. 140).
Putin has repeatedly promised that he will not attempt to extend his time in office when his second term ends in 2008, and every person I interviewed in Russia in 2004—including every political officer and diplomat I spoke with at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow—told me they believed he would leave peacefully when the time came. Should he really do so, Putin will pass on to his successor executive power unparalleled since pre-Gorbachev times and a dynamic that suggests a future of more, rather than less, centralization of power.
But how seriously should Putin’s many pledges be taken? On at least six separate occasions after becoming president, he vowed not to end direct elections of Russia’s regional governors and appoint them himself. Yet in 2004, when it suited his purposes, he did just that. Why should his promise to leave office in 2008 be any different? Now in his fifties, Putin is still a young man, at the top of his game, with no professional experience of any kind other than being a KGB-trained suppressor of dissidents and a rising political leader. What if he wants to change the constitution to allow him to stay? Belarus did it in 2004 (and President Alexander Lukashenko was “reelected” in 2006 with 83 percent of the vote). Other ex-Soviet republics have done it as well, including Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan.
What if Putin is looking for a pretext for himself to become a new Russian monarch? Would a terrible new series of terrorist attacks—perhaps similar to the Beslan school hostage crisis—be enough? What about an assassination attempt, or attempts at a coup, or new revolutions in the former Soviet republics? What about polls showing that in the absence of Putin, the leading two contenders for Russia’s presidency are ultranationalist fascist Vladimir Zhirinovsky and communist hardliner Genady Zyuganov? Might “the will of the Russian people” suffice? In 2004, only 27 percent of Russians supported a third Putin term (perhaps this is why every expert I spoke with dismissed the possibility). By June 2006, however, the number had shot up to 59 percent.
Bottom line: It is time for the White House and Congress to radically redefine our relationship with Vladimir Putin. He is a Czar in the making and he is leading Russia down a very dangerous path.
LAST WORDS: LIVTINENKO BLASTED PUTIN AS "BARBARIC AND RUTHLESS" -- "
In a dramatic statement written before he died, Litvinenko called Russian President Vladimir Putin 'barbaric and ruthless' and blamed him personally for the poisoning. The 43-year-old Litvinenko, who fiercely criticized Putin's government from his refuge in London since 2000, told police he believed he was poisoned Nov. 1 while investigating the October slaying of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, another critic of Putin. Litvinenko's statement, read by his friend Alex Goldfarb to reporters outside the hospital, put the blame for his death squarely on Putin.
He accused Putin of having 'no respect for life, liberty or any civilized value.' 'You may succeed in silencing me but that silence comes at a price. You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics have claimed,' the statement said. 'You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr. Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life.'"
U.S. State Dept. Misunderstands Ahmadinejad LetterIranian President wrote a letter to the American people, and it was delivered today. Here it is, if you want to read it.
Here's what the U.S. State Dept. has to say about the letter:
Hours after Iran's president wrote to Americans attacking their government's foreign policy and urging that their troops leave Iraq, a US State Department spokesman dismissed the move as a ploy. "Clearly this is something of, again, a public relations stunt or a public relations gesture," Tom Casey said of the letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad released Wednesday by Iran's UN mission at the United Nations.
"But, again, actions speak louder than words. And I think if you look at the record of Iranian action, we unfortunately haven't seen any change in behavior that would indicate that they've got a new approach to things," Casey added. "I think my initial reaction to you is that there's really not a lot new here," he said of Ahmadinejad's unprecedented attempt to establish a direct dialogue with Americans by bypassing their government.Here's what someone who actually knows something about the Koran has to say about the letter:
Media commentators in the U.S. are likely to pick up on the “public relations” side of the letter. Ahmadinejad calls on the U.S. to bring the troops home from Iraq, to cut off support for Israel, and to stop “kidnapping presumed opponents from across the globe” and holding them in secret prisons.He even has some advice for the new Democrat majority in Congress: Bend to the Muslim agenda, or you will be tossed out of power.Ahmadinejad repeatedly tries to appeal to Americans as people of faith, who share Islamic values. “We, like you, are aggrieved by the ever-worsening pain and misery of the Palestinian people,” he drones. “Persistent aggressions by the Zionists are making life more and more difficult for the rightful owners of the land of Palestine.”And he trots out his old anti-Semitic saw, claiming that “the Zionists” control America “because they have imposed themselves on a substantial portion of the banking, financial, cultural, and media sectors.”But to focus on these parts of his letter, however silly and objectionable they may be, would be to miss the main point. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not the Hugo Chavez of the Persian Gulf. He knows that soon he will have his finger on the nuclear trigger.Citing from the Quran at the close of his letter, he says that if Americans “repent” of their “injustice,” they will be blessed with many gifts. “We should all heed the divine Word of the Holy Qur’an,” he says.The context of this particular verse (28:67-28, Sura “Al-Qasas,” or The Narration), is very clear. It follows a graphic description of destruction and devastation that will befall those who fail to repent of their injustice.It also sets out the terms of the tradition Muslim warning to the enemies of Allah. “And never will your Lord destroy the towns until He sends to their mother town a Messenger reciting to them Our Verses.” This is is precisely what Ahmadinejad is doing in his letter.Dump Bush, allow the Muslims to destroy Israel, and adopt Islam — or else you will be destroyed. This is Ahmadinejad’s message.
America Will Pressure Israel To Make ConcessionsTo Entice Iran And SyriaTo Attend ConferenceIf you thought Neville Chamberlains fine fellating of Adolph Hitler came cheaply,
you ain't seen nothing yet:
WASHINGTON — An expert adviser to the Baker-Hamilton commission expects the 10-person panel to recommend that the Bush administration pressure Israel to make concessions in a gambit to entice Syria and Iran to a regional conference on Iraq.The assessment was shared in a confidential memorandum — obtained yesterday by The New York Sun — to expert advisers to the commission from a former CIA station chief for Saudi Arabia, Raymond Close. Mr. Close is a member of the expert group advising the commission and was a strong advocate throughout the panel’s deliberations for renewed American diplomacy with Iran and Syria. In the memo, Mr. Close shares his “personal predictions and expectations” for what the Iraq Study Group will recommend in its final report next month.Mr. Close writes that he expects the study group to urge President Bush to convene a regional conference “to enlist the support of neighboring states in establishing stability in Iraq.” Among the participants in the regional conference should be “all principal states of the region,” including Iran, Syria, and Israel. The inclusion of Israel, according to Mr. Close, is crucial because it will provide the only leverage by which Iran and Syria can be enticed to help stabilize Iraq.“To have any realistic chance of success, I believe that the process would have to start with the announcement of a major initiative, promoted and vigorously supported by the United States, to reach a comprehensive resolution to the Israel-Arab crisis through a process of reasonable compromise and accommodation between Israel and its Arab neighbors,” he writes.
While it is widely expected that the Baker-Hamilton commission will recommend renewed diplomacy with Iran and Syria in an effort to share the burden in stabilizing the country, the content of such negotiations has until now been a mystery. According to Mr. Close, the talks will center around a resolution of the conflict between the Jewish state and the Arab and Islamic world.America is in serious trouble. You might want to buy gold. Then again the gold may prove worthless as well.
Airport Imams Staged Incident?It looks like
the incident, wherein six Imams were removed from an airliner the other day, was staged, for political purposes:
Muslim religious leaders removed from a Minneapolis flight last week exhibited behavior associated with a security probe by terrorists and were not merely engaged in prayers, according to witnesses, police reports and aviation security officials.Witnesses said three of the imams were praying loudly in the concourse and repeatedly shouted “Allah” when passengers were called for boarding US Airways Flight 300 to Phoenix.
“I was suspicious by the way they were praying very loud,” the gate agent told the Minneapolis Police Department.Passengers and flight attendants told law-enforcement officials the imams switched from their assigned seats to a pattern associated with the September 11 terrorist attacks and also found in probes of U.S. security since the attacks — two in the front row first-class, two in the middle of the plane on the exit aisle and two in the rear of the cabin.“That would alarm me,” said a federal air marshal who asked to remain anonymous. “They now control all of the entry and exit routes to the plane.”A pilot from another airline said: “That behavior has been identified as a terrorist probe in the airline industry.”But the imams who were escorted off the flight in handcuffs say they were merely praying before the 6:30 p.m. flight on Nov. 20, and yesterday led a protest by prayer with other religious leaders at the airline’s ticket counter at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Mahdi Bray (lgf: search), executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation (lgf: search), called removing the imams an act of Islamophobia and compared it to racism against blacks. “It’s a shame that as an African-American and a Muslim I have the double whammy of having to worry about driving while black and flying while Muslim,” Mr. Bray said.The protesters also called on Congress to pass legislation to outlaw passenger profiling. Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, Texas Democrat, said the September 11 terrorist attacks “cannot be permitted to be used to justify racial profiling, harassment and discrimination of Muslim and Arab Americans.”“Understandably, the imams felt profiled, humiliated, and discriminated against by their treatment,” she said.According to witnesses, police reports and aviation security officials, the imams displayed other suspicious behavior. Three of the men asked for seat-belt extenders, although two flight attendants told police the men were not oversized. One flight attendant told police she “found this unsettling, as crew knew about the six [passengers] on board and where they were sitting.” Rather than attach the extensions, the men placed the straps and buckles on the cabin floor, the flight attendant said.The imams said they were not discussing politics and only spoke in English, but witnesses told law enforcement that the men spoke in Arabic and English, criticizing the war in Iraq and President Bush, and talking about al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.The imams who claimed two first-class seats said their tickets were upgraded. The gate agent told police that when the imams asked to be upgraded, they were told no such seats were available. Nevertheless, the two men were seated in first class when removed. A flight attendant said one of the men made two trips to the rear of the plane to talk to the imam during boarding, and again when the flight was delayed because of their behavior. Aviation officials, including air marshals and pilots, said these actions alone would not warrant a second look, but the combination is suspicious. ...One of the passengers, Omar Shahin, told Newsweek the group did everything it could to avoid suspicion by wearing Western clothes, speaking English and booking seats so they were not together. He said they conducted prayers quietly and separately to avoid attention. The imams had attended a conference sponsored by the North American Imam Federation in Minneapolis and were returning to Phoenix. Mr. Shahin, who is president of the federation, said on his Web site that none of the passengers made pro-Saddam or anti-American statements.And it is very important to know that these Imams are not simple, peaceful clerics.
They are, instead, promoters of terror:
Then there’s the case of Muhammed al-Qudhaieen and Hamdan al-Shalawi, two Arizona college students removed from an America West flight after twice trying to open the cockpit. The FBI suspected it was a dry run for the 9/11 hijackings, according to the 9/11 Commission Report. One of the students had traveled to Afghanistan. Another became a material witness in the 9/11 investigation.Even so, the pair filed racial-profiling suits against America West, now part of US Airways. Defending them was none other than the leader of the six imams kicked off the US Airways flight this week.Turns out the students attended the Tucson, Ariz., mosque of Sheikh Omar Shahin, a Jordan native. Shahin has been the protesters’ public face, even returning to the US Airways ticket counter at the Minneapolis airport to scold agents before the cameras.In an Arizona Republic interview after 9/11, he acknowledged once supporting Osama bin Laden through his mosque in Tucson. FBI investigators believe bin Laden set up a base in Tucson.
Hani Hanjour, who piloted the plane that hit the Pentagon, attended the Tucson mosque along with bin Laden’s onetime personal secretary, according to the 9/11 Commission Report. Bin Laden’s ex-logistics chief was president of the mosque before Shahin took over.“These people don’t continue to come back to Arizona because they like the sunshine or they like the state,” said FBI agent Kenneth Williams. “Something was established there, and it’s been there for a long time.” And Shahin appears to be in the middle of it.
What Is This? A Jew-Hating Jew?UCI Professor Mark LeVine is Jewish. And,
he seems to hate his own kind so much that he comes up with the stupidest anti-Semitic conspiracy theories this side of Al Qaeda:
As far as I can see, the only party that benefits from Gemayel's assassination is Israel. Israel was the main loser in last summer's war, at least politically and strategically. The country's leaders began threatening a new round of fighting even before they began pulling troops out of the south of Lebanon. Hezbollah's post-war ascendence was the most visible and troubling sign of Israel's seemingly unprecedented military weakness and strategic blundering.Pulling off an assassination like this, which is by no means beyond Israel's ability, would serve several goals: First, it would turn the chaos that Hezbollah was trying to create in the Lebanese political system against it. Instead of Hezbollah managing the post-war chaos in order to strengthen its position, the movement is now forced onto the defensive and must react to a new dynamic in which Christians (with the exception of the breakaway Aoun faction) and Sunnis are more united than ever in their desire to block Hezbollah's takeover of the system. Second, if the country descends into civil war, which is a frightening, if still distant possibility, Hezbollah would be effectively neutralized, and Israel could rely on Maronites and perhaps Sunnis to attack Hezbollah without Israel facing the international condemnation it received during the war.Roger Simon, a Jew who doesn't hate Jews, comments:
That there have been other recent assassinations in Lebanon similar to Gemayel's (Rafik Hariri - maybe he thinks Israel is behind that one too) and that Syria has been implicated (by the UN!) means nothing to them (unless it fits their propaganda purposes).
The UN's Jew ObsessionFrom the American Thinker (hat tip to Olivia):
Every single day, hundreds of African tribesmen are killed in Darfur by militias acting with the blessing of Sudan's Arab Islamist government. Each day, Hamas bombs from Gaza deliberately target innocent Israeli civilians in Sderot: although the weapons are crude, they occasionally find their mark --
last week a Qassam killed Fatima Slutsker, a 57-year-old (Muslim) Israeli woman who was waiting for her (Jewish) Israeli husband at a bus stop.Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria, has ratcheted up its campaign of violence this week, assassinating a Maronite Christian cabinet minister in Lebanon in a blatant attempt to provoke a constitutional crisis. (As of this writing, under the Byzantine Lebanese constitution, the terrorist group needs to eliminate only one more minister to bring about the collapse of the government.) The life-span of Zimbabweans is 34 years, and 550,000 have died over the past three years due to deliberate policies of the Mugabe dictatorship.
All of these barbaric crimes are human and moral tragedies that call for international action, prioritization, even obsession. But that self-proclaimed source of international legitimacy, the United Nations is not obsessed or even particularly concerned with any of them. None of these abuses of human rights by authoritarian regimes or movements was the object of the General Assembly resolution "condemning the military assaults...which have caused loss of life and extensive destruction...of property...in particular the killing of many... civilians, including children and women."
For none of these violations of the right to life did the UN summon righteous indignation to "emphasize the importance of the safety and well-being of all civilians" and demand "the immediate cessation of military incursions and all acts of violence, terror, provocation, incitement and destruction." Rather, since November 7, the UN has been obsessed with one accident, committed in self-defense, by the world body's favorite pariah, the democratic State of Israel.A brief reminder of uncontoverted facts is in order:
In August 2005 Israel disengaged from the entire Gaza strip, after pledges by the Palestinian Authority (PA) that it would not use the area to wage war on Israel, and that it would remain faithful to the "roadmap for peace."
Immediately after Israeli disengagement the Palestinians broke their word. Hamas-backed terrorists have fired more than 1,000 Qassam rockets at Israeli civilians like Mrs. Slutsker. Via arms smuggling operations in southern Gaza, terrorists have brought in more than 30 tons of high explosives.
This massive smuggling of lethal weapons from Egypt has taken place with the silent complicity of Cairo (Egypt had promised to seal its border against terrorist traffic under an international accord brokered Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice), and
with no effort by PA police to prevent the transit. Indeed, the Palestinian government itself essentially declared war on Israel with the election of Hamas. The kidnapping of an Israel soldier and killing of two others by forces the PA clearly harbors if not supports is another transparent act of war.
Bombs fall regularly on Sderot and Ashkelon, Israel, from northern Gaza in general and from the village of Beit Hanoun in particular. Hamas spokesmen have admitted that one of their key objectives is to force the evacuation of all Israeli towns and villages around the Gaza Strip. Obliged to protect its own civilians, Israel initially used its intelligence to target the locations of individual murderers, but both because of intelligence failures and the craven use of Palestinian women and children as human shields, the Jewish state has put these targeted killings on hold.
Israel's remaining recourse, short of re-occupying Gaza (which doubtless will incur the indignant wrath of the world community...)
is to launch missiles at the sites of rocket launchers. This it has done.
Because of equipment failure, one single missile missed its mark, landing instead on an apartment house and tragically killing nineteen women and children. Israel expressed extreme regret immediately for this event (one searches in vain for such contrition from Hamas).
But of course the Hamas murderers are the ones who bear ultimate moral responsibility for these deaths.Angry residents screamed at the car that brought UN Commission on Human Rights Louise Arbour under heavy security to Sderot early Tuesday. The day before, Québécoise law professor had slammed Israel for "intolerable violations" of Palestinian human rights during a visit to Gaza's Beit Hanoun.
Therein lies the rub, the incredible rub, the impossible-to-explain-otherwise-than-as-anti-Semitism rub. The one Israeli missile that struck the Beit Hanoun apartment house was:
1) launched in justifiable self-defense;
2) reasonably produced and targeted; and
3) absolutely not intended to kill civilians.
The daily Palestinian bombs, meanwhile, are
1) acts of aggressive war;
2) callously launched without any effort to aim them accurately at military targets (in fact, legal experts long ago concluded that the use of the notoriously inaccurate Qassams are ipso facto a war crime since they simply cannot be targeted); and
3) in fact meant to kill and terrorize civilians.
In the face of this asymmetry, how does the international community react? Why, by blaming the Jews, as Ms. Arbour has done. For fourteen days, despite all the tragedies in the world, the UN has done virtually nothing but condemn Israel for its reasonable act of self-defense.
No Peace Train For This ManCat Stevens was, of course, a great songwriter of the 1970's. He is known for such sensitive folk-rock style hits as Peace Train, Moonshadow, and First Cut Is The Deepest. Honestly, I love the guys music. But, I would never pay money for anything he ever did ever again.
Why?
Because Cat Stevens is no longer Cat Stevens. He has been transformed, by his Muslim religion, into Yusuf Islam, the Islamofascist.
Sending a Grim Message
By BRUCE BAWERNovember 27, 2006Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens, is a man who opposes freedom of speech and women’s equality, and a man who would have cheered the execution of Salman Rushdie, writes Bruce Bawer.
The Nobel Peace Prize Concert will be held in
Oslo on December 11 and broadcast around the world. The Norwegian Nobel Committee doesn't much care for Americans these days (except for 2002 laureate
Jimmy Carter), but it knows who's an international draw and who isn't, and so the concert, as always, is top-loaded with American celebrities. The co-hosts are
Sharon Stone and Angelica Huston, and the entertainers scheduled to appear include
Lionel Ritchie and Wynonna. Also on the bill is a British singer who calls himself Yusuf.
Does that last name not sound familiar? Well, this is the same guy who used to be known as
Yusuf Islam. Still confused? Well, before that he was Cat Stevens, and before that, just for the record, he was Steven Demetre Georgiou. For those who know a bit about Yusuf — who dropped his original name after converting to Islam in 1977 — the invitation from the Nobel Committee came as something of a surprise. Then again, for those who know a bit about the Nobel Committee's politics (this is the same crowd, after all, who publicly regretted giving their 1994 award to
Shimon Peres, but not to that year's co-winner,
Yasser Arafat), the decision to invite Yusuf to pay tribute in song to this year's prize winner,
Muhammad Yunus, was not quite so astonishing.
There is reason to be dismayed by the Norwegian Nobel Committee's anointing of Yusuf. This is, after all, a man who's been denied entry into America and expelled from Israel.After the publication of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, he was quoted in the New York Times as saying that if Mr. Rushdie came to his door for help, "I might ring somebody who might do more damage to him than he would like. I'd try to phone the Ayatollah Khomeini and tell him exactly where this man is."A Web site called the Jawa Report claims that Yusuf has performed at fund-raising events for charities with connections to terrorist organizations. On the same Web site you can also read claims that he is an intimate of the Islamist Omar Bakri Mohammed and of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who is now serving a life sentence for terrorist activities.
Perhaps the barring of Yusuf from America and his expulsion from Israel were based on misunderstandings; perhaps he was misquoted on Mr. Rushdie, and perhaps the Jawa Report is mistaken. But Yusuf's own statements on his own Web site are not so easily dismissed. On that Web site he claims that he "never called for the death of Salman Rushdie; nor backed the Fatwa issued by the Ayatollah Khomeini," even though he feels that Mr. Rushdie's book "The Satanic Verses" "destroyed the harmony between peoples and created an unnecessary international crisis." But then he adds the following: "When asked about my opinion regarding blasphemy, I could not tell a lie and confirmed that — like both the Torah and the Gospel — the Qur'an considers it, without repentance, as a capital offense. The Bible is full of similar harsh laws if you're looking for them. However, the application of such Biblical and Qur'anic injunctions is not to be outside of due process of law, in a place or land where such law is accepted and applied by the society as a whole." What does this mean? It means this: Yusuf is not against the idea of Mr. Rushdie being executed for writing a book. He is simply acknowledging that in Britain and other Western countries, the proper Islamic punishments do not apply. Yet.What about women's rights — about burkas and such? Yusuf writes on his Web site that his wife and four daughters all wear clothes "which modestly cover their God-given beauty." He insists that "a woman's beauty and form" should not be viewed by "males who are not closely related." This view places him squarely in the mainstream of patriarchal Islamism, for whose adherents the covering of women is central to the theological principle that a family's honor is founded in its women's "modesty."
And what about free speech? Yusuf supports an Islam that "wisely prohibits the vilification of what people hold sacred, in order that people do not vilify or mock God the Almighty." In other words, he champions the same kind of Shariah-based censorship that obtains in
Saudi Arabia and
Iran and that was a way of life in
Taliban-run
Afghanistan. This is, in short, a man who opposes freedom of speech and women's equality — a man who would have cheered the execution of Salman Rushdie. The decision to invite him to perform at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert — which is supposed to be a celebration of civilization's highest values — sends a grim message about the values the Norwegian Nobel Committee exalts above all others.
Rock OnGlam-pop star David Essex. This is another silly pop song from the seventies. But, this is a pretty serious and innovative piece of music in its own way, with bass guitar that is almost like a prophecy of my namesake Jaco Pastorius, James Bond strings, and a tight 80's pop arrangement that predates Duran Duran and the Simple Minds by 10 years or so.
I wonder what my buddies Steve Harkonen and Stogie would think of this tune.
Ballroom BlitzThe Sweet. This is another silly seventies pop song with an incredible arrangement. Check it out.
The Fusion Of Islamofascism And White SupremacismFrom No Pasaran:
Dieudonné (anti-Semitic French-Muslim comedian) calling for the de-diabolisation of Le Pen among suburban French youth, and second-generation Moroccan-origin French youth soccer hooligans rolling with far right supporter groups like the Boulogne Boys. What brings them together? Jew hatred.
"...[Muslims] adopted then the characteristics of a kind of sub-class and at the same time they then merge with the worst features of the host society. You can be in a northern English town after 9 o’clock at night on a Saturday night and these tattooed gangs of Pakistani skinheads came rolling through town. You think, what the hell is this? It’s like some futuristic dystopian thing cooked up by some mad lab scientist in which he’s taken the worst pathologies of the western world and the worst pathologies of the Muslim world and fused them together.
So you have this grotesque license, the sense of license and self gratification that your ordinary English yobbo would have merge with the sort of basic misogyny of the Muslim community and it produces something quite terrifying in these rape gangs they’ve now got in Scandinavia and France and Belgium and places. I think it’s that the western world impacts on a lot of young Muslims in ways that make them far more alienated, far more fiercely Islamist in effect than to some goat herder in Afghanistan."-- Mark Steyn,
"America Alone"
An Advertisement
For The Obliteration
Of Western CivilizationA relative of mine, who lives in Europe, sent this ad to me, because he thought it was funny.
The message of this ad isn't, "Be a better parent." Instead, it is, "Take the easy way out, don't have children."
Too bad our European brothers and sisters no longer understand the blessings of life.
There is no major Western European country that is producing enough children to replace the current population. Instead, they are replacing their population with Muslim immigrants.
Here are the birthrates per couple in various European countries:
Remember the birthrate for a population that is neither increasing nor declining is 2.1 babies per woman of childbearing age. Ireland - 1.87Germany - 1.3 Austria - 1.3 Italy - 1.2 Russia - 1.2 Spain - 1.1. At a replacement rate of 1.1, Spain is at half the stable population replacement rate. This means Spain's population is halving every generation. The magnitude of the numbers is difficult to comprehend. In 2000, the total population of Europe was 728 million. By 2050 at the present rate of births, it will be less than 600 million, a loss of a staggering 125 million Europeans.Are children really just a pain in the ass, or are they hope for a future?
The Eurabia MythWriters such as Mark Steyn and Bat Ye'or have been predicting, for the past several years, that Europe is destined to fall to its Muslims inhabitants due to the twin fates of demographics and lethargy. While I respect Mark Steyn, and believe his points to be salient and important, I do not share his pessimism as to the fate of Europe
However, that does not mean that I think all will be well with Europe. It has always been my opinion that Europe will be what Europe always has been; a land of brutal and barbaric defenders of what they perceive to be their culture.
It looks like Ralph Peters agrees with me (Hat tip to Olivia):
November 26, 2006 -- A RASH of pop prophets tell us that Muslims in Europe are reproducing so fast and European societies are so weak and listless that, before you know it, the continent will become "Eurabia," with all those topless gals on the Riviera wearing veils. Well, maybe not. The notion that continental Europeans, who are world-champion haters, will let the impoverished Muslim immigrants they confine to ghettos take over their societies and extend the caliphate from the Amalfi Coast to Amsterdam has it exactly wrong. The endangered species isn't the "peace loving" European lolling in his or her welfare state, but the continent's Muslims immigrants - and their multi-generation descendents - who were foolish enough to imagine that Europeans would share their toys. In fact, Muslims are hardly welcome to pick up the trash on Europe's playgrounds. Don't let Europe's current round of playing pacifist dress-up fool you: This is the continent that perfected genocide and ethnic cleansing, the happy-go-lucky slice of humanity that brought us such recent hits as the Holocaust and Srebrenica. THE historical patterns are clear: When Europeans feel sufficiently threatened - even when the threat's concocted nonsense - they don't just react, they over-react with stunning ferocity. One of their more-humane (and frequently employed) techniques has been ethnic cleansing.
And Europeans won't even need to re-write "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" with an Islamist theme - real Muslims zealots provide Europe's bigots with all the propaganda they need. Al Qaeda and its wannabe fans are the worst thing that could have happened to Europe's Muslims. Europe hasn't broken free of its historical addictions - we're going to see Europe's history reprised on meth. The year 1492 wasn't just big for Columbus. It's also when Spain expelled its culturally magnificent Jewish community en masse - to be followed shortly by the Moors, Muslims who had been on the Iberian Peninsula for more than 800 years. Jews got the boot elsewhere in Europe, too - if they weren't just killed on the spot. When Shakespeare wrote "The Merchant of Venice," it's a safe bet he'd never met a Jew. The Chosen People were long-gone from Jolly Olde England. From the French expulsion of the Huguenots right down to the last century's massive ethnic cleansings, Europeans have never been shy about showing "foreigners and subversives" the door. And Europe's Muslims don't even have roots, by historical standards. For the Europeans, they're just the detritus of colonial history. When Europeans feel sufficiently provoked and threatened - a few serious terrorist attacks could do it - Europe's Muslims will be lucky just to be deported. Sound impossible? Have the Europeans become too soft for that sort of thing? Has narcotic socialism destroyed their ability to hate? Is their atheism a prelude to total surrender to faith-intoxicated Muslim jihadis? The answer to all of the above questions is a booming "No!" The Europeans have enjoyed a comfy ride for the last 60 years - but the very fact that they don't want it to stop increases their rage and sense of being besieged by Muslim minorities they've long refused to assimilate (and which no longer want to assimilate). WE don't need to gloss over the many Muslim acts of barbarism down the centuries to recognize that the Europeans are just better at the extermination process. From the massacre of all Muslims and Jews (and quite a few Eastern Christians) when the Crusaders reached Jerusalem in 1099 to the massacre of all the Jews in Buda (not yet attached to Pest across the Danube) when the "liberating" Habsburg armies retook the citadel at the end of the 17th century, Europeans have just been better organized for genocide. It's the difference between the messy Turkish execution of the Armenian genocide and the industrial efficiency of the Holocaust. Hey, when you love your work, you get good at it. Far from enjoying the prospect of taking over Europe by having babies, Europe's Muslims are living on borrowed time. When a third of French voters have demonstrated their willingness to vote for Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front - a party that makes the Ku Klux Klan seem like Human Rights Watch - all predictions of Europe going gently into that good night are surreal.
Milton NascimentoEveryone needs to know about Milton Nascimento, and the joyful sadness of Brazilian music. The Longing for that which is just beyond our reach.
Watch this video. Milton is the black man with the haunting falsetto.
Misguided AngelIt's a strange story, perhaps, but this song once convinced me to break up with a woman I had gone out with for 2 1/2 years.
BBC Lies About Anti-Semitic Soccer Mob In FranceThe other day there was a horrible anti-Semitic attack at a soccer game in France. A mob of 100 people set upon four Jewish men, calling them "dirty Jew", and beating them, before a policemen intervened and killed one of the pursuers.
British writer,
Melanie Phillips reports that the BBC is not telling the truth of what happened in this latest incident of French anti-Semitism:
Here is how the
Associated Press reported the incident:
‘They were shouting “filthy Jew” and when they saw our colleague, who comes from the Caribbean, they also yelled, “filthy black, we’re going to get you,” said a police union official, Luc Poignant. Police said the two men who were shot were members of PSG’s far-right fan base that has a notorious violent and racist history. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said some PSG fans shouted ‘Death to the Jew’ as they attacked the Hapoel fan, whom officials said was French. The police officer first responded with tear gas, but was knocked to the ground by a blow to the head and kick to the stomach, Sarkozy said. He then drew his gun and opened fire… Paris prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin said the PSG supporters had made Nazi salutes and shouted, ‘Le Pen, president,’ a reference to Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the extreme-right National Front party.The National Front later accused the prosecutor of ‘complicity in defamation’ and warned the party would sue anyone who links it with the events.
Here is how
Agence France Presse reported it:
Five fans were in police custody Friday morning and face possible charges for ‘racist and anti-Semitic insults’, police said. ‘Four young people presumably from the Jewish community were rounded on by a group of supporters of PSG. They decided to separate, and one of them Yanniv Hazout was chased by attackers … The mob grew to some 100 people,’ said state prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin… A hard core of PSG supporters — dubbed the Boulogne Kop — is known for its far-right allegiance, and several have been banned from the club’s matches.And now here is how the
BBC reported it:
A French football fan has been shot dead by a plain-clothed police officer after a European football match. The officer reportedly fired tear gas, then live ammunition in an effort to disperse a fighting crowd near Paris’ Parc des Princes football stadium. The group of 150 Paris Saint Germain supporters were surrounding a fan of the Israeli team Hapoel Tel Aviv, who had beaten PSG 4-2 in the Uefa Cup. An investigation has been launched into the shooting, police said. Paris Saint Germain fans have a reputation for violent incidents, with the club disciplined over their behaviour several times in the past. The skirmish broke out by the Parc des Princes in the aftermath of PSG’s defeat. The police officer, who has not been identified, threw tear gas to break up a group of Paris fans surrounding the Israeli. The officer was then chased towards a McDonald’s restaurant nearby, holding the crowd at bay with his firearm before firing at least two shots, reports said. Police union official Luc Poignant told the AFP news agency that the officer ‘had no choice but to defend himself and protect another person’. There was an atmosphere of high tension among Paris fans immediately after the game, which continued a poor run of form for the team. AFP quoted witnesses describing a climate of ‘extreme confusion’ in the streets. Police reinforcements were sent to the area in an effort to calm the violence in the moments after the Paris fan was shot.The BBC has excised all references to the anti-black and antisemitic nature of the attack, all references to the far right and all references to the racist pedigree of the PSG fans. Wrongly identifying the Hapoel supporter as an Israeli rather than a French Jew, it gives the impression this was merely a fight between rival supporters of two nations’ football teams.
Why?
Muslim Man Kicked Out Of Mosque For Writing Article Criticizing Al QaedaHat tip to Atlas Shrugs.
Yes, you read that correctly. He criticized Al Qaeda, so he got kicked out of his Mosque. And, this is no small Mosque. This is the Islamic Center of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Go here to see the video.
Are there any Muslim organizations, media outlets, academic institutions, or governments, of any appreciable size, anywhere in the world?
The poor man said the letter was anti-Al Qaeda. He said he was disturbed by terrorists killing in the name of Islam. He called al quaeda leaders cowards for using young Muslims to carry out attacks. So they threw him out of the mosque and he has been threatened by fellow Muslims at the mosque. The only way he can come back to worship is if he must apologizes and "takes his article back."
Fascist Fashion And Hitler's HomeIn 1938,
Homes and Gardens Magazine ran a spread called Hitler's Moutain Home. We learned that there was "no pretension" to Hitler's "chalet", and that it had lovely views, in a mountain setting. Herr Hitler's life was portrayed as one of luxurious glamour in a pastoral setting.
This past month
Marie Claire fashion magazine ran a spread glamorizing the Burqa/Niqab, the fascist fashion of the Islamic world which enshrouds women in a black deathwrap from head to toe,
rendering them faceless
a total eclipse of their humanity.
Marie Claire portrays this as sexy. Marie Claire apparently has a morbid fascination with the Sado-Masochistic.
The burqa is the chains of modern slavery. The burqa is a portable concentration camp for women.
In Islam, women are slaves, and their slavery is enforced through threat of violence. Koran Sura 4, verse 34:
"And (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them."A woman who continuously disobeys her husband may be labelled un-Islamic, or an apostate. The penalty for apostasy is death by stoning. This why we have the phenomenon of "honor killings" in which a women, or girl, is murdered for having brought "dishonor" on her family, through disobedience.
The burqa is enforced through threat of physical violence, and Marie Claire believes this is sexy and glamorous.
Clearly, many women who call themselves feminists are nothing but fascists willing to exploit the masses of women for fun and profit. Marie Claire is simply feeding women through the meat grinder of the glamour process. And, women are buying it.
Ladies, your burqas are waiting for you.
Amnesty International Finds Hizbollah Used Human ShieldsBBC Covers It UpFrom Freedom's Cost:
The BBC has managed to perfect George Orwell’s Newspeak in a way the author of Brave New World, never thought possible. In an
article about a new Amnesty International report called for a UN-led probe into the conduct of Israel and Hezbollah during the conflict.
The BBC speaks almost exclusively about Israel alleged culpability, except towards the end of the article, once its one sided bias has already swayed the reader’s opinion.
The following is found in the article:
Amnesty found that Hezbollah hid Katyusha rockets among civilians and often fired them into Israel from the cover of civilian villages. But researchers found no evidence that Hezbollah actually used civilians as human shields during the fighting.How is it possible that Amnesty finds that “Hezbollah hid Katyusha rockets among civilians and often fired them into Israel from the cover of civilian villages,” and yet “found no evidence that Hezbollah actually used civilians as human shields during the fighting?”
The Big Pharaoh comments on BBC’s story as follows:
Well, please withstand my ignorance, but, how can Amnesty say Hezbollah hid Katyusha rockets among civilians and fired them from the cover of civilian villages and then say there was no evidence that Hezbollah actually used civilians as human shields. Common sense denotes that hidding rockets among civilians and firing them from villages is a way of using civilians as human shields.Go read the rest.
The Downfall Of A Beauty QueenNormally, we Infidels would be oogling this beauty, but unfortunately,
she is more like a horrendous car crash that you just can't help but look at:
Last September
Halima Chehaïma, the 18-year old daughter of a Moroccan father and a Flemish mother, was elected
Miss Brussels. Until next week Ms Chehaïma was also the absolute favorite of the bookmakers for the election of Miss Belgium next month. She was thought to be an excellent candidate to symbolize the multicultural paradise that Belgium has become. However, a girl’s dream was shattered.
Halima Chehaïma was a controversial candidate. Last October she stood for the Marxist-Leninist
Labour Party in the local
elections in Molenbeek, the predominantly Muslim Brussels borough where she lives. The party is so marginal that she did not get elected, but her declaration that Israel must be wiped off the map raised the eyebrows of the organizers of the Miss Belgium pageant. What really seems to have ruined her chances, however, is her connection with
Bilal Ould Haj, a Belgian criminal of Moroccan origin.
Ould Haj, who has been convicted three times so far for armed robberies, is soon to stand trial for torturing the 84-year old Maria Reyntjes. When he broke into the latter’s home in November 2003 and found only 500 euros (650 dollars) he flew into a rage, broke the old lady’s legs with a hammer and set her hair on fire. At the time he was Chehaïma’s sweetheart, though she claims they were
just friends.
Last July Ould Haj was able to escape from jail (easy in Belgium: he said he was someone else and was allowed to walk out). Meanwhile, however, Halima Chehaïma had fallen in love with an Albanian criminal. When Ould Haj encountered the Albanian last week the two men started quarrelling, whereupon the latter knifed the former twice in the neck. Ould Haj survived the assault, was taken to hospital and arrested. The police are currently investigating whether Miss Brussels had been visiting Ould Haj in his Brussels hide-out and whether she helped to keep him out of their hands.
Europe Knows Not EvilIs it possible that the Jews have no home in Europe, even in this, our modern world?
Europe knows not evilTuesday, October 17, 2006 By: David Meyer
from The Jerusalem PostI, a French-born rabbi, have been sitting in a small synagogue in Brussels, celebrating the High Holy Days. Almost 200 years ago to the day, Napoleon convened an assembly of Jewish leaders to help him open the door of citizenship to French Jews. It was the Enlightenment. The Jews of France prepared to receive equal rights and become full partners in the affairs of state. They could call Europe home.Now I wonder if it was all an illusion. I and other Jews have begun moving toward the sad and frankly terrifying realization that ultimately we may have no home in Europe. It is not that I no longer identify as a European, or that somehow my sense of loyalty to the place of my birth has weakened. No, it is not me who has changed, but Europe. A conflict has emerged between this new Europe and my Jewishness, and I do not know how to resolve it.MUCH HAS been said and written about the reemergence of anti-Semitism in Europe, but all the discussion hasn't made the phenomenon any more comprehensible to me. I suppose that after the Holocaust, no amount of anti-Semitic madness should surprise us. Yet, I am surprised - and frightened.I am frightened not just by the anti-Semitism but by the collective European response of indifference and appeasement. Today, Europe worships compromise. It is "fanatical" in its non-violence. It is a Europe that, in the face of Islamist fanaticism, is ready to stay silent.Pastorius note: I broke those three sentences out of their paragraph to highlight the fact that the things they describe are an almost exact repeat of history leading up to WWII. After the horror of WWI, Europe was also fanatical in its non-violence.Because of this Europe was willing to appease Hitler, thinking they could tame him and bring him into the fold of normal humanity.
This is the same thing Europe is attempting with the Islamofascists today.
This is the heart of the matter. By refusing to truly battle the Islamist ideology, by refusing to firmly and consistently oppose the dangers of Iranian nuclear proliferation, by refusing to support Israel in its battle against the menace of Hizbullah, Europe is saying everything is "negotiable."MY FAITH forces me to reflect on the eventuality of having to confront radical evil. It teaches that everything is not negotiable; not everything can be compromised.When I read in Deuteronomy that it is my religious duty to "erase the memory of Amalek from beneath the heavens," I frankly find myself frightened by the violence of the passage. How can we accept a religious commandment that necessitates us, under certain circumstances, to annihilate the Other?This dilemma is not only mine. There's a story about an Orthodox Jew who went to Martin Buber, the great German-Jewish philosopher of the 20th century, to tell him of his profound dilemma: "How is it," he said to Buber, "that when King Saul showed mercy in his struggle against Agog, the king of the Amalekites, he was chastised by the Prophet Samuel for showing himself capable of compassion and being ready to compromise?"Buber remained silent for a few moments before answering. "I think that Samuel was mistaken about God's intentions."BUT RABBI Emil Fackenheim, one of the great post-Shoah thinkers, strongly criticizes Buber's reply and tells us: "Through this answer, Buber disposes of the problem of absolute evil, because if Amalek is not its incarnation, then absolute evil does not exist. Here, we are therefore better served by tradition: Amalek continues to be recognized for what he is, but [also] as a symbol."On the level of Jewish values, to distinguish between Amalek and evil in general is always a difficult task. To an extreme extent, one risks seeing a replica of Amalek in every enemy, while in fact the rabbis recommend trying to make a friend of every enemy."However, our era has shown that the opposite danger is greater: that which consists in believing or dreaming that Amalek does not exist."This last sentence warrants further thought. The price of refusing to believe in the existence of evil and in the absolute necessity of confronting it is often very high. Indeed, the greatest danger would be to consider every enemy as a "potential Amalek." Peace is an absolute value and we must always make compromises to achieve it. But we cannot, however, escape one crucial question: If we have to make compromises, with whom? Compromise and dialogue are not values in themselves if the question "with whom?" is not asked.I fear that my religious tradition is indeed on a collision course with Europe, which seemingly refuses, on principle, all ideas of confrontation. Has Europe not learned that one day we have to confront what frightens and terrorizes us? Or is Europe still looking for a path to the laying down of arms and the dubious compromise?For us, the Jews of Europe, after witnessing the murder of 6 million of our own, we find ourselves today unable to see eye-to-eye with the political orientation of our old continent. And if what is happening today is not the ultimate wake-up call for Europe, it seems to me that our presence in Europe, 200 years after we were granted citizenship, is reaching its end.Sad, but I believe, true,
The End Of The WorldTonight is great singers night here at CUANAS. This is Chris Cornell, performing the very ironic, The End Of The World.
Barbarella
Tragically, Scott Weiland (lead singer of the band Stone Temple Pilots) can never keep himself together for more than a few months at a time. He is a stellar talent.
This song is about his struggle with the bottomless emptiness of drug addiction.
She's A Mystery To MeThe great Roy Orbison singing a song written for him by Bono.
Does France Want To Start A War With Israel?Zis iz true, we feel, how you say, threatened by zee Jews.It really will be one of the funniest wars in history if they do. I can just see the French troops scattering like cockroaches across the Lebanese terroire.
Heh:
French soldiers in Lebanon who feel threatened by aggressive Israeli overflights are permitted to shoot at IAF fighter jets, a high-ranking French military officer told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday, several days after meeting with an IDF general in Paris to discuss what he said was a “blatant violation of the cease-fire.”Last weekend, Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan, head of the IDF Planning Directorate, traveled to Paris and met with military officials to explain why the IAF flies over Lebanon despite the UN-brokered cease-fire.Nehushtan, new to his post and previously deputy commander of the air force, told his French counterparts that Israel was conducting the flights to collect intelligence on Hizbullah positions in southern Lebanon. According to the French officer, Nehushtan apologized for an incident on October 31 when an IAF fighter carried out a mock bombing run over a French UNIFIL position in southern Lebanon, almost prompting troops to fire anti-aircraft missiles.“There was a reality on the ground and it was important for us to reaffirm what we had seen and explain clearly what are the orders of the French soldiers to protect themselves,” the French officer said.The French told Nehushtan they would view further aggressive flyovers as a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. “No assurances were made to us that they [the IAF] would stop [the flights],” the French officer said. “The orders that the [French] soldiers have is that their weapons are for self-defense and if a commander will feel threatened, as it was about to happen on the 31st of October, he would have the right to use force.”Milos Strugar, spokesman for UNIFIL, supported the French position, saying that according to the UN resolution, UNIFIL had the right to use force in self-defense, even against Israeli aircraft.They have the right to use force against Israel, because, you know, they are convinced that Israel wants to attack France.
What a friggin' joke? Why would Israel want to attack France?
I have never heard of anything so stupid.
Europe Has Had EnoughFrom Punditarian at The Astute Bloggers:
National Public Radio's Sylvia Poggioli is broadcasting a series of reports on "Europe's Tilt to the Right," detailing growing concern about Muslim immigration and un-assimiliated non-Europeans.The first story described Danish concerns, and profiled a young Danish sculptor living in the libertarian enclave of Christiania who discovered that Muslim violence during the Mo'toons crisis "undermined many of her convictions."The report also highlighted the courageous stance of a Danish legislator, Naser Khader:One of parliament's most vocal opponents of Islamic radicals is Syrian-born Naser Khader, who says the integration debate is roiling among Muslims themselves. Khader says many Muslims in Europe want to break their ties with their land of origin and declare their loyalty to their new Western homelands. "But the Islamists don't like this," he says. "They want the mullahs and imams in Muslim countries [to] decide what the Muslims in Europe should do." Khader insists that Islam and the West are not grappling with a clash of civilizations. "It is clash between ideologies, democracy and not democracy," he says. "Between those who want democracy, modernity, respect for human rights, equality between gender, and the others who want the opposite."There's more.
Go read the rest over at the Astute Bloggers.
Why Is This Happening?From Victor Davis Hanson's blog:
We are witnessing strange things about Israel. Columnists this year wrote about it being a “mistake.” And for the first time emboldened Islamic leaders talk seriously not about restoring lost land on the West Bank and the Golan Heights, but of “wiping” it off the map entirely. The Lebanon war saw not just slanted coverage, but outright falsification and lying from the major Western new servers—many of them served by local stringers who provide on the ground propaganda and faked photos. And now the Holocaust has been reinvented, as the old idea of a safe haven for the survivors of the Third Reich has been transmogrified into “a one bomb state.” Mein Kampf is translated as “Jihadi” on the West Bank and sells briskly. We are seeing a venomous anti-Semitic hatred in the Arab-supported state papers that the world has not witnessed since the 1930s and 1940s. Back home, the Left/Right split on Israel has also been turned upside down. If you wish to read sick hatred about the Jewish state go to the leftist blogs or the campuses, not the Montana badlands. Somehow the Palestinians have reinvented themselves as liberal victims of Western, white male imperialists. Thus, in the manner of Blacks, Chicanos, Gays, and Women they are deserving of the usually accorded sympathy for their oppressed status—never mind the Islamists’ gender apartheid, religious intolerance, homophobia, and fundamentalism that should be so repugnant to the liberal mind. Now more than ever Israel is nearly all alone—and so serves as a barometer in the West of true liberal courage of conscious. It has no oil, no international terrorists, no large population, no real material advantages and no threats to be made in the most crass sense. Instead, it is a humane liberal society, an atoll of reason in a surrounding sea of autocracy. So it is the perfect litmus test for the Westerner: on the one hand is principled support for an embattled democracy; on the other, is easy appeasement that wins applause from millions, eases concerns about oil and terrorism, and offers cheap relief of elite guilt by trashing the very Western culture that rewards us all. Tragically, most leftist elites these days fail the test. Somehow, especially in Britain, they put themselves on the side of illiberal groups like Hamas or the Palestinian Authority whose history is antithetical to very notion of tolerance. Now we have yet again the ubiquitous Jimmy Carter. Not content with a failed Presidency, he is determined to turn his legacy into even a greater failure, lecturing us in his new book about an apartheid Israel. Unlike blacks in his own Georgia of the 1950s, Israeli Arabs vote and enjoy civil liberties, perhaps a million of them, with another 100,000 plus as illegal aliens. In fact, they enjoy rights not found in other Arab countries, inasmuch as Jews treat Arabs inside their own country not just better than Arabs treat Jews (they ethnically cleansed 500,000 from the major Arab capitals in the 1960s), but in the sense of civil liberties better than Arabs treat Arabs. Carterism is a new postmodern pathology in which smug piety, dressed up in evangelical new-age Christianity, pronounces from afar moral censure on the more righteous party—on the theory that acting well but not perfect is worse than acting badly. Carter reminds me of the timid parent who spanks hard the good son for the rare misdemeanor because he takes it with silence while giving a pass to the wayward son for the daily felony because he would throw a public fit if corrected.
Saudi Arabia: False Imprisonment And Rape Are "Basic Muslim Behaviors" That sounds like an extreme statement, right? But, I didn't say it.
Check this out:
On June 30 this year, a Saudi living in Arapahoe County, Colorado, was convicted of sexual abuse against his Indonesian maid. 37-year old Homaidan al-Turki (pictured, right) was studying for a linguistics doctorate at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He was found guilty of 12 felony counts of unlawful sexual contact with use of force and two misdemeanors, false imprisonment and conspiracy to commit false imprisonment. He had never paid the maid the paltry $150 per month that he had promised her when her "employment" had commenced. For four years, he kept the 24-year old maid as a virtual slave in his home, confiscated her passport, and subjected to her to sexual assaults which culminated in her rape in late 2004. His attorney, John Richilano, had argued in court that there had been misunderstood cultural differences, which he described as "cynical Islamophobia". His wife, Sarah Khonaizan, who had obviously colluded with the maltreatment of the maid, who cooked and looked after their five children, was deported. The maid now lives in Aurora.Al-Turki's followers and family caused havoc in the courtroom when the verdict was announced. He was sentenced on August 31. Additionally, he was given a further eight years' jail for theft, where he withheld the maid's wages. Even while being sentenced, Al-Turki, who had lived in the US for 14 years, still protested that he was "framed" by the prosecutors' Islamophobia."The state has criminalized these basic Muslim behaviors. Attacking traditional Muslim behaviors was the focal point of the prosecution," Al-Turki said to the judge. If you have read our special report on a Filipino maid who was similarly kept a prisoner in a Saudi imam's home in Riyadh, and subjected to frequent rape, then perhaps this sort of "Muslim behavior" comes naturally to Saudi Arabian men.The Saudi press has described the case as one of Islamophobic oppression, with the US judiciary expressing their bias against Muslims. Many Saudis are convinced that Al-Turki would never have been convicted in Saudi Arabia. The experiences of Flora del Mindanao, who was even accused of theft by the imam who imprisoned and raped her, would suggest that this is true.A US government report stated: "Foreign embassies continued to receive reports of employers abusing domestic servants. Such abuse included withholding of food, beatings and other physical abuse, and rape (see Section 5). The Government's figures for 1999 stated that 7,000 maids fled their place of employment, and the actual number presumably was higher. In 2001 the media reported additional stories of such incidents. The authorities in some cases forced such maids to return to their places of employment."Women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to work unless they have permission from a male relative, states Human Rights Watch. They are not allowed to drive, such is their second-class status. But for the imported maids, there is little redress when they are assaulted or raped by their Saudi employers.Go read the rest.
Jews Encouraged To "Embrace Christian Evangelical Support"From an artile by Schmuley Boteach, in the Jerusalem Post (with thanks to Olivia):
How can a tiny nation, often hated wherever it resides, possibly survive? This has been the paramount question governing Jewish existence for two millennia. First, the Romans decimated and exiled the Jews from their land. Then Christianity claimed to have replaced the Jewish religion itself as the true Israel. How could a nation so displaced continue? Three solutions have traditionally been offered for the survival of the Jewish people: - The religious solution - Jews survive only through adherence to their tradition.
The Zionist solution - Jews can survive only with a country of their own. The miraculous solution - Jewish survival is a mystery, a supra-rational sign of God's providence. For the first time in history there is a fourth and highly potent medium for Jewish survival: non-Jews. That's right, the one group traditionally identified as the single greatest threat to our continuity is becoming one of the chief guarantors thereof. Specifically, believing Christians are taking it upon themselves to ensure the survival and prosperity of the Jewish people in general, and of Israel in particular. TO BETTER understand this development we must first take a look back at history. For thousands of years other nations have appreciated what best-selling author Thomas Cahill has referred to as The Gifts of the Jews. The Jews have been credited for contributing to civilization its most important building-blocks, including God, the Ten Commandments, the infinite worth of the human person, morality and messianism. But while the nations loved the ideas of the Jews, they divorced those ideas from the nation who originated them, co-opted the ideas, then claimed them as their own. Both Christianity and Islam, even as they based their own faiths on Jewish principles, went so far as to persecute the Jews as unworthy and hypocritical bearers of the message. The Jews, in non-Jewish opinion, were not essential to the message of ethical monotheism they initiated. It could be carried on without them, perhaps even flourish better in their absence. Some groups even went further, not only coopting Jewish ideas but claiming to have become the new, or real Israel in the Jews' place. Muslims claim to be the real seed of Abraham through Ishmael, as opposed to his lesser son, Isaac. Black Hebrews claim to be the original 10 lost tribes of Israel, and the Mormons espouse the idea that they are Israel, and Utah is the new Zion. AND WHAT of the original Jews? Well, they gave us God. Fantastic! But, like a withered older mother who has already delivered her baby, the carrier was rendered superfluous. In recent years Christians have been taking a new look at the Jewish people and determining that without the nation God originally chose to be the carriers of ethical monotheism the message itself is diminished. There can be no redemption that is not inspired by the inclusion of God's chosen people. Evangelical Christians cite biblical passages such as God's promise to Abraham: "I will bless those who bless thee," and the Psalmist's beautiful plea: "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; may they prosper who love you," (Psalm 122). And any functional diminishing of God's chosen people on the earth would be a functional diminishing of God's light in our world, say the evangelicals.
Thus originated a movement of non-Jews to support, and even fund Jews in need and to rally to the call of the imperiled Jewish state, surrounded as it is by a multitude of enemies that cry daily for its destruction.How can Israel survive as a tiny democracy in a hostile sea of Arab tyranny? And with Jewish numbers declining throughout the world, how can Diaspora communities influence their respective governments to support Israel, or indeed even fund their local responsibilities when their donor base grows smaller each year? No doubt, the fact of pitifully low Jewish numbers must finally be addressed through a vastly increased Jewish birthrate. But the new answer must be Christian love and support for the Jewish people and the State of Israel. A CASE in point is the ground-breaking work of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, founded by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein. Thirty years ago, Rabbi Eckstein bucked the trend in Jewish organizations and started building bridges to evangelical Christians. He endured withering criticism and personal attack by those whose shortsighted vision saw in evangelical Christians enemies rather than friends. But today the IFCJ is one of the foremost providers for Jews in need contributing close to $100 million per year to Jewish immigration, resettlement and social welfare projects in Israel, the former Soviet Union, and abroad. The Fellowship has sponsored the rescue of Jews in Arab countries, Ethiopia, France and elsewhere, and has provided treatment and long-term medical care to Israeli terror victims. It was especially active in the recent war in Lebanon, initiating massive aid programs for the imperiled residents of northern Israel. Through the Fellowship, evangelical Christians are sponsoring food packages, home care and medical assistance, as well as heating and fuel for elderly Jews in Israel and abroad. My own life-long work of building Jewish bridges to non-Jews, especially religious Christians, has led me to join Eckstein in furthering evangelical support for Israel, and it is time others in the community overcame their skepticism of Christian support for Israel and accepted that while the two faith communities have substantial issues on which they will always disagree, on the most important issue, the survival of God's chosen people, we are in perfect harmony.
Gettin' A Piece For PeaceThis is one peace rally in which I will gladly participate:
Global Orgasm against Bush
From the desk of Elaib Harvey on Sun, 2006-11-19 15:56At last a way to stop Islamofascism, war, earthquakes and President George W Bush. The Global Orgasm is obviously the way.The idea seems to be if countless millions are reaching a state of sexual ecstasy simultaneously on Friday 22nd of December then world peace will break out, Bush will indeed discover that Osama is quite a cute fellow after all, and that nasty fellow Ahmedinejad in Tehran will discover that the Isrealis are utter sweethearts.This is the First Annual Solstice Synchronized Global Orgasm for Peace, leading up to the December Solstice of 2012, when the Mayan Calendar ends with a new beginning.For pity’s sake they even have a page pretending to prove the science – hosted at Princeton University!!Global piece?
Muslim Civil Rights Group Founder Donates Money To Holocaust DenierA founding member of the Muslim Public Affairs Council of the United Kingdom has been exposed as
a financial contributor to Holocaust denier, David Irving:
One of Britain’s most prominent speakers on Muslim issues is today exposed as a supporter of David Irving, the controversial historian who for years denied the Holocaust took place.
Asghar Bukhari, a founder member of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPAC), which describes itself as Britain’s largest Muslim civil rights group, sent money to Irving and urged Islamic websites to ask visitors to make donations to his fighting fund.Bukhari contacted the discredited historian, sentenced this year to three years in an Austrian prison for Holocaust denial, after reading his website. He headed his mail to Irving with a quotation attributed to the philosopher John Locke: ‘All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good people to stand idle.’In one email Bukhari tells Irving: ‘You may feel like you are on your own but rest assured many people are with you in your fight for the Truth.’ Bukhari pledges to make a donation of £60 to Irving’s fighting fund and says that he has asked ‘a few of my colleagues to send some in too’. He also offers to send Irving a book, They Dare to Speak Out, by Paul Findley, a former US Senator, who has attacked his country’s close relationship with Israel. Bukhari says Findley ‘has suffered like you in trying to expose certain falsehoods perpetrated by the Jews’.In a follow-up letter, Bukhari writes: ‘Here is the cheque I promised. Good luck, if there is any other way I can help please don’t hestitate to call me. I have also asked many Muslim websites to create links to your own and ask for donations.’The MPAC-UK bills itself as Britain's foremost Muslim Civil Rights Group.
Here's a quote from the Congressman Paul Findley whom Bukhari cites:
In March, 1992, Illinois Representative Paul Findley said in The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, "It is interesting - but not surprising - to note that in all the words written and uttered about the Kennedy assassination, Israel's intelligence agency, the Mossad, has never been mentioned."Considering that the Mossad is quite possibly the most ruthless and efficient intelligence agency in the world, it is peculiar that they have never been scrutinized in relation to the Kennedy assassination...."In short, Paul Findley is a loon.
Wafa Sultan Says Bush Is Wrong To Call Islam A Religion Of PeaceSeveral months back, Wafa Sultan, a Saudi-dissident living in the United States, jolted the world with an appearence on Al Jazeera Television and spoke her mind on Islam. She told the absolute unadulterated truth. I probably don't have to tell you that her candor has won her multiple death threats.
Watch this video from Ms. Sultan's appearence, and then read what follows:
Now,
Wafa Sultan has some harsh words for George Bush:
Bush empowering terrorists, charges vocal Muslim critic Wafa Sultan says 'religion of peace' pronouncement undermines her efforts to battle religion's 'barbarism' President Bush is undermining criticism vital to the survival of Western civilization and empowering terrorist leaders by proclaiming Islam a "religion of peace," says one of the most outspoken critics to emerge from the Muslim world in recent years. Wafa Sultan, a native of Syria, seized attention worldwide in February when her electrifying interview on Al-Jazeera television spread across the Internet through a video clip produced by the Middle East Media Research Institute. Named this year to Time Magazine's list of 100 influential people in the world, Sultan spoke with WND after addressing a symposium on radical Islam in Las Vegas hosted by America's Truth Forum. She understands Bush's position as president and believes he is only trying to be diplomatic, but insists, nevertheless, his words are "empowering" Muslim leaders whose ultimate aim is for Islamic law to govern the world. "I believe he undermines our credibility by saying that," said Sultan. "We came from Islam, and we know what kind of religion Islam is.Go to Atlas Shrugs for more on the great Wafa Sultan.
What Is Europe, Uh, I Mean Eurabia Thinking?The United Nations voted 156-7 to condemn Israel's incursion into the Gaza Strip. Israel's Ambassador walked out of the session in response. The reason the Israeli Defense Force has been in Gaza is because the Palestinians have been lobbing missiles from there for months now. So, Israel is trying to weed out the terrorists.
Roger Simon comments:
It's no surprise that the Islamic nations vote this way. They are hardly democratic and doctrinally racist against Jews (dhimmitude, etc.). But I always wonder about the Europeans. What are they thinking? Of course anyone with an IQ in the proverbial triple-digits knows that Israel pulled out of Gaza unilaterally not very long ago and that since then, virtually non-stop, Palestinians of various "progressive" stripes (Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Fatah) have been lobbing missiles into Israeli territory. What are the Israelis supposed to do? Allow them to continue?
If Spain were lobbing missiles into France on a daily basis, it's likely the Spaniards would be hit with a nuclear attack. The Israelis have been remarkably gentle in their response, if you consider historical comparisons.
So what is the motivation for the Euros? Part of it is certainly a desire to justify their own unconscionable treatment of the Jews during the Holocaust. (The Jews are bad, therefore what we did is not so atrocious... but, of course, it is.)
But this hunger to escape responsibility has been augmented of late by an escalating desire to make nice with the Arab and Islamic worlds. And as we know, it's not just about oil; Europe itself is now increasingly Islamic. As Mark Steyn points out, soon enough several European countries may be living under some version of sharia. At that point, their attitudes toward Israel won't be subject to debate. They will be written in the Koran.
Los Angeles Volunteers To Give Up Its LogoCan you imagine Coca Cola, or McDonald's, deciding to just relinquish their corporate logos? You know, no more Golden Arches, no more curli-cue cursive writing laced into the red and white. Well, the city of Los Angeles has volunteered to do so.
The City Council has voted to eliminate the famed fanned palm for which it has become known. When people think of Los Angeles, they think of the palm trees lining the streets, right? Well, no more. And,
you're not going to believe the wacky reason for this decision:
For more than a hundred years, the graceful, bushy-topped fan palm has been an iconic symbol of L.A.'s balmy, postcard lifestyle. But city leaders now want to put an end to the tree's reign on the grounds it is bad for the environment. City Council members voted this week to halt the placement of fan palms on parkways, median strips and other city-owned property where nearly 75,000 of them now grow. Instead, the city will plant only sycamores, oaks and other leafy native species that will contribute shade, collect rainwater and release oxygen across the Los Angeles Basin. The fan palm may be an emblematic part of Los Angeles, but its skimpy canopy is cheating city dwellers of the benefit of real trees since palms "are technically a type of grass and not trees," as a unanimously approved council resolution put it. San Pedro-area Councilwoman Janice Hahn's motion, passed Tuesday, limits future use of palms along city streets unless they are needed to be consistent with existing plantings or are specifically requested by a council office or community group. If new palms are planted, "fan palms should be discouraged" ... The vote comes as many fan palms planted by developers in the late 19th and early 20th century are entering the last phase of their life span. It also comes as the city is embarking on Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's ambitious goal to plant 1 million new trees.Corporations spend billions of dollars to ensure that their logos are recognized on a national and international basis, but the LA City Council has decided that theirs is expendable. There was no public outcry calling for this decision. Clearly, this is just a wacko politician angling for the environmentalist vote. This is among the stupidest decisions in history. Let's see, Pharoah ignores Moses' warnings, France sells the Louisiana territories to America, the Red Sox trade Ruth to the Yankees, Paul McCartney marries Heather Mills, and now this. But, you know what? I am absolutely friggin' ecstatic over this.
The reasoning behind this legislation makes it a damning display of the transcendent stupidity of environmentalist demands in every aspect of life. From "second-hand smoke" to spotted owls, to butterfly wing hurricanes, to global ice age then global warming then global ice age then global warming again, environmentalist philosophy is childish fears and dreams writ large in the adult world. Environmentalists are always positing ecological disasters emanating from the slightest faux pas of mankind, as if when George Bush farts it could cause Hurricane Katrina.
I will enjoy watching the idiots at the LA City Council, as they slowly impale themselves on the spear of this decision. It will take time, but gradually tourism will be affected, revenue will decline and, eventually, business will demand that the palms be reinstated. And then,UCLA students will have another reason to march in the streets against the fascist conservatives who want to wreak havoc on the mother nature by lining the streets of LA with palm trees once again. Yes, I can see it; the New American Revolution will be fought over such issues. "We want alms, not palms. Reinstate the ban on palms that fan."
The Groove Is In Your HeartOne of the coolest bands of the early 90's; Dee-Lite. I saw these guys at the Palladium in Los Angeles. One of the most greatest, and yet most bizarre nights of my life.
"Aw man, you guys are crazy."
France - Just Itching For A FightWith IsraelZis iz true, we are, how you say, in a state of preparation.A week ago, France told us they had been
just seconds away from firing on Israeli jets patrolling in Lebanon. This week, they say they have taken "
preparatory steps" to be ready to attack Israel:
TYRE, Lebanon (AFP) - French UN anti-aircraft batteries have taken "preparatory steps" to respond to Israeli jets violating Lebanese airspace, despite global criticism of such incursions. "The anti-aircraft unit of the (French) battalion took initial preparatory steps to respond to these actions," Milos Strugar, spokesman for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) told AFP on Friday.He said "UNIFIL observed and reported 14 Israeli air violations this morning, on November 17, 2006, and 11 of these violations occurred in the area of operation of the French battalion with UNIFIL."UNIFIL Force Commander General Alain Pellegrini "strongly protested to the Israeli authorities and asked them to cease these actions which are unacceptable and in violation of Resolution 1701," the spokesman said.Strugar said the French battalion took action to respond "in accordance with UNIFIL rules of engagements and UN Security Council Resolution 1701.""They stipulate that in implementing their mandate, all UNIFIL troops may exercise the inherent right of self-defence and take all necessary action to protect UN personnel, facilities, installations and equipment," he said.Strugar said the overflights took place in the central sector of southern Lebanon where the multinational UNIFIL force was boosted to more than 9,000 troops after the Israeli-Hezbollah war in July and August."In one instance, two Israeli F15 jets flew over the area at low altitude and high speed," he said.
"At the same time, two Israeli reconnaissance RC12 aircraft were circling above the headquarters of the French battalion located in Jabal Marun," east of the southern port city of Tyre, he said.Now, why would Israel want to attack France? How stupid is that? Why do you think the French are citing "the inherent right of self-defense"? Do you really believe France believes Israel will attack?
What a joke.
And, why is it that France wants to act in "self-defense" when they aren't even being attacked, but when Israel actually is attacked and they respond by going into Gaza to root out the terrorists, it isn't considered self-defense?
Such questions will never be answered, because the answers lay beyond reason.
My final word on this? I think it would be pretty funny if France attacked Israel. Have you ever seen a dog jump on someone only to get whacked and run away with its tail between its legs?
When The Band You're In Starts Playing Different TunesPink Floyd's famous lyric from the song Us And Them,
When the band you're in starts playing different tunesI'll see you on the dark side of the moonwas directed at Pink Floyd's founding member Syd Barrett. Barrett, whose mental problems, exacerbated by drug use, caused him to lose the thread of a song midway through, and actually begin to play a different song from the rest of the band. Barrett had to be dismissed from Pink Floyd in 1967 because he left the land of reality and went to live, ostensibly, on the dark side of Earth's primary orbiting satellite.
Well, fellow Pink Floyd founder, Roger Waters, also left the land of reality many years ago. Clinically speaking, Waters is not insane, but he does not live in the same world of cause and effect that the rest of us do. In Waters world, Democracy, apparently, floated down with the gentle dew of the morning, born pristine and perfect. Certainly, it was not born of war between America and England - no -
because nothing good can come of war. (Oh yes, and also, remember, the rich rock star is a socialist):
Recently, I attended the Roger Waters concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In 1965, Waters co-founded the great British rock band Pink Floyd, which produced several unforgettable concept albums. It was a joy seeing Waters, who is still in top form at age 63, masterfully perform many classic Pink Floyd tracks, including the album “Dark Side of the Moon” (1973) in its entirety. Unfortunately, the concert’s politics failed to match the excellent quality of the music.When Waters performed “The Fletcher Memorial Home” from Pink Floyd’s album, “The Final Cut” (1983), the large screen behind him broadcast a video that compared Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Joseph Stalin, and Kim Jong-Il to President Ronald Reagan and President George W. Bush.A self-described socialist and militant pacifist, Waters has always taken an interest in politics. One track, “Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert,” from “The Final Cut,” equates British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher with General Leopoldo Galtieri, Argentina’s military dictator who seized power in 1981 and invaded the Falkland Islands in 1982.In recent years, Waters has bitterly attacked Prime Minister Tony Blair for participating in the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.As a private citizen, Waters has the right to speak out on any issue. Disagreeing with him or any celebrity, left or right, is not censorship. I believe that the comparisons Waters is making during his current tour are not only offensive, but reveal substantial ignorance on his part.Reagan, Thatcher, Bush, and Blair all came to power by winning elections. Those who opposed their views had the opportunity to vote against them. By contrast, Stalin, Hussein, Kim Jong-Il, and Galtieri never allowed free elections in their countries or any opposition to their rule.Reagan and Thatcher gave up power voluntarily. Blair is expected to step down next year. Bush will leave office on January 20, 2008. How often do dictators give up power voluntarily and peacefully? Despite his advancing age and serious illness, Fidel Castro refuses to relax his grip on the Cuban people 47 years after seizing power.In Great Britain, the United States, and in any democratic country, Waters enjoys the freedom to criticize the government, including its leaders and policies. Additionally, Reagan, Thatcher, Bush, and Blair never made any effort to silence Waters. People who live in dictatorships don’t have that freedom.
If Waters were Cuban, Castro would have thrown him into prison, where thousands of political dissidents presently suffer. Both Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong-Il probably would have had Waters tortured and then executed for opposing their dictatorial rule.In 1990, Waters organized a concert in Berlin to celebrate the downfall of communism in Eastern Europe. Did it ever occur to Waters why the Berlin Wall finally fell? The combined leadership of Reagan, Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II made it happen. They helped extend freedom to hundreds of millions of people who were being repressed by communist dictatorships. Today, people in Eastern Europe and the old Soviet Union can choose their leaders, have a say in their governments’ policies, and even enjoy Pink Floyd without being harassed by the secret police.
Apparently, Roger Waters is like many ideologues on the right and left. They think democracy works only when people who agree with them win elections.I myself voted against President Bill Clinton twice. Although I was disappointed that he won, I never thought there was something evil afoot in the republic. I often rolled my eyes when I heard conservative extremists accuse him of orchestrating several murders and peddle other conspiracy theories about him.Would it have been appropriate for the right to equate Clinton to Slobodan Milosevic, the late dictator of Yugoslavia and “The Butcher of the Balkans”? Was President Jimmy Carter no different than Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini? Where does it end?It ends on the dark side of the moon, my friend. It ends in the eclipse of reason. And, that's not all. The moon gets sucked into a black hole, and when it crosses the event horizon, it is the conflation of everything, everything good is evil, and everything evil is good, and we are all together.
Reason is being able to make distinctions. And, one of the most reasonable of distinctions to make is to understand that oftimes those who do enormous good in the world, also have their dark sides. Yes, both George Bush and America are guilty of doing bad things at time, but that does not make either one "evil". Nor does the fact that Hitler loved animals make him a good person. Roger Waters, himself, is not a bad man. That he is a confused fool only causes trouble because of the fact that millions listen to him. But, you know what, I will still go on listening to his music anyway ... once in awhile.
Sadly, though, his music really isn't any good anymore. I really only like the old stuff. The world has moved on and is playing different tunes now. Too bad Roger Waters hasn't noticed.
Little Green Footballs Is The Best
I'm on the road this week, without much time to post, so with my apologies stated up front, I'm just going to rip off Little Green Footballs for today.
There's just too much important stuff over there.
For instance, they have the story of The Associated Press whitewashing Hizbollah's aims. They tell us that Hizbollah is continuing it's efforts for change. What they don't tell you is:
The “change” Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has in mind is the overthrow of Lebanon’s government and the installation of a Khomeini-style radical Islamic state, ruled by shari’a law. But you won’t get that information from the AP, or their Arab writers who file thinly disguised propaganda for terrorists.
Link: http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=23344_Hizballah-_Tireless_Advocates_for_Change&only
In the next story, Charles points out that the "uncovered Meat" Imam (you know, the Imam who says that women who are raped ought to be arrested and imprisoned) is reneging on his promise to step down. Oh yes, and he's taking back all of his apologies:
EMBATTLED Muslim cleric Sheik Taj al-Din al-Hialy has vowed he will not resign, complaining he is a victim of media propaganda and exaggeration.
The cleric has been under pressure to step down since he sparked outrage with his comments, in a Ramadan sermon in Sydney in September, likening immodestly dressed women to uncovered meat, and suggesting they invited sexual assault.
Asked on the Nine Network’s Sixty Minutes program tonight whether he had thought about resigning since news of his comments broke, Sheik Hilaly said: “Confronted with this campaign against me, no”.
“I accept the challenge and I’m not going to give in against any power,” he said through an interpreter.
Sheik Hilaly complained that his comments about women had been taken out of context.
“I am outspoken, and I have the courage to say the truth,” he told interviewer Ray Martin.
(Link: http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=23338_Another_Islamist_Laughs_at_the_West&only )
The truth, huh? The truth is he lives in pre-Medieval times. He is a modern primitve loony. And, he ought not be allowed to enjoy the fruits of Western Civilization. We should remove all such people from society. The man is an advocate for Sharia law. Sharia is the Islamic Constitution. It is, in fact, the constitution of Saudi Arabia. As such, any person who advocates for Sharia Law in a Western Country is advocating for the overthrow of the existing constitution.
In short, he is guilty of sedition.
Next story, the media is shilling for Cat Steven (who converted to Islam about thirty years back.) His name is not Cat Stevens anymore. Instead, it is Yusuf Islam. But, that doesn't stop the media from calling him Cat Stevens. Nor does the media tell you that Yusuf supports the fatwa on Salman Rushdie, donates money to Hamas, and is apparently very cozy with the “Blind Sheikh,” Omar Abdel-Rahman, currently serving a life sentence for plotting terror attacks in the US.
LGF has audio tape which is very condemning of the disgusting Yusuf.
Link
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=23312&only
Finally, in the most illuminating story of them all, we have final confirmation that when the Mainstream American Media lies about Israel, they do it on purpose. Check this out:
You’re not going to believe this one.
All our suspicions about mainstream media slanting and distorting the news from the Middle East are confirmed in a bombshell of a post by Bruno Stevens, at the Lightstalkers pro photographers’ forum: The Lebanon ‘garbage dump’ story: complete explanation. (Hat tip: Snapped Shot.)
His photograph, published by both US News and World Report and Time Magazine, had a caption describing the scene as the wreckage of an Israeli jet shot down by Hizballah. In this post, Stevens reveals that the captions he sent in with his pictures described the scene accurately—but editors at the magazines changed the captions to completely alter the story.
This caption clearly says that there is no proof that an Israeli jet had been shot down and that the objective was indeed to destroy a legitimate military target.
...A week later TIME published this image shot at the same time as the first...
They choose to caption it this way (I had NO control in this matter), they HAD my original caption: “The wreckage of a downed Israeli jet that was targeting Hizballah trucks billows smoke behind a Hizballah gunman in Kfar Chima, near Beirut. Jet fuel set the surrounding area ablaze.”
The anti-Israel bias of mainstream media has never been revealed more nakedly; the editors who selected this photograph deliberately changed the caption to convey an anti-Israel message, throwing the truth right out the window to do it.
And even more damning is the photo they chose not to publish, showing a medium range ground-to-ground missile launcher hidden in a civilian truck—on a Lebanese Army base. Stevens explains:
This is a very important piece of evidence showing probable collusion between Hezbollah and the Lebanese Army, there is little doubt that the Lebanese Army was aware of the presence of at least one missile launcher and at least one large missile on their parking lot. The size of the launcher, destroyed a couple of days later from the ground by an unknown party suggest missiles 10 to 14 meters long.
There were 6 to 8 large articulated trucks parked there, making it a very legitimate target for the Israeli Air Force, quite far away from civilian houses.
As I’ve written before, mainstream media is an absolute disgrace—and this time we can’t even blame it on local stringers doing the work of Hizballah. These distortions were perpetrated by Western editors, sitting in comfortable offices, demonizing Israel and covering up evidence of Hizballah war crimes and collusion with the Lebanese Army.
As Brian at Snapped Shot notes, we owe a debt of gratitude to Bruno Stevens for telling the truth about his photos.
Netanyahu: Iran Preparing Another Holocaust
From the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz:
LOS ANGELES - Drawing a direct analogy between Iran and Nazi Germany, Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu asserted Monday that the Iranian nuclear program posed a threat not only to Israel, but to the entire western world. There was "still time," however, to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons, he said.
"It's 1938 and Iran is Germany. And Iran is racing to arm itself with atomic bombs," Netanyahu told delegates to the annual United Jewish Communities General Assembly, repeating the line several times, like a chorus, during his address. "Believe him and stop him," the opposition leader said of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "This is what we must do. Everything else pales before this."
While the Iranian president "denies the Holocaust," Netanyahu said, "he is preparing another Holocaust for the Jewish state."
Speaking on Army Radio on Tuesday, Netanyahu hinted that Israel possesses the military capabilities necessary for curbing by itself the Iranian nuclear threat, declining to specify what these entail.
The Likud chairman said "I don't want to analyze the capability required to eliminate [the Iranian] threat, but this capability exists," when told by host Razi Barkai that Israel lacks the ability to eliminate Tehran's nuclear program by military means.
"This capability is eroded over time, and if we wait years then obviously this capability would not exist anymore ... but right now I disagree with the claim that nothing can be done against Iran," he added.
When asked if Bush could afford embarking on another "military adventure" after Iraq, Netanyahu said acting on the Iranian nuclear program would not be adventurous but necessary.
"... Israel would certainly be the first stop on Iran's tour of destruction, but at the planned production rate of 25 nuclear bombs a year ... [the arsenal] will be directed against 'the big Satan,' the U.S., and the 'moderate Satan,' Europe," Netanyahu said.
"Iran is developing ballistic missiles that would reach America, and now they prepare missiles with an adequate range to cover the whole of Europe," he added.
"No one cared"
Criticizing the international community in his GA speech for not acting more forcefully in trying to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power - "No one cared then and no one seems to care now," he said, again drawing on the Nazi parallel - Netanyahu warned that Tehran's nuclear and missile program "goes way beyond the destruction of Israel - it is directed to achieve world-wide range. It's a global program in the service of a mad ideology."
Large sections of the international community, he said, also misunderstood the nature of radical Islam and its role in the Mideast conflict. "What happens in Iran affects what happens in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, not the other way round," he said.
Netanyahu said he believed that Iran could still be stopped from acquiring nuclear weapons. "There is still time. All ways must be considered. We can't let this thing happen," he said, but did not outline specific measures he thought should be taken.
Referring to Israel's preemptive strike in the 1967 War, he did say that stopping Iran required "preemptive leadership. Preemption requires will and vision."
"Noone will defend the Jews if the Jews don't defend themselves," he said to loud applause. "Iran's nuclear ambitions have to be stopped."
Link:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/787766.html
Iranian President Says Israel's "Destruction" Is Near
From Agence French Press, via Drudge:
According to the Iranian media Monday, Iranian President Mahoud Ahmadinejad declared that Israel was destined to ‘disappearance and destruction’ at a council meeting with Iranian ministers.
“The western powers created the Zionist regime in order to expand their control of the area. This regime massacres Palestinians everyday, but since this regime is against nature, we will soon witness its disappearance and destruction,” Ahmadinejad said. (AFP)
Link:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-%20%203327439,00.html
Exodus And Refugees Often in the leadup to wars, people will flee their homeland to go to America or some other friendly capitalist nation with a stable culture. I must say, it is strange to find that
Dutch and
German people are now fleeing their respective countries:
In the first nine months of this year, almost 100,000 people left the Netherlands to settle elsewhere, 12,000 more than the same period last year. […] The net effect means the Dutch population was reduced in the 2004-06 period by 75,000. In the preceding three years, there was a positive net migration of 75,000. Despite the dramatic reversal, the number of immigrants is also on the increase.and
A quote from the German weekly Der Spiegel, 10 November 2006Faced with poor job prospects, high taxes and an intrusive bureaucracy, more and more Germans are choosing to emigrate. Most of those who leave, though, are highly qualified – which could mean devastating economic consequences. [...] They are fed up with living in a country where all opportunities already seem to be taken: opportunities to succeed in one’s career, to own property and to achieve prosperity.Of course, these people will not be called political refugees, even though that is what they are.
Now, I have really amazing news for you. In merry ole' England, it seems, perhaps,
many young Muslims are starting to realize it might also be time for them to leave. Here are some typical quotes from an Islamic internet forum:
I've been having a lot of debates and arguments with non Muslim colleagues and acqaintances about what Islam says, doesn't say, stands for, human rights abuses etc etc for months and months now..actually for the alast few years. And I have finally finally reached the end of my tether.The hostility that I've found many non Muslims have these days towards Islam and Muslims is suffocating. I'm so sick of it that I am starting to consciously withdraw away from non Muslims.(Imaan - activist)Yep, well if it continues, it is going to get worse. As people like George Galloway, Ken Livingstone and others begin to retire (like tony ben), we will see few checks and balances. You need to ask yourself, how are you preparing for once the non muslim supporters of muslims begin to get smaller and eventually disappear.Quite a lot of people are thinking of exit strategy. In 10 years time from now.... will you still be living in this country? Will there be laws preventing you from repatriating your wealth? If the average muslim family is 4 people, the wealth per family 250k. thats minimum 400,000 households. If we all got up and left.... thats a lot of money gone from the country. in GBP terms 100,000,000,000 or 100 Billion. Maybe some will stay. I reckon half will leave so 50 Billion leaves the UK. That is a lot for a country to lose out. Forget the cost due to having to replace certain areas of the economy.I am already thinking of buying some prime land in Gawadar. If I were to sell up now, I could have a nice house and never have to work again [This bloke hasn't considered how much that wealth would be reduced by 400K houses on the market all at the same time, or even at a steadily increasing drip. the first few would go home wealthy - after that?](Ammaad - veteran campaigner)Maybe our parents' generation were on the right track after all, working hard to make sure they had lands and house back "home" just in case this country kicked us out. We used to laugh at them but day by day it's starting to hit home that they do know what they're talking about after all!(Salaam)You wanna bet that when these jokers leave, they
will be considered political refugees.
The Folly Of AppeasementNeville Chamberlain says, "Now that I have given Czechoslovakia to Herr Hitler, we will have peace in our time."A great post from Reliapundit, the Astute Blogger:
WHAT THEY SAID THEN:Just give them Sudatenland, and everything will be alright.Just give them mainland China and everything will be alright.Just give them Eastern Europe and everything will be alright.Just give them Cuba and everything will be alright.Just give them Hungary and everything will be alright.Just give them the north of Korea, and everything will be alright.Just give them Czechoslovakia and everything will be alright.Just give them South Vietnam and everything will be alright.Just give them Nicaragua and everything will be alright.Just give them Iran and everything will be alright.Just give them Afghanistan and everything will be alright.Just give them Poland and everything will be alright.WHAT THEY SAY NOW:Just give them Waziristan and eastern Afghanistan and everything will be alright.Just give them the so-called “occupied territories” and everything will be alright.Just give them Iraq and everything will be alright.Just give them Kashmir and everything will be alright.Just give them northern Nigeria and everything will be alright.Just give them south Thailand and everything will be alright.Just give them the Moro Islands and everything will be alright.Just give them sharia in the banlieues of Paris and eveything will be alright.Just give them all of Israel and everything will be alright.APPEASEMENT: wrong then; wrong now.Reliapundit has one of the best blogs on the net, and I don't say that because I am a contributor there. I say it because he is a freaking genius.
CochiseBy Audioslave
Yeah, go ahead and tell me modern rock doesn't kick ass like the old stuff did. Check out singer Chris Cornell, perhaps, the angriest man in the world (who hasn't driven himself completely nuts).
Sudan: Arab Muslims Kill And Enslave Black Christians - World's Media YawnsThe situation in the Sudan is even worse than that the media ever tells us. I am amazed that the media has covered it up so effectively. It is disgusting, and it is a black mark on the souls of those who choose not to report the truth.
The truth is,
well over two million people have been killed over the past 20+ years. The Arab Muslim government uses the Janjaweed to kill their enemies. They started with the black Christans, and Animists. This is the part the media never tells you about:
The first two million they killed were Christians and Animists.
The last couple hundred thousand have included a lot of Muslims (black Sufis, primarily).When they started killing the Muslims, that's when the media started reporting on it.
That was about three or four years ago.
Note that
the whole time it has been Arabs killing black people. That the media doesn't care about.
What's more, in the Sudan, they kill the black men, and use the women and children as slaves and sex slaves.There is literally black slavery going on in Sudan, but the media doesn't fucking care to tell the world about it. Arabs are using black people as slaves, and it is ok.
And, by the way, the truth is, it has been a Jihad all along.
Sudan's Silent Jihadby Robert SpencerFrontPageMagazine.com July 29, 2004Just in time to mark the tenth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide that it largely ignored, the human rights community is beginning to take notice of the genocide in Sudan. As welcome as this is, and as refreshing as it is that the New York Times and Washington Post have done extensive reporting on Darfur in recent weeks, few have noted that the tragedy of Darfur is actually the second Sudanese genocide of our age. The first killed over two million African Christians and animists in southern Sudan.They may be forgiven for being slow on the uptake, however; after all, Darfur marks the third genocide in Africa that Kofi Annan is declining to notice: Rwanda, Sudan I and now 
Sudan II. Over 100,000 people have been killed in Darfur. By autumn the number of those who have been displaced or impoverished, or whose lives have been destroyed by the war in other ways, will most likely exceed three million. Yet Annan declared that he cannot consider it “genocide or ethnic cleansing yet.”There is another word that Annan has never uttered in connection with Sudan. For a decade Khartoum has waged what the regime itself calls a jihad against Christians and tribalists in the South. A 1992 fatwa issued by a group of pro-Khartoum Sudanese imams declared: “An insurgent who was previously a Muslim is now an apostate and a non-Muslim is a non-believer standing as a bulwark against the spread of Islam, and Islam has granted the freedom of killing both of them.” This allowed for the murder of Christians and animists in the south; now it has been turned against the Muslims of Darfur, whose Islam doesn’t measure up to Khartoum’s hardline standards.Yet Annan has never acknowledged that what is going on in Sudan is a jihad. And this is just 
one manifestation of the by-now inescapable fact that the United Nations is damaged beyond repair. The Islamic states maintain an unbreakable solidarity. The only exception to their unwillingness to condemn other Muslim states came when Saddam Hussein’s Iraq attacked Kuwait. Meanwhile, the Europeans and Chinese have oil interests in Sudan that dovetail nicely at the UN with the Islamic bloc’s determination to repel any criticism. France, the most energetic opponent of UN sanctions against the Khartoum regime, is heavily invested in Sudan through its oil giant ElfTotal.The emperor has no clothes, but Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Physicians for Human Rights and Oxfam are still paying enthusiastic obeisance. A perusal of each of their websites demonstrates that they criticize the UN only with extreme reluctance and in the most muted tones. In a startling recrudescence of the old “white man’s burden” mentality, they tend to focus more anger at the United States and Western Europe for failing to stop killings than at the murderers themselves. And above all, they won’t describe the conflict as what it really is: a jihad, another example of the crying need for large-scale reform within Islam.Yet until they do so, they give jihadists carte blanche to continue their work. Instead of providing a platform for those who will work for Islamic reform, the human rights organizations, out of political correctness and a reflexive inability to see any non-white, non-Western entity as anything but a victim, are treating the symptoms but not the cause. Search for “jihad” at the Amnesty International website, and you will find articles alleging that Israel has mistreated a man named Jihad Shaker Abu Ayesh, as well as members of the terrorist group Islamic Jihad. You won’t find the word mentioned in connection with Sudan. Human Rights Watch analyzes the Sudanese crisis exclusively in economic and ethnic terms, with no notice of how the murderers themselves have explained what they are doing.So the very people who are supposed to tell us the truth — that the UN is broken, and no longer truly stands for human rights — can’t or won’t do so. Why? Are they so trapped in their old illusions about how the world works, and how to make peace, that they are in denial about the harsh realities of the post-9/11 landscape? It seems so.The victims are the blacks of Darfur and southern Sudan, who continue to be murdered and enslaved by Islamic Arab fundamentalists. The jihadists operate with impunity before a world that doesn’t dare give a name to the crime they are committing. How many more deaths will be needed before Annan and the human rights establishment admit the truth?
Neo-Nazis Rampage In Germany On Day Of KristallnachtGerman neo-Nazi wearing Palestinian kaffiyehWhat is Kristallnacht? It was the night in 1938 (actually it was two nights) when the anti-Semitic forces Hitler had been stirring finally broke completely free. Germans ransacked Jewish homes in a murderous pillaging spree that crossed the country.
Well,
German neo-Nazis celebrated Kristalnacht the other night with a rampage of their own:
CNN: BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) -- German neo-Nazis, some shouting "Sieg Heil," rampaged in the eastern city of Frankfurt on Oder and destroyed wreaths placed to mark the anniversary of the 1938 Nazi pogrom against the Jews, police said on Friday.A police spokeswoman said the group had launched an attack on Thursday evening, shortly after a memorial service by community and Jewish leaders at a monument where a synagogue once stood.She said the neo-Nazis trampled floral wreaths placed at a memorial stone to the synagogue in the Polish border city that was destroyed 68 years ago in the Nazis' Kristallnacht or "Night of Broken Glass." Neo-Nazis attack Jewish memorialCNN: MUNICH, Germany (AP) -- Nearly 70 years after Adolf Hitler declared Munich's main synagogue an "eyesore" in the center of his power base and personally ordered it torn down, the city's Jews are celebrating a return to the heart of the southern German city.On Thursday, the 68th anniversary of Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, Torah 
scrolls were marched with fanfare through the winding, cobblestone streets of downtown Munich to a newly built synagogue in the heart of the city. After 68-year wait, a new synagogue for MunichNPD darf ihren Parteitag in Berlin abhalten: Gericht macht Weg freiEverything old is new again, huh?
By the way, what do you think of the fact that the German neo-Nazis are now donning Palestinians Kaffiyehs?
Why not,
Hitler colluded with the Arabs to kill Jews, so why shouldn't his spawn do the same?
Who Is Important To You?From Eyes All Around:
The following is the philosophy of Charles Schultz, the creator of the "Peanuts" comic strip. You don't have to actually answer the questions. Just read straight through, and you'll get the point.
1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America.
4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winner for best actor and actress.
6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners. How did you do?
The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners .
Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one:
1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with . Easier?
The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care ..
As Big As LoveLyrics from a song by a songwriter named
Mark Davis:
I'm thinking about the big worldIt's shape leaves a shadow on my brainA big shadow of a place that I can not understandWith its promises of pleasure and painShall I run, shall I moveShall I watch it all from hereShall I laugh at myself for cryingShall I listen to the lips whispering in my earNo shadow is as big as loveA child threw a smile in my directionIt conjured up a picture in my brainOf a flame that never diesA fire that only burnsThe big prison doors that jail my innocenceShall I knock, shall I digShall I start a fire in here?Shall I laugh at myself for tryingJust listen to the lips whispering in my earNo prison is as big as loveNo doubt, no painNo shadow on my brainNo distance is as big as loveNot as big as this
Becoming Cyborgs One Organ At A TimeFrom the great blog, Al Fin:
One of the most important steps in becoming a cyborg is developing a stable, working interface between electronic devices and nerve tissue. Nanotechnology has produced the nanotube, which not only serves as a scaffolding for the re-growth of damaged nerve tissue--nanotubes can also serve as interfaces between electronic chips and nerves.Writing today in Advanced Materials, Nicholas Kotov of the University of Michigan and colleagues describe how they have used hollow, submicroscopic strands of carbon, carbon nanotubes, to connect an integrated circuit to nerve cells. The new technology offers the possibility of building an interface between biology and electronics.Kotov and colleagues at Oklahoma State University and the University of Texas Medical Branch have explored the properties of single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) with a view to developing these materials as biologically compatible components of medical devices, sensors, and prosthetics. SWNTs are formed from carbon atoms by various techniques including deposition and resemble a rolled up sheet of chicken wire, but on a tiny scale. They are usually just a few nanometers across and up to several micrometers in length.The researchers built up layers of their SWNTs to produce a film that is electrically conducting even at a thickness of just a few nanometers. They next grew neuron precursor cells on this film. These precursor cells successfully differentiated into highly branched neurons.A voltage could then be applied, lateral to the SWNT film layer, and a so-called whole cell patch clamp used to measure any electrical effect on the nerve cells. When a lateral voltage is applied, a relatively large current is carried along the surface but only a very small current, in the region of billionths of an amp, is passed across the film to the nerve cells. The net effect is a kind of reverse amplification of the applied voltage that stimulates the nerve cells without damaging them.High quality, low cost single-wall (SWCNT) & multi-walled (MWCNTs) Kotov and his colleagues report that such devices might find use in pain management, for instance, where nerve cells involved in the pain response might be controlled by reducing the activity of those cells. An analogous device might be used conversely to stimulate failed motor neurons, nerve cells that control muscle contraction. The researchers also suggest that stimulation could be applied to heart muscle cells to stimulate the heart. Source.In addition to neural-electronic interfaces, good cyborgs should also have a good supply of artificial organs, such as kidneys. Cyborgs, like conventional humans, may be injured, and will need replacement parts.To make bioartificial kidneys, scientists grow cells harvested from donor kidneys not suitable for transplant and then insert them into a specially developed filter tube. Because the finished product contains live cells, it is treated like an organ for transplant, flown to the receiving hospital by helicopter in a temperature-controlled case. Humes founded a company, now known as RenaMed, to commercialize the device, which has not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.Early clinical trials of the device show that it can dramatically improve the health of patients with acute renal failure. According to the results of a trial released last year, patients treated with the device showed a 70 percent improved survival rate 28 days after treatment. (Scientists at RenaMed are currently analyzing interim results from a subsequent trial.)However, the devices used in these trials were made with a manufacturing process that is only appropriate for growing small batches of cells. To run the larger clinical trials required for approval by the FDA and to supply needy patients if the device is approved, RenaMed will need to find a way to make and deliver the device on a much larger scale.Source.Humans evolved over billions of years. Now that human medicine influences human evolution, humans may be close to a dead end of sorts. Cyborgs--part human, part machine--will be one way out of the rut in the short term. Genetic engineering of germ tissue will be another way humans will jump-start evolution. A combination of both approaches is most likely in the intermediate term.In other words, advances in medicine have almost completely obliterated the process of natural selection. So now, prehaps, we can begin to aid the process of natural selection within the human species through genetic experimentation on the human body.
It shall be interesting.
France Says
They Were
Seconds Away
From Firing
On Israeli Jets
"Zis is true, we were just seconds away from surrendering."Laugh out loud. Can you imagine what would have happened if they had?
PARIS (Reuters) - French peacekeeping troops in Lebanon recently came within two seconds of firing missiles at Israeli fighter jets that approached as if to attack them, French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said. Speaking to the lower house of parliament on Wednesday night, she said it was the latest in a string of incidents in which Israeli warplanes had "adopted a hostile attitude" to French and German forces and added it was "not tolerable". "A catastrophe was narrowly avoided by our troops," Alliot-Marie said, according to a transcript of her comments. A foreign ministry spokesman said the events occurred on October 31. Israeli F-15s descended rapidly and then rose quickly as if they were dropping bombs or firing at the French ground forces, which are part of U.N. peacekeeping force UNIFIL, she said. "In legitimate defense, our soldiers removed the covers from the missile battery and were two seconds away from firing at the planes that were threatening them," she said. Israeli jets have often flown over Lebanon since a 34-day war with Hezbollah guerrillas ended on August 14. Israeli ambassador Daniel Shek said the flights were reconnaissance operations designed to counter Hezbollah efforts to rearm and re-establish itself in southern Lebanon and he denied the jets had deliberately targeted French troops.Question, hasn't France been just seconds away from firing on every one of their enemies for the past 70 or so years?
But seriously folks, Israel has to fun these reconannaissance missions because France, who brokered the peace agreement calling for French and Lebanese troops to act as peacekeepers and to disarm Hizbollah, has made it clear that
they will not, in fact, disarm Hizbollah.
Additionally, the French-led UN peacekeeping troops have admitted that
they are afraid to actually do their job during the nightime:
Hizbullah terrorists are free to roam at night without fear of being identified by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), according to a report by the German paper Der Spiegel.Spanish UNIFIL official Richard Ortax admitted to the paper that no patrols are carried out at night “because of the danger involved.” UNIFIL commanders said their function is to “observe changes in the behavior of the local population.”One junior officer told Der Spiegel he was glad that his battalion had only left its camp once. “It’s absurd,” he said. “We landed here and set up our tent city, but since then we’ve only left the camp to drive around and to make sure that we’re seen.”The report cites a long tradition of UNIFIL inaction, which it says allowed time for a Finnish contingent to construct a giant sauna and an Indian contingent to decorate its base with traditional Indian artwork.UPDATE: While we're bashing the French,
this is laugh out loud funny.
The Voices Of The MartyrsThe Islamofascists are setting goals in Indonesia.
They want 100 Christian heads:
Beheaded girls were Ramadan 'trophies' The Australian
THREE Christian high school girls were beheaded as a Ramadan "trophy" by Indonesian militants who conceived the idea after a visit to Philippines jihadists, a court heard yesterday.
The girls' severed heads were dumped in plastic bags in their village in Indonesia's strife-torn Central Sulawesi province, along with a handwritten note threatening more such attacks.
The note read: "Wanted: 100 more Christian heads, teenaged or adult, male or female; blood shall be answered with blood, soul with soul, head with head."
In Iraq,
they are beheading Priests, raping women, and crucifying Christian children:
Wenski noted that “the recent beheading of a Syriac Orthodox priest in Mosul, the crucifixion of a Christian teenager in Albasra, the frequent kidnappings for ransom of Christians including four priests--one of whom was the secretary of Patriarch Delly, the rape of Christian women and teenage girls, and the bombings of churches are all indicators that the situation has reached a crisis point. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees estimates that approximately 44% of Iraqi refugees are Christian, even though they represent only about 4% of the total population of Iraq.”Christians continue to decline from a pre-war population of over 1.2 million to a current estimate of about 600,000.But,
wherever three or four are gathered in His Name, there He will be:
A veteran of more than 100 missions into North Korea to provide ministry to Christians and non-Christians alike says the first thing to do in any meeting there is to close and cover all the windows and send the children outside. The description of the persecution under which North Korean Christians suffer comes from "Roli," whose story was reported by The Voice of the Martyrs, a worldwide ministry that directs its aid to members of the persecuted Christian church. That organization earlier reported on the faith of a teen-ager who was caught teaching about Christ, and died in a North Korean prison camp to leave behind a witness that continues there even today. It also reported on the stunning change in a prison warden who watched that teen's final days and sought out what made the teen strong. "When we gather together we close all of the windows and all of the blinds," Roli described. "We don't have curtains over there but somehow we cover up the windows and we send all of the children outside. You cannot gather with many people … maybe three or four. "We pray together, we sing praises, and then we read John 3:16-18. We also read I Corinthians 1:18-26. We talk from Genesis. We say that man was created from dust, so we have to believe in Jesus to go to heaven." The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom repeatedly has recommended that the U.S. Department of State list North Korea among its "countries of particular concern" for its "egregious and systematic human rights violations" including policies that disallow any Christian faith. There are estimates of tens thousands of Christians detained in prison camps just for their faith. Sometimes entire families are imprisoned because of a statement from just one member, reports said. Roli knows the risks are high: four of her Christian friends so far have been executed because of their witness. She was arrested herself, and has spent time in those prison camps. "I once gave one Bible to four people," she said. "Later, while I was in prison one of the four came in and said, 'You are giving out Bibles.' I told them, 'Yes, I am a believer. I brought this book so we could read it together.'" But those questioning her thought she was a foreign spy, and demanded that she say the Lord's Prayer to prove her identity. "I did a lot of stuttering," Roli said. "I made a lot of mistakes. I was a little nervous." But four days later, she was released with a warning not to come back. "When I first started this work I was nervous and I would be afraid and when I came back I would say, 'This is dangerous work' and 'I am not going to do it anymore.' But when I think of the people in North Korea I change my mind and I decide to go back again," she said. Roli's trips into North Korea, where she's developed an extensive network of house meeting locations, have shown her that no level of repression will kill the Christian spirit. "People are less afraid. (Christians) are becoming bolder to share the gospel. They know Kim Il Sung is not the one that has saved them and not the one who is feeding them. They are starting to believe in God. Many people are coming to faith." She would love to talk to the children, too, but cannot, yet. Before sharing any witness in a home she insists the children are sent outside. "A slip of the tongue at school, and children could accidentally inform on their own parents," the report said. "The parents could be arrested, or worse. Parents consider very carefully when their children can be trusted to know that their parents are Christians, traitorous outlaws in the eyes of their government." Voices Of The Martyrs is an organization which sends Christian Missionaries into countries like Iraq and North Korea.
You can sign up to receive the free Voices of the Martyrs newsletter by clicking here.
Sometimes You Just Gotta Love Your Enemies:Recent Statements From Top Hamas LeadersThe media, and
sometimes our politicians, are always telling us Hamas has turned over a new leaf, that they are growing in power, that they are willing to negotiate, that they do not really want to destroy Israel even if
that is what their Charter says.
But,
the thing about Hamas is they always tell you the truth if you are willing to listen:
In the nine months since it came to power, and despite the PLO's demands, Hamas has not changed its views: It refuses to recognize Israel or acknowledge its legitimacy, insists that previous Israeli-Palestinian peace agreements will be recognized only if they serve Palestinian interests, continues to lay claim to all of Palestine, and, in exchange for the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, offers only a temporary hudna (ceasefire). In addition, Hamas continues to express reservations about the Arab peace initiative of 2002, and to support resistance, jihad, and abduction of Israeli soldiers. TO VIEW CLIPS FROM THE MEMRI TV PROJECTON HAMAS, SEE:http://memritv.org/Search.asp?ACT=S5&P1=157 .The following are statements made by Hamas leaders in the last two months:Rejection of Israel and Its Legitimacy
In an interview, Palestinian Political Bureau head Khaled Mash'al told the daily Al-Hayat: "Why am I required to [recognize] the legitimacy of an occupying [entity] that is sitting on my land when there are millions of Palestinians who come from the land on which this entity is sitting? It is true that there is an entity called Israel, but I do not wish to recognize it." [1]At an October 20, 2006 Hamas convention in Khan Yunis, Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Al-Zahar stated that "Israel is a vile entity that has been planted in our soil, and has no historical, religious or cultural legitimacy. We cannot normalize our relations with this entity. The history of this region has proven [time and again] that occupation is temporary. Thousands of years ago, the Romans occupied this land and [eventually] left. The Persians, Crusaders, and English [also] came and went. The Zionists have come, and they too will leave. [We say] no to recognizing Israel, regardless of the price we may have to pay [for our refusal]." [2]In a sermon in Khan Yunis, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya said: "Israel wants Hamas to hand it the card of recognition in the hope that this would lead to recognition by other Muslim countries. Israel may have been recognized by part of the Palestinian people and by some Arab countries. However, it [now] wants something more significant - the [trump] card of Islamic recognition - and it wants to obtain this recognition through the Palestinian government and Hamas..." [3]Palestine From the River to the Sea
On the issue of a Palestinian state, Khaled Mash'al said: "The [Hamas] movement has agreed to [the establishment of a Palestinian] state within the 1967 borders and to a hudna… As a Palestinian, I am interested in a Palestinian state and I am not interested in the occupying state. Why do people require the Palestinians [to accept] the existence of two states as one of their principles and goals? The Zionist state exists. I [wish to] speak of my Palestinian state that does not exist. I am the one that has been denied [the right to] a state, to sovereignty, to independence, to liberty, and to self-determination. Therefore, my main [goal] is to focus on obtaining my rights. I wish to establish my state." [4]Mahmoud Al-Zahar said: "We [aim to liberate] all our lands… If we have the option, we will establish a state on every inch of land within the 1967 [borders], but this does not by any means imply that we will relinquish our right to all the Palestinian lands. We want all of Palestine from [Ras] Naqura to Rafah, and from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river." [5]Does that sound like a government which is willing to compromise for peace?
Like I always say, you just gotta love your enemies, when they tell the truth. Thanks Hamas.
World's Media Said Israel Used "Uranium-Based Munitions"Oh, What Do You Know? It Wasn't TrueThe London Independent and papers around the world published
articles indicating that Israel had used some sort of vague uranium-based weapon in the Hizbollah War. I refrained from writing on the subject, not because I believed Israel had done something downright evil, but because I thought that there was an outside chance that they had chosen to use uranium-tipped bunker-busting munitions.
I figured I'd let the truth come out and then write about it.
Wise choice.
The UN says it found no evidence of uranium-based munitions in Lebanon.
And yet, the world's media ran with the story, as I said, implying that some vague form of uranium-based weapon had been used. This, of course, left open the possibilty that Israel may have used a nuclear device. Major newspaper, such as the London Independent, did not refrain from publishing such crap about Israel.
Take that into consideration when you read the post directly below this post.
Pro-Terror Muslim Judge Elected In Dearborn, MIDebbie Schlussel has the story:
Open Hezbollah supporter and extremist Muslim, David Turfe, was unfortunately elected a Michigan District Court Judge in Dearborn Heights 20th District. (Dearborn Heights is home to North America's second largest mosque, headed by the former spiritual leader of Ayatollah Khomeini's Iranian Navy,
Imam Mohammed Elahi--a domestic agent of Iran & Hezbollah.)
Remember the
Hezbollah rally I attended at the Bint Jebail Cultural Center a/k/a the Hezbollah Social Club, at the height of the war between Hezbollah and Israel--where speakers made a plethora of anti-American, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian speeches? Turfe was there campaigning, and openly supporting and cheering all of those statements. Not surprisingly, the Pro-Hezbollah/pro-HAMAS Arab American PAC, which denies Israel's right to exist,
endorsed Turfe. (AAPAC's then-Secretary Lola Elzein
sent me and my family death, torture, and rape threats, coupled with Holocaust denial.)
And
his close relative, Mohammed Turfe (I'm told that's his brother), was one of the speakers uttering those statements. From my July 26, 2006 column, "
Hezbollah U.S.A, Part III: My Date at Dearbornistan's Hezbollah Social Club":
Haj Mohammed Turfe (AP incorrectly called him Mohammed "Torfah"), Founding Chairman of the Bint Jebail Cultural Center, gleefully and repeatedly spoke of how "only a few thousand Jews will survive Armageddon." This mantra, repeated often throughout the event, got raucous, deafening applause and cheers. The 20th District of Michigan is now apparently Hezbollah-occupied territory.
Sow The Wind ...... reap the whirlwind.
The Republicans were so pleased with themselves impeaching President Clinton for lying about a private sexual matter.
Well, Nancy Pelosi is gonna screw the Repubs now, but it ain't gonna be in the mouth:
In an interview with The Washington Post last week, Pelosi said a Democratic-controlled House would launch investigations of the administration on energy policy and other matters. She said impeachment would not be a goal of the investigations, but she added: "You never know where it leads to."Unfortunately, we the people have created our government such that, now, contesting elections and impeaching Presidents is the norm.
This is self-flogging, and it is pathetic.
In order for a Democracy to work, we have to have faith in each other, even when we disagree.
Hamas Says Truce Is OverSomething went terribly wrong in Gaza yesterday. Israeli tank shells hit an apartment building, killing 18 people.
Hamas has responded by declaring their "truce" to be over:
BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip - Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal says that a truce with Israel is finished and is appealing to all Palestinian factions to resume attacks. Israeli tank shells ripped through a residential neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip early Wednesday, killing at least 18 members of an extended family, including eight children, and wounding dozens of others, Palestinian health officials said. "There must be a roaring reaction so that we avenge all those vicitms," Mashaal said.The military wing of the Palestinians' ruling group called on Muslims around the world to attack U.S. targets, a call disavowed by the Hamas-led Palestinian government.Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed regret over the deaths and, along with Defense Minister Amir Peretz, offered "urgent humanitarian aid" to the Palestinian Authority and immediate medical treatment to the wounded.Israel halted artillery attacks in Gaza while it investigated the incident, but said it would press forward with operations meant to halt Palestinian rocket fire on Israeli communities.Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh suspended talks on forming a more moderate government with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and both men declared a three-day mourning period. Abbas said the negotiations must continue.
Russia and the European Union condemned the attack.The tank shells landed around a compound of four apartment buildings in Beit Hanoun, the northern border town that has been the latest focus of the Israeli offensive. Gaping holes were torn into the structures, owned by four brothers from the al-Athamna family who lived alongside each other. Blood pooled in front of the houses.A military spokeswoman said artillery rounds had been fired at Palestinian rocket-launching sites, but far from the apartment compound.Lord knows what is going on here. This Associated Press story makes it sound as if the IDF claims they fired at rocket-launching sites, but mysteriously missed by a mile.
Hamas' truce has never really been a truce. Israeli has lived under a constant barrage of Qassam rocket attacks. (That's the reason Israel's tanks were in Gaza in the first place.) Still, the fact that they are declaring the truce over could mean that we are in for some very bad weather.
LA Times Publishes Terrorist Propaganda Touting Female Suicide BomberThis post was lifted in total from my blogfather, Charles Johnson, at Little Green Footballs.
I just don't have anything to add or subtract from this:
The Los Angeles Times is absolutely despicable this morning, in a piece shilling for the female Islamic Jihad suicide bomber who killed herself yesterday trying to murder Israelis. It’s no coincidence that pieces like this, adopting the language of terrorists to describe their heinous acts, always seem to be written by Arab journalists; this one is credited to Richard Boudreaux and Rushdi abu Alouf:
Female suicide bomber in Gaza attacks Israeli troops.
GAZA CITY — An 18-year-old Palestinian woman strode defiantly toward an Israeli army checkpoint and blew herself up Monday, slightly wounding a soldier in the latest act of resistance among women to the occupation of the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun.American media relies on terrorist propagandists for their news reports from the Middle East, and unsurprisingly, they churn out terrorist propaganda, debasing the English language and whitewashing evil deeds. It’s shameful, and it’s a huge problem.
WomanOften, us older people (I'm in my forties) will lament the idea that there is no good music these days. I never buy that idea. It's just an expression of frustration. When you get older, you don't have as much time to dig up the good stuff. You see and hear the crap that is on the video shows, and on the radio, and you become convinced that everything sucks.
A thing to note is, Led Zeppelin was NEVER on TV. David Bowie was rarely on TV. The Stones were on TV maybe twice. And, the radio pretty much played crap back in the seventies, just as the radio pretty much plays crap now.
Here's a modern band that kicks ass; Wolfmother.
Blue OrchidHere's yet another band that totally kicks ass; The White Stripes.
Democracy Is A Thing Not Seen: The Left Prepares Its ExcusesJust in case they lose tomorrow, the Left is at the ready with a good excuse (
from the San Francisco Chronicl interview with Nancy Pelosi):
Pelosi cautioned that the number of Democratic House victories could be higher or lower and said her greatest concern is over the integrity of the count -- from the reliability of electronic voting machines to her worries that Republicans will try to manipulate the outcome.
"That is the only variable in this," Pelosi said. "Will we have an honest count?''Michael Graham points out that this mindset has caught fire across the United States:
"Either WE Win Or YOU Cheated"
That's liberal Robert Kuttner's claim in today's Boston Globe-Democrat, offered without irony (Democrats are, after all, the "vote early and often" party)."[U]nless there are levels of theft and fraud that would truly mean the end of American democracy, a Democratic House seems as close to a sure thing as we ever get in American politics three days before an election... November 2006 will be remembered either as the time American democracy was stolen again, maybe forever, or began a brighter day. "Last week, Democrats were complaining that black voters weren't going to turn out because they're assuming the elections are rigged, anyway. Now the dopes at the NYTimes-Boston Bureau tell them they're probably right. Brilliant.I am trying to figure out what is more breath-taking--Kuttner's arrogance ("Of course we've already won this election! We shouldn't even allow the actual voting, that can only screw things up.") or his unfounded insults against his political opponents ("the only way the GOP--who've won 7 of the last 10 presidential elections--can win is by cheating!")The integrity of an electoral system is always open to question; endless questions. However, somehow we got through over 220 years of Democracy by trusting in the Democratic process. What happens when we lose that trust?
Gates of Vienna discusses the new direction it appears American Democracy is taking:
Blame it on Diebold
Do you all remember the aftermath of the 2000 election? Five years ago, after the Great Hanging Chad Crisis in Florida, Diebold and the magic of technology were going to save the American electoral system. Well, that was then, and this is now.
It seems there’s a bipartisan effort being mobilized to demonize the Diebold company and its electronic voting machines. The conspiracy-mongers are more numerous and more wild-eyed on the Democrat side, but both parties are definitely contributing to the mania.My good friend Wally Ballou emailed me this morning:
Have you noticed that the left is busy preparing its excuse/legal strategy in case they don’t win big Tuesday? The new villain is the Diebold voting machine company, which is “known” to be dominated by “religious right-wing wackos”, and which already electronically stole the vote in Ohio and Florida in 2004.Look for this news to bubble up on November 6, regardless of the outcome, but especially if they don’t take the House.Try Googling “diebold” and see what comes up. Better yet, “diebold republican” or “diebold conspiracy”HBO got their licks in with a breathless documentary called “Hacking Democracy”.It’s all part of the movement to permanently subordinate election results to the review and decision of the courts. How’s that for democracy?And it all started because of the dimples and hanging chads in 2000. Congress decided to federalize all electoral procedures and mandate electronic voting. Seemed like a good idea at the time (to them). Now all the dems who voted for it are calling it a plot (hey, just like the war).- - - - - - - - - -I took Wally’s advice and did some Googling, and, boy, is he right! You can Google just on “diebold”, and then scroll and click for the rest of your life, browsing through all the moonbat sites.Just to pick one example, you can visit Rolling Stone and read Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s article,
“Will The Next Election Be Hacked?”.
Want to guess what his answer is?
Go read the rest at Gates of Vienna.
Here's a quote from the philosopher, Friedrich Niezsche:
"Where has Democracy gone?" he cried. "I shall tell you. We have killed it - you and I. We are the murderers. But how have we done this? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What did we do when we unchained the earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving now? Away from all suns? Are we not perpetually falling? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there any up or down left? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is it not more and more night coming on all the time? Democracy is dead. And we have killed it.
Of course, I changed a few words, but the idea is the same. Nietzsche declared God dead back in the 1880's and pondered what would be the implications for society. When a people loses faith in its institutions, the institutions become delegitimized, and the bottom falls out from what had previously been a functioning system. If society loses faith in religion, then people stop going to church and believing in the things taught in churches. If society loses faith in the stock market, people pull their money out of the market and it collapses. If society stops believing in the electoral process, then Democracy will collapse.
Our institutions stand because of our collective faith in them.
I leave you with a couple quotes from the Bible:
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12).Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. (Hebrews 11:1-3)
As For Me, I'll Stand With Those Who Are Stupider Than John KerryJohn Kerry's statement of last week reveals a worldview.
The great Reliapundit, the Astute Blogger himself, shows us exactly what this worldview means in practical reality:
Kerry's derogatory comment about the brave and enormously talented people who serve in our military was really just the tip of the iceberg. Leftists like Kerry really believe that they are smarter than the rest of us. Here's a short list:* Leftists believe that folks who believe in God are stupid.* Leftists believe that folks who support the Second Amendment and their innate right to self-defense are stupid.* Leftists believe that folks who think that global warming is not man-made, but natural and historically periodic are stupid.* Leftists believe that folks who believe that the West is threatened more by jihadism than by Bush are stupid.* Leftists believe that people who think they know better how to spend their own money than bureaucrats and technocrats in Washington DC are stupid.* Leftists believe that people who live in rural areas are stupid.* Leftists believe that people who like American culture more than "European" culture are stupid.* Leftists believe that people who prefer watching Fox and don't swear by the NYTIMES are stupid.Well... I KNOW people in the military: they are GREAT.And I know that if blacks were armed after the US Civil War that none would've been lynched.And, I know that Earth has warmed and cooled many times - during eras which had NO man-made "greenhouse" gases, and that so-called greenhouses gases have risen steadily since 1850 but that global temps have NOT, (which is dispositive of a man-made cause for the current trend).Go read the rest. It's a classic.
Top Twenty Guitar Solos Of All Time?I love stuff like this, if only because it's a good jumping off point for lots of fun arguments:
Top 20 Guitar Solos of All Time
Compiled by listeners of the British radio station Planet Rock. From correspondents in LondonAugust 28, 2006 01:33pm
Top 20 1 Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
2 Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine
3 Lynyrd Skynyrd - Freebird
4 Van Halen - Eruption
5 Guns N' Roses - November Rain
6 Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven
7 Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing
8 Jethro Tull - Aqualung
9 The Eagles - Hotel California
10 Deep Purple - Child In Time
11 Queen - Brighton Rock
12 Jimi Hendrix - All Along The Watchtower
13 Deep Purple - Highway Star
14 Wishbone Ash - Throw Down The Sword
15 Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears
16 Cream - Crossroads
17 Guns N' Roses - Paradise City
18 Led Zeppelin - Since I've Been Loving You
19 Ten Years After - I'm Going Home (Woodstock)
20 Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Chile
David Gilmour and Mark Knopfler are my favorite Rock n' Roll guitarists, but it's just not right to not give best solo of all time to the mighty Jimmy Page. The Stairway to Heaven solo is amazing, and so is his work on Since I've Been Loving You. And now that I think about it, what about Achilles Last Stand, or Dazed and Confused?
The dude rocked.
:)
Some great Rock n' Roll guitarists who aren't mentioned on this list include Stevie Ray Vaughn, Rick Derringer, Robin Trower, Rory Gallagher, Marc Ford (Black Crowes), Steve Stevens (Billy Idol), Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), Steven Stills, Paul Bogan, Frank Zappa, John McLaughlin (Mahavishnu Orchestra), Jerry Garcia, Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp, Carlos Alomar, etc. etc. etc.
Santiago And The Moors Are At It AgainFrom my good friend Blueslord, at Toasted Bread:
There is a very important legend in Spanish Medieval History related to Santiago Matamoros (Santiago Kill-the-Moors). In the battle of Clavijo, it is said to have appeared and have helped the Christian Castillians against the Muslims to achieve victory. Since then, a lot of Spanish Catholic churches have contained portraits or sculptures of the Saint riding a horse and with a sword in his right hand, in a not very multicultural way. Santiago is also the Spanish Patron.
So the Islamist threats have ended calling for the dissapearance of these traditional Spanish figures. Last one has been the portrait in the
Chruch at Ortexa (found at
Al otro lado de la Galaxia).
The neighbours at Ortexa are totally opposed to a possible displacement of the image that the Church of San Jaime has in its altar, a Santiago Apostle, as asked by a alleged Muslim citizen in a letter sent to the Major, Vicente Llinares Sellés.In that letter, signed by Hasán Alí ben Zayyán ben Ibrahim and received by the Major’s office last Monday, the portrait is considered as “offensive to Islam” because the Saint is on horseback and over a Muslim. “That image is not favouring the dialogue between us, the believers of the sacred religion preeched by Mohammed and you, the believers of Jesus, who is also considered by us as a great profet, the second after Mohammed” the letter says.That is why he asks for the image “to be put away from the altar and changed for other more respectful”. If that’s not accomplished, the sender says “we will think it is a direct attack to Islam similar to the irreverent cartoons that the anti-Muslim Infidels made of our Saint Profet. Just reflect over all this“, it continues.But the Major does not fear these menaces, and has diminish the importance of it, considering that it is not very serious. The Socialist Vicente Llinares considers that is a consequence of the polemic that surrounds the Moors and Christians’ holidays, whose elimination has been demanded by some Muslim representative.“I do not see anything offensive in the image of Santiago Apostle, an sculpture that has been here, between us, all our lives. If it would be my own decision I would never take it off. A lot of other villages have similar images“, he says. “In fact, the Church of the near-by village of Relleu, has the same image. But the decision depends of the Bishop, as the Major says. Yesterday he did not make any statement on the issue.But the menaces and demands of Hasán Alí ben Zayyán ben Ibrahim have provoked a deep bad feeling in the neighbours if this little village of the Marina Baixa. “This image has been in this church all our lives, When we were born, it was there. We do not like that someone coming from abroad tells us what to do. We would not like it to be taken away“, they say.With only 800 inhabitants and a great number of foreign people, Ortexa is a very quiet village where “people from here with foreign one, and there is no racism nor xenophobia. We all respect and love our Catholic Priest, Juan, who comes from Ruanda. This is a good proof of what we say”, they continue.A little over a month back there was
a story out of Spain that Spaniards were putting a stop to the traditional celebration of the Reconquista (the expulsion of the Muslims from Spain in 1492) in which villages across Spain would burn Mohammed in effigy.
Clearly, many Spaniards are willing to forget their history and let the Moors take over again. Where is the spirit of Santiago?
Or, We
Could Spend
A Romantic
Weekend In
The South Of FranceI'm gonna outright
steal a post from my friend Pamela, at Atlas Shrugs. I don't think she'll mind, because I know that, like me, she only wants to make sure the word gets out on stuff like this:
A reader of mine has family in France. He previously wrote of his worry concerning his niece in Marseille and I posted about it in the comments section on the
VIOLENCE IN FRANCE thread here (emphasis mine);
Pamela, I follow the situation in France with personal interest and I thank you for covering it. I have a niece who lives in Marseille who has been beaten and robbed by "youths" twice, the last time when she was 7 months pregnant with twins. The French media couldn't care less about the daily stories of horror. The "youths" were yelling "Juif" at her and her mother, who they also attacked. All you have to do is "look" Jewish. My family there are of Corsican descent and are Catholic. Of course the gangs have weapons that the law abiding citizens are forbidden to possess.The upshot is my niece can no longer venture out without adult male escort because lone women are targets throughout Marseille. She insists she will never leave. The Marseille French are some damn stubborn m*****f*****s. My blood boils. Today he wrote me again with this most distrubing email. Most disturbing.
Pamela, this is just another heads-up about what's going on in the south of France. I wrote to you a while back about my niece in Marseille. "Incidental evidence," as some apoligetic schmuck on the comment board termed it, after you posted my letter there. What follows here is the lastest "incident" to my isolated family in that huge city. Go figure the statistical odds that such "incidents" keep happening to one family. Yes, that's sarcasm. My niece had just this day taken off for a short vacation with her two women friends to Venice. They took the train from Marseille to Nice, and were about to leave there for Venice. Kevin is her oldest son (he's 12) ... My niece's English is very French, but I'm sure you'll get it ...The translation from French was a bit awkward so I tweaked just a bit (grammatical);
This morning I am not well in my heart: Kevin is in a hospital because he beat 2 Arabic hooligans only to defend oneself because these hooligans wanted to steal his personal stereo. But Kevin is very tall and he practices judo so can defend himself very well, his father wasn't with him but in a shop not far but when he left the shop he made a rush to defend his son ( if someone touch his son....... He's a very calm man but he loves loves very much his children.) Me, I was on the train when I had a call to my house to say that I would be very well to speak with my children..... And my mother have explained it to me.... ( when I set off , I phone for my childrens every days ) when I am arrive in Nice : I have take a taxi for to come back towards my son ( here is the mother that I am ) I was sad to leave my friends but I AM A MOTHER AND IN MY HEART MY CHILDRENS ARE THE MOST ( OR MORE ?) IMPORTANT. My friends have understood very very well because they are mothers too..... I was worried about Kevin ( Laure took me in her arms before that I take the taxi because she would want a smile on my lips but it was impossible for me : only my son was important at this present moment ).
I am arrive in Marseille 3 hours later and I am go immediatly in the hospital to see my son. I had so much harm in my heart. When I saw Kevin: I have seen in his eyes he was happy for me to be near of him. I stayed with him all the night, my mother arrived this morning because I had again my suitcase with me !!!! Now I have take a shower, change of my clothes and I go in the police station for to lodge a complaint against this two hooligan and ARABIC !!! ( a lot of pople have called the Police and I have a lots of witness who have accepted to testify against thes2 Arabics !! If I have a gun at this present moment: my hate: I shoot without jur ( or demand or warning ?) sorry Bill but it's MY SON !! But in France it's interdict : if you have a gun in the street : you can be under arrest and to go in prison !! If you have a authorization for a gun : you must leave it in your house ONLY !!!. Kevin returned home today and I must be with him. He is my heart Bill !! but all the mothers are the same !!! You understand better now the word "heart" in French ??? Without explanation......This is what the French are living with. This is anti-civilization. It's tribal It's savage.
"I Have No Choice But To Advocate That My Party Be Kept From Getting Its Hands On the Reins Of National Power"As a former Democrat, I really relate to this article from the Science Fiction writer,
Orson Scott Card:
There is only one issue in this election that will matter five or ten years from now, and that's the War on Terror. And the success of the War on Terror now teeters on the fulcrum of this election. If control of the House passes into Democratic hands, there are enough withdraw-on-a-timetable Democrats in positions of prominence that it will not only seem to be a victory for our enemies, it will be one. Unfortunately, the opposite is not the case -- if the Republican Party remains in control of both houses of Congress there is no guarantee that the outcome of the present war will be favorable for us or anyone else. But at least there will be a chance. I say this as a Democrat, for whom the Republican domination of government threatens many values that I hold to be important to America's role as a light among nations. But there are no values that matter to me that will not be gravely endangered if we lose this war. And since the Democratic Party seems hellbent on losing it -- and in the most damaging possible way -- I have no choice but to advocate that my party be kept from getting its hands on the reins of national power, until it proves itself once again to be capable of recognizing our core national interests instead of its own temporary partisan advantages. To all intents and purposes, when the Democratic Party jettisoned Joseph Lieberman over the issue of his support of this war, they kicked me out as well. The party of Harry Truman and Daniel Patrick Moynihan -- the party I joined back in the 1970s -- is dead. Of suicide. The Democratic Party lost me in 2004 when they nominated John Kerry to run for President. John Kerry is a joke of a human being. He does not stand seriously for anything. And, the Democratic Party, ever since, has fought against Bush rather than fighting by advocating any specific policies.There is more.
Go read it, for it is good.
"Moderate" Muslims Close Ranks Around Aussie Imam Who Said Women Invite Rape And Should Be Jailed For Being RapedI have been repeating the following sentence, incessantly, over the past few months:
There is no Muslim political organization, academic institution, media outlet, or government, of any appreciable size, anywhere in the world, which is moderate.As I always say, I hope that someone can prove me wrong, because the implications of the above sentence are frightening and disgusting to ponder.
Read on now, as a columnist in Australia's largest daily newspaper recounts how what he thought was the community of "moderate" Muslims is now closing ranks around the Aussie Imam who has proclaimed that
women who are raped should be jailed for life.
I really recommend reading this article in total. Don't just skim it. If you give it your time, and understand its implications, it will be among the most important things you will ever read in your life. Hyperbole? No, not at all. And, I will explain why at the end of this post:
Excuses over. The disgraced mufti of Australia set Muslims a test last month and they failed.
That test couldn't have been easier: make Sheik Taj el-Din al-Hilaly pay for preaching that unveiled women invited rape. Prove that Muslims can't be led by a man who says raped women must be "jailed for life". Prove we have nothing to fear from your faith. Simple? Yet yesterday 34 Muslim groups signed a petition backing this bigot, while others plan a big rally for Sydney tomorrow, denouncing not Hilaly but the non-Muslims who criticise him.
The results are in: Islam here -- as represented by many of its leaders -- is now a threat. What's more: our culture of self-hate makes us too weak to properly resist. I know saying such things is hard on the many moderate Muslims I keep insisting are out there. I am sorry for that, but where in God's name are those people? How much longer must we wait for them to speak? For more than 20 years they said nothing as their most prominent imam, in their biggest mosque, damned Jews as perverts, called suicide bombers heroes, praised terror groups, vilified non-Muslims and hailed the September 11 terror attacks on the United States as "God's work against oppressors". They said nothing as he gave the run of his mosque to a pro-bin Laden youth group and hired one of its translators as his spokesman. For years they let this man, their mufti, represent Islam in this country, whose language he never really bothered to learn in nearly 30 years of living here. But I never lost hope, and so for a few days last week thought . . . at last! At last we heard Hilaly being damned by Muslims, too -- by women's groups, a Melbourne University academic and even the Islamic Council of Victoria, which had foolishly helped to make this Egyptian the mufti so no government would dare deport him. At last Muslims were disowning this man. He was disinvited from a Brisbane festival. There was talk of stripping him of his title. The Lebanese Muslim Association, which runs the Lakemba mosque, even debated sacking him as imam, before banning him from preaching for three months. No, this wasn't much, but many in the media grabbed it hungrily. We badly want to find Muslims who'll renounce the values of the hate-preachers, to show that it's not us against Islam.
Mind you, we shouldn't have had to be so pathetically grateful. What sane person could want a woman jailed for being raped? But we should have known already this was a bigger problem than just Hilaly. Last year Lebanese Sheik Faiz Mohammed also gave a speech in Sydney, which said raped women had themselves to blame. And which of the 500 men who heard Hilaly say the same at his sermon complained? Only when it was reported in the English-speaking press did some concede Hilaly had gone too far. Yet even then supporters sent him vanloads of flowers, and when he returned to his mosque last Friday he was greeted "like a rock star", said one paper, by an adoring crowd of 5000. And that criticism of him? It faded away. Now the Lebanese Muslim Association isn't so ashamed of him, after all: "We did accept his apology and we want to move on." The Muslim Women's Association, which first admitted to being "shocked" by Hilaly's sermon, now said he was "very good to all Muslim women". Said founding president Aziz El Saddik: "Those who say bad things about him, they have very bad manners." His sermon on rape was for Muslims only. Not our business. But we can't afford to believe that any more. They weren't Muslim women, after all, who were raped by a Lebanese gang in Sydney, which called them "sluts" and "Aussie pigs". It wasn't a Muslim teenager who was pack-raped in Sydney by Pakistani brothers, whose father told the court: "What do (the victims) expect to happen to them? Girls from Pakistan don't go out at night." When Hilaly preaches excuses for such rapes, that concerns us all. Very much. But it is true that not all those defending Hilaly like what he said. The people behind tomorrow's rally say, rather, that our criticism of him has degenerated into just Muslim-bashing. Yesterday's statement by 34 Muslim groups -- most representing Islamic colleges and students, or the Muslims of tomorrow -- says the same, even as it confirms something far more scary. "We believe that the public scrutiny of this matter should have ended with the sheik's apology," it says. "We believe that the Muslim community should be allowed to deal with the ramifications of the incident without interference from people who only wish to promote hostility and incite hatred towards our community. Finally, we consider this matter to be closed." Closed? In fact, Hilaly has not retracted a word of what he said. If this matter is "closed" then he has won. But what is most frightening is not that he's won, but how. Both this statement and the rally show he's won because even educated Muslims, born right here, think it's better to defend a Muslim bigot than to have him criticised by infidels. It's the code of the tribe: the worst of us is better than the best of you. It's a closed community speaking -- a paranoid one that sees itself at war even with people whose only worry is that their preacher excuses rapists. And menace is in the air. What other congregation at prayer needs to be reminded -- as Hilaly reminded those at his mosque last week -- not to punch people on the way out? Which other rally for a religious leader needs to be warned -- as the NSW Police Minister warned this week -- that police would not tolerate any violence? I'm not surprised one of Hilaly's former advisers, Jamal Rifi, warns that if he hangs on as Lakemba's imam he may trigger "racial tensions, much bigger than what we had over the Cronulla riots". But what are we doing to help Muslims to break from him and leave this cultural ghetto, this encampment, before things get truly ugly? Not enough. For a start, we make too many excuses for the Hilalys, as if they were mere children, or Australia the real villain. How can a culture so sick of itself resist the kind of challenge that Hilaly and his angry supporters represent? How can it inspire young Muslims to side not with him but with us?
I don't know, when we teach the young we are a country of child-stealing, land-raping, Muslim-murdering, Yank-licking, gas-belching vandals. Until that changes, expect the traffic to flow more into Hilaly's ghetto than out of it. Just consider the radical mother of two of the Australian Muslims arrested in Yemen last week on terrorism charges, and accused of ties to al-Qaida -- a so-called former "hippy chick" from Mudgee, who found in Islam what she couldn't in the society that raised her. As I said: Muslims have failed. But so have we all. We now have urgent work to do, if we want to save ourselves from far more strife than we dare yet imagine or say.The reason this article is so important is because the author so clearly explains why we can not live with Muslims who believe such things.
So, what is the answer then? What do we do? Do we help them to change?
Nightime In FranceNo Pasaran is reporting
there is a news blackout with regards to the ongoing "youth" riots in France:
The news blackout on French MSM is just about 100% now. Nevertheless, here is the urban guerilla activity for the evening/night of 31 October:Clichy-sous-Bois: 2 faux-journalists from France2 attacked and injured (payback for their phoney al-Durah shit)
Tourcoing: middle school torched
Wittenheim: Bus attacked
Trappes: Bus attacked
Buc: Bus attacked
Poissy: Bus attacked
Guyancourt: Bus attacked (Molotov cocktail)
Mantes-la-Jolie: general rioting
Elancourt: general rioting
10 Shot At San Francisco Halloween PartyCheck out this story:
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Gunfire broke out between two groups at a massive Halloween street party in the city's Castro district, wounding at least 10 people, including innocent bystanders, police said Wednesday.
The shooting began around 10:40 p.m. Tuesday as authorities were dispersing thousands of revelers under a curfew aimed at controlling the traditionally raucous party.
Two people were detained for questioning, but no one had been arrested early Wednesday, police Capt. Al Casciato said. He said two groups of people had gotten into an altercation before the shooting began.
One victim was listed in critical condition at San Francisco General Hospital.
The once-spontaneous and unsanctioned party was taken over by the city four years ago after police recorded five stabbings and a number of assaults in a 2002 crowd of 500,000 people and confiscated a chain saw.
Officials and members of the district's large gay community said the party had started attracting gay bashers along with the usual colorfully costumed characters.
Ok now, you're gonna have to go with me a bit on this one. Trust me. Don't jump to any conclusions, please. Hear me out.
It is highly possible that these shootings were perpetrated by people who hate gays. Now, there are complex reasons for why people hate gays, so this is not an easy issue to deal with. Among the major reasons people hate gays are,
1) Instinctual - I really believe we all have within us an animalistic rejection of homsosexuality. I think this comes from a herd-protecting instinct. I believe there are two reasons for this instinct. One is homosexuality does not reproduce and the herd wants to reproduce, as it should. The second is that homosexual men are often, not always, effeminate in their demeanor. The herd does not want weakness in its midst. That is natural.
2) Homophobia - some people are afraid of gay people because they have a fear that they may possibly be gay, or be perceived as gay, themselves. Therefore, being around gay people makes them uncompfortable, and if a gay person hits on them, they take it as an insult. If you think about it, that reaction does not make any sense. Question for the guys: If a big fat ugly woman hits on you, do you get mad at her, or do you just politely tell her you are not interested? Why would the reaction not be the same if a gay man were to hit on you?
3) Ideological - There are people in our society who foment dislike, and sometimes outright hatred of gay people on ideological grounds. I used to go to a church where the Pastor would, approximately once a month, insert angry criticism of the "homosexual lobby" into sermons that seemed to have nothing to do with the subject. Most ideological criticism of gay people in America does come from religious people, and is expressed as being a matter of religious principles.
There is, certainly, some basis for concern that there is a homosexual lobby which is attempting to have its agenda inserted into the curriculum of public schools. However, I do not recall ever hearing the Pastor to whom I referred ever make a distinction between normal monogamous, everyday gay people, and the radicals who might try to effect massive and unwanted change in the structure of our society.
I think all Christians should ask themselves if those of their fellow Christians whom they hear criticizing gay people, the "homosexual lobby", or any of the other attributes of gay culture, ever turn around and defend the gay person's right to be gay. Do you ever hear these critics of homosexuality stand up and say, "Of course, there are many gay people who live normal lives, and I have no problem with those gay people?" Do your fellow Christians have any gay friends? Would they be willing to have a gay person as a friend? Will they befriend non-Christians at all?
These are important questions to ask ourselves. Especially if we are going to criticize Islam for being an intolerant religion.
Let me be very clear, I am not making a case for the idea that Christian criticism of homosexuality is anywhere in the same ballpark as Muslim hatred of gays. Islam orders that homosexuals be stoned to death. There is no predominantly Christian society on the face of the Earth that has such laws.
But what I am trying to say is that sometimes Christian criticism of homosexuality does veer into the realm of inciting hatred of gay people. When there is no balance, no acknowlegement of the fact that there are many good and decent gay people leading normal lives, when there is no acknowledgement of their rights to be who and what they are, or choose to be, then there is no love intended, no matter how many times the mantra, "Hate the sin, love the sinner," is repeated.
And, what is the absence of love? Apathy? Dislike? Hate?
Why am I going into all this? What does this have to do with the story above? Do I think the people who opened fire at the gay street party in San Francisco were church-going Christians? I have no idea, AND I seriously doubt it. At this point, we do not even know if the shots were fired because of hatred of gays.
However, I believe we need to remember that we Christians are supposed to be the salt of the Earth. That means we are supposed to be the preservers of the Earth. Part of what we do is contribute ideas to society which are intended to help society. But, the truth is, we also on occasion contribute ideas which hurt society. Our ideas do have real world consequences. We don't just sit around in church talking about how many angels dance on the head of a pin.
If the ideas we are contributing are adding to the already magnified reasons that many people hate gays, then we have done Christ a disservice.
