All of us, every single man, woman, and child on the face of the Earth were born with the same unalienable rights; to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And, if the governments of the world can't get that through their thick skulls, then, regime change will be necessary.
"A senior al-Qaeda leader in Afghanistan, Abu Laith al-Libi, has been killed, Western counter-terrorism officials have told the BBC.
News of his death emerged on a website used by Islamist groups. Ekhlaas.org said he had 'fallen as a martyr'.
There is speculation that he was killed by a US missile strike in the North Waziristan area of Pakistan this week.
A dozen militants were reported killed in the attack. US intelligence agencies said they were checking the reports.
A Pakistani daily paper, the News, reported that the suspected US strike was aimed at Libi and another senior figure, Obaidah al-Masri.
Al-Qaeda spokesman
Libi has appeared in a number of al-Qaeda videos. In November he appeared alongside al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri.
He has acted as a spokesman for the group, announcing in 2002 that Osama Bin Laden and Taleban leader Mullah Omar had survived the US invasion of Afghanistan.
Libi was under US intelligence surveillance and most details about him are classified, says the BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner."
ABU LAITH AL-LIBI Born: Libya, around 1941 Description: 6'4' tall, solid build, dark hair and eyes, scars on back Role: Senior operations commander; al-Qaeda spokesman Source: Globalsecurity.org
Libi has appeared in a number of al Qaeda videos (Photo: US DIA)
What is it that those who TODAY consider themselves to be conservative want?
Are they conservative a la Goldwater or is it something else which defines conservatism today?
Do they want Roe V Wade overturned?
Would that be because it is bad constitutional law, or because abortion is murder. Or does it matter? What about a woman's control over her own body? (Hey just asking) Does it matter? Goldwater believed it WAS a woman's right to control her body.
Do they want a balanced budget? In a war without a defined endpoint?
If so, what about taxes? How do you pay for the security of the people? (Hey, just asking)
Is a secure nearly impenetrable border (from the outside, to illegals) a conservative issue? I think so. Then what about immigration? 1900 US Census, 76 million. 1900-1924 18 million southern europeans, slavs and jews make it here. That's 24%. Our population in 1980 was 226 million and we took in HOW MANY? Did we do okay with our immigrants from 1900-1924? Is that a conservative issue? Was our culture destroyed by this flood of one fourth of our nation JUST from southern europe?
Family VALUES, is that conservative issue? Well.... ‘To Goldwater, government did not belong either in your boardroom or your bedroom.’ That's a judeo christian (and OTHER) ethic NOT a conservative value. I don't care if my neighbor sacrifices goats and has orgies as long as his fence is high enough. Neither did Barry Goldwater.."When you say “radical right” today, I think of these moneymaking ventures by fellows like Pat Robertson and others who are trying to take the Republican Party and make a religious organization out of it. If that ever happens, kiss politics goodbye. " In response to Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell's opposition to the nomination of Sandra Day O'Connor to the Supreme Court, of which Falwell had said, “Every good Christian should be concerned,” Goldwater retorted: “I think every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass.”. This, btw is an almost exact match for Mr. McCain's thoughts on that.
How about gay rights....well....“You don't have to be straight to be in the military; you just have to be able to shoot straight.” (Guess who?)
in 1996 Barry Goldwater told Bob Dole, whose own presidential campaign received lukewarm support from conservative Republicans: “We're the new liberals of the Republican Party. Can you imagine that?”
Upset because Mr McCain voted against Bush's tax cuts, well he wanted SPENDING CUTS to match. That's the record. Which is the more conservative viewpoint?
Likewise Harry Truman and FDR would be considered reactionary, xenophobic war criminals by many in today's democratic party.
So for those of you foaming at the mouth and with loosening bowels over John McCain, get a grip and think of what the middle east will be like 3 years after an Obama or Clinton victory because you indulged yourselves in a fit of conservative chic deranged bashing of John McCain IF HE IS NOMINATED
Among those in New Hampshire who valued a candidate who “says what he believes,” 53 percent supported McCain. The next closest candidate? Mitt Romney at 13 percent.
I wonder if Barry Goldwater would be 'conservative' enough for those who wish to sacrifice the next election on the altar of conservative purity?
But it seems at least one US government branch has grown a spine. The US Supreme Court. At least until the dhimmis get Shari’a law as the law of the land.
Listen to the nearly famousGathering Storm Radio Show, that AlwaysOnWatch and I co-host. The show broadcasts live every Friday for one hour at NOON, Pacific Time.
Friday, February 1:Our guest at the bottom of the hour is blogger Kevin of The Amboy Times. We'll begin that portion of the show by discussing Kevin's extensive posting "The List of Things That Offend Muslims." ---------------------- Kevin keeps the list up to date! He also invites commenters to add to the list. Introduction to "The List... ":
This list is a work in progress. I welcome suggestions. Anyone who has more items to add to the list, post them in the comments.
The intent of the list is to illustrate the futility of the multicultural approach to Islam. Sharia law demands submission not only from Muslims, but from non-Muslims as well. This makes respectful coexistence nearly impossible with Muslims in Infidel lands. The examples below serve as reminder that submitting to one complaint or another only emboldens Muslims to seek to further their ultimate goal of establishing sharia.
The West needs to come to grips with this fact and start standing up for our God-given rights of free speech, free expression and freedom of religion, lest we surrender those rights to a theocratic movement bent on removing our Constitutional freedoms that we hold dear. In this case, our tolerance will lead to intolerance.
The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.
Callers welcome!
If you are unable to listen live to the radio show, you can listen to recordings of the radio broadcasts later by CLICKING HERE.
The call-in number again is (646) 915-9870. Converse with my co-host and me, chat with our guests or if you must, just air your spleen!
U.S. sells Syria dual-use tech that could be used by Iran
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has approved the sale of advanced dual-use computers to Syria.
"It's a major piece of equipment and is being given to an ally that could use it for military purposes as well as share it with Iran," an official said.
The export, disclosed by the U.S. television network Fox, was approved despite U.S. sanctions on Damascus of military and advanced dual-use systems. Syria, deemed a terrorist sponsor, has been in the same category as Iran and North Korea.
Officials said the State Department has provided a license for the sale of advanced computers for a Syrian border surveillance program. They said the systems were being provided through a United Nations program that could significantly enhance Syria's military capabilities.
"We promise, George, if you give us the computers we will stop the infiltrating jihadis, George. Just ask Condi, we an be trusted"
In 2004, President George Bush signed legislation to severely restrict technology exports to Syria, deemed a gateway of Al Qaida for the war against the U.S. military in neighboring Iraq. But the legislation allowed the president to waive sanctions on grounds of U.S. national security.
Officials said the U.S. firm Cisco would supply computers and networking equipment to Syria under UN program. They said Syria would receive about $2.2 million in equipment under a program termed "Modernization of Syrian Customs Directorate," launched in 2005 and meant to be completed in early 2008.
Would that be the same customs that turns its back to jihadis entering Iraq?
Cisco was granted a license by the U.S. Commerce Department to sell the computers to Syria in September 2006. The UN has confirmed the sale while the Commerce Department has not responded to the report.
A federal investigation has determined that the U.S. Defense Department approved the export of spare parts of the F-14 fighter-jet to front companies for Iran. The aircraft parts as well as other U.S. military equipment were said to have been purchased by brokers for China and then relayed to Teheran.
Why are we engaged with these guys at all? Syria, Iran, NoKo. the HEART OF DARKNESS. To them profit is a tool by which they can manipulate americans. It's ridiculous. Obama could hardly be more naive. Or is the explanation worse?
Iran fears U.S. subversion, mobilizes 12.5 million minders to monitor Iranians
NICOSIA — Iran has expressed increasing concern over internal unrest.
Maybe if they could see some females as actual people tension would drop
The Islamic republic, determining a reversal of the U.S. position on Teheran's nuclear program, has been worried over rising political and ethnic unrest. Senior officials have accused the United States of helping foment protests by labor unions and students.
Well, let's see, the government is lead by a man who thinks that Armageddon is the best way to bring about the messiah. A previous leader had promised to end Israel via nuclear weapons even if that means hundreds of millions of muslims die. If you don't buy into that with questionless fervor you probably have something to hide.You can't go on a real date, and you are wondering what's under all that black cloth while they are busy washing the dishes. You hear stories about how during the Iraq war it was glorious for you to walk ahead of the armor to trigger the mines and martyr yourself, and now they keep talking about the americans and the little satan all controlled by world jewry.Why would people feel tense?
A rare photo of unrest in Iran: A 2006 incident in the streets of Tabriz was reportedly met with gunfire by Iranian authorities.
"[The threat consists of a] velvet revolution, political invasion and penetration into the ruling system," Hussein Taeb, a deputy commander of the Basij force, said.
You mean people's wants and needs might penetrate into govt? Intolerable
Basij has been enhanced to quell unrest, particularly among students. The force, part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has recruited 12.5 million people to monitor the behavior and opinions of Iranians.
Officials said Basij intends to expand to 20 million by 2017, with many of them receiving paramilitary training.They said Basij, located in mosques and universities, would also participate in border security as well as anti-crime operations.
You know, crimes like thinking and speaking aloud simultaneously.
"The main mission of the guards is currently fighting domestic threats and in case there is a foreign threat we will join the [conventional] army," IRGC commander Mohammed Jafari said.
Fighting domestic threats ...oh yeah....
Basij was said to have played a leading role in the arrest of hundreds of students, teachers and laborers in 2007. The Basij was also used to break up anti-regime demonstrations or strikes against companies owned by IRGC members.
"The biggest threats against the future of the regime from now on have a soft nature in which domestic players have a key role," the Kayhan daily, regarded as close to IRGC, said.
Iran has also been facing ethnic unrest in several provinces. On Jan. 4, ethnic Turks attacked Iranian government offices and rioted throughout Golestan after a Turkmen fisherman was shot dead by IRGC in the Caspian Sea.
Diplomats assess that Basij would be used to stop dissidents from participating in parliamentary elections scheduled for March 2008. They said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to crack down on critics, particularly so-called reformists led by former President Mohammed Khatami.
Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei was said to have lost control to Ahmadinejad and IRGC. Diplomats said orders relayed by Khamenei have been ignored by the president and his followers.
On Jan. 4, Khamenei reiterated Iran's resolve to continue its nuclear program. He again raised the prospect of a foreign attack on Iran.
"This peace-loving nation would humiliate any aggressor, regardless of its size and level so that it won't even think of aggression again," Khamenei said. "No one can trace the slightest sign of warmonger tendencies in this nation and its elected management."
Debbie Schlussel has an important post on her site disclosing that Barack Hussein Obama's includes Nation of Islam members amongst his staffers and supporters even as he denounces Trinity United Church of Christ pastor Jeremiah Wright's adulation of Louis Farrakhan. According to Schlussel's sources, "NOI members, including consultant Shakir Muhammad, held important roles in the Obama state senate campaign". Read it all but don't hold your breath waiting to read it in the MSM.
It is my still-but-who-knows-for-how-much-longer Constitutionally-protected personal opinion that Obama is a black racist/supremacist/Islamist ringer and a lyin' weasel into the bargain and if he isn't challenged effectively and soon he will continue to pull the wool over the eyes of this nation of sheep until we all wind up skewered on the Caliphate's shish kebab. Other than that, I have no strong opinions about the man.
There’s a wonderful abstract from the Israel Hasbara Committee that states the threat that Europe and this country faces from the Islamist strategy to advance their worldwide agenda that goes beyond just militant jihad - terrorism.
From Understanding Muhammad: A Psychobiography of Allâh's Prophet
We are often taken aback by the level of fanaticism of Muslims. Millions of them riot, burn churches, and kill completely innocent people because a newspaper has published a few cartoons of Muhammad or because the Pope has quoted a medieval emperor saying that violence is not compatible with the nature of God.
People generally are biased towards a belief system that has this many followers. They believe that the sheer size of Islam qualifies it as a religion. But is Islam really a religion?
Some say all religions start as a cult until, with the passage of time, they gradually gain acceptance and the status of religion. However, there are certain characteristics that distinguish cults from religions. Dr. Janja Lalich and Dr. Michael D. Langone have created a list that describes cults fairly well.[1] The more a group or a doctrine has these characteristics the more it follows that it should be defined and labeled as a cult. The following is that list, which I have compared Islam to point by point....
A new data encryption program designed for the use of Islamist militants has gathered wide attention in the information technology community. The software, called Mujahideen Secrets 2, is designed to protect message content as well as the identities and locations of terrorists while online. It is available for free from the password-protected al-ekhlaas website. The program is a significant improvement on the 2007 Mujahideen Secrets software, using 1024-bit encryption instead of the earlier 256-bit version.
According to the website: "This special edition of the software was developed and issued by Ekhlaas in order to support the mujahideen in general and the Islamic State in Iraq in particular" (Reuters, January 18; Internet Business Law Services, January 28).
Al-ekhlaas’ domain, Ek-ls.org, is hosted on the web by Tampa-based Noc4hosts Inc., which is in turn owned by the Hi Velocity hosting provider, also based in Tampa (internetnews.com, January 24).
Offering encryption software is not illegal, though al-ekhlaas has been forced to change service providers several times due to objectionable content.
The new technology was first identified by Paul Henry of Secure Computing Corporation (NASDAQ: SCUR), a San Jose-based company that “provides internet security appliances and software solutions” to “proactively protect enterprises” from web security threats (securecomputing.com). According to Henry, the cyber-jihadis “are concerned with the backdoors in publicly available code... so they decided to write something themselves" (Information Week, January 25).
The shocking element in Danny's murder was that he was killed, not for what he wrote or planned to write, but for what he represented -- America, modernity, openness, pluralism, curiosity, dialogue, fairness, objectivity, freedom of inquiry, truth and respect for all people. In short, each and every one of us was targeted in Karachi in January of 2002.
No, Judea, you have left off one critical item tightly intertwined with what modern Islam is (and maybe was for all time ..we can take that up with Matthias Kuntzel and AndrewBostom)
It was through Danny's face that people came to grasp the depth of cruelty and inhumanity into which this planet of ours has been allowed to sink in the past two decades. His murder proved that 9/11 was not an isolated event, and helped resurrect the age-old ideas of right and wrong, good and evil. Moral relativism died with Daniel Pearl in January 2002.
Too many regard that deep as the justice of God though, Judea. Too many think his murder, justice.
And unarmed journalists in regions of conflict became many times more vulnerable. They are no longer perceived as neutral, information-gathering agents, but rather as representing political or ideological entities. The press and media has indeed become more polarized and agenda-driven. Journalists today are pressured to serve the ideologies of those who pay their salaries or those who supply them with sources of information. CNN's admission, in 2003, that it concealed information about the Iraqi regime in order to keep its office in Baghdad is a perfect example of this pressure. In the recent Gaza chaos, Western news agencies have willingly reported Hamas propaganda stunts as truth.
God knows the truth of that last
But then he gets to it, and blandly lays out for all, the real stupidity and excuses of this time we live in.
This was first brought to my attention by the Pakistani Consul General who came to offer condolences at our home in California. When we spoke about the anti-Semitic element in Danny's murder she said: "What can you expect of these people who never saw a Jew in their lives and who have been exposed, day and night, to televised images of Israeli soldiers targeting and killing Palestinian children."
At the time, it was not clear whether she was trying to exonerate Pakistan from responsibility for Danny's murder, or to pass on the responsibility to European and Arab media for their persistent de-humanization of Jews, Americans and Israelis. The answer was unveiled in 2004, when a friend told me that photos of Muhammad Al Dura were used as background in the video tape of Danny's murder.
The Pakistani Consul was right. The media cannot be totally exonerated from responsibility for Daniel's murder, as well as for the "tsunami of hate" that has swept the world and continues to rise.
Ironically, the increase of independent news channels in the Arab world, a process which is generally considered a positive step forward, has contributed significantly to this spread of hatred and violence.
Eager to satisfy their customers' appetite for self-righteousness, these channels have not thought through the harmful, in fact lethal, long-term effects of choreographing victim-victimizer narratives as news coverage.
Surely they have an obligation to expose villainy and excess. This is what journalism is all about. But in a world infected with fanatics who run around with lit matches, journalists cannot simply pour gasoline into the street and pretend they bear no responsibility for the inevitable explosion.
Danny Pearl, the compendium of evil. American, reporter, seeker of reality, JEW.
GERTZ: CAIRO — TheShi'ite revolt in Yemen has expanded, security sources said.
The Yemeni sources said fighting has intensified between the Yemen Army and the Iranian-backed Believing Youth movement in January. The sources said the military has been using aircraft and artillery to strike Shi'ite rebel positions in the northern province of Saada.
"Such a war will have adverse effects on the country on military, economic and social levels," Shi'ite rebel leader Abdul Malik Al Houthi said.
The Shi'ite revolt, renewed in December 2007, marked the third round of fighting between Iranian-backed rebels and the Sanaa government. The fighters were said to have attacked Yemeni military bases and government installations in Saada, located near the border with Saudi Arabia.
The fighting, which shattered a June 2007 ceasefire, has forced hundreds of people to flee their homes. Most of those who fled came from the Haidan district in Saada.
Sanaa has declared a state of emergency in Saada. Authorities were said to have imposed a curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. throughout the province.
The military has used Russian-origin MiG-29 fighter-jets to strike Haidan. The sources said air attacks were heavy over the weekend.
"The military attacked the area with missiles and artillery, destroying tens of houses and farms," Abu Akram, identified as a Shi'ite rebel, said.
Abu Akram said the Shi'ite revolt was renewed on Dec. 27 when Yemeni authorities stopped a Shi'ite religious celebration. He said scores of Al Houthi supporters were arrested.
Wait, you mean people stepped from the bad idea, to the stupid, to the unethical and then to the illegal?
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating 14 companies for possible accounting fraud and insider trading offences related to subprime mortgages.
The development, another sign of fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis, comes as light regulation of the industry – in particular mortgage brokers – has been blamed for mis-selling and abuse of mortgage products.
The Securities and Exchange Commission already has about three dozen different investigations into a range of subprime-related issues.
Bill Carter, an FBI spokesman, said the agency had been working “very closely” with the SEC, with some of the latest investigations moving “in parallel”. He declined to name the companies involved.
The number of mortgage fraud cases opened by the FBI jumped to 1,210 in fiscal 2007 from 436 in fiscal 2003, the agency said.
Times 10 at least.
The practices that caused this were the case and not the exception. The entire idea was not just flawed. Those who promulgated such a 'product' among large financial institutions knew damn well that illegal practices would be the end result, but that they personally wouldn't practice them. All THEY had to do was set this product loose, and let greed, and desperation and false (Yes, Barack there is a thing) hope take over.
How many times will Iraqi tribal chiefs wonder if we will be more concerned with other problems, instead of theirs?
How will this embolden our killer enemies to strike at economic targets?
How much ownership (stock on the open market, or frank ownership) will sovereign wealth funds buy, or foreign Soros's invade our economic infrastructure to our national peril? When an american is about to be added to the Board of Director's will we find Talal instead, or will they merely feel obliged to check with him before a Mitt Romney or Harold Ford, or Jim Welch, or Steve Forbes type is appointed?
All from greed? The need for a promotion? For what? The 65" 1080 P plasma?
One day last month, I gave a talk in Rome about how the supposedly liberal ideology of multiculturalism has made possible the spread in Europe of the highly illiberal ideology of fundamentalist Islam, with all its brutality and – among other things – violent homophobia. When I returned to my hotel, I phoned my partner back home in Oslo only to learn that moments earlier he had been confronted at a bus stop by two Muslim youths, one of whom had asked if he was gay, started to pull out a knife, then kicked him as he got on the bus, which had pulled up at just the right moment. If the bus hadn’t come when it did, the encounter could have been much worse.
Bawer goes on to detail the adamant blindness of Europe when it comes to doing something about the cause of this intolerance.
Here's an example of that cause:
Take Norway’s Asghar Ali, deputy chairman of Norway’s Islamic Council. Ali, who also holds high-ranking positions in Norway’s ruling Labor Party and in the powerful Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, and has worked in an advisory capacity on the government’s Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud, would seem to be a model of successful assimilation. Yet at a November 2007 debate arranged by the gay student organization at the University of Oslo, he refused to reject the death penalty for gays. When asked about this issue, the head of the Islamic Council, Senaid Kobilica, said that Norwegian Muslims needed to discuss it and consult religious authorities. “While this process is underway,” Kobilica said, “I ask for understanding and respect for the fact that I am unable to comment, either about my personal position or about the position of the Islamic Council of Norway.” Understanding and respect, that is, for his unwillingness to say flat out that he did not believe gay people should be murdered.
Ask al Qaida: Jihadists around the world are waiting for al Qaida’s No. 2 to answer their questions about the future of Islamist struggle. Al Qaida announced in December that Ayman al-Zawahri, believed to be hiding in Pakistan, would answer questions posted on Islamist militant Web sites “as soon as possible.” More than 900 entries had been posted on the main Islamist Web site by the cutoff date last week, but so far no answers have appeared. Many questioners ask why no front has been opened in Egypt or the Palestinian territories, and why there has been no strike on U.S. soil since 9/11.
Having seen, by accident, a vid of the beheading of a western hostage this is a truly horrific plot. I was traumatised after watching the vid for about 2 days. It was truly horrible and not something I would want to see again. Courtsesy of BBC online:
A 37-year-old Birmingham man has pleaded guilty to plotting to kidnap and kill a British soldier. Parviz Khan, an unemployed charity worker, intended to seize and behead the unnamed Muslim serviceman "like a pig", Leicester Crown Court was told.
Three other men, Basiru Gassama, 30, Mohammed Irfan, 31, and Hamid Elasmar, 44, have admitted other offences connected with Khan's plot.
The court heard Amjad Mahmood, 32, and Zahoor Iqbal, 30, denied involvement.
The jury was told how Khan, of Alum Rock, intended to kidnap the soldier while on a night out, behead him in a lock-up garage and then release footage of the killing on the internet.
Nigel Rumfitt QC, prosecuting Mr Mahmood and Mr Iqbal, who both deny two offences relating to the plot, told the court that Khan had planned to seize the serviceman in Birmingham's Broad Street entertainment quarter.
"He would be taken to a lock-up garage and there he would be murdered by having his head cut off like a pig," he said.
"This atrocity would be filmed... and the film released to cause panic and fear within the British armed forces and the wider public."
Khan, who also admits intending to supply equipment to terrorists on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, pleaded guilty to the plot earlier this month, but his plea can only now be reported as the trial of Mr Mahmood and Mr Iqbal has begun.
Mr Mahmood denies knowing about Khan's plot and failing to disclose information about it, while Mr Iqbal denies possessing a computer disc called Encyclopaedia Jihad, which would be likely to be useful to a terrorist.
Both men have also pleaded not guilty to helping Khan supply equipment to terrorists in Pakistan.
Irfan and Elasmar have pleaded guilty to helping Khan supply the equipment, while Gassama has admitted knowing about the plot and not telling anyone about it.
The men were arrested in a series of high-profile raids in Birmingham at the end of January last year after an investigation led by West Midlands Police Counter-Terrorism Unit. Khan was later charged with plotting to kidnap and kill a member of the British armed forces between 2 April 2006 and 1 February 2007.
Even though they did not actually carry out this plot my belief is that they should go to prison for a very long time. One thing watching the vid did for me was confirm, as if it were needed, how evil these people are. If anyone wants confirmation let me know and I'll tell you where to find it.
There seems to be a growing renewed animus against Israel lately. Arun Gandhi, grandson of the purported humanist Mahatma Gandhi, thinks Israel and Jews in general are prone to, and singularly responsible for, most of the world's violence. The Oxford Union is taking up the question of whether Israel even has a right to continue to exist. Our generation no longer speaks of a "Palestinian problem," but rather of an "Israeli problem." So perhaps it is time for a new global approach to deal with Israel and its occupation.
Perhaps we ought to broaden our multinational and multicultural horizons by transcending the old comprehensive settlements, roadmaps, and Quartet when dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, a dispute which originated with the creation of Israel.
Why not simply hold an international conference on all of these issues — albeit in a far more global context, outside the Middle East?
The ensuing general accords and principles could be applied to Israel and the West Bank, where the number of people involved, the casualties incurred, and the number of refugees affected are far smaller and far more manageable.
Perhaps there could be five U.N. sessions: disputed capitals; the right of return for refugees; land under occupation; the creation of artificial post-World War II states; and the use of inordinate force against suspected Islamic terrorists.
In the first session, we should try to solve the status of Nicosia, which is currently divided into Greek and Turkish sectors by a U.N. Greek Line. Perhaps European Union investigators could adjudicate Turkish claims that the division originated from unwarranted threats to the Turkish Muslim population on Cyprus. Some sort of big power or U.N. roadmap then might be imposed on the two parties, in hopes that the Nicosia solution would work for Jerusalem as well.
In the second discussion, diplomats might find common ground about displaced populations, many from the post-war, late 1940s. Perhaps it would be best to start with the millions of Germans who were expelled from East Prussia in 1945, or Indians who were uprooted from ancestral homes in what is now Pakistan, or over half-a-million Jews that were ethnically cleansed from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, and Syria following the 1967 war. Where are these refugees now? Were they ever adequately compensated for lost property and damages? Can they be given promises of the right to return to their ancestral homes under protection of their host countries? The ensuring solutions might shed light on the Palestinian aspirations to return to land lost sixty years ago to Israel.
A third panel would take up the delicate issue of returning territory lost by defeat in war. Ten percent of historic Germany is now part of Poland. The Russians still occupy many of the Kurile Islands, and Greek Cyprus lost sizable territory in 1974 after the invasion by Turkey. The Western Sahara is still annexed by Morocco, while over 15 percent of disputed Azerbaijan has been controlled by Armenia since 1994. Additionally, all of independent Tibet has been under Chinese occupation since 1950-1. Surely if some general framework concerning these occupations could first be worked out comprehensively, the results might then be applied to the much smaller West Bank and Golan Heights.
In a fourth panel, the international conference should take up the thorny issue of recently artificially created states. Given the tension over Kashmir, was Pakistan a mistake — particularly the notion of a homeland for Indian Muslims? North Korea was only created after the stalemate of 1950-3; so should we debate whether this rogue nation still needs to exist, given its violent history and threats to world peace?
Fifth, and finally, is there a global propensity to use inordinate force against Muslim terrorists that results in indiscriminate collateral damage? The Russians during the second Chechnyan War of 1999-2000 reportedly sent tactical missiles into the very core of Grozny, and may have killed tens of thousands of civilians in their hunt for Chechnyan terrorists — explaining why the United Nations later called that city the most destroyed city on earth. Syria has never admitted to the complete destruction of Hama, once home to Muslim Brotherhood terrorists. The city suffered the fate of Carthage and was completely obliterated in 1982 by the al-Assad government, with over 30,000 missing or killed. Did the Indian government look the other way in 2002 when hundreds of Muslim civilians in Gujarat were killed in reprisal for Islamic violence against Hindus? The lessons learned in this final session might reassure a world still furious over the 52 Palestinians lost in Jenin.
In other words, after a half-century of failed attempts to solve the Middle East crisis in isolation, isn't it time we look for guidance in a far more global fashion, and in contexts where more lives have been lost, more territory annexed, and more people made refugees in places as diverse as China, Russia, and the broader Middle East?
The solutions that these countries have worked out to deal with similar problems apparently have proven successful — at least if the inattention of the world, the apparent inaction of the United Nations, and the relative silence of European governments are any indication.
So let the international community begin its humanitarian work!
Greek Cypriots can advise Israel about concessions necessary to Muslims involving a divided Jerusalem. Russians and Syrians can advise the IDF on how to deal properly and humanely with Islamic terrorists. Poland, Russia, China, and Armenia might offer the proper blueprint for giving back land to the defeated that they once gained by force. And North Korea or Pakistan can offer Israel humanitarian lessons that might blunt criticisms that such a recently created country has no right to exist. Iraq and Egypt would lend insight about proper reparation and the rights of return, given its own successful solutions to the problems of their own fleeing Jewish communities.
But why limit the agenda to such a small array of issues? The world has much to teach Israel about humility and concessions, on issues ranging from how other countries in the past have dealt with missiles sent into their homeland, to cross-border incursions by bellicose neighbors.
No doubt, Middle East humanitarians such as Jimmy Carter, Arun Gandhi, and Tariq Ramadan could preside, drawing on and offering their collective past wisdom in solving such global problems to those of a lesser magnitude along the West Bank.
And, he is "personally promoted" by Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, the guy who seems to have conspired with Hasham Islam to have Steven Coughlin fired from the State Dept.
In a special ceremony, the Pentagon recently promoted a Wahhabi-trained Muslim chaplain who catered to al-Qaida detainees at Guantanamo and fought to establish the first mosque in Marine Corps history.
Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England personally promoted Navy chaplain Abuhena Mohammed Saifulislam from lieutenant to lieutenant commander. Saifulislam also received a Joint Service Commendation Medal at the Pentagon ceremony held on the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Pentagon officials say the ceremony was unprecedented.
"It's unusual for a deputy secretary to personally promote an officer of that rank," said one official who wished to go unnamed. "No one has known of such a high-level dignitary doing that."
The Muslim chaplain, who is stationed at Quantico, recited verses from the Quran in Arabic and English at the summer dedication ceremony, which included representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, several leaders of which have been convicted on terrorism-related charges.
Saifulislam, which is Arabic for "Sword of Islam," received his religious training at a radical Islamic school raided by federal agents after 9/11.
The Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences, based in Leesburg, Va., is run by Taha Jaber Al-Alwani, an unindicted co-conspirator in the Sami al-Arian terror case. A federal affidavit used to obtain a warrant to search the school alleges Al-Alwani gave at least $50,000 in jihad money "to support suicide bombings."
Saifulislam insists he is moderate and condemns "terrorism," but critics say his Wahhabi background and associations should give the Pentagon pause.
"The Pentagon is giving him a permanent, taxpayer-supported platform from which to convert grunts to Islam," said terror expert Paul Sperry, a Hoover Institution media fellow and author of "Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington." "With the Quantico mosque, the Pentagon is facilitating the study of the holy text the enemy uses, heretically or not, as their manual of warfare."
Saifulislam's promotion along with the dedication of his new Quantico mosque – the first of its kind in the 230-year history of the Corps – comes on the heels of a Muslim spy scandal at Gitmo involving another Muslim chaplain.
Army Capt. James "Yousef" Yee, who ministered to al-Qaida detainees, was charged with mishandling classified information. Yee, a convert to Islam, quit the Army and the charges were dropped. But two of his Muslim military friends at Gitmo were convicted of espionage-related crimes.
Yee's predecessor at Gitmo was Saifulislam, who was first assigned to the terrorist prison camp after 9/11. While at the Cuban base, the Navy imam privately counseled al-Qaida prisoners in their native tongues of Urdu and Arabic. "I must give hope for them to cope," Saifulislam said at the time.
He set up the diet and prayer regimes for the detainees, recommending they be served halal meals – including traditional dates and lamb – prepared according to Islamic dietary law. Gitmo detainees can now choose from a menu of 113 Muslim-appropriate meals.
In addition, Saifulislam saw to it that detainees receive copies of the Quran and have access to prayer beads and skull caps. Saifulislam also set up a program to train guards to be more sensitive to the religious customs of their Muslim prisoners.
As he left the city he told those who had suffered under his collective punishment ....
"I want peace, and believe it can only be reached through war, and I will ever conduct war with a view to perfect and early success.
But, my dear sirs, when peace does come, you may call on me for any thing. Then will I share with you the last cracker, and watch with you to shield your homes and families against danger from every quarter. "
As the collectively punished, and occupied suffered, another told the world ..(paraphrased)
"The success of this occupation can only be judged 50 years from now. If at that time they have a stable prosperous democracy then we shall have succeeded"
In each of these cases the populations suffered terribly.
In each of these cases a government of few, freely elected and representative acted against another nation or nations and brought upon their own people the wrath of death by fire and sword. In each case the population at large was shelled, bombed, burned out of their homes, farms, and land because of the actions of those few in power and their historic civilizations were OBLITERATED PERMANENTLY
Of course, the first speaker is William T Sherman as he left Atlanta for the March to Savannah, and the second is Dwight Eisenhower speaking of Germany.
And so we come to the southerners and Germans, and Japanese of our generation. Those Arabs who freely voted for a system which cannot live with an Israel, brought war and death upon themselves, and now suffer for it. They all deserve everything which happens, for they chose it freely and are accountable for it, just as did the south, and those who brought Hitler to power by vote in 1932.
HAMAS has rained 4000 missiles upon Israel proper. Not upon IAF bases, or IDF bases. Not at Merkavas or Saar class missile boats, but cast into the air to land at random in the cities and towns.
They have no electricity as the Germans had none by 1944 and 1945. Their streets resemble Richmond and Atlanta. But yet the Israelis and Americans refuse to name the the perdition chosen by these people.
They face the result of the war they chose, in order to kill the jews or make them submit if they remained alive.
They chose the path of Israel's death and have found an Atlanta and Berlin and in their midst instead.
Give then more of it. Until they SUBMIT, and let the result of the battlefield determine the political and religious outcome. It is the kindest thing we can do. To allow HAMAS to use the humanity of the liberal west as their best defense is to allow barbarism to triumph over logic.
And on the day they throw out HAMAS and choose to live with an Israel, we should see to it that the Israelis share the last cracker with them, and guard their homes against danger from every quarter, including those salafist murderers who have volunteered them since 1920 to fight to the last Palestinian, and brought them death, fire and destruction, unemployment, starvation and no education for their children
Obama's Farrakhan Test By Richard CohenTuesday, January 15, 2008; A13
Barack Obama is a member of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. Its minister, and Obama's spiritual adviser, is the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. In 1982, the church launched Trumpet Newsmagazine; Wright's daughters serve as publisher and executive editor. Every year, the magazine makes awards in various categories. Last year, it gave the Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Trumpeter Award to a man it said "truly epitomized greatness." That man is Louis Farrakhan.
Maybe for Wright and some others, Farrakhan "epitomized greatness." For most Americans, though, Farrakhan epitomizes racism, particularly in the form of anti-Semitism. Over the years, he has compiled an awesome record of offensive statements, even denigrating the Holocaust by falsely attributing it to Jewish cooperation with Hitler -- "They helped him get the Third Reich on the road." His history is a rancid stew of lies.
It's important to state right off that nothing in Obama's record suggests he harbors anti-Semitic views or agrees with Wright when it comes to Farrakhan. Instead, as Obama's top campaign aide, David Axelrod, points out, Obama often has said that he and his minister sometimes disagree. Farrakhan, Axelrod told me, is one of those instances.
Fine. But where I differ with Axelrod and, I assume, Obama is that praise for an anti-Semitic demagogue is not a minor difference or an intrachurch issue. The Obama camp takes the view that its candidate, now that he has been told about the award, is under no obligation to speak out on the Farrakhan matter. It was not Obama's church that made the award but a magazine. This is a distinction without much of a difference. And given who the parishioner is, the obligation to speak out is all the greater. He could be the next American president. Where is his sense of outrage?
Any praise of Farrakhan heightens the prestige of the leader of the Nation of Islam. For good reasons and bad, he is already admired in portions of the black community, sometimes for his efforts to rehabilitate criminals. His anti-Semitism is either not considered relevant or is shared, particularly his false insistence that Jews have played an inordinate role in victimizing African Americans.
In this, Farrakhan stands history on its head. It was Jews who disproportionately marched for civil rights and, in Mississippi, died for that cause. Farrakhan and, in effect, Wright, despoil the graves of Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and, of course, their black colleague James Chaney.
I can even see how someone, maybe even Obama, could dismiss Farrakhan as a pest, a silly man pushing a silly cause that poses no real threat to the Jewish community. Still, history tells us that anti-Semitism is not to be trifled with. It is a botulism of the mind.
The Obama and Clinton campaigns are involved in a tasteless tussle over the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. What is clear from rereading King's celebrated "I Have a Dream" speech of Aug. 28, 1963, is how inclusive that dream was -- "all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!' " This, though, is not Farrakhan's dream. He has vilified whites and singled out Jews to blame for crimes large and small, either committed by others as well or not at all. (A dominant role in the slave trade, for instance.) He has talked of Jewish conspiracies to set a media line for the whole nation. He has reviled Jews in a manner that brings Hitler to mind.
And yet Wright heaped praise on Farrakhan. According to Trumpet, he applauded his "depth of analysis when it comes to the racial ills of this nation." He praised "his integrity and honesty." He called him "an unforgettable force, a catalyst for change and a religious leader who is sincere about his faith and his purpose." These are the words of a man who prayed with Obama just before the Illinois senator announced his run for the presidency. Will he pray with him just before his inaugural?
RevereRidesAgain writes in:
Here's the link for the "About Us" page of Trinity United Church of Christ:
Change "black" to "white" and "Africa" to "Europe" then estimate how long it would take the NYT or WaPo to feature a front page above-the-fold expose of this "racist" church.
But Obama gets a free pass because he doesn't always agree with Rev. Wright?
Wrong.
And do check out the video testimonials, but not if your blood sugar is an issue. They're "warm". They walk you to your car. Their church teaches them who they really are. So what if their preacher thinks Louis Farrakhan is a great man and a catayst for...
Take the fact that you can not say the word ‘terrorism’ next to the word Islam (terrorism is not Islamic even though 99% it’s done in the name of Allah. So now terrorism is an anti-Islamic activity) plus a recent exposition that cyber-central for terrorism in Britain, and you have what U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff actually considers Britain to be the largest single threat within Europe.
Continuing anti-Taiwan shift seen in Bush White House
Premier Wen Jiabao meets with visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte in Beijing on Jan. 16.
GERTZ:Further indications of the Bush administration’s shift in policy in favor of Beijing and away from Taiwan were disclosed in Beijing last week during the strategic dialogue meeting headed by Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.
Negroponte was quoted as saying that Taiwan’s planned referendum on joining the United Nations as a “Taiwan,” instead of its formal name, the Republic of China, would be a mistake.
"The United States thinks it certainly would have been preferable not to have such a 'referendum,'" Negroponte said.
The comment followed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s remark in December that the referendum was a “provocative” move by Taiwan’s pro-independence government.
China has been pressuring the United States to take the anti-Taiwan stance and the Bush administration has accommodated the requests.
Senior U.S. officials, however, have made no similar comments criticizing China’s provocative actions, including the build up of missiles opposite Taiwan, its anti-satellite weapons test and its refusal to allow U.S. warship visits to Hong Kong.
PARIS - A scion of France’s veteran far-right leader and and Europe’s best known Muslim intellectual wrangled over whether immigrant children should adopt French names and other cures for suburban unrest at a rare left-right clash in Paris on Monday.
Marine Le Pen, daughter of National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, and Oxford University academic Tariq Ramadan, ripped into each other’s political beliefs in what many supporters of the two said before the event would be a “debate with the devil’.
Officially, the event, organised by the Kitson, a private debating forum, was completely off the record.
Why be on anyone's side in that one?
But it was no surprise to the restricted audience to hear one calling for immigrant youths to adopt French names and learn to speak French properly if they wanted to boost their chances of getting work and acceptance.
It was no shock for the other to declare that immigration is now unavoidable for Europe’s economic future and that it is for European governments to change their attitudes and policies to make sure immigrant communities get a fair share of work and housing
Good luck on that one. It's EUROPE Tariq. Oh and by the way, about those communities where the French Police are afraid to visit and Shariah rules......
Voices were raised. Each accused the other of deforming his or her views. Virtually their only area of agreement was in opposing controversial DNA tests for the families of new migrants proposed by the Sarkozy government. “Useless and idiotic,” said one. “A dangerous precedent,” added the other.
Le Pen came away from the event saying she was “disappointed” at her rival’s discourse. Ramadan said he had faced more of a challenge trying to counter Nicolas Sarkozy before the mainstream right winger became French president.
“I thought he was a brilliant debater. I found he was just very extreme left wing,” Le Pen told AFP afterwards, while acknowledging she had proposed measures that would anger immigrant communities.
The Palestinians have knocked down Egypt's ''Apartheid Wall'' and are flooding into Egypt. One would think they would be happy about it (which the mostly are) and peaceful (which they are not entirely).
All is not roses between the Palestinians and their Egyptian ''brothers''. Attacking Egyptian policemen? And possibly threatening the Egyptian rulership? Why would these people be so violent-- and pose such a threat to the Egyptian government leadership?
They have murdered countless Israeli civilians-- and for that matter-- even many of their fellow ''Palestinians'' . . . (Read it all)
Soon after liberation, surviving children of the Auschwitz camp walk out of the children's barracks. Poland, after January 27, 1945.
From the web site of The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum:
Auschwitz was the largest camp established by the Germans. A complex of camps, Auschwitz included a concentration, extermination, and forced-labor camp. It was located 37 miles west of Krakow (Cracow), near the prewar German-Polish border.
In mid-January 1945, as Soviet forces approached the Auschwitz camp complex, the SS began evacuating Auschwitz and its satellite camps. Nearly 60,000 prisoners were forced to march west from the Auschwitz camp system. Thousands had been killed in the camps in the days before these death marches began. Tens of thousands of prisoners, mostly Jews, were forced to march to the city of Wodzislaw in the western part of Upper Silesia. SS guards shot anyone who fell behind or could not continue. Prisoners also suffered from the cold weather, starvation, and exposure on these marches. More than 15,000 died during the death marches from Auschwitz. On January 27, 1945, the Soviet army entered Auschwitz and liberated more than 7,000 remaining prisoners, who were mostly ill and dying. It is estimated that at minimum 1.3 million people were deported to Auschwitz between 1940 and 1945; of these, at least 1.1 million were murdered.
Much more at the above link.
So, here we are in 2008, repeating the mistakes of the 1930s, via appeasement of Islamofascists:
The 1930s were "a time when a certain cynicism and moral confusion set in among the Western democracies." Men and women who should have known better refused to see what was writ large and plain before their eyes...
Some days, I feel total despair that the world hasn't learned the lesson of the danger of feeding the crocodile.
...Imagine if you had stood on that January morning , seeing Auschwitz, and imagine being told that what you were looking at was ''radical Nazism'', and was not representative of ''true Nazism." What would you have thought?
The truth I wish to state is this: You cannot separate a founder from his movement or a phophet from his prophecy. They are one and the same. Auschwitz was the logical terminus for centuries of latent European anti-Semitism as was 9/11 the logical terminus of fourteen centuries of Islam. Both systems are and were murderous political ideologies that sought to dominate the world through aggressive warfare, to eliminate world Jewry and destroy any and all who would oppose them.
Does this mean that those Germans, who were after all Christians, are lock-step murderers? Putting aside the brave few who spoke out, yes it does. Every German who followed Hitler and the Nazis in all they did, made the Holocaust possible. You couldn't listen today to someone who claims to be a Nazi and hear them say '' Nazism is peaceful'' as you watch violence carried out in the name of Nazism.
Mohammed was Islam's sole founder, it prophet, its voice. He commanded his followers to wage jihad--holy war--to bring all under its control and to kill the Jews wherever they found them. To follow Mohammed is to follow Islam. It isn't enough for ''moderate Muslims'' to denounce the slaughter committed in its name, it is Islam, like Nazism, that is the evil. As there was nothing redeeming in Hitler and Nazism, so is there nothing redeemable in Islam or Mohammed. The words and deeds of these two men--Adolph Hitler and Mohammed--have murderously and profoundly impacted humanity in such horrendous ways and should serve as a warning to the world of the danger of those who consider themselves ''prophets'' and to those who would become its adherents.
Nazism is gone and Islam is still with us, still threatening and still killing. As long as those who continue to follow Mohammed's teachings commit violence in its name while their fellow Muslims say little or nothing to condemn it, Auschwitz's legacy will always be us and so will 9/11!
What’s this? Europeans are not happy with their little multicultural society? The EU pinheads are wrong! I’m aghast!
It seems Europeans are feeling threatened by Muslim immigration to their countries. A recent poll should that an “overwhelming majority” of Europeans believe immigration from Islamic countries is a threat to their traditional way of life, a survey revealed last night.
“You don't have to be straight to be in the military; you just have to be able to shoot straight.” (Guess who?)
Seed Newsvine
