Who Would Have Believed The Singularity Would Be So Stupid?: February 2010

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Western Civilization - What Is It's Foundation?

Here is an important question to ponder, though it's asked by a fool like me.

But, before we get to the question, let's see if we agree upon a few axioms (if I may use the term):

1) Western society is the incubator of many ideas and cultural touchstones which are very important to the survival of mankind on a massive and cohesive scale -

a) our science is the result of our thought,

b)our culture is the result of our philosophy plus our religious/cultural values,

c)our arts are the result of our freedom of expression and are also born of the wealth we have (because of our sciences and ingenuity) which allows us to luxuriate in beauty and thought

Ok, do we agree? Are there more "axioms" to add? I'm guessing there are.

Ok, now here's the question:

Is our belief that ALL men are created equal and ought be afforded equality in the eyes of the Law

1) foundational to Western Civilization, without which Western Civilization would crumble

or

2) something we can abandon, still leaving Western Civilization pretty much intact?

Oncoming Train

Here's a piece of artwork I found which I believe perfectly evokes what is going to happen if we do not start coming up with some serious solutions to the problem of the Islamization of the West.

As long as our solutions are middle-of-the-road, there is no avoiding ...

The English Defense League ...... in their own words

Atlas ran this this morning, and I agree with her. Until it is proven to me that the EDL are racists, I'm not buying it. The movement was born out of "football hooliganism" which, as far as I can tell, is the equivalent of white trash pool hall fighting were it to become a movement in the U.S. (Well, I guess it has. We have the TV show My Name is Earl.)

But, just because a movement is born out of, for want of a better word, the lower classes, does not mean it does not have legitimacy. They certainly speak for me in their words below:

The corrupt, biased media has done a smear campaign against the English Defense League, as they do with any group, person, or organization standing against Islamic supremacism. They tar, feather and destroy the good name of good people who stand for life, liberty and individual rights. Libel and slander like "racist," "fascist," "bigot," etc. color every news report of every counter jihad action. Despicable.
Atlas readers are familiar with the English Defense League, as I stood behind their efforts to stand for England and the West against the belligerent invaders and Islamic imperialists.
I am running the mission statement of Trevor Kelway on behalf of the English Defense League, to refute media lies. The quisling media is the propaganda arm of jihad - they must be exposed and replaced by accurate and competent reportage. Atlas at your service.
Who are the English Defence League? Exposing the myths
We the English Defence League are a grass roots social movement who represent every walk of life, every race, every creed and every colour from the working class to middle England our unity and diversity is our strength. We have members that represent our rich and cultural “patriotic” nation loving populace who can see the threat of “Islamism” for what it is, that is a vile and virulent ideology based off of 7th century barbarity, intolerance, hatred, subjugation and war.
The English Defence League members recognise this threat as one that must be stopped at all costs, our Christian, Jewish, Sikh, and Hindu friends all have tales to tell with regard to Islamic Imperialism and “Orthodox Teachings”, in particular the Wahhabi/Salafi doctrine of “killing unbelievers if they refuse to be subdued by Islam” as the Quran points out in surah 5 verse 33.......
“The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter”
Of course this all depends on the context of what “waging war” entails, and of course what constitutes “mischief in the land”. Well to Islamists the very notion of not believing in Allah means that you should be punished as that is considered an act of war, an act of mischief that should be duly punished as Allah ordains clearly here in this verse.
As a movement we don’t hate on all Muslims, we respect their right to practice their religion peacefully as long as it does not infringe on our culture, our way of life, our rule of law and our customs. If any non Muslim was to visit a Muslim country then that person would be expected to respect their rule of law, their culture, their way of life and who would disagree with that? What we don’t agree with are Muslims trying to import a doctrine of hate, intolerance and murder, then try to promote it and institutionalise it through unregulated Mosques that are funded by Wahhabist petro dollars as it stealthily creeps sharia into our legal system. This Islamic legal system persecutes women to the mere status of a man's “property”. It does not recognise marital rape, it does not recognise gay rights, it does not recognise many factors contained in the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights. We have had enough, why should anyone tolerate intolerance?
Again we must re-iterate that we do not have any problem with law abiding, respectful, peaceful Muslims who integrate and contribute positively in society, Muslims who love and respect our country are welcome. The EDL was never set up to discriminate against all Muslims.
We get asked many times by many different organisations and many different people what are the reasons for the English Defence Leagues existence? What are our goals, and aspirations?
We exist simply to pursue and extinguish an Islamist scourge, a scourge that has been left to fester and multiply like a malignant social cancer, with little intervention from our government who are at best apathetic, at worst they are willingly blind to the threat of militant Islam. When Anjem Choudary and his jihadist cohorts shouted abuse at our soldiers returning home from Iraq the united people of Luton took a stand against them, it was from that point onwards the British people united under one cause to highlight the danger of appeasing those who wish us harm, those who happily take from our welfare system yet hateour country, our people and way of life. You may follow these events from this link here......
If it were not for the inaction of government to deal properly with this form of Islamic fascism there would be no need for groups such asThe English Defence League, Welsh Defence League, Scottish Defence League and Ulster Defence League to counter this threat on the streets and on-line. Appeasing those who follow an ideology of hatred, murder and intolerance hardly enhances “community cohesion”, it destroys it. Our movement is purely set up to pressure whatever government we have in power to deal with this menace and undo all the damage caused by apathy and appeasement. We oppose the introduction of sharia law into our legal system because sharia law allows a husband to “beat” his wife! Is that acceptable behaviour in the 21st century we ask????
We oppose the building of any more mosques until the problem of Islamism is dealt with. Mosques must be regulated properly, imams vetted for their suitability, and mosque attendees monitored for any radical inclination. The change has to start within the Muslim community but that is proving very hard when Saudi petro dollars are funding a “fundamental” interpretation of Islam within the United Kingdom Of Great Britain. We wantour country back!!!
Here is a good example as to the reasons why we don’t want any more Mosques built until these issues have been effectively dealt with. This article is written by a former radical Muslim by the name of Ed Husain.....
Notice what he says and i quote from his article in the Times......
“We found that 97 per cent of imams, or leaders, were from overseas and 92 per cent were educated abroad, mostly in Pakistan or Bangladesh. Almost all mosques are controlled by first-generation immigrant men, leaving most British Muslims - women and young people - out of the management structure.”
If this isn’t enough to wake up weak governance then what is?
The EDL are wrongly painted as racists, Nazis and Muslim haters. This simply isn’t true. We do know that some groups have tried to cause trouble, and that some “agent provocateurs” have instigated trouble, groups such as Combat 18, Blood And Honour, Antifa, UAF, their Communist sympathisers and anarchists. As a movement we have been attacked by the far left and the far right, we have had to endure a state sponsored smear campaign used against us from the offset by the state controlled political elite media machine. Apparently we are Nazis because we loveour country, because we have the backbone to stand firm in the face of Islamic adversity rather than ignore it, hoping it will go away.
We set out our stall very early on, we are not racist, we don’t like Nazis, we don’t want Nazis joining our demos. We embrace patriotism as something that transcends race, religion, creed and colour. A love forour country is not a crime, a love for freedom is not a crime, but a need for security and the removal of those who pose a threat is just common sense....... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkKmzNpUBM4
The EDL are a multi ethnic, multi religious movement and we are proud of that. We laugh at all those who attack us for being “race traitors”, we mock those who call us “Nazis and racists” we are the EDL, we are neither of those things, we never will be. In fact our main speaker at demonstrations, Guramit Singh is a Sikh of Indian origin. The far left dismissed him as an "uncle Tom", a phrase which I would find quite offensive. This is a tone they have adopted when referring to any of our members who are not "white" in order for them to continue with their campaign against us.
People also ask us if we will ever become a political party and the answer to that is, we don’t seek to become a political party, we support political parties who will deal with the threat of Islamism, our aim and focus is to put pressure on whatever government is in power to deal effectively with this cancer. For far too long this government has ignored its people, now its people demand to be heard in this bastion of democracy. Freedom of speech shall prevail, we will be supporting Geert Wilders on his visit toour country to show his film fitna after our government turned him away on the first attempt. Our government holds its people in contempt and we will not tolerate this any longer. Good governance is achieved by listening to the people and working for the people.
It is during these tenuous times where we look to our American brothers and sisters for help and support, we see EDL members imprisoned for very “minor” offences, then thrown in jail only to be beaten by known Islamic terrorists gangs. It is as if the government want to intimidate us into silence, however we will not be intimidated, we will never surrender.
We hear of people of all colours getting beaten up by Muslim gangs on the streets just because they are non Muslim and our government turn a blind eye to this!!! We will open their eyes, we will make them listen, we won't accept anything less than concrete action that yields very visible results. They have got us into this mess so it is down to them to clean it up.
Long live the free,
Trevor Kelway.

The UKIP Is The Solution For Britain - Nigel Farage Is A Hero

ISLAMO-SCUM ATTACK JEWS AT WESTERN WALL ON PURIM

From the Astute Blogger:

IT'S A MAJOR JEWISH HOLIDAY - PURIM - SO WHAT DO DEVOUT MUSLIMS DO!?

ATTACK JEWS:

Israeli police forces stormed the most contentious holy site in Jerusalem on Sunday to disperse masked Palestinian protesters hurling objects at visiting foreign tourists.
The incident was over quickly, but the area remained tense afterward. In the past, violence at the site -- known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary -- has erupted into deadly battles.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police dispersed some 20 masked protesters who had holed up overnight in Al-Aqsa mosque building inside the hilltop compound. The protesters pelted tourists with objects early Sunday, and threw rocks at the police when they responded to the incident, he said.

THIS TERROR WAS PERP'ED BY ORTHODOX MUSLIMS.

MUSLIMS WHO DISAVOW THESE KINDS OF ACTS ARE THE APOSTATES ACCORDING TO ISLAM.

AT IT'S VERY CORE, ISLAM IS AN EVIL, VILE, VIOLENT, HATEFUL, MISOGYNISTIC, GENOCIDAL MILITANT IDEOLOGY.

ISLAM IS THE ROOT CAUSE OF ISLAMIC TERROR.

(BTW: THE WORD "PURIM" DOESN'T APPEAR IN THE NYT/AP ITEM - THEY ARE EITHER ANTISEMITIC OR MORONS OR BOTH. Update: Ditto this BBC piece: no mention of Purim.)

Netherlands: Geert Wilders Proposes Hijab Ban in Government Funded Institutions

From Weasel Zippers:

(Dutch News)- A ban on headscarves for city council workers and in all institutions and clubs which get local authority money will be the most important point in the PVV´s negotiations to join governing coalitions in Almere and the Hague, says party leader Geert Wilders.

The ban will apply to 'all council offices and all other institutions and clubs which get even one cent of council money,' he said.

The PVV is tipped to emerge as the biggest party in Almere and second biggest in the Hague.

Wilders brought up the ban again in a speech to supporters in Almere, where he entered the room to the Rocky theme tune Eye of the Tiger.
The ban will not apply to other religious items such as Christian crosses and Jewish skull caps because these are symbols of our own Dutch culture, Wilders said in his speech, receiving a standing ovation from the crowd.

Britain's Ambassador in Kuwait Forced to Leave After Getting Embassy Worker Pregnant, Faced 100 Lashes For Committing Adultery

From Weasel Zippers:

(Daily Mail)- Britain's Ambassador to Kuwait has left his post following claims that he had an affair with a married Embassy worker who is now pregnant.

Michael Aron has moved back to Britain to take up a job in Whitehall – just over a year after starting the important role in the Middle East.

His return came after rumours of an affair with brunette Victoria Cumming, who is 15 years his junior, began circulating among the wealthy ex-pat community.
Under Kuwait’s strict Sharia Law, married couples who commit adultery can face a punishment of 100 lashes or three years in prison. Foreign nationals face the same penalty and are usually deported.

Note: Even though Kuwait is enormously wealthy and modernized, they still practice the same draconian version of sharia law that Saudi Arabia implements.

Islamic radicals 'infiltrate' the Labour Party

UPDATED AND BUMPED

Ray Boyd comments:

This is an important story as a general election is imminent. I just wish it could go viral in the UK.

Most people scoff when told of the Islamic threat saying that most Muslims are good people. That may be so but this shows that the extremist tail wags the dog here in Tower Hamlets and anywhere else in the world where muslim extremists thrive i.e. Taliban dominated Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The extremists threaten and subjugate ordinary muslims and eventually rule over the mass.

Everyone in the UK should know that a vote for Labour is a vote for sharia law, and ultimate domination by Islam.

From the Telegraph:

Jim Fitzpatrick, the Environment Minister

The Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) — which believes in jihad and sharia law, and wants to turn Britain and Europe into an Islamic state — has placed sympathisers in elected office and claims, correctly, to be able to achieve “mass mobilisation” of voters.

Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, Jim Fitzpatrick, the Environment Minister, said the IFE had become, in effect, a secret party within Labour and other political parties.
“They are acting almost as an entryist organisation, placing people within the political parties, recruiting members to those political parties, trying to get individuals selected and elected so they can exercise political influence and power, whether it’s at local government level or national level,” he said.

“They are completely at odds with Labour’s programme, with our support for secularism.”

Mr Fitzpatrick, the MP for Poplar and Canning Town, said the IFE had infiltrated and “corrupted” his party in east London in the same way that the far-Left Militant Tendency did in the 1980s. Leaked Labour lists show a 110 per cent rise in party membership in one constituency in two years.

In a six-month investigation by this newspaper and Channel 4’s Dispatches, involving weeks of covert filming by the programme’s reporters:

IFE activists boasted to the undercover reporters that they had already “consolidated … a lot of influence and power” over Tower Hamlets, a London borough council with a £1 billion budget.
We have established that the group and its allies were awarded more than £10 million of taxpayers’ money, much of it from government funds designed to “prevent violent extremism”.
IFE leaders were recorded expressing opposition to democracy, support for sharia law or mocking black people. The IFE organised meetings with extremists, including Taliban allies, a man named by the US government as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and a man under investigation by the FBI for his links to the September 11 attacks.
Moderate Muslims in London told how the IFE and its allies were enforcing their hardline views on the rest of the local community, curbing behaviour they deemed “un-Islamic”. The owner of a dating agency received a threatening email from an IFE activist, warning her to close it.
George Galloway, a London MP, admitted in recordings obtained by this newspaper that his surprise victory in the 2005 election owed more to the IFE “than it would be wise – for them – for me to say, adding that they played a “decisive role” in his triumph at the polls.

Mr Galloway now says they were one of many groups which supported his anti-war stance and had never sought to influence him.

The IFE has particularly close links to Tower Hamlets council. Seven serving and former councillors said Lutfur Rahman, the current council leader, gained his post with the group’s help.

Some said they were canvassed by a senior IFE official on his behalf. After Mr Rahman was elected, a man with close links to the group, Lutfur Ali, was appointed assistant chief executive of the council with responsibility for grant funding.

This was despite a chequered employment record, a misleading CV and a negative report from the headhunters appointed to consider the candidates. The council’s white chief executive was subsequently forced from his post.

Since Mr Rahman became leader, more council grants have been paid to a number of organisations which our investigation established are closely linked to the IFE.

Funding for other, secular groups was ended or cut. In the borough’s well-known Brick Lane area, council funds were switched from a largely secular heritage trail to a highly controversial “hijab sculpture”, angering many residents who accused the council of “religious triumphalism”.

Schools in Tower Hamlets are told by the council should close for the Muslim festival of Eid, even where most of their pupils are not Muslim.

Mr Rahman refused to deny that an IFE activist had canvassed councillors on his behalf. He said: “There are various people across Tower Hamlets who get excited, who get involved.”

He would not comment on concerns about infiltration, saying they were “party matters”. He said: “If you look at our flagship policies, like investing £20 million to tackle overcrowding, you can see that we are working for everyone.”

The IFE said it did not seek to influence the council and had not lobbied for Mr Rahman. “If anything, existing members of the Labour Party have joined the IFE, rather than the other way round,” it said.

The group insisted it was not a fundamentalist or extremist organisation and did not support violence.

NYC: Amputee Arrested in Alleged Bomb Attempt – Harlem Station

Via NTA

An amputee missing both legs was arrested Thursday after police said he was wheeled into a busy New York City train station and planted a bomb.
Police found the bomb before it could detonate, but the discovery interrupted regional train lines briefly and closed the station for several hours.

The alleged device—a bag of small explosives wrapped in shotgun shells, along with bullets, glue, lug nuts, pens and a ruler—was left in a waiting area at a station in Harlem. Police later surveyed security videos to identify suspects including, Roosevelt Terry, the amputee.

My question: Why in Harlem?

This may be more than just another Jihadist attack.

Did You Hear? Hezbollah Is Appearing At The Lourve? They Rock

8.8-magnitude quake knocks down highway overpasses and buildings

I guess you don't need us to tell you about the devastation in Chile. However, we would be remiss to not even mention it. Our prayers, and our money, will be going out to the Chilean people.

One of the biggest earthquakes in recorded history rocked Chile on Saturday, killing at least 300 people, toppling buildings and freeways, and sending sirens wailing thousands of miles away as governments scrambled to protect coastal residents from the ensuing tsunami.

Doug "The Ragin' Cajun" Kershaw

Louisiana Saturday Night

CNN Poll: Majority says government a threat to citizens' rights

I guess the "shock" is that the majority agree with the Founding Fathers?

The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government."
--- Patrick Henry

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force. And force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
--- George Washington

"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States."
-Noah Webster

"Firearms stand next in importance to the constitution itself. They are the American people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence … from the hour the Pilgrims landed to the present day, events, occurences and tendencies prove that to ensure peace security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable … the very atmosphere of firearms anywhere restrains evil interference — they deserve a place of honor with all that's good."
--- George Washington

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
--- Richard Henry Lee

"The greatest danger to American freedom is a government that ignores the Constitution."
--- Thomas Jefferson

"There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters. "
--- Noah Webster

"What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance. Let them take arms."
--- Thomas Jefferson

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Barack Obama - The Firm Ally

Barack Obama is a totally irresponsible ally, and had better be looking for no help for the USA anywhere, LIKE AFGHANISTAN. Britain is America's firmest ally. Britain stood by us. Britain shares more values with us than any nation except Canada. Britain and her ideas are RESPONSIBLE for the founding brothers. Argentina compared to this is the home of LITERALLY historically nazophilic tin horn dictators responsible for the BIRTH of the verb set "TO DISAPPEAR", as in , 'if your attitude is noticed you will be disappeared', and has far less in common with the the USA and our historic values.

Obama is J Carter ON CRACK. As advertised.

J Carter is CERTAINLY responsible for the existence of the Islamic Republic of Iran and ALL THAT HAS HAPPENED AS A CAUSE OF THIS SINCE 1979. He is the RESPONSIBLE INDIVIDUAL.
What will be Mr. Obama's enduring legacy?

Lord knows how long this will ALL TAKE TO FIX.
UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Telegraph UK:

American neutrality on the Falklands is a symptom of US foreign policy drift

The Bush administration got a lot of things wrong - but at least they usually had some idea of who America's adversaries were and who America's friends were. For example, Bush's policy of maintaining the special relationship with Britain was a simple recognition of the close bonds of alliance, friendship and interests that the British and Americans have had since World War I.

In contrast, Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are apparently clueless about some of the most basic aspects of foreign policy: supporting one's friends and fencing in one's adversaries. The declaration of neutrality on the issue of the sovereignty of the Falklands issued by the US State Department is clear proof of the uselessness of the Obama administration.

In the grand scheme of things it makes little sense for America to give moral support to the Kirchner government in Argentina. Kirchner is no friend of the US and Kirchner's government is in deep domestic trouble for its gross mismanagement of the economy and its attempts to suppress the press criticism of the regime at home. One has to wonder what benefit America gets out of hurting Britain on this issue. Perhaps Obama thinks that the more Leftist Latin American regimes will somehow approve of the US. If that is the case, he is truly mistaken, as most Latin American nations dislike the Argentineans, and have little sympathy for the mess Argentina got into over the Falklands.

But this mess is just typical of the drift in US foreign policy - if one can say that it even HAS a coherent foreign policy these days. As I said, at the core of the problem is a simple inability to recognise and support our friends over adversaries. In his first year in office Obama made numerous apologies for America's past to the Third World, he effusively greeted the Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, he bowed low to the Saudi ruler, and called for a "reset" of relations with Russia - all the while implying that America was at fault for all these problems. At the same time he rudely undermined the security of America's Eastern European allies by cancelling the ballistic missile defence with no notice and no prior discussion, he failed to push for a free trade agreement with Colombia - America's strongest ally in South America - and he supported Chavez's allies when they tried (luckily unsuccessfully) to unseat a democratic and pro-US government in Honduras.
A big part of the problem is a Secretary of State who is a lightweight as far as foreign policy is concerned. Obama brought Hillary Clinton into the cabinet for domestic policy considerations. He needed to put Mrs Clinton - and her husband - under tight control.

Continue reading Barack Obama - The Firm Ally .

Max Raabe & Palast Orchester

These Foolish Things

What did we have that we don't have?

CHARLIE EFFING WILSON'S.
RI EFFING P, baby.
Click the image for full size.
Pierre Rinfret

WE NEED THESE GUYS.

THESE KIND OF GUYS

GET

THINGS

DONE

Just ask Gorbachev, Cherneko, Andrupov, and Brechnev

US Airways Plane diverted back to Charlotte due to unruly passenger

From WBTV:

The man with the gray hair was
escorted off the plane.

Janet Kim (Source: WKYT)

By Becky Gulden and Jeff Rivenbark

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - A US Airways flight was forced to divert back to Charlotte due to an unruly passenger late Thursday night.

US Airways Flight 1402 was bound for Houston and departed from Charlotte-Douglas International Airport around 10:30 p.m.

US Airways Spokeswoman Michelle Mohr told WBTV the unruly passenger was a man in his seventies. He appeared confused and thought he was on the wrong flight about 20 minutes into the flight, she said.

Janet Kim, a reporter for CBS affiliate WKYT, was a passenger on the flight. On Friday, WBTV Producer Jason Holder interviewed Kim about the incident. (Click on the right in our Video Gallery to hear the complete interview.)

Kim said the elderly passenger became extremely adamant shortly after the plane took off. The man did not speak English and one passenger who was sitting in his row thought he was speaking Albanian, Kim said.

Kim said prior to boarding the plane and while all the passengers were waiting at the gate, the elderly man was observed screaming into his cell phone.

"He was already irate before ever getting onto the plane," Kim said.

When the man refused to comply with the flight crew's instructions, up to five people had to restrain the man. Meanwhile, the captain turned the aircraft around and headed back to Charlotte.

Kim said she thought the US Airways crew handled the situation in an excellent manner by keeping the passengers informed about what was going on via the overhead speakers. The flight attendants also went aisle by aisle providing updates to the passengers in an effort to calm them.

The plane returned back at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport around 11 p.m.

Airport police officials immediately boarded the plane and escorted the man off who is seen in the pictures on the right with gray hair.

The man was not charged in the incident, but he was taken to a hospital in Charlotte.

There were 125 passengers on board the flight, plus two pilots and three flight attendants.

OBAMA'S FOREIGN POLICY IS NO DIFFERENT THAN HIS HANDLNG OF OBAMACARE: IT'S A DISASTER

From the Astute Bloggers:

A MAJOR INTERNATIONAL MILITARY EXPERT CALLS IT LIKE HE SEES IT:

The Bush administration got a lot of things wrong – but at least they usually had some idea of who America’s adversaries were and who America’s friends were. For example, Bush’s policy of maintaining the special relationship with Britain was a simple recognition of the close bonds of alliance, friendship and interests that the British and Americans have had since World War I.

In contrast, Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are apparently clueless about some of the most basic aspects of foreign policy: supporting one’s friends and fencing in one’s adversaries.
The declaration of neutrality on the issue of the sovereignty of the Falklands issued by the US State Department is clear proof of the uselessness of the Obama administration.
...this mess is just typical of the drift in US foreign policy – if one can say that it even HAS a coherent foreign policy these days.
As I said, at the core of the problem is a simple inability to recognise and support our friends over adversaries. In his first year in office Obama made numerous apologies for America’s past to the Third World, he effusively greeted the Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, he bowed low to the Saudi ruler, and called for a “reset” of relations with Russia – all the while implying that America was at fault for all these problems.
At the same time he rudely undermined the security of America’s Eastern European allies by cancelling the ballistic missile defence with no notice and no prior discussion, he failed to push for a free trade agreement with Colombia – America’s strongest ally in South America – and he supported Chavez’s allies when they tried (luckily unsuccessfully) to unseat a democratic and pro-US government in Honduras.
...On assuming office, Obama’s vision of foreign policy was simple: he would repudiate past American policies and the whole world would melt before the president’s charm.
The administration somehow thought that we really didn’t have enemies with agendas completely hostile to our own – there were just countries that had become offended by US actions and they would happily cooperate with America as soon as the evil Republicans were gone.
Well, it hasn’t worked – and there was no Plan B.

WE POSTED THIS THE OTHER DAY.

BTW: THE BRITS ESTIMATE THAT THE FALKLANDS CONTAIN 60 BILLION BARRELS OF OIL.

OBAMA IS HELPING BRAZIL DRILL FOR THEIR OFF-SHORE OIL, BUT IS NIT HELPING THE BRITS AT ALL.

WHY?!?!?!

SIMPLE: IT'S HIS LEFTISM: HE IS BIASED AGAINST EUROPE (AND OUR ALLIES) AND IN FAVOR OF THE SO-CALLED THIRD WORLD AND OUR FOES.

OBAMA BOLLIXED UP OBAMACAREE AND HE IS BOLLIXING UP FOREIGN POLICY.

OBAMA: WORST PRESIDENT EVER - ON RECORD TIME.

NO SURPRISE HERE. SIGH...

(VIA MEMEORANDUM.)

Oh, What The Hell, It's A Friday Night In America. . .

Charlie Daniels

Drinkin' My Baby Goodbye

Friday, February 26, 2010

Charlie Daniels Band

Orange Blossom Special

One way to lower health costs:21.2% Medicare Pay Cut Will Take Effect Monday

Jim Bunning, member of the United States Senate.

February 26, 2010 -- Unless a minor bipartisan miracle happens in Congress over the next few days, physicians will go over the cliff on Monday. That's when a scheduled 21.2% reduction in Medicare reimbursement takes effect.

Leaders of organized medicine call this reduction "the cliff" because, in their view, many physicians will not be able to afford to see new Medicare patients, or even stay in the federal program, or even stay in practice if their Medicare pay drops by more than one fifth. They also call it a cliff for seniors who may not be able to find a physician willing to treat them.

For months, congressional Democrats have tried to pass legislation to avert the massive pay cut, which was triggered by the notorious sustainable growth rate formula that Medicare uses to set physician reimbursement. However, Democrats were once again thwarted this week when Sen. Jim Bunning (R-PA) blocked a bill that would have extended the deadline 30 days. Sen. Bunning said he couldn't live with the bill, which also would have temporarily extended unemployment benefits, COBRA subsidies, and other programs, because Senate Democrats hadn't figured out a way to pay for it, and thus would be adding to the already swollen federal deficit.

This is from Medscape News. Now far be it from me to question this automatically, but Sen Bunning is from Kentucky, KY. Not even close. Does this mean something? No idea, but I can tell you this .. IF WE CANNOT AFFORD IT, WE CANNOT.

Raise taxes or cut something else. Check out the ancillary articles emphasis.

That MEANY worried about our children's future debt, the INTEREST ON WHICH IN 12 YEARS IF NOTHING CHANGES WILL BE THE LARGEST ITEM IN THE BUDGET. Who will pay for medical care then? Scrooge?
The money saved is not going into HIS pocket.

If physicians are true to their warnings, Medicare patients next week may experience difficulty making an appointment. A recent poll conducted by several medical societies representing neurosurgeons, for example, revealed that almost 40% would cut back on seeing new Medicare patients if reimbursement continues to decline, while 18% would stop accepting new Medicare patients altogether. Another 27% said they would treat fewer established Medicare patients.

So I guess we cannot depend on the physicians to accept lower pay. Nor should we. This has to be paid for or we have to face the music and SOLVE IT IN GENERAL

Ok. So it was David Geffen. So she reveals it in a Beatlesesque manner.

So what? I really couldn't care less.

I just like the tune.

Carly Simon

You're So Vain

The Green Prince

Front Page Mag:

Radical Son

By Stephen Brown

He is not his father’s son.

In a stunning revelation, the son of a Hamas founder told an Israeli newspaper this week that he once served as an Israeli intelligence agent. Mosab Hassan Yousef, 32, told the Israeli daily Haaretz that he spied for more than ten years on the Iranian-backed terrorist organization that has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007.

In his role as Israeli informant, Yousef is credited with helping arrest high-ranking terrorists. Much more important, however, is that he also saved the lives of “hundreds of innocent people” with the information he provided the Israeli intelligence service, Shin Bet, about pending suicide attacks. “So many people owe their lives to him and don’t even know it,” Yousef’s unidentified Shin Bet handler [1] told Haaretz.

Yousef’s Israeli handler went on to relate how the “Green Prince” – Yousef’s codename, taken from the color for Islam – personally picked out a suicide bomber in a Ramallah square and followed him until an arrest could be made.

Next week, Yousef’s memoir about his experiences in the terrorist organization will be published in the United States. Aptly named Son Of Hamas, the book is described on Yousef’s Facebook site [2] as “a gripping account of terror, betrayal, political intrigue, and unthinkable choices.”

Besides offering a uniquely intimate glimpse into the murderous world of Islamic terrorism, Yousef’s revelation of his Israeli spy past represents another serious blow to Hamas. This week, police in Dubai indicated the senior Hamas operative killed in his hotel room in the emirate last month, reputedly by an Israeli hit team, may in fact have been set up with information provided by the terrorist organization itself.

Yousef’s admission, coming so soon after the Dubai reversal, will likely cause Hamas members to wonder how deeply their ranks have been penetrated by informers. History shows that terrorist organizations, such as the pre-revolutionary Bolshevik Party in Russia, suspecting such infiltration among their membership, sometimes carried out murderous purges that often claimed the innocent as well as the guilty. A few more such Israeli intelligence coups may see the same thing occur inside Hamas.

Shin Bet recruited Yousef in an Israeli prison in 1996. Thanks to his competence and professionalism, he came to be regarded as a very valuable asset [3], his existence known to only a handful of Shin Bet operatives. “His grasp of intelligence matters was just as good as ours – the ideas, the insights. One insight of his was worth 1,000 hours of thought by top experts,” said his former handler.

But what struck the Israelis the most was that in the shadow world of terrorism, where most things have a price, Yousef did not accept any payment [1]. “The amazing thing is that none of his actions were done for money,” said the handler. “He did things he believed in. He wanted to save lives.”

The probable reason for a Muslim terrorist’s unusual regard for the sanctity of human life may prove to be as interesting a story as Yousef’s spying activities with Hamas. Over a decade ago, Yousef, who now lives in California, converted to Christianity [1].

While the conversion of Muslims to Christianity is less well known than from Christianity to Islam, it does occur. One of the reason Christian groups often keep them secret, or don’t keep statistics, is that Muslim apostates are subject to the death penalty under Islam’s Sharia law. So, even if Yousef had never worked for Israeli intelligence, his life would still be in peril. But the fact that a high-ranking Hamas member with such a sterling terrorist pedigree (his father is currently serving a six-year sentence in an Israeli prison) would convert, while highly unusual, is not unknown. There are reports that even members of the Muslim Brotherhood have abandoned their Islamic faith.

One such Muslim Brotherhood member, who once burned a church in his Middle Eastern country, converted after he was asked by a senior Brotherhood member to read the New Testament and write an anti-Christian tract. Instead, he not only converted to Christianity, but became an evangelist along with another Brotherhood convert. In a grim warning to Muslim apostates, both were later hunted down by their former coreligionists and savagely murdered.

In discovering his new faith, Yousef appears also to have discovered a new value for human life. In particular, he has become an outspoken advocate of Israel’s security interests. Besides his life-saving work for Shin Bet, Yousef has strongly apposed any effort by Israel to exchange imprisoned terrorists for the Israeli soldier, Gilad Schalit, whom Hamas kidnapped three years ago.

Yousef knows probably better than anyone more people will be killed in terrorist attacks if the prisoners are released. He has already blamed Hamas for killing Palestinians and not Israel. His opposition is such that he told Haaretz he was willing to “put on an army uniform and join Israel’s Special Forces in order to liberate Gilad Schalit.” As Yousef puts it, “We wasted so many years with investigations and arrests to capture the very terrorists that they now want to release in return for Schalit. That must not be done.”

As for those who continue to counsel Israel to bend to the terrorists’ demands, Yousef speaks a hard truth founded on years of personal experience: “Hamas cannot make peace with the Israelis. That is against what their God tells them. It is impossible to make peace with infidels.” Those are hardly the words one would expect to hear from the son of a Hamas founder, but Mosab Hassan Yousef’s tale is extraordinary – not least because he has lived to tell it.

I know how to solve the ethical, moral and societal dilemna between evil profit and property and good social, racial and gaian justice

Senator Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader

Everyone gets a big check from the feds, every week.
We all pay 50% taxes. White males pay 65%. White females 55%. Whiteness is a quality determined by a panel of Laplanders and La Raza and the New Black Panthers in a closed room with no appeal
No armed force outside the borders, no defense dept, just a national justice force
No state dept
We have HHS, and a dept of Education. All other depts are subsumed into these two
The president is elected by americans and a weighted rotating sample of other nations
The Constitution is melded by a rational group of post racial modernists and metrosexuals, and european and south asian moralists, latino nations as whole have a veto
The Senate must be 40% male, 40% female, and the remaining 20% will be divided among all other 'groupings'. By race it will be 35% white, 30% black, and 25% latino. The remaining 15% will rotate by racial grouping to be decided by the whiteness board.
Work is what the feds decide is work.
All work is service, no manufacturing allowed since this harms gaia. We already have enough stuff.
65% of all work must be social service and counseling so that proper behavior is maintained and modeled.
All prices of necessities (all that is left) are controlled. Farming is done but overseen strictly be federal panels, which oversee state agricultural colleges, who decided what and how much is planted. Transport of foodstuffs to be strictly by carbon ZERO transportation.
We all get 8 weeks off, 30 sicks days and 60 personal days. Birth leave is 1 year, and your job is left open and vacant until you return.
When you want a new job, you must consult the whiteness panel. You cannot be fired unless the whiteness panel agrees, and they have to locate a new job for you first.
All US currency must be turned in within 60 days for reasons o social justice. Hereditary transference of property is forbidden
TV will have three channels. Sitcom, Movie, and Oprah. Radio is forbidden. Sitcom channel to be controlled by the descendants of Norman Lear, movie by Matt Damon and George Clooney, Oprah by KOS. Radio broadcasting is treason and the death penalty is mandatory. All webcams on computers to be on all the time.
Anything not on this list is forbidden and illegal.
In the case of imminent societal collapse, a small enclave where producers can gather may be granted, and given property rights, but they will be stripped of their citizenship, and they may never return to the USA.

Health Care Common Sense - We can't afford more, so it has to cost less

That means we either have policies which are not as good, xfer more costs to end users, or the policies themselves cost less, enforcing either leaner operation on insurers, worse policies or lower pay for medical care workers from orderlies, secretaries, data entry people and cafeteria workers to surgeons and admins (good luck).

However, DUH, with OPEN NATIONAL COMPETITION I bet a lot of policy costs would take care of themselves, ESPECIALLY if teamed with SOME KINDS of tort reform which removes the need for wildly profligate lab testing needed for law suit defense.

If we can't afford more, it has to cost less. That's all the repubs had to say and how can the dems disagree? If it costs less, MORE PEOPLE ARE INSURED.

Allow competition and allow reality to exert itself.

How much of a cell phone plan can you now buy for $69.99 a month?

How much was that 10 years ago?

Chinese Girls Are A Disappearing People

"Throw it in a Stream"

Jonah has a terrific piece in the current NR on Thomas Friedman and his preference for the authoritarian decisiveness of Beijing over sloppy, messy multiparty democratic politics. But big government is always deforming, and in China it's so big it's deformed even basic biology, to the point that (as I've written many times before) its one-child policy has led to the most gender-distorted cohort in human history. A new book, Message From An Unknown Chinese Mother by Xinran, sheds some light on what happens to those girls who aren't aborted:

She had lived and worked almost her entire life in orphanages, and told Xinran that little girls sometimes arrived there with scars between their legs. Oil lamps or candles had burned them.

'The first thing the village midwives did when the baby was born was not to clear its airway but to check [by the light of the lamp or candle] whether it was a boy or girl, because that was what the family wanted to hear. Some of the burns were on the baby’s private parts…'

When state-of-the-art totalitarianism meets primitive village culture, the result is industrial-scale depravity. These are the words of a young Chinese female university graduate:

Mother love is supposed to be such a great thing, but so many babies are abandoned, and it’s their mothers who do it. They’re ignorant. They feel differently about emotions from the way you do.
Where I come from, people talk about smothering a baby girl or just throwing it[!]into a stream … to be eaten by dogs, as if it were a joke. How much do you think these women loved their babies?

The idea that there are peoples who "feel differently" is anathema to the multicultural mind. It's why it cannot comprehend why Minnesota's "Somali-Americans" (heavy on the former, all but weightless on the latter) return to the Horn of Africa for jihad. And why even the Pantybomber's intended victims think that everything would have been swell if they could have just sat down with him and talked about his feelings.

Anne-Sophie Mutter

Devil's Trill

Part 1

Part 2

American Support for Israel at Near Record High

Yes, because America is essentially a good country. Decent and kind. And in any war between the civilized man and the savage, you always side with the civilized man.

Obama, OTOH, ................... better get a clue. The country does not share his anti-semitism.
Support for Israel in U.S. at 63%, Near Record High Gallup

And, Christian friends of mine are telling me America is doomed.

I'm so tired of hearing it.

Perhaps my Christian friends are doomed.

Brezninski and Carter Claim They Goaded the USSR Into Invading Afghanistan?

In order to give the USSR "their Viet Nam."

From counterpunch.org:

Zbigniew Brzezinski:
How Jimmy Carter and I Started the Mujahideen

Interview of Zbigniew Brzezinski, Le Nouvel Observateur (France), Jan 15-21, 1998, p. 76*

Q: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs ["From the Shadows"], that American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan 6 months before the Soviet intervention. In this period you were the national security adviser to President Carter. You therefore played a role in this affair. Is that correct?

Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded until now, is completely otherwise: Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.

Q: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry into war and looked to provoke it?

Brzezinski: It isn't quite that. We didn't push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would.

Q: When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they intended to fight against a secret involvement of the United States in Afghanistan, people didn't believe them. However, there was a basis of truth. You don't regret anything today?

Brzezinski: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter: We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.

Q: And neither do you regret having supported the Islamic [integrisme], having given arms and advice to future terrorists?

Brzezinski: What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?

Q: Some stirred-up Moslems? But it has been said and repeated: Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace today.

Brzezinski: Nonsense! It is said that the West had a global policy in regard to Islam. That is stupid. There isn't a global Islam. Look at Islam in a rational manner and without demagoguery or emotion. It is the leading religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. But what is there in common among Saudi Arabian fundamentalism, moderate Morocco, Pakistan militarism, Egyptian pro-Western or Central Asian secularism? Nothing more than what unites the Christian countries.

* There are at least two editions of this magazine; with the perhaps sole exception of the Library of Congress, the version sent to the United States is shorter than the French version, and the Brzezinski interview was not included in the shorter version.

If this is true, look at how well it all worked out for us. Boy, that Jimmy Carter sure was the international chess player.

UKIP Rep Asks EU President: "Who Are You? Who Voted For You?"

"I have no doubt that it is your intention to be the quiet assassin of European Democracy. Sir, you have no legitimcay."

Libya’s Gaddafi urges jihad against Switzerland

From Vlad Tepes:

From Reuters:

Libya’s leader Muammar Gaddafi attends the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Food Security Summit in Rome November 16, 2009.

Credit: Reuters/Filippo Monteforte/Pool

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi called on Thursday for a “jihad” or armed struggle against Switzerland, saying it was an infidel state that was destroying mosques.

World

“Any Muslim in any part of the world who works with Switzerland is an apostate, is against (the Prophet) Mohammad, God and the Koran,” Gaddafi said during a meeting in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi to mark the Prophet’s birthday.

“The masses of Muslims must go to all airports in the Islamic world and prevent any Swiss plane landing, to all harbors and prevent any Swiss ships docking, inspect all shops and markets to stop any Swiss goods being sold,” Gaddafi said.

The Swiss Foreign Ministry said it had no comment on Gaddafi’s remarks.

Libya’s relations with Switzerland broke down in 2008 when a son of Gaddafi was arrested in a Geneva hotel and charged with abusing domestic servants. Read More »

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Saudi Cleric Muhammad Musa Al-Sharif Defends the Marrying Off of Under-Age Girls in Saudi Arabia: Atheists, Christians, and Fornicators Are Responsible for Human Rights Treaties- MEMRI

A charade and public grandstanding WASTE, and worst of all - a bore without ANY redeeming substance

I lasted about 2 hours only by telling myself something worthy MUST be going on, listening while working. Then I decided to watch the Sound of Music for the 1318th time. At least it's meaning endures.

This farce of a congress needs the public to simply keep pulling the lever of the challenger until someone gets it right. And the president is THE MOST RESPONSIBLE for the state of affairs, and the most invested in its lengthy extension.

Arrogant and narcissistic, he exceeds the Congress by about 5% in such measure, and 50% in boring dead weight.

Today will achieve absolutely NOTHING. Change NOTHING. Move NOTHING.

TIMES UK:

Try to stay awake: the President has a healthcare Bill to pass

Warning: watching American politicians argue about healthcare can be seriously damaging to your health. Symptoms may include migraines, extreme fatigue and sudden violent urges. In the event of exposure to competing statistics -- regarding "donut holes", "HMO deductibles", "reconciliation devices" or suchlike -- seek immediate medical help.

The public affairs television channel C-Span 3 might as well have put such a message at the bottom of its screen today as it broadcast President Obama's epic six-hour "bipartisan" debate on US medical reform.

Of course, by the usual standards of C-Span programming -- which can induce sleep faster than an IV drip of propofol -- the summit was the equivalent of a bikini mud wrestling contest. You half expected the picture to shake as the camera operator struggled to compose himself.

For the rest of us, however, it was mainly an opportunity to see how many conciliatory-looking poses Obama could strike while listening to his Republican opponents explain why the entire first year of his administration has been a gigantic waste of time, and why the telephone directory-sized health Bills produced by both the Democrat-controlled House and Senate should be fed into a shredder the size of Connecticut, before they . . . well, no one seems to know exactly what these vast pieces of legislation would do.

Continue reading A charade and public grandstanding WASTE, and worst of all - a bore without ANY redeeming substance.

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