Friday, October 01, 2010

Weather Report
Young and Fine

World's Toughest Towns: Paris, "The Rioting Capital of Europe"

Islam: Think Only Good Thoughts

Academia is forbidding all critical examination of Islam. Any negative conclusion is forbidden prior to a discussion of the religion or the culture. When it comes to Islam or Muslims the unspoken rule is "think only good thoughts."

From today's Wall Street Journal:

"Last Saturday, at a university-sponsored event ... a group of former students launched a research fund in honor of Martin Peretz, a former teacher in the program and the longtime editor in chief of the New Republic. After the event adjourned, the afternoon turned ugly as police had to protect Mr. Peretz while he walked across campus surrounded by a mob of screaming students."

What was Marty's sin? Peretz said:

"Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims. And among those Muslims led by the Imam Rauf [of the proposed Cordoba House mosque] there is hardly one who has raised a fuss about the routine and random bloodshed that defines their brotherhood. So, yes, I wonder whether I need honor these people and pretend that they are worthy of the privileges of the First Amendment which I have in my gut the sense that they will abuse."

Can we debate this? What was the response?

... Stephen Walt of the Kennedy School of Government, who co-authored a book, "The Israel Lobby," which argues that a conspiracy skews American policy in the Middle East in favor of Israel. Mr. Walt's blog on the web site of Foreign Policy magazine offers readers a series of Mr. Peretz's statements "displaying hatred and contempt for Muslims, Arabs, and other minorities."

Read the rest here.

Mohammed Cartoons: "We condemn the publication of The Tyranny of Silence", OICSG Ihsanoglu says

This is the OIC Press Release about the publication of Flemming Rose's book, the Tyranny of Silence:

The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu today strongly condemned the publication of the book entitled “Tyranny of Silence” in Denmark. The book contains a compilation of denigrating caricatures and cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) published by the Jyllands Posten in 2005 which aroused worldwide condemnation and denunciation, and caused hurt and insult to the sentiments of Muslims around the world.

The OIC Secretary General expressed his dismay and disappointment at the release of the book despite the fact that he and some other leaders of the Muslim countries had personally addressed letters to the Foreign Minister of Denmark urging the intervention of the Danish government against the publication due to the highly provocative and inciting contents of the book. He reiterated his position when the Foreign Minister of Denmark called on him to discuss the issue at the sidelines of the 65th session of the UN General Assembly.

Emphasizing the moral responsibility of the political leadership of Denmark in this regard, the Secretary General said that the publication of the book was a deliberate attempt to incite prejudices and animosity which would undermine the ongoing efforts of the international community for promoting understanding and peaceful coexistence among peoples of diverse religious and cultural backgrounds.

They insist then on their position: no one can criticize, mock or just laugh about their positions. Government can't at all interfere in the publication of a book that is paid privately, with no public money. But we have to read this statement taking into account what Mr. Ihsanoglu said when the Mohammed cartoons were published the first time.

He said that "Violence weakens us" (link above), a striking statement that leads to think he is not worried about people actually harmed by enraged Muslims, but rather about how the public opinion perceives those Muslims. There is no prejudice or animosity in publishing those cartoons, and there would never have been any problem with them, if they wouldn't have ended in violence. The alleged prejudices wouldn't have even existed if (an important part of) Muslims wouldn't have got enraged or have justified that because of the alleged "insults" to Mohammed.

But who is responsible for the violence? The cartoons? Or the violent people?

Cross-posted from T&P.

It just keeps on getting better:CNN's Rick Sanchez -"CNN .. being "run" by Jews"

Another Walt and Mearsheimer slug on the loose ... and somehow he escaped our control ...but no longer....

From STAND-UP BLOG:

Cuban-American anchor Rick Sanchez came on Stand Up! with Pete Dominicktoday for a loose exchange on current events, media, and journalism. Throughout much of the interview, the discussion touched on race. To our surprise, at various points, Sanchez took aim at Daily Show host Jon Stewart, and even referred to his (and Pete's) employer CNN as being "run" by Jews.

....

When Pete defended Jon Stewart as "just a comedian," Sanchez shot back, "That's a cop-out." (I happen to agree with Sanchez on that one.)
When Pete suggested Jews (such as Stewart) have at least some sense of what it's like to be an oppressed minority, Sanchez seemed to make the claim that Jews run CNN and the news business in general and that Stewart thus did not in fact know what it was like to feel the sting of prejudice.
"Yeah," Sanchez snickered sarcastically at the idea that Jews are as much minorities as Latinos in the US.
Very powerless people... [snickers] He's such a minority, I mean, you know [sarcastically]... Please, what are you kidding? ... I'm telling you that everybody who runs CNN is a lot like Stewart, and a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart, and to imply that somehow they -- the people in this country who are Jewish -- are an oppressed minority? Yeah. [sarcastically]
That's right, CNN anchor Rick Sanchez basically suggested that Jews have run the media.
Pete asked, "They can't relate to that? A Jewish person doesn't have a constant fear in the back of their head that we could [inaudible] the Holocaust?"
"I think his father could," Sanchez replied, referring to Stewart.
"I think every Jewish person feels that way," Pete said.
"I hope so," Sanchez responded.
Sanchez also suggested Jews in general, at least of his generation or younger, are not discriminated against, though they might hear the occasional Jew joke now and again.

Is this all there is to be?

Optimists make headlines, cynics make history ..John Boehner fulfills the lowest possible expectation

Representative Everett Dirksen of Illinois

Image via Wikipedia

In 2006-2008 all we heard about was how Conyers and Waxman could barely keep the blood off their teeth from tongue biting in snapping anticipation of investigating George Bush's elementary school for passing him from Kindergarten to 1st grade since his father and family clearly has used George Tenet's father to influence his kindergarten teacher unethically.

NO EXCUSES, BOEHNER

Politico:

Boehner backs Issa on subpoena promises
House Minority Leader John Boehner threw his full support behind Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-Calif.) plan to bombard the Obama administration with subpoenas if Republicans take back the House in November.

"I think Congress has an appropriate role under the Constitution to provide oversight of the executive branch. And I would pledge that it's going to happen," he told reporters Wednesday.

Issa, the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Committee, has said he'll double the size of his staff if he becomes chairman of the committee next year. He called for an investigation of the Obama administration earlier this year for offering Rep. Joe Sestak an unpaid job if he would drop out of the Democratic primary, and he has promised to investigate the White House in search of similar controversies.

A Chairman Issa would prove a huge headache for Obama, much as Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) was as the committee's chairman during the Clinton administration. Burton issued 1,052 subpoenas to the White House and other Democrats from 1997 to 2002.

This is INEXCUSABLE, and considering the real everyday problems we face this descent into worse partisanship reveals the clear evidence that Boehner is NOT FIT to be speaker. And now if the polls hold up the republican members of Congress need to act accordingly.

Anyone here think for a second this would have happened between people like Everett Dirksen and Lyndon Johnson?

Sam Rayburn and Gerold Ford?

No matter how cynical I am, I am just not cynical enough.

This is WHY there is a Tea Party movement

Solve problems, Republicans.

Solve them or DISSOLVE

Bin Laden: AQ leader calls for creation of new relief body to help... Muslims

My Way:

Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden called for the creation of a new relief body to help Muslims in an audiotape released Friday, seeking to exploit discontent following this summer's devastating floods in Pakistan by depicting the region's governments as uncaring.
It was the third message in recent weeks from al-Qaida figures concerning the massive floods that affected around 20 million people in Pakistan, signaling a concentrated campaign by the terror group to tap into anger over the flooding to rally support.
But while the earlier messages by subordinates were angry, urging followers to rise up, bin Laden took a softer, even humanitarian tone - apparently trying to broaden al-Qaida's appeal by presenting his group as a problem-solving protector of the poor.
"What governments spend on relief work is secondary to what they spend on armies," bin Laden says on the 11-minute tape titled "Reflections on the Method of Relief Work."
"If governments spent (on relief) only one percent of what is spent on armies, they would change the face of the world for poor people," he said.

Interesting. Will AQ leader give the money he spents on terrorism to "the poor of the world"? I guess not. If he wouldn't have "listened to Allah's calling", he will be living amid luxury as all the others Saudi multi-millionaires. He's just exploiting (again) Western leaders' culpability complex.

Photo: 20minutes.fr.

Cross-posted from T&P.

Words of Obeisance, and Concession to violence : "I would think that the prudent boater would want to stay on the Texas side"

Search for arms - Mexican border; soldier sear...

Excuse me, but why aren't there squdarons of Cobra gunships from the national guard tearing up the air over the lake right now?

WHO ARE WE?

Sheriff: Pirates Shoot American In Falcon Lake, Texas

SAN ANTONIO -- An American tourist was shot in the back of the head in Mexican waters on Thursday after being ambushed by armed boaters, a Texas sheriff said.

It happened near the U.S. boundary of a lake where run-ins with pirates already had fishermen and Texas officials on alert.
Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez identified the victim as David Michael Hartley, 30.
Hartley and his wife were riding personal watercrafts back from Mexico on Falcon Lake when about six gunmen approached in two boats, Gonzalez said.
The sheriff said Hartley was shot as the couple sped away at the sight of the boaters.
What happened to Hartley was unclear. Gonzalez said the man's wife tried circling back to pull him from the water, but she was forced to retreat to U.S. waters after being fired upon again.
"They saw them approaching and started revving it up back to the U.S. side," Gonzalez said. "The guys just started shooting at them from behind."
Gonzalez said he has contacted the Mexican consulate and asked them to look for the man. He said there was nothing else he could do.
One of the boats may have crossed the U.S. side of the lake to fire at the woman, said Mike Cox, a spokesman for the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.
The shooting renewed warnings of pirates on Falcon Lake, which is about 60 miles down the border from Laredo and is popular with water skiers and bass fishing.
Earlier this year, several fishermen were robbed at gunpoint on the lake's Mexican side. In those holdups, authorities say the gunmen traveled in the low-slung, underpowered commercial Mexican fishing boats that are familiar in the area. They asked for money, drugs and guns, and took what cash was available, but no one was hurt.
Hartley and his wife moved to McAllen from Reynosa about five months ago and had planned to returned to their native Colorado in two weeks, Gonzalez said. Gonzalez said Hartley worked in the oil business.
Reynosa has been beset recently with warring drug cartels and Mexican authorities, but Gonzalez said he believed the shooting was a random attack.
He has previously chalked up the dangerous waters as the product of fighting between rival Mexican drug gangs.
"I would think that, right now, the prudent boater would want to stay on the Texas side," Cox said Thursday.
Authorities said the shooting happened about 2:45 p.m. Gonzalez said the couple never spoke to the gunmen, and the woman raced her watercraft to the shores of the first lakeside homes she could reach and asked for help. He said they had ridden over to Mexico for sightseeing and to take photos of a famous church in Old Guerrero.
That is identical to what five boaters did in April when authorities say they were approached by men who identified themselves as "Federales" and asked for drugs.
Those boaters handed over $200 before the pirates chased them back to U.S. waters.
Violence on the Mexican side of the lake has been climbing for several months, as a fractured partnership between the region's dominant Gulf Cartel and its former enforcers, the Zetas, plunged many of the area's Mexican border cities into violence.
Falcon Lake is a dammed section of the Rio Grande that straddles the border. The border is marked by 14 partially submerged concrete towers that mark the Rio Grande's path before the lake was created in 1954.

Why Is The FBI Leading A Known Hamas-Supporter, and Holy Land Foundation Un-indicted co-Conspirator On Tours of the National Counter-Terrorism Headquarters?

Andrew Breitbart filled in for Michael Savage on the Savage Nation and spoke with Frank Gaffney about Shariah, the Team B II Report, and the shocking story of known Hamas/Holy Land Foundation unindicted co-conspirator Kifah Mustapha being led around the FBI's National Counter-Terrorism Headquarters. For more information, see Patrick Poole's article at Big Peace.

IBA Blocked In Canada?

Dag, who lives in Vancouver, Canada, wrote the following to me this morning:

My Providers DNS or google is blocking http://ibloga.blogspot.com/

which is allied with your blog. Some one is risking prosecution and/or jail time if this is so. Google sez 'blog does not exist' which is crap. Going thru an ANON server bypasses any blocks and I see it as it should be. How's that for conspiracy to stiffle anti-islam blogs. WATCH OUT, it may happen to your blog. I'm having the allied site block investigated and god help anyone who's put the block up.

The Sam Kinison theory of foreign relations meets Pakistan : SAY IT

Thesis: A very large percentage of the Pakistani people regard the American people, the American way of life, and American history as evil, ungodly, and worthy of struggle in the way of Allah. Therefore the Pakistani govt does NOT represent the motive forces of Pakistani society, and a conflict of the peoples is probably inevitable

Corollary: The only way to avoid this conflict is for the Pakistani govt, armed forces, and ISI to take arms against this large percentage DECISIVELY, a very unlikely outcome since these organizations are representative of Pakistani society, except for the ISI which is even more radical and anti American.

Mr. Tingle gets it almost exactly right

You may be able to disagree around the edges, and disagree totally with Mr. Matthews' political outlook, but here when he is giving his observations he comes very close to the mark. Too bad Obama is incapable of receiving this message as his brain is operating on a different spectrum of frequencies (or maybe not too bad for 2012).

I keep seeing this image of small animals swimming in crowds away from a rotting wooden craft banging on rotted pilings on a shoreline opposite a busy harbor.

The memoirs are going to be fabulous

The Ground Zero Mosque Design: What Does It Look Like To You?

From Atlas Shrugs:

The Islamic supremacists get more bold and naked in their motive.

I thought this Anonymous commenter summed it up best:

-High rise with holes punched in it
-Bent and twisted support beams
-Irregular shards of glass
-Stark whiteness to signify the "purity" of the act committed in the name of a "superior truth"
-Busted up Stars of David and Pentagons everywhere
-Escalator - boots stomping on a broken Star of David/Pentagon combo
-Spiteful disregard for complimentary aesthetics - sticks out like a sore thumb in your face, and fuck all the surrounding structures
-In three words - Arrogance, superiority, mockery
-In other words, how could it be any more appropriate as a symbol of the perceived imminent downfall of freedom itself.