The Postmodern Myth of Sisyphus

Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Daniel Barenboim

Beethoven, Triple Concierto y Fantasía Coral

Islam Vs. Chess

For quite a while now, I haven't posted much about Islam. After all, it's pretty much SSDD. Then, along comes something like this....

From QWIRE:

Allah's Messenger (saws) said: 'He who played chess is like one who dyed his hand with the flesh and blood of swine.' (Sahih Muslim Hadith 5612, Narrated by Buraydah ibn al-Hasib)

[...]

OK, I concede that this particular aspect of Islam may not appear to be the biggest issue facing western democracies. But it does provide an interesting and unusually amusing illustration of some of the different priorities inherent in Islamic thinking....

[...]

So why on earth is Islam opposed to chess? What is it about chess which so offends Islam?

You can find many Islamic authorities espousing the evils of chess:

"Some people claim that the game of chess increases ones wit and intelligence, and it assists one in learning the ways of battles. This claim is unreasonable. Chess has nothing to do with wit or intelligence; on the contrary intelligence suffers a derangement by this game. The player of chess becomes so absorbed in this game that he has no care or concern for anything else. Yes there is no surprise in the fact that by constant playing, one's ability to manoeuvre the various ways and moves of the game improves. But then what is the benefit of this gain? Similarly this game has no relationship with the strategies of battle or war. The act of the game is limited to its technical or ordinary manoeuvres e.g. the knight moves so and the elephant moves so. In true and real battles these are not the moves to be found. The manoeuvres of war are totally distinct and separate. In short both these claims are absurd". (Inter Islam, prohibitions)

So we have here two justifications:

- that chess causes a mental derangement; it seems Islamic values can contradict western scholastic and medical research

- Chess lacks the proper training for a Muslim to apply directly in acts of war or jihad. The connection between the chess board and being able to carry out violence cannot be established....

Read the rest HERE. Several Islamic sources condemn "the evils of chess."

Can silence be evidence of a conspiracy to commit fraud?

From Dinocrat:

By the middle of 2010, the CEO’s of publicly traded insurance companies must have known that up to tens of millions of their customers would be canceled by their companies. Arguably, the willful concealment of this information affected the price of their stock. Was their silence about material facts affecting share prices and their own compensation permissible under SEC disclosure rules? We don’t know. Just asking.

EPASEZ:
There were SO MANY public warnings of this from congress, insurance analysts, AND companies but the rush to believe in Obama crowded out any other reasonable narrative.

PUBLIC WARNINGS - that makes willful concealment impossible. We have the video of Ryan, and Cantor right here.

Right now the very same warnings are being sounded about employer provided insurance, whose market, PS, will be active 2 weeks before the 2014 elections.

The warnings are coming from congress, newspapers, and analysts.
They are public.

IMHO, the insurance companies BELIEVED they were being handed a forced market of 30-40 million new customers. Who knows, maybe in the end they will be? It's mandated by law. But it seems right now as if there may have been a gross misjudgment of the market, and people will not buy what is too expensive, and stuffed with unneeded and unwanted services.

What will happen if this same process plays out across the summer, and tens-hundreds of millions are ejected from coverage, or suddenly must pay 100-300% more from employers who are facing much more expensive policies, because Obamacare mandates it?

There is nothing hiding here.

Every one of us can play this wargame out.

Each one of us can sit in the chair of the CEO of United Healthcare and face a market where the government mandates the design our product and we must fix the cost. We hand that cost to a business we have been in partnership with for years, probably. That partner/client has to decide HOW they will handle it.
Will they increase the fees of employees? Will they pay the fine and get out from under the entire issue?
Will they fire people to get under 50 employees? Will they make thousands and hundred of thousands contractors, or part time?

If I am CEO of United, what DO I tell the stockholders?

Obamacare Shopping Views DROP again, DRAMATICALLY? 11/10

Some facts now about conversion from site visits to purchases, from the experience in Massachusetts.

In Massachusetts, we received about 100 visits to the site for every one enrollment

1%.

In the 24 hours ending about 7AM there were 7135 shopping (not site) visits.

That converts to 71 enrollees IF everything else is working properly. Even though that is not the case, let’s stipulate to that.

39,000 per day required purchases (of which  more than 20,000 must be less than 30 years old).

71/39,000 = 0.18% of minimum target.

Less than 2 tenths of one percent.

If scrotums are not tightening in the White House, then they have succumbed to delusion. Which delusion?

That once the web site is running all their assurances of each other and themselves are true. But the pricing data and the loss of insurance mandating people FIND that pricing data shock indicate otherwise.

Data direct from Socrata open source DB. Embedded data for today below:

Powered by Socrata

Powered by Socrata

Call and Response

St James Infirmary

Cassandra Wilson

Bobby "Blue" Bland

Eric Clapton & Dr. John

Cab Calloway

Satchmo's original 1928 recording

Hymns To The Silence

St. James Infirmary

Preservation Hall Jazz Band




Joe Cocker



Van The Man

Duke Ellington

Montreal 1964

November 9 1938

35 OF OBAMA'S BIGGEST BALD-FACED LIES

I WILL USE MY FORKED TONGUE TO GRIND THE SERFS TO DUST

From the Astute Bloggers:

EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE 35 STATEMENTS IS A QUOTE AND EVERY SINGLE ONE HAS TURNED OUT TO BE A LIE AND/OR A BROKEN PROMISE. 

AS I HAVE MAINTAINED SINCE 2005, OBAMA IS NOT TRUSTWORTHY AND HE'S UNFIT FOR THE OFFICE HE HOLDS. 

HERE ARE 35 REASONS WHY THIS FACT IS BECOMING MORE WIDELY BELIEVED. 

1. "No matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise to the American people… If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what." (2008)
2. "I am running to tell the lobbyists in Washington that their days of setting the agenda are over. They have not funded my campaign. They won't work in my White House." (2008)
3. “...when I’m president, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely.” (2008)
4. "The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure." (2006)
5. "I'm going to have all the negotiations around a big table. We'll have doctors and nurses and hospital administrators. Insurance companies, drug companies -- they'll get a seat at the table, they just won't be able to buy every chair. But what we will do is, we'll have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents, and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies. And so, that approach, I think is what is going to allow people to stay involved in this process." (2008)

GO READ THE WHOLE THING.

“I hope that the ‘western democracies’ make the most out of this exceptional opportunity that the Iranian nation has offered”

Iranian president Hassan Rohani, Saturday.

MUST BE A REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD

DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL

Quote from the Iranian Nation News Agency

Satmar meets with Muslim bigwigs to talk about opposition to Israel

The Satmar's spiritual leader got cozy with a pair of Muslim billionaires from the UAE:

Raising money to fund anti-Israel ads to protest against the Government of Israel, has led the Satmar Rebbe (Reb. Ahron) to meet with two Muslim billionaires, the brothers of the Hani-Al-Kassab family in UAE, who own giant companies in Dubai and oil fields in the Emirates.

According to a report in Behadrei Haredim, the two brothers came to the U.S. to explore joint investments with some Orthodox Jewish partners.

The brothers, who came across Satmar’s advertisements against Netanyahu, were curious to learn more about Satmar’s ideological opposition to the State of Israel. The Jewish partner referred them to Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Teitelbaum, the grandson of the Satmar Rebbe in Kiryas Yoel, to request a meeting with the Rebbe.

The Rebbe expressed his willingness to meet with them, claiming it would sanctify God’s name.

The shame. It only hurts the Lord to associate with scum who wish to see Israel annihilated.

Teitelbaum told them just what they'd like to hear:

“Our opposition to Israel is not due to political considerations, but a biblical prohibition to found a Jewish State in the land of Israel before the redemption,” the Rebbe explained. ”The State of Israel is a big contradiction to the Jewish religion and to our real hopes. So, even if the day comes and the Israelis sign a peace agreement with the Arab world, our opposition to Israel will stand.”

Just like the Muslim world's. Teitelbaum violates the Commandment of Thou Shalt Not Lie when he claims their opposition is "biblical". If it were, we wouldn't have even left Egypt.

I won't be one bit surprised if this is the start of an ugly friendship between two very sick movements who both oppose Israel, one from Koranic beliefs, and the other from a false, distorted perception of what Judaism is meant to be about. This is just why the Satmar should be added to the list of groups dangerous to Israel.

Hopper Updated

from here

The boxer and the rugby player who capitulated

The Australian Daily Telegraph wrote about a boxer who converted to Islam, and influenced a rugby player to follow suit:

TROUBLED rugby league star Blake Ferguson has been converted to Islam by controversial boxer Anthony Mundine.

The NRL bad boy made the commitment to his new Islamic faith at Zetland Mosque on Friday, hoping it can help to save his ailing career.

The State of Origin star was photographed praying beside Mundine, who also converted rugby league superstar Sonny Bill Williams to the Muslim faith five years ago when Williams was going through a difficult period in his life.

[...] Ferguson has previously vowed to give up alcohol - as required by the Muslim faith - but failed.

[...] "He's just looking forward to changing his direction in life. At the moment he's in good space - no drinking, no drugs, no parties.

"He's got the colour back in his face. He wants to be a better person but he'll still have his faults, like we all do."

How can be a better person by following the Religion of Peace? Look at this:

Ferguson's rugby league career has been in limbo for several months after he was dumped by the Raiders over a number of off-field incidents.

He is facing charges of indecent assault on a woman at a Cronulla nightspot and was also caught speeding and driving while suspended before having his $400,000 NRL contract terminated.

Now how do we know he won't keep doing this as he follows the ummah? He could also continue speeding on the highway; that's not something the Koran has any problem with, certainly not if it involves jihad. What a shame no Christian or even Judaist had the sense to confer with him about the possibilities of joining their movements. This brings to mind how I'm actually mad that some synagogues don't try to offer their services to sport players like the rugby player, since they could make people proud of them. And it could help bolster Judaism's profiles significantly.