Posted: August 29, 2006
NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) -- Ticketmaster teamed up with promoter Michael Cohl and Barbra Streisand’s manager Martin Erlichman to warn fans that more than 1,000 tickets purchased for the tour using stolen credit card information have been invalidated.
Hmmm...
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Letter from a friend
No, now that I know my grandson is joining the Marines, I don't feel any different about the war. I have no doubt at this juncture that if we pull out of Iraq that Israel will be overwhelmed and destroyed by the Islamofascists surrounding them. I also believe we owe the people in Iraq support until they either stand on their own or join the terrorists against us in mass numbers. I can't forget the huge number of Iraqi people that risked their very lives to vote for a democracy. I believe in Bush's position and his premise that people want to be free. I believe there are many people who are terrorized into not speaking out about their desire for freedom but it is still there. These are the people that need our support most desperately.
It takes me a long time generally to adopt a stance on a particular issue. I have to consider all the information available before coming to my own conclusion. I am not one to faint at bad turns. I just remember how close we came to losing World War II and how many mistakes, miscalculations, bad decisions and out-right stupidity in underestimating the enemy occurred at that time. I also remember those Americans that were defeatists then, just as I know in every war there are those who are pessimists, gutless, selfish to maintain their own status quo, etc. I think about God's instructions to his people to leave those negative people at home during a time of war because they badly affect everyone else’s morale. I am not a person tossed to and fro by every wind that blows. If we allow Israel to be defeated, we too will eventually be defeated. It must not happen.
There is the factor that my grandson may die. He and I have talked about why he has chosen to join the military. He understands the issues and what is at stake. He understands death. He knows that war is not glorious and that many soldiers survive maimed for life. He insists this is something he must do. I respect his decision. My father made the same decision during World War II at the age of 19. My mother's father joined up to fight in World War I as did all of my grandmother's brothers and cousins. Many Americans have fought and died for our country and for those in other countries wanting to be free. Each person must take their own stand and make their own decisions.
I hate war. It is simply horrible. So naturally, I want to see those who MAKE war against others for the purpose of ruling over them, stealing their land, wealth, etc., stopped. If we don't do it, who will?
The Democrats of today and anti-war folks are self-defeating pessimists. They are yellow-bellied wimps that can't stand up against bullies. They can’t tell the difference between the bullies and their victims. They are treasonous, narcissist, selfish people. They can't discern right from wrong and have no allegiance to anything but themselves. Guess that about says it all for me.
Nothing I know of at this point is going to make me change my position. The only fear I have is that the Democrats gain the presidency and the legislature. They already control most of the educational, media and judicial systems and those entities are really screwed up. Honor, honesty and justice are words they don’t seem to care about.
Love ya,
Judie
It takes me a long time generally to adopt a stance on a particular issue. I have to consider all the information available before coming to my own conclusion. I am not one to faint at bad turns. I just remember how close we came to losing World War II and how many mistakes, miscalculations, bad decisions and out-right stupidity in underestimating the enemy occurred at that time. I also remember those Americans that were defeatists then, just as I know in every war there are those who are pessimists, gutless, selfish to maintain their own status quo, etc. I think about God's instructions to his people to leave those negative people at home during a time of war because they badly affect everyone else’s morale. I am not a person tossed to and fro by every wind that blows. If we allow Israel to be defeated, we too will eventually be defeated. It must not happen.
There is the factor that my grandson may die. He and I have talked about why he has chosen to join the military. He understands the issues and what is at stake. He understands death. He knows that war is not glorious and that many soldiers survive maimed for life. He insists this is something he must do. I respect his decision. My father made the same decision during World War II at the age of 19. My mother's father joined up to fight in World War I as did all of my grandmother's brothers and cousins. Many Americans have fought and died for our country and for those in other countries wanting to be free. Each person must take their own stand and make their own decisions.
I hate war. It is simply horrible. So naturally, I want to see those who MAKE war against others for the purpose of ruling over them, stealing their land, wealth, etc., stopped. If we don't do it, who will?
The Democrats of today and anti-war folks are self-defeating pessimists. They are yellow-bellied wimps that can't stand up against bullies. They can’t tell the difference between the bullies and their victims. They are treasonous, narcissist, selfish people. They can't discern right from wrong and have no allegiance to anything but themselves. Guess that about says it all for me.
Nothing I know of at this point is going to make me change my position. The only fear I have is that the Democrats gain the presidency and the legislature. They already control most of the educational, media and judicial systems and those entities are really screwed up. Honor, honesty and justice are words they don’t seem to care about.
Love ya,
Judie
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Cokie Roberts stuns Stephanopoulos
“[O]n ‘This Week’ recently, former co-host (and daughter of a former Democratic congressman) Cokie Roberts stunned host George Stephanopoulos when she said before the Connecticut primary that it would be a ‘disaster for the Democratic Party’ if Lamont defeated Lieberman.
The American people may not be happy with events in Iraq. But they do know, especially after events in Lebanon and the foiled British bomb plot, that we’re in a war in which failure is not an option and for which repeating ‘Bush lied’ is not a strategy.
Americans will not put in power a party that accepts the proposition that global warming is a greater threat than terrorism, that thinks Wal-Mart is a plague on the poor and that wants to repeal the job-creating, economy-boosting and deficit-cutting Bush tax cuts.
They will not put in power a party that thinks death is a taxable event and that success should be punished.
They will not pass the reins to a party that denies us access to energy reserves offshore and in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge and which thinks energy independence means building windmills and hugging caribou.
The Democrats think this year will be their 1994. As voters read the morning papers on their way to vote in November, and decide who should navigate these unsettled waters, the Democrats may well wake up the next day to find the Republicans still in power and Lieberman getting a congratulatory phone call from President Bush.” —Investor’s Business Daily
‘Pushing the party to the left,’ Roberts said, ‘is pushing the party to the position from which it traditionally loses.’
The American people may not be happy with events in Iraq. But they do know, especially after events in Lebanon and the foiled British bomb plot, that we’re in a war in which failure is not an option and for which repeating ‘Bush lied’ is not a strategy.
Americans will not put in power a party that accepts the proposition that global warming is a greater threat than terrorism, that thinks Wal-Mart is a plague on the poor and that wants to repeal the job-creating, economy-boosting and deficit-cutting Bush tax cuts.
They will not put in power a party that thinks death is a taxable event and that success should be punished.
They will not pass the reins to a party that denies us access to energy reserves offshore and in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge and which thinks energy independence means building windmills and hugging caribou.
The Democrats think this year will be their 1994. As voters read the morning papers on their way to vote in November, and decide who should navigate these unsettled waters, the Democrats may well wake up the next day to find the Republicans still in power and Lieberman getting a congratulatory phone call from President Bush.” —Investor’s Business Daily
What the Founding Fathers Gave, Arnold Takes Away
TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2006
Flash Report
*OMG - Governor signs Kuehl bill that assaults the rights of religious and private institutions to maintain moral standards*
We've asked Karen England of the Capitol Resource Institute to give more information to FR readers on this horrific bill signed into law by the Governor (article below). He signed this bill into law after it was voted down BY EVERY REPUBLICAN in the Assembly. The Governor that many FR readers voted for in the recall would not have signed this. Where did he go?
*************************************************************************************
Over 200 years ago our Founding Fathers changed history when they, with the stroke of their pens, declared that the United States would not only recognize, but protect citizens’ freedoms of religion and speech.
Yesterday, with the stroke of his pen, Governor Schwarzenegger declared that such freedoms are subject to the approval of a politically correct government. By signing SB 1441 (Kuehl-D) into law, the Governor decided that certain Constitutional freedoms will not be protected in the state of California.
SB 1441 adds sexual orientation (actual or perceived) and gender identity (actual or perceived) to the list of protected classes under California law prohibiting discrimination. According to the State Senate’s legislative analysis, “This clarification would greatly expand the effect this bill would have on programs and services provided or paid for by the state or a state agency.”
To enforce these new protections, the state may withhold funding from any organization that “discriminates” against homosexuals, transgenders, bisexuals, or anyone’s gender (actual or perceived). Now, under California law, simply living out your faith is considered discriminatory.
As applied, this legislation would prevent parochial schools, private schools, Christian, Catholic, Jewish, Mormon, and many other religious universities, from receiving student financial assistance if they also maintain a student code of conduct preventing behavior deemed immoral by their religious beliefs.
In order to receive a CalGrant for your child’s education, you may no longer send your child to a religious school. This will put an unbelievable strain on California families as they will be forced to choose between their deeply-held religious beliefs and affording a college education for their children. If legislators truly desire diversity in California, religious institutions should receive the same equal protections sought by radical homosexual activists. Instead, with the signing of SB 1441, religious rights are secondary to the special rights created by this new law.
Instead of using their resources to educate future leaders, these schools will now be forced to defend themselves in discrimination lawsuits brought by the male teacher who perceives himself as female and wears a dress to school.
For those who still don’t believe that there is a radical homosexual agenda, keep in mind that the characteristics added to the protected list are designed to target people of faith alone. After all, who will be most directly affected by this legislation? Private schools, religious institutions, and faith-based businesses.
According to the State Senate’s legislative analysis, “the impact of this bill is both wide-ranging and deep.” Government services affected by this new law include police and fire protection, recreational programs, social services, health care clinics, and, of course, public schools.
This bill is yet another step towards discriminating against citizens with moral and religious principles who desire to express their beliefs and educate their children according to those beliefs. SB 1441 will inevitably result in reverse discrimination where individuals, organizations and businesses are discriminated against because of their bona fide religious convictions.
In creating special rights for a few, Arnold denies fundamental rights for the rest of us.
Flash Report
*OMG - Governor signs Kuehl bill that assaults the rights of religious and private institutions to maintain moral standards*
We've asked Karen England of the Capitol Resource Institute to give more information to FR readers on this horrific bill signed into law by the Governor (article below). He signed this bill into law after it was voted down BY EVERY REPUBLICAN in the Assembly. The Governor that many FR readers voted for in the recall would not have signed this. Where did he go?
*************************************************************************************
Over 200 years ago our Founding Fathers changed history when they, with the stroke of their pens, declared that the United States would not only recognize, but protect citizens’ freedoms of religion and speech.
Yesterday, with the stroke of his pen, Governor Schwarzenegger declared that such freedoms are subject to the approval of a politically correct government. By signing SB 1441 (Kuehl-D) into law, the Governor decided that certain Constitutional freedoms will not be protected in the state of California.
SB 1441 adds sexual orientation (actual or perceived) and gender identity (actual or perceived) to the list of protected classes under California law prohibiting discrimination. According to the State Senate’s legislative analysis, “This clarification would greatly expand the effect this bill would have on programs and services provided or paid for by the state or a state agency.”
To enforce these new protections, the state may withhold funding from any organization that “discriminates” against homosexuals, transgenders, bisexuals, or anyone’s gender (actual or perceived). Now, under California law, simply living out your faith is considered discriminatory.
As applied, this legislation would prevent parochial schools, private schools, Christian, Catholic, Jewish, Mormon, and many other religious universities, from receiving student financial assistance if they also maintain a student code of conduct preventing behavior deemed immoral by their religious beliefs.
In order to receive a CalGrant for your child’s education, you may no longer send your child to a religious school. This will put an unbelievable strain on California families as they will be forced to choose between their deeply-held religious beliefs and affording a college education for their children. If legislators truly desire diversity in California, religious institutions should receive the same equal protections sought by radical homosexual activists. Instead, with the signing of SB 1441, religious rights are secondary to the special rights created by this new law.
Instead of using their resources to educate future leaders, these schools will now be forced to defend themselves in discrimination lawsuits brought by the male teacher who perceives himself as female and wears a dress to school.
For those who still don’t believe that there is a radical homosexual agenda, keep in mind that the characteristics added to the protected list are designed to target people of faith alone. After all, who will be most directly affected by this legislation? Private schools, religious institutions, and faith-based businesses.
According to the State Senate’s legislative analysis, “the impact of this bill is both wide-ranging and deep.” Government services affected by this new law include police and fire protection, recreational programs, social services, health care clinics, and, of course, public schools.
This bill is yet another step towards discriminating against citizens with moral and religious principles who desire to express their beliefs and educate their children according to those beliefs. SB 1441 will inevitably result in reverse discrimination where individuals, organizations and businesses are discriminated against because of their bona fide religious convictions.
In creating special rights for a few, Arnold denies fundamental rights for the rest of us.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
The world's longest-running experiment
The pitch drop test is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running laboratory experiment, but there are plenty of other, even lengthier scientific enterprises still on the go around the world:
Read on
Read on
Plame OutYa gotta read this!The ridiculous end to the scandal that distracted Washington.
Posted Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2006, at 1:02 PM ET
(Maybe, finally, the Bush-haters will SHUT UP!)
The opposite of the Right is Wrong
I believe the Left has been wrong on virtually every great moral issue in the last 30 years.
In just about every instance, one could say that the Left was foolish, the Left was naive, the Left was wrong, even that the Left was dangerous. —Dennis Prager
- During that period, it was wrong on the Cold War—it devoted far more energy to fighting anti-communism than to fighting communism.
- It was wrong for attacking Israel for its destruction of Saddam Hussein's nuclear reactor.
- It was wrong on welfare.
- It was wrong in its demanding less morally and intellectually from black Americans than from all other Americans.
- It was wrong in advocating bilingual education for children of immigrants.
- It was wrong in generally holding American society rather than violent criminals responsible for violent crime.
- It was wrong in imposing its view on abortion on America through the courts rather than through the democratic process.
- It was wrong in identifying 'flag waving' with fascism.
- It was wrong in supporting the teachers' unions rather than students and educational reform.
- It was wrong in allying itself with trial lawyers and blocking tort reform.
- It was wrong in blocking the military from recruiting on campuses and teaching a generation of young Americans that 'war is not the answer' when war is at times the one moral answer.
In just about every instance, one could say that the Left was foolish, the Left was naive, the Left was wrong, even that the Left was dangerous. —Dennis Prager
Monday, August 28, 2006
156 years ago
Do you know what happened this week back in 1850 in California 156 years ago?
So basically it was just like California is today except the women had real breasts and the men didn't hold hands.
- California became a state.
- The State had no electricity.
- The State had no money.
- Almost everyone spoke Spanish.
- There were gunfights in the streets.
So basically it was just like California is today except the women had real breasts and the men didn't hold hands.
Counterterrorism Blog
Welcome to the Counterterrorism Blog, a unique, multi-expert blog dedicated to providing a one-stop gateway to the counterterrorism community. To our knowledge, there has been no such blog on the internet. We envision the blog’s audience to be the policymakers in Congress and the Executive Branch, as well as serious students elsewhere, who want to visit a single site to access (1) overnight and breaking news, with realtime intel and commentary by operational experts ("Contributing Experts"); (2) discussions of long-term trends in counterterrorism; (3) summaries of and discussions about US and international law; and (4) a calendar of upcoming events, hearings, and seminars featuring the Contributing Experts. We want to highlight those experts who are or have been deeply involved in counterterrorism cases, and thus enable them to expand their opportunities to bring their expertise to the attention of policymakers.
The site is intended to provide fresh information and various perspectives (sometimes opposing), as presented by the Contributing Experts and in the news articles, columns, and website links posted on the blog. Contributing Experts are responsible only for the content of their posts and links. The editor is responsible for sidebar content and design.
The Founder and Co-Editor, Andrew Cochran, is Vice President of GAGE, a business consulting and government affairs firm headquartered in Washington, DC. GAGE's marketing and business development unit engages in securing a variety of funding, new business, and regulatory approvals for clients. Mr. Cochran advises clients on terrorism and homeland security, corporate governance, and appropriations issues. He also serves as a special adviser to the Congressional Anti-Terrorist Financing Task Force and is Co-Chairman of the Advisory Board of CatholicMil.Org, which serves Catholics serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, their families, and Catholic chaplains. He has appeared in numerous media outlets, including MSNBC, the Fox News Channel, BBC Radio, Congressional Quarterly, and Roll Call to discuss terrorism issues and events. Mr. Cochran previously served as Senior VP of Public Policy Partners LLC from January 2004 until that firm merged with GAGE LLC in September 2005.
From 2001 through 2003, Mr. Cochran was senior oversight counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Financial Services, chaired by Rep. Michael Oxley (R-OH). He led investigations into terrorism issues and into the corporate accounting scandals, including the first Congressional hearings on Enron, Global Crossing, and WorldCom. He was the lead counsel for the committee's oversight of federal money laundering and anti-terrorist financing issues and the international efforts to seize and repatriate Saddam Hussein’s hidden assets. Many of the Contributing Experts served as witnesses or informally advised the committee on many of the major terrorism issues. He also served in the Reagan Administration as Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Commerce, was an attorney in private practice, and was a CPA in Ohio prior to his government service.
Bill Roggio is the co-Chairman of the Counterterrorism Foundation and Co-Editor of the Counterterrorism Blog. He served as a signalman and infantryman in the U.S. Army and the New Jersey National Guard from 1991 to 1997. He has been tracking the daily progress of counterinsurgency operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. During the fall of 2005, Mr. Roggio embedded with the U.S. Marines and U.S. Army in Iraq's Anbar province and witnessed the parliamentary election in the heart of the Sunni Triangle. His reporting, analysis and predictions of military operations in Iraq, the development of the Iraqi Army and the splits between al-Qaeda and the Iraqi insurgency at "The Fourth Rail" have been quoted by numerous media outlets and elicited positive reaction from U.S. armed forces personnel and policymakers. Mr. Roggio embedded with the Canadian Army in Kandahar province in May - June of 2006.
Counterterrorism Blog started in January, 2005.
The site is intended to provide fresh information and various perspectives (sometimes opposing), as presented by the Contributing Experts and in the news articles, columns, and website links posted on the blog. Contributing Experts are responsible only for the content of their posts and links. The editor is responsible for sidebar content and design.
The Founder and Co-Editor, Andrew Cochran, is Vice President of GAGE, a business consulting and government affairs firm headquartered in Washington, DC. GAGE's marketing and business development unit engages in securing a variety of funding, new business, and regulatory approvals for clients. Mr. Cochran advises clients on terrorism and homeland security, corporate governance, and appropriations issues. He also serves as a special adviser to the Congressional Anti-Terrorist Financing Task Force and is Co-Chairman of the Advisory Board of CatholicMil.Org, which serves Catholics serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, their families, and Catholic chaplains. He has appeared in numerous media outlets, including MSNBC, the Fox News Channel, BBC Radio, Congressional Quarterly, and Roll Call to discuss terrorism issues and events. Mr. Cochran previously served as Senior VP of Public Policy Partners LLC from January 2004 until that firm merged with GAGE LLC in September 2005.
From 2001 through 2003, Mr. Cochran was senior oversight counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Financial Services, chaired by Rep. Michael Oxley (R-OH). He led investigations into terrorism issues and into the corporate accounting scandals, including the first Congressional hearings on Enron, Global Crossing, and WorldCom. He was the lead counsel for the committee's oversight of federal money laundering and anti-terrorist financing issues and the international efforts to seize and repatriate Saddam Hussein’s hidden assets. Many of the Contributing Experts served as witnesses or informally advised the committee on many of the major terrorism issues. He also served in the Reagan Administration as Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Commerce, was an attorney in private practice, and was a CPA in Ohio prior to his government service.
Bill Roggio is the co-Chairman of the Counterterrorism Foundation and Co-Editor of the Counterterrorism Blog. He served as a signalman and infantryman in the U.S. Army and the New Jersey National Guard from 1991 to 1997. He has been tracking the daily progress of counterinsurgency operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. During the fall of 2005, Mr. Roggio embedded with the U.S. Marines and U.S. Army in Iraq's Anbar province and witnessed the parliamentary election in the heart of the Sunni Triangle. His reporting, analysis and predictions of military operations in Iraq, the development of the Iraqi Army and the splits between al-Qaeda and the Iraqi insurgency at "The Fourth Rail" have been quoted by numerous media outlets and elicited positive reaction from U.S. armed forces personnel and policymakers. Mr. Roggio embedded with the Canadian Army in Kandahar province in May - June of 2006.
Counterterrorism Blog started in January, 2005.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
eBay prohibits textbooks for homeschool teachers
Lumps them with illegal drugs, bootleg recordings,
prompting avalanche of complaints from customers
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: August 27, 2006 - 1:00 a.m. Eastern - © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
A new policy by Internet trading behemoth eBay that bans homeschool teachers' texts from its auctions is prompting a tirade of complaints from the company's faithful customers.
Read more
prompting avalanche of complaints from customers
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: August 27, 2006 - 1:00 a.m. Eastern - © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
A new policy by Internet trading behemoth eBay that bans homeschool teachers' texts from its auctions is prompting a tirade of complaints from the company's faithful customers.
Read more
Anyone for terrorist profiling?
To ensure we Americans never offend anyone -- particularly
fanatics intent on killing us -- law enforcement and security
screeners are not allowed to "profile" people in public places or
security checkpoints. However, they will continue to perform
random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids, airline pilots
with proper identification, Secret Service agents who are members
of the President's security detail, 85-year-old congressmen with
metal hips and even Medal of Honor recipients. But targeting
Middle Eastern male Islamists between the ages 17 and 40
constitutes "ethnic profiling."
Let's pause a moment and review....
In 1968 Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by: (a) A salesman from
Utah (b) An construction worker (c) A college student on Spring
Break (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17
and 40.
In 1972, 11 Israeli athletes were killed at the Munich Olympics
by: (a) Your grandmother (b) A Midwest auto-parts dealer (c) A
mom and her 6-year-old son visiting from Indiana (d) Middle
Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 1979, the U.S. embassy in Iran was taken over by: (a) A
bluegrass band (b) Dallas Cowboy fans (c) A tour group of
80-year-old women (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between the
ages of 17 and 40.
During the 1980's numerous Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon
by: (a) A family on their way to Disney World (b) Jesse Ventura
(c) A Boy Scout Troop (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between
the ages of 17 and 40.
In 1983, the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by: (a)
A pizza delivery boy (b) The UPS guy (c) Geraldo Rivera making up
for a slow news day (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between the
ages of 17 and 40.
In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked, and a
70-year-old disabled American passenger was murdered and thrown
overboard by: (a) A girls' choir (b) A hardware store owner (c) A
secretary (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages of
17 and 40.
In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a U.S. Navy
diver was murdered by: (a) A Marine officer with two weeks leave
(b) A plumber going to visit his mom (c) A Catholic nun (d)
Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by: (a) A college-bound
freshman (b) A cardiac surgeon on his way to Houston (c) A
waitress (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17
and 40.
In 1993, the World Trade Center was bombed by: (a) A starving
actress (b) A mom with a newborn (c) Twin six-year-old boys (d)
Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 1995, a plot to blow up U.S.-bound international flights over
the Pacific was attempted by (a) Hawaiian school kids (b) An
decorated Vietnam Veteran (c) Twin sisters on their way to
Paducah (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17
and 40.
In 1998, the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
(a) A local TV weatherman (b) A dad and his two sons on a ski
trip (c) A widower going to visit his grandchildren (d) Middle
Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 2000, 17 sailors died in an attack on the USS Cole (DDG 67) in
Yemen by: (a) A child in a stroller (b) A high school class on
their way to visit Washington, DC (c) Newlyweds on their way to
Miami (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17
and 40.
On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked -- two flown into the
World Trade Centers, one into the Pentagon and one into the
ground in rural Pennsylvania. They were hijacked by: (a) A
retired police officer on a mission trip to Haiti (b) A
firefighter going to Maryland for training (c) An paramedic on
his way to vacation in Hawaii (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males
between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 2002 the United States liberated Afghanistan from: (a) USAID
relief workers (b) Jewish Pilgrims (c) Christian missionaries (d)
Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl and other Westerners were kidnapped
and beheaded by: (a) The Peace Corp (b) Scottish clansmen (c)
Cuban refugees (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages
of 17 and 40.
In 2002, more than 330 hostages in Beslan and 130 hostages in
Moscow were murdered in sieges by: (a) Russian exchange students
(b) The Red Guard (c) Church planters (d) Middle Eastern Islamist
males between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 2003 the United States liberated Iraq from "The Butcher of
Baghdad," but most American military personnel were killed by:
(a) Iraqi school-girls (b) Street vegetable venders (c) Women
without burkas (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages
of 17 and 40.
In 2004, more than 200 Spanish civilians were murdered on trains
by bombs in Madrid, detonated by: (a) Morning commuters (b) A
three-year-old Chinese girl (c) Flamenco dancers (d) Middle
Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 2005 more than 50 UK citizens were killed by bombs on trains
in London, detonated by: (a) Rail workers (b) Those unable to
hail taxis (c) Wheelchair-bound grandmothers (d) Middle Eastern
Islamist males between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 2005, there were hundreds of casualties, men, women and
children, killed by bombs in Jerusalem, Riyadh and Amman. These
innocent civilians were murdered by: (a) Construction workers (b)
Farmers (c) Christian missionaries (d) Middle Eastern Islamist
males between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 2005, the city of Paris, and other European cities experienced
an extended period of riots and destruction. The unrest was led
by: (a) "Youth" (b) Soccer fans (c) Catholic nuns (d) Middle
Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17 and 40.
Since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom, more than 2,500
Americans have been murdered by terrorists. 35,000 Iraqi men,
women and children have also been murdered by terrorists. Most of
the combat and civilians casualties were the result of bombs
detonated in civilian population centers by: (a) Fruit vendors in
Baghdad (b) Disgruntled transit union workers (c) Iraqi
schoolteachers (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages
of 17 and 40.
In 2006, hundreds of Israeli civilians have been killed by
rockets launched by: (a) the Salvation Army (b) remnants of the
'Jackson Five' (c) the cast of 'Friends' (d) Middle Eastern
Islamist males between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 2006, a plot to blow up 10 U.S.-bound planes from the U.K. was
attempted by (a) members of the royal family (b) Japanese
tourists (c) groupies of the band 'Cream' (d) Middle Eastern
Islamist males between the ages of 17 and 40.
Since 2001, the FBI reports that there are major terrorist cells
still in U.S. urban centers. Several of these cells have been
uncovered and cell members arrested. In every case, the
terrorists cell members were: (a) Southern Baptists
Conventioneers (b) Lutheran Youth Groups (c) Presbyterian Elders
(d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17 and 40.
President George Bush said this week, "America is at war with
Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us
who love freedom, to hurt our nation." The Council on
American-Islamic Relations issued an immediate objection to the
President's reference to "Islamic fascists". Nihad Awad,
executive director of CAIR protested, "We have to isolate these
individuals because there is nothing in the Koran or the Islamic
faith that encourages people to be cruel or to be vicious or to
be criminal. Muslims world wide know that for sure." In light of
this objection, we are left to ponder why every Islamic leader in
the U.S., and the world, does not publicly condemn every terror
action being undertaken in the name of the god of Islam. Their
silence is deafening...
Between 1970 and present, there were more than 60 other notable
examples of terrorism perpetrated by Middle Eastern male
Islamists between the ages 17 and 40, but we think you get the
point. Singling out "Middle Eastern male Islamists between the
ages 17 and 40" is not "ethnic profiling," it's "terrorist
profiling" -- acting on prolific evidence.
Anyone for Terrorist Profiling?
fanatics intent on killing us -- law enforcement and security
screeners are not allowed to "profile" people in public places or
security checkpoints. However, they will continue to perform
random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids, airline pilots
with proper identification, Secret Service agents who are members
of the President's security detail, 85-year-old congressmen with
metal hips and even Medal of Honor recipients. But targeting
Middle Eastern male Islamists between the ages 17 and 40
constitutes "ethnic profiling."
Let's pause a moment and review....
In 1968 Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by: (a) A salesman from
Utah (b) An construction worker (c) A college student on Spring
Break (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17
and 40.
In 1972, 11 Israeli athletes were killed at the Munich Olympics
by: (a) Your grandmother (b) A Midwest auto-parts dealer (c) A
mom and her 6-year-old son visiting from Indiana (d) Middle
Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 1979, the U.S. embassy in Iran was taken over by: (a) A
bluegrass band (b) Dallas Cowboy fans (c) A tour group of
80-year-old women (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between the
ages of 17 and 40.
During the 1980's numerous Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon
by: (a) A family on their way to Disney World (b) Jesse Ventura
(c) A Boy Scout Troop (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between
the ages of 17 and 40.
In 1983, the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by: (a)
A pizza delivery boy (b) The UPS guy (c) Geraldo Rivera making up
for a slow news day (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between the
ages of 17 and 40.
In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked, and a
70-year-old disabled American passenger was murdered and thrown
overboard by: (a) A girls' choir (b) A hardware store owner (c) A
secretary (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages of
17 and 40.
In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a U.S. Navy
diver was murdered by: (a) A Marine officer with two weeks leave
(b) A plumber going to visit his mom (c) A Catholic nun (d)
Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by: (a) A college-bound
freshman (b) A cardiac surgeon on his way to Houston (c) A
waitress (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17
and 40.
In 1993, the World Trade Center was bombed by: (a) A starving
actress (b) A mom with a newborn (c) Twin six-year-old boys (d)
Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 1995, a plot to blow up U.S.-bound international flights over
the Pacific was attempted by (a) Hawaiian school kids (b) An
decorated Vietnam Veteran (c) Twin sisters on their way to
Paducah (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17
and 40.
In 1998, the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
(a) A local TV weatherman (b) A dad and his two sons on a ski
trip (c) A widower going to visit his grandchildren (d) Middle
Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 2000, 17 sailors died in an attack on the USS Cole (DDG 67) in
Yemen by: (a) A child in a stroller (b) A high school class on
their way to visit Washington, DC (c) Newlyweds on their way to
Miami (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17
and 40.
On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked -- two flown into the
World Trade Centers, one into the Pentagon and one into the
ground in rural Pennsylvania. They were hijacked by: (a) A
retired police officer on a mission trip to Haiti (b) A
firefighter going to Maryland for training (c) An paramedic on
his way to vacation in Hawaii (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males
between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 2002 the United States liberated Afghanistan from: (a) USAID
relief workers (b) Jewish Pilgrims (c) Christian missionaries (d)
Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl and other Westerners were kidnapped
and beheaded by: (a) The Peace Corp (b) Scottish clansmen (c)
Cuban refugees (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages
of 17 and 40.
In 2002, more than 330 hostages in Beslan and 130 hostages in
Moscow were murdered in sieges by: (a) Russian exchange students
(b) The Red Guard (c) Church planters (d) Middle Eastern Islamist
males between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 2003 the United States liberated Iraq from "The Butcher of
Baghdad," but most American military personnel were killed by:
(a) Iraqi school-girls (b) Street vegetable venders (c) Women
without burkas (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages
of 17 and 40.
In 2004, more than 200 Spanish civilians were murdered on trains
by bombs in Madrid, detonated by: (a) Morning commuters (b) A
three-year-old Chinese girl (c) Flamenco dancers (d) Middle
Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 2005 more than 50 UK citizens were killed by bombs on trains
in London, detonated by: (a) Rail workers (b) Those unable to
hail taxis (c) Wheelchair-bound grandmothers (d) Middle Eastern
Islamist males between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 2005, there were hundreds of casualties, men, women and
children, killed by bombs in Jerusalem, Riyadh and Amman. These
innocent civilians were murdered by: (a) Construction workers (b)
Farmers (c) Christian missionaries (d) Middle Eastern Islamist
males between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 2005, the city of Paris, and other European cities experienced
an extended period of riots and destruction. The unrest was led
by: (a) "Youth" (b) Soccer fans (c) Catholic nuns (d) Middle
Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17 and 40.
Since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom, more than 2,500
Americans have been murdered by terrorists. 35,000 Iraqi men,
women and children have also been murdered by terrorists. Most of
the combat and civilians casualties were the result of bombs
detonated in civilian population centers by: (a) Fruit vendors in
Baghdad (b) Disgruntled transit union workers (c) Iraqi
schoolteachers (d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages
of 17 and 40.
In 2006, hundreds of Israeli civilians have been killed by
rockets launched by: (a) the Salvation Army (b) remnants of the
'Jackson Five' (c) the cast of 'Friends' (d) Middle Eastern
Islamist males between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 2006, a plot to blow up 10 U.S.-bound planes from the U.K. was
attempted by (a) members of the royal family (b) Japanese
tourists (c) groupies of the band 'Cream' (d) Middle Eastern
Islamist males between the ages of 17 and 40.
Since 2001, the FBI reports that there are major terrorist cells
still in U.S. urban centers. Several of these cells have been
uncovered and cell members arrested. In every case, the
terrorists cell members were: (a) Southern Baptists
Conventioneers (b) Lutheran Youth Groups (c) Presbyterian Elders
(d) Middle Eastern Islamist males between the ages of 17 and 40.
President George Bush said this week, "America is at war with
Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us
who love freedom, to hurt our nation." The Council on
American-Islamic Relations issued an immediate objection to the
President's reference to "Islamic fascists". Nihad Awad,
executive director of CAIR protested, "We have to isolate these
individuals because there is nothing in the Koran or the Islamic
faith that encourages people to be cruel or to be vicious or to
be criminal. Muslims world wide know that for sure." In light of
this objection, we are left to ponder why every Islamic leader in
the U.S., and the world, does not publicly condemn every terror
action being undertaken in the name of the god of Islam. Their
silence is deafening...
Between 1970 and present, there were more than 60 other notable
examples of terrorism perpetrated by Middle Eastern male
Islamists between the ages 17 and 40, but we think you get the
point. Singling out "Middle Eastern male Islamists between the
ages 17 and 40" is not "ethnic profiling," it's "terrorist
profiling" -- acting on prolific evidence.
Anyone for Terrorist Profiling?
Saturday, August 26, 2006
The awful truth
At first I thought this was humorous. Then I realized the awful truth of it.
What do Barbara Boxer, Phil Angelides, Hillary and Bill Clinton (and their ilk) all have in common?
Tax his land, Tax his bed, Tax the table at which he's fed.
Tax his tractor, tax his mule, Teach him taxes are the rule.
Tax his cow, Tax his goat, Tax his pants, Tax his coat.
Tax his ties, Tax his shirt, Tax his work, Tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco, Tax his drink, Tax him if he Tries to think.
Tax his cigars, Tax his beers, If he cries, then Tax his tears.
Tax his car, Tax his gas, Find other ways To tax his ass
Tax all he has then let him know that you won't be done till he has no dough.
When he screams and hollers, Then tax him some more, Tax him till he's good and sore.
Then tax his coffin, Tax his grave, Tax the sod in Which he's laid.
Put these words upon his tomb, "Taxes drove me to my doom."
Stephen Frank of California Poltical News and Views says that good friend Paul Linden sent this to him.
What do Barbara Boxer, Phil Angelides, Hillary and Bill Clinton (and their ilk) all have in common?
Tax his land, Tax his bed, Tax the table at which he's fed.
Tax his tractor, tax his mule, Teach him taxes are the rule.
Tax his cow, Tax his goat, Tax his pants, Tax his coat.
Tax his ties, Tax his shirt, Tax his work, Tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco, Tax his drink, Tax him if he Tries to think.
Tax his cigars, Tax his beers, If he cries, then Tax his tears.
Tax his car, Tax his gas, Find other ways To tax his ass
Tax all he has then let him know that you won't be done till he has no dough.
When he screams and hollers, Then tax him some more, Tax him till he's good and sore.
Then tax his coffin, Tax his grave, Tax the sod in Which he's laid.
Put these words upon his tomb, "Taxes drove me to my doom."
Stephen Frank of California Poltical News and Views says that good friend Paul Linden sent this to him.
RAND releases nuclear attack scenario
A recent study conducted by the RAND Corporation’s Center for Terrorism Risk Management Policy reveals the devastating and global consequences of a nuclear attack on U.S. soil. Using a step-by-step scenario in which a nuclear bomb is shipped to the port of Long Beach, CA, where it subsequently explodes, RAND found that such an attack would immediately kill approximately 60,000 people and cause another 150,000 to fall ill from radiation exposure.
The report further details the logistical difficulties that officials will have in evacuation and rescue from the strike zone, and the long-term, economic fallout of an attack. “The early costs of the Long Beach scenario could exceed $1 trillion, driven by outlay for medical care, insurance claims, workers’ compensation, evacuation, and construction. The $50 billion to $100 billion for 9/11 puts this figure into perspective. In general, consequences would far outstrip the resources available to cope with them,” the report stated. In addition to the mass loss of life, the report warns that our nation would face a possible recession due to bankrupt financial and insurance companies, thereby driving a worldwide recession.
*************************************************************************************
The RAND report is yet another reminder of the importance of being prepared for such an attack. Read The Patriot’s Recommended Action Plan.
Report covers: Water. Food, Shelter, Power and Heat, Health and Medications, Communication and Tools, Transportation, Community and Entertainment, Additional Considerations (Self Defense; Currency)
The report further details the logistical difficulties that officials will have in evacuation and rescue from the strike zone, and the long-term, economic fallout of an attack. “The early costs of the Long Beach scenario could exceed $1 trillion, driven by outlay for medical care, insurance claims, workers’ compensation, evacuation, and construction. The $50 billion to $100 billion for 9/11 puts this figure into perspective. In general, consequences would far outstrip the resources available to cope with them,” the report stated. In addition to the mass loss of life, the report warns that our nation would face a possible recession due to bankrupt financial and insurance companies, thereby driving a worldwide recession.
*************************************************************************************
The RAND report is yet another reminder of the importance of being prepared for such an attack. Read The Patriot’s Recommended Action Plan.
Report covers: Water. Food, Shelter, Power and Heat, Health and Medications, Communication and Tools, Transportation, Community and Entertainment, Additional Considerations (Self Defense; Currency)
Friday, August 25, 2006
The next President?
August 18: One thousand people; one million dollars.
August 20: Standing ovation; Congressman says he "is the most gifted politician I've ever met."
Handsome, articulate, popular: Team Romney is picking up speed!
August 20: Standing ovation; Congressman says he "is the most gifted politician I've ever met."
Handsome, articulate, popular: Team Romney is picking up speed!
Will The Real Islam Please Stand Up?
by Mark Alexander
Responding to breaking news of the thwarted attacks against a dozen commercial flights from Great Britain to the United States earlier this month, President Bush did the unthinkable: He described the would-be killers in accurate terms.
On that Thursday, 10 August, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the President opened his remarks to the gathered crowd with these soon-to-be famous words: “The recent arrests that our fellow citizens are now learning about are a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation.”
Key words: “Islamic fascists.”
Nearly five years since September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush has finally dropped his politically correct gloves and called the enemy of the West by the descriptor it deserves. This enemy is exclusively Muslim, and it has a modus operandi and worldview consistent with other forms of fascism.
Predictably, America’s Islamic lobby was quick to object. “We have to isolate these individuals because there is nothing in the Koran or the Islamic faith that encourages people to be cruel or to be vicious or to be criminal,” said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “Muslims worldwide know that for sure.”
For sure?
In a recent article in Jurist, Ali Khan of the Washburn University School of Law echoed Awad. “It is becoming fashionable for elected officials in the Anglo-American world, notably in the United States and the United Kingdom, to employ abusive language involving Islam,” he wrote. “Phrases such as ‘Islamic terrorism,’ ‘totalitarian Islam,’ ‘crimes of Islam,’ and ‘Islamic fascism’ are freely used, with sadist disrespect, to condemn real and imagined terrorists who practice the faith of Islam.”
Is it possible, then, that by equating the doctrine and practice of Islam with the acts of a radicalized few, President Bush is blurring these lines?
Not according to Daniel Pipes, historian of Islam and director of the Middle East Forum. The President, he says, is “identifying not Islam the religion, but a radical form of Islam.” Indeed, how many times have we heard presidential speeches laced with language about the “religion of peace” and our commonality as “people of the book”? Such language allows Awad and Khan to take comfort in the knowledge that Islam is good, but that terrorism—which doesn’t in any way represent Islam—is bad.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s recent address to the U.S. Congress certainly reflected the President’s heretofore clear distinction between terrorism and Islam. In that speech, the prime minister spoke of the war in Iraq as “a battle between true Islam, for which a person’s liberty and rights constitute essential cornerstones, and terrorism, which wraps itself in a fake Islamic cloak; in reality, wages a war on Islam and Muslims and values, and spreads hatred between humanity. Wherever human kind suffers a loss at the hands of terrorists, it is a loss of all humanity.”
So, is our fight against terrorism or against Islamic fascism? To wit, is Islam peaceful, or intrinsically fascist?
The answers couldn’t be clearer. Terrorism is not an enemy; it’s a tactic. Muslim examples aside, terrorist tactics have been adopted by groups as varied as Northern Ireland’s IRA, Colombia’s FARC, the Shining Path of Peru, West Germany’s Baader-Meinhof Gang, Italy’s Brigate Rosse, Spain’s Basque ETA, and our homegrown Symbionese Liberation Army. Mostly separatists and leftists, none of these groups viewed terrorism as an end in itself, but as a means to another, political end.
Unlike terrorism, Islam is an ideology bent on territorial expansion and political domination. These traits, along with iron-fisted socioeconomic controls, are the essential characteristics of fascism. When this expansion requires violence, Islam turns to jihad, and within the context of jihad, terrorism is an acceptable tactic. According to Pipes, “Islam is a political religion in a way that none other is. There are many elements within the religion and the history of Islam that suggest there is a dynamic of conquest.” Pipes continues, “There is something inherently expansionist about Islam. Jihad is expansionist warfare.”
Stephen Schwartz, executive director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism, coined the term “Islamofascism,” and he compares it other forms of fascism: “Islamofascism similarly pursues its aims through the willful, arbitrary, and gratuitous disruption of global society, either by terrorist conspiracies or by violation of peace between states. Al-Qaeda has recourse to the former weapon; Hezbollah, in assaulting northern Israel, used the latter. These are not acts of protest, but calculated strategies for political advantage through undiluted violence.” Schwartz continues, “Fascism was totalitarian; i.e. it fostered a totalistic world view—a distinct social reality that separated its followers from normal society. Islamofascism parallels fascism by imposing a strict division between Muslims and alleged unbelievers.”
When we look to the deserts of the Middle East at the founding of Islam in the early 7th century, such a picture is clear. At that time, increased trade across western Arabia created unprecedented wealth, resulting in the rise of new urban centers that directly challenged traditional tribal structures and loyalties. These urban centers quickly came to represent a different set of interests from the tribal communities, and a period of internecine conflict and social upheaval ensued.
In this context, the prophet Mohammed offered an alternative: the oma, the community professing the exclusive divinity of Allah, the moon god of polytheistic Arabia, and Mohammed as Allah’s prophetic voice. In creating the oma, Mohammed and his followers forged an inextricable merger of politics and religion. To this day, there has never been a separation—a “Reformation” —in Islam. This is due to the very nature of the oma, which must not only be defended militarily, politically and economically—but also expanded. Mohammed’s efforts to reconstitute the basis of authority and organization in Arabia—from polytheism to a political monotheism, from cities and tribes to the oma—made Islam’s expansionism a certainty.
Like other forms of fascism, Islam’s expansionist impulse would involve violence, subjugation to the state, and conformity to the ideology of the system. As Mohammed writes in the Koran, “Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection (Surah 009.029).” Further, Al Bukhari records Mohammed as saying: “I have been ordered to fight with the people till they say, ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah’.”
If this is what Islam is all about—fascist expansionism and totalitarianism—where do moderate or liberal Muslims come from? In short, they come from the same place that liberal Christians and Jews come from. Confronted by the 18th century Enlightenment and its heir, modernism, all religious expressions have found themselves influenced by the ideas and ideals of secular humanism. As Muslims integrated with the West and the West came into increased contact with the Muslim East, Islam experienced the same synthesis. Consequently, liberal Christians, Muslims, Jews and atheists, all under the influence of modernism, confess the same essential creed: The intrinsic equality of human beings, a basic commitment to man’s reason, the supremacy of the individual, and man’s innate goodness in the state of nature. Thus, like liberal Christianity or Judaism, liberal Islam isn’t Islam at all; it’s an entirely different religion.
In the end, any realistic assessment of Islam must accept “fascism” as a term that is far more descriptive than pejorative. In his remarks on the hurtful nature of the term, Professor Khan said that if anyone is “using the label in this broad sense, and thus accusing Islam and not merely the militants, they should say so.”
Well, we’re saying so.
Patrio Perspective
25 August 2006 | PatriotPost.US | Patriot Vol. 06 No. 34
Responding to breaking news of the thwarted attacks against a dozen commercial flights from Great Britain to the United States earlier this month, President Bush did the unthinkable: He described the would-be killers in accurate terms.
On that Thursday, 10 August, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the President opened his remarks to the gathered crowd with these soon-to-be famous words: “The recent arrests that our fellow citizens are now learning about are a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation.”
Key words: “Islamic fascists.”
Nearly five years since September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush has finally dropped his politically correct gloves and called the enemy of the West by the descriptor it deserves. This enemy is exclusively Muslim, and it has a modus operandi and worldview consistent with other forms of fascism.
Predictably, America’s Islamic lobby was quick to object. “We have to isolate these individuals because there is nothing in the Koran or the Islamic faith that encourages people to be cruel or to be vicious or to be criminal,” said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “Muslims worldwide know that for sure.”
For sure?
In a recent article in Jurist, Ali Khan of the Washburn University School of Law echoed Awad. “It is becoming fashionable for elected officials in the Anglo-American world, notably in the United States and the United Kingdom, to employ abusive language involving Islam,” he wrote. “Phrases such as ‘Islamic terrorism,’ ‘totalitarian Islam,’ ‘crimes of Islam,’ and ‘Islamic fascism’ are freely used, with sadist disrespect, to condemn real and imagined terrorists who practice the faith of Islam.”
Is it possible, then, that by equating the doctrine and practice of Islam with the acts of a radicalized few, President Bush is blurring these lines?
Not according to Daniel Pipes, historian of Islam and director of the Middle East Forum. The President, he says, is “identifying not Islam the religion, but a radical form of Islam.” Indeed, how many times have we heard presidential speeches laced with language about the “religion of peace” and our commonality as “people of the book”? Such language allows Awad and Khan to take comfort in the knowledge that Islam is good, but that terrorism—which doesn’t in any way represent Islam—is bad.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s recent address to the U.S. Congress certainly reflected the President’s heretofore clear distinction between terrorism and Islam. In that speech, the prime minister spoke of the war in Iraq as “a battle between true Islam, for which a person’s liberty and rights constitute essential cornerstones, and terrorism, which wraps itself in a fake Islamic cloak; in reality, wages a war on Islam and Muslims and values, and spreads hatred between humanity. Wherever human kind suffers a loss at the hands of terrorists, it is a loss of all humanity.”
So, is our fight against terrorism or against Islamic fascism? To wit, is Islam peaceful, or intrinsically fascist?
The answers couldn’t be clearer. Terrorism is not an enemy; it’s a tactic. Muslim examples aside, terrorist tactics have been adopted by groups as varied as Northern Ireland’s IRA, Colombia’s FARC, the Shining Path of Peru, West Germany’s Baader-Meinhof Gang, Italy’s Brigate Rosse, Spain’s Basque ETA, and our homegrown Symbionese Liberation Army. Mostly separatists and leftists, none of these groups viewed terrorism as an end in itself, but as a means to another, political end.
Unlike terrorism, Islam is an ideology bent on territorial expansion and political domination. These traits, along with iron-fisted socioeconomic controls, are the essential characteristics of fascism. When this expansion requires violence, Islam turns to jihad, and within the context of jihad, terrorism is an acceptable tactic. According to Pipes, “Islam is a political religion in a way that none other is. There are many elements within the religion and the history of Islam that suggest there is a dynamic of conquest.” Pipes continues, “There is something inherently expansionist about Islam. Jihad is expansionist warfare.”
Stephen Schwartz, executive director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism, coined the term “Islamofascism,” and he compares it other forms of fascism: “Islamofascism similarly pursues its aims through the willful, arbitrary, and gratuitous disruption of global society, either by terrorist conspiracies or by violation of peace between states. Al-Qaeda has recourse to the former weapon; Hezbollah, in assaulting northern Israel, used the latter. These are not acts of protest, but calculated strategies for political advantage through undiluted violence.” Schwartz continues, “Fascism was totalitarian; i.e. it fostered a totalistic world view—a distinct social reality that separated its followers from normal society. Islamofascism parallels fascism by imposing a strict division between Muslims and alleged unbelievers.”
When we look to the deserts of the Middle East at the founding of Islam in the early 7th century, such a picture is clear. At that time, increased trade across western Arabia created unprecedented wealth, resulting in the rise of new urban centers that directly challenged traditional tribal structures and loyalties. These urban centers quickly came to represent a different set of interests from the tribal communities, and a period of internecine conflict and social upheaval ensued.
In this context, the prophet Mohammed offered an alternative: the oma, the community professing the exclusive divinity of Allah, the moon god of polytheistic Arabia, and Mohammed as Allah’s prophetic voice. In creating the oma, Mohammed and his followers forged an inextricable merger of politics and religion. To this day, there has never been a separation—a “Reformation” —in Islam. This is due to the very nature of the oma, which must not only be defended militarily, politically and economically—but also expanded. Mohammed’s efforts to reconstitute the basis of authority and organization in Arabia—from polytheism to a political monotheism, from cities and tribes to the oma—made Islam’s expansionism a certainty.
Like other forms of fascism, Islam’s expansionist impulse would involve violence, subjugation to the state, and conformity to the ideology of the system. As Mohammed writes in the Koran, “Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection (Surah 009.029).” Further, Al Bukhari records Mohammed as saying: “I have been ordered to fight with the people till they say, ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah’.”
If this is what Islam is all about—fascist expansionism and totalitarianism—where do moderate or liberal Muslims come from? In short, they come from the same place that liberal Christians and Jews come from. Confronted by the 18th century Enlightenment and its heir, modernism, all religious expressions have found themselves influenced by the ideas and ideals of secular humanism. As Muslims integrated with the West and the West came into increased contact with the Muslim East, Islam experienced the same synthesis. Consequently, liberal Christians, Muslims, Jews and atheists, all under the influence of modernism, confess the same essential creed: The intrinsic equality of human beings, a basic commitment to man’s reason, the supremacy of the individual, and man’s innate goodness in the state of nature. Thus, like liberal Christianity or Judaism, liberal Islam isn’t Islam at all; it’s an entirely different religion.
In the end, any realistic assessment of Islam must accept “fascism” as a term that is far more descriptive than pejorative. In his remarks on the hurtful nature of the term, Professor Khan said that if anyone is “using the label in this broad sense, and thus accusing Islam and not merely the militants, they should say so.”
Well, we’re saying so.
Patrio Perspective
25 August 2006 | PatriotPost.US | Patriot Vol. 06 No. 34
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Jewish Humor
You may remember the old Jewish Catskill comics of Vaudeville days, viz., Shecky Green, Red Buttons, Totie Fields, Milton Berle, Henny Youngman, and others?
Don't you miss their humour? Not one single swear word in their comedy!
There was a beautiful young woman knocking on my hotel room door all night.
I finally had to let her out.
A car hit an elderly Jewish man. The paramedic says, "Are you comfortable?"
The man says, "I make a good living."
I just got back from a pleasure trip.
I took my mother-in-law to the airport.
I've been in love with the same woman for 49 years.
If my wife ever finds out, she'll kill me!
What are three words a woman never wants to hear when she's making love?
"Honey, I'm home!"
Someone stole all my credit cards, but I won't be reporting it.
The thief spends less than my wife did.
Why do we always hold hands?
If I let go, she shops.
My wife and I went back to the hotel where we spent our wedding night.
Only this time I stayed in the bathroom and cried!
She was at the beauty shop for two hours.
That was only for the estimate.
She got a mudpack and looked great for two days.
Then the mud fell off.
I was just in London where there is a time difference...I'm still confused:
When I go to dinner, I feel sexy; when I go to bed, I feel hungry!
The doctor gave me six months to live.
I couldn't pay my bill, so the doctor gave me another six months.
The Doctor called Mrs. Cohen saying, "Mrs. Cohen, your check came back."
Mrs. Cohen answered, "So did my arthritis!"
Doctor: "You'll live to be 70!"
Patient: "I AM 70!"
Doctor: "See! What did I tell you?"
A doctor held a stethoscope up to a man's chest.
The man asks, "Doc, how do I stand?"
The doctor said "That's what puzzles me!"
Patient: "I have a ringing in my ears."
Doctor: "Don't answer!"
A drunk was in front of a judge. The judge says, "You've been brought here for drinking."
The drunk says "Okay, let's get started."
A bum asked a Jewish fellow, "Give me $10 till payday."
The Jewish fellow responded, "When's payday?"
The bum said, "I don't know! You're the one that's working!"
Why do Jewish divorces cost so much?
They're worth it.
Why do Jewish men die before their wives?
They want to.
I wish my brother would learn a trade, so I would know what kind of work he's out of.
Live well, Laugh often, & Love with all of your heart!
The Harvard School of Medicine did a study of why Jewish women like Chinese food so much. The study revealed that this is due to the fact that Won Ton spelled backward is Not Now.
There is a big controversy on the Jewish view of when life begins.
In Jewish tradition, the fetus is not considered viable until it graduates from medical school.
Q: Why don't Jewish mothers drink?
A: Alcohol interferes with their suffering.
Q: Have you seen the newest Jewish-American-Princess horror movie?
A: It's called "Debbie Does Dishes."
Q: Why do Jewish mothers make great parole officers?
A: They never let anyone finish a sentence.
Q: What's a Jewish American Princess's favourite position?
A: Facing Bloomingdales.
A man called his mother in Florida, "Mom, how are you?"
"Not too good, " said the mother. "I've been very weak."
The son said, "Why are you so weak?"
She said, "Because I haven't eaten in 38 days."
The son said, "That's terrible! Why haven't you eaten in 38 days?"
"Because I don't want my mouth to be full of food if you should call."
A Jewish boy comes home from school and tells his mother he has a part in the play.
She asks, "What part is it?
The boy says, "I play the part of the Jewish husband."
The mother scowls and says, "Go back and tell the teacher you want a speaking part."
Q: Where does a Jewish husband hide money from his wife?
A: Under the vacuum cleaner.
Q: How many Jewish mothers does it take to change a light bulb?
A: (Sigh) "Don't bother. I'll sit in the dark. I don't want to be a nuisance to anybody."
Short summary of every Jewish holiday: They tried to kill us, we won, let's eat.
Did you hear about the bum who walked up to a Jewish mother on the street and said: "Lady I haven't eaten in three days."
"Force yourself," she replied.
Q: What's the difference between a Rottweiler and a Jewish Mother?
A: Eventually, the Rottweiler lets go.
Don't you miss their humour? Not one single swear word in their comedy!
There was a beautiful young woman knocking on my hotel room door all night.
I finally had to let her out.
A car hit an elderly Jewish man. The paramedic says, "Are you comfortable?"
The man says, "I make a good living."
I just got back from a pleasure trip.
I took my mother-in-law to the airport.
I've been in love with the same woman for 49 years.
If my wife ever finds out, she'll kill me!
What are three words a woman never wants to hear when she's making love?
"Honey, I'm home!"
Someone stole all my credit cards, but I won't be reporting it.
The thief spends less than my wife did.
Why do we always hold hands?
If I let go, she shops.
My wife and I went back to the hotel where we spent our wedding night.
Only this time I stayed in the bathroom and cried!
She was at the beauty shop for two hours.
That was only for the estimate.
She got a mudpack and looked great for two days.
Then the mud fell off.
I was just in London where there is a time difference...I'm still confused:
When I go to dinner, I feel sexy; when I go to bed, I feel hungry!
The doctor gave me six months to live.
I couldn't pay my bill, so the doctor gave me another six months.
The Doctor called Mrs. Cohen saying, "Mrs. Cohen, your check came back."
Mrs. Cohen answered, "So did my arthritis!"
Doctor: "You'll live to be 70!"
Patient: "I AM 70!"
Doctor: "See! What did I tell you?"
A doctor held a stethoscope up to a man's chest.
The man asks, "Doc, how do I stand?"
The doctor said "That's what puzzles me!"
Patient: "I have a ringing in my ears."
Doctor: "Don't answer!"
A drunk was in front of a judge. The judge says, "You've been brought here for drinking."
The drunk says "Okay, let's get started."
A bum asked a Jewish fellow, "Give me $10 till payday."
The Jewish fellow responded, "When's payday?"
The bum said, "I don't know! You're the one that's working!"
Why do Jewish divorces cost so much?
They're worth it.
Why do Jewish men die before their wives?
They want to.
I wish my brother would learn a trade, so I would know what kind of work he's out of.
Live well, Laugh often, & Love with all of your heart!
The Harvard School of Medicine did a study of why Jewish women like Chinese food so much. The study revealed that this is due to the fact that Won Ton spelled backward is Not Now.
There is a big controversy on the Jewish view of when life begins.
In Jewish tradition, the fetus is not considered viable until it graduates from medical school.
Q: Why don't Jewish mothers drink?
A: Alcohol interferes with their suffering.
Q: Have you seen the newest Jewish-American-Princess horror movie?
A: It's called "Debbie Does Dishes."
Q: Why do Jewish mothers make great parole officers?
A: They never let anyone finish a sentence.
Q: What's a Jewish American Princess's favourite position?
A: Facing Bloomingdales.
A man called his mother in Florida, "Mom, how are you?"
"Not too good, " said the mother. "I've been very weak."
The son said, "Why are you so weak?"
She said, "Because I haven't eaten in 38 days."
The son said, "That's terrible! Why haven't you eaten in 38 days?"
"Because I don't want my mouth to be full of food if you should call."
A Jewish boy comes home from school and tells his mother he has a part in the play.
She asks, "What part is it?
The boy says, "I play the part of the Jewish husband."
The mother scowls and says, "Go back and tell the teacher you want a speaking part."
Q: Where does a Jewish husband hide money from his wife?
A: Under the vacuum cleaner.
Q: How many Jewish mothers does it take to change a light bulb?
A: (Sigh) "Don't bother. I'll sit in the dark. I don't want to be a nuisance to anybody."
Short summary of every Jewish holiday: They tried to kill us, we won, let's eat.
Did you hear about the bum who walked up to a Jewish mother on the street and said: "Lady I haven't eaten in three days."
"Force yourself," she replied.
Q: What's the difference between a Rottweiler and a Jewish Mother?
A: Eventually, the Rottweiler lets go.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Religion of Peace update
Bin Laden has approval from an Islamic cleric for 10 million American deaths.
What if there are ten million and one?
Religion of Peace Update from CNN, with thanks to Doug:
Michael Scheuer, who once headed the CIA's bin Laden unit, says bin Laden has been given permission by a young cleric in Saudi Arabia authorizing al Qaeda to "use nuclear weapons against the United States ... capping the casualties at 10 million."
"He's had an approval, a religious approval for 10 million deaths?" I asked him.
"Yes," Scheuer responded.
Jihad Watch
What if there are ten million and one?
Religion of Peace Update from CNN, with thanks to Doug:
Michael Scheuer, who once headed the CIA's bin Laden unit, says bin Laden has been given permission by a young cleric in Saudi Arabia authorizing al Qaeda to "use nuclear weapons against the United States ... capping the casualties at 10 million."
"He's had an approval, a religious approval for 10 million deaths?" I asked him.
"Yes," Scheuer responded.
Jihad Watch
Monday, August 21, 2006
The best argument against school vouchers ever!
Dear Constituents, Parents, Friends & Union Workers:
I oppose school vouchers and charters because I want our private schools to
remain private!
My children attend private school with the well-mannered children of union officials, politicians, celebrities, and business leaders. We prefer private schools because, when there's a problem, we can deal with it immediately.
Because people like me care about working-class children, my children deserve a safe campus, far from the unruly children that public schools attract. Can you imagine Senator Feinstein or Steven Spielberg appealing to a public school board because a gang member threatened their children?
Outrageous!
Politicians, union leaders, and affluent people like me don't deserve to have our private schools infested with ordinary children, nor should we expect competition when our children apply for private universities like Princeton or Harvard. As long as you help us keep our educational aristocracy intact, we will protect public education from Republicans who would otherwise destroy it with dangerous charter and
voucher schemes.
It's not that I harbor ill will toward working-class parents or their offspring. As long as they remain loyal union workers and vote for the correct political candidates, we'll make sure that their working-class children will have trade schools and community colleges to attend. We want them to succeed - we only ask that they know their place.
Low- and middle-class parents should not presume that their children are equal to ours, nor can we expect them to understand the complicated social intricacies involved in educating their children. I don't expect middle- and low-class parents to understand what Mayor Villaraigosa, the School Board, and our benevolent leadership knows.
Ordinary people should trust us to protect them from our local and state political enemies, and we're happy to spend another two or three decades overseeing the education of their children, as long as they permit ours to succeed in schools far from third-world schoolyard infestations. We need to keep public schoolchildren well-nourished (fat) and feeling good about themselves (ignorant) because smart children are harder to control when they grow up, find success, and start voting.
We cared for our slaves, but Republicans forced us to let them go. We outlawed Negro education, but Republicans forced us to teach them. We built Negro schools, but Republicans forced us to desegregate. We've made so many compromises already that no one should expect our children to mix with unruly illegal aliens, white trash, and ill-tempered Negro children. It's just not natural.
So, the next time you hear about vouchers, make sure to vote against them!
As long as LAUSD stays strong, we promise to protect public education and your union jobs.
And remember, Live Better - Work Union!
*************************************************************************************
"The Argument Against School Vouchers" posted here on 8/20/06.
I oppose school vouchers and charters because I want our private schools to
remain private!
My children attend private school with the well-mannered children of union officials, politicians, celebrities, and business leaders. We prefer private schools because, when there's a problem, we can deal with it immediately.
Because people like me care about working-class children, my children deserve a safe campus, far from the unruly children that public schools attract. Can you imagine Senator Feinstein or Steven Spielberg appealing to a public school board because a gang member threatened their children?
Outrageous!
Politicians, union leaders, and affluent people like me don't deserve to have our private schools infested with ordinary children, nor should we expect competition when our children apply for private universities like Princeton or Harvard. As long as you help us keep our educational aristocracy intact, we will protect public education from Republicans who would otherwise destroy it with dangerous charter and
voucher schemes.
It's not that I harbor ill will toward working-class parents or their offspring. As long as they remain loyal union workers and vote for the correct political candidates, we'll make sure that their working-class children will have trade schools and community colleges to attend. We want them to succeed - we only ask that they know their place.
Low- and middle-class parents should not presume that their children are equal to ours, nor can we expect them to understand the complicated social intricacies involved in educating their children. I don't expect middle- and low-class parents to understand what Mayor Villaraigosa, the School Board, and our benevolent leadership knows.
Ordinary people should trust us to protect them from our local and state political enemies, and we're happy to spend another two or three decades overseeing the education of their children, as long as they permit ours to succeed in schools far from third-world schoolyard infestations. We need to keep public schoolchildren well-nourished (fat) and feeling good about themselves (ignorant) because smart children are harder to control when they grow up, find success, and start voting.
We cared for our slaves, but Republicans forced us to let them go. We outlawed Negro education, but Republicans forced us to teach them. We built Negro schools, but Republicans forced us to desegregate. We've made so many compromises already that no one should expect our children to mix with unruly illegal aliens, white trash, and ill-tempered Negro children. It's just not natural.
So, the next time you hear about vouchers, make sure to vote against them!
As long as LAUSD stays strong, we promise to protect public education and your union jobs.
And remember, Live Better - Work Union!
*************************************************************************************
"The Argument Against School Vouchers" posted here on 8/20/06.
It is Islam, dummy
Amil Imani
BrookesNews.Com
Monday 21 August 2006
The terror and death inflicted on humanity is not the work of radical Islam, neither the political Islam, nor the militant Islam. It is Islam, period. Get it? And the perpetrators are not fringe elements confined to brainwashed Saudis, loony Taliban, or a know nothing Pakistanis who have hijacked Islam and are now in the business of mass murder. The latest project of the practitioners of the “religion of peace” aimed to blowing planeloads of innocent civilians to smithereens in midair over the Atlantic — ought to finally drive the point home: it is Islam, dummy. Get it?
How could people calling themselves sincere God-fearing religionists bring themselves to even think of acts of such barbarity, yet plan them methodically and cold-bloodedly proceed to execute them?
The answer is Islam. The life manual of Islam, the Quran, is a document of exclusion, hatred and violence that shapes the Muslims’ thinking and behaving. This stone-age document is optimally suited for people of stunted development. People who prefer to follow than to think for themselves, to hate than to love, and to seek death rather than to celebrate life.
Sadly, Muslims themselves are the ones who are most victimized by Islam. They have inherited this viral psychological disease of hate and violence; they live by it, and transmit it to their children as well as to receptive others.
A puzzle to non-Muslims: why any intelligent and reasonably sane person would live his life by the dogma of Islam? It is particularly disconcerting when this Muslim lives in a secular non-Islamic society. The befuddlement becomes mind-boggling when seemingly educated women in free societies voluntarily submit to the yoke of Islamic misogyny.
There are a number of possible explanations to the enigma of believing in Islam and even propagating it with zeal and violence. Some possible explanations are treated here. For one, Islam is stamped on the impressionable mind of the child from birth. The parents and immediate members of the family are the ones who make the very first impressions on the tabula rasa of the young mind.
These early impressions are the grid-work for further formation of the person’s mind and belief system. It is by far easier, as life goes on, to incorporate “items” that readily fit into the grid-work, than to modify it or dismantle it altogether and begin anew. It is in recognition of the importance of early training and education that people such as Saint Augustine and Freud considered the first few years of life as critical for molding the person. “Teaching the very young is like itching in the stone,” says an Eastern proverb.
Another reason is the herd mentality — stay with the group, be one of them, and don't strike out on your own. This strong disposition to belong is reinforced by privileges that the group bestows; social pressure, as well as the fear of castigation by the wielders of power. There is security and power in numbers — in any numbers.
Islam is also appealing for giving purpose and order to the person’s life — both the life on earth as well as an immortal life after death. Islam is omnipresent and omniscient father figure who draws the boundaries, points out the path, dictates the terms, holds the carrots and the sticks.
It absolves the person, for most parts, from the often demanding tasks of dealing with difficult questions and choosing what to do with oneself — a highly attractive trade off for many. Accept Islam as your guide, follow its path and you will never have to suffer the agony of not knowing and having to make decisions by yourself; you will be guided along the path of eternal happiness and salvation. Just follow the unerring guide given to mankind by the seal of the prophet, Muhammad.
An elaborate package of mostly illogical and bizarre prescriptions and proscriptions comes with the Islamic offer, covering every imaginable aspect of life. In the matter of being a good Muslim, nothing is left to chance that one needs to figure out for himself. “I think, therefore I am” said Rene Descartes in substantiating his claim to being a conscious being. “I don't think, I faith; therefore I am an automaton,” says the Muslim in absolving himself of the need for independent thinking.
Even the minutest detail of the Muslim’s life is rigidly structured. He is to perform the obligatory prayer, for instance, five times a day at the exact appointed times. He must drop everything and go through the prescribed gesticulation and recitation of the verses while facing Mecca. Before saying his prayer, however, he must perform ablution.
The Ablution, using water, must be carried out in a precise manner and sequence. In the absence of water, the faithful can substitute soil for water and go through the practice of “purifying” himself by running soil over his hands, arms, face and feet. After completion of ablution, as prescribed, he may proceed to say his prayer unless he commits flatulence. In that case, he must re-perform the ablution all over again.
Being a good Muslim, particularly a good male Muslim, is indeed a full time job. Male Muslims are obligated to go for Hajj — women don’t have to do so. Islam is a man’s religion, through and through. Women are to please men erotically, to attend to them like chattel, and birth them boys. Going on Hajj and accumulating merit points for admission to Allah’s paradise is reserved for men.
Women may also go to Hajj, if they are lucky enough to afford the journey or allowed by their owners, men, to do so. For women, there are no promises that by going on Hajj and paying tribute to the house of Allah they endear themselves to him. “Women are calamities, but no home should be without one,” is an old Islamic characterization of women. Hence, a woman is a necessity and not much more.
In short, Islam treats its believers as children irrespective of age. An extensive cadre of mullahs and imams, who themselves are thoroughly indoctrinated, minister to the children. These professional leeches — the mullahs and imams — systematically program the mind of their charges through liberal use of fear, threats of hell, and occasional promises of eternal life of bliss in Allah’s paradise if they be obedient good children.
A Muslim is born Muslim, yet he acts as if he independently and through his own labor has discovered the great find; he clings to it as his cherished security blanket; and, would part with his life, rather than giving it up. It is, therefore, understandable what a recent poll has found.
Fully 81 per cent of British Muslims consider themselves Muslims first and British second. The 81 per cent know full well that there is absolutely no chance of being harassed, much less persecuted, in Britain for professing their highest loyalty to Islam. So, they come out and admit it. The other 19 per cent are even more Muslim. They are practicing what the Quran teaches — dissimulation. Muslims are taught to lie. They lie when they have to and they lie when they don't have to, just to stay in practice.
The bottom-line is that the non-Islamic world has a huge problem on its hands — the ever-encroaching Islam. For as long as there are mosques, madrasehs, and Islamic centers; as long as a vast cadres of well-paid, highly indoctrinated and strategically placed mullahs and imams; and, as long as there are people who prefer to be treated as children, Islam will flourish anywhere and will pose an existential threat to unbelievers. All the excuses, grievances and reasons given for savagery of the jihadists and Islamofascists are side issues. It is Islam, dummy. It is Islam itself. Get it?
*************************************************************************************
Amil Imani is an Iranian-born American citizen and pro-democracy activist residing in the United States of America. Imani is a columnist, literary translator, novelist and an essayist who has been writing and speaking out for the struggling people of his native land, Iran. He maintains a website at amilimani.com
BrookesNews.Com
Monday 21 August 2006
The terror and death inflicted on humanity is not the work of radical Islam, neither the political Islam, nor the militant Islam. It is Islam, period. Get it? And the perpetrators are not fringe elements confined to brainwashed Saudis, loony Taliban, or a know nothing Pakistanis who have hijacked Islam and are now in the business of mass murder. The latest project of the practitioners of the “religion of peace” aimed to blowing planeloads of innocent civilians to smithereens in midair over the Atlantic — ought to finally drive the point home: it is Islam, dummy. Get it?
How could people calling themselves sincere God-fearing religionists bring themselves to even think of acts of such barbarity, yet plan them methodically and cold-bloodedly proceed to execute them?
The answer is Islam. The life manual of Islam, the Quran, is a document of exclusion, hatred and violence that shapes the Muslims’ thinking and behaving. This stone-age document is optimally suited for people of stunted development. People who prefer to follow than to think for themselves, to hate than to love, and to seek death rather than to celebrate life.
Sadly, Muslims themselves are the ones who are most victimized by Islam. They have inherited this viral psychological disease of hate and violence; they live by it, and transmit it to their children as well as to receptive others.
A puzzle to non-Muslims: why any intelligent and reasonably sane person would live his life by the dogma of Islam? It is particularly disconcerting when this Muslim lives in a secular non-Islamic society. The befuddlement becomes mind-boggling when seemingly educated women in free societies voluntarily submit to the yoke of Islamic misogyny.
There are a number of possible explanations to the enigma of believing in Islam and even propagating it with zeal and violence. Some possible explanations are treated here. For one, Islam is stamped on the impressionable mind of the child from birth. The parents and immediate members of the family are the ones who make the very first impressions on the tabula rasa of the young mind.
These early impressions are the grid-work for further formation of the person’s mind and belief system. It is by far easier, as life goes on, to incorporate “items” that readily fit into the grid-work, than to modify it or dismantle it altogether and begin anew. It is in recognition of the importance of early training and education that people such as Saint Augustine and Freud considered the first few years of life as critical for molding the person. “Teaching the very young is like itching in the stone,” says an Eastern proverb.
Another reason is the herd mentality — stay with the group, be one of them, and don't strike out on your own. This strong disposition to belong is reinforced by privileges that the group bestows; social pressure, as well as the fear of castigation by the wielders of power. There is security and power in numbers — in any numbers.
Islam is also appealing for giving purpose and order to the person’s life — both the life on earth as well as an immortal life after death. Islam is omnipresent and omniscient father figure who draws the boundaries, points out the path, dictates the terms, holds the carrots and the sticks.
It absolves the person, for most parts, from the often demanding tasks of dealing with difficult questions and choosing what to do with oneself — a highly attractive trade off for many. Accept Islam as your guide, follow its path and you will never have to suffer the agony of not knowing and having to make decisions by yourself; you will be guided along the path of eternal happiness and salvation. Just follow the unerring guide given to mankind by the seal of the prophet, Muhammad.
An elaborate package of mostly illogical and bizarre prescriptions and proscriptions comes with the Islamic offer, covering every imaginable aspect of life. In the matter of being a good Muslim, nothing is left to chance that one needs to figure out for himself. “I think, therefore I am” said Rene Descartes in substantiating his claim to being a conscious being. “I don't think, I faith; therefore I am an automaton,” says the Muslim in absolving himself of the need for independent thinking.
Even the minutest detail of the Muslim’s life is rigidly structured. He is to perform the obligatory prayer, for instance, five times a day at the exact appointed times. He must drop everything and go through the prescribed gesticulation and recitation of the verses while facing Mecca. Before saying his prayer, however, he must perform ablution.
The Ablution, using water, must be carried out in a precise manner and sequence. In the absence of water, the faithful can substitute soil for water and go through the practice of “purifying” himself by running soil over his hands, arms, face and feet. After completion of ablution, as prescribed, he may proceed to say his prayer unless he commits flatulence. In that case, he must re-perform the ablution all over again.
Being a good Muslim, particularly a good male Muslim, is indeed a full time job. Male Muslims are obligated to go for Hajj — women don’t have to do so. Islam is a man’s religion, through and through. Women are to please men erotically, to attend to them like chattel, and birth them boys. Going on Hajj and accumulating merit points for admission to Allah’s paradise is reserved for men.
Women may also go to Hajj, if they are lucky enough to afford the journey or allowed by their owners, men, to do so. For women, there are no promises that by going on Hajj and paying tribute to the house of Allah they endear themselves to him. “Women are calamities, but no home should be without one,” is an old Islamic characterization of women. Hence, a woman is a necessity and not much more.
In short, Islam treats its believers as children irrespective of age. An extensive cadre of mullahs and imams, who themselves are thoroughly indoctrinated, minister to the children. These professional leeches — the mullahs and imams — systematically program the mind of their charges through liberal use of fear, threats of hell, and occasional promises of eternal life of bliss in Allah’s paradise if they be obedient good children.
A Muslim is born Muslim, yet he acts as if he independently and through his own labor has discovered the great find; he clings to it as his cherished security blanket; and, would part with his life, rather than giving it up. It is, therefore, understandable what a recent poll has found.
Fully 81 per cent of British Muslims consider themselves Muslims first and British second. The 81 per cent know full well that there is absolutely no chance of being harassed, much less persecuted, in Britain for professing their highest loyalty to Islam. So, they come out and admit it. The other 19 per cent are even more Muslim. They are practicing what the Quran teaches — dissimulation. Muslims are taught to lie. They lie when they have to and they lie when they don't have to, just to stay in practice.
The bottom-line is that the non-Islamic world has a huge problem on its hands — the ever-encroaching Islam. For as long as there are mosques, madrasehs, and Islamic centers; as long as a vast cadres of well-paid, highly indoctrinated and strategically placed mullahs and imams; and, as long as there are people who prefer to be treated as children, Islam will flourish anywhere and will pose an existential threat to unbelievers. All the excuses, grievances and reasons given for savagery of the jihadists and Islamofascists are side issues. It is Islam, dummy. It is Islam itself. Get it?
*************************************************************************************
Amil Imani is an Iranian-born American citizen and pro-democracy activist residing in the United States of America. Imani is a columnist, literary translator, novelist and an essayist who has been writing and speaking out for the struggling people of his native land, Iran. He maintains a website at amilimani.com
Sunday, August 20, 2006
You're invited to Jerry Brown's Retirement Party
REMARKS BY SENATOR CHUCK POOCHIGIAN
CALIFORNIA REPUBLICAN PARTY CONVENTION
AUGUST 18, 2006
Let me be the first to welcome you to Jerry Brown's Retirement Party.
We know that Jerry Brown proved to be the most incompetent and destructive governor in modern times. Highways did not get built. He ran our universities into the ground. He threw agriculture into an unnecessary crisis.
But the most lasting damage he did was to California's criminal justice system. He turned our Supreme Court into a national laughingstock with judges who substituted their own views for the rule of law. He mocked crime victims by vetoing the death penalty and opposing the Victims Bill of Rights.
However, he did support one bill of rights....He signed into law the Inmates Bill of Rights which effectively forced the state to allow rapists and child molesters to have access to pornography.
But as bad as he was as governor, let me say to you he has been an even greater disaster over the last decade - operating on the kooky fringe of policy and politics.
I have spent the last several years in the California Legislature fighting to protect our families from sexual predators, fighting against those who commit identity theft, working to secure more funding for police officers on the street. I've worked hard to pass tougher laws to keep guns out of the hands of felons and have pushed for tougher and longer sentences for repeat offenders.
But while you and I fought for justice for the families of murder victims, Jerry Brown continued his decades-long irrational, emotional and extremist opposition to capital punishment.
Let me introduce you to someone. They called him the "Freeway Killer." His name is William Bonin. Here in southern California he stalked, sodomized, strangled, mutilated and murdered 21 teenage boys. The youngest was just 12 years old.
This monster was finally executed in 1996 -- sixteen years after his arrest.... 16 years of agony and torture for those boys' families.
How did Jerry Brown react? He accused Californians of engaging in a "Nazi-style" execution. He ranted that the law overwhelmingly approved by our voters would transform California into "Hitler's Germany."
Jerry Brown wanted William Bonin to live. Here are his direct and bizarre words. Quote...it's not okay even to kill guilty people...Unquote.
Quote...Banning capital punishment takes us to a higher state of consciousness...Unquote.
And while claiming he would enforce the death penalty, his actual view is: Quote...I don't think bureaucracy should ever be entrusted with that kind of power....Unquote.
My friends, anyone who compares implementing the lawful will of the people against a sadistic killer to the Nazi atrocities of Adolf Hitler doesn't know history....he doesn't know the law.... And, more importantly, he doesn't deserve to be the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of California.
Jerry Brown recently said: "I think outside the box." Well, it's one thing to think outside the box and another thing to think outside the planet.
Can you think of anyone less suited to be attorney general than Jerry Brown?
Some people tell me, "Chuck, all that stuff about Brown is old news." Well, not for the citizens of Oakland.
Since Mayor Brown took office pledging to make Oakland safer than Walnut Creek, homicide is up 57 percent.
A violent crime is committed every two hours.
Shootings are up 100 percent this year alone while the murder rate is almost twice as high as it was at this time last year.
Even that old left winger, Ron Dellums, says that "Oakland is in a panic about crime." It is officially the least safe big city in California.
In the midst of this public safety meltdown, Brown actually claims on his campaign web site that he will "lead the fight against crime as I have done as mayor of Oakland!"
But in reality he has neglected his official duties by campaigning almost full-time for attorney general for the past three years.
Last week a little 3-year old girl was shot in the head, caught in the crossfire in Oakland.
Here's Chuck Poochigian's view: If Jerry Brown spent more time in West Oakland and less time on Southwest Airlines, young victims in that city would have a fighting chance to live.
As your Attorney General, here is my pledge:
I will always put the rights of crime victims above those of criminals.
I will fight to protect our families against gangs, sexual predators and identity thieves.
And I will fight to expedite the death penalty against the most heinous of criminals.
In the next 81 days, I need your help up and down this great state to retire Jerry Brown.
We are going to tell him "no thank you" for the damage he's done to California....
We are going to tell him "no thank you" for the damage he's done to the great city of Oakland....
And we're going to give him his gold watch and tell him to go away and just leave us alone.
On to victory!
CALIFORNIA REPUBLICAN PARTY CONVENTION
AUGUST 18, 2006
Let me be the first to welcome you to Jerry Brown's Retirement Party.
We know that Jerry Brown proved to be the most incompetent and destructive governor in modern times. Highways did not get built. He ran our universities into the ground. He threw agriculture into an unnecessary crisis.
But the most lasting damage he did was to California's criminal justice system. He turned our Supreme Court into a national laughingstock with judges who substituted their own views for the rule of law. He mocked crime victims by vetoing the death penalty and opposing the Victims Bill of Rights.
However, he did support one bill of rights....He signed into law the Inmates Bill of Rights which effectively forced the state to allow rapists and child molesters to have access to pornography.
But as bad as he was as governor, let me say to you he has been an even greater disaster over the last decade - operating on the kooky fringe of policy and politics.
I have spent the last several years in the California Legislature fighting to protect our families from sexual predators, fighting against those who commit identity theft, working to secure more funding for police officers on the street. I've worked hard to pass tougher laws to keep guns out of the hands of felons and have pushed for tougher and longer sentences for repeat offenders.
But while you and I fought for justice for the families of murder victims, Jerry Brown continued his decades-long irrational, emotional and extremist opposition to capital punishment.
Let me introduce you to someone. They called him the "Freeway Killer." His name is William Bonin. Here in southern California he stalked, sodomized, strangled, mutilated and murdered 21 teenage boys. The youngest was just 12 years old.
This monster was finally executed in 1996 -- sixteen years after his arrest.... 16 years of agony and torture for those boys' families.
How did Jerry Brown react? He accused Californians of engaging in a "Nazi-style" execution. He ranted that the law overwhelmingly approved by our voters would transform California into "Hitler's Germany."
Jerry Brown wanted William Bonin to live. Here are his direct and bizarre words. Quote...it's not okay even to kill guilty people...Unquote.
Quote...Banning capital punishment takes us to a higher state of consciousness...Unquote.
And while claiming he would enforce the death penalty, his actual view is: Quote...I don't think bureaucracy should ever be entrusted with that kind of power....Unquote.
My friends, anyone who compares implementing the lawful will of the people against a sadistic killer to the Nazi atrocities of Adolf Hitler doesn't know history....he doesn't know the law.... And, more importantly, he doesn't deserve to be the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of California.
Jerry Brown recently said: "I think outside the box." Well, it's one thing to think outside the box and another thing to think outside the planet.
Can you think of anyone less suited to be attorney general than Jerry Brown?
Some people tell me, "Chuck, all that stuff about Brown is old news." Well, not for the citizens of Oakland.
Since Mayor Brown took office pledging to make Oakland safer than Walnut Creek, homicide is up 57 percent.
A violent crime is committed every two hours.
Shootings are up 100 percent this year alone while the murder rate is almost twice as high as it was at this time last year.
Even that old left winger, Ron Dellums, says that "Oakland is in a panic about crime." It is officially the least safe big city in California.
In the midst of this public safety meltdown, Brown actually claims on his campaign web site that he will "lead the fight against crime as I have done as mayor of Oakland!"
But in reality he has neglected his official duties by campaigning almost full-time for attorney general for the past three years.
Last week a little 3-year old girl was shot in the head, caught in the crossfire in Oakland.
Here's Chuck Poochigian's view: If Jerry Brown spent more time in West Oakland and less time on Southwest Airlines, young victims in that city would have a fighting chance to live.
As your Attorney General, here is my pledge:
I will always put the rights of crime victims above those of criminals.
I will fight to protect our families against gangs, sexual predators and identity thieves.
And I will fight to expedite the death penalty against the most heinous of criminals.
In the next 81 days, I need your help up and down this great state to retire Jerry Brown.
We are going to tell him "no thank you" for the damage he's done to California....
We are going to tell him "no thank you" for the damage he's done to the great city of Oakland....
And we're going to give him his gold watch and tell him to go away and just leave us alone.
On to victory!
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Quiz
What is the Boston Tea Party?
What it was a long time ago:
"The Boston Tea Party was a direct action protest by the American colonists against Great Britain in which they destroyed many crates of tea on ships in Boston Harbor. The incident, which took place on Thursday, December 16, 1773, has been seen as helping to spark the American Revolution." (from Wikipedia).
What it is now:
It's a brand new political party!
It's so new, it's not even listed here yet:
Party, Party, Party!
There's so many, it's actually hard to count (I was surprised at how many). There's even a Pot Party (bet you've been to one of those--if you are of a certain age, that is).
How about that "Light Party!" (falls somewhere between the Greens and New Age feel of the now defunct Natural Law Party according to Politics1.com)...wonder what the "father of lights" would think about it?
The poor Libertarian Party though (glad I jumped ship): I wonder, since those remaining seem already pretty close to conservative Republicans, if they'll even be able to keep their ballot access after awhile?
What it was a long time ago:
"The Boston Tea Party was a direct action protest by the American colonists against Great Britain in which they destroyed many crates of tea on ships in Boston Harbor. The incident, which took place on Thursday, December 16, 1773, has been seen as helping to spark the American Revolution." (from Wikipedia).
What it is now:
It's a brand new political party!
It's so new, it's not even listed here yet:
Party, Party, Party!
There's so many, it's actually hard to count (I was surprised at how many). There's even a Pot Party (bet you've been to one of those--if you are of a certain age, that is).
How about that "Light Party!" (falls somewhere between the Greens and New Age feel of the now defunct Natural Law Party according to Politics1.com)...wonder what the "father of lights" would think about it?
The poor Libertarian Party though (glad I jumped ship): I wonder, since those remaining seem already pretty close to conservative Republicans, if they'll even be able to keep their ballot access after awhile?
Thursday, August 17, 2006
New study on kids and exercise
Middle school students who perform more vigorous physical activity than their more sedentary peers tend to do better in school, according to a new study done by researchers from Michigan State University and Grand Valley State University. The research is published in the August issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine.
For one academic year, the study tracked more than 200 sixth graders. For one semester half of the students took the general physical education class offered by the school, while the other half took part in a non-physical education course. Halfway through the school year they switched. The researchers found that students taking the physical education course did no better or worse in their academic classes.
“Physical education and activity during the school day reduce boredom and help keep kids’ attention in the classroom,” said Dawn Podulka Coe, the study’s lead author who is now an assistant professor in the Department of Movement Science at Grand Valley State University. “We were expecting to find that students enrolled in PE would have better grades because of the opportunity to be active during the school day. But enrollment in PE alone did not influence grades.”
However, the researchers also found that students who took part in more vigorous physical activities – such as organized sports like soccer or football, or non-organized after-school activities such as skateboarding – did approximately 10 percent better in core classes such as math, science, English and social studies.
“The students who performed better academically in this study were the most active, meaning those who participated in a sport or other vigorous activity at least three times a week” added Coe.
The difference between vigorous activity and moderate activity is heart rate. Moderate activities, such as walking or raking leaves, don’t get the heart rate up or make the person breathe harder. Vigorous activities, such as running or swimming for exercise, increase heart rate, causing the exerciser to breathe harder and increasing oxygen to the brain.
With school about to start, we encourage all parents to take this new study to heart. We encourage you consider organized sports as a way to help your child do better in school, be healthier, maintain the proper weight, and to build a foundation of health that can last a lifetime. And don’t forget your favorite Wholefood Farmacy foods for practice and game days!
As always, we are at your service,
The Wholefood Farmacy Team
For one academic year, the study tracked more than 200 sixth graders. For one semester half of the students took the general physical education class offered by the school, while the other half took part in a non-physical education course. Halfway through the school year they switched. The researchers found that students taking the physical education course did no better or worse in their academic classes.
“Physical education and activity during the school day reduce boredom and help keep kids’ attention in the classroom,” said Dawn Podulka Coe, the study’s lead author who is now an assistant professor in the Department of Movement Science at Grand Valley State University. “We were expecting to find that students enrolled in PE would have better grades because of the opportunity to be active during the school day. But enrollment in PE alone did not influence grades.”
However, the researchers also found that students who took part in more vigorous physical activities – such as organized sports like soccer or football, or non-organized after-school activities such as skateboarding – did approximately 10 percent better in core classes such as math, science, English and social studies.
“The students who performed better academically in this study were the most active, meaning those who participated in a sport or other vigorous activity at least three times a week” added Coe.
The difference between vigorous activity and moderate activity is heart rate. Moderate activities, such as walking or raking leaves, don’t get the heart rate up or make the person breathe harder. Vigorous activities, such as running or swimming for exercise, increase heart rate, causing the exerciser to breathe harder and increasing oxygen to the brain.
With school about to start, we encourage all parents to take this new study to heart. We encourage you consider organized sports as a way to help your child do better in school, be healthier, maintain the proper weight, and to build a foundation of health that can last a lifetime. And don’t forget your favorite Wholefood Farmacy foods for practice and game days!
As always, we are at your service,
The Wholefood Farmacy Team
Finally released: Gibson arrest video
Presented as a public service:
MEL GIBSON ARREST VIDEO
(lick "OK" to run the ActiveX control--it's safe)
MEL GIBSON ARREST VIDEO
(lick "OK" to run the ActiveX control--it's safe)
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Legas Services Corp.
Don't let the name of this agency fool you--it is completely paid for by your tax dollars--it is not a real Corporation, it is a legal fiction, set up by government.
Legal Services Corp. that quasi government agency that helps criminals sue government agencies, allows illegal aliens legal services and sues local government for special interests against the taxpayer needs, has now been caught. These folks are no better than Tammany Hall politicians, using tax dollars to harm the taxpayer, then turning around and buying "high tea" and renting limousines. These folks don't care about those they serve, as long as they get good services at the best restaurants and hotels.
This is another example of why this agency needs to go. In the past it has defended pornographers, sued land owners and made a mess of public policy--trying to get done in the courts what can't be done in the legislature. Now we find out these folks, the administrative leaders just like the good life, at no cost to themselves. While American are worried about paying their bills, these folks use limo's at $400 instead of a cab.
As we are trying to pay our rent, the Board of this organization, instead of meeting in the HQ conference room, meet in a chic and expensive Washington hotel. We don't need tax increases, we need audits and closures of government agencies.
What is the purpose of government?
Should it provide lawyers for every citizen, for every whim or neglect? Legal Services Corp, was always bad public policy and wasteful government, now we have more facts.
For more information on this abusive tax funded agency, go to:
As you can tell from these articles, corruption, incompetence and greed is nothing new to this agency--it goes back to its founding.
What do you think?
Should you pay for lawsuits against businesses owners for illegal aliens? Why doesn't this agency help home schoolers against school district that fight their right to a quality education? Should we even have such an agency?
Steve Frank
(Steve Frank is publisher of the California Political News and Views. He is also a consultant currently working on gambling issues and advising other consultants on policy and coalition building)
Legal Services Corp. that quasi government agency that helps criminals sue government agencies, allows illegal aliens legal services and sues local government for special interests against the taxpayer needs, has now been caught. These folks are no better than Tammany Hall politicians, using tax dollars to harm the taxpayer, then turning around and buying "high tea" and renting limousines. These folks don't care about those they serve, as long as they get good services at the best restaurants and hotels.
This is another example of why this agency needs to go. In the past it has defended pornographers, sued land owners and made a mess of public policy--trying to get done in the courts what can't be done in the legislature. Now we find out these folks, the administrative leaders just like the good life, at no cost to themselves. While American are worried about paying their bills, these folks use limo's at $400 instead of a cab.
As we are trying to pay our rent, the Board of this organization, instead of meeting in the HQ conference room, meet in a chic and expensive Washington hotel. We don't need tax increases, we need audits and closures of government agencies.
What is the purpose of government?
Should it provide lawyers for every citizen, for every whim or neglect? Legal Services Corp, was always bad public policy and wasteful government, now we have more facts.
For more information on this abusive tax funded agency, go to:
As you can tell from these articles, corruption, incompetence and greed is nothing new to this agency--it goes back to its founding.
What do you think?
Should you pay for lawsuits against businesses owners for illegal aliens? Why doesn't this agency help home schoolers against school district that fight their right to a quality education? Should we even have such an agency?
Steve Frank
(Steve Frank is publisher of the California Political News and Views. He is also a consultant currently working on gambling issues and advising other consultants on policy and coalition building)
Saturday, August 12, 2006
From Strenth to Weakness: Democratic Party timeline
FROM FDR TO NED LAMONT: THE DEMOCRAT PARTY’S TRANSFORMATION FROM STRENGTH TO WEAKNESS
Yesterday’s Democrat Leaders Promoted The Doctrine Of Peace Through Strength:
JANUARY 1945: President Franklin D. Roosevelt: “We have learned that we cannot live alone, at peace; that our well-being is dependent on the well-being of other nations, far away.” (President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Inaugural Address, Washington, D.C., 1/20/45)
JANUARY 1945: President Franklin D. Roosevelt: “We Americans of today, together with our allies, are passing through a period of supreme test. It is a test of our courage, of our resolve, of our wisdom, of our essential democracy. … As I stand here today, having taken the solemn oath of office in the presence of my fellow countrymen, in the presence of our God, I know that it is America’s purpose that we shall not fail.” (President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Inaugural Address, Washington, D.C., 1/20/45)
MARCH 1947: President Harry S Truman: “[I]t must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” (President Harry S Truman, Address To Joint Session Of Congress, Washington, D.C., 3/12/47)
JULY 1952: Gov. Adlai Stevenson (D-IL): “The ordeal of the twentieth century, the bloodiest, most turbulent era of the whole Christian age, is far from over. Sacrifice, patience, understanding, and implacable purpose may be our lot of years to come. Let’s face it. Let’s talk sense to the American people. Let’s tell them the truth, that there are no gains without pains, that there – that we are now on the eve of great decisions, not easy decisions, like resistance when you’re attacked, but a long, patient, costly struggle which alone can assure triumph over the great enemies of man – war, poverty, and tyranny – and the assaults upon human dignity which are the most grievous consequences of each.” (Gov. Adlai Stevenson, Acceptance Speech At Democrat National Convention, Chicago, IL, 7/26/52)
JANUARY 1961: President John F. Kennedy: “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. This much we pledge – and more.” (President John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, Washington, D.C., 1/20/61)
JANUARY 1961: President John F. Kennedy: “In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility – I welcome it.” (President John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, Washington, D.C., 1/20/61)
AUGUST 1968: Vice President Hubert Humphrey: “Across America – throughout the entire world – the forces of emancipation are at work. We hear freedom’s rising chorus: ‘Let me live my own life. Let me live in peace. Let me be free,’ say the people … And to speed this day, we must go far beyond where we’ve been, beyond containment to communication, beyond differences to dialogue, beyond fear to hope.” (Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Acceptance Speech At Democrat National Convention, Chicago, IL, 8/29/68)
JUNE 1977: Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY): “[President Carter’s foreign policy] is as if with no further consideration we should divert our attention from the central political struggle of our time – that between liberal democracy and totalitarian Communism – and focus instead on something else.” (Richard Pyle, The Associated Press, 6/9/77)
JULY 1979: Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson (D-WA): “I believe that international terrorism is a modern form of warfare against liberal democracies. I believe that the ultimate but seldom stated goal of these terrorists is to destroy the very fabric of democracy. I believe that it is both wrong and foolhardy for any democratic state to consider international terrorism to be ‘someone else’s’ problem. ... Liberal democracies must acknowledge that international terrorism is a ‘collective problem.’” (Sen. Henry Jackson, Address To Jonathan Institute, Jerusalem, 7/79)
FEBRUARY 1980: Sen. James Exon (D-NE): “As long as the Great Bear remains unfriendly, the U.S. will neither feed him nor supply him with fertilizer to help grow his own feed.” (Jane Seaberry, “Soviet Phosphates Embargo Extended,” The Washington Post, 2/26/80)
MARCH 1986: Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX): “[I]t seems to me that we have a clear choice to make. We can turn our backs and turn away and allow the final consolidation of a totalitarian regime in Managua, complete with its Soviet and Eastern Bloc advisers. And in doing so give the green light to subversion across Central America.” (Mike Robinson, “What Some Senators Say About Aiding the Contras,” The Associated Press, 3/26/86)
MARCH 1990: Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA): “We must recognize that the collapse of Communism does not mean the end of danger in the world.” (Robin Toner, “Eyes To Left, Democrats Edge Toward The Center,” The New York Times, 3/25/90)
OCTOBER 1996: Sen. Howell Heflin (D-AL): “With my own experiences in World War II and observations since that time, I have felt compelled that we must at all times endeavor to obtain lasting peace, and that the primary road to achieving this goal is through military strength.” (Sen. Howell Heflin, Congressional Record, 10/1/96, p. S12077)
OCTOBER 1996: Sen. Howell Heflin (D-AL): “Generally, I have been proud of the Senate for rallying behind the American President whenever he has determined the necessity of using our Armed Forces ... I have been consistent in embracing the philosophy of supporting the Commander in Chief, regardless of the party or what I might have felt personally could have been done differently or better.” (Sen. Howell Heflin, Congressional Record, 10/1/96, p. S12080)
AUGUST 2006: Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT): “[I]f we leave [Iraq] tomorrow it’ll be a disaster for the Iraqis, for the Middle East and for us.” (ABC’s “This Week,” 8/6/06)
But Today’s Democrat Leaders Have Chosen To Cut-And-Run From The War On Terror:
SEPTEMBER 2001: MoveOn.Org: After 9/11, MoveOn collected signatures for statement calling for “justice, not escalating violence that would only play into the terrorists’ hands.” (Tony Pugh, “Against Tide, They Clamor For Peace,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, 9/21/01)
APRIL 2004: Daily Kos Founder Markos Moulitsas Zúniga Denounced Four American Contractors Who Were Mutilated By Terrorists In Fallujah, Iraq. Markos Moulitas Zúniga: “I feel nothing over the death of merceneries [sic]. They aren’t in Iraq because of orders, or because they are there trying to help the people make Iraq a better place. They are there to wage war for profit. Screw them.” (“Murderous Rhetoric,” The Spectator, 4/10/04)
SEPTEMBER 2004: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): “This war has been a grotesque mistake that has diminished our reputation in the world and has not made America safer.” (Elizabeth Wolfe, “Pelosi Calls Iraq War ‘Grotesque Mistake,’” The Associated Press, 9/25/04)
NOVEMBER 2005: Rep. John Murtha (D-PA): “I believe we must begin discussions for an immediate re-deployment of U.S. forces from Iraq. I believe it can be accomplished in as little as six months …” (Rep. John Murtha, “Congressman Murtha Calls For Redeployment From Iraq,” Press Release, 11/17/05)
DECEMBER 2005: DNC Chairman Howard Dean: “[The] idea that we’re going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong.” (San Antonio’s WOAI’s Website, www.woai.com, Accessed 12/5/05)
DECEMBER 2005: Sen. John Kerry (D-MA): “There is no reason … that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children ...” (CBS’ “Face The Nation,” 12/4/05)
MARCH 2006: Senate Candidate Ned Lamont (D-CT): “All they know is, A, I’m not Joe [Lieberman]. And, B, I’m against the war.” (Mark Pazniokas, “Lamont Campaign Builds Step By Step,” The Hartford [CT] Courant, 3/13/06)
JUNE 2006: Senate Candidate Ned Lamont (D-CT): “I think it’s time for us to take our front-line military operations and start bringing those troops home now.” (Susan Haigh, “Iraq War Key Topic Of Senate Race,” The Associated Press, 6/17/06)
Yesterday’s Democrat Leaders Promoted The Doctrine Of Peace Through Strength:
JANUARY 1945: President Franklin D. Roosevelt: “We have learned that we cannot live alone, at peace; that our well-being is dependent on the well-being of other nations, far away.” (President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Inaugural Address, Washington, D.C., 1/20/45)
JANUARY 1945: President Franklin D. Roosevelt: “We Americans of today, together with our allies, are passing through a period of supreme test. It is a test of our courage, of our resolve, of our wisdom, of our essential democracy. … As I stand here today, having taken the solemn oath of office in the presence of my fellow countrymen, in the presence of our God, I know that it is America’s purpose that we shall not fail.” (President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Inaugural Address, Washington, D.C., 1/20/45)
MARCH 1947: President Harry S Truman: “[I]t must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” (President Harry S Truman, Address To Joint Session Of Congress, Washington, D.C., 3/12/47)
JULY 1952: Gov. Adlai Stevenson (D-IL): “The ordeal of the twentieth century, the bloodiest, most turbulent era of the whole Christian age, is far from over. Sacrifice, patience, understanding, and implacable purpose may be our lot of years to come. Let’s face it. Let’s talk sense to the American people. Let’s tell them the truth, that there are no gains without pains, that there – that we are now on the eve of great decisions, not easy decisions, like resistance when you’re attacked, but a long, patient, costly struggle which alone can assure triumph over the great enemies of man – war, poverty, and tyranny – and the assaults upon human dignity which are the most grievous consequences of each.” (Gov. Adlai Stevenson, Acceptance Speech At Democrat National Convention, Chicago, IL, 7/26/52)
JANUARY 1961: President John F. Kennedy: “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. This much we pledge – and more.” (President John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, Washington, D.C., 1/20/61)
JANUARY 1961: President John F. Kennedy: “In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility – I welcome it.” (President John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, Washington, D.C., 1/20/61)
AUGUST 1968: Vice President Hubert Humphrey: “Across America – throughout the entire world – the forces of emancipation are at work. We hear freedom’s rising chorus: ‘Let me live my own life. Let me live in peace. Let me be free,’ say the people … And to speed this day, we must go far beyond where we’ve been, beyond containment to communication, beyond differences to dialogue, beyond fear to hope.” (Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Acceptance Speech At Democrat National Convention, Chicago, IL, 8/29/68)
JUNE 1977: Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY): “[President Carter’s foreign policy] is as if with no further consideration we should divert our attention from the central political struggle of our time – that between liberal democracy and totalitarian Communism – and focus instead on something else.” (Richard Pyle, The Associated Press, 6/9/77)
JULY 1979: Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson (D-WA): “I believe that international terrorism is a modern form of warfare against liberal democracies. I believe that the ultimate but seldom stated goal of these terrorists is to destroy the very fabric of democracy. I believe that it is both wrong and foolhardy for any democratic state to consider international terrorism to be ‘someone else’s’ problem. ... Liberal democracies must acknowledge that international terrorism is a ‘collective problem.’” (Sen. Henry Jackson, Address To Jonathan Institute, Jerusalem, 7/79)
FEBRUARY 1980: Sen. James Exon (D-NE): “As long as the Great Bear remains unfriendly, the U.S. will neither feed him nor supply him with fertilizer to help grow his own feed.” (Jane Seaberry, “Soviet Phosphates Embargo Extended,” The Washington Post, 2/26/80)
MARCH 1986: Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX): “[I]t seems to me that we have a clear choice to make. We can turn our backs and turn away and allow the final consolidation of a totalitarian regime in Managua, complete with its Soviet and Eastern Bloc advisers. And in doing so give the green light to subversion across Central America.” (Mike Robinson, “What Some Senators Say About Aiding the Contras,” The Associated Press, 3/26/86)
MARCH 1990: Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA): “We must recognize that the collapse of Communism does not mean the end of danger in the world.” (Robin Toner, “Eyes To Left, Democrats Edge Toward The Center,” The New York Times, 3/25/90)
OCTOBER 1996: Sen. Howell Heflin (D-AL): “With my own experiences in World War II and observations since that time, I have felt compelled that we must at all times endeavor to obtain lasting peace, and that the primary road to achieving this goal is through military strength.” (Sen. Howell Heflin, Congressional Record, 10/1/96, p. S12077)
OCTOBER 1996: Sen. Howell Heflin (D-AL): “Generally, I have been proud of the Senate for rallying behind the American President whenever he has determined the necessity of using our Armed Forces ... I have been consistent in embracing the philosophy of supporting the Commander in Chief, regardless of the party or what I might have felt personally could have been done differently or better.” (Sen. Howell Heflin, Congressional Record, 10/1/96, p. S12080)
AUGUST 2006: Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT): “[I]f we leave [Iraq] tomorrow it’ll be a disaster for the Iraqis, for the Middle East and for us.” (ABC’s “This Week,” 8/6/06)
But Today’s Democrat Leaders Have Chosen To Cut-And-Run From The War On Terror:
SEPTEMBER 2001: MoveOn.Org: After 9/11, MoveOn collected signatures for statement calling for “justice, not escalating violence that would only play into the terrorists’ hands.” (Tony Pugh, “Against Tide, They Clamor For Peace,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, 9/21/01)
APRIL 2004: Daily Kos Founder Markos Moulitsas Zúniga Denounced Four American Contractors Who Were Mutilated By Terrorists In Fallujah, Iraq. Markos Moulitas Zúniga: “I feel nothing over the death of merceneries [sic]. They aren’t in Iraq because of orders, or because they are there trying to help the people make Iraq a better place. They are there to wage war for profit. Screw them.” (“Murderous Rhetoric,” The Spectator, 4/10/04)
SEPTEMBER 2004: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): “This war has been a grotesque mistake that has diminished our reputation in the world and has not made America safer.” (Elizabeth Wolfe, “Pelosi Calls Iraq War ‘Grotesque Mistake,’” The Associated Press, 9/25/04)
NOVEMBER 2005: Rep. John Murtha (D-PA): “I believe we must begin discussions for an immediate re-deployment of U.S. forces from Iraq. I believe it can be accomplished in as little as six months …” (Rep. John Murtha, “Congressman Murtha Calls For Redeployment From Iraq,” Press Release, 11/17/05)
DECEMBER 2005: DNC Chairman Howard Dean: “[The] idea that we’re going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong.” (San Antonio’s WOAI’s Website, www.woai.com, Accessed 12/5/05)
DECEMBER 2005: Sen. John Kerry (D-MA): “There is no reason … that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children ...” (CBS’ “Face The Nation,” 12/4/05)
MARCH 2006: Senate Candidate Ned Lamont (D-CT): “All they know is, A, I’m not Joe [Lieberman]. And, B, I’m against the war.” (Mark Pazniokas, “Lamont Campaign Builds Step By Step,” The Hartford [CT] Courant, 3/13/06)
JUNE 2006: Senate Candidate Ned Lamont (D-CT): “I think it’s time for us to take our front-line military operations and start bringing those troops home now.” (Susan Haigh, “Iraq War Key Topic Of Senate Race,” The Associated Press, 6/17/06)
One Cup of Coffee Could Cause Heart Attack
A single cup of coffee can trigger a heart attack within an hour in some people. Those most in danger are occasional coffee drinkers and those with risk factors for coronary artery disease.
Researchers at Brown University and Harvard School of Public Health studied over 500 cases of non-fatal heart attacks. They found that by drinking a cup of coffee, light or occasional coffee drinkers increased their risk of heart attack within an hour by an astonishing 400 percent. Moderate coffee drinkers increased their risk of heart attack by 60 percent, while heavy coffee drinkers showed little increase.
Researchers theorize that the caffeine in coffee causes an increase in blood pressure, especially in those not used to the effects of caffeine. That, along with an increase in the sympathetic nervous system, could trigger a heart attack by causing vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques to break off. The study is unique because it studied the immediate, instead of long-term, effects of coffee on health.
“People at high risk for a heart attack who are occasional or regular coffee drinkers might consider quitting coffee altogether,” said researcher Ana Baylin of Brown University. Just a single cup of coffee in vulnerable individuals, might be “the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Health Alert from NewsMax.com
Researchers at Brown University and Harvard School of Public Health studied over 500 cases of non-fatal heart attacks. They found that by drinking a cup of coffee, light or occasional coffee drinkers increased their risk of heart attack within an hour by an astonishing 400 percent. Moderate coffee drinkers increased their risk of heart attack by 60 percent, while heavy coffee drinkers showed little increase.
Researchers theorize that the caffeine in coffee causes an increase in blood pressure, especially in those not used to the effects of caffeine. That, along with an increase in the sympathetic nervous system, could trigger a heart attack by causing vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques to break off. The study is unique because it studied the immediate, instead of long-term, effects of coffee on health.
“People at high risk for a heart attack who are occasional or regular coffee drinkers might consider quitting coffee altogether,” said researcher Ana Baylin of Brown University. Just a single cup of coffee in vulnerable individuals, might be “the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Health Alert from NewsMax.com
Friday, August 11, 2006
In the News (welcome to the Asylum)
A squirrel has attacked at least 7 people and a large turtle pulled a man into the ocean (not to mention a total 14 deaths and 334 alligator attacks)--what's with Florida anyway?
An 81-year-old Arizona pensioner was just caught with an 80kg bag of cocaine, a video of Britney Spears belching, cursing, and scratching has shocked fans and comedienne Sandra Bernhardt (Madonna's friend) threatened her own version of World War III if airport officials try to take away her M.A.C. "Plushglass" (with her looks, it probably would be a national disaster).
Baby Luv, Paris Hilton's pet kinkajous bit her as they were frolicking.
Sirius talk show host Lynn Samuels (one Daily Kos poster last July likened this listening experience to "hundreds of tiny animals all trying to escape my head through my ears at the same time") claims Bush and Blair cooked up the big terror scare: “isn’t it obvious?”
The Unabomber's personal belongings are actually going to be auctioned to people willing to pay money for them, and Mike Wallace gushed and fawned over the apparently dapper Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (some people take forever coming out of that closet).
An 81-year-old Arizona pensioner was just caught with an 80kg bag of cocaine, a video of Britney Spears belching, cursing, and scratching has shocked fans and comedienne Sandra Bernhardt (Madonna's friend) threatened her own version of World War III if airport officials try to take away her M.A.C. "Plushglass" (with her looks, it probably would be a national disaster).
Baby Luv, Paris Hilton's pet kinkajous bit her as they were frolicking.
Sirius talk show host Lynn Samuels (one Daily Kos poster last July likened this listening experience to "hundreds of tiny animals all trying to escape my head through my ears at the same time") claims Bush and Blair cooked up the big terror scare: “isn’t it obvious?”
The Unabomber's personal belongings are actually going to be auctioned to people willing to pay money for them, and Mike Wallace gushed and fawned over the apparently dapper Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (some people take forever coming out of that closet).
It's really "OK" to get the ActiveX control:
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Bully Boy: The Truth About Theodore Roosevelt's Legacy
An excerpt from the new book
BULLY BOY
The Truth About Theodore Roosevelt's Legacy
by Jim Powell
Published by Crown Forum, a division of Random House, Inc.
and reprinted here with permission
ISBN: 030723722
List Price: $27.50
LFB Price Only $17.25
You Save 37%!
Bully Boy is the winner of the August 2006 Lysander Spooner Award for Advancing
the Literature of Liberty. For more information about the Lysander
Spooner Awards, CLICK HERE.
To go to our full review, or to go to purchase the book, CLICK HERE.
The excerpt, below, is the first part of Chapter 1 of the book, Bully Boy. Enjoy!
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BULLY BOY
The Truth About Theodore Roosevelt's Legacy
by Jim Powell
CHAPTER 1:
WHY DID ROOSEVELT BELIEVE MORE GOVERNMENT POWER WOULD SOLVE PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS?
Theodore Roosevelt believed that if only politicians had enough power, they could solve the world's problems. Heralding the era of big government, he urged "far more active governmental interference with social and economic conditions in this country." Although Abraham Lincoln dramatically expanded the power of the federal government during wartime, the peacetime expansion of federal power began with Theodore Roosevelt. Disregarding the dismal history of arbitrary and oppressive government, he declared, "I think [the presidency] should be a very powerful office, and I think the President should be a very strong man who uses without hesitation every power the position yields." At another point he said, "I believe in a strong executive. I believe in power."
Where did these beliefs originate? The defining event of Theodore Roosevelt's life was the American Civil War. It showed how a powerful federal government could forge people into a single nation. As the Harvard-educated poet and critic James Russell Lowell wrote, "every man feels himself a part, sensitive and sympathetic, of a vast organism."
During the war, federal spending expanded by a factor of 20. Even after postwar military cutbacks, the U.S. army remained about 50 percent larger than it had been before the war. Postwar federal spending was four or five times higher than before the war, and spending never returned to prewar levels. War debts forced the federal government and state governments to scramble for tax revenues. Rather than pay off its debts, the federal government spent substantial sums to finance pensions for Civil War veterans and schemes such as a transcontinental railroad.
During the postwar years, many Americans looked to government for solutions to their problems. In 1865, Illinois governor Richard Yates remarked that "The war... has tended, more than any other event in the history of our country, to militate against the Jeffersonian idea, that 'the best government is that which governs least.' The war has not only, of necessity, given more power to, but has led to a more intimate provision of the government over every material interest of society."
Before the Civil War, the most revered of the American Founders was Thomas Jefferson. His antislavery writings had inspired the abolitionists, and his other writings—especially the Declaration of Independence—articulated a compelling vision of a libertarian, democratic society with a government of strictly limited powers. But after the war, Jefferson's reputation plummeted. Nobody wanted to hear about Jefferson, who had defended the right to secede from the Union, after some 625,000 people had been killed in the war to preserve the Union. As Theodore Roosevelt's contemporary, the historian Henry Adams, remarked: It was "always safe to abuse Jefferson."
After the Civil War, the most revered Founder was Alexander Hamilton, George Washington's secretary of the Treasury, who championed a strong central government. Hamilton helped establish a central bank and managed federal finances to make possible an expansion of government power. His efforts to impose a federal excise tax on whiskey—part of his plan to have the federal government assume responsibility for paying off state debts after the Revolutionary War—triggered the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion among Pennsylvania farmers. The writer and editor George W. Curtis wrote a friend: "Have you thought what a vindication this [Civil War] is of Alexander Hamilton? He was one of our truly great men, as Jefferson was the least of the truly great." Henry Cabot Lodge, for many years one of Theodore Roosevelt's best friends, produced a biography of Hamilton and an edition of his writings. Roosevelt declared, "I am a Hamiltonian in my governmental views, especially with reference to the need of the exercise of broad powers by the National Government."
Child of the Civil War
Theodore Roosevelt's own family had split views about the Civil War. Born on October 27, 1858, in his family's New York City house at 28 East Twentieth Street, Roosevelt was a toddler when President Lincoln authorized the attack against the South. Roosevelt's maternal grandmother Martha Stewart Elliott was from Georgia, her daughter Martha Bulloch—Roosevelt's mother—supported the South, and a number of her relatives served in the Confederate army. But his father Theodore Roosevelt Sr. supported the North.
Roosevelt was delighted that the North won. "For the rest of his life," observed biographer Kathleen Dalton, "Theodore expressed powerful emotion when he argued for the constructive effects of the Civil War. He saw it as an apocalyptic battle of the faithful against the forces of evil, which was the view promoted by Protestant clergymen who infused the war with biblical meaning. They taught that from the spilling of blood sins would be remitted."
Roosevelt, however, was ashamed that his father had paid a substitute to fight for him during the Civil War. Although this practice was perfectly legal, young Theodore considered it a blot on the family name, and he resolved to somehow distinguish himself in combat. But he was a frail child who suffered from asthma. Theodore Sr., a businessman and philanthropist managing enterprises his own father had developed, tried many things with his son before he decided that the best bet was vigorous physical exercise. Young Theodore lifted weights, pursued gymnastics, took wrestling lessons, learned how to swim, rode horses, hiked, and more. His asthma became less of an issue but was never completely eliminated.
At fourteen, Roosevelt found that he enjoyed killing wild animals, and he was given a double-barreled shotgun. The family traveled extensively throughout Europe and the Middle East. In Egypt, for instance, hunting was a highlight. He recalled, "I have had great enjoyment from the shooting here, as I have procured between one and two hundred skins."
An avid reader, particularly of history, Roosevelt favored violent stories with heroes and warfare. In 1876 he entered Harvard College, America's oldest college though not yet the rigorous institution it would later become. At Harvard, Roosevelt met Henry Cabot Lodge, who was teaching history with meager success. When students were no longer forced to take his course, enrollment plunged from fifty to three. While still an undergraduate, Roosevelt began work on his first book, The Naval War of 1812. He blamed that war on Thomas Jefferson's failure to build an adequate navy. Roosevelt's writing portrayed fighting as something glorious. Biographer H. W. Brands remarked that the book was "a story of war by one who obviously had never witnessed or experienced the real thing."
In February 1878, Roosevelt was shocked by his father's death, at age forty-six, from cancer. The estate yielded young Theodore an annual income of about $8,00024—enough, in those days, for a comfortable life. On his twenty-second birthday he married his neighbor Alice Lee, whom Brands described as "tall and athletic, with wide, pale blue-gray eyes, long golden curls, a pert, slightly upturned nose, a dainty mouth, and a bright, ready smile (friends and relatives called her 'Sunshine')." Six months later, Roosevelt enrolled at Columbia University Law School. He didn't like corporate law, in particular the caveat emptor principle ("let the buyer beware"), which applied even more to politicians than to consumer goods. He and Alice traveled to Europe. A highlight of the trip was their visit to Napoleon's tomb. "I do not think there is a more impressive sepulcher on earth than the tomb," he remarked. "It is grandly simple." Already Roosevelt was apparently an admirer of the French dictator and conqueror.
Hanging Out with Politicians
After two years, Roosevelt lost interest in law and dropped out of law school. He began to hang out with local politicians. About once a week, he visited Morton Hall, a Fifty-ninth Street saloon where officeholders and aspiring officeholders discussed schemes for the next election. There he met Joseph Murray, a former functionary in the Democratic Tammany Hall political machine. Murray, who had bolted to the Republicans, needed someone to run for the New York State Assembly from the Twenty-first District. Roosevelt was interested, and in November 1881 he was elected.
In Albany, Roosevelt found himself surrounded by so much corruption that he ought to have learned that government was an unlikely means of doing good. According to Brands, "The worst grafters could be found introducing the most stringent anticorporate regulatory schemes, only to abandon them in committee when the required contributions came in. At other times the same legislators could give the most impassioned speeches against obviously crooked bills, and then, after similar reconsideration by the corporations, attach cosmetically appealing but essentially meaningless amendments and vote in favor."
Ignoring the corruption around him, Roosevelt made a name for himself by joining a campaign to extract more tax revenue from Manhattan Elevated, a mass transit company. He considered higher taxes a "progressive" measure. At first, he had the courage to demand an investigation of Judge Thomas Westbrook, accused of accepting payoffs to support the takeover of Manhattan Elevated by speculator Jay Gould. There was an investigation, but, aided by some bribery, a majority of the Judiciary Committee determined that Westbrook hadn't done anything wrong. Roosevelt later acknowledged that he might have been wrong.
In January 1883 Roosevelt was elected Speaker of the Assembly and soon found himself making compromises. He voted for price controls on subway fares—the "Five Cent Bill" aimed to reduce the fare from 10 cents to a nickel. New York's governor Grover Cleveland, however, believed the bill was unconstitutional and vetoed it. When Cleveland was hailed as a man of principle, Roosevelt acknowledged the error of his ways. Speaker Roosevelt's prestige took another hit when one of his Republican allies, Assemblyman Henry L. Sprague, was accused of corruption, including a charge that he asked legislators to vote on bills not once but a number of times.
Although Roosevelt considered himself a reformer, in 1884 he campaigned for Republican presidential candidate James Blaine, known for giving government jobs to as many of his cronies as possible and for accepting bribes to promote railroad land grants—the opposite of what Roosevelt supposedly stood for. During the presidential campaign, Roosevelt hammered Blaine's opponent Grover Cleveland for belonging to the Democratic Party, which he blamed for the South's seceding from the Union and provoking the Civil War.
Roosevelt ought to have learned that power corrupts and that government could never be counted on to do good, but somehow he reached the opposite conclusion. He ran for mayor of New York City in 1886 and came in third, partly because many Republicans believed the Democratic candidate Abram S. Lee was a better bet to defeat the radical candidate Henry George, who hoped to solve social problems by imposing a single tax on land. Two years later, Roosevelt campaigned for the Republican presidential candidate Benjamin Harrison. Democrat Grover Cleveland won a majority of the votes cast, but Harrison won a majority of electoral votes and therefore the election. Roosevelt wanted a job with the new administration in Washington. His preference was for something in the State Department, where he could become involved with foreign affairs.
_____________________________________________
To go to our full review, or to go to purchase the book, CLICK HERE.
__________________________________________________
Excerpted from Bully Boy by Jim Powell © 2006 by Jim Powell. Excerpted by permission of Crown Forum, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
CLICK HERE TO GO NOW TO PURCHASE BOOK
Busted: Do as Al says...but NOT as he REALLY does!
According to Al, you and I and, yes, the whole world must embrace a "carbon-neutral lifestyle" because if we don't, there'll be a cataclysmic catastrophe!
Al Gore even tells us HOW to change our lives and stop our terrible carbonizing ways (wonder how much luck he's had in China).
He's even set some really great examples for all of us to follow:
The issue here is not simply Gore's hypocrisy; it's a question of credibility.
Read the whole article
Al Gore even tells us HOW to change our lives and stop our terrible carbonizing ways (wonder how much luck he's had in China).
He's even set some really great examples for all of us to follow:
- Public records reveal that as Gore lectures Americans on excessive consumption, he and his wife Tipper live in two properties: a 10,000-square-foot, 20-room, eight-bathroom home in Nashville, and a 4,000-square-foot home in Arlington, Va. (He also has a third home in Carthage, Tenn.)
- But according to public records, there is no evidence that Gore has signed up to use green energy in either of his large residences.
- Gore's persuasive powers have failed to convince his own party: The DNC has not signed up to pay an additional two pennies a kilowatt hour to go green.
- Why hasn't Gore dump his family's large stock holdings in Occidental (Oxy) Petroleum? As executor of his family's trust, over the years Gore has controlled hundreds of thousands of dollars in Oxy stock. Oxy has been mired in controversy over oil drilling in ecologically sensitive areas.
- Gore receives $20,000 a year in royalties from Pasminco Zinc, which operates a zinc concession on his property. Tennessee has cited the company for adding large quantities of barium, iron and zinc to the nearby Caney Fork River.
The issue here is not simply Gore's hypocrisy; it's a question of credibility.
Read the whole article
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Iranian cataclysm forecast Aug. 22
Read more!"A top expert on the Mideast says it is possible Iran could pick Aug. 22, the anniversary of one of Islam's holiest events, for a cataclysm Shiite Muslims believe will forever resolve the battle between "good" and "evil."
Princeton's Bernard Lewis has written an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal advising that the rest of the world would be wise to bear in mind that for those who believe the end of the world is imminent and good, there is no deterrent even to nuclear warfare."
Technorati Tags: Opinion, News
The Indigos are coming
The documentary "Indigo Evolution" opened on about 200 screens early this year at churches, yoga centers, and college campuses among others.
And here's a book about them too:
Lee Carroll and Jan Tober wrote The Indigo Children: The New Kids Have Arrived (Hay House). The book has sold 250,000 copies since 1999 and has spawned a cottage industry of books about indigo children.
It's hard to keep up with everthing these days!
But, I'll tell you one thing I know for sure: Indigo will fade to gray real fast if Islamo-fascists have their way. Every "Indigo" kid on the block will be dead or in a madrasah if we don't wake up soon.
"The Shadow Party: How George Soros, Hillary Clinton, and Sixties Radicals Seized Control of the Democratic Party":
And here's a book about them too:
Lee Carroll and Jan Tober wrote The Indigo Children: The New Kids Have Arrived (Hay House). The book has sold 250,000 copies since 1999 and has spawned a cottage industry of books about indigo children.
It's hard to keep up with everthing these days!
But, I'll tell you one thing I know for sure: Indigo will fade to gray real fast if Islamo-fascists have their way. Every "Indigo" kid on the block will be dead or in a madrasah if we don't wake up soon.
"The Shadow Party: How George Soros, Hillary Clinton, and Sixties Radicals Seized Control of the Democratic Party":
Vote "NO" on 87
RAISE TAXES BY $4 BILLION ON GASOLINE? SEE TV AD:
Short Video
What do you think? Should we add $4 billion or more to the cost of a gallon of gasoline? Will this really help bring down the cost of energy? Do you believe it is important that you vote in November? Please write your thoughts directly on Stephen Frank's California Political News and Views.
Short Video
What do you think? Should we add $4 billion or more to the cost of a gallon of gasoline? Will this really help bring down the cost of energy? Do you believe it is important that you vote in November? Please write your thoughts directly on Stephen Frank's California Political News and Views.