Monday, December 1, 2008
Both of the above
[Mark Steyn]
Andy wrote yesterday about our confused thinking re events in Bombay:The obsession over whether al Qaeda or its endless jumble of affiliates pulled off the operation is a misguided attempt to mimimize the challenge. The bin Laden network is not unimportant, but it is tapping into something that is much bigger than itself.
We're reluctant to address that "bigger than itself" elephant. All jihad is local: If rockets are fired at Israel, it's a failure to settle the Palestinian question. If an NHS doctor drives a flaming Cherokee into the check-in desk at Glasgow Airport, it must be Tony Blair's foreign policy. The Jerusalem Post's headline writer poses the question:
Homegrown Terror Or International Jihad?False choice. The answer is: Homegrown terror in the service of international jihad. Clearly, India has had a Muslim problem to one degree or another in the 60 years since partition, but increasingly those locally driven grievances have been absorbed within the global pan-Islamic ideology. What strikes you, as the dust clears in Bombay, is that one assault provided an umbrella for manifestations of almost every strain of Muslim grievance.
To pose the question as that Jerusalem Post headline is to miss the point.
Moreover, the global ideologues correctly see our determination to attribute every attack to purely local phenomena unconnected to any bigger picture as a sign of weakness...[we continue to {publicly, and public policy} deny that the global clash of societies occurring is between the extremists of one religion - islam - and everyone else. By doing so we're sending the message that they can win, and so embolden their continued bad behavior. Step one: see your enemy...]
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Tolerating intolerance
[HT:PL]
THE involvement of Britons among the terrorists responsible for the murders of more than 150 people in Mumbai last week signals another milestone in the march of multiculturalism and the failure of Western and democratised nations to deal with Islamists. In the mosques of London, leaders like Anjem Choudary, right-hand man to the hate-filled cleric Omar Bakri, were praising the killers... [snip]
In the UK, as in many European nations and in Australia, governments have permitted Muslim migrants to create their own enclaves and ghettos and preach their own interpretations of their religion, unhindered by the cultures of their host nations and often in contempt of the laws of the society of their host country.
Aided by the powerful civil rights lobbies and squadrons of lawyers, Islamists are waging a successful war to prevent further assimilation of Muslims into Western society, forcing women to wear traditional Islamic garb to emphasise their separateness, urging the introduction of Islamic sharia law into local courts.
From the shores of Somalia to the cells of Guantanamo, the West is in confused retreat, its politicians too concerned about appearing to be in breach of international civil rights covenants than they are about the safety of their citizens....
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Israeli hawks ready to fly on Iran
Prepare for war. Last week I met the Boogie Man, the former head of the Israeli Defence Forces, General Moshe "Boogie" Ya'alon, who is preparing the political groundwork for a military attack on Iran's key nuclear facilities. "We have to confront the Iranian revolution immediately," he told me. "There is no way to stabilise the Middle East today without defeating the Iranian regime. The Iranian nuclear program must be stopped."
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[and the UN?]
[yet more] U.N. Follies
This week, the United Nations observed “Palestine Day,” dedicating a whole day to chastising Israel for its unforgivable sin of existing and deeply regretting the UN’s role in the creation of the Jewish state.
This brings to mind the UN’s most recent efforts at ending a shooting war in the Middle East: United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 on the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War in Lebanon.
That conflict flared up when Hezbollah invaded Israel from Lebanon and kidnaped two Israeli soldiers (Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev — you won’t find those names mentioned very often) and killed another three in the attack. The plan was to trade the prisoners for convicted terrorist and child-murderer Samir Al-Quntar.
In retaliation, Israel attacked Hezbollah throughout southern Lebanon and invaded, triggering 33 days of the fiercest fighting seen outside Iraq. The fighting was ended when the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1701.
And how’s that working out? As usual — a dismal failure... [snip]
... And the only “interference” they made was in making sure there were plenty of (often staged or faked) photos showing just how much the people of southern Lebanon had suffered under Israel’s ...
... UNIFIL has covered itself in glory like when they skillfully avoided a previous shooting war when they actively covered up (if not actually participated) in a prior kidnapping invasion of Israel by Hezbollah, who used UNIFIL-marked vehicles ...
... Rather than being disarmed, Hezbollah is now far, far better armed than ever. Rather than being isolated, it is now an integral part of the Lebanese government, holding veto power over actions of that government ...
Amid its rank failure to enforce the resolution it passed ending the Israel-Hezbollah conflict (and laying the groundwork for Hezbollah to launch another, far more brutal conflict any time it wishes), the UN still has time to decide that Israel is responsible for about 83% of the world’s human-rights violations and condemn them for it.
At what point do we realize that the United Nations causes (or, at least, tolerates and foments) far more trouble in the world than it prevents? When do we work on a new international body, composed of actual democracies genuinely interested in human rights and freedom?
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[he forgot the part where our tax dollars pay for it all]
Obama climate pledge "very positive"-UN official
ALGIERS - Barack Obama's pledge to work to reduce emissions sharply by 2020 is a "huge signal" of encouragement to countries negotiating a new climate pact, the head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat said on Wednesday.
The U.S. president-elect said on Tuesday the United States would engage vigorously in climate change talks when he is president, and he pledged to work to reduce emissions sharply by 2020, despite the financial crisis.
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ALARMISTS STILL HEATED EVEN AS WORLD COOLS
As the British House of Commons debated a climate change bill that pledged the United Kingdom to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent by 2050, London was hit by its first October snow since 1922. Apparently Mother Nature wasn't paying attention.
The British people, however, are; a poll found that 60 percent of them doubt the claims that global warming is man-made and urgent. Moreover, there is evidence of our cooling world everywhere:
- In October, the Swiss lowlands received the most snow for any October since records began; Zurich got 20 centimeters, breaking the record of 14 centimeters set in 1939.
- In the United States, Ocala, Florida, experienced its second-lowest October temperature since 1850, October temperatures fell to record lows in Oregon and Boise, Idaho, got the earliest snow in its history.
- In the Southern Hemisphere, Durban, South Africa, had its coldest September night in history in the middle of the month, and New Zealand's Mount Ruapehu had its largest snow base ever.
- The International Arctic Research Center reported in October that there was 29 percent more Arctic sea ice this year than last.
However, according to reputable scientists, the warming and cooling of the Earth is a natural phenomenon dictated by forces beyond our control, from ocean currents to solar activity.
Our Earth is just experiencing what it has experienced for millions of years. In fact, the latest warming trend appears to have ended in 1998.
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New land-use law's message: build near transit
California
Many California planning and environmental groups are heralding the passage of legislation designed to address global warming by curbing suburban sprawl as a watershed moment, perhaps the state's most important land-use law in more than 30 years."It's a sea change in the way we're planning and funding growth and development," said Stephanie Reyes, senior policy advocate with San Francisco's Greenbelt Alliance. "The winds are shifting, and this is the time to get on board."
Essentially the law, which will take years to implement, uses incentives and punishments to 'encourage' local governments and builders to 'concentrate' growth in urban areas close to public transportation hubs in an effort to reduce Californians' use of cars and lower their greenhouse gas emissions... [snip]
On the other hand, not all of the projected growth in California can be accommodated in multifamily urban properties, nor do all consumers want to live in such homes. There are clear downsides for those builders pursuing projects that don't reflect the model envisioned by the government...
[Ignore why Americans found the suburbs so appealing when compared to the high density life style it replaced (think: The Honeymooners), or that the automobile is one of the greatest single liberating inventions of our history - government knows best, and we've given them the means to veto our desires in the name of its new religion; Green. The sad joke is that the 'green' they're thinking of has nothing to do with environments...]
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US Fed announces $800bn stimulus
The Federal Reserve is to inject another $800bn (£526.8bn) into the US economy in a further effort to stabilise the financial system. US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the stimulus package aimed to make more lending available to consumers. About $600bn will be used to buy up mortgage-backed securities while $200bn is being targeted at unfreezing the consumer credit market.
[let me see if I got this: Paulson was given 700B$ to buy up mortgage-backed securities, he chose to give it to the banks instead, so we gave him another 800B$ to do what he didn't do the first time.
Well ok; as long as we're not rewarding failure with it...]
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RECKLESS RESCUEPALOOZA
The federal government's Rescuepalooza has brought us to this: We are now pledging American tax dollars to bailout or beef up not just American banks, banks' customers, automakers, insurance companies, homeowners who can't pay their mortgages, and quasi-governmental mortgage firms. We are now rescuing other countries...
The Federal Reserve last week announced it would commit up to $30 billion each to Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Singapore so they can more easily swap their currencies for dollars. That came in a week that saw the Federal Reserve, Treasury, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announce (singly or in combination) an astonishing amount of new spending, including:
- Allocating money to accept up to $600 billion in liabilities on three million troubled home loans.
- Possibly using taxpayers' money to buy shares of U.S. automakers to funnel them another $25 billion, each.
- Another $21 billion for American International Group (AIG), on top of $38 billion last month, which came on top of $85 billion the government loaned it just a few weeks before that.
- A cut in the Fed's benchmark interest rate to 1 percent, continuing the easy-money policies that helped cause the housing bubble that sparked the financial crisis.
[and sends the unambiguous signal to large-cap corporate American that reckless is ok - the taxpayers will bail you out]
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Report: Immigration Officials Freed Criminal Aliens
HOUSTON — Federal immigration officials let thousands of inmates in the nation's third-most populous county walk out of jail despite the suspects admitting they were in the U.S. illegally, a newspaper investigation found.
More than 3,500 inmates told Harris County jailers they were in the country illegally over an eight-month period starting in June 2007, but records show Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed paperwork to detain only about a quarter of them.
In a story published Sunday, The Houston Chronicle found that most illegal immigrants released from jail were accused of minor crimes. But others included convicted child molesters, rapists and those ordered to be deported decades ago.
ICE officials said they are doing the best they can with their resources.
[idea: lets us the 25B$ that GM, Ford and Chrysler are asking for (each) and apply it to securing our borders and providing 'sufficient resources' to ICE.]
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Why Tulsa Today went dark
Monday morning Tulsa Today posted an analysis by veteran New York journalist and the recipient of seven Long Island Press Awards, Joan Swirsky, titled, “The Great Birth Certificate Scandal/Cover-Up of ‘08” questioning the missing Barack Obama birth certificate and his eligibility to serve as President of the United States.
Two hours and 10,000 page views later, our local Internet Service Provider and domain hosting service, Tulsa Connect locked us off the Internet.
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The consequences of Waxman ousting Dingell
Losing Rep. Dingell as the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee does not bode well for American industries, but there is another ominous reason to fear Henry Waxman's ascent to the Chairmanship. Dingell was generally a steadfast pro-Second Amendment voice during his long tenure in the House, where he helped defeat several gun control laws proposed by his more liberal colleagues.
The firearms owners and hunters in Michigan and the rest of the US have lost a strong pro-gun voice in Congressman Dingell. As bad as Waxman and others are for the future of American businesses, his selection for the chairmanship sets the stage for a new round of restrictive gun control legislation, more than likely centered on the business tax/trade fee paradigm.
Michael Barone gives us a nice summary ...
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The media must not allow government to proscribe free speech
The so-called Fairness Doctrine, the enforcement of the doctrine that any broadcast medium, voicing one political opinion must voice another, dissenting opinion will be the beginning of the end of free speech.
Here's why: Who is to say what is political opinion? The line between political opinion and reportage is so blurred now as to be almost indistinct...
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Bush in rearview mirror, Obama may switch plates
Advocates for Washington voting rights are lobbying President-elect Barack Obama to put “Taxation Without Representation” license plates on the presidential limousine. President Clinton had the plates on his limo, but President Bush, who opposes giving D.C.’s representative in Congress a vote, replaced them, in one of his first acts as president, with D.C. plates that do not include the taxation slogan.
[given that nearly half of all Americans now pay no federal income tax but can still cast votes, wouldn't it be more apropos to say "representation without taxation"? ]
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The ugly backlash over Proposition 8
California [HT:SN]
A supporter of Proposition 8, fed up with what he believed was the gay community's and "liberal media's" refusal to accept the voters' verdict, fired off a letter to the editor.
"Please show respect for democracy," he wrote, in a letter we published.What he encountered instead was an utter lack of respect for free speech.
Within hours, the intimidation game was on. Because his real name and city were listed - a condition for publication of letters to The Chronicle - opponents of Prop. 8 used Internet search engines to find the letter writer's small business, his Web site (which included the names of his children and dog), his phone number and his clients. And they posted that information in the "Comments" section of SFGate.com - urging, in ugly language, retribution against the author's business and its identified clients... [snip]
"They're intimidating people that don't have the same beliefs as they do ... so they'll be silenced," ... "It doesn't bode well for the free-speech process. People are going to have to be pretty damn courageous to speak up about anything. Why would anyone want to go through this?"
[A: for the sake of our children, and the country they inherit. We must insist that 'tolerance' of ideas - even those we disagree with - remain inviolate. Not trying to be the drama queen here, but I fear we're rapidly approaching an era of serious threats to our civil liberties - freedom of speech chief among them, it's not a given - we'll need defend it.]
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Obamas Are 'Fabulously Fit' Follow-up: Press Treated Bush Fitness As 'Creepy' and an 'Obsession'
In Old Medialand, all it takes for a personal habit -- in this case, exercise -- to go from vice to an overhyped virtue is a change in the party affiliation of the White House occupant.
Yesterday, NB's Tim Graham commented on a puff piece about the Obamas' exercise routines by Associated Press groupie -- er, reporter -- Deanna Bellandi, who characterized the couple as "fabulously fit."
More to the point, during the Bush presidency, the press treated the current White House occupant's exercise routine quite differently, characterizing it as "creepy," an "obsession," and an "indulgence," even in supposedly objective wire service reports...
[what bias?]
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French appeals court says Sarkozy Voodoo doll should not be stabbed
Paris - A French appeals court says Voodoo dolls of President Nicolas Sarkozy may remain on sale, but must carry a notice saying that pricking them harms the president's dignity...
[the French bar exam must be something to behold]
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