Why do we import so much oil when 112 billion barrels of it lie untapped right here in America? Domestic oil and gas production is safer, more stable, and it’s possible. And it reduces our reliance on foreign oil in a highly competitive global market. Shouldn’t we be using our own energy resources?
The Partnership for America’s Energy Security believes in stronger, more forward-thinking energy policies. We believe domestic oil and gas production will make America’s future stronger. Join our fight by signing our petition for domestic energy production!
I made sure my legislators know exactly how I feel about these potentially damaging proposals. I took action here, and I urge you to do the same. It just takes a minute, but it can change the future of energy for America. Please visit and take action today.
READ MORE
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Support Domestic Energy Production. Sign the Petition Today!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Gore Is 'PR Agent For The Planet'
"His slide shows are tailored to his audiences. So, as he showed us in his office, when he talks to Evangelical Christians, he includes passages from the Bible...Gore is trying to redefine this as a moral and spiritual issue."
[well it certainly isn't science based.
Q: if the deluded minority is so small, exactly why do they need to spend 300 Million on a PR campaign?
A lie, told big enough...]
Here is the full transcript of the segment:
READ MORE
BUOY MEETS GORE
Al Gore often cites computer models used by environmentalists to predict imminent and disastrous climate change. But actual temperature measurements by high-tech equipment show something completely different. Actual measurements of actual oceans by actual instruments have thrown cold water on much of global warming theory, says Investor's Business Daily (IBD).
As Lorne Gunter reported Monday in Canada's National Post, the first of 3,000 new automated ocean buoys were deployed in 2003. They amounted to a significant improvement over earlier buoys that took their measurements mostly at the ocean's surface:
- The new buoys, known as Argos, drift along the oceans at a depth of about 6,000 feet constantly monitoring the temperature, salinity and speed of ocean currents.
- Every 10 days or so a bladder inflates, bringing to the surface readings taken at various depths.
- Once on the surface, they transmit their readings to satellites that retransmit them to land-based computers.
If the Argos buoys had confirmed the greenie computer models and Gore hype instead of natural temperature variations, it would have been big news. The silence speaks volumes, says IBD.
READ MORE
YouTube Pulls Anti-Gore Ad For Supposed Copyright Infringement
YouTube watchers have often marvelled at the video website's floating enforcement of copyright laws - especially given this weekend's decision by YouTube to yank an advertisement created by the Competitive Enterprise Institute -- as reported by NewsBusters March 12 -- harshly critical of Nobel Laureate Al Gore's hypocritical views on global warming.
“NRECA’s claim of copyright infringement is without merit,” said Competitive Enterprise Institute General Counsel Sam Kazman. “Our use of this miniscule amount of material – from a film which NRECA itself posted on YouTube and distributes freely –meets every criterion of Fair Use. It seems the association’s real goal is not to protect its copyright, but to protect its politically correct image on global warming.”Wouldn't you love to know how YouTube decides when to honor copyright infringement claims and when to ignore them?
[I'd say we do know]
READ MORE
Return of Inflation?
Beneath the headlines of Wall Street's financial crisis lurks the economic killer for ordinary Americans -- inflation.
It steals from the pocketbook of every American consumer, in an across-the-board regressive tax hitting especially hard those who spend most of their income on food and energy...
[yeah there are other factors - but by an order of magnitude the thing driving inflation in this country at this time is our insane energy 'policies'. Congress is subsidizing the burning of our food while actively blocking any & all attempts to drill for more (now >100$/barrel) oil. It's a deliberate ploy to wreck our economy in time for the presidential election - and it's working....]
READ MORE
Unfree to Choose
The program Mrs. Clinton is currently touting as her solution to the problems in America's health-care system -- particularly its high number of uninsured citizens -- is officially called the "American Health Choices Plan,"...
Under this program, the government alone, with no input from the free market, is responsible for the regulation and management of health care. Oxymoronically, the plan whose formal title includes the term "choice" is built around what is known as an "individual mandate" -- a government requirement that all Americans, regardless of income or choice, possess at least a (government-established) minimal level of health insurance.
The inclusion of this individual mandate means, of course, that should this plan go into effect, choice at its most basic level -- the choice whether or not to have a certain level of coverage (or to have coverage at all) -- would be eradicated...
Mrs. Clinton told George Stephanopoulos on ABC's Sunday morning show that her "enforcement mechanism" could indeed include "going after people's wages."
In reality, ,,, is a call for government to use its power to force people to accept and enroll in a program they may not want or be able to afford. When the fact that the ranks of our uninsured are filled primarily with people who lack health coverage for precisely one of these two reasons is taken into account, this proposal is shown for the undesirable overreach of government responsibility that it is.
READ MORE
POLITICIANS AND THE ECONOMY
Believing that most middle-class Americans are only steps from disaster will lead politicians to the wrong policy and political agenda, say Stephen J. Rose, author of the forthcoming, "Mythonomics: Ten Things That You Think You Know About The Middle Class That Are Wrong," and Anne Kim, director of the Middle Class Program at Third Way, a progressive think tank in Washington.
[snip - Re: the current economy and 1929]: "It's not even close" [snip] In 2006, the median income of working-age husband-wife couples (ages 25-59) was $73,765.Eighty percent of Americans over 40 own a home, and it's still the case that relatively few homeowners are at risk of losing their homes over the next several years. Moreover, if the coming recession follows the same pattern of the last seven downturns since 1960, it will be relatively short and shallow.
Politicians should not confuse bad times with pessimism, and should not only offer security instead of success: In 2007 Democracy Corps found that 57 percent of Americans agreed that government makes it harder for people to get ahead in life, and 54 percent thought that government mostly gets in the way of the economy and job growth. I.e., politicians should not assume that economic recessions automatically translate into broad public support for major government interventions.
READ MORE
"The economy isn’t failing. Has it hit a rough patch? For certain. The subprime mortgage crisis, though it affects about 2 percent of all current mortgages, has put a dent in the housing market. But employment remains strong and inflation remains low. Nationally, the economy has not yet suffered one month of negative growth, much less the two consecutive quarters (six months) that are required before the economy can be said to be in recession..."
.
.
Americans confident in 2009 turnaround
Americans believe the economy will bounce back by next year, according to a survey released Friday. A national CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll found that 60% of respondents think economic conditions in the United States will be "good" next year.
Of the more than 1,000 American adults surveyed in the poll, conducted March 14-16, 83% said they are "confident" that they will be able to maintain their standards of living next year, and 85% are "confident" they will keep their jobs over the next six months.
Americans also showed faith that they would be able to pay off their future debts, with 90% confident they would pay their monthly mortgage payments for the duration of the mortgage. and nearly as many - 83% - saying they would pay off college loans, car payments, and credit cards in the future.
READ MORE
Seeking a kinder word for failure
To soothe the bruised egos of educators and children in lackluster schools, Massachusetts officials are now pushing for kinder, gentler euphemisms for failure. Instead of calling these schools "underperforming," the Board of Education is considering labeling them as "Commonwealth priority," to avoid poisoning teacher and student morale. Schools in the direst straits, now known as "chronically underperforming," would get the more urgent but still vague label of "priority one."
[first: control the language...]
READ MORE
The State of Racism: Part 2 - The Heart of "Whiteness"
If there’s one fear white people have today, it’s to be accused of racism. There’re almost no incidents of open racism in real life (though on TV, one regularly sees shows that involve white violence complete with the N-word). Americans have given up their right to free speech, the right listed in the very first Amendment of the Constitution, in an attempt to eliminate racism. Most people are convinced that racism, not just actions but even mere words, is illegal. [or, increasingly, thought] We are told that freedom of speech does not include the right to insult or offend people, no matter how sensitive or unreasonable these people may be. Of course, when we talk about “people”, we mean “the people of color”...
[tried to parse down - couldn't bring myself to cut anything. Highly Recommended , not to endorse all points made but as a wake up call that if we're to have a true dialog on race we must first dispense with the seemingly established notion that only whites can be racist and address the glaring double standard on what is and isn't permissible to even be discussed - depending on who says it - which currently prevents any meaningful discussion on this important topic. Again, recommended > ]
READ MORE
Watch out, drivers: in this case, green means 'stop'
Portland work crews were not painting the street green at Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard and Seventh Avenue on Monday in honor of St. Patrick's Day, though it might have appeared that way to passers-by. Instead, the big green swath of pavement marked off the first of 14 bike boxes that will be installed around the city over the next several weeks. When the process is complete, Portland will join New York City as one of the few North American cities with the designated areas that allow cyclists to wait in front of cars during red lights at busy intersections.
[that's right, they're putting the slower 'vehicles' in front of the faster. It's eco-logic: like logic, but different]
READ MORE
CBS Obama Poll Misleading, Flawed and Biased
... Then I came across what in my view is the single most biased and dishonest public opinion survey I've ever seen: a CBS poll that read, "Most voters following the events regarding Senator Barack Obama and Rev. Jeremiah Wright think Obama's speech was a success."
This lead sentence in the press release appeared in media outlets all over the world. It gave the impression that Obama's speech on Wright had ended any dispute or controversy about Obama being associated with Wright and his many inflammatory comments. Maybe over time that will prove true. But that's not the point ...
... rather than survey registered voters in the customary way -- by randomly finding voters around the nation and asking them their impressions of the issue -- CBS instead adopted the most curious polling methodology I've ever some across. It was probably the only methodology possible on this subject that could reach what was apparently the network's desired outcome...
[Matt Towery (author) is a professional pollster - Recommended > ]
READ MORE
Congress forgets ban on pet projects
WASHINGTON—Get out the trough, it's feeding time. Congress has decided that an election year is not the time to be giving up those campaign-donation producing "pork" projects bemoaned by both parties' presidential candidates. As lawmakers returned Monday from a two-week spring break, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi quietly shelved the idea of a one-year moratorium on so-called earmarks...
["the most ethical congress in history"]
READ MORE
Reporter Quits Al Jazeera English for Anti-American Bias
The anti-American bias at Al Jazeera English became “so stereotypical, so reflexive” that former “Nightline” reporter David Marash quit his job with the Qatar-based channel, in part over that attitude. What was even more interesting was Marash's assertion that the anti-American attitude came more from the British administrators than the Arabs at AJE:
Former "Nightline" reporter Dave Marash has quit Al-Jazeera English, saying Thursday his exit was due in part to an anti-American bias at a network that is little seen in this country. Marash said he felt that attitude more from British administrators than Arabs at the Qatar-based network.Marash was the highest-profile American TV personality hired when the English language affiliate to Al-Jazeera was started two years ago in an attempt to compete with CNN and the BBC...
[ah, that explains it then: they were just trying to compete with CNN & BBC...]
READ MORE
CA Budgets twofer:
California
Mayor's climate aide gets $160,000 a year
In his quest to make San Francisco the greenest city in the nation, Mayor Gavin Newsom recently created a $160,000-a-year job for a senior aide and gave him the ambitious-sounding title of director of climate protection initiatives.
But the new climate protection initiatives director is just the latest person to join the city payroll in the name of tackling global climate woes, raising questions about whether environmentalism is becoming the latest excuse for a bloating government payroll.[*]
San Francisco has at least two dozen other city employees already working directly on climate 'issues' at a cost to taxpayers of hundreds of thousands of dollars...
READ MORE
Cities pay huge salaries despite fiscal crises
A city nurse earned $350,000. A fire department battalion chief pulled in more than twice as much as the mayor. And a municipal park ranger took home $188,000 in overtime on top of his $71,000 salary. Such generous payouts were criticized for hastening the fiscal downfall of the city of Vallejo, which narrowly averted bankruptcy this month. But the nurse, firefighter and ranger aren't from Vallejo - they're among hundreds of top earners working for the cities of San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland.
READ MORE
Cultural Affirmative Action
What do you think Bill Clinton was referring to when he said that he wanted his cabinet to "look like America," meritocracy or quota orthodoxy? Yet Clinton isn't alone; he merely gave voice to common practice. Would Joycelyn Elders (the poster girl for AA) have been Surgeon General if she weren't a black woman? Would Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Sandra Day O'Connor have ascended to the Supreme Court and Janet Reno been Attorney General if they weren't female? And, as Ferraro noted herself, she would never have been the 1984 vice-presidential candidate but for her fairer-sex status. Cultural affirmative action manifests itself in all arenas, not just politics...
READ MORE
Is 'Magic Over' For Ailing U.S.? Facts Say 'No'
"I think the magic is over." That's what French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner recently said about the United States' global reputation. It's never been a great idea to rely on the assessments of French politicians.
The remedies for our current maladies require a moderate curbing of our credit-based lifestyle. Given the vast size of the U.S. economy, we could easily restrain spending and begin paying off our debts at a rapid clip.
We are still the world's third-largest oil producer, with vast amounts of untouched oil. We have the world's largest coal reserves. Americans could use coal and nuclear power to generate most of our electrical needs.
More importantly, there's a growing sense Americans want to sacrifice to ensure our pre-eminence. Many conservatives accept that they can't just cut taxes without spending limits. And many liberals see that more federal programs mean more dependency and debt for our children
The U.S. is so huge, free, wealthy and dynamic, we can cause enormous problems overnight. But by the same token, we can curb these excesses quickly. The solution to so many of the hopeless headlines is entirely in our hands.
READ MORE
Bush's Africa Legacy
[a 'just for the record' thing]
President Bush showed the world that it isn't words, but actions, that truly make a difference. Millions throughout Africa would agree
... But the real story is not about just this one trip; it is about the commitment the president made to Africa and what the United States has been quietly accomplishing throughout the continent over the past eight years under Mr. Bush's leadership.
While critics here at home, including many in the press, focused on attacking Mr. Bush at every turn, he steadfastly pushed for greater investments to help the families and businesses of Africa. It's the great untold story that has rarely made headlines here in America, but even so, it has truly changed the world for millions of Africans.
As Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete noted, for the people of his country and others across the African continent, Mr. Bush's "legacy will be that of saving hundreds of thousands of mothers' and children's lives from malaria, preventing new HIV infections and giving hope to those infected through care and treatment, and helping millions of young men and women get education." Perhaps most importantly, he adds, Mr. Bush leaves "the legacy of assisting African nations and people [in building] capacity for their own growth and development"
[snip]
So why did he do it? As singer-songwriter Bob Geldof pointed out, "There are no votes in helping the poor of Africa, but Bush did it anyway." It clearly wasn't about winning votes or political gain. It was not about fodder for stump speeches and empty promises of hope. Instead of being about catch phrases that simply ring hollow, the president's quiet efforts in Africa have been about action, about compassion and about results...
[more...]
READ MORE
San Francisco's Finest on display
One of the more blatant examples of media bias we regularly see is how the usually disturbed people who turn out for left-wing protests are routinely portrayed as normal.
There's no better way of observing this disparity than seeing uncensored reports of what lefty protests are actually like. And there's no better chronicler of these events than the anonymous blogger Zombie.
You'll get a real flavor (and several laughs) of left-wing lunacy by checking out her latest report on the fifth year anniversary of the Iraq war in San Francisco...
[mini-sampling - worth visiting link for the rest for humor value if nothing else...]
READ MORE
Monday, March 31, 2008
[forwarded on principle, please consider doing likewise - you can do so by clicking the little white envelope with an arrow on it in the lower left corner of this Brief {directly below the 'READ MORE'} which will send a link to this article, or swipe-&-past a working URL into your email. All links are to the same video, so any found still working will do...]
[NOTE: the links for this seem to be falling fast; most were based on LiveLeak which has already capitulated to death threats and removed the clip, but some sites must have cached it as it's still working... The video is ~15 minutes long.]
[preferred if still up]: LiveLink via Google video = http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3369102968312745410
[Site with Youtube links in parts - not expected to be available long =] http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/191968.php
[additional sites working as of 7:00 PST 080330:]
http://www.viralvideochart.com/google/video_fitna_the_movie_geert_wilders_film_about_the_quran_english?id=3369102968312745410
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4vd6k_fitna-the-movie-geert-wilders-film_news
[select 2nd video down] http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/03/geert-wilders-anti-islam-fitna-film.html
READ MORE = WIKI background on the film and its censorship = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitna_%28film%29
Internet Dhimmitude
The domain registry of Dutch politician Gert Wilders, who is set to release a new movie critical of Islam, Fitna, has been frozen, in effect silencing an internet voice and stifling his ability to get his film and his ideas to the world. (Snip) ...now the domain links to a Network Solutions page with the following message: This site has been suspended while Network Solutions is investigating whether the site's content is in violation of the Network Solutions Acceptable Use Policy.
READ MORE
Writer flees Islamic death threats
New Delhi - BANGLADESHI writer Taslima Nasreen has left India after being hounded into hiding by death threats from Islamic extremists, her publisher and friends say. "Taslima Nasreen flew out of New Delhi this afternoon to Europe for medical treatment,'' her publisher Sibani Mukherjee said. She said Nasreen had asked her not to reveal the author's exact destination. Close friends also told said she had left India, and some Indian television stations reported that Nasreen was headed for Canada.
READ MORE
Reform of Islam is Necessary for Civilization
The greatest [physical] danger mankind faces is the smuggling of a nuclear weapon by an Islamic Terrorist into a major western city killing millions in the name of God. If the hateful teachings of the Koran are not removed from Islam this is the disaster that will destroy civilization as we know it. It will dramatically change human history forever. The stakes are that high.
[snip]
Nobody cares if Islam is a religion in which people pray 5 times a day, wash their feet, fast for one month, do not use alcohol etc. That would be wonderful. But it is not.. Islam is a declaration of war against infidels. Islam is an ideology of war and the Koran is a book of war. This war is permanent until all the infidels have converted, or paid a submission tax or have been murdered. This is the Law of God as set down in the Koran.
[snip]
How is it possible that such an evil ideology (not religion) invented by an evil man (Muhammad) who, raped slaves, beheaded prisoners, sold women and children into slavery and raped a child – be posing such a grave threat worldwide to democracy and freedom. Any normal person reading the Koran immediately realizes that the hate, terror, violence pouring from the pages is not the word of God but that of a mad man which needs to be expunged from civil societies.
[snip]
The biggest problem we face in our struggle is that the political, media, intellectual and political elites are making criticism of Islam off limits by labeling such criticism Islamophobia. These elites are contributing this crazy and insane situation...
READ MORE
A Global Assessment of the Confrontation
Walid Phares, Ph.D.
The conflict we call the War on Terror still continues at the end of 2007 and all indications are that its battlefields are expected to spread further, and escalate, in the upcoming year.
The following is a global assessment of the confrontation that has taken place since 2001, though the systematic war waged by the Jihadi forces against democracies and the free world began at least a decade before 9/11. This evaluation isn't comprehensive or definitive, but a collection of observations related to major benchmarks, directions and projections.
[snip]
The main powers and allies involved in the War on Terror still lack global cohesion. While the US integrates its efforts in the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq with its efforts globally to defeat al Qaeda and contain nuclear proliferation of rogue regimes like Iran, other powers and blocs of countries have different plans...
[Recommended >
READ MORE
Is it truly Asia or sharia? Lessons from Malaysia
In Malaysia, Islamic law forbids people born to Muslim families to change their religion, hence not only was Revathi detained by the Islamic religious department and sent for "religious counseling in a rehabilitation center" (which translates to being forced to reconvert to Islam by the state authorities), her 15-month-old daughter too was taken away from her husband and handed over to Revathi's Muslim mother to be raised as a Muslim.
[snip]
The constitution of Malaysia qualifies Muslims only as "Malay" (or bumiputera = son of the land). Non-Muslims have to forfeit their ethnicity. Indigenous people (the true sons of the land) who have lived in the country before Islam was introduced are declared non-indigenous. So, 40 percent of Malaysia's non-Muslim population are regarded as second class citizens by the ruling UMNO party, who uphold a policy called Ketuanan Melayu, which claims Malays (who are automatically classed as Muslims on their identity cards) are the original inhabitants of Malaysia, and deserving of special privileges.
READ MORE
'We want to offer sharia law to Britain'
Islamic courts meet every week in the UK to rule on divorces and financial disputes. Clare Dwyer Hogg and Jonathan Wynne-Jones report on demands by senior Muslims that sharia be given legal authority.
[snip]
He points out that the Islamic Sharia Council, of which he is the general secretary, is flooded with work. It hears about 50 divorce cases every month, and responds to as many as 10 requests every day by email and phone for a fatwa - a religious verdict on a religious matter.
[snip]
It is one of dozens of sharia courts - also known as councils - that have been set up in mosques, Islamic centers and even schools across Britain. The number of British Muslims using the courts is increasing.
READ MORE
Al Qaeda's Dentist
London dentist Sohail Qureshi told the police he was just off to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid with his family in Pakistan… But instead of dental floss and fluoride, Qureshi, 30, tried to board a plane at Heathrow Airport with $18,000 in cash, a night vision scope, two metal batons, terror handbooks, extremist material (Snip) In court, he boasted he had been sent to the U.K. by Al Qaeda for terrorist fundraising. He posted a farewell letter anonymously on an Islamist website bragging about raising thousands of pounds from sympathizers in the U.K.
[does this count as an example of a 'failure to assimilate'?]
READ MORE
Jewish Man Attacked in Brooklyn By Muslims Yelling 'Allahu Akbar,' Media Silent
On March 19th, I found a story on The Jerusalem Post detailing an attack by Muslim youths on a rabbinical assistant that occurred at a Brooklyn, New York subway station. The youths grabbed Uria Ohana's yarmulke off his head then ran off yelling "Allahu Akbar," which is Arabic for "God is great."
I have waited four days to report this story myself to see what other news outlets decide to cover the incident and how they would cover it. So far, the only U.S. news outlet that covered it was the New York Post. It has been nearly ignored by the rest of the media.
The dearth of coverage is curious because it seems a natural story for the left to get their "hate crimes" dander worked up over. After all, we have a Muslim gang attacking a lone Jew right in the middle of Brooklyn! Yet, the news gives us zip for coverage.
READ MORE
Spanish appeasement backfires
A new al Qaeda plot set in Spain was recently disrupted, as reported by Reuters. The attack was set to occur shortly before a general election, much like the previous horrendous attack carried out in 2004. That attack led to a new government in Spain that immediately cut support for coalition efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. In short, Spain gave in to al Qaeda under the belief that meddling in the Middle East is the reason al Qaeda declared war on them.
This plot is yet further evidence that to accede to the demands of terrorists is not the way to prevent future attacks. There is only one way, by discrediting the ideology that drives young Muslim men to carry out these attacks. And in the Arab culture, a true culture of "might makes right", to discredit terrorist ideology means to defeat them on the battlefield.
READ MORE
Husbands with multiple wives to get extra benefits after Government go-ahead
Husbands living in a "harem" with multiple wives have been cleared to claim state benefits for all their different partners. A Muslim man with four spouses - which is permitted under Islamic law - could receive £10,000 a year in income support alone. He could also be entitled to more generous housing and council tax benefit, to reflect the fact his household needs a bigger property.
[and British law?]
READ MORE
Twofer:
Terrorist Attacks in Europe Thwarted at last moment
It is a sad fact in our media driven culture that a story about a group of Islamic extremists who were rounded up last week and discovered to be on the verge of carrying out several terrorist attacks receives little or no coverage but that if they had been successful, their names and deeds would be on everyone's lips.
Successes like these should be big stories...
[but that might remind folks of looming threat many would convince us is overblown to begin with...]
The Terror Scare?
Influential voices are peddling a dangerous fallacy: that the threat of terror is overblown, another example of scare tactics, like the supposedly nonexistent Communist threat in the 1940s and 1950s. Surprisingly level-headed people are hearing this siren call, at once so attractive and so dangerous.
[snip]
Among many obvious fallacies here one is paramount: the number of victims is only one metric for judging terrorist activity, and possibly the least telling. The number of victims is the factor most open to reduction. A country can't control the number of terrorists, it can't control the number of attacks, it can't control the number of attempts. But it can keep the terrorists, attacks, and attempts from being successful, which is precisely what U.S. antiterrorist policy has concentrated on since 9/11, and to all indications, quite successfully.
[snip]
Our campaign against Al-Queda and its offshoots has been extraordinarily successful. There have been no further attacks despite repeated attempts (another element ignored) But the next successful strike may well come from a completely different direction, from groups now considered harmless, or irrelevant, or that perhaps don't even yet exist...
[and above all else: the convergence of suicidal (non-deterable) martyrs and portable WMD. Long-ish, important, recommended >
READ MORE
Acolytes of hate gain a foothold
PASSERS-BY often look twice at the Sefton mosque in Sydney's west. It used to be a church and vestiges of that architectural heritage remain. But the building is now demanding attention for a different reason. It is at the centre of a power struggle by members of a group accused of being a conduit for terrorism.
Now some of its Sydney members are being accused of staging a brash takeover bid for the Sefton mosque, so they can install their own more extremist preacher and wield their fast-expanding influence over its followers. A Sydney magistrate issued an apprehended violence order against an alleged member of the group who tried to evict the Sefton mosque's imam from his own home and threatened to kill him if he returned...
Director of the national security project at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Carl Ungerer, says it is a tactic used in Britain by the hardline Hizb ut-Tahrir. "It is very much in keeping with what we have seen in the UK," Ungerer says
READ MORE
British Journalist Praises Sharia Law
Over across the pond, the Brits are having a spirited discussion about Islamic law following a statement by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, that sharia is inevitable within the UK. This has pleased some of the more extremely politically correct people who are calling for the creation of a dual-tier legal system which would enforce the medieval dictates of Islamic sharia law.
While he may not be quite that foolish, it seems British journalist Martin Fletcher does appear to be more of the useful idiot, at least judging from an op-ed he published which praises his "brush with Islamic justice:"
As one who has been hauled in front of a Sharia court I would like to risk having my hand — or head — chopped off a second time by suggesting that the Archbishop of Canterbury just might have a point...READ MORE
Shariah Is for Everyone!
The archbishop of Canterbury has proposed a partial introduction of Islamic Shariah law in Great Britain. This is yet another step on the part of the Western world to subjugate itself to a Muslim immigrant minority unwilling to integrate. (Snip) A short time later, the Social Democratic mayor of Brussels, Freddy Thielemans, banned a rally -- scheduled to take place on the sixth anniversary of 9/11 -- to protest the gradual Islamicization of Europe. He also instructed Brussels police officers not to smoke or eat in public during the month-long Ramadan fast...
READ MORE
The War of Ideas Should Be Engaged
At Rumsfeld's first post-Pentagon public comments at a conference today on network centric warfare sponsored by the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement, he said that the United States is losing the war of ideas in the Muslim world, and the answer to that, in part, is through the creation of this new government agency.
"Private media does not get up in the morning and say what can we do to promote the values and ideas that the free Western nations believe in. It gets up in the morning and says they're going to try to make money by selling whatever they sell... The way they decided to do that is to be dramatic and if it bleeds it leads is the common statement in the media today.In Rumsfeld's view, the free press can co-exist with government sponsored/produced/paid news. "It doesn't mean we have to infringe on the role of the free press, they can go do what they do, and that's fine," says Rumsfeld. "Well, it's not fine, but it's what it is, let's put it that way."
We need someone in the United States, some entity, that would take advantage of the wonderful opportunities that exist today. There are multiple channels for information . . . The Internet is there, pods are there, talk radio is there, e-mails are there. There are all kinds of opportunities. We do not with any systematic organized way attempt to engage the battle of ideas and talk about the idea of beheading, and what it's about and what it means. And talk about the fact that people are killing more Muslims than they are non-Muslims, these extremists. They're doing it with suicide bombs and the like. We need to engage and not simply be passive and allow that battle of competition of ideas."
READ MORE
Friday, March 28, 2008
Iraqi NCO Academy Graduates ‘Leave to Lead’
The soldiers were part of the second class to graduate from the Task Force Marne Noncommissioned Officer Academy.
“You must now ‘leave and lead,’” Army Command Sgt. Maj. Gabriel Berhane, command sergeant major for the 3rd Infantry Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team, told the graduates, echoing a motto of the 3rd Infantry Division NCO Academy at Fort Stewart, Ga. “As you return to your units, you must constantly remind yourself what being a leader is about.”Building a sense of leadership and a strong NCO corps in the Iraqi security forces is a main goal of the academy.
READ MORE
America Supports You: Command Makes Difference With Victory Boxes
"I explained the program to my soldiers, and they understood as well as I do that amidst all this turmoil, there are still good, kind people who have not been tarnished by this war," ... "Your ‘e-boxes’ have stretched out far beyond what I think you intended them to. ... “Above all, you've allowed us to keep our humanity, which is something that is easily lost here.”
Gross has seen both sides of this effort. He became a volunteer while in Iraq, receiving some of the packages and distributing them to local communities. The reactions of the Iraqis inspired him to want to do more.
"I really enjoyed putting a smile on the faces of the children," he said. "It made me homesick for my own family, but in a good way -- reminding me of the important things in life."
READ MORE
School disinvites touring veterans
The Vets for Freedom Heroes Tour was scheduled to stop at Forest Lake Area High School this morning, but school officials told them not to come.
Principal Steve Massey said the event was supposed to be an educational opportunity for about 150 social studies students to hear the stories of veterans who served in various wars. But he received six emails suggesting some might turn it into a political event by protesting the war, he said, and administrators canceled the visit Monday afternoon.
"We just wanted to come in and talk about service and sacrifice ... not whether the war is right or wrong. If we don't have room for patriotism in our high schools, then what do we have room for?"
[six emails. home of the brave]
READ MORE
[where would the above teacher ever get such a misguided view of patriotism...]
"Rather than bar lawsuits against companies for doing their patriotic duty by helping the U.S. government prevent terrorist attacks, the Pelosi plan would ensure that they remain vulnerable to new litigation: House Democrats would create a bipartisan congressional commission with subpoena power to issue a report on U.S. terrorist surveillance programs. They would leave the issue of immunity to the federal courts -- ensuring that it becomes the subject of protracted litigation that could go on for years."
Nasrallah: The Zionist entity can be wiped out of existence
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Monday told tens of thousands of supporters in Beirut that Israel could be eliminated and that the prowess of its army had been exaggerated by "Zionist-American propaganda." "The Zionist entity can be wiped out of existence," Nasrallah said in his address via video link, referring to Israel. "Our nation is stronger now than ever before," he added. Nasrallah's speech was broadcast live at a rally marking the end of the 40-day mourning period for slain Hezbollah military chief Imad Mughniyah...
READ MORE
US Rewarding Arab Terrorism
The Bush Administration’s search for partners to promote ''peace'' and ''democracy'' within the Palestinian Authority (PA) resembles Lord Charles Bowen’s ''blind man in a dark room looking for a black hat – which isn’t there''. For the first time, the Bush Administration plans to give $150 million in cash directly to the Palestinian Authority (PA) Treasury, as part of a $496.5 million ''aid'' package, including $410 million for development programs. This added to the $86.5 million for CIA “security training”, which Congress authorized in April 2007.
READ MORE
Engineer gets 24 1/2 years in prison
Santa Ana, Calif. - A Chinese-born engineer convicted of conspiracy to export U.S. defense technology to China was sentenced Monday to 24 1/2 years in federal prison. Chi Mak, 67, was also convicted last year of acting as an unregistered foreign agent, attempting to violate export control laws and making false statements to the FBI. He worked on highly sensitive submarine propulsion systems in his job as an engineer for the Anaheim-based naval defense contractor Power Paragon.
READ MORE
Chinese espionage
On Feb. 11, the United States announced that four individuals were arrested on charges of conducting espionage operations for the Chinese against American interests. One employee, who worked for the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, was hours from meeting his Chinese intelligence service contact when he was arrested.
While there is little broad agreement about U.S. defense and trade policy toward China, there is widespread agreement among security experts that China is systematically seeking classified information about the United States. These arrests were not isolated incidents, but rather just public examples of a long string of events that have been building over the last decade.
There are three prudent steps the United States can take now to responsibly address China and Chinese espionage...
READ MORE
Ten Reasons to Get Rid of the European Union
The proponents of the European Union claim that it is a “peace project.” But the EU is not about peace, it is about war: A demographic and cultural war waged against an entire continent, from the Black Sea to the North Sea, in order to destroy European nation states and build an empire run by self-appointed and unaccountable bureaucrats. This is supported by national politicians in order to enhance their personal power, by creating a larger political entity than their individual nation states and by ridding themselves of the constraints of a democratic society. The EU thus corrupts national political elites into betraying the people they are supposed to serve and protect. Anthony Coughlan, a senior lecturer at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, notes:
At a national level when a minister wants to get something done, he or she must have the backing of the prime minister, must have the agreement of the minister for finance if it means spending money, and above all must have majority support in the national parliament, and implicitly amongst voters in the country. Shift the policy area in question to the supranational level of Brussels however, where laws are made primarily by the 27-member Council of Ministers, and the minister in question becomes a member of an oligarchy, a committee of lawmakers, the most powerful in history, making laws for 500 million Europeans, and irremovable as a group regardless of what it does. National parliaments and citizens lose power with every EU treaty, for they no longer have the final say in the policy areas concerned.The European Union is basically an attempt by the elites in European nation states to cooperate on usurping power, bypassing and abolishing the democratic system, a slow-motion coup d’état. Ideas such as “promoting peace” or “promoting free trade” are used as a pretext for this, a bone thrown to fool the gullible masses and veil what is essentially a naked power grab...
READ MORE
Jobcentres to fly Union Jack
[UK]
Public buildings, including job centers, schools and hospitals, are to be encouraged to fly the union jack and other national flags to boost national identity. Ministers will this week announce the lifting of restrictions on flag flying that have been in force since 1924. They will allow public buildings to erect flagpoles and fly the union jack and national flags, including the cross of St George, the Saltire of Scotland and the red dragon of Wales every day. At present, flying national flags from public buildings is restricted to 18 days a year...
[methinks Brussels won't be enthused...]
READ MORE
One Cooler Head
Climate Change: When new facts emerge, the open-minded tend to alter their views. This is what has happened to a Hungarian environmental scholar whose position on global warming has been transformed.
Ferenc Miskolczi, an atmospheric physicist at NASA's Langley Research Center with three decades of experience, had found that researchers have been repeating a mistake when calculating the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on temperatures. As has been noted elsewhere, Miskolczi's theory could explain why the warming that models have been predicting
for decades has never materialized.
NASA's response to the new results? It refused to publish them, reports DailyTech.com. Miskolczi quit, citing in his resignation letter a clash between his "idea of the freedom of science" and NASA's "practice of handling new climate change related scientific results."
READ MORE
Global Warming Censored
And when network news shows did feature dissenting views, those people were often branded as "deniers" or "flat Earthers." Scott Pelley, a reporter for CBS, continued to report on climate change for that network despite his 2006 comparison of global warming skeptics to Holocaust deniers.
[Re: some companies going 'green':] "All businesses have marketing departments. Their whole job is to make the business look good," ... "If you do things that are going to make the business look bad, or you're going to get beaten up about it then you try to, then you try to adapt. And so I don't blame companies for trying to do that."
READ MORE
Let rest of world make climate errors
The indications are that even the relatively trivial emissions targets set under the Kyoto Protocol are likely to be missed by many signatory nations, including Canada, New Zealand and various European countries, which are looking for ways to avoid the penalties involved for so doing.
Germany and France, the EU's two most powerful members, have been unhappy and vocal about the effect on their energy-intensive industries, including the steel and car industries, of targets such as a 20 per cent reduction in emissions by 2020.
Ironically, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who chaired last year's EU spring summit (where she was all for the adoption of such targets), did an about-face this month...
[and so it unravels. This was always about forcing the US to redistribute its wealth - not other counties']
READ MORE
'Your children are too fat. Either they lose weight or we'll take them away'
A couple have been told their children must lose weight – or they could be taken into care. Social workers warned the parents they have only three months to help three of their six children shed the pounds. They want to see an improvement by June in the 12-year-old boy and two of his sisters, aged 11 and three. The family, from Dundee, have been ordered to send their children to dance and football lessons...
[the inevitable course of socialist nannyism - we're on it...]
READ MORE
Cell phone shutdown angers Afghans
Kabul, Afghanistan - Taliban attacks on telecom towers (10 last month, ~2M$ in damage) have prompted cell phone companies to shut down service across southern Afghanistan, angering a quarter million customers who have no other telephones. Even some Taliban fighters now regret the disruptions and are demanding that service be restored by the companies...
[let me guess: 'disproportionate response' - expect a UN resolution against the phone companies]
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104ap_afghan_tower_attacks.html
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
We have gotten to a point in our society where people can pursue courses of action that we know, they know, that everyone knows are highly likely to end in disaster. But then, when the aforementioned tragedy inevitably occurs, there is a demand that the federal government "fix the problem."
"In the early decades of the Republic, equality meant equality before God; liberty meant the liberty to shape one's own life....A very different meaning of equality has emerged in the United States in recent decades -- equality of outcome. Everyone should have the same level of living or of income, should finish the race at the same time. Equality of outcome is in clear conflict with liberty. The attempt to promote it has been a major source of bigger and bigger government, and of government-imposed restrictions on our liberty."People should remember that the history of the world is not that of great countries rising to prominence and then staying there eternally. To the contrary, the landscape of history is littered with nations and empires that became great, lost the spark that made them exceptional in the first place, and then dissolved or came to ruin.
-- Milton Friedman
Face of Defense: Air Force Recruit Drops 128 Pounds to Enlist
When Sims first met with Air Force Tech. Sgt. Damon Andrews, a recruiter, he weighed 128 pounds more than the Air Force's maximum allowable weight for a man of his height. Eight months later, he swore to serve the country as a member of the U.S. Air Force.
"Stuff isn't given to you; you have to work for it,” he said. “But if you have a goal and you want to achieve something in life, then go for it. Don't let anyone tell you it's not possible.”
READ MORE
Iraqi Girls' School Gets Computers, Internet Service
Girls from throughout the province will use the center, School Manager Zahrah Aljdrey said. In addition to giving students the ability to do research and work on projects, the center will allow girls to complete exams they otherwise would have to travel to Baghdad to take.
READ MORE
Young Iraqis turn against religious extremism
[HT:HS]
One of the claims of leftist critics of the war and occupation in Iraq is that we have supposedly alienated Iraqis and now Al Qaeda has a strong presence there. The latter claim is at odds with the reality that AQ is on the run and has turned to places like Somalia and Pakistan's frontier as havens.
In two months of interviews with 40 young people in five Iraqi cities, a pattern of disenchantment emerged, in which young Iraqis, both poor and middle class, blamed clerics for the violence and the restrictions that have narrowed their lives.
"I hate Islam and all the clerics because they limit our freedom every day and their instruction became heavy over us," said Sara Sami, a high school student in Basra. "Most of the girls in my high school hate that Islamic people control the authority because they don't deserve to be rulers."
READ MORE
Web Hosting Company caves to Islamists
Web hosting company Network Solutions has suspeneded the website for Geert Wilder's anti-Muslim film Fitna, citing possible [only possible, as no one has seen it as yet] violations of their Terms of Service:
Wilder is a verbal bomb thrower. His statements about banning the Koran in the Netherlands have elicited the strongest possible response from religious freedom advocates while his pronouncements on continued Muslim immigration have set off a debate about the nature of society in the Netherlands.
Still, should Wilder be granted the freedom to spout his ideas about Islam to the world? Given the freedom radical Islamists enjoy to spout their hatred on the internet one wonders why Wilders unseen film should suffer from being banned arbitrarily.
[A: 'dhimmitude']
READ MORE
Czech backs anti-Quran film
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - A Czech far-right party has offered to help a Dutch lawmaker distribute an anti-Quran film on the Internet if it is banned from being released in the Netherlands. The offer was made after a U.S. company that provides Web hosting services suspended the site promoting Geert Wilders' 15-minute film, which has sparked demonstrations in the Netherlands even before it has been shown.
[the home of free speech. for some]
READ MORE
Saddam's Terror Links
Five years on, few Iraq myths are as persistent as the notion that the Bush Administration invented a connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. Yet a new Pentagon report suggests that Iraq's links to world-wide terror networks, including al Qaeda, were far more extensive than previously understood.
It's true that the Pentagon report found no "smoking gun," i.e., a direct connection on a joint Iraq-al Qaeda operation. Supposedly this vindicates the view that Iraq's liberation was launched on false premises. But the Administration was always cautious, with Colin Powell alleging merely a "sinister nexus" in his 2003 U.N. speech. If anything, sinister is an understatement. The main Iraq intelligence failure was over WMD, but the report indicates that the CIA also underestimated Saddam's ties to global terror cartels...
READ MORE
Iranian Nuclear Program Remains In Full Flow
The threat posed by Iran to Coalition troops in the region is considerable. Iran has for a number of years run a systematic campaign of targeting all Coalition troops based in Iraq, Afghanistan and the wider region. However, this campaign may well be considerably more deadly if the Iranian regime were to acquire a nuclear weapon, a scenario which is now becoming an ever growing prospect...
[the West's silliness in hiding behind the incompetent skirts of the IAEA is leading to war - Israel {rightly} will not allow Iran to get nukes - we need apply any & all pressure now to prevent that eventuality or share the blame for having set the predictable stage for it]
READ MORE
The Latin Crisis
By Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
This month Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez opened the next phase of his dangerous political career by nearly provoking a war with Colombia. In the aftermath of his military threats, the Colombian government learned disturbing information about the relationship between Mr. Chavez and the terrorist group FARC — the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
[snip]
In the days after the raid, Colombia uncovered [PCs with] e-mails in which FARC operatives reported, after meeting with Mr. Chavez, that significant financial support and even munitions would be forthcoming from the Chavez government. Evidence suggests Venezuela may have provided as much as $300 million to FARC since Mr. Chavez came to power.
[more - snip]
Last year, Mr. Chavez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revealed plans for a $2 billion joint fund, part of which will be used as a "mechanism for liberation" against U.S. allies. Now there is evidence Mr. Chavez actively supports FARC as part of a strategy to destabilize the Colombian government, which is one of America's best friends in the region. There seems to be no limit to Mr. Chavez's reckless and anti-American ambitions.
[snip]
In light of those revelations, and their implications for U.S. national security, perhaps it is time the Bush administration placed Venezuela on the list of state sponsors of terrorism...
[meanwhile, Congress blocks ratification of a much-needed free trade agreement with Columbia...]
READ MORE
A FARC Fan's Notes
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
A hard drive recovered from the computer of a killed Colombian guerrilla has offered more insights into the opposition of House Democrats to the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. The Reyes hard drive reveals an ardent effort to do business directly with the FARC by Congressman James McGovern (D., Mass.), a leading opponent of the free-trade deal. Mr. McGovern has been working with an American go-between, who has been offering the rebels help in undermining Colombia's elected and popular government.
Mr. McGovern's press office says the Congressman is merely working at the behest of families whose relatives are held as FARC kidnap hostages, but communications among FARC rebels suggest the goal was to isolate Colombia's government. A letter that Reyes wrote to top FARC commander Manuel Marulanda on October 26 reads: "According to [Jones's] viewpoint, [President Álvaro] Uribe is increasingly discredited in the U.S. . . He believes that the safe haven [for the rebels] in the counties can be had for reasons mentioned...
READ MORE
American media ignores inconvenient science on global warming
Americans apparently have to look to Australia for truthful accounts of climate research conducted by our own space agency. Christopher Pearson' March 22 article in THE AUSTRALIAN concerns an interview of "Jennifer Marohasy, a biologist and senior fellow of Melbourne-based think tank the Institute of Public Affairs." When asked about "Global Warming", Marohasy stated:
"...actually, there has been cooling, if you take 1998 as your point of reference. If you take 2002 as your point of reference, then temperatures have plateaued. This is certainly not what you'd expect if carbon dioxide is driving temperature because carbon dioxide levels have been increasing but temperatures have actually been coming down over the last 10 years.Further, she says:
"The head of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has actually acknowledged it."
"The policy implications are enormous. The meteorological community at the moment is really just coming to terms with the output from this NASA Aqua satellite and (climate scientist) Roy Spencer's interpretation of them. His work is published, his work is accepted, but I think people are still in shock at this point."Isn't it odd that this "shocking" news hasn't been reported yet in the American Press?
[expect the fear mongering to reach a truly hysterical pitch as the alarmists face the fact that they're running out of time - they need enact legislation now-right-now as their chickens are on final approach...]
READ MORE
Concealed weapons on college campuses gets House approval
Legislation that would allow concealed weapons on college campuses in Oklahoma was approved by the state House Thursday despite opponents who said putting more guns on campus makes no sense following recent massacres at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University. “This has to be the craziest thing I have ever seen,” said Rep. Ray McCarter, D-Marlow, one of several lawmakers who said the measure is opposed by college administrators...
[it was the lack of opposing firepower that made them 'massacres']
READ MORE
Man Declared Dead Feels 'Pretty Good'
Oklahoma City - Four months after he was declared brain dead and doctors were about to remove his organs for transplant, Zach Dunlap says he feels ''pretty good.'' Dunlap was pronounced dead Nov. 19 at United Regional Healthcare System in Wichita Falls, Texas, after he was injured in an all-terrain vehicle accident. His family approved having his organs harvested. As family members were paying their last respects, he moved his foot and hand.
READ MORE
