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The Anchoress has this as does Cartago Delenda Est. I also found this on the USENET in a post by drahcir. The original, in Spanish, is from Sebastian Vivar Rodriguez at Gentiuno - gente del siglo XXI. The translator is unidentified.
CAUTION: The idea expressed here is illegal under current speech and thought control laws in most western countries.Europe died in Auschwitz
I was walking along Raval (Barcelona) when all of a sudden I understood that Europe died with Auschwitz. We assassinated 6 million Jews in order to end up bringing in 20 million Muslims!
We burnt in Auschwitz the culture, intelligence and power to create. We burnt the people of the world, the one who is proclaimed the chosen people of God. Because it is the people who gave to humanity the symbolic figures who were capable of changing history (Christ, Marx, Einstein, Freud...) and who is the origin of progress and wellbeing.
We must admit that Europe, by relaxing its borders and giving in under the pretext of tolerance to the values of a fallacious cultural relativism, opened it's doors to 20 million Muslims, often illiterates and fanatics that we could meet, at best, in places such as Raval, the poorest of the nations and of the ghettos, and who are preparing the worst, such as the 9/11 and the Madrid bombing and who are lodged in apartment blocs provided by the social welfare.
We also have exchanged culture with fanaticism, the capacity to create with the will to destroy, the wisdom with the superstition. We have exchanged the transcendental instinct of the Jews, who even under the worst possible conditions have always looked for a better peaceful world, for the suicide bomber. We have exchanged the pride of life for the fanatic obsession of death. Our death and that of our children.
What a grave mistake that we made!!!
I cannot agree more.
For the BBC this is simply the result of an ongoing civil disturbance. "Militants" did this.
Via Little Green Footballs,
Three Indonesian girls beheadedThree girls have been beheaded and another badly injured as they walked to a Christian school in Indonesia.
They were walking through a cocoa plantation near the city of Poso in central Sulawesi province when they were attacked.
This is an area that has a long history of religious violence between Muslims and Christians.
A government-brokered truce has only partially succeeded in reducing the number of incidents in recent years.
Police say the heads were found some distance from the bodies.
It is unclear what was behind the attack, but the girls attended a private Christian school and one of the heads was left outside a church leading to speculation that it might have had a religious motive.
For liberals and the Left™ this is merely a local disturbance. The killing of Christians for the simple fact that they are Christians is perfectly understandable to them, even if the victims (true martyrs, no bomb vests required) are schoolgirls. According to the BBC and liberals in both Europe and America, the evils ones are those such as myself who would call this what it is, Islamic terrorism and part of an Islamic movement to exterminate Christians and Jews (and Hindus - Buddhists just have to wait for a few years, but they are on the list too).
The sea trials for USS Ohio have not occurred yet, so I have time for another post or two. I ran across this in the comments section at Little Green Footballs and thought I'd share it with you. Thanks go to Yank in the EU.
Paul Johnson nails it at Forbes.com. Anti-Americanism Is Racist EnvyAnti-Americanism is the prevailing disease of intellectuals today. Like other diseases, it doesn't have to be logical or rational. But, like other diseases, it has a syndrome--a concurrent set of underlying symptoms that are also causes.
• First, an unadmitted contempt for democracy. The U.S. is the world's most successful democracy. The right of voters to elect more than 80,000 public officials, the length and thoroughness of electoral campaigns, the pervasiveness of the media and the almost daily reports by opinion polls ensure that government and electorate do not diverge for long and that Washington generally reflects the majority opinion in its actions.
It is this feature that intellectuals--especially in Europe--find embittering. They know they must genuflect to democracy as a system. They cannot openly admit that an entire people--especially one comprising nearly 300 million, who enjoy all the freedoms--can be mistaken. But in their hearts these intellectuals do not accept the principle of one person, one vote. They scornfully, if privately, reject the notion that a farmer in Kansas, a miner in Pennsylvania or an auto assembler in Michigan can carry as much social and moral weight as they do. In fact, they have a special derogatory word for anyone who acts on this assumption: "populist." A populist is someone who accepts the people's verdict, even--and especially--when it runs counter to the intellectual consensus (as with capital punishment, for example). In the jargon of intellectual persiflage, populism is almost as bad as fascism--indeed, it's a step toward it. Hence, the argument goes, the U.S. is not so much an "educated democracy" as it is a media-swayed and interest-group-controlled populist regime.
The truth is, on the European Continent there is little experience of working democracy. Italy and Germany have had democracy only since the late 1940s; Spain, since the 1960s. France is not a democracy; it is a republic run by bureaucratic and party elites, whose errors are dealt with by strikes, street riots and blockades instead of by votes. Elements of the French system are being imposed throughout the EU, even in countries such as Denmark and Sweden that have long practiced democracy with success. In a French-style pseudodemocracy, intellectuals have considerable influence, at both government and street levels. In a true democracy, intellectuals are no more powerful than their arguments.
This is only one of three arguments that Mr. Johnson presents and really explains why the U. S. is the greatest country in the world. Go read the rest of the article for more.
I thank God that I was blessed to be born an American.
I will not be posting for a couple of weeks. I will be leaving soon to ride USS Ohio's (SSGN 726) sea trials. Of course I cannot say when they are, but we will leave soon.
+Photi
From Mission Network News (old news, but I just found it), Faith-based groups urge the United Nations to fight bias against all faiths.International (MNN)--It began as a quiet campaign from the Vatican, but grew to a clamor that has been picked up by Non-Government Organizations, human rights groups and Christians.
Church leaders are pushing the United Nations to recognize 'Christianophobia' as an evil equal to anti-Semitism or 'Islamophobia'. Persecution of Christians may have been heightened because of the war on terrorism, however, it has always existed.
Documentation from human rights watchdog groups details a fervent campaign in many countries to stamp out Christianity.
Baptist World Alliance's Wendy Ryan wants believers in the West to pay attention, saying it's more than a human rights issue. "If there's a lack of religious freedom in any one place, it has an impact on every place. The person in the local pew should be really concerned that if freedoms are lacking in other parts of the world, who knows? There could come a day where we might have to fight for our freedoms."
Ryan explains religious freedom, which includes the right to evangelize, is deteriorating. Take, for example, believers in places like Saudi Arabia. The Christians there are free to meet, but not to share what they believe. A similar scenario repeats itself in countries like China, Indonesia and Eritrea.
"We are mindful," Ryan says, "that there are restraints and the question then comes, if you are in a position where you are free to meet, but you are not free to openly share the Gospel, what do you do? That is a part of religious freedom, and that's something for which we also fight."
I'll write later about how some of these groups "evangelize" in countries that are already Christian (Protestant evangelizing in Russia and Eastern Europe is a sore spot with me), but any effort to fight anti-Christian (and anti-Jewish) persecution is good and very much needed. Helping in that effort is something that the United Nations will not do.
Piracy has never gone away. Indonesian waters have long been the most pirate infested waters in the world. Now the coast of Somalia has joined Indonesia as a region for mariners to avoid. Pirates are not like the cute Jack Sparrow character played by Johnny Depp. These are human scum who know no law or morality. They usually kill everyone they come across.
There is only one cure for piracy. Every Navy in the world should be involved in killing pirates.
Pirates hijack ship off Somalia.Pirates have seized a cargo ship off the coast of Somalia, local officials have confirmed.
They said the Maltese-registered ship, Pagania, was attacked late on Wednesday as it sailed from South Africa to Europe with a cargo of iron ore.
The hijackers are reportedly demanding a $700,000 (£394,000) ransom for the release of the ship and its crew, all believed to be Ukrainian.
More than 20 ships have been seized or attacked in the area since March.
The International Maritime Bureau - which records such attacks - has recently advised ships "to keep as far away as possible from the Somali coast".
A UN-chartered ship carrying food aid to tsunami victims in northern Somalia, the MV Semlow, was released this month, after being held by hijackers for 100 days.
See the related linked included with the article.
See also;
Murders by pirates 'on the rise'
Rise in Murders, Kidnappings at Sea Makes Piracy a Top Naval Priority WorldwideThe Nigerian naval escorts were of no help to Americans Ryne Hathaway or Denny Fowler. The pirates who attacked their boat on the Olero Creek in Nigeria's Western Delta State April 23 gunned them down, along with five Nigerians.
Armed with Kalashnikov rifles, the pirates had drawn near the Americans'’ vessel -- possibly using military-style dress as a ruse -- and demanded that the escorts throw down their arms. The escorts refused and the pirates opened fire. Hathaway and Fowler, both Texans, had gone to Nigeria in April as contractors for ChevronTexaco Corp. to assess the feasibility of resuming drilling operations that had been shut down due to escalating tribal violence.
Weeks later in the Strait of Malacca, a narrow channel between Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula notorious for violent attacks on shipping, the Indonesian transport Ikan Murni was boarded by two dozen pirates armed with automatic weapons. Waiting near Berhala Island, the pirates fired on the ship and boarded. Twelve crewmembers jumped overboard and were later picked up by local fisherman.
The pirates, believed to be Aceh separatists [who want an Islamist state, btw - ed.] in Indonesia, kidnapped the ship'’s master and another crewmember, and abandoned the ship. They demanded a substantial ransom for crewmembers'’ release, but authorities decline to say whether a ransom was paid. The owners of the Ikan Murni hired a tugboat to bring the ship back to shore, according to an account in "Tale of a Modern Pirate Gang" by piracy expert Mark Bruyneel.
Lawlessness on the High Seas
These incidents, and hundreds more like them each year, help explain why international piracy has become a top priority for military and police officials from Southeast Asia to Africa and the United States.
"The seas are unpoliced and unregulated and, therefore, attractive to those who want to exploit or abuse them," said U.S. Navy Secretary Gordon R. England. Speaking in July at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., England said, "On average, more than one ship each day is attacked, robbed, hijacked or sunk."
The effort to kill all pirates should be global. In fact there is significant international cooperation in this mission, mostly by the Americans, the Australians, the British, and others who have not given up on themselves (count the French out).
Of course, the UN in its effort to support all that is evil, covers for the pirates in the MV Semlow case, Somali pirates 'not looting aid'The UN has denied reports from local residents that pirates who seized a ship carrying tsunami aid to Somalia have started looting the food.
"Our contacts in the region assure us that the vast bulk... of rice aboard the MV Semlow has not been taken ashore," the UN's Robert Hausser said.
Weeks of talks have failed to secure the release of the ship and its crew.
Of course, the piece quoted at the top of this post reports that they have been released. Sadly, no pirates were killed.
In addition to my degrees in music, I decided in the late 1980's to pursue a degree in electronics engineering. While I had to abandon that program as Uncle Sam decided to send my back to sea, I did finish all of the "flunk-out" courses. These generally had a 55-65% attrition rate. These are the calculus, physics, statics, and dynamics courses. I did well, with a B+ to A average, but in the 15 years since then, I have forgotten it all. This has been bothering me for some time. I took, and did well at, four semesters of calculus up to and including multi-variable calculus, differential equations with complex variables, linear algebra, advanced engineering mathematics (which by then was easy), and much more. I worked very hard and learned to enjoyed working out the problems as puzzles.
I am starting again. What got me going was actually a series of equipment failures. My trusty old HP 32S calculator died on me a few months ago and I had to replace it with an HP 33S. Probably the best "basic" calculator in the world.
I also had an advanced calculator that I used after I completed the calculus courses. This got me through the calculus-based physics courses. It was the HP 48SX. It is now gone, and I had to replace it with an HP 49g+, which is the most powerful calculator in the world.
The plan is, use only a No.2 Mirado, a legal pad, and the HP 33S for the numeric stuff for now. As I get back into the calculus, I'll use the HP 49g+ to check my answers. Then, when I get into the statics, dynamics, physics, and circuit theory the 49g+ will be fully employed.
One of my mathematics professors called me a "mathematical pit bull" then. I plan on getting that back.
It's easy to tell that we are in that happy season celebrated by Muslims worldwide. Charles Johnson has a whole series of stories on these celebrations.
RoP Strikes in Thailand
Holland Fears RoP
Death Cult Child Abuse
Danish Muslims Seethe, Protest, Threaten
The Palestinian Peace Process
Nothing like celebrating the one's most holy season by killing Jews, Americans, and other infidels more than one would during the rest of the year.
Our enemies on the Left™ like to accuse Charles and others (such as myself) of being Islamophobes (whatever the hell that is). We just report news, we don't make it. It would be nice if the MSM would report the news too.
Modern bioethics is probably the area in which the liberal culture of death is most clear. I have posted on the before in posts about Peter Singer here and here.
Medical Ethicist Describes Holland's Inevitable Progress from Mercy Killing to Murder:(AgapePress) - Burke Balch, director of the Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics of the National Right to Life Committee, says the Netherlands is no longer sliding down a slippery slope, but rather has fallen off a moral cliff as the medical community in that nation expands its euthanasia practices. He notes that the Dutch government intends to expand its euthanasia guidelines to include so-called "mercy killing" of children with spina bifida or other disabilities, as long as the parents consent.
This development is horrifying, though not surprising, Balch contends, because once a price is placed on human life, the price goes down. "In the Netherlands, although they started with purely voluntary euthanasia for people who were dying," he says, "they moved very rapidly to individuals who were not dying but were disabled."
Soon after that, the head of the Powell Center says, doctors in the Netherlands started euthanizing "individuals who were neither dying nor disabled but who were simply old and, in fact, lonely. They moved on to depressed patients, then they moved into cases where the patient hadn't given consent at all."
For instance, Balch asserts, the pro-euthanasia doctors in the Netherlands have now moved on to euthanizing the elderly in nursing homes and even killing children without parental consent. He says it is obvious that arguments about physician-assisted death being the patient's choice are no longer relevant. Instead, he insists, it has come to be about a determination of who is fit to live.
This is not only a European issue. This debate is occurring in the U.S. also, and those of us who love life are losing.
Islam has a problem with soccer and anything identifiably Western.
Fatwa from 2003: Soccer is Forbidden Except When Played as Training for Jihad [footnotes removed, see original article - ed.]"One of the anti-soccer fatwas was published in full in Al-Watan on August 25, 2005. According to other sources it had been issued by Sheikh 'Abdallah Al-Najdi.
The fatwa declared that it is only permissible to play soccer when its rules are different than the accepted international rules. This was based on a hadith [Prophetic tradition] which forbids Muslims to imitate Christians and Jews. The fatwa read:
"1. Don't play soccer with four lines [surrounding the field], since this is the way of the non-believers, and the international soccer rules require drawing [these lines] before playing.
"2. One should not use the terminology established by the non-believers and the polytheists, like: 'foul,' 'penalty kick,' 'corner kick,' 'goal,' and 'out of bounds.' Whoever pronounces these terms should be punished, reprimanded, kicked out of the game, and should even be told in public: 'You have come to resemble the non-believers and the polytheists, and this has been forbidden.'
"3. If one of you falls during the game and breaks his hand or his foot, or if the ball hits his hand, he shall not say 'foul' and shall not stop playing because of his injury. The one who caused his injury shall not receive a yellow or a red card, but rather the case shall be judged according to Muslim law in the case of a broken bone or an injury. The injured player shall exercise his rights according to the shari'a, as [is stated] in the Koran, and you must testify together with him that so-and-so tripped him up intentionally.
"4. Do not set the number [of players] according to the number of players used by the non-believers, the Jews, the Christians, and especially the vile America. In other words, 11 players shall not play together. Make it a larger or a smaller number.
"5. Play in your normal clothing, or in pajamas, or something like that, but not in colorful pants and numbered jerseys. Pants and jerseys are not appropriate clothing for Muslims. They are the clothing of the non-believers and of the West, and therefore you must be careful not to wear them.
"6. Once you have fulfilled [these] conditions and rules, you must play the entire game with the intention of improving your physical fitness for the purpose of fighting Jihad for Allah's sake and preparing for the time when jihad is needed. One should not waste time in celebrating a false victory.
"7. Do not play for 45 minutes, as is the practice among the Jews, the Christians, and in all of the countries of non-belief and atheism. This is also the length of time that is accepted in the soccer clubs of those who have strayed from the righteous path. You must be different than the non-believers, depart from their path, and not imitate them in anything.
"8. Do not play in two parts [i.e. halves], but rather in one part or in three parts, so as to be different than the sinful and rebellious, the non-believers and the polytheists.
"9. If neither side has defeated the other and neither side has inserted the ball between the posts, do not waste further time [in an extension] or in 'penalty kicks' until someone has won, but rather leave [the field] immediately, since this kind of victory is precisely an imitation of the non-believers and [adoption] of the international soccer rules.
"10. Do not appoint someone who follows the players around and is called 'a referee', since, after canceling the international rules such as 'foul,' 'penalty kick,' 'corner kick' and so on, there is no need for his presence. Moreover, his presence is an imitation of non-believers, Jews and Christians, and constitutes adoption of the international [soccer] rules.
"11. In the course of the game it is forbidden for groups of youth to gather and watch, since if you are gathering for the sake of sports activity and physical fitness, as you claim, why should they be looking at you? You must make them participate [in order to improve] their physical fitness and prepare for jihad; or else say to them, 'Go propagate Islam and seek out moral corruption in the marketplaces and in the press [in order to correct it], and leave us to improve our physical fitness.'
"12. When you finish playing, be careful not to talk about the game, and not to say 'we play better than the opponent,' or 'so-and-so is a good player,' etc. Moreover, you should speak about your body, its strength and its muscles, and about the fact that you are playing as [a means of] training to run, attack, and retreat in preparation for [waging] jihad for Allah's sake.
"13. If one of you inserts the ball between the posts and then starts to run so that his companions will run after him and hug him, like the players in America and France do, you should spit in his face, punish him, and reprimand him, for what do joy, hugging, and kissing have to do with sports?
"14. You must take the three posts or iron rods which you use to construct [the goal], and into which the ball is kicked, and replace them with just two instead of three. In other words, take out the cross-post or rod… so that [the goal] will not be similar to what is customary among the non-believers, and in order to violate the despotic international soccer rules.
"15. Do not do what is known as 'substitution' – that is, putting in a player in place of a player who has been disqualified – since this the custom of the non-believers in America and elsewhere."
The good news is, Saudi authorities and the Press are now telling their citizens that not all fatwas are issued by people qualified or knowledgeable enough to do so. In fact, this fatwa is criticized as unIslamic (a common fig leaf) and dangerous to youth for both religious and non religious reasons.
In this article the discussion of this fatwa follows. Go and read the entire thing. Perhaps the Saudis are finally getting a clue (but I doubt it).
And, read footnote [4].
This is something that liberal westerners have serious trouble understanding.
From the First Congregational Church of Rome:It seems a papal commission reached a result that Pope Paul VI did not desire,"--so the Pope simply overruled the experts who were qualified on this subject [artificial contraception] . . . . . This is not the only way Vatican methods run parallel with those of Washington. Rome too is now ruled from the margins. Most Catholics hold views different from the Pope’s on many matters."
Er, come again? When the Vatican is being run by the Pope it is being ruled "from the margins"? At the Roman "center," then, would be papal commissions endorsing the majority will?
One wonders how many readers—how many Catholic readers, forsooth--skim over flabbergasting stuff like this and think, "Yeah—right! What makes the Pope think he has the right to run the Church?" Apparently the author expects it.
What is obvious to Orthodox Christians is sadly lost in this liberal, godless culture. The Orthodox Church and, for the most part, the Roman Catholic Church are the preservers of the original faith, having defended it against the many terrible heresies of the first four centuries. We have the witness of the early Saints and Holy Fathers to teach us, and our Priests and Bishops to transmit that teaching to us. The Church teaches us how to live a holy life. Secular liberalism cannot.
God doesn't change. He is what he is, and the way to personal sanctification is what it is, regardless of how a democratically conducted poll would have it.
We learn from our Bishops, our Priests, our monastics, and other holy people how to be holy. How to stengthen our spiritual lives (this has nothing to do with any kind of emotionalism). How to be closer to God.
USS Parche (SSN 683) is in Dry Dock 2 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard being recycled. There is not a lot left of her. I walk past her several times each day as Dry Dock 2 is between my office and Pier 6 where USS Ohio (SSGN 726) is moored. She has been gutted and is cut in half, with the forward end of her reactor compartment capped-off.
Submarines have never had the same kind of beauty that many surface ships have, see my earlier post on USS Mississippi. In military terms, that matters not at all. USS Parche and her crews executed missions of inestimable importance to the national security. For a clue, read Blind Man's Bluff, it is a great read.
God bless all who served aboard her.
There is no evidence that Osama bin Laden was killed or injured in the earthquake that recently occurred in Pakistan. There is good news, however - No Evidence Bin Laden Hurt or Killed:Meanwhile, scores of activists from an Islamist charity linked to a banned Pakistani militant organization died in the devastating earthquake.
The militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, was outlawed by Pakistan in January 2002, a month after its fighters were accused of taking part in an attack on India's Parliament in New Delhi.
A spokesman for Jamat-ud-Dawa, a group drawn from the ranks of Lashkar, said the charity'’s mosques, hospitals, schools and seminaries were obliterated in Saturday's earthquake. "Many of our members have been killed. They are in scores while several others are still trapped under the rubble," the spokesman said yesterday.
It is of course tragic in the extreme that such an event as this earthquake could kill so many, but the deaths of Islamists like those of al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba is not to be regretted. Good riddance to them.
The Chinese see North Korea as an important source of minerals and is investing hundreds of millions of yuan in mineral ventures, particularly the new Taean Friendship Glass Plant Resource-hungry China looks to North Korea State-run Korean Central Television in Pyongyang has not only begun regular weekly updates on the Taean Friendship Glass Plant, it has also spruced up its studio to play the part of attractive investment locale.
On Aug. 11, for the first time in North Korean news, an announcer and a reporter were shown at the same time, a man and a woman, talking with each other about the plant, said Yonhap News Agency.
A flashy new flat TV screen was also displayed in the drab studio.
"North Korea is publicizing the project positively," said an official at South Korea's Unification Ministry. "It's because the project is a symbol of the friendship between China and North Korea."
Part of the pomp surrounding the plant will be a ceremony to celebrate its completion. It will be held Monday-the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party.
Ordinary workers, meantime, are having to brave what the Workers' Party calls a cut in its "minimum wage"-from $80 (9,120 yen) to $38 (4,332 yen) a month. The idea apparently is to woo foreign investors by showcasing cheap labor.
Worker's paradise? And, this will help preserve the Dear Murdering Freak in power.
The liberal press in the U.S. Europe would have you believe that the "Israeli occupation" is the reason why Palestinian Christians have been fleeing Palestine. That is a lie. This piece starts with what is not old news, but makes a very important point.
Anti-Christian Pogrom in the West Bank
The historical Christian towns of Bethlehem and Nazereth (sic), once home to large Christian populations, have seen that population flee en masse due to Muslim intimidation and violence. As HonestReporting has documented:
● Over 100 Palestinian terrorists took over the Church of the Nativity in 2002, using it as a fortress from which to fire upon Israeli troops, while holding nuns, priests and monks hostage, and looting or destroying virtually everything of value inside the building.
● During 2000-2002, the PA's Tanzim militia chose the Christian town of Beit Jala as a base for unprovoked shooting at Jerusalem. The Tanzim were specifically positioned in or near Christian homes, hotels, churches, and the Greek Orthodox club, knowing fully well that these sites would be hard-hit by Israeli return fire.
● In 1995, Bethlehem was 62% Christian, but today is less than 20% Christian. Before 1995, Bethlehem had a majority-Christian municipal council, but when the Palestinian Authority took over the town, Yassir Arafat replaced the municipal council with a predominately Muslim council, and Christian Arabs fled Bethlehem in droves after a radical Islamic wave began inciting against them.
● On February 6, 2002, the Boston Globe reported "a rampage of Palestinian Muslims against Christian shops and churches in Ramallah... Police made no attempt to stop the mob, which besieged and damaged a widely respected youth center associated with the Boy Scouts of America after torching the Christian properties...'The truth is this is a problem between Christians and Muslims,' said one Christian businessman."
A Palestinian government under Hamas or the PLO/PA (Palestinian Authority) will spell the end of Christianity outside of Israel as Christians will be killed and Church buildings both ancient and modern will be destroyed. All the while it will be the Israelis who will be criticized, not the murderers of Hamas or the PLO/PA.
You can count on liberals and the MSM to completely ignore this situation.
Found at Pave France - From Haaretz, Haaretz investigates French FM's faux pas at Yad VashemThe French satirical magazine Le Canard Enchaine reported in its September 14th issue that during the visit of French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy to the new Holocaust museum in Jerusalem's Yad Vashem on September 8, he asked - while perusing maps of European sites where Jewish communities had been destroyed - whether British Jews were not also murdered. Needless to say, Douste-Blazy's question was met by his hosts with amazement. "But Monsieur le minister," Le Canard quoted the ensuing conversation, "England was never conquered by the Nazis during World War II."
The minister apparently was not content with this answer, which, according to the magazine, was given by the museum curator, and persisted, asking: "Yes, but were there no Jews who were deported from England?"
Douste-Blazy arrived in Israel earlier this month for a first visit, as the guest of his Israeli counterpart, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.
According to an investigation by Haaretz on Sunday, the event actually occurred as described, although no official source was willing to confirm it. Douste-Blazy did visit Yad Vashem on September 8, at 11 A.M. He was in fact escorted by the curator of the museum, his entourage from the French foreign ministry and several French reporters.
One of the escorts confirmed on Sunday, on condition of anonymity, that the quotes in Le Canard were accurate, and that they caused great embarrassment. "It's a bit difficult to understand," the source said, "how an educated French person, who was serving in the French government during the huge celebrations of the Normandy landings, does not remember basic facts about the history of World War II, and especially Britain's role, especially in light of the fact, that France's great leader, General de Gaulle, led the operations of the Resistance from exile in London."
The French embassy in Israel learned of the embarrassing incident from Le Canard.
Yad Vashem spokeswoman Iris Rosenberg said in response that the French foreign minister had visited the Holocaust memorial site at the said date and time, and that she hoped his visit was "successful and enriching."
Philippe Douste-Blazy certainly seems to be in need of significant "enrichment". A mistake such as this is less the result of ignorance of the history of the British role in the War as an assumption that the mass deportation of Jews is a normal occurrence warranting surprise at the British failure to do so.
Europe continues to be largely antisemitic.
Christopher Hitchens nails it. Anti-War, My Foot
The phony peaceniks who protested in Washington.Saturday's demonstration in Washington, in favor of immediate withdrawal of coalition forces from Iraq, was the product of an opportunistic alliance between two other very disparate "coalitions." Here is how the New York Times (after a front-page and an inside headline, one of them reading "Speaking Up Against War" and one of them reading "Antiwar Rallies Staged in Washington and Other Cities") described the two constituenciess of the event:The protests were largely sponsored by two groups, the Answer Coalition, which embodies a wide range of progressive political objectives, and United for Peace and Justice, which has a more narrow, antiwar focus.
The name of the reporter on this story was Michael Janofsky. I suppose that it is possible that he has never before come across "International ANSWER," the group run by the "Worker's World" party and fronted by Ramsey Clark, which openly supports Kim Jong-il, Fidel Castro, Slobodan Milosevic, and the "resistance" in Afghanistan and Iraq, with Clark himself finding extra time to volunteer as attorney for the génocidaires in Rwanda. Quite a "wide range of progressive political objectives" indeed, if that's the sort of thing you like. However, a dip into any database could have furnished Janofsky with well-researched and well-written articles by David Corn and Marc Cooper—to mention only two radical left journalists—who have exposed "International ANSWER" as a front for (depending on the day of the week) fascism, Stalinism, and jihadism.
The group self-lovingly calling itself "United for Peace and Justice" is by no means "narrow" in its "antiwar focus" but rather represents a very extended alliance between the Old and the New Left, some of it honorable and some of it redolent of the World Youth Congresses that used to bring credulous priests and fellow-traveling hacks together to discuss "peace" in East Berlin or Bucharest. Just to give you an example, from one who knows the sectarian makeup of the Left very well, I can tell you that the Worker's World Party—Ramsey Clark's core outfit—is the product of a split within the Trotskyist movement. These were the ones who felt that the Trotskyist majority, in 1956, was wrong to denounce the Russian invasion of Hungary. The WWP is the direct, lineal product of that depraved rump. If the "United for Peace and Justice" lot want to sink their differences with such riffraff and mount a joint demonstration, then they invite some principled political criticism on their own account. And those who just tag along … well, they just tag along.
To be against war and militarism, in the tradition of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, is one thing. But to have a record of consistent support for war and militarism, from the Red Army in Eastern Europe to the Serbian ethnic cleansers and the Taliban, is quite another. It is really a disgrace that the liberal press refers to such enemies of liberalism as "antiwar" when in reality they are straight-out pro-war, but on the other side. Was there a single placard saying, "No to Jihad"? Of course not. Or a single placard saying, "Yes to Kurdish self-determination" or "We support Afghan women's struggle"? Don't make me laugh. And this in a week when Afghans went back to the polls, and when Iraqis were preparing to do so, under a hail of fire from those who blow up mosques and U.N. buildings, behead aid workers and journalists, proclaim fatwahs against the wrong kind of Muslim, and utter hysterical diatribes against Jews and Hindus.
Read the whole thing, Mr. Hitchens supplies a solid argument to demonstrate his point.
There is absolutely nothing so evil that it will not be supported by the American and European Left. This is truly an evil political movement that seeks to promote tyranny and destroy the US and Israel.
Harry Reid, the leader of the Democratic Party in the Senate has now come out against the nomination of Judge Roberts to the Supreme Court. Now Mr. Reid is from a conservative state, and is himself opposed to abortion. Judge Roberts has made clear that there is no place on the Supreme Court for ideologues. You would think that a guy like Mr. Reid would like to make his constituents happy by supporting a nominee who reflects the views of Nevada and, at least in part, Mr Reid himself. But no, he has been given other orders.
Top Democrat Says He'll Vote No on RobertsWASHINGTON, Sept. 20 - The Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said Tuesday that he would oppose the confirmation of Judge John G. Roberts Jr. as chief justice, surprising both the White House and fellow Democrats still conflicted about how to vote.
In becoming the first Democrat to declare formally how he intended to vote, Mr. Reid may have made it more difficult for fellow Democrats to support Judge Roberts. Many Senate observers expected Mr. Reid, who comes from a Republican-leaning state and is opposed to abortion, to support Judge Roberts.
And the Democratic leader himself said Tuesday that he had earlier given the White House a list of nominees who would be objectionable and that Judge Roberts was not on it.
In announcing his decision in a lengthy speech on the Senate floor, Mr. Reid questioned Judge Roberts' commitment to civil rights and said he was "very swayed" by the civil rights and women's rights leaders who testified Thursday in opposition to the nomination - and with whom Mr. Reid met privately that same day. Liberal advocacy groups, who raise millions of dollars to support Democratic candidates and who have been putting intense pressure on Democrats to oppose the nomination, were elated.
...
One centrist Democrat, Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, said Tuesday that he had "not seen anything that would cause me to vote against" confirmation of Judge Roberts to be the nation's 17th chief justice.
Last Thursday, as Mr. Reid was weighing his decision, representatives of about 40 advocacy groups met with him in the Capitol; the reason, they said, was to underscore the threat they believe Judge Roberts poses to Democrats' core causes, racial and gender equality. Hovering in the background was a political argument, that if Democrats vote in favor of Judge Roberts, they will be held liable by voters for the decisions he makes on the court.
"He got the message loud and clear, didn't he?" Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, said of Mr. Reid on Tuesday.
Yes, he did. If a nominee who is as nonideolgical as Judge Roberts cannot get Democrat Party support, why would the President think that any nominee of his could? Of course he would not think so, and would have no reason to consider Democrat Party opinion in his next nominee.
The not-so-loyal opposition Party wants to influence the President in his choices of nominees to the Supreme Court. But if Mr. Bush has to count on Democratic Party opposition to any choice that he may make, why should he consider them at all?
Mr. Reid should be careful.
It has been a little while since the grounding of the USS San Francisco (SSN 711) has been in the news. This accident resulted in the tragic death of Machinist Mate 2nd Class Joseph Allen Ashley, 24, of Akron, Ohio. Since then the ship has been fitted with a new sonar dome, as seen in this official U. S. Navy photograph. Get an excellent high resolution copy of this photo here.
She has now arrived at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for permanent repairs. I was standing topside on USS Ohio (SSGN 726) and observed USS San Francisco driving into Sinclair Inlet and then the Shipyard.
The damage that she sustained is extremely extensive. In fact, the ship was very nearly lost. Here are some photographs of her in dry dock after her arrival in Guam shortly after the grounding (with blue tarp installed to cover stuff that is classified).
View from dry dock floor.
View from dry dock wall.
Despite the obviously very serious damage that she sustained in an accident that took a sailor's life, she will be rebuilt and in the end have greater capabilities than she had before. Trust me, I hear things in the shipyard. We will make her better than she was.
How is it that people who hate the United States have such a huge part in memorializing Americans killed in terrorist attacks? It was just a few days ago that I posted on the abomination that is to be part of the "memorial" in New York City. Now we have the obscenity of a giant Islamic crescent to be used as a "memorial" to those murdered onboard Flight. 93 in Pennsylvania. Charles Johnson has been writing on the Flight 93 "memorial" here and here. Read the articles to which he links.
Zombietime has an excellent demonstration that clearly shows that this is, without doubt, to be an Islamic crescent. Flight 93 Memorial Project
Included on zombie's page is "an azimuthal equidistant world map centered on the location of the Flight 93 Memorial which seems to indicate that the crescent is oriented toward Mecca" created by "Etaoin Shrdlu". That is the picture that you see at the top of this post. Were this to be shown on a Mercator projection we would see the great circle route.
Take a look at the PowerPoint presentation used by Paul Murdoch Associates (the architect that designed this obscenity) and see if you don't think that the Tower of Voices isn't a minaret.
In a post at Little Green Footballs, zombie writes:Listen up:
The final decision on this memorial has to be approved by The Secretary of the Interior, Gale Norton. I don't agree with some of her policies, but right now we need to set that aside and go straight to the top. Even if every intermediate decision-maker approves of the design, she can veto it. She has the final word.
Let her know that this is completely unacceptable. Gale Norton is one of the most conservative members of Bush's cabinet, so I think she will truly understand why this memorial is unacceptable.
You can send messages to her at the Department of Interior email address
gale_norton@ios.doi.gov
Or use the Web contact from (sic) on her Web page.
Phone and snail mail for her office:
Phone: (202) 208-3100
Gale Norton
Department of the Interior
1849 C St., NW
Washington, DC 20240
Do it today!
Is this any way to remember them?
As it stands now, the memorials to victims of the attacks of Islamic terrorists on 9/11/01 in New York City and Pennsylvania are mockeries. At least the Pentagon Memorial is respectful.
UPDATE 8:17 PM:
Read this splendid piece by Aaron at Pardon My English, The Politics of Architecture: The Flight 93 Memorial
Lee Keller King gets a big tip of the hat for his link to Slugger O'Toole's piece, Ill Wind may not Blow to the Whitehouse which is a reprint of a column by Newton Emerson in the Irish Times.Newton Emerson is on great form in the Irish Times today. Since it deserves a much wider play on the Internet. I have permission from him to republish it on the net. It's a rhetorical gem.
By Newton Emerson
As the full horror of Hurricane Katrina sinks in, thousands of desperate columnists are asking if this is the end of George Bush's presidency. The answer is almost certainly yes, provided that every copy of the US Constitution was destroyed in the storm. Otherwise President Bush will remain in office until noon on January 20th, 2009, as required by the 20th Amendment, after which he is barred from seeking a third term anyway under the 22nd Amendment.
As the full horror of this sinks in, thousands of desperate columnists are asking if the entire political agenda of George Bush's second term will not still be damaged in some terribly satisfying way.
The answer is almost certainly yes, provided that the entire political agenda of George Bush's second term consists of repealing the 22nd Amendment. Otherwise, with a clear Republican majority in both Houses of Congress, he can carry on doing pretty much whatever he likes.
Unlike Slugger O'Toole, I do not have permission to republish the article, so go read the whole thing. This is really good stuff.
The USS Mississippi (CGN-40) is in Dry Dock #3 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. She was decommissioned on the 28th of July, 1997. I walk past the remains of her hull as she is being cut up for recycling. When I started working in the Shipyard most of the hull was there, although the superstructure had been removed. Now there is very little left. The Virginia class of nuclear powered cruiser (CGN) were beautiful ships that were decommissioned before their time. It is a damn shame.
USS Mississippi CGN-40 Official Crew Website
The country which is still the place to which people come when truly oppressed is the United States. That does not prevent the Left from hating, insulting, and inciting violence against us. The New York Daily News had this story on the 21st of August, Another insult to America's heritage at Freedom Center [editing for format only - ed.];A global network of human rights museums is urging the International Freedom Center to downplay America in its exhibits and programs at Ground Zero, the Daily News has learned.
The outrageous request is the latest controversy to torment the Freedom Center, whose leaders have tried to dispel the perception that it would be a home for America bashers.
"Don't feature America first," the IFC has been advised by the consortium of 14 "museums of conscience" that quietly has been consulting with the Freedom Center for the past two years over plans for the hallowed site. "Think internationally, where America is one of the many nations of the world."
What, specifically was the advice that our America-hating "heroes" got?Coalition members gathered for their annual conference at a Holocaust site in the Czech Republic in July 2004 - and assailed the United States for "reasserting its power in an arrogant way," the conference report shows.
Among its suggestions for the place where the United States was attacked and nearly 3,000 innocents massacred: "The Freedom Center must signal its openness to contrary ideas."
Philip Kunhardt, the Freedom Center's editorial director, was in attendance at a session called Bringing Conscience to Ground Zero and was given this advice:
- "Help distinguish between American people and the U.S. government in exhibits ..."
- "Use reports from human rights organizations to examine contemporary abuse of rights."
- "Involve the United Nations, UNESCO and other international bodies."
- "Use the museum as a venue for international meetings, where all views are welcomed and considered."
At the conference, the coalition also leveled barbs at the IFC: "The Freedom Center is a caricature of the typical American response to everything [telling every story from an American viewpoint]."
Members of the coalition also expressed these concerns:
- "It seems that whatever Americans want, Americans get!" the conference report states. "Is the definition of the 'struggle for freedom' simply defined by the victors, or also by those engaged in ongoing struggles? Will Americans really create a balanced vision of freedom?"
- "The WTC was attacked because it was a symbol of power and influence. In building the Freedom Tower, the U.S. reasserts its power in an arrogant way: Does this mean the U.S. will not only build the biggest building, but also define freedom for the world?"
- "Many nonsecular Muslims may be very skeptical about the intent of this museum (e.g. the average Bangladeshi condemns the Sept. 11 attacks, yet at the same time feels his/her human rights have been violated by the U.S.)."
The space being given to these attacks against us is not insignificant. They will be, by far, the largest tenant at the complex with 300,000 square feet of space. The actual memorial is one sixth of that size at 50,000 square feet and one must go through the IFC in order to get to the memorial.
Deborah Weiss, in a excellent piece for The Weekly Standard, describes it, The Memorial They Deserve;...And now the families of many of them are being forced to resist efforts by the left to hijack the memorial at Ground Zero. The plan? An "International Freedom Center," to be filled with a host of anti-American exhibits and exhibits that have nothing to do with 9/11. Debra Burlingame, sister of a 9/11 pilot whose plane was crashed into the Pentagon, and a member of the board of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, first blew the whistle on these plans in a June 8 article for the Wall Street Journal.
Burlingame noted that a "Who's Who of the human rights, Guantanamo-obsessed world" would be programming the International Freedom Center, with exhibits contemplated on topics such as Jim Crow, the Holocaust, the genocide of American-Indians, and pictures from the Abu Ghraib scandal. The message? We have to understand why all these events occurred in order to gain insight into why we were attacked. Seminars will be held at the IFC, presumably explaining how America brought 9/11 on herself and why the terrorists hate us.
The International Freedom Center is to be by far the largest tenant at the World Trade Center Memorial Cultural Complex. It will cover approximately 300,000 square feet, amidst a designer park with foliage, waterfalls, and retail shops. And the Memorial Center itself? Well, that will be squirreled away underground, in an area of only 50,000 square feet: one-sixth the size of the Freedom Center. Moreover, one will have to pass through the International Freedom Center and all its propaganda in order to get to the actual memorial, where the names of those killed will be listed and artifacts from the site will be displayed.
What a perverse spectacle, to see our own citizens working so hard to smear our Country.
Liberalism is entirely and purely about hate. Hatred of all that is America and Israel, coincidentally the western democracies most interested in defending themselves. Now that the UK is defending itself, watch as it is attacked.
Read all of Deborah Weiss' column, it is very well worth it.
I have not blogged on Hurricane Katrina because there are others covering the disaster with resources much greater than mine. I am assuming that most of you, my dear readers, are also readers of Little Green Footballs. Charles' Hurricane Katrina Open Threads and his other posts are excellent sources of information, including safe places to which you can send money without being scammed. See also Glenn Reynolds' superb work at Instapundit.
If you can, please send whatever money you can to help. Be careful to avoid scammers and other disgusting criminals. If your company is starting a fund, that would probably be a good way to help. That is what I will do. The company that I work for (General Dynamic - which owns Electric Boat Corp.) is establishing a fund to which I will donate.
To understand how the Mississippi River Delta got into this state, read Wretchard's series at The Belmont Club;
The Imperfect Storm
The Imperfect Storm 2
The Imperfect Storm 3
And, pray for the victims of this tragedy.
Have you heard enough about chickenhawks? Go to the Right Wing Nut House and read about The Chickendoves.Where’s the spirit that brought us Lenin’s October Revolution? Where’s the courage that gave us Mao’s Long March? Where’s the defiance that fueled the Vietnamese in their quest to defeat the United States – a defiance made easier by your ideological ancestor’s cheering them on while calling for the defeat of the United States armed forces on the field of battle.
Face it. The reason there is no anti-war prairie fire sweeping the country is that you and your lefty friends are a pale imitation of the hard-eyed radicals that manned the battlements in the 1960’s. Those guys wanted a revolution. Your generation complains if there’s no wi-fi access. They wanted to foment mass protest. You people can’t function unless there’s a Starbucks within a couple of blocks. They were readers of Ginsberg, Sartre, and listened to songs by Joan Baez. You guys think addle brained Kurt Cobaine was a poet.
The whole world is watching and you’re sitting in front of your computer writing paeans to a witless, anti-semitic media glutton whose anti-American rants and conspiratorial flights of fancy have driven away all but the most willfully deluded among Democrats.
If you do decide to drive to Crawford and support Mother Sheehan, be careful. Your Lexus might get dusty.
It should be obvious to anyone that the establishment of a stable democracy where basic freedoms are respected would "destabilize" the Middle East and Central Asia, and that that would be very good. Let the people living in the countries that neighbor Iraq that something better is possible for them.
From Channelnewsasia.com, At least 30 wounded in Philippine ferry blastZAMBOANGA : At least 30 people including children were wounded in a suspected bomb attack on a ferry in an area of the southern Philippines plagued by Muslim insurgents, officials said Sunday.
The explosion went off while passengers were boarding the Dona Ramona ferry at the town of Lamitan on Basilan island, sparking scenes of chaos.
Nick Castro, an aide to Lamitan's mayor, said at least 19 people were initially reported wounded but vice mayor Jimmy Adong said health authorities had confirmed 24 hurt with the figure expected to rise.
Castro said the explosion appeared to have been caused by a home-made bomb although authorities were investigating.
The ferry had been just about to leave for its first morning trip to the nearby port city of Zamboanga.
The area was "in chaos", provincial spokesman Cris Puno said, with those wounded suffering severe burns caused by the blast.
A thick scent of gunpowder hung in the air, he added.
"There were children among those wounded," he said, declining to speculate when asked who could be behind the latest bombing.
The blast at Lamitan port - built using US aid money and opened by the American charge d'affaires Daryl Johnson just days ago - came after Muslim militants injured 26 people in a bomb attack on a parked vehicle and inn on August 26.
Security forces have been on heightened alert for more bombings after three suspects in the Zamboanga blast from the Abu Sayyaf group, a small gang of Islamic militants which once enjoyed support from Al-Qaeda, were freed on bail.
WorldNetDaily reports, Warship built with steel from Twin Towers.In tribute to victims of the 9-11 attack on New York City, the U.S. Navy is using 10 tons of steel from the World Trade Center to build a new warship that will help defend the nation from terrorism.
The USS New York, a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, is scheduled to be commissioned in 2008, according to the European edition of the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes.
The article goes on to discuss the appropriateness of remembering and honoring the victims of the attack in this way.
It is appropriate that it is used in a ship that will help us kill our enemies.
The most overturned court in the land, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has recently ruled that the law applies even when you might not like it.
Court upholds limit on abortion coverageSAN FRANCISCO — U.S. armed forces medical benefits don't cover abortion costs unless a mother's life is at risk, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said an abortion for a Navy sailor's wife, a Bremerton woman, wasn't covered even after the fetus was diagnosed with a fatal birth defect.
In a 3-0 ruling, the judges acknowledged the ruling was "callous and unfeeling" and said they were not judging the "wisdom, fairness or logic" of congressional legislation that limited abortions under military medical plans.
Lawmakers served a legitimate governmental purpose by denying such benefits because of "an interest in potential life," Judge Richard Tallman wrote for the San Francisco-based court.
The case concerns Jane Doe, whose real identity has been concealed, who had an abortion five months into her pregnancy when doctors said her baby would probably survive only two months. Tests in 2002 showed the baby had anencephaly, a defect that causes a fetus to develop without a forebrain, cerebellum or cranium.
Coverage for the abortion was denied, so she sued, claiming an armed-forces health plan owed her $3,000 for the procedure.
The government paid her after a judge ruled in her favor, but then it appealed to get its money back.
The court, reprinting coverage regulations, wrote: "Abortions performed for suspected or confirmed fetal abnormality ... do not fall within the exceptions permitted within the language of the statute and are not authorized for payment."
Key word - statute. Medical benefits in the Armed Forces are set by law. Of course to the pro-abortion lobby the law is unimportant.Lisa Stone, executive director of the Northwest Women's Law Center, which represented the sailor's wife, said the case was a longshot because federal funds generally cannot pay for abortions except in limited circumstances.
"We believe it was worth it to pursue it because the basis for upholding the government's ban — the interest in potential human life — does not apply here," Stone said. "There is no potential for human life."
Stone said the center was considering its next move. Options include letting the decision stand, asking the court to rehear the case with all 11 judges or seeking Supreme Court review.
Now, if we can get judges to rule according to the law, and not later apologize for it, we will be making some progress.
2 Illegal Immigrants Win Arizona Ranch in Court. Notice how the NYT sets the story up to make it look obvious that the illegal aliens were abused, whether or not they ever were.DOUGLAS, Ariz., Aug. 18 - Spent shells litter the ground at what is left of the firing range, and camouflage outfits still hang in a storeroom. Just a few months ago, this ranch was known as Camp Thunderbird, the headquarters of a paramilitary group that promised to use force to keep illegal immigrants from sneaking across the border with Mexico.
Now, in a turnabout, the 70-acre property about two miles from the border is being given to two immigrants whom the group caught trying to enter the United States illegally.
The land transfer is being made to satisfy judgments in a lawsuit in which the immigrants had said that Casey Nethercott, the owner of the ranch and a former leader of the vigilante group Ranch Rescue, had harmed them.
"Certainly it's poetic justice that these undocumented workers own this land," said Morris S. Dees Jr., co-founder and chief trial counsel of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., which represented the immigrants in their lawsuit.
Mr. Dees said the loss of the ranch would "send a pretty important message to those who come to the border to use violence."
Even if true, this is ridiculous.Bill Dore, a Douglas resident briefly affiliated with Ranch Rescue who is still active in the border-patrolling Minuteman Project, called the land transfer "ridiculous."
"The illegals are coming over here," Mr. Dore said. "They are getting the American property. Hell, I'd come over, too. Get some American property, make some money from the gringos."
The immigrants getting the ranch, Edwin Alfredo MancÃa Gonzáles and Fátima del Socorro Leiva Medina, could not be reached for comment. Kelley Bruner, a lawyer at the law center, said they did not want to speak to the news media but were happy with the outcome.
No doubt. I'd be happy too. One of the reasons that I do not post every day is that I work between 10 to 15 hours a day so that I may save a down payment for a house (not a ranch, a house). Who can be unhappy about free property? But, perhaps they were so severely abused that this was warranted.Mr. MancÃa and Ms. Leiva were caught on a ranch in Hebbronville, Tex., in March 2003 by Mr. Nethercott and other members of Ranch Rescue. The two immigrants later accused Mr. Nethercott of threatening them and of hitting Mr. MancÃa with a pistol, charges that Mr. Nethercott denied. The immigrants also said the group gave them cookies, water and a blanket and let them go after an hour or so.
Nethercott is certainly not a character with whom I would sympathize, but it does not appear that these illegal aliens were really abused. Also, on another level this is wrong. Property rights are the very foundation of our Constitution, and that is exactly what liberals are now attacking. While the Ranch Rescue people are depicted as "an extreme anti-immigration group", in America people have rights independent of their political views.
Interestingly, the New York Times was very careful to identify every player in this story except the judge.
The New York Times has lamented the lack of news coverage of heroic acts in the War in Iraq. Of course it is not like they themselves aren't a newspaper that can publish such stories and solve that problem, but of course it is better to blame the President.
Reader Lee Keller King emailed this link to me. This will make you proud.
Go and read the story of Brian Chontosh, American hero.
What kind of country is it that 40% of its population whats to leave and enter the United States? This includes all classes of people, and a willingness to do so illegally. What kink of outhouse basement is Mexico that such a thing could happen?
Well, here's the story. Poll: 40% of Mexicans want to move to U.S.More than 40 percent of Mexican adults say they would move to the U.S. if they could, and 1 in 5 say they would do so illegally if necessary, according to surveys released yesterday by the Pew Hispanic Center.
Surveys of 1,200 Mexican adults in February and 1,200 in May, conducted in their homes, show that Mexicans' rising education levels have not weakened the desire to live and work in this country.
More than a third of Mexican college graduates say they would come to the U.S. if they could, and more than 1 in 8 would do so even if they had to enter the country illegally, according to the surveys, the first of their kind.
"Contrary to what people might expect, the inclination to migrate isn't contained among Mexicans who are poor or poorly educated or with limited economic prospects," says Roberto Suro, director of the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research group in Washington. "They're distributed across the whole breadth of Mexican society."
Mexicans' willingness to come is driven by a desire to improve their economic status and join friends and family already there, Suro says.
Despite improvements in the Mexican economy, "people with college degrees believe they have greater economic opportunities by migration to the U.S. - even illegally - than they would staying at home," Suro says. Mexicans are coming from richer, urban areas as well as poor, rural regions, he says.
More than half of Mexicans say they would be inclined to come if the U.S. established a temporary worker program.
So, how far does this go before it would constitute depopulation? It would be nice if Mexico could get a grip on itself, be a bit less obscenely corrupt, and maybe create a real country. it is, I know, far too much to ask for.
It least these are people from a Christian culture who like the U.S. the way it is, and have moral values as well. Certainly they make for a better immigrant than some.
We absolutely need to get control of our border.
Via Touchstone Magazine's Mere Comments;
Pool of Siloam: It's There
The story of the man born blind, who was then healed after Jesus anointed his eyes with clay and then sent him to wash in the pool of Siloam, is one of my very favorite biblical stories. The man comes to believe in Jesus as the Son of God after being challenged by the Pharisees. It is during the argument with them that one can see his understanding grow into belief and faith. What a terrific story!
Yep.
A New Wave of Repression Justified by the OlympicsWhile a wide majority of International Olympic Committee (IOC) members were voting, on July 13, 2001, to attribute the 2008 Summer Olympics to Beijing, Chinese police received an order to step up their executions of delinquents and intensify repression against "subversive Internet users". IOC members, encouraged by their president, Juan Antonio Samaranch, who personally supported China's bid, paid no attention to the repeated calls against the Beijing bid.
The piece concludes with an apt observation.The Olympic movement was discredited in 1936, when it allowed the Nazis to make the Games a spectacle to glorify the Third Reich. In 1980, in Moscow, the IOC suffered a terrible defeat when more than 50 countries boycotted the Olympics. The Netherlands, Germany, the United States, Egypt and so many others refused to countenance the Soviet regime. In 2008, the international sporting movement must refuse to tolerate one of the world's bloodiest dictatorships.
Read the whole thing.
Han Guangsheng was the overseer of labor camps near Shenyang, China and has fled to Canada because he was sickened by his work and the corruption of the Chinese Communist government.
Former Chinese Labor Camp Chief Says Regime "Sickened" HimTORONTO—A former overseer of labor camps from the northeastern city of Shenyang, Han Guangsheng, has said he defected while on a trip to Canada because he was sickened by the level of brutality, human rights abuses and corruption in the Chinese Communist Party.
Toronto-based Han moved from a privileged position of relative luxury as the head of the Shenyang municipal judicial bureau, to a tiring life running a one-man delivery business after he defected during a visit to Canada four years ago, he told RFA's Mandarin service.
"Even though I was a high-ranking official in China...I didn’t constitute a complete human being, because I had to live my life wearing a mask and act against my conscience," Han told RFA reporter Xi Hong.
"I was greatly pained. I saw myself as just a high-paid slave and lackey. After I came here, life was very hard but I became a true human being," said Han, who also served as deputy police chief for the city.
Are there others like him? You bet.The Chinese Ministry of Commerce reported last year that 4,000 officials had escaped the country in recent years, taking an estimated five billion yuan (U.S.$617 million) in embezzled funds with them.
Chinese law enforcement agencies are hampered by a lack of extradition treaties and a poor human-rights reputation, which makes Western governments reluctant to hand over suspects who may face execution.
No one has accused Han of embezzlement, and it should be expected that the Communists would make this accusation of any official who fled and took so much as a single yuan with him.
Han does not make any claim to purity, but is looking for freedom."The way I see it, being an official in a corrupted political system, I’m afraid I cannot claim I am completely innocent," he told RFA's Mandarin service.
During his time in the Shenyang municipal government, Han oversaw the mass round-up of members of the banned spiritual movement, the Falun Gong in his area.
"At that time (1999), I protested that the labor camps were for housing criminals and not suitable for members of the Falun Gong."
The deputy municipal Party secretary told Han he had to obey orders, and said that the secretary, not Han, would take responsibility if anything went wrong. "During that period of arrest, I was a torn man," Han said.
He said that many of the Falun Gong followers were ordinary people, mostly women from respectable homes. "No matter how you look at the situation, these people were the true victims. Although I was a man of conscience, I was not able to disobey my superiors," he said.
"I can truly say I’ve not been completely innocent. But, I still have my principles. My conscience is my last defense," said Han.
Still, the Canadian government cannot seem to figure out who to keep and who to deport. We are already familiar with her protection of Islamic terrorists, here we see something else.Han's application for political asylum in Canada was rejected in April, and he faces possible deportation after the federal Immigration and Refugee Board ruled him ineligible to stay in Canada because he was a "willing accomplice" in crimes against humanity in his former job.
Lai Changxing, a former official accused of running a massive smuggling network, is one of those near the top of China's most-wanted list. But Lai has been able to stay in Canada since fleeing there in 1999 while his legal case works its way through the Canadian judicial system.
The Canadians need to figure it out. Keep the guy who wants to shed his past and make an honest and free living and deport the criminal (that would be the smuggler, for you Lefties™ who cannot tell the difference).
Matt Drudge has this, BUSH PROTESTING MOM CALLS FOR 'ISRAEL OUT OF PALESTINE'; VOWS NOT TO PAY TAXESAnti-war protestor Cindy Sheehan, whose soldier son Casey was killed in Iraq, is calling for Bush's "impeachment," and for Israel to get out of Palestine!
"You get America out of Iraq and Israel out of Palestine and you'll stop the terrorism," Sheehan declares.
Sheehan, who is asking for a second meeting with President Bush, says defiantly: "My son was killed in 2004. I am not paying my taxes for 2004. You killed my son, George Bush, and I don't owe you a penny...you give my son back and I'll pay my taxes. Come after me (for back taxes) and we'll put this war on trial."
"And now I'm going to use another 'I' word - impeachment - because we cannot have these people pardoned. They need to be tried on war crimes and go to jail."
Sorry, but she loses any sympathy that I may have had for her. Many people lose family members and loved ones without coming to this.
The comment about Israel shows that I really comes down to Left™ hatred. I would like one of these idiots to tell me where the Jews are supposed to go, or do they think that the PLO and Hamas will let them live in the middle east in peace?
Of course we all know what the real answer is, but we conservatives are the ones who are collectively "Hitler".
Russian sailors from the rescued AS-28 mini-submarine describe their ordeal.
Sailors Recount Darkness and Frigid Temperatures Aboard Russian Sub Snagged on Cables for 3 DaysThe seven men endured darkness and frigid temperatures for three days until their Russian mini-submarine was freed Sunday from the Pacific floor by a British remote-controlled vehicle as oxygen supplies dwindled.
"It was cold, cold, very cold. I can't even describe it," one crew member with reddish hair said as the sailors walked ashore with dazed looks and bloodshot eyes after their vessel was cut loose from cables that had snagged it.
The men aboard the AS-28 mini-submarine _ six sailors and a representative of the company that made the ship _ had opened the hatch and climbed out without assistance, officials said.
Six were taken to a hospital on the mainland for examination, waving to relatives as they went in. The seventh was kept aboard a hospital ship for unspecified reasons. They appeared to be in "satisfactory" condition, naval spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo said.
At the edge of the gangplank leading off the ship that brought the crew to shore, the submarine's commander Lt. Vyacheslav Milashevsky held a long and solemn salute, then a slight smile crossed his face.
He was pale but told journalists he felt "fine" before climbing into a van with the others for the trip to the hospital. Another crew member in the van looked from side to side, gazing at the green trees and gray skies.
Milashevsky's wife, Yelena, said earlier that she was overjoyed upon hearing about the rescue. "I was happy. I cried from happiness. I danced," she told Channel One television.
The men had worn thermal suits to protect them against temperatures of about 40 degrees and were told to lie flat and breathe as lightly as possible during the rescue effort, officials said. To conserve electricity, lights were turned off and contact with the surface was kept to a minimum.
The crew member with reddish hair said he felt OK and was eager to be reunited with his wife and daughter. He was then ushered in the van taking the men to the hospital and did not reply when asked his name.
Russian authorities thanked the British and praised the international effort that included the United States, but criticism quickly arose over why the nation's once-formidable navy needed outside help.
...
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, who supervised the rescue operation from a navy ship, clenched his fists and shook them in happiness when he saw the red-and-white-striped sub surfacing.
"We have seen in deeds, not in words, what the brotherhood of the sea means," he said. [Yes, we submariners do see each other as belonging to a brotherhood even across international boundaries. - ed.]
On Monday, he promised that the navy's rescue capabilities would be improved.
"The condition of the rescue service is one of our priorities and I will demand that they are maintained on the highest level," Ivanov said at a news conference.
Read the whole story, there is some interesting detail. And yes, it was fishing nets.
Again, thank God that they are safe.
Lump on a Blog has a piece on the efforts to deny the new terrorist President of Iran a visa to enter the United States to speak at the (terror supporting) UN.
The centerpiece is from the Financial Times
From the Petition;WE, the undersigned, as members of the civilized freedom-loving people of the world, call urgently to prevent Terror/ Torture Master Ahmadinejad entering United States:
1- Mahmood Ahmadinejad is not elected president of Iran. Great Majority of Iranian people boycotted sham election and they have not participated in the recent Islamic election.
2- Ahmadinejad stepped on a picture of an American flag on his way to vote. Iranian nation have deep respect for all countries flag specially the American flag which is a cherished national symbol of freedom-loving American people and home of million Iranian-American people. Ahmadinejad is not a representative Iranian Nation.
3- Ahmadinejad plotted many dissident's murder and was directly involved in the 1989 assassination of Iranian exile Kurdish opposition leader Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou and two other Kurdish politicians in Vienna, Austria. A murderer and Terrorist is not a representative of freedom-loving Iranian Nation.
4- According to Ahmadinejad himself, he has executed at least 1000 freedom-loving Iranian people in the prison and he was known as “Tir Khalas Zan”, literally meaning “he who fires coup de grace”. Many female former political prisoners raped by Ahmadinejad. Such a dirty person and virus is not president of Iran.
5- Ahmadinejad is responsible for “Lovers of Martyrdom Garrison” in Iran that would recruit individuals willing to carry out suicide operations against Western targets. Do not allow this Terrorist to put his foot on US soil and enter UN.
6- Ahmadinejad played a central role in the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran in November 1979 and he was key American hostage-taker for the 444-day.
How can you accept and allow this Brutal Man, Thug, Terror and Torture Master to put his foot on US soil and attend the UN General Assembly in New York?
Read his post and then go and sign the petition.
At least one writer in South Korea sees the danger of coddling the North. We Boost North Korea's Confidence at Our Peril by Kim Dae-joongThe North Korean regime seems to have gained in self-confidence regarding its relations with South Korea. A recent squabble over taking down a statue of General Douglas MacArthur, a hero of the Korean War to some, and a remark by Prof. Kang Jeong-koo of Dongguk University that the Korean War was fought for "unification” send a signal the National Liberation forces, hibernating since their suppression by South Korea's anti-Communist forces, are emerging above ground. Amid a climate where leftist or pro-North Korean forces in the Roh Moo-hyun administration have boosted aid to the North and increased the frequency of inter-Korean events while promoting the posthumous award of a medal to a leader of the former Korea Communist Party, the NL forces are at last showing their faces above the parapet to ride anti-American sentiment and a mood of inter-Korean cooperation.
A North Korea expert says the NL, pro-Pyongyang forces that infiltrated campuses and academic circles, have concentrated on education and propaganda since the 1980s democratization movement following a time in hiding under the military regimes. Now, he says, they are reasserting themselves on the back of Seoul’s "sunshine policy" and a new mood of nationalism. Recently, too, a retired general involved in a drive for a veterans body to counter the Korean Veterans Association proudly revealed that his father was a member of the South Worker’s Party of Korea, while a protester at a rally against the MacArthur statute reportedly shouted, "Yes, I'm Red. What are you going to do about it?"
...
But it is a fantasy that it would contribute to security on the Korean Peninsula and peaceful coexistence if North Korea took advantage of this mood, as the pro-Pyongyang forces would have us believe. We need only to listen to North Korean defector Kim Tae-san, who said the only way for North Korea to survive its structural food and power shortages “is eventually to get a hold over all of South Korea -- that is Kim Jong-il’s innermost aspiration." That these developments are taking place even as North Korea’s dismal human rights record and its desperate economic plight and food shortages are exposed to the glare of world attention is one the great historic ironies.
Liberals in South Korea who appease evil, as they do everywhere, could precipitate one of the great tragedies of history. Should the Dear Monster geat his hands on South Korea - "unifying the peninsula" then millions of innocent people would be simply murdered even after the completion of the conquest. It does not seem to us now that this is possible, but the past two generations of South Koreans have no experience with war or communism and have been thoroughly propagandized by the same kind of academic Leftists™ that we have here in the United States.
South Korea needs to inflict political defeat on her liberals in order to stay secure in her fight against Communism, as we in the U.S. have to defeat our liberals in out fight against Islam.
Neither of us can afford to lose the fight.
Some of my brother submariners are in extremis.
U.S. relief crew on way to Russian subThe drama started Thursday when the propeller of the AS-28 mini-submarine became entangled in fishing nets or cable during a military exercise off the Kamchatka Peninsula on Russia's east coast.
The mishap left the sub nearly 625 feet down on the Pacific floor in Beryozovaya Bay, 43 miles south of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on the southern end of the peninsula.
The sailors could not swim to the surface nor could divers reach the vessel because it is too deep at 190 meters (623 feet) below the surface, said Russian navy spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo.
Interfax reported Federov as saying early Saturday that the sub had been dragged 100 meters closer to the coast in an effort to get it to shallower water.
Crew members understand their situation and are not panicking, Dygalo said.
They were asked to lower their physical activity level, save electricity, and try to keep themselves warm. He said crew members had enough food and water for five days.
A U.S. Air Force C-5 carrying two robotic submersibles and 40 submariners, divers and other experts left Friday afternoon from the San Diego North Island Naval Station in California for the estimated 10-hour flight to Russia.
Once there, the crew and the rescue vehicles -- called Super Scorpios -- will be put aboard a Russian surface ship and taken to the site.
The Super Scorpios -- equipped with video cameras, lights and agile robotic arms that can cut up to one inch of steel cable -- will be piloted remotely and used to untangle the mini-sub, the Navy said.
Thank God that the Russians quickly asked for our help, and pray that we can succeed.
UPDATE:
The Russian Commander of the Pacific Fleet says that they have sufficient air until Monday. I pray that he is right.
Here is a Euronews report with video.
UPDATE 2
The Brits are an the way also. Here is video from the BBC that includes a look inside of a similar mini-submarine.
Hurry, hurry.
UPDATE 3
SUCCESS! Thanks be to God!PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, Russia -- A Russian mini-submarine that was trapped for nearly three days under the Pacific Ocean surfaced Sunday after a British remote-controlled vehicle cut away the undersea cables that had snarled it, news agencies reported.
The AS-28 made an emergency surfacing and appeared on the water at around 4:26 p.m. local time, ITAR-Tass and RIA-Novosti reported. The condition of the vessel's seven-member crew was not immediately known, though naval officials had been in regular contact with the crew, who faced dwindling oxygen and chilly temperatures.
Many think that forgiving the loans of third world countries is a good thing to do. They forget that people (or companies, or countries) that do not pay on their loans do not get new ones.
Mugabe rebuffed by China"While they (the Chinese) are willing to provide infrastructural help on generous credit terms, they are not willing to throw huge amounts of money at us," according to an anonymous Zimbabwean official who was party to the talks.
Chinese officials fear the loan would never be repaid. Mr Mugabe had offered China farming concessions and even stakes in foreign-owned mines in his country but this was not enough, the paper said.
In the past, Mr Mugabe has tried to swing similar deals with Libya, offering generous cuts of the farming and mining sector in return for petroleum and hard cash. Three years ago Libya abruptly suspended trade with Mr Mugabe because the promised concessions never materialised, leaving the north African country with a sizeable debt it is unlikely to recover.
To forgive all loans to the third world, rather than assist in developing an economy, will condemn millions to continued misery.
Of course the subject country must be willing to develop a free market.
