The Greedy Capitalist

'The Passion' a Hit Among Arabs

CAIRO, Egypt -- Hanan Nsour, a veiled, 21-year-old Muslim in Jordan, came out of "The Passion of the Christ" in tears and pronounced her verdict: Mel Gibson's crucifixion epic "unmasked the Jews' lies and I hope that everybody, everywhere, turns against the Jews." The Quran, though, says Jesus's crucifixion never happened. Such are the contradictions that are welling up as the Arab world deals with "The Passion," even as the film draws large audiences in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and other Arab countries that have approved it for screening. In the Arab world, openly voiced anti-Semitism -- and by extension the warm reception for "The Passion" -- is bound up in the Arab conflict with Israel. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, after watching the film at his compound in the West Bank, was quoted by an aide as likening Jesus' suffering to the Palestinians'.

"Your Attention Please"

I think this is my favorite Cox & Forkum cartoon yet:

You can read my commentary here.

"Ask for Death!"

A deeply disturbing video about the systematic, government-run campaign to instill death worship in generations of children by the Palestinian Authority. Compared to this, Nazi brainwashing was child’s play. For more, check out my gallery of PLO child abuse.

This dialogue from the video comes from two 11-year-old Palestinian girls:

Host: "You described Shahada as something beautiful. Do you think it is beautiful?"

Walla: "Shahada is very, very beautiful. Everyone yearns for Shahada. What could be better than going to paradise?"

Host: "What is better, peace and full rights for the Palestinian people, or Shahada?"

Walla: "Shahada. I will achieve my rights after becoming a Shahida."

Yussra: "Of course Shahada is a good thing. We don’t want this world, we want the Afterlife. We benefit not from this life, but from the Afterlife... The children of Palestine have accepted the concept that this is Shahada, and that death by Shahada is very good. Every Palestinian child aged, say 12, says ’Oh Lord, I would like to become a Shahid." [PATV, June 9, 2002]

P.S. Can you think of someone who expressed a similar sentiment?

Excellent op-ed at TCS: Which Anti-Terror Model Do You Like?

Pin the Tale on the Donkeys

A satirical video demonstrates the hypocrisy of leftist politicians who accuse Bush of lying about Iraq – when they themselves made the same claims. But the truly revealing thing the video shows is that peaceniks don’t find this hypocrisy new or shocking – they don’t let small things like facts get in the way of their dogma.

The UN supports terrorism

It has become obvious to any honest individual that the UN is essentially a pulpit for dictators, communists, and looters of all sorts to attack and demand welfare from the few free countries of the world.

The latest resolution against Israel condemned "the most recent extrajudicial execution committed by Israel" and "all attacks against any civilians as well as all acts of violence and destruction." This was for the killing of a man “responsible for the deaths of 377 Israelis in at least 425 terrorist attacks over the past three-and-a-half years of the Palestinian Authority's war against Israel.” How many resolutions were passed to condemn the murder of all those innocent people? How many resolutions were passed against brainwashing and sending little boys who “don’t want to die” to blow themselves up? You guessed it – zero. No, the UN cannot even be accused of pacifism –the latest vote demonstrates its open support of terrorists.

Lest we forget that UN representatives represent the policies of the nations they represent, here are the nations that voted to support this mass-murdering “spiritual leader:” China, Russia, France, Angola, Chile, Pakistan, Spain, Algeria, Benin, Brazil, and the Philippines.

Hamas leaders are cowards after all

If you believe the mainstream media you might think that it’s “common knowledge” that Israel’s policy of assassinating terrorist masterminds creates more violence. New Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal would like you to believe that:

Your leaders, chaired by Sharon, will only bring you destruction. Blood begets blood. The Palestinian people can endure a long struggle and if you think that the confrontation will exhaust it then you are deluded. You will lose.

Rantisi said similar things just last year, after he himself survived an Israeli targeted strike: "By G-d we will not leave one Jew alive in Palestine."
... "Sheikh Ahmad Yassin rest in peace. They will never enjoy rest. We will send death to every house, every city, every street in Israel!"

A 16 [edit:14]-year-old Palestinian with a suicide bomb vest strapped to his body was caught at a crowded West Bank checkpoint Wednesday, setting off a tense encounter with Israeli soldiers whom the army said he was sent to kill.
The family of the teenager, identified as Hussam Abdo, said he was gullible and easily manipulated.
"He doesn't know anything, and he has the intelligence of a 12 year old," said his brother, Hosni.
"He told us he didn't want to die. He didn't want to blow up," Milrad said.
The military said Abdo's mission was to kill soldiers at the crowded checkpoint.
"In addition to the fact that he would have harmed my soldiers, he would have also harmed the Palestinians waiting at the checkpoint, and there were 200 to 300 innocent Palestinians there," said the commander of the checkpoint, who identified himself only as Lt. Col. Guy.
Several teenagers have carried out suicide bombings over the past 3 1/2 years, and there has been recent concern that militant groups were turning to younger attackers to elude Israeli security checks.
Abdo, though 16, looked far younger, and the Israeli military initially said it believed he was 10 years old.

The number of suicide bombings and the number of victims has dropped, with 142 Israelis killed in 22 bombings in 2003, compared to 214 killed in 53 bombings in 2002. Analysts attributed the drop to Israel's partially built West Bank barrier, beefed-up intelligence and Hamas leaders' fear of assassination.

Hamas leader killed in Israeli airstrike

Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of Hamas was just killed in an Israeli airstrike. MSNBC was quick to point out that he was a quadriplegic, but not that he has been planned uncounted terrorist attacks, openly assassinated IDF soldiers, and murdered many Palestinian “spies.” Earlier this year, he made his stance clear: "Muslims should threaten Western interests and strike them everywhere." We should celebrate the fact that Israel has made it's anti-terrorist stance clear – and demand that our leaders do likewise.

Socialist cave-in part of al Qaeda plan

Al Qaeda document:

We think the Spanish government will not stand more than two blows, or three at the most, before it will be forced to withdraw because of the public pressure on it,...
If its forces remain after these blows, the victory of the Socialist Party will be almost guaranteed -- and the withdrawal of Spanish forces will be on its campaign manifesto.

Terrorists Bomb Madrid Trains

I’m sure that you’ve all heard of the Madrid bombings this morning that killed 190 and injured over 1200 people. While the Spanish government initially blamed Basque separatists, new evidence implicates Islamic fundamentalists, possibly cooperating the separatists. I have two observations to make about this:

Unlike Islamic fundamentalists, the Basque separatists are not death-worshipping suicide bombers. They did this expecting not only to get away their act, but also to survive long enough to reap the political benefits. What policies of the Spanish government and the larger war on terrorism led them to that conclusion?

Aside from the lackluster and self-defeating American response to 9/11, the European response to terrorism has been to portray Islamic fundamentalists as victims and America as the aggressor. If the Basque separatists anticipated the same attitude to be extended to them, they now expect a wave of sympathy for their cause, an attack on the Spanish government as the “imperialist aggressors” and a military response designed to capture their “hearts and minds” rather their bloody hearts and splattered brains.

So how did the Spanish politicians react? Did they pledge to hunt down and kill every single terrorist behind this attack? Did they renew their dedication to destroying the global terrorist network that is almost certainly at least partially behind this atrocity?

Three days of national mourning were declared and thousands of people took part in spontaneous anti-terror rallies across the country Thursday. The government called for nationwide anti-ETA demonstrations on Friday evening, and millions were expected.

The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution expressing outrage and urging Bush to "provide all possible assistance to Spain" in pursuing the terrorists.

The Arabic newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi said it had received a claim of responsibility issued in the name of al-Qaida…. This is part of settling old accounts with Spain, the crusader, and America's ally in its war against Islam," the claim said.

Islam, the "Far-Right"

I think the title says it all: "Iraqi women juggle freedom, 'moral duty'"
And if you weren't clear enough on what Islam is about:

It's my moral duty to stay in the house," Hassan says, describing the life of a traditional Shiite Muslim wife. "Going out and being seen outside the house is against tradition. People will criticize a woman who leaves her house. This will create trouble for a woman in the community and trouble with her husband.

In other news, I often wonder what the labels "far-right" and "moderate" mean when referring to foreign political movements. The NYT has some clues:

Jörg Haider, the far-right political leader, brought his party an unanticipated victory in his home province Sunday… In final results, the Freedom Party had 42.4 percent of the vote, and the Socialists 38 percent.

Many blame Mr. Haider for the party's national demise. He has been notorious for past remarks that sounded sympathetic to the Nazis and contemptuous of Jews, a visit with Saddam Hussein on the eve of the Iraq war and a friendship with Libya's leader, Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi.

Who stands to benefit from civil unrest in Iraq?

AlJazeera Poll: "Who stands to benefit from civil unrest in Iraq?"

Neighbouring Arab country : 13%
Neighbouring non-Arab country : 3%
Israel and the US : 38%
Internal Iraqi groups : 19%
Combination of the above : 12%
Unsure : 15%

There might be infiltrators attacking the Shia to make it appear they are being targeted by Sunnis and the other way round. It is in the interest of both (Iraqi) Sunnis and Shia to agree on putting out this fire and not to react to such provocations," said Shaikh Salman al-Udah.

Applied Death Worship 101

A wave of suicide bombings and mortar attacks on vast crowds of Shiite worshippers has killed at least 170 people in Baghdad and Karbala. ... The near-simultaneous attacks ripped through an annual ritual, banned under Sunni Saddam Hussein, during which Shiites beat their heads and chests and cut their heads with swords to honour a revered figure killed in battle 1,324 years ago.

Drudge has a review on the new book "Rumsfeld's War." Drudge picks out the primary reason why pacifists of all flavors despise him: “Rumsfeld changed the rules of fighting against terrorists, focusing on one primary goal- killing them.” Amen!
Update: The Washington Times has another good story on the book.

An Islamic "human rights" group

The video you are about to watch is a rap video designed to inspire people to take up jihad against the West. Posted on a radical Islamic website based out of the United Kingdom, the video is undeniably entertaining, as professionally produced as any video you might see on MTV. Consider the irony: radical fundamentalism, sworn to destroy Western culture and beliefs, uses that culture to market its hate. Paralleling the same deception, the Islamic organization that produced and marketed this video claims to be an Islamic "human rights" group but in reality is a group sworn to support the killing of Jews, Christians and moderate Muslims.

"A religion of peace"

MINA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — The cleric who delivered the sermon Friday at the annual hajj pilgrimage had a simple request: God grant victory to Muslims fighting around the world.

The prayer by Sheik Saleh al-Taleb to 500,000 people in Mecca's Grand Mosque and nearby streets came as the hajj neared its climax.

"Oh God, give victory to the mujahedeen (holy warriors) everywhere," al-Taleb said. "Give them victory in Palestine. Oh God, make the Muslims triumphant and destroy their enemies, and make this country and other Muslim countries safe. Oh God, inflict your wrath on the criminal Zionists."

More depraved leftist hypocrisy

Get this: according to the leftists, even one civilian death was unacceptable when our troops went after Saddam. However, when it comes to the “anti-occupation resistance,” innocent deaths are perfectly fine, says a prominent leftist pundit:

Do you think the anti-war movement should be supporting Iraq's anti-occupation resistance?
"Yes, I do. We cannot afford to be choosy. While we abhor and condemn the continuing loss of innocent life in Iraq, we have no choice now but to support the resistance, for if the resistance fails, the “Bush gang” will attack another country. If they succeed, a grievous blow will be suffered by the Bush gang."

Did Saddam bribe anti-war politicians with oil money?

Apparently, it was all about the grease:

Claims that dozens of politicians, including some from prominent anti-war countries such as France, had taken bribes to support Saddam Hussein are to be investigated by the Iraqi authorities. The US-backed Iraqi Governing Council decided to check after an independent Baghdad newspaper, al-Mada, published a list which it said was based on oil ministry documents.

Israel moving forward with plan to release 400 Arab prisoners

Israel is releasing over 430 terrorists (many of whom are known to have planned and carried out terrorist attacks) in exchange for a single businessman abducted in 2000 by the Hezbollah. While this is a great example of the difference between the value Israelis and the terrorists place on human life, I wonder how many more people will be killed/abducted by the 400 released terrorists. What do you think? How do you think American politicians would act in such a situations?
From the article:

"[the] next phase in the deal may involve Iran, which along with Syria is the main financial backer of Hezbollah"...
Some Israeli commentators and right-wing politicians worried that the deal rewards terrorism and could lead to other kidnappings...Asked if Hezbollah would seek other hostages if these deals fell through, Sheik Nasrallah said at the news conference: "Yes. Of course."

Tiananmen in London

This TCS op-ed has to be the most insightful article on the peace movement I’ve ever read.

And here we begin to see why there is this strange and unholy alliance between idealistic liberalism, the vestiges of the old socialist left, traditional third world authoritarians, and the unrelenting forces of Islamic totalitarianism, theocracy, and terror. However various their ideas of what is the good, all are united in their desire for an enforced law of the good. Even elements of the human rights movement, much of the anti-globalist community, and a large swatch of the philanthropic world -- the so-called NGOs -- still yearn for a government that, through sumptuary laws, high taxation, political correctness, and entitlements, would force to happen what people ought to, but do not make happen of their own free will.

Interesting story about the hunt for Saddam @ Newsweek: "Saddam struggled and spat, until a commando slugged him."

Palestinians react to Saddam's Capture

Jerusalem Post:

Fathi Salman, 50, a taxi driver, described the arrest of Saddam as a "black day" for the Palestinians. "This is a black day for all the Palestinians and all the Arabs and Muslims," he said. "I still can't believe that President Saddam has been captured by the Americans. Saddam was the only Arab leader who cared about us. He supported the Palestinian cause from the beginning. His arrest is a major setback for the Palestinians. It's a pity that he didn't fight."

Khairiyeh Said, 43, a high-school teacher, said she wept when she watched Saddam in captivity. "I was sitting with my friends when we heard the bad news," she added. "We all started crying because we love Saddam and we hate [US President George W.] Bush and [Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon. This is a big victory for Bush and Sharon and all the enemies of the Palestinian people. We hope the Iraqi resistance will now teach the American dogs a good lesson."
...
During the past three years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, Saddam sent millions of dollars to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including US$25,000 for the family of each suicide bomber and US$10,000 for each Palestinian killed in fighting with Israelis.

"I love him so much, I can't stand watching it while he's in custody," Raafat Logman, 23, said as he was shooting pool. "We are surprised. We are so sad," said Sameh Aloul, 22.

Saddam Hussein Captured Alive

"It's true," said a U.S. intelligence official in Baghdad about the arrest of the former dictator. The official wouldn't give any more details except to confirm that the former dictator had been detained the night before... Celebratory gunfire erupted across Baghdad as the news of the fallen Iraqi president's arrest spread across the town. Iraqis showed their joy that the brutal leader had been detained by firing bursts of automatic weapons fire into the air.

Update:
Not surprisingly, liberals are distraught over Saddam’s capture. One remarks "Sigh. All I can think about is the effect of Saddam's capture on the Dean campaign! ... Somebody cheer me up, please!"
Leftists everywhere are secretly (and sometimes openly) hoping for more casualties. The media is doing their part too: not more than a few minutes after the story broke, (yes, I was up) I saw headlines on CNN and MSNBC proclaiming “Saddam’s capture could lead to more violence.” The headlines seem to have disappeared after Iraqis everywhere decided to celebrate rather than vow revenge. Anyway, I have to go work on my data mining project, so read up on the story at Hootinan and the Command Post.

Ever wonder how a terrorist thinks?

December 1, 2003 -- WONDER why Muslim terrorists have targeted Muslim nations such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia? Try reading the rants of Zacarias Moussaoui, the bored al Qaeda jihadist sitting in a U.S. jail.

Moussaoui, the Osama bin Laden loyalist charged as the "20th hijacker," has scrawled hundreds of motions from his Alexandria, Va., cell, offering a glimpse into the twisted mind of a terrorist.

Among other things, he plainly sees "half an enemy" as more contemptible than a full one.

Some of Moussaoui's writings are just sick. He mocks victims of the 9/11 attacks and talks of attacking the next World Trade Center. Often he ends a motion with a request for a Boeing 747-400 with "1st class, no smoking, no alcohol, no women and one day Allah willing, no landing."

The most frequent targets of his scorn and ridicule are U.S. Judge Leonie Brinkema, who's gone to great lengths to accommodate his bizarre defense methods, and the "blood sucker" government-appointed defense lawyers who are trying to save him from the lethal needle.

He labels Brinkema "little bitch" and "dirty joke" and "daughter of evil." He's furious that she's a woman in what he sees as a man's job. He mocks his Jewish lawyer with various anti-Semitic insults, refers to an Asian-American attorney as "Kamikaze" and calls others of his defense team "fat megalo pig" and "racist."

He barely comments on the prosecutors. These enemies are a fact of life to Moussaoui. Indeed, He wrote of his defense team: "The fact that I do not trust them - unlike the government - prevents me to receive legal advice. Let me be clear that I find them so repulsive as unbelievers that I never even shake their hand."

What disgusts him most are phony pals. Moussaoui believes his own defense lawyers - and the "death judge" - are just as committed to killing him as Bush and the prosecutors.

The same "logic" holds for "fellow" Muslims. In recent motions, Moussaoui has slammed Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad as the "traitor of Golan" and Mohamed VI as the "Jewish King of Morocco" for cooperating with the "wicked Anglo-Zionist persecution" of fellow al Qaeda terrorist Mohammed Zammar.

To al Qaeda, Islam is about death: Just days before the bombings in Turkey, Moussaoui chillingly declared, "Jihad Strike - Ramadan is the Jihad month where all the Mujahids increase their operations (especially suicide ones) . . . no drink, no food, no woman, only blood."

It boils down to this: Kill everyone, especially the Muslim "pretenders," until the only people left all think like him.

Brian Bloomquist is a reporter in The Post's Washington Bureau.

More death-worship from the Palestinians. Anyone who still thinks only a minority of Palestians support terrorism is living in a fantasy world.

Researchers who found that young Muslims were to blame for many attacks on Jews were told several times by the European Union to change their conclusions, they said yesterday.
The report's authors responded yesterday by saying their findings had been shelved because criticism of Muslims did not fit in with the centre's agenda.
... They had found that young Muslims, particularly immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa, were responsible for much of the rise in anti-Semitism. The far-Right and some Left-wing anti-globalisation activists were also partly to blame, they said.

The Palestinian people does not exist.

I came across a revealing quote today:

The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct 'Palestinian people' to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa. While as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan.

Truth on Campus

Laurel mentioned a story about "a group of students at Stanford University in California [who are] demanding the ouster of the editor of the school's student paper because it published an ad with pictures of Palestinians celebrating the 9/11 attacks." The story inspired be to make the below image, which I recommend you add to your own website and link to http://campustruth.org

Here is the code:
<img src="http://rationalmind.net/images/ProIsrael1.gif" alt="The Truth About Israel" width="160" height="105" border="0">

Arafat’s Looted Billions

CBS has some interesting revelations about Arafat’s finances. According to the story, he embezzled 1 to 3 billion dollars and directed it to his secret accounts in Israel and the Cayman islands. His wife receives a $100,000/month stipend for a lavish Paris mansion. He has looted billions from money that Israel gives to support the PLO, as well as the aid given by the US and other sources. He “financed a vast patronage system” to support his regime. He maintained “a system of monopolies in commodities -- like flour and cement -- that Arafat handed out to his cronies, who then turned around and fleeced the public.” The story just gets better and better: “The PLO's former treasurer told us he saw Saddam Hussein hand Arafat a $50 million check for supporting him during the first Gulf War. And there were other large gifts from the KGB and the Saudis.”

What the article doesn’t mention, is that Arafat’s corruption has been pointed out by Palestinians before: however they were harassed, imprisoned, or usually murdered before the western media paid it any attention. It was only the mass public revolt by the Palestinian public (How many papers printed that story?) that forced him to appoint an honest finance minister.

I was surprised to learn that among the billions looted by Arafat were millions in tax funds that Israel gave to support the PLO according to the Oslo accord. I don’t have any words to describe how atrocious and inexcusable it is for the Israeli government to agree to finance its own destruction by money stolen from the very citizens it exists to protect.

Al-Qa'ida website hosted in Houston, TX

Did you know that Al-Qa'ida has an official website? Unfortunately for Al-Qa'ida, its former webmaster met an untimely demise in Saudi Arabia last month, but their website has been up and down since then under various domains. The site is no joke: "Al Qaeda is said to use this site as a means of communicating with their cells."
I did a little background checking on the web servers providing the hosting and DNS services. Three locations came up: Madinah, Saudi Arabia, Ashburn, VA, and Houston, TX. I'm suprised they didn't just host it in NYC.
For a sample of the content, check out this Free Republic post. Needless to say, a number of web servers in Ashburn, Houston, and Saudi Arabia were hacked last month under not-so mysterious circumstances.
(See for yourself: do a WHOIS on islamray.org and faroq.org)

Update: Wired reports that "[The Al-Qa'ida] site is familiar with certain hosting companies, exploiting their security problems and cracking confidential passwords." I've never heard of a "site" that could hack, but I can't say whether the web hosts in question knew which sites they were (are?) hosting. If you're wondering whether terrorist groups really have the balls to host their websites in America, I suggest you check out this tutorial on how to shut down a Hamas website.

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the Beirut suicide attacks that killed 241 Marines. How have our politicians commemorated the first victims in the terrorist’s war against America? By demanding that we open up trade with Cuba. Dictators of terrorist regimes don’t pose any threat to America…right?

Abbas' Resignation

Yahoo reports that Abbas has resigned as prime minister and Arafat is once again in charge of the terrorist support organization known as the PLO. Has the “peace process” failed? Are more attacks on Israel forthcoming?

I think that the “resignation” is a positive turn of events in Israel's war against terrorism. Despite the pretence of change in the Palestinian leadership, Abbas was never in charge of the PLO. He has been Arafat’s close confederate for many years and is just as responsible for the terrorism the PLO has carried out as Arafat. When Bush made it clear to Arafat that he would refuse to deal with him, Arafat chose his right-hand man as a puppet through whom he expected to prolong his hold on power. My guess is that Abbas was so impressed with the respect he got from Bush and Sharon, that he let his position go to his head and crossed Arafat. In an attempt to gain legitimacy, he supported a truce between Israel and the three main terrorist organizations (Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades) that was doomed from the start. In retaliation, Arafat used his control over the terrorist groups intensify the attacks on Israel, ending the "truce," and dispelling any pretense that Abbas was in charge of the PLO or able to control the terrorist groups under Arafat’s leadership.

Abbas’ ouster benefits Israel because Bush cannot pressure Israel to negotiate with any more terrorists, at least not until Arafat chooses another collaborator to present as his "successor." With Abbas out of the picture, Israel can resume its badly-needed hunt for terrorist leaders. If its attacks are to be successful however, they must not be tainted with the same timid uncertainty and moral compromising as America’s attack on Iraq. As Mike pointed out, during the latest failed attack on the head of Hamas, “the attack failed because Israel used a smaller bomb to avoid harming civilians.” Israel may have saved a civilian life or two, but by failing to kill the leader of Hamas, it has virtually guaranteed that dozens of innocent Israeli civilians will die. If he wants to win the war, (and that’s what it is) Sharon must learn to stop apologizing for civilian casualties and defend Israel with the same uncompromising and unrelenting attitude as those who wish to destroy it.

Where are the lefties now?

LFG has created an interesting gallery of PLO child abuse. Looking at pictures like this makes me wonder one thing -- where are all the outraged leftists? Oh that's right, protecting the Palestinians' "right" to teach their kids to be good little suicidal terrorists.

More Killers Released

Someone should knock on Sharon's head and say "What the hell are you thinking!?" Ah well, nothing like some random thoughts to calm me down.

Where are the liberals now?

Hotinan asks a good question -- does teaching your children to be bloodthirsty suicidal killers qualify as child abuse? Oh, that's right, it's Sharon's fault that these kids are being raised as homicidal maniacs...(just ignore the adults cheering them on in the back)

Anyone still holding any delusions about the nature of PLO/Hamas should read Mike's latest editorial on the "peace process" and this dated by still very relevant essay: "Do the Palestinians Deserve a State?"

Hippies: I knew they were good for something...

My mom and sister are

My mom and sister are currently on vacation in Israel, visiting my grandmother and many other relatives. With that in mind, I found the following post from James Lileks to be an eloquent summary of my current thoughts on the "peace process":

The top-of-the-hour radio news played today's news just as you'd expect - everything shoved through the tit-for-tat template. Israel attempts to take out a terror leader; Hamas "responds" with a bombing. As if they're equal. As if targeting the car that ferries around some murderous SOB is the same as sending a blissed-out teenager to blow nails and screws through the flesh of afternoon commuters so he can bury himself in the heaving bosom of the heavenly whorehouse. Cycle of violence, don't you know.

They don't have helicopters, we're told, so they use suicide bombers. If they had helicopters, they would have strafed the bus and everyone waiting at the corner. Give them a nation where Hamas runs unchecked, and they'll have helicopters. They won't be Apaches. The bill of sale will be calculated in Euros and the manual written in French. By then the excuse for the terror won't be oppression; it'll be "the legacy of oppression." Sometimes I swear the mainstream media won't take a look at the Palestinian's horrid death-cult subculture until we learn that a suicide bomber played "Doom" at an Internet cafe for five minutes. And then they'll blame Intel.

Also, check out today's Cox and Forkum

JIHAD IN THE PRESENT TIME

Take a look at "JIHAD IN THE PRESENT TIME," an "essay" found on a mainstream Pakistani Islamic website. The writer asks:

Has jihad now become binding on every Muslim?

...and provides the answer:

Until Islam as a Way of Life dominates the whole of the world and until Allah's Law is enforced everywhere in the world, it is binding and incumbent upon the Muslims to fight on against the disbelievers

Every Muslim is bound to continue fighting against the disbelievers as long as they in any part of the world have power and strength enough to persecute the Muslims and as long as a person desiring to accept Islam is reluctant to do so jut because he fears to be persecuted and tortured by the disbelieves and it he somehow enters the fold of Islam, he becomes a target of their (i.e. the disbelievers') oppression.

The object of Jihad in this case is the Indian army in Kashmir, but the essay provides a large number of quotes and commentary from the Qur'an which you may judge for yourself. The writer is a leader within the Hizbul Mujahideen, a quasi-military outfit sanctioned by the Pakistani government. (Thanks to BOL for the link.)

New Saddam's in Circulation

A brief lesson in central banking: after a number of sources reported that the Saddam's dinar is gaining against the dollar, the new Iraqi government is printing new dinars -- complete with a photo of the deposed dictator on the front. Why? The dinar gained value against the dollar after the fall of the old regime becuase people thought no more would be printed. Printing massive amounts of currency is a favorite means of goverments to finance their Statist schemes, and an end to the old currency meant that the amount of dinars in the economy would be more or less fixed, increasing it's utility as a currency. However, Iraqi bureaucrats wouldn't let the demise of the dinar's namesake stop such an easy and tempting source of revenue, so it looks like the printing presses will keep on rolling. Even if a new currency replaces the old Saddam dinar, it may still prove to be more popular (and valuable) if the people have reason to mistrust the soundness of the currency, just as the pre-1991 "Swiss dinar" is much more valuable than the Saddam dinar now.

"The two faces of Arab terror"

The following post by David Horowitz is a great summary of the "peace process" in the Middle East:

As the Road Map continues, it is every day evident that for Arabs, peace is war continued by other means. Thus it was with the Oslo "Peace Process" which demanded words from the Palestinians and deeds from the Israelis, and led to land for the Arabs and suicide bombers for the Jews. Thus it is with the current charade in Sharm El-Sheikh. "Five Arab Leaders Denounce Violence" is the Washington Post headline on the peace summit that took place. And, to be fair, it is accurate since that is exactly what the world class liars who head the Arab states that were present did. The Jews, of course, were once again expected to respond to the hot air with actual deeds, which they once again did. In particular, they met an Arab request which was to release 100 Arab murderers of Jews. The most notable was a killer named Ahmad Jubarah who was whisked to the presence of his patron Arafat, for a ceremonial kiss. Jubarah had blown up 14 Israeli civilians in a terrorist attack 27 years ago. Meeting with reporters, he had the only honest words of the peace process to date. He was asked if he regretted his terrorist act. No, actually, he didn't. "We were in war and still we are in war," he said. Quite. The Arabs declared war on Israel the day it was created in 1948. The Arab agenda then as now was to destroy the Jewish state. Until they renounce that aim, which would mean jailing and executing the terrorists among them -- Arafat included -- the peace talk is talk, and the Jews better not forget it.

I saw Horowitz speak at my school two years ago, and he is a great speaker who's conversion experience (liberal Jew who learned from experience how repulsive the left is) reminded me of my own.

When it comes to Statism,

When it comes to Statism, American bureaucrats are no better than Iraqis.

Hundreds of Millions Found in Iraq

LGF reports that hundreds of millions of dollars were found in Iraq by US soldier, who stubmled upon the money hidden in sealed-up cottages in an upper class Baghdad neighborhood. CNN reporters are currently debating whether the money was destined for Iraqi civilians or the dismantling of WMD's. </sarcasm>

In other news, new evidence shows that the shuttle was most likely doomed by the falling debris in the first few seconds of flight. Read my take on NASA here.

British Forces suffer first major defeat...

The British Marines experience their first major defeat in the war to liberate Iraq. Better luck next time guys. I thought they trained for this sort of thing.

Also, here is a touching story about the Iraq man who tipped U.S. Marines to the location of American POW Jessica Lynch.
_{(Thanks to the GMU Oist Club)}

Finger pointed at Iraq over missiles

Turns out that those missiles the Iraqi's are blaming for the civilian deaths are actually failed Iraq air-defense missiles. The question I have is, are the peaceniks going to aknowledge that this is just another (perhaps intentional) play by Saddam to tug at the world's heartstrings? I sure as hell know the Arab media wouldn't admit it if the Iraq military itself admitted to it..

Morocco offers US monkeys to detonate mine

UPI: A Moroccan publication accused the government Monday of providing unusual assistance to U.S. troops fighting in Iraq by offering them 2,000 monkeys trained in detonating land mines.

The weekly al-Usbu' al-Siyassi reported that Morocco offered the U.S. forces a large number of monkeys, some from Morocco's Atlas Mountains and others imported, to use them for detonating land mines planted by the Iraqis.

The publication quoted a highly-informed source as saying, "that is not a scientific illusion but a well-known military tactic."

Support our troops!

Check out the shirts I designed for the pro-war rally Sunday: http://www.cafeshops.com/defendamerica

this is kinda cute: MSNBC:

this is kinda cute:
MSNBC: "K-Dog, a bottle-nose dolphin belonging to Commander Task Unit trains with Sgt. Andrew Garrett in the Arabian Gulf. These units are working to ensure shipping lanes are clear of mines for humanitarian relief."

Questions for peaceniks

One more good read: Questions for the peaceniks.

"Open letter to Brother Kelly Boggs, Pastor"

(This is in reply to Circumstantial evidence.)

Greetings,

Far be it from me to attack an argument for a war with Iraq, but your piece did not use the terms "theory," "evidence," and most importantly, "belief" properly. The proper approach to determining facts, whether it is the theory of evolution or Saddam's possession of WMD's is to apply the scientific process in order to reach conclusions -- not relying on "faith" or "refusing to believe" something.

In general, the proper method of reaching conclusions is by induction -- making observations about a large number of instances (concrete examples) and then forming a hypothesis (abstract idea) based on those observations. Based on the hypothesis, we make predictions about what the concretes should be, and once again apply that hypothesis to numerous concretes. If the predictions hold, one formulates a theory, if not, one tries another hypothesis. Given enough correct hypotheses, one forms a scientific model, and if the model is supported by a significant body of evidence, one forms a scientific theory.

Why do I bring this up? Well, the fact is that the great majority of people do not understand how this process works, and do not apply it to the various junk-science out there today. Take the common phrase regarding evolution: "it's only a theory." Well, so are the facts that the earth is round, revolves around the sun, and that volcanoes are not caused by angry gods. Like all knowledge, these facts are conclusions reached by forming conclusions (theories) based on observations. The distinction between facts and theories is important to recognize. As Stephen J. Gould explains: "facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them."

This fact has important implications for some of the "pseudo-sciences" out there, like creationism and environmentalism. The difference between these pseudo-scientists and real scientists is that they pervert the scientific method by rejecting the need for evidence. No argument will sway their position because their beliefs rest on faith, not evidence. For creationists, the Bible is the absolute authority, and all scientific evidence to contrary is rejected or ignored. For environmentalists, their interpretation of what is bad for man (technology) is an absolute -- ignoring that it is in fact often the lack thereof that causes more suffering. Because no amount of evidence will convince someone who holds his beliefs on faith, we can reject their claims as soundly (and on the same basis) as the flat-earthers.

Please consider this next time you say "It's only a theory!"

Sincerely,
--David Veksler

Iraq kicks out foreign journalists...

From MSNBC: "The Iraqi government is upset about foreign reporting of an anti-government demonstration outside the Iraqi Information Ministry in Baghdad earlier this week, said Eason Jordan, CNN president of newsgathering."
Demonstrations??? But I thought the vote was 100% Mr Hussein? Why would anyone want to protest?? Oh well, the've probably been shot by the time I write this. I'll be waiting for any liberals who care about about "human rights" to bring this up next time they talk about Iraq....
Meanwhile: "Iraqi officials claimed CNN fabricated a report that government authorities had fired one or more guns into the air to disperse demonstrators earlier this week. Jordan said CNN had footage of the gunplay."
Anybody seen this footage (or any other protests) in the news? It's nice to hear so much about how the citizens of Iraq love their leader, but even this was mentioned only in passing in another article...

Saddam gets 100% of the vote!

In other Axis news, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein won re-election for another six years by - get this - 100%. No, not 99.7% like last time, a full 11,445,638 to ZERO vote of the ENTIRE ELECTORATE. Never mind that there are active Kurdish rebel movements in the country, and many remote areas are not accessible or under Iraq's control -- apparently they put down their arms and came to vote in "loving support" of their glorious leader.
ABC news suggests ordinary Iraqis are pleased as well:

"This referendum and the 100 percent shows that all Iraqis are ready to defend their country and their leader," said Khaled Yusef, hopping up and down among a cluster of men dancing on a street corner.

North Korea's Making Nukes!

If you read my blog from August, you'd know that I suspected that some of that expertise the U.S. is putting into building North Korea a nuclear reactor might not just be used for peaceful purposes. Not surprisingly, N. Korea just admitted to having an active nuclear weapons development program, rejected its previous anti-nuclear agreement, and refused to allow any inspections. Oh, and when the U.S. envoy asked about its programs, it accused our diplomats of "threatening remarks."

So, not only are we sending Korean troops millions in food every year, but we are even teaching them to build nukes!
Whatever happened to the "Axis of Evil"? And how does the fact that Korea may have an advanced nuclear weapons program affect our stance towards Iraq? I'm not sure, but if there is anything to be learned, it is that you shouldn't provide weapons and military training to wacko fundamentalists, such as we did for Afghanistan, military intelligence and support for dictators (as we did got Iraq in its war against Iran) and nuclear plants and other aid for the "Axis of Evil" - such as we are doing now for North Korea.
Really people, this isn't rocket science.