From Spiegal Online:
China may have been hoping to garner positive global attention in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics, but the issue of Tibet has shattered its image. A new poll shows that Europeans now see China -- not the US -- as the biggest threat to global security. full story
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Providing for the Common Defense: What 10 Years of Progress Would Look Like
From the Heritage Foundation:
If the President and Congress make the right decisions over the next 10 years, America will have the optimal military to keep the nation safe, free, and prosperous while responding to the emerging national security challenges of the 21st century. Achieving the ideal composition and capabilities of U.S. military forces will require:
Building a robust complement of capabilities for the spectrum of missions the armed forces will face,
Ensuring adequate funding for ongoing operations,
Maintaining a trained and ready all-volunteer force,
Preparing for the future, and
Fundamentally reforming manpower and procurement policies. (full article)
If the President and Congress make the right decisions over the next 10 years, America will have the optimal military to keep the nation safe, free, and prosperous while responding to the emerging national security challenges of the 21st century. Achieving the ideal composition and capabilities of U.S. military forces will require:
Building a robust complement of capabilities for the spectrum of missions the armed forces will face,
Ensuring adequate funding for ongoing operations,
Maintaining a trained and ready all-volunteer force,
Preparing for the future, and
Fundamentally reforming manpower and procurement policies. (full article)
Not Safe, Nor Private, Nor Free: on Sexual Love and Procreation
It's a long article but good:
..Mr. Berry underscores that physical love is not enough to sustain an intimate relationship. In order to last, human sexual life “must enflesh itself in the materiality of the world—produce food, shelter, warmth or shade, surround itself with careful acts, well made things.” True sexual love also binds these lovers into “the cycles of fertility and the seasons,” into “life and death,” where they find the “deepest solemnity” and the “highest joy.” More broadly, just as “agricultural fertility is...the survival of natural process in human order,” natural human procreativity finds its ordered setting on the small, function-rich farm... rest here
..Mr. Berry underscores that physical love is not enough to sustain an intimate relationship. In order to last, human sexual life “must enflesh itself in the materiality of the world—produce food, shelter, warmth or shade, surround itself with careful acts, well made things.” True sexual love also binds these lovers into “the cycles of fertility and the seasons,” into “life and death,” where they find the “deepest solemnity” and the “highest joy.” More broadly, just as “agricultural fertility is...the survival of natural process in human order,” natural human procreativity finds its ordered setting on the small, function-rich farm... rest here
Incest Couple: Society Has a Problem, Not Us
FOXNews:
A father and daughter who had a child together say it is society that has a problem with their incestuous relationship and they are OK with it.
John and Jenny Deaves from South Australia caused controversy after admitting on national television last week that they had a 9-month-old daughter together.
"It's everybody else out there in society that has the problem, we don't have the problem," Jenny Deaves said on Australia's "60 Minutes" Sunday night.
"If you've got something to say, say it for Christ's sake," her father, John, said. "Don't go attacking the kids or the car or anything else, it's not the Australian way." (read the rest here)
"We don't have the problem?" Good grief. This is beyond comment.
A father and daughter who had a child together say it is society that has a problem with their incestuous relationship and they are OK with it.
John and Jenny Deaves from South Australia caused controversy after admitting on national television last week that they had a 9-month-old daughter together.
"It's everybody else out there in society that has the problem, we don't have the problem," Jenny Deaves said on Australia's "60 Minutes" Sunday night.
"If you've got something to say, say it for Christ's sake," her father, John, said. "Don't go attacking the kids or the car or anything else, it's not the Australian way." (read the rest here)
"We don't have the problem?" Good grief. This is beyond comment.
Hamas Cleric Predicts 'Rome Will Be Conquered by Islam'
FOXNews reports:
A sermon last Friday by a prominent Muslim cleric and Hamas member of the Palestinian parliament openly declared that "the capital of the Catholics, or the Crusader capital," would soon be conquered by Islam.
The fiery sermon, delivered by Yunis al-Astal and aired on Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV, predicted that Rome would become "an advanced post for the Islamic conquests, which will spread though Europe in its entirety, and then will turn to the two Americas, even Eastern Europe." (article here)
A sermon last Friday by a prominent Muslim cleric and Hamas member of the Palestinian parliament openly declared that "the capital of the Catholics, or the Crusader capital," would soon be conquered by Islam.
The fiery sermon, delivered by Yunis al-Astal and aired on Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV, predicted that Rome would become "an advanced post for the Islamic conquests, which will spread though Europe in its entirety, and then will turn to the two Americas, even Eastern Europe." (article here)
Be Afraid
From Commentary
Back in February, reports came to light that an laptop with extensive information on Iran’s covert nuclear program had fallen into the hands of U.S. intelligence in 2004. Comprehensive and alarming stories about what was contained in the laptop appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal.
The deputy director general of safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency briefed member states, including Iran, about the contents of the laptop in February. The briefing notes have now been posted online by the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington D.C.
The IAEA official describes, among other things, instructions on how to communicate within the Iranian program using only first names and the “timing of firing devices-leading to an explosion at an altitude of about 600 meters.” The IAEA’s evaluation of Iran’s “Tests of High Power Explosives” is unambiguous:
The high-tension firing systems and multiple EBW detonators fired simultaneously are key components of nuclear weapons.
There are a limited number of non-nuclear applications (high performance technique for exploratory drilling).
The elements available to the Agency are not consistent with any application other than the development of a nuclear weapon. (link)
Monday, April 14, 2008
Blunder wizards electrify nation
Dailey Telegraph:
So it is with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, two of the lamest presidential candidates ever to wander into Washington, yet whose battle for Democrat nomination is utterly compelling.
For months, this pair has been trading gaffes, errors and slip-ups like a couple of Zen blundermasters.
Neither can land a punch except on him or her self.
Meanwhile, in the wings, enjoying this epic episode of America's Most Maladroit, is Republican nominee John McCain - saying little, doing little, and with each day moving closer to the White House. (read it here)
So it is with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, two of the lamest presidential candidates ever to wander into Washington, yet whose battle for Democrat nomination is utterly compelling.
For months, this pair has been trading gaffes, errors and slip-ups like a couple of Zen blundermasters.
Neither can land a punch except on him or her self.
Meanwhile, in the wings, enjoying this epic episode of America's Most Maladroit, is Republican nominee John McCain - saying little, doing little, and with each day moving closer to the White House. (read it here)
Why Does Obama Hate Marriage?
From Townhall:
Specifically Barack Obama wishes to pass "ENDA" the employment non-discrimination act. Or so it's called. What it really consists of is the most diabolical way ever conceived to punish every voice in America, who under present law, have every right, to speak to their houses of worship, family, and spouse as to the scientific, mental health, and diseased ridden drawbacks of engaging in homosexual behavior. So stifling would ENDA be in fact that if a Youth Pastor who works with young boys in a church program got caught in an inappropriate relationship with them, ENDA would make it nearly impossible for the church involved to fire the youth pastor. ENDA would directly challenge and seek to limit religious expression, doctrine, theology, and practice. (article here)
Specifically Barack Obama wishes to pass "ENDA" the employment non-discrimination act. Or so it's called. What it really consists of is the most diabolical way ever conceived to punish every voice in America, who under present law, have every right, to speak to their houses of worship, family, and spouse as to the scientific, mental health, and diseased ridden drawbacks of engaging in homosexual behavior. So stifling would ENDA be in fact that if a Youth Pastor who works with young boys in a church program got caught in an inappropriate relationship with them, ENDA would make it nearly impossible for the church involved to fire the youth pastor. ENDA would directly challenge and seek to limit religious expression, doctrine, theology, and practice. (article here)
Repressive reality belies "freedom-to-marry" rhetoric
Colleen Carroll Campbell inthe St Louis Dispatch:
In the land of the free, where we revel in our ability to live, work and worship as we wish, few public policy arguments pack a greater punch than appeals to individual liberty. That fact is not lost on gay-rights activists, who increasingly frame their bid for greater legal rights for same-sex couples in terms of sexual liberty and the "freedom to marry." Lately, this public-relations ploy has hit a roadblock. High-profile clashes among religious groups and gay-rights activists have highlighted the uncomfortable fact that the expansion of sexual liberty for same-sex couples tends to result in a loss of religious liberty for their critics....
But if same-sex marriage becomes the law of the land, religious institutions that hold to the traditional definition of marriage could be regarded in federal law as the equivalent of racist organizations....
Such scenarios should frighten freedom-loving citizens of any creed. That they already are unfolding across America should persuade us to look past the libertarian rationale for same-sex marriage to the troubling hints of religious repression to come. (full article)
In the land of the free, where we revel in our ability to live, work and worship as we wish, few public policy arguments pack a greater punch than appeals to individual liberty. That fact is not lost on gay-rights activists, who increasingly frame their bid for greater legal rights for same-sex couples in terms of sexual liberty and the "freedom to marry." Lately, this public-relations ploy has hit a roadblock. High-profile clashes among religious groups and gay-rights activists have highlighted the uncomfortable fact that the expansion of sexual liberty for same-sex couples tends to result in a loss of religious liberty for their critics....
But if same-sex marriage becomes the law of the land, religious institutions that hold to the traditional definition of marriage could be regarded in federal law as the equivalent of racist organizations....
Such scenarios should frighten freedom-loving citizens of any creed. That they already are unfolding across America should persuade us to look past the libertarian rationale for same-sex marriage to the troubling hints of religious repression to come. (full article)
Understanding the War
An admirable mission statement from the Institute of War-Iraq Project:
The American military makes an enormous amount of information available to the public, but in forms and formats that most non-specialists find difficult to understand, let alone synthesize into a coherent picture of what is happening on the ground. The Iraq Report and its derivative products and briefings seek to mediate between the military and the American public and leadership by translating the specialist information provided by the military into language and formats accessible to a more general audience. In this way, the Institute for the Study of War works directly to help policy makers and individuals understand what is happening in Iraq. (more here)
The American military makes an enormous amount of information available to the public, but in forms and formats that most non-specialists find difficult to understand, let alone synthesize into a coherent picture of what is happening on the ground. The Iraq Report and its derivative products and briefings seek to mediate between the military and the American public and leadership by translating the specialist information provided by the military into language and formats accessible to a more general audience. In this way, the Institute for the Study of War works directly to help policy makers and individuals understand what is happening in Iraq. (more here)
Sunday, April 13, 2008
The Holocaust Declaration
Charles Krauthammer's article in the WashingtonPost:
On Tuesday Iran announced it was installing 6,000 more centrifuges -- they produce enriched uranium, the key ingredient of a nuclear weapon -- in addition to the 3,000 already operating. The world yawned.
It is time to admit the truth: The Bush administration's attempt to halt Iran's nuclear program has failed. Utterly. The latest round of U.N. Security Council sanctions, which took a year to achieve, is comically weak. It represents the end of the sanctions road.
At home, the president's efforts to stop Iran's nuclear program were irreparably undermined by November's National Intelligence Estimate, whose "moderate confidence" that Iran has not restarted nuclear weaponization -- the least important of three elements of any nuclear program -- has promoted the illusion that Iran has given up the pursuit of nuclear weapons. Yet uranium enrichment, the most difficult step, proceeds apace, as does the development of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles.
The president is out of options. He is going to hand over to his successor an Iran on the verge of going nuclear. This will deeply destabilize the Middle East, threaten the moderate Arabs with Iranian hegemony and leave Israel on hair-trigger alert. (full story)
On Tuesday Iran announced it was installing 6,000 more centrifuges -- they produce enriched uranium, the key ingredient of a nuclear weapon -- in addition to the 3,000 already operating. The world yawned.
It is time to admit the truth: The Bush administration's attempt to halt Iran's nuclear program has failed. Utterly. The latest round of U.N. Security Council sanctions, which took a year to achieve, is comically weak. It represents the end of the sanctions road.
At home, the president's efforts to stop Iran's nuclear program were irreparably undermined by November's National Intelligence Estimate, whose "moderate confidence" that Iran has not restarted nuclear weaponization -- the least important of three elements of any nuclear program -- has promoted the illusion that Iran has given up the pursuit of nuclear weapons. Yet uranium enrichment, the most difficult step, proceeds apace, as does the development of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles.
The president is out of options. He is going to hand over to his successor an Iran on the verge of going nuclear. This will deeply destabilize the Middle East, threaten the moderate Arabs with Iranian hegemony and leave Israel on hair-trigger alert. (full story)
Nuke Teheran?
From Commentary Magazine:
Charles Krauthammer lays out the case today for a U.S. nuclear guarantee to Israel. “It’s time to admit the truth,” he writes. “The Bush administration’s attempt to halt Iran’s nuclear program has failed.” He proposes instead that George Bush should take a leaf from the Cuban missile crisis and issue a ringing declaration that:
“It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear attack upon Israel by Iran, or originating in Iran, as an attack by Iran on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon Iran.”
This should be followed with a simple explanation: “As a beacon of tolerance and as leader of the free world, the United States will not permit a second Holocaust to be perpetrated upon the Jewish people.”
Such an approach has its undeniable appeal, but would it suffice to assure Israel’s security needs, or even survival, in the face of a nuclear-armed Iran? (full story)
Charles Krauthammer lays out the case today for a U.S. nuclear guarantee to Israel. “It’s time to admit the truth,” he writes. “The Bush administration’s attempt to halt Iran’s nuclear program has failed.” He proposes instead that George Bush should take a leaf from the Cuban missile crisis and issue a ringing declaration that:
“It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear attack upon Israel by Iran, or originating in Iran, as an attack by Iran on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon Iran.”
This should be followed with a simple explanation: “As a beacon of tolerance and as leader of the free world, the United States will not permit a second Holocaust to be perpetrated upon the Jewish people.”
Such an approach has its undeniable appeal, but would it suffice to assure Israel’s security needs, or even survival, in the face of a nuclear-armed Iran? (full story)
There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind.
A review of the Book, "There Is a God":
When preeminent philosophical atheist Antony Flew announced in 2004 that he had come to believe in God's existence and was probably best considered a deist, the reaction from both believers and skeptics was "off the chart." Few religious stories had this sort of appeal and impact, across the spectrum, both popular as well as theoretical. No recent change of mind has received this much attention. Flew responded by protesting that his story really did not deserve this much interest. But as he explained repeatedly, he simply had to go where the evidence led. (full review)
When preeminent philosophical atheist Antony Flew announced in 2004 that he had come to believe in God's existence and was probably best considered a deist, the reaction from both believers and skeptics was "off the chart." Few religious stories had this sort of appeal and impact, across the spectrum, both popular as well as theoretical. No recent change of mind has received this much attention. Flew responded by protesting that his story really did not deserve this much interest. But as he explained repeatedly, he simply had to go where the evidence led. (full review)
New Mexico commission orders $6,000 fine for Christian beliefs
Onenewsnow:
A Christian law firm will appeal a ruling by the New Mexico Human Rights Commission fining a photographer who refused to take photos of a homosexual commitment ceremony.
Elaine Huguenin and her husband Jon, who co-own Elane Photography in Albuquerque, New Mexico, are both Christians. So when a lesbian couple asked them to photograph their "commitment ceremony" in Taos, the Huguenins politely refused. In response, Vanessa Willock filed a complaint with the New Mexico Human Rights Commission claiming the Huguenins discriminated against her because of her "sexual orientation." On Wednesday, the Commission found the Christian couple guilty of discrimination under state anti-discrimination laws and ordered them to pay more than $6,000 in costs. (full story)
A Christian law firm will appeal a ruling by the New Mexico Human Rights Commission fining a photographer who refused to take photos of a homosexual commitment ceremony.
Elaine Huguenin and her husband Jon, who co-own Elane Photography in Albuquerque, New Mexico, are both Christians. So when a lesbian couple asked them to photograph their "commitment ceremony" in Taos, the Huguenins politely refused. In response, Vanessa Willock filed a complaint with the New Mexico Human Rights Commission claiming the Huguenins discriminated against her because of her "sexual orientation." On Wednesday, the Commission found the Christian couple guilty of discrimination under state anti-discrimination laws and ordered them to pay more than $6,000 in costs. (full story)
Petraeus vs. The Party of Defeat
FrontPage:
Thou shalt not speak well of Iraq. That was the commandment imperiously handed down by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this week, in anticipation of General Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker’s testimony before Congress. Alluding to the recent clashes between U.S. and Iraqi forces and rogue Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr’s militia, Pelosi preemptively reproached the general: “I hope we don’t hear any glorification of what happened in Basra.” It was a vivid illustration of what has become the calcified consensus of the Democratic Party: When it comes to Iraq, all news is bad news. (whole story)
Thou shalt not speak well of Iraq. That was the commandment imperiously handed down by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this week, in anticipation of General Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker’s testimony before Congress. Alluding to the recent clashes between U.S. and Iraqi forces and rogue Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr’s militia, Pelosi preemptively reproached the general: “I hope we don’t hear any glorification of what happened in Basra.” It was a vivid illustration of what has become the calcified consensus of the Democratic Party: When it comes to Iraq, all news is bad news. (whole story)
IRAN'S BUSTED IRAQ BID
BASRA 'RISING' WAS TEHRAN'S OP
according to the New York Post:
April 10, 2008 -- A GAMBLE that proved too costly.
That's how analysts in Tehran describe events last month in Basra. Iran's state-run media have de facto confirmed that this was no spontaneous "uprising." Rather, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) tried to seize control of Iraq's second-largest city using local Shiite militias as a Trojan horse. read the whole story here
according to the New York Post:
April 10, 2008 -- A GAMBLE that proved too costly.
That's how analysts in Tehran describe events last month in Basra. Iran's state-run media have de facto confirmed that this was no spontaneous "uprising." Rather, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) tried to seize control of Iraq's second-largest city using local Shiite militias as a Trojan horse. read the whole story here
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Obama's Remarks Gives Clinton an Opening
Instapundit has a nice summary of the tempest stirred up by Obama's comments. Here is one of the many stories on his comments at MyWay News:
...At issue are comments he made privately at a fundraiser in San Francisco last Sunday. He was trying to explain his troubles winning over some working-class voters, saying they have become frustrated with economic conditions:
"It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
The comments, posted Friday on The Huffington Post Web site, set off a blast of criticism from Clinton, Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain and other GOP officials, and drew attention to a potential Obama weakness - the image some have that the Harvard-trained lawyer is arrogant and aloof... (read it here)
...At issue are comments he made privately at a fundraiser in San Francisco last Sunday. He was trying to explain his troubles winning over some working-class voters, saying they have become frustrated with economic conditions:
"It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
The comments, posted Friday on The Huffington Post Web site, set off a blast of criticism from Clinton, Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain and other GOP officials, and drew attention to a potential Obama weakness - the image some have that the Harvard-trained lawyer is arrogant and aloof... (read it here)
Attack of the preschool perverts
From OC Register:
Is American public education a form of child abuse? The Washington Post's Brigid Schulte reported this month on a student named Randy Castro, who attends school in Woodbridge, Va. Last November at recess he slapped a classmate on her bottom. The teacher took him to the principal. School officials wrote up an incident report and then called the police.
Randy Castro is in the first grade. But, at the ripe old age of 6, he's been declared a sex offender by Potomac View Elementary School. He's guilty of sexual harassment, and the incident report will remain on his record for the rest of his school days – and maybe beyond. )(read the rest here)
Is American public education a form of child abuse? The Washington Post's Brigid Schulte reported this month on a student named Randy Castro, who attends school in Woodbridge, Va. Last November at recess he slapped a classmate on her bottom. The teacher took him to the principal. School officials wrote up an incident report and then called the police.
Randy Castro is in the first grade. But, at the ripe old age of 6, he's been declared a sex offender by Potomac View Elementary School. He's guilty of sexual harassment, and the incident report will remain on his record for the rest of his school days – and maybe beyond. )(read the rest here)
Anti-Groping Straps
From the Salvo blog:
I was telling a friend of mine about this little device a few days ago. It is a replica subway strap that is used by male commuters to show others that their hands are busy, therefor hindering any chance of them being accused of groping the other passengers. My friend didn't believe that this was a real product and I don't blame her. (more here)
I was telling a friend of mine about this little device a few days ago. It is a replica subway strap that is used by male commuters to show others that their hands are busy, therefor hindering any chance of them being accused of groping the other passengers. My friend didn't believe that this was a real product and I don't blame her. (more here)
No Pledge on Troop Exit - Not a Problem, Democrat Says
(CNSNews.com) - While Democratic Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) have refused to pledge that they would withdraw U.S. combat troops from Iraq by 2013 - if one of them is elected president - that lack of commitment to withdraw the troops is not something voters should concern themselves with, said Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) in an April 9 conference call. Full Story
Perseverance Pays Off in Baghdad
WSJ:
The recent violence in Sadrist areas of Baghdad should not distract us from the big picture. The capital city of Iraq is immensely more at peace than it was a year ago.
This time last year, there were deep booms and the rattle of extended firefights from virtually all around the compass throughout the day and night. Such incidents are now a rare occurrence in a week.
Some of the reasons for this progress are better known than others. The surge, the Awakening Councils and the neighborhood-based counterinsurgency program have received solid credit. (full story)
The recent violence in Sadrist areas of Baghdad should not distract us from the big picture. The capital city of Iraq is immensely more at peace than it was a year ago.
This time last year, there were deep booms and the rattle of extended firefights from virtually all around the compass throughout the day and night. Such incidents are now a rare occurrence in a week.
Some of the reasons for this progress are better known than others. The surge, the Awakening Councils and the neighborhood-based counterinsurgency program have received solid credit. (full story)
Petraeus/Crocker Testimony Proves Critics and Doubters Were Wrong
From VetsforFeedom:
“The doubters and critics of General Petraeus and his plan six months ago have nothing to say now,” said Pete Hegseth, Executive Director of Vets for Freedom. “Their silence is testament to the fact that progress has indeed been made, and it is imperative that we continue to give both the military and State Department time to carry out their plans,” Hegseth continued. “We need to trust the assessment of those that are on ground, and deal with the situation on a day-to-day, first-hand basis.”
They have a pretty good ad too. See ad here
“The doubters and critics of General Petraeus and his plan six months ago have nothing to say now,” said Pete Hegseth, Executive Director of Vets for Freedom. “Their silence is testament to the fact that progress has indeed been made, and it is imperative that we continue to give both the military and State Department time to carry out their plans,” Hegseth continued. “We need to trust the assessment of those that are on ground, and deal with the situation on a day-to-day, first-hand basis.”
They have a pretty good ad too. See ad here
Radical Islam and Our Cultural Suicide
From FrontPage:
Our society’s impulse towards suicide continues unabated, as those on the side of Western civilization are the ones continuously being silenced, while homegrown jihadists express their venom with increasing impunity.
Case in point: “the gleefully vicious and clownish jihadist Yousef al-Khattab,” as author and JihadWatch.com founder Robert Spencer calls him.
An American-born Jew turned Muslim, al-Khattab, 39, runs a website called RevolutionMuslim.com. As reported by FoxNews.com on April 7, the website mocks the deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq and calls for the implementation of Muslim sharia law in America.
The Queens, New York cab driver insists his website is providing a service to his country by “exposing the truth.”
“On any given day,” according to the FoxNews.com story, Internet surfers can “log on to al-Khattab's site and a host of startling images appear” including “the Statue of Liberty, with an ax blade cutting through her side” and a video “mocking the beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl, entitled ‘Daniel Pearl I am Happy Your Dead.’” (full story)
Our society’s impulse towards suicide continues unabated, as those on the side of Western civilization are the ones continuously being silenced, while homegrown jihadists express their venom with increasing impunity.
Case in point: “the gleefully vicious and clownish jihadist Yousef al-Khattab,” as author and JihadWatch.com founder Robert Spencer calls him.
An American-born Jew turned Muslim, al-Khattab, 39, runs a website called RevolutionMuslim.com. As reported by FoxNews.com on April 7, the website mocks the deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq and calls for the implementation of Muslim sharia law in America.
The Queens, New York cab driver insists his website is providing a service to his country by “exposing the truth.”
“On any given day,” according to the FoxNews.com story, Internet surfers can “log on to al-Khattab's site and a host of startling images appear” including “the Statue of Liberty, with an ax blade cutting through her side” and a video “mocking the beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl, entitled ‘Daniel Pearl I am Happy Your Dead.’” (full story)
Nine killed and 105 injured as bomb explodes at mosque in Iranian city
From the Independent:
A bomb in a mosque in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz has killed at least nine people, amid fears the death toll will continue to rise. At least 105 were injured by the explosion and many are in a critical condition, the Iranian Fars news agency reported.
The force of the blast shook houses and shattered windows half a mile away. By last night, no one had claimed responsibility for the attack, which happened in the city's Shohada mosque at 9pm local time. (full story)
A bomb in a mosque in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz has killed at least nine people, amid fears the death toll will continue to rise. At least 105 were injured by the explosion and many are in a critical condition, the Iranian Fars news agency reported.
The force of the blast shook houses and shattered windows half a mile away. By last night, no one had claimed responsibility for the attack, which happened in the city's Shohada mosque at 9pm local time. (full story)
Friday, April 11, 2008
New class divisions in altared states
Not entirely unrelated to a previous post here, this from From the Sydney Morning Herald :
Despite the concerted efforts of social revolutionaries over four decades, marriage is making a comeback, at least for Australia's most educated women.
Career-minded women used to be haunted by the prospect of never marrying, because, according to conventional wisdom, men liked to marry down the social scale.
"Oh my God I forgot to have children," was the cry of a generation of female university graduates who came of age in the 1980s.
But in a decade, everything changed for this subset of women, according to an analysis of the 2006 census published this week in Monash University's People And Place journal. (full story)
Despite the concerted efforts of social revolutionaries over four decades, marriage is making a comeback, at least for Australia's most educated women.
Career-minded women used to be haunted by the prospect of never marrying, because, according to conventional wisdom, men liked to marry down the social scale.
"Oh my God I forgot to have children," was the cry of a generation of female university graduates who came of age in the 1980s.
But in a decade, everything changed for this subset of women, according to an analysis of the 2006 census published this week in Monash University's People And Place journal. (full story)
Disgrace in Detroit
From the WSJ:
If you respect the NAACP's heritage, you will be disgusted to learn that the organization's Detroit chapter plans to honor a man who says that AIDS is a U.S. government plot to kill black people and that the Sept. 11 attacks were "America's chickens . . . coming home to roost," and who declares: "God damn America."
This appears to be a case of circling the wagons: Wright, a black man, is under attack, so the NAACP, an organization that seeks the advancement of black people, is defending him. In doing so, the NAACP is committing an analytical and moral error. Wright is under attack not for the color of his skin, but for the content of his ideas. To defend him is to countenance those ideas. Through its actions, the NAACP is in effect arguing that anti-Americanism is acceptable, so long as its source is black. The association is sanctioning both invidious ideas and an invidious racial double standard. (full article)
If you respect the NAACP's heritage, you will be disgusted to learn that the organization's Detroit chapter plans to honor a man who says that AIDS is a U.S. government plot to kill black people and that the Sept. 11 attacks were "America's chickens . . . coming home to roost," and who declares: "God damn America."
This appears to be a case of circling the wagons: Wright, a black man, is under attack, so the NAACP, an organization that seeks the advancement of black people, is defending him. In doing so, the NAACP is committing an analytical and moral error. Wright is under attack not for the color of his skin, but for the content of his ideas. To defend him is to countenance those ideas. Through its actions, the NAACP is in effect arguing that anti-Americanism is acceptable, so long as its source is black. The association is sanctioning both invidious ideas and an invidious racial double standard. (full article)
Pro-Life Doctors: A New Oxymoron?
From First Things:
In November 2007, the Committee on Ethics of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) published Committee Opinion # 385 entitled, “The Limits of Conscientious Refusal in Reproductive Medicine.” The committee opinion sought to “maximize accommodation of an individual’s religious or moral beliefs while avoiding imposition of these beliefs on others or interfering with the safe, timely, and financially feasible access to reproductive health care that all women deserve.”
Unfortunately, the balance struck by the committee between the right of conscience of physicians and the reproductive health care of women so emphasizes patient autonomy that it turns physicians into medical automatons forced to act against their best ethical and medical judgment. As pointed out on March 14, 2008, by Health and Human Services secretary Mike Leavitt: “The ACOG ethics report would force physicians to violate their conscience by referring patients for abortions or taking other objectionable actions, or risk losing their board certification.” Put simply, committee Opinion 385 could be the end of the pro-life doctor. (full article)
In November 2007, the Committee on Ethics of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) published Committee Opinion # 385 entitled, “The Limits of Conscientious Refusal in Reproductive Medicine.” The committee opinion sought to “maximize accommodation of an individual’s religious or moral beliefs while avoiding imposition of these beliefs on others or interfering with the safe, timely, and financially feasible access to reproductive health care that all women deserve.”
Unfortunately, the balance struck by the committee between the right of conscience of physicians and the reproductive health care of women so emphasizes patient autonomy that it turns physicians into medical automatons forced to act against their best ethical and medical judgment. As pointed out on March 14, 2008, by Health and Human Services secretary Mike Leavitt: “The ACOG ethics report would force physicians to violate their conscience by referring patients for abortions or taking other objectionable actions, or risk losing their board certification.” Put simply, committee Opinion 385 could be the end of the pro-life doctor. (full article)
Climate experts predict temperature drop
But if CO2 is the major player then how can this be? heh..
From the Telegraph:
Climate experts are forecasting a drop in global temperatures this year. (full story)
From the Telegraph:
Climate experts are forecasting a drop in global temperatures this year. (full story)
Important Supreme Court Decision Rejects UN High Court over US Treaty Obligations
From C-Fam:
The Supreme Court just rejected a directive the World Court that the US has to abide by specific provisions of a UN treaty even though Congress has not acted on those specific provisions. This is complicated but it is good news for pro-lifers in their battle to keep the courts from using international documents to protect Roe v. Wade. Read the article here
The Supreme Court just rejected a directive the World Court that the US has to abide by specific provisions of a UN treaty even though Congress has not acted on those specific provisions. This is complicated but it is good news for pro-lifers in their battle to keep the courts from using international documents to protect Roe v. Wade. Read the article here
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