#1
Two completely unsurprising aspects of this article: It was written by a professor of journalism and published in The San Francisco Chronicle -- so consider the sources.
(And as my dad used to say, when you try to make boys into girls and vice versa you're only going to regret it later.)
Posted by: Jonathan ||
10/23/2006 15:04 Comments ||
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#2
Well, the world is becoming more feminine. No doubt about that.
#4
"The worst insult one man can hurl at another -- whether it's boys on the playground or CEOs in the boardroom -- is the accusation that a man is like a woman."
I agree-hearing the accusation "p*ssy" thrown at men as a sign of disdain when I've got one of those is getting really old. You can't say you like it and disdain it at the same time.
As to the argument of this article: without the male traits so often ridiculed-that they will fight and compete to survive-our species would not survive. I appreciate the men in my life who have shown me that competition is a good thing.
#5
Well said, Jules - and thanks from the myn's hovel.
One thing I'd like to note: No one ever gets all twinky-eyed about the aggressiveness of Amazons. I mean, sheesh, no one ever picks on Xena. Secret fantasy? Double standard? Lol. I likes wymyns who can shoot the eye out a crazed Jimmah-killing jackrabbit at 20 yards while in full rabbit-paddle, then take me to task over my reading of some great work, say a Stainless Steel Rat episode. We can even share taking out the trash 'n stuff, heh.
#8
Heh. So something recently (I'm old enough to have some short term memory issues) about a comparison between Chimp & Human DNA. Seems like almost all of the differences are accounted for on the Y chromosome.
Yep, it's guys that evolved beyond the apes. The article went on to point out that on the gross behavioral, social level there are not to many differences in the Female role between the two species; but, in the Male realm there are significant differences, starting with monogomy.
(Insert sarcastic comment about Muslim devolution here)
#14
.com-Just learning about firearm safety and use from a best friend's hubby. After that, license and purchase; who knows what the world will be in five, ten years. I wanna be as ready as I can be. Xena? Well, only in terms of wardrobe. :)
AlanC-Yeah, I saw that article, but something rang false in it. I was going to comment that day, but let it go, figuring few would actually buy it. Rely on the evidence around you. Can you, with a straight face, argue that men behave in a more "evolved" fashion than women? What factors define "evolved"?
#20
then take me to task over my reading of some great work, say a Stainless Steel Rat episode
My, how English departments have changed since the olden days! ;-) One of my long-time favourites, too, .com.
Jules, you'd best be careful. With your brain, wwardrobe, and a gun licence, the single male Rantburgers will be lined up around the block. I would argue about the Y chromosome=evolved article: I interpreted it to mean that female chimps were already pretty civilized, it was the behaviour of their males that held back the species, rather than that changes in human male behaviour is what's moved us forward.
eLarson, you really, really don't want to take away estrogen replacement theory. Really. If you're concerned, drink beer or vodka instead of water.
#24
There is this figure out there that chimps' DNA is ~ 98% corresponding to human DNA. Meanwhile, the divergence in human species DNA alone comprises about 9%. Something does not add up here. Yes, it is comparing apples and oranges. The diff is in methodology.
In essence, you break both test DNA chains (humans & chimps) into very short segments. Shake out the vitro vigorously and wait what recombines. somewhere between 92% and 98% would, according to people involved.
But lie the chains beside each other, and Houston, we have a problem.
#26
T'is the news day for it > even FOX > MICKEY D's getting a makeover, even Ronald. More fit + athletic > DA RONUUULD = ONLY GIRLEY MEN EAT AT WENDY'S + BURGER KING.
#28
Bombay, they may, but then their figure is just a flight of fancy. The last word of genetic research is that likely the junk DNA is not haphazzard heaps of junk stutter at all, but that they have some purpose that we did not decipher yet. Would have to remember where to find a paper that, based on a thorough statistical analysis, proposed that there are several layers of encoding apparent in DNA. Sort of like a encryption algorithm, where some sequences function as keys to decode another layer.
#29
Oh yeah, the junk is where the good stuff is these days.
It is also haphazzard in many places. Non-expressed genes are there, transposons, etc.
Protien folding is big as well, as that is where the biochemistry actually takes place - and is not directly attributable to just the DNA code.
The multiple layer is probably to do with RNA and the new understanding that is coming with regard to having way more complex relationship with DNA and protien than just DNA -> RNA -> Protien.
AUSTRALIAN researchers believe they have discovered evidence that an 8000km-long 'supermountain range' as high as the Himalayas was the source of life on Earth. The range spanned the prehistoric supercontinent Gondwana, which later fragmented to form present-day Australia, Africa, Antarctica, New Zealand, South America and Arabia said Rick Squire of Melbourne's Monash University School of Geosciences.
Dr Squire was studying the formation of a gold deposit at the Stawell mine in western Victoria with three other researchers when the group made the discovery. The four, including the University of Melbourne's Professor Chris Wilson and Australian National University researchers Ian Campbell and Charlotte Allen, were examining what qualities in the region's sandstone helped create the gold deposit.
The researchers were dating zircon, a mineral in the stone, using a spectrometer. "We were initially disappointed because we were looking for something that was unique, but the sands were the same as other sands in other parts of Victoria," Dr Squire said. "We wanted to know why they were all the same so we did some reading and looked at some other sands and found that they were all the same age and all had a link."
Zircon traces very similar in age and composition were found in sandstone on all continents that formed Gondwana, he said.
Dr Squire said the researchers believed the likely source was a now-eroded supermountain range that formed when the eastern and western halves of Gondwana collided 500 million to 650 million years ago. The erosion of the mountain range deposited huge amounts of elements including iron, phosphorus, magnesium and calcium into the ocean.
"The supermountain range formed near the equator at a time when there was no vegetation and there was really high rainfall and really high erosion," Dr Squire said. "Huge rivers drained all of this sand and mud into the oceans and deposited it on the edges of Gondwana.
"This changed the ocean chemistry. "We are arguing this provided a big flux in nutrients that helped trigger big algal blooms that were the source of food that led to this radical growth in animal life."
The findings have been published in the latest issue of the geology journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
Yesterday Philippe de Villiers appeared at Bobigny courthouse to answer charges of "provoking discrimination" brought against him by MRAP, relating to remarks he had made on July 15, 2005. On that day, during an interview on TF1 Television he had declared: "Islam is the humus of Islamism and Islamism is the humus of terrorism." Before going into the courthouse he granted a ten-minute press conference, of which the following is an abridged version. If you decide to watch the video, it may take a while to load. He speaks very slowly and clearly.
I stand by my remarks on TF1 on July 15, 2005. That is, I call on all French politicians to leave their cowardice behind, to stop being afraid, and to dare to look squarely in the face of Islamization, the Islamic threat, so that they may refuse the continuing Islamization of our schools, airports, neighborhoods. That they not accept what I cannot accept - polygamy, forced marriages - there are 120,000 cases of polygamy and 70,000 forced marriages...
Today we are far from July 15, 2005, and every day the facts prove me right. I'm thinking particularly of gynecologists and doctors who are sometimes beaten up by husbands who can't accept a person of the male gender performing childbirth on their wives. And Professor Redeker who is under fatwas, who lives hidden in a cellar, who lives in fear, without anyone in the upper echelons rising up to denounce this intimidation of a totalitarian nature...
I have just learned from my lawyer that those who are suing me, those who would have me condemned by the laws of my own country, have disappeared, they've fled, desisted. It's possible they are voluntarily admitting to some procedural error, in order to avoid confrontation. I stand before this court and it's an honor for me - the last defender of the Republic against all ethnic separatists, in particular the Islamic separatists.I say to you that those who would see me condemned have preferred to drink shame, rather than defeat. And I say, and this is a priceless lesson for all my fellow citizens who I urge to be vigilant: When the Republic shows strength, Islam backs off...
Reporter: What of the charge of provoking discrimination?
Provoking hatred and discrimination is not in my culture, not in my family's culture, not in my personal culture. Provocation - it's the Islamists, they're the ones who provoke discrimination. In our hospitals and our schools. They want to impose their own norms, when they do not accept the laws of the Republic. I'm doing my proper job as a public servant when I say to Islamism: You will not have victory in our land. You are not here to make of France an Islamic republic...I'm in my proper role, it's not provocation.
There's a majority of Muslims here to practice their faith serenely and in peace, but I say that if all Muslims are not Islamists, all Islamists act on behalf of Islam. And if put to a vote, this statement would win by an overwhelming majority: It is not for France to adapt to Islam but for Islam to adapt to France.
Reporter: Isn't it excessive to speak of a Third World War?
It's not at all excessive. When you think that the order was given, a few days ago and reported in the press, by the Nº 2 man in Al Qaida to hit France. What does that mean "hit France?' It means war. Terrorism is a new kind of war, but it's a war. They have already struck New York, Madrid, and London. They could strike us here. They would love to see us defenseless, crouching and yielding to their blackmail. I do not accept this intimidation.
It is an honor for us that there are public servants who DO open the debate, who DO break the taboo. History will show that I was the first.
All you have to do is read the papers, watch TV every day, every day you can see what's happening. The baggage handlers at Roissy airport that I spoke of in my book. At the time everyone said, "Oh you're exaggerating..." but look at what's happening.
Reporter: Some Muslim workers at Roissy are accusing you of causing them to lose their jobs.
My position, and I stand firmly by it, is based on confidential and trustworthy information from intelligence sources, is that there are networks of Islamists that have penetrated different services at Roissy airport...
And there are baggage handlers who wear the red badge that authorizes them to enter restricted areas. There are baggage handlers who should be stripped of the badge. There were 50 mosques at Roissy, 25 of them clandestine. Now they have done a sweep of the clandestine ones. So everything I said in my book is coming true. And if the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis is right when he says that at Roissy there are workers with terrorist ties, that is a serious matter and merits a firm response from the government...
What does the Interior Minister do, besides chatter every night on the evening news, to expel the terrorists, the Islamists, deny them French nationality, so that they do not wreak havoc and make war on us...
There is a difference between Islam and Islamism and there is a difference between Muslims and Islamists. If the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis decided to strip some workers of the red badge, it's because there was a reason. The intelligence services are doing their job. I salute them and I salute the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis who is doing a difficult job courageously.
I would like to say one thing, in what is my conception of the Republic, security is the responsibility of the State, I am against militias, I am against the private ownership of firearms, and Im trying to make you think about that. If you are assaulted by an armed burglar, hell use his weapon more effectively than you anyway so youre risking your life. If the criminal is not armed and you are and you shoot, your life will be ruined, because killing someone over a theft is not in line with the republican values that are mine. The private ownership of firearms is dangerous. I understand your exasperation for having been burglarized two times, I understand the fear that your wife and daughter may have but the answer is in the efficiency of the police and the efficiency of the judiciary process, the answer is not in having guns at home.
Remember, he's the "conservative" top dog, painted by the left and part of the MSM as a rampaging fascist.
#4
Someone needs to give that jerk an up close and personal introduction to the meaning of the word "bitchslap." France's judiciary is totally corrupt, the police can't even protect themselves, and the average citizen is simply screwed. Sarko's a bastard who would fit right in with the Democratic Party. If we EVER give our guns up here we'll be in worse shape than France.
Democrats, listen up: the call to confiscate guns will absolutely, definitively be the Fort Sumter of the second American Civil War because it's very easy to see exactly where that policy would lead. DON'T START DOWN THAT ROAD!
Posted by: mac ||
10/23/2006 9:49 Comments ||
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#5
Nicolas Sarkozy will piss his French panties if he hears a story getting lots of play coming out of Cincinnati this morning.
Details are sketchy for now but this much is known: A guy getting ready to go to work goes out to warm up his car in the driveway. Owner goes back inside his house while the engine is running & warming. A thief tries to steal the guy's car but before he can make his get away the car owner comes out of the house and shoots. Thief is dead.
No names have been released. No further details are known at this time.
Developing....
(Consensus opinion here at the office: a lesson in deterrence has been delivered and no charges should be filed against the car owner. This explains why the French intifada will continue unabated but would have a short life span in the USA).
Posted by: Mark Z ||
10/23/2006 10:22 Comments ||
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#6
If the criminal is not armed and you are and you shoot, your life will be ruined, because killing someone over a theft is not in line with the republican values that are mine.
NB: If *YOU* do that *YOUR* life will be ruined, because's not in line with *MY* ideals.
Anyone else see the disconnect there?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
10/23/2006 11:58 Comments ||
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#7
painted by the left and part of the MSM as a rampaging fascist.
Why do leftists use "fascist" as a pejorative? They're both collectivist jerks.
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
#8
Why do leftists use "fascist" as a pejorative? They're both collectivist jerks.
This is the result of the HUGELY successful ideas war waged by the commies during and after WWII, IE painting the leftist nazis (racist, purely german phenomena) as "fascists", and those "fascists" (non-internationalist/nationalist socialists denying the class struggle and seeing the Nation as an organic entity led by the tin-helmet Fearless Leader) as "right-wingers".
This set the intellectual trap of labelling anyone opposing the Forces of Progress as "rightwiners", thus "fascists", thus "nazis" (AKA the True Evil). This is so true in France, where this has been the very favorite tool of intellectual terrorism, and is in large part responsible for the lack of any actual conservative force here (remember, if you're conservative, you're a rightwing, thus you're a fascist, etc, etc...); the Reductio ad Hitlerum in all its Glory.
This is very rich, considering the fathers of the french résistance were mostly drawn from the right, and that the "french" communist party was a collaborator party until the Barboressa operation. In fact, the commies were on the ennemy side during every war since WWII included, in 1947 the commie dockers beat on the wounded soldiers coming back from Indochina, sabotaged weaponry like they did in WWII,... in 1954 they were enabling the algerian national-arabists,... in 1990 they opposed the GWI, and nowadays, they're in bed with the islamos (at least the party brass, about half of their voters are as wary of immigration as the rest of french).
#11
Well, he's comparatively less statist and more atlantist than the mainstream french pol (to the point of being labelled as an US-stooge, "Bush's poddle" as the commies called him after his NYC visit, some kind of, Oh Horro!, a "libéral", Ie a free-market advocate, which is of course a very bad thing)... so in that regard he would be the least worst choice, he would probably manage to keep the System afloat by applying some pressure here and there...
Still... he's basically a young shiraq, I think. anyway, the socialist will most likely win, I dunno.
That was the one which stood out like a sore thumb. Saying how, "killing someone over a theft is not in line with the republican values that are mine." is tantamount to "l'etat c'est moi."
#1
A schoolgirl was stoned Wednesday in a playground for non-observance of Ramadan.
"According to information sent by Michele Vianès, of the organization Regards de Femmes
The information given by me on Thursday at the time of our Regards de Femmes café is in todays Le Progrès [the October 6th edition].
'A schoolgirl at the Jean Mermoz college [secondary school] in the eighth district of Lyon was pelted with a hail of stones on Wednesday morning in a playground where she was eating a snack. The theory that the act was related to the non-observance of Ramadan has been confirmed by the prosecutor in Lyon on the strength of the earliest results of the investigation.
Lovely
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/23/2006 8:29 Comments ||
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#2
"A schoolgirl was stoned Wednesday .."
Lots of kids were stoned when I was in school - I remember one girl who got up extra early to smoke a joint before her 8 o'clock class... what? Not that kind of stoned? Oh, never mind.
#4
Bright, unfortunately the West seems to have a deep aversion to enforcing walls of any kind, c.f. the US-Mexican border, the Afghan-Pakistan border, the Iraq-Iran border, etc., etc. The OIF coalition is currently fighting in a "fly-paper" mode while defending the Iraqi borders in an "open fly" mode. The widely held delusion is "Walls don't work."
Europe should recognise that tolerating oppressive cultures and encouraging more mass migration from Islamic countries often hurts precisely the people it seeks to help, according to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a former Dutch legislator from Somalia, who now lives in the US, where she is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
In an article published by the Los Angeles Times on Sunday, she outlines two scenarios for the future of Muslims settled in Europe. According to the worst-case scenario, the monopoly of force that is now exclusive to states will be challenged by armed subgroups. European societies will be divided along ethnic and religious lines. The education system will not succeed in grooming the youth to believe in a shared past, let alone a shared future. The European states will find themselves limiting civil liberties. Europeans will come to accept the de facto implementation of Sharia law in certain neighbourhoods and even cities. The exploitation of the weak, women and children will be commonplace. Those who can afford to emigrate will do so. Instead of an ever-growing union in Europe, future generations may witness an ever-disintegrating one.
The controversial Dutch-Somalian who has been declared outside the pale of Islam by some clerics, writes that in a best-case scenario, Europeans will opt for controlled or planned immigration. The European Union will introduce quotas such as those in the US, based on the selection of migrants who are beneficial to the economy. The current system in most European countries is designed to attract the highest number of people with truly heartbreaking stories, not the highest number of people who are willing and able to adapt to the European society. An intervention, sometimes proactive, will be made in Europes neighbouring states or in failed states with conditions that force people to migrate in large numbers. This plan will consist of aid, trade, diplomatic pressure and military intervention, if necessary, something that is taboo in Europe at the moment. Currently, the EU selects the countries it wants to aid based on lists provided by the World Bank or the United Nations. The criteria for aid are based on such vague notions as the 100 poorest countries or countries with good governance or some other goody-goody sounding reason. That should change, she suggests.
She writes, In a best-case scenario, the EU will implement an assimilation programme guided by the lessons learned from our failed attempts at multiculturalism. It will acknowledge that the basic tenets of Islam are a major obstacle to integration. In practice, Muslims will continue to enjoy religious freedom, as long as exercising that precious right does not infringe upon the freedoms of others, including daughters and wives. In a best-case scenario, EU policymakers will invest in girls and women, protect them from violence and punish those who try to limit their freedoms. Those policymakers will reform the welfare state; regulations pertaining to the hiring and firing of employees will be made more flexible, making it easier for migrants to enter the labour market A misguided vision brought Europe to its current predicament; an idealistic vision convinced of the inherent superiority of enlightened values over the values of oppressive cultures, a vision steeped in individual rights, the rule of law and the equality of men and women can help guide Europe out of it.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/23/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Given the history of Europe, and the total moral depravity of it's ruling "elites", I wouldn't bet a nickel on the 'best-case scenario.'
#2
As myself + various other Netter had tried to argue over the years - the SECULARISTS, GOVERNMENTISTS, ATHEISTS + DIALECTICISTS, etc are and will have a field day under the label of the WOT. To the Left andor to the Right, Top to Down, and vices versa, their ideos appear or surreally seem to be "justified". The burden falls on honest people to make things right = protect what is right, whether honest people had anything to anything or not. PCorrectness has become so acute, sensitive, and over-relied upon Voter + Politicos, etal are afraid to make any decision or action without knowing the survey poll of the nano-moment, FEARS IN FAVOR OF NON-ACTION + NON-DECISION + PERVASIVE WAFFLE-ISM WHICH ONLY SERVES/HELPS OUR ENEMIES.
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/23/2006 1:10 Comments ||
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#4
I respectably disagree. We should support Middle East and North African countries that repress jihadism. Many terrorists who escape to Europe, do so to secure financing for homeland terror. We don't need scum like that, and I could care less what governments do to them, as long as the governments don't adopt a anti West agenda. As I write, the UK is polluted with wannabe provisional government forces who have benefitted from UK harborage.
#6
Skidmark,
She had to living in protective custody on a Dutch military base for the last two years because of the death threats she received for criticizing the religion of peace. We need people like her that come from within the Islamic community and are willing to publicly reject the medieval view point of the religion of peace.
Posted by: Dan Canaveral ||
10/23/2006 6:24 Comments ||
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#7
Skidmark, Ms. Ali was a girl married to a cousin against her will in Somalia. She fled to the West, eventually ending up in Holland -- I'm under the impression that she was about 21 when she arrived. Besides -- Somalia??? How is a girl/young woman to significantly change anything there when her husband and father were satisfied with the status quo? As for the Netherlands, after she was elected to the national legislature, Minister of Immigration(?) Verdonk (the interesting woman who is now against allowing veils for women) announced that Ms.Ali was in the country illegally, forcing her to resign and leave. This after Ms. Ali's neighbors insisted she be evicted from her apartment because her presence put them at risk of attack. The Dutch hid my mother and her family from the Nazis in WWII, but they've degenerated a bit since then, it seems.
#8
To add to Trailing Wife's point: Hirsi Ali has a difficult time as a member of parliament trying to convince the Dutch to listen to her and does what she can under threat of death. What possible chance she would have had in Somalia is beyond me.
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#10
I see the worst case, and most likely is the complete breakdown of western europe, much like Bosnia. Decades long bloody civil wars and ethnic cleansing.
Most of the blame game being played over the Iraqi occupation and always with the wisdom of hindsight is now irrelevant. . . .
Many wars metamorphize into something they were not supposed to be. Few imagined that the Poland war of 1939 would within two years evolve into a war of annihilation involving the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, Germany, Japan, and Italy. So too with the third Iraqi war of 2003 (following the first 1991 Gulf War, and the second, subsequent 12-year no-fly zone stand-off) that has now become a fight against jihadists for the future course of the entire Middle East.
What matters now is not so much what the war was or should have been, but only what it is and whether we have learned from our mistakes and can still win. The answer to both questions is yes. We have the right strategy birthing (through three elections already) an autonomous democracy; training an army subject to a civil government; and pledging support until it can protect its own constitutional government.
Few American officers are talking about perpetual occupation or even the need for more troops, but rather about the need for a lighter footprint, bolstered by teams of Special Forces and air support, to ensure Iraqi responsibility for their own future,. And the key to success a diplomatic squeeze on the Sunnis to suppress terrorists in Nineveh and Anbar provinces in exchange for Shiite guarantees of more government inclusion is now the acknowledged goal of both the Iraqi and American governments.
Thousands in Iraq accept that they have crossed the Rubicon, and they must either make their own democracy work or suffer a fate worse than that of the boat people and the butchered in Southeast Asia when the Americans left.
As for how to ensure against this disastrous outcome, multilateral talks are no magic bullet, as we see from the failed EU3 efforts with Iran and the stalled six-party negotiations over the North Korean problem. The more rubble/less trouble solution that the Russians employed against the Chechnyans in Grozny is out of the question for a humane United States. The U.N. is no answer as we have seen from serial genocides from Rwanda to the present killing in Darfur.
No, only the United States, and its superb military, can stabilize Iraq and give the Iraqis enough time and confidence to do what has not been done before, and what apparently no one any longer thinks will be done: a surviving, viable democratic government in the heart of the dictatorial Middle East. . . .
For all the Democrats loud criticism, if they do regain Congress, they would probably rely on the present expertise of a Khalizad, Abizaid, or Petraeus, and not the often quoted wisdom of three years past of a Gen. Shinseki or Zinni. I doubt they will bring back Gen. Wesley Clark to fix the mess. They will either have to cut off funds, ensure a pull out before the end of the year, and then watch real blood sport as reformers are butchered; or they will have to trust that our present military and civilian leadership has learned the hard lessons of three years in Iraq, and can find a way to stabilize the nascent democracy. . . .
The odd thing is that, for all the gloom and furor, and real blunders, nevertheless, by the historical standards of most wars, we have done well enough to win in Iraq, and still have a good shot of doing the impossible in seeing this government survive. More importantly still, worldwide we are beating the Islamic fundamentalists and their autocratic supporters. Iranian-style theocracy has not spread. For all the talk of losing Afghanistan, the Taliban are still dispersed or in hiding so is al Qaeda. Europe is galvanizing against Islamism in a way unimaginable just three years ago. . . . In contrast, if we should withdraw from Iraq right now, there will be an industry in the next decade of hindsight exposés but they wont be the gotcha ones like State of Denial or Fiasco. Instead we will revisit the 1974-5 Vietnam genre of hindsight of why after such heartbreak and sacrifice the United States gave up when it was so close to succeeding.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/23/2006 12:01 ||
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#1
The pull quote is kind of odd coming from a historian ...
#3
Normally, I appreciate Hanson's writing. The problem with these intellectuals is that they think they're the fount of all wisdom. What I see is the absolute denial that there's internecine warfare going on here. We cannot force anything resmbling democracy on a herd of tribes who don't and/or refuse to accept the principles of democracy. We're nothing more than a truck in a mudhole spinning it's tires. The more you spin, the "stucker" you get. We are not going to live long enough for these idiots to grasp democratic principles. Sacrificing our people for " Noble Cause" gets grating. The futility is eventually noticed by the voters. That's where we are today. There was time to deal with Iraq. It has disappeared. The ball has been dropped.
#4
Let's not forget that millions of Iraqis turned out to vote in the face of injury and/or death. I'm not defending Hanson here but I think that says something about the Iraqi peoples desire for democracy considering they embraced it's most basic principle: one man, one vote.
Personally, I believe that principles are predicated on desire. You must want something before you are willing to sacrifice for it. The Iraqis have stated their desire for democracy but have seemingly failed to accept the sacrifices necessary for it.
However, I find myself wondering nowadays--considering how much is being sacrificed in the name of democracy-- is that not what we're seeing in Iraq right now?
Since September 11, 2001, Americans living along the U.S.-Mexican border have been warning that our porous frontier is a back door for terrorist entry into this country. Local, state and federal law enforcement officers, overwhelmed by the flow of human traffic across the border, have acknowledged the threat and have been widely ignored by the mainstream media and "official" Washington. Last year, in little noticed except on blogs like Rantburg congressional testimony, FBI Director Robert Mueller Jr. revealed that "individuals from countries with known al Qaeda connections have attempted to enter the United States illegally using alien smuggling rings and assuming Hispanic appearances."
A new staff report prepared by the House Committee on Homeland Security ought to be required reading for every reporter and official in Washington, D.C. Titled, "A Line in the Sand -- Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border," the just-released report confirms what many have long suspected: Our border is a sieve, not a barrier, for radical Islamic terrorists transiting into the United States. The Investigations Subcommittee charges that from September 11, 2001, to the present, hundreds of illegal aliens from countries "such as Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Pakistan... and Afghanistan" were apprehended crossing into the United States.
In June 2006, seven Iraqis were caught in Brownsville, Texas.
In August, an Afghan man was caught crossing the Rio Grande into Texas.
FBI Director Mueller has testified that a Hezbollah cell had been "dismantled" after discovering that the terror organization was smuggling operatives across the U.S.-Mexico border to carry out terror attacks inside the United States.
Individuals from countries with known al Qaeda connections have changed their Islamic surnames and adopted false Hispanic identities to escape detection and blend into American society.
Radical Islamic groups that support Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamiya Al Gamat are all active in Latin America.
All that is bad enough. But the bombshell -- as reported by Mr. Lajeunesse and confirmed in the congressional report -- is the role played by Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez. According to the congressional report, "Venezuela is providing support -- including identity documents -- that could prove useful to radical Islamic groups.... The Venezuelan government has issued thousands of cedulas, the equivalent of Social Security cards, to people from places such as Cuba, Colombia, and Middle Eastern nations that host foreign terrorist organizations." These documents can be used to obtain Venezuelan passports and American visas, which in turn allow the holder to elude immigration checks and enter the United States.
Much more at link Hat to My brother, who eMailed the link.
#1
This situation is much worse than we are being told. People like Jackal who live in the proximity of the border knows the flood of illegals has been ongoing since the late 1970's. Now it's a tidal wave. It's easy for the terrorists to blend in. What is the overpowering agenda for Bush that he refuses to shut the border ?
#2
You don't say you will shut the border until you believe you can back up your words with EFFECTIVE action.
Right now I doubt we could. We need to get there FAST and there is work going on to help make that possible (my significant other has a small role in it).
#1
Indeed. Also thought that some action re Iran would happen before elections, but in the current position of figures on ME chess board, it may be an advantacge to wait a little bit. Ahmadinutjob and SadAss are getting cocky more as time passes by, interpreting US inaction as a sign of weakness, indecision or whatever they like to think. It is possible that the administration wants to take an advantage of the provocation that these two clowns undoubtedly have on mind and in plans and gain a political capital without lifting a finger, creating appearance for domestic consumption that we are only reacting to belligerency of our foes.
Five years after Islamic apocalyptists turned the World Trade Center to fire and dust, we chatter more than ever about the clash of civilizations, fight a war prompted by our panic over (nonexistent) nuclear and biological weapons, hear it coolly asserted this past summer that World War III has begun, and wonder if an avian-flu pandemic poses more of a personal risk than climate change. In other words, apocalypse is on our minds. ...
Some thousands of Muslims are working seriously to provoke the blessed Armageddon. ...
If there is one thing that is most likely to lead to some sort of breakdown in national order, it's not avian flu, hurricanes, global warming, or Armageddon. It is the war
[I]f there is one thing that is most likely to lead to some sort of breakdown in national order, it's not avian flu, hurricanes, global warming, or Armageddon. It is the war.
Perhaps this can be dismissed given my military background. "Man who has only hammer sees every problem as nail." Didn't Confucius say that? Nevertheless of all those other maelstroms, the one that is most immediate, growing, global, and certainly getting worse is the global Islamist insurgency - and unlike the other threats, it includes an adaptable, quickly learning enemy that seeks to kill as many as possible.
There are few places in the world or spheres of life now unaffected.
There are few places in the world or spheres of life now unaffected. Pakistan has ceded Waziristan to the Taliban. A coterie of Islamist judges have taken over Somalia. Thailand's new prime minister plans to "reach out" to those in the south of his country who have killed 1500 since 2004. The French police fight an intifada every night, and recently requested armored vehicles and water cannons to bolster their efforts. The British have asked university professors to keep tabs on Muslim students - because there are so many who could be radicals that the intelligence agencies need all the help they can get. And we haven't even touched Iraq, the ambitions of Iran, or its bosom buddy Kim Jong Il, who now professes a trio of more nuclear tests shortly.
One cannot listen to the Pope; watch South Park; walk into a bookstore; enter a university campus; or of course peruse the news without being inundated by reactions to or the influence of jihad.
Americans are therefore preparing for what might come, without really knowing what it might be, only that it will probably be bad to say the least.
Americans are therefore preparing for what might come, without really knowing what it might be, only that it will probably be bad to say the least.
#1
Part of the motivation for survivalists is the lack of attention paid by the gov't to national self-defense measures, such as placing some restriction (either tax or rationing) on imported petroleum, and ratcheting up civil defense (preparing for a nuke strike on the U.S. as was done in the 50's, etc.) Instead, TSA is strip-searching grannies at airports and the Border Patrol sends their agents to prison for shooting drug smugglers in the rear.
#3
This boy ought to migrate to RB. We've been preaching this for some time. As for the Moron Glenn Reynolds, he is another self-declared genius. He came up with Instapundit blog years ago. But his rantings expose him as the leftist liberal he is. Another worthless fool full of gibberish.
#4
I grew up in the 50's when we were told to sit under our school desks when the atom bombs fell. Even as a kid I knew this was stupid advice and the government hasn't really gotten much smarter. I am neither paranoid nor a stereotypical survivalist, but there's nothing wrong with my having a backpack of food, water, survival gear, a rifle and a sidearm always packed and accessible.
Posted by: jim ||
10/23/2006 15:24 Comments ||
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#5
The Lord is my beast friend.
But a good 12 gauge is a close second.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
10/23/2006 15:50 Comments ||
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#6
best......BEST!
Preview is my third best friend.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
10/23/2006 15:51 Comments ||
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#7
I'm dressing up as Peak Oil this year for Halloween. Last year's global warming get up was to heavy.
#8
I am neither paranoid nor a stereotypical survivalist, but there's nothing wrong with my having a backpack of food, water, survival gear, a rifle and a sidearm always packed and accessible.
Mine has been packed for about 25 years now, I use it every trip as a "Getaway" bag.
(Fond memories of my father, an Army Colonel who had jut such a bag stashed in the hall closet to grab as you ran out the door, mandated by the Army when we were "Overseas" (In Canada?) Yes he thought it was a sensible idea, You never know when a Government will fall)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/23/2006 20:17 Comments ||
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...A day or so back, I suggested that there might be a genuine effort to challenge the results of the election - no matter what they are - by litigation or 'popular force". Man, I HATE being right sometimes. Severely EFL; the money quotes are below - Mike
Here are some questions: Are these guys simply narcissistic idiots Rove-ing around in some never-never land bubble or do they know something we dont? Have they planned a grab bag nose punch of an October/November surprise? Or have Diebold, ES&S, and local state secretaries assured them that they will do whatever it takes to get a Republican Congress elected again? Or are they just planning to outspend us? Karl Rove recently told the Washington Times, For most Americans, particularly the marginal voters who are going to determine the outcome of the election, it started a couple of weeks ago Between now and the election we will spend $100 million in target House and Senate races in the next 21 days. That is $30 million a week in 15 or 16 key races. Knowing this group, the answers must lie in a clever blitzkrieg [Note: Clever insertion of a Nazi reference, eh? It never fails. ST] combo of all of the above.
When I asked Gore Vidal at dinner why the White House seemed so serene and at ease about the vote, he replied that, this time around, the Bush-Cheney henchmen could simply call on martial law. He glumly noted that we are so far down the road toward totalitarianism that, even if Democrats do win back the Congress, it would take at least two generations before the last six years of damage to the nation could be reversed. Gore frankly despaired that any amount of time could ever return the country to where and what it previously was. This prediction left me reaching for some Fernet Branca.
This isn't just gloom-and-doom amongst the glitterati any more. This conversation, especially given that it's with a man who is plugged into the liberal stratosphere, tells me that they KNOW the real numbers, that they KNOW they won't take Congress back, and they no longer intend to play by anything even remotely resembling the Constitution. We must be saved from ourselves, and if they must burn down the house to save it, so be it.
May God help us all.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/23/2006 12:42 ||
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#1
The media-based elite do not themselves believe any of this. Vidal is a touchstone but not a genuine insider. What they do believe is that they can use conspiracy theories and their hordes of brainless conformists to delegitimize and disrupt the election. After that, they will make what amounts to a back room deal with Rove et al. The result will be an end to the chaos in return for racial gerrymandering of Congressional districts, a free hand for totalitarian activists on campus, and an end to any attempt to keep illegal aliens from voting, among other concessions. A similar "understanding" and tacit truce allowed radical forces to capture control of the Democratic party after the 1968 convention riots.
#2
I should add that I don't think it will work this time. The media-generated uprising depends crucially on the credibility of the complicit media. They had that in 1968, they don't have it today. If Walter Cronkite had claimed that LBJ was declaring martial law and rounding up hippies, millions would have believed him on no other evidence. If Katie Couric made the same claim today, she would be run out of town on a rail.
#5
Find out what ANSWER has planned for after election day. If they are quietly assembling activists for planning of massive protests, you know things are going to get hot. There WILL be riots if the GOP retains control of both houses.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
10/23/2006 15:01 Comments ||
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#11
"What happens if the Dems do not win all or even half of the seats they say they will? Are we looking at a party collapse?"
Remember the 1981 movie Scanners? The one where peoples' heads would explode and their veins would burst?
If the Dems don't win, keep a close eye on Howard Dean...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
10/23/2006 15:52 Comments ||
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#12
Yes the Dems are planning for a court battle because they WILL lose again. What I mean by lose is that they will not take enough races to control the Senate or House and they will rapidly deploy lawyers in hopes of digging up some voter irregularities. Ever notice that their (Donks) irregularities take the form of some nebulas unverifiable pronouncement? A good example is that many more people would have voted if they didnt have to stand in line for hours or Some people were intimidated by a police vehicle parked a block away from the polling place. Yeah right.
#13
I think we have a misunderstanding here. For R'burgers, "taking it to the streets" means breaking out the hollow-point rounds. For these guys, it means giant puppets.
Posted by: Matt ||
10/23/2006 15:58 Comments ||
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#14
Lol, Dave.
If the Dems don't win, keep a close eye on Howard Dean...
#15
At the Huffy, you always gotta check the bio..
Ms. Lear received her Ph. D. in clinical psychology at the Professional School of Psychological Studies in San Diego, practiced family therapy at New Yorks Foundation for Manic Depression and Depression, and was in private practice in psychotherapy in Beverly Hills specializing in marriage and family therapy.
#17
In a thousand years, we may see a museum exhibit devoted to this phenomenon:
Lear and Vidal stuffed and seated in a reproduction of an elegant restaurant, fake Fernet Branca and all. The sign explains: "and here we see two exemplary specimens of an exotic 21st century species, the screeching limousine- lib moonbat, in its native habitat. This is believed to have evolved from a lesser species, the 60s yellow-tailed hippy, when the latter developed more elaborate plumage. Both became extinct when their typical habitats disappeared under natural competitive pressure."
"Adolf Hitler's bodyguard has said that Hitler, despite a popular belief that he did not drink alcohol, drank a glass of Fernet Branca before making public speeches."
#21
CS, I think I alluded to this before, if the donks don't win the majority, they will contest so many elections in the courts that the House cannot be organized in any normal fashion come next January. They amy actually try to force some sort of coalition govt so they can get some chairmanships and power before it is all resolved or they will hold everything up.
#26
Ms. Lear received her Ph. D. in clinical psychology at the Professional School of Psychological Studies in San Diego
I've lived here all my life - 47 years - and NEVER heard of this outstanding diploma mill institution
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/23/2006 19:46 Comments ||
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#27
takin' it to the streets. Heh, heh. Good luck with that. Be another pathetic little dinosaur fossil parade. Downright embarassing it will be. ha, ha.
#29
"...whose doctorate came from the now defunct and never accredited Professional School of Psychological Studies..."
http://skepdic.com/news/newsletter34.html
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/23/2006 20:39 Comments ||
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#31
For these guys, it means giant puppets.
Maybe. But rumblings at DU and a few other sites suggest the destructive anarchists who've burned shops during economic summits are aching for some street action. 'Intifada' has been mentioned.
#34
Somehow I get the feeling there won't be any moonbat parades in my tiny Middle Tenn town. Sure we've got a few moonbats here at TTU, but since they haven't even managed to stop the University from playing actual Christmas music in the Student Union during December, I rather doubt they could manage more than 300 out of 8000+ students.
#35
Dave D., can they be somewhat...ahm....nudged? I think that the impact would be beyond their wildest dreams. In fact, the impact you mention may be the biggest one of many, but the little impacts would count too. ;-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/23/2006 22:42 Comments ||
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#40
A classic street sweeper is a short-barrelled 12 gauge shotgun with double barrels and the triggers wired together. It also can refer to the 12 shot revolver shotgun that the Dems outlawed in 1986.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Europe should recognise that tolerating oppressive cultures and encouraging more mass migration from Islamic countries often hurts precisely the people it seeks to help, according to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a former Dutch legislator from Somalia, who now lives in the US, where she is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
