they have identified the DNA sequences that explain most of the variations in eye colour in Europeans
Does that include the millions of black-eyed Arabs currently occupying Europe?
But the team found that, though uncommon, blue-eyed parents can have children with brown eyes. "This is because eye colour is determined by several interacting genes,"
Really? Would that have anything to do with what we, in our obvious ignorance, called "recessive" genes?
Yeesh.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/25/2004 18:50 Comments ||
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#4
#2 Pappy: I don't think RuPaul "rues" anything.
More's the pity.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/25/2004 18:52 Comments ||
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#5
Sorry about name. Me hobby not keeping track of celebrity has beens.
British band Asian Dub Foundation have been commissioned to write an opera about Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi. The band normally play a fiery mix of rock, dance and Asian beats - but guitarist Chandrasonic is now working with the English National Opera (ENO). ENO artistic director Sean Doran said: "[Gaddafi] is a subject matter of our time, and I think with opera we have to look at the stories around us." The opera is expected to be completed for performance in 2006. EFL
#3
My bad. They don't wear the stone on their heads, they sit on it. Of course.
It is entirely within the realm of possibility that some canny Scots fobbed off a fake [Stone of Destiny] on Edward I, seven hundred years ago, hiding the original coronation stone where it would never be found. One story particularly satisfying to Scottish nationalists with long memories claims that Edward actually took the rough rock used to hold down the cover of the cess-pit at Scone Castle, and that subsequent English monarchs have ceremoniously seated themselves on this medieval plumbing accessory for their coronations ever since 1308.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/25/2004 03:51 ||
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My dog wants to to honour kill the mailman because he can't keep his hands off our mailbox. Do you think I should let her go through with it? I have been considering consulting my imam on this crucial issue, but I am afraid he might tell me to eat the dog or even give up mail. I am not sure I can live without my K-mart flyers. It is the only proof I have that anyone loves me.
#2
Zpaz, I'd listen to your dog if I were you. They are noble animals who would never tell a lie. Cats, on the other hand, can't be trusted.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/25/2004 13:29 Comments ||
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#3
Dogs can't be trusted, either. Mine's owed me $20 for the past six months...
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2004 18:16 Comments ||
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#4
Fred, the easy way to stay friends with your dawg in this delicate situation is to ask him/her for change of a $50, give fido back 2 tens and a five spot instead of two twenty and a ten. Do it quickly enough and you show a $5 finance charge profit.
EFL - I did some extra checking on this one about the ruling Party, the PPP. It looks to be a socialist party and therefore canât possibly have death squads because as everyone knows in South America all death squads are right-wing.
A cattle farmer who prompted an inquiry into an alleged government hit squad in Guyana was assassinated Thursday, a day after an investigating judge reported death threats and quit a related case. George Bacchus, 51, was sleeping when at least one gunman burst into his bedroom and shot him, said Deputy Police Chief Henry Green. Derrick Prince said he rushed to his uncleâs bedroom after he heard shots but did not see the attacker. Four people were detained in connection with the killing, Police Chief Winston Felix said. He gave no further information. Bacchus went on national television earlier this year alleging that a government-sponsored hit squad had been formed to hunt down criminals, and that his brother was killed in a drive-by shooting meant for him.
Got the right guy this time, huh?
The government agreed to an inquiry but disagreements over the choice in panel members has stalled progress. Bacchus was due to testify this week against two men charged with killing his brother, Shafeek Bacchus, 48, on Jan. 5. Magistrate Juliet Holder-Allen on Wednesday quit the case involving city undertaker Ashton King, 51 and market vendor Sean Hinds, 37, saying she had received death threats. A third suspect died in custody earlier this year amid suspicious circumstances.
"Cut him down, Sergeant, and start an investigation!"
"Yes, sir. Uhhh... He's not dead yet."
"Right, then. We'll go to lunch. Then you can cut him down and start an investigation."
The government is searching for another magistrate to take the case. In going public with his story, Bacchus admitted to working with the squad as an informer. He said he had left after most of the countryâs wanted men were killed, and because the squad had carried out other killings on behalf of government officials and business owners.
"The bad guys are all dead. I'm retiring from the Organization."
"You can't retire, Bacchus."
"Oh. Right. Ummm... A vacation, then?"
He said the hit squad was sponsored by Interior Minister Ronald Gajraj. The government and Gajraj deny that, although U.S. and Canadian officials have revoked visas for Gajraj. Opposition groups and other organizations have accused the hit squad of carrying out at least 40 extrajudicial killings in the last two years. The main opposition Peopleâs National Congress on Thursday blamed the government for Bacchusâ killing. "The PNC has no doubt that the execution of Bacchus was a deliberate attempt to silence him, and to protect those who have been implicated in the death squad operations," the party said in a statement. The governing Peopleâs Progressive Party denied the allegations. "The PPP condemns the killing of Mr. Bacchus and calls for an immediate police investigation into his death," it said in a statement. Presidential spokesman Robert Persaud said the killing was a police matter, and that it was not discussed at Thursdayâs Cabinet meeting. Here is a past Press Release from the PPP that kind of gives you a take on their politics
Presidential spokesman Robert Persaud said the killing was a police matter, and that it was not discussed at Thursdayâs Cabinet meeting. Many of the squadâs members were allegedly police officers. So technically, the killing was a "police matter."
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/25/2004 3:36:12 AM ||
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's OK. They're "progressive".
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/25/2004 10:14 Comments ||
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Korean Internet users have launched "Hacking of Fury" attacks on a website, Ogrish.com, which is trying to obtain and spread the video of Kim Sun-ilâs decapitation. This site posted the unabridged video of Nicholas Bergâs beheading in May. The site enraged Korean Internet users by posting an advertisement looking for video of Kimâs decapitation when Kim was kidnapped. The site is posting a message on its main page that Kim has been decapitated and is asking people to send in videos or photos of Kimâs decapitation if they have them. In regards to this message, Korean Internet users have gone on collective hacking attacks on the website, saying, "We will punish a shameless website that is trying to commercialize the death of a man."
Korean Internet users have posted ways to hack into Ogrish.com on various Korean websites like DC and are making all-out efforts to bring the website down. An Internet user resentfully suggested, "Letâs hack in to hang a Korean flag on the site... Spreading a video of the beheading is to ridicule the death of Kim Sun-il." Korean Internet users have voiced concerns that a video of the beheading may be circulated around the world and this would be tantamount to killing Kim twice. Korean Internet users said, "Letâs join hands together to prevent the circulation of the video of Kim Sun-il who was killed undeservedly."
Posted by: TS(vice girl) ||
06/25/2004 12:54:23 AM ||
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#1
I am not much of a fan of hackers, but in this case - hack and hack and hack away.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/25/2004 2:57 Comments ||
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#2
hope they do it to the islamofascist sites that broadcast it too. dunno what they r just read it once on lgf somewhere
#3
SH: Most of the people aren't real hackers. They are people who know how to hack, but obey the law at the same time. This is just the computer-masses taking revenge in their own way.
I love it.
Posted by: Charles ||
06/25/2004 7:42 Comments ||
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#4
'obey the law'
heh
you must know hackers very different from the ones I know... the only time they do any 'obeying' is when thet get paranoid (happens more often than you would expect)
vry bright individuals and like most vry bright folks, they don't think the rules apply to them, or atleast so long as they don't get caught...
#6
How in the hell do they find it at all appropriate to profit off the murder of an innocent man! Especially when his family and his country are suffering in such a fucking horrible way.
LABORâS longest-serving leader, NSW Premier Bob Carr, has warned Mark Latham to exercise the "utmost diplomacy" on withdrawing troops from Iraq and urged him to accept the US free trade deal "the sooner the better".
Mr Carr, who has just returned from a two-week visit to the US, warned his federal counterparts Washington feels "wounded" and is sensitive "to any ally, any friend, turning their back on America".
The NSW Premier said he had been told in Washington that Canberra should think "carefully about a premature withdrawal from Iraq" because helping the US in a "tough time" meant Australia could have an influence on US policies.
Mr Carrâs comments, made in Canberra yesterday and to be broadcast on ABC radio this weekend, increase the pressure on federal Laborâs policy on two fronts - troop withdrawal by Christmas and opposition to the US trade agreement.
In an interview with the ABCâs Sunday Profile radio program to be broadcast this weekend, Mr Carr said Australia was highly regarded in Washington because "weâve got troops in Iraq".
"Iâm contemplating a change of government - if Labor is to be elected in the forthcoming elections, this will be a major diplomatic challenge," he said.
In an apparent slight to Mr Latham, Mr Carr said "a lot of diplomacy and skill will be required" and suggested former Labor leader Kim Beazley and foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd and "other members of the Labor team, caucus and shadow cabinet" would be up to it.
When asked by presenter Geraldine Doogue why he had not mentioned Mr Latham - who has described US President George W. Bush as incompetent and accused John Howard of "brown nosing" the President - Mr Carr responded: "Well, I think heâll be leaving it to his foreign minister to implement this policy and I think he would accept that itâs a major challenge".
"So the relationship has got to be handled with a lot of sensitivity and I know this is something that Kevin Rudd accepts as a major responsibility as foreign minister in a possible Labor Government."
On Thursday night the Labor Party split in the House of Representatives when forced to a vote on the trade deal with 14 Labor MPs crossing the floor to vote with the Government and more than 40 abstaining.
Mr Beazley told parliament on Thursday night that he supported the trade agreement and that the US concessions would eventually allow Australia to kick the trade door wide open. "Once we are in the door, it is an Australian Trojan horse that has just marched in," he said.
At a joint press conference in Canberra yesterday for four premiers and two territory leaders, Mr Carr said all the state Labor leaders saw "huge benefits from Australia getting access to the dynamism of the North American economy".
#1
The NSW Premier said he had been told in Washington that Canberra should think "carefully about a premature withdrawal from Iraq" because helping the US in a "tough time" meant Australia could have an influence on US policies.
What?! You mean acting like an ally means you get treated like an ally?
Shocking!
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/25/2004 21:04 Comments ||
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From Khilafah
Vandals used pigsâ heads impaled on stakes, animal blood and offal to desecrate a controversial Muslim prayer hall in Sydney, but its developer has vowed to finish the project. Developer Abbas Aly said pigsâ blood had been smeared on walls and offal and other pig body parts were strewn across the floor of the hall, which is due to open in October. Pigsâ heads on stakes had been left outside the hall on Annangrove Road. ... Mr Aly said the attack had surprised the 40 Muslim families, mostly from the Indian sub-continent, who planned to use the hall. .... The small Muslim community fought last year to get approval to build the hall where an old house used to stand. ...
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
06/25/2004 7:36:02 AM ||
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#1
oh dear, and just today a mosque in melbourne was attacked by arson.
still, more churches were attacked in australia post 9/11 than mosques, with arson being the most common vandalism.
while multiculturalism is prevalent in Australia and has some benefits, this community clearly DIDN'T want a mosque in the vicinity and shouldn't have been forced to have one against their will.
They have recognised that it will change the culture of their suburb and they don't want their culture changed!
The mosque builders are pushing ahead regardless of local cultural sensitivities so though this act is cowardly and pretty disgusting really, my sympathy is limited.
#3
They have recognised that it will change the culture of their suburb and they don't want their culture changed!
OK this is the work of thugs. That said, from UK experience as soon as there's a mosque there occurs a hijacking of the local culture - no adverts in Bradford for women's underwear/women's hygiene products; no famous statue of a pig in Derby. Crazy demands about school uniform etc.. Muslims cannot be bothered to learn to live with others, it is us who have to adjust to them.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
06/25/2004 8:26 Comments ||
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#4
*fumbles in pocket* Dang, where's that sympathy? I swear I just had it here a second ago.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/25/2004 10:50 Comments ||
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#6
this community clearly DIDN'T want a mosque in the vicinity and shouldn't have been forced to have one against their will.
and if a community doesnt want a new shopping center thats going up legally, in accordance with zoning regs, they should have the right to vandalize it? You may support earthfirst radicalism, but I do not. Private property rights are part of liberal democracy, and should be respected. Christians shouldnt be able to keep a mosque out of their neighborhood, nor should muslims keep a synagogue or church out of theirs, nor should jews keep a mosque or church out of theirs (or even a jews for jesus "synagogue") nor should christians keep a synagogue out of theirs.
#10
Private property rights are part of liberal democracy, and should be respected.
Like underwear ads, bars, and pig statues? There's a double standard in place here. Whenever these people complain about something that is perfectly legal but they don't like, everyone takes great pains to defer to their sensitivities. Maybe it's just fear, but people tend to give them a lot of latitude in changing their new environment to conform to their wishes. What you say is completely correct, but it's a two way street. And until they start realizing this, I don't have a problem with strong-arm tactics. Give them a choice - either we all play by our rules, or we all play by your rules. But don't give them special treatment.
#14
LH-Private property rights are part of liberal democracy, and should be respected.
BH-Like underwear ads, bars, and pig statues?
LH-Precisely
Liberalhawk, sorry, can I ask for a clarification? What are you saying precisely to?
That citizens should also have a right TO adverts in Bradford for women's underwear/women's hygiene products; TO a famous statue of a pig in Derby? So why were those things in Bradford and Derby removed? Could it be one group was allowed to socially press another? Why does one group have to buckle in the face of the PC police and the other doesn't?
#15
(The Luftwaffe removed the pig statue - we're hesitating about putting it back up). They'll be having to rename pubs next - can we still have 'The Saracen's Head' or 'Ye Olde Trippe To Jerusalem?'I meant to say fundo-muslims - know some perfectly sane ones believe it or not. Vandalism's always bad.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
06/25/2004 12:45 Comments ||
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#16
jules those peples wrong for remove panty ads but ima thinking they do it legal ways. vandalise and pig sacrafices not legal means.
#18
i really do not support vandalism - especially agaisnt religious sites..but how much can the west take? we are supposed to accept the religious faiths of others - but muslims do not accept christians, jews, buddahist in their midst? churches are attacked across the muslim world without a word of regret - but when a mosque is attacked it's the crusades all over again...
Posted by: Dan ||
06/25/2004 13:00 Comments ||
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#19
Muck4doo-I can't imagine any legal justification for pig blood smearing on holy sites or vandalism either. On the other hand, I'm not surprised when a native people reacts angrily to an immigrant people who are attempting to force their neurotic religious norms on the native populace. If the Muslims have that big a neurosis about pigs or women's body parts, they'd be better off visiting a psychiatrist, not their local legislators.
#20
OK, folks. You want to know what pig blood can do to the world? Well it will raise bloody hell, even in a Christian country, like Germany. How about a 9000 gallon pig blood spill on the Autobahn? Check the story out here.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/25/2004 13:14 Comments ||
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#21
well then peples are have to stop letting them make changes but ima thinking destroying they mosks and churches aint going do it. do it stop religion any where that method is been operated.
paul ima cover that story my blog awhile back. ima still wondering what they doing that much blood.
#22
j - precisely - its illegal and wrong to vandalize underwear ads, pig statues, etc.
Why were they removed - I dont know, didnt really follow those. Howard says something about the pig, though.
Dan - when churches are attacked that an outrage. Its also a violation of property rights, of the kind that keeps those lands poor and backward. We DONT wont to become like THAT.
#23
its illegal and wrong to vandalize underwear ads, pig statues, etc.
Why were they removed - I dont know, didnt really follow those.
Precisely my point. Nobody follows the stories about Muslims making demands on non-believers to not offend their oh-so-delicate sensibilities. Nobody notices the mafia tactics of an imam who says, "This will cause unrest in our community... hint, hint", or pays attention to stories of harassment of little girls who don't wear scarves on their heads. But as soon as anyone so much as raises the question of whether certain aspects of Islamic culture are detrimental to the health of a community, all of a sudden it's "those horrible, racist Western xenophobes! Why are they soo hateful!"
That's the double standard I'm talking about. Some dumbsh*t in Italy got all the crucifixes taken out of the schools in one city. In Italy! Yet, all the newspapers fixated on was France's intolerant decision to ban hijabs. Who are the intolerant ones here?
We can agree that it is illegal and wrong to vandalize private property, but while one side insists on engaging in such activities on an ongoing basis, I won't even consider criticizing those who respond in kind.
#24
Vandalism is against the law and whether it's against a mosque, a school, or Uncle Jim's Chevy...it should be prosecuted. End of story.
However, I would resent any so called "hate laws" being applied to this vandalism, but this being Sydney no doubt there are "hate laws" in place, and this will get far more prosecutorial attention than it should.
I suspect the reason that this Muslim prayer hall was selected for vandalism is because of the failings of "liberal democracy" ie. government is perceived by the majority to have protected the rights of special, private groups too rigorously in the past at the expense of the common good.
LH, btw, it's not clear that "liberal democracies" will survive the long haul, so I would not be too smug if I were you: We DONT wont to become like THAT
Posted by: rex ||
06/25/2004 14:36 Comments ||
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#25
I *do* pledge allegiance to my country and its laws, BUT...
I've seen so much pc-crap that has tipped the scales in favor of the Islamic horde in instance after instance after instance.
As a result, although I won't *personally* be desecrating any Islamic property, I also have no plans of protesting against those that do.
Were the scales of justice ever to re-balance themselves, I would have to re-consider my position on this issue. But not until then!
#26
I agree with BH: " soon as anyone so much as raises the question of whether certain aspects of Islamic culture are detrimental to the health of a community, all of a sudden it's "those horrible, racist Western xenophobes! "
One of the weapons the Islamics will use against the West is their emotionality. They scream and get upset and Westerners are taken aback, believe their (culture-bound) nonsense and capitulate. "Why, no one would act that uncivilized if there weren't a legitimate point being made. Guess we better rethink our position and give them what they want." The Islamics laugh all the way to the bank ( or the jihad).
I wonder if LH believes that all non-Jews have the ready potential to turn on the Jews, and will, if the idea of tolerance isn't "sold" to everyone, and held to at all times. I have seen this adherence to "tolerance at all costs," to be very popular among the WWII survior Jews and the generation that followed. "If everyone will just get along, the Jews will be safe."
Don't think that holds with many native Israelis.
Wake up LH. Preach what you will, but keep your wits about you. The more the Islamics are able to convince goy society of their legitimacy, the closer the Jews are to danger. Just a thought.
#27
Precisely my point. Nobody follows the stories about Muslims making demands on non-believers to not offend their oh-so-delicate sensibilities
BH - youll note i didnt post the original here. I wouldnt have had anything to say, if someone hadnt seemed to justify the vandalism. When i see someone justify vandalism the other way, believe you me, i'll be just as hard on them.
rex - i think liberal democracies are the wave of the future, and the "end of history" (which I think makes me almost Reaganite, but if you want to call me liberal for that, ok) but lets not take this off topic for that.
EL - the Jews are ALWAYS in danger in my book. Id like to think thatI would believe in the ideas of Jefferson and Madison whether or not I was Jewish. If you want to join with the multiculties who insist that identity drives belief, you are free to.
I dont beleive that uncivilized acts mean theres a point being made. They dont. But I dont have to act uncivilized myself.
Crusader -are you in the UK? Thats where there has been talk of Islamist unpunished Islamist vandalism. I dont know of any here in the US.
#28
I wonder if LH believes that all non-Jews have the ready potential to turn on the Jews, and will, if the idea of tolerance isn't "sold" to everyone, and held to at all times.
I don't know about LH, but BH's Law states that any sufficiently large group of people is exactly one beer away from becoming a riot. For this reason, I am truly thankful that the ROPpers eschew the use of alcohol.
#29
I've seen so much pc-crap that has tipped the scales in favor of the Islamic horde in instance after instance after instance.
how do you know the south asian muslims at this mosque support vandalism of underwear ads, etc? How do you know they arent refugees from Islamism, looking to better themselves?
#30
Don't think that holds with many native Israelis.
Israelis are a diverse bunch. Some are as "rightwing" as any body you find on RB. Some are more "liberal" than I am ALOT more. Many are somewhere in between. I know plenty of Israelis, and can report from experience.
And, for your information, there are plenty of American Jews, including Holocaust survivors, who are alot more "right wing" than I am.
But if you like to judge people by categories, Israelis, jews, muslims etc well youre certainly an EX-liberal. Though in this case i use liberal in its broadest sense, one who judges others as individuals, a sense that includes Dubya and Ronald Reagan as well.
#31
BH's Law states that any sufficiently large group of people is exactly one beer away from becoming a riot
this i can agree with, and sounds much more in line with the Conservative intellectual tradition (mistrust of mobs) than all this apologia for vandalism and lawbreaking, which sounds less conservative, than something id rather not bring up here.
#32
Whenever these people complain about something that is perfectly legal but they don't like, everyone takes great pains to defer to their sensitivities
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/25/2004 17:43 Comments ||
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#34
#32: Its somewhat the inverse, but it illustrates the same point: The "call to prayer" 5 times a day in Michigan--where LOTS of the surrounding folks protested vehomently, yet the council approved the call anyway.
#35
frank that child beater lady is went to court on that but ima think she is lose.
crusader ima think you right on that example but ima think culd it be any louder than church bells? actualy ima think it wuld be sweet to try that sometimes but ima not know arabian singing. maybe they are let me yodel it instead.
#37
You know, the people who are upset about this didn't seem to care when a bunch of Palestinian thugs decided it was their right to crap in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. It's seems it's only a hate crime if it's inflcted on nonChristians. Well, too fucking bad. What goes around comes around.
For that matter, the story in the sidebar of this article was more interesting. This paper is still hung up on the Crusades, quoting at length from a French book, Histoire anonyme de la premiere croisade (Anonymous history of the First Crusade) about the sack of Jerusalem. Not quite sure what the point of it is unless it is to show how Christians have always picked on poor defenseless muslims.
#40
See Crusader's take -- my personal distaste with the vandalism, I admit, actually takes a backseat to my more prioritized distaste with Muslim aggression (see UK, Michigan, etc). I won't participate, but I won't complain, even if it's our society's dregs, as long as it aims at a certain goal ...
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
06/26/2004 10:01 Comments ||
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EFL: The Norwegian government has intervened in an industrial dispute that had threatened to halt oil production. The risk that a week long strike would escalate with a lock-out on Monday spurred the government to act. The government had been very aware that failure to act would have caused a large chunk of supplies to be cut off from the world's oil market, oil prices would have spiked and Norway's reputation as a responsible player would have been damaged.
The oil industry is vital to Norway, accounting for almost half its exports and about a fifth of its economic output. Norway is the third largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia and Russia and is set to become the second largest gas exporter after Russia.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/25/2004 9:20:18 AM ||
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LOL! Liberal is liberal! And socialist is socialist, but were're talking serious dough here! Get your ass back to work or else!
EFL - I find it most unusual that I agree partially with liberal feminists in a discussion regarding hate speech.
A bill that criminalizes "sexist and homophobic" remarks was approved by the French government yesterday, despite criticism from groups noting that insulting women would still be legal. The legislation, which parliament will consider next month, would make "incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence against a person on the basis of gender or sexual orientation" punishable by a year in prison and a fine of up to $54,000. "This law will put the fight against homophobia on the same level, in terms of possible legal action, as the fight against racism and anti-Semitism," Justice Minister Dominique Perben told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting.
... which, as we can see, is ticking right along...
President Jacques Chirac said he hoped the law would "bring to an abrupt end these very serious acts," according to his spokesman. The billâs inspiration came from an attack on a homosexual man in northern France in January, Sebastian Nouchet, who was sprayed with gasoline. "This law is in some way the Nouchet law," said Perben. After this bill, it would still OK to douses him with gas as long as the attacker didnât insult the victim as well.
The press-freedom watchdog Reporters without Borders criticized the proposal as "a real step backwards" that could stifle opinion, Reuters reported. Also, two associations representing magazine publishers argued giving special protection to women and sexual minorities was "an open door to other demands that could lead to a total anesthetization of public debate." The draft bill also came under fire from feminists and teachers groups who contend it creates a legal hierarchy of insults, favoring homosexuals. The feminist group Chiennes de garde, or Guard Bitches, said it would be dangerous "to send a signal that it is less serious to insult a woman because of her sex than to insult people because of their sexual orientation," according to Reuters. "Calling someone a dirty dyke or a fag would become a serious insult in legal terms while there would be no punishment for calling someone a whore or a slut," the group wrote in a statement published in the daily Le Monde.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/25/2004 4:08:43 AM ||
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"Calling someone a dirty dyke or a fag would become a serious insult in legal terms while there would be no punishment for calling someone a whore or a slut,"
"Whore" and "slut" aren't by themselves sexist insults, though they are occasionally used as such. Usually it refers to only a particular type of women, not to mention that men can also be whorish and slutty.
#2
I'm surprised you've never heard "cunt" used to describe a man, Aris.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/25/2004 10:13 Comments ||
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#3
Quelle stupidite. Of course whore and slut are sexist insults. They play on an out-of-date double standard that sexually active men withe multiple partners are normal and sexually active women who do the same are abnormal. (BTW, I am not endorsing or trashing either.)
Any man who calls women whores and sluts and at the same time has an active and varied sex life-just who is he having sex with, blow up dolls? Other men? Animals? Himself alone?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/25/2004 10:46 Comments ||
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#5
jules> "Any man who calls women whores and sluts and at the same time has an active and varied sex life-"
Not sure if you are joking or not, but you're describing a matter of hypocrisy, not of sexism per se, even if such hypocrisy can derive *from* sexism.
As for "active and varied" that's relative, don't you think? Some people may think serial monogamy to be moral, even as they might oppose sex-for-economic-benefits (whorish) or being unfaithful or participating in orgies (sluttish).
Fact remains that "slut" and "whore" are insults referring to behaviour, rather than gender alone. Women are as likely (or even more so) to use them as insult against other women as mysogynic men are.
If there's sexism in them, it's probably in the sense that that they feel odd when applied to men. Still "manwhore" exist's as a word, I believe.
#7
Fact remains that "slut" and "whore" are insults referring to behaviour, rather than gender alone.
True, but I don't recall one situation in which its use reflected badly on a man whereas all instances I can think of where it is used against a woman reflect a negative connotation. Still, that is only my experience; maybe some other women on the site have something to add?
Insults only have meaning based on the norms and values of a society, wouldn't you say?
Women are as likely (or even more so) to use them as insult against other women as mysogynic men are.
I agree with you completely there. Women can be horrible to each other, although I think it is getting slowly better as women find other ways of feeling good about themselves rather than putting down other women.
#8
Hate speech laws are patently stupid. They are anti-freedom of speech. They represent just more incidious socialist inspired gov't control of individuals and selective control at that. I am equal to a gay male but the French government sees gay males as more precious with this kind of law in place. I can be insulted every which way, but a gendarme will not come to my assistence.
A thought is not a deed. And individuals should be judged for their individual actions. If a person is so weak willed to be incited to commit murderous acts against an individual, then that person is a loose cannon and should be the one put away.
Hate speech laws to protect homosexuals, visible minorities, Jews, Muslims are all nonsense and I resent the fact that people in aforementioned groups are elevated to a special status and more worthy of government protection than ordinary folks like me who go through life having to put up with insults and to deal with it on our own.
Posted by: rex ||
06/25/2004 13:14 Comments ||
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#9
Um, rex, insults are one thing, but if everywhere you went you heard that you are sub-human and should be exterminated, you'd want some kind of protection. Especially if you were in the minority. Do you know how many weak willed people exist in the world? A lot. Do you know how many people believe what they are told without thinking for themselves? More than a lot.
Posted by: Rafael ||
06/25/2004 14:10 Comments ||
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#10
really cannot help if a weak willed person will believe whatever they are told - freedom of speech is more important ... i for one do not what thought police - govt telling me what i can think..now if a person acts on his/her thoughts that is another matter..but we cannot protect the minority by stiffling freedom of speech...be they extreme left or right...even wannabe nazi trash have a right to express themselves... give me the mob over socialist thought police any day...
Posted by: Dan ||
06/25/2004 14:50 Comments ||
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#11
Actually, #9, I believe that free speech is one of the greatest fundamental freedoms of the free world and any erosion of that right will have far greater consequences long term than we care to imagine.
My mother left her country of birth with the clothes on her back [some her relatives were not so lucky] when she was 26 years old so I am intimately familiar with the consequences of violent actions undertaken by a group who sees itself superior to another group it views as being "subhuman." Hate laws would not have helped my mother. In her new country, once she learned English, she dearly valued freedom of speech and taught me that the enemy to an individual's freedom was government control. She was a smart lady.
Posted by: rex ||
06/25/2004 14:58 Comments ||
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#12
Then you guys should have no problem with OBL calling for the murder of Americans.
I do not want freedom of speech to the extent where you can openly call for the murder of people. That's ridiculous.
Nobody is talking about thought police. Keep your thoughts to yourself if you're having urges to kill people. The moment you get up on a podium and express your opinion that certain people should be killed, that is the moment where you cross the line.
Posted by: Rafael ||
06/25/2004 15:56 Comments ||
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#13
"Um, rex, insults are one thing, but if everywhere you went you heard that you are sub-human and should be exterminated, you'd want some kind of protection."
To which I say: "Sticks and stones might break my bones, but words will never hurt me."
Rafael: Legal protection for actual crimes of violence already exists, but the kind of protection sought this way ends up supporting a fascist police state. People can say what they say. It's not a crime to be obnoxious to others--although it may be immoral or unkind (uh, welcome to planet Earth!).
The promoting of the idea of "homophobia" is part of the deconstructionist political/cultural goals of the left. Clearly, there is a miniscule minority of people (if there exists at all) who might have an actual "phobia" per se, of homosexuals (and if there was, their disorder would have been developed as a result of trauma in connection with a homosexual--hmm--guess I won't go there). Even if there were people with such phobias, most would seek avoidance of the feared object or person, rather than confrontation.
This is how the real deconstructionist game works: Because people don't like other people with mental disorders, the deconstructionists have hit on idea: link critiques of lifestyle (homosexuality) with something no one wants to be identified with (namely, mental disorders), and thus (ultimately) quash all discussion about, research of, and opposition to, the controversial lifestyle/belief in question.
By labeling all discussion and opposition as "phobic," many non-critically thinking people will go along with the idea, and out of a desire to protect oneself from a less than appealing label of mental illness, will decide that they do not want to be "homophobic," and thus will accept homosexuality unquestioned. The idea of "hate speech" is an extension of the same and works the same way.
BTW, pedophiles are pushing for the same "recognition" and "protection," of actions and behaviors, as are homosexuals that favor younger sex "partners." They are pushing for lowering the age of consent so that boys and girls can engage in sexual acts with them without fear of punishment for perpetrating crimes against minors. Some homosexuals and lesbians argue that children's sexuality is being repressed, and that children like having sexual encounters with adults, and that their right to do so, should be protected.
"The legislation, which parliament will consider next month, would make "incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence against a person on the basis of gender or sexual orientation " punishable by a year in prison and a fine of up to $54,000. "
Because sexuality is "plastic" in it's formative state, pedophiles argue it's not their fault that their "sexual orientation" falls in that direction, and some are using the same "biologically-based" argument that was so successful for the homosexuals.
(And actually, if you're going to hold to this reasoning, "homophobics" should be rallying for the same law to be applied to them, and should be filing anti-discrimination suits so that people who are guilty of "hate speech" against them are as severely punished. They have a mental disorder, after all. Or consider the need to prosecute "heterophobics"--i.e., homosexuals. I've read in gay magazines of gay's virulent hatred of heterosexuals and their stated determination to destroy heterosexual society).
It's all about who is going to control society and government, and how to effect that change.
The Islamists are also using the same argument parameters in their efforts to deconstruct Western civilization: they call it "Islamophobia / Arabophobia" (see yesterday's Rantburg). Of course, the Islamics consider infidels to be subhuman and think they should be exterminated EVERY SINGLE DAY, now don't they?
#15
ex-lib> Have people really labelled homophobia a mental disorder? I admit that I've not heard this before. Is it just a strawman you have created?
And if the whole of your argument is based on the use of the stem "phobia", that's just the same word used for xenophobia as well. It simply means fear/hatred of, it doesn't explain what that fear is caused by.
#16
Legal protection for actual crimes of violence already exists, but the kind of protection sought this way ends up supporting a fascist police state. People can say what they say. It's not a crime to be obnoxious to others--although it may be immoral or unkind (uh, welcome to planet Earth!).
Well said, ex-lib!
Words of individuals did not slaughter Jews or Ukrainian farmers. Powerful controlling governments authorized the large scale murders. Individuals were paralyzed because of the enormous ubiquitous powers of the respective governmental apparatus.
To enable government to control what we as individuals say is the first step to sanctioning the rise of a Thought Police bureaucracy. Eroding the inner spirit of individuals to think and act freely as individuals creates an opportunity for a charismatic, albeit twisted, Hitler, Stalin, OBl to claim power over mindless, thoughtless sheeple.
In Canada, a nice happy country 50 years ago, is now a virtual police state with Language Commissar and "special" rights accorded to "special" people, which is causing alot of resentment. There are quotas for hiring French speaking and visible minorities to all government positions. Don Cherry, a colorful sports commentator made some crack about French Cdn. hockey players wearing hockey shields and comparing them to wusses and the Language Commisar was requested to investigate him. CBC has now instituted a 6 second delay for Don Cherry sportscasts, so they can censor anything that might be "insensitive." And still with Big Brother monitoring everything little peope say, Jewish synagogues are vandalized in Montreal.
You cannot legislate happy tolerant thoughts in people. You can legislate laws against criminal behavior.
Posted by: rex ||
06/25/2004 17:09 Comments ||
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#17
"Sticks and stones might break my bones, but words will never hurt me."
They hurt 6 million Jews 60 years ago. And I'm sure Germany had legal protection for actual crimes of violence as well.
I draw the line at the point where it is acceptable to say it is all right to murder for one reason or another. That is a sign of a sick society. Moreover, it is a sign of a sick society where such speech is tolerated. You don't have to look far to see examples of this.
Notice that my argument focuses on something much worse than "sexist and homophobic" remarks. I can agree with you on everything you said, up to where I drew the line (incitement of violence).
Posted by: Rafael ||
06/25/2004 17:14 Comments ||
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#18
Aris,
The august American Psychological Association laments âthe pervasive presence of societal homophobia and the lack of readily identifiable role models for positive gay or lesbian identity . . .â (see link, which is only one of many such examples), so ex-lib is not talking about a straw man. Maybe there are no societal deconstruction efforts going on in Greece, but it is pretty thick here in the U.S.
#19
Words of individuals did not slaughter Jews or Ukrainian farmers
Correct. They were words of one individual, mostly.
Rex, I live in Canada and I don't see this police state that you speak of.
Eroding the inner spirit of individuals to think and act freely as individuals creates an opportunity for a charismatic, albeit twisted, Hitler, Stalin, OBl to claim power over mindless, thoughtless sheeple.
I honestly do not believe that one has anything to do with the other. It is precisely where speech advocating the murder of people is tolerated that created the condition for a Hitler or Stalin to come to power. All you need is enough people to agree with him, and no one to stand up and say it is wrong.
Posted by: Rafael ||
06/25/2004 17:24 Comments ||
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#20
rex> I'm no psychologist, but the use of the words "societal hopophobia" indicate to me that homophobia was labelled as a societal problem rather than a mental disorder.
The paragraphs you quoted seems to describe the problem lesbian/gay teens have in the face of such societal homophobia -- which once again goes *against* your argument that it was labelled as mental disorder.
Mental disorders cause problems to the people suffering from them and their immediate families, they are not societal issues.
Maybe there are no societal deconstruction efforts going on in Greece, but it is pretty thick here in the U.S
Sure there are. For example there are lots and lots of people who try to claim that you can be Greek without being Eastern Orthodox. That being an atheist or a different religion is just as valid. There are people who *gasp* even want separation of church and state.
I'm all in favour of deconstructing things that we can do without.
#22
Rex, I live in Canada and I don't see this police state that you speak of.
If you don't see that in Canada, then the damage has already been done, Rafael. One of my siblings lives in Canada and I visit on business frequently. As well I have a nephew who works for CBC[barf] so I have seen the changes in Canada over the years and from different viewpoints. Trudeau was the high priest to start the demise of free thinking in Canada. Chretien was his altar boy and finished the job.
Rafael, if free thinking is so prevalent in Canada, why is it that you still have 100% state supported media[like Cuba]and FOX News is not allowed to be broadcast in Canada[like Cuba]?
It is precisely where speech advocating the murder of people is tolerated that created the condition for a Hitler or Stalin to come to power
What allowed Stalin and Hitler to flourish was that individualism and free thinking was outlawed and group think took hold...sheeple following orders kill not individuals who are allowed to exercise their minds and know right from wrong.
Who cares if some shaved head Nazi says kill rex in Hyde Park? Unless he tries to kill me he can shoot off his yap as much as he wants.Hate laws are not going to make this agenda driven nutbar like rex more-hate laws may even make him hate and resent rex more.
Posted by: rex ||
06/25/2004 18:03 Comments ||
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#23
Who cares if some shaved head Nazi says kill rex in Hyde Park?
In that case, who cares if some guy named Osama says "hijack airplanes and throw them into skyscrapers"?
It seems to me there's a very thin line between inciting other people to violence, and being the orchestrator of a crime.
You and I are not talking about the same kind of deconstruction. You note the evolution of your culture away from a monarchial theocratic state (and hopefully more toward the model of being a free democratic republic, well grounded in western principles), while I am talking about those who wish to destroy my countryâs culture. The deconstructionist LLL here in the U.S. has been in full swing for many years trying to pervade academia and public education, in most (if not all) disciplines, and has attempted to promote a form of moral, social, political, and intellectual relativism that is lethal to natural law and other absolutes -- and which tolerates no dissent.
Regarding âhomophobia,â the links I posted for you were merely examples. More formally, you can go to the glossary associated with the APA website, which defines a phobia as: âA persistent and irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation that is excessive and unreasonable, given the reality of the threat.â In DSM-IV-TR nosology, this is probably better stated as an Axis I - 300.00 mental disorder, Anxiety Disorder NOS, âdisorders with . . . phobic avoidance that do not meet criteria for any specific Anxiety Disorder.â And, yes, psychological/psychiatric labels often are used in a political fashion (remember, psychology was the marriage of psychiatry and philosophy, and was formed as a discipline designed to eliminate the doctrine of vitalism).
the statute serves to stigmatize gay people as "deviants" and reinforces unfounded but widely held stereotypes about them. This process results in prejudice -- often called "homophobia" -- against lesbians and gay men. . . . A small group of gay people, however, do not successfully cope with the prejudice against their sexuality, and are more troubled and dysfunctional. This clinically observed psychological condition is known as "internalized homophobia." By stigmatizing gay people, the statute under review tends to foster internalized homophobia and its self-destructive effects.
I.e., disgust at deviance is prejudice -- which is a phobic mental disorder, and deviants who are mindful of that disgust (and experience guilt) are likewise phobic of themselves. Now, what does this kind of balderdash do to groups hosting websites like this site and this site, and are run by homosexuals leaving (or trying to leave) the homosexual lifestyle?
#29
It seems to me there's a very thin line between inciting other people to violence, and being the orchestrator of a crime.
Aris,OBL admitted to orchestrating 9/11. That means OBL confessed to organizing and paying for 9/11, contributing materially to terrorism, not merely yapping that some jihadists should do it.
Look as far as I am concerned, hate laws are designed to stifle the free speech of individuals so they can be more easily controlled by government. Hate speech laws are totally useless to protect society from larger than life monsters people like Stalin, Hitler, and OBL.
Can you imagine OBL being charged by Clinton or Blair for abusing hate speech laws? It never happened and for good reason. Hate speech laws are only meant to be enforced against little people like you and me to turn us into more acquiescent robots.
Posted by: rex ||
06/25/2004 18:40 Comments ||
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#30
In DSM-IV-TR nosology, this is probably better stated as an Axis I - 300.00 mental disorder
#31
cingold> I know full well that some people are trying to change society. I know full well that many people want to have homosexuality accepted in such a society.
I just don't see what's so horrific about all this. Not everyone is into conservatism of society -- some people need to be convinced that change is towards the worse rather than reject it in advance.
--
And as a sidenote, even if homophobia has been labelled a mental disorder by a few people in some obscure medical text (and needing many paragraphs to delve into it) -- I think you may be assured that more people are likely to consider homophobes to be simply jerks, rather than suffering from some mental disease. :-)
*humming* Gee, officer Krupke...
Anonymous Coward> Why don't you put a name to your posts?
#32
If you don't see that in Canada, then the damage has already been done
Your comparison regarding language laws in Canada is not fair because these laws were not borne out of hatred or of a police state. French Canadians do not hate English Canadians in the manner that most Palestinians hate Jews.
Neither are the changes in Canada that you mention the result of limited freedom of speech. They are the result of the same phenomena that you can see all over the world, mainly socialism.
As far as I am aware there is only one major state supported media channel here in Canada (the CBC). Unlike Cuba, there are other independant media outlets and providers. In fact, the two American channels that I have at home are CNN and MSNBC. I have no idea why FOX is not available, but in any case that is a question I have to ask of my cable company and not my government.
The interesting question regarding Nazi Germany is whether Germany would have followed the same path if it was not for Hitler. I believe it would not have. Like in a chemical reaction, Hitler was the catalyst. Without him, there would not have been persecution of Jews to the extent of putting them in gas chambers. Hate laws, if not taken to the realm of absurdity, would work to prevent such atrocities.
Posted by: Rafael ||
06/25/2004 19:18 Comments ||
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#33
Rafael, the reason you do not have FOX News is because the CRTC, which controls media licensing and who are appointed at the sole discretion off the PM, have blocked cable channels from offering FOX News. That's called supressing intellectual freedom, censoring freedom of thought and speech by allowing the state[the government] to selectively shut down conservative media offerings in the country. That you did not know that the CRTC has such power and that the power behing the CRTC is at the discretion of one man is what I meant by "the damage" is already done. Robot acceptance of what you see and hear on radio/TV is what government loves in their population of sheeple.
The CBC has the lowest viewer ratings in Canada, around 10% or so of the population, whereas 100% of the population is mandated to support its existence. Statist control of the media is exactly what Lenin advocated, and here it is happening in your midst, and you see nothing wrong with it? Oh, it's socialism...and that's okay by you???
Hate speech laws-you haven't heard about Svend and Bill C250-so now it will be tricky for preachers to even quote from the Bible...oh yes, Svend said religious groups would never be prosecuted-don't be paranoid, said Svend and Svend's a man you can trust...
As for hate speech laws themselves came into existence, well Rafael, it was quite easy, because Trudeau, clever Marxist that he was, did not fully protect freedom of speech in Canada's Charter of Rights.
The constitutional provision that guarantees Freedom of expression in Canada is section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Due to section 1 of the Charter, the so-called limitation clause, Canada's freedom of expression differs from the provision guaranteeing freedom of speech in the United States of America in a fundamental manner. The section 1 of the Charter states:
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society. (emphasis added)
This section is double edged. First it implies that a limitation on freedom of speech can be justified if it is a reasonable limit. Conversely, it implies that a restriction can be invalidated if it is shown that it is not a reasonable limit. The former case has been used to uphold limits on legislation which are used to prevent hate speech...
As for Hitler, hate speech laws would not have protected the Jews. That's the wistful dream of every liberal - Kumbaye in the world- evil would not exist if there was just a bit more government control to legislate love and acceptance of one another...
Think about it. Let's look at Iraq a budding pluralistic "democracy", or at least in our dreams. You think if the new Iraq has hate speech laws enacted, suddenly Jews are going to be able to build mosques in Baghdad and gays are going to have their Gay Parades? I don't think so, Rafael.
Posted by: rex ||
06/25/2004 19:56 Comments ||
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#34
Aris, there's no need to get caustic -- this is dialogue. I think that's what anon was referring to -- that you get kind of worked up and caustic.
OTH, I think some of what you are saying has merit, while I take issue with other things. For example, you write, "I know full well that many people want to have homosexuality accepted in such a society. I just don't see what's so horrific about all this."
There are websites hosted by homosexuals leaving (or trying to leave) the homosexual lifestyle, that and address the issue of homosexual orientation (e.g., this site and this site). If these people (who have first-hand experience with the homosexual lifestyle) see problems with the lifestyle, maybe we should too. My most basic point on this issue is that historical societal institutions (like marriage), childhood, and the military should not be used for social experiments. I also have serious political concerns, as I noted on a previous thread:
This whole subject is really about the deconstruction of socio-emotional cognitive concepts and schemas, and the traditions and mores honored worldwide and cross-culturally over millennia. My biggest beef with the current âhomosexualâ nature-versus-nurture dialogue is that it represents an attempt by the intellectually elite (and the intellectually dishonest) to redefine society and government in terms of their choosing -- and which happens to be pretty damn liberal. Most cultures, and most people, realize that the human sexual response is fairly plastic (I mean look how it can be molded into fetishes), but that doesnât mean that atypical sexual response patterns are something any society should condone (toleration is a different matter). As I read Blackstone, to the extent the behavior is purely private, it remains a matter between the person and the Creator. To the extent it becomes public, the behavior is subject to the Rule of Law, and the traditions and mores of society.
#35
Cingold> If these people (who have first-hand experience with the homosexual lifestyle) see problems with the lifestyle, maybe we should too.
You'll find some people wanting to do or stop doing anything. Suicides want to leave life, some atheists become christians, some christians become muslim. The occasional republican may even turn democrat.
most basic point on this issue is that historical societal institutions (like marriage), childhood, and the military should not be used for social experiments
The military isn't a societal institution, it's a governmental institution, and so society changes first and the military second, as the people through the government order it to change. It's a tyranny when the military doesn't obey to society's changes.
Childhood unfortunately has always been used for social experiments by either the parents, the schools, or both.
And the historical heterosexual marriage will remain intact, and heterosexuals will be able to live out their life ignoring same-sex marriages to their heart's content. How can you call it "experimentation on a historic institution" when the people that'd be partaking on that historic institution won't be affected one bit?
*Easy divorces and remarriages* are the experimentation on a historic institution -- because it's those things that affect the lifes of married people, redefining the function and stability of marriages. If you want to preserve the sanctity of marriage, go after those things first, not same-sex weddings.
#36
I was not aware that the CRTC specifically blocked cable channels from offering FOX News. If an American channel is blocked, I suspect it has more to do with Canadian content rules (which are stupid to begin with) than any attempt to block access to conservative media. That some person is blocking FOX News falls more into the realm of conspiracy theories and is near impossible to prove one way or the other. I have access to conservative news and nobody is chasing me around with a hatchet.
Statist control of the media is exactly what Lenin advocated, and here it is happening in your midst, and you see nothing wrong with it?
If there were no other news sources then I would see something wrong with it. I have no problem with a government controlling a news channel, I just wish they didn't do it with my money. But that's a different thing altogether.
so now it will be tricky for preachers to even quote from the Bible
No it will not. It will be tricky to write new material advocating violence against individuals.
As for Hitler, hate speech laws would not have protected the Jews.
Are you saying that Germans are inherently predisposed to violence against Jews? You are ignoring one fundamental aspect of human existance: people are easily agitated. Things don't just happen. They require a spark, and a suitable environment. Had there been some kind of break put on Hitler, perhaps millions of people would not have to die.
Posted by: Rafael ||
06/25/2004 20:29 Comments ||
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#37
You think if the new Iraq has hate speech laws enacted, suddenly Jews are going to be able to build mosques in Baghdad and gays are going to have their Gay Parades?
No, but perhaps a lot of would-be suicide bombers would be rotting in prison instead. Any tool that can be used against terrorists is a good thing.
Posted by: Rafael ||
06/25/2004 20:36 Comments ||
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#38
The CBC has the lowest viewer ratings in Canada
Given the Liberals' popularity over the past several years, and the pathological anti-Americanism that exists here, I'd say the ratings are actually quite high. Perhaps it is different in Western Canada. In which case, maybe I should move.
Posted by: Rafael ||
06/25/2004 21:02 Comments ||
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#39
Oops, correction on #24: (remember, psychology was the marriage of psychiatry PHYSIOLOGY and philosophy, and was formed as a discipline designed to eliminate the doctrine of vitalism).
The (some say blood pact) sworn agreement to destroy vitalism, and replace it with common physiochemical explanations, appears to have been amongst Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz, Justus von Liebig, Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke, and Emil Heinrich Du Bois-Reymond.
#40
Rafael, I cannot believe you actually believe that it's some kind of "conspiracy" theory that Chretien and the CRTC directly obstructed cable stations from offering FOX News.
You say you live in Canada, but it can't be for very long. Why don't you visit freedominion.ca or mapleleafweb.com and do a key word search on their forums under FOX or CRTC and educate yourself about how the Liberal Party of Canada has managed to control the "message" to Canadians. Cable channels have even collected petitions to lobby the CRTC about the popularity of listeners wanting to have legal access to FOX News and the CRTC has turned them down. And Canadian authorities have investigated and fined any citizen who has put up illegal satellite dishes to get FOX News channel. That's your "hatchet" if you want to know.
That you have no problem with a government controlling the media while at the same time you claim you are concerned about another Jewish Holocaust happening makes no sense. How Hitler managed to turn ordinary Germans against the Jews was through control of the media. Hitler appointed Joseph Goebbels to head the Ministry of Public Enlightenment in Germany and Goebbels was able to use newspapers, magazines, and radio to spread Nazism. "If you control people's thoughts, you control them." Stalin used government control of the media to accomplish his "re-writing" of history and selling of the big lies to promote himself as a great leader in Izvestia and Pravda. Government control of the media is nasty, Rafael, political science 101.
It will be tricky to write new material advocating violence against individuals.
What violence was being advocated against gays to justify Bill C-250? That's Svendian hogwash. There were no documented cases of hate talk against gays. But there have been documented cases of censorship against Canadian citizens who cannot properly follow the tenets of their religion that teaches them that homosexuality is a sin. Now Christian home schoolers in BC can no longer teach their own children that homosexuality is a sin. Now Christian Bed & Breakfast owners are required to rent out rooms to gay couples even though they find gay coupling offensive. Now Christian preses must accept advertising promoting homosexuality or be fined. Once again search Freedominion or Mapleleafweb for news articles and discussions.
Are you saying that Germans are inherently predisposed to violence against Jews?
No, where did you get that? I am offended that you would try to put words in my mouth.
Hitler came to power for a number of reasons, mainly economic. That ordinary Germans were suffering tremendously from the very harsh economic sanctions imposed on Germany after the Treaty of Versailles was a significant reason that a demoralized nation could be convinced that a scapegoat was responsible for their woes. Having hate speech laws in place would have done zero to prevent the rise of anti-semetic totalitarian rule by the Nazi Party.
Things don't just happen. They require a spark, and a suitable environment. Had there been some kind of break put on Hitler, perhaps millions of people would not have to die.
No kidding, things don't just happen. Maybe Rafeal, if you could have undone the Treaty of Versailles and told uber left wingnut Woodrow Wilson to take a hike and if you had sewn in some spine into Neville Chamberlain, the Holocaust would not have occurred. Hate speech laws are not one of the variables that would have been helpful.
Look Rafael, I'm not sure how old you are, I'm assuming you are young and naive. There has always been evil in the world. Whereas you seem to be focused on the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust, there have been various genocides oin addition to what Hitler did to the Jews in WWII all for different reasons but mainly because of the duality of good and evil that exists in the hearts of men and sometimes evil takes hold. The spark that it takes to give evil dominance is is always different, but usually it's because of a strong controlling government, and the paralysis of individuals.
examples:
a) 1937 to the end of WWII, the Japanese killed nearly 6 million Chinese
b) the Khumer Rouge killed 2.5 Million Cambodians
c)Stalin purposely starved 6 million Ukrainian farmers in one year. He created a "famine" in the Ukraine by ordering that food supplies be diverted to Russian industrial and military centers. He continued to slaughter Ukrainian peaseants in purges because Ukrainian nationalism was a threat to Soviet rule. Hitler similarly ordered the slaughter of Ukrainians - 100 Ukrainian civilians were to be shot for every German soldier killed. Here's a Ukrainian Canadian website that details the unspoken genocide of Ukrainian farmers by both Stalin and Hitler: http://www.infoukes.com/history/ww2/page-19.html
Posted by: rex ||
06/25/2004 22:44 Comments ||
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#41
You say you live in Canada, but it can't be for very long.
22 years actually.
If the Canadian government is trying to control the message to Canadians, they are not doing a very good job. The proof of that is...me. I know what bullshit & propaganda looks like, believe me. I had a lot of experience with it being born in a communist country.
I still think you are confusing Canadian content rules with some supposed agenda to block Fox. I don't believe this for one bit, simply because I haven't heard of a backlash against the CRTC regarding Fox. It really must be a small group of people that are making a fuss.
That you have no problem with a government controlling the media...
See, this is your irrational distrust of any government coming through. We don't have that in Canada. Who cares if the government controls one news outlet or channel. They by no means control the "message", as you put it. No one is being brainwashed who doesn't want to be brainwashed.
Having hate speech laws in place would have done zero to prevent the rise of anti-semetic totalitarian rule by the Nazi Party.
Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't. I'm sure there were a large number of non-Jewish Germans who didn't like the Nazi party. Had Hitler been nipped in the bud, a lot of lives would have been saved.
I'm assuming you are young and naive.
Very bad assumption. I can't believe that you would label someone naive for simply disagreeing with your opinion. The world does not revolve solely around your points of view, you know.
Posted by: Rafael ||
06/26/2004 9:29 Comments ||
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Britons on holiday may have been duped into taking part in mass orgies on a cruise ship by being served cocktails spiked with pure alcohol, authorities on Cyprus suggest. Witness accounts of the ferry operating out of the Ayia Napa resort have also revealed the widespread use of ecstasy. The night voyages were sold as a "pleasant mini-cruise". British touts in the "anything goes" resort are thought to have taken the lead in rounding up clients at £30 a head.
Cypriots were scandalised this week when the private Mega TV channel exposed the sex cruises. Shots of nude passengers either having sex or sitting on deck half-dressed watching others having sex were broadcast on the news. "It is clear from the pictures that mass sexual orgies were happening on board," Kostas Kostaras, an officer of the Cypriot merchant marine department, told the Guardian yesterday. "We'll study them very closely. If they took place on the boat in question, tough measures will obviously be taken." Arrests, he said, could be made in the coming days.
The Cyprus government depends on tourism, not least from Britain which has now tripled. "That this has come as a shock is not surprising, we're not used to this," Giorgos Lalikas, the tourism minister, told Mega TV. "Irrespective of what else happened aboard the ship, we have information drugs were circulated. We will take every measure to track down this ring. Such acts blight the good image of Cyprus, and are totally unacceptable."
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/25/2004 12:46:27 AM ||
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How can you read this and not laugh:
"It is clear from the pictures that mass sexual orgies were happening on board," Kostas Kostaras, an officer of the Cypriot merchant marine department, told the Guardian yesterday. "We'll study them very closely."
Posted by: Howard UK ||
06/25/2004 4:19 Comments ||
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#3
You have to be duped into taking part in a orgy? Oh, right, they're British.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/25/2004 9:05 Comments ||
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#4
Oooh. They spiked the alcoholic drinks with alcohol. How diabolical. People were drinking booze, not knowing that they would probably get drunk on it.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/25/2004 9:13 Comments ||
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#5
ecstasy, starting to sound more like a rave, just needs a little trance music
#6
"We'll study them very closely." Yup I am sure after a couple of months they will fine the Captain $100 or something like that. Sounds like a fun cruise if your into that sort of thing. Not my cup-o-tea but then I am not British. I used to live on Creete and the Brits got pretty rowdy at night in the clubs. I don't think it took too much alchohol to get the party started.
#8
180+ proof Everclear, long available in Tijuana, was a staple of our high school parties in Chula Vista and San Diego State (SAE) fraternity parties...(isn't this stuff available elsewhere?)
pretty much odorless, tasteless in a trashcan punch, sample at your risk...also understood that it made good fuel for stoves and engines :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/25/2004 20:52 Comments ||
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#9
After a weekend, my alma mater's campus was usually littered with Everclear bottles.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/25/2004 21:06 Comments ||
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Oooh yes, Frank G.-
We make everclear by the train tanker load here at the grain processing plants in the heartland (Iowa)! We have to do something with the megatons of corn other than feeding the livestock.
President Bush defended his decision to invade Iraq and insisted most of Europe backed the move during a tense interview Thursday on Irish television. On several occasions during the 15-minute interview, Bush asked RTE correspondent Carol Coleman not to interrupt him. When Coleman said most Irish people thought the world was more dangerous today than before the Iraq invasion, Bush disagreed and responded, ``What was it like Sept. 11th, 2001?ââ
``I wouldnât have made the decisions I did if I didnât believe the world would be better. Why would I put people in harmâs way if I didnât believe the world would be better?ââ said Bush, who arrives in Ireland Friday night for a summit the next day with European Union leaders. Bush was asked whether he was satisfied with the level of political, economic and military support coming from European nations in Iraq.``First of all, most of Europe supported the decision in Iraq. Really what youâre talking about is France, isnât it? And they didnât agree with my decision. They did vote for the U.N. Security Council resolution. ... We just had a difference of opinion about whether, when you say something, you mean it.ââ
Left-wing activists plan mass protests against Bush. About 6,000 security forces have deployed around the summit site of Dromoland Castle.
Posted by: TS(vice girl) ||
06/25/2004 12:47:14 AM ||
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Just out visiting an Irish blogger site. Amazingly pro-American with a caution flag issued for the "intellects" -- sound familiar?
Posted by: Capt America ||
06/25/2004 0:58 Comments ||
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"We just had a difference of opinion about whether, when you say something, you mean it.ââ
Priceless.
Posted by: ed ||
06/25/2004 2:26 Comments ||
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#3
Sounds like Bush ripped Coleman a new hole.
Posted by: Charles ||
06/25/2004 7:48 Comments ||
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#4
"..We just had a difference of opinion about whether, when you say something, you mean it.ââ
EFL - Opinion but I like te term Hatriotism and plan to use it.
... I am not holding my breath. With the aforementioned facts in mind, I must still speak. Michael Moore has released the cinematic equivalent of a French kiss to all who hate America. He is the leading exponent of hatriotism.
"HATE-RIOTISM" describes the new breeze blowing through the American media. It is now "cool" and "relevant" to mock everything for which our soldiers are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Criticizing democracy and America has long been in vogue in continental Europe from those who look with disdain at American "naivete," while still lamenting the Islamic onslaught. Now imported to our shores, hatriotism is the simplest way to get the growing contingent of professional protestors who populate television audiences to cheer: Mock America. Mock our involvement in Iraq. Mock President Bush ... and get rousing applause. The only problem is ... America has freed my kinsmen.
I am a Persian Turkish immigrant raised as a Sunni Muslim, and in the interest of full disclosure, I must state that I left Islam in 1982, and became an American citizen. Yet, as I survey the current cultural landscape, I cannot help but be less than enthused when Michael Moore states that his film is a call to true patriotism. The present conflict is not a war against Islam, and neither is it a "war for oil." In the previous six military endeavors, American troops sided with Muslims who were under attack, and there are much less extreme methods of garnering oil. This is a war of ideologies, and with "Fahrenheit 911," Moore clearly shows his.
His visual narrative of Lila Lipscombe, a Flint, Mich., mother who sent her sons to the military and "lives to regret it," as Roger Friedman of FOX News notes, is "unexpectedly poignant." I wonder â was Moore equally moved when he heard of the honor killings which daily threatened the lives of Muslim women in Afghanistan? Was he equally as outraged at the female circumcision practices in my countrymenâs lands, because it lessens the threat of adultery? -snip-
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/25/2004 4:00:10 AM ||
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To late SH I've already stole Hatriotism and indend to use everyday.
#4
"HATE-RIOTISM" describes the new breeze blowing through the American media. It is now "cool" and "relevant" to mock everything for which our soldiers are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This beautifully descriptive noun - hatriotism - labels a generation of leftest Democratic philosophy. Folks have talked about the "blame America" crowd or the "hate America" whiners, but hatriotism labels the movement. Gore, Kennedy, Moore, Kerry are hatriotic American.
Posted by: Rock ||
06/25/2004 16:52 Comments ||
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Who needs a new word? Traitor works plenty well enough.
EFL
If John Kerry is elected president, his seat in the Senate would be filled by the winner of a special election rather than a successor picked by Republican Gov. Mitt Romney under a bill approved Wednesday by the Massachusetts Senate. The bill requires a special election not more than 160 days and not less than 145 days after a vacancy is created in the Senate. The winner of the special election would serve out the remainder of the unexpired term. Kerryâs term ends in 2008. Although Romney could veto the measure, the Democrats have the votes to overturn it. Democrats argue that allowing the governor to appoint a successor is less democratic than a special election, even a quick election. Isnât this how Ted Kennedy got his job? Of course, with a Republican Governor in office, the Dems are freaking out.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/25/2004 4:30:14 PM ||
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"Massachusetts" wasn't necessary in the headline. :-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/25/2004 22:21 Comments ||
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maybe Frank "Do you know where who I am?" Lautenberg can double-hit?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/25/2004 22:50 Comments ||
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Hat tip: Country Store. EFL
The New York Times, which last Sunday published a scathing front-page review of Bill Clintonâs "My Life," has alerted subscribers that another, much kinder and gentler review is coming July 4 in The New York Times Book Review.
"We'll make it up to you, Bill. Dunno what we wuz thinkin'..."
Entitled "Confessions of a Policy Wonk" and written by the novelist Larry McMurtry, the prominently placed review calls the book "the richest American presidential autobiography," and says that the former president is a better writer than Reagan, Ford, Nixon or Lyndon Johnson. Geez, donât these leftist clowns ever get tired of fellating Clintoon in public?
The first time he ever played golf he got 17 holes in one.
Unlike Michiko Kakutani, the author of the June 20 review, who called Clintonâs book "eye-crossingly dull," McMurtry evokes authors from Dreiser to Fitzgerald to Balzac â if not in comparison to Clinton, at least in reference to him. Barrrff. Iâve got just three words for the NYT: Pa-the-tic!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut bskolaut@hotmail.com ||
06/25/2004 4:54:33 PM ||
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Wonder if Kakutani's going to find a pink slip in her inbox come Monday?
I feel like taking my copy of Lonesome Dove to Half-Price Books and trading it for some Orson Scott Card.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/25/2004 17:28 Comments ||
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Nope - the Kakutani piece was in tune with the NYT = which hated Clinton from the LEFT. Tug of war between the left stalwarts, and the anybody but Bush crowd which want to rehab Clinton for the sake of "unity"
#3
Unlike Michiko Kakutani, the author of the June 20 review, who called Clintonâs book "eye-crossingly dull," McMurtry evokes authors from Dreiser to Fitzgerald to Balzac
by Julia Preston, New York Times. EFL. LRR.
A federal appeals court judge apologized "profusely" yesterday for remarks he made last weekend at a lawyers convention comparing President Bushâs election in 2000 to the rise of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. In a letter to the court, Guido Mussolini Calabresi, a judge on the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, acknowledged that he had given the impression "impression?"
he was taking a partisan position, opposing President Bushâs re-election. "I did not have political relations with that man, Senator Kerry." Il Duce Judge Calabresi said that in his off-the-cuff remarks he was trying to make "a rather complicated academic argument," but he understood that they had been taken as an attack on President Bush. "I wasnât attacking the President--that smirking, chimpanzee frat-boy neocon fascist warmonger Jew-loving son of apes and pigs--and anyone who thinks I was is too stupid to follow my subtle and nuanced arguments! So there! Um, I mean, Iâm sorry."
In a letter that contained no less than four apologies, he said he was "truly sorry" for "any embarrassment" he might have caused the appeals court. He did not, however, renounce the views he expressed. "Because Iâm right! Iâm smarter than you, you stupid sheep! Back to your pastures in flyover country, you ignorant peasants!"
Judge Calabresi was appointed by President Bill Clinton in February 1994. That explains why the apology is even lamer than the misconduct he was apologizing for.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/25/2004 12:59:10 PM ||
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In a letter to the court, Guido Calabresi, a judge on the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, acknowledged that he had given the impression he was taking a partisan position, opposing President Bushâs re-election.
Sorry bud, but the genie's not going back into the bottle, no matter how much you'd like it to.
But today we had something different; today Al Gore upped the ante. He coined a new term for the Internet critics of his positions: digital brownshirts. Yes, yes, itâs over the top. But itâs not the sentiment that raises eyebrows, itâs the position of the person whoâs saying it. We donât expect presidential candidates past or present to indulge in Usenet flame-war lingo. We donât expect serious party elders to call the other side Nazis, and for good reason: itâs obscene. The brownshirts were evil. The brownshirts kicked the Jews in the streets and made the little kids put their hands on their heads as they stumbled off to the trains. The brownshirts were not interested in refuting arguments. They were interested in killing the people who dared argue at all.
At some point, I fear, the political discourse of 2004 is going to seem horribly irrelevant and misplaced in the face of some loud new wretched horror; it will seem as oddly disconnected from reality as the Condit / Killer-Shark news reports of August 2001. An indolent luxury.
Digital stormtroopers. Tell me again whoâs stifling debate? Remind me again whoâs questioning peopleâs patriotism?
Find me again the story where Bob Dole called the Dixie Chicks âmusical Mukhabaratsâ? Look. We don't have to agree on the big hard issues, but we can certainly agree that we share common values that set us apart, and that it profits no one to identify the opposition as something outside the American experience. Liberals are not Communists. Republicans are not fascists. We have a nice window of opportunity here where we can come together by choice, instead of being thrown together by events. I say we get a head start on national unity, and turn on anyone who floats the Nazi analogy. Shun 'em. No links, no reviews, no radio interviews, no newspaper pieces, nothing. From now on, the Nazi parallel buys you bupkis. This means that the right doesn't get to parade around the mutterings of high-profile wackjobs as illustrative of the heart of everyone who votes D, and the left doesn't get to do the whole "he's wrong in his overheated critique, BUT" dodge. Enough. ENOUGH! For Christ's sake, enough!
If you don't agree, fine, but spare me the emails. Write me when Al Gore gives a big long angry speech about the consequence of Iran having nuclear weapons. Write me when this Al Gore returns. Back then the man knew a brownshirt when he saw one. No more, alas.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/25/2004 11:18:12 AM ||
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I can't wait for this loser to speak at the convention. C'mon Al, don't hold back! Throw some red meat to the loony leftists and luddite brownshirts!
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/25/2004 11:32 Comments ||
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You're right. Liberals are not communists. But that's only because they are too stupid to understand that the policies they endorse ultimately lead to communism.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/25/2004 11:56 Comments ||
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Brilliant observation, Chris.
Although I think most of their leaders like Billary, sKerry and Gore know full well that their agenda comes right out of Das Kapital.
This was a great Lileks rant, but...Owlie Bore's trash talking didn't bother me.
I am so used to the Left being over the top in their hate that it's normal now.
After all, if Bush is Hitler, then I guess Bush-backers like me are "brownshirts."
Posted by: Jen ||
06/25/2004 12:08 Comments ||
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Chris, the difference between a liberal and a communist is that the communist understands what he is doing.
Posted by: Formerly Dan ||
06/25/2004 12:09 Comments ||
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the loony left doesn't eat red meat . . .
True; but they do drink from fever swamps.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/25/2004 12:31 Comments ||
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#10
actually there has never been a true communist state - socialist - totalitarian yes - but never true communisn..
formerly Dan - didn't mean for you to change your post name with my comments yesterday..i really need to post with a different name than my own ..just lazy i guess...welcome to the board..
Posted by: Dan ||
06/25/2004 12:50 Comments ||
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#13
I have a tan shirt, does that count? Dan North Korea comes damn close to a Communist state and Cuba would be a close second. Both are lead by dictators but the dictator was empowered by the communist party of each state.
#14
This "digital brownshirt" is decked out in Kelly green today. Should I change, or does Al need glasses?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/25/2004 15:36 Comments ||
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I guess I'm in trouble. I have on a brown shirt. But I really am pissed at being compared to Hitler's Brownshirts and I DEMAND AN APOLOGY!
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/25/2004 16:17 Comments ||
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#16
I'm wearing an obscenely loud red and turquoise Hawaiian shirt because I don't look good in brown. And I think that Al needs to talk to Dr. Haldol. And Mr. Straightjacket.
Elizabeth
Imperial Keeper
Posted by: Elizabeth ||
06/25/2004 16:18 Comments ||
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#17
I've got a black shirt on today AND I work in the software biz. Al better change his diaper (and tighten up his tin foil turban)
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
06/25/2004 16:20 Comments ||
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Most days, White Shirt with a tie, grey jacket or navy blue blazer. GS-n Uniform in the 3 letter agencies.
Fridays, khaki's and a nice blue "logo" polo shirt.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/25/2004 16:49 Comments ||
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#20
Dark blue shirt, khaki trousers.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/25/2004 17:29 Comments ||
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#21
Actually, considering the sexual proclivities of Rohm and the SA leadership, they would most comfortably fit in the San Fransisco Democratic constituancy.
#22
BTW, I came within a hair's breadth of wearing my bright blue golf shirt with "There's No Palestine" embroidered on it in Arabic. But I thought better of it at the last minute, since I was going to work.
Tomorrow, going to the store, however....
Bet Gorebot would really go nuts over that one. :-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/25/2004 18:06 Comments ||
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I donât have cable. All I have is NBC-ABC-CBS-PBS, plus those idiots at NightLine and Tavis Smiley everynight saying "when Clinton lied, nobody died". Now this group masturbation over Michael Moore. If it werenât for the internet, Iâd be believing this relentless propaganda too. I donât think I can take this until November.
Posted by: ItsGettingToMe ||
06/25/2004 10:22:58 AM ||
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I know i can take it until November because I HAVE to take it until November. "Now this group masturbation over Michael Moore." True but Yuck!
The rest of us have given up on mainstream media altogether. Rantburg gives you all the links you need to all the relevant news of the day so you can pick-and-choose what to read or how much of it to read. Then we fact-check the hell out of 'em.
Have fun.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/25/2004 11:46 Comments ||
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ItsGettingToMe: I do have cable, and I don't use it to watch the national news unless I read/hear about something that I want to see pictures of (big fire, 50-car wreck, etc.). I don't even watch FoxNews, just check their web site. (I do watch the local news, though.)
As Chris W. says, you can get your news links here. It will preserve your sanity. And save you a lot of time.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/25/2004 15:40 Comments ||
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#5
"Artfully rendered" and "Michael Moore" don't go together unless an artist tried to make him look thinner than the Sumo wrestler he is - but I degrade the ancient Sumo tradition when I make the comparison; my apologies.
And most certainly it can be ignored. Although the mention of Kenneth Turan brought a smile to my face; I seem to recall a Dave Barry column on Titanic that lampooned him a few years back . . .
Posted by: The Doctor ||
06/25/2004 15:41 Comments ||
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With armed Afghan guards at the gate and a Democrat donkey mascot munching leaves in the shade, dozens of American expatriates held a fundraiser in Kabul on Friday for U.S. presidential hopeful John Kerry. About 60 people, mostly nongovernment aid workers, gathered at a restaurant garden across town from the fortress-like American Embassy, declaring "Kabul for Kerry."
The usual suspects
"It's important to show that there are Americans everywhere, even in Afghanistan, who want a change of leadership in the United States," said organizer Karen Hirschfeld, who is helping Afghans get ready for this year's national elections. "For the future of Afghanistan, Iraq and America, we need someone with a more rational foreign policy who will work with the international community," said Hirschfeld, from Winchester, Mass. "We think John Kerry will be a good leader." The gathering, open only to Americans, wasn't endorsed by the Kerry campaign, but "Kabul for Kerry" organizers were urging participants to contribute funds to his campaign and to cast absentee ballots for the election against President Bush in November. They pinned Kerry badges on the lapels of participants who paid $10 to cover the cost of the breakfast, and hired "Franklin the Democratic Donkey" from its Afghan owner to serve as the party mascot.
Why not, they have a ass as a candidate
It's not clear whether Kerry or Bush is favored by the majority of Americans here. None of the thousands of U.S. military personnel based in Afghanistan to hunt for al-Qaida and Taliban rebels turned up for Thursday's event.
Gee, I wonder why?
Organizers said plenty of U.S. Embassy workers had expressed an interest, but were barred from coming for security reasons - although 11 Ministry of Interior guards were deployed at the venue.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/25/2004 9:35:22 AM ||
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Alternate headline:
"New Imperial Bureaucracy Raises Money For Senator PalpatineKerry."
Cue the John Williams soundtrack.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/25/2004 10:29 Comments ||
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where's the Taliban when you need them?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/25/2004 10:41 Comments ||
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#3
About 60 people, mostly nongovernment aid workers, gathered at a restaurant garden across town from the fortress-like American Embassy, declaring "Kabul for Kerry."
Heh, if it wasn't for GWB, these jerks' jobs would have been a lot more difficult.
#4
Absolutely amazing. How many of these LLL imbeciles were in-country prior to Jan 1st, 2002? Answer: ZERO. Why is that? Because the place was swarming with terrorists who would cut off your American heads just because you ARE Americans, and would still be that way had it not been for Bush's "rational foreign policy".
To call them shitheads would be an insult to shit.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/25/2004 11:43 Comments ||
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You know I have NO idea how a President should act after hearing such news and I doubt Jabba does either. One word I havenât heard used during any review was honesty. As in this was an honest portrayal of the events that happened. I heard George Steponuptoit debunked most of his claims and Jabba only made jokes or wild counter claims. This film is going to get a lot more people killed because the Arabs lap up conspiracy with a ladle.
#4
Glad it wasn't Kerry, he'd been out of that classroom in a flash on the way to Flying Squirrel running and dictating a memo about the wound he just received from that 8 year old running with blunt scissors.
#5
It is funny, you know, this 20/20 hindsight that M. Moore is blessed with.
On September 11, 2001, I was driving to work along US 14. I turned on the radio and heard a traffic report... from New York City. What the--? They were playing a feed from the New York affiliate.
A man-on-the street interview said a plane had hit the World Trade Center. Damn. That sucks, I thought. Some poor schmo and his Cessna? "What kind?" asked the reporter. "A small commuter plane," said the man. Dang... that's not good.
The radio station took a call. In the middle of it, the woman starts screaming "Oh my god... its another one!" Okay, I thought, now the Stern fans are out yanking their chain. (Weirdly, Howard Stern wasn't talking about it as it happened. Maybe they weren't live that day? I dunno... I flipped back to AM.)
I fumbled for my cell phone and called my grandmother at home and told her to flip on the TV.
It was confirmed. Two planes and not just little planes. Big, freakin' commercial airliners. One for each tower. No accident, that. I drove numbly to work and saw hundreds of people standing in the hallway looking at Fox News on the monitor. (Somewhat fewer people were watching the CNN monitor down the hall. I'm not saying, I'm just saying...)
At any rate. I can't fault the President for taking a few minutes to take it all in. It took me considerably longer, myself.
What did M. Moore do with his time when he first heard about it? Did he immediately jump to his feet and swing into some kind of action? (Dancing in the street, in his case.) Or did he sit and absorb the shock like about 250 million other people in the United States did that day?
David Brock has written a new book called The Republican Noise Machine: How It Corrupts Our Democracy. In it, he purports to expose the vast right-wing media conspiracy, a menace Brock claims to know first-hand as someone who was once a cog in its malignant machine. First-hand knowledge is an important claim for Brock because, as a famous self-confessed prevaricator, he is aware that he stands on shaky ground as he attempts to extend the successful career he has made out of his confession of malfeasance and the political reversal it announced. A similar dilemma haunts the postpartum lives of other reborn prevaricators like Stephen Glass and Jayson Blair. Brockâs advantage over them in finding a readership willing to believe his stories again is that he is selling a message his new political allies are eager to hear. ...Snip...
In the above review of almost everything that Brock has written about me in The Republican Noise Machine (there are scattered lumpings of me with other conservatives that would be too tedious to examine), I have avoided dealing with the tendentious opinions that form the argument of Brockâs text or his ideological disagreements with me. It is perfectly possible to write a reasonably accurate account of someone you disagree with entirely. Scott Sherman did this in a lengthy profile of me that appeared in The Nation (some years ago). However, Brockâs account of the facts of my career is an entirely different proposition.
On the evidence presented above, probably 95 percent of what Brock has written about me is false in one way or another, either cynically misrepresented, or so sloppily reported as to give an entirely erroneous impression, or simply made up. Nor is there anything unique in Brockâs distortion of my career as opposed to the distortions in his accounts of other conservatives and conservative institutions in his book. It is just the Brock method at work, which appears not to have changed in the course of his well-publicized political reversals and betrayals.
This is a long article. I enjoy Horowitzâs work, many of his views and his writings.
Brock is a real piece of work. He runs the Medai Matters website, a leftist âwatchdogâ of conservatives, which has a diamond-cutter of a hard-on for Rush Limbaugh.
This man has a seemingly pathological problem wth facts and with fact-checking. Go to his site and look it over. You will see distortion after lie after twisting of facts in this site.
One example was the contention, published only days before Air America admitted it to be true, that Air America was in fact beating Limbaugh in New York in the 25 to 34 year olds, when in fact Air America along with other programming on the radio station that offers Limbaugh was slightly ahead of the programming that included Rush. There was no indication of any head-to-head analysis, because simply there was none, but there was Brock staing that those who said Air America was not doing very well were lying.
Posted by: badanov ||
06/25/2004 7:50:29 AM ||
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06/25/2004 12:39:40 AM ||
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Republican National Committee responds: "Al Gore's history of denial of the threat of terrorism is no less dangerous today in his role as John Kerry's surrogate than it was in the 1990s in his role as Vice President, a time when Osama Bin Laden was declaring war on the United States five different times," said RNC Communications Director Jim Dyke.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/25/2004 0:44 Comments ||
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"Always before, we could look to the Chief Executive as the point from which redress would come and law be upheld. That was one of the great prides of our country: humane leadership, faithful to the law."
I dunno Al, your administration "Faithful to the law"? Mena, stock deals, letting Enron and those greedos get away with capital slaughter, flying cruise missles into nations without so much as a resolution from Congress (unliek the UN and Congressional resolutions Bush has)...
I guess, Al Gore, it all depends on what the meaning of "is" is...
#5
I feel like asking, was any of this covered on the mainstream networks?
I guess only CNN and their ilk are allowed to have opinions these days.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
06/25/2004 2:23 Comments ||
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#6
Oldspook: "A wasted mind is a terrible thing to use".
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/25/2004 7:10 Comments ||
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#7
I get the feeling Gore will be seeing "Farenhiet 9/11" several times today when it opens. He'll probably want the images beamed directly to his brain so that Neo-conservative propoganda can't distract him from the "truth".
Posted by: Charles ||
06/25/2004 7:45 Comments ||
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#8
Gore!
(Uh-huh Yeah - Huh!)
What is he good for?
Absolutely nothing --
yow, say it again!
Gore lost an election in a heartbreaker
'Cause he had the personality of an undertaker
Now he no longer has any dreams
Joined MoveOn-dot-org, became bitter and mean
Life is much to precious to spend listenin' to Gore these days
Please make him shut up, make him go away!
Gore!
(Huh - Good God yâall)
What is he good for?
Absolutely nothing
Say it again
Gore!
(Whoa, Lord)
What is he good for?
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me--
Gore now believes in dark conspiracies
Finds evidence for them in everything he sees
One thing here I'm not understanding;
Was he always a moonbat, or is he just decompensating?
I'm talkin' Gore!
(No, not him again!)
What is he good for?
Absolutely nothing
Say it again
Gore!
(Apologies to Edwin Starr.)
Posted by: Mike ||
06/25/2004 9:02 Comments ||
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#9
"Faithful to the law?!?" Mr. "No controlling legal authority" actually managed to say that without choking on the words?
Posted by: Darth VAda ||
06/25/2004 9:05 Comments ||
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#10
Faithful to the letter of the law, was what he intended to say, I'm sure.
Old Spook - if I never read another goddamn word about Mena, I'll die a happy man. There's enough wicked in the world without recycling old tinfoil.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/25/2004 9:11 Comments ||
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#11
Funny isnât Billary a lawyer? Bush is not. So when Billary talks you have to read between/behind/under the lines. When Bush talks he tells it straight. Gore reminds me of someone who has lost his mind and no one want to tell him so. Maybe he and Tipper can share meds? FYI I am not poking fun at depression, he really looks like he has lost some mental faculties.
Posted by: Robert F Byrd ||
06/25/2004 19:54 Comments ||
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#13
If I were Kerry, I'd send Gore to spend the rest of the summer at my chateau in France. Of late Gore's been the touch of death to anyone he's tried to help. To use a very overworked phrase, Gore's declaration of support marks the point at which any endeavor he tries to help "jumps the shark." Winners just can't be associated with someone who has descended into the depths of self-parody and is universally perceived to be a LOSER.
#14
Shhhhhh!
"We welcome the challenges posed by Albert Gore Jr's comments and would hope to discuss further in the conventions this summer and in the debates this fall. Ex-VP Gore should feel welcome to sit on Sen Kerry's lap and respond whenever he feels comfortable,
thanks,
signed: 'All the Republicans ever born'"
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/25/2004 23:27 Comments ||
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This was posted late yesterday - thought it deserved a look for a whole day by the RB fusiliers
Typically a break from partisan warfare, this yearâs Senate class photo turned smiles into snarls as Vice President Dick Cheney reportedly used profanity toward one senior Democrat, sources said. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who was on the receiving end of Cheneyâs ire, confirmed that the vice president used profanity during Tuesdayâs class photo. A spokesman for Cheney confirmed there was a "frank exchange of views."
Posted by: OldSpook ||
06/25/2004 12:17:58 AM ||
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#1
This strikes me as a deliberate move. Cheney doesnt make this kind of mistake. THere had to be a reason or something to gain behind it.
I think it gives Bush a reason to let him "decline to run", and a new Veep for the Republican ticket comes around if the press takes the bait, bites down on the hook and runs with it.
Does 2 things:
1) This issue simmers a bit, then the Bush campaign announces that "Cheney decides not to run" the day that Kerry finally annouces his VP. Steals that thunder. Then a few days after the Dem convention concludes, they start floating rumors all over the place, killing any boost Kerry gets from the Demo convention, soon to be followed by the Olympics which also drown out Kerry (And are some of the time period where Bush can still spend his unlimted Primary funds while Kerry is contrained to the federally capped funds). Then all eyes are on the Repub convention for the anouncement of the new VP candidate. Effectively keeps the Kerry campaign off the "mindshare" for almost 2 months despite press that will obviously plaster their front pages with partisan "news" to try to support Kerry.
2) Eventually gives Bush the ability to bolster his ticket with Guliani, or Powell, etc, fairly late in the campaign, "tuning" the ticket and only leaving the Dems 2 months to attack the new VP. Drops the Cheney/Haliburton things and the "Puppetmaster" crap too. It bascially takes the crayolas out of the Lib-Loonie kids' crayon box.
Here's one wild possiblity: McCain.
Get him out of the senate seat (better conservative candidate can be put in there to replace him), and puts him "on the team" and conveniently close where they can keep an eye on him.
Plus would help with "Independents" and Undecideds, and would take some of the fire out of the "anti-Bush" croud at its edges.
And it sets up a well known name for a run in 2008. McCain vs Hillary. Hooah! What a fight that would be!
#3
More to the point though, Kerry actually benefits from being out of the picture. The more people see, the less people like. So no need to spring anything until, say, convention time.
#4
OS---your analysis and stragegy is intreguing. I have to think about it for a while. The plot thickens like a pot of split pea soup on the stove!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/25/2004 0:46 Comments ||
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#5
Cheney's one of the good guys. But he's got a bad ticker and this business of spending nights in the bombshelter has got to be getting old. He's done his share during this administration. Fly fishing back home in Wyoming has got to sound mighty appealing. I'm with OldSpook, Cheney will leave the ticket and do so in a way that finds the Dems completely flat-footed.
#6
Use your head and quit throwing tantrums - would you rather see Kerry as Pres than Bush with Powell as VP? That seems to be what you are saying. If so then you are no true friend of the Nation nor of Conservatives
Take a step at at time. As for Powell, I disagree with a lot of things he stands for (especially Abortion and some social programs) - but would rather see Bush-Powell (Or Bush-Anybody) in the Whitehouse than Kerry-Anybody, and would rather see Powell-Anybody in the Whitehouse in 2009 than Hillary-WHomever.
Still, unless you are in a crucial state like Ohio, Penn or Fla, no big loss if you dont vote for a Bush Powell ticket- the net gain from Powell is far larger than a few disaffected rigid "conservative" idealogues who would rather have NOTHING than have half of what they want. Learn from the Gipper and his dealings wiht the Dems in the 1908's: pick your battles wisely and dont throw out progress halfway there and end up with nothing. You remind me of the Goldwater people, whose rigidity and pique ended up hading the election to LBJ for 4 bloody years of micro-managed Vietnam, and the huge social welfare system we now are saddled with.
#7
I was looking for the next step, like a knee-shot to Leaky's goin area. Maybe next time.
Posted by: Capt America ||
06/25/2004 1:01 Comments ||
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#8
Powell has been a wretched Secretary of State whose most notable contribution to the war was dragging us into the UN quagmire (and the inspection/WMD distraction) and failing miserably once there. He has done nothing to promote the administration's point of view abroad, instead playing interagency politics as bloodsport and in fact promoting the "international" point of view here. The leaks and public politicking -- against initiatives and policies of our own government! -- from State under his "leadership" have done Bush immense political harm.
I don't care that he's in favor of racial preferences or whatever, though of course I'm not. But putting him in as VP would be a very telling signal of Bush's intentions on the war -- and not for the good. It means the democratic beginnings in the ME would be quickly sacrificed. It means we will cease to pursue the initiative in the war on terror, returning to playing defense until we suffer another mass casualty attack. It means business as usual at State and CIA. That's Kerry's plan, and if someone's going to screw us with that stuff it might as well be him.
Powell handled Pakistan pretty well in the runup to the battle of Afghanistan, but has been a liability ever since. Remember "moderate Taliban"? The endless temporizing with Arafat? Etc etc etc.
Politically speaking, there's a substantial swing neocon/hawkish-liberal vote out there, and Powell is a great way to alienate it.
#10
Sounds like a very minor reaction to four years of being called a Nazi, war profiteer, etc. Leahy deserved to have the shit kicked out of him; he's lucky all he got was an insult.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/25/2004 8:34 Comments ||
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#11
Capt America - LOL, that would have been awesome.
I'm waiting to see if anybody from the Kerry Kult says anything about this. Given Kerry's loose lingo with the mic incident and that Rolling Joints Stones interview, I would think they will keep quiet.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
06/25/2004 8:35 Comments ||
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#12
As usual, I'm with Robert on this one.
(Sorry Old Spook, but you've got your tin foil hat on too tight.)
President Bush has said firmly that Cheney stays on the ticket and I believe him.
And if VP Cheney were obliged to step down, it wouldn't be Powell that would take his place (Remember comedian Chris Rock's theory about black VPs).
Speaking of Powell, I don't think he's going anywhere either.
The Left just loves to think about Team Bush splitting up because of the way Bubba churned his Cabinet, such as it was, as they were all equally awful.
But the Dimocrats "hate" the Bush Cabinet because they're all pretty terrific.
Leaky Leahy had been spoiling for a good FU for a long, long time.
Where's Teddy's?
Posted by: Jen ||
06/25/2004 9:05 Comments ||
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#14
If I heard right, in polite terms, Cheney suggested that Leahy take advantage of his hermaphodite status, and pleasure himself.
Some one should have suggested this long ago!
If it is a rouse to get a new veep, as has been suggested above, A certain former New York mayor seems to be the ideal choice - post Dem convention - but if he really wanted to make the Donks have an apoplectic fit chose the erstwhile Dr. Rice.
#15
Cheney's a big boy, and he didn't do that without thinking it through. Bottom line - he doesn't care if the media found out, because Leahy (among many others) deserved it, and Americans like guys who stand their ground publicly. So from me as well, go fuck yourself leaky Leahy
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/25/2004 11:25 Comments ||
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#16
If it were me I would have invited most of the Democrats to go have sex with themselves. Leahy egged The VP and got what is mild amount of what he truly deserves. I also would have pointed a single Foxtrot Uniform towards the senior drunken bastard from Massachusetts! This is why I am not a politician!
#17
(Sorry Old Spook, but you've got your tin foil hat on too tight.)
Since when does honest speculation about the VP slot degenerate into a conspiracy cheap shot? I can see you doing this to Murat or Antiwar, since they tend to have very uninformed opinions, but OldSpook? Please.
#18
Hell, I've never been in the same room with Leahy and I tell him to eff off all the time. As for Cheney doing this for some calculated effect -- no, I'm not buying it. That smarmy bastard Leahy could piss off a saint, and Cheney is only human. The simplest explanation is usually the best one.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
06/25/2004 13:18 Comments ||
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#19
Can we give Brother Cheney an Amen? This is something that needed to be said to Leahy, Kennedy, and the rest for at least two years.
I personally love Cheney but..When I heard McCain stand up for President Bush at Ft Lewis my immediate thought was that he was coming on board as, perhaps, the next VP. Even though Arizona is a small state it is like Orange County, So Cal redux 1960s. It's a rising tide, Pheonix like, ta da.
But is he really capable of staying cool for four years and loyal. I wonder! I was on his side during his campaign until his complaining about christian support for Bush. But I could stand with the guy if he can be as supportive as he was recently. It showed more leadership than I have come to expect. Yep, leadership by showing support.
Powell has a good presence about him. He'd do well to stay where he is. I wonder if being a Presidential canidate is his thing.
Guliani, a great national choice also. He's down with the LLL and he may be the guy who could pull this country together. But he is a little squishy sometimes.
#21
If we were to vote for a VP, mine would be cast for Dr. Condoleeza Rice, one of the smartest, toughest ladies this side of the Atlantic. If for nothing else, it would give Hillary heart failure.
By J.B. Schramm, Washington Post. LRR. EFL. Link via Instapundit.
How the "93rd Volunteer Infantry" succeeded on 9/11.
A first review of the Sept. 11 commissionâs report indicates that the system failed, but that is wrong. While the U.S. air defense system did fail to halt the attacks, our improvised, high-tech citizen defense "system" was extraordinarily successful. Confronted by a cruel and diabolical surprise that day, those with formal responsibility for protecting our country from air attack could not defend us. . . . What is surprising is that an alternative defense system, one with no formal authority or security funding, did succeed, and probably saved our seat of government. The downing of United Flight 93 in Pennsylvania was a heroic feat executed by the planeâs passengers. But it was more: the culmination of a strikingly efficient chain of responses by networked Americans.
Requiring less time than it took the White House to gather intelligence and issue an attack order (which was in fact not acted on), American citizens gathered information from national media and relayed that information to citizens aboard the flight, who organized themselves and effectively carried out a counterattack against the terrorists, foiling their plans. Armed with television and cell phones, quick-thinking, courageous citizens who were fed information by loved ones probably saved the White House or Congress from devastation.
The foremost strategic question we need to ask ourselves is not, "How did the government/CIA/FAA fail us?" Rather, we should ask: "How did the networked citizens on the ground and in the sky save us?" First, we Americans need to see ourselves as our brave fellow citizens on Flight 93 saw themselves, as front-line combatants in this struggle. There is no gated community safe from the threat, and there are no professional, volunteer armed forces that can, alone, fight this enemy. Not only should we aspire to match the great homeland sacrifices of citizens in World War II, we must see ourselves, and prepare ourselves, as the front line in this struggle. From a military perspective, our only effective weapon against the terrorists on Sept. 11 was a connected, smart-thinking citizenry. Educating and equipping critical-thinking, network-savvy citizens will be key to winning this war of infiltration and surprise. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
06/25/2004 9:33:04 AM ||
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A petrol tanker has crashed into buses in south-eastern Iran, sparking a blaze which killed at least 50 and injured scores more, state media report. The tanker hit vehicles which had stopped at a police post outside the city of Zahedan on the main road from Bam, a local official told state TV.
Many bodies were burnt beyond recognition in the fire and 84 people were confirmed as injured. The Red Crescent said the final death toll could reach 200.
The tanker had been travelling into Zahedan, about 1,100km (690 miles) from Tehran, when it struck the buses, which appear to have been awaiting routine checks at the police post. The tanker had been carrying 18,000 litres (4,680 gallons) of petrol, the local police chief said. Reports suggest that at least one other lorry - possibly a second tanker or a vehicle carrying tar - was also caught up in the blaze. Governor Heidar Ali Nouraei told state TV that more than 70 people had died and 84 were injured while the Red Crescent estimated a death toll of "between 50 and 200". Policemen at the post said the tanker had been going too fast and careered out of control and turned over. It hit one of the buses and burst into flames while the leaking petrol then turned the whole area into an inferno, incinerating the buses and several other vehicles. It took firemen more than two hours to extinguish the blaze. [snippety-snip.]
Posted by: Howard UK ||
06/25/2004 4:30:46 AM ||
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#1
A bus full of mullahs one hopes.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
06/25/2004 5:12 Comments ||
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#2
This will probably give ideas to the jackasses, though they've probably already thought of using fuel tankers to get this sort of result deliberately. I seem to remember the Israeli's stopping a plot with tankers that were going to hit a fuel/nat gas storage site that was near a bunch of houses a couple of years ago.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
06/25/2004 8:44 Comments ||
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#3
From what I've read on various middle east web sites, Iran is well known for having the most dangerous roads and highest traffic accident rate in the world. Crashes like this happen all the time.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/25/2004 9:19 Comments ||
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BAGHDAD, Iraq - After a series of attacks north and west of Baghdad, U.S. soldiers are trying to intercept guerrilla forces moving toward the capital, certain that insurgents will try to disrupt the handover of sovereignty next week.
Soldiers set up checkpoints Thursday around the city of 8 million people to intercept weapons, guerrillas and bombs. They fear that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the militant who claimed responsibility for the earlier attacks in Fallujah, Mosul and elsewhere, plans a string of car bombings in Baghdad.
``There is clearly a transnational threat, as represented by al-Zarqawi, and that threats appears - based on what weâve seen in Fallujah and Mosul today - to want to bring the attack to Baghdad,ââ Col. Michael Formica, commander of the 1st Cavalry Divisionâs 2nd Brigade, said Thursday.
Insurgents launched coordinated attacks against police and government buildings across Sunni Muslim areas of Iraq on Thursday, killing more than 100 people, including three American soldiers, and wounding more than 320, Iraqi and U.S. officials said.
Most of the deaths were in Mosul, where 44 people were killed and more than 220 injured in attacks that included a string of car bombs. Clashes also occurred in Baqouba, Ramadi, Baghdad and other areas.
In Baghdad, insurgents attacked four Iraqi police stations using mortars, hand grenades and assault rifles on Wednesday and Thursday. Police fought back, and defended the stations with minimal assistance from coalition forces, a U.S. statement said.
Formica, who commands the troops in west Baghdad, patrolled his area Thursday, checking on Iraqi National Guard units and their American instructors as they set up the checkpoints and searched cars and trucks.
``Using Iraqi forces predominantly, we have set up checkpoints on the major roads leading into Baghdad,ââ Formica said. ``In addition, we execute what we call snap checkpoints along secondary roads at random times.ââ
At neighborhood council meetings earlier this week, Iraqi civilian leaders asked U.S. commanders to set up roadblocks to help prevent attacks. Formica said his troops were also gathering information on insurgent hideouts and conducting raids to capture the guerrillas before they can carry out attacks.
``We conduct offensive operations ... to defeat them before they are ever able to conduct their terrorist attacks,ââ Formica said. ``But perhaps most important ... is to gain the support of the Iraqi people.ââ
U.S. forces had anticipated that insurgents loyal to al-Zarqawi and other Iraqi groups opposed to Iraqâs new interim government would step up attacks ahead of the June 30 handover. Iraqi civilians at neighborhood meetings said they had heard rumors of widespread attacks planned for after June 26 and of criminal groups planning to use the fighting to launch a looting spree.
U.S. officers believe the insurgentsâ goal is to discredit the U.S.-led coalition that has occupied Iraq, as well as the new government expected to take over July 1.
In Thursdayâs attacks, Iraqi police - entrusted to take a larger role in security after the hand over of power - appeared outgunned and unable to hold positions outside of Baghdad. American troops raced to offer support, using aircraft, tanks and helicopters to repel the guerillas.
Al-Zarqawiâs group, the Tawhid and Jihad movement, claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement on an Islamic Web site. The statement said that members of the ``martyrsâ battalionââ had carried out a number of ``blessed operations.ââ
Formica said his troops would not allow the insurgents to get a foothold in Baghdad.
``The soldiers of this brigade are committed to the defense and the forward progress and sovereignty of this nation and we will fight alongside - and if need be bleed and die - with the people of Iraq to ensure that happens,ââ he said.
The Boston Herald
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
06/25/2004 6:41:04 PM ||
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The Economist has this article up re: the success of the CPA in slowly revamping the disastrous banking system in Iraq.
Small brag / recognition of a player in that revamp - an older banker acquaintance of mine came out of retirement to play an important role in this effort. There are a number of people like him who lived for a year+ in small rooms, sleeping on cots and working hard to help the Iraqis succeed while ducking occasional mortar attacks. Some of them could be home in rather comfortable settings instead. Without naming names, kudos to my friend, his patient and brave wife and the dog I bred, who misses her favorite lap while heâs away.
#1
No, no, no - didn't you read the memo? Absolutely no good stories about Iraq. Remember, it's a quagmire because we say so.
Now publish a followup article about how this is bad for Iraq while it lines the pockets of Bushitler and Cheney/Halliburton, or we'll kick you out of the club!
/lame-stream media
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/25/2004 22:21 Comments ||
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Via Newsmax, EFL
A just released book takes on Michael Moore as never before. Its title screams: âMichael Moore Is A Big Fat Stupid White Man.â And surprisingly, this book has been published by the same publisher who gave us Michael Mooreâs own runaway bestseller âStupid White Men."
Not surprising at all, the publisher wants both sides of the action.
RTWT. The article also has a plethora of Mooreisms and criticisms of that sloppy fat piece of crap Moore and his "work".
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/25/2004 9:31:25 AM ||
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EFL from WND
... Tanker M/V Navstar captain Mykola Mazurenko and first mate Ivan Soshchenko were arrested in August by the British navy in the port of Umm Qasr for alleged oil smuggling and sentenced to seven years in prison by an Iraqi court. The two were extradited recently on condition they serve the rest of their sentence at home.... Prisoners were often "gassed with tear gas" and forced to "lick food straight from the floor," Karpachova said, citing letters she recently received from the seamen. Karpachova said the two "are in serious health condition." In Somalia tear gas was not even brought in country for crowd control because it is considered a chemical agent by the UN. I find it hard to beleive that the agent was used routinely in Abu Ghraib. Certainly an inventory check would quite easily be accomplished to test the âvalidity of this part of their story.
Markiyan Lubkivskiy, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said the seamenâs claims would be investigated and "if it is true ... we will raise the case to the international level and do everything to protect the rights of our citizens including financial compensation."
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/25/2004 3:09:12 AM ||
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#1
It wasn't tear gas -- it was deodorant!
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/25/2004 10:12 Comments ||
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#2
The medallions arrive to the families of the fallen in a small black box inside a velvet pouch. The front shows the liberty bell with two hands--a black and a white, with the words United We Stand, Divided We Fall and Liberty Rings for All Nations, and the back lists the fallen and the verse from John 15 "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." The Army was providing the names, ranks and addresses of fallen servicemen and women, but not any more (because of the verse). The Air Force, Marines, and Navy are giving families the choice to receive them or not.
#3
Oops, the photo of the medallion didn't come through.
This medallion gift seems like a nice gesture to me, and I'll be a lot of families would like one if they've lost someone.
âThe medallion is given at no expense to the family . . . on behalf of the American people to the family as a gesture of appreciation and with heart felt sympathy for this ultimate sacrifice and great loss so that we might live in precious peace in the greatest nation on earth.â
Guess is wasn't PC enough for the Army, but still seems like people should be given the chance to get one if they want one. (Maybe they're afraid some Islamic will file suit.)
#4
Yup definitely a Jesuit. And what AUDACITY for a robber to enter a church, lay out tools, and attempt to rob a church collection box? This guy has to be one warped SOB on the expressway to Hades! Probably a druggy or a Muslim. We all know that Muslim donât respect churches or Synagogues.
Africaâs most populous country is rated the worldâs second most corrupt after Bangladesh by the Berlin-based NGO, Transparency International. The initiative is being portrayed as the latest official effort to fight the endemic corruption in the country. The executive chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, Justice Mustapha Akanbi, said the government had already approved the studies and a team of experts had been set up to work on the curriculum.
"We're going work hard to reclaim our title."
EFL
Dear Mr. Simmins:
I am an Assistant Minister of Education for the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I have control over funds dedicated to anti-corruption education. I have a business opportunity for you...
#1
Man, I was hoping some of that money was going to be used to buy joooooo bullets (since they're now banned by the military). What a way to send a message to the goons in Iraq and build up morale for the troops abroad and their families here! God bless our troops.
Posted by: BA ||
06/25/2004 10:41 Comments ||
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#2
Kudos to Home Depot! I went there on Meomorial Day weekend and got a 15% discount. Good for them, more companies should step up and help our soldiers families while they are gone.
#3
Not all corporations are heartless. This weekend at Yankee Stadium (Yankees vs. Mets), the Special Operations Warrior Foundation will receive a big check in an on-field ceremony featuring a Golden Knight parachute drop. George Steinbrenner (who's based in Tampa near CentCom) has given over $1 million to the Foundation in the past, and his son and Yankee partner Hal is on the board of the Foundation.
Posted by: Tibor ||
06/25/2004 13:56 Comments ||
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#4
What a great way to support the troops!
(I noticed last year when I donated to Operation Air Conditioner that Home Depot made buying AC for our troops very easy!)
I'll be shopping there soon and let them know I'm grateful.
Posted by: Jen ||
06/25/2004 14:07 Comments ||
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#5
Ace Hardware in downtown knoxville is selling hardware to military families /at cost/. Who knows what percentage that is but that's pretty cool of them.
For refusing to work on Saddam Husseinâs weapons programme, Hussain Al-Shahristani spent 11 years as a prisoner in the infamous Abu Ghraib jail. As Iraq struggles to rebuild, he was recently put forward as a candidate to head the interim government. He explains to Michael Bond why he declined. He is now calling for other scientists around the world to boycott research on all weapons of mass destruction
How well did you know Saddam Hussein?
I knew Saddam closely because he was head of the Atomic Energy Commission in the 1970s even before he became president.
What was he like?
I was never impressed by him. I knew that he was a vicious man who would not hesitate to send people to be executed when they had very minor differences with him. He never impressed me with any intelligence or insight. (SNIP)
When he became president of Iraq in 1979 he asked you to work on an atomic weapons programme. What happened?
I was the chief scientific adviser to the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission when Saddam appointed himself president. He wanted to redirect our research activities from peaceful applications to what were referred to as strategic applications. I refused to work on the programme.
Was that an easy decision to make?
Fairly easy. It was clear to me that any weapons in his hands would be used against the Iraqi people. I could not find myself working on any military programme, particularly for Saddam. In taking that decision I knew what the consequences would be, but I didnât have much choice. The options were either to work with him and enable him to kill tens or hundreds of thousands of people, or to take a stand and pay the price. My religious convictions obliged me to choose the latter.
Yet many of your fellow scientists did agree to work on Saddamâs weapons programmes
Yes, other scientists were forced to work on them. But of course they needed some convincing: some were arrested, tortured, kept in mental hospitals and so on, and eventually they were persuaded to go back and work on the weapons programme.
What happened to you when you refused?
I was arrested in December 1979. I was interrogated and tortured for 22 days and nights. In my case they were gentler because they did not want to leave any permanent bodily marks on me. They hung me from the ceiling by my hands, which were tied behind my back. They used electric probes on sensitive parts of my body and beat me. There were others in the torture chambers who were treated far worse. In one case I witnessed a guy having holes drilled into his bones with electric drills. The most painful thing in those torture chambers was to hear the screams of children being tortured to extract confessions from their fathers.
What did they do with you then?
I was sentenced to life imprisonment and taken to Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. I was visited by Saddamâs step-brother, who came to my cell and expressed his disappointment in what they had done to me, and tried to persuade me to go back to my work. He told me there was a place for me at the presidential palace. I said I was not in a position to do so, both physically because I was half-paralysed after being tortured, and also because weapons research was not my specialty. Then he said that any man who was not willing to serve his country did not deserve to be alive. I said that it was our duty to serve our country, but that this was one service I could not do. At this point I was ordered to solitary confinement for 10 years. I was there from May 1980 to May 1990, on Saddamâs personal orders.
click on the link and read the whole interview. quite amazing.
Posted by: Anon1 ||
06/25/2004 8:11:55 AM ||
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Nearly 5 million people will need food aid over the next year despite government claims Zimbabweans won't need such relief, a U.N.-led group said Thursday.
Only five million?
At least 2.3 million rural people won't have enough food either because they don't grow enough or couldn't afford to purchase enough, Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee said in a report. The panel, composed of U.N. agencies and aid groups, said earlier that about 2.5 million urban people will need food aid because of deepening poverty. Officials of aid and humanitarian groups said the two assessments meant a total of about 5 million of the 12.5 million population will have to be given food help during the next several months. The government has hallucinated forecast record harvests this year of 2.4 million tons of cereals. But U.N. crop forecasters estimate Zimbabwe will produce only half its food needs of about 2 million tons this year. Zimbabwe was once a regional breadbasket. The often-violent seizure of thousands of white-owned farms for redistribution to black Zimbabweans, combined with erratic rains, have crippled the nation's agriculture-based economy since 2000.
I'm amazed the AP reporter had the timerity to note Bob's trangressions.
Opposition leaders accuse the government of lying about corn production and secretly importing food to use as a political weapon in the run-up to key parliamentary elections next year.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/25/2004 12:36:31 AM ||
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#1
Zim needs to clean house of Bob. Then maybe other countries will help. What about Bob? Bob is like Kimmie, he has run his country into the ground. Let the people run him into the ground first before we ever give aid.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/25/2004 0:50 Comments ||
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#2
Nearly 5 million people will need food aid over the next year despite government claims Zimbabweans won't need such relief, a U.N.-led group said Thursday.
That's nice. Now go away and leave us Americans alone.
#3
The US needs to fund a new aid agency. With each bag of food, distribute an assault rifle and a map to Mugabe palace.
Posted by: ed ||
06/25/2004 2:11 Comments ||
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#4
Ditto, #2. Didn't these same fine folks of Zimbabawe kill approx. 1500 white farmers not to mention they wontonly slaughtered game animals and left their carcasses to rot because they thought it was so much fun to see blood flow and gosh there'd be dumb old Uncle Sam who would surely come by with food soon enough...no worries. I hope we tell the UN to take a hike-go to the ME countries for $ -I'm told Islam is the religion of peace and kindness. Maybe the mullahs and shieks can dig into their Swiss bank accounts and cough up some $ for starving Zims.
Posted by: rex ||
06/25/2004 2:16 Comments ||
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#5
Hmmm, let's see here...
5 million hungry people, at the doctor-reccomended minimum of 2300 calories a day, times 365 days in a year... carry the 11...
I get 4.2 x 10^12 calories for the year. An average ear of good ol' US corn has around 130-145 calories...call it 138...that's about 3 x 10^10 ears of corn. At around 70 lbs a bushel.
#6
It appears we are well on our way to seeing this future come to fruition.
And when it does come I won't know whether to laugh or cry, or even which is worse: Starvation through deliberate government policy, or our own home grown Marxists who will find a way to blame everyone and everything other than the person/policy most directly responsible.
#7
Mojo - corn (maize) is 56 lbs a bushel, on average. It's textbook. Rice is 45 lbs, soybeans and wheat, 60 lbs. Barley, 48 lbs. Milo/sorghum , 56 lbs.
Zimbabwe's primary food crop used to be corn/maize, before Bob drove all his agricultural capitalists into Zambian exile, where a nasty flood season wrecked what looked like a pretty good bumper crop. So much for the Scotsman-predicted economic moral lesson. Oh, well. There's always next year.
This has been your industrial agriculture lesson for the day.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/25/2004 9:08 Comments ||
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#8
let bob feed them with all the newly aquired farms...as bomb-a-rama said.. Now go away and leave us Americans alone
say's it all
Posted by: Dan ||
06/25/2004 9:27 Comments ||
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#9
Call France, they're up for bat finally.
...which is worse: Starvation through deliberate government policy, or our own home grown Marxists who will find a way to blame everyone and everything other than the person/policy most directly responsible.
Badanov, GLAD TO SEE SOMEONE ELSE SAYING IT-this tendency to blame anyone but the person responsible seems to be a widespread mindset in the world today.
#15
SB: that's pretty cold and cynical - wish I'd thought of it first
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/25/2004 22:51 Comments ||
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#16
Actually, I didn't either. Not directly. Laurence of the Rats, my brother who will likely kill me for linking him to me, thought of it during a HS debate. They were joking about improving US agriculture by nuking everyone else's wheatfields. Then they'd all come to us begging for food. So the evil thoughts were originally his.
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