http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7070882.stm
You could not make this shit up-
'The BBC's Stephanie Hancock in Abeche says angry crowds took to the streets to vent their anger about the affair.
Some women hurled stones at foreign journalists and shouted anti-French slogans, AFP news agency reports.
"No to the slave trade! No trafficking in children!" they are quoted as saying.
Our correspondent says hundreds of protesters converged at the home of the governor of Abeche waving placards.
"We are here to see that justice will be done in transparency, and here in Abeche, not anywhere else. And to see that children and their parents get their rights," one woman said. '
Every child SHOULD have the right to die in squalor. It is disgusting- here you have rich, educated Europeans going to Africa to try to bring Darfurian orphans back to France so they can be adopted and live healthy, happy lives- who do they think they are? They obviously deserve 20 years in prison for wanting to help desperate African children.
No to the slave trade? What fucking century are these people living in? How many slaves are there in France again? Sometimes it doesn't seem worth trying to do anything good in this world.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Stupid CIA guy
'Like Nazism, Islam is an ideology one chooses to adhere to. Were there "good" or "moderate" Nazis? If not, then no one can claim that there are good or moderate Muslims as they are voluntarily subscribing to an ideology that advocates murder, torture and jihad and does not permit its follower to cherry-pick which parts they believe in. The requirement to accept the Koran as the literal word of God also carries with it the obligation to accept it all. And as you say, the Koran instructs all Muslims to wage war against non-Muslims and all schools of Islamic thought instruct the subjugation of the non-Muslim world through jihad. Therefore, I do not believe it wise to attempt to create artificial distinctions between Muslims that don't really as far as their attitudes towards non-Muslims is concerned.'
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=AF613BFA-8E34-4A07-8DB4-20D89DE3D84B
How is it that after all the time this guy has supposedly spent studying Islam, he is still making elementary errors? Mainstream Shia and Sunni Islam DO have large bodies of rulings which 'interpret' i.e. change what the Koran says. Because many things in the Koran run counter to normal human life, many of its injunctions were 'interpreted' so that Moslems could lead productive, peaceful lives. The radical thing about Wahhabism is it throws away that enormous body of accumulated wisdom, and says that the Koran and only the Koran dictates how a Moslem should live. Everything else is a false idol and is against 'true' Islam. How did this crucial distinction pass Mr Tefft by?
Comparing mainstream Islam with Nazism is dangerous and wrong. The period where Islam sprouted from the Hijaz and stormed the mediterraenean world is in the distant past. The last 'adventures' for Islam were the Ottoman empire-building wars, and the Ottomans were traditional imperialists. They did what they did for secular glory, not on behalf of Islam. To pretend that the masses of Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iraq and Egypt want to take the banner of Islam into Paris and Washington DC is just hokum. The Wahhabists are vanguardists- they don't represent a mass movement at all. They represent the small percentage of young violent men to be found in many societies who believe they are right and that murdering the people who are wrong will end up with their eventual victory. It hasn't happened before (and Wahhabist ideology has been around since ca 1300) and it won't happen this time.
Just from simple common humanity, we in the West should help Islam divest itself of the Wahhabist scourge. We are not doing a very good job at the moment, and we really need to start soon, as the Wahhabists have a state sponsor and vast sums of money, neither of which they ever possessed before at the same time. It makes me sick to see our Royal Family and government welcoming in Abdullah. Saudi Arabia should be a pariah state, no matter how much oil they have. It is their propaganda, their institutions of state, their seminaries and their overtly gigantist mosque building which are adding great heft to the Wahhabist takeover bid.
People like Mr Tefft really annoy me. The first task in any contest is to define your enemy, and not just fight whoever comes into view. The Wahhabists are a small but formidable foe, growing on the margins but still easily defeatable right now as long as we don't tarry and get into a completely unnecessary general war with Islam. I don't happen to like what Islam preaches, but then I don't like what a lot of religions teach. That is neither here nor there. Mr Tefft worries me- is that the calibre of person populating the CIA? Poor America...
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=AF613BFA-8E34-4A07-8DB4-20D89DE3D84B
How is it that after all the time this guy has supposedly spent studying Islam, he is still making elementary errors? Mainstream Shia and Sunni Islam DO have large bodies of rulings which 'interpret' i.e. change what the Koran says. Because many things in the Koran run counter to normal human life, many of its injunctions were 'interpreted' so that Moslems could lead productive, peaceful lives. The radical thing about Wahhabism is it throws away that enormous body of accumulated wisdom, and says that the Koran and only the Koran dictates how a Moslem should live. Everything else is a false idol and is against 'true' Islam. How did this crucial distinction pass Mr Tefft by?
Comparing mainstream Islam with Nazism is dangerous and wrong. The period where Islam sprouted from the Hijaz and stormed the mediterraenean world is in the distant past. The last 'adventures' for Islam were the Ottoman empire-building wars, and the Ottomans were traditional imperialists. They did what they did for secular glory, not on behalf of Islam. To pretend that the masses of Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iraq and Egypt want to take the banner of Islam into Paris and Washington DC is just hokum. The Wahhabists are vanguardists- they don't represent a mass movement at all. They represent the small percentage of young violent men to be found in many societies who believe they are right and that murdering the people who are wrong will end up with their eventual victory. It hasn't happened before (and Wahhabist ideology has been around since ca 1300) and it won't happen this time.
Just from simple common humanity, we in the West should help Islam divest itself of the Wahhabist scourge. We are not doing a very good job at the moment, and we really need to start soon, as the Wahhabists have a state sponsor and vast sums of money, neither of which they ever possessed before at the same time. It makes me sick to see our Royal Family and government welcoming in Abdullah. Saudi Arabia should be a pariah state, no matter how much oil they have. It is their propaganda, their institutions of state, their seminaries and their overtly gigantist mosque building which are adding great heft to the Wahhabist takeover bid.
People like Mr Tefft really annoy me. The first task in any contest is to define your enemy, and not just fight whoever comes into view. The Wahhabists are a small but formidable foe, growing on the margins but still easily defeatable right now as long as we don't tarry and get into a completely unnecessary general war with Islam. I don't happen to like what Islam preaches, but then I don't like what a lot of religions teach. That is neither here nor there. Mr Tefft worries me- is that the calibre of person populating the CIA? Poor America...
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Peace, peace at last
I had a very interesting discussion about the Palestinians and their dogged determination to screw up their own fate with a Jewish person a couple of days ago. I couldn't help thinking about some of his comments while reading this recent AP news wire.
ATLANTA (AP) - The Palestinian people have plunged into a deep depression
with unemployment and poverty at record levels, and peace with Israel is the
only answer, a longtime Palestinian lawmaker said. Palestinians are experiencing "one of the most difficult phases in our history," [under the Ottomans, for instance, everybody had two-car garages and shares in PalestineCo] said Hanan Ashrawi, an elected member of the Palestinian
Legislative Council and an active voice in the Mideast peace process.
"Now we see not just a political and economic battle but a battle over the soul of Palestine," [we tried the military battle 487 times, and lost every one, which is why we've switched to these lesser battles. We think we'll probably lose these too] she told an audience of about 200 gathered at Emory University. "We find ourselves in the grip of ... the deconstruction of
Palestine." [ah, deconstruction. All the post-modernists love the deconstruction. A few of them might wonder when the construction of Palestine happened, as it doesn't appear in the history books at all, nada, rien, nix]
Nearly 75 percent of Palestinians living in Gaza are dependent on welfare
and the territory's unemployment rate has skyrocketed to 50 percent, she
said. Conditions have worsened in Gaza since the militant Islamic group Hamas
seized control in June. [What? Those guys promised a land flowing with milk and honey? Oh, right, a land flowing with Jews blood and zionist guts... sorry]
Ashrawi's lecture was part of a series of speeches on the Emory campus focusing on peace building in wartorn regions. [Always get in the experts. Ashrawi's track record is second to ... well everyone actually] One of the more controversial lectures was by former President Jimmy Carter, who spoke there about his much-criticized book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid." [Because insulting and lying about the Israelis is obviously going to bring about peace, innit?]
The book was condemned by critics and Jewish groups [read: the usual liars and apologists for racism] for comparing Israeli actions in Palestine to the oppression of blacks under South Africa's apartheid regime. [Its an obvious comparison, apart from all the manifold ways in which its bollocks]
Ashrawi praised Carter as a "prophet" and a "man of conscience," and one of a dwindling number of people who still believe peace is possible in the Mideast. [read: are willing to shill for the Palestinians despite the latters fanatical devotion to screwing up their own future]
She noted that peace talks must move forward as opposed to waiting for the violence to subside. [If these bloody Israelis won't negotiate with a gun to their heads, they're just pussies]
"You cannot hold peace hostage and say, 'Until every single Palestinian becomes peaceful, I'm not going to have talks,"' Ashrawi said. [Really? Why not again?] "You have to talk in order to bring about peace." [Really? I thought you had to stop killing people to have peace?]
The United States is planning to host a conference in late November or early December to relaunch long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. [gotta look like you're not just sitting on your hands...] U.S. officials have had a flurry of diplomatic activity in recent weeks aiming to push Israel and the Palestinians into consensus on the substance of the conference's joint declaration, which would outline a way for the two sides to return to the negotiating table. [one day, we will definitely agree on the possibility of sitting down to discuss the things which we might discuss in talks... I give up]
ATLANTA (AP) - The Palestinian people have plunged into a deep depression
with unemployment and poverty at record levels, and peace with Israel is the
only answer, a longtime Palestinian lawmaker said. Palestinians are experiencing "one of the most difficult phases in our history," [under the Ottomans, for instance, everybody had two-car garages and shares in PalestineCo] said Hanan Ashrawi, an elected member of the Palestinian
Legislative Council and an active voice in the Mideast peace process.
"Now we see not just a political and economic battle but a battle over the soul of Palestine," [we tried the military battle 487 times, and lost every one, which is why we've switched to these lesser battles. We think we'll probably lose these too] she told an audience of about 200 gathered at Emory University. "We find ourselves in the grip of ... the deconstruction of
Palestine." [ah, deconstruction. All the post-modernists love the deconstruction. A few of them might wonder when the construction of Palestine happened, as it doesn't appear in the history books at all, nada, rien, nix]
Nearly 75 percent of Palestinians living in Gaza are dependent on welfare
and the territory's unemployment rate has skyrocketed to 50 percent, she
said. Conditions have worsened in Gaza since the militant Islamic group Hamas
seized control in June. [What? Those guys promised a land flowing with milk and honey? Oh, right, a land flowing with Jews blood and zionist guts... sorry]
Ashrawi's lecture was part of a series of speeches on the Emory campus focusing on peace building in wartorn regions. [Always get in the experts. Ashrawi's track record is second to ... well everyone actually] One of the more controversial lectures was by former President Jimmy Carter, who spoke there about his much-criticized book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid." [Because insulting and lying about the Israelis is obviously going to bring about peace, innit?]
The book was condemned by critics and Jewish groups [read: the usual liars and apologists for racism] for comparing Israeli actions in Palestine to the oppression of blacks under South Africa's apartheid regime. [Its an obvious comparison, apart from all the manifold ways in which its bollocks]
Ashrawi praised Carter as a "prophet" and a "man of conscience," and one of a dwindling number of people who still believe peace is possible in the Mideast. [read: are willing to shill for the Palestinians despite the latters fanatical devotion to screwing up their own future]
She noted that peace talks must move forward as opposed to waiting for the violence to subside. [If these bloody Israelis won't negotiate with a gun to their heads, they're just pussies]
"You cannot hold peace hostage and say, 'Until every single Palestinian becomes peaceful, I'm not going to have talks,"' Ashrawi said. [Really? Why not again?] "You have to talk in order to bring about peace." [Really? I thought you had to stop killing people to have peace?]
The United States is planning to host a conference in late November or early December to relaunch long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. [gotta look like you're not just sitting on your hands...] U.S. officials have had a flurry of diplomatic activity in recent weeks aiming to push Israel and the Palestinians into consensus on the substance of the conference's joint declaration, which would outline a way for the two sides to return to the negotiating table. [one day, we will definitely agree on the possibility of sitting down to discuss the things which we might discuss in talks... I give up]
Superb satire - this guy deserves an oscar or a Nobel
http://pajamasmedia.com/2007/10/how_to_get_the_world_to_like_u.php
To paraphrase Dr Johnson, the only thing worse than saving the world is saving the world and STILL being hated.
To paraphrase Dr Johnson, the only thing worse than saving the world is saving the world and STILL being hated.
Wriggling on the hook
http://www.reason.com/news/show/123195.html
What does an honest lefty anti-imperialist do when America wins a war?
'Anti-warriors are sometimes accused of wanting the U.S. to lose in Iraq, just so they can be right. Not so. But they do want America to stop waging unnecessary wars.'
And strangely enough, they always know which ones are necessary and which aren't.
' The question preceding any decision to go to war shouldn’t be as simple as: “Might some long-term good occur out of this?” '
Thats right. The enormously subversive idea might flourish that warfare and violence can actually have positive effects, sometimes world-changingly positive effects. And we wouldn't want that. What would we do with all those bumper-stickers and t-shirts?
'The real question before a war needs to be: “is this absolutely necessary given a fair consideration of the horrors and unpredictability of war and the purpose of the U.S. military?” '
Thankfully, lefty nitwits writing on the web know all the relevant information about whether something is absolutely necessary or not. They have access to all the nasty, grubby intelligence about what the evil people in the world are getting up to: how many ostensibly clean politicians have been paid off by the evil people, how big and sophisticated the networks of the evil people have become, what extraordinarily disgusting things are being done by the evil people, etc. Fortunately, they know more about that than the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Obviously.
So what about Rwanda? What about DR Congo? What about Bosnia? And East Timor? And Chechnya? And Burma? Sitting around on your arse, drinking your martini and glorying your immense power and wealth while people around the world are being shot and chopped to bits when you COULD DO SOMETHING is morally disgusting. George W Bush believes that, Tony Blair believes that. I believe that.
What does an honest lefty anti-imperialist do when America wins a war?
'Anti-warriors are sometimes accused of wanting the U.S. to lose in Iraq, just so they can be right. Not so. But they do want America to stop waging unnecessary wars.'
And strangely enough, they always know which ones are necessary and which aren't.
' The question preceding any decision to go to war shouldn’t be as simple as: “Might some long-term good occur out of this?” '
Thats right. The enormously subversive idea might flourish that warfare and violence can actually have positive effects, sometimes world-changingly positive effects. And we wouldn't want that. What would we do with all those bumper-stickers and t-shirts?
'The real question before a war needs to be: “is this absolutely necessary given a fair consideration of the horrors and unpredictability of war and the purpose of the U.S. military?” '
Thankfully, lefty nitwits writing on the web know all the relevant information about whether something is absolutely necessary or not. They have access to all the nasty, grubby intelligence about what the evil people in the world are getting up to: how many ostensibly clean politicians have been paid off by the evil people, how big and sophisticated the networks of the evil people have become, what extraordinarily disgusting things are being done by the evil people, etc. Fortunately, they know more about that than the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Obviously.
So what about Rwanda? What about DR Congo? What about Bosnia? And East Timor? And Chechnya? And Burma? Sitting around on your arse, drinking your martini and glorying your immense power and wealth while people around the world are being shot and chopped to bits when you COULD DO SOMETHING is morally disgusting. George W Bush believes that, Tony Blair believes that. I believe that.
Thermopylae joke
Best Thermopylae-related joke in 1400 years-
Leonidas: Try not to think of it as being vastly outnumbered. Be positive, what we have is a really target-rich environment.
Leonidas: Try not to think of it as being vastly outnumbered. Be positive, what we have is a really target-rich environment.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Judging people by your own standards
'Mr Deby has promised "severe punishment" for what he has described as a "kidnapping" or "child-trafficking" operation. "Their aim is to kidnap the children from their parents, to steal the children from their parents and sell them to paedophile organisations in Europe, and even perhaps to kill them and sell their organs," Mr Deby said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7066770.stm
Hilarious though Mr Deby's comments are, they do give us an insight into North African life. Slavery and murder-for-profit are still very much a part of life there, presumably. And you know that if the Prime Minister of the country talks like this, those lower down the totem pole are probably a bit less well-informed and civilised. Eeek.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7066770.stm
Hilarious though Mr Deby's comments are, they do give us an insight into North African life. Slavery and murder-for-profit are still very much a part of life there, presumably. And you know that if the Prime Minister of the country talks like this, those lower down the totem pole are probably a bit less well-informed and civilised. Eeek.
King Abdullah- what a comedian
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7066867.stm
'Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has accused Britain of not doing enough to fight international terrorism, which he says could take 20 or 30 years to beat. '
The man has a career in stand-up awaiting him. Its a bit like Russia accusing the US of human rights violations at Gitmo. You would only know the depth of that irony if you'd ever been to a Russian prison. They don't have their own personal copies of the Koran in those hell-holes...
'Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has accused Britain of not doing enough to fight international terrorism, which he says could take 20 or 30 years to beat. '
The man has a career in stand-up awaiting him. Its a bit like Russia accusing the US of human rights violations at Gitmo. You would only know the depth of that irony if you'd ever been to a Russian prison. They don't have their own personal copies of the Koran in those hell-holes...
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Motes and Beams
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7065941.stm
'Only MPs representing constituencies in England could be allowed to legislate on English matters under proposals being considered by the Conservatives.
The plan aims to address a perceived constitutional imbalance caused by Scottish and Welsh devolution.
The blueprint, drawn up by Tory ex-minister Sir Malcolm Rifkind, would involve a Grand Committee voting on areas such as education and health.
The government said such moves would threaten the existence of the UK. '
...Unlike creating a Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly, of course. Which just bind us all together as happy Britons...
'Only MPs representing constituencies in England could be allowed to legislate on English matters under proposals being considered by the Conservatives.
The plan aims to address a perceived constitutional imbalance caused by Scottish and Welsh devolution.
The blueprint, drawn up by Tory ex-minister Sir Malcolm Rifkind, would involve a Grand Committee voting on areas such as education and health.
The government said such moves would threaten the existence of the UK. '
...Unlike creating a Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly, of course. Which just bind us all together as happy Britons...
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Compare and contrast II
http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=277510023350955
The big press outlets in Britain and America are very keen to downplay jihad in its midst.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/racism/Story/0,,206293,00.html
It was the guys abusive childhood, he hated his wife, maybe it was some bad sushi... anything but the fact that he was a recent and gung-ho convert to Islam.
Neo-nazi crime on the other hand is blazoned from the rooftoops. We don't mind if they get lynched!
So what happens when something like this occurs?
http://ibloga.blogspot.com/2006/06/neo-nazi-becomes-fanatical-muslim.html
Its an interesting case because it points to something which very few left/Islamo-fascist convergence commentators want to talk about- that the psychological underpinning of Islamo-fascism is the identical one to ordinary fascists: the will to dominate and subjugate. There have been enough cross-overs that the public are starting to twig, even if the big media types are determined not to let evidence override prejudice.
The big press outlets in Britain and America are very keen to downplay jihad in its midst.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/racism/Story/0,,206293,00.html
It was the guys abusive childhood, he hated his wife, maybe it was some bad sushi... anything but the fact that he was a recent and gung-ho convert to Islam.
Neo-nazi crime on the other hand is blazoned from the rooftoops. We don't mind if they get lynched!
So what happens when something like this occurs?
http://ibloga.blogspot.com/2006/06/neo-nazi-becomes-fanatical-muslim.html
Its an interesting case because it points to something which very few left/Islamo-fascist convergence commentators want to talk about- that the psychological underpinning of Islamo-fascism is the identical one to ordinary fascists: the will to dominate and subjugate. There have been enough cross-overs that the public are starting to twig, even if the big media types are determined not to let evidence override prejudice.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Robust predictive powers
History is often instructive. Whilst reading up on the forthcoming England vs South Africa rugby world cup final game, I found these polls on http://www.rugby365.com/, a reputable rugby website. 
RESPECT!!!
I thought the vote was not a reasonable weighing up of the factors involved in both teams coming into this game, so I thought I'd have a look at the results from previous polls.
First, I looked at this one. A whopping 62% of respondents didn't believe England could beat France.
Then, I hit upon this one. According to the genii at rugby365, England had a 3.13% chance of winning the world cup.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Get over yourselves
'The "survival of the world" is at stake if Muslims and Christians do not make peace with each other, leaders of the Muslim world will warn the Pope and other Christian leaders today.
In an unprecedented open letter signed by 138 leading scholars from every sect of Islam, the Muslims plead with Christian leaders "to come together with us on the common essentials of our two religions" and spell out the similarities between passages of the Bible and the Koran.'
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,301116,00.html
I think we can all agree that the survival of the world is not at stake due to any putative contest between Christianity and Islam. The survival of Islam may be at stake, but not the world. Lets face it, the combined might of the the muzzy world can't take back Israel, the teeny weeny country right in the middle of Islamdom. So I'm guessing Poland, Canada and Peru aren't much at threat...
Most Islamic countries have trouble defending their own territory (see Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia) and keeping hold of it (see Pakistan), let alone providing any threat to us. But grandiosity is a bequest of Arab culture to Islam in general. It gives us all light relief and a chance to look into a closed and feeble world. I won't be digging myself an air-raid shelter just yet, if you don't mind.
In an unprecedented open letter signed by 138 leading scholars from every sect of Islam, the Muslims plead with Christian leaders "to come together with us on the common essentials of our two religions" and spell out the similarities between passages of the Bible and the Koran.'
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,301116,00.html
I think we can all agree that the survival of the world is not at stake due to any putative contest between Christianity and Islam. The survival of Islam may be at stake, but not the world. Lets face it, the combined might of the the muzzy world can't take back Israel, the teeny weeny country right in the middle of Islamdom. So I'm guessing Poland, Canada and Peru aren't much at threat...
Most Islamic countries have trouble defending their own territory (see Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia) and keeping hold of it (see Pakistan), let alone providing any threat to us. But grandiosity is a bequest of Arab culture to Islam in general. It gives us all light relief and a chance to look into a closed and feeble world. I won't be digging myself an air-raid shelter just yet, if you don't mind.
An Apology to LTG (Ret) Ricardo S. Sanchez
'WHILE THE POLITICIANS ESPOUSE THEIR RHETORIC DESIGNED TO PRESERVE THEIR REPUTATIONS AND THEIR POLITICAL POWER -OUR SOLDIERS DIE! OUR NATIONAL LEADERSHIP IGNORED THE LESSONS OF WWII AS WE ENTERED INTO THIS WAR AND TO THIS DAY CONTINUE TO BELIEVE THAT VICTORY CAN BE ACHIEVED THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF MILITARY POWER ALONE. OUR FOREFATHERS UNDERSTOOD THAT TREMENDOUS ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL CAPACITY HAD TO BE MOBILIZED, SYNCHRONIZED AND APPLIED IF WE WERE TO ACHIEVE VICTORY IN A GLOBAL WAR. THAT HAS BEEN AND CONTINUES TO BE THE KEY TO VICTORY IN IRAQ. CONTINUED MANIPULATIONS AND ADJUSTMENTS TO OUR MILITARY STRATEGY WILL NOT ACHIEVE VICTORY. THE BEST WE CAN DO WITH THIS FLAWED APPROACH IS STAVE OFF DEFEAT. '
http://www.militaryreporters.org/sanchez_101207.html
I just knew I shouldn't have commented on the comments of this senior American officer without having read them first hand. The US media, in full propaganda mode, selected this mans words to make them appear to say the absolute opposite of what he intended by them. This is the behaviour of people on the same moral level as the Soviet propaganda merchants- people whose only concern is effect and never truth. Time and again the US media do this, and yet maintain that they are professionals with extremely high ethical standards. That is rot, and rot must be cleared out if democracy is to prosper and sustain itself.
Saying that, in this case the blame falls squarely on my shoulders for not having attempted to find out whether Ricardo Sanchez said what the media reported. I apologize unreservedly to him.
http://www.militaryreporters.org/sanchez_101207.html
I just knew I shouldn't have commented on the comments of this senior American officer without having read them first hand. The US media, in full propaganda mode, selected this mans words to make them appear to say the absolute opposite of what he intended by them. This is the behaviour of people on the same moral level as the Soviet propaganda merchants- people whose only concern is effect and never truth. Time and again the US media do this, and yet maintain that they are professionals with extremely high ethical standards. That is rot, and rot must be cleared out if democracy is to prosper and sustain itself.
Saying that, in this case the blame falls squarely on my shoulders for not having attempted to find out whether Ricardo Sanchez said what the media reported. I apologize unreservedly to him.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Moonbats in the army
'But Gen Sanchez branded this so-called "surge" strategy a "desperate attempt" to make up for years of shortcomings.
"The best we can do with this flawed approach is stave off defeat," he warned. '
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7042805.stm
My mother used to say, if you can't say anything good, don't say anything. I guess Ricardo Sanchez's mom told him that the best way to help out was say we can't win, we are wasting our time and our decision-makers are corrupt. Thanks Ric!
"The best we can do with this flawed approach is stave off defeat," he warned. '
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7042805.stm
My mother used to say, if you can't say anything good, don't say anything. I guess Ricardo Sanchez's mom told him that the best way to help out was say we can't win, we are wasting our time and our decision-makers are corrupt. Thanks Ric!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Is there anything Israel can do right?
'The International Court of Justice has argued that the barrier should not be allowed to become Israel's new border because it would constitute the expansion of Israeli territory by force.'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7036945.stm
Hilarious. How many times have Arab armies and militias tried to wipe out all trace of Jewish occupancy of any land in Israel? Hamas has as a plank in its constitution committing it to the destruction of the 'Zionist entity'. But when Israel builds a wall to protect its people from murderous criminals it is 'expanding Israeli territory by force'. If Israel decided to, it could sweep all the Arabs out of Gaza, the West Bank and Israel proper in an afternoon. But it doesn't want to do that. Its use of power is selective, judicious and at least tries to be just in its actions. Which is far more than you can say for the Palestinians, who just want the Jews gone, preferably dead.
What reward do you get for restraint, equitability and openness?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7036945.stm
Hilarious. How many times have Arab armies and militias tried to wipe out all trace of Jewish occupancy of any land in Israel? Hamas has as a plank in its constitution committing it to the destruction of the 'Zionist entity'. But when Israel builds a wall to protect its people from murderous criminals it is 'expanding Israeli territory by force'. If Israel decided to, it could sweep all the Arabs out of Gaza, the West Bank and Israel proper in an afternoon. But it doesn't want to do that. Its use of power is selective, judicious and at least tries to be just in its actions. Which is far more than you can say for the Palestinians, who just want the Jews gone, preferably dead.
What reward do you get for restraint, equitability and openness?
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Bushitler and the first draft of history
'Imagine an administration that has persuaded one of the world's most opaque and troublesome regimes to negotiate the dismantling of its nukes.
President Bush has had to engage in the art of compromise
Imagine an administration has given more than $15bn towards treating HIV/Aids, mainly in Africa; that has hinted it might boycott the Beijing Olympics if China doesn't intervene to stop Burmese monks from getting slaughtered; that has tried - and failed - to force immigration reform down the throats of its own party; that obsesses about alternative fuels and talks climate change.
Imagine an administration that prefers a diplomatic to a military option in Iran, is in bed with the French, on the sofa with the Germans and in the cooler with the Brits.
Stop imagining. What I have described is the White House of George W Bush in October 2007.' Matt Frei
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7027166.stm
Absolutely fascinating. Journalism has been called 'the first draft of history' but is very often nothing of the sort. Very often it is the 'groupthink' of large numbers of 'right thinking' journalists who believe they know the real story and are willing to change facts, ignore facts that don't fit and hunt down the few facts that do fit their narrative in the cause of their shared conviction. The George W Bush case is a perfect example. Bush hatred is endemic in both the British and American large-scale media. They believe he's a hard-right moron who couldn't think his way out of a paper bag, dedicated to killing brown-skinned people for oil. The facts don't bear this out at all, but the vast hordes of uppity journo's confident in their own superior intellects are just not willing to accept that.
Until now, that is. Matt Frei is a good journalist. He's never struck me as a fan of George W., but as this piece points out, a simple recitation of what George W has done over the last seven years shows that the caricature of him is so far from the truth thats its laughable.
Mr Frei goes on to note 'It's true, his instincts may still hail from Texas. But his actions have been moulded by Washington's Beltway. Even the most ardent Bush-basher has to admit that W has evolved.' Actually, he hasn't evolved- he was always what reasonable American commentators call a 'Broad-tent Republican'. Not mentioned for instance in Mr Frei's list is George W's consistent appeal to Latino-Americans, something which bugs the hell out of the right wing of the Republican party, who generally wish that the Latino's would all go home. The caricature of George W has not become innacurate recently- it was always wrong.
As William James said, there is nothing so absurd that it cannot be believed as truth if repeated often enough. The truth for the lazy journo's who populate our big newspapers and tv stations is that Bushitler is a raving right-wing loony bent on world domination and stealing the resources of the world. But when history comes to be written, as with Mr Frei's first draft, the story will be very different.
President Bush has had to engage in the art of compromise
Imagine an administration has given more than $15bn towards treating HIV/Aids, mainly in Africa; that has hinted it might boycott the Beijing Olympics if China doesn't intervene to stop Burmese monks from getting slaughtered; that has tried - and failed - to force immigration reform down the throats of its own party; that obsesses about alternative fuels and talks climate change.
Imagine an administration that prefers a diplomatic to a military option in Iran, is in bed with the French, on the sofa with the Germans and in the cooler with the Brits.
Stop imagining. What I have described is the White House of George W Bush in October 2007.' Matt Frei
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7027166.stm
Absolutely fascinating. Journalism has been called 'the first draft of history' but is very often nothing of the sort. Very often it is the 'groupthink' of large numbers of 'right thinking' journalists who believe they know the real story and are willing to change facts, ignore facts that don't fit and hunt down the few facts that do fit their narrative in the cause of their shared conviction. The George W Bush case is a perfect example. Bush hatred is endemic in both the British and American large-scale media. They believe he's a hard-right moron who couldn't think his way out of a paper bag, dedicated to killing brown-skinned people for oil. The facts don't bear this out at all, but the vast hordes of uppity journo's confident in their own superior intellects are just not willing to accept that.
Until now, that is. Matt Frei is a good journalist. He's never struck me as a fan of George W., but as this piece points out, a simple recitation of what George W has done over the last seven years shows that the caricature of him is so far from the truth thats its laughable.
Mr Frei goes on to note 'It's true, his instincts may still hail from Texas. But his actions have been moulded by Washington's Beltway. Even the most ardent Bush-basher has to admit that W has evolved.' Actually, he hasn't evolved- he was always what reasonable American commentators call a 'Broad-tent Republican'. Not mentioned for instance in Mr Frei's list is George W's consistent appeal to Latino-Americans, something which bugs the hell out of the right wing of the Republican party, who generally wish that the Latino's would all go home. The caricature of George W has not become innacurate recently- it was always wrong.
As William James said, there is nothing so absurd that it cannot be believed as truth if repeated often enough. The truth for the lazy journo's who populate our big newspapers and tv stations is that Bushitler is a raving right-wing loony bent on world domination and stealing the resources of the world. But when history comes to be written, as with Mr Frei's first draft, the story will be very different.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Irans fingers in the pie
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2007/10/captured_iranian_qod.php
Much greater detail in this article than you will find elsewhere about the nuts and bolts of Iranian skulduggery in Iraq.
Much greater detail in this article than you will find elsewhere about the nuts and bolts of Iranian skulduggery in Iraq.
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