Photios

Bibles Banned at Walter Reed

2011-12-24T07:26:00.000-08:00

I wonder how far we are from the time when carrying a Bible openly is itself an act of civil disobedience.

Walter Reed Banned Family Members From Bringing Bibles to Wounded Warriors

(CNSNews.com) - In a Sept. 14 policy memorandum, Col. Chuck Callahan, chief of staff of Walter Reed National Medical Center, banned family members from bringing Bibles and other "religious items" when visiting wounded military personnel at the facility.

In a section entitled “Partners in Care Guidelines," describing what family members can bring to their wounded warrior in the hospital, the memo states: “No religious items (i.e., Bibles, reading materials and/or artifacts) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit.”

The piece goes on to say that this was just poor wording and that...

King and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) met with Navy officials and were told that the “memo was worded improperly” and a new memo will be drafted “to affirmatively assert that religious items and artifacts are welcome in the hospital, if they are welcomed by the patient.”

A lie.

A Colonel (a senior officer form whom people rise when he enters the room) knows how to say what he wants to say, and when Col. Callahan banned family members from bringing Bibles and other religious items to patients he knew what he was doing.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but one does not get to be a Colonel in the US Army not knowing how to give an order. One wonders if he will be held accountable. I doubt it.

So, Mr. Dasey is spinning his butt off about what they really meant to say and about how they are going to issue a new policy.

In the meanwhile, they do not know then a new policy will be issued.

The Family Research Council, being accustomed to being lied to, is staying on it.

“We filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with Walter Reed Military Medical Center in hope of understanding who authorized the Bible ban and why,” Tony Perkins, FRC president, said in a press release about the request. “Although the Center's spokesmen assure us the policy has been rescinded, we have yet to see the revised policy. Until then, we'll push forward with our investigation to see who or what is driving the religious purging.”

Good for them.

Cold Climate in Durban

2011-12-24T06:53:00.000-08:00

This is old news that, due to my horrible schedule and am just getting to. Sorry about that, but it is still important even though the Durban Climate Change Conference is over.

Jack Kelly lays it out more clearly than most.

Long Faces in Durban

Unseasonable cold greeted delegates to the U.N. conference on climate change in Durban, South Africa, Nov. 28. They were chilled more by the impending collapse of one of the most brazen scams in the history of the world.

The warnings of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that the world faced doom from anthropogenic (man-made) global warming were based on peer-reviewed scientific literature, the IPCC chairman claimed. But when Canadian writer Donna LaFramboise checked the 18,531 references in the 2007 report, she found 5,587 were newspaper and magazine articles written by non-experts, unpublished theses and pamphlets produced by environmental groups.

But what about the "real scientists"?

Just in time for the Durban conference, 5,000 more emails have been leaked. In this batch, scientists admit the science supporting anthropogenic global warming is weak and depends on data manipulation. They conspire with politicians and journalists to conceal this from the public. "What if climate change appears to be just a multi-decadal natural fluctuation?" wrote one. "They'll kill us, probably."

But why would they do this? There are a couple of reasons and the piece spends half of text discussing those. One of these;

The leading alarmist among American scientists, James Hansen of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, has been as spectacularly wrong as Mr. Gore. Mr. Hansen said in a 1988 interview the sea level off Manhattan would rise 10 feet within 40 years (if atmospheric CO2 doubled). In the 23 years since, the sea level has risen just 2.5 inches. Sea levels fell over the past year.

But alarmism has been good for his pocketbook. Mr. Hansen failed to report $1.6 million in outside income, much of it in violation of NASA's rules, according to Power Line's John Hinderaker.

Go read the whole thing.

In Memoriam - Kim Jong Il

2011-12-22T10:54:00.000-08:00

Firstly, we have in the United States a large number of people very badly educated in the government school systems who, unable to remember the slightest thing about the period 1917 through 1989, are supporters of socialism.

Watch as a man who lived under Soviet tyranny tries to speak with an Occupy Wall Street idiot. In fact, the perfect example of a "useful idiot".

(h/t Sister Toldjah)
Now, this is Kim Jong Il, from the Discover Channel.
Part 1;

Part 2;

For the crime of trying to cross into China;

And then there is the nation-wide brainwashing;

If you are lucky enough to avoid execution or prison, and you are unlucky enough not to be one of the politically privileged living in Pyongyang, then this may be your fate;

I Love LatmaTV

2011-12-03T18:19:00.000-08:00

Obama's advisor on Arab democracy, Jamil and Awad embrace reconciliation

I especially love the bit at the end about pluralism in viewpoint amongst journalists.

The Reason for God

2011-12-02T00:57:00.000-08:00

I just discovered this. On March 5th, 2008, Tim Keller gave a lecture at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California as part of the Authors@Google series.

I can give an Orthodox Christian a thousand reasons to see this video, and many of the same reasons to an atheist (although the atheist will not watch it).

Watch or listen to the whole thing, it will make you feel better.

Name That Party

2011-11-23T16:49:00.000-08:00

I wonder what the party affiliation of these ~~people~~ criminals is.

12 former officials indicted for voter fraud

State officials launched an investigation after an unusually high number of absentee ballots were cast in the July 2010 primary election. "As a result of their grand jury findings 12 individuals were indicted in that particular matter and we will be trying that case in a court of judicial law instead of a court of public opinion so that will be pending this next year," said District Attorney Joe Mulholland.

The Party office to call when you want to get it done.

One Israeli is Worth Over a Thousand Arabs

2011-11-23T16:43:00.000-08:00

This is a late post that has been sitting in the bin. My apologies for not posting this earlier.

I am not the one saying it, Hamas is.

Israeli Soldier Moved From Gaza To Egypt

The exchange between Israel and its bitter Hamas enemy sees Israel freeing a total of 1,027 prisoners - hundreds of them from life sentences imposed for killing Israelis.

Buses of Palestinian prisoners are now moving from Israel into Egypt en route to Gaza.

For the murderous freaks of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood, et al., this counts as a great victory. As far as I am concerned it says that the life of a single Israeli Jew is worth the lives of a thousand Palestinian Arabs. I don't believe that this is necessarily true, but then again I have no sympathy for a people that would chose the terrorism of Fatah and Hamas over peace and the opportunity to build their own State.

Here's hoping for Israel's continued success in her national defense, and damn all of those who would hold her back.

Christian and Muslim Prayers - Reflecting the Teachings of Faith

2011-11-23T16:38:00.000-08:00

One does not need to be a believer in any particular religion or religious dogma, possess any faith or live according to any doctrine to understand what is logically true. The way that a group of believers pray will reflect the quality and the teachings of their faith.

Mr. Raymond Ibrahim has an inconvenient truth.

Muslim Prayers of Hate

The Christian preachers give universal supplications that include phrases like “O Lord, lover of all mankind and savior of all the world”; they quote biblical passages such as “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5: 44); they pray that God may “heal all people around the world of their diseases.”

While such an approach is familiar, taken for granted even, the supplications of the Muslim preachers may surprise some. Popular Egyptian preacher Sheikh Muhammad al-Zoghbi was taped invoking his god thusly:

May Allah cut your tongue out! May he freeze the blood in your veins! May he inflict you with cancer and allow you no reprieve. … Allah, strike them with all sorts of disease, afflictions and pain! Allah, strike them with cancer! Allah, let your prophet overpower them! Allah destroy them! Allah destroy them! Allah destroy them! Allah destroy the criminals who challenge the noble prophet!

[Then, very serenely to his Muslim viewers] And peace upon you, and Allah’s mercy and blessings.

Likewise, Sheikh Abdullah Nihari supplicated Allah with outstretched arms accordingly:

Lord, Lord, we condemn them before you! Freeze the blood in their veins! Strike them with evil, or at the very least freeze the blood in their veins — until they pray for death, but do not receive it! O Lord! O Lord! O Lord!

You can observe any Orthodox Christian service anywhere in the world and here prayers that are as quoted above and NEVER here a single prayer that asks for any harm to anyone under any circumstances EVER. We pray only for the salvation of all mankind. The same is true in the Roman Catholic Church. Not so in Islam. Read the entire piece, there is a lot more.

Religious Freedom and Free Speech in Pakistan

2011-09-18T07:02:00.000-07:00

Religious freedom must be strong in ~~the craphole that is~~ Pakistan, because ~~the craphole that is~~ Pakistan is not on the United States' list of “Countries of Particular Concern” in the Annual Report on International Religious Freedom published by the U.S. State Department under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

From CNSNews.com; Pakistan Passes Obama's 'Religious Freedom' Test—After Sentencing Christian to Death

Pakistan, which has issued a death sentence to a Christian mother of five for allegedly blaspheming the prophet Mohammed, and which regularly prosecutes Christians for allegedly blaspheming Islam, has passed the religious freedom test imposed by the Obama administration.

The countries listed in the "Countries of Particular Concern" and eligible for sanctions are; Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan. Of these, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan will not have any sanctions applied against them.

Death for choosing to disagree with Islam is written into the Pakistani Constitution.

“Freedom of speech was subject to ‘reasonable’ restrictions in the interest of the ‘glory of Islam,’ as stipulated in sections 295(a), (b), and (c) of the penal code,” says the report.

“The consequences of contravening the country’s blasphemy laws were death for defiling Islam or the prophets; life imprisonment for defiling, damaging, or desecrating the Qur’an; and 10 years imprisonment for insulting ‘another’s religious feelings,’” says the report.

Christians are the top target of these Pakistani laws. “Laws prohibiting blasphemy continued to be used against Christians,” says the State Department report.

Which is apparently ok with the State Department.

There is more, read it all. And while you're at it, read;

Christian In Pakistan Burned Alive, Wife Raped By Police, Because They Refused To Convert To Islam; The man was burned in front of the police station in Rawalpindi. In response, the police went to his house and raped his wife. Their three children were forced to watch these attacks. More here and here.

How Muslims in Pakistan Use the Law to Persecute Christians

"All That for a Flag"

2011-09-14T11:01:00.000-07:00

The Obamas understand nothing but contempt for the country that has given them everything.

From The American Thinker, What is Michelle Obama saying during the 9/11 flag ceremony?

Note Michelle smirking and shaking her head. She absolutely does not get it.

Also, I have no doubt that if they had been visiting a similar type of ceremony in Cuba honoring Cuban military veterans they would be swooning over how meaningful it was.

Abusing God's Creation

2011-08-20T02:05:00.000-07:00

It is my firm belief that how you treat God's creation says a lot about you.

Andrew Bostom links to a story about a dog. Warning; for anyone with any amount of love for God's creatures this is hard to read.

The story to which he linked; Wylie the Afghan mutt shows how every dog will have its day;

IN Afghanistan's 10-year war, where acts of cruelty are commonplace and so many thousands have died, the account of one dog's extraordinary survival is an oddly affecting tale.
Wylie, the Afghan mutt, was rescued in February by a convoy of British soldiers on patrol in a Kandahar bazaar, where a dog-fighting crowd was beating the smaller dog with lumps of wood to force the last fight out of him.

Back at Kandahar base, it was Australian Federal Police officer Narelle Jensz to whom the soldiers turned.

Jensz had gone to war to train Afghan police but it was as the unofficial dog rescuer, vet and dog-adoption agent in southern Afghanistan that she had become something of a legend.

Read the whole thing if you can. What this poor creature went through is unbelievable, and common in Islamic "culture".

Mr. Bostom has a few things to say about it on his blog.
The Life of Wylie: Canine Cruelty By Our “Afghan Allies”. His conclusion;

In Sharifabad the dogs distinguished clearly between Moslem and Zoroastrian, and were prepared to go…full of hope, into a crowded Zoroastrian assembly, or to fall asleep trustfully in a Zoroastrian lane, but would flee as before Satan from a group of Moslem boys…The evidence points…to Moslem hostility to these animals having been deliberately fostered in the first place in Iran, as a point of opposition to the old (pre-Islamic jihad conquest) faith (i.e., Zoroastrianism) there. Certainly in the Yazdi area…Moslems found a double satisfaction in tormenting dogs, since they were thereby both afflicting an unclean creature and causing distress to the infidel who cherished him. There are grim…stories from the time (i.e., into the latter half of the 19th century) when the annual poll-tax (jizya) was exacted, of the tax gatherer tying a Zoroastrian and a dog together, and flogging both alternately until the money was somehow forthcoming, or death released them. I myself was spared any worse sight than that of a young Moslem girl…standing over a litter of two-week old puppies, and suddenly kicking one as hard as she could with her shod foot. The puppy screamed with pain, but at my angry intervention she merely said blankly, “But it’s unclean.” In Sharifabad I was told by distressed Zoroastrian children of worse things: a litter of puppies cut to pieces with a spade-edge, and a dog’s head laid open with the same implement; and occasionally the air was made hideous with the cries of some tormented animal. Such wanton cruelties on the Moslems’ part added not a little to the tension between the communities.

I thinks that this says a lot about Islam.

Sorry Mr. Obama - Our Politics is Not Broken

2011-08-14T05:19:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you can observe a situation and draw a conclusion that seems obviously true. That is what many have done regarding the recent performance of Congress in the debate to raise the debt ceiling. It seems to be an obvious truth that our politics is broken.

This obvious truth is in fact not so. In fact, what occurred in Congress shows that our politics seems to be working just fine. The Great Charles Krauthammer says it.

The System Works

Precisely of the kind Washington (exhibit B) just witnessed over its debt problem. You know: The debt-ceiling debate universally denounced as dysfunctional, if not disgraceful, hostage-taking, terrorism, gun-to-the-head blackmail.

Spare me the hysteria. What happened was that the 2010 electorate, as represented in Congress, forced Washington to finally confront the national debt. It was a triumph of democratic politics — a powerful shift in popular will finding concrete political expression.

So, why the hysteria?

Notice how the loudest complaints about “broken politics” come from those who lost the debate. It’s understandable for sore losers to rage against the machine. But there’s no need for the rest of us to parrot their petulance.

Of course, go and read the whole thing. Dr. Krauthammer also discusses the political turmoil in Wisconsin (exhibit A). His analysis is not in the "follow the herd" mentality. You are not going to read this from anyone else, but it is true. He nailed it.

A Meaningful Anti-War Statement

2011-08-12T12:34:00.000-07:00

Modern anti-war commentaries are done mostly written by people who have no idea what they are writing about. The following is far more meaningful.

Le Tambour Bat Aux Champs by Charles-Valentin Alkan.

Ramadan 2011 Bombathon

2011-08-12T02:19:00.000-07:00

We have passed day 11 of the Ramadan 2011 Bombathon. They are in competition with "All Other Religions" and "Anti-Muslim Right-Wingers". The amazing "Religion of Peace" team has achieved an impressive score and continues to shut out the competition. With Terror Attacks at 44 and Dead Bodies at 106 in only 11 days, it is unlikely that the other teams will be able to catch up.

I employ sarcasm and irony, but the truth is that Islam is the foundation of horrible tragedy throughout the world. We seriously need to defend ourselves and our culture against this scourge.

Getting Tired of the Double Standard

2011-08-03T15:58:00.000-07:00

Greats Jonah Goldberg and Guy Benson have a few things to say with which I cannot agree more.

Mr. Goldberg writes "To Hell with You People"

But think about this for a second. The Giffords shooting sent the media elite in this country into a bout of St. Vitus’s dance that would have warranted an army of exorcists in previous ages. Sarah Palin’s Facebook map was an evil totem that forced some guy to go on a shooting spree. The New York Times, the Washington Post, all three broadcast networks — particularly NBC whose senior foreign-affairs correspondent, Andrea Mitchell, devotes, by my rough reckoning, ten times as much air time to whining about Sarah Palin as she does about anything having to do with foreign affairs — flooded the zone with “Have you no shame” finger wagging. A memo went forth demanding that everyone at MSNBC get their dresses over their heads about the evil “tone” from the right. Media Matters went into overdrive working the interns 24/7 to “prove” that Republicans deliberately foment violence with their evil targets on their evil congressional maps.

Everyone “knew” the shooter was a tea partier. Except he wasn’t. He wasn’t even a conservative. He was a sick, demented, nutball. And it still didn’t matter! More bleating and caterwauling about the “tone” followed. More chin stroking and tut-tutting from Meet the Press roundtables and “very special segments” on the Today Show. More pizzas were ordered for the Media Matters galley slaves.

Of course, read the whole thing - I didn't quote the best part. I will leave to you to go and read.

Mr. Benson writes "Endless: The Left Ratchets Up 'Tea Party Terrorists' Narrative"

You know who's growing weary of writing post after post about this appalling Left-wing narrative? Your humble correspondent, that's who. But as long as our non-terrorist friends on the Left continue to peddle these unrelenting slanders, we're going to keep writing about them. After all, it's only a matter of time before the self-appointed liberal civility police decide to persecute some hapless conservative for some trumped up "crime" against their precious, one-sided "new tone." In case you're just joining us, you may want to get up to speed by reading these pieces. Now, onward.

Yes, onward indeed. Read it all, it gets even better.

Ramadan 2011

2011-08-02T18:27:00.000-07:00

The 2011 Ramadan Bombathon is on. Check out the score at The Religion of Peace. So far "the Religion of Peace" has a shutout going against competitors "All Other Religions" and "'Anti-Muslim' Right Wingers"

A Study in Contrasts

2011-07-30T20:13:00.000-07:00

Wynton C. Hall over at Human Events nails it.

A Tale of Two Signs: "Hiring Now!" or "Going Out of Business"?

The 2012 equivalent of Ronald Reagan’s famous “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” will be: “In your hometown, which do you see more of: ‘Hiring Now!’ signs or ‘Going Out of Business’ signs?”

Those trapped in the grip of the disastrous Obama economy already know the answer, and it terrifies David Axelord, David Plouffe, and President Barack Obama. The presidential candidate who frames the debate this way will win. Why?

Mr. Hall points out that two great economic experiments have been conducted in the United States.

The presidential contender who will prevail must present the economic fork in the road before the American people thusly: In the last three decades, our great nation has undergone two economic experiments to solve similar economic difficulties.

The first of these experiments was performed by President Ronald Reagan. He let Americans keep more of the money they earned and helped small, medium, and large businesses hire more people by cutting red tape. The result: the greatest peacetime economic expansion in American history and a gain of 18 million new jobs.

The second economic experiment is the one we’re presently trapped in, performed by President Barack Obama. He has spent more of your money than all U.S. presidents—combined, seized 17% of the U.S. economy with the introduction of Obamacare, and is in the process of raising taxes even higher. The result: 16.2% of your neighbors can’t find enough work to make ends meet, food and gas prices are skyrocketing, and the country is broke and on the verge of total economic collapse.

Thank you Mr. Obama. And you too, "liberals".

Leftist gets Tripped

2011-07-20T12:50:00.000-07:00

I love it when arrogant leftist "journalist" embarrass themselves.

Here we have Contessa Brewer questioning Congressman Mo Brooks. Look at her face when she challenges him by asking if he has a degree in economics. This is another leftist™ who expects us to simply obey our wiser liberal masters. They speak and we are to do as we are told like good children. How that is liberal I don't know.

Anyway, enjoy the video, I did.

MSNBC To GOP Congressman: "Do You Have A Degree In Economics?"

The answer is yes he does, from Duke University with highest honors.

Palestinian Arab Civilization

2011-03-13T03:50:00.000-07:00

Palestinian Arabs are passing out sweets and celebrating this.

It is a tribute to the Israelis that this barbaric non-civilization hasn't been forcibly removed to Jordan and Egypt. Most other countries would have done that decades ago.

From Bill Whittle - Reasonable Men

2011-03-07T04:50:00.000-08:00

I haven't read Mr. Whittle's work in a while, so I stopped by his blog, Eject! Eject! Eject! and found Reasonable Men.

This is an older post but still very good;

There is a concerted effort afoot on the part of big-state socialists to paint the Tea Party as a bunch of dangerous, hate-filled radicals with a bunch of crazy new ideas that go far beyond the pale of the traditional American political mainstream.

Let’s ask some reasonable men – because the Founding Fathers were surely the largest collection of reasonable men ever gathered in one place at one time in history – what they thought about the issues raised by the Tea Party movement.

For instance, what did they think of a powerful central government?

I took the liberty of taking the Samuel Adams quote as my new header text. I feel exactly the same way.

Christmas Tree Bomber - Is There a Pattern?

2010-11-27T16:56:00.000-08:00

The American Thinker asks Christmas Tree Bomber was Young Male Muslim. Could There Be a Pattern?

Mr. Wilson points out the facts, that the terrorist and would-be bomber is a young muslim (Somali) male named Mohamed Osman Mohamud. Her then goes on to make a further point. Referring to Derrick Jackson's piece in the Boston Globe defending the use of full-body scanner and aggressive "pat downs" (gropes). First a quote from Mr. Jackson and then the comment by Mr. Wilson

[T]hose today who are not willing to be scanned or complain about pat-downs, are in a fantasy world of personal entitlement. Call it the "Do-I-look-like-a-terrorist?'' syndrome. It has somehow escaped the critics that you cannot judge a terrorist by last name, skin color, or gender.
Who's in the fantasy world here? Only the willfully blind can ignore that nearly every terror threat in the last forty years has come from young males with names like Mohammad Massalha (Munich massacre), Abdelbaset al-Megrahi (Lockerbie), Mohammed Atta, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and Faisal Shahzad. The argument of people like Jackson is that once we start profiling 20-year old Somali men named Mohamed, al-Qaeda will recruit Swedish grandmothers. Maybe so, but to date this theory is not supported by any reality-based evidence.

Our incompetent government, having adopted the willful blindness of the Left™ would rather subvert the Constitution and destroy the Bill of Rights (4th amendment anyone?) than observe and act on the obvious. Unless we are doing intelligent profiling the TSA's efforts in our airports are not only a complete waste of time and money, but dangerous to our liberty and that which makes America exceptional; a Constitutionally limited government, a society with no "built-in" or otherwise established caste system, the freedom to our property and run a business, the freedom to succeed or fail on your own merits, etc. These are things that, all together, no other country has. We are now seeing our own government first, not understanding this and secondly, destroying it.

It is time to open our eyes and find the enemy so that we can destroy him. No more politically correct (does anyone besides me sense the tyrannical nature of that phrase?) blindness.

BTW: The 4th Amendment to the Constitution reads;

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Quaint.

Our Incompetent Government - North Korea Wins Again

2010-11-26T17:40:00.000-08:00

When will our "leadership" learn to stop playing into the Murderer Freak-boy's hand?

It is true that our "leaders" have wised up enough (finally!) to avoid being cowed into giving Kim the direct talks or the six-way talks that he wants. So, a little good news there.

US envoy Bosworth rules out resumption of 6-party talks

Bosworth said the six-nation talks won’t resume while Pyongyang works on a new uranium facility.

“Needless to say, we regard this development with great seriousness,” he told reporters. “We do not contemplate resuming negotiations while active programs are under way or while there is a possibility that North Koreans will test another nuclear device or test a missile.”

The multilateral talks, stalled since late 2008, include the two Koreas, China, the U.S., Japan and Russia. North Korea has called for an early resumption, while South Korea and the U.S. maintain that Pyongyang must first apologize for the sinking of a South Korean warship last March and show sincerity on denuclearization.

Washington made it clear on Monday that it would not reward North Korea for its bad behavior, saying it must take steps toward denuclearization.

“We will not be drawn into rewarding North Korea for bad behavior,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said. “They frequently anticipate doing something outrageous or provocative, and forcing us to jump through hoops as a result. We’re not going to buy into this cycle.”

But, there is more, and Kim still has our number.

This from The World Tribune. Regarding the recent shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, U.S. missed North Korea peace signal, delivers weak response

“The United States strongly condemns this attack and calls on North Korea to halt its belligerent action and to fully abide by the terms of the Armistice Agreement. The United States is firmly committed to the defense of our ally, the Republic of Korea, and to the maintenance of regional peace and stability,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. “We are in close and continuing contact with our Korean allies.” NSC Chief Tom Donilon added that President Obama was “outraged” by the attack, and that he was planning to call President Lee “to express American solidarity”.

In the absence of a swift and overwhelming military reaction by the US and its allies, the DPRK’s gambit worked once again, just as it did with the sinking of the RoKN corvette Cheonan on March 26, 2010.

In ordering the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, Kim Jong-Il had two major objectives:

1. Demonstrate the weakness and indecisiveness of the U.S., thus assuring Pyongyang there is no reason to fear retaliation or U.S. guarantees to the RoK, as Pyongyang would be pursuing its ascent and confrontation.

2. Coerce Washington into Iran-style direct negotiations with the DPRK as two nuclear powers if only because failing to placate Pyongyang would lead to more military incidents and further political embarrassment for the U.S.

This process is intended to guarantee that the Kim dynasty would not be threatened by the U.S. and its allies even if the DPRK was tottering due to economic crises. The ultimate objective of Kim Jong-Il is to bequeath this strategic posture to Kim Jong-Un.

As always, read the whole thing.

Delusions of the Left

2010-11-10T23:34:00.000-08:00

This is a slightly older piece that I have intended to post, but with events current in my life, just didn't get around to. It is, however, still good.

Vietnam, Israel and the Left’s Delusional Narratives

The comparisons between the views held by the left on Vietnam and their views on the contemporary conflict surrounding Israel are obvious.

As with Vietnam, leftists today claim that Israel acts out of imperialism, racism and colonialism. As with Vietnam leftists today completely ignore the nature or intentions of the regimes and groups attacking Israel. Most leftists have no clue about the Nazi history and ideology of the Baathist regimes of Syria, Jordan, Egypt and (formally) Iraq. They know nothing of the regimes’ need to maintain Israel as an external enemy in order to maintain their own rule. As with Vietnam, they view the nature and intentions of the opposing actors as irrelevant because the primary driver for the conflict is the internal failings of Israel.

As with Vietnam, leftists accuse Israel of routinely and intentionally committing war crimes, while the immediately obvious and overt routine and intentional war crimes — e.g., suicide bombings aimed at civilians — of Israel’s attackers are relentlessly downplayed into insignificance. As with Vietnam, all claims of war crimes made by Israel’s enemies are taken as true without independent confirmation. As with Vietnam, all accidental deaths, even those clearly orchestrated by Israel’s enemies, are blamed on Israel’s disdain for human life. As with Vietnam, any real Israeli war crimes brought to light, even those brought to light by the Israelis themselves, are proclaimed to be merely the tip of an aiceberg instead of outliers.

As with Vietnam, the delusional narrative used by the left originates primarily from the propaganda of the non-democratic actors. All the delusions of the “peace” movement in Vietnam came first from communists, usually transmitted via Europe and then mindlessly accepted by leftists in America. The left in America swallowed communist propaganda as mechanically as a python engulfing a pig. Likewise, the left today will swallow any accusation against Israel.

and

Why leftists in mass repeatedly fall into the same pattern of delusional narratives goes beyond the scope of this post. What is important is the fact that they do, and that therefore you can’t actually argue with them using facts or concepts that leftists don’t believe fit within the narrative. Doing so is as jarring to them as would be writing a cowboy character into Hamlet. They just put down the “book” in disgust and leave the conversation.

Instead of arguing with leftists about Israel, using facts they will ignore or transmogrify to fit the narrative, instead argue against their use of the narrative itself. Drive home the point that leftists keep to a “script” that just has the names changed in order to fit any particular circumstance. Hammer on the parallels between the Vietnam narrative, which we now can prove was delusional, and the narrative about Israel or other conflicts.

Every time you find yourself in a discussion or debate with leftists about Israel, bring up the obvious parallels between the current narrative and the failed narrative of Vietnam. Point out that the same people who fell for communist propaganda then, fall for similar propaganda now. Point out that the evils assigned to America then, such as war crimes, are the same as the evils assigned to Israel today. Point out that the poor quality of the evidence accepted against America then is the same quality of evidence accepted against Israel now. Point out that just as the left ignored the internal natures and dangers of the communists back then, the left ignores the internal natures and dangers of the groups and regimes opposing Israel now.

Most importantly, remind them that their “victory” back then lead to incredible bloodshed and oppression. Then pray to all gods and fates that this time, even though we have started with the same delusional narrative, we can “write” a different ending.

Go read the whole thing. Shannon Love spells out the Left's™ delusions about Vietnam and discusses how they are being repeated with respect to Israel. History will reveal the truth as it has with Vietnam. Sadly, not only do we already know the truth, as anyone with open eyes does, but the delusional Left™ will forever continue to deny it.

A Tribute to Senator Boxer

2010-10-22T17:28:00.000-07:00

Apparently David Zucker has had enough and is apologizing for a past sin.

Call Me Senator from RightChange on Vimeo.

Washington Post Flying Pig Moment re: Sarah Palin

2010-10-16T13:05:00.000-07:00

When I saw this in the Leftist™ Washington Post I couldn't believe my eyes. Their senior editors must have been gone last week. The rest of the ~~Fifth Column~~ Fourth Estate must be aghast.

Five myths about Sarah Palin
Here's one:

4. Palin is extreme.

On many of the most important issues of the day, Palin holds positions that are squarely in the center-right of American political discourse. And many of those positions, not incidentally, are held by a large segment or even a majority of the public. For instance, neither the public nor Palin believes the stimulus worked. And while most Americans may not share Palin's views regarding "death panels," many join her in opposing Obama's health-care overhaul.

Over the past two years, Pew and Gallup surveys have tracked the public as it has moved to the right -- not on just one or two issues but on a whole constellation of them. Even on the controversial topics of abortion, guns and same-sex marriage, Palin is not as far away from the center as some suppose. A May 2009 Gallup poll, for example, found that a majority of Americans identified as "pro-life" rather than "pro-choice." In October 2009, Gallup measured record-low support for gun control. The public is divided on same-sex marriage, with about half the country joining Palin's (and Obama's) opposition.

As always, go and read the whole thing. It is refreshing to see the occasional ray of truth escape from the darkness of the establishment "press".