Tag: Israel
Charles Johnson is right and here is why
First, go read — I will wait.
Are you finished? Good.
What is my point? This:
This right here above, is why I have my comments section on lock down. Not only do I require people to register, but I also moderate all comments — meaning, I personally read every comment; because of stuff like this right here. Uncontrolled discussion on blogs leads to things being said, like what Charles Johnson quoted.
However, I do wholeheartedly reject the accusation or at least the inferring that all Conservative blogs have become a swamp of hate against Muslims and or Arabs. Furthermore, I reject the inferring that all Conservatives/Classic Liberals/Republicans and Christians hate all Muslims and Arabs. That is collectivism, and it is crap; and I think Johnson is smart enough to know this, I think he is backhanding the blogs mentioned due to his dispute with the persons mentioned.
Having said of that, I do truly believe that there is a minority of persons in the Republican/Conservative/Classic Liberal crowd — who are frankly, bigoted towards Muslims and ultimately Arabs. Unlike some of the empty-headed idiots on the left, I am not going to make the asinine inferring that they are this way by design. What I will do is tell you the truth; what has caused this small but very vocal minority to become this way, is because of the attacks on American soil on September 11, 2001.
President George W. Bush, much to his credit did make the much vital distinction between the war on Terrorism and the war on Islam or Muslims or even Arabs. Not everyone within the conservative circles agreed with him and still does not agree with that mindset to this day; and now that President George W. Bush is out of the picture that vocal minority is becoming louder and much more accepted. I do not like myself; because it just makes the rest of us look bad.
This of course, is what the C.I.A. calls “Blowback.” It is the unintended consequences of actions taken by the United States Government. Most people think of “Blowback” as the angering of the Arab people to cause them to take up arms and commit terrorism against the United States of America – and in fact, it is just that. However, that is just the one side of “Blowback.” The other, more tragic and sinister side of “blowback” is the incitement of racial hatred towards Arabs and the religious hatred towards Muslims in General — including those here in the United States of America.
This reason, along with the laundry list of reasons; is why people like myself, Jack Hunter, Ron Paul, Rand Paul and an ever-growing list of Conservatives and Republicans are beginning to question the role of the United States Government involvement on foreign entanglements in foreign lands.
Of course, anyone with a good knowledge of the history of the United States of America and of American politics can tell you, that this is nothing new at all. In the 1940’s President Franklin Roosevelt, badly wanting to enter into the conflict against the Empire of Japan and against Germany, ordered a blockade of oil from South America that was headed to Japan. This act by the President plunged Japan into desperation caused Japan to fly across the Atlantic and attack America’s interests in the Republic of Hawaii. At the time however, Americans were not made aware of the fact that President Roosevelt had done this, as it was kept quiet by the Government. However, there were people who did know about it. Winston Churchill was one of those people, and in fact, Churchill warned FDR that doing such things would cause some sort of backlash from the Japanese and, as history shows, he was correct. The sick and sad part is; to this very day, there are people who still believe that the Empire of Japan attacked the United States for no reason at all.
How this ties into the modern-day events is this; back in 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Government set up internment camps throughout the United States for the Japanese people. It is very widely believed that the decision to do this, by the United States Government was brought on by or at the very least fueled Anti-Japanese sentiment in this Country for years, even after the war. Sadly, there are Conservatives, of whom I will not name; that actually advocated the interment of Muslims and Arab Americans — after the attacks on 9/11. Thankfully, the Bush Administration did not listen to the foolish ranting of the people who wrote those books.
My point is the following: Conservatives who believe that foreign policy interventionism is wrong, need to take a stand against the internationalist Democrats and the Neo-Conservative foreign policy interventionists and take control of the Republican Party and possibly the Democratic Party away from these warmongers. Because as long as the United States continues to wage war against Nations that have never really attacked it, this sort of hatred and bigotry will continue. It is simply the doctrine of “Cause and Effect.” Nothing ever happens for any reason at all. It is tragically sad, that the United States and its political parties and their legions of sheep followers, have not figured that simple kernel of truth out.
You say, “What about protecting the Republic?” I do not have a problem with that. However, there is a Grand Canyon difference in protecting the Republic and protecting the empire of America; and wise is the person who knows the difference between the two. Declaring unconstitutional wars and military actions against Nations who have not attacked us; is not defending or protecting the Republic; but rather defending the empire of America and playing useful idiot to foreign lands. I hope that someday, the grassroots of both of these parties will wrestle control away from these people. However, if one is to base his hopes on the Republican Party — their recent actions — make that hope, nothing more than a pipe-dream.
Video:Guest Voice Jack Hunter on Stereotyping the Old South, Plus Tea-O-Cons
More Great Commentary from Jack Hunter:
And as a Bonus:
Memo to Rabbi David Twersky: You’re not helping dude, seriously…
Yeah, I know Franklin Graham and some moronic Christians have said about the same thing, and yes, it was just as stupid.
Rabbi David Twersky, leader of the Rachmastrivka Hasidic dynasty, says the recent tsunami in Japan, which has left thousands of people dead, was the result of the arrest of two yeshiva students by Japanese authorities after being convicted of smuggling drugs. “The Japanese don’t understand why they keep on receiving blow after blow, and it never ends. If they want it to stop, they must release the two guys jailed in their prison immediately, and then experience salvation,” the rabbi told his followers last week during a Purim celebration in Jerusalem. Haredi website Ladaat reported that the Rebbe asked for the names of the two jailed men and said a prayer for their immediate release. “Amen,” the audience responded.
via Rabbi: Tsunami result of haredi arrests – Israel Jewish Scene, Ynetnews.
Yeah, and I also what I said. My comments were related to the auto industry; and had jack to do with the people. They were also made, before we really knew the scope of the disaster too. So, really, I should get a pass on that.
Anyhow, what pisses me off about this; every time some idiot of a religious stripe does silly stuff like this, it makes the Religious community like stupid. Trust me, we do not need any help in that area. Secular Liberals howl with laughter and some of them actually look at us with scorn and rightfully so; whenever someone in that community decides to open their mouth and remove all doubt as to the depth of their intelligence.
So, as a Christian and someone who find this sort of idiotic nonsense silly; I say the following:
To Rabbi David Twersky — Stick to reading your farking Torah dude, because yowling on about events like this and thinking that somehow you are a spokesman for the Lord God Jehovah is seriously making you look like a farking idiot. Not to mention bringing a reproach on the Jewish World Community, and seeing your people are not exactly the most loved people in the world anymore. The best you can do; is just shut the hell up.
….and yes, I would say the very same thing if it were a Catholic or other Christian Domination. As Petra band once said; Some of God’s Christians (and Yes, some Jews….) should be seen and not heard.
That is all.
Video: Obama’s Libyan War
Seeing that things are changing with Libya; I thought this to be a be very appropriate video: (Via Reason Hit and Run, and Reason TV)
Video: Guest Voice: Jack Hunter on Mark Levin’s Constitution
Once again, Jack Hunter outs a slime ball Neo-Conservative for what he really is; a warmongering pig. Notice in this video, that Jack Hunter points out the differences between Neo-Conservatives —– and Paleo-Conservatives or American Conservatives who are against interventionist foriegn policy. Something that the Republican Party was for prior to the mass exodus from the Democratic Party in 1964. Then these Jacobin Democrats brought their foreign policy with them. That, my friends, is the problem and what brought us George W. Bush.
Video:
I have to give kudos to Gene Simmons
For standing up for a his Country.
I have criticized Israel on here in the past; and yes, I have criticized Zionism on here in the past too. I make zero fucking apologizes for that.
But for someone, of Simmons stature to take a stand for the Country; is way damned cool. I think so anyways.
Which is more than I can say for that floppy-eared mother fucker in the White House. He won’t stand for shit. Not even his own damned campaign promises that he foisted on the libs and then turned on them, once he was elected.
They don’t them the greatest band in the world for nothing!
Pamela Geller strikes gold again
No matter where you sit on the political fence; this is quite interesting.
They don’t call her super woman for nothing! 😀
U.K.’s PCC investigates Melanie Phillips blog posting
This is what happens when you coddle minorities, and yes that does include Arabs — and yes, Jews too:
A Melanie Phillips blogpost on the Spectator website which referred to the “moral depravity” of Arab “savages” is being investigated by the Press Complaints Commission.The online comment piece, headlined “Armchair barbarism”, focused on media coverage of the murder of five members of a Jewish family in the West Bank settlement of Itamar by Palestinian militants earlier this month.”The moral depravity of the Arabs is finding a grotesque echo in the moral bankruptcy and worse of the British and American ‘liberal’ media,” wrote Phillips.”Overwhelmingly, the media have either ignored or downplayed the atrocity – or worse, effectively blamed the victims for bringing it on themselves, describing them as ‘hard-line settlers’ or extremists.”To the New York Times, it’s not the Arab massacre of a Jewish family which has jeopardised ‘peace prospects’ – because the Israelis will quite rightly never trust any agreement with such savages – but instead Israeli policy on building more homes, on land to which it is legally and morally entitled, which is responsible instead for making peace elusive. Twisted, and sick.”
via PCC investigates Melanie Phillips’ Spectator blog | Media | guardian.co.uk.
I guess the dolt that brought this investigation on thinks that slaughtering a Jewish family; including a baby is just fine, right? What really makes it sickening, is that those who killed these poor people, were trained by the US.
Yeah, perhaps her wording was a bit harsh? So what? The Arab community should be glad that Israel has not bombed Palestine to powder for these crimes. For that matter; what if she is right? Then what?
When ethnic and religious minorities control freedom of speech; something is seriously wrong. America and the U.K. both need to tell both sides of that little dispute to take their damned Religious wars back to their homelands and stop involving Government’s like the U.K. and the United States. This is why 9/11 happened and why terrorism exists; because we, that being the United States; keep involving ourselves in a dispute between to religious factions in the middle east.
Having said that, Melanie Phillips, has the damned right to say what she wishes. So what if some turban wearing fool does not like it? Who cares, what the Arab people think in the U.K.?
Others: The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers, National Review, Jihad Watch, Israel Matzav and American Power
Where the Itamar killers trained by the US?
That is the story according to this report: (H/T to Tim Graham on Facebook)
JERUSALEM – Two members of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ official security forces were arrested in conjunction with this past weekend’s bloody massacre in which five family members were brutally stabbed to death inside their home in the Jewish village of Itamar, WND has learned.The names of the apprehended suspects will be released to the Israeli media within hours but were revealed to WND by security officials working on the murder.Two cousins are now in Israeli custody and are suspected in the slayings. Ahmed Awad is an officer in Abbas’ Preventative Security Services in the northern West Bank city of Nablis. Iyad Awad is an officer in Abbas’ General Intelligence services in Ramallah.Both the Preventative and General Intelligence services of Fatah are armed, trained and funded by the U.S.The duo did not personally carry out the murders, but rather they assisting in the planning and logistics, informed security sources told WND.Since the late 1990s, the U.S. has run training bases for PA militias. The U.S. also has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in financial aid and weapons to build up the PA militias. Since 2007, the U.S. has stepped up its efforts at training the PA, including a new, advanced program for Palestinian police to train 500 to 600 cadets at a time at the American bases. The U.S. currently operates training bases for the PA police and other militias, such as Force 17 and the Preventative Security Services in the West Bank city of Jericho and the Jordanian village of Giftlik.
via WorldNetDaily: U.S.-trained forces arrested in bloody slaying of kids.
Like I wrote yesterday; this murder is the continuation of a very long war, that dates back to Biblical times. However, the very idea that our Armed Forces trained these people; changes the ballgame. I wonder what President Obama would think about such things? Of course, based upon what I have been reading; he really does not care about Israel (or anything else for that matter, including America) at all.
Update: Thanks to the people at Rotter.net for linking in! (Hebrew to English Machine translation here.) If anyone happens to have an account there and can speak Hebrew; please let them know that I cannot Independently verify the claims made by WND in that story above, thanks!
The Itamar Murders: Living proof that there can never be peace between Jews and Arabs
What I am talking about? This: (Warning! This video is graphic! If you have a weak stomach, don’t watch!)
Basically, what happened here; was this, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade — an arm of Fatah, of which Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas is a member — came into a house, around 10:00 or 10:30 P.M. and killed this family, while they slept.
The real kicker is this; according to this report, Arabs took to the streets and celebrated. They also handed out Candy:
Gaza residents from the southern city of Rafah hit the streets Saturday to celebrate the terror attack in the West Bank settlement of Itamar where five family members were murdered in their sleep, including three children.Residents handed out candy and sweets, one resident saying the joy “is a natural response to the harm settlers inflict on the Palestinian residents in the West Bank.”
Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said he “clearly and firmly denounces the terror attack, just as I have denounced crimes against Palestinians.
“We are against all types of violence,” Fayyad said during a tour in Bethlehem. “Our position has not changed. As we have said many times before, we categorically oppose violence and terror, regardless of the identity of the victims or the perpetrators.”
Disgusting. 😡
Here is another real kicker, writers in the Palestinian region, blame Israel, yes, Israel for the killings!:
In Palestinian Authority newspapers and on the social network pages of private citizens, denunciations of the murder could be found alongside condemnations of Israel’s approval of the construction of 400 new homes in the settlement blocs. Many writers compared the murders to the actions of the settlers themselves.
“I don’t believe that the incident in Itamar is an act of resistance, but rather an act by individuals whom we condemn, in the event it was carried out by Palestinians. Stabbing children in their sleep is not a heroic act but rather that of the heartless, like some of the occupation soldiers and settlers, who murder children,” Hafez Barghouti, editor-in-chief of Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, wrote on Sunday.
He added that the “real murderers in Itamar are the zealous settlers and anyone who burned a tree, vandalized the cemetery in Awarta, forced out the residents of Khirbet Yanun, took control of a plot of land or robbed an olive harvest …. The act at Itamar was a message to the occupation and to the world … whose meaning is clear – the occupation must go.”
In his regular column in the same newspaper, Adli Sadek wrote: “Without considering the fact that war criminals wearing the uniform of an army that belongs to a UN member state have killed and continue to kill Palestinians … such an action must be condemned unequivocally and in the harshest language. This is not only because this is a crime that harms us politically and public-relations-wise and helps the extremist government cast aspersions on all of us, but also because the humanitarian character of a nation that receives aid and support from all freedom-lovers of all religions, races and nationalities does not accept such a heinous murder.”
According to Sadek, “It bears repeating that the murder of children, if carried out by Palestinian hands, must not be part of the national struggle, which has generally sought … to engage with the soldiers of the occupation and not hurt Israeli children.”
Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki, however, was one of a number of senior PA officials who continued to imply that the Fogels were not murdered for nationalist reasons. “People and an infant were butchered in a way no Palestinian has ever done … raising questions about Israel’s rush to accuse the Palestinians,” he says.
Meanwhile, a Ramallah man said on his Facebook page: “I condemn the attack in the illegal settlement of Itamar. We need to find the criminal who killed a 3-month-old baby and bring him to trial in Palestine …. I also wish the Israeli electorate would hold their government accountable for bringing their citizens to occupied territories instead of justifying collective punishments against Nablus and the surrounding villages.”
Ed Morrissey, of whom I have had disagreements with in the past; writes:
Both Philip and Jeff include this video (via Big Peace), set aptly to music from Schindler’s List, that gives graphic accounts of the slaughter of the Fogels, including the infant Hadas. When I say “graphic,” I mean it, so don’t play this if you’re at all squeamish. It will likely enrage you — or at least it will make you question what kind of people would celebrate this by eating candy in the streets. Answer: The same kind of people who celebrated the massacre of 3,000 people in the US on 9/11, and the very same people that the US insists should have their own independent state. See if this video convinces you of that wisdom.
Ed is spot on. As much as I know that this entire situation is an extension of an Religious War that dates back to the time of the Bible and that the belligerents both are enamored in their own Religious and Political and even philosophical views; it has become very apparent to me that the Arab Palestinians do not want peace. But simply want to rid the region of the Jews and the Jewish State.
This is not to state that I believe Israel’s hands are clean; because they are not and yes, they have committed acts of aggression against the Palestinians themselves. However, this sort of barbaric action is inexcusable and should be condemned by our main stream media here in America; not to mention the White House. However, when you have a President in America, who obviously has a soft spot for the Arab people and those whom we refer to as Terrorists, one can expect so much.
In a sane world; the President of Israel, would consider this an act of aggression and declare war on Palestine and begin carpet bombing operations. However, I sometimes have to wonder about Benjamin Netanyahu and Shimon Peres priorities; are they for the people of Israel or are they for their own political careers? That is the question I want answered.
Of course, as a Christian and a believer in the Holy Bible, I do know when this conflict will be solved:
And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. (Revelation 19:11-21 KJV)
For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:27-31 KJV)
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isa. 2:2-4 KJV)
“And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.” (Rev 11:15 KJV)
That, and only that is when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be solved.
Video: Gun Porn! – Full Automatic Glock 17
This is too sweet!
Video: Blowback from 9/11
The reason why I am posting this, is because I feel it needs to be shown. Andrew Sullivan and Digby the owner of the progressive blog Hullabaloo say this is hate and by definition, yes it is. However, I think more broadly, it is simply blowback; which is an C.I.A. term, from what happened on 9/11. Not only that, these people are simply fed up, with all the recent acts of terrorism happening in America and elsewhere, people are just simply fed up to their wits end.
Again, I do not justify these actions, at all. I simply think progressive liberals need to understand, that people are just fed up.
More than anything else, this just gets up my libertarian nose a bit. What if those were blacks? Ya know? I’m just sayin’
Video:
Once Again, HotAir.com lies about Ron Paul
I like these guys; but when they resort to lies, I most expose them.
Ron Paul gave an interview with the News Real Blog, which is owned by the Neo-Conservative goon David Horowitz; who also, by the way, was a former far-leftist. Some would argue that he still is. Anyhow, It appears that this blog wanted to do a follow up.
Here is what Ron Paul really said about Israel:
NRB: David Horowitz and others have been critical of the effect that your foreign policy would have upon Israel… How would you describe a libertarian vision for alliance that could support democracies where people want to determine their own course while under threat by external forces?
Ron Paul: We’ve been involved a long time, since World War II, especially since we’ve inherited or developed our empire. We strongly supported all the dictators that surround Israel, and sometimes we buy peace and pay for it. But it’s unstable. And that instability has always been a threat to Israel. Now, when it’s coming apart, and our financial system’s coming apart, Israel is in worse shape than ever because of our so-called protection.
I believe in non-intervention. I believe we should treat all other countries alike, and that we should be friends. Israel is very, very powerful. If we weren’t in there, they could do what they want to protect themselves, and they wouldn’t have to ask us permission, and we would never have to be dragged in if something happens over there. I think they’d be much better off, and that would be a constitutional position.
NRB: Is there a point where the existence of Israel being under threat would compel even a libertarian to take action to protect her?
Paul: First off, they’re under threat because we’re there. We’re a greater threat to them, and our polices, because they have assumed that we’ll [intervene] if they don’t do the right things for themselves.
I don’t know of anybody who can militarily threaten them. They have 300 nuclear weapons. Nobody’s gonna touch them. This notion that we have to support them over the Palestinians – we shouldn’t favor one over the other. It’s a very different problem over there. If you’re a Palestinian-American, you might not like [America’s position on Israel]. I’m not saying you should support the Palestinian side or the Israeli side. I’m saying let them work it out.
…and what does HotAir.com put in their headlines as what Ron Paul said? This:
Ron Paul: We shouldn’t favor Israel over the Palestinians
Thus proving what I have believed about Neo-Conservatives since I have been blogging. That nothing matters to them, as long as the agenda of defending Israel to the death is followed —– even telling the truth. Ron Paul simply said, “Treat them all the same.” The way that headline was written, one would think Paul was anti-Israel or even Anti-Semitic. To be fair, I disagree with this part here myself:
I believe in non-intervention. I believe we should treat all other countries alike, and that we should be friends. Israel is very, very powerful. If we weren’t in there, they could do what they want to protect themselves, and they wouldn’t have to ask us permission, and we would never have to be dragged in if something happens over there. I think they’d be much better off, and that would be a constitutional position.
The problem here is, there are more Arab nations and Israel is one small Country. If all these Arabs Nations were to decide to gang up on Israel; the results would disastrous. Now that, would not be a good thing to any normal, sane, rational person. That is, unless you are some sort of White Nationalist or Jew-Hater — and a good amount of Ron Paul followers are Jew-Haters, Conspiracy Kooks and just plain old weirdos. I personally, if Ron Paul were running, would not vote for him. Ron Paul is not going to run to actually win the election; he is running to spread his message. Some of Ron Paul’s biggest supporters admitted that to me. Plus, I do not agree with Paul’s strict isolationism.
My point here is this; I can understand someone not agreeing with Ron Paul’s policy stance; but when you resort to writing bogus headlines to make someone look like someone that they are not, you lose any sort of credibility. I also will say that HotAir is not the only blog to do this; it happens everywhere in the right wing Blogosphere. I try and shy away from that. Link baiting is a easy cheap way of getting hits. But the harder way is to write good content; I try to stay with the latter.
Uh-Oh: Days of Rage protests reach Iraq
Not to ripoff AllahPundit over at HotAir.com or anything…. But… gulp. 😮
Via Fox News:
BAGHDAD – Thousands marched on government buildings and clashed with security forces in cities across Iraq on Friday, in the largest and most violent anti-government protests here since political unrest began spreading in the Arab world several weeks ago.
In two northern Iraqi cities, security forces trying to push back crowds opened fire, killing six demonstrators. In the capital of Baghdad, demonstrators knocked down blast walls, threw rocks and scuffled with club-wielding troops.
The protests, billed as a “Day of Rage, were fueled by anger over corruption, chronic unemployment and shoddy public services.
“We want a good life like human beings, not like animals,” said Khalil Ibrahim, 44, one of about 3,000 protesters in the capital Baghdad.
Like many Iraqis, he railed against a government that locks itself in the highly fortified Green Zone, home to the parliament and the U.S. Embassy, and is viewed by most of its citizens as more interested in personal gain than public service.
Oh, it gets worse too:
Demonstrators trying to get across a bridge going from the square to the Green Zone clashed with security forces. The demonstrators knocked down some of the concrete blast walls that were put up Thursday night and threw rocks at troops who beat them back with batons. Six riot police and 12 demonstrators were wounded in the melee, said police and hospital officials.
The protests stretched from the northern city of Mosul to the southern city of Basra, reflecting the widespread anger many Iraqis feel at the government’s seeming inability to improve their lives.
A crowd of angry marchers in the northern city of Hawija, 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of Baghdad, tried to break into the city’s municipal building, said the head of the local city council, Ali Hussein Salih.
Security forces trying to block the crow opened fire, killing three demonstrators and wounding 15, local officials said. The Iraqi Army was eventually called in to restore order.
In Mosul, also in northern Iraq, hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the provincial council building, demanding jobs and better services, when guards opened fire, according to a police official. A police and hospital official said three protesters were killed and 15 people wounded. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief the media.
Black smoke could later be seen billowing from the building.
In the south, about 4,000 people demonstrated in front of the office of Gov. Sheltagh Aboud al-Mayahi in the port city of Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad. They knocked over one of the concrete barriers and demanded his resignation, saying he’d done nothing to improve city services.
They appeared to get their wish when the commander of Basra military operations, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Jawad Hawaidi, told the crowd that the governor had resigned in response to the demonstrations. Iraqi state TV announced that the prime minister had asked the governor to step down but did not mention the protests.
Around 1,000 demonstrators also clashed with police in the western city of Fallujah 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad clashed with authorities, witnesses said. And in the southern city of Karbala, about 1,000 protesters rallied for better services.
The reason I say gulp is because, what happens if this goes totally out of control and we end up with another civil war in Iraq? Somehow, I do not see President Obama doing anything about it. if anything, he will just end up pulling our forces out of there; and by rights, he most likely should. We did our jobs, we did defeat Al-Qaeda and stopped the insurgency. So, why should we put more people into Iraq and risk more lives? It just would not make any sense.
Either way, it just does not look good for our guys on the ground there.
Yikes! Anti-Semitism during Union Demonstration at Freedom Works HQ?
This is rather bizarre. First some dude hits a lady’s camera, and now this? Whoa. 😮 This whole thing is going in a rather strange particular way.
This guy explains it:
As Lenin said: “Who, whom?”
UPDATE: Tikkum olam is a rabbinical concept that might properly be translated as “for the public good,” but which in the modern era has been politicized by many on the Left, so that it is indistinguishable in their interpretation from “social justice.” Most famously, Michael Lerner — a 1960s anti-war radical who once led an SDS splinter group called the Seattle Liberation Front — named his magazine Tikkun.
I am assuming that Ben Howe is Jewish; That is a new one on me. and This ugly leftist must be Jewish too, she certainly ugly enough to be one. (D’oh! I am so bad… 😛 )
So, does this make this little incident, Jew Vs Jew, you know; kinda like Spy Vs Spy?
I’m just sayin’ ya’ll. 😉
Others: The Other McCain, Breitbart.tv, Fire Andrea Mitchell! and Pajamas Media
Note: Sorry about that misspelling in the headline. I just woke up here, due some awful heartburn. I love ya Mexico, but your food plays hell on my tummy! 🙁 I know, I know, go from picking on Jews to Mexicans; Hey, at least I am fair and…slightly balanced. 😀
Special Comment: Birthers, Birchers and Paleoconservatives are Americans too
It appears to me that there seems to be a problem in the Conservative movement; and that is an attempt by the Republican and Conservative establishment, to silence those with whom they disagree or dislike. Earlier this week, on my personal Blog, I posted two videos; one of RINO, Neo-Conservative princess Sarah Palin, saying that the “Birther” issue was a distraction to the Conservative and Tea Party movement and another of Karl Rove; who conversely was the brains behind Neo-Conservative George W. Bush’s Presidency. A Presidency that included the invasion and occupation of the sovereign Nation of Iraq —-which we now know was based upon a lie. Karl Rove in this video suggested that the Birther movement should be excommunicated from the Republican Party and from the Conservative movement entirely, like the John Birch Society was from the Republican Party and the Conservative movement was by that pied piper of the establishment; William F. Buckley.
I have read quite a bit about that so-called excommunication, and in all reality it was an unfair branding of the John Birch Society as being a racist and anti-Semitic organization. This was performed by Neo-Conservatives, which were and still are, former Democrats who seem to be in love with idea of a big Government — as long as they are the people controlling it. Furthermore, Neo-Conservatives claim, falsely of course; to be for the constitution — all the while declaring war against countries and other actions that fly in the face of the very principles that the document itself was founded upon. They do this, all the while, defending a Country and people, who look upon the people of Christian America as nothing more than a group of idiots, of good use. Yes, Neo-Conservatives, I am referring to your pet project —- Israel. All of this, in the name of “Defending America” or as it should be called, “defending the empire.”
If any of this sounds even vaguely familiar — it is because Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany or for you history buffs — Rome — minus Israel, of course; did the same very things and eventually were destroyed or simply went broke and failed.
You see, I happen to believe that those who have doubts about President Barack Obama’s place of origin or birthplace; or “Birthers” as they are called by those who wish to degrade them, members of the John Birch Society, we Paleoconservatives and our cousins; Libertarians — are Americans too. I believe that anyone who tries to silence any sort of political thought, belief, or conviction — of any sort — is doing what was done to those who dared to challenge the actions of Adolf Hitler and the Communist leadership in the former Soviet Union. Yes, that does include those, of whom I disagree with. It is called thought policing and it goes against the very tenets of our United States Constitution and the very ideals that surrounded our leaving of England to find a land, where we as a people could be free to worship God in the way that we pleased — without fear of persecution. This is what caused Senator Joseph McCarthy to lose support from his fellow Republicans.
Whenever you seek to control those with whom you disagree, you run the danger of becoming like the liberal left in this Country. This is why I have such an issue with the Neo-Conservative wing of the Republican Party. It is because of the mentality of “We are always right in what we believe and if anyone disagrees with our way of thinking and Governing; then that person is not a real Conservative.” Furthermore, they will try to suppress those, of whom they disagree; that my friend is a tactic right out of the Saul Alinsky playbook. This is to isolate, suppress and even mock and ridicule those who are in opposition to what these people believe. Hence, the reason Neo-Conservatives are even called by that name, it is not a slanderous term that is related to a particular ethnic or Religious group, it is a name given to bunch of people, who bolted from the socialist party and joined the right — and brought their tactics with them.
Now, I feel that I should be clear; I do not have any problem believing that President Barack Obama is a citizen of the United States of America. However, I believe that President Barack Obama, like every other President; should release his original long form birth certificate. Now does that make me a crazy person? I think not. Furthermore, I believe that John Birch Society is a great American institution of liberty and I happen to agree with the majority of what they believe in, if not all of it — Now does that make me a crazy person or even a racist or anti-Semite — of course not. I also happen to believe that Pat Buchanan and Representative Ron Paul are both exemplary Americans, who happen to love their Country and do not wish to see it become another third world Nation lost to the wiles of Socialism and Globalism. Now, does that make me some sort of a racist, Anti-Semite terrorist? I think not.
Now, do I believe that Ron Paul can be elected President of the United States? As much as I would like to believe that he could be elected; I cannot. Neo-Conservatives control a good part of the Republican Party, and between them and the Neo-Liberal left in this Country; which control a good part of the media — except for Fox News that is Neo-Conservative and not Ron Paul friendly at all, I just do not believe that Ron Paul would be able to overcome such odds. You do not believe that the Neo-Conservatives would give up that cottage industry that easily, do you. Oh please, just look what they did to Pat Buchanan when he tried to break into that little clique in the Republican Party — much of the same thing as did happen to Ron Paul —- False accusations of racism and Anti-Semitism.
As long as there is empire to defend, Countries to be invaded for oil and pseudo-states to support the Neo-Conservatives will never surrender control of the Republican Party. Furthermore, as long as there is a stranglehold on the mainstream media by the neo-liberal left in this Country someone like Ron Paul does not have a chance in Hades to be elected President of the United States of America. As long as lying Neo-Conservatives like Karl Rove, Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich are around, the chances of Paleoconservatives like Pat Buchanan or libertarian Conservatives like Ron Paul do not stand a chance of ever being elected.
In closing, America is a great Country; it is just being held hostage, so to speak — by some very powerful and evil people, as is the Republican Party.
Also Published at USA Sentinel
Video: The Reality Report: Taking the Neo-Conservatives to the mat!
In this space, before I post this video; I usually post a disclaimer, because usually, I do not agree with some of the content and ideas presented in this Video report. However, this week, I am going to forgo the disclaimer. Because a good ninety percent of what is presented here, I absolutely agree with and besides, nothing gives me more joy, than to watch freedom-loving Americans making Neo-Conservative fascists look like the damn fools that they are. Yes, it warms the cackles of my stone cold heart to see those who wish to sell our freedoms out to the altar of “Security” made to look like buffoons.
Very well done gents, very, very, well done. 😀
Having said all that —- here is the synopsis and Video….
Synopsis: In this special CPAC expanded edition of the Reality Report, we go face to face with Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and Newt Gingrich and present the highlights (and lowlights)! ; Gary Franchi runs into former Saturday Night Live star, Victoria Jackson, and interviews CPAC Chair David Keene about the Defender of the Constitution Award. Gary also meets with Jesse Benton, Ron Paul’s Communications Director, to give you the inside scoop on the Ron Paul 2012 Presidential campaign. Jeff Frazee from Young Americans for Liberty joins the show to tell us how he got turned on to Ron Paul’s message. We meet with Congresswoman Nan Hayworth from New York’s 19th district to ask her about her vote for the Patriot Act. We also ask Ron Paul supporters what it is about his message that inspires them. We also take you to the Jordan Page after party for the release of his new album titled “Liberty”. Angie returns to deliver the headlines with a special report on the Young Americans for Freedom and Truth Squad.TV’s confrontation. We’ll read your email, review last week’s poll results and brand a new enemy of the state.
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Clinton to announce new envoy for the “AfPak” Theater
This looks like it could be a big mess.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has chosen a new special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, after months of delay and disagreements between the White House and the State Department over the parameters of the job that became vacant with the December death of Richard C. Holbrooke, senior officials said.
Retired diplomat Marc Grossman is expected to take over as the administration is facing a crucial year for its war strategy in Afghanistan, where it plans to begin U.S. troop withdrawals this summer and to move toward a political settlement including negotiations with the Taliban before the end of 2011.
In Pakistan, a key partner in the strategy, the situation has become even more fraught with peril, as U.S.-Pakistani relations have plummeted to their lowest point in years over Pakistan’s rejection of U.S. demands to grant diplomatic immunity to a U.S. official accused of murder there.
The administration has suspended high-level official contacts with the Pakistanis, and senior members of Congress have warned Islamabad that it risks a cutoff of U.S. aid.
via Washington Post: Clinton to announce new ‘AfPak’ envoy.
Wow, I was not aware of all these problems. Looks like Hillary Clinton has her work cut out for her. Two things that stand out here:
- Why do we keep sending over retired people to handle these situations? Cannot Hillary Clinton or President Obama find anyone who is not at retirement age to handle this problem? Just a thought there, not trying to criticize it; because I doubt John McCain would be able to handle this any better.
- This situation with the murder charge just looks bad all around and will most likely hamper our efforts to combat the war on terror and will hinder us from capturing or killing Osama Bin Ladin. Because you cannot capture the bad guys; if you cannot get along with the people where they are hiding.
Again, I have said this a million times here, and I will say it again. Bush handled this whole thing wrong after 9/11. Bush should have went after the Countries that financed the attacks on 9/11. Instead he went after their training grounds, with the assumption that it would be a cakewalk to catch them; and then he went into Iraq, on what we now now to be bad intelligence and also assumed that would be cake walk too — and Afghanistan was left to neglect. As of a result that poor leadership, we now have this mess to contend with. I pity Hillary and even President Obama to a point, they inherited this awful mess and now, they have to make gold, out of a steaming bag of crap. What a mess! I would not want to be in their shoes at all. 🙁
But, that is what happens, when you elect Neo-Conservatives who are on a so-called “Mission from God.” Let this be a lesson to America and to the Republican Party and all who supported and voted for the man. Say what you want, but between the bailouts and his poorly planned war on terror — we find ourselves in a awful mess; both with debt and with foriegn diplomacy.
Video: Don Rumsfield on 9/11, Iraq, Afghanistan, and More
Some good video here:
The Story via ABC NEWS:
More than four years after leaving public life, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld continues to believe the war in Iraq was worth the effort, and has no apologies for his decision-making in leading the campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In an exclusive interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, Rumsfeld concedes that “it’s possible” that decisions on how many troops to send into Iraq marked the biggest mistake of the war.
“In a war, many things cost lives,” Rumsfeld told Sawyer.
Pressed on the fact that President Bush has written that cutting troop levels in Iraq was “the most important failure in the execution of the war,” Rumsfeld called that “interesting.”
I do not much care for the man. He is, in my humble opinion, an ignoramus. But he does have his opinions and he is a human being.
Get the Book:
I also highly recommend George W. Bush’s book as well:
Video: The Reality Report: Bypassing the Obama Kill Switch
Please Note: The posting of this video does not constitute an endorsement of views presented in this video. It is simply posted for information purposes only.
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In this issue of the reality report: The Egyptian Revolution triggered a government shutdown of the web. Could it happen here? Is the internet kill switch back on the congressional table? If the Feds shut down the web in the United States how could “We the People” get around the internet blackout? Gary Franchi reveals what tools you need to bypass a Government sponsored internet blockade. In this edition, Ron Paul explains the how the Federal Reserve works outside of congress’ constitutional framework. We also look at Senator Chuck Schumer failing miserably while explaining the three branches of government. Beautiful words are uttered from the lips of the Florida attorney general about Obamacare. President and founder of Freedom Law School, Peymon Montehedeh, gives us the details on this years’ Freedom Conference, and we announce a new action taking place in March. We’ll take a dip into the mailbag, deliver the results of last week’s poll, a viewer brands a new Enemy of the State… and Nina returns to deliver the Headlines from the new Reality Report News Room.
Video: Why Egypt wants Mubarak out
So the truth comes out!
This comes via Bare Naked Islam:
Looks like this situation is a bit more complicated than many first thought.
Looks like this is going to turn out to be a very interesting story.
But, as a Paleo-Conservative, I simply say, this is what happens when American involves itself in foreign entanglements. This is that blowback; and Israel is going to suffer for it.
Interesting Book Review: The Neoconservative Persuasion: Selected Essays, 1942-2009
This is pretty interesting….
Audio:
[podcast]http://graphics8.nytimes.com/podcasts/2011/01/28/28bookreview.mp3[/podcast]
The Story via the NYT:
Irving Kristol, who died in 2009, is sometimes called the “godfather” or even “father” of neoconservatism, and the patriarchal honorific, like a well-worn hat, sits comfortably atop “The Neoconservative Persuasion: Selected Essays, 1942-2009.” The book is strictly a family enterprise. It has been lovingly edited by Kristol’s widow, the historian Gertrude Himmelfarb, and carries a prefatory funeral eulogy by their sorrowful son, the Republican journalist William Kristol. Even the selection of essays reflects a uniquely familial degree of intimacy.
Himmelfarb recounts in her introduction that while “rummaging among old files” after her husband’s death, she discovered tattered copies of a short-lived and wholly forgotten little magazine called Enquiry: A Journal of Independent Radical Thought. Her husband and some of his young friends founded the magazine in 1942, the year of her marriage, and they kept it afloat for eight issues, until the young friends and Kristol himself disappeared into the Army. Himmelfarb has reproduced the cover of Vol. 1, No. 1 — austere, elegant, partly sans-serif in the 1940s style, 10 cents a copy — and the sight of the magazine does conjure an era.
(…)
There is sometimes a charm in Kristol’s prose, once he had gotten past his pompous Lionel Trilling period — a wry, man-of-the-people modesty, nicely joined with a genuine talent for summarizing ideas. Then again, he tried to capitalize on his Everyman sonority by claiming to speak on behalf of “the majority of Americans” or even “the overwhelming majority of Americans,” and sometimes “the American people” altogether, which, to my mind, undercuts the charm. In the course of an otherwise intelligent essay about Communism and McCarthyism as long ago as 1952, he wrote: “For there is one thing that the American people know about Senator McCarthy; he, like them, is unequivocally anti-Communist. About the spokesmen for American liberalism, they feel they know no such thing.”
The remark is one of Kristol’s most famous, if only because his enemies have been quoting it back at him for almost 60 years. The habit of invoking the American people served him well, even so. Some of the more talented leaders of the Republican Party eventually cocked an ear in his direction, in search of oratorical and political and programmatic possibilities. And the alliance was formed.
Himmelfarb has thoughtfully filled “The Neoconservative Persuasion” with pieces that, with one exception, have not appeared in previous collections. The subtitle, “Selected Essays,” might lead readers to suppose that here must surely be Kristol’s Greatest Hits — the best and most popular of his essays. But Kristol himself gathered together his Greatest Hits in an anthology in 1995 called “Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea.”
The new book ought to be regarded, instead, as a Volume 2. It is faithful to his ideas and their evolution. And it offers an opportunity to evaluate his abilities as an essayist — his achievements as a thinker and writer within the little world known as the “New York intellectuals.” The achievements do not seem to me large. Kristol was not a Trilling, a Hook, a Howe or a Bell. For that matter, he never produced anything as substantial as his wife’s scholarly meditations on English history.
But it is true that unlike any of those other talented people, Kristol, with his tirades and simplicities, helped found a political movement. And under the name of “neoconservatism,” his movement invigorated the party of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush and, for better and for worse, wreaked enormous changes on America and the world.
As many of you know. I do have personal issues with the Neo-Conservative as a whole. However, I believe it to be fair to examine the history of the people around it. The book sounds like it might be an interesting read.
You can get it here:
There are those that might not like that I even blogged about this; to them I say this. Perhaps if you put some money into my Tip Jar, maybe I would not have to resort to blogging about subjects that I utterly detest. Further more, the way I see it, when those people start donating to this blog; then they can bitch at me about what I write about. Until then, quite frankly, they can just fuck off. (and I mean that in the most Christian way possible… 😛 😉 😀 )
Not only that, I do try; even I disagree with that person — to get everyone a fair shake. I might disagree with them on some things, but there has to be something that I agree upon. If only the Neo-Cons felt the same way about us that disagree with them. Most of them are almost Nazi like in their fascism against dissenters. The Bush era proved that one. 🙄
Video: The Reality Report #78: The Homeland becomes the Fatherland
Please note: The posting on this video does NOT constitute support for all of the views therein. It is posted for your education and information.
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Synopsis: In the 78th edition of the Reality Report, Gary Franchi draws the direct parallels America shares with Hitler’s Germany and provides the solution to avoiding their terrible fate. We take a look at Ron Paul’s Texas Straight Talk where he discusses what a new found interest in the Constitution could mean for America. CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, Peter Schiff tells us why the Chinese modeled their currency after the U.S. dollar. We also hear from the former U.S. military analyst who is responsible for leaking the Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsberg. He explains the recent war on whistle-blowers. Chris Mathews latest hypocrisy is revealed and Angie breaks down the news. As always we take a dip into the mailbag, reveal the results from last weeks viewer poll and brand a new Enemy of the State.
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