I am what academics call a Sinophile - a lover of all things Chinese. Food. Culture. History. Even language. I was a Sinophile before I became a Nipponophile - a lover of all things Japanese. I am also an Anglophile for what it’s worth.

I like to think I know a thing or two about China, and one of those things is that the invasion of Tibet in 1959 stands out as one of recent history’s great wrongs. According to The International Campaign to Save Tibet, over a million people have died since the Chinese first invaded Tibet in 1949. Over 6000 monestaries have been looted and priceless antiquities have simply vanished. While resistance to the occupation continues, it is limited to civil disobedient acts such as hanging a Tibetan flag from a radio tower.

From the Chinese perspective, the invasion of Tibet is viewed as a “peaceful liberation” and China has attacked any and all who claim otherwise. Over the past half-century the occupation government has instituted a policy of resettlement of Chinese from the east into Tibet, thereby making Tibet as more of a home to ethnic Chinese than to the native Tibetans.
Saving Tibet from this fate has been a liberal cause celebre for over a generation, yet Beijing’s destruction of Tibet continues apace. While cars in America sport “Save Tibet” bumperstickers, the resistance against the Chinese occupation continues to dwindle.
The conquest of Tibet stands as a perfect example of the failure of non-violence and good intentions to overcome brute force and bullets. No amount of Buddhist prayers or Save Tibet bumperstickers will dislodge a single Han Chinese from Tibet - nor will it bring back the million people they failed to save in the first place.

Had a long commute this afternoon which gave me time to continue pondering the past few posts. Maybe it’s the hypnotic beat of the trance-techno I listen to, or perhaps it’s the concentration on the road that allows my subconscious to play with ideas - smashing them into one another until eventually something new - or at least new for me emerges.

How do we force a reformation on Islam?
The answer is of course, we can’t. Such a profound change can only occur from within Islam itself. But we can help it along.

Most of interfaith dialog has been along the lines of assuring Muslims that we aren’t fighting their religion. The trouble is that we are. We are on a crusade - but it’s not to destroy Islam: it’s to make it learn to thrive among other religions. In short, we need Islam to learn how to “play nice with others".

Currently it can’t. On a deeply spiritual level, Islam is in competition with the other world’s religions and has been since it’s inception 1400 years ago. Contemporary Muslims today in America or Europe hold two conflicting beliefs at the same time: First, the belief that non-Muslims are worthy of the same right to life as Muslims. Second, the belief that non-Muslims are dhimmis or less than Muslims as taught in portions of the Koran.

The key to reformation of Islam lays with these Muslims living outside of the Islamic world - yet they have been relatively silent on terrorist acts as they suffer from the same spiritual blindness as those living in the Islamic world. How do we convince them?

First, I believe that we have to force the issue of responsibility on them at the same time that we protect their rights. Americans of all faiths must stand up against intolerance towards Muslims, but at the same time they must demand that Muslims work against intolerance within Islam.

Secondly, American muslims must tell their brethren in the Islamic world that they do not live as second class citizens in the West. They also must put an end to the vile anti-Semitic and anti-American propaganda that passes for Wahabi funded Islamic newspapers in the West.

Third, we need to become more aware of the Arabic-speaking press both within the US and the Arab-world. The group MEMRI regularly covers the Arab world press, but members of the media such as CNN, the Los Angeles Times, and other news outlets should hire Arabic and Farsi translators to report what is happening in the press in the Islamic world. We cannot rely upon the English media there because these outlets water down or fail to report stories that would cast Islam in a negative light.

And light is the key. We have to understand our enemy, and the best way of doing this is to examine the world he lives in critically and as objectively as possible. We have to drag him into the shadows and expose him for what he is - a psychopath that is attempting to hijack one of the world’s great religions.

Can this be done?

Obviously I wasn’t the first to recognize this. Here are some other discussions:
The Reality of Cognitive Dissonance among Muslim Apologists, an excellent piece that I heartily recommend to all. Money quote:

As to how this dissonance serves to help Islamic extremists to continue, Muslim apologists seem to suffer a severe case of denial to acknowledge and admit. The denial is irresponsible, because failure to suppress Islamic radicalism does not appear to corroborate the claim made by majority Muslims that Islam is a religion of peace.

Cum Grano Salis, a German blogger with a Den Beste like mind, discusses the term in regards to Islam and also mentions al-Qaeda’s Fantasy Ideology, which helps us in the West comprehend the sick nature of the terrorist attacks - as the terrorists try to outdo themselves to see who can conduct the worst abomination and justify it with the Koran. Cum Grano Salis may just appear in my daily reading list.

It’s interesting to note this response by a Muslim writing a week after 9-11. He seems aware of cognitive dissonance, even implores other Muslims to avoid it, but in doing so falls prey to it himself. The realization of the fact that the terrorists’ actions are condoned in Islam does not fit his belief that Islam is a peaceful religion is too much for him to handle:

I bring up cognitive dissonance here, because I fear that in circumstances such as these (following acts of terrorism, media coverage of war against a Muslim majority nation, etc) some Muslims may feel an internal strife, a religious or spiritual crisis. But this should not be the case. One of the beauties of Islam, indeed one of the things that attracted me to it, is that it appeals to both emotion and reason, to mind and spirit. It makes sense. It is simple. It is just. And it is true. If ever we feel a cognitive dissonance of sorts in relation to Islam, alarm bells should go off, warning us that we do not have enough knowledge regarding that particular subject or situation.

The writer’s answer to the cognitive dissonance is that he lacks enough knowledge to understand the terrorists’ actions. Islam is “simple", “just", and “true” - and a Muslim’s questioning of his faith as he attempts to stop the cognitive dissonance should be stopped by simply saying “I don’t know".
Ignorance becomes a shield of one’s beliefs. Instead of questioning which could lead to a deeper understanding of one’s religion - or the possible rejection of it entirely - the Muslim simply shuts down saying “I don’t know". The rough equivalent in Christianity is saying “It’s God’s will". No further advantage can be gained by more questioning in the believer’s mind because the risk of learning that one’s religion is wrong is too great, and such an outcome could threaten the very identity of the believer causing great emotional pain and suffering.
Cognitive Dissonance proves that Islam is a religion that has never had a “Reformation” like Christianity. In fact, Christianity could be viewed as unique among the world’s religions for having undergone such a tumultuous period of self-reflection and change.
Cognitive Dissonance prevents Muslims from realizing that questioning can lead to apostasy and heretical ideas, but it can also lead to a deeper appreciation of one’s faith - as the Jesuits have so adroitly proven in their half-millennium of existence (and thrice excommunication by Rome).
The question from our perspective is: How do we force Islam to reform? Is such reformation possible? And if so, how do we survive until it does?
Here Lee Harris’s disease metaphor laid out in al-Qaeda’s Fantasy Ideology seems almost prescient since it was written almost 2 years ago:

“…after driving out all other competing ideas and ideologies, they literally turned their host organism into the instrument of their own poisonous and deadly will.”

Zeyad of Healing Iraq notes the Psych Term of the Week without mentioning it: “They claim they are here to drive the foreigners who have been killing Iraqis out of Iraq. Ironically, those Mujahideen are also foreigners who have been slaughtering thousands of Iraqis over the last year.” He states that he expects more of the same, and concludes ” Don’t count on any public demonstrations of Muslim outrage though, there won’t be any.”

Islam sure is a peaceful religion. Yep.

The Middle East Media Research Center is one of the best sites on the web when it comes to following the Arab world. It is reporting that Crown Prince Abdallah is blaming terrorist events on “Zionists".

This has to be one of the worst cases of cognitive dissonance to come out of the kingdom since it blamed Zionists for the 9-11 attacks. It is almost fascinating to watch - since the al-Qaeda hates the Saudi royal family as much - if not more - than Jews and Americans. The terrorists attacks in the kingdom have been brutal - as shown in this interview with the leader of the recent Khobar attacks.

Such cognitive dissonance is the rough equivalent of America blaming Canada for the attack on Pearl Harbor. I think we are watching the collapse of the Saudi dynasty. Since we advocated invading Saudi Arabia instead of Iraq, we have mixed feelings about watching that regime go down the toilet. What would replace them? The jihadists? Not likely; even France would find the balls to invade the place to protect the oil fields and insure the uninterrupted supply to Europe.

No, not ours - Sheik Muqtada al-Sadr’s. The Sheik has wisely decided to give up fighting, and told his militiamen to do the same. Evidently he wants to run for public office now in Iraq.

Here’s the story.

I’m also wondering if these types of attacks on soft targets could be controlled by some type of retaliation along the lines of the following.

1. Terrorists announce capture of hostage. Threaten to kill unless George Bush dances the macarena naked around Michael Moore.
2. Iraqi/Saudi authorities announce handover of terror suspects to US for “interrogation” at Gitmo or Abu Grahb. Or better yet, the conviction and sentencing of one of them to death.
3. When they kill the hostage, the terrorist is either executed or sent to the “guy pile” at Abu Grahb.

Either way, we have turned kidnapping around. Instead of meeting their demands, the kidnappers are forced to meet ours. This also provides incentive for the terrorists to sing like canaries because contrary to their reputation, they are pussies adept at convincing others of the attractive opportunities provided by martyrdom.

Would Bush do this? Given what has happened already I’m not so sure he wouldn’t. In the end, a terrorist should be given the opposite of what he demands. If he wants X freed, then X should be executed or suffer worse than he is suffering now. If he wants Country X to pull out troops, Country X should double the contingent.

This is a hard business, but War is like that.

Sick, with no testicles and filled with carnal desire for their mothers they may be, psychopaths are not stupid. Fox News was trumpeting a break through in the negotiations between a South Korean businessman and the terrorists with the breaking news headline from Al-Jazeera saying the South Korean national had been beheaded.

This event, tied with arrival of videotapes to Al-Jazeera offices just after the deadlines pass, and the “coincidental” speed that the Saudi authorities tracked down and killed the murderer of Paul Johnson last week, makes me understand the true motives of the terrorists. They don’t want their demands to be met, and keeping a hostage alive puts them in greater danger. So why not give a deadline say seven days ahead, then kill the hostage in five?

That way you get maximum amount of attention while maximizing your odds of escape.

My guess is that they took the SK businessman’s money on the way to dropping off the videotape showing the beheading to Al-Jazeera’s offices.

And I truly mean that. Looks like the SK national was beheaded according to Al-Jazeera.
Yes, Islam sure is a peaceful religion…

Ann Bayefsky gave an interesting speech at the UN Conference on Anti-Semitism. Money quote: “The U.N. has become the leading global purveyor of anti-Semitism–intolerance and inequality against the Jewish people and its state.” Also Anti-Americanism.

Which is why America should leave it ASAP.

Or should I say, I’m back. After having the site ruined by a “Lamer” with an unnatural lust for his mother and goats, I decided to give up on PHPNuke and try Wordpress instead. WP is supposedly more secure and “blog-like". So we’ll see how it works out.
That said, I still need to port over the rest of the site - so be sure to stop back.

Warning: Graphic Images here.
This is what we are facing unless we get them before they get us.

While I protested against his policies, I now realize that I was sometimes wrong (and right about a few things too - like gay rights). However, I’m sorry to see him go nevertheless…

There are times when the Bush Administration drives me absolutely insane. And then there are times like these, when that goofy frat-boy from Texas drives me to tears with his vision of the world that matches my own. The speech is here. Money quote: “In all these threats, we hear the echoes of other enemies in other times – that same swagger and demented logic of the fanatic. Like their kind in the past, these murderers have left scars and suffering. And like their kind in the past, they will flame and fail and suffer defeat by free men and women.”

I don’t know who wrote this speech. All I know is that it lays out a progressive vision of the world that proves that the true conservatives - the “haters of change” or recidivists - are on the Left: the Michael Moores, Amnesty Internationals and MoveOns of the world that have become the sycophants of the tyrants they once demonized.

Read the speech. The entire thing. It’s long but one of the best in oh, 45 years.

Source: Chrenkoff

Marek Edelman is the last surviving military leader of the heroic Jewish Uprising
in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943. He recently spoke to a Polish television channel
TVN24, and the interview has been re-published in a Polish weekly "Przekroj".
It’s not available anywhere else in English (or for that matter electronically),
so I take this opportunity to translate and publish extensive excerpts from
the interview. Edelman experienced evil many times in his long and distinguished
life; he has also faced it and fought it bravely. What he has to say bears listening

You don’t have to be dead to appreciate my thanks for serving your country. You have protected me and my family. You have sacrificed so that I and mine won’t have to. You have given up your freedom and in many cases your lives so that I can live free.

Thank you.

As strident as this site has been against terror and radical Islam, it has also been supportive of the gay community. That said, I have often wondered why I often found the mainstream gay groups allied against the war on terror. It simply didn’t make sense to me. We were fighting hatred & bigotry. The Taliban collapsed walls on homosexuals for christ sake. Then there’s this story. Money quote: “Sheikh Sharkhawy, a cleric at the prestigious London Central Mosque in Regent’s Park, compares homosexuality to a “cancer tumour.” He argues “we must burn all gays to prevent paedophilia and the spread of AIDS.”

We must burn all gays? Excuse me, but the Middle Ages passed a thousand years ago. This guy is clearly a psycho, yet where are the Act-Up crowds? Where is GLAAD? Gay groups in the UK should be screaming for this guy’s deportation.

Instead we get silence.

Silence = Death

You don’t have to be gay to understand that.

Here’s an article
on the latest report by Amnesty International. If you can figure out what Amnesty
International would do if it had the power, let me know. I haven’t a clue.

As an active member of Amnesty International, I wrote letters to Saddam Hussein
begging him to free prisoners of conscience in Iraq. He never did - until the
Marines chased him from power.

I am an advocate of non-violence, but only when your enemy has a conscience.
Non-violence would work in the Palestinian Territories against Israel. It worked
against the British in India, and the US in the 1950s and 1960s. It has failed
to drive China out of Tibet - and it failed to drive Saddam from power. The
Taliban never worried about Amnesty reports when they sowed Afghan women up
in burkas and machine gunned them in public, nor when they collapsed walls on
alleged homosexuals.

Amnesty is gripped by knee-jerk anti-Americanism and has lost all sense of
its mission.

It’s a shame.

Oh for a Howard Dean right now…
John Kerry is calling for more support from our “allies” in Iraq.
What, does he think that’s going to convince me to vote for him? “You know honey, I think the way to solve the Iraq problem is to bring in the French.”

WTF is he on? Does he honestly believe that message is going to “sell” in the Midwest and South? It might fly with Limousine Liberals who actually eat French food (when’s the last time you did? I mean come on, when I think of the great cuisines of the world - Chinese, Indian, Italian, Mexican - I don’t think of the French) but it isn’t going to work with the NASCAR and Office Dad crowds.

When I started this site over 2.5 years ago, I did so with the hope that the world would unite against the intolerance of the Islamo-fascists. I felt that it was only a matter of time before Muslims in the West spoke with one voice against the terror committed in the name of their God and in doing so, make it harder for the terrorists to operate.

Unfortunately, the silence of the Muslim groups in the West is deafening. Groups like CAIR are more concerned with whinging about every perceived slight against a Muslim then they are about the hijacking of their own religion by people who behead others on camera.

By the looks of things, it’s on its way.
As one commentator has stated, it’s like rhinos mating; while I don’t care to watch it, I don’t like the idea of barring them from doing it. And as Dennis Miller has said: “My problem isn’t with the two guys who want to get married; my problem is with the nutjobs who want to blow up the building they’re doing it in.”

Looks like some from
are trying to attack us. What’s sad is that it evidently has nothing to do with
our content; it’s only because they can.

They can’t overthrow their government or reform their religion. They can’t
control their own lives or live in freedom. But they can run scripts.

Pathetic.

Bush has apologized. Rumsfeld has apologized. So who hasn’t apologized?

September 11 - The Muslim community.
Atrocities in Iraq - Saddam Hussein and the Bath Party
The kidnapping of people in Iraq - The Muslim community.
The execution of an Italian soldier - The Muslim community.
Taliban atrocities in Afghanistan - The Muslim community.
The murder of Daniel Pearl - The Muslim community.
The car bombs targeting Shi’a in Iraq - The Muslim community.
The slaughter of 4 American contractors and the defiling of their bodies - The
Muslim community.

Islam is a religion of peace? It’s sure one of silence.

If the American soldiers in Iraq are all torturers, then the Muslims of the world are all homicide bombers.

The 9-11 Commission should be looking at structural reform - not finger pointing.
So far I see Rice focussing on the former, the Commission the latter. It kind
of reminds me of the disgraceful
treatment of Admiral Kimmel over Pearl Harbor. As one comedian has said:
"I don’t blame the Clinton administration (for the attack) or the Bush
Administration. I blame the Bin Laden Administration."

MSNBC is running the headline “New Hamas Leader Takes Harder Line“. I’m not sure what a harder line he could take, since the previous leader advocated an Islamic state and the execution of all Jews in the Middle East. Call me a softy, but that sounds like a pretty damned hard line to me. After all, it’s not like there was ever a line that Hamas refused to cross. They killed children in a pizza restaurant, families sitting down to Seder, teenagers at a disco. They sent out a mother to blow herself up and leave behind orphans. In fact the one group that they rarely attacked were the soldiers and police who could fight back.

So the Hamas founder gets himself splattered in Gaza, and the new leader wants to take a harder line. Killing innocent children is the hardest line you can take in my opinion, and there is nowhere left to go. The Israelis know this, and that’s why they aren’t afraid of Hamas anymore. Hamas has played all of its cards - there is nothing left. Now Israel holds the cards and are the ones to decide what line to cross. And there is nothing - absolutely nothing that Hamas can do about it but run or die. For the sake of the murdered innocents, I hope that it is the latter.

Will Saletan’s Case Against Bush. Excellent and highly recommended read. Money quote: “Bush’s overconfidence” reflected in a series of exaggerations wholly unnecessary to the punishment of Saddam for his noncompliance with U.N. inspections” has trashed our credibility and cost us vital help with other terrorist and WMD-related threats.”

http://www.thunderinghooves.net/
MSNBC had a story on this farmer. If you live in the Northwest, you might want to check him out for your meat needs. We’re all for it – considering Ronald McDonald tried poisoning me the other day (won’t let the kids eat his crap but it’s near the office). It will be nice when more farmers go back to the future and do the same.

Why We Fight - By Steven Den Beste. Proof once again that this retired engineer is Bernard Lewis in disguise. A must read for all.

There is nothing like the reasoned perspective of an outsider to give you a window on yourself. For 58 years, Alistair Cooke did that for Americans in his weekly “Letter from America". For those of you who haven’t experienced listening to his insights on the BBC Worldservice, you have missed out on something wonderful and sublime. For me, “This is London” and Alistair Cooke will forever represent Civilization no matter what uncivilized place I find myself in, be it the African Bush or the Suburban Shopping Mall (yes, I consider malls uncivilized).

Cooke has now retired, at the age of 95 according to this article in The Guardian.

Thanks, Alistair for being a friend to all Americans and proving once again why our “special relationship” with the UK remains special.

Proof why people shouldn’t touch our Constitution unless freeing slaves. For the lazy, it’s a discussion on a proposed amendment in 1912 to ban “forever” marriages between negroes “and other people of color” with caucasians. For Libertarians and other lovers of freedom it’s hard to believe.

There were 12 amendments to the Constitution in the 20^th century. Of these only 2 have merit:
Amendment XIX - Women’s Right to Vote (1920)
Amendment XXIV - Poll Tax (1964)

The others, if you ask me, could have been decided by the legislature. Two of the amendments - prohibition and its repeal - are wastes, and proof why people should not be allowed to get their hands on the document while they are all hot and bothered about an issue.

What seems of utmost importance today may not be tomorrow. Think Flag Burning. Yeah, people had their panties in a twist over that at one time.

As millions of Americans consider whether Mel Gibson’s latest film, The Passion, is anti-Semitic for spreading the “blood libel” that the Jews are responsible for murdering Jesus, we believe that it may be time for the world’s Christian community to accept responsibility for the death of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust 60 years ago.

For example, consider the following evidence against the Catholic Church.

1. Although informed of the massive Nazi attacks of synagogues and Jewish business in on Kristallnacht 1938-NOV, Pope Pius XII issued no public criticism.

2. Although informed during 1940 to 1943 of Nazi atrocities in at least Austria, Lithuania, Poland, Spain, and the Ukraine, (including deportations to death camps) he made no public comments.

3. Pope Pius XII never explicitly spoke out against Hitler until the war was over, condemning Hitler in a speech to the College of Cardinals one month after the war ended.

4. He refused to join a resolution of the Allies condemning the Nazi crimes.

5. He never excommunicated any Nazi, although he did excommunicate some German Catholics who supported cremation as an alternative to burial.

6. He never declared it a sin for Catholics to participate in the slaughter.

7. In 1941 when asked about proposed anti-Jewish laws in Vichy France, Pius XII answered that the church condemned racism, but did not repudiate every rule against the Jews. (source)

The Protestant community can also be held accountable for the following reasons:

“Catholics and Protestants at first embraced the new German order. Germany was regaining international prestige, the economy improving thanks to growing overseas support.³⁶ Industrialists like Henry Ford invested heavily in the new Reich. German Christians also looked to the Nazis for a revival of “Christian” values to help counter the rise of nontheism. Most welcomed the Nazis’ elimination of chronic public strife by terrorizing, imprisoning, and killing the fast-shrinking German Left. The leftists had long been despised by traditionalists, who composed four fifths of the population. The state purged a far higher proportion of atheists than traditional Christians. In newspapers and newsreels the Nazis proudly publicized their new concentration camps. Reports sanitized the camps’ true nature, but no one could mistake that they were part of a new police state—to which most German followers of Jesus raised no objection. The very high rate of “legal” executions reported in the press also met with mass indifference or positive approval.

Far from being hapless victims, the great bulk of German Christians joined, eagerly supported, collaborated with, or accommodated to a greater or lesser degree, the new tyranny.” (source)

If Christian zealots are putting up signs that say this…

Maybe Jews should consider making a movie about Pope Pius XII.

We support the right of Mel Gibson to make his movie, but we also support the right of Jews to make a movie in response. For if Jews are indeed responsible for the Passion, then by that line of reasoning the Christians bear responsibility for the Holocaust.

Which is more obscene:
A) The Howard Stern Show - which you can choose not to listen to
B) Clear Channel - owning 1200 stations making the decision for you

Here’s two words to help you with your decision: satellite radio

The other day while looking for a parking spot at the local supermarket I saw a car with the Vietnam service bars bumpersticker and the license plate "Tet Vet". There’s a photo of me as a tot somewhere wearing a jacket with the slogan on the back that reads "Fighters by day, lovers by night, drunkards by choice, ready to fight. Cu-Chi". Vietnam vets hold special places in the hearts of the Machiavelli Clan, considering that we have a few of them still kicking up a fuss at the family gatherings.

We’ve added links to this website, WinterSoldier.com, because we believe that it raises some important issues about a man who wants to be the most important man in the world. Brought to you courtesy of the radicals at FreeRepublic.com.

Even though he never responds to our emails, we completely support Andrew Sullivan’s position on the Gay Marriage issue.

Even if you don’t, a conservative BY DEFINITION conserves, and that means:

Unless you are freeing slaves, Never EVER F*** with the Constitution.

Since announcing his support of an amendment to define marriage, the President has also stated his support for a constitutional amendment to define “built-to-order sandwiches filled with fresh meats and cheeses, as well as lettuce, tomatoes and onions, topped off with a dash of oregano on an Italian roll” as a “hoagie“.

White House Press Secretary Scott McClelland said the move was necessary after a recent study published by Harvard found that over 77% of Americans answered “sub” to the question: “What do you call the long sandwich that contains cold cuts, lettuce, and so on.”

“The President believes deeply in this issue,” McClelland stated after the speech, excerpted below:

“After more than two centuries of American jurisprudence and millennia of human experience, a few judges and local authorities are presuming to change the most fundamental institution of the sandwich - the hoagie. Their actions have created confusion on an issue that requires clarity.

On a matter of such importance, the voice of the people must be heard. Activist courts have left the people with one recourse. If we’re to prevent the meaning of a long sandwich that contains cold cuts, lettuce, and so on from being changed forever, our nation must enact a constitutional amendment to protect “hoagies” in America. Decisive and democratic action is needed because attempts to call it anything else in a single state or city, such as “grinder", “poorboy” and “bomber", could have serious consequences throughout the country.”

Afterward, believing the microphone had been turned off, the President turned to his wife, Laura, and said, “And what (expletive deleted) bunch of nuts calls the thing a ‘baguette’ anyway?”

- Thanks to Scrappleface for the inspiration.

According to this Fox Story, President Bush has called for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage because the nation must defend “the most fundamental (sic) of civilization.”

Rest assured that should any of these instutitions need defense, we will not call for a constitutional amendment. A large caliber weapon maybe, but not a constitutional amendment…

They’re here, they’re queer, get over it.

Ko-an for the day:

American Express

Ommmmmmmmmmmmmm

This story about a Nazipalooza in Arizona is both funny and chilling. It starts with a story about a Hispanic kid who apparently doesn’t quite fully understand the message of hate. Money quote goes to Tommy Metzger, Fuhrer-in-Charge, or rather to the shirt he was wearing: “Some People Are Alive Simply Because It’s Illegal to Kill Them". You got that right Tommy. Now stand still, my aim all that good!

I was part of the US punk scene during the early 1980s - before it merged with metal and then splintered off into hate-metal. My feelings can be summed up by this 1980s toe-tapping classic by the Dead Kennedys:

You still think swastikas look cool
The real nazis run your schools
Teachers, businessmen and cops
In a real fourth reich you’ll be the first to go

Nazi punks
Nazi punks
Nazi punks?Fuck Off!

Have you ever noticed that people like their Republican presidents old and patrician, and their Democratic presidents young and eager? I got to thinking about this while listening to Edwards’ victory speech in Wisconsin on Feb 17th and considering why he appeals to me and Kerry doesn’t. Kerry is old, and he comes across as William F Buckley jr. spouting populism - although WFB would be much more interesting and point the air with his pen a lot more. Kerry seems about as fake meeting average Americans as a white guy from Harvard trying to act street with his "homies". Kerry seems uncomfortable, and worse, he makes me feel uncomfortable watching him. It’s almost like his element is, for better or worse, the Senare and Martha’s Vineyard two enclaves that most Americans simply don’t relate to very well.

Now consider Clinton. He was young and energetic - just like Kennedy (and we later learned WAY TOO MUCH like Kennedy) - but he was elected to two terms. Contrast that with Mondale and Dukakis - two older, barely "middle-aged" guys who looked more like furniture salesmen than presidents. Mondale made a pretty good ambassador to Japan, and Dukakis? I don’t know - but I do hope that it didn’t involve a tank.

On the other side of the aisle, there was Nixon. Let’s face this fact: Nixon is the true "Accidental President" - even more so than Bush. In 1968 Tricky Dick benefited from Johnson’s refusal to stand for office. Had the Vietnam War gone better, he would have run and most likely won. After that, Sirhan Sirhan made sure that another Kennedy wouldn’t make it to the Oval Office - insuring that Nixon would walk away with the presidency later that year. However Nixon was young for a Republican, especially compared Barry Goldwater and Dwight Eisenhower. People never trusted him in the same way had he been older.

Ford also was a bit of an accidental president - needing Nixon to become president, Spiro Agnew to resign and for a group of "plumbers" to be caught in the Watergate Hotel. Had any of these events not occurred, there would be no President Ford, and no Chevy Chase sketches from the 1970s.

Then of course, we have Reagan. Reagan was the ultimate personification of patrician. He was witty, self-assured yet self-deprecating, kind of like the grandfather that many Americans wish they always had.

Bush is no Reagan, and his ascent to the Presidency hasn’t been forgotten - especially by active Democrats. What the Dems need to do is to consider this:
In the event of Kerry v Bush, Bush will win. Kerry just doesn’t have the charm or charisma that is needed for people to view him as a winner. They will see him as another Mondale or Dukakis, and he will lose.

In the event of Edwards v Bush, Edwards will win. He is young, he is inexperienced, and he will become the screen for everyone’s fantasy for what a Democratic president should be. There will be positive comparisons to Clinton and Kennedy. His inexperience won’t be that big of an issue - look at Bush - and he will no doubt surround himself with wiser and steadier hands at the various helms of government offices.

Forget the issues. Forget the intellectual reasons to support Kerry. Given the opportunity, voters will go for their hearts and dreams. Edwards will win in Edwards v Bush - whether you want him to or not.

The Democrats should take notice. Given the opportunity, Edwards will win. Just remember that we at The Razor predicted it all along.

Evidently the Coast Guard nabbed them and will send them back to Cuba. Too bad Luis and Marciel didn’t tell them they were Java coders: the government would have issued them H-1b visas and IBM would have hired them at $1/day. Oh well. Excellent effort guys.

I’ve been contemplating Dean’s demise for several days now. I think that his candidacy will be replayed over and over in candidate war-rooms and in domestic politics classes for years to come. I have never seen a flameout as grand as Dean’s and for once in many months I am simply left speechless.

Here’s a website filled with articles on the Dean candidacy and its blazing trail across the Winter sky.

Andrew Sullivan expresses the way I feel about Dean. Money quote: (Dean)"I think the problem with the Democratic Party in general is that they’ve been so afraid to lose they’re willing to say whatever it takes to win. And once you’re willing to say whatever it takes to win, you lose."

Would I vote for Dean? At this point: No. However would a Dean v. Bush brawl be good for the country? Absolutely.

Here’s something that you don’t see very often.

Cubans Trying to Reach Florida in Floating Car
Money quote: “The car is very safe.”

For those of you who don’t know, if they touch the beach - they get asylum. If they are caught offshore, they get sent back.

I say “Go guys Go!” Anybody who is ingenius enough to do this deserves asylum. Hell, my guess is that they could get a job at Monster Garage.

This is an extremely disgusting article. You are warned.
We agree with the title: Serious consideration must be given to some kind of intervention in North Korea. We simply cannot stand by and let this happen. Would intervention be yet another example of US imperialism? According to Noam Chomsky, yes. Of course, notice how Noam is sitting in his warm flat in Boston - not in a glass gas chamber in NK. Also note that the source isn’t Donald Rumsfeld or Paul Wolfowitz - but the anti-American BBC.

Yad Vashem calls for UN intervention in N. Korea
Source: Haaretz Daily
By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent, and News Agencies

Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Authority on Tuesday called for an immediate United Nations investigation into reports that North Korea is using gas chambers to kill political dissidents.

According to a BBC report aired Sunday, the North Korean government is also testing new chemical weapons on women and children.

According to the report, the detainees are being held in 12 camps, and the largest of them, Prison Camp No. 22, is holding some 50,000 people. The total number of detainees is unknown, but according to estimates, their number could be as high as 200,000.

The BBC report quoted a former North Korean army intelligence officer who defected to South Korea in 1999, as saying that Prison Camp No. 22 had a gas chamber made of glass so scientists could observe inmates as they were gassed. "I witnessed a whole family being tested on suffocating gas and dying in the gas chamber," he told the BBC. "The parents, son and a daughter."

In a Letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev called for a full investigation of the reports, saying that ‘the chilling image of the murderers coolly watching their victims’ death agonies is all too reminiscent of Nazi barbarism."

Shalev’s letter also reminded Annan of his speech on January 26 at the Stockholm International Forum, in which Annan said the world must do more to prevent genocide from ever taking place again, and raised the possibility of having Genocide Convention states set up a Committee to Prevent Genocide. Shalev urged the UN to fulfill its obligation to protect human rights.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, A U.S.-based Jewish human rights group, also urged the UN on Tuesday to establish an international tribunal to investigate the allegations.

"This brings to mind the imagery of Nazi gas chambers and the horrific experiments at Auschwitz and Imperial Japan’s Unit 731," the center’s associate dean, Abraham Cooper, said in a statement.

"The crimes of the Nazi era are a stark reminder that silence is admittance and such state-sanctioned barbarities demand action," Cooper said. "The civilized community must put the perpetrators of such crimes against humanity on notice that they will be held accountable."

Top Saudi Cleric Decries Terrorism in Hajj Sermon
Don’t get all excited, because there are more qualifiers than a car ad. Money quote: "Is it holy war to shed Muslim blood? Is it holy war to shed the blood of non-Muslims given sanctuary in Muslim lands? Is it holy war to destroy the possession of Muslims," he said.

Note the three groups he mentioned: Muslims, non-Muslims in Muslim lands, and the property of Muslims.

Nowhere does he demand a halt to attacks on non-Muslims, or non-Muslims outside of Saudi Arabia, or the property of non-Muslims. That’s quite intentional. He’s not pissed about terror attacks like 9-11; he’s upset about recent attacks WITHIN Saudi Arabia. He’s angry with the terrorists for breaking the agreement between the Saudi ruling family the likes of al-Qaeda - a "gentlemen’s agreement" that prohibit attacks in Saudi Arabia in exchange for financing.

We’ve come to expect such sophistry from Muslim clerics - none of whom have stated flat out that killing non-Muslims is wrong in the eyes of Islam - possibly because it is not.

Gore Endorses Dean for President.

+

Bradley Endorses Dean for President

+

N.J. Gov. McGreevey Endorses Dean

+

Braun Drops Out, Supports Dean

=

Dean May Be Done

Spalding Gray is probably dead. Here’s a friend’s eulogy for him. Money quote: "I try to imagine him actually attempting a swim to Cambodia. I see him swan-diving from the rail of the Staten Island Ferry late Saturday night when he disappeared, rounding Sandy Hook by dawn, and turning south for Cape Horn. He’d be well past the mouth of the Delaware by now, strong swimmer that he is. What a great monologue this is going to make."

Another good one goes. Where have all the good story tellers gone? Where are the Homers of our era? Where are those who weave with their words what Hollywood struggles to do with computers?

Just a note that I’ve deactivated the Bush-Rice ad on the right. Here’s why:

1. Budget Deficit Headed for New Dollar High - As a fiscal conservative, Bush has presided over one of the largest explosions of the budget deficit in history. I have no problem with the expense of fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanstan. What I do have a problem with is Bush’s corporate welfare policies in which large businesses are subsidized by the federal government.

2. The Bush Amnesty program - No, not forgiving Prescott Bush for his Nazi sympathies, but the 8th illegal immigrant amnesty since 1986. We believe that it is bad for the economy and hurts lower income and middle income people the most. Why is it that Republicans favor laissez-faire policies in goods but not in labor? Government needs to keep its nose out of labor by allowing wages to rise when people don’t want to do a job for any reason. That’s the way the market is supposed to function: salaries rise, increasing the supply of the labor until a balance is reached. If strawberries cost a nickle more a pint, consumers can deal with it. It’s capitalism pure and simple.

3. No WMDs, and the admin’s stalling on spanking US Intel. If the spooks screwed up, find out why and fix it. It’s not just the body count in Iraq - it’s the body count on 9-11. Our intel cannot be trusted at this time, making it impossible for us as citizens to support anything the administration advocates in the future.

4. 3,000,000 jobs lost. I’ve lost two of them - and am damned tired of collecting unemployment benefits instead of paying for them.

5. Collapsing health care system. I’m sorry, but the administration has to invade America and make it a safe place to be sick or injured in. Health care is just as much a right to every American as national defense.

Does this mean that I will now vote for Dean? Don’t count on it. I still haven’t ruled Bush out - but at this point my vote is up for grabs.

Good news. A murderer is smiling! Lionel Tate Bond Hearing Set for Today - He’s the 12 year old who was convicted of first degree murder in the killing of his 6 year old "playmate". Money quote: "I’m getting smiles now and then," Rosenbaum (his pro bono - free - attorney) said. "Along with 10 years of probation, Tate will be sentenced to one year of house arrest and 1,000 hours of community service. He will receive mandatory counseling and will continue his education with the support of his mother, mentors and community and church groups."

Here’s Tiffany Eunick.

She’s still dead. Do yourself a favor and do a search on Lionel Tate and Tiffany Eunick. You’ll find that Lionel has many more defenders such as Amnesty International USA - my old group. Tiffany has only her parents and scattered columnists, but no organizations. Even the sentencing judge noticed the fact that no one spoke about Tiffany. No one cared about the victim except her poor distraught parents, enduring the nightmare that every loving parent dreads most. Writer Myles Kantor called this the "inversion of compassion" - something that the left has gotten good at.

As a parent and former 12 year old, I know some things about kids. First and foremost, 12 year old boys do NOT play with 6 year old girls, and if they do, they do so with care and compassion. Lionel shown none of these, and now will be set free.

I challenge those who worked so hard for his release to allow him to babysit their kindergarten age children. Leave him alone with your kids for a few hours. Test the depths of your conviction - even after he serves the 1000 hours of community service. And if you won’t, explain to me why not - tell me I am wrong while you carry that nagging doubt in the back of your mind.

There is no justice for Tiffany. None - and the emptiness of that should give pause to those who are "celebrating" Tate’s freedom.

What the hell happened to Howard Dean?

I mean come on, writers like me love Dean. He inspires us in ways that Kerry cannot. While I do not like Dean, I do not want to see Kerry take his place. Why? Because Kerry is simply Dukakis all over again. Dean is much more energetic. Just look at his picture:

He is INTERESTING. He is spirited. He has fire in his belly. He is a joy to write about and even bash around a bit. Kerry looks as stiff as his hair in contrast.

Come on Howard! Make a comeback you weasel!

I finally fixed the links to the old Razor. As I go through the old site which lasted just about 2 years, I’m finding things that I had forgotten about. Since my readership is now about 1000x bigger today than it was when many of these were written, and because it’s almost the weekend, why not kick back and enjoy some of The Razor’s Deepest Cuts?

Creators & Destroyers - a tribute to Daniel Pearl
Your conscience is their cover - why Total War is the only war to fight.
Rohrschach Test for the Left - The Razor’s first post in cyberspace.
Get Carter - Why we haven’t joined the Carter-Lovefest aka Carterpalooza
Moral Relativism - Believe in the equality of Women? How about in Saudi Arabia?
Bonus Post:
Queer Allies - The Razor supports gay rights. Surprised? You shouldnt’ be.

No news on Spalding Gray. Where the hell is he, and why doesn’t the media care?
Perhaps the loss of an intellectual simply isn’t as interesting as say the 5 hour marriage of Britney Spears, but then again, Ms. Spears would no doubt think Pol Pot is something you smoke. Nothing is out there but the original AP story.

In the meantime I am trying to catch up on his work. There’s a lot out there - even voice credits in a Laurie Anderson piece. Since I don’t have time to watch much besides Monster Garage and Yu-Gi-Oh (a game that is more complicated than AD&D on acid), it would be nice if his monologues were collected somewhere in a book. I’m done with John Adams and even slipped in a Night to Remember since the kids are on a Titanic binge.

Here’s a treatise on manhood that you won’t find written by Bill Moyers: "Wimps & Barbarians - the Sons of Murphy Brown" by Terence O. Moore, former active-duty Marine (ain’t no such thing as an ex-Marine), college professor and now charter school principal. As a male whose father died during adolescence and parent to boys I am keen to discover why society simply doesn’t know how to handle men. Freud believed that men struggled between visions of women as "madonnas and whores", but it is clear that our society has the same problem with men - shown here by the terms Wimps and Barbarians. Perhaps it is due to the apparent need by men to be "imprinted" or taught what it means to be a man, a need that women don’t seem to have.

Moore suggests that today’s boys must look to their grandfathers or even great-grandfathers. I don’t think it’s a bad idea for fathers to do the same since my generation of males seem to be clueless as to what being a man means as well. It is never to late to learn. No woman wants a weepy man, nor does she need an asshole on the couch whose idea of caring is to put the seat up.

So JP Morgan-Chase has purchased BankOne. We’re taking suggestions on new names and slogans for the bank. Hit the comments and add your thought for either or both. Here’s some to start you off:
Chase1 - Destroying shareholder wealth one merger at time.
First Illuminati - We’re everywhere
JPMorganChaseManhattanChemicalBankofNewYorkBankOneFirstUSA - We’re as big as our name.
ChaseBankOne - We own you
JP Morgan Bank1 - Bigger than God
BankOneChase - You’re fired

Get creative now…

It’s amazing how short people’s memories are. Many of those who argued against "unilateral action" in Iraq actually demanded "unilateral action" in Bosnia nine years ago.Dr. Dean might want to consult himself to a specialist on amnesia… Money quote: "Since it is clearly no longer possible to take action in conjunction with NATO and the United Nations, I have reluctantly concluded that we must take unilateral action." Dean 1995 sounds much like Bush 2003…

Howard Dean letter to President Clinton
Source: USA Today

City Journal is always an interesting read, so check them out when you get the chance. Here’s a must read: James Wilson’s "What Makes A Terrorist". Money quote: "Imagine what it would have been like to eliminate the Baader-Meinhof gang if most West Germans believed that democracy was evil and that Marxism was the wave of the future, if the Soviet Union paid a large sum to the family of every killed or captured gang member, if West German students attended schools that taught the evils of democracy and regarded terrorists as heroes, if several West German states were governed by the equivalent of al Fatah, and if there were a German version of Gaza, housing thousands of angry Germans who believed they had a right of return to some homeland."
Like France? Sorry, couldn’t resist…

Thanks to BlackFive:

Actor Spalding Gray is missing - and this article at Fox suggests that he may have committed suicide. If true, then the world has lost a master essayist and commentator. While the article mentioned the classic “Swimming to Cambodia” it failed to note the basis for masterpiece of monologue: the filming of The Killing Fields in which Gray acted. The Killing Fields documents what best could be described as a descent into hell by a Cambodian translator, Dith Pran. The Khmer Rouge atrocities committed in Cambodia aren’t mentioned much these days - yet they should be since they probably rank second only to the Holocaust when it comes to genocide.

We hope that Gray is indeed still around and offering his poignant commentary on world affairs. And if you don’t know much about Pran, follow the links above and learn more about one of the darkest periods in world history.

Hope for France.
Sabine Herold, editor of Liberté J’écris Ton Nom (Liberty, I Write Your Name). Money quote: "I think that to believe in individual freedom is a natural thing."
This is the true spirit of the Revolution.

There have been 7 illegal alien amnesties since 1986.
Source: Numbers USA:

President Bush is proposing to make it 8.

Our main gripes about this plan:
1. It discourages lawful immigration. Instead it encourages people to take their chances and live illegally in the USA. If you are lucky enough not to be caught before the next Amnesty (we predict one in 2007 at the current rate), then you win. Why wait three years in a foreign country for a visa when you can come here, work illegally and eventually gain residency?
2. It encourages more illegal immigration. See the above reason. Since no provisions are there to tighten the border, what is to stop the influx especially since there is a very large "carrot" out there: precedence.
3. It isn’t fair. By coming here illegally, you are showing your disrespect for the laws which govern our society. Meanwhile, others who share our values of lawful behavior receive nothing.
4. It encourages employers to hire illegals. Why not hire illegals and pay them less if the chances of you being punished decrease every time an amnesty is proposed.
5. It is anti-competitive. If no one wants to do a job, the salary and working conditions will improve until someone is willing to do it. Take trash pickup, for example. Sanitation workers earn a decent living doing something that most people don’t want to do. With importing foreign workers to do this, we remove the incentive to change the conditions. In IT, the H-1b has helped create a spiral of decreasing wages, making it harder for everyone in the job to make a living at it.

Bush is in a position where he feels he can alienate his base without consequences while gaining an issue with Hispanic voters. It’s hard for us to argue that - but we are not going to take issue with Bush. Those opposed to this bill should find out where their local representative stands on the issue, then tell him or her how you feel about the issue. Bush might be in the position to support this bill, but people in his party may not be.

And rest assured, we will be watching those.

Fox News:
Why People Fear Guns

The Machiavelli household is a big fan of Steve Irwin and sees no reason for all the hubub about this "demonstration" nor its comparison to Michael Jackson’s infant dangling. First, the man is a professional croc handler; Michael Jackson is not an experienced acrobat. Secondly, Steve Irwin is not completely self-absorbed whereas Mr. Jackson isn’t aware of the existence of anyone else on the planet. Finally, no one has questioned Irwin’s sanity whereas Jackson? Well, if you don’t question it you’ve gotta be nuts.

It seems to me that some of the people who are gunning for Irwin don’t always buckle up their own children in car seats, or don’t have working smoke detectors in their homes. These are greater threats to children than Irwin’s apparent misdeed.

If you read The Razor, you most likely read Steven Den Beste. Every few weeks or so, Den Beste writes a classic. Here is his "Fire And Steel" - an essay about Jacksonian America and why we continually are misunderstood by the rest of the world. Read it all, and if you are European ask yourself: "Why did we lose our fire?"

Here’s a must read by Michael Crichton

It’s truly scary to think how many of these New Years I’ve seen. And they all come so much faster each year. I almost expect that if you lived long enough, time would become a blur and events would be zipping past you without your being able to grasp their true meaning.

Or not.

I just checked my stats for the last month and boy are we on a tear. More traffic than we’ve ever had. Lots of French too. bâtards pauvres.

So what lies in store for this year? Well, I expect Andrew Sullivan will continue to ignore me. Hollywood will continue to put out crap. All the music that anyone under the age of 20 will still objectively suck, and lost of aging stars that you haven’t thought about in a few years will drop like flies.

Speaking of dropping like flies. Sorry for you Catholics out there but I see the chances of the Pope lasting to see another New Year rank up there with the likelihood of anyone muttering this phrase after next November: “President Sharpton".
Bill O’Reilly will still not understand the internet. Barbara Streisand will still not buy a dictionary, and Janeane Garofalo will still not be funny.

Michael Jackson will cop a plea, Scott Peterson will get Life, and the “Democratic wing of the Democratic party” will get shown the door by the American voter.

Israel will complete it’s security fence. Syria will open up to UN inspections of its WMD program, and President Musharrif’s luck will run out in Pakistan.

Expensive Fun
Howard Dean needs to grow up.
By William Saletan

After reading this (Eye on the Media: CBS’s Simon not fenced in by facts), we are adding this to our links.
Welcome aboard, CAMERA.

Contrary to what our enemies say, we at The Razor are NOT anti-Iranian or even anti-Islamic. In fact, when the world changes one of us wishes to spend some time travelling through the country and visiting the holy city of Qom.

We therefore DO NOT REJOICE in the suffering of the Iranian people of Bam. Having lived through earthquakes in Africa as well as Southern California, we agree completely with the following writer in the Guardian, and wonder when the wealthy ayatollahs will be shown to be the hypocrites they are by a righteous and wronged people.

Money quote: “This is not a silly question. True, the Californians are much richer than the Iranians. But if you believed everything you read in the works of M Moore and others, you would anticipate a culture of corporate greed in which safety and regulation came way behind the desire to turn the quick buck. Instead you discover a society in which the protection of citizens from falling masonry seems to be regarded as enormously important. Whereas in Iran - for all its spiritual solidarity - the authorities don’t appear to give a toss.”

They sure didn’t. Why did so many have to die in Bam?
The Guardian
David Aaronovitch
Tuesday December 30, 2003
The Guardian

Haaretz Daily:
Anti-Semites are using the Holocaust
By Yehoshua Amishav

To the French, it’s all a joke.
Having forgotten that 1 French national died on September 11, that had the passengers not reacted Richard Reid would have blown up an airliner flying from Paris carrying 185 passengers and 12 crew, believing that America is the greater threat to peace than radical Islam, the French continue their little dance with the devil. How long before al-Qaeda realizes that Paris is a much easier target than Washington DC - albeit a less important one?

Maybe seeing a few thousand of their countrymen immolated will show them that the War On Terrorism is not a game.
Read the article…

Daily Telegraph: US in row with France over terror operation
By David Rennie in Washington
(Filed: 26/12/2003)

Heroes come in all shapes, sizes and gender identities. Merry Christmas, Morea - from the staff of The Razor.

Thanks to Tacitus.

Here’s a WP article about Dean’s “misstatements". From where I come from we call such things “lies". Money quote:
Dean recently said, “I never said Saddam was a danger to the United States. Ever.” But in September 2002, Dean told CBS’s “Face the Nation": “There is no question that Saddam Hussein is a threat to the United States. The question is: Is he an immediate threat?”
Read the entire thing. ˆ$Dean’s Remarks Give Rivals Talking Points
His Readiness to Lead Is Questioned

Here’s why we don’t like Howard Dean. Read Mark Steyn’s article in the WSJ Opinion Journal below.
Money quote:

“And that’s our pugnacious little Democrat. On Osama bin Laden, he’s Mister Insouciant. But he gets mad about bike paths. Destroy the World Trade Center and he’s languid and laconic and blasé. Obstruct plans to convert the ravaged site into a memorial bike path and he’ll hunt you down wherever you are. “

The Bike-Path Left
Saddam? Osama? Whatever, dude!

In a pointed address delivered with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) on hand, Hoshyar Zebari said the United Nations (news - web sites) had failed to stand up to Saddam to defend the Iraqi people, and called for a swift UN return to the country.
“One year ago, the Security Council was divided between those who wanted to appease Saddam Hussein and those who wanted to hold him accountable,” Zebari told the 15-nation council, which was sharply divided over the war.
“The UN as an organisation failed to help rescue the Iraqi people from a murderous tyranny of 35 years,” he said. “The UN must not fail the Iraqi people again.”
Annan, who publicly opposed the US decision to launch the war after failing to win the support of the Security Council, said it was “no time to pin blame and point fingers” over the past.
“I think the UN has done as much as it can for Iraq,” Annan told reporters. “So quite honestly I don’t think today is the time to hurl accusations.”
The United States is hoping that Saturday’s capture of Saddam will be able to get the council to unite behind its plans to rebuild the country and hand over power to Iraqis by the end of June.
But the bitter divisions over the war have repeatedly threatened to bubble back to the surface as the council haggles over how to handle Iraq’s future.
“The fact that the war was won doesn’t make legitimate something that was not legitimate,” France’s UN ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere said after the council meeting. “But this is the past.”
Key opponents of the war on the Security Council, including France, Germany and Russia, now are opposed to the United States overseeing the rebuilding and political transition, and want a larger role for the United Nations.
Zebari said the bickering should be put aside and called on the council to find “consensus” on how to help with the task of rebuilding Iraq.
“Settling scores with the United States-led coalition should not be at the cost of helping to bring stability to the Iraqi people,” he said.
“Squabbling over political differences takes a back seat to the daily struggle for security, jobs, basic freedoms and all the rights the UN is chartered to uphold.”
Zebari also chided Annan for deciding to base his UN team for Iraq in Cyprus and Jordan because of security concerns.
But the UN chief again said Iraq remains too dangerous to bring back his international staff in force. He pulled personnel out of Baghdad several weeks after the suicide bombing of the UN’s offices there, which killed 22 people.
“We need much greater clarity on what is expected of the United Nations by Iraqis and by the coalition in terms of assistance to the political transition,” Annan told the council.
“In taking the difficult decisions that lie ahead, I need to weigh the degree of risk that the United Nations is being asked to accept against the substance of the role we are being asked to fulfil,” he said.

the Great Mufti of Jerusalem, al Hadj al Husseini, helped the Nazis to constitute Muslim SS divisions, and that Christians still today are stigmatized and repressed throughout the Muslim world.

As many books written by French teachers show, young French Muslims frequently deny the fact of Nazi genocide against Europe’s Jews. Muslim clerics, frequently backed by their governments, continue to disseminate the medieval forgery "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," also a favorite of such salubrious organizations as the Ku Klux Klan.

Political correctness also insists that communism, socialism and leftist radicalism are good. Conservatism and the Right are bad. They created Fascism and Nazism (when actually both are forms of totalitarian Socialism). Bush and Sharon are from the Right. They are evil. Their countries are both capitalist and rich. Thus bad. Rich Israelis and Americans from the right are attacking poor Palestinians and Iraqis. This leads to the portrayal of Israeli and American leaders as "Nazis."

The condemnation of Nazi Germany, a totalitarian and powerful state with a strong army, brought into vogue the condemnation of any national state. "With the Six Day War, the Israelis demonstrated their capacity for power. For the anti-Semite, the Jews once considered weak and stateless came to be viewed as strong and nationalist," writes Gilles William Goldnadel in Le Nouveau Bréviaire de la Haine (new breviary of hate). The Israeli state built around one religion and defended by a strong army became the hated state.

This idea explains why Israel is viewed by 59 percent of Europeans as the country which most endangers world peace. Repeated by Islamists and leftists, the "green-red" alliance, Anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic remarks are widely spread during leftist anti-globalization rallies that are always pro-Palestinian. The revealed European report noted that: "Often this generated a combination of anti-Zionist and anti-American views that formed an important element in the emergence of an anti-Semitic mood in Europe."

The consequences are that "Jewish communities are once again victims of hostile acts in an atmosphere of relative indifference," writes Goldnadel. The latest fire in a French Jewish school in Bondy illustrates this point. French authorities have firmly condemned such acts. But they have not dared to denounce those responsible, young French Arabs, and have taken no action to prevent any further acts.

Rabbi Marvin Hier is right to say that "shocking poll results, showing that European popular opinion is that Israel is the greatest threat to world peace, bigger than North Korea, Iran and Afghanistan, defies logic." But is it "a racist fantasy?" Today, racism is only apparent when one suggests that a Muslim or an Arab country is dangerous.

Ancient anti-Semitism is still alive in Europe. The recent declarations of German General Reinhard Gunzel and German Parliamentarian Martin Hohmann demonstrate this clearly. Hohman called the Jews "a nation of perpetrators responsible for millions of murders in the name of socialism and Bolshevism" because Marx, Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev were Jewish. Never mind that Lenin and Stalin were not Jewish and murdered thousands of Jewish communists.

This old anti-Semitism from the Right is progressively disappearing. The new anti-Semitism comes from the Left. Eerily echoing the voice of the defunct Soviet Union, anti-Israelism today is the most powerful modern vector of anti-Semitism. Since World War II, anti-Semites have attacked the Jewish state as a substitute for the Jewish people. One may notice that intellectuals from the Left who propagate anti-Israelism and political correctness are often Jewish themselves. But the overwhelming numbers of anti-Semitic acts in Europe are of Arab-Muslim immigrant origin.

To avoid debate on these facts, as the EU is doing, is counterproductive. On 19 November, one French Jewish disc jockey was murdered by an Arab Muslim. The murderer was proud of "having eliminated one Jewish scum from the earth." To prevent any debate, French authorities said the Arab was "psychologically disturbed." Maybe. But are other crimes from "less psychologically disturbed" Muslims needed before Muslims and the Left are called to task?

Being a leftist, an immigrant, an Arab and/or a Muslim does not automatically put one on the side of the angels. One has the right to question Leftists and Muslims on their anti-Semitism. European and Muslim media should stop characterizing Israel as a Nazi state. This is not only a question of justice. It is a necessity if one doesn’t want the new anti-Semitism to spread and the worst to come.

Andrews Sullivan: I’M STILL REELING: We will all have our own memories of yesterday. No, the war is not over. The Baathist terrorists will continue, although they must feel somewhat demoralized. The dead-enders have now reached a real dead-end. There will be time to think about the domestic ramifications of this - and what it might mean for Iraq’s transition to freedom. Just not so fast. For me, the moment I won’t forget was the sudden roar of excitement and jubilation from Iraqi journalists in the press conference room when Jerry Bremer gave the news. Salon describes it well:

The room erupted in cheers and shouts. Iraqi reporters in the room began yelling, crying, sobbing. A middle aged Iraqi man sitting near me wept while he frantically took notes. Other Iraqis called for Saddam’s death. A man sitting in the front row wailed with his head in his hands. The press conference paused briefly while the man calmed down.
It is not for us to understand fully what these people were put through. At a moment like this, when we can see fully and clearly the evil that existed for so long - evil that we in the past did our part to maintain - it is important simply to recall the dead and their loved ones. Think of every moment when some poor soul believed he was about to die, every moment spent in hellish prisons, every person tortured beyond imagining, every child dumped in a mass grave, every person of faith treated as an enemy of the state. To watch the perpetrator of this extraordinary evil brought low - into a rat-hole in the ground - is a privilege. It happens rarely. It is a moment when some kind of cosmic justice breaks through the clouds, and all the petty wrangling and mistakes and political jockeying fall away in the face of liberation from inescapable fear and terror and brutality. It was a day of joy. Nothing remains to be said right now. Joy.

Here’s a must read from Tech Central Station about anti-Semitism and the Left. Click the Read More button below and pull up a chair. L”

Tech Central Station:
Red-Green Anti-Semitism
By Jean-Christophe Mounicq Published 12/15/2003
The recent outburst of anti-Semitism in Europe has little to do with the sad history of European prejudice. The new anti-Semitism is not due to a resurgence of far-right activism or neo-Nazism. Recent anti-Semitic acts have been proven to be of Muslim-Arab origin and have more to do with the Islamization of Europe. On 2 December, the World Jewish Congress brought more evidence of this green anti-Semitism by making public a disputed report kept under wraps by the European Union.

If European authorities are not facing up to anti-Jewish sentiment among Muslim immigrants in Europe, it is partly because this new anti-Semitism capitalizes on the "politically correct" anti-Israeli bias currently in vogue in the EU, a bias promoted by many European politicians.

European politicians also have trouble admitting that it is bolstered by the steady and uncontrolled immigration of Muslims since the 1960s and the spreading of Radical Islam by and among immigrants. This is another result of political correctness which impeaches any criticism of the sources of anti-Semitism. Being the result of political correctness linked to leftist bias of the media, the new anti-Semitism may also be qualified as Red.

Contemporary political correctness defines any limits on immigration as racism. Any political leader, intellectual or "normal" citizen, who suggests that immigration should be controlled through the application of law or who advocates repatriation of illegal immigrants is denounced as a racist. It is sometimes even considered outrageous to suggest that immigrants should obey the law.

Senator Joe Biden criticized the Pentagon’s move to aware contracts to countries actively helping us to rebuild Iraq, the new policy is a "totally gratuitous slap" that "does nothing to protect our security interests and everything to alienate countries we need with us in Iraq."

Why exactly do we need the French, Germans and Russians in Iraq? These countries benefited enormously when Saddam was in power, why should they benefit from his removal - especially since these three countries fought our every effort to do so?

There are mass graves filled with hundreds of thousands of people suffering "the peace of the dead" because of France, Germany and Russia’s friend - Saddam. As an American tax payer I would prefer my money being spent to help free the Iraqis than oppress them, and to do so by creating American, British and Polish jobs than French ones.

We know who are friends are; we won’t forget. Senator Biden shouldn’t either.

Well, it’s official. Gore’s a weasel - not necessarily for supporting Dean (he’s always been a bit too much of the wealthy, Streisand-type of liberal) but for stabbing Joe Lieberman in the back.

Fox News: Teens More Conservative on Some Issues
So how long before the Left starts whining about giving the right to vote to 18 year olds?

Here are my biases:
I lived in Japan 5 years.
I’ve studied Japan for going on 20.
I know who the Meiji Emperor was and why he was restored.
I know who unified Japan and the saying that schoolchildren are taught to remember it: "Oda cut the wheat, Toyotomi kneaded the dough, and Tokugawa baked it."
Kurosawa Akira made the best samurai movies ever. Without a doubt. Don’t believe me? See Seven Samurai and Hidden Fortress.

About Tom Cruise:
He was great in Top Gun and Risky Business.
Other than that, the man can’t act. Sorry, but he can’t.

And there lies my problem with the Last Samurai. Watching Cruise in this movie was painful - seriously, it was almost embarrassing. I have seen better performances at being drunk by high school girls sipping their first 3.2 beer. I don’t know if it’s the fault of the directors of his movies who are afraid to get him to emote without being fired or what. But the truth is, while he cuts a handsome figure wearing a yukata and carrying a blade, Tom Cruise simply can’t act.

There were some great moments though. The samurai came through the fog wearing their armor and helmets on horses - appearing like the gods they were. It was a wonderful scene, and easily conveyed the fear that must have been felt by the musket carrying farmer-conscripts of the Imperial army. Ken Watanabe played an excellent Katsumoto, and the supporting performances by the Japanese casts were delightful. There was a strong Kurosawa-esque moment where Cruise gets a lesson taught by Katsumoto’s right hand & silent man in the rain. It was supposed to show Cruise’s perserverence, but did so while harkening back to Kurosawa’s classic Samurai epics.

But like so many American movies, this one should have ended 20 minutes before it actually did. Cruise should not have left Katsumoto’s side - and if you see the movie you’ll know what I mean. The movie should have ended right then and there, fulfilling the Thermopylae story.

Also, and this is the historian coming out in me, the reformers weren’t the bad guys during the Meiji period. They realized that Japan could either modernize or be carved up and colonized by the European powers just like China. They didn’t just do it for self-aggrandizment. In fact, many samurai had gone into shopkeeping and trade during the Tokugawa period anyway and benefited from the modernization. Such common names as Matsushita, Mitsui and Sumitomo are Samurai names.

Bottom line: This was a poor copy of Dances With Wolves set at an extraordinary time in an extraordinary place. It’s a damn shame that the movie wasn’t better.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: a true conservative should have no problem with homosexuals or the issues they present such as marriage. After all, how could the “institution” of marriage be damaged any more than it has already by straight people? If anything, gays would probably only add to the importance of the institution instead of encouraging its demise by remaining on the outside. Think of it like the early Christian church turning the Germanic tribes into believers by being flexible and not as dogmatic about things that really don’t matter.

Sexuality between two adults really doesn’t matter; what does matter is the commitment. Many straight couples have forgotten this lesson; maybe the gay couples will help them to remember this simple piece of advice: If you can’t make the commitment, don’t make the commitment.

Even though he never answers our emails, thanks to Andrew Sullivan to pointing out this bit of outrage: Queer allies: The little-noticed alliance between gay marriage opponents and alleged terrorist sympathizers. Sorry, but I would ally myself with the most flaming queen in a second versus an Islamic militant. The former might want to dress me better, but the latter would want to kill me - and trust me, the feeling would be mutual. Any group that allies themselves even rhetorically with Islamic fascists should be prepared for a one way trip to Gitmo in my humble opinion.

Yes it’s that time - time to run and hide from anything that starts out “2003:"… Well you can’t escape it here, folks. So here we go:
2003: A Year in Review
The Year’s Greatest Non-Events

1. Wesley Clark’s run for the presidency - As hyped as much as Madonna’s lesbian kiss with Brittany (it’s not the girl on girl action that turns our stomachs; it’s the 25 year age difference. BS may as well as been frenching her mom… EEeeww…) this was one of the year’s greatest non-events. A grassroots “Draft Clark” movement. A “Democrat” with some military experience (albeit in retrospect - the wrong kind of experience ie almost starting World War 3 with the Russians in Kosovo) - yet as we write this guy’s odds at being president are up there with Rob Schneider’s. He’s pulled out of New Hampshire. He’s pulled out of Iowa. What’s left? New Springfield?

2. Saddam’s Weapons of Mass Destruction - One of the reasons that Saddam posed a threat to his neighbors, the WMD program was (thankfully) one of 2003’s non-events. While Democrats and Leftists wet their pants with glee as each passing day shows no sign of these, Saddam is evidently the one with Sarin on his face. His own scientists made him believe that he had something that he didn’t. Given Saddam’s past use of these weapons on civilians - this is a very good thing indeed.

3. Iraqi resistance to invasion - Saddam’s call to turn every inch of Iraq into Mogadishu resulted in a world record routing of an army. While the insurgency still burns, it is nothing along the scale that Saddam and his apologists on the Left had hoped and preyed for.

4. The Uprising of the Arab Street - America’s invasion of Iraq was supposed to cause this. Instead the street’s gotten really quiet these days as the Middle Eastern nations begin policing it.

5. The Hulk. Big green guy runs around and destroys everything. A Marine does it so much better.

6. The 2003-04 network prime time lineup. Name one new show that you watched. Can’t? You were too busy watching MXC on SpikeTV too, huh?

7. Chicago Cubs win the pennant! Not in a hundred years…

8. Stop The War/Not in my Name/"your anti-American slogan here” protests. Nothing like rich folks protesting about a war they don’t have to fight.

9. Al-Qaeda Follow-up attacks: Bring it on you dickless pussies.

10. Jobs. Yeah the economy sure is booming - in India…

The Washington Post has a good story today about how Ayatollah Sistani, a Shiite cleric in Iraq, "trumped" Paul Bremer and the will of the Bush Administration. I think the article proves several things about the Administration’s handling of Iraq:
First, it’s flexible. People forget the task we have here. The Iraqis have been fed a constant diet of anti-Americanism, and here we are ruling them. It must suck from their perspective. They don’t trust us, and believe that we don’t understand them. Bremer and the admins showed that when the plan wasn’t working, and it definitely wasn’t working with Sistani’s Fatwa casting a pall over the interim authority, they changed their plan. Contrary to what many on the Left believe, the administration showed that it is dealing with the reality on the ground.

Second, it shows American respect for Islam. Sistani could have been deported or jailed. Instead, he was listened to and negotiated with.

Third, it will build trust as time continues. We need the trust of clerics and tribal leaders in order to succeed in Iraq. The jihadist and Baathists turning to softer targets in Iraq will make it harder for them to operate as they alienate the population.

Finally, it proves that we are there for the reasons we said we were. We aren’t interested in colonizing the place - or raping it for oil. Instead we are there to build a free and prosperous Iraq.

Dems will no doubt seize on the article as proof of Bush’s "mishandling" of Iraq. However the article shows the opposite to be the case. Check it out for yourself.

John Dvorak is whinging about blogs. “Let’s start with abandoned blogs. In a white paper released by Perseus Development Corp., the company reveals details of the blogging phenomenon that indicate its foothold in popular culture may already be slipping (www.perseus.com/blogsurvey). According to the survey of bloggers, over half of them are not updating any more.”

This is a bad thing? Yes writing is hard. Yes writing for a dozen people sucks. Every blogger hits the wall where he or she must decide - is this worth it? I hit it last summer - as the dearth of postings will attest. Then guess what? I realized that deep down - even though writing is tough - this is what I do. I won’t naval gaze, or wallow in my own sainthood ala “St. Machiavelli - Patron Saint of Politicians and Mid-level Managers” . Truth be told, I want blogs to die off. As Harlan Ellison once wrote, “If you can stop writing, please by all means do so.” Me? I can’t shut up. So here I am. 2 years and I’m still here.

An update on the Palestinian Psycho DeathCulture:
What Santa won’t be stuffing in the socks of little boys & girls in the (un)Holy Land.

James Lileks (via Instapundit) on Salam Pax: (re: his comments in The Guardian, which thanked Bush for toppling Saddam but complained about poor service afterward:)

The London Streets
Who are these anti-Bush people?
By Amir Taheri

LONDON — George W. Bush’s visit to London this week will be historic for at least two reasons. He will be the first U.S. president to come to Britain on a state visit. He will also observe a bizarre political marriage: one between the remnants of the Marxist-Leninist Left and militant Islamists. Negotiated over the past two years, the "wedding," will be celebrated in a mass demonstration against Bush’s visit.

When I called the coalition to ask whether the idea was to stop all wars, a spokeswoman assured me that this was not the case.

She referred me to the first article of the coalition’s charter that states: "The aim of the coalition is simple: to stop the war currently declared by the United States and its allies against ‘terrorism.’"

"We really want to stop Bush and Blair from going around killing babies," she said. "Our objective is to force the U.S. out of Iraq and Afghanistan."

But what if a U.S. withdrawal means the return of the Taliban and Saddam Hussein?

"Anything would be better than American Imperialist rule," she snapped back.

Who are these nostalgics of the Taliban and Saddam Hussein?

The coalition has a steering committee of 33 members. Of these, 18 come from various hard left groups: Communists, Trotskyites, Maoists, and Castrists. Three others belong to the radical wing of the Labour party. There are also eight radical Islamists. The remaining four are leftist ecologists known as "Watermelons" (Green outside, red inside).

The chairman of the coalition is one Andrew Murray, a former employee of the Soviet Novosty Agency and leader in the British Communist party. Cochair is Muhammad Asalm Ijaz of the London Council of Mosques. Members include John Rees of the Socialist Workers’ party and Ghayassudin Siddiqui of the Muslim Parliament. Tanja Salem of the Al-awdah (The Return) group, an outfit close to Yasser Arafat, is also a member along with Shahedah Vawda of "Just Peace," another militant Arab group, and Wolf Wayne of the "Green Socialist Network."

A prominent member is George Galloway, a Labour-party parliamentarian under investigation for the illegal receipt of funds from Saddam Hussein. In his memoirs, Galloway says that the day the Soviet Union collapsed was "the saddest day" of his life.

Galloway says the only terrorism in the world today comes from the United States, not from organizations such as al Qaeda or the remnants of the Iraqi Baath party.

The coalition was created in London in September 2001, at first as an exclusively leftist concoction bringing together the remnants of the Stalinist "peace movement" of the 1950s, diehard "no nukes" activists, and some fellow travellers.

The coalition has succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of its founders. For the first time ever it has brought together all radical leftist and anarchist groups. Under its umbrella march such traditional former archenemies as Stalinists and Trotskyites.

But the coalition’s biggest success is the alliance that it has forged between the extreme Left and militant Islamist groups. This would have been unthinkable even a couple of years ago. The Left always regarded Islam as a "relic of feudalism" and an instrument of reactionary Arab regimes. For their part, the Islamists regarded leftists as atheist enemies who had to be put to the sword.

The first to advocate a leftist-Islamist alliance against Western democracies was Ayman Al Zawahiri al Qaeda’s #2.

In a message to al Qaeda sympathizers in Britain in August 2002, he urged them to seek allies among "any movement that opposes America, even atheists."

The idea has received strong support from Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the Venezuelan terrorist known as "Carlos the Jackal."

In his book Revolutionary Islam, published in Paris last month, Carlos, who says he has converted to Islam, says he has advised Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda leader, to forge an alliance with "all guerrilla, terrorist and other revolutionary groups throughout the world, regardless of their religious or ideological beliefs."

Carlos says Islam is the only force capable of persuading large numbers of people to become "volunteers" for suicide attacks against the U.S.

"Only a coalition of Marxists and Islamists can destroy the US," he says.

This week’s anti-Bush demonstration in London will mark the emergence of a coalition the hard core of which consists of the radical Left and militant Islamism. Around it we find other groups who hate the U.S. for different reasons. There are supporters of free abortion, opponents of capital punishment, anti-globalization fanatics, advocates of the Kyoto protocol on the environment, and anti-Semites who believe the Jews control the United States. But a good part of the planned demonstrations will, as always, consist of what Lenin called "the useful idiots", men and women of good faith whose political naiveté makes them natural targets for experts in agitprop.

But why are these people taking to the streets?

One reason is that the parties, groups, and individuals involved have consistently failed to find a place in the normal institutions of British democracy.

The 60 or so leftist and Islamist groups involved in this odd enterprise have never managed to win more than one half of one percent of the votes in any British general election. Nor have they succeeded in winning a single seat in parliament or a majority in a single municipal council.

Those who can never win elections, always take to the streets. Street politics enables them to escape debate on complex issues that cannot be reduced to a few simplistic slogans.

Britain’s participation in the war against terrorism was the subject of four exhaustive debates in the House of Commons in 2001 and 2002, each followed by a vote that Prime Minister Tony Blair won.

Street politics is for those who wish to abolish individual political judgment, the cornerstone of democratic life. Street politics encourages the irrational tendencies of crowds that could turn into hunting packs or lynch mobs. Power won in the streets produces only ochlocracy (rule by the worst).

To make sure that no discordant voice is heard, the organizers of the demonstrations have announced that only "authorized" t-shirts, hats and other paraphernalia will be allowed. Only four slogans are permitted: "Stop Bush," "Stop Blair," " U.S. Out of Iraq and Afghanistan," and " Bush Go Home!"

The demonstration’s security force, made up of muscular Marxists and Islamists, has instructions to prevent any sign of pro-American sentiments. A group that has said it wants to take part in the demonstrations with t-shirts saying "Bush-Cheney: Four More Years!" has been warned of "dire consequences."

The London demonstration is planned and will be supervised in the best Stalinist traditions still in force in North Korea.

In countries that suffer under despotism, the street is, at times, the only space available to the opposition. This is why we hear so much about the so-called "Arab street." But do we need a "British street" that disdains the institutions of democracy, including mainstream political parties, and the parliament?

Amir Taheri, and NRO contributor, is an Iranian author of ten books on the Middle East and Islam. Taheri is reachable through www.benadorassociates.com.

Turkey is a Muslim - albeit secular - nation. Turkey vehemently opposed the war in Iraq by the USA and its allies. Turkey even went so far to refuse allowing American troops and materials destined for northern Iraq passage through the country. Turkish opinion has run about 90% against American actions in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Istanbul Truck-Bomb Attack Kills 25. "A man calling the semiofficial Anatolia news agency claimed that Al Qaeda and the militant Islamic Great Eastern Raiders’ Front , or IBDA-C, jointly claimed responsibility for attacks."

What an Iraqi in Iraq thinks of the anti-American protests:

Apologize now you stinking bastards…

They would if Arafat hadn’t taken it all. Even CBS 60 Minutes are wondering where a cool billion of the Palestinian’s money is. So far they know it is in banks in Switzerland, Israel and other countries. But Yassir isn’t giving away account numbers just yet. Read the J-Post article. By the way, according to X-Rates, roughly 5 Israeli New Sheckles (NIS) equal one US dollar.

It’s not just the French who are disgusting. Some Italians are too. They’ve raised $14,165 to buy weapons to kill Americans - and therefore bring back a return of Saddam, the rape rooms, torture chambers, mass graves, and childrens prisons.

Confirm my belief in humanity: Click on the links to the left and send money to help terror victims in Israel. Or send some $$$ to support our troops at Troopaid .

Sometimes it just makes me sick… Italian group backs Iraq fighters
Tamsin Smith
BBC reporter in Rome

A group of Italian anti-war militants is raising funds to support the armed Iraqi resistance, the BBC has learned.

The discovery comes as Italy mourns 19 men killed in a suicide attack in Iraq last week.

The “Antiimperialista” organisation’s internet campaign asks people to send “10 Euros to the Iraqi resistance".

They say they have collected 12,000 euros ($14,165) in the past eight weeks and admit the money used could be used to buy weapons.

The Antiimperialistas are a group of European anti-war and anti-globalisation supporters.

They are currently organising an anti-war demonstration in Italy next month, and it remains to be seen whether news of the fund-raising activities will deter more moderate anti-war activists from attending.

The organisation’s Italian branch says the money will be given to an Iraqi resistance group known as the Iraqi Patriotic Opposition.

Independent Iraqi sources in London say the leaders of this group have a long history of association with the Baath party and are now back in Iraq supporting the armed resistance.

“To think there are people in Italy collecting money in order to kill our heroes is really a shame ”
Lucio Malan
Forza Italia Party

The Italian spokesman of the antiimperialistas, Moreno Pasquinelli, says the money collected so far is in an Italian bank account.

Mr Pasquinelli said it would be taken to Iraq in January. He was candid when asked about raising money for the Iraqi Patriotic Opposition which says it actively supports military resistance.

“Its not our affair how they use this money. If they want to use it to print papers for example, or to buy weapons in order to fight for the Iraqi independence,” he said.

“We support the armed struggle in Iraq. our money is to help them, it doesn’t matter to us if they use it buy weapons, Kalashnikovs, or medicines for people.”

When asked to confirm if the money raised could be used to buy weapons he admitted: “Yes they could, and why not?”

Shame

The Italian Interior Ministry refused to comment, saying the matter was with the security services.

Lucio Malan, a senator from the governing Forza Italia Party, was shocked to hear about the campaign.

“The first word that comes to my mind is shame and horror,” he told BBC Radio Four’s Today programme.

“They are raising money against people (Italian troops) who are defending the peace, the security of the people of that country. They have not killed or wounded anyone in that country they are helping to take away unexploded bombs.”

He said the group’s activities “collecting money to give it outspokenly to terrorist groups” was certainly illegal in Italy.

Too bad the elites were wrong. No less than the Attorney General Janet Reno’s Justice Department had evidence of the al-Qaeda/Saddam link back in 1998. The best story by far on the links between the two is reprinted in its entirety below. Will the idiots at NPR and PBS admit their mistake?

Weekly Standard, November 24, 2003, Case Closed
The U.S. government’s secret memo detailing cooperation between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.
by Stephen F. Hayes (Note that the report stops short of confirming that the funds were transferred. It claims only that the IIS officer requested the transfer.) Recall that Atta flew to Prague from Germany on May 30, 2000, but was denied entry because he did not have a valid visa. Rather than simply return to Germany and fly directly to the United States, his ultimate destination, Atta took pains to get to Prague. After he was refused entry the first time, he traveled back to Germany, obtained the proper paperwork, and caught a bus back to Prague. He left for the United States the day after arriving in Prague for the second time.

Several reports indicate that the relationship between Saddam and bin Laden continued, even after the September 11 attacks:

31. An Oct. 2002 . . . report said al Qaeda and Iraq reached a secret agreement whereby Iraq would provide safe haven to al Qaeda members and provide them with money and weapons. The agreement reportedly prompted a large number of al Qaeda members to head to Iraq. The report also said that al Qaeda members involved in a fraudulent passport network for al Qaeda had been directed to procure 90 Iraqi and Syrian passports for al Qaeda personnel.

accompanies that report indicates that the report fits the pattern of Iraq-al Qaeda collaboration:

References to procurement of false passports from Iraq and offers of safe haven previously have surfaced in CIA source reporting considered reliable. Intelligence reports to date have maintained that Iraqi support for al Qaeda usually involved providing training, obtaining passports, and offers of refuge. This report adds to that list by including weapons and money. This assistance would make sense in the aftermath of 9-11.

Colin Powell, in his February 5, 2003, presentation to the U.N. Security Council, revealed the activities of Abu Musab al Zarqawi. Reporting in the memo expands on Powell’s case and might help explain some of the resistance the U.S. military is currently facing in Iraq.

37. Sensitive reporting indicates senior terrorist planner and close al Qaeda associate al Zarqawi has had an operational alliance with Iraqi officials. As of Oct. 2002, al Zarqawi maintained contacts with the IIS to procure weapons and explosives, including surface-to-air missiles from an IIS officer in Baghdad. According to sensitive reporting, al Zarqawi was setting up sleeper cells in Baghdad to be activated in case of a U.S. occupation of the city, suggesting his operational cooperation with the Iraqis may have deepened in recent months. Such cooperation could include IIS provision of a secure operating bases [sic] and steady access to arms and explosives in preparation for a possible U.S. invasion. Al Zarqawi’s procurements from the Iraqis also could support al Qaeda operations against the U.S. or its allies elsewhere.

itive reporting, a contact with good access who does not have an established reporting record: An Iraqi intelligence service officer said that as of mid-March the IIS was providing weapons to al Qaeda members located in northern Iraq, including rocket propelled grenade (RPG)-18 launchers. According to IIS information, northern Iraq-based al Qaeda members believed that the U.S. intended to strike al Qaeda targets during an anticipated assault against Ansar al-Islam positions.

CRITICS OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION have complained that Iraq-al Qaeda connections are a fantasy, trumped up by the warmongers at the White House to fit their preconceived notions about international terror; that links between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden have been routinely “exaggerated” for political purposes; that hawks “cherry-picked” bits of intelligence and tendentiously presented these to the American public.

Carl Levin, a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, made those points as recently as November 9, in an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.” Republicans on the committee, he complained, refuse to look at the administration’s “exaggeration of intelligence.” Said Levin: “The question is whether or not they exaggerated intelligence in order to carry out their purpose, which was to make the case for going to war. Did we know, for instance, with certainty that there was any relationship between the Iraqis and the terrorists that were in Afghanistan, bin Laden? The administration said that there’s a connection between those terrorist groups in Afghanistan and Iraq. Was there a basis for that?”

There was, as shown in the memo to the committee on which Levin serves. And much of the reporting comes from Clinton-era intelligence. Not that you would know this from Al Gore’s recent public statements. Indeed, the former vice president claims to be privy to new “evidence” that the administration lied. In an August speech at New York University, Gore claimed: “The evidence now shows clearly that Saddam did not want to work with Osama bin Laden at all, much less give him weapons of mass destruction.” Really?

One of the most interesting things to note about the 16-page memo is that it covers only a fraction of the evidence that will eventually be available to document the relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda. For one thing, both Saddam and bin Laden were desperate to keep their cooperation secret. (Remember, Iraqi intelligence used liquid paper on an internal intelligence document to conceal bin Laden’s name.) For another, few people in the U.S. government are expressly looking for such links. There is no Iraq-al Qaeda equivalent of the CIA’s 1,400-person Iraq Survey Group currently searching Iraq for weapons of mass destruction.

Instead, CIA and FBI officials are methodically reviewing Iraqi intelligence files that survived the three-week war last spring. These documents would cover several miles if laid end-to-end. And they are in Arabic. They include not only connections between bin Laden and Saddam, but also revolting details of the regime’s long history of brutality. It will be a slow process.

So Feith’s memo to the Senate Intelligence Committee is best viewed as sort of a “Cliff’s Notes” version of the relationship. It contains the highlights, but it is far from exhaustive.

One example. The memo contains only one paragraph on Ahmed Hikmat Shakir, the Iraqi facilitator who escorted two September 11 hijackers through customs in Kuala Lumpur. U.S. intelligence agencies have extensive reporting on his activities before and after the September 11 hijacking. That they would include only this brief overview suggests the 16-page memo, extensive as it is, just skims the surface of the reporting on Iraq-al Qaeda connections.

Other intelligence reports indicate that Shakir whisked not one but two September 11 hijackers–Khalid al Midhar and Nawaq al Hamzi–through the passport and customs process upon their arrival in Kuala Lumpur on January 5, 2000. Shakir then traveled with the hijackers to the Kuala Lumpur Hotel where they met with Ramzi bin al Shibh, one of the masterminds of the September 11 plot. The meeting lasted three days. Shakir returned to work on January 9 and January 10, and never again.

Shakir got his airport job through a contact at the Iraqi Embassy. (Iraq routinely used its embassies as staging grounds for its intelligence operations; in some cases, more than half of the alleged “diplomats” were intelligence operatives.) The Iraqi embassy, not his employer, controlled Shakir’s schedule. He was detained in Qatar on September 17, 2001. Authorities found in his possession contact information for terrorists involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1998 embassy bombings, the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, and the September 11 hijackings. The CIA had previous reporting that Shakir had received a phone call from the safe house where the 1993 World Trade Center attacks had been plotted.

The Qataris released Shakir shortly after his arrest. On October 21, 2001, he flew to Amman, Jordan, where he was to change planes to a flight to Baghdad. He didn’t make that flight. Shakir was detained in Jordan for three months, where the CIA interrogated him. His interrogators concluded that Shakir had received extensive training in counter-interrogation techniques. Not long after he was detained, according to an official familiar with the intelligence, the Iraqi regime began to “pressure” Jordanian intelligence to release him. At the same time, Amnesty International complained that Shakir was being held without charge. The Jordanians released him on January 28, 2002, at which point he is believed to have fled back to Iraq.

Was Shakir an Iraqi agent? Does he provide a connection between Saddam Hussein and September 11? We don’t know. We may someday find out.

But there can no longer be any serious argument about whether Saddam Hussein’s Iraq worked with Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda to plot against Americans.Stephen F. Hayes is a staff writer at The Weekly Standard.

A Jewish middle school was burned in France. "When a Jewish school is set afire," French interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy told a 24-hour news channel, "it is difficult for me to believe that it is not a matter of anti-Semitism." But I’m sure he’ll find a way.

Money Map: Democrat vs Republican… Be sure to check out some of the other stats too - like where Howard Dean’s $$$ are coming from.

London will be going crazy over the next few days as Bush visits the beleaguered Tony Blair. What can one say except pull up a chair and watch the greatest show of irony on the planet: -as the protesters claim that Bush & crew are stifling dissent yet the protesters shut down one of the greatest cities on the planet. -as the demonstrators topple a statue of Bush in Trafalgar Square, mimicking the demise of Saddam’s statue in Baghdad and ignoring the fact that Saddam killed more Muslims at the helm of Iraq than any American. -dance in the streets demanding the blood of American soldiers - who protect them from experiencing the type of attacks that we did on Sept 11.

Let the idiots have their day, I say, knowing full well that if they got their wishes, they would be the first ones raped, blown up and gassed like the Iraqi, Iranian and Kurdish peoples under Saddam.

Here’s an excellent post on Korean Democracy by a blog I haven’t seen before, Flying Yangban. It’s the anatomy of a Korean riot, its steps broken down to show its choreography into what could be considered Korean Ballet. As PJ O’Rourke noted in the 1980s about Korean Democracy and the inevitable use of tear gas, “It tastes terrible".

It is important to be patient. As things heat up in Iraq and the Democrats yelp “Quagmire!” like lisping sodomized ducks, I have been telling myself - and others who would listen - that we are on the down-slope now in Iraq. Simply by getting rid of Saddam we win for each and every day that he is not in power. This fact tends to snowball since the longer he is out of power, the less likely he is to regain it. And if Saddam is alive, time is on our side as well. He can’t slip up for fear of getting caught; we just have to get lucky once. One suggestion I have: make the reward for his capture $1 Billion. Who wants to be a billionaire? I think it would be worth the money and would gladly contribute my $3.50.

Now things are getting interesting in Saudi Arabia. By attacking a predominantly Muslim enclave in Riyadh, al-Qaeda has shown its true nature to the disaffected Muslim masses who has sympathized with the group in the past. It’s one thing to kill infidel women and children. It’s a whole other thing entirely to kill Muslims. In Saudi Arabia. During Ramadan. Note that there is even a term for attacking one’s own fellow Muslims: as al-takfeer walhigrah (atonement and withdrawal). The crime of these (predominantly poor) lesser Muslims? Allowing women to drive and sharing Western food.

al-Qaeda has employed this tactic numerous times, as the Daily Telegraph article notes. However it fails to mention the Muslim on Muslim violence common in Pakistan, as well as the indiscriminate shelling of Kabul by the Taliban. It also fails to recognize the fact that as leader of the Taliban, Mullah Omar has killed more Muslims than any living (or dead) American or Jew. Add in those killed by Osama bin Laden, and it becomes plain that the greatest danger a Muslim faces is not from an American bullet or an Israeli bomb, but an al-Qaeda suicide bomber.

Attacks such as Saturday serve to remind Muslims - and our “allies” the Saudis - that from the al-Qaeda/Taliban perspective, the circle of righteousness is quite tight and 99% of Islam is not in it. The Saudis are especially at risk since al Qaeda hates the Saudi royal family more than the Bush family, and the former make much easier targets. We now have to see how the attack effects the American position in Iraq. One would expect it to lead to further arrests on the Saudi side of the border with Iraq, preventing some attacks against Iraqis and foreigners in Iraq. It should also encourage more cooperation between Saudi and American intelligence services.

Kim du Toit has a must read: The Pussification of the Western Male. Be sure to pass it along to the wife.

Brian Anderson, the Senior Editor of City Journal, has written an excellent article on the rise of conservative media titled We’re Not Losing Anymore. Be sure to check out some other interesting pieces including Hanson v. Francis Fukuyama on the direction of history. Having read Fukuyama’s End of History soon after its publication in 1989, I have been keen to follow his thesis as time progressed. One wonders what Fukuyama was smoking when he wrote that article considering that as the Cold War was ending in 1989, a new threat was coalescing - Islamofascism.

Glenn Reynolds has an interesting TechCentral Station column on a book by David Baron called The Beast in the Garden: A Modern Parable of Man and Nature. In the book Baron chronicles the re-introduction of the mountain lion in Colorado, how the mountain lion adapts to its surroundings and learns to see people as prey, and how people react to the threat in their neighborhood. As the lions take out housepets and later move on to joggers, some people nevertheless remain committed to protecting the mountain lion. As Reynolds notes, “So many were so invested in the notion that by thinking peaceful thoughts they could will into existence a state of peaceful affairs that they ignored the evidence right in front of them, which tended to suggest that cougars were quite happy to eat anything that was juicy, delicious, and unlikely to fight back.”

Reynolds goes on to expand this behavior to include anti-war/pro-Islamo-fascist thinking, recognizing that some people want to be prey. Reynolds wryly notes that this “isn’t a viable evolutionary strategy.”

As a life-long conservationist who has spent significant time in the wilds of California and Africa, I’d have to agree. In Nature, there is no morality or “greater-good". There is simple “survival of the fittest.” Kipling wrote “Nature red in tooth and claw", and one has to only witness a troop of wild chimpanzees ripping baby monkeys from their mother’s arms and slaughtering them, filling the air with the stench of blood and entrails- or meet up with a female leopard on a trail in the bush and feeling her growl resonate in ones bones - to recognize how true that is. Even Jane Goodall (St. Jane - patron saint of wildlife researchers) was realistic enough about chimps to place her son Grub in a cage when the chimps rolled through her camp in Gombe.

Nature includes human beings; we are not apart from it. For about six million years humans have been evolving, gradually becoming better at killing than being killed. Over the past 8,000 we have constructed civilization which has served to create a fiction of separation between humans and nature. Yet civilization itself is a product of evolution: through working together humans survived better.

At this point, it’s worth noting that civilization and the evolution of societies is fundamentally different from biological evolution. Whereas biological evolution is Darwinian - only those traits that are inherited and increase the survivability of an individual will be passed on - cultural evolution is Lamarckian - useful traits that a culture learns or develops itself can be passed along to other cultures or to future generations. If you remember the textbook analogy of the trees and giraffes, Darwinian evolution (the basis of biology) is the giraffe born with the longer neck by chance, and can get to the food high in the trees. Lamarkian evolution (the intellectual basis of culture) is the giraffe that reaches the fruit by stretching, then teaching its young to do the same.

The confusion comes about when people mix the two and either make society Darwinian (as some pure capitalists and eugenicists do) or biology Lamarckian (as taught in much of the Communist world to stress Nature’s preference for Marxism). Underlying the “fuzzy bunny doctrine” and “Nature at all cost” beliefs held by groups like Earth First! and Greenpeace is the failure to appreciate the basis of biological evolution: survival. It is possible that exposure to the Larmarckian aspects of culture instilled through education has blinded people to the fundamental truth when one is in the wilderness: either you are predator or you are prey. In culture it is possible for one’s ideas to survive even when one dies. Take for example, Jesus Christ. His belief system has lived on for 2000 years, yet he left no descendants. Without culture, and especially the development of writing 4,000 years ago, the teachings of Christ wouldn’t have lived far beyond his death.

When in a “wild place” and especially while handling wild animals one must make guaranteeing one’s own survival paramount. In the bush it means never traveling alone at night, and carrying a rifle along during the day. It also means keeping a safe distance from potentially dangerous animals (potentially dangerous being an animal that could theoretically severely injure you). This was a lesson that Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, failed to learn until it was too late and they were mauled to death by a brown bear in Alaska - their deaths being caught on audio tape. It is also a lesson that illusionist Roy Horn had forgotten after 30 years of working with tigers.

Tigers are not housecats, and bears are not beagles. In the same way, cougars and humans cannot live together - so either Coloradoans must abandon the range where the cougars roam or they must shoot them - either with tranquilizers to be moved or with bullets. Campers or hikers in areas known to have cougars should carry weapons and be trained in their use should they be attacked. Better yet, they should be fully aware of the danger that these animals pose - with photos of the attack victims at hand if anyone doubts what wild animals can do.

Wild animals deserve to be left alone. As a conservationist I want there to be tigers, chimpanzees and lions for posterity - but not at the expense of people here today. The challenge then becomes how do we save wilderness while helping people? Since most of the wild areas in the world are in poor nations, this has become quite a challenge. Eco-tourism has been encouraged as a way to square this circle, but that cannot work in all areas. Some regions are simply too remote to visit; others can easily become overrun by too many tourists, damaging the habitat that conservationists are seeking to protect. There has been great concern in the chimpanzee research community over transmission of disease from people to chimp; after all, Ms. Goodall’s community suffered a bout of polio that was most likely introduced from the human community outside Gombe Stream National Park.

My solution? A combination of zoos, camera crews, an aid. If we value wildlife habitats we should be willing to pay for them. That money could then be used to halt development in wildlife habitat and encourage development outside the habitat. Such measures would include an end to agricultural tariffs by the European Union on products from Africa, as well as the development of service industries such as outsourced call centers and programming to undercut and compete with India and China. Camera crews would continue to document Nature’s bounty in the wilderness. I spent a year in the Bush and rarely saw anything as close-up as you will in the average Animal Planet documentary. Finally, zoos would have the role of showing animals “in the flesh” - but only animals that are the offspring of other zoo-kept animals (no more zoological collecting expeditions).

Any animals leaving protected areas and entering villages or communities would be shot - tranquilized when possible but most likely killed. In Africa Leopards have been known to leap through windows and steal babies from their cribs - an event no village should tolerate.

Doing the above would help preserve wildlife while at the same time protecting the people who live near the wildlife - ones who are often forgotten in WWF and Greenpeace presentations.

To the French, it’s all a joke.
Having forgotten that 1 French national died on September 11, that had the passengers not reacted Richard Reid would have blown up an airliner flying from Paris carrying 185 passengers and 12 crew, believing that America is the greater threat to peace than radical Islam, the French continue their little dance with the devil. How long before al-Qaeda realizes that Paris is a much easier target than Washington DC - albeit a less important one?

Maybe seeing a few thousand of their countrymen immolated will show them that the War On Terrorism is not a game.
Read the article…

Daily Telegraph: US in row with France over terror operation
By David Rennie in Washington
(Filed: 26/12/2003)

American and French officials yesterday traded mutual recriminations over the failure to snare any terrorists in the security operation that grounded six Air France flights in and out of Los Angeles.

Bush administration officials expressed frustration that al-Qa’eda operatives might have escaped capture after word leaked, early this week, of American concerns about flights from France to the United States over the Christmas period.

One official said Washington had been hoping to keep the US-French negotiations confidential, adding that the hope was that "we would be able to lure some of these people in".

However, a French interior ministry spokesman said little evidence of a terrorist plot had been found.

French authorities released seven men - one French, one American and several Algerians - whose names were found to be on US watch-lists.

The seven men were all due to board a flight on Wednesday and had been briefly questioned. French authorities found nothing to suggest the men had terrorist links.

A spokesman for the French prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, said the decision to cancel the flights came early on Christmas Eve after American authorities notified France that "two or three" suspicious people, possibly Tunisian nationals, were on the manifests of three Los Angeles-bound flights.

M Raffarin’s spokesman added that the United States had threatened to refuse the planes permission to land if they took off.

A French judicial official said the name of a Tunisian national with a pilot’s licence had appeared on the American list of suspicious people who might attempt to board a flight. But French intelligence officials determined that the man was in Tunisia and had no plans to leave the country.

The official added that the Tunisian had no criminal record and did not belong to any Islamic radical groups.

The cancellations, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, stranded hundreds of passengers on both sides of the Atlantic.

US sources hit back at French scepticism, saying American intelligence agencies had intercepted e-mails from the al-Qa’eda terrorist group suggesting another September 11-style attack was being plotted for the Christmas holiday.

The al-Qa’eda messages referred specifically to Air France and even gave a flight number, officials said. Other warnings have been issued about flights by the Mexican carrier, Aeromexico, it was reported.

US officials said they fear Air France has been infiltrated by Islamic extremists and have criticised French co-operation in providing details of passengers on US-bound flights.

On Monday, the US homeland security secretary, Tom Ridge, raised the nation’s terrorist-attack warning level to it’s second-highest stage, orange - "high" alert.

Mr Ridge said terrorist "chatter" indicated that "extremists abroad" are anticipating "near-term attacks" that they believe will "rival or exceed" those experienced in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001.

Following the cancellations, Los Angeles airport, the nation’s second busiest, was put under an extraorinary security clampdown.

Private cars were banned from dropping off passengers or picking them up at terminals and vehicles entering the complex were searched by armed police who used mirrors to inspect the undersides of cars.

The airport was the target of a millennium bomb plot almost four years ago, which was thwarted when one of the bombers was arrested after crossing into the United States from Canada with explosives in his car.

Mobile anti-aircraft missile systems have been deployed around Washington DC, and US and Canadian fighter pilots remain on high alert.

In London, police boosted security around the US embassy. Vehicles more than 7ft wide were restricted from entering surrounding streets late on Christmas Eve.

The precaution was introduced as lorries have been used in suicide attacks around the world, and against British targets in the bombings in Istanbul last month.

A Scotland Yard statement said: "This measure is being carried out in the light of worldwide events, particular current concerns about US interests and the fact that security in London remains at a high level. We would stress that this restriction is being put in place on a precautionary basis.

"We would reiterate our earlier appeals for the public to remain vigilant and aware and report anything suspicious to police."

The so-called "ring of steel" surrounding key sites in the City of London was extended earlier this month.

Here’s an interesting website: Skeleton Closet. It’s rabidly anti-Bush but does attempt to debunk myths and support allegations. Think of it as a 2004 Election based Smoking Gun - which, by the way, has an interesting article on the strange attack on lawyer Gerald Curry by William Strier that was caught on tape.

Catholic High School Girls kick ass. Literally.
It’s interesting to note that the girls are from St. Maria Goretti, an eleven year old girl who was raped, forgave her attacker and later died from her wounds.

Once again we are reminded of who America’s true heroes are. Steve Rucker, a fireman from the Novato Fire Protection District in Northern California traveled to San Diego to help fight the wildfires raging there - and paid the ultimate price.

Steve leaves behind his 35-year-old wife, Catherine, their daughter Kerstin, 8, and their 3-year-old son, Wesley.

To hell with sports figures and actors. America’s true heroes are its Firemen, Police, and the Armed Services. Steve paid the ultimate price to protect his fellow Americans and stands as a shining example of true heroism.

That’s cold-comfort to his friends and family, I know. Residents of Julian should erect a statue in his honor and make sure his family is taken care of for the rest of their lives.

The more I read about Terry Schindler-Schiavo, the more suspicious I get. Terry’s father appeared on Fox News at the same time her husband was on CNN’s Larry King. He claims that the husband has refused rehabilitation and treatment for his wife over the past 13 years, and produced a neurologist who was appointed to examine her condition by the court who stated that he believed that he could rehabilitate her. The family’s attorney then went on Greta van Sustern to argue that on Terry’s last day, she had called her best friend and spoken about plans for the two of them to divorce their husbands and move into an apartment together. She also said that there was no proof that Terry had suffered a heart attack, and that the type of neck rigidity she displayed that night has been shown to be consistent with attempted strangulation in other criminal cases.

Mickey Kaus notes the media bias against the parents, and also mentions the “Darwinian conflict of interest” between the male - who has trouble being monogamous even when his mate isn’t in a “persistent vegetative state” - and the natural rights of parents - who have a much longer investment in their offspring. As I stated previously, the natural rights of parents should trump the rights of spouses on the issue of life and death, simply because no society should force a parent to witness the death of a child. Andrew Sullivan takes issue with this point, but only because he sees it as devaluing the institution of marriage. While I agree with Sullivan that gays should be allowed to marry, I disagree with him on this issue.

When a bride is handed over to a groom by her father, we as a society accept this as the symbolic termination of parental rights. While legal rights are terminated at that point, parents do not give up the role of parenthood. Why? Because to do so would seem idiotic to us - and that idiocy stems from the recognition that parents have done something that the spouse has not: created, borne and over a period of decades developed a human being. No ceremony can terminate this bond, and while we may tolerate or even encourage divorce in our society, we hesitate before interfering with parental rights.

To paraphrase the Bard, something is rotten in the state of Florida - and it isn’t Jeb Bush playing fast and loose with the law as so many on the Left would have you believe. To summarize we have following facts:
1. The marriage between Terry and Michael was troubled.
2.Without any prior medical condition Terry ends up gravely injured for no apparent reason.
3. No clear medical opinion exists on the woman’s condition.
4. No consensus exists between the parents and the woman’s husband.
5. Michael stands to inherit close to a million dollars in medical settlement money and life insurance should his wife die.
6. Michael has lived with another woman for seven years and sired two children by her.
7. No proof exists as to Terry’s wishes.

Given the uncertainties involved, Terry Schindler-Schiavo should not be killed.