An Our Insane World “Shortie”

This is surely something to be marveled at, especially in light of the way the far left would have you think the country is going to hell in a hand basket. Want to bet that we won't hear much about this in the press or the media, but for a few outlets that do balance the news?

Remember, Bush took office just before 9/11, and we've been at war against terrorism ever since, including conflagrations in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is a mighty big reminder of just how strong the US economy really is, what tax breaks did for the poor as well as the middle class and wealthy, and why the doom-and-gloomer liberal elite need to take the next raft to Cuba, or anywhere else but here for that matter, and stay there.

From the Wall Street Journal Online New Alert ...

NEWS ALERT
from The Wall Street Journal
Aug. 29, 2006

The Census Bureau reported that 37 million Americans were living below the poverty line last year -- about 12.6% of the population. That's down from 12.7% in 2004, but census officials said the change was statistically insignificant. The median household income was $46,300, a slight increase from 2004.

Last year was the first year the poverty rate hadn't increased since before President Bush took office.

2008 Elections: Expect More, and Get It

The 2006 Congressional Elections will soon be upon us. This means that shortly thereafter, regardless of the outcome, the real run for the 2008 Presidential Election begins. Yes, I know, two years of all the double talk, spin, deflection, and backstabbing seems interminable.

However, we can make this an interesting two years, but it requires a paradigm shift in attitude, voice, and tenacity.

WE NEED TO ASK FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION FROM THE CANDIDATES AND EXPECT THEM GIVE US STRAIGHT, NO NONSENSE ANSWERS.

What do I mean by this?

Well, we’ve all seen politicians, candidates for office or candidates for reelection especially, who are asked a question but act as if it were never asked and talk about something that they feel more comfortable talking about, or about something that they feel they need to get into the debate to make themselves look better. Spin, dodge, deflect.

This is unacceptable, and needs to be stopped.

We need to pressure politicians to answer our questions, and be obstinate about getting them. We need to ask deeper, more penetrating questions.

They need to cater to our needs for information, not their need to get their packaged, spun, poll-guided message across. We need to eliminate “message” from their vocabulary, and have them think in terms of concrete plans, concrete actions, and core beliefs. We need to get under their skin, crawl around a bit, and determine, for ourselves, what they’re all about. If they waffle, we should boot them.

For example, we should ask every Presidential candidate who they would select as their cabinet if elected.

When a candidate criticizes another candidate, or a past action from the current President or past Presidents, we should expect them to tell us what they would do, or what they would have done in a similar situation. We should ask them to justify this by citing past action and speech that would make us believe that this is truly the way they would have acted … and not just an answer that they’ve figured out the American public wants to hear at that moment based on polling results.

We should expect candidates to fully explain poor decisions made by them in the past. We should not allow them to change their minds or waffle … we should make them take a stand and support it. If they made a bad decision they need to own up to it, and not spend time blaming someone, or something, else. The buck needs to stop with them. We need to expect them to take personal responsibility.

We should criticize candidates that will not be straightforward and direct in answering questions. They should be penalized by not getting our vote. And, we should tell them so!

We need a deeper understanding, heard over and over, of what a candidate will do … what their detailed plans are once they get to office. Who they’ll surround themselves with. What they want to accomplish in four years.

With that, we’ll be able to grade them and know if they are worthy of a second term should they be elected.

It’s time we made running for Presidential office the serious matter that it is, rather than the side show that it has become.

And, the media should also be held accountable for asking these tough questions, regardless of the candidate’s party affiliation. They’ve enabled this culture of spin, and they need to stop it.

If not, we should cancel our subscriptions and turn off our TVs.

A Strategic Plan for the US … Why isn’t there one?

Every business in the world has a strategic plan. Every business has a vision of where it wants to be in 5 to 10 years. Every business knows who its target market is, what the needs of this target market are, what it wants to provide this market in terms of products and services to satisfy these needs, and how it is going to make money (profits).

No publicly traded company (one who issues common stock) would be allowed to operate without a strategic plan. The plan is typically generated by senior executive management, approved by the board of directors (boards), and then operational (tactical) plans are put in place to accomplish the objectives of the strategic plan.

Boards can then use the plan as both a road map for approving each and every aspect of company spending and investment, as well as grade the executive management team on its performance.

Most small companies also have strategic plans. I own a small business and we do.

Why then do we allow our government to operate solely on an annual budget?

THERE IS NO STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE US GOVERNMENT!

This thought hit me one day as I was thinking about the gridlock we often see in our Federal and State governments. Nothing of any merit really gets accomplished. If it does, it’s a rarity. Very rare.

The problem we have today is government gets hung up on issues … they spend their time arguing about tactics for political gain rather than work to accomplish any objective other than getting reelected. Just look at the “Nuclear Option” insanity, stalled Campaign Finance Reform, the posturing and positioning over the Iraq war. It’s not hard to identify the problem. There is no common direction, no road map from where we are to where we want to be, no guidelines for decision-making.

Why aren’t we demanding a fix?

Imagine if you will a government that sets strategic objectives, with concrete goals, for the most important aspects of our lives. This would include things like health, education, safety, defense, environment, social services, trade, foreign relations, finance, just to name a few.

Imagine if you will a government that set quantified goals to be reached for these areas. For example:

* To be debt free (no National debt) within 20 years.
* To always operate with a balanced budget (no budget deficits) within 5 years.
* To have a fully-funded social security system within 10 years.
* To improve life expectancy by 1 year every 10 years.
* To reduce greenhouse gases by .5% a year.

You get the picture. These are just examples.

This plan would be generated by a combination of representatives from the 3 branches of government. Maybe by also forming a “great minds” group outside of government to inject new ideas. It would be easy to read, easy to understand, and easy to measure every decision taken against such a plan. It would be no more than 100 pages, all inclusive, with no fine print.

The plan would be updated annually as progress is made, new obstacles are encountered, new important matters arise, or old matters become irrelevant.

State governments could build their strategic plans to do their part to help the Federal government accomplish these goals, and to help themselves accomplish their own regionalized goals.

Maybe we’d once again return to a time when our representatives in government feel it’s an honor to serve their constituencies, work for the good of all American people, abolish pandering to special interests, and get America back on track.

This, of course, takes leadership, negotiation, compromise, and a sincere willingness to work together for the common good. Fat chance many of today’s elected representatives would volunteer to get on board what I’ll officially name:

“The US Federal Government Strategic Plan Initiative”

I’m very interested in your comments on this idea. I would propose that if your elected representatives are not amenable to such a radical change in the way government works you do your best to vote in someone who does … as quickly as possible.

This is a topic that deserves more attention in the future.

OF INTEREST: Percent, by country, of Muslim “Disfavor” of Jews

In doing research for a past blog posting, I discovered this report done by the PewResearchCenter:

Pew_Report_Here

It’s a lengthy expose (at least I’ll call it that) of what the Muslim population in the world thinks of itself and others, and vice versa. There are lots of great statistics, and it makes for great reading. I would highly recommend everyone in the world read it and consider it.

One of the most interesting aspects of it is that it clearly shows that Muslim countries are bigoted against the Jews of the world. The statistics are so clear, yet guys like Koffe Annan will back their ignorance and bigotry until his corpse is being consumed by worms.

Here are the statistics, from the report, on this specific topic, summarized neatly:

Essentially, predominantly Muslim countries have a stunning majority of their population that view Jews “unfavorably”. The numbers are staggering. Jordan: 100%; Lebanon: 99%; Indonesia: 76%. And this study was done before Israel’s recent incursions into Lebanon!
Why?








From UNESCO, here are the projected illiteracy rates in 2005, based on 2002 actual statistics, for a group of Islamic countries:

I would contend that pure ignorance is a high contributor to the “Jew Hater” issue.






If you look at the percentage of females that are illiterate in these countries, you see another, and perhaps graver, problem:

I’m going to go out on a limb here, and be chastised for stereotyping, but educated females, in my opinion, KNOW that violence and hatred is simply wrong, no matter who they are, no matter what their religion, no matter what their race. They have a genetic wiring, perhaps an innate drive to protect offspring, which makes them more likely to seek consensus and compromise rather than conflagration and violence.

Summary?

Combine a relatively illiterate population in general, and then magnify that with a very highly illiterate female population due to the discriminatory and repressive bias against women of male-dominated Fundamentalist Islamic fascist countries (and organizations within those countries) , and you get a very, very caustic brew.

What did the Jews ever do to you?

I’ve had a number of people ask me over the past month, during the turmoil in Lebanon, why the Israelis, as well as Jews in general, or so hated around the world. I’ve got to tell you, I’ve done some research, and I get no single, believable answer, even as bigoted or discriminatory as it might be. I am not Jewish, so I’d like to think I approached getting an answer to this question fairly and honestly.

Do some research and I believe you will also come to the same conclusion that I did, Jews are simply an excuse for hatred, violence, and killing.

I found the following list at SimpleToRemember.com - Judaism Online and feel it’s a great summary:

Link is here ...


Economic
"We hate Jews because they possess too much wealth and power."

Chosen People
"We hate Jews because they arrogantly claim that they are the chosen people."

Scapegoat
"Jews are a convenient group to single out and blame for our troubles."

Deicide
"We hate Jews because they killed Jesus."

Outsiders
"We hate Jews because they are different than us." (The dislike of the unlike.)

Racial Theory
"We hate Jews because they are an inferior race."


Of course, all of these “reasons” are absurd. The site then goes on to say:

As we examine the explanations, we must ask -- Are they the causes for anti-Semitism or excuses for Anti-Semitism? The difference? If one takes away the cause, then anti-Semitism should no longer exist. If one can show a contradiction to the explanation, it demonstrates that the "cause" is not a reason, it is just an excuse. Let's look at some contradictions:

Economic:
The Jews of 17th- 20th century Poland and Russia were dirt poor, had no influence and yet they were hated.

Chosen People:
a) In the late 19th century, the Jews of Germany denied "Choseness." And then they worked on assimilation. Yet, the holocaust started there.
b) Christians and Muslims profess to being the "Chosen people," yet, the world and the anti-Semites tolerate them.

Scapegoat:
Any group must already be hated to be an effective scapegoat. The Scapegoat Theory does not then cause anti-Semitism. Rather, anti-Semitism is what makes the Jews a convenient scapegoat target. Hitler's ranting and ravings would not be taken seriously if he said, "It's the bicycle riders and the midgets who are destroying our society."

Deicide:
a) the Christian Bible says the Romans killed Jesus, though Jews are mentioned as accomplices (claims that Jews killed Jesus came several hundred years later). How come the accomplices are persecuted and there isn't an anti-Roman movement through history?
b) Jesus himself said, "Forgive them [i.e., the Jews], for they know not what they do." The Second Vatican Council in 1963 officially exonerated the Jews as the killers of Jesus. Neither statement of Christian belief lessened anti-Semitism.

Outsiders:
With the Enlightenment in the late 18th century, many Jews rushed to assimilate. Anti-Semitism should have stopped. Instead, for example, with the Nazis came the cry, in essence: "We hate you, not because you're different, but because you're trying to become like us! We cannot allow you to infect the Aryan race with your inferior genes."

Racial Theory:
The overriding problem with this theory is that it is self-contradictory: Jews are not a race. Anyone can become a Jew - and members of every race, creed and color in the world have done so at one time or another.

Every other hated group is hated for a relatively defined reason. We Jews, however, are hated in paradoxes: Jews are hated for being a lazy and inferior race - but also for dominating the economy and taking over the world. We are hated for stubbornly maintaining our separateness - and, when we do assimilate - for posing a threat to racial purity through intermarriages. We are seen as pacifists and as warmongers; as capitalist exploiters and as revolutionary communists; possessed of a Chosen-People mentality, as well as of an inferiority complex. It seems that we just can't win.


If you look at the profile of those who hate them, you see some common themes:

+ Non-democratic countries
+ Islamic countries
+ Impoverished countries (or where all wealth is controlled by a privileged few)
+ Morally bankrupt countries
+ Violent countries
+ Theocracies

The bottom line here is that the Jewish people have proven that one can have a democracy in a country that is 80.1% (based on 2002 population numbers) one religion. The problem with the Jew-hating leaders of the Jew-hating countries is that their main argument is that democracy is contrary to their religion. The reality is that this is an ignorant, moronic excuse. Why? Because if they considered supporting the notion that you can have a country that’s almost 100% one religion that’s also a democracy, they’d lose power because they stay in control with force, murder, and the threat thereof.

Turkey is much like Israel in that 98% to 99% of the country is Muslim (based on Turkish government numbers, although the actual percentage may be a bit lower, but not much), yet they are a representative democracy. They have a secular government. The rest of the Muslim world must fear what’s developed in Turkey over the centuries. The examples of Israel and Turkey prove that a democracy can thrive, even in an environment where almost 100% of the population is of one faith. Turkey is especially intriguing in that it’s a Muslim democracy. Care to throw in a Christian country that makes this work? Try Italy's population: 98% (or so) would call themselves Catholic.

Wow! Maybe George Bush is right after all. Maybe Iraq can become a shining democratic star in a nascent constellation of democratic stars in the middle-east. Just maybe …

An Our Insane World Redux

Here's a video from youtube.com of a video speech give by Trevor Brooks aka Omar Brooks aka Abu Izzadeen.

The guy is truly insane.

An Our Insane World “Shortie”

NYT Article Headline:

Europeans Delay Decision on Role Inside Lebanon

The Europeans think they might be getting into a bit of a sticky situation now that they realize this resolution does not have enough teeth to use appropriate force to disarm Hezbollah, so they meet and debate in the EU.

Australia, on the other hand, just calls it as they see it:

“We don’t have any confidence in it. It is not going to have the mandate to disarm Hezbollah.”

Ha ha ... welcome to our world gents!

An Our Insane World “Shortie”

Just a follow-up to my post on why I feel traveler profiling needs to be implemented to provide greater security to the traveling public. The original post is here:

Profiling_Post

Yesterday, I arrived from Europe via Boston. When I got to passport control, there was a serpentine line-up that was being tightly managed by a woman. She was there to make sure the people in her line-up were either US citizens, or US permanent residents (green card holders, etc.). She appeared to be an employee of a contract security firm. She was clearly an immigrant to the US. English was certainly not her first language either.

The person in front of me was allowed through. I was asked to stand behind her in line 9. When she walked up to the Border Patrol officer, he raised his hand with her passport and called out, “Passport!” The lady managing the line replied, “It’s OK, she’s got a Canadian passport!” The officer shook his head no ... and in a bit of a huff.

The person in front of me was then asked to move to another line.

When I got to the officer, I asked him what happened.

Her passport was a passport from Bosnia-Herzegovina.

A few problems here:

1) Bosnia-Herzegovina is not the US.
2) A passport from Bosnia-Herzegovina is not a Canadian passport.
3) Neither passport is a document of US citizenship or US permanent residency.
4) The woman may not be able to read.

One thought just struck me like a right hook:

How safe should one feel when our airport security is being managed by people like this?

Trevor Brooks … errr … I mean Omar Brooks … err … I mean Abu Izzadeen

If you want to identify a prime example of how the Islamic Extremist movement has attracted psychologically and morally corrupt morons, who use faith as an excuse to kill and injure, or preach the religion of violence, you have need to look no further than Trevor Brooks. Brooks is a convert to Islam, a British citizen whose family was originally from Jamaica. Born and raised in the UK, Brooks converted to Islam at 17, following the lead of his older brother. He’s the lunatic who cracked jokes just before the first anniversary of the London Subway bombings, at which time he also laughed at the victims of 9/11. He’s openly shared his desire to die as a suicide bomber.

I watched this moron in an interview on either BBC International or CNN International this past week. Sorry, I can’t remember which channel aired the interview. I could find no record of it on either company’s web site, but may have overlooked it.

If you have any doubt about what the Islamic Fascist movement is all about, and who’s participating in leading it, you need to track down interviews with this guy and read them, watch them, or listen to them. If I can find any links to same, I will post them here. I you find any, please send them to me and I will post them here.

Essentially, this dope wants to act as if his ancestors have been wronged for being Muslim, which they weren’t, and he claims that the Muslim world is, “… fed up and not going to take it any more.” I guess changing his name a few times allows him to do this?

During the interview, in which he was incredibly arrogant and condescending, he claims that, “… we live for God, you live for the devil.” This is in response to the interviewer’s questions about killing in the name of Islam. This joker also talks about “self defense”. I’ve got a question for the guy, what in the world has anyone done to him to prevent him from practicing his chosen religion? I think I know the answer: NOTHING.

He also said he thinks it would be OK if someone assasinated Tony Blair, the Prime Minister of Great Britain.

Brooks is a shining example of a guy who’s a wacko that uses religion, in this case Islam, as an excuse for antisocial, psycho-pathological, and/or socio-pathological behavior. As well, this moron calls himself a “cleric” and preaches his hatred to impressionable youth. He’s dangerous because he’s launching, perhaps, innumerable replicas … clones as it were … to fuel his religion of hate and terror.

I happen to feel he’s all talk and no walk. He’s just a bully that needs to have his bluff called. In Birmingham, where he gave his speech around the anniversary of the subway bombings, my guess is that there are quite a few rough characters in the neighborhood that might like to do the job. I bet he snuck out of town under cover of darkness, and has some protection around him at all times now, because there are plenty of solid citizens in Britain that would like to see him muzzled ... and for good reason.

It’s Time for Profiling

Let’s face it, after the recent arrests in Great Britain of British nationals who were plotting a Muslim Extremist bombing of multiple airliners and those in Canada of people with similar desires to harm innocent civilians, we need to get as serious as possible, as rapidly as possible, about detecting and snuffing out any type of terrorist activity anywhere.

This being said, we thus need to implement, as fast as possible, a traveler profiling system. One that is as sophisticated as possible with today’s technology.

The ACLU can go take a long walk off a short pier with their arguments about how this type of anti-terrorist tool would infringe upon the rights and privacy of US citizens, and foreigners who travel within the US. If you don’t like it, don’t travel. It’s that simple. The ACLU has become nothing more than a pawn of the extreme left in America. Like the UN internationally, they’ve lost all credibility with the American public nationally … but for the extreme left wing.

As well, the information released about the participation of Asim Tariq, a security-cleared worker for India's Jet Airways at Heathrow Airport, leads me to suggest another common-sense policy that needs to be put in place. We need to make sure that no security employees of Arab/Persian descent, especially those that have overzealous Islamic beliefs, have this kind of clearance. Yes, I know this statement sounds unfair, and perhaps downright discriminatory, but how else do we ensure safety of all people flying or traveling? I can’t see any other way. This is such a gaping hole in airport and other transport security, but political correctness makes it anathema to even suggest. Anything short of this puts the entire traveling public at risk, because nobody anywhere can predict or identify where all the walking breathing “ticking time bombs” are located. Any suggestion that it’s acceptable to expect some murders as the cost of protecting privacy and civil rights is absurd, and that’s what the ACLU and other left wing organizations will argue.

How do we implement such a policy? I’m not sure. I am sure that there are better, stronger, and quicker minds than mine that could come up with a fair approach to this policy. I’m just a simple guy from the mid-west who is fed up with the foolishness and insanity in our world today. Some control would need to be put in place to assure that people eliminated from the pool to work with security clearance are not discriminated against when competing for other positions at companies like Jet Airways. This is a tough nut to crack, but this is no excuse for not doing this.

I know that this is not an extremely palatable solution. If you can think of one (or more) that is (that are) better, please let me know. I’m all ears (and eyes) and will publish all reasonable suggestions here.

Men in Bali Blast Get Sentences Reduced

“Men in Bali Blast Get Sentences Reduced” is the title of a recent story on FoxNews.com. I was shocked to read its contents, and surprised (ahh, no I wasn’t) to see that CNN and MSNBC weren’t running the story. The Fox story includes this:

“Those who will benefit from Thursday's sentence reductions played relatively minor roles in the suicide bombings — from carrying out robberies to financing the attacks to helping shelter the main suspects.”

Huh? “Relatively minor roles”? Unbelievable! These guys conspired and worked together to KILL people based on a (supposed) religious zealism – Muslim Extremism. They ALL deserve the death penalty if one deserves the death penalty.

I would say, based on this, that we should call for the minimum of a boycott on travel to Bali and the rest of Indonesia. I would also support travel restrictions where the government forbids travel to Indonesia. Just like Cuba. These people need to be hit where they feel pain: in the pocketbook.

An Our Insane World “Shortie”

U.N. Gets 3,500 for Lebanon Force
France offers disappointing 400

Didn’t see that one coming!

:-)

From:

http://www.foxnews.com/

8-18-06 at 2:35am ET

Why We Shouldn’t Bend to Insane World Opinion

Tony Blankley is surely a bright guy but his August 2, 2006 article titled, “We Shouldn't Ignore World Opinion” isn’t his best work.

See:

HERE

… for the article.

His contention is that we need to, and these are his words, “manipulate” and use “propaganda” to our benefit in shaping world opinion of the US and our policies, especially those that are foreign.

I feel Tony’s spent a lot too much time manipulating and propagandizing for his own good. I guess working for a guy like Newt Gingrich, who I feel is a great politician, can do that to you. Let’s face it, almost 100% of politicians feel they need to manipulate and use propaganda to win election and stay in office.

But, THIS IS THE PROBLEM!

At some point, someone or some country needs to stand up and say that enough is enough. Make that lots of someones and lots of countries.

Our interconnected world is now ripe for such a change. Let’s face it, it’s much harder to be a liar in the world today and not get caught than it was before the age of faxes (ask the ex-Soviet Union) and the Internet (you’ll be asking Communist China soon, if companies like Google don’t keep bending to the Communist regime’s censorship policies).

The deal is that there are some things that are just plainly and clearly wrong, and some things that are just plainly and clearly right. And it’s about time people start talking about this and reset the world’s moral compass. Most of these matters are really not open for discussion, even though the liberal, elite, “blame America first” mentality of the world’s media would like you to think so. They are insane morons. Period.

There is no debate possible around Hezbollah and the world’s opinion regarding what Israel has done over the past month or so. None. Not of any consequence anyway.

There is also no debate that one can have about the UN’s effectiveness. It has none. Zip. Zilch. Zero. On top of this, for the most part it’s a corrupt, anti-Semitic, club of blowhard “dignitaries” from countries that wouldn’t even be good raw material for toilet paper let alone a body to regulate fairness and civil rights around the world. Give me a break. I love the way John Bolton has handled these snakes. No bloviating. No bombastic speeches. He just refuses to agree with the morons, calls a spade a spade, and agrees to disagree – regardless of “world opinion”. And his new "acceptance" by the Democrats proves my point. They are scared that common sense will win out over manipulation and propaganda (hey, it ALWAYS does!), and they'll be left holding the bag ... the bag they don't want to be holding.

There is also no debate that can be had on democracy. It’s the fairest form of government out there, and it’s possible for every culture to adopt. The problem is that the snakes of the world’s political elite wouldn’t be so elite if their countries embraced democracy vigorously. If Iran were a democracy, is there any chance at all that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would be President? If Saudi Arabia were a democracy, is there any question that the Saudi Royal Family would be history? China? Venezuela? The Palestinian Territories?

And please don’t give me the standard, “But Jimmy Carter and the UN verified that they held fair and free elections!” What garbage. Jimmy Carter has done a marvelous job reinventing himself and rewriting history. He was, without a doubt, one of our worst US Presidents ever. We are still paying for his foreign policy debacles. Still!

And this is the same guy that questioned US election fairness citing issues with thousands of votes in one state rather than millions of votes in entire nations.

It’s time for more John Boltons in our world. Or, if you like, more Ronald Reagans in our world. That was a guy who told it like it was. And, George Bush is pretty good at this as well. It’s the reason his poll numbers are so low. People are so used to hearing what they want to hear based on the pollsters and political consultants’ recommendations to politicians that they’ve forgotten that it’s really all about right and wrong, good versus bad, and fairness versus a stacked deck.

That’s what happens when everyone worries more about opinion than facing the real facts.

Tony Blankley is simply wrong.

The Great Charade

The liberal elite news media in the US would have you think that everyone in the world hates us because of our politics and our substantial threat of the use of our armed forces to further our foreign policy. They freely allow foreign political experts to spout their rhetoric. The problem with this is that they treat them like oracles – people whose feet one must sit at and raptly listen. Listen to them as if they were the source of all knowledge in the universe.

This is a huge liberal elite media charade. And you are the victim.

These foreign political pundits say things like, “America’s reputation around the world has suffered because of Iraq.”

“Iraq was invaded for their oil.”

“America got a result in Lebanon though its puppet Israel, but not the result it expected.”

Or, “America needs to listen and understand the angry, young, militant, disenfranchised Muslim youth around the world and understand the root cause of their anger.”

All of this is absolute baloney. It’s their feelings, not fact.

The last one is my personal favorite. I saw and heard it on a Sunday morning talk political news show on the BBC while in London a few weeks ago. There were about 8 people in the conversation circle, but only one conservative. When the Muslim university professor who said this was questioned by the conservative, she refused to answer his questions. He then asked several questions about her credentials and the soundness of her research. It appeared that both her credentials and research had been questioned by other members of the press and by the educational system in the UK. She refused to talk about this, using the typical liberal excuse: “I’m not going to stoop to the level of justifying my credentials or research. We’re here to talk about the grave problems facing the world. I refuse to get into this kind of discussion.”

Oh, OK. I get it. You’re a fake and a farce, and thus you’re not going to talk about that, because it would unveil you for what you are. A fake and a farce.

Huh?

My response to this stance that I need to understand these Muslim youth is simply: NO I DON’T. They are uncivilized trouble-makers who act out anti-socially and in a bigoted manner. They don’t need to be understood. They need to be identified, arrested, charged, tried, and jailed. It’s really that simple. This is so silly. If I walk into a bar with a concealed automatic weapon, get into an argument with another patron, and shoot the place up, murdering many, I get thrown in jail for life, or lose my life in death penalty states. I don’t get to claim that I was disenfranchised, angry, or whatever. Why is it any different for Islamic fundamentalist terrorists who use even larger weapons than automatic firearms?

What people in the US need to understand is that politics, worldwide, is all the same. In this high-speed, information-driven world we live in, political parties and movements have solidified a strong base and there are very, very few voters whose minds can be changed. They are those swing voters who sit in the middle, between two competing interests. The way the political machines woo these voters is through the use of hyperbole, exaggeration, fear, uncertainty, and doubt. The idea being to sway these voters to their side by shock.

The reality is, and I’m sitting in Italy having these conversations every day with Italian citizens, in their native language, right now, is that they’re just as divided as we are on the fight against terror. While the political system in Italy is more fractured than ours, has more parties, there are really three camps here. Those who support the war, those that don’t, and those who aren’t sure what they think about it. And, I would say the numbers are roughly the same as ours in terms of percentages of each group.

So, all this noise about how we’re hated, how we’re hated because we throw our weight around, is just that – noise.

The liberal media selectively shows us news stories from overseas that paint the picture they want to paint to justify their politics. By watching them, you’d think Jacques Chirac was a force in world politics. Let me tell you, most Brits think he’s a moron, and almost all Italians think he’s ignorant. You won’t see that picture painted on CNN, MSNBC, or in the NY Times.

Hmmm, wonder why?

That’s a lie. No I don’t wonder why: I know.

So do you. It’s all part of the great charade. Don’t get caught up in their game. Make up your own mind, with information from many sources. Including your own eyes and ears when you travel overseas.

Ahmadinejad & Assad: "The Two Stooges"

Iranian psychopath President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Syria’s ignorant President Bashar Assad both gave speeches yesterday that were covered broadly on CNN International and BBC International. Sitting here in Europe, I could only watch this coverage with wide-eyed consternation, as both of these networks covered these speeches as if these two are actually real statesmen. These two are, for lack of better words to explain them, ignorant, bombastic, sociopaths. They have a skewed perspective of reality. They are all bark and no bite. But, because of coverage by the world’s liberal, elite media, they are empowered to use the rhetoric they used yesterday to whip up the intense feelings of hatred in their peoples, and the peoples of the greater Arab world, against Israel and the US.

Both spoke of how Hezbollah had defeated Israel. Hello? Are they the only two people in the world who’ve not seen the pictures of southern Lebanon? Israel laid waste to southern Lebanon, and it would be best for the world if they just continued for a few days more and leveled all of Syria and Iran as well. Give Ahmadinejad and Assad something to go spend their time on. Rebuilding their countries and begging for humanitarian aid from all the Christian Crusader countries with a conscience. They’d surely not get much help from their Arab brothers, that’s for sure. They hate each other just one notch lower on the hatred scale than they hate us. In fact, hate is a driving force in what these people are all about. Without an enemy, real or imagined, to hate, they’d have to build a country, build an economy, shape a government, and respond to democratic forces.

Both of these cats claim they’ve won, that they have the world’s market on good ideas cornered. And if you only watched CNN and the BBC, you’d believe them. When, in reality, the only thing they have going for them is hate. How sadly impotent is that?

Hezbollah Militia/Party, Hamas Terrorist Organization/Party, and Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Militia/Party

OK, is there anyone else out there that’s gotten the impression that there’s a change going on in the Middle East and nobody in Washington, or the media, has picked up on it?

Are you and I the only people who have figured out that these terrorist murdering morons have decided to play our game, with their rules, and try to legitimize themselves by proclaiming they are a political party as Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, and Iraq strive to democratize? And, are we the only people who’ve figured out that it’s irrelevant what these groups proclaim -- or what worthless politicians and leaders in countries like France think -- about our desire to crush these organizations like the verminous insects they are?

I am sick of hearing how we made our bed and now we have to lie in it. That since these organizations have participated in elections, that this means they are legitimate political parties in true democracies. What a bunch of twaddle.

These organizations need to be identified, smoked out, and annihilated in a manner in line with what should happen to pathological, murdering, sociopaths. Only doing this will allow for peace in the Middle East, Iraq, and Iran.

And we need to do likewise in Syria and Iran if they don’t fall in line rapidly.

Before it’s too late.

I’m not sure why this is my first real blog entry after many months of thinking about starting this blog, but here goes.

I found this article on the FOX News website today:

……..

Palestinian Militants Kill Alleged Israeli 'Collaborator' in West Bank Refugee Camp
Sunday, August 13, 2006

JENIN, West Bank — Five gunmen on Sunday shot and killed an alleged "collaborator" in front of hundreds of people in a public square in the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin, accusing him of giving information to Israeli authorities, witnesses said.

The gunmen, who identified themselves as members of the violent Islamic Jihad group, accused the victim of helping Israel killed two militants last week in a targeted attack, said witnesses and Islamic Jihad members.

Sunday's killing came in response to an Israeli helicopter attack on the homes of the two militants last Wednesday, said an Islamic Jihad official.

The victim was identified as Bassem Malah, 22, who worked in the Israeli Arab town of Umm al Fahm. He was due to be married next week.

Islamic Jihad said he also worked for the Israeli security services.

About 500 people were in the square when the unmasked gunmen fired into Malah's chest. Some were chanting "Allahu Akhbar," or God is Great, and anti-Israel slogans, witnesses said.

After the killing, some bystanders put shoes on the head of the corpse, as a sign of disgrace, they said.

……..

This is the type of mentality we are facing in the global fight against terror, and other insane, moronic forces in the world, like the United Nations (a farce of mythical proportions), France (a country whose politicians and “thought leaders” the world would do better without), and all Islamic fundamentalists and all Islamic clerics, worldwide, who refuse to clearly, definitively, and continually denounce any violence in the name of Islam, or any violence against Israel, the Israeli people, or those of the Jewish faith.

The people who perpetrated this act are nothing more then mongrels … dogs not worth the space they take up or the air they breathe. Animals. Pigs. Swine. Vermin.

And anyone who believes differently is, in my opinion, truly insane.

This is just a taste of more to come here. Maybe I’m thinking of using this forum as a way to let off stream, as in, “What can on man, in mid-west America, do to see his own seeminly common sense beliefs put forward to, and acted upon, by his government, and other governments around the world?”

We’ll see, we’ll see.