Friends of Micronesia
Micronesia * Israel * The US of A * "The Maginot Line of elitism is no match for a religion gone wild." - David Heller

Backstage action

Israel is taking care of business. In one hell of an operation they dealt a blow to the entire Axis of evil (Iran, Syria and North Korea)

Peaceniks are COWARDS

For all the talk about Peace and Tolerance, ultimately it is violence and volume that wins, especially in Europe. Let's tally one more victory for the Muslim extremists

Great video coverage of AIPAC 2007

Check out speeches by Bibi Netanyahu, VP Cheney and the always present James Woolsey at Jersulaem online

AIPAC reception

I don't know if AIPAC is representative of the Jewish community's feelings towards the Iraq issue but the message was clear. Pelosi doesn't have the answer they are looking for.

Heroes like this

The Muslim world needs heroes who are willing to go against their own countries' rules and injustices to do the right thing. See this video of Japanese Ambassador to Germay, Sugihara, who during WWII saved many Jewish lives with his bravery

(hat tip Omri)

The Greatest Americans

Who is nobler than the military man, who volunteers to risk his life to protect others in society. Michael Ledeen has an invaluable article about just that point.

I think the most impressive thing about this generation of fighters is their humanity, a point made to me by a senior official who has fought in many wars, and will soon retire. He points to the nature of the military community, which in many ways is the closest thing we’ve got to a classless society. If there is any group of Americans who truly believe in “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs,” it’s our soldiers. The officer corps brings some of our most talented and most fortunate sons and daughters into intimate contact with their less fortunate cohorts. Officers from wealthy families and elite universities live alongside kids from farms, bayous, and backwoods, and the sons and daughters of the rich and famous sleep, work, fight, and die with the children of the ghettos, slums and unemployed. It isn’t always that way, to be sure; the underclass kids fight their way to high rank, and some of the rich and famous leave the Ivy League and enlist, but the basic point remains: There’s little room for snobbery based on who’s your daddy, or where’d you go to school.

‘We must continue to do all we can to support them and their success – our success – in this and all battles into the future.

Saudi-Iran showdown

You can't really root for one or the other but it certainly is helpful when Sunnis and Shiites are busier with each other than with Israel and the West. Read more on Saudi Arabian efforts to curtail Iran and the Shiites.

Terrorist politician

I hope this guy gets ousted.

The Protocols Published in the US

And most shocking editorial of the week is a piece in the Nation. It would be easier to quote in its own words:

“According to sources familiar with the investigation, the FBI is looking at a group of neoconservatives who have occupied senior posts at the White House, the Pentagon and in Vice President Cheney's office. It's not that they are supporters of Israel--no crime there--but that some of them might be conspirators in a clandestine operation launched by Sharon's Likud Party.”

It's an explosive inquiry and one that raises the most sensitive hackles, since it involves the possibility that US officials (most, but not all, Jews) are working on Sharon's behalf.

News of the investigation stunned AIPAC, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, AEI and others in Likud's Washington circuit.

You got that? The Jews, along with the Israel’s Likud party, are controlling all of the conservative minds in the government (the Pres, AEI, the Pentagon, etc.) to do Israel’s bidding. This is even more gruesome then the Mearsheimer Walt essay, “The Israel Lobby.” This is no different from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Can you believe that a major American magazine would publish such a piece? Has Jew hatred become so acceptable in US society as well, like in today’s Europe? How can someone call themselves “intelligent” and actually believe this crap?

(Hattip: Dan)

State Department Evil

Another bit of shocking news –

There seems to be an American governmental entity that is actively protecting ant-American terrorists with American blood on their hands. Do you remember the Black September murder of American diplomats in the Sudan in 1973? Their kidnapping and murder were undertaken with strict instructions from a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Using coded instructions, Arafat's closest Fatah associate in Beirut, Salah Khalaf, directed the murder of Noel, Moore, and Eid. Arafat himself separately confirmed the instructions. At 9:00 P.M. that very night, the Black September operatives marched Noel, Moore, and Eid to the embassy basement and murdered them with forty rounds from Kalashnikov weapons fired from the feet to the head in order to inflict maximum suffering on the victims.

The story here is that the State Department concealed this information, not only from the US public, but from the existing administration, even though they knew days in advance that the kidnapping would happen. And they denied it all through the various administrations that delt with Arafat and his terrorist group, until last June when they released a summary, which stated, "the Khartoum operation was carried out with the full knowledge and personal approval of Yasser Arafat."

State Department: Friend or Foe?

Ultimate Chutzpah

An Editorial in the LA Times asks (as its headline!): Was 9/11 really that bad?

The more I think about it, the more shocked I am that this was written and published in a major American newspaper. Having suffered the worst attack on American soil in our history, a writer tells us, “eh- whats the big freaking deal…others, like, eh, the Russians, have had it worse.”

Then he repeats the claim inside the editorial, and adds insult to injury:

“But it is no disrespect to the victims of 9/11, or to the men and women of our armed forces, to say that, by the standards of past wars, the war against terrorism has so far inflicted a very small human cost on the United States.”

Oh… I get it. If you say “no disrespect” then you can say anything you want after it. I think it was Dave Chappelle who joked about this (can’t remember for sure). Well no offense to you, writer (David Bell), but you have to be one of the biggest idiots ever to set a pen to paper. And certainly one of the most cruel to write about an ongoing conflict, which claims daily lives, in such a way.

I think the victims' families will take plenty of offense from this man, as will the families, friends and fellow soldiers of those fallen in battle, regardless of how the sentence is phrased.

Our take- cancel your LA Times subscriptions- that would be a worthy answer to an evil article.

China – a rising power?

For those of you that haven’t read Mark Steyn’s new book, America Alone, what are you waiting for? It was brilliant, scary, and a must read for anyone who is thinking about the world situation and the problems we will face in the future.

He also spoke of China, which, although we have heard for years the “rising power” and “new world leader” chorus from the pundits, Steyn discussed how their one-child policy has left them with many men, few women, and thus a huge sustainability problem.

Today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, was an article titled, "Pigs Get the Ax in China TV Ads, In Nod to Muslims." The Chinese apparently are changing mention and advertising for their most important holiday – Chinese New Years – so as not to offend a small minority in the country, the Muslims.

The pig ban is a significant shift for a government that seldom puts the interests of minority groups ahead of those of the broader population. China has more than 20 million Muslims, but they constitute less than 2% of its population.

For most other Chinese, the pig has powerful and positive cultural associations as one of the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac. Year of the Pig decorations already festoon cities and villages all over China.

Pork is the meat most widely consumed by the country's Han Chinese majority. On average, Chinese annually eat more than 80 pounds of pork , according to United Nations statistics. At banquets in southern China, people often roast whole pigs, decorated with blinking red lights in their eye sockets.

Some possibilities:
1. The Chinese are evil geniuses and know that this is a ploy to destroy radical Islam
2. China's "Minister of Information" read Steyn’s book and knows he better suck up to the Mussies, or they will be next
3. China is afraid of the Muslims

My bet is #3. In fact, here is the Chinese Muslim take on the whole thing:

"Muslim people hate pigs and don't even mention pigs in their daily lives," says Ma Yunfu, the vice chairman of the China Islamic Association. Mr. Ma said he hadn't been informed of the CCTV ban but views it as "a precaution."

"We don't want to see any misunderstanding like the one 12 years ago," during the last Year of the Pig, says Mr. Ma. At that time, Mr. Ma says, some newspapers published a tale in which a pig saves the life of Muhammad. "That aroused a lot of anger," he says.

Yep, afraid they are. So much for China taking over the world.

It's the economy, stupid!

Could the economy really bring down Ahmadinejad?

On British Muslims

Last night I saw Melanie Philips, the author of Londonistan, speak. She painted a very dire situation in Britain, for both Jews and Western civilization. For the Jews and Israel, it seems the left wing hates them, the right wing hates them, the Church of England does as well, and not to mention the Mussies…

For Western Civilization, the middle-class, educated Muslim “youths” think its okay to kill Christian Brits, even better to kill British military personnel, and a whopping straight trip to Allah if a Jew is killed.

Today’s NY Sun shined some more light on the topic by discussing two current news broadcasts about Muslim extremism. The first, by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, is pretty much what one would expect from CNN, which is best illustrated with a picture:

On the “London Markaz,” the largest Mosque being built in Europe right next to the Olympic Stadium and being built by one of the world’s largest terror supporters, Amanpour answers a critic by saying, “A lot of this sounds like, I'm sorry to say, white middle class fear, and anger, of Muslims right now.” Wow, that is sure someone that doesn’t get it.

When will people like her get it? “Even after a nuclear bomb, they still might never get it,” Melanie Philips told us.

The second piece was an undercover look at “mainstream” British Muslims – that show is available on YouTube

One [imam], Dr. Ijaz Mian, at the Regents Park Mosque in London, official seat of "moderate" Islam in Britain, talks openly about his desire to see Saudi-style religious police operating in the United Kingdom. He urges Muslims to wait until they are sufficiently numerous to make Britons surrender: "Hands Up!" Another predicts jihad will be waged against all nonbelievers and a British Islamic state established, with the flogging of drunkards, chopping off of thieves' hands, and jihad against non-Muslims all on the menu. "You have to live like a state within a state until you take over," he says. Women are "deficient," and should be marriageable before puberty because Muhammad himself married a nine-year-old. The animus against homosexuals and Jews is particularly virulent, meaning not merely condemnation, but explicit calls for their (eventual) murder. One imam even mimics a throat-cutting.

What was that again about the “religion of peace”?

Can the Con Bring Peace?

Olmert is so wrapped up in scandal that he can’t see his feet… you know the pun. This follows Sharon’s scandals, the botched Lebanon war, the President Katsav’s rape charges, the Justice minister’s resigning over scandals, the tax authority of Israel caught in a scandal…

…and besides scandals, we have a still-in-a-coma Sharon, missiles coming in from Gaza, Iran’s nukes, Jimmy Carter, the three boys still kidnapped, and a civil war on Israel’s border. Could things get worse?

Yes, they can, as Olmert, the cause of many of the above problems, decided that now is the time to speak to Syria and try for a peace conference, and now is the time to speak to Abbas through Rice, like he is the leader of anything now but a few militiamen, and try for a peace conference. Could anyone – really, anyone be so utterly dense?

Sadly, this talk, and this action by Olmert, will only lead one way: to more attacks against Israel. So as more boys and girls die, and the peaceniks keep singing, will Israeli’s ever learn that a “partner” doesn’t mean someone physically in the room, but a renouncing of jihad, a change of mentality and a value for human life?

Terrorist Insanity now turns against Palestinian people

Since extreme corruption, poverty, state propaganda and homicide bombings of young so-called martyrs weren't enough reasons for Palestinians to raise questions as to what the future holds for them, they now have one more clear signal that the world as they know it is rotten.

All of the hate mongering and violence has now spilled into the streets in a civil war that is killing, one at a time, members of different factions. Yesterday's action went over the top:

Every violent incident results in threats, revenge, and in the end – more casualties. Every day there is renewed drama. Today the drama was broadcast to residents of all of Gaza when chief of the Preventive Security Service in northern Gaza Col. Mohammed Ghayeb was killed when Hamas militants laid siege to his house. Ghayeb’s killing was expected to trigger revenge attacks by the men under his command. Ghayeb was on the phone to Palestine TV just moments before his death and appealed for help as his house came under attack. "They are killers," He said of the Hamas gunmen. "They are targeting the house, children are dying, they are bleeding. For God's sake, send an ambulance, we want an ambulance, somebody move." The battle outside the house raged for much of the day and killed four of Ghayeb's guards and a Hamas gunman. About three dozen people, including eight children, were also wounded.

How many more will have to die before common sense sets in and the Palestinian people see that the real enemy of their people are their own terrorist leaders?

On Carter from a Friend

I was happy to read two editorials published by a friend of mine, one in the Washington Times and one in Yehidot Ahronot, on Carter’s book and his alignment with the Pals. As someone who worked in the Carter Center, he has a particularly personal look at Carter’s new book and the extreme bias stemming from it.

Friday’s: VDH and Krauthammer (Of Course)

Lets start with VDH, on adding more troops to a field of battle:

William Tecumseh Sherman’s Army of the West finally reached a level of nearly 100,000 troops in late summer 1864. Yet its success was predicated not on increased numbers per se, but rather on a radical shift in tactics, abandoning reliance on rail support and living off the land. When Sherman left on his March to the Sea, he actually pruned his forces. A good argument could be made that Lee finally cracked, not because Grant’s surges smashed his lines, but due to southern desertion and loss of morale, once it was known that a huge and unpredictable Union army under the unconventional Sherman was approaching the Confederate rear through the Carolinas.

That is exactly what we need to do in Iraq - create a loss of morale in the Iraqi insurgents (i.e. the Muslim terrorists). That doesn’t have to mean a huge number of deaths, but it does have to mean the feeling of them being “terrorized” – feeling that all will be lost if they continue to fight against the US army. We are doing no such thing now, instead we are often pussyfooting around the country, careful not to disturb the current Iraqi corrupt government.

And the dangers of more troops:

If the United States sends more troops into Iraq, especially Baghdad, then we must expand the parameters of operations — otherwise, thousands of fresh American soldiers will only end up ensuring the four things we seek to avoid in Iraq: more conventional targets for IEDs when more soldiers venture out of our compounds; more support troops behind fortified berms that enlarge the American infidel profile; more assurances to the Iraqis that foreign troops will secure their country for them; and more American prestige put into peril.

Hanson then continues to outline the specific steps required to win in Iraq. It is a MUST READ - here is the link again - it is even critical to read to really understand what is going on in Iraq, and what our strategy should be going forward.

Krauthammer has a very critical piece against the way Saddam was executed. Even though, “of the 6 billion people on this Earth, not one killed more people than Saddam Hussein,” he writes that, “the whole sorry affair illustrates not just incompetence but also the ingrained intolerance and sectarianism of the Maliki government. It stands for Shiite unity and Shiite dominance above all else.”

It is a very tough situation as an observer. Many of us feel glee (and not at all “sorry for him” like Hillel Halkin) that Saddam was killed, but it was in many ways a missed opportunity. And Krauthammer is on the mark when he writes, like VDH, that what we need now is not more troops, but a better strategy for winning in Iraq.

Bush's Courage

The honorable Ed Koch on GWB:

President George W. Bush, vilified by many, supported by some, is a hero to me.

Why do I say that? It's not because I agree with the president's domestic agenda. It's not because I think he's done a perfect job in the White House.

George Bush is a hero to me because he has courage.

The president does what he believes to be in the best interest of the United States. He sticks with his beliefs, no matter how intense the criticism and invective that are directed against him every day.

Well said. Its an interesting article, worth a few moments read.

Hattip: Jay Nordlinger.

SWINE

A Danish group posted this add in a Tehran newspaper.

At first glance an anti-US statement, take a look at the first letters of each line, and what they spell.

Our New Congressman

Speaking in Dearborn late Sunday night, the first Muslim elected to Congress told a cheering crowd of Muslims they should remain steadfast in their faith and push for justice.

“You can’t back down. You can’t chicken out. You can’t be afraid. You got to have faith in Allah, and you’ve got to stand up and be a real Muslim,” Detroit native Keith Ellison said to loud applause.

First of all, when he refers to "stand up" and not backing down, what exactly is he referring to?

Hattip: Hot Air

On the other hand, its much worse that so many are supporting Barack Hussein Obama for President, when we are in the midst of a war with 'radical' Islam.

We're not quite as far gone as Europe, but the US has a lot to learn as well about protecting our values, our way of life, and our lives themselves.

The Rise of Radical Islam

Our Guru, VDH, speaks of the rise of radical Islam.

Radical Islam may be as totalitarian and as morally bankrupt as any of these past or mostly defunct "isms," but its current appeal isn't hard to figure out. Unlike fascism or communism, radical Islam is locally grown, and not plagued by charges of foreign contamination. Indeed, Islamists claim to wage jihad against the modernism and globlization of the outside, mostly Westernized world. Such a message resonates in stagnant, impoverished Muslim countries.

Of course, while the people of the region may be poor, the Islamist movement isn't. Huge oil profits filter throughout the Muslim world, allowing Islamists to act on their rhetoric. In today's world, militias can easily acquire everything from shoulder-held anti-aircraft missiles to rocket-propelled grenades. With such weapons, and on their own turf, Islamists can nullify billion-dollar Western jets and tanks.

There is still another reason for the rise of Islamists: They sense a new hesitation in the West. We appear to them paralyzed over oil prices and supplies and fears of terrorism. And so they have also waged a brilliant propaganda war, adopting the role of victims of Western colonialism, imperialism and racism. In turn, much of the world seems to tolerate their ruthlessness in stifling freedom, oppressing women and killing nonbelievers.

Down goes the West?

I'm one of the optimists - the West has never lost a war (only battles here and there), and I think we can win this one. But Daniel Pipes is a bit more skeptical.

Pacifism: Among the educated, the conviction has taken hold that "there is no military solution"to current problems, a mantra applied to Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, the Kurds, terrorism, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. But this pragmatic pacifism overlooks the fact that modern history abounds with military solutions. What were the defeats of the Axis, America in Vietnam, or the Soviet Union in Afghanistan if not military solutions?

And he ends with, "Should Islamists get smart and avoid mass destruction, sticking instead to the lawful, political, nonviolent route, and should their movement remain vital, it is difficult to see what will stop them."

Lets wake up America.

Terror Finance Blog

If you haven’t yet seen it, its worth checking out the Terror Finance Blog by Ilan Weinglass. It tracks financing to terrorists, including articles they find and declassified information, and includes a half-a-dozen or so writers on all topics related to the spread of money to terrorists, and what the US and other nations are doing about it. Definitely a public service from these guys.

Confirmation of Holocaust veracity without facts

Most people (including many Jews) don't really grasp Anti-Semitism and it's existence in "today's world".
We are all in denial of our place in time but we were always the same way. No matter how advanced we are or think we are, the reality is that humans for the most part are still tribal primates with a few isolated civilized communities and some cool toys to brag about.
One of the key figures in the Anti-Semitic Worldwide movement is Iranian President Ahmadenijad, damned be his name, who is the biggest denier of the Holocaust as well as a proponet of a new one, or if you follow his logic, a real one.
Under the desguise of unverified data analysis and pseudo-science, expert racist manipulators of information gathered at Iran's Holocaust forum. One must ask himself, upon 10 seconds of processing this piece of news: why would Iran be so interested in the Jewish Holocaust to the point of hosting such event and having it's President in attendence?
Surely there are many other pressing issues in Iran's population's agenda that would merit similar efforts to hold a conference and bring in experts to discuss ways to improve the lives of citizens in some way.
If Iran's President is a history aficcionado, why didn't he chose to hold a conference on other genocides or holocausts such as the Armenian by the Turks or the Serbian/Bosnians against each other, Hutus vs. Tutsis, Stalin or Pol pot against their own people and the list can go on.
What if he proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that instead of 6 million Jews, only 1.5 million perished in Nazi camps? Would that advance our understanding of history in any way? Would it diminish the atrocity? Would Iranian (or anyone else's) quality of life improve?
I don't want to go on and on to prove a simple point - that there is no point to this conference. There is no logical point to Anti-Semitism. Most importantly, there is no point in ignoring it's existence.
The number of bodies consumed by ovens per hour can change according to historians as may the number of people that could fit in a cargo train per trip. All the speculation and re-calculation will not change the simple fact that mass genocide occured and the figures don't really matter. It happened. It was real. It is real. As a result millions of Jews were displaced from their homes and left without a single penny. Where is their right of return? How different would my parent's life had been if it wasn't for the Holocaust? How different would my life be?

At Eugene's blog, you will get all the evidence you need to believe in the Holocaust. Read his beautiful essay here.

Coincidentally, Jimmy Carter came out with his inflammatory book Palestine: Peace, not Apartheid in the same week as the conference in Iran and in interviews claims not to be anti-semitic or anti-Israel. His only badge of honor is the peace treaty signed between Egypt and Israel during his tenure. See what David Horowitz, Alan Dershowitz have to say about the book

Saudi hobby

I wish terrorists would try this new sport in the streets of Gaza, Afghanistan, Lebanon and other cities where the pavement is very irregular.

Barbaric Palestinian terrorists have a heart too!?

Thousands of innocent Israelis, among them men, women, children, senior citizens and entire families, have died at the hands of Palestinian terrorists. No real condemnation, remorse or counter measure is taken.

But when the killing of innocent happens in Gaza and is carried out by one Palestinian terrorist group to another, they call it an act of terrorism...

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the attack by gunmen in Gaza City was "an ugly and inhuman crime".

"Words stop at the extent of this crime," said the children's father, Baha Balusheh, who is linked to Mr Abbas's Fatah party.

I am a father who has lost his children... This crime is a part of the terrorism which continues on Palestinian streets Baha Balousheh. Mr Balousheh led a crackdown on the now-ruling Hamas movement 10 years ago.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum condemned the killings as an "awful, ugly crime against innocent children".

Don't doubt that the Brainwashing Pali media won't use these images to say that it was caused by Israelis. (warning - not for the weak of heart)

David Mamet interviewed on Jpost

Our friend at Thralled posts on a recent interview with writer/director David Mamet. His latest book, The Wicked Son: Anti-Semitism, Self-Hatred, and the Jews touches on Jewish assimilation, a sensitive topic for all Diaspora Jews.

After reading this interview I'm inclined to buy the book and recommend to all my Jews but not Jewish friends.

Do Orthodox Jews use the bus or taxis on weekdays?

In the latest controversy between Orthodox Jewry and the secular world, a group of Hared Jews have decided to boycott EL AL for its decision to let its own officials decide when it is ok or not to fly on Shabbat. The Haredim argue that a Rabbi should be in charge of that decision since he would be the expert on the issue.

I wonder if these same Jews decide when taxis can work and if not, do they ride with taxis on weekdays even if they work on Shabbat?

Some people may scoff at these entire debate but if Muslims were occupied with this sort of discussions, a lot of today's problems around the world would go away.

A great overview of why we call ourselves Friends of Micronesia

Haaretz has a great little spotlight on the most loyal friends of Israel in the world.

(hat tip: Thralled)

Sometimes You Can Learn from Articles

I have so much to say about this article that I don’t know where to begin. First, the title: More Palestinians Flee Homelands

The title itself, in its =causual use of “Homelands,” assumes multiple homelands for the Pals (please explain that one!), even though in the article it stipulates: “[alestinian Foreign Ministry official] did not have comparisons to previous years or a breakdown of destination countries.”

So let me get this straight: are they or aren’t they leaving in ‘more’ numbers from their ‘homelands’? Is the reporter just assuming that some Palestinian guy is telling him the whole truth, without even any statistics? Could it be for political aims?

Well, it seems so. We read basically that “"What Israel couldn't do by force" they are doing to themselves (assumption: Israel drove out Pals), and that, “Palestinians have emigrated in large numbers before, a response to decades of war, unrest and displacement,” an outright misstatement (unless they meant, which I’m sure they didn’t, that “displacement” meant displacement by the other Arabs, not by Israel.)

Also interesting is where the Pals are going. We read, “The departing technician, 25-year-old Mohammed from Gaza City, has a tourist visa to Italy, but plans to go on to Norway, counting on liberal laws that bar the deportation of asylum seekers.”

And, “Two popular destinations for Gazans are Canada, which still offers legal immigration, and Cuba, which imposes few restrictions on Palestinian travelers. Those with tourist visas to Cuba often don't plan to go there. Instead, they get off in transit at a European airport, rip up their Palestinian travel document and seek asylum.”

If you haven’t yet read the incredible Mark Steyn’s book America Alone, you are missing out. Everything about the destruction of Europe (and Canada) by the Muslims is in there. It is scary, and a must read.

Isn’t it interesting that reading a news broadcast is like deciphering a hidden text – can’t we just ever get the facts?

CNN Viewers wake up call

Glenn Beck brings some truth to CNN

(Video may take a while to load)

If you can't beat them, let them kill each other

Our friend at Thralled posts on a very possible scenario in Iraq if the US just withdrawals (which I highly doubt it will be part of the James Baker list of proposals).

Ideally, we'd like to see a stable democracy grow in Iraq but if the forces of Iran and Saudi Arabian backed terrorism can't be contained, should the US just let them pump Petrodollars into that country and see what happens? Neither winner would bring a decent outcome but perhaps it could be a way to draw the two countries into a long and expensive war that diverts their attention from Israel and the West. After years of carnage, the US, EU, UN or all of the above could step in and see if Iraq would then be ready for democracy and peace.

What do you think?

Photo Speaks for Itself

Hattip: Jay Nordlinger

Say What?

“Israel will continue to honor a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip even though rockets are being fired from there toward the Negev at the rate of about two a day, the security cabinet decided Sunday.”

So says Haaretz.

Let me get this straight: the Pals are firing a few rockets a day to try to kill Israeli civilians from Gaza. Israel, on the other hand, is implementing a “cease fire.” Who the hell are they cease firing with, their distorted imagination?

Over and over and over and over we see the same thing. It is the language of Orwell. And if Israel were to attack now, they would be blamed by the world community for violating the cease fire.

Peretz and Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter, however, argued that Israel needed to respond to the rocket fire, even during a period of relative calm. Firing against terrorists about to attack Israel was the "very definition of self-defense," Dichter reportedly told the security cabinet.

No shit. How out of touch are Olmert, Livini and their crew? They still fail to understand that everything they are now doing is such a sign of weakness to the Arabs, that they will keep attacking! Have you EVER HEARD from a Pal mouth, “oh- the nice Israeli’s aren’t protecting themselves, lets be generous and stop trying to kill them”?

If Olmert is so incapable in the face of rockets that are fired a mile from the border, how can we trust him to protect Israel from much graver threats, such as those coming from Iranian nukes? Isn’t it time for stronger leadership?

Bolton Goes- What a Shame

In bad news for the US, Israel, Micronesia and the UN, Bolton submitted his resignation to Bush.

President Bush has accepted the resignation of U.N. Ambassador John Bolton when his recess appointment expires. Mr. Bolton's nomination has languished in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for more than a year, blocked by Democrats and several Republicans.

Although Mr. Bush couldn't give Mr. Bolton another recess appointment, the White House was believed to be exploring other ways of keeping him in the job, perhaps by giving him a title other than ambassador. But Mr. Bolton informed the White House he intended to leave when his current appointment expires, White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said. Mr. Bush planned to meet with Bolton and his wife later Monday in the Oval Office.

It is too bad. Bolton was an advocate for the US in a way that few are. He wasn't afraid to stand up to other countries, and the forces in this country who were defeatists and Kerryesque. We will miss his bluntness, his honesty, and his hard work for his country.

Nauseating Antisemitic Lampoon

An interesting piece from MEMRI Islamists "Have Reduced the Koran to a Nauseating Antisemitic Lampoon"

Like amnesiacs, no one wanted anymore to remember on what ideological substratum this Shiite theocracy rested... What was forgotten was that Islamism - this theocratic, fundamentally totalitarian, and clearly antisemitic ideology - ... is doctrinally inalterable. Following the most unexpected geopolitical paths, giving in to the demands of realpolitik, Islamism can demonstrate a great degree of pragmatism in its relations with Western powers. Nonetheless, it will not renounce its strategic objectives: in domestic policy, an obsolete shari'a on all of its subjects; and in foreign policy, hegemonic expansion, international proselytizing, and the eradication of 'the Zionist tumor.' Semantic changes within ideological continuity - that is the essence of Islamist Machiavellianism...

Contest: Muslim Top 10 List

At first this might seem a bit juvenile (and at least one of my co-bloggers won’t like this), but in thinking about Muslims (that’s a lot of what I do), I often think about how they think they are in the drivers seat in this conflict. And in many respects they might be, as they are the ones causing the conflict world around, they are the problem in Iraq, in Israel, in Iran, in Syria, in the Sudan, etc. And they have a huge group in the West who literally is scared shitless of them – i.e. almost all of the Europeans and the American Liberals. The crowd who thinks we can’t beat them in a war and must retreat from Iraq (when anyone who looks at the respective powers knows that if were given the green light we could literally crush them, but we are tiptoeing around there like a bunch of school girls).

And people in the West are afraid to poke fun at them as well – we can poke fun at anyone but the Muslims, people think. But there is so much to laugh at – they cause problems around the world from a bunch of cartoons and from the comments of the Pope. Give me a break.

So a contest, what is the # 1 reason Muslims are Pathetic:

Top 10 Reasons Muslims are Pathetic (and Weak):

1. They cry and whine around the world from a few cartoons

2. They’re so scared of criticism they kidnap and force convert a couple of reporters, when everyone knows that it was a fake conversion

3. They can’t get to their ‘real’ enemies so they go after artists like Theo Van Gogh

4. They can’t fight Israeli’s, the smallest country in the world, so they constantly go to the UN and complain, like a kid tattling to a school principal

5. The men are so afraid of their women they cover them up from head to toe, but we all really know who holds the pants in those families

6. They throw themselves at the feet of leaders like the child molester Arafat and the pathetic Assad Jr.

7. They are so afraid of the West that they can’t admit that they are really trying to build nukes, and they come up with ridiculous excuses like “they need the energy”

8. They claim to hate the West, but take a look at Muslim countries and practically all of the products they buy, the movies they watch, and the cars they drive come from so-called “infidel” countries

9. They think they have powerful armies, but literally every tank, plane, gun and other weapon was developed in the West, and the Arabs strongest armies (if you can call them that) were even trained by the West

10. [your ideas?]

Three Cheers for Micronesia

Another vote in the UN, and guess who came out supporting Israel?

The US, Australia, and…

Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Nauru and Palau!

Abstaining were Canada, Ivory Coast, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

To put it in perspective, these are Israel’s friends in the world:

Note, most of the countries are too small for us to see. Also note, that every country voting for Israel, except the US, is an island, and every country except three voting for or abstaining for Israel is an island. Kind of interesting, no? Basically every country, apart from the US, that supports Israel falls into this map:

(A better, and bigger, map can be found here)

We should all show appreciation, and thank the Micronesian government, and the neighboring islands, for their support.

Micronesian embassador to the UN contact information can be found here.

Bush request to Olmert

I am completely opposed to the request made by Bush of Olmert to allow Fatah militants from Jordan to enter Gaza and help Abbas keep Hamas in check.

Addressing the Hebrew-speaking press after the meeting, Olmert provided more details: He was ready to allow forces in Jordan loyal to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, a relative moderate from the Fatah Party, to move to Gaza to help Abbas face down “the tensions with Hamas,” the Islamist terrorist group that runs the P.A. Cabinet and legislature.

The last thing we need in Gaza is MORE militants no matter what side they are on for internal political purposes, we all know that they will soon turn against Israel because that is what all Palestinian militants have in common.

It's just simply a BAD idea. Let Abbas and Hamas face off as is and kill as many of their own "security forces" as possible. Neither group is fit for governing the people of Palestine towards peace negotiations. A third (or fourth, or fifth, ...) group must rise.

Main Liberal Blogger Admits (sort of) his anti-Semitism

When I read about the horrors perpetrated upon the people of Palestine, Lebanon, and elsewhere by Israel, I thank them for defining themselves as a race apart(heid) from myself, for making me Proud To Be A Gentile! Their abject cruelty towards and disregard for the non-Jews of the world is so far removed from my definition of spirituality that I don't even wish to be in the same species classification as them. (Is the new classification of 'homo rapiens' in order?)

Like it or not, the Zionist Agenda has caused the national and spiritual identity of the Jewish nation of Israel to be soaked in the blood and tears of those they have so brutally dominated in recent history. God's 'chosen' people have chosen a clearly defined position in the spiritual battle between the forces of good and evil.

So the Jews are ‘homo rapiens,’ they have abject cruelty, they brutally dominate others and they are ‘evil.’

From none other than the Daily Kos!

These are the idols of America's left wing? Where has our country gone?

He also uses "Jewish" and "Israeli" interchangibly, striking down the argument of any "anti Zionism not anti Semitism" that people often use. I have always said, it is one thing: Jew Hatred. It sounds cruel because it is cruel.

Hattip LGF

Now is 1938, Iran is Germany, and it is about to arm itself with nuclear weapons

Even Ha’aretz had to complement Bibi on his GA speech.

Watch him and listen carefully.

Democrats and Jihad

From the top of the new congress to the probable new Judiciary Chairman, our fight against Islamic Fascism will become much, much harder:

Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, who is likely to be the next House Speaker, has announced her intention to “correct the Patriot Act” and wants to criminalize scrutiny of Muslims at airports and elsewhere: “Since September 11, many Muslim Americans have been subjected to searches at airports and other locations based upon their religion and national origin. We must make it illegal.” Since religion is the one factor that the jihadists themselves invariably point to as the motivation for their violent actions, Pelosi is calling upon investigators to ignore the single most important key to understanding jihadist strategy and goals. If she gets her way, any Muslim who is searched at an airport at any time will be able to claim that he is being illegally profiled; a law criminalizing searches of Muslims at airports would have a chilling effect upon any effort to investigate jihad terror activity in the Muslim community.

Staying Optimistic (One Depressing Day at a Time)

I go through most of my days feeling optimistic about the world. It comes from speaking to and reading from people that are like minded- for every Pelosi we have a Steyn, for every Thomas Freedman a Krauthammer. Well, maybe these days its for every 10 Pelosi’s a Steyn in the US, and for every 10,000 Freedman’s a Krauthammer in the world, but at least there are a few out there.

But then there are those news reports that just keep on depressing –

First, Halkin on Israel today:

Meanwhile, the rockets keep falling from Gaza; every Israeli military action there further harms its standing in the world; Hamas slowly gains in its fight for international acceptance; radical Islam grows stronger nearly everywhere; the potential gains of last summer's war in Lebanon have been squandered; Iran goes on building the bomb; and Israelis, for the first time in their history, see no conceivable light, not even an imaginary will-o'- the-wisp, at the end of the tunnel.

Great.

And the UN keeps condemning Israel, anti-Semitism is on the rise even in New York, and even with our previous enemy, 18 percent of Germans believe Jews have too much influence in the country.

Well, I’m trying to stay optimistic, but I just wish more people would see the threats in the world and fight to do something about it, rather then toe the easy “Jews fault” line we have been hearing for over three thousand years.

Path to Failure?

Upon reflection of what the world is going through now and the people in the center of this conflict, there seem to be a few classes of people:

1. People not interested in the conflict with Islamic Fascism (a good portion of the world and the US)

2. People interested in the conflict, but don’t understand why we are at war or what to do about it (probably between 30-60% of Americans)

3. People who understand why we are at conflict and the threat the conflict is to the West, but don’t understand what to do about it (a good deal of the Iraq war supporters)

4. People who understand why we are at war and the threat the conflict is to the West, AND understand what we need to do about it

In this last category there are very few people. Donald Rumsfeld is one of them. He understands the conflict, knew how to fight and knew what is needed to begin to defeat Islamic murderers. He was fought against from all sides, and wasn’t given free reign when he should have been. Powell restricted him in the beginning when he immediately wanted to give control to Iraq to the Iraqi’s (not to the provincial government), and even some of the “good guys” who seem to get it, like Jim Woolsey and Bill Kristol, called for his resignation. But when push came to shove, this straight-talking, clear-thinking Secretary of Defense has steered us in the right course. It is too bad that the country hasn’t yet shown to really understand what we are facing.

By the way, there are a few others who understand the risks we face and what we can begin to do about it: Victor Davis Hanson, Mark Steyn, Charles Krauthammer, and to a large extent, George W. Bush.

UPDATE: Read what Hanson has to say about Rummy.

History of the Middle East

This is a great little graphic showing the extensive war history of the Middle East. Check it out here

Podcast Lets Robert Spencer Tell more Truths about Muhammad

In part 2 of his explosive interview, Tom Paine continues to talk to Robert Spencer about his latest book, The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion. You can find Part 1 of this interview here.

In blog news this week we cover the fight over the names of the rockets. Qassams or Al Quads? Ynet has the pictures.

The consistently good Dry Bones has the story on Israel's President.

The New English Review gave me the idea for the asbestos Renault with the title of this post.

Damian Penny is back with another Voice of Damnation. Meryl Yourish returns with On Second Thought.

Laurence Simon is on a break.... back soon, I hope.

Andrew Ian Dodge's band Growing Old Disgracefully have provided the theme song for the London Mayoral candidate Dr Lee Rotherham. More information is here.

Shire Network News is an Anglospheric group podcast. You can contact the presenter, Brian of London here.

The Senior Executive Producer, "Tom Paine", can be contacted here.

This edition of Shire Network News was hosted by Brian of London.

If you enjoy this podcast, why not share it with your friends? Send a link to Shire Network News to anyone you know who might also get a kick out of robustly-expressed free opinion.

Shire Network News is, of course absolutely free. Unfortunately, explaining that to the local phone company, the electronics store and all the others is not so easy. This is where you, the grateful listener can play a vital role, by hitting the tip jar!

You can subscribe to SNN on Apple iTunes using the iTunes 1-click button at the top of this post, or download it directly from the Blogmatrix site.

If you don't have iTunes, I can recommend Podcastready.com a link to which is below.

LA teacher's union exposed

Frontpagemag has a great exposé on the LA teacher's union and its ties to Terrorist supporting organizations.

As reported last week, UTLA made headlines when it became known that the Los Angeles chapter of the Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS) would use UTLA headquarters to discuss the launching of an anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign. Local Jewish groups responded with a campaign of their own and were able to exert enough pressure on UTLA president A.J. Duffy to get the meeting moved. (...)
The MDS “Statement on the ‘New Middle East’” reads: “We support a new internationalism founded on unity and solidarity with popular, mass-based resistance movements such as Hamas and Hizbullah struggling against those who oppress us all.”

Up and down, and up...

You might have noticed our site has gone down a few times in the past few days. We've been having fun with some DOS attacks. No, they weren't able to get our server or even close, thanks to our security expert Justin, but they did slow us down a bit. Never fear, improvements will be here-- in the coming days there will be both front end and back end changes. We'll let you know how it goes on the back, and you can let us know what you think about our new features to come.

Yet another reason

If you needed a reason why Israel should not give lands back that was not self serving to the Israelis or Jews in general here is one:

The Druze population in the Golan heights is afraid of a possible turn over of the area to Syria.

N., a resident of the Druze village of Majdal Shams, says that “if Israel leaves the Golan Heights I’ll become a refugee.” “If I move to Syria my life will be in danger... (read more)

Podcast Tells the Truth about Muhammad

In an explosive interview, Tom Paine talks to Robert Spencer about his latest book, The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion.

In blog news this week we cover the French vote to ban the denial of the Armenian genocide committed by Turkey in 1915. Historical payback's a bitch, eh Mustapha?

Israellycool Dave provides some humour with his Palestinian Authority TV schedules. Take a look over at his site for more here, here and here.

Later on I mention the Biased BBC Blog which performs a sterling job of tracking the BBC Bias.

Damian Penny is back with another Voice of Damnation.

Meryl Yourish and Laurence Simon are on a break.... back soon, I hope.

Shire Network News is an Anglospheric group podcast. You can contact the presenter, Brian of London here.

The Senior Executive Producer, "Tom Paine", can be contacted here.

This edition of Shire Network News was hosted by Brian of London.

If you enjoy this podcast, why not share it with your friends? Send a link to Shire Network News to anyone you know who might also get a kick out of robustly-expressed free opinion.

Shire Network News is, of course absolutely free. Unfortunately, explaining that to the local phone company, the electronics store and all the others is not so easy. This is where you, the grateful listener can play a vital role, by hitting the tip jar!

You can subscribe to SNN on Apple iTunes using the iTunes 1-click button at the top of this post, or download it directly from the Blogmatrix site.

If you don't have iTunes, I can recommend Podcastready.com a link to which is below.