Sunday, August 31, 2008

From Other Sites on the Line 1 Sep 08




















Our Distraction


Cross posted from Do the Right Thing
Dean
August 31, 2008

Has election year politics distracted us from the pernicious threat of Islam right under our very noses?While the DNC convention is now over and the recent news of McCains pick for VP Sarah Palin has most of us focused on the upcoming election, we must not lose sight of the peril close at hand.Frank Gaffney, along with a few others remind us that we live in a very dangerous world and that America has a plethora of enemies, both inside and outside our borders.First up is commentary from Gaffney posted August 26, 2006 in the Washington Times, titled Gaffney: Democrats' 'soft' jihadist

Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America. With this choice, Barack Obama's campaign has committed a strategic error of the first order.After all, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) has been identified by the Department of Justice not only as a front for the Muslim Brotherhood - a global Islamist movement with the stated mission in America of "destroying Western civilization from within." Worse yet, it has also been named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the United States' largest alleged terrorism financing conspiracy.Like other Brotherhood operations, ISNA's purpose is to promote what might be called "soft jihad" - the task of steadily insinuating the brutally repressive and subversive program the Islamists call Shariah through da'wa - proselytizing and social-networking.

The more one learns about Dr. Mattson and her organization, the more questions will be raised about Barack Obama's judgment and that of his party in affording them a prominent role in the 2008 Democratic convention. For example:Ingrid Mattson is director of the Macdonald Center for the Study of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at the Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. Her program is used to credential Muslim chaplains for U.S. prisons and our military. (The armed forces require its chaplain candidates to take 72 credit hours from Dr. Mattson's program.) This credentialing was previously performed by organizations founded by Abdurahman Alamoudi, once among the most prominent Muslim Brotherhood operatives in America. Today, Alamoudi is serving a 23-year prison sentence for his involvement in terrorism-related crimes.
A course taught by Dr. Mattson at the Hartford Seminary entitled "The Koran and Its Place in Muslim Life and Society" featured readings from texts by two of the Islamofascist ideology's most revered figures: Syed Abul A'la Maududi and Sayyid Qutb. She has publicly credited the former with producing "probably the best work of [Koranic commentary] in English." As Robert Spencer has observed in his invaluable Jihad Watch blog, Maududi succinctly described the Islamists' Shariah agenda as follows:"Islam wishes to destroy all states and governments anywhere on the face of the Earth which are opposed to the ideology and program of Islam regardless of the country or the nation which rules it. The purpose of Islam is to set up a state on the basis of its own ideology and program, regardless of which nation assumes the role of the standard bearer of Islam or the rule of which nation is undermined in the process of the establishment of an ideological Islamic State. ... Islam does not intend to confine this revolution to a single State or a few countries; the aim of Islam is to bring about a universal revolution."

As to Qutb, an amicus brief filed last week by the Center for Security Policy before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals noted that his "writings expand on [Maududi's] theme of Jihad against wayward Muslim regimes and the infidel West and the establishment of a hegemonic Shariah-based political order. His work has been credited as a central doctrinal source for al Qaeda's doctrine of Jihad, as well." According to the brief prepared for the Center by two of the West's foremost scholars of Shariah, attorneys David Yerushalmi and Stephen Coughlin (resident expert on the subject for the Joint Chiefs of Staff until he was purged by an ISNA admirer in the office of Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England), "da'wa is used to prepare the battle space for violent Jihad."Unbeknownst to most Americans, such da'wa is being systematically advanced through the Islamists' takeover of the vast majority of U.S. mosques, Islamic centers and madrassas (Muslim parochial schools).
This onslaught is being accomplished as Saudi money flows through another Muslim Brotherhood front spun off by ISNA, the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), which acquires the mortgages of existing religious facilities or creates new ones. Along with titles to these properties comes Saudi Wahhabi influence in the form of virulently Shariah-adherent clerics, textbooks and other materials. In her capacity as president of ISNA, Dr. Mattson also is an ex officio member of NAIT's board.Insofar as the Muslim Brotherhood explicitly seeks and is working for the destruction of our government and Western civilization more generally, it is engaged in a criminal conspiracy that constitutes treasonous sedition.
That reality has two critical implications:
First, the Brotherhood must be formally designated a terrorist organization, putting an end to the reckless notion - promoted by, among others, the U.S. State Department - that practitioners of soft jihad are less dangerous and an effective antidote to co-religionists who are prepared to use violence immediately, rather than later on.
Second, under 18 U.S. Code 2382: "Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States and having knowledge of the commission of any treason against them, conceals and does not, as soon as may be, disclose and make known the same to [appropriate officials] is guilty of misprision of treason and shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than seven years, or both."
Mr. Obama, his party, Bush administration officials and, for that matter, ordinary citizens of the United States are obliged to take steps to counteract seditious Muslim Brotherhood activities in our midst. To do otherwise is not just suicidal. It is a crime. Mr. Gaffney has it correct. But this isn't about supporting one party or the other or whether or not you like Bush or Obama or McCain. No, this is about the very real threat that is slowly taking over our country.
Lay the blame on whoever you like. It doesn't matter. The fact is we are all in deadly peril with each passing day and no matter who we vote for, the threat is not going away by trivializing or ignoring it.Douglas Farah had this to say in an article written for Family Security Matters that also came out on August 26, 2008.

Muslim Brotherhood: The Ties that Bind Grow More Difficult to Deny

There is a fascinating interview with Mohammed Habib, the deputy supreme leader of the Muslim Brotherhood where he acknowledges that the Brotherhood has a presence inside the United States.As I have repeatedly stated, there is nothing illegal about the Muslim Brotherhood being here. What makes the groups that grew out of the Ikhwan so interesting and perplexing is their unwillingness to admit that relationship, despite the fact there is no sanction against belonging to the organization. Why act as a covert front group when you could legally exist?Habib also defends Sudanese president Omar Bashir against the international arrest warrant issued for him, and has various other statements of interest, particularly naming Hamas (again) as a branch of the MB.But let’s start at the beginning, the ties to U.S.organizations that those organizations have vigorously denied. It is not that this was not known.
See this report for the NEFA Foundation I co-authored for a more complete picture of what the evidence is.The Daily Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report (free subscription required) also has an archive of information on the subject.Here is the extended key passage of the interview on this issue, so nothing is taken out of context. Read carefully, it gives an interesting and disturbing view of the MB agenda in the United States, one much more accurate than its legacy groups present. Read the interview and the rest of the article here.

As I have stated many times in the past Islam is using our tolerance and rule of law against us. The following article, which I won't post in it's entirety, explains the threats we face quite well;Islamists are attacking freedom of speech

By CLIFFORD D. MAY, Scripps Howard News Service , editorials and opinion.

Freedom of speech is under attack. Let us count the ways.The first and most obvious: Those who criticize militant Islamists -- from novelist Salman Rushdie to Danish cartoonists to memoirist Ayaan Hirsi Ali -- are routinely threatened with deadly violence. It would be black humor to say this is having a chilling effect.The second is "political correctness." On campuses and within Western governments it is increasingly taboo to label terrorists who slaughter in the name of Islam "Islamist terrorists." In Canada, "human rights commissions" attempt to enforce this taboo by putting such writers as Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant on trial for the "crime" of expressing opinions that offend Islamic grievance groups -- and also for quoting Islamists accurately and thereby casting them in an unfavorable light. If that's not Orwellian, what is?But it is the third approach that could be most consequential for Americans. It's known as "libel tourism" and here's how it works: A book published in the United States names an individual abroad who supports terrorist groups. That individual -- for the sake of discussion, let's say he's a Saudi petro-billionaire with a home in London -- goes online and orders a few copies, which arrive in the mail. He takes those books to a British attorney who files a lawsuit complaining that his client has been libeled.The billionaire knows it will be much easier to prevail in the U.K. than it would be in an American court, where the First Amendment and decades of case law provide free speech protections. (Under English law, by contrast, the burden in a libel case is on the defendant to prove his innocence -- which can be impossible if he's been using confidential sources or even just sources who don't want to cross an ocean and take part in a courtroom battle.) The continuation can be found here.

And then of course you can make anything of this you want;
Posted at LGF, August 26, 2008.Zombie: The Mosque in Denvers Civic Center Lovely isn't it? Beautiful pictures, diverse with a hint of multiculturalism.The truth is there are thousands of Iranians living and more importantly dying, in a very oppressive society. That society is dominated by Islam.In part 56 of Diary of a Vengeance Foretold, written by By Dr. Ludwig de Braeckeleer, Saturday, August 30, 2008 we discover the ugly truth in this article; Tehran executes thousands of political prisoners.
Read the article at Canadian Free PressThis coming election is perhaps the most important we have encountered in recent history. Our very survival is on the line and it doesn't matter whether you are Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative, left or right, Islam is not going away.If you value your way of life here in America, enjoy your freedom of speech, and the liberty we all celebrate, don't you think it is time we the people act together to rid our society of this hideous monster lurking beneath the surface waiting to pounce? But you don't have to take my word for it. You can make any excuse, explain it away within your realm of political correctness and believe anything that makes you feel superior. Go on about the business of attacking those of us you disagree with. Enjoy the freedom to do that while it lasts.

Blips on the Screen: 1 Sep 08

















Meet terrorist trackers Josh Devon and Ben Venzke, today's heroes

Cross posted from Deb Hamilton's Right Truth

You probably don't know these men, Ben Venzke and Josh Devon, but I bet you know their companies -- IntelCenter and SITE Intelgroup.
For years, al-Qaida and other terror groups have set up shop in the Internet. Those who track them have covertly followed. The companies SITE and IntelCenter have penetrated even deeper into the terror Web than most intelligence agencies.
When al-Qaida was founded, Josh Devon was nine years old. Ben Venzke was 15. The year was 1988, and Devon and Venzke were as uninterested in the terrorist network as its leader, Osama bin Laden, was in the two young Americans.
Now, two decades later, things have changed. Venzke and Devon have both become fascinated in terrorism and have turned that interest into careers. And al-Qaida now takes careful note of their work.
Venzke and Devon are two of the most prominent “terror trackers” worldwide. In the United States, and increasingly in other countries, the term refers to a community of people who spend their days analyzing traces that al-Qaida and affiliated organizations leave behind, especially on the Internet. The two Americans are essentially digital trackers in the age of globalized terrorism.
IntelCenter and SITE Intelgroup are the companies that Venzke and Devon, respectively, have founded. They enjoy a strong reputation within the relatively small community of terrorism experts. Beyond that, though, they are virtually unknown but wrongly so.
(Spiegel OnLine, via National Terror Alert)

"If those pics are real then the whole Dem party ought to be ashamed"






Obama Convention throw US Flags in the Trash




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A note from Radarsite: Almost immediately after this article posted, Radarsite was beiseiged with hits from one particular website: The Hillary Clinton Forum. By six o'clock this evening we had received over 2,000 hits, mostly from this site.

Obviously, this article hit a sensitive nerve with the Dems. Our article was picked up and subsequently generated a long - two pages long, so far -- comments thread. And, to their credit, many of the commenters have indeed expressed appropriate outrage. But, as might be expected with any controversial topic such as this, some readers just dismissed it as minor and unimportant. And, just as predictably, many of their readers blamed the Obama people for a lack of patriotism and a cynical disregard of American tradition. Hoping, it seems, to distance themselves from this blatantly unpatriotic image.


I did try to register to join the discussion, but was advised that the Registration was closed.

Therefore, in response to their enlightening responses I am crossposting just a small segment of these anguished comments. I have deleted the commenter's names and info, and I hope that by doing so I have avoided crossing some ethical Internet guidelines.


Unlike the Republicans, the Dems are vulnerable on the patriotism issue and they know it. They have obstructed almost every one of our efforts to prosecute the GWOT effectively and to protect Americans here at home. To me, these comments show an acute awareness of this vulnerability, and a real concern for how this convention outrage might effect their chances in November.


Read their comments and decide for yourself just how vulnerable they really are.

rg

Here they are:

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If those pics are real then the whole Dem party ought to be ashamed. This is outrageous, and if I remember right actually illegal. Does anyone know about the laws regarding the flag, because I am 99% sure that that is illegal.


Yes Pass around ask why they would not have given them to supporters ?More Prroof of disrespect of the United states of America and foolish wasting of funds !

I am a first generation american.. when I got my citizenship about 12 yrs ago.. they gave us those little flags(granted these in the picture are differrent, but still).. I still have that saved.. b/c it meant so much to me.. I don't know what has happened to the Undemocratic party.. we are watching it disintergrate.. I'm email this story to everyone .. please do the same:

a.latour@wsj.com, a.murray@wsj.com, darren.mcdermott@wsj.com, j.fry@wsj.com, kudlow@cnbc.com, wsj.ltrs@wsj.com, abrams@msnbc.com, advocate@thebulletin.us, byork@nationalreview.com, byork@thehill.com, ccrawford@cq.com, comments@mclaughlin.com, ElRushbo@eibnet.com, evening@cbsnews.com, Foxreport@foxnews.com, ftn@cbsnews.com, gretawire@fox.com, Hannity@foxnews.com, hemmer@foxnews.com, hume@foxnews.com, igcolonel@hotmail.com, irena.briganti@foxnews.com, jocelyn.austin@foxbusiness.com, Joe@msnbc.com, joetalkshow@aol.com, letters@charleskrauthammer.com, lou@loudobbsradio.com, me@glennbeck.com, mitch.davis@foxnews.com, netaudr@abc.com, Ontherecord@foxnews.com, oreilly@foxnews.com, race08@msnbc.com, richard.white@foxnews.com, robert.finnerty@foxnews.com, Special@foxnews.com, stu@glennbeck.com, suzanne.scott@foxnews.com, ureport@foxnews.com, weekendlive@foxnews.com, AndyMart20@aol.com, bsmith@politico.com, lindamuller@buchanan.org, LouDobbs@cnn.com, jake.tapper@abc.com
This should be emailed all over. Send to Hannity, O'Reilly, Limbaugh, DNC, Fox News. They could have been donated to elderly nursing homes, vet groups, schools, etc.Typical of the Obama crowd!

Sorry guys, but I can't get angry about throwing plastic flags in the bin. I don't read that much into that gesture. I am not a pack rat, so I tend to discard things. This reminds me of Palm Sunday, when Catholics go home with these palm branches after mass. My mother would get so mad at us for throwing them away. What else can you do with branches?
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BHO isn't patriotic, so what can we expect from his supporters? Give me the war hero!

Why am I not AT ALL surprised by this? Obama the anti-American racist puts on a big show for his Kool-Aid drinking fans, and then American flags get thrown in the trash. Just another day in Obama's America-hating world.
Quote:
BHO isn't patriotic, so what can we expect from his supporters? Give me the war hero!
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Sorry guys, but I can't get angry about throwing plastic flags in the bin. I don't read that much into that gesture. I am not a pack rat, so I tend to discard things. This reminds me of Palm Sunday, when Catholics go home with these palm branches after mass. My mother would get so mad at us for throwing them away. What else can you do with branches?You put them behind your picture of the Last Supper...a staple in every dining room of every Irish-American...even the gay ones!
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The day of Hillary's suspension speech I was working at our theatre's fundraising booth at the annual town festival, and was feeling down (of course). While I was on a break I took a quick walk around the grounds and walked past this Little plastic U.S. Flag on a stick that was laying on the ground. I stopped and picked it up and stuck it in the ground next to one of the booths. A lady smiled and said "thank you", I smiled back and said, "This country isn't to that point...at least not yet."
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Today, for the first time in my adult life, I am proud to say I am voting for a Republican."McCain 2008" - because 2012 belongs to HILLARY.As children our parents tell us not to talk to strangers, yet as adults our Democratic leaders expect us to vote for one.Recycle plastic...Don't vote for it.
This isn't such a big deal, as far as I'm concerned. What is horrendous is the amount of money wasted on that spectacle of a convention.
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This isn't such a big deal, as far as I'm concerned. What is horrendous is the amount of money wasted on that spectacle of a convention.The funny thing is how everybody feels that Obama will win this election. I would laugh my ass off if McCain wins. It's pathetic how even after the "spectacular" Democratic convention, McCain is still a formidable oppenent. I'd rub it in all the moronic, brainwashed Obama supporters.
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Chairman of BO Campaign: "Mr. Obama, I'm so sorry, but you lost the nomination!"BO: "Hold on one second, sweetie."Lmao! Watch this plox.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:AboutThe DNC was so vigilant about recycling garbage. They even had "garbage police" out at trash cans to instruct people to put there compost type stuff in one can, the regular trash in one, and the plastics into another. Why didn't they set up a flag gathering place, for those who were so unpatriotic that they didn't want their flag? These flags could have been given to other organizations that good respect them.

We always save our tattered flags and take them to our VA to have the ceremonial flag burning in its proper way...My son was a scout and we teach our children to respect our American flag something that is very important to teach our Children and something that isnt shown in our schools now days Im sorry to say....
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We always save our tattered flags and take them to our VA to have the ceremonial flag burning in its proper way...My son was a scout and we teach our children to respect our American flag something that is very important to teach our Children and something that isnt shown in our schools now days Im sorry to say....Thank you. Whether it's made of cheap plastic or the finest materials, there are proper ways to retire flags........even cheap dime store ones.
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You put them behind your picture of the Last Supper...a staple in every dining room of every Irish-American...even the gay ones! ...or you can take the Italian-American approach and put it behind the picture of the Blessed Mother hanging over the bed!
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You put them behind your picture of the Last Supper...a staple in every dining room of every Irish-American...even the gay ones! My family did that too.
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The DNC/Obama camp should have had people collecting them from people on their way out or running around picking them up from the ground (which is where I'm sure many of them ended up). I personally would never throw the little plastic flag in the trash but alot of people don't put the same stock in the little plastic ones as they would a big, cloth flag. I will say that I suspect that many of the Bots who were at that fiasco event probably would have thrown the cloth ones on the ground had those been given out.But, the DNC/Obama camp should have thought ahead, had people collecting them from people who didn't want to keep them, and they could have been donated to local cemeteries for veteran's graves. That would have been the decent thing to do. But, decency doesn't seem to be a part of the Democratic party.
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A PS from Radarsite: One of my commenters suggested that I use this pic with this article. Why not? it certainly fits the theme. - rg


Fmr DNC Chair Thinks Hurricane Proves God is on the Side of the Dems




Fmr DNC Chair Thinks Hurricane Proves God is on the Side of the Dems

Cross posted from Maggie's Notebook


RedState.com's absentee's Diary videos former Nat. Chair of the DNC, Don Fowler, as he chuckles about a hurricane hitting New Orleans just at the time President Bush is to speak Monday at the RNC. ..."that just demonstrates God's on our side," he says. Congressman John Spratt of South Carolina allegedly was the other side of the conversation.There's more than just the video. Read it at RedState.



Thanks to YouTube.com










Saturday, August 30, 2008

Muslim Europe in the Making







Muslim Europe in the Making

A note from Radarsite: Amazingly, there are those still out there who find it difficult to accept the concept of an imminent Muslim takeover of Europe. To these folks such dire predictions are nothing but fanciful creations of an over-active imagination, or the deliberate attempts on the part of right-wingers to scare people into voting Republican. Our attempts to sway these people invariably fall flat. In short, they just don't believe us. We are not credible sources.
Well, here is a credible source. And his short essay on the history of the Islamic jihad against the West is both succinct and profound. Even if you think you already know what you need to know about this subject, please read it anyway, and you will most certainly be rewarded. Somehow, someway we must begin to recognize the sheer enormity of the threat we face from Islam. A threat which grows more serious every day.- rg


From the summer/fall issue of Outpost
Moshe Sharon*

In 1683 the armies of Islam besieged Vienna for the second time. The first occasion had been a century and a half earlier. The great Islamic Empire of the time, the Ottoman Empire under the long reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, was then at its zenith. It had extended its border on the Danube far to the west of Budapest and would reach the gates of Vienna, which stood between its armies and Western Europe. Suleiman regarded himself at that time as the ruler of the world and treated the great kings of Europe as his subjects. The actual subjugation of the rest of Europe, as far as he was concerned, was only a matter of time.

Fortunately for the world of Christianity, when the Muslim armies attempted to besiege Vienna for the second time, some 117 years after Suleiman’s death, the Ottoman Empire was already on the decline, its expansion westwards had been checked, and the bastions of European Christianity could begin to threaten the Muslim Empire rather than being threatened by it.
Yet for the Ottomans, the Christian countries of Europe remained Dar al-Harb—“the Land of War”—the term used by the Muslims for all territories not yet under Islamic rule. The term is both legal and political and is charged with religious belief and emotional fervor.

Infidels
Legally speaking, it defines the relations between the lands of Islam and the lands of the infidels. Infidels—in Arabic Kuffar (singular: kafir)—are all those who are not Muslims, mainly Jews and Christians. They are regarded as, both theoretically and effectively, in a state of war with Muslims. This war does not have to be declared, since from the Muslim viewpoint, it is the only possible state of affairs between the two parties. Moreover, it is part of the divine plan. For after Allah sent Mohammed “with the guidance and the religion of truth” there was no other way but that “he may uplift it above every religion.” (Koran, surah 9 verse 33) In other words, Allah made it incumbent on the Muslims, the Community of the Faithful, to subjugate the whole world and bring it under the rule of Allah.

The fire of Jihad, Holy War, must burn in the heart of every Muslim. It is a collective and personal duty; and every Muslim leader, particularly the head of the Muslim Empire, is obliged to pursue this duty ceaselessly Legally therefore, the appellation of “The Land of War” to Europe is understandable. Every Christian coming from the Land of War—dar al harb—has the status of harbi. This is different from being a dhimmi, the status imposed on Christians and Jews tolerated to live under Islamic rule as third-class subjects. The harbi is simply an alien, an enemy of Islam, even when no acts of war are in progress between the two sides.
This legal outlook reflects the religious obligation to keep the Jihad, the Holy War, always alive. Since no one can abolish this duty that is enshrined in the words of God in the Koran, it remains an open-ended condition. Similarly the Land of War cannot change its status until it is conquered by Muslims and becomes part of the Land of Islam.

The emotional aspect of this religious obligation is an integral part of the way by which the relations between Muslims and kafirs were defined. The Koran and Islamic tradition taught the Muslims that their Community of the Faithful is “the best nation ever brought forth to men” (Koran, surah 3, verse 110) and that the truth of their religion is the only perfect truth, that they, as believers, are always on the right side, and the infidels are always wrong.

Europe, more than any other part of the world, personified the land of war. It was the natural place against which Jihad was to be waged. It was, after all, the major enemy of Islam from its inception.
But Europe proved to be a difficult enemy. It was an enemy that fought back successfully. In the Middle Ages the Crusades brought the Europeans into the heart of Islamic lands, but Islam somehow recovered from this success of the infidels, which placed the Muslims for the first time in a defensive position, and tormented them with doubts about Allah’s support.
Islam did not recover from the loss of Spain (“the Jewel in the Islamic Crown”). Once Islam conquered Spain, it became an Islamic land. Its reconquest by the infidels seemed to be a reverse of history for it negated the rule which says that once an Islamic land, always an Islamic land. To this day Spain, which the Arabs insist on calling Andalus, is regarded as lost Islamic territory, the recovery of which is a religious and political objective and duty.

The offensive of the Ottomans against Europe in the 16th century, after they had destroyed the last symbol of Roman Christianity in the east with the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, was the natural course of the Islamic Jihadi idea. However, the Ottoman Empire failed, retreated, deteriorated, and was finally destroyed in the Great War in 1918. Moreover, Christian civilization and the modern way of life of Europe were victorious in other ways. The national regime in 20th century Turkey dramatically changed the nature of the state and society by importing from Europe everything that Western civilization could offer, from script to technology and from a system of government to fashion, with the declared aim of building a modern secular Turkey and expelling Islam from the life of state and society.

Double reversal
Another political development that was viewed as a major setback to Islam was the establishment of the State of Israel. More than the loss in the 15th century of the Islamic land of Spain, the establishment of Israel on Islamic land is regarded as a double reverse of history because not only does it involve the loss of land but it also constitutes an unacceptable situation where Jews, who are dhimmis, rule over Muslims. This defies the divine law itself. It cannot be tolerated and must be changed.
Another setback was that Europe ceased to be the only land of the infidels. America joined this category and America has proved an even tougher opponent than Europe, both militarily and ideologically.

However, after World War II, Muslim activists detected that Europe had begun to show signs of old age, frailty and weakness and the mighty West in general was surprisingly vulnerable. Islam emerged as a strong power waiting to be engaged. This notion was summed up by the Malaysian premier Dr. Mahatir Muhammad at the opening of the Islamic summit on October 16, 2003. The 1.3 billion strong Muslims possess both natural sources of wealth and human resources and it was inconceivable that they should not be able to achieve their goals or be defeated by a few million Jews. Nonetheless the availability of resources that could be converted into weapons proved to be less effective than Mahatir and those who thought like him believed.
It should be noted again that Islam is a warring religion and a fighting civilization. The Muslims left their mark on world history first and foremost in a military capacity. They can do the same in this age, changing their strategy and tactics, but remaining on the same course. The revivalist Muslim movements—the Iranian revolutionaries, the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaeda, the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, to mention only a few, have discovered the weak links in the West’s defense. On the one hand they have proved that terror, similar to that practiced by the Muslim assassins in the Middle Ages, can be much more devastating than the actual physical damage and bloodshed that it causes. In one act of terror they succeeded in changing the government in Spain. On the other hand, like the Soviets they soon discovered the ease with which they can exploit Europe’s democratic system, liberal ideologies, leftist intellectuals, the media and even governments, to achieve their objectives.

The Muslim Jihad for the conquest of Europe began a few decades ago and the Europeans are taking part in it as full collaborators on the side of Islam. The European Union has done away with national borders, obliterated defined national entities, weakened national feelings, ancient values and the sense of national pride and national defense. On the other hand it has created a wonderful infrastructure for the infiltration of Islam into Western Europe by millions of Muslims who maintain their Muslim identity, hold on to their Muslim values and regard the whole of Europe as their own land. Bin Laden, Qaradawi, the Ayatollahs of Iran, and many other teachers of Islam tell them that they are coming to Europe as masters and not as immigrants. These Muslims, using European laws and exploiting leftist intellectuals, the “useful fools” (to use Lenin’s immortal definition) actually behave like masters in the host countries, rather than as guests. Thousands of mosques have been established in every country, from Finland to France. The Muslim way of life is even imposed on economic institutions and the Islamic version of history and thought is creeping into all echelons of political and intellectual life, affecting the educational system at every level.

Official Europe convened the Hamburg Symposium in 1983 to acknowledge meekly the importance of the Islamic contribution to the creation of European civilization and to encourage the study of Arabic and Islamic civilization in Europe free from the (sound and scientific) “orientalist method” of research, namely in accordance with Muslim traditional methods, concurrently encouraging departure from the Judeo-Christian heritage and minimizing its contribution to Western civilization.

Political aspect

This attempt to drive modern Europe away from its true moral, cultural and historical sources, in which Judaism occupies a central place, also has a political aspect. This constitutes yet another success of Islam, a natural by-product of the infiltration of its version of modern history into European society and institutions. Muslim propaganda has succeeded in presenting the establishment of the State of Israel as a sin committed by the Europeans against the world of Islam. In other words, the State of Israel is nothing but an easy way by which post-war Europe has atoned for the crimes of the Nazis and their helpers at the expense of the poor Arabs.
This idea has taken root not only in the minds of the “useful fools” of the European left but has also found its way into the business and political community. Nowadays, more than ever, one can hear in these circles and in the media (covered in euphemisms) that the establishment of Israel was a “moral and political mistake.” In short, Europe would be happy to see a major Arab pogrom, to which it would quietly contribute its part, in order to rid her of the guilt of this “moral and political sin.” Much of European policy in the Middle East, and particularly the official enmity to Israel and pro-Arab nature of its policy, is directed and formed by these sentiments. And we have not mentioned the ingrained anti-Semitism which was covered up for a while, but from which Europe has never recovered.

Instead of paying attention to its steady conquest by Islam and the loss of its Western character, Europe has once again found the usual, ancient solution to all its problems—the Jews, and now also, conveniently, their state. There is a strong possibility that Europe will become Islamic in less than half a century, and it will be of its own doing.

*Moshe Sharon is professor emeritus of Islamic history at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

For more on this issue see Radarsite's Understanding the New Left

"I'm Hopeful Again.": A great email from Miss Beth

This woman has CHANGE written all over her--she's not a bo-tox behemoth with eyes bugging out like Pelosi, she's not old, wrinkled, haggard and, frankly , looking like she's been rode hard and put away wet--she is most definitely NOT politics as usual, she carries a glamour those in hollywood only WISH they could achieve because she doesn't get her muscle from a gym but from real hard work, she IS real, not acting real, her children and husband are not TOKENS to be paraded out to boost votes, she's a straight talker, a straight shooter--in all ways--and you can see in her eyes, she will brook absolutely NO nonsense. There's not a wishy-washy thing about her AT ALL--and yet you can see the love she has for her family, her fierce commitment and love for her country, the vibrant glow of health and exercise in every inch of her and there's not a thing tomboyish, andrygenous (sp?) or at all "fuzzy" about her.

Yeah, I was going to hold my nose and vote McCain to keep Stinky out of the WH, but now, I'll energetically pull that lever FOR HER and the future she potentially signals for the GOP. I don't know much about Beohner, Cantor or Hunter--what I do know, I like. I DO see her, however, continuing to leap forward in her own thinking, though, and am seriously hoping to see a Palin/Jindal ticket. Youth, dynamics, integrity--"ordinary" people taking back control of the usual politicos--I can easily see that and the opposition will continue to reel from the repeated uppercuts.Hell, y'all, you know what I'm trying to say--I'm HOPEFUL again for the GOP--all of a sudden, there's a huge bright light shining on that hill again.

From an email from Miss Beth of Miss Beth's Victory Dance

After the Hoopla: Contempt of Country



Obama Convention throw US Flags in the Trash


Hat tip to Lew Waters of Right in a Left World
Cross posted from The Audacity of Hypocrisy
August 29, 2008

The debate is over. The Democrats can never again claim they are patriotic. Who would ever throw a brand new flag in the trash? Answer: The thousands of Democrats at the Obama convention.





-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A note from Radarsite: I wouldn't do it, would you? Would you, could you dump the American flag into the trashcan, just after having given all those phony patriotic speeches? If nothing else, wouldn't you even be just a little concerned for how it might look? Well, not these people. Their message is clear. Contempt. Contempt for America and contempt for our opinions of their disgusting conduct.
This is the true message of the Democratic Convention. This is the image they have left us with.
Shame. Shame. Shame. -rg
Interesting visitors:

From Other Sites on the Line: 30 Aug 08



















The Hope And Change That Governor Sarah Palin Brings




Cross posted from Political Vindication
Written by: Shane Borgess on Saturday, August 30th, 2008


So the fight card is set. The cherubic Barack Obama and his lyre Joe Biden levitate in one corner, the warrior John McCain and his velvet glove Sarah Palin in the other. The next 66 days we’re going to watch everyone else try to crawl between the ropes to become a part of the fight, and before it’s done, will we really be able to say that the candidates won or lost the race themselves? Certainly not, it’s the media who calls out the commentary, and they’ll tell us what they think is important, and expect us to make our decisions influenced by what they offer. But there is hope. Americans have lost faith in the media, and feel they have overplayed their hand in their shameless submission to the messiah Obama. That’s why I think the Sarah Palin pick might just be allowed to become as effective as it is groundbreaking.
The Palin pick by McCain was a gutsy move, but a longer look at it unlocks the mystery behind it. It took John McCain decades to realize he hated what he saw in Washington, and his ‘Maverick’ title was an anointing by conniving journalists who saw in him a contrast they could foist upon their ideological enemies, the Republicans. But Sarah Palin, from a lowly valley in a frozen state, is herself more a representation of what this country has been clamoring for than any of the candidates we’ve met thus far; she’s fought corruption in her own party, demanded integrity in government, and understands issues like energy and government waste. She also relates to millions of American families, and the women within them - the largest voting bloc today, because she is still raising four of her five children, her oldest son having joined the military and now headed to Iraq. Some complain about her inexperience, but ironically no one on either ticket has the experience she has leading a state. The executive branch insists on a resume that includes knowing the system and leading the system. John McCain knows, and Sarah Palin has led.
The Palin pick also holds as of yet unseen benefits and advantages. The Obama campaign is notoriously shrill and unprofessional, and we’ve seen them time and again fashion attacks that have boomeranged back to hurt them (the ‘how many houses do you’ own attack is an example). It’s a good bet that they will swing for Palin and end up estranging women voters, and a few percentage points there in our direction may well be all we need. Concerning the issues that are foremost on voter’s minds; energy, healthcare and the economy, Governor Palin brings empathy to the ticket as a woman and a mother. It also helps that she comes from a small town (another attack by the Obama camp - what are they thinking?). America is covered in little towns, and none of them think highly of the Northeastern elites talking down to them.
A long lasting benefit of the Palin pick will be the effect it may have on the demographic change that the Republican party needs to make. We are battling a media template that belittles the Republican party as the party of the white man. For all the arguing we may do to deny that label, nothing works so well as action. The Republican party has always been the party of small town values. Of individualism and respect for religion, of tradition and skepticism of the bureaucrat and the party boss that sends him. John McCain is deemed the maverick because he rebels against DC values. The American people have been driven to abandon both parties because of the belief that those inside the system will never allow change. In the rubric of Hope and Change, the Republican ticket offers more of it. We’ll see if that translates.
Let’s go through some of the other Democrat arguments against Governor Palin. They’re saying the choice by McCain shows desperation, as if choosing a woman is unRepublican, and furthermore a woman from a state most liberals can’t find on a map equals desperation. But that argument makes no sense - if McCain was desperate he would have chosen the most popular, rich and beguiling running mate available - like a Romney or a Cantor. Instead he chose a little known female governor from a hardly populated state. That’s may be crazy, but it isn’t desperation. Next, the Obamacon throng is whining about an ‘affirmative action’choice, intimating that she isn’t qualified because she was only chosen for her gender. They prove what conservatives have been saying since affirmative action became the political bribe most favored by the Democrats - it trivializes competence to fill quotas - but you notice that they were willing to force minorities to endure the insult! Lastly, as NOW argues, Sarah Palin is too pro-life, too religious and too conservative, and any women that votes for her is voting against a woman’s interest. What about the interests we all share? Isn’t 40 million abortions enough by now that we can start voting in favor of the child’s interest? Why should the religious have their influence blocked when secular extremists are allowed to thrive? We’ve had 50 years of rampaging liberalism, which has morphed in an anti-American leftism spawning increased drug use, illegitimacy, family breakdown and widespread education failure. Isn’t it time we got back to our conservative values and saved this country?
The country is rebelling against the direction this country is taking, and who can blame them, we all can agree that there are trends dividing America that we don’t like. The campaign that started out as a challenge to the status quo has become a caricature of sterile, staid machine that promises to give us more of the gruel we despise. Obama’s choice of slow Joe Biden pulls him back toward Washington DC, and there’s nothing to suggest that anyone on that ticket has ever challenged the system they have profited from. The Republicans have stolen the Democrats mantra. Let’s hope that change now means a move back toward conservatism and accountability.
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A note from Radarsite: Thank you Shane Borgess for your intelligent and incisive analysis. And also thank you for that optimism, that welcome optimism, based not on wishful thinking, but on cool clear-headed reasoning. She was an inspired choice. - rg

Friday, August 29, 2008

Apocalypse Now: The River of Lies

Thoughts on seeing Apocalypse Now again:

It's 1979 and a young Martin Sheen is taking us up that fateful river again. He is our wise and somber Virgil, our guide, narrator, the ORM (Only Rational Man), leading us up that labyrinthine river of death and insanity which is our Vietnam War. That great river of no return, that winding thread of dark infuriating lies that will take us further and further into the Heart of Darkness, into our great national shame, guilt and self-loathing. This was the real secret mission of that clandestine journey. And they almost succeeded.

It's the summer of 2008 and I'm taking that trip with him once again and I wonder at the enormity my previous innocence and gullibility. I am overcome by the tragedy of it all. Not just by the horrors of this bloody and inconclusive war, but overcome by what they, the narrators, have done to us all. Our trusted and revered guides have all but ruined us with the binding threads of their dark unscrupulous lies. Up the river we follow them into that great cynical myth, slaughtering myriad innocent women and children, laying waste to the fertile land, sacrificing a small courageous people in the fiery embrace of Napalm, like great birds of prey, swooping in on the schoolchildren playing in their schoolyard, accompanied by Hitlerian Wagnerian orgasms of supremacist passion, the demonic sounds of that self-righteous, contemptuous warrior's passion. We are all too young, much to young to know what the hell we're doing, we're all dopeheads and surfers, sadistic, drunken sex-starved smiling adolescent American monsters, smiling the awful smiles of insanity as we slaughter our helpless prey. Meaningless slaughter. Pointless death. Ghastly unnecessary erroneous war. Monumental moral blunder.

And what finally do we find at the end of that gruesome river, at the end of our perilous journey? We find ourselves. And the discovery is alarming. Madness, arrogance, ruthless, contempt of all that is fine and good in human nature, thoughtlessly obliterating a fine nation for inscrutable and indefensible motives. A big stupid illiterate giant stumbling around the world in our drunken orgy of self-gratification. We have become the monsters we once abhorred, too young, too naive to even begin to appreciate the enormity of our loss, that loss of all that which we once held dear. This is the grave and ominous lesson of that journey into the Heart of Darkness. This, then, shall be our new national narrative: The epic downward spiral of a once great nation into that hopeless moral miasma.

This is what they have done to us, this is what they have wrought. Our honored Virgils, our trusted guides, our respected ORMs. This, what we have become, is their doing, this is the product of their genius and their ideology and their talent. With the power of their heavy-handed symbolics and crude metaphors they have almost succeeded in redefining our national narrative. We have become lost in that impenetrable jungle of lies and propaganda and have almost lost our humanity. We have, they have convinced us, sinned greatly, monumentally, against all mankind, and all that saves us from oblivion is heeding their grave warnings, the concerned admonishments of our counterfeit ORM. Oh, and they have worked their magic well. They have taught us how to hate ourselves with great success, and how to love our enemies, and finally, how to find hope and solace in our boundless self-contempt. There is, they tell us, still one possible chance for salvation -- our willingness to face up to our past mistakes and to try to make amends. To give up all of our old selfish and contemptible imperialistic warrior dreams and join the humble brotherhood of man. It's not too late yet, they tell us. There is still time. If we just follow their lead.

So I have taken that old trip up that long loathsome river once again and I wonder at my previous ignorance and gullibility. But no longer. Now I can see the corrupt degenerate treachery of our false guides. Their lessons are lies and their messages are empty. They have almost ruined us with their deceptions and their purposeful distortions of the truth. They have almost succeeded, they have almost robbed us of our self-respect, our hard-won and well-earned self-respect. But ultimately they have failed to destroy us. Because we can still remember, we can still remember the truth of who we are, despite their most talented and ambitious efforts to obliterate it.

We are a great fine people. We are a great fine nation. We owe apologies to no one -- least of all to ourselves. In the end the false storytellers with their secret agendas have failed. It is the beginning of a new season now, we are beginning to create a new narrative. A narrative founded on truth and hope and promise. We are looking for new Virgils. Not to lead us down into the depths of self-immolation and despair, but to lift us up to the heights of promise and fulfilment. We are looking for guides now who will teach us how to love ourselves once again and regain the strength of the righteous warriors that we are. We are free and we are kind and decent. And the old men's tales, the False Virgil's lies just won't do anymore.

For a fascinating corrective on Vietnam Vet war myths see Lew Waters great article here

From Other Sites on the Line: 29 Aur 08


















USA. USA. USA.

Cross posted from Deb Hamilton's Right Truth
August 29, 2008


Compare the setting and audience in attendance when John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his VP choice. People were chanting "USA USA USA USA." They were waving flags, ... American flags, and homemade signs. They were excited. They love America, they love the military and went crazy when they learned Palin's son is in the Army.
I ask you, did you hear ANY chanting of "USA USA USA" at the Democrats convention? The answer my friends is a big NO. All you heard from the Democrats is how bad America is, how she needs changing, how her reputation is ruined, how her people are downtrodden, how the economy is in the tank... negativity is their theme. Not the Republicans. We cherish this country, we think she is the best nation in the world.
McCain's event today was a preview for the Republican convention next week. Compare the Greek temple backdrop Obama had to the simple, one screen, American flag backdrop the Republicans have constructed. Be prepared to see patriotism on display at the Republican convention.
Did you notice the pins on Sarah Palin's lapel? A big glorious American flagpin.
Did Palin need a make-over? Nope. Did she have a fancy new pantsuit or a new hairdo? Nope. She swooped up her hair with a clip like she always does, put on a skirt and jacket (no pantsuit), clipped on her flagpin and away she went. Nothing fake or artificial about this woman.
Even on Fox News channel Mort Kondracke and Juan Williams gave the (silly) arguments that Palin had never served in congress, she had never given a speech, she had never made the rounds of news shows. God help those idiots.
Kondracke: "Obama has more experience "because he's been running for president longer."' Running for president is experience to lead a nation?
No Sarah Palin has not served in Congress, but you can't really say Obama has served in Congress either, unless you count 140 something DAYS, most of which was spent on the road campaigning and avoiding placing any votes that could be used against him.
John McCain's pick for vice president has thrown the Democratic Party into a disoriented spin mode the morning after Obama's underwhelming speech at the Temple of Obamis ... (continue reading)
People in Alaska LOVE this woman. She has an 80% approval rate. This blog has a great post title: Does Biden Pal-in Comparison? and asks "is that too corny?" No, I love it.
Contributions to the McCain- Palin campaign should be huge. People who have not been sending checks to John McCain are now energized enough to open checkbooks and start writing.
There are those who think McCain fell into the Clinton 'trap' by selecting a woman, Sarah Palin. I think it was genius, and if it fits Hillary's agenda, so be it. Hillary doesn't want Obama to win in November and neither do we.
McCain's choice was Absolutely Brilliant:
... This selection shows McCain is serious about change. This selection also shows McCain has the skills and knowledge necessary to lead our country. (continue reading)
This is very interesting: Clinton Bloggers " You will regret not choosing Hillary now!",( Yid With Lid)
I think that the Democrats are kicking themselves in the butt over and over for not picking Hillary Clinton as Obama's VP. They are crying over spilled milk.
Obama's camp said Palin had no experience. John McCain shot back: "Sarah Palin first ran for political office in 1992. I don't know what Obama was doing 16 years ago." Touche'. No one knows what Obama was doing 16 years ago.
I love it.

McCain/Palin: The Shortest Critique on the Web


Let me see if I've got this right -- the glamorous young candidate for change has picked for his running mate an old insider politco rerun, and the old geezer has picked a fresh young vibrant newcomer. Wow. Now who's the candidate for change here?

From Other Sites on the Line: 29 Aug 08
















Last Day Round Up: Sermon on the Mount

Cross posted from Findalis' Monkey in the Middle
Friday, August 29, 2008


The Moonbat Express Democratic Convention is now over. The Moonbats are returning to their caves, to their lattes, to their jobs and praying to their new G-d for a miracle in November. All week they heard the praises of their G-d spoken over and over. The mantra of Yes We Can, Change and Hope were sounded in unison as they built their energy up to a crescendo of power that they pray will send their new Messiah into the White House.

As they waited for the Messiah to appear in the temple HE had built, Former Messiah and Prophet of Global Warming Al Gore appeared to the assembled multitude. He spoke of how if the nation had elected him 8 years ago, the world would be a better place. He spoke of how he would have healed the sick, make the cripples walk and clean the Earth. He lamented how he would have destroyed the evil bin Laden, and never destroyed the evil Saddam Hussein.The multitude cheered. And they waited, in the Temple of Audacity, for the Holy One to appear.

Then with a deafening blast of trumpets, preceded by 72 virgins dressed in white, with the Archangels Gabrielle and Michael escorting him and The L-rd G-d's arm rapped around him, shouting: "That's My Boy!" He descended to the stage.The Anointed One spoke to the masses. With profound gratitude and great humility accepted their nomination. He told of how He loved his wife and children. Thanked the apostates Bill and Hillary, granted acknowledgment of Howard Dean and Dick Durban. He embraced Ted Kennedy, knowing that soon he will be no more. And lifted up the failed apostate, now His preeminent apostle Joe Biden.

He told of His childhood, filled with poverty and despair. How His mother had to feed their family on the meager portion of the Food Stamps. He cried about how His people had to struggle to reach this place. How the color of His skin kept His people from achieving their goals. He cried about the children, the born and unborn. He cried about the sick, and how would make them whole. He cried about the workers, the immigrants and the old. He spoke of all those who made this nation strong.He railed upon Bush the Evil and his successor John the Bad. How they brought the nation to war, against what He wished. How they destroyed the economy, against what He wished. exclaimed that if He had been in charge, the world would be at peace. The nation would be healthier and all would have a job.

And the multitudes cried out: "Yes We Can!" As these platitudes were given to them from the Messiah of Change.Then He raised His arms (a stunt His opponent John the Bad cannot achieve) and blessed the assembled multitude.And then, when He finish, and rockets filled the sky. He brought out His family and they smiled to placate the crowds.And thus Barack Hussein Obama entered the history books. But if in November He does not win, He can always blame it on Florida and the crooks.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

From Other Sites on the Line: 28 Aug 08

















Der Sieg


Cross posted from Great Satan's Girlfriend

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Der Sieg
As the the DNC climaxes with the acceptance speech and rock star acknowledgement of the Donkeys' dude much has been made about the grandeur of the event, the cat himself and the cool ancient Greek looking stage/podium elevator arrival of the man of the hour. The man of change hope, the future and a hopeful future filled with change.All new - nothing like it ever!Totally incorrect.It has been done before - and it is more like a ghost story to freak out the kids than anything else.That Greek temple looking spot - and the elevator harken something a bit sinister.And it should. For it is the model of Ceaser Augustus' deified shrine at Pergamon. An ancient Greek temple to Zeus in ancient Greek colonies in Asia Minor or modern Turkey.Hauled to Berlin by Deutsch archeologist Karl Humann, the exhibit and the alter served as the inspiration for Albert Speer's demonic shrine to der fuhrer at Zeppelinfeld in Nazi time Germany - where der Fuhrer held the massive 'Nürnburg Rallies.The main spot - where der fuhrer furiously fomented devilish designs had an elevator that rose up and the waiting room antechamber was an artistically created copy of the Temple.Nazi fanboy Albert Speer later lamented that most of his designs were 'fascist' in that they tended to make one feel small.Zeppelinfeld in the old Imperial City of Nürnburg was all about being larger than life - and a bit more too -
"With their gigantic dimensions, the grounds and the architecture weremeant to suggest to the individual visitor to the Party Rallies that he was participating in something major and significant, while at the same time conveying the impression of his own insignificance.
All the buildings moreover glorified the two central myths of the ThirdReich: the Führer myth, who was seen to be sent by Providence as a national saviour, and the myth of a national community founded upon collective uplifting experiences and feelings."One of the catchy chants was that the Fuhrer's name was the victory. Tune in and see if a chill manifests itself as something semi weird, uncool and a mite scary.

Event wise - Obama = der fuhrer?NO!
Event wise Hitlerian?Maybe.

Posted by GrEaT sAtAn'S gIrLfRiEnD


Latest From Lionheart: 28 Aug 08 al Qaeda's Frontline in Britain



28 August 2008


Posted by Lionheart
28 August 2008
Posted by Lionheart at 3:14 PM

Click link below for Lionheart's new video: Luton and Dunstable: al Qaeda's Frontline
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1761814537896503439

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

The View From Down Under: America as seen by the Australians and the New Zealanders




The View From Down Under




Most Americans I think have a high regard for Aussies, based on our traditional mutual support of one another in our common wars. These positive views were I believe re-enforced recently with the rather sudden appearance of a whole bunch of first-rate Aussie movies in the 70s -- among some of my favorites would be Gallipoli and Breaker Morant. Then of course everybody loved Mel Gibson and Crocodile Dundee. Aussie culture quickly became the latest rage with the American in crowd.

But Americans really don't know what Aussies think about them. And I think they might be surprised. I for one was very much surprised by the amount of support and honest affection for America coming from down under -- especially considering that our own leftist media has us all thinking that everyone in the world hates our guts.

So I approached my good friend and fellow collaborator KG at Crusader Rabbit in Australia.

Now, anyone who has had the pleasure of visiting CR already knows about their loyal band of regular commenters, smart, outspoken, fearless, and surprisingly well-informed about the state of affairs in the good ole US of A. So why not ask them? Why not give them the chance to voice their unique opinions about this beleaguered country of ours? Both the pros and the cons. Without their being filtered through the notoriously biased medias of both continents. Just plain old fashioned straight talk between fellow bloggers, just regular guys and gals who just happen to know what the hell they're talking about. So our good KG bought the idea and here we go. I hope my American readers find this as enlightening as I do.

Although, perhaps unfairly we too often use the all-emcompassing term Aussies, we are, as you shall see, equally blessed to have many good friends and loyal readers from New Zealand as well. And obviously we look forward to your opinions with the same interest.

So, without further preamble, here are a selection of some of the comments we have thus far received, the good, the bad, and hopefully not too much of the ugly. This is a brand new venture so we haven't really developed any rules -- just the usual deleting of obscenities and overtly anti-American rants. This will be for now at least an open ended posting; if more comments come in, we will simply add them to the article.

Thank you all for your kind enthsiasm and your thoughtful offerings. We begin with a nice compliment from Katie:

Katie
It is a great idea. I too would love to hear the opinions from you guys.
Katie Homepage

Well Katie, I've made my feelings very plain for years now, but I'll kick off with this:There are millions of us worldwide who aare "American, just born in another place" as someone once said. We admire America for her liberties, her principled stand for freedom, for the decency and integrity of the overwhelming majority of her people. We see American airplanes and ships first on the scene of natural disasters, helping out with typical generosity and efficiency those who very often have had nothing good to say about her.We also see an enormous military that for all it's fearsome efficiency still manages to be extremely careful to distinguish the innocent from the enemy combatants, and takes casualties as a result.A powerhouse of innovation, inventiveness and productivity, a country where alternative viewpoints aren't subject to State terror.The list goes on and it's a damn long list at that.Do I regard America as perfect? Of course not--no country ever is nor ever can be. But I regard her as the closest thing yet to a free society and still the gold standard for liberty. It'll be a grim day indeed for the world should America ever fail to lead.
kg Homepage 08.27.08 - 10:05 am #

As Richard Jeni said: "America - fifty million illegal immigrants can't be wrong". And as I say: If America is really the "Great Satan", an awful lot of people seem to want to dance with the devil. Wake Up 08.27.08 - 10:48 am #

I like Americans. In general they are polite, truthful and VERY patriotic. They would rather live in their own land rather than anywhere else (like us Aussies. Milk and cookies and a good knowledge of their nation's history is evident.Their election process worries me. It seems to be more about the availability of money for a campaign than actual issues. If I was an American I WOULD vote even though it is not compulsory. The Democrats will send the country to the shitter especially in these time when military might is paramount.The Brits have disowned us in defence (shafted us in the past) and we need the USA as our big brother.I worry that sometimes the Americans are too self absorbed and don't know enough of what goes on in the outside world. They have a huge country so it may be that there is no need for them to look outside their borders for the average citizen.Americans are portrayed on TV and in film as stereotypes. Stereotypes are few and far between. It is the plebeian public that chooses to accept what is portrayed through the media.It's only a small contribution KG but I hope it helps.
Marc
Anonymous 08.28.08

Thanks Marc--it sure does.
kg 08.28.08 -

Go read here
Tiberius Homepage 08.28.08

And I didn't fuck up the link either!
Tiberius Homepage 08.28.08

Let me get the bad out of the way first, what i don't like about America
In a word, liberals. If you want me to list some of the things i don't like, bear in mind these aren't common to all Americans or confined only to America.Promiscuity.Materialism.Soft on immigration, i understand many Americans want strict controls, but there are enough who don't see the negative long-term effects of illegal immigration.The walls in apartment blocks are so thin.Have i mentioned liberals?You still pay tax.Aren't all the above the fault of lierbals, alright maybe not the walls, but you see why i don't like them don't you.
What i like about America.T he right to bear arms, yeah, yeah banging that old drum again.The armed forces of the United States. America is a force for good in this world. Free speech, and i mean real free speech, not the kind the rest of us think we have. It's a beacon for liberty and safety.I t's the least socialist country i know of. America knows what to do with evil scum.The help that Americans freely give to the poor and suffering around the world.America saves us the true cost of standing on our own.Americas military hardware, wow.
In America, you are free to succeed and free to fail. Everything is bigger in America. Americas' existence and success grates with Liberals the world over. America stands in the way of Communism.They killed those Nazi bastards. Didn't they save our asses in WWII. You don't pay as much tax in America. Fast food. Cheerleaders. The punisher. Cars are so much cheaper in America.What America has done in Iraq.The point of this post, Americans care what others think about them.
MK Homepage 08.28.08

What a nice post!...wow at alla yaz!..I may just have to come to Australia this year!..MK's list is awesome too.
Angel Homepage 08.28.08

Tiberius, I "snitched" your beautiful commentary - gonna post it on a Marine message board {WITH attribution, of course!}, 'cause a LOT of my fellow Marines will appreciate it ...................

Now, for Roger's request:I'm kind of an exception as an American, in that I've had the opportunity to travel/live outside the U.S. {visited Mexico & Canada as a child, lived in Mexico recently, and was able to visit Morocco, the Czech Republic, Germany & Austria as an adult}. What I found, for the most part, was that the 'regular folk' in other countries offered the acceptance and kindness that I would like to believe most Americans would offer visitors from other countries when they visit HERE.In Morocco, I met a young Berber tribesman, who was sent to the city to sell the jewelry his tribe made while traveling the desert - he seemed to enjoy practicing his English with us, and just showed such a kindness of spirit that I wanted to hug him {of course, THAT was a no-no, since I'm an 'infidel woman' }.When we lived in Mexico, for the most part, we were treated well, with the exceptions of women working in a pharmacy, who commented that we 'should learn Spanish' before we came to their country, and the man who told me, because his wife was stupid, that I was the type of American who caused 9/11 - that didn't preclude his asking us to help him emigrate to the U.S. No gall there, nossir!!
In the Czech Republic, my husband would go to work, & I'd take the car he rented for me & drive to Kaufland's, a grocery store, park & walk across the river to the city center - always, always, ALWAYS, I was treated with kindness and respect, from the various stores to the InterNet cafe I frequented.I absolutely fell in love with the Graz region of Austria - the natural beauty is breathtaking, and the people are friendly - the Piber Lipizzaner stud farm is wonderful, and very English-language friendly.
In Munich, the people were pleasant & friendly, but there was a ................ 'discomfort' ............... there, that I attribute to an ongoing embarrassment regarding WWII - I may be completely off-base in that presumption, but there you are.
Would I go back to visit any of those places? In a New York minute! Because, "our" MSM to the contrary, I did not find resentment, or the perception of 'the ugly American'. I happen to believe most of that comes from the "elites" of any group.
Hope this helps!
Semper Fi'
DMDiamond Mair Homepage 08.28.08

I am American but have lived most of my life outside of my country. I can see the bad. Mainly, we are spoiled and take too much for granted. Lately, the youth seem to be willing to allow the government to provide for them in a way my generation would have been humiliated to accept. BUT, the good of our country outweighs the bad so very much. Having lived in Venezuela under the Chavez regime, I noticed the stark reality of the lack of the right to 'the pursuit of happiness'. We can achieve anything we dream of, if we pursue it, where as in many places that possibility does not exist.
Jungle Mom Homepage 08.28.08

Bad- liberals and Hollywood

Good West Texas Country music and the politeness of Texans in general.

Let's not forget that due to the cultural war, we're virtually talking two countries these days. The horrible pseudo-liberal America epitomised by Hollywood, and the traditional America, which is the one we all revere.

Redbaiter 08.28.08

Hi Roger! I'm a NZer who lived & worked in the US from 1986-90 incl. I also lived & worked in numerous other countries for another six years, so there's a lot of basis for comparison.

I found that no matter where you go, MOST people are good people, and treat others accordingly.

Firstly, a bone to pick with MK & Red! An old bone, but one that drives me bloody crazy ... that constant misuse of the word 'liberal' .. something I blame Americans for, by the way! Liberal is derived from 'liberty' - something the left appears to despise - and yet they hijacked the term. (Guess 'dictator' rankles, eh!)

Is it because they're liberal with other people's money?! Grrrr. But I digress.

Good things about the US:

1. Thomas Jefferson & the brave FF
2. Constitution & Bill of Rights
3. NE in the autumn - nature at its most glorious
4. Grand Canyon
5. SF Bay Area (loved living there)
6. Military might
7. Overseas disaster relief
8. Sweet, generous, hospitable people

Things that drive me nuts:

1. Waste: food left in restaurants, taking a dozen napkins when a couple would do, etc
2. Ludicrous-sized food portions
3. Patriot Acts 1 & 2 - a disgrace
4. Judicial activism
5. Creeping socialism
6. Tolerance of badly-behaved kids & the ones who started this 'smacking is abuse' bullshit - the rest of the west has since caught up, of course. Thanks for nothing, Hollywood.
7. Vacuous celebrity worship
8. Home of political correctness that has since infected the rest of the world
9. 'African-American' .. drives me nuts, that. Nonsensical.
10. Crap fast food - trust dumbasses elsewhere to follow suit
11. Positively enormous govt ..

.. which is perhaps the worst of all:

The refusal by so many to realise that freedom is indivisible and that responsibility is the flip side to freedom; that you simply cannot have one without the other.

And that govt is not the solution, but usually the problem.

A fact not lost on Jefferson.

Cheers!
Sus 08.28.08 -

Gravatar My two cents worth:

The US is the light of the world.

And I say that as a patriotic Kiwi too.

The briefest of comparisons between NZ's and The USA's history shows that we have a lot more in common than just about anywhere, indeed I've talked to many who have lived, travelled and worked in the US (I myself have not.Yet!) and all who I talked to found that it took only a matter of days to acclimatise.

So in short, the US is a mate. And where I come from you stick with your mates.

Oh and I'm a big Rockabilly music fan too!

exocet 08.28.08

Gravatar
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. - from the American Declaration of Independence.

These are such powerful words, and along with the US Constitution, have defined a nation like none other. It is the 'Greatest Democracy' - and this has created a society possessing confidence, strength of character and the will to help others.

And this is evident in the Americans I have met. Of course there are the caricature Americans - loud, brash and wealthy - but they are the occasional rather than the rule.
mawm 08.28.08

The US is like a big brother who is a bit loud and embarrassing at times, but is the one we all holler for when there is a fight in the schoolyard.And he's our big brother and for his minor faults, we still love him!You can quote me on that!
Oswald Bastable Homepage 08.28.08

Read Emma Lazarus' poem "The New Colossus", WHICH IS INSCRIBED AT THE BASE OF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY. A few words from it:"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free;The wretched refuse of your teeming shore; Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me; I lift my lamp beside the golden door".What other nation, EVER, has had such an inscription on its front door?" NONE.
For that matter, what other nation has a Statue of Liberty beckoning the rest of the world?
If America goes, we all go.
Wake Up 08.28.08
------------------------------------------------------------

A note from Radarsite: We'll keep this article open through tomorrow, just in case there are any more comments out there. And as I promised, we will continue to add new ones as they come in. Normally at this point Radarsite would offer a summing up of my opinions of the previous article. However, I'm not so sure about this one. Maybe it doesn't need a summing up. Or maybe someone besides myself might feel like offering their own summation. I guess we'll just play it by ear and see what happens. Right now I'm going to just enjoy reading through them all and seeing what I can learn from them about my own country. Thanks again for your encouraging responses. I'll keep you all up to date on further additions. And a special thanks to KG for offering his venue for this little experiment in communication.
Till later,
Your friend,
Roger G.
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