Sunday, November 30, 2008

From Mumbai to the United States of America: Are You Ready Now?


How could our enemy make themselves any more obvious? Here is the truth, plain and simple: the enemy is Islam. Their avowed mission is to utterly destroy or totally dominate the West. They have been prosecuting this War against the West for at least five decades now. Since World War Two, they have been responsible for innumerable bloody attacks against our innocent civilians, against our innocent women and children. Every year they grow stronger, and more and more emboldened. Every year they increase the frequency and the severity of their attacks. And what price have they paid for this relentless orgy of mass murder? What real pain have we ever actually inflicted on them? What have we done to them to deter them from further attacks? Anything? Have we ever really hurt them at all?
Are we going to continue relying on the United Nations to admonish them and to dissuade them from their great jihad against the West? Are we going to look for help from this useless multi-national organization, who has repeatedly sanctioned these terrorist attacks by presenting Islam as the victim of Western aggression? Are we going to look to the toothless and morally conflicted EU to help us to win this war? Those cowardly Europeans who cannot even find the will to protect their own nations from this encroaching Muslim menace?
After all this time, do we really not know who the enemy is? Do we really not know who gives them comfort and succor? Are we still determined to close our eyes and ears to this loud and clear message from Mumbai?
Or are we finally ready now to fight this war with brave deeds instead of cowardly words, to finally inflict some real pain on this blood-soaked enemy who is determined to destroy us? Are we ready now?
If we are ready, if we are truly determined to protect ourselves, then we must deter the enemy. Do we really have no weapons in this war? Are we really that helpless? The answer is No. We have the weapons to use, we just have to use them. We just have to get serious. Here is how we could begin.
Number one:
All Muslim immigration to the US must be curtailed immediately.
Number two:
All Muslims here in this country, whether citizens of this country or not, must be treated as enemy aliens, and either rounded up or deported.
Number three:
Islam must be declared to not be considered a religion, but rather an enemy ideology, incompatible with our democratic principles, and the practice of Islam must be declared illegal in the US or any of its territories.
Number four:
We must close all mosques and all Islamic organizations. Anyone promoting or advocating Islam must be declared to be an enemy of the State.
Number five:
Any country that promotes the cause of Islam must henceforth be considered an enemy of the United States.
Number six:
Any threats against the West in general or America in particular must be considered acts of war. And the country from which these threats emerge must be punished in some immediate and meaningful way. In this, we will act ruthlessly and unilaterally, regardless of the interests of other countries or of the corrupt, anti-Western, pro-Islamic UN.
Number seven:
All options must be left on the table. The nuclear option must be made real. If our very existence is to be at stake, then we must be prepared to threaten the very existence of our enemies.
Number eight:
No more words. No more empty diplomatic sanctions. If we are attacked we will react violently and disproportionately and without mercy.
Number nine:
We are ready now to show the world that we truly do have the will to survive and the will to inflict terrible injuries on our enemies. And to our enemies we say this, We have exhausted all other means of deterrence, now we are going to use our awesome might to subjugate you and destroy your will. If you will not respect us then, by God, you will learn to fear us. Know that there will be no limits to our revenge. We will find you and we will kill you. We will kill your families and we will destroy your homes. We will flatten your cities and reduce your countries to ashes before we will submit to your barbaric will. Take a lesson from Imperialist Japan. You have awakened and angered a great beast and now you will pay the terrible consequences of your folly.

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The Ambassadors of Peace


Originally published July 11, 2007
--------------------------------------------------

It appears that we in the United States are in the process of becoming a passive, "non-judgmental" society; above all else we value political correctness, tolerance and dialogue.

But when we are slaughtered, where is the anger? The moral outrage? When we are attacked, what is our response?

We oppose naked brutality with the pitiful weapons of empathy and rationalizations. The pathetic scenario has become all too familiar.

After the slaughter of the innocents, we "come together" in our candlelight vigils, we play our guitars and sing our folk songs, we pray for peace and leave our flowers on the graves. We dutifully honor the dead and seek to understand the murderer's point of view. And finally, we seek "closure" and we tell ourselves that we must "move on" -- which basically means that we must forgive and forget.

The only anger we seem capable of conjuring up is that ineffectual, misplaced anger directed against ourselves, or more precisely, against those among us who have chosen to fight back against the bullies. Here, ironically, the anger and the self-righteous moral outrage upon which it is based are unequivocally relentless and vehement.

We are the children of the children of the 60s. We are the ambassadors of peace. We confront the murderous beast with love and understanding. We smile at him and sing him a song and put a little flower in the barrel of his gun and hope for the best.

God help us.

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JEW














Originally posted to Wake Up America - January 25, 2008
http://wwwwakeupamericans-spree.blogspot.com/2008/01/jew.html

Jew.
What a great explosive word!
Think about it. What other proper name for a people contains its own epithet?
For every other people and nation we have had to create a special, derogatory slang word to express our disdain or contempt. For the Italians we created Dagos and Whoops, for Blacks we came up with Niggers (yes, Al Sharpton, I'm actually saying the N-word. Why should you be an exception?), for the fickle French we've got Frogs and for the Spanish, Spics.

But the Jews are a special case, aren't they? So special are they that we don't even need to create a new word to insult them. Their name alone does the trick. We're still having trouble saying the word aloud. We prefer to ask, Are you Jewish? We simply can't bring ourselves to ask, Are you a Jew? It sounds like an insult, doesn't it? But why should the name itself sound like an insult? Is it that loaded with ulterior meaning? Is the word itself that dangerous?
Evidently the answer is Yes.

For more than two thousand years this world's been trying to come to grips with that powder keg of a word. And it seems to me that we're no closer now than ever to comprehending its vast impenetrable mystery.
Jew.
Just one little word.
Just one little people.
Yet, such power, and such agony...

Today, January 25, 2008, in the latest edition of the Chesler Chronicles posted at Pajamas Media, the inimitable Phyllis Chesler details, with characteristic incisiveness, the latest evidence of the ongoing "Hate Israel follies". With unassailable authority, Dr. Chesler delineates the undeniable growth of these great disturbing truths. These great old disturbing truths.

But why? That's the seemingly eternal question that still haunts our Twenty-first Century Western World.
Why now?
Why the Jews?
Why the Jews again?

And why, for heaven's sake, Israel? Can anyone in the West in their right mind justify denying support to our only reliable ally in this whole bloody hate-filled region? How is it possible -- after the horrors perpetrated on us on September 11, 2001 by those nineteen unrepentant Arab Muslims -- that we can still embrace these moral monsters and side with them in their never-ending onslaught against the tiny democratic Fortress Israel?

How the hell can we continually ask our imperiled and vastly outnumbered ally to give up yet more land for yet more cynical empty Arab lies? More land for more rocket-launchers? Yet we do ask, don't we? Every day we ask Israel for more. Endure, we say, endure and give up more.

And why should you give up more? You should give up more, we say, because you're in the wrong. You're in the wrong by existing, and as long as you continue to exist we can not in good conscience defend you.

Am I wrong in thinking that the only possible answers to these troubling questions are the obvious ones: oil and anti-semitism? Are there perhaps other more abstruse and complicated reasons of statecraft that are simply beyond my limited comprehension? Can it be that this ancient evil presence is still slithering amongst us after all these years? After all these bloody pogroms and endless persecutions? After the unspeakable horrors of the holocaust? And the unspeakable shame of our despicable present-day holocaust deniers?

It seems to this particular student of Western history that the descent of decent civilized societies into chaos then anarchy or fascism is almost invariably attended by a disturbing rise in that society's gradual but unmistakable acceptance of anti-semitism. It is an almost perfect bellwether.

Take note. Look around you now and what do you see?

With the undeniable and alarming rise of militant Islam throughout all of Europe and Scandinavia and Britain, and the growing empowerment of the secular left, we can plainly read those same old unmistakable signs of a resurgent anti-semitism -- the hastily-scrawled Swastikas and the over-turned tombstones, the hate-filled rhetoric, the crude propaganda and the relentless demonizing.

Wake up everyone! It's here right now. It's all around us. It's undeniable and it's evil and it's growing.

Get ready World, here we go again!

An Alternative Christian History


Originally published by Real Clear Politics - July 12, 2007
-----------------------------------------------------

What if we just switch names and put Jesus in place of Mohammed?

Jesus receives messages from God and travels to Jerusalem to preach his revelations. He is rejected by the religious establishment and forced to leave the city. He takes up his new residence in Bethlehem and through his preaching succeeds in creating a large loyal following.

He sustains this new movement by raiding passing caravans and -- after receiving special divine dispensation -- beheading the defenders. He then marries several wives, including -- after receiving special divine dispensation -- a nine year old girl. Next, he raises an army and attacks Jerusalem where, after putting all of his enemies to the sword, he succeeds in capturing the city.

His new found religion flourishes and after many bloody wars spreads over the entire geographical area. He dies. There ensues a violent dispute over the succession between Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Saint Paul is assassinated and his followers go into exile. Saint Peter is proclaimed to be Jesus' legitimate successor.

Several generations pass and eventually the Pauline exiles find a new leader in Saint Jerome. Under his inspired leadership they rise up and attack Jerusalem. They lose the battle and Saint Jerome is beheaded. The Jeromists become a persecuted minority within Christianity and spend the next fourteen centuries waiting for revenge. Their symbol is the severed head of Saint Jerome.

This religion is known the world over as a religion of peace.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

The International Suicide Hotline: A Second Call

Originally published by Wake Up America - January 17, 2008


Who do you call when you see an entire civilization becoming suicidal?
Is there a Hotline number for this particular crisis?

Every day the reports coming in are getting more and more ominous. We are losing battle after battle. From Sweden, from Denmark, Germany and Italy, the bad news keeps coming. Whole sections of old historical European cities are under siege. Stockholm, Marseilles, entire rural communities north of Rome, the industrial cities of Northern England, all are rapidly becoming culturally unrecognizable.

And in the wake of this relentless Muslim tsunami the Socialist multiculturalist European governments are falling all over themselves to accommodate these seditious immigrants who despise everything that their democratic societies stand for. The barbarians move in and civilization retreats and the crime rate soars. And it's happening over and over again.

Every day we write about the latest international horror on our websites, every day we pour our impotent rage into this vast anonymous blogosphere, where it quickly dissipates into the ether. Every day we compose our passionate essays and our thought-provoking articles; we dutifully support our well-reasoned arguments with legions of statistics.

And every day the world moves closer and closer to the edge of the yawning chasm. Closer and closer to cultural oblivion.

Our whole civilized Judeo/Christian Western World, it seems, is in the thralls of some dark hypnotic medieval catharsis of self-flagellation. We have convinced ourselves that we are monstrous sinners, that we must atone for our monstrous sins by willingly participating in our complete and utter self-destruction. We have risen to our civilizational heights, we continually remind ourselves, by building our glorious empires on the broken corpses of the world's wretched and poor. Whatever good we have done for this world was either illusory or self-aggrandizing.

We eagerly cede the moral high ground to these backward brutes without debate. We pride ourselves on our ability to grovel before them, we smile in sweet subservience and ask them if there's anything more we can do. We honor their right to dishonor our laws and to undermine our traditional values and we call it enlightenment. We teach our children to despise us, and we pay our entertainers to humiliate us in front of the whole world.

Like all self-perceived failures, we look back nostalgically to those halcyon days of long ago. Those days of that so-called Greatest Generation, when we were a people united and all the world loved us.

But maybe that was all a dream. Maybe the world never really loved us after all. Maybe we're getting our memories all mixed up with our movies. Maybe they all just feared us, and needed us. Maybe...

To at least half of our fellow citizens we conservative writers and bloggers are seen as nothing more than alarmists and propagandists, morose disciples of gloom and doom. For at least half of our fellow citizens 9/11 just didn't do it. The Munich Olympics didn't do it either, and Beirut didn't do it, Lockerby didn't do it, Madrid didn't do it, and the London bombings didn't do it, and on and on and on and on...

One can only ask: What the hell would do it?

How many more democratic Western cultures will have to be inundated and destroyed? How many more innocent people will have to die? How many more Western women will have to be gang-raped by unrepentant Muslim thugs? How many more multiculturalist city councils will meekly surrender to Islamist intimidation? How many more big traditional New Year's Eve celebrations will have to be called off for fear of Muslim retaliation?

Where will it all end?

Will our collective anguished cries merely dissipate into the ether?

And Still The Rockets Fall


Cross posted from Monkey in the Middle

While for the last few days the world has been riveted to the news coming out of Mumbai, the Western Negev has been under rocket fire from Gaza. While rocket fire isn't as a glamorous news story as terrorist attacks, they are just another form of violence from the Religion of Peace.


Eight IDF soldiers were injured Friday when a barrage of mortar shells was fired from Gaza towards an army base near the southern town of Nahal Oz.

Two of the soldiers were seriously wounded, and one of them suffered a head injury. The other six were lightly to moderately injured. All eight were evacuated to hospitals in Ashkelon and Beersheba.


Two of the mortars landed inside the base. One fell on the officers' quarters and another fell on the female soldiers' quarters. According to international reports, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) claimed responsibility for the attack.


Two others landed in nearby open spaces, in Shaar Ha Negev Regional Council. Another two landed in the vicinity of Netiv Haasara, but no injuries or damage were reported.


The security coordinator in Nahal Oz, Benny Sela, told Ynet that the barrage could be heard throughout the area. "I immediately ordered the kibbutz members to take cover in their shelters," he said.

"We searched for fallen shells, but luckily for us they didn't fall in the kibbutz but rather in the nearby base. The army told us to stay near the bomb shelters."


Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the mortar fire came in response to an earlier clash between IDF soldiers and gunmen attempting to plant an explosive device near the border fence.

"We have said from the beginning that any Israeli breach will be met with a response, and this was a response," Barhoum said.

Full Story

The Israelis wouldn't be closing the border crossing and firing into Gaza if Hamas would just stop the rocket attacks. It is that simple. But Hamas won't stop. It will continue to attack Israel then cry to the world that the Israelis are firing back. And the world believes Hamas. For PalArabs are to be treated as if they are an oppressed people. Yet they are causing damage to Israel, both physically and mentally.




Psychological Trauma Increasing in Sderot

By Anav Silverman - Sderot Media center

In a recent study conducted by NATAL (Israel Trauma Center for Victims of Terror and War), researchers discovered that close to 56% of Sderot residents have suffered in some way from Palestinian rocket attacks. According to report, presented by Natal Community Staff Director, Dr. Roni Berger in Beersheva on November 24, nearly half of Sderot's population has been either physically or emotionally damaged by Palestinian rocket fire.

Over 4, 000 Sderot residents are suffering from symptoms of post-traumatic-stress disorder (PTSD) while one third of Sderot children, ages 13 to 18, have trauma-related learning disorders.

PTSD is a severe and ongoing reaction to a terrifying ordeal that involved physical harm or the threat of physical harm to the person, according to the National Institute for Mental Health. People who develop PTSD may have witnessed a loved one who was harmed in a traumatic event or were victims themselves.

Symptoms of PTSD usually begin three months after the ordeal but can also emerge years afterward. Some people can recover within 6 months while others have symptoms that last for much longer. For some people, the condition becomes chronic.

"The initial symptoms of shock include an accelerated heart rate, dry mouth, limbs 'falling asleep,' a sense of fainting, or seeming paralyzed or emotionally detached," says Gabi Schreiber chief of psychiatry at Ashkelon's Barzilia hospital.

Dr. Adrianne Katz, head of the Sderot Mental Health Center says that the shock impacts the victim's ability to function for months after the experiencing a Palestinian rocket explosion. "Many rocket terror victims suffer from depression, sleepless nights, severe anxiety, and have trouble going back to a regular routine," she says.

The NATAL study showed that almost 50% of Sderot residents know someone who has been killed in a Palestinian rocket attack, while 65% personally know someone wounded in an attack. Over 90% of Sderot residents have experienced a Palestinian Qassam explosion at some point-whether it be in a neighborhood, home, school, business or other residential setting.

Dr. Mina Zemach and the Dahaf Polling Institute conducted the research in order to compare Sderot to other communities outside of Palestinian missile range. Sderot residents made up the test group, while residents of Ofakim, a town of similar socio-economic makeup to Sderot but not under rocket attack, served as the control group.



Photo by Noam Bedein


The study revealed that three times as many Sderot residents had gone to a spiritual counselor (such as a rabbi), and a family doctor than did Ofakim residents.

Dr. Roni Berger explained that there were several reasons why Sderot residents suffered from higher degrees of trauma than residents other Israeli communities within rocket range. "The fortifications in Sderot are poorer, and the population is weaker as well. The social unity is smaller. It's a population who felt, and still feels, abandoned."

In addition, 45% of the Qassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip target Sderot according to IDF intelligence.

Although adults in Sderot showed significantly higher levels of trauma and stress in the study than adults living in other Gaza vicinity communities, children of Gaza vicinity communities did not fair so differently from Sderot children. Close to 75% of children living in Gaza vicinity communities, ages 12-14 suffer from symptoms of
PTSD compared to 86.6% of Sderot children.

"Only a minority of those suffering from PTSD actually seek help," Dr. Roni Berger told Sderot Media Center. NATAL, a non-government organization seeks to reach out those Sderot residents who otherwise would receive help. "NATAL's staff has been going door to door for the past two years in our mobile units, visiting Sderot families and offering them social support," says Dr. Berger. "We teach these families how to cope with the stress and panic that result with each rocket attack."

"In a way, this is much more effective then simply providing residents with a psychological diagnosis," adds Dr. Berger. "NATAL health professionals give Sderot residents the skills to relax. One of the most important things is for the residents to learn to talk about their experiences [with rocket attacks]."

"Unfortunately those residents who don't know how to cope, become worse," says Dr. Berger. "Those who do cope 'well' are also not immune to trauma symptoms-they also pay some sort of psychological price for living under Palestinian rockets and it may manifest itself in strained family relationships or tension at work."


The constant downplay of the psychological impact of Palestinian rocket fire in the international and Israeli media has unfortunately shifted important focus from the reality on the ground--Sderot residents after eight years of Qassam fire are gradually becoming psychologically crippled by the constant trauma of Palestinan rocket attacks. One of the most ironic phenomenas is that the concept, post trauma is not even relevant to Sderot residents. The constant renewal of rocket attacks has not allowed Sderot children and families to recover from past Qassam barrages. This constant state panic and stress that plagues Sderot residents is a continuing ordeal that remains theirs alone.Again I ask my reader to donate to the Sderot Media Center. The funds go directly to those effected by the daily attacks by Hamas.



Friday, November 28, 2008

Mumbai


Mumbai


I was going to wait until the tragedy in Mumbai (formerly Bombai) India was over before writing my thoughts down, but I couldn't wait. As I write this, it is said that over 150 people are dead. The courageous Indian commandos are still fighting their way through the Taj Hotel clearing out the remaining terrorist murderers and still rescuing hostages. The exact group that is responsible for this mass atrocity is still unclear, but one thing is clear; they are Muslims. Their targets were Westerners, British, Americans, and yes, Jews. One of the locations raided was Chabat House, a Jewish center. According to news reports, hostages, including Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivki, were murdered in cold blood as commandos closed in. (Their 2-year-old son miraculously escaped.) I am outraged, and I am fed up with the excuses. It is long overdue, but we need to call a spade a spade and demand that the Muslim world rise up and remove this evil from its house.

By any means necessary.

Mumbai is now India's 9-11. We have suffered ours. We reacted, and at least, we can now say that two murderous regimes have been driven from power. Spain had their own 9-11. They reacted and elected a cowardly government that promptly pulled their forces out of Iraq. Britain had theirs and now prostrates itself at the feet of a hateful Muslim minority that spits in the face of British society as they demand Shariah law.

This latest incident is pretty much the final blow for me personally in trying to appeal to decent Muslims to take a stand. It is not easy. I know decent Muslims. I teach Muslim students, mostly from Saudi Arabia, who seem quite nice. I listen to the words of American Muslim leaders who speak of moderation and say they condemn terrorism. I have heard President Bush describe Islam as a religion of peace as he meets Muslim leaders. One of those leaders, whom he has invited to the White House, is Imam Muzammil Siddiqi, former head of the Islamic Society of North America and now head of the Islamic Society of Orange County-himself an Indian.

Last week, I attended a joint Jewish-Muslim discussion at Chapman University, where Dr Siddiqi spoke for Islam. (See post of last week). Dr Siddiqi is considered a "moderate Muslim", who decries terror. Yet, he has made statements in the past regarding Jihad and Shariah that many Westerners might find troubling. In the 1990s, he hosted the "Blind Sheihk" Rahman at his mosque. Let's just say I wasn't convinced at Siddiqi's words last week.

I have just checked the websites of CAIR, the Islamic Society of North America, and the Islamic Society of Orange County. Only the Islamic Society of North America has a statement on Mumbai, condemning the attacks and offering prayers for the victims. That is all well and good, but nowhere-nowhere is there any mention of the fact that the perpetrators were Muslims. There is also no mention of the attack on Chabat House. This is insufficient. As for CAIR and the Islamic Society of Orange County, there is nothing on their websites about Mumbai (as of this writing). What will they eventually say? What will the Muslim Student Associations at our US universities say about Mumbai when they have their next "Islam Awareness Week"? Will they continue to claim that they are not anti-Jewish, only anti-"Zionist"? That is the constant disclaimer they use, yet the raid on Chabat House puts the lie to that. It is clear that the killers wanted to include Jews (in India) among their targets. Why?

Because they hate Jews.

So what is it that Muslims in America must say and do, you ask? What is needed is for them to stand up and publicly condemn the MUSLIMS who are carrying out these atrocities in India and around the world in the name of Islam. Muslim leaders need to tell their congregations and members that if they sympathize with these actions, they are not welcome in their midst. They must give the FBI the names of those in their communities who they suspect to be involved in subversive activities. They must publicly proclaim to the world that they are Americans and will stand with America and defend her against ISLAMIC terror.

A few, of course, have stood up and condemned the actions of terrorists acting in the name of Islam. Nonie Darwish and Ayaan Hirsi Ali are a couple that come to mind. They have gone beyond bland statements about "condemning terrorism and that Islam is really a religion of peace". They call it what it is, and as a result, they will spend the rest of their days-in Western countries even-living with bodyguards and dealing with threats to their lives because they are considered apostates.

You see, people like Darwish and Ali have crossed the line. They have spoken out against Islamic doctrine itself. They have said what people in CAIR and Siddiqi cannot say; that so much of what is in the Qu'ran is nothing more than an incitement to hate, shun and murder those who are not Muslims.

You will not hear these Muslim leaders, even if they are "moderates", say that the very words of the Prophet Mohammed are wrong, and that they are not appropriate in the modern world. The problem is that the Prophet Mohammed was a warrior. That is an undeniable fact. Mohammed was not a mythical figure who may or may not have existed. He, indeed, existed, and he spread Islam at the point of a sword. As a result, thousands of people died in the Holy Land. The words in the Qu'ran are his words. If there are conflicts and contradictions, then the latest writing takes precedent.

Mohammed stated that Muslims should not take unbelievers as friends. Almost every page and Sura in the Qu'ran speaks of non-believers burning in Hell, a point constantly reinforced. There, of course, is the famous and oft-quoted Hadith that speaks of trees and bushes saying, "there is a Jew hiding behind me. Come and kill him."

There is the principle of Shariah law, which no Western democracy could ever allow to be adopted; honor killings, stonings, limited rights for women and non-believers, taxes for dhimmis, death for the "crime of apostasy", and on and on. Islam is a belief system that is designed to control every aspect of life including the very law itself.

You see, there is a limit as to what the Muzammil Siddiqis of the world can say when they "condemn terrorism". There is a line they cannot cross. How can they engage in a theological debate with the so-called "extremists"? Is it not the "extremists" who are following the teachings of Mohammed-to the letter? Thirty years ago, we were calling them "fundamentalists"-for a reason. We seemed to have dropped that term. Why? Because it would mean that they are merely following the teachings of Mohammed and Islam.

I think the time is long since past when we in the non-Muslim world wake up and recognize the unavoidable fact; that our enemy is not just a group of a few thousand fanatics around the world-it is an idea. It is an idea that can be found within the covers of a book written by a man who had no concept of a larger world outside the region where he lived and fought.

It could be argued that Islam was in a centuries-long slumber-from which it is awakening with a vengeance. And it is growing. In mosques and hadrassas all over the Muslim world-and in many cases in Western countries as well, children are being taught that according to the Qu'ran, they have mortal enemies-non-believers and especially Jews. Many young Muslims in Western countries are being taught that their mission is to spread Islam until the day comes when Islam will rule that country-and indeed the world.

I have heard many say that Islam needs a Reformation. A nice thought, but it would require more than just "reform". Martin Luther, in his Reformation, was rebelling against a corrupt Vatican that had lost its way. He was not rebelling against the Bible or the teachings of Jesus Christ. To reform Islam would requiring rejecting many passages in the Qu'ran and many of the teachings of Mohammed as simply not being applicable to a modern world-and as being morally wrong. But how do believers decide that their religion does not contain Eternal Truth? That is a big leap.

Meanwhile, so many in the West delude themselves into thinking that this phenomena we call terrorism does not represent true Islam. They insist that Islam is a religion of peace, and that we who bring up the inconvenient facts about the life and teachings of the Prophet Mohammed, the words in the Qu'ran and the words of so many Muslim clerics, are somehow Islamophobes, and that Islamophobia must be fought with the same vigor as anti-Semitism, racism and homophobia. Last week, I listened to a respected rabbi, a decent man who only desires peace and understanding, say that very thing at Chapman University.

Let me set this straight. Aside from the fact that the word "Islamophobia" itself means "fear of Islam", an understandable feeling given world events, I do not believe that individual Muslims should be persecuted. They have a right to practice their religion (indeed, there are some aspects of Islam I find admirable) as long as it does not conflict with the rights of others and local laws. Certainly, there are many Muslims who are used to living around non-Muslims and have no desire to be engaged in violence in any way. Surely, many older Muslims have spent their lives picking and choosing which parts of the Qu'ran they choose to obey. Yet, many are afraid to speak out because of the fear of violent retribution. I have long resisted the temptation to repeat the mocking statement of others when these events happen as, "the religion of peace strikes again." Yet, what other phrase is appropriate?

Yes, it has reached the point where Muslims must take a stand if they want to be accepted by the rest of the world. It is not just in America or Britain or India. Thai Muslims must stand with the majority and reject Muslim insurrection in that country's south. Filipino Muslims must do the same. This is not a call for persecution of innocent Muslims. But how can they be accepted by the larger societies in which they live as minorities if they remain silent? Do they really want to live isolated from the larger society? Some, I believe, actually do.

Meanwhile as the 9-11s, the Londons the Madrids now Mumbais continue to add up, more and more people can only turn against Islam and become "Islamophobes". And fewer and fewer people will be able to insist that Islam is really "a religion of peace".

gary fouse
fousesquawk

Why?

That is the question being asked today. Why did over 150 people have to die with hundreds more wounded. Why did a group of savages attack 2 hotels, a hospital, a train station and a Jewish Center? Other than instill terror into the nation of India, what did they hope to accomplish? Did they achieve their aims and goals? Were they able to release just one of their compatriots from prison? No! But they killed and maimed just the same.

Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka

Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, the beloved directors of Chabad-Lubavitch of Mumbai, were killed during one of the worst terrorist attacks to strike India in recent memory.

Their toddler son, Moshe, managed to escape with his nanny some hours before Indian commandos stormed their building, known as the Nariman House, in the popular touristy neighborhood of Colaba. The Associated Press reported that the boy was unharmed, but was wearing blood-soaked pants.

"Gabi and Rivky Holtzberg made the ultimate sacrifice," said Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, vice chairman of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of Chabad-Lubavitch. "As emissaries to Mumbai, Gabi and Rivky gave up the comforts of the West in order to spread Jewish pride in a corner of the world that was a frequent stop for throngs of Israeli tourists. Their Chabad House was popular among the local community, as well as with visiting businesspeople.

"For five years, they ran a synagogue and Torah classes, and helped people dealing with drug addiction and poverty," continued the statement. "Their selfless love will live on with all the people they touched. We will continue the work they started."

Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, was born in Israel and moved to the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, N.Y., with his parents, when he was nine. A prodigious student, Holtzberg was a two-time champion in a competition of memorizing the Mishnah, a compendium of rabbinical laws and enactments redacted in the second century C.E.

He studied at yeshivas in New York and Argentina, and as a rabbinical student served communities in Thailand and China under the Summer Rabbinical Visitation Program run by Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of Chabad-Lubavitch.

His 28-year-old wife, born Rivka Rosenberg, is a native of Afula, Israel. Chayki Rosenberg described her sister as dedicated to helping Jews.

Two years ago, the Holtzbergs raised funds to purchase the current location of the Chabad House, a five-story building in Mumbai’s Colaba market area known as Narimon House. A trained ritual circumciser and slaughterer, the rabbi also conducted weddings for local Jewish couples in addition to teaching Torah classes and visiting with tourists.

His last known phone call was to the Israeli Consulate to report that gunmen were in his house. In the middle of the conversation, the line went dead.

The Holtzbergs joined the more than 125 people who were killed in the Wednesday night through Friday attacks, which saw dozens of suspected Islamic terrorists come ashore in Mumbai near the Gateway of India monument. The terrorists, carrying assault rifles and grenades, quickly fanned out to a central train station, the Chabad House and other tourist locations, including several popular hotels.

According to security services, the Chabad House was a pre-selected target.

Full Story
All 9 people at the Chabad house were murdered because they were Jews. This is and has always been the reason for the last 2000 years. They are Jews! And yet, it is not condemned by the world. It is celebrated in Muslim nations as a good thing. A blessing to kill Jews.

Little Moshe Holtzberg will turn 2 tomorrow. The Religion of Peace has already given him their birthday gift, 2 murdered parents. You can do better. Please donate to the Chabad of Mumbai Relief Fund. Consider it a special gift for this sad, little boy.


Cross posted from Monkey in the Middle

The Golden Key: Those Illusive Moderate Muslims











Originally published by Wake Up America - December 7, 2007
---------------------------------------------------------
"Jihad is Islam's "highest peak", it's reason for existing."
-- Benjamin C. Powell, Jr.

---------------------------------------------------------

Moderate Muslims. We search for this mysterious and illusive species as fervently and hopefully as we search for life on other planets. We have set up high-tech listening posts all around the world in the hope of retrieving a single signal from them. Any small message at all, even the most fragmentary sign that would prove their existence. There is, we have been told, good reason to believe that they're out there, but unfortunately so far we've been unable to substantiate this belief.

However, these disheartening results have in no way diminished our enthusiasm for this worthy project, or caused us to lose confidence in the probability of its eventual success. We just keep listening and hoping.

These Moderate Muslims, we have been advised, are the Golden Key to winning this War on Terror -- or more precisely, this Islamic War against the West. It is to them we must turn to solve these intractable problems. Because, our experts have assured us, the problems inherent in Islam can only be resolved from within Islam, by those ephemeral and semi-mythical MMs. Only they have the moral authority to redefine the tenets of Islam and set it on its new course. But unfortunately so far we have been unable to substantiate this belief.

However, these disheartening results have in no way diminished our enthusiasm for this worthy project, or caused us to lose confidence in the probability of its eventual success. We just keep on listening and hoping.

Meanwhile, our brave American warriors are at this very moment confronting this ruthless Islamic menace all over the world, most particularly in Afghanistan and Iraq. And, through their professionalism and their courage and their daily sacrifices, they have achieved some remarkable successes.

But here on the home front we are still in turmoil. Here, we are in the real quagmire, still bogged down in that never-ending, and seemingly-hopeless battle of legalistic semantics. We are still stuck in those preliminary stages of attempting to define the enemy. While our heroic soldiers are fighting and dying on the battlefield, we at home are still in the process of trying to precisely determine who it is we are fighting.

We are NOT, we have been repeatedly admonished by our highest authorities, at war with Islam. Islam is a religion of peace. We are certainly not at war with all of those good peaceful Muslims all over the world. And we are most definitely not at war with those Moderate Muslims. They, in fact, are our stalwart allies in this war, which is really just a war against extremism, against just another form of religious fanaticism, kind of like a Middle Eastern version of the KKK.

We have gone to great lengths to get this message out there to the world, we want the world to understand: We are NOT at war with Islam. We take great care to make clear-cut distinctions between those good Muslims and those bad Muslims. And we want those good Muslims around the world and in our midst to clearly understand our position. You have nothing to fear from us, we promise you. We honor your religion and your right to practice it.

In short, if you're a Moderate Muslim you have nothing to fear from us.

But, now, what about those Moderate Infidels?

Surely there must be some Moderate Infidels out there. I wonder, are those eminent religious leaders, those wise and all-powerful imams and mullahs busily engaged in that laborious process of making those important distinctions between those Moderate Infidels and those Fanatical Infidels, whom they are fighting daily on their battlefields? Are they carefully separating out all those good Infidels from those bad Infidels? Are they perhaps bogged down in some moral quagmire of their own?

When they attacked us on 9/11, did they make certain that those killed in the attacks would only be those bad Infidels?

To expect to be saved by these mysterious Moderate Muslims, by their somehow rejecting the fundamental tenets of Islam, rejecting those perfect divine pronouncements of the Prophet, is as foolhardy and hopeless as expecting a Christian to reform Christianity by denying the teachings of Christ, or expecting a Jew to reform Judaism by denying the Torah.

It just ain't gonna happen.

I'm sorry folks, but the time for gentlemanly debate has long passed, it's time to wake up, before it's too late. Our enemy has clearly and repeatedly defined this battle for us, even though our political leaders have yet to find the courage to do so. For our enemy the issues are clear-cut and straight-forward: it is simply a battle of Islam against the Infidels.

We must finally accept them at their word and fight the fight that's there, not the fight we'd rather fight. WE are our only salvation. No one else. Not the British. Not the Australians. Not the Europeans. Not even those brave Israelis.

And certainly not those semi-legendary Moderate Muslims.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

A Tribute to Marty


A Tribute to Marty

Cross-posted by Gary Fouse
fousesquawk


As I was driving north from Orange County to the San Fernando Valley with my mother and daughter to attend a family Thanksgiving dinner today, I happened to listen to the Sean Hannity Show on the radio as I usually do when in my car on a weekday. Since it was Thanksgiving, the show was a taped replay of previous broadcasts. Thankfully, I was wearing thick, dark sunglasses because Sean's show started the tears flowing down my cheeks. You see, Sean was doing a tribute to his friend, Marty Kenney, a daily caller to his show who had died November 4th at the age of 90.

Marty was not just any caller. He had been calling into Sean's show on a daily basis since 1996. He was not just a radio talk show enthusiast. Marty, who lived in New Jersey, was a true American patriot and true American hero. As a young soldier during World War 2, he had participated in the invasion of Normandy in 1944.

On countless, occasions while driving in my car, I had listened to Marty call in to Sean's show in the closing minutes for a short comment-always accompanied by Sean's tape of a turn-of-the-century piano piece. Marty's comments were simple and to the point-he loved his country, and he loved the young men and women in uniform who are defending it today.

Today, I listened to Sean talk about what Marty meant to him, what an inspiration Marty was to him, and how Marty had become like a second father to him.

Marty didn't like to talk about his experiences in World War 2, particularly in Normandy though Sean wanted to hear about them. For Marty, it was too painful. Today, Sean's show played a tape of his conversation with Marty this past anniversary of D-Day, in which Marty managed, through his emotions, to recount the horrors of landing at Normandy amd struggling past the bodies of his killed comrades as he tried to fight his way to shore and across the beach.

As I listened to Marty talk about that day, I recalled the day in the 1980s when I and my family visited Normandy. I will never forget walking through the cemetery among the headstones and thinking how the young men who were buried there had truly died for a noble purpose. As we walked down the hill to the beach, I imagined the soldiers coming in the opposite direction, fighting their way across the sand dunes and trying to scale the hill in the face of withering German machine gun fire.

Had it not been for those young men and so many others like them, what corner of the world would be living in freedom today?

Marty Kenney was one of those men.

Marty was one of those people who were part of the "Greatest Generation". As their numbers dwindle, it is sad that so many of our younger generations are so ignorant about their sacrifices. Sadder yet that so many Americans don't appreciate what our military has done and does today. It seems to me that it should be a standard part of every young American's education to take them on excursions to places like Normandy and Pearl Harbor.

I won't demean Marty's memory here by comparing him to certain well-known contemporary figures who have shown nothing but disdain for their country. They don't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Marty Kenney. Just let this be a tribute to a great American and thanks to Sean Hannity for sharing Marty with the rest of us.

A Very Special Letter

A note from Radarsite: Today, Thanksgiving, I received a very special letter, delivered to me from a good friend of mine. Evidently, my friend had talked to the writer about me and about my present circumstances. I thought my loyal Radarsite readers would be interested. - rg

Dear Roger,

Laura and I wanted to send you a letter of encouragement. You are in our thoughts and prayers.

We hope the support of your family and friends is of great comfort to you during this difficult time. Your strength and determination demonstrate the American spirit. May God bless you and your family.

Sincerely,

[signed]
George W. Bush

Our Most Dangerous Enemy: Post Mumbai

A message from Radarsite: This article was originally published in June, 2008. However, after yesterday's terror attacks in Mumbai, India, I believe this article takes on a new significance. As India and the rest of the western world seek to identify the precise origin of these particular terrorist acts, it becomes all the more important to avoid being lost in that ever-expanding miasma of terrorist organizations and to be able (and willing) to clearly identify our most dangerous enemies. - rg
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the Final Analysis

Who are Our Most Dangerous Enemies?

The United Arab Emirates ?
-- 'The UAE formally recognizes the Taliban."

Dubai ?
-- "Dubai acted as the transit point for cash for the 9/11 hijackers and the staging ground for the entire plot. Two of the hijackers were Emirates, and one served in the UAE military. "

Saudi Arabia ?
-- "RIYADH, March 15 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's most revered cleric said in a rare fatwa this week that two writers should be tried for apostasy for their "heretical articles" and put to death if they do not repent. "

Morocco ?
-- "Morocco: The Islamist Awakening and Other challenges."

Tunisia ?
-- "Tunisia: Islamists Claim Kidnappings"

Egypt ?
-- "It was the Egyptians who brought the Brotherhood to the country in the late 1940's, when the Brotherhood was being persecuted in their own country. The Brotherhood proved popular amongst students. In 1955 the University of Libya was established in Benghazi, close to the Egyptian border. A lot of Egyptian lecturers were employed by the university and this proved to be another medium for the Brotherhood to promote its ideology in Libya."

Libya ?
-- "Libyan Islamists join al-Qaeda' "

Iran ?
-- "Iran: Islamists ‘intimidate’ voters at parliamentary polls. Continue to develop their nuclear weapons programs despite increasing international sanctions."

Iraq ?
-- "Iraq - Islamists Using Freedom to Kill Freedom"


Syria ?
-- "The Islamic revival in Syria. Islamic fundamentalism in Syria has spread rapidly in recent years, and not just among the urban poor. The spectacle of veiled women driving brand new Mercedes through the bustling streets of Damascus illustrates that religious revivalism has penetrated high society. In posh residential neighborhoods of the capital, most restaurants have stopped serving alcohol and there are traffic jams every Friday outside local mosques."

Turkey ?
-- "Cheering an Islamist victory.
By Steven A. Cook July 26, 2007

ON SUNDAY, Turks overwhelmingly voted to return the ruling Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) to office with 46.6 percent of the vote. Turkey's two main secular parties did not even come close to this tally, combining for 34 percent of the vote."

Pakistan ?
-- "The ‘Talibanization’ of Pakistan
Islamists destroy Buddhist statue."


Afghanistan ?
-- "Islam and Islamism in Afghanistan:
The last half-century in particular has seen the recurrent use of religious Islam as
ideology, often referred to as political Islam or Islamism, in groups espousing the
establishment of an Islamic state."

Malaysia ?
-- "It is a crime to convert to Christianity in Malaysia or be an apostate of Islam."

Chechnya ?
-- "Chechnya: Fear of Islamic Extremism
Non-governmental organizations in Chechnya estimate that up to ten per cent of the population now supports the hard line Islamists."

Uzbekistan ?
-- "The revival of Islam became an important factor in developments in the six predominantly Muslim republics of the former Soviet Union : Uzbekistan."


Or could it be possible that our Most Dangerous enemy is Islam?

Slaughtering the Eagle: Change we Wanted???

Cross-posted by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook

by Brett Noel, © 2008 North Star Writers Group
Read Brett's bio and previous cartoons

A Non-Traditional Thanksgiving Story

Cross-posted by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook


Photo credit: Lifehack.org

by D.F.Krause
© 2008 North Star Writers Group

Read D.F.'s bio and previous columns


Gather Round, Children, For the Story of Thanksgiving

Gather round, boys and girls. It’s time for Uncle D.F. to tell you the story of Thanksgiving.

Now, in American history, we had pilgrims and Indians. The pilgrims were white people who came from Europe looking for freedom and opportunity. The Indians came from Cleveland and kept telling stories the pilgrims figured had something to do with their belief in some ancient god.

“They kept saying their river caught on fire,” said one of the pilgrims. “Like that could ever happen. And he kept talking about some Chief Kucinich. He sounds weird.”

Anyway, when the pilgrims arrived the Indians didn’t like it at first because the last Europeans also came to Ohio – Columbus, specifically – and made all kinds of trouble. The pilgrims wanted the Indians to know that they were different, so they offered to have the Indians come over for dinner.

“This is what we call turkey, kemo sabi,” said the leader of the pilgrims.

“What do you think, we’re some sort of idiots or something?” said the Indian chief. “We know what a freaking turkey is.”

This is going well, thought the pilgrim leader, figuring he might want to change the subject.

“We like to stuff our turkey to make it more interesting,” the pilgrim leader said. “We stuff it with breadcrumbs, cut up celery and toxic mortgage assets. It gives it sort of a bearish taste.”

The Indian chief turned to his assistant and said, “If they’re all like this, I don’t think we have anything to worry about. They’ll probably kill themselves inside of a month or two just by falling into holes and crashing into trees.”

The assistant nodded.

“Me agree, chief,” he said. “But don’t sayum anything until they serve us the mashed potatoes and gravy.”

The chief slapped his assistant upside the head.

“Sayum?” he said. “Since when do you talk like that?”

“I learned it on Featherbook.com,” the assistant replied. “I’m friends with these Hurons from up in Michigan. They have all this lingo.”

The pilgrim women came out of the kitchen carrying a huge platter with a big, stuffed, dressed turkey on it. Why the turkey was dressed in stilettos and a halter top, I’ll never know, but it still looked very delicious.

“Would you and your tribe like the drumsticks, chief?” said the pilgrim woman.

“All you white people think we do nothing but march around beating war drums, don’t you?” said the chief. “Drumsticks indeed!” Read the rest of the story at North Star Writers Group

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

The Holy Land Foundation Trial



Ghassan Elashi-CEO of Holy Land Foundation

Cross-posted by Gary Fouse
fousesquawk


On November 24, 2008, a jury in Dallas convicted 5 members of the Islamic charity Holy Land Foundation(HLF)for funneling approximately 12 million dollars to the terrorist organization, Hamas, disguised as charitable contributions to the Middle East, principally in the Palestinian territory. This ended a years-long effort by federal authorities to bring the leaders of the Holy Land Foundation in the US to justice.

In 2001, the US Government froze the assets of the HLF as did the EU. Three years later, in 2004, a federal grand jury in Dallas indicted the organization and several of its members on 42 counts of providing financial aid to a designated terrorist organization (Hamas). It is believed that much of the funding went into the recruitment of suicide bombers (including the indoctrination of school children) targeted against Israeli civilians. In July of 2007, a mistrial was declared when jurors were unable to agree on a verdict. This week marked the culmination of the retrial. The jury deliberated eight days before convicting the defendants, who are identified below:

Shukri Abu Bakjer
Mohammad El-Mezain
Ghassan Elashi
Mufid Abdulqader
Abdulrahman Odeh

Due to the possibility of long prison terms, the defendants were remanded to custody pending sentencing.

Below is a link to the US Government witness list:

http://counterterrorismblog.org/newslinks/upload/2007/06/HLF%2BGoverment%27s%2BWitness%2BList.pdf

Note the expected testimony of several of the witnesses linking the HLF not only to Hamas but to the Muslim Brotherhood, that organization that portrays itself as a peace-loving opponent of terrorism.

Another piece of evidence introduced at the trial was an interesting document entitled: "An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America", which is dated 5/22/1991. It was written by Mohamed Akram and consists of 18 pages in English. It is addressed to several Muslim groups in North America. This document is stamped, "US v HLF (Holy Land Foundation) and bears prosecution exhibit number 003-0085, which identifies it as a government exhibit in the the Holy Land Foundation prosecution. It is now in the public venue.

Of particular interest is page 7 of the document, section 4, which is entitled:

"Understanding the Role of the Muslim Brother in North America". It reads;

"The process of settlement is a 'Civilization-Jihadist Process' with all the word means. The Ikhwan must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all religions. Without this level of understanding, we are not up to this challenge and have not prepared ourselves for Jihad yet. It is a Muslim's destiny to perform Jihad and work wherever he is and wherever he lands until the final hour comes, and there is no escape from that destiny except for those who chose to slack. But, would the slackers and the Mujahedeen be equal".

On October 8, 2008, Muslim Brotherhood spokesman, Ibrahim El-Houdaiby, appeared at the University of California at Irvine. He spoke to a group of students in a class per the invitation of Professor Mark LeVine, a Middle East expert who is known to be sympathetic to the Palestinian side in the struggle against Israel. The appearance was open to the public. During the speech, El-Houdaiby presented the Muslim Brotherhood as a peaceful organization that opposed violence. During the Q&A, I confronted El-Houdaibi with the above document and gave him both Arabic and English copies as I read the document for the audience. El-Houdaiby promptly questioned where I had obtained the document and pronounced it a forgery. What ensued was a series of exchanges between El-Houdaiby and me on this blog in which he insisted the document was a forgery and that the Muslim Brotherhood was a non-violent organization.

So what does the verdict in the Holy Land Foundation tell us? Without trying to paint all US Muslims as terrorist supporters, I think it illustrates the undeniable fact that we have a cancer growing in this country. Of course, I understand that very few Muslims in the US could be expected to take the Israeli side. Yet, Israel is our ally, and we are committed to support that country. If US Muslims are sending funds to organizations like Hamas, they are not only supporting terror, but they are working at cross purposes with our government as well.

Sadly, but not surprisingly, with the exception of the Dallas newspapers, it seems that the mainstream media (once again) has chosen not to make this front-page news.

The convictions in Dallas are encouraging. Yet, they are disturbing as well because we are going to have to face an unpleasant truth. We have a 5th column in this country. It is not all Muslims, but there is a segment we need to be concerned about.

Rampage in Mumbai


Warning Graphic Pictures!



Hostages were rescued from the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, India, after attacks in the Indian financial capital left at least 78 dead and hundreds wounded.

Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the financial capital of India. With an estimated population of thirteen million, it is one of the most populated cities in the world. Along with the neighboring suburbs of Navi Mumbai and Thane, it forms, at nineteen million, the world's fifth most populous metropolitan area. Mumbai lies on the west coast of India and has a deep natural harbour. Mumbai's port handles over half of India's maritime cargo. The commercial and entertainment centre of India, Mumbai generates 5% of India's GDP and accounts for 25% of industrial output, 40% of maritime trade, and 70% of capital transactions to India's economy.

Evidence of Mumbai's history dates back to 250 BCE and has been continually inhabited since then, although its founding can be considered at a much earlier date.

A very lovely and lively city.

But not today. Today it is the scene of carnage, mayhem and death caused by the Religion of Peace aka Islam.


Full Story

Several sites in Mumbai, India's financial capital, were hit Wednesday night by a wave of terror attacks, reportedly aimed at Americans and Britons, that left dozens dead and hundreds injured as Indian forces battled with terrorist gunmen to free hostages from two luxury hotels.

There were varying reports of at least 50 and as many as 100 people rescued from the Taj Mahal where a fire had broken out, and India's NDTV reported Thursday morning that authorities had the scene under control. Meanwhile, police continued to evacuate people through the Oberoi hotel's basement, and gunmen reportedly had taken hostages elsewhere in the city.

Casualty figures varied, with most media reporting at least 80 dead and 200 injured. Of the gunmen, four were dead and nine arrested.

It isn't clear yet what motivated the attacks, which also targeted a popular tourist attraction and a crowded train station, though eyewitnesses said gunmen were heard shouting questions about who American and British passports.

Mumbai has frequently been targeted in terrorist attacks blamed on Islamic extremists, including a series of bombings in July 2007 that killed 187 people.

A little-known organization calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen claimed it was behind attacks.

A man injured in a gun battle is carried to a hospital in Mumbai, India.


"The terrorists have used automatic weapons and in some places grenades have been lobbed," Maharashtra Police Commissioner A.N Roy said.


A British citizen who was dining at the Oberoi hotel told Sky News television that the gunmen who struck there singled out Britons and Americans.

Alex Chamberlain said a gunman, a young man of 22 or 23, ushered 30 or 40 people from the restaurant into a stairway and ordered everyone to put up their hands. He said the gunman spoke in Hindi or Urdu.

"They were talking about British and Americans specifically. There was an Italian guy, who, you know, they said: 'Where are you from?" and he said he's from Italy and they said 'fine' and they left him alone. And I thought: 'Fine, they're going to shoot me if they ask me anything — and thank God they didn't," he said.

Chamberlain said he managed to slip away as the patrons were forced to walk up stairs, but he thought much of the group was being held hostage.

Early Thursday, several European lawmakers were among people who barricaded themselves inside the Taj, a century-old seaside hotel complex and one of the city's best-known destinations.

"I was in the main lobby and there was all of a sudden a lot of firing outside," said Sajjad Karim, part of a delegation of European lawmakers visiting Mumbai ahead of a European Union-India summit.


The scene in the train station after the attack.

As he turned to get away, "all of a sudden another gunmen appeared in front of us, carrying machine gun-type weapons. And he just started firing at us ... I just turned and ran in the opposite direction," he told The Associated Press over his mobile phone.

Hours later, Karim remained holed up in a hotel restaurant, unsure if it was safe to come out.

The British Foreign Office said it was advising all British citizens in Mumbai to stay indoors.

Britain's foreign secretary, David Miliband, strongly condemned the attacks. "Today's attacks in Mumbai which have claimed many innocent victims remind us, yet again, of the threat we face from violent extremists," Miliband said in a statement.

India has been wracked by bomb attacks the past three years, which police blame on Muslim militants intent on destabilizing this largely Hindu country. Nearly 700 people have died.

Since May a militant group calling itself the Indian Mujahideen has taken credit for a string of blasts that killed more than 130 people. The most recent was in September, when a series of explosions struck a park and crowded shopping areas in the capital, New Delhi, killing 21 people and wounding about 100.
This story is still on going with more deaths to be expected. That the terrorist were using automatic weapons and grenades, the scale of the attack, and the number of attackers, leads me to the conclusion that this wasn't the work of some splinter group, but the work of a major terrorist group. It is just too large of a scale to be done with such precision and timing by a small splinter group.

Deccan Mujahideen may have taken credit for this, but I do believe that the real forces behind these attacks are Indian Mujahideen and Al Qaeda. Only they have the means, money and power to plan and execute such an attack.

Cross posted from Monkey in the Middle

The Claremont Thanksgiving Affair-A Happy Ending







The Claremont Thanksgiving Affair- A Happy Ending

Cross-posted by Gary Fouse
fousesquawk


Warning: The above picture is politically incorrect and not suitable for children.


* Please refer to my previous post on this topic entitled: "Assault on Thanksgiving in California" (November 21, 2008).

Who says a protest can't have a happy ending? After the Claremont (Ca) School Board reacted to one parent's letter of protest about a planned Thanksgiving dinner in which children from two local elementary schools would dress up as Pilgrims and Indians by banning the costumes, parents took matters into their own hands.

Outraged at the politically correct decision by School Superintendent David Cash that would have ended a decades-long tradition, the overwhelming majority of the concerned parents went ahead and dressed their kids up in the costumes anyway and accompanied them to Condit Elementary School yesterday. Once there, the children sat down to their Thanksgiving feast dressed in their paper outfits.

Meanwhile, several parents participated in a demonstration on the street outside the school and exchanged angry shouts with those protesting the costumes as an affront to Native Americans. Police had to be called to make sure nothing got physical. The kids meanwhile, had their feast and played with each other, oblivious to the commotion. Of course, the news media was there from as far away as Los Angeles, and some kids came up to the cameras asking to get on TV.

A wonderful time was had by all. Except for Superintendent David Cash, who asked the local gendarmes to patrol his house due to hate mail he has received.

And that's not all, folks. Today, most of the parents are keeping their kids out of school. What that means to the schools is-money. No attendance-no money from the government. The schools figure to lose $50 per student who is absent today.

Now that's a protest I can get behind. It's about time common folks stood up to officials imposing political correctness on them.

The Last Chapter in a Sad Saga.

For the last year my good friend Roger Gardner of Radarsite has been covering the saga of Agriprocessors. With Roger away, I will finish this sad tale of greed, illegal immigration and woe.

It started with an ICE raid back in May. It was discovered that with over 400 employees, many were illegal immigrants who had obtained their documents with the help of the plant owner Sholom Rubashkin. Then there was the allegations (proved to be true) of hiring minors, giving them low wages and excessive hours. The fine by the State of Iowa on Agriprocessors was $10 million, the largest fine in the history of the state.

The final blow to Agriprocessors has come. They have filed for bankruptcy last week.
NEW YORK – A recent criminal affair threatens to cause a great shortage in kosher meat in the United States, as Agriprocessors, the country's number one kosher meat provider filed for bankruptcy last week and is expected to shut down.

The Iowa-based slaughterhouse, which have been run by a family of Lubavitch hassidism for many years, was raided last month by immigration police, who allege the owners 80-year-old Aaron Rubashkin, and his son Sholom (49) were personally involved in the large scale forgery of identification cards for hundreds of illegal workers in the factory.

The company provides some 60% of American Jews' kosher meat and in many small communities is the sole meat provider.

An investigation revealed that the Rubashkins employed over 400 illegal immigrants from Guatemala, and a production line manager at the factory told detectives that he received cash from Rubashkin that he distributed among a few dozen workers to purchase their fake IDs.

It was also revealed that the Rubashkins illegally employed minors in abusive conditions including excessive hours and poor wages. The under-age workers were allegedly exposed to dangerous chemicals and were required to operate dangerous machinery without the proper protection.

According to testimonies, some of the minors were even beaten by shift managers if they failed to meet the required production quota.

American media estimate that the allegations that have been uncovered so far are just the tip of the iceberg, and many Jewish organizations in the US called for a boycott of the company's kosher certificate in light of its owners' non-kosher behavior.

"Kashrut is also a matter of ethics and morals," one rabbi who supports the boycott said.

If Sholom Rubashkin is convicted of the line of offenses he has been charged with, he is expected to spend up to 22 years in prison.

Full Story
Many Jewish families are scrambling to find new sources of meat for their table. And hopefully another group will step up to the plate and open a new kosher meat packing plant. If done within the laws of the United States and the Law of Kashrut, it will be a success.

Meanwhile, it was greed that destroyed Agriprocesssors and nothing else.

Cross posted at Monkey in the Middle

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Two Weeks from Hell

Note to readers: Miss Beth is a friend of Roger's and a contributor at Radarsite

by Miss Beth's Victory Dance

Today was not a good day.

In the past two weeks, four people--four very dear people--have become seriously ill. Two are family members, one is a former family member and the fourth is a blogging family member.

The youngest is my grandson. He just turned 3 months old. He was losing weight and there was no explanation why. So he was hospitalized for testing. After much prodding and poking, reviewing feeding procedures with my daughter, seeing how well this child ate, they finally came to a preliminary diagnosis. Cerebral Palsy. A very mild form, will not affect him in his mental development, is not expected to become worse over time and will only mildly hamper his motor development.

Next is my nephew. He just turned 15. A Texas boy. A star athlete and always in trouble with his mischief. Last Tuesday, he was playing basketball and hurt his leg in the game. It was still hurting so my sister took him to the doctor. I found out today he has osteosarcoma-bone cancer. My sister is in extreme denial, thinking the surgery next week will be simple and non-invasive. After doing some research tonight, I know it's probably going to be exploratory to determine the size and features of the tumor (calcium malignant, attached at the site) and treatment options. There is a very good chance he will lose part of his leg--if not his life. The exploratory is prior to chemo starting as well.

Then my ex father-in-law. Frankly, I would dance on the graves of my ex and his family. But not him. Out of the entire clan, he was the only one who was ever decent to me. He is in his late 70's and is suffering from heart failure. He's been very ill for quite some time, but he has given up. He has been brought home from the hospital to die, and makes no bones to the grandkids he will be spending Christmas with Santa Clause. He isn't expected to live past Thursday. This once robust, hearty man is a mere shell of himself and it's heartwrenching to see. He's worked his whole life for a family full of ingrates, who always put him down because he wasn't a "book learned" man--although he found a way to put four children through private schools, supported a wife from hell who expected him to cater to her (she refused to even drive a car) while all she could do was denigrate him. He did it quietly, with dignity. When he was out of work from the mines, he worked side jobs and always paid the bills--in cash. He loved his grandchildren, each as they came along. He was the only one in the family to welcome me when I married into it and for that I will always be grateful. While the hellspawn of his family can take a long walk off a high cliff, I do not wish a holiday death on anyone. Having lost both of my parents, it's hard and it will only hit them just how special this man is after he is gone. And it will be too late for them to say a simple "thank you".

Last, but by no means least, is our friend Roger Gardner from Radarsite. He is also fighting for his life, but better bloggers than I have addressed Roger and his trials. However, we have good news on Roger--his prognosis is getting better and better each time we hear from him, and we thank God for that.

Two weeks from hell. Four very dear people, ranging in age from 3 months to early 80's. Obama wants to talk Main Street. I got your Main Street right here. And mine is real--it's not a fantasyland concocted in the wild dreams of a meglomaniac.

Sorry, Stinky--my priorities are far and away more important than your fantasies.

You will just have to wait until you royally screw up--and then you will most definitely hear from me on your so-called change which is nothing more than recycled Clinton. Yeah--you're "green"--green from the stench of decay.

I have my family and friends to worry about. Maybe you should get in touch with real Main Street Americans and what is on our minds--not your ice cream dreams and lollipop sundaes.

Two weeks from hell.