The Case For One Stimulus Bailout

Detroit: Looking Out For Your Money

Light Beer, Tap Dancers, Assaulted Peanut

Light Beer

Tap dancers

Assaulted Peanut

Standing With The Jews

What a lot of people already know and believe but find hard to articulate.

Ken Coates in the National Post:

There is a grave and serious sadness among Jewish people in Canada and abroad.  The mounting criticism of Israel, much of unjustified and often leaning toward anti-Semitic attacks, focuses on Gaza and the bitter conflict between Israel and Hamas. While this struggle certainly warrants careful consideration, it masks a broader and very worrisome development. Far too little attention is being paid to the disquieting growth of anti-Semitic comments and attacks around the world.  There is even less awareness of the increasing sense of vulnerability among the Jews.

Over thirty years ago, as an undergraduate at the University of British Columbia, I stumbled into a course on Nazi Germany. Expecting a class on military tactics and warfare, I got instead an eye-opening introduction to European anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. A follow-up class on the founding of Israel and the roots of the Palestinian crisis connected the history of anti-Jewish feeling to struggles in the Middle East. One cannot study the history of the Jewish people without developing a strong understanding of their nervousness about the world, their passion for the state of Israel and the uncertainty of support from their neighbours.

Non-Jewish people, like and including me, have left it up to Jews to defend Israel and themselves.  I see this happening again.  Full page newspaper ads, signed largely but not exclusively by Jewish Canadians, recently declared support for Israel.  Media commentaries on current events routinely turn to commentators from Jewish organizations and the Jewish community to explain Israel’s action and to respond to growing signs of anti-Semitism in Canada and around the world.  Hardly surprisingly, support for Israel runs very strongly in the Canadian Jewish community.

Jews are good at defending Jews.  Jews in Canada have done it in the past and they will do it in the future. Political and philanthropic support, targeted at Israel and Jews in other countries, is truly impressive, as is their support for general and non-Jewish causes. Their organizations move decisively to correct public misapprehensions and to provide a Jewish perspective on contemporary events. In this regard, the Jewish community in Canada is among the best organized, assertive and self-protective of any ethnic or religious group.

Jewish activism, however, masks another reality of our times – the relative silence of non-Jewish people on matters related to Israel and the Jewish community.  Far too often Jews and Jewish Canadians stand alone.  Most of the rest of us remain silent, perhaps nodding in quiet assent when a Jewish leader or organization speaks out, maybe disagreeing with Israel’s specific actions but worrying about the general situation facing Jews in the Middle East and elsewhere.  The Canadian government has been consistent and forthright in defending Jewish and Israeli interests, and for that they are to be applauded. But this is more than an issue for states, national governments and special interest groups.

Even the most cursory review of the history of the Jewish people reveals periods of acceptance and integration followed by bursts of hostility.  We are starting to see some of this now, with conspiratorial anti-Jewish nonsense rearing its ugly head, with Israel being held to a different standard than other countries, and with a growing number of attacks on synagogues, anti-Semitic commentary and the like.  It is easy to stand beside one’s Jewish friends, colleagues and fellow citizens when times are good and conflicts are few.  It is harder, but more important, to do so when the tide appears to be turning.

Jewish religion and culture are historically rich, both rooted in a deep understanding for and concern about the past. Jewish communities around the world have long lived warily, not knowing when circumstances will change, not sure when and if anti-Semitic outbursts will again become commonplace, not sure who, if anyone, will stand up with them.  They live, it seems, scanning the world in three directions: to history for lessons, to the present for immediate threats, and to the future for signs of opportunity and peace.

Standing with the Jewish people of Canada does not assume unquestioning support for Israel or the actions of the current government.  Standing with the Jewish people in this country means something much more basic.  It means that we respect and embrace them as Canadians, that we reject the gathering rumble of anti-Semitism, that we recognize and celebrate their presence among us and that we appreciate their contributions to Canada and the world.  Jews alone cannot and should not be expected to answer for the rise of anti-Jewish feeling and anti-Israeli sentiment.

The world needs to know that, in Canada and elsewhere, there are many thousands of others who stand with the Jewish people.  We must make it clear, before hostile words turn into aggressive actions, that the Jews will never again stand alone.

Promises, Promises

Obama’s Confident Consumers

Where The Bailout Money Goes

Details Pending

Next Up: Progressive Educational Policies

President Obama has said education will be a top priority for his administration. Given how he has ‘progressively’ handled the economy with number tinkering and sleight of hand, it isn’t a stretch to assume his educational policies will be equally ‘progressive.’

What does progressive educational policy look like?

From Dr Sanity, in The Evolution From Education To Indoctrination:

If you can convince children that objective reality is an illusion; that A does not equal A; that black is white; and that good is bad; if you can make them accept that everything is subjective and relative; then you have successfully breathed new life into doctrines that by all objective measures and standards led to the death and misery of millions of people. Through the careful manipulation of language, everything can be distorted, without the messy need to resort to facts, logic, or reason.

For the children of postmodernism, what matters is not truth or falsity–only the effectiveness of the language used. Lies, distortions, ad hominem attacks; attempts to silence opposing views–all are strategies that are perfectly satisfactory if they achieve the desired effect–i.e., furthering the collectivist agenda. Ideas and reason make way for reification of feelings; and freedom is replaced by thought control and preservation of “self-esteem” at all costs….

Even 5-year olds and younger children are not too young for collectivist propaganda to be inculcated. Destroy free will; inoculate them with political correctness; treat the “insanity” of their attachment to parents, the Judeo-Christian tradition; or their country–i.e., all traditional Western values that brought civilization, individual freedom and economic progress; achieve a “higher order” of thought by showing them there is no right or wrong; good or evil…

One very harmful result of this sorry educational situation is that there are few people–even among those who stalwartly defend the free market, who understand and appreciate the essential morality of capitalism. Certainly our children, taught by ideological purists like the ones above who are leftover from the 20th century debacle of socialist/communist tyranny–never even have a chance to rationally consider any ideas not approved by their aggressively collectivist teachers, so intent at quashing those aspects of human nature they don’t like.

This is child abuse, pure and simple. It is indoctrination. It is the willful manipulation of young minds which cannot never be allowed to develop even the capability of thinking for themselves. And these perverts call it “social justice.”

In fact there is nothing that is “just” about it. It represents the worse kind of oppression with the goal of enslaving the human mind. And enslavement is exactly what is required to establish their socialist utopia, since it refuses to acknowledge the reality of human nature…

Children propagandized by dogmatic tyrants like the ones above have had not only their capacity to think for themselves abrogated; they have had their capacity to make moral choices taken from them…

The truth is that neither socialism nor communism nor any kind of religious fundamentalism is compatible with morality at all.

If one’s actions are coerced by the state or religion, or both; if human activity is indoctrinated, legislated, regulated and ordained down to the last minute detail–particularly to the degree we see in other countries of the world (e.g., Cuba, China, most Middle Eastern countries, North Korea, and now in Venezuela–then how can it possibly be argued that one’s actions are moral? Human behavior under such systems is not voluntarily chosen, but actively coerced.
Morality, though, must always be a matter of choice, not mandate…

Taking the mind of a child and feeding it exclusively on your ideological pablum is not only the most cruel and abusive of behaviors; it also ensures that such a mind becomes cognitively stunted and morally impaired (much like the minds of the teachers who so proudly perform such oppressive acts).

There is a reason so many ‘progressives’ appear to be welcoming a ‘natural’ Armageddon. If the world is indeed destroyed, the record of leftist perfidy and treasonous behavior will be lost forever. If we survive, they and their legacy will be reviled by the generations they have poisoned.

Here are a few more ‘progressive’ ideas and quotes. Ask yourself if any of them sound as if they came from Washington, Jefferson or Lincoln.

“…humanists still believe that traditional theism, especially faith in the prayer-hearing God, assumed to love and care for persons, to hear and understand their prayers, and to be able to do something about them, is an unproved and outmoded faith.”

“Traditional moral codes… fail to meet the pressing needs of today and tomorrow…”

“To achieve world government, it is necessary to remove from the minds of men their individualism, loyalty to family traditions, national patriotism and religious dogmas…”

Teaching school children to read was a “perversion” and high literacy rate bred “the sustaining force behind individualism.”

“We can choose to use our growing knowledge to enslave people in ways never dreamed of before, depersonalizing them, controlling them by means so carefully selected that they will perhaps never be aware of their loss of personhood.”

“One of the least understood strategies of the world revolution now moving rapidly toward its goal is the use of mind control as a major means of obtaining the consent of the people who will be subjects of the New World Order.”

“Those of us who work in this field see a developing potential for nearly a total control of human emotional status, mental functioning, and will to act. These human phenomena can be started, stopped or eliminated by the use of various types of chemical substances. What we can produce with our science now will affect the entire society.” A “utopia” could be found – providing “a sense of stability and certainty, whether realistic or not.”

“If the race is to be freed from its crippling burden of good and evil it must be psychiatrists who take the original responsibility”

“…the pretense is made, as it has been made in relation to the finding of any extension of truth, that to do away with right and wrong would produce uncivilized people, immorality, lawlessness and social chaos. The fact is that most psychiatrists and psychologists and other respected people have escaped from moral chains and are able to think freely.”

“The re-interpretation and eventually (sic) eradication of the concept of right and wrong which has been the basis of child training, the substitution of intelligent and rational thinking for faith… are the belated objectives of practically all effective psychotherapy. The fact is, that most psychiatrists and psychologists and other respectable people have escaped from these moral chains and are able to observe and think freely.”

“The family is now one of the major obstacles to improved mental health, and hence should be weakened, if possible, so as to free individuals and especially children from the coercion of family life.”

From Margaret Sanger, first goddess of feminism: “The most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.”

“Birth control must lead ultimately to a cleaner race.”

“We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population. and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.”

“Eugenics is … the most adequate and thorough avenue to the solution of racial, political and social problems.

Myra Bradwell wasn’t evil or ugly enough in character to a role model for leftist oriented feminism. She never took her clothes off, she never put politics ahead of helping women and she never wanted attention for herself.

No wonder she is rejected and forgotten by feminists today. She was everything they’ll never be.

Obama Does Annie

What Women Want

There’s The Talk And There’s The Walk

Jewish Progressives And Another Generation In Denial

One of the most tragic Holocaust era phenomena was the manipulation of some Jews by the Nazis, who were recruited as collaborators with the Reich. Community elders were called upon to form a Judenrat (Jewish Council). There were many prominent Jews who refused to participate in the sham. They saw the ‘writing on the wall’ and they refused to take part in the deceit (Not all members of the Judenrat were ‘collaberators.’ Some believed that by cooperating with the Nazi authorities, they would be in a position to help their brethren. Sadly, those efforts were to prove futile).The Judenrat in turn, formed a ‘Jewish Police’ force to maintain order in the ghettos. In the concentration camps, there were enforcers, kapos, many of whom were Jewish. These enforcers were given special privileges and status by the Nazis. It was their function to keep their co-religionists in line and docile, so as to facilitate the Nazi agenda.

The Jews who chose to participate in the Judenrat were told by the Nazis that as ‘prominent,’ ‘enlightened’ or ‘intellectual’ Jews, they would be spared the fate of those ‘lesser’ Jews. Eager to save themselves- and to distance and distinguish themselves from their ‘lesser’ cousins, members of the Judenrat and the ghetto police gave the Nazis everything they asked for, and then some. Many believed that by cooperating with the Nazis, they could ‘prove’ their worth and prove to the Nazis that Jews were really no threat to German Reich or volk.

The Nazis did not dispel those Jews of that notion. All too often Judenrat members were told that the anti Jewish measures were the result of ‘politics.’ They were told that talk about a ‘final solution’ was just that- talk. The Germans were an educated and enlightened people, they were told. Germans would never engage in such barbaric behavior. When the war was over, all this ‘Jewish’ talk would be forgotten. It was regrettable that it had begun, but war is war and politics is politics.

Members of the Judenrat were always happy to hear what they wanted to hear. They went on their way, redoubled in their belief that if they could fill the trains that came to provide ‘labor’ to the German war efforts and do so with the minimum amount of disruption in the ghettos, it would all work out in the end. They believed that resisting the Nazis and fighting against them was wrong. They believed that if they appeased the Nazis, they and their co-religionists would be spared.

Judenrat-type organizations and ‘police forces’ managed large numbers of people and keep them docile. Millions ended up marching to their deaths. Only as the end approached did they abandon their belief that evil, when cloaked as ‘reasonableness,’ is somehow less than evil and can be dealt with, reasonably.

The denial was complete. Even as members of the Judenrat were hauled off themselves, they continued to believe that they would be spared if they only were to prove to ‘useful’ to the Nazis.

Today, it is the progressives that have authored the newest version of totalitatianism. So notes Tobias Jones of the Guardian:

There’s an aspiring totalitarianism in Britain which is brilliantly disguised. It’s disguised because the would-be dictators – and there are many of them – all pretend to be more tolerant than thou. They hide alongside the anti-racists, the anti-homophobes and anti-sexists. But what they are really against is something very different. They – call them secular fundamentalists – are anti-God, and what they really want is the eradication of religion, and all believers, from the face of the earth.

We wish to talk about ‘religious progressives,’ that group of people who claim to be adherents of particular faith and at the same time adopt the kind of radical progressive agenda alluded to by Tobias Jones. We are in no way implying that all religious progressives are cut from the same cloth and share the same ideologies.

Having said that, to be a radical ‘religious progressive’ that adopts the radical leftist agenda, faith has to be dispensed with. A believer who wants to espouse progressive ideology must accept that his religious beliefs and values are worth less than progressive beliefs and values. Believers must find a way to rewrite faith to accommodate progressive ideology, even if that means upending the very beliefs, values and principles of the faith they profess to be a part of.

In the end, all radical ‘religious progressives’ are the Judenrat and kapos of their respective faiths and of our time.

By accepting and ascribing to beliefs and ideologies of Leftism, ‘religious progressives’ have made a deal with the very devil that would destroy them. Disagree with a ‘religious progressive,’ and like their progressive masters, tolerance goes out the window because dissent cannot be tolerated- because the ‘emperor has no clothes.’

The Left has gone from supporting liberal ideologies that were inclusive and universal, to supporting ideologies that are fascist. There is no way any observer can come to any other conclusion. A lot of the moral capital earned by Liberalism, has been squandered by Leftists in the support of causes that are clearly bankrupt and by ignoring causes that go begging.

The Left watched as Rwanda paid with the blood of over a million men, women and children. The Left stands idly by as Darfur unfolds, in slow motion, as testimony to the cruelest nature of man. In Algeria, the GIA raped and dismembered children as the left watched. The list goes on and on, as atrocities from Sierra Leone to East Timor to the oppression and repression dispensed by Middle East despots and religious zealots are ignored.

Radical and not so radical progressives, religious and otherwise, barely pay lip service to FGM that has impacted over 100 million women, according to UN figures. Honor killings, acid attacks, the harvesting of human organs for profit and a litany of other horrors go on. With the regularity of the New Moon, new atrocities by regimes and ideologies supported by the left surface each month. Those stand up to the tyranny in opposition to the regimes that have a boot at their neck. put themselves at risk as they demand more freedom and human rights. Predicatably, the progressives are found supporting the regimes and tyrants that persecute those who stand up.

The radical ‘religious progressives’ always remain silent in the face of true evil, focusing their attention on America or Israel, always forces for good, no matter how flawed they might be.

Any ideology that demands truth be abandoned is an ideology that God be abandoned. ‘Religious progressives’ have traded away God for false piety and a new religion of narcissitic selflessness.

When it comes to hatred of Israel, radical ‘religious progressives’ say that the Jews have “brought it upon themselves.” They ignore the truth that Israel is not a slave to a particular ideology or state sponsored hate. They ignore the truth that Israel is acting in response to dysfunctional regimes that for decades have made the cry of ‘ITBACH AL YAHUDI!‘ (SLAUGHTER THE JEW!) as an acceptable form of religious and political ideology. To the progressives, Jews defending themselves is an outrage. This of course, is not new.

A diary entry by Joseph Goebbels, as he took note of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, wrote (h/t Seraphic Secret):

“This is what happens when Jews get hold of guns.”

To the radical ‘religious progressives’ the world would be right if Jews weren’t so Jewish, or insisted on defending themselves and just allowed the themselves to be ‘blessed’ victims. Religious progressives must somehow distinguish themselves from their anti semitic secular brothers, you see.

In the same way the Judenrat believed the Germans were a ‘civilized’ nation, many ‘religious progressives’ have deluded themselves. In the end they believe, their secular progressive brothers in arms are ‘enlightened’ and ‘intellectual.’

Of course there is never good news when it comes to human and religious rights in nations ruled by despots and identified as the left’s ‘comrades in arms’. The enthusiastic support for dysfunctional and repressive Islamic and Middle Eastern regimes, is perhaps the most disturbing- and another truth that cannot be denied. These regimes make no excuse for their politics or their support for terror, nor do they even attempt to hide their hate and bigotry, broadcast in media, taught in schools and preached from the pulpit.

That these regimes have used religion as justification for their barbarism is cynically exploited by the left. One the one hand, says the Left, ‘we must respect their religion and their politics,’ and on the other hand, they point to religion and say, ‘This is the evil religion represents. We must separate ourselves and our politics from religion.’

All the while the erstwhile kapos of the left, the ‘religious progressives,’ remain silent.

Despite witnessing the out of control and barbaric behaviors of whole societies, the radical ‘religious progressives’ have turned a the blind eye to evil. They have come to accept and tolerate the most evil kind of behavior and remain silent. They and their secular brothers have aligned themselves with some of the most evil and dysfunctional tyrannies on the face of this earth.

They refuse to condemn the atrocities and hate and they will not condemn others who support the evil. Like the Judenrat before them, ‘religious progressives’ have come to believe the script. They openly encourage and even demand dysfunctional and self destructive behaviors that will inevitably lead to destruction, all in the name of healing and enlightenment. The ‘religious progressives,’ more than anyone, have embarked on the newest crusade. Join us they say, do it our way, or you will be destroyed. Plus ca change, plus ca reste la meme.

Dr Sanity noted in When Karl Met Sigmund that

Simply put, totalitarian systems–whether from the left or the right… whether religious or secular… actively promote the most negative, primitive, and immature aspects of human nature. In fact, they give a societal/institutional blessing to such behavior; and thrive on the resulting projection, paranoia, distortion, and denial of reality.

There are no ‘religious progressive’ voices on FGM, or religious persecution in China and other nations. There are no ‘religious progressive’ voices outspoken against the orchestrated and visceral hatred directed at Jews in most Arab countries. Instead, the ‘religious progressives’ save their vitriol for America, Israel and western democracies- nations that have at their center, religious freedoms.

When free and democratic states overcome tyranny, the result is the establishment of a free and democratic state. Enemies become friends.When tyranny overcomes freedom, that tyranny remains hated.

It is also true that no amount of ‘love’ can cure the dysfunctions that result in evil. Love of any kind, without a moral foundation fixes nothing. That knd of love is fickle, temporary and easily abandoned when the next object of infatuation or desire comes along.

If the left hated the atrocities and slaughter directed at innocents with as much hatred as they have for real freedom, America and Israel, there would be no more slaughters and there would be no more atrocities. Instead, the left and ‘religious progressives,’ choose the kind of perverted love that results in death over the kind of love that results in life.

Real faith is not measured by standing still and staying quiet as freedom and lives are taken. Real faith is measured by bringing freedom to others and saving lives.One can no more claim to be a radical ‘religious progressive’ anymore than than one can claim to be a ‘Christian Nazi.’

Shrill leftists speak of Israel, America and the Holocaust (”and as a Jew I have some personal interest in this myself obviously”) as if somehow, being Jewish gave their words added credibility. The fact that most Jews do not share those kind of politics is of little concern.  They are kapso, better than those other kinds of Jews. They would Jew into the crematoria if they were asked to.  They are after all,  ‘progressives,’ for whom there are no moral absolutes.

Like other ‘progressives,’ they is compelled to sacrifice the truth on the altar of deceit.

Modern progressives deceive with ease. Like the accursed kapo they know the truth- and deliberately refuse to warn others. They focus on the secret activities of some pre war American and British banks, as if those conspiracy theories fertilized the Nazi evil. What they will not acknowledge that some few scant years after the Holocaust, the Arab mantra of ‘We’ll finish what Hitler started’ became part and parcel of what passes for Arab world media, educational and religious priorities.

The progressives minimize the participation of many Muslims during the Holocaust. Amin Husseini, mufti of Jerusalem, met with Hitler and offered his enthusiastic support for the ‘final solution.’ In fact, Husseni was to complain that Jews weren’t being killed fast enough. Husseini’s support wasn’t only rhetorical- he raised an army of Bosnian volunteers that directly supported and participated in the Nazi war efforts from an office provided for him in Berlin by the Nazis.

As far as the progressives are concerned, that part of history is of no import. The Arab world has legitimized the hate- and for them, that is enough. ‘We’ll finish what Hitler started’ is a perfectly acceptable form of expression.

Today’s progressives are nothing more than a modern day equivalent of member of the Judenrat or kapo, perfectly willing to help the leftists sell out Israel so that they might maintain their ‘progressive’ bona fides. They aren’t like those ‘other Jews.’ They are ‘enlightened’ and ‘intellectual’ Jews. They are part  of an elite- or so they believe.

Progressives speak of ‘neocon’ conspiracies to invade Iran and make other outrageous claims. To them, sources and credibility matters little. It is the agenda only that matters. They are of the belief that government is answerable to them and their agenda.

Nowhere do the radical ‘religious progressives’ state the obvious truth: If the Arab world were to recognize Israel’s right to exist and abandon their stated desire to slaughter Jews, peace would be a Middle East reality in days.

Of course, not everyone sees it that way. Amotz Asa-El, in the Jerusalem Post, sees through the radical ‘religious progressives’:

SOME AMERICAN Jews – many in fact – no longer care about their own Jewishness and Israel’s vulnerability. To them, we calmly wave goodbye as they sail into the sunset; they have made a conscious choice and, much as we lament it, we must also respect it. Our plea goes to those who do care.

A destroyed Israel and the corpses of Jews will not be the mountain that the radical ‘religious progressives’ will stand upon, any more than corpses and Auschwitz are monuments to the kapos and the Judenrat.

The progressives want to wave their hands and make the truth disappear. They want their opinions and beliefs to be accepted as truths, simply because of who they are. Just like the Judenrat.

Of course, simply walking upright and having an opinion does not make that opinion valid or equal to other opinions. Holocaust denial, for example, is not a valid or equal belief because Mahmoud Ahmadenijad says it is. The beliefs (and silence) of radical ‘religious progressives’ are not universal truths, no matter how much they would like that to be.

One of the accepted hallmarks of civilized society is an accepted code of moral behavior. No matter one’s prejudices, biases or beliefs, we are all expected to behave in a certain way. We are all expected to treat others, regardless of their religion, lack of religion, culture or creed, in the same way we ourselves expect to be treated. If that accepted code of moral behavior is not present in a particular society, that society cannot be counted as civilized.

When the internal behavior of a society or segments of a society cannot be clearly categorized as civilized, it is safe to say that society or segment of that society, will not behave in a civilized way toward other nations or groups.

The silence of the radical ‘religious progressives’ brings to mind the words of the words of Martin Neimoller:

First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up,

because I wasn’t a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up,

because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up,

because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left

to speak up for me.

Living In The 10th Century

From a very interesting blog, The Real of R, comes this dry and wry commentary:

When you attack  without being provoked, you are a resistance movement. When you sacrifice a country for your agenda, you are righteous.

Tribal Mentality:

So, you cross into a sovereign nation, kill some of their soldiers and kidnap others. Of course you’re justified, they’re soldiers. That’s what they’re there for. What, the nation wants retribution? Murderers! Imperialists! Zionists! Leave me alone, I don’t want to play anymore. Wait, how about I trade you my soldiers for yours? That’s fair? No? Maaaaaaaa! The big bad zionist doesn’t want to let me play… Maaaaaa!

Retribution:

So, you want your soldiers back? Why? They’re cowards? Aren’t they? I mean… no, they’re not cowards. They’re willing to die. Right? No? Jihaaaad! (oops, sorry), no let’s talk. This is a fun game, I sneak in and hurt you every once in a while, then you say ok let’s negotiate. No? You want to hurt me back? You’re invading? Maaaaaa! Invador!!!! You’re not allowed…. I am, of course… I’m still a baby.

Logic:

What is tworisem? What is an ehkonomi? What is a cuntry? Who is nay-sean? What is a low?

Sense:

Syria? Oh, they have prisoners as well? No. We can’t fight Syria. They’re not dirty Jews. They’re Muslims. That’s haram. The Lebanese prisoners there? Oh, it’s not important, they’re Christians.

Politics:

You can’t criticize me, I’m a religious figure. Kaboom. We are fighters, we are politicians. What? Don’t criticize me, I’m a religious figure. If you express an opinion different from mine, you’re a traitor Zionist dog. What? Shush, I’m a religious figure. I will cut your arms and gouge your eyes. Because I’m a religious figure. I’m a religious figure, yes i’m the real religious figure. What? Eminem? Shut up, I’m a religious figure. whatever.

Analysis:

Let’s be blind-sighted, selective and subjective for a minute here. What’s wrong with you people? So we invaded israel first and kidnapped soldiers. That’s history. Let’s forget about that and start analysing WHY they’re fighting back. Come on, let’s say that we didn’t kidnap anyone. Ok? Israel might have still attacked for some other reason. It’s possible? Can you deny it completely? No. See!? Haha, I win! Maaaaa… I won! Let’s assume that we didn’t do anything, and that they attacked for no reason. It’s more fun to come up excuses and crazy theories than to be evolved creatures for a minute.

(And now, Ahmad, for the grand finale….) Why?

1- Hizbullah reduces the pressure on the Palestinians, allowing them to blow up more busses.

2- Hizbullah captures the world’s attention, diverting the pressure from Iran and it’s continued terrorist attempts at obtaining nuclear weapons.

3- Hizbullah acts on Syrian orders to destabilize Lebanon, to pay Lebanon back for kicking Syria out, and to promote the idea that Lebanon is unable to govern itself.

4- Little baby Assaad was frightened by the planes buzzing his summer crib. The saddest thing: Idiots who try to justify or condone this.

Portions of this post were previously piblished.

Banker’s Idol

Stimulus Creepiness

European Anti Semitism: “In Britain, Jewish schoolchildren have been castigated for belonging to a people with ‘blood on their hands.’

From Spiked Online:

First of all, contemporary Western culture continually encourages groups that perceive themselves as victims to inflate the wrongs perpetuated against them. As a result, we are always being told that racism is more prevalent than ever before, or that homophobia and Islamophobia are rising, or that sexual discrimination is more powerful than in the past. It is unthinkable today for advocacy groups to concede that prejudice and discrimination against their members have decreased, and that the status of their community or people has improved. Such groups are acutely sensitive to how they are represented in the media, and to the language in which they are discussed and described. And this identity-based sensitivity is shared by Jewish organisations, too, which in recent decades have often been all-too-willing to interpret what are in fact confused and ambiguous references to their people as expressions of anti-Semitism…

…the defenders of Zionism have developed the unfortunate habit of labelling criticisms of Israel as a form of anti-Semitism. The aim of these rhetorical attacks is to devalue the moral standing of Israel’s critics, and thus avoid having to deal with their often difficult, persuasive arguments. The cumulative impact of this very defensive response to criticism of Israel is to undermine the moral weight of charges of anti-Semitism. Those who are anti-Zionist are often able to accuse Israeli politicians and their supporters of ‘hiding behind’ the charge of anti-Semitism. Worse still, the pro-Israel movement’s propagandistic association of anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism has encouraged others to erode the conceptual distinction between Zionism and Jews.

The third complication comes with the sanctification of the Holocaust. In Europe, the Holocaust has in recent years been institutionalised as a moral absolute. In education, culture and public life, the Holocaust has been turned into a marker of evil. Many countries in the European Union have instituted laws against Holocaust denial. Sanctifying the Holocaust in this way has allowed European officialdom to claim moral authority on matters of good and evil, right and wrong, in relation to the present and the past…

Because in contemporary Europe there are many and various obstacles to the expression of anti-Semitic sentiments in their traditional form, prejudice towards Jews is now likely to be expressed indirectly, through other issues. Although criticism of Israel can and should be conceptually distinguished from prejudice towards Jewish people, in recent years there has been a significant erosion of the distinction between these two phenomena. As a result, some people have embraced the anti-Israeli cause as a way of making a statement about their attitude towards Jews. As a sociologist, I am well aware of the danger of attributing a sentiment to a statement that is not explicitly stated – which is why this discussion needs to be handled with care, and why such interpretative statements about today’s anti-Israeli/anti-Semitic outlook need to be clearly justified…

There is considerable evidence that in recent years anti-Semitism has acquired greater visibility and force in Europe. Over the past decade, and especially since the eruption of the conflict in Gaza, anti-Israeli sentiments have often mutated into anti-Jewish ones. Recent events indicate that in Europe the traditional distinction between anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish sentiment has become confusing and blurred.

So recently, during a demonstration against Israel’s actions in Gaza, the Dutch Socialist Party MP Harry Van Bommel called for a new intifada against Israel. Of course he has every right to express this political viewpoint. However, he became an accomplice of anti-Semites when he chose to do nothing upon hearing chants of ‘Hamas, Hamas, all Jews to the gas’ and similar anti-Jewish slogans. Many people who should know better now keep quiet when they hear slogans like ‘Kill the Jews’ or ‘Jews to the oven’ on anti-Israel demonstrations. At a recent protest in London, such chants provoked little reaction from individuals who otherwise regard themselves as progressive anti-racists – and nor did they appear to be embarrassed by the sight of a man dressed as a racist Jewish caricature, wearing a ‘Jew mask’ with a crooked nose while pretending to eat bloodied babies…

Increasingly, protesters are targeting Jews for being Jews. They have agitated for the boycott and even harassment of certain shops, and in practice this has translated into boycotting and harassing Jewish-owned shops, such as Marks & Spencer (some of whose stores have been barricaded by anti-Israel protesters) and Starbucks (a number of whose coffee shops have been attacked in London and elsewhere). Giancarlo Desiderati, spokesman for the trade union Flaica-Cub, has explicitly called for a boycott of Jewish businesses in Rome. A leaflet issued by his union informed Romans that anything they purchase in Jewish-owned shops will be ‘tainted by blood’.Here, there is an almost effortless conceptual leap from criticising Israel to targeting Jews. Desiderati pointed out that his organisation had already called for a boycott of Israeli goods before taking the logical next step of demanding a boycott of Jewish shops. He said that his union was drawing up a list of Jewish shops, ‘though it might be better to publish a list of streets in which a majority of the shops are Jewish and ask people to avoid those streets when shopping’ (2).

Anti-Semitism in Europe is not simply a rhetorical pastime of Islamists or pro-Palestinian protesters. In Britain, Jewish schoolchildren have been castigated for belonging to a people with ‘blood on their hands’. Their elders sometimes face intimidation and regularly report being subjected to verbal abuse. What is most disturbing about these developments is the reluctance of European society to acknowledge and confront acts of anti-Semitism. Take the riots that broke out in Paris on 3 January. If you relied upon mainstream media reports, you would never have known that groups of youngsters were shouting ‘death to the Jews’ while throwing stones at the police. In this instance, expressions of anti-Semitism were not even properly reported, much less confronted and challenged in public debate…

Read it all.

Jump Starting The Economy

Survivor, Texas-Style

Due to the popularity of the “Survivor” shows, Texas is planning to do one entitled, ”Survivor, Texas-Style.”

The contestants will all start in  Dallas, then drive to  Waco,  Austin, San Antonio, over to Houston and down to Brownsville. They will then proceed up to Del Rio, El Paso, Midland, Odessa, Lubbock and Amarillo. From there they will go on to Abilene,  Fort Worth and finally back to Dallas.

Each contestant will be driving a pink Volvo with bumper stickers that read:

• “I’m Gay”
• “I Love the Dixie Chicks”
• “Boycott Beef”
• “I Voted for Obama”
• “George Strait Sucks”
• “Hillary in 2012″
• “I’m here to confiscate your guns.”

The first one to make it back to Dallas alive wins.

Coach Obama