Saudi Prince Ups the Ante for Captured Israeli Soldiers

Not be outdone by the Saudi cleric who offered the paltry sum of $100,000 for the capture of an Israeli soldier, a Saudi Prince stepped up to make the offer a better one for going to the trouble of such a noble act. The following was reported on this date by the Associated Press:

"Prince Khaled bin Talal, brother of billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, told the kingdom's al-Daleel TV station by telephone Saturday that he was raising a previous offer made by Sheik Awadh al-Qarani, a prominent Saudi cleric who promised $100,000 for capturing an Israeli soldier.

"I tell Sheik al-Qarani that I support you and I will pay $900,000 to make it one million dollars to capture an Israeli soldier to release other prisoners," said a voice identified as Prince Khaled, who holds no official position in the government."

The religion of peace and tolerance once again displays its fine attributes. Let us not forget that it is the constant flow of our petrodollars that make this offer possible.

My take? The Saudis are always aware that their dynasty would not have ruled the country without crucial support from radical Wahabbist Islamists in the early part of the 20th century. In consequence they have grown ever more concerned that those who put them in place can remove them as well. Throwing a financial windfall in the direction of terrorists for trading in the commodity of Israeli soldier's lives for Palestinian prisoners may make the Saudis feel that they have credibility as supporters of the cause. With one regime after another falling to or threatened by rebels strongly supported by Islamists, it is very possible that the dynasty feels that they had to do something to avoid be next.

Will the American president again bow to the Saudi King after this?

St. Louis Cardinals are World Series Champions

After being written off by almost everyone, especially once they were to play the Texas Rangers, the Cardinals played ball in in a manner worthy of the history books. Their comeback in game 6 should rank at the top of all games where a team faced elimination, in this specific case being down to their last strike twice and proceeded to tie the game and then win in extra innings.

Game seven, although played well, almost was anti-climatic. Chris Carpenter, being able to come back to pitch on three days rest due to Wednesday's rainout, pulled himself together after an ugly first inning and held the opposition while the Cardinals found one way after another to put a run or two runs on board.
David Freese is now the leader in RBIs for a single postseason.

This was without a doubt one for the books.

Kuwaiti Female Activist Calls for Sex Slaves for Their Muslim Men

The following is a translation of a video that was released in June of 2011. It is the opinion of a woman who identifies herself as a Kuwaiti female activist. The text was located on the FreeRepublic.com site and was posted on 6/23/2011.

At first I thought that this person was being sarcastic or making a joke, but after reading more on this event became convinced that this was indeed real. Unlike the Old and New Testaments, where slavery is treated more as a reality of the times, the Koran specifically holds slavery to be not only acceptable but also something to be expected regardless of what time period in which one lives. The woman who made this video is under the impression that it is OK for fifteen year-old girls to be taken from their homes and forced into sex slavery so that her and other's husbands won't go about looking for women to have affairs. She seems to think that the humiliation and loss of freedom and dignity will be a good trade for any girl removed from a region at war. Note that is OK to have them naked from the waist up because they are not free. What if they don't want to go and if they want to keep their shirts on?

" 'Peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you. My name is Salwa al-Mutairi. I received a message that was a little strange. A merchant told me that he would like to have a sex slave. He said he would not be negligent with her, and that Islam permitted this sort of thing. He was speaking the truth. The topic that he brought up is an old topic. I have been working on it for two years now.
I was working with this man, a young man, who (liked) women a lot. I was sympathetic to his situation, and also dedicated to my work. I was given the opportunity to visit Mecca, and when I did so, I brought up (this man's) situation to the muftis in Mecca. I told them that I had a question, since they were men who specialized in what was halal, and what was good, and who loved women. I said, "What is the law of sex slaves?"
The mufti said, "With the law of sex slaves, there must be a Muslim nation at war with a Christian nation, or a nation which is not of the religion, not of the religion of Islam. And there must be prisoners of war." "Is this forbidden by Islam?," I asked.
"Absolutely not. Sex slaves are not forbidden by Islam. On the contrary, sex slaves are under a different law than the free woman. The free woman must be completely covered except for her face and hands. But the sex slave can be naked from the waist up. She differs a lot from the free woman. While the free woman requires a marriage contract, the sex slave does not--she only needs to be purchased by her husband, and that's it. Therefore the sex slave is different than the free woman."
Of course, I also asked religious experts in Kuwait (about this issue), and they told me about the problem with the passionate man, or even the man who is committed to his religion. For every good man in our religion, the only solution for him--when forbidden women come around, if he's tempted to sin, then the solution to this issue is for him to purchase sex slaves. I hope that Kuwait will enact the law for this category, this category of people--the sex slaves.
I have also seen a situation in Kuwait, where a woman was abandoned by her family and so forth. She was given a home in Kuwait, where she cooked, and took care of the house, and helped out, and so forth. She was very much in a situation where she was like a slave. It is better to follow the shari'a like this than to go about doing that which is forbidden. Thankfully this house took her in, because her family abandoned her, and failed to shelter her.
I hope that a law will be enacted for this category, and they will open the door for this, just as they have opened the door for servants (to come into the country). They should open the door for sex slaves, by enacting a sound law, so that our children don't waste away in the abyss of adultery and moral depravity. Allah-willing, this will work out. I believe, look, the (sex slaves could come from) a country like Chechnya, where there is a war between an (Islamic) state and another state. Certainly there are prisoners. These prisoners could be purchased. They could be purchased and sold to the merchants in Kuwait. This is better than (the merchants) committing that which is forbidden. There is nothing wrong with this.
Harun al-Rashid had many more sex slaves than this. When he died he had 2,000 sex slaves. But he only had one wife. This was not forbidden. Our shari'a permits such a thing as this. Praise be to Allah, here in Kuwait there are many merchants who are committed (to Islam). I hope the best for Kuwait, Allah-willing.

Article translated from al-Arabiya, 4 June 2011:

A female activist and former candidate for the Kuwaiti People's Assembly, Salwa al-Mutairi, called for "the enactment of a law for sex-slaves, to protect men from corruption, and to prevent children from falling into the abyss of adultery." Al-Mutairi said to the Kuwaiti journal "al-Siyasa, on Saturday, 4 June 2011, that "Many Kuwaitis resort to becoming (too) close with women, and forgetting their religion, and taking mistresses for themselves without marrying them. This leads to sin, the spread of disease, and children being born out of wedlock. This issue needs to be dealt with in a way that does not contradict the religion (of Islam), and in which men's desires are provided for. This is something which cannot be accomplished except by resurrecting the system of sex slaves, and putting legal controls on its use."
She added that, "The female sex-slaves existed for the policy, because the religion (of Islam) permitted their possession, on condition that they were prisoners from raids carried out by Islamic countries against non-Muslim countries." She suggested that the sex slaves be taken from Russian prisoners held in Chechnya, or from Russia or other countries.
According to the former candidate, the law should be put in place quickly to establish an organization to bring the sex slaves and take ownership of them, in order to preserve the rights of both parties. Wherefore, she suggests that, "The one who desires to own the sex slave, should pay a price of 2,500 dinars. He should pay to the offices which bring the sex slaves, which will quickly establish offices which employ workers, 500 dinars. Two thousand dinars would be placed in an account for the sex slave, which she would not be able to access until 5 years after entering the care of her owner."
Al-Mutairi also proposes that, "A monthly salary be set at 50 dinars, to be withdrawn monthly from the account of the sex slave's owner. Knowing that any citizen can own whatever sex slave he wants, this is done aiming to get rid of any motive for jealousy between (the sex slaves). It also would not be permitted to bring any sex slave under the age of 15, or over the age of 25. In the proposed law, these sex slaves would be termed "girlfriends of the house." They should be treated with justice, and their rights to salary, care, and to pursue education, if they desire, should be maintained." Al-Mutairi recorded her po sition on sex slaves in a video which was broadcast on the internet. To support the truth of her position, she cited the fact that Harun al-Rashid was married to one woman but had 2,000 sex slaves' "

The feeling of superiority that is expressed here boggles the mind. The West dropped the whole idea of slavery long ago, yet those who follow a socio-economic religious system which liberals and socialists refer to as "tolerant" not only has this institution ingrained in its scriptures but makes no effort to remove it. To be fair, no Moslem can remove anything that is specified in the Koran, Sunnah, or Hadiths as they are the work or sayings of Allah and Mohammed and anything of Allah or Mohammed is a prime example of right behavior. It is a system of subjugation and tyranny.

Moslems Begin Making Demands on Catholic Universities

The following story appeared in The Tower, the news department of the Catholic University of America on
October 20, 2011. Excerpts are below:

"New charges have recently been filed against the University on counts of illegal discrimination against its Muslim and female students. The allegations are being reviewed by the District of Colombia Office of Human Rights (OHR), which has the strictest discrimination laws in the country. President John H. Garvey and the University is being urged to respond to the charges.
John F. Banzhaf III, the George Washington University Professor of Public Interest Law who initiated the legal controversy surrounding same-sex residence halls, is also the one behind these new charges.
The official allegations claim that CUA, “does not provide space – as other universities do – for the many daily prayers Muslim students must make, forcing them instead to find temporarily empty classrooms where they are often surrounded by Catholic symbols which are incongruous to their religion,” according to a press release on PRLOG.com.
This formal complaint also maintains that the new same-sex residence halls are particularly discriminating against female students, which is a new position on the same-sex lawsuit that began last month.
Banzhaf claims that the University is denying Muslim students the same benefits that students of other religions are able to enjoy since there is no formal Muslim association sponsored by Catholic University but the Columbus School of Law has an association for Jewish students
“Denying Muslim students the opportunity for form a student group on campus could hardly be based upon any fundamental Catholic doctrine since Georgetown University not only has such a Muslim student group, but also provides its Muslim students with a separate prayer room and even a Muslim chaplain,” said Banzhaf in that press release.
“The ideal mission of this student organization shall be bridging two cultures by developing a community that understands the Arabic culture, discusses cultural issues, eliminates stereotypes, and establishes a student association that will carry on in the future within CUA,” said Al Salmi.
With the number of Arab students increasing at CUA, the number of Muslim students has also grown. According to the Planning, Institutional Research, Student Learning Outcomes Assessment of CUA, in the fall of 2007, there were a total of 56 Muslim undergraduate, graduate and law students on campus. That number has more than doubled as of fall 2011, as 122 Muslim students are currently members of the CUA community.
“Even though it’s a Catholic school, a lot of its teachings are very similar to Islam,” said Al Salmi. “It teaches respect, community service, love, worship etc. which are things that Islam also teaches.”
The discrimination charge asserts that although OHR has been investigating alleged discrimination on campus since Banzhaf’s lawsuit began, “neither the President nor anyone else speaking for the University has sought to explain to the public, or even to CUA’s own students, why it believes that its discrimination does not violate the Human Rights Act.”
As these charges are being considered by the Office of Human Rights, the University administration said they will continue to work towards the betterment of its students.
“Catholic University is committed to the religious freedom and dignity of all members of its community,” said Nakas. “This includes the dozens of Muslims who come to the University for its academic excellence as well as its demonstrated history of outreach and dialogue to people of all faiths.' "

Note the particular complaint about having no room in which to say their Muslim prayers where a cross or crucifix in not hanging on the wall. I suppose that it had never occurred to these students that a Catholic school may possibly have religious symbols of their faith displayed in most if not all rooms. I am sure that I would be allowed to request a room with a cross had I attended a Muslim school.

An important note on Islam and the Crucifixion about which many in the West are not aware is that, according to the Koran, Jesus was never crucified. He got away and someone else was put up there in his place. The teachings of Jesus as well as his acts are terribly reduced in the Koran to getting his disciples to say "We believe in Allah", as if first-century Jews needed to know that Elohim actually existed. The part about his not being crucified must really provide for some smug snickering against Christians. I mean, think about it - Christianity bases so much of their teachings on Jesus' redemptive sacrifice but they dont' even know that he was never actually crucified in the first place. - What's this you say?, "What about man's fall from grace in the garden of Eden?" No need for that either. You see, in the Koran we are told that Allah just forgave Adam, Eve, and all their progeny when he banished them from the garden, so no redemptive act was even needed. If you Christians would just put all of that cross and redemption silliness aside it would be easier for you to convert to Islam.

Abraham's Lapse of Faith - Our Consequent Problem

I will ask that if anyone has seen this subject treated prior to this post would direct me to the source of the earlier (probably better too) posts, essays, articles, etc. It is because I have never seen or heard of it being mentioned that I felt it should be presented. All biblical citations are from the Revised Standard Version.

The story of the Patriarch Abraham and his influence on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam is well known. To Jews, he is a model of faithful behavior. To Christians, his faith serves as a model of something superior to Mosaic Law.
What to my knowledge have never been addressed are the consequences of his decisions for Jews, Christians and even those not of any of these faiths.

I will make every attempt to avoid a purely religious discourse but to frame the Genesis account of Abraham in terms as they apply to the rise and continuance of Islam. I will also almost entirely stick with the Genesis account except when I think that the Koranic account will be needed. Accounts of Abraham and Pharaoh/Abim'elich will be used as examples of times when Abraham acted less than faithfully.

Abraham was of course known until later in his life as as Abram. The Genesis account refers to him as being from and living in " Ur of the Chaldeans". He himself was most probably an Amorite or Aramean Sheik.

At the age of 75, he is directed by God to leave his homeland and sent to Canaan. There he will settle in an area that will be promised to his descendants as an everlasting inheritance.

Due to a famine in Canaan, he winds up in Egypt, where he displays a tremendous desire for self-preservation and bizarre lack of concern or even base male jealousy for his wife Sar’ai. When he believes that the Egyptians may kill him to take Sar’ai, he tells her to say that she is his sister. The Egyptians of course take his sister to Pharaoh and Abraham is saved. Pharaohs’s household is subsequently afflicted and Sar’ai is then returned to Abraham after the patriarch receives a well deserved tongue-lashing from the King.

After amicably separating from his nephew, Lot, he is promised by God that his descendants will be "as the dust of the earth". This of course is hard for him to swallow as he and Sar’ai are quite old at this point.               

" for all the land which you see I will give to you and to your descendants for ever.
I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your descendants also can be counted." Gen 13:15,16

Later, after the account of the rescue of Lot, Abraham is again promised -

,

"Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your descendants be."  Gen 15:5

Ten years later Sar’ai still has not become pregnant. Sar’ai suggests that he have a child with her Egyptian maid, Hagar. I always have had tremndous empathy for the servants who have no say in matters such as these. I cannot imagine the feeling of helplessness. Anyway, either from applying a very liberal interpretation of God's promise ('Well, an heir is and heir') or more likely as a result of a major lapse of faith, he fathers a child with Hagar. Hagar, having become pregnant with Abraham's child, begins to feel superior to Sar’ai and does not hide that fact. Sar’ai then becomes jealous and treats her badly enough for a pregnant servant to leave the security of he master’s tribe and flee into the wilderness. An angel finds her in her misery and directs her to return and submit to Sar’ai. He goes on to say that:

 "The angel of the LORD also said to her, "I will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot be numbered for multitude."
And the angel of the LORD said to her, "Behold, you are with child, and shall bear a son; you shall call his name Ish'mael; because the LORD has given heed to your affliction.
He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against every man and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen."
So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, "Thou art a God of seeing"; for she said, "Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?' " Gen 16 10-16

Note that the child to be, Ishmael will not only have the attributes of a wild donkey but that he will "dwell over against (italics added) all his kinsmen"

Note also that, common to earlier Genesis accounts, an angel is identified who speaks of himself in the first person as God and that the person visited does recognize that the speaker is in fact God.

God then calls on Abraham and specifies his covenant with him. It will be marked by circumcision. Here he is told that many nations and kings will trace their ancestry to him. It is at this point that he and Sarah will be known by their name new names. God says that Sarah will bear a child, but Abraham understandably is having a hard time believing and makes a plea for Ishmael.

“And Abraham said to God, "O that Ish'mael might live in thy sight!"
God said, "No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
As for Ish'mael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him and make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.
But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year.' "Gen 17: 18-21

Abraham and the men of his household, no doubt thankful that they do not dwell in modern-day San Francisco and thus not subject to criminal penalties for the performance or undergoing of this act, become circumcised.. We of course find this to be quite a feat.

He is then visited by three Angels, who tell him that the Lord said that by the time that they return to him in the spring Sarah will have given birth to a son. Sarah, 90, laughs to herself and does not believe. She must have been startled when asked by the Lord why she laughed as she quickly denied doing so. The Lord contradicts her and makes it clear that she did in fact laugh.

Abraham again engages in self-preservation at the expense of his wife when King Abim’elech is expected to desire Sarah, who dutifully again says that she is Abraham's sister and goes to the King.

This ends not quite as badly for the potentate as it did for Pharaoh as Abim’elech is given the chance to plead his case to God and is spared. Abim'elech is quite upset with the fact that he has not only been duped but also subject to possible death for taking the man's wife. The women of the King were released from barrenness with which they were afflicted due to the taking of Sarah.

Sarah gives birth to Isaac. This in a grand event from all angles, the promises of the child and his descendants and their inheritance, and the fact that Abraham now has a true heir for his clan, which is quite wealthy. (In part due to the many gifts given to him by the grateful-to-be-rid-of Abraham Pharaoh and Abim’elech)

Trouble brews and Sarah sees Ishmael "playing" with the newly-circumcised baby Isaac. The account leaves the nature of what type of 'play' was involved ambiguous, similar to the way that the acts of Noah's son Ham, when he found his father naked and drunk, are depicted. The connotations in this case appear to indicate that Ishmael’s gestures were taken to be threatening. At the risk of being irreverent, it is even possible that Ishmael, though no doubt informed by his mother that Isaac's birth could result in the mother and son being not only cut off from any inheritance but driven away, was merely kiddingly playing out the act of circumcision and harmlessly teasing the baby. Maybe he said "Does it hurt, you should try it when you are 13!"

Nevertheless, Sarah is adamant they must go. Abraham of course does not want to cast them out.

God then speaks to Abraham.

"But God said to Abraham, 'Be not displeased because of the lad and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your descendants be named. And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring."  Gen 21: 12, 13

Hagar and 13-14 year-old Ishmael are given what food and water they can carry and sent away. This had to have been a terribly frightening event for them as the desert of course is a very harsh environment. They soon run out of their stores and Ishmael is weak, probably from thirst. A grieving Hagar places her son under a bush and goes off, not wanting to see her son die. God hears the boy crying and speaks to Hagar.

 "And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, "What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not; for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.
Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him fast with your hand; for I will make him a great nation."  (Italics added)
Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink.
And God was with the lad, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow.
He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt." Gen 21"17-21

I will avoid further detail about Abraham and Isaac except that it should be noted that most in the West are unaware that in Islamic tradition it is Ishmael, not Isaac, who accompanies his father on major events. For example, Ishmael is placed on the sacrificial altar, not Isaac, and Ishmael builds the Kabbah in Mecca with Abraham. The Koran also is written carefully in many instances to excise the build-up of biblical accounts that lead to Judaism and Christianity. Others will be covered in a later post.

Abraham is certainly a model of faith to Jews and Christians, I have taken extensive liberties, and have probably gone further than I should have, in the desire to make at least part of this fun and I ask for mercy from those whom I may have offended. He came from a Middle Eastern culture of polytheism, left after being told once by his God who must have been very new to him, and repeatedly did what he was told to do. The account of the sacrifice of Isaac shocks the modern reader but we must take into account that child sacrifice was all-too-common in that world, especially among the Canaanites/Phoenecians

He must be looked upon as an example of faith, but I assert that we should also keep in mind the consequences of his lapses of faith, in this case fathering a son with Hagar. Neither mother nor son can be held to be at fault. Like I noted earlier, Hagar did not have any say in whether or not Abraham would lie with her. From that point on she was doing what any mother would do in protecting Ishmael.

What I bring out here is that fact that Ishmael becomes the founder of at least a substantial portion of the Arab people.

This is held by Jews and Muslims as well as Christians. Islam holds that Mohammed traced his decent from Ishmael. Ishmael is used in the Koran as a way to displace Isaac from any appreciable importance. Indeed, Koranic commentary notes make it clear that Muslims hold that Ishmael's place as the firstborn son, regardless of the fact that he was not of Abraham's wife, makes him more important in general to Abraham himself. Could the fact of Ishmael's loss of inheritance and casting-off play a part in the hatred that Muslims feel towards Jews? Isaac remained, received the entire inheritance, and fathered those who were to be the Patriarchs of the Hebrews and the Edomites (whose founder Esau was also to be deprived of his inheritance by Jacob, in this case by trickery). It must be possible in a desert-bred culture that eternally lives in the past and for which coveting females and property of another people is standard practice that these facts could smolder and result in sheer hatred.

Abraham, though not being indicted here, had moments where he faltered in matters of faith. twice he temporarily lost his wife because he feared for his own life, even telling her to lie and state that she was his sister, apparently being willing to have her gone permanently. We have all, or course done things contrary to what faith caused us too know was wrong. In fathering a child with Hagar, Abraham lapse of faith resulted in the founding of a substantial portion of a people from which sprung the founder of the future socio-political religion of most of the Arab people. Note also that Islam has an "Arabizing" effect on a non-Arab Muslim society.

This is not intended to demonize Arabs, as many are truly good-hearted people and not all are even Muslims. I also know Muslims who as individuals truly do not desire to make war on anyone.

Those who live in the House of War (Arabic - Dar-al-Harb), as the Muslims have to call any nation/people outside of Islam, have contended with the consequences with Abraham’s lapse of faith since the 7th century, when one who traced his ancestry from Ishmael united most of the Arab world under the banner of Islam. Mohammed’s death did nothing to stem the tide. It went on to conquer massive land areas and was with great difficulty stopped from advancing fully into both Western Europe and Eastern Europe. It has changed cultures to the point of ruin and wiped out others wholly.  Today many of his cultural descendants seek to overturn the West from within.

To Hagar:

"I will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot be numbered for multitude."
And the angel of the LORD said to her, "Behold, you are with child, and shall bear a son; you shall call his name Ish'mael; because the LORD has given heed to your affliction.
He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against every man and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen." 

To Abraham:

As for Ish'mael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him and make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.
To Hagar:

Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him fast with your hand; for I will make him a great nation." 

Tunisia Also Moves Towards Sharia

Not be outdone by its Libyan neighbor, Tunisia's Islamist Ennahda party appears to have done very well in elections for a constituent assembly. The Times of Malta.com reported that early returns indicate a victory for the Islamist party in many areas.

Also, today's "Gates of Vienna" blog has another video of Ezra Levant of the Sun News Network in which Mr. Levant presents us with some interesting facts about the current Prime Minister. This is the individual who declared that Libyan law will not contradict the Koran and who also removed Libya's prohibition on polygamy.

Khaddhafi - Death and Display

I had held off commenting on the nature of the death of the former Libyan strongman until some of the smoke had cleared and I had been able to see the videos several times.

Regardless of mine or anyone else's views on what type of treatment would be considered a serving of justice on him and those of his inner circle, it is clear that the manner in which he died was an example of abject barbarism.
Seeing the man dragged along, bloodied and injured was indeed a sickening sight. Even taking in to account his days of sponsoring terrorism and all who were killed and injured does not cause a Western thinker to look upon this with approval. This was an event that echoed earlier overthrows of those from Islamic dynasties like the Ummayads and others. The history of the rise and fall of Islamic rulers and their families is one of wholesale slaughter. I plan to treat that subject in a separate post in the future. The treatment of Osama Bin Ladin by US forces was methodical and done in the manner of a military strike but was well within the bounds of decency, up to and including his burial rites.

The West has only rarely experienced such barbarism. The display and abuse done to Mussolini's corpse and his associates is the only one that comes to mind at the moment. That Socialist/Fascist certainly deserved severe punishment for his actions, but a society lowers itself terribly in performing such acts. That event, though terrible and barbaric, stands out an an anomaly in the West.

If his overthrow was indeed the work of those who sought to liberate his nation from his brutal rule, I would expect to see the rebels overjoyed to take him alive. He could have been placed in custody and tried. a sentence of execution would have been expected, but that would have the credibility of the rule of law.
With pro-Khaddafhi forces decisively beaten and melted away, it does not seem likely that his supporters would have been inclined or able to mount any appreciable insurgency or rescue attempt on his behalf. If the interim government had been concerned with attacks by loyalists they would probably not put his body, his son's and that of the former army chief on display. As disgusting as that was it would have been likely to invite at least a bombing from his loyalists as an act of retribution. Libya appears to be headed towards a long period of regression, which would be pretty bad considering its current position.

I see this as the product of a culture that provides for cutting off of hands, stoning, and other acts that would belong to a ancient desert culture. Islam codifies acts such as these into the fabric of its society with no room for change. The text of the Koran and the Sunnah (Sayings of the prophet) makes whatever it says or whatever Mohammed said or did to be the ultimate example of right behavior up to the present day To even scratch the surface on our side we would have to go back to the enslavement of our enemies, seizure of their property, and exposing our deformed children immediately after birth. The West has had its moments of which we would not be proud, but it strives to improve while keeping the best of the past that made it what it is.

Libya on the Road to Sharia

The Chairman of the Libyan Transitional Council recently stated that the "core" of Libyan law will come from Islam. He went on to say that "Any law that contradicts Islam will be considered void".

Video footage with translation is available on the blog 'Gates of Vienna'.

Radical liberals and those of the left were singing the praises of the rebels a few months ago. They could not get enough of the fact that some of them wanted Western clothing and music and offered these trifles to prove that the uprising was comprised of liberals. It looks to me that the events in Libya could be very close to those of the Iranian Revolution. The liberal elite were all over that event too when it occurred and seemed convinced that some sort of free-spirited Socialism was bound to be put into place.

Thoughts on Khaddhafi's Demise

As I noted in the first post on the death of the Libyan strongman, it was several years after he renounced terrorism that his rule was challenged on a broad scale. One writer mentioned that the primary motivator for this volte-face was the toppling of Saddam Hussien. It could every well be true that he felt that maybe he had reached the end of his rope in maintaining his path of sponsoring attacks on the West.

I wonder if, among the Libyan people, his abandoning of terrorism was a reason for the more radical of that nations Muslims to decide that he no longer had any credibility. Even though the Colonel (I used to jokingly wonder in the 80s why he didn't just promote himself to General) did not attempt to turn Libya in to an Islamist county like Afghanistan, could his repeated sponsored terrorist acts have "scratched the itch' and satisfied Muslims who desired to make war in the West?

Of course Libya's revolution must be looked at in light of the rest of the "Arab Spring' movement. It is worth considering, though, if the more Jihad-oriented Muslims may have held back from joining in on the alliance if Khaddhafi had not dropped the whole idea of starting trouble with the West.

Hate Speech Laws Being Considered for the US?

The following was reported today in the Daily Caller by Neil Munro:


"Top Justice Department officials convened a meeting Wednesday where invited Islamist advocates lobbied them for cutbacks in anti-terror funding, changes in agents’ training manuals, additional curbs on investigators and a legal declaration that U.S. citizens’ criticism of Islam constitutes racial discrimination.
The department’s “civil rights lawyers are top of the line — I say this with utter honesty — I know they can come up with a way” to redefine criticism as discrimination, said Sahar Aziz, a female, Egyptian-American lawyer.
“I’d be willing to give a shot at it,” said Aziz, who is a fellow at the Michigan-based Muslim advocacy group, the Institute for Social Policy & Understanding."



Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/10/21/progressives-islamists-huddle-at-justice-department/#ixzz1bR6xRMmZ

I am of the belief that the American public will not stand for a restriction of this sort. This may have been enacted in the EU, but regardless of the current administration of our Justice Department, I don't think that even an attempt will be made to outlaw criticism of Islam. Nevertheless, we will need to follow this and keep a watchful eye out for any developments.

China Still Practicing Forced Abortions

A 37 year-old former mother of two with one on the way died on October 12 in China for the horrific offense for trying to give birth to a third child. The GuardianUK reported that Ma Jihong was approached by a "Family Planning Unit" of ten employees, who indicated that she would have to accompany them to the hospital so that her late-term pregnancy could be terminated, apparently for the good of the state.

Since the woman had clearly already taken advantage of the government policy that generously allows rural families to have a second child if the first child is a girl (Well, they had to come up with some way to stop people from committing infanticide of female babies), local officials felt that this scofflaw had gone too far. According to the article, she had been aware that others in her neighborhood had gotten away with flouting Chinese Law and thought that she could do the same. Although the officials were officially constrained by current Chinese law that outlaws forced abortions, these courageous civil servants were left with no choice than to terminate the pregnancy in order to help meet local birth "targets" or quotas.

The offender was reported to have been refused oxygen, being told "Don't pretend to be sick, I have seen many of you behave like that". Her heart and breathing stopped while doctors were preparing to administer the drug that would induce the abortion. Efforts to revive her failed. The article did not specify if her death allowed hospital staff to save the drug dosage to be used on a future transgressor who would dare to become pregnant and thus cause a local district to report too many births.

Leftists view little or nothing to be beyond the pale of state control. I find that to be the primary motivator for them to decry the survival of Western Civilization. Leftist thinkers [sic] have noted that they hold that we would have been much better off had the Muslims succeeded in conquering Western Europe and consequently eliminated the individual from the picture entirely. Most Far Eastern societies do not recognize the concept of a free person, neither does the Left or Islam. People in these cultures are expected to dutifully go about their lives as directed by those in power, who of course know what's best for everyone. This sort of reasoning has no place in the West.

Khadhafi Declared Dead

The interim Prime Minister of Libya was reported to have declared that Moammar Khadhafi has been killed. The outcome was expected for some time now since rebel forces had gained ascendancy in the conflict months back.

Khadhafi was leader of Libya almost as long as I have been alive and certainly as long as I could have been aware of any political leader. His rule was known for many years as one that defined state-sponsored terrorism. From terrorist training camps to airline bombings, Libya seemed to always be involved at  some level. The punitive attacks/ attempted assassinations against him that were launched by the US during the Reagan administration were a source of a resurgence in US pride and communicated that the enervated days of the 70s US were over.

It is interesting that his decline occurred some time after he renounced terrorism and agreed to compensation for the families of the Lockerbie bombing.  It is also noteworthy that leftists were fond of speaking about him in the late 80s - early 90s as being good for his country and Libyan people. That opinion apparently was missed by the actual Libyan people.

The news articles, from several sources, also mentioned what many had expected - that the various groups that united to form the resistance will now be jockeying for their piece of the pie from this point.
Khadhafi's government was a product of the days of Arab nationalism that paid lip service to pan-Arabism but preferred in practice to stick with a Socialist-leaning economy and a refusal to surrender national sovereignty to any confederate body. With restrictions such as nationalism likely to be brushed aside as radical Islamic groups work with each other, it seems probable that these will find a way to keep any well-intentioned moderates from having any appreciable influence in the future affairs of Libya.

Once that is accomplished, how far way will be a unification, in part or total, of those countries that have overthrown the long-reigning autocracies that have been around since the 60s and 70s? Those who put Islam first literally have nothing to hold them back from enthusiastically embracing a united Arab-Islamic union.

Is this a step towards the restoration of the Caliphate?

And NATO of course helped.

Mexican Truck Drivers Now Allowed to Drive in US

A major provision of the 1994 NAFTA agreement is ready to be put into place. Mexican truck drivers will no longer be required to stop their trucks and transfer their trailers/loads to US drivers at the US/Mexican border. We have been assured that Mexican truck drivers will all undergo rigorous background checks and drug testing and that everything of course (as usual) will be fine. There had been significant opposition to this from trucking unions and those concerned with national security but they were for the most part quietly ignored.

Previous arguments in favor of bringing or allowing in large numbers of Mexican workers have been that they tend to obtain employment as farm laborers or groundskeepers and thus are not likely to compete with higher paying American jobs. Well, that argument does not apply in this case. Now we have a situation where a position that pays a decent wage is being directly competed with by a foreign employee inside the US.

Guillermo Perez, the Transport Manager of  Transportes Olympic in Apodaca, Mexico, is reported by the Associated Press to have stated that, among other things, "There's no way to avoid the law" and noted that he does not find it "weird" that US truckers and companies would want to put a stop to the program "because they now have to compete with us".

Aside from the fact that we have yet again watched jobs, this time better paying ones, being outsourced, I cannot but think that our border security has, yet again, been hamstrung. Even under the old system we had to deal with smuggling via trucking. Now we are told that these trucks will be electronically monitored and that there is nothing with which we need to be worried. The drug cartels in Mexico have created a situation where merchants are routinely approached and asked the question "Plomo o Plata"? meaning lead (bullets) or silver (bribe). The phrase is admittedly catchy and has a neat ring to it. It does not seem realistic to hold that those that those who desire to smuggle drugs, people, or weapons will not feel more comfortable plying their trade when the driver for the entire trip lives with his family in the same country as the bad guys and can be made aware that he can keep them safe by keeping quiet.

Teamsters President James Hoffa, who of late had been quite busy playing the part of a 1950s Argentine labor leader fanatically idolizing his country's version of Juan Peron, made an appearance at the San Diego border crossing with Democratic and Republican politicians to protest the crossing of the first truck. 
I wonder if he expended half the energy on this issue that he did last month. That event consisted of  screaming to Obama that he and his union were the President's personal "army" and stating that they were ready to "march" at his command. He continued with referring to others not on the President's side politically as "Sons of B-----s". What US President in the past would be considered to have an ego or personality that would not feel revulsion at such an horrific outburst? The nation has the appearance of dismantling itself from so many different angles.

Greek Protests, Strike, and Riots

The 48 hour general strike has seen its second day. While most of the demonstrators have been peaceful and voicing their concerns about recent austerity measures ( and probably the slipshod manner in which the nation was run prior to the crisis) many have again begun to attack police, government buildings, and even the sentry post at the country's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 14 police officers were hospitalized.

The strike included the collection of garbage, so refuse is lying in heaps in the streets, presenting a public health hazard.

There is no doubt that, as with many nations, the government could and should have ran things better. Corruption has been suspected to be, if not widespread, frequent in Greece. Tax evasion is a constant problem and the public sector is reported to employ as much as a third of the population. An entire article would probably not be anywhere near sufficient to treat this subject.

The most tragic part of the situation is the violence, particularly that of the anarchists. In a country that many would view to be the birthplace of the orderly civil society of free people, it is a terrible shame to see so much barbarism. Greek cities established societies where defense, the arts, teaching, public speaking and involvement in political affairs were at a level to be emulated. Their culture was the first where a free citizen was an integral part of a highly developed government. Their ideas provided inspiration to many other societies like Rome. Their culture was something to which the nations of Western Europe aspired and desired to, if not duplicate, return to time and again to at least draw from it the best elements, especially in the Renaissance. It is no secret that the Medieval West always saw itself as sort of a country bumpkin-type of society in comparison. The repeated accusations of writers from that period that refer to the Byzantines as soft and effeminate may very well have stemmed from a sense of inferiority. Today the West can gain little from the examples of this nation

Later added note - same day: Having endured the occupation of the Ottomans for four centuries (Greece fell prior to the siege of Constantinople) one wonders if the cultural state of that nation would have been significantly different today had they not had to undergo the depredations, forced removal of sons and daughters, corruption, and general humiliation of living under the rule of a Moslem Sultan and his provincial governors for such a extended period of time. No other nation that suffered under the Ottoman yoke has been able to produce a people that had the vitality, industry and personal accountability of a free society.
That sort of culture seems to impart a sort of 'Communist Block' mentality - people avoid individual responsibility and are much more likely to retreat inwards in order to get the best deal that they can obtain for their immediate families and generally forsake the common good.

Koran - Burning "Pastor" Terry Jones

Anyone who reads my posts will need about two and a half seconds to get a pretty good mental picture of my personal opinion of Islam and the sort of society that it creates.

Having established that, I can feel comfortable about stating some points on Florida "Pastor" Terry Jones and his sort of 'Christian" Church.

To be clear - The issue at stake is far more basic than free speech/First Amendment rights. No one in his right mind disputes the fact that our free speech rights are rightly very broad in the US. We have yet to be faced with laws as they exist in some European countries that define anti-Islamic statements as "hate speech" and subject the speaker or writer to criminal charges. People in the US will not stand for such legal restrictions so the probability of such a law being enacted is very low.

Also to be clear - Nor is the issue about the Koran itself. This book is incendiary, hateful, (especially of Jews- calling them apes), and promotes a socioeconomic system of subjugation and slavery of enemies throughout its pages. It takes the God of the Old and New Testaments and turns him into a slave master with the mentality of a pagan Arabian deity. Women are allowed to give testimony which is valued at half that of a man. Its restrictions and mandates appear designed to grind the cultural progress of a society to a halt. Particularly galling to me is how it takes accounts from the Old and New Testaments and twists them into bizarre versions that completely negate the whole point of the original account.

The point at hand is this -
When one is deciding whether or not to perform any act, he must take into account events that are likely to occur, either directly or indirectly, as a result.

The plight of Christians in Muslim-majority nations is well known. Even ignoring all that has happened up until the modern era, it does not take a scholar to know that the life of a Christian in these countries is indeed held very cheaply. They are subjected to murders, beatings, kidnapping and rapes, and Church burnings, often by rampaging mobs of Muslims. Even before the loosening of what little fetters held the Muslims back (by the US occupation of Iraq and the glorious Arab Spring) Christians could not live their lives free of fear. The removal of the autocracies removed the fear of heavy-handed police reprisals and opened up the floodgates, especially in Iraq and Egypt. Time and space prohibit me from going into detail on this, but details are not hard to find, especially if one avoids the leftist media.

Terry Jones (I will avoid the title 'Pastor' as the word connotes one who acts as a shepherd - one who protects) Had finally followed through with his widely publicized threats and burned a copy of the Koran in March of 2011.
(Note that technically a Koran must be in Arabic to in fact be a Koran - in any other language it is a commentary on the Koran)
 I will not entertain any protests of support of Mr. Jones or any of his cohorts in the commission of this act. Yes, it was of course legal and the Koran is still as dangerous as I described above.

Here is the main point- Mr. Jones' act essentially directly imperiled Christians in mainly Muslim countries by his act. Mr. Jones and his cronies did this act while nestled safely in the bosom that is the American infrastructure of Law Enforcement and military. I cannot believe that Mr. Jones was not aware that murders and rapes of Christians were committed in Muslim countries immediately following the publication of the Mohammed cartoons. At least in that case the publishers themselves were in much more danger than Mr. Jones and his followers as European nations like Denmark have much larger (proportionately) and more aggressive Muslim populations than does the US at the time of this writing.

Mr. Jones performed a tremendously inflammatory, albeit legal, act that he knew could well result in severe violence on Christians who live in a perpetual hostage status. They have trouble getting Visas to leave their countries, nations like the US will not recognize them as different, (The US recognizes ethnic but not religious differences) and they live with the specter of a rampaging mob or a close group of Muslim buddies who may cause grievous harm at any moment hanging over their heads. If Mr. Jones or one of his immediate family was currently a hostage of Muslim terrorists, would he have wanted someone to do something that would provoke them into even more hostile acts? I don't find that likely as Mr. Jones made sure that he himself was in a very safe place when he did this.

There is a word to describe a person who, from a safe and secure position, does something that he knows will provoke vicious and barbaric people to attack others when the original actor will not be able to even stand up and protect the innocent while the attacks occur. The word is coward.

Mr. Jones wanted to play-act the role of soldier. He could have flown to, say, Amman, Jordan, called up Al-Jazeera, waited for the arrival of the camera crew, and proceeded to burn a Koran in the middle of a market square in the city. He would  have been torn to pieces by the mob before the police got him into custody, but at least his act would have endangered himself and not others who would have to suffer in his place. In that case I would have considered him to be a  brave but reckless man. His actions are right in line with many of the Evangelical/Fundamentalist mindset, one that offers no empathy for others and concentrates solely on what I want. The physical and emotional pain that the Middle Eastern Christians and their families would suffer did not matter to him. I am going to do what I want and "oh, well" to those who may suffer as a result of my actions.

The US made a decision to send troops to the Middle East twice in the last ten years. Those that went into combat were in peril as well and any Christians who would suffer attacks as a result. Mr. Jones and his followers did nothing but perform an act of theater that would endanger others far away but not him or his group. I also don't know of Mr. Jones or his group doing anything to help the Christians in the Middle East, either by political/financial support or by sponsoring families to come to the US. I also don't know of them petitioning the UN to take action on behalf of those Christians. The actions of Mr. Jones and his congregation are not indicative of people who subscribe to Christian beliefs or thought.

Muslims in Spain Suspected of Killing Neighborhood Dogs

Newspapers in the Town of Lerida, which is in the Catalonia region of Spain, have reported that authorities have found that over twelve dogs had been poisoned to death in September. Muslims in the area are suspected in the deaths. Muslim groups had been petitioning the local government to prohibit dogs on public transportation and of course areas frequented by Muslims.

I cannot imagine how arrogant one could be to think that your religion allows you to break a child's heart by killing his dog.

Unknown to many in the West, Islam considers dogs to be unclean. This does not only mean that dogs cannot be eaten, such as a Muslim or Jewish person being prohibited from eating pork, it means that dogs are not to be kept as pets. The tolerance of Muslims that is celebrated by the left unfortunately does not tend to include allowing people to mind their own business or to go about their lives without being bothered. Indeed non-Muslim locals have reported being harassed while taking their dogs for a walk when they happen to pass by a Moslem in the street. The presence of a dog offends Muslims and the fact that dog ownership has been part of the culture of the area since prehistoric times does not matter to them.

It is interesting that the Left is constantly leaving no stone unturned in trying to come up with facts to attempt to disprove Judaism or Christianity. The recent new findings of Denisnovian human DNA was one recent example of straw-grasping to try to claim that the creation account of mankind is wrong. Of course no one noted that the author of Genesis never stated that Adam and Eve were Homo Sapien Sapien. The first person could well have been an ancestor common to Homo Sapien- Neadndertal Variant, Denisovian, us, and any other yet-undiscovered DNA.(Or the Flores man)

What the Left ignores is the fact that Muslims,who claim to worship the same God as Jews and Christians, somehow are forced to conclude that Allah created a dog but, regardless of its attributes, we are not to have one around. Muslims get a pass from attacks of the Left. This creature that God made truly stands alone in not only liking to be with people, but actually is happier when people are pleased with its company or perfomance but God did want us to have one.
Muslims are faced with knowing that this animal exists, that their God made it, that it seems to be the perfect fit in a human-animal relationship, but they really aren't any good so keep them away and kill them if you can't.

If anything disproves Islam then I submit that its prohibtion against keeping dogs is the plainest and most obvious. A creator would not have made such an animal to be shunned.

This should not be a forum for all sports of speculation on whether or not people created the species from wolves, something to which many cling - as if early people had the time and resources to engage in breeding so selective to accomplish something that wolf and wolf-dog hybrid breeders cannot successfully do today.

Now I have to let my dog outside. Thankfully I don't have to fear if anyone on my block will try to hurt her.

Mexican Cartel Recruiting High School Students in the US

Numerous news sites have reported that the Texas Department of Public Safety has stated that Mexican drug cartels have been recruiting High School students in the US to assist them in their commercial endeavors, drug-running in particular. The cartels have already engaged in armed border crossings to facilitate their shipments on more than a few occasions. Now they appear to intend to turn our schools into centralized shipping hubs for their products.

The current presidential administration and the courts have not failed to do all that they can to prevent Law Enforcement officials from having even basic tools to check the immigration status of those that lead an officer to believe that an individual may be in this country illegally. Mexico, however, can check my status according to their laws if I am in their country and they do so routinely with immigrants to their paradise from Central America, complete with deportations and all.

Any more support for the Dream Act?

Fast and Furious - LaPierre Speaks Out

The National Rifle Association's Wayne LaPierre was interviewed by Newsmax on his beliefs on the "Fast and Furious" operation where thousands of firearms were transported across the US/Mexican border and into the hands of drug cartels. The article was published on newsmax.com on 10/14. It entailed having Federal Agents browbeat licensed firearms dealers into making firearms sales with which they themselves either not comfortable or would refuse to do without a DEA agent telling him to make the sale.
The weapons were ostensibly allowed (under the eyes of federal agents) to be brought across the border for the purposes of investigating where the weapons would wind up. Surprise! - They wound up in the hands of drug cartels!

This is not the case of an agent setting up a sting-type sale of a fake missile, explosive, drugs, etc. to a criminal or terrorist for the purpose of making an arrest. We are asked to believe that it would be of benefit to investigating agents to see where real guns would go.

I find this entire thing to defy any rational attempts at explanation. For years, the American public was fed cooked statistics to lead us to believe that the less than third world - horror show of mass murders, shootouts with Mexican Police and military, and Mexico’s descent into narco-state status was the result of American gun dealers and their customers who were supposedly supplying the criminals with the tools to commit their atrocities. A favorite statistic was that 90% of guns recovered in Mexico and then traced were found to have originated in the US. The part of the story that was not put out was that a tiny fraction of recovered guns were in fact traced in the first place. Only guns that appeared to have been likely to have come from the US were put through the tracing process. The incredible result of that practice was the magic number that was used in an attempt to sway the American public to support more restrictive gun laws in the US.

One of the weapons sold in this operation was used in the Murder of US Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry last December.

That's when the sloppily crafted web began to tear into pieces. A number of incredibly brave US Federal Agents stepped up and brought this story into the open. Thanks to Heaven for the Whistleblower Act.
Attorney General Eric Holder has been doing his best to try to keep himself from any blame, repeatedly insisting (in various versions of the story) that he did not know about it, or that he heard of the operation but did not know what it was.

The vast majority of evidence indicates that the cartels were obtaining their weapons in bulk shipment from Central America, (Wiki leaks) China, and other nations that manufacture AK-47 and similar firearms (The AK is copied throughout the world). Those that dreamt up this train wreck of an idea were apparently hoping that we would believe that someone could buy a weapon is the US for $400 to $500, then bring it to Mexico and sell it for the same price or a profit when the same weapons could be gotten for less than $100 apiece in bulk shipments from other countries.

Mexican President Calderon has been on this stump since shortly after assuming his office. The claim has been made over and over that if we in the US would just place greater restrictions on the sales of firearms such as AR-15s and AK-47s the situation in Mexico would not be what it is.

The leftist media has barely even given passing coverage to this travesty. In any other administration, the President and the Justice Department would be subject to Special Prosecutors, Senate Hearing, and hopefully criminal charges. I wait to see if this is even brought up as a political issue in the upcoming campaigns.

Later added note 10/21:

As reported by Neil Munro in The Daily Caller on this date, 40 of the 100 weapons recovered from a seizure of weapons from a high level "Enforcer" from the Sinaloa cartel were found to have arrived in Mexico via the "Fast and Furious" operation.

Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals

On a lighter note, I think that kudos are due to the St. Louis Cardinals, who looked like they were out of the running to even make the playoffs. They pulled themselves together in August and September, securing the wild-card berth at the end of the regular season. They then proceeded to eliminate in the playoffs the best record in baseball-Philadelphia Phillies and the powerhouse Milwaukee Brewers to advance to the World Series as National League Champions. I wish them well. They demonstrated what a team can do when they apply themselves to reach a goal, and their performance was indicative of a group that truly deserves to be where they are. They showed tremendous spirit and perseverance.

Possible DaVinci Art - Milanese Princess

According to a UK Daily Mall article, a number of art experts believe that a piece that sold for the grand price of $19,000 in a 1998 auction is actually the work of Leonardo DaVinci. A fingerprint on the work that appears to be that of the great thinker/scientist/artist/theoretician was found by a Paris laboratory. The subject is a 15th century Milanese Princess and the portrait is made of ink and chalks. As expected of a labor of DaVinci, we see amazing beauty, depth, and detail, both of the subject and her clothing.

Articles such as this cannot fail to remind the viewer of the great and varied cultural treasures of Western Civilization. Today we find numerous writers from our own Western world (From the Left, not Muslims) who bemoan the fact that our civilization was not extinguished by the flood of Islam. These forward-thinking progressives look at the 8th century battle of Tours (also called Poitiers), where Mayor of the Palace Charles Martel defeated a major Moslem incursion, and feel disappointment. They hold that the Western world would be much better off in the "tolerant" atmosphere of a Muslim society. Apparently tolerance includes prohibitions on producing the likeness of any living creature (including people), leaving Islam, and women being allowed to leave their homes without express consent of a male family member. It must also include honor killings, forced marriages of underage girls, female genital mutilation, payment of taxes by non-Muslims, and so on. Let's not forget that a the testimony of a woman is half that of a man, so if a rape victim cannot produce a male witness or two (see below)  female witnesses to support her claims, she is then accused of adultery; with all that follows for punishment for that indiscretion under Sharia law.

Note that two female witnesses will actually not suffice  - the victim will need two females to provide testimony equal to that of a man to counter the testimony of the assailant, then two more to provide one man's worth of testimony to provide sufficient evidence to convict.

It boggles the mind to attempt to picture a society devoid of the arts, theater, music, opera, and literature of which we are the beneficiaries. Islamic nations have almost no depictions of people and those that do exist have none of the realism or subtle beauty common to Western art. Theirs is a culture programmed to stagnation. Modern history textbooks, true to form of those who wish to discredit the achievements of the West, fawn all over medieval Islamic cultures and cannot get enough of its "advances" in science, medicine, literature, mathematics, and architecture. What is glossed over is that fact that these were almost entirely taken lock, stock, and barrel from the people that they subjugated- math from the Indians, architecture from the Byzantines, science, literature and medicine from the early Greeks and Persians. Even this ignores that fact that the only period where these works flourished was when Muslim-ruled areas had sizeable non-Muslim populations that could contribute their skills and learning. Once these people either left or became Muslims themselves, Islam failed to even continue with pursing let alone improve on these fields.
Now, there of course nothing wrong with noting that others have useful skills and learning and taking advantage of such. It is not fair though, to the societies that gave birth to and disseminated these ideas in the first place when the cultural descendants of much of it decide to give undue credit to a society that briefly tinkered with it then effectively dropped it.

Islamic society can only "flourish" when it is constantly taking over new cultures and gleaning what it deems useful or of value for the moment. Once that is done or religious fundamentalism sets in, the stagnation begins. Even the massive influx of petrodollars has done little to produce great thinkers in modern Islamic society. Prior to this windfall, the Middle East was a backwater, even experiencing very little population growth. How much of Muslim societies today are backwaters?

The left is so hateful of the West and what it has accomplished that they would prefer to wish it away while they gladly take full advantage of its fruits.

Egypt's Christians Under Siege

The Arab Spring has begun to bear its first fruits.

Egypt's Coptic Christians, a group that could not consider itself safe in the days of Egyptian autocracy, has experienced unrelenting attacks since the overturning of Mubarak's rule. These people, who have been a part of Egypt since the earliest days of Christianity, were of course subjected to the "Dhimmi" state once Egypt fell to the Islamic invasions by 641. Dhimmi is a term from the Koran. It specifically is interpreted to mean "protected", but the connotations of the word imply that of living in subjection as non-citizens, payment of taxes due to their Moslem rulers, and a status that is supposed to instill a sense of humiliation.

Unlike Christian communities in other Islamic countries, the Copts have somehow maintained a population of close to 10% of the Egyptian population. Christian groups in such countries typically experience reductions of adherents year by year until few or none are left. Through the centuries, many can no longer afford to be subject to the "jizya" (the tax); their people may convert to but are not allowed to leave Islam under pain of death, and legal/ business practices are almost always made in the favor of Muslims vs. Christians.

The Copts would suffer periodic bursts of persecution by Muslim mobs or small groups during the days of Mubarak and his predecessors. This would include attacks/burnings of churches, kidnaps and repeated rapes of Coptic girls/young women (also being forced to utter Muslim prayers and the Islamic profession of faith, making them Moslems to their captors), and numerous other examples of persecution. The Arab Spring, however, has released a  Pandora’s box of attacks on the Copts without even the heavy hand of the autocracy to put a stop to the 'locker room beatings' once the bullied High School student has again learned his place for the moment.

Muslims in Egypt have stepped up their attacks on Copts with essentially no fear of punishment from the military government. All that is needed is a rumor or a proclamation that a rumor exists for the mob to assemble and lash out. A recent example is an accusation that a Copt has kidnapped one of their own who has converted to Islam. This of course is standard practice with Muslims with Family members who become Christian and looks very much like the psychological meaning of the word 'projection'. There of course was no evidence that any of these women had opted at any time for the incredibly liberating status of being a Muslim woman.

Churches and individual Copts are attacked, with ancient Churches destroyed and Copts injured and killed. Rapes of Coptic women have increased in frequency and barbarity (if that is possible).

Recent protests of Copts demanding protection from their government have been met with attacks on the supplicants by the Egyptians military itself. The results were scores of dead and injured and hundreds of arrests of Copts. This has been portrayed by the Western Media, especially MSNBC, as events where the Copts rose up to attack the military and Muslims. When the media is in a generous mood they ascribe it to clashes between Christians and Muslims.

The facts of these events were bravely stated by Ezra Levant of the Sun News Network. Videos of the military attacking the Copts can be found there as well as on the blog site "Gates of Vienna", a site to which I am much in debt. On the site today can be found video coverage along with an interview with a Copt intimately familiar with the situation of his co-religionists in Egypt. The videos and photos are terribly shocking.

Prisoner Exchange for Israeli Sergeant Gilead Schalit

After five years of captivity, Sgt. Schalit is to be released. The price was high - the current number is 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for one Israeli soldier. I cannot find fault with the Israeli government for making this move. The pressure to get him back was enormous, especially and understandably from Sgt. Schalit's family.
I cannot imagine the grief that they experienced during this period.

[Later added note  10/17/2011- I am not happy with my choice of words when I stated that I could not find fault with the decision of the Israeli government, especially as the details and identities of some of the Palestinians have surfaced. I should have stated that I could not find fault for doing all that it could to secure Sgt. Schalit's release as long as the results would not further endanger the Israeli state as a whole. The amount of prisoners being released and the sorts of crimes many of them have commited make it likely that the nation will be more at risk once the release is complete. In particular, one of the soon-to-be released was the subject of the infamous and utterly barbaric scene of one of the murderers of Israeli soldiers in 2000, where the actor showed himself at a second story window and displayed his hands, covered with his victim's blood, in an air of triumph.]

The obvious concern at this point will be what sort of precedent is being set. It can be assumed that the IDF will have to continue to take all sorts of measures to prevent further abductions of their troops. Even if the current ratio of Palestinians for Israelis is reduced by 90%, further exchanges will not be sustainable as the result will be that any Palestinian will, prior to contemplating a criminal act, know that his chances of obtaining an early release will be pretty good.

Hamas has repeatedly engaged in the building of tunnels to enter Israel, either to smuggle in weapons and explosives or to capture IDF personnel. I find it highly unlikely that this deal will result in Hamas backing off with their methods. They will be emboldened by this move.

Occupying wall Street

Those who have taken up semi-permanent residence in New York City ostensibly to protest abuses, probably both real and perceived, of financial institutions and major corporations, have been of late showing their true colors. After being repeatedly lied to by their handlers in the halls of American academia, these souls have taken what they have been told to expect to be their due and promptly began to make demands for satisfaction.

It is the fault of the American system that those who choose to attend college consequently have the burden of debt for the student loans. These debts must be done away with. From now on, the US taxpayer must not only shoulder its current burden but must add to its task list having to pay to get rid of carbon emissions, new social programs, and of course Jonnie Doe's college bill.

There was never a thought of working for an employer such as, say United Parcel Service, which offers tuition assistance even to part-time employees. Performing a few hours of physical labor five days a week is apparently way too much to ask of these prima donnas who learned from their multicultural classes how horrible the West and particularly the United States are. The taxpayer is supposed to pay for them to sit in class and listen to professors bad-mouth the very system that put them in those seats in the first place.

Noticeable too were the demands that the US government, which these educated individuals have learned (in college) apparently has the authority to demand anything of anybody or any organization, require that employers hire people who have Liberal arts degrees. It doesn't matter that employers need engineers, chemists, IT people, business majors, etc. Employers should be required to hire me because I took classes in Colonialism, basic anthropology, history of minorities and women, and whatever else provided a forum for a leftist professor who couldn't earn a living otherwise to bash the very system (and those who created it) that provides him with a decent job. What can I offer the employer? Well, I'm educated, isn't that enough?

The concept of work does not apply to these types, nor does the concept of punching one's card. They want what you have and they want it right now. They would not dream of living frugally and buying a fixer-upper house when they are ready to take that step.

The fantasy world that is presented in colleges today has produced probably a generation's worth of people with few skills and broad ideas of entitlement. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Last note on 300

As one of those historical purists, I can't hold back from noting the fact that the final scene of the battle of Platea which occurred one year later and drove the Persians out of Greece was an absolute train wreck. The whole army breaks ranks and charges as a group of individuals. It completely lost the whole idea of a hoplite phalanxe - the solid wall of bronze, iron and men movng as one to smash and grind down the lighter-armored and less disciplined Persians

Movie "300"

An old memory popped back into thought today about the reaction of the Iranian government to the 2006 movie "300" which offered a highly stylized comic book-type depiction of the battle of Thermopylae and the events leading up to that historical event.

Historical purists of course needed to accept that considerable license would be taken with this movie. The scenes are purposely made to be outlandish, fighting styles of the hoplites range from reasonably accurate to one-on-one fights more suited to martial arts scenes, and the only other Greek state mentioned as a Spartan ally are the Arcadians. There were in fact several contingents. ( Note that the Thespians stayed with the Spartans until the end and the Athenian fleet was slugging it out too). Also, no notice is taken of the aspects of Spartan society of which a westerner would have less of a reason to be proud i.e. the treatment of non-Spartan Helots.

Nevertheless, the movie is motivating, entertaining, and does a more than fair job of evincing strong feelings for a people who were willing to risk enslavement or total annihilation of their state, people, and culture as they stood against odds for which overwhelming would be a gross understatement.

Allen West was recently eviscerated by the political left for his speech in which he noted the better attributes of Spartan society and challenged American mothers to follow the model of that state by rearing their sons to be future defenders of the US. The left, of course, did their best to mock the Congressman by noting only the practices of the Spartans that we would be sure to avoid. They entirely ignored the best of that culture, such as restrictions on greed and jealousy, the continuous pursuit of excellence, and the knowledge that to be truly free is to recognize that every individual has apart to play in defense of the state.

The most confusing event that occurred in response to this movie was the reaction of the Iranian government. They immediately condemned the immoral and sensual manner in which the Persians were depicted. Muslim thought is replete with an absolute unwillingness to look at any cultural aspect of a Muslim nations pre-Islamic past with any admiration. This applies to the Pagan Arabs as well as Persians. It may glean from its scientific. architectural, or administrative achievements, but it will not allow anything that existed in the pre-Islam days to be something of which one should be proud. If it concerns a prophet of that county from the past that the Koran declares to have been one of the original Muslims (like Zoroaster) then it is OK to speak of him as long as it is under Muslim terms, but the rest is ignored until it is forgotten. Unfortunately, Evangelical/Fundamentalist Christians too tend to fall into this pattern. Little or nothing of pre-Christian Europe is admired in their world. Even the cultural achievements of Europe by Catholics and mainline Protestants are given little or no consideration  unless, again, a particular individual can be presented (against all historical evidence) as some type of fictional early Baptist hammering away against the Church and the culture that game birth to the arts, music, literature and more of the West.

Ultimately, I find the protests of the Iranian government to be a classic example of the knee-jerk reactions common to both Islam and Fundamentalist Christianity. No effort to given even to thinking "Hey, those guys have a point. Thank God we became Muslims and don't have to be like those immoral Persians" (Which of course is exactly what they would say as long as they get to say it first) No, since the movie comes from the West, they have to be angry about it even though they logically would have to agree that their position would be that the pre-Islamic Persians were quite immoral. So the Iranians find themselves in the unenviable position of defending a people that they are required to, if not abhor, at least pity because they were not Muslim.