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Monday, August 21, 2006

Shocker : France Wimps Out

As you should know by now, France, the one pushing so hard for a cease-fire, and touting and international force to enforce it, has begged off actually participating.

Oh, okay, they STILL have troops ready to go in, but now instead of the 2,000 or more French troops many expected to be sent on the Paris led effort, they are going to send 200. Oh, but France is still willing to lead the whole thing.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan called Chirac on Thursday to plead with him to reconsider. The French president's office released a statement later indicating he had not yielded.

The statement confirmed that France would send a company of 200 military engineers to Lebanon. They would join more than 200 French peacekeepers already serving in the relatively small U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL. Chirac also told Annan that "France was prepared to assume command" of the bolstered U.N. force, according to the statement.

What commitment!

I could write a whole lot on this, but what more needs be said? This is funny in a historical/cultural stereotype kind of way, but the fact is that this kind of pointless meddling is going ensure more people are killed later on. France is feeding its need for relevance on the blood of others.

France likes to talk the talk, when it comes to walking the walk, they want no part.

Of course, France is not stupid here, but merely calculating and spineless. They know what happens to "peacekeepers" sent to keep the peace with Hezbollah in the area. They are not crazy. They are not going to send 2,000 or more of their soldiers, who are not known for their war-fighting abilities to begin with, into Lebanon with big bullseyes on their backs.

What makes it so very sleazy is that they know EXACTLY what Hezbollah is, and yet that claim that Israel can and should bargain in good faith with them.

Yes, France is more than willing to try and play the Great State, but when it came to actually backing it up, they reveal how very small they are.

A while back, the Chirac bitterly chided some eastern European nations when they had the temerity to buck his anti-American stance on Iraq, telling them that they had missed a great opportunity to "shut up".

Well, it seems to me that since France missed their chance to "put up", then they should be the one to avail themselves of the "shut up" option.

Weasals.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

WTF? Color Me Happy But &*$#@# Shocked

Take a guess as to what industry group this statment comes from? Go on, guess!


"We the undersigned are pained and devastated by the civilian casualties in Israel and Lebanon caused by terrorist actions initiated by terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah and Hamas," the ad reads.

"If we do not succeed in stopping terrorism around the world, chaos will rule and innocent people will continue to die.

"We need to support democratic societies and stop terrorism at all costs."

Article here, found at Instapundit

Now, two comments.

1) I am especially shocked and suspicious of a couple of those names on the list. I expect some weasle-like back-pedaling or alterior motives here.

2) It would have been nice to have seen more of this over the last 5 years.

More on this later, perhaps...

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

More of This Please

We need more of this. Excerpts of a speech given by a Col. White to a graduating class of soldiers. This is the sort of thing we should be hearing from members of Congress, the White House, the Pentagon and even parts of the media. This is the kind of attitude and support that our fighting men and women deserve. It should not come only from one of their own. If those of the Democratic party and on the left could espouse at least half of the truth this man speaks, it might convince even me that are the loyal opposition that they claim.

Hat Tip Michelle Malkin

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Grabbing the Troll Bat

I have been having an ongoing "conversation" with someone calling himself Skeptikwon in the thread of my "How to Spot a Troll" post. What started out briefly as a decent exchange quickly degenerated into a fruitless exercise.

Skeptikwon pissed me off for, among other things, misreading things I wrote more than once, and then demanding that I answer for things I did not say.


I am posting my last post in that thread here, because it speaks not only to Skeptikwon, but to all of those who tried to feed me the same old tired dregs that are their talking points. I warned Skeptikwon that I did not suffer fools gladly, and I make good on that promise.

Portions of his post are in italics.

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

"You are extraordinarily arrogant.

First, Uh, no, I am not arrogant. I do not, however, suffer foolishness and a waste of my time gladly. I DID warn you of this, did I not? You waste my time with absurdity, I am going to point it out to you in no uncertain terms. I gave you a chance and you turned out to behave like a child, unwilling to acknowledge the simplest errors on your part.

Second, why am I the arrogant one when you are the one who makes all sorts of grand assertion without backing them up? Why am I arrogant because I get annoyed that you, more than once, misread what I wrote and then use that misreading to attack me?

Remember that pot and kettle thing I mentioned before?

Let us return to your last post so I can again point out your errors:

This is what you wrote.

"Despite hysterical rhetoric to the contrary, there was no widespread, or even appreciable, backlash against Middle Easterners and Muslims, citizens or otherwise, in the US after 9/11"

Note the or otherwise. I can read, and I can see where the confusion comes from without being rude.


Skep, the 'otherwise' in that sentence does not in anyway create confusion, except in your own mind. You took that passage and came up with this:

“I see your post on the alleged hijacking plot where you say there has been no US action against muslims for 9/11. Are you serious? How many people have died in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Gaza since then in your GWOT?”

The entire post, and the passage you quoted, deals with reaction to Muslims IN THE US, whether citizens or aliens. You did not bother to actually read what I wrote the first time (probably because you have all your talking points already churning in your head) and even upon rereading it, you still try to construe some meaning which is not there. Don't try to argue it because it is staring you right in the face. Whether it is a willful disregard for what I wrote, or simply your emotions running away with you, I am not sure.

Anyway, I took your advice and reread your Gaza thing. I wish now that I'd read it before commenting. I read some ugly antiJew stuff on arab sites that make me cringe. Your essay is on a par with those..

And AGAIN, you make vile, broadbrush accusations without ANY examples cited. I'm arrogant? Please.

Oh, and, I see you can now admit that there is "ugly antiJew" stuff on Arab sites? Wow! Maybe I am making headway. From your earlier comments, it seemed like you had trouble conceiving of "non-friendly" Arabs at all. So, now you admit there are at least some Arabs filled with ugly hatred toward Jews? Excellent.

The only difference is that you have no excuse.

Oh, I understand now. Even though you now admit that there is virulent hatred of Jews among some Arabs, it is not really their fault. They are blameless for their hatred (and I assume then the violence that comes from it), but I should be full of guilt. THEY have an excuse for their hatred, so they are to be exempt from criticism let alone condemnation.

So, is this a racist thing? Are Arabs to be considered so ignorant and primitive, like children, that they can’t be held responsible? Or is it the “only the white Westerner” can be guilty of crimes and inhumanity due to the “Anglo-Saxon Patriarchal Power Structure”?

It is your country doing most of the killing and destroying.

Oh, Really? How many Arabs and Muslims have been killed by their own kind in the last 30 years? 20 score more than by the US, if not much more, and yet you seem oddly unconcerned about that bloodshed. Less than concerned, actually, because you never seem to mention it.

Let's take Iraq. The vast majority of Iraqis killed nowadays are killed by US troops? Or is it by other Iraqis and fellow Muslims from other nations?

But, what about before the invasion? Who was killing all the Muslims in Iraq then? Wasn’t it Saddam and his Sunni Arab henchmen lining them up and shooting them into mass graves? Gassing them in their villages?

And destruction?

Do you know that far more damage to the infrastructure of Iraq was done by Saddam's deprivations before he was overthrown, than by US military action? He spent the billions on his palaces and his leisure while he let the country run itself down. Do you care? Of course not, because then you can't blame the United States for it, right?

And is it the US blowing up pipelines and electrical plants and hospitals in Iraq, or is it the 'insurgents'? And are the insurgents Norwegian Lutherans, or some other group?

I sincerely hope you wake up one day and see what you and many of your countrmen have become. I imagine Germany in the 30s was similar.

Spare me the Nazi comparisons. We've heard it all before, and it is not only lame but clichéd. It is, however, a nice end cap for you, I admit.

It illustrates both your historical ignorance and your lack of comprehension of current events. You ever read Rise and Fall of the Third Reich? Do you know the tactics Hitler used to hoodwink the European powers? Some much of it is right out of terrorists and tyrants playbook, it is astounding.

Preach peace to the world, but call for war to your followers.

When confronted with your crimes, ignore it and point out your accusers' failings.

Play the victim while oppressing others.

Test your tactics and weapons out in proxy wars.

That the fact that you 'imagine', rather than know what Germany in the 30's was like speaks volumes. I imagine that you 'imagine' a lot about both history and current events.

Here, you want to make Nazi comparisons, Skep?


Look at them.








Who do they look like, Skeptikwon?



That salute look familiar at all, my friend?





























Here's a little visual aid to help with your history lesson.








It doesn't end with a salute. The mass murder comes along with it, does it not?

Arabs and Muslims have been murdering and oppressing one another for the last century and the body count from that is in the millions. Further, Arabs and Muslims are responsible for murder and destruction the world over, from Bali to Darfur to Turkey and on and on.

Tell me, oh stalwart defender of Arab/Muslim honor, what have the Africans of Darfur done to deserve their treatment at the hands of the Janjaweed? Tell me of the 'friendly Arab' horsemen who ride into villages, raping and killing and enslaving for fun and profit.

Oh, that's right, it is hard if not impossible to somehow pin their crimes on the US or Israel, so you don't really give a shit, do you?

You're not alone, obviously. You and the UN and the feckless Europeans cry and wail over the deaths in Lebanon, but far more people are dying brutally in Darfur in what could only be called a genocide if that term means anything at all. But, you don't give a good goddamn if you even recognize it at all. You can’t, can you, because then the claim that Arabs/Muslims are eternal, innocent victims of Western Imperialism and Evil Zionism falls flat on its face.

You are a loathsome hypocrite or a mindless parrot, take your pick. You look past the mountains of bodies lying at the feet of mass murderers and tyrants because they do not represent the ideological arch-enemy you love to loathe.

Do I think all Arabs and Muslims are murdering terrorists and tyrants?


Far from it. I know that is not the case. I know that, by far, the victims of these bastards are fellow Arabs and Muslims. Just like German Jews, and others, were murdered by their compatriots, those most suffering from Islamosfacism and Middle Eastern tyranny are those two groups.

But just as not all Germans were Nazis, the vicious ideology which is fueling the Islamofascists (yeah, Islamofascists, Skep) threatens to overwhelm or cowe the rest. Just like the Nazis, opposition is met with brutal and deadly force to force others in line or to simply eliminate them. The terrorists and thugs that you refuse to acknowledge will drag the innocent into a world-wide conflagration making the deaths in Lebanon a footnote in history.

Your willful ignorance, whether born of indoctrination or simple need to be contrarian, is helping to make this coming conflict all the more possible, just like the Second World War. Lenin had his useful idiots, Hitler had his, and now the 21st century fascists have theirs. Congratulations and welcome to the club. The blood is not only on your hands, but it is smeared all over your mouth thanks to the idiocy spewing from it. I hope you choke on it. Idiot.

(And yes, if you darken my blog door with your idiocy again, expect to get another whack with the Troll bat. Get vile, and I will delete your ass.)


Thursday, August 10, 2006

UK Airline Bomb Plot

Reports are coming in that a major plot to bomb Airliners traveling from the UK to the US has been foiled in Great Britain. Apparently, the groups planned to carry explosives on board. I am sure more and different details will be coming in soon.

Thank God it was stopped, at whatever stage it was . However, it is only a matter of time before something like this succeeds.

** Update **

"The foiled plot was "intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale," London's Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson said.

The plot involved hiding masked liquid explosives and detonators in carry-on luggage, Chertoff said. ('Untold death and destruction' planned -- 2:37)"
CNN.COM

Although the CNN article link does not mention it, CNN air is reporting that the people involved are most, in not entirely, British citizens of Pakistani descent. I am guessing we will discover later they were neither Buddhist, Mormons or Jews.

In addition to the looming prospect of WWIV breaking out in full soon, we now have the prospect of large sections of Western countries having to deal with their own citizens mounting attacks upon them. How will these governments react to these violent traitors, and more importantly, how will their fellow citizens respond?

Despite hysterical rhetoric to the contrary, there was no widespread, or even appreciable, backlash against Middle Easterners and Muslims, citizens or otherwise, in the US after 9/11. Aside from a very few isolated incidents perpetuated by idiots, people reached out to the Muslim community. That is something to be proud of.

However, what happens, as I asked my spouse, "what happens when a mass murder attack is pulled off in the US, one mostly committed by, and assisted by, American citizens who are Muslims?"

If a Beslan style attack occurs in this nation, for example, and some American citizens murder our children, and it turns out they were radicalized HERE, what the F**K happens then? Does backlash then still count as backlash, or does it start to look like self-defense?

Yes, it IS an ugly question, but the answer, I fear, is going to be much worse.

** Update 2 **

Think I'm a paranoid reactionary? Check out this post from Michelle Malkin regarding some strange, alarming behaviour within our borders.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

All The Signs Were There...

Mel Gibson - Anti-Semite?

In regards to the Mel Gibson incident, I'm afraid this kinda puts me over the top as far as believing he is anti-semitic.

I gave him the benefit of the doubt throughout the rumors to the effect and despite his dad apparently a fanatic on the subject (I don't think it is fair to hold someone to account for their parent's foibles unless the person directly supports them). I thought some of the anti-semitic charges might have had to do with other biases, including anti-Christian ones. The fact that he was currently playing the role of maverick in the sleazy Hollywood biz I thought may have played a part as well.

However, this incident, with the "Protocols of Zion" rhetoric, claiming Jews are responsible for all the wars comment, is pretty disturbing and hard to excuse.

Yeah, yeah, I know he was drunk.

I know that all of us have prejudices and dark thoughts that we have to contain and control, and getting blitzed lowers those restraints.

Being a civilized, decent person does not mean your don’t have any prejudices or evil thoughts. It means being able to control them, using reason and compassion to counter those impulses.

I would never judge a person on a single incident because of all this, but as a pattern emerges, one has to draw certain conclusions.

It is disappointing for several reasons.

One, I have enjoyed Gibson as an actor, as a director, and his apparent lack of ego despite his success. I thought of him as decent guy, considering.

Two, it seems to confirm that one cannot be work in movies without being some kind of basket case or nut-job.

Three, this hatred of Jews seems to spread like a virus and is just as virulent. One can almost sense something meta-physical in it.

Now it appears Gibson is entering rehab. Hope it helps. Perhaps Hezbollah, Hamas and a good portion of the left needs to enter rehab as well.