The FairTax Plan is a nonpartisan national grassroots campaign to replace the federal income tax system with a progressive national retail sales tax. It provides a "prebate" to ensure no American pays federal taxes on spending up to the poverty level, dollar-for-dollar federal revenue replacement and, through companion legislation, repeal of the 16th Amendment.
"Kepiblanc responded thoughtfully in the comments to Michiel Mans’ post about the impending European Civil War. His essay is worth reproducing here in its entirety.
He was replying to to Zerosumgame, who asked, “Who wins?”:
Well, we do — of course.
A religion, an ideology, a culture or an empire have three strategic options: to win by the word, the sword or the womb. In the case of Islam, the first two are out of question. To convince intelligent people to adopt the unbelievable stupidity of Islam is impossible, and hasn’t been accomplished anywhere. Up until now the expansion of Islam has been by the sword and the sword alone. Islam has managed to defeat several medieval cultures, mostly by outnumbering them in theater, and by use of excessive brutality. Not by military skills such as tactics, weapons technology or bravery. And Arabic armies are notorious for their incompetence, disorganization and fatalistic cowardliness. They never managed to go further northwest than Poitiers-Lepanto and the Gates of Vienna, where they met far superior cultures"
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"European Civil War: Sooner Than You Think
by Baron Bodissey
Michiel Mans, a Gates of Vienna reader from the Netherlands, wrote the following essay in response to Paul Weston’s article from last week.
We welcome the expansion of the conversation to include parts of Europe outside of Britain and Scandinavia.
Civil War in Europe
by Michiel Mans
Paul Weston wrote an interesting article about the inevitability of Civil War in Europe by 2025. I think it will be much sooner. I even hope it will be sooner. Not because I am a warmongering idiot — perhaps an idiot, but not a warmongering one — but because sooner will mean less death and destruction. To quote Mark Steyn: “At hinge moments of history, there are never good and bad options, only bad and much, much worse. Our options today are significantly worse because we didn’t take the bad one back then.”
Civil War is inevitable. From any historical perspective, it is inevitable. Because people — politicians in particular — do not learn from history, avoidable mistakes have been made. Another contributing factor, one often overlooked, is the lack of insight into the psyche of human beings. The mix of both, misreading history and the human mind, is currently leading to (civil) war. As always."
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'Most sweeping and culturally devastating law in Oregon history, establishing pagan morality'
"A plan being shoved down a fast track in the Oregon Legislature would give homosexuals a vast range of new state laws they could use to impose their moral perspective on Christians across the state, according to opponents who fear for their speech and religious expression rights.
Senate Bill 2, on its face, is written to enshrine in state law special protections for homosexuals by classifying them as a protected civil rights group. But hundreds of pastors – whose churches include tens of thousands of evangelical Christians – are horrified by what they see advancing virtually without opposition.
'Senate Bill 2, in the Oregon House of Representatives, if passed, will limit your free speech rights and rights of conscience; require public schools to teach that homosexual/lesbian/bisexual behavior is 'okay' and 'moral'; impact your rights as a business owner; and put judges in authority on certain church matters,' according to David Crowe, of the Christian ministry called Restore America. "
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The conservative movement has focused more on winning political contests than on winning the war of ideas. As a result, liberalism is increasing its dominance as the Unofficial State Religion, the system of thought that serves as the basis for all important government decisions and provides most people with their basic understanding of reality.
Therefore we conservatives need to aim at winning the war of ideas. Specifically, we need to identify the fundamental errors of liberalism, prove them to be errors, and state the conservative truths that correct these errors. Our message should be: "We conservatives know how things really are, the liberals don't, and here's why." This will catch the attention of a postmodern, truth-denying world.
We need to change minds. The main impediment to a person's changing his mind is his intellectual presuppositions. Conservative apologists therefore need to do something that they rarely do now: concentrate on the presuppositions of liberalism. For example, when speaking of Darwinism, we should ask, Is naturalism true? When discussing multiculturalism, we should ask, Why is "diversity" good? When discussing homosexuality, we should ask, How do you know that homosexual conduct is morally acceptable? These and other questions that go to underlying presuppositions are the weak points of liberalism, partly because few people can even identify their own presuppositions, and partly because liberalism cannot defend its presuppositions with the usual liberal intellectual apparatus.
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"It is altogether unfortunate that even now, in early 2007, so much focus and attention is being directed at the 2008 presidential election. America’s policy making apparatus would be better served, were the Democrats who constitute the Congressional 'ruling class' more concerned with the well-being of the nation, and not so fixated on their noxious pursuit of political power.
Nevertheless, much of the nation’s direction in coming years will be determined by next year’s elections. But a convergence of forces from both sides of the political aisle bodes particularly ill for Republican prospects. While outwardly 'bipartisan ' in nature, it is reflective of a pervasive liberal mindset.
Something needs to decidedly change, or else the currently disastrous political tack of the Democrats may be solidified as a harbinger of America’s future, for however long the nation can endure under such gross misdirection."
Why Fred Thompson’s Day Has Arrived by Christopher Adamo:
Normally when we get a new post from Fjordman, it arrives in email form and the Baron formats it for the blog, finds an illustration, and then posts it. Once it’s up, I read it and follow the discussion in the comments.
This last time, however, when I saw the subject line on the email that would become his most recent post — “Gang Mayhem Grips Los Angeles” — I was intrigued. For personal reasons (discussed in an earlier post in which I described the gang beating my son recently experienced) the issue was on my mind.
Thus, I opened the email draft from Fjordman to see his take on this phenomenon of American gangs. As usual, his essay was perceptive. However, several ideas of my own floated by and I realized that, even as cogent as his interpretations were, I nonetheless had a few quibbles with parts of his argument. Such a reaction is unusual for me; normally I find myself nodding in agreement, or wondering how in the world he manages to dig up so much material.
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I wonder if any of you happened to catch the O'Reilly-Rivera bout on this evening's O'Reilly show?
The decibel level got pretty high, but in all, it was rather a pathetic showing for both of the combatants. Despite the spittle flying and the bulging blood vessels and the gesticulations, it was a draw, and neither one of them really landed any solid verbal punches. Lots of sound and fury, signifying not very much. A draw, I guess.
The subject under 'discussion' was the tragic deaths of two teen girls, Alison Kunhardt and Tessa Tranchant, who were killed by an illegal Mexican drunk driver in their hometown of Virginia Beach.
Now one would suppose there wouldn't be more than one side to this story: the illegal should not have been in our country to be a menace to anyone, but thanks to idiotic liberals calling themselves Democrats and Republicans, we lay out the red carpet to the invaders, and we are too afraid to offend anyone by summarily tossing them back across the border where they surely belong. What else can be said?
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"School districts across the United States, unfortunately, have to prepare for tragedies inside the walls of the classroom. For the past decade, we've seen horrible incidents of school violence through hostage-taking in Colorado, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. No one disputes the need for proper preparation for school officials and emergency responders. But what happened in Burlington Township High School last week is inexcusable. Preparing for potential hostage-taking is one thing; blaming the hostage-taking on conservative Christians is not only inappropriate, but outrageous and raises serious constitutional questions as well. "
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"Portstewart, Northern Ireland - Everywhere one looks in Europe there are signs that free people are prepared to surrender without a fight to those who would place them in bondage.
In England, a new government-backed study has found that British schools are dropping the Holocaust from history lessons. Teachers are afraid to teach about the Nazi atrocity because Muslim students might take offense.
The study also discovered resistance by teachers to cover the 11th-century Crusades, when Christians fought Muslims for control of Jerusalem, because the lessons contradict what Muslim students are taught in mosques. The sacrifice of truth in favor of propaganda for fear of violence is the first step on the road to enslavement.
It gets worse. A new survey by the respected YouGov organization has found most Britons want to scale down their country's involvement in world affairs at a time of great international challenge. Fifty-five percent of respondents said they oppose Britain 'punching above its weight,' trying to have more influence in the world than its military and economic strength would seem able to support. "
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AZ ZAIDON — The children, wide-eyed at the sight of Iraqi soldiers in their schools, seemed a little frightened at first, but within moments, as the soldiers began handing out cookies and asking questions about the day’s lessons, they warmed up.
Iraqi soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, visited two schools with troops of the 1st Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) and the military transition team from 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, March 29. The visits, which provided much-needed school equipment like chalkboards and generators, also served to let the children and teachers see that the Iraqi troops serve the country and are available.
“Please give me your phone number,” Ta’if School Headmaster Nafir Abdullah asked the Iraqi troops. “And don’t be a stranger. This school is always open to you, and we would love to have you help educate the children.”
Sgt. Richard Fulham, a native of Toms River, N.J., and a squad leader with Troop A, 1-89, distributed cookies to several classes of youngsters.
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We are not part of a global community. We are not a global family. That term has been thrown around quite a bit these days, as the media keeps spouting terms like, “we are a global network.”
The different and many nations on this planet are all distinctive in their own way, they have their own way of doing business, and they are sovereign. The US has been instrumental in helping countries who have in the past held a tight reign on how their country performs and functions (think China, even though they are still Communist), take a more Democratic and Capitalist approach. However, there seems to be a push to combine knowledge and bring everyone under one manner of thinking.
Globalization is one big word for one world government. Globalization brings about a clamp down on individual freedoms; you believe what “they” want you to believe… whatever “they” think is best for the global community. By “they”, I am talking about the global elite.
Our youth are being indoctrinated in our schools to accept this form of thinking through one model, the North American Union.
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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has donned her diplomat's hat and gone to visit Syrian President Bashar Assad knowing full well that Bashar Assad is a butcher who stands accused of murdering Lebanese statesmen, and of launching a decades-long war of terror and assassination against Lebanon.
Perhaps Nancy Pelosi is comfortable in the company of butchers — she's long been an ardent supporter of those members of the abortion industry who have killed 40 million unborn babies without a murmur of protest from the present speaker of the House.
If Mrs. Pelosi doesn't want to believe her host is a butcher, she should pop over to Lebanon and have a chat with Father Joseph Abu Ghazale, the parish priest at the Maronite Catholic Church of St Anthony's, which is a bare 50 yards from the site where Lebanese Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel was gunned down by Assad's assassins.
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Palestinian Authority officials have accused German Chancellor Angela Merkel of "offending the Palestinians' feelings" during her visit earlier this week to Ramallah, where she met with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
The accusations, the first of their kind against a European leader, were made by top PA officials only hours after Merkel and her entourage left Ramallah on Monday.
"She did everything to provoke the Palestinians during her visit," said one official. "She showed no understanding for the plight of our people. On the other hand, she appeared to be very biased toward Israel."
The official claimed that while Merkel refused to meet with families of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, she focused during her talks with Abbas on the need to release kidnapped IDF Cpl. Gilad Schalit, who has been held in the Gaza Strip since last June. In addition, he noted, Merkel met with the families of missing IDF soldiers during her visit to Jerusalem.
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Osama bin Laden must be laughing in his cave, while Saddam Hussein dances in his grave.
In less than six years since 9/11 a small non-governmental association of militant Islamists called Al Qaeda, with the help of Iran and America's White Flag Democrats led by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, with a supporting cast that includes all the White Flag Democrat candidates for the presidency - Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Gore - have brought America almost to its knees. Last Thursday, the Democrat majority in the Senate passed a spending bill requiring the President to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq in four months, with a "nonbinding goal" of ending combat operations in one year, by March 2008. A week before, the Democrat majority in the House passed the US Troop Readiness, Veteran's Health, Iraq Accountability and Aid and Comfort for Al Qaeda Act that sets a deadline for withdrawing troops from Iraq - September 2008.
A deadline for retreat. A deadline for defeat. A deadline for surrender.
America is at war. In Iraq, America is engaged in a proxy war with Iran, which, supporting Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas and doubtless other terrorist organizations and militias, intends to turn Iraq into a safe haven for terrorist training and operations against the West. Anyone who still doubts this should Google and read The Management of Savagery by Abu Bakr Naji (Al Qaeda). America is at war with an Islamic Resistance Movement, including Hezbollah and Hamas, that intends to abolish (kill) the state of Israel, to finish the Final Solution that Adolph Hitler began. Anyone who still doubts this should Google and read The Hamas Covenant and The Palestinian National Covenant, which expressly declare the abolition of Israel as the essential purpose of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. America is at war, in the pre-combat stage, with an Iran that intends to become a nuclear power, and has calculated that neither Europe nor NATO nor the United States have the will to stand in its way.
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VATICAN CITY, March 26, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Europe’s rejection of its traditional Christian identity is leading to its imminent disappearance from the world stage, Pope Benedict XVI said in an address to a congress of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) on March 24.
“[I]n demographic terms, it must unfortunately be noted that Europe seems set on a path that could lead to its exit from history,” Pope Benedict XVI stated at the event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome on March 25, 1957, which formed the foundations of today’s European Union.
“It could almost be imagined that the European continent is actually losing faith in its own future,” the Pope said. The rejection of Europe’s Christian heritage, seen increasingly in the policies of national leaders, neglects the desires of a majority of the population, he said, undermining efforts to create a uniform European identity.
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Lt. Col. Robert "Buzz" Patterson (U.S. Air Force, Ret.) is chief operating officer at the David Horowitz Freedom Center in Los Angeles. His book War Crimes: The Left's Campaign to Destroy the Military and Lose the War on Terror (Crown Forum) is due out in June. Even so, the former Clinton aide believes it is important to talk about the subject now. In his book, Patterson will outline why he believes the U.S. cannot win wars as long as the Left wields significant political power.
"You've got a situation where the American Left is choosing to side with Islamo-fascists," says the Clinton aide. "What does that tell you about what their true intentions are?"
The author is concerned about what that portends for the nation. "I think we will never win another war militarily," he says. "We will lose our way of life, we will lose the freedoms ... and liberties we have in this country if we don't defeat the enemy from within -- and that's the American Left."
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Three years ago, I wrote about a mock terrorism drill at a public school district in Muskegon County, Mich. Instead of Islamic terrorists, educators substituted Christian homeschoolers. Yes, Christian homeschoolers. Here was the description of the school drill plan:
"The exercise will simulate an attack by a fictitious radical group called Wackos Against Schools and Education who believe everyone should be homeschooled. Under the scenario, a bomb is placed on the bus and is detonated while the bus is traveling on Durham, causing the bus to land on its side and fill with smoke."
Flabbergasting, but true. In the wake of 9/11 and the jihadists' carnage against schoolchildren in Beslan, Russia, the school chose to prepare their students for an attack by Christian homeschooling "wackos," not Muslim suicide bombers.
Unfortunately, little has changed. Last month, New Jersey's Burlington Township High School held its own mock terrorism drill. "You perform as you practice," Superintendent Chris Manno told the Burlington County Times. "We need to practice under conditions as real as possible in order to evaluate our procedures and plans so that they're as effective as possible."
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One of the most persistent myths so eagerly promoted by Eurabians is that of the "shared Greco-Roman heritage" between Europeans and Arabs, which is now going to lay the foundations for a new Euro-Mediterranean entity, Eurabia. It is true that countries such as Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Algeria were just as much a part of the Roman Empire as were England or France. However, the Arab conquerors later rejected many elements of this Greco-Roman era once they invaded these nations.
As British philosopher Roger Scruton has explained, one of the most important legacies of the Roman Empire was the idea of secular laws, which were unconcerned with a person's religious affiliations as long as he accepted the political authority of the Roman state. This left a major impact on Christian Europe, but was neglected in the Arab Middle East because it clashed fundamentally with the basic principles of sharia, the law of Allah. Scruton calls this "the greatest of all Roman achievements, which was the universal system of law as a means for the resolution of conflicts." The Roman law was secular and "could change in response to changing circumstances. That conception of law is perhaps the most important force in the emergence of European forms of sovereignty."
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When last February the Russian president Vladimir Putin unleashed his chilling attack against America in a speech in Munich, he was really addressing the European Union, or “old Europe” to be exact, and most humiliatingly its most influential state, Germany.
Barely a day earlier, TV screens had been inundated with promotional clips about the cooperation between Russia and the EU in the days of Germany’s ex-chancellor Gerhard Schröder. It was natural that the present chancellor, Angela Merkel, is all for emphasizing the need to preserve the dialogue with Russia.
So why did Putin humiliate and aggravate his friends and hosts in such a way? Simple.
Putin used a well-known technique of Zen-Buddhism’s shock therapy against senile, indecisive, spoiled and greedy Europe.
Having used his prior bully tactics – gas attacks, political assassinations, obstruction in the Middle-East, etc. – to demonstrate his brutality, resolve and fearlessness in the face of the New Cold War, Putin set the European Union on a crossroads: either Russia or America, either gas and Europe’s readiness for deals or confrontation over economy and security issues with obvious consequences.
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The head of a national, Texas-based pro-family group says a recent hostage drill at a New Jersey high school, which portrayed conservative Christians as terrorists, is reflective of a dangerous philosophy that has become prevalent in many parts of America, where it is having negative effects on education.
A local paper reports that a drill at Burlington Township High School in New Jersey involved police portraying mock gunmen, described as “members of a right-wing fundamentalist group called the ‘New Crusaders’ who don’t believe in the separation of church and state.” The fake gunmen were said to have been “seeking justice because the daughter of one [member] had been expelled for praying before class.”
Historian and constitutional expert David Barton is president of WallBuilders, a national pro-family organization that distributes historical, legal, and statistical information and helps citizens become active in their local schools and communities. He says the stereotyping used in the high school’s drill is an accurate indicator of what is being taught in public schools in the Northeast region of the country.
“It’s been interesting to see the indoctrination that goes on,” Barton notes, “where we’ve had in the same region, even federal courts up in that same area, say it’s okay to start teaching second graders about homosexuality and homosexual ‘marriage.’”
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Thomas Jefferson once said about the press that it was the "best instrument for enlightening the mind of man, and improving him as a rational, moral and social being." Much has changed since Jefferson's time as the newspapers of our day do very little to enlighten mankind or improve his moral or social well-being. Newspapers across our nation appear to support a very liberal and immoral philosophy which reflects the feelings and beliefs of a small but influential group of editors and publishers. Their agenda affects the manner in which facts are reported, which events are covered, the timing of such reports and how much attention is given to any particular story.
The New York Times, once referred to as "the newspaper of record" in America, has become the quintessential example of media bias in reporting the news. For many years, the Times has projected a disdain for the military, and its coverage of the war in Iraq has repeatedly proven that to be true. A stark example of the Times' bias against the military occurred just last month.
On March 18, 2007, the New York Times Sunday Magazine printed a story entitled "The Women's War," a lengthy piece that focused on the situation of female service members in Iraq. The story detailed alleged mistreatment and abuse of women by the military, including sexual harassment by army officers, rapes and post-traumatic stress disorders.
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There is one photograph that all Hillary Clinton supporters should see.
The photo was taken in 1995 showing Bill and Hillary standing next to the DNC symbol with Ng Lapseng.
Ng Lapseng often visited the Clinton White House. Ng, or "Mr. Wu" to his friends, is the owner of the Macao-based Fortuna Hotel, a resort and casino.
However, the Fortuna hotel is more than just a resort and casino.
According to the Fortuna advertisements, children under 12 can stay free at the hotel. In addition, according to the Fortuna brochure, for a fee, beautiful young hostesses from various countries can also entertain businessmen. To put it more bluntly, Ng sells women for sex.
Of course, with the recent endorsement of the National Organization of Women (NOW), Hillary has yet to explain how hanging out with a businessman who makes profits off of prostitution is empowering her female voters.
Still, the Clinton relationship with Ng goes far deeper than selling sexual favors on the streets of Macao. First, there was the money that flowed from Ng's pockets and that somehow fell into the hands of the Clintons.
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Not many years ago the brilliant Orientalist, Bernard Lewis, published a short history of the Islamic world's decline, entitled "What Went Wrong?" Astonishingly, there was, among many Western "progressives," a vocal dislike for the title. It is a false premise, these critics protested. They ignored Mr. Lewis's implicit statement that things have been, or could be, right.
But indeed, there is much that is clearly wrong with the Islamic world. Women are stoned to death and undergo clitorectomies. Gays hang from the gallows under the approving eyes of the proponents of Shariah, the legal code of Islam. Sunni and Shia massacre each other daily in Iraq. Palestinian mothers teach 3-year-old boys and girls the ideal of martyrdom. One would expect the orthodox Islamic establishment to evade or dismiss these complaints, but less happily, the non-Muslim priests of enlightenment in the West have come, actively and passively, to the Islamists' defense.
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Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are upset because Nancy Pelosi is going to visit Syria. Frankly, I think she has good reason to make the contact in order to convey several key messages.
First, and foremost, Nancy needs to express the thanks of the Democrat Party for the role Syria has played in preventing Bush from being successful in Iraq. Without the Syrian contribution to the cause of terrorism in the region, “Crazy George” might have pulled it off. On a personal note, she could comment shyly that she became the speaker of the House as a result of those efforts.
Nancy could remind the Syrians that the Democrats hate Bush as much or more than the Syrians do. They both must silently pledge to get rid of Bush at all cost. This makes them allies of sorts.
She would tell the Syrians that she was doing her part by calling for a deadline for the withdrawal of our troops from Iraq every chance she got. She would ask them in return that they keep up the insurgent pressure in Iraq. For both Syria and the Democrats, it is imperative that Bush not be allowed to point to a stable Iraq.
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LONDON -- To understand what is happening in the Persian Gulf, try a thought experiment. Imagine that the British 10 days ago had stopped an Iranian ship in Iranian waters, took its sailors prisoners, paraded them on TV offering apologies for their trespassing and was demanding an apology from the Iranian government itself for breaking international law.
Condemnations would pour from the United Nations and other international bodies. Britain's allies in Europe and the United States would press for the release of the Iranians. Human rights bodies would point out Britain's actions were in direct violation of the Geneva Convention. And other non-governmental organizations would attempt to drag British leaders such as Prime Minister Tony Blair before the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges. Some of these responses would originate in Britain itself. Opposition parties would propose motions of censure in Parliament.
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I got some angry comments at Little Green Footballs when I said that the violence by Mexican gangs in LA is close to what should be called ethnic cleansing. But judging from this latest story in The Guardian, I think that term is appropriate. And to your American readers: This is one of the reasons why I haven’t left Europe for the USA yet. First of all because I think it’s too early to say that Europe is lost, and second, because I am rather worried by the trends I see in the US, and wonder whether I would be leaving one sinking ship in favor of another sinking ship.
The United States may well have signed its own death warrant as a country when it decided to be a “universal” nation. There is no such thing. Either you abandon that idea or it will kill your country and kill the American dream. It is pretty bad when California, which has attracted people from all over the United States for 150 years and has been the economic engine not just of the US, but of the world for generations, now starts becoming a region where educated, dynamic people leave because they can no longer stand living there.
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"Tehran isn't interested in loving the West, or even in tolerating us. If you doubt it, just listen to the Khomeini gang. Since the 1979 they've been yelling 'Death to America! Death to Israel!' Have we not heard?
Even while the Brit Left is busily trying to figure out a way to blame America for Tehran's barefaced kidnapping of 15 UK Service personnel, The Telegraph is rediscovering common sense. In an editorial entitled, 'If they hate us, let them also fear us' they are drawing the obvious conclusions.
No doubt a lot of Europeans were secretly glad that they were not the target of all that mass hatred. But of course that's simple self delusion. Khomeini and his followers were taught to hate the whole West, including Europe and America --- for its wealth, power, sexual openness, women's liberation, homosexual freedoms, capitalism, Christianity, its free press, its Marxoid intellectuals, and for conquering Andaluz in 1495. (If you forgot how we conquered Andaluz and drove out the Muslims, Ahmadinejad hasn't. Nor has Osama Bin Laden.) "
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With the welcome news that David Hicks will soon be back in Australia and free by the end of the year, it is a good time to reassess the gravitational force that engulfed him, a force that is spreading wider and growing stronger. Nobody saw it coming. The revolution was unforseen and unheralded.
As usual, the Central Intelligence Agency did not see it coming. Nor did the secret services of the Middle East. Or the academic community, or the media. Not even those who espoused the revolution saw it coming until the day it arrived.
That day was January 16, 1979. There was no election, no war, no coup.
Suddenly, the most loyal client of the US in the Muslim world, the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, left the country his military and vast secret service could no longer control. He was soon replaced as national leader, by the sheer weight of popular will, by an old man living in exile, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
The great majority rejoiced at the fall of the shah. Even the revolutionary leftists who dominated dissent. Few in the intelligensia took these primitives seriously. Anti-American imperialism trumped everything.
The first sign of what was to come arrived within days of the mullahs and their followers taking control of government. Women were "invited" to wear the veil. Those who declined found themselves beaten and abused by the gangs of self-appointed revolutionary guards who roamed the streets.
The revolution reserved its most brutal behaviour for the universities.
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There’s no denying it. Iran’s capture of 15 British hostages was a stroke of cunning — and a brilliant one at that. The mullahs were in a pickle. They had decided to do two things which were going to push Washington closer to military action. They needed a diversion or a smokescreen — some way to make the Bush administration blink. And so far, it has worked.
Iran knows that if the United States is “allergic to casualties,” as Gen. Wesley Clark once lamented, we are especially allergic to the casualties of our friends. With a pitifully weak navy and allergies of their own, the British were unable (or refused) to defend the sailors once they were surrounded; the commander of HMS Cornwall apparently ordered them to surrender. This despite the fact that British and especially American naval forces are putting pressure on Iran in increasingly aggressive ways — indeed the British navy was put on high alert weeks ago, in expectation of a bad reaction from Tehran. Now Tony Blair has asked Washington to stand back while he negotiates the release of the sailors from a position of weakness and utter humiliation. And what will get the sailors released? An apology is unlikely to be enough.
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At last Thursday night’s Media Research Center dinner, Rush Limbaugh quipped that he never stays overnight in Washington for fear of catching the virus that affects the minds of everyone who lives here. Couple that with the undercurrent of rebellion against some conservative media that seems to be growing daily. When I asked a friend about it, he reminded me that William F. Buckley, Jr. once said of conservatives that we don’t retrieve our wounded. Rush’s quip and my pal’s recollection add up to a real problem for conservatives. But we can turn it into a winning strategy for 2008.
Trick question of the week: what news source was Tim Russert quoting from on Sunday when he read, “Time to Go. We have never seen evidence that [Attorney General Gonzales] has a fine legal mind, good judgment, or managerial ability. Nor has his conduct at any stage of this controversy gained our confidence. His claim not to have been involved in the firings suggests that he was either deceptive or inexcusably detached from the operations of his own department. ...What little credibility Gonzales had is gone. ... He cannot defend the administration and its policies even when they deserve defense. Alberto Gonzales should resign. The Justice Department needs a fresh start.”? No, not the Washington Post or, for that matter, the Huffington Post. He was quoting an editorial from National Review.
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Common sense and experience have confirmed, time after time, that making concessions to terrorism and barbarity produces more of each – a lesson repeatedly unlearned by the same Europeans who so enjoy condemning President Bush's "cowboy" policies. Considering the frequency with which one European government after another makes concessions to the international criminal elements, one could only conclude that, in the particular case of the British sailors kidnapped by Iran, there is indeed only one "Europe," and it is neither responsible nor reliable. This is a tremendous problem for Britain's Prime Minister, Tony Blair, who seems to be relying upon the mythical "international community" to fix a self-inflicted problem.
Why were those soldiers captured in the first place? Because, as the former First Sea Lord Sir Alan West said, British rules of engagement were "very much de-escalatory, because we don't want wars starting ... Rather than roaring into action and sinking everything in sight we try to step back and that, of course, is why our chaps were, in effect, able to be captured and taken away."
This is worse than poor judgment – it is political correctness taken to preposterous levels. Are "Sinking everything in sight" and meekly surrendering the only options? Of course not - except when unilateral disarmament makes them so, as is the case with the recent decision to transform the once impressive British Navy into a small coastal defense force.
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In just three weeks, Fred Thompson has improbably transformed the contest for the Republican presidential nomination. It is not merely that he has come from nowhere to double digits in national polls. He is the talk of GOP political circles, because he is filling the conservative void in the Republican field of candidates.
Republican activists have complained for months that none of the big-three contenders -- Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney -- fits the model of a conservative leader for a conservative party. The party faithful have been waiting for another Ronald Reagan. But in conversations with them the past year, nobody mentioned Thompson as the messiah until he appeared March 11 on "Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace."
In this Saturday, April 29, 2006, file photo, actor and former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., and his wife, Jeri, arrive for a party at the Macedonian Embassy in Washington following The White House Correspondents' Dinner. Thompson sat in on the CIA leak trial on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2007. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf) His statement to Wallace that he was "giving some thought" to a presidential run generated a reaction that surprised Thompson. In the first Gallup poll that listed Thompson (March 23-25), he scored 12 percent -- amazing for someone out of public life for more than four years who has not campaigned. More important than the polling data is his backing within the political community. Buyer's remorse is expressed by several House members who had endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. Romney. 
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"They call it 'Separation of Church and State' and they say it is in our constitution, that the two, religion and affairs of the state, shall never mingle. They say that the founders established a 'separation clause' for the purpose of making certain that government could never establish, endorse, acknowledge or even discuss religion or morality.
Of course, none of this is factually true or accurate. But decades of intentional politically motivated disinformation on the subject and a general acceptance of the notion among those who have not bothered to verify, has caused a growing separation between basic moral tenants of free civilized co-existence and individual moral self-governance, from society at large.
The basis for a separation of religion from government affairs exists only in two places in American history. First, in the First Amendment of the Constitution which plainly says exactly what the founding fathers intended it to say, 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.'"
Separation of Morality and Society:
"I don't have any patience, tolerance, or open-mindedness when it comes to certain things. And one of those things is a damned liar. That's why I could never work as a UNCW student newspaper editor or as an assistant to my boss, Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo.
One could almost believe that a college student newspaper editor would be dumb enough to libel a national columnist, even though his student paper only has a circulation of 4000. But there's really no excuse for the constant flow of malicious and false information that comes out of DePaolo's office. After all, she's old enough to know better.
Recently, I caught wind that the DePaolo administration was attempting to besmirch my reputation when the following was forwarded to me (it was a response to someone who was flaming – and I mean FLAMING! - mad over my now-infamous 'How to Bomb a Gay Bath House' column): "
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"On September 11, 2001, about 3,000 fine human beings were killed in New York City, Virginia, and Pennsylvania by Moslem fanatics. So far, there have been no other large-scale attacks by Moslem terrorists on American soil.
However, in the five and a half years since September 11, 2001, there have been roughly 40,000 killings by gangs and gang members in this United States of America, mostly in the African-American and Hispanic sections of large cities. Huge swaths of major American cities, especially my home city of Los Angeles, are 'no-go' zones for law-abiding people from outside the neighborhoods and even police go into them reluctantly. The innocent women, children, old folks and non-gansgsta men in the communities are living in a nonstop reign of terror.
Every day, some innocent child is shot while sitting on a front stoop or playing basketball. Every day, some motorist who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time is shot dead in his car just for being there."
The American Spectator
"Twenty-seven years ago, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was a student in Tehran and is said (by a former Iranian president, for one) to be among those in the U.S. embassy who seized and held American citizens hostage for more than a year.
Today, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is president of Iran and bears less ambiguous responsibility for Western hostages. This time round, they're British subjects: 15 sailors and Royal Marines. There are a few differences between this kidnapping and the last: Back in 1979, the Iranians seized their hostages by invading a diplomatic mission -- the sovereign territory of the United States. In 2007, they seized them in international waters. In 1979, two weeks after the embassy crisis began, 13 American hostages who happened to be black were released; the remainder were held for another 14 months. In 2007, the one woman among the hostages is being offered by the regime for early release, invitingly dangled in front of the TV cameras, though with her Royal Navy uniform replaced by Islamic dress; it remains to be seen what will become of the others. On Thursday, a new generation of 'student demonstrators' called for the 'British aggressors' to be executed.
On this 25th anniversary of the Falklands War, Tony Blair is looking less like Margaret Thatcher and alarmingly like Jimmy Carter, the embodiment of the soi-disant 'superpower' as a smiling eunuch."
A deadline for retreat. A deadline for defeat. A deadline for surrender."
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"Osama bin Laden must be laughing in his cave, while Saddam Hussein dances in his grave.
In less than six years since 9/11 a small non-governmental association of militant Islamists called Al Qaeda, with the help of Iran and America's ''White Flag Democrats'' led by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, with a supporting cast that includes all the ''White Flag Democrat'' candidates for the presidency--Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Gore--have brought America almost to its knees.
Last Thursday, the Democrat majority in the Senate passed a spending bill requring the president to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq in four months, with a 'nonbinding goal' of ending combat operations in one year, by March 2008. A week before, the Democrat majority in the House passed the ''U.S. Troop Readiness, Veteran's Health, Iraq Accountability and Aid and Comfort for Al Qaeda Act'' that sets a deadline for withdrawing troops from Iraq: September 2008.
A deadline for retreat. A deadline for defeat. A deadline for surrender."
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"While “poor performance” was cited by Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez’s office as the reason behind the dismissal of several U.S. Attorneys, his department’s own records show evidence to the contrary. U.S. Justice Department data shows that six of the eight ranked in the top third of the country’s 93 U.S. Attorneys.
U.S. Attorney Carol Lam is one of those fired by Alberto Gonzalez. Lam had been criticized by Gonzalez for not prosecuting enough illegal immigration cases...Who does he think he is fooling?
Given the fact that Alberto Gonzalez and the Bush administration has turned a blind eye to the issue of illegal immigration as well as those crimes associated with it, it is impossible to believe that Lam was dismissed for being too soft on Mexican criminals. Remember, this is the same Attorney General who chose to prosecute two Border Patrol agents for pursuing a Mexican drug smuggler.
Alberto Gonzalez regularly speaks at La Raza conferences and received their highest award in 2005. La Raza’s motto is “For the race everything...outside the race nothing!”...Can you imagine the uproar if a white Attorney General spoke at a Ku Klux Klan rally? "
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Instead of insisting that terrorists actually pay the price for their actions, the beholden-to-leftists-for-their-financial-support Congressional Democrats (and their attendant RINOs) have again voted against the United States of America and in favor of Islamo-fascism. With their continuing insistence that the US refuse to fight the enemies of its country and the world, members of the Democrat-controlled US Congress are escalating their support of and for terrorism and the terrorists. Despite a January Senate Committee’s expressed approval of Lt. Gen. David Petraeus’ leadership in Iraq, on Tuesday 28 March this same Senate voted in favor of a US troop pull-out from that country. It also set a “date-certain” of 31 March 2008 for the end of all US troop deployment in that country. The terrorists and all others working toward the destruction of the USA, which now strongly appears to include our Democrat “leaders”, must be thrilled! It also appears that each time the Iranian Islamic fascists issue some new threat - the latest involving their taking of British hostages - the firmly leftist and subservient-to-terrorists Democrats cave and offer the enemies to our country even more concessions. Now that Congressional leftists are in control of both legislative houses, the Chamberlainesque philosophy of appeasing one’s enemies is increasing strength in the US Congress. Just as Neville Chamberlain attempted to placate Adolph Hitler, the Democrats seem bound and determined to employ the same tactic with all current regimes of the combined Islamo-fascist and Islamo-Nazi movements. Note: This pacification policy did not work during World War II and it will not work now. In fact, during WW II, it created an environment in which it was substantially easier for Hitler and the Nazis to seize additional European countries - and power.
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