Atlas Shrugs

Saturday Night Cinema The World Gone Mad

The World Gone Mad 1933 Pat O'Brien

This fast paced crime drama features Pat O'Brien, true to form as a fast talking, wise cracking newsman. in this fast paced crime drama. The movie is over 70 years old but it's  pre-production code. it bounces sharp d ialogue and adult situations that you don't expect of films from that era. Plenty of talent in this film and they almost all measure up to Christy Cabanne's direction.

Obama Bolts Church: WHAT TOOK SO LONG?

Foot in Mouth Disease from the Pulpit: Father Michael Pfleger ...

BARACK OBAMA RESIGNS HIS MEMBERSHIP WITH TRINITY UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST IN CHICAGO, WHERE JEREMIAH WRIGHT WAS FORMERLY PASTOR AND A CATHOLIC PRIEST MOCKED HILLARY CLINTON (ABC NEWS)  hat tip rut

What now? This man will say anything and do anything to be President.  Think he'll join a shul?

Nah, me neither. He'd sooner take the gas pipe.

UPDATE: At a press conference Saturday to explain his resignation he called statements by Reverend Moss, current leader of the church, "innocuous."

Obama called all that vile racism and bigotry "Innocuous"?

Jew Haters, Catholic haters Smear Hagee

I love this guy as much now as I did then. Oh, and if I forgot to say thank you -

Atlas Shrugs: Evangelist Hagee Gives $6 million to Israel

They are doing  a"Hit" on Pastor Hagee. Shame on McCain for caving to a Jew hating, religion hating, Obamad media

Listen to the man here hat tip Dave

 

VIDEO:

Response from Pastor Hagee to charges of "Anti-Catholicism"- March 26, 2008

A Special Message from Pastor John Hagee Regarding His Book In Defense of Israel

Pastor John Hagee’s Writings on Israel(click on links)

• Transcript of Pastor Hagee’s Speech at the AIPAC Policy Conference
• The Apple of HIS e y e... Why Christians Should Support Israel
• Overview of "Jerusalem Countdown"
• Our Jewish Roots
• Christians Have a Biblical Duty to Support Israel in Time of Need
• Israel If Replaced, Why Reborn?

UPDATE:  Props to Joe Lieberman:

Senator Joe Lieberman says he'll speak at a July conference hosted by Pastor John Hagee, whose endorsement has been rejected by GOP presidential candidate John McCain.

McCain last week repudiated the months-old endorsement after an audio recording surfaced in which Hagee said God used Adolf Hitler to push Jews back to the Promised Land. (read it all)

McCain has got to grow a set. I mean, really.

Saudis Gave Millions to Al Qaeda Mujahideen

If this isn't reason enough to cut the head off the Saudi snake. then what? We should have taken out the Saudis after 9/11 along with Mecca and Medina. No matter how you twist the logic, the Saudis are the enemy.This story is a jaw dropper from an al qaeda commander for  Europe's new jihadist statelet.

Al Qaeda Commnader: Saudis funded Al-Qaeda mujahideen  The Philadelphia Inquirer hat tiip rut

DOBOJ, Bosnia - For years, Saudi Arabia flatly denied it had provided money and logistical support for Islamist militant groups that attacked Western targets.

But that assertion is disputed by a former al-Qaeda commander who testified in a United Nations war-crimes trial that his unit was funded by the Saudi High Commission for Relief of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a government charity.

Ali Ahmed Ali Hamad, the former al-Qaeda fighter, gave the same account to The Inquirer in an interview in this struggling city in the central Balkans.

"Because it was the biggest charity, [the commission] helped the mujaheddin the most," Hamad said, adding that it had provided "everything a person needed to exist."

Hamad, 37, is expected to be called as a witness in a lawsuit filed by Cozen O'Connor alleging that Saudi Arabia and affiliated charities financed al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups as they geared up for the 9/11 attacks.

[]As a convicted terrorist, Hamad is an imperfect witness.

During the Balkans war, from 1992 to 1995, jihadists from North Africa and the Middle East were accused of atrocities against indigenous Serbs and Croatians.

This is who Bush is backing in recognizing the illegally declared independent Muslim Republic of Kosovo, a radical Islamic state in th heart of Europe.

Hamad admits having done "bad things" as an al-Qaeda fighter, and he is serving a 10-year sentence in a Bosnian jail for his role in a 1997 Mostar bombing.

"Bad things"

Yet Hamad's account of his time in the Balkans went largely uncontroverted during the U.N. trial, where he was a prosecution witness.

He contends that the Saudi High Commission, an agency of the Saudi government, and other Islamic charities supported al-Qaeda-led units that committed atrocities. Mujaheddin units, he said, recruited fighters, prepared for battle, and financed their operations in the Balkans.

He said the Saudi High Commission had poured tens of millions of dollars into mujaheddin units led by al-Qaeda operatives who fought with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.

Money intended for humanitarian relief bought weapons and other military supplies.

The charities also provided false identification, employment papers, diplomatic plates and vehicles that permitted Islamic fighters to enter the country and pass easily through military checkpoints, Hamad said.

Several charity offices, including those of the Saudi High Commission, were led by former mujaheddin or al-Qaeda members, at least one of whom trained with Hamad in an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan, he said.

Like other al-Qaeda fighters, Hamad said, he was an employee of the Saudi High Commission for a time and traveled through the war zone in commission vehicles with diplomatic plates.

POLYGAMY: "SHARIA BY STEALTH" AND DENYING ITS EXISTENCE

“If the laws of the country conflict with Islamic law, if one goes against the other, then I am going to follow Islamic law, simple as that,” Imam in Canada.

Further bad news on the article I ran yesterday on the problem of  Islamic polygamy and the West's dangerous cowardice in not dealing with it.  Our neighbors to the north have got it going on in spades. Seems further along up there and it gives a glimpse into our future (our anti-future - seems more like a leap into seventh century). John Turley-Ewart states the obvious though little acknowledged, "By turning a blind eye to polygamy, Premier McGuinty [indeed all of the West - Atlas] is giving licence to Sharia by stealth."

And listen carefully to the imam .......... he straight up says it. It's Islam first and last. This is best illustrates their objective, their approach using our freedoms to enslave us.

Sharia by stealth — Ontario turns a blind eye to polygamy John Turley-Ewart

It’s an issue the Liberal government of Ontario, led by Premier Dalton McGuinty, doesn’t want to deal with — polygamy in the Muslim community. Last week the Toronto Star told the story of Safa Rigby, a 35-year-old mother of five children who recently learned her husband of 14 years had two other wives. Ms. Rigby’s life is in tatters. She followed her husband’s advice that she leave Toronto and live in Egypt for a year on the grounds that it would be better for their children to spend more time in a Muslim country. Now she knows it was a ruse. He used her time there to marry two other women.

Ms. Rigby does not support polygamy, which has been illegal in Canada for more than a century. But Toronto Imam Aly Hindy, who runs the Toronto Salahuddin Islamic Centre, does. He married Ms. Rigby’s husband knowing he already had a wife and counselled him to keep the marriage secret from Ms. Rigby for as long as possible. Hindy has by his own admission performed 30 ceremonies in which men were married who already had wives. When Ms. Rigby confronted Hindy his response was reportedly cold and unsympathetic: “You will have to stand beside him in these difficult times,” Hindy told her. “You should stop causing problems to (sic) him. You will not get anything by divorce except destroying your life” he went on to say.

For Hindy this is not about Ms. Rigby or her husband’s desire to marry another woman — but making a broader political point.

Hindy is using polygamy as a proxy for his fundamentalist version of Islam, something he wants to see legitimized in Canadian society as a whole. It is part of an attempt at empire building, a bid that if successful will enhance his influence within the Muslim community and demonstrate that Ontario and Canada is too ignorant and too afraid of Islam to uphold its own laws. He has admitted as much, challenging Ontario’s government to dare stop him. “If the laws of the country conflict with Islamic law, if one goes against the other, then I am going to follow Islamic law, simple as that,” he told the Star. Interviewed after the Star story appeared on the John Oakley Show on AM 640Toronto, Hindy was not apologetic and argued that freedom of religion in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms trumped prohibitions against polygamous marriages.

When he and another Imam from Toronto, Steve Rockwell, were challenged on the appropriateness of polygamy by a Muslim caller to the Oakley Show, the caller was immediately attacked and his identity as a true Muslim questioned because he did not follow Hindy’s view that polygamy is a foundational pillar of Islam that grows out of Sharia Law. This speaks to a troubling absolutist interpretation of Islamic law, which runs against the reality that Sharia law is much more flexible that Hindy allows for, a fact well documented by Anver Emon, a specialist in Islamic law at the University of Toronto. Moreover, as noted in the Star article on Ms. Rigby, there is grave doubt that the Charter protects Islamic polygamy, as Hindy believes. Nik Bala, who teaches family law at Queen’s University, points out that “Islam permits polygamy, but doesn’t require it to be a practising Muslim.” This is key, and may mean Hindy’s attempt to find shelter behind the Charter will fail. Moreover, the impact polygamy has on women's equality and children could also sway the courts to uphold Canada's ban on polygamy.

[...]

By turning a blind eye to polygamy, Premier McGuinty is giving licence to Sharia by stealth.

In 2005 Ontario’s premier rightly ruled out Sharia family courts, conceding that Muslim women may well fair poorly if such a system was allowed to be established. The same concern exists today, yet Ontario’s Liberals sit on their hands.

UPDATE: Listen to the audio of Imam Hindy here (parts 1 and 2) from May 28th. hat tip S

 

WHy Jews are Against Obama

Obama digs deeper. One has to wonder - with all the concern over Obama's anti-semitic foreign policy advisers  and anti- Jewish rhetoric in his policy speeches (and on his team), his vile Pastors,  his willingness to meet with annihilationists.........why this ma?n And how can any Jew, in his right mind, vote for this guy?

Obama A Threat To Israel,  Mideast Expert Charges

Tel Aviv -- Judging from the views of Israeli academics at a panel Thursday afternoon, Israel has much to worry about if Barack Obama is elected president this fall.

Barry Rubin, a well-known and respected Mideast expert and academic, told an audience today at a conference at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA) at Bar-Ilan University here that an Obama victory would precipitate "the most dangerous crisis facing the world."

After citing his own credentials as a former Washingtonian who worked for the campaigns of numerous Democratic presidential candidates, going back to John Kennedy in 1960, Rubin described Obama as "not the candidate of the [moderate] Arab states, but the candidate of the Islamists, whether he knows it or not.

"If elected, he will be the most anti-Israel president in American history," asserted Rubin, who is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center at IDC, the Interdisciplinary Center of Herzliya, and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal.

He said that while Obama speaks of his willingness to meet with autocratic leaders of countries like Iran and Syria, he only uses the carrot half of the carrot/stick equation.

"He never mentions what he would do if the talks fail, and he doesn't talk about the need for the U.S. to show its strength."

Rubin predicted that Obama would choose Robert Malley, a former State Department official who criticized Israel for its role in the failure of the Camp David peace talks in 2000, to be director of policy planning, if elected. And Rubin said it was no accident that Obama's recent reference to the Israel-Palestinian conflict as "a constant sore" was the same phrase Rashid Khalidi, a professor of Arab studies at Columbia University,  has used in an article in The Nation.

Obama's latest Jew hating hire:

Anti-Israel Campaign Official Washington, D.C. (May 30, 2008) - The Republican Jewish Coalition today responded to the announcement that former Rep. David Bonior will be representing the Obama campaign at the Democratic National Committee meeting this weekend in Washington, D.C. As a Congressman, David Bonior was known for his strong opposition to pro-Israel policies, being called by some "the biggest supporter of the anti-Israel Arab lobby in Congress."[1]   The RJC cited Bonior as the latest in a string of advisors and campaign officials to Barack Obama that harbor anti-Israel views.

"Barack Obama's path to strengthening ties with the Jewish community is severely blocked when appointing an anti-Israel figure like David Bonior. While in Congress, Bonior refused to stand by Israel after repeated terrorist attacks, was known as a stalwart opponent to Israel, and is now a representative for Barack Obama. Bonior's appointment is the latest in a series that raises serious questions and doubts about Barack Obama's positions and judgments on the Middle East."

During his Congressional career, David Bonior repeatedly opposed pro-Israel legislation. In 1997, David Bonior was one of 15 Congressmen who signed a letter asking then-President Clinton to pressure Israelis into making concessions to the Palestinians. In 2002, David Bonior was one of only 21 Congressmen who opposed H.R. 392, which publicly affirmed Congress's support of Israel's right to self-defense and called for the dismantling of the Palestinian terrorist infrastructure.[2]   In 1990, David Bonior was one of only 34 Congressman to vote against a measure naming Jerusalem as the united capital of Israel.[3]   In 1989, Bonior was one of six House members to vote against a bill that prevented US funds from going to UN entities that granted the PLO membership.[4]   Throughout his career, Bonior repeatedly opposed US aid to Israel and supported arms sales to Arab states opposed to Israel's existence.

"The appointment of yet another anti-Israel advisor like David Bonior to represent Barack Obama speaks volumes to the Jewish community.  The pattern including Tony McPeak, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Robert Malley continues with this appointment.  It's no wonder the Jewish community remains deeply skeptical and troubled by Barack Obama."

From Jews against Obama

Furthermore, Obama has ties with Rashid Khalidi, who currently serves as the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University. Khalidi, who once served as a flak for Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization, is an active proponent of the view that U.S. policy is too biased in favor of Israel. Last month, the Los Angeles Times reported that Obama spoke at a going away party in honor of Khalidi in Chicago in 2003:

His many talks with the Khalidis, Obama said, had been “consistent reminders to me of my own blind spots and my own biases… It’s for that reason that I’m hoping that, for many years to come, we continue that conversation — a conversation that is necessary not just around Mona and Rashid’s dinner table,” but around “this entire world.”

Saturday Lust ...an Open Thread

Two people carry a photograph made by Helmut Newton into the museum. Photo: EFE / Ing   

“Bullshit! I love the girls; that’s nothing but a feminist misunderstanding.” This was how Helmut Newton several years ago countered the reproach from Alice Schwarzer, the editor-in-chief of Emma, who claimed that he and his nude photographs were sexist, even racist.

Ah the leftists and the feminists ......doing the world's really important work. /sarc tag off

Newton was the bomb. The best.

If your're in the neighborhood  photographs by Helmut Newton will be on on view at Weserburg Museum fur Moderne Kunst.

Obama's Mythical Intelligence

Much has been written about Obama's "mythical intelligence" by a media completely in the tank for the boy blunder. His intelligence is , in fact, a myth. Atlas reader Carolyn wrote an excellent  piece peeling back the layers of the mendacious narrative to uncover what a lightweight the Soros stooge really is. She describes the unmeritorious means Obama used to achieve his goals - particularly  President of the Law Review. When I was in Washington yesterday we were  discussing this little mentioned truth - Obama's year as President  produced little worthwhile or significant. Obama's year  is the least cited review. He produced nothing of import.

The smoke of Obama's 'intelligence' Carolyn 

Obama's much vaunted intelligence is in reality nothing but smoke and mirrors.   

As nearly everyone has noted lately, Obama's grasp on facts is being revealed as tenuous at best and embarrassing at worst, as evidenced by his recent gaffe about his uncle having 'liberated' Auschwitz when in fact NO American soldier did anything of the kind (in fact - as the quickest glance at a history book will tell you, no American soldier ever set foot in Poland where Auschwitz is located).  Now, this kind of lapse could be excused as a typical political mistake, etc. - but in Obama's case, that excuse can't be used.  It's not just because this type of typical 'political' mistake is what Obama has sworn he's not - i.e., a typical politician - more to the point, this silly mistake reveals Obama's ignorance of the bare minimum of historical fact.  And such ignorance shakes the very foundation of Obama's chief qualification for being President - i.e., Obama's vaunted intelligence.  Since everyone acknowledges he lacks experience for the job, the only reason left to support Obama's claim to the position is because of his intelligence.

Constant references have been given as to Obama's near-mythical intelligence - and over and over again, every one claims that the 'proof' of that intelligence is the fact that Obama was President of the Harvard Law Review.  And that is a staggering achievement.  Only the best and the brightest achieve that - only a student at the top of the grade scale, only a student of outstanding writing skills and superb legal acumen is accorded that honor.  It is such a high honor that this accomplishment follows that student through to the rest of his life - it is mentioned in his vitae, his honors, indeed in his very obituary as the incontestable proof of his intelligence.  Therefore, it is understandable that all doubts of Obama's intelligence are instantly assuaged by revealing he was President of the Harvard Law Review. 

Assuaged, that is, until one looks a bit closer.

To begin with, the NY Times 1990 article on Obama being elected President of the Harvard Law Review casts the first troubling clues that all is not what it appears to be. 

"Until the 1970's the editors were picked on the basis of grades, and the president of the Law Review was the student with the highest academic rank. Among these were Elliot L. Richardson, the former Attorney General, and Irwin Griswold, a dean of the Harvard Law School and Solicitor General under Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon.

That system came under attack in the 1970's and was replaced by a program in which about half the editors are chosen for their grades and the other half are chosen by fellow students after a special writing competition. The new system, disputed when it began, was meant to help insure that minority students became editors of The Law Review." 

There is the Achilles heel.  The former high standards which all previous Presidents of the Harvard Law Review had been forced to meet - grades, papers, etc.- no longer existed by the time Obama was elected.  Instead, the post was selected on something different than grades, papers, etc.  It was selected on race.  Obama was the 'right' race.  He was black.  Now of course, that doesn't mean Obama did NOT have intelligence - but what it makes clear is that by the time he was elected, Presidency of the Review no longer proved he DID.  Indeed, at the very moment of his election, the proof of his intelligence was so missing that his predecessor at the job refused to confirm it.  Of course, the predecessor trode very cautiously and carefully in his statement issued after Obama had just been elected - but the meaning was clear.:

"Mr. Obama succeeds Peter Yu, a first-generation Chinese-American, as president of The Law Review. After graduation, Mr. Yu plans to serve as a clerk for Chief Judge Patricia Wald on the of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. 

Mr. Yu said Mr. Obama's election ''was a choice on the merits, but others may read something into it.'' 

Mr. Yu's words are ominous - 'others may read something into it."  Clearly, Mr. Yu clearly can't say he's one of those 'others' recognizing 'merits' to instead mean 'race'.  After all, Yu sees which way the PC winds are blowing and he certainly doesn't want them howling in his face by saying Obama got his post for something other than his intelligence.  At the same time, however, Yu's unease at the choice of Obama is telling for what Yu does not say, as for what he does.  For instance, Yu does not cite Obama's grades nor does Yu cite Obama's legal writings.  Yu says nothing about them at all - and the silence is deafening.

Reading the NY Times further reveals other telltale signs that Obama did not possess the intelligence for that position.  As with Mr. Yu's painfully parsed statement, the signs are noticeable more for what they do not say, than for what they do. 

We begin with a brief explanation of the legal world Obama claims to belong to by reason of his intelligence.  That world is defined by 3 inescapable proofs of such intelligence.  They are: (1) high grades, (2) prestigious organizations (i.e, the Law Review) and (3) clerkship with a judge. 

We will begin with the first and most obvious sign of intelligence - grades. 

Obama doesn't have them.  Oh, he's given the aura of possessing them - but when one looks closely at that aura, it disappears like smoke before your eyes.  For instance, not once has anyone, ever, at any time, produced those grades.  In no publication, either Obama's or anyone else's, has any cite been made of that average - was it a 4.0?  (Straight A's?)  Was it even higher - 4.3?  (A+)  (And today's high school seniors are graduating with 5.0.)  Okay, how about a 3.9 or 3.8?  No.  The answer is none.  Never.  At no time have Obama's grades ever been cited.  And that is damning.  Because as any person who's ever graduated from elementary, high school or college will tell you, their grade point average is so close to their identity as to be the identity itself.  Therefore - for that 'identity' to be invisible as is the case with Obama, is quite revealing.  In plain words, if someone doesn't mention a high grade point average, it's for only one reason - there isn't a high grade point average.

(2) prestigious organizations

Yes, Obama was elected President of the law review.  But, as I've already cited, this election came when the qualifications of high grades had been eliminated.  Therefore one has to look at the other reasons for that election - which necessitates looking at how Obama was elected. 

As the NY Times article cites,  "Mr. Obama was elected after a meeting of the review's 80 editors that convened Sunday and lasted until early this morning, a participant said."  In other words, 80 people got together and in a wearying all night session in which fists were banged on the tables and the air was loud with 'we have to get a BLACK in this position, it's 1990, for crissakes and we haven't got one" - the weary people in the early morning hours, exhausted, worn out and unable, unwilling to fight any longer simply chose the only candidate they could think of to be President of the Review.  Obama. 

And if you think I'm laboring too much on the PC reasons for Obama's election, the NY Times itself describes the vicious political background against which Obama was elected.

"...Mr. Obama was the most prominent minority student on a campus shaken by racial politics. A group agitating for greater faculty diversity occupied the dean’s office and sued the school for discrimination; Derrick Bell, a black law professor, resigned over the issue.

The law review struggled to decide whether affirmative action should factor into the selection of editors, and how much voice to give to critical race theorists, who argued that the legal system was inherently biased against minorities."

Well, it is clear the committee choosing the President of the Review did 'factor in' affirmative action.  And it is just as clear they didn't factor in his grades.  Nor did they cite his papers written.  In fact, there was not a mention of either.  Instead, the committee abandoned them altogether and went to something completely unrelated - politics.  In citing Obama's qualifications, they pointed out that he had worked the political wards in Chicago before he came to Harvard.  You may well ask - what does this have to do with grades or legal acumen?  The answer is - nothing.  And the answer gets even more troubling when one then realizes that after Obama was elected to President of the Law Review, he wrote no papers.  That's totally unheard of.  Writing no papers for the Law Review is like taking a class in gymnastics without even putting on your leotards to work out.  The whole reason for existence of the Review is to write a paper.  And yet the very President of it writes none. 

(3) clerkship with a judge

This is a shocking failure of Obama's that he did not clerk with a judge after graduation.  The fact that it is a shocking failure is evidenced by the embarrassed committee admitting it up front so as to beat others to it.:

"The president of the law review usually goes on to serve as a clerk for a judge on the Federal Court of Appeals for a year, and then as a clerk for an associate justice of the Supreme Court. Mr. Obama said he planned to spend two or three years in private law practice and then return to Chicago to re-enter community work, either in politics or in local organizing." 

"..usually goes on to serve as a clerk".  This polite sentence means ALL Harvard Law Review presidents serve for judges after graduation.  Even Obama's predecessor, Mr. Yu, did that.  Indeed, Yu cited his clerkship with a judge so fast you almost thought it was part of his name.  And in a sense, it is.  There's a reason why ALL graduates who clerk with a judge trumpet their clerkships instantly in your face.  Clerking with a judge is the sign of a law graduate's intelligence.  Bar none.  That's why it's on their resumes, why it's the first thing they talk about in conversation "ah, yes, when I clerked with Judge so and so," etc.  It is so prestigious it's the first thing other attorneys cite when they discuss that particular person - 'Ah yes, HE clerked with Judge so and so", etc.  In short, clerkship is the shining golden symbol that this attorney is smart.  Why?  Because judges do not pick stupid people.  Why not?  Because the clerks oversee the papers for the judge, help write them, do the bulk of research for them, etc. The judge then stands on that work in reaching his decisions, rendering his judgment.  Thus, if the work produced by that clerk is faulty - which it will be if the clerk is stupid - than the judge pays for it with his own career, his own reputation.  And of course, no judge will do that.  Which is why no judge will hire a stupid clerk.   

Which thus brings us to the unstated but painfully obvious sign of Obama's lack of intelligence.  Despite holding the staggering position of the Harvard Law Review - NO judge, not one, not a single one, offered a clerkship to Obama.  It wasn't because Obama wasn't free for the asking.  As he made clear in his statement upon accepting the position of President of the Review, Obama eagerly made his availability known by declaring that he would be practicing law for 'two or three' years after leaving Harvard.  I.e., he was open for the clerk's position.  Except - no judge gave it to him.  None. 

And Obama painfully admitted he knew this would happen.  While other graduates went on to clerkships with judges, the Court of Appeals, even the Supreme Court, etc. or even to prestigious top flight law firms which take only the best of the best, Obama admitted he was not in line for any of that.  He would be going for something else.  The same 'something' which had landed him the title of President of the Harvard Law Review - but not the benefits of such.  Once the glitter and glisten of that title had worn off, the bare reality beneath was that Obama was nothing a politically glib individual able to talk well in abstract - but not produce in concrete.  And the judges had recognized that fact by refusing to give him a clerkship.  The brutally competitive law firms had also recognized that by not giving him a position at their firms.  Therefore, there was only one venue open to him - politics.  As the NY Times put it, Obama would be returning to Chicago to "re-enter community work, either in politics or in local organizing."   

Such then is the smoke and mirrors of Obama's vaunted 'intelligence'.  To this day, he has blown that smoke skillfully in the faces of the liberals to lull them into not asking questions - much the same way the ancient Kings of France blew smoke into the faces of their hunting birds to quieten and lull them into inaction.  The terrible problem is that modern bloody birds of prey like Ahmadinijad, Chavez and the Taliban, etc. are not lulled by smoke.  To the contrary, these terrorists have mastered the art of blowing their own smoke into the world's face to lull it into submission and inaction.  Such years of mastery means these terrorists will make short shrift of the untested Junior senator from Illinois's huffing and puffing.  Obama's smoke will be blown back instantly into his face by the hot breath of their hate and insane contempt for human life.

Which will leave Obama with only his intelligence to defend him - and us.  Unfortunately, as the above arguments sadly prove, Obama's intelligence itself appears to be smoke.  Thus leaving us with a potential Commander in Chief able to defend this country with --- what?

For this country's safety, we must pierce the smoke of Obama's 'intelligence' at the earliest possible moment.  If Obama's smoke of obfuscation obscures long enough to gain him the White House, that fatal smoke could be blown away only to reveal a greater smoke rising from the ruins of America - a deadly smoke which next time will surely dwarf the ghostly clouds which broiled up from the burning buildings and planes on 9/11.   

UPDATE: Alosio responded with this:

It looks like the Obama/Axelrod Committee for Reframing the Narrative has been busy for quite some time wallpapering  the issue of whether or not BO was asked to clerk: In a profile of "The Candidate" (The New Yorker, May 31, 2004), Axelrod tells William Finegan, writing for The Political Scene: "Abner Mikva, a five-term congressman from Illinois who was at that time Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit, tried to recruit Obama as a clerk, a position considered a stepping stone to clerking on the Supreme Court, but Obama turned him down. “He could have gone to the most opulent of law firms,” David Axelrod, a longtime friend who is now Obama’s media adviser, said. “After Harvard, Obama could have done anything he wanted.” What he wanted was to practice civil-rights law in Chicago, and he did, representing victims of housing and employment discrimination and working on voting-rights legislation for a small public-interest firm. He also began teaching at the University of Chicago Law School, although he declined to pursue a tenure-track post, hoping to save time for politics." Mikva, a Carter appointee, was of course a Democratic Congressman from Chicago who once represented Hyde Park, graduated UofC School of Law and once taught at Northwestern -- no connections to Chicago political machine there, whatsoever, of course. Here's the New Yorker link

The overwhelming desirability of Obama as clerk is further reinforced in 2007 in "The Man That Got Away" from the Legal Reader, Wed., Dec. 12, 2007 (halfway down the page):

This links to an article by Tony Mauro of Legal Times, but it's a subscription site and I'm not buying.

The uniform suspension of disbelief, or even the most basic common sense, by the media has been wondrous to behold.

By the way, AFAIK, no transcripts of Obama's college years -- from Occidental, Columbia or Harvard -- have been released to date, and the media, after endless scrutiny of Bush's college years in '2000, complaineth not. It would suggest that not even affirmative action could sufficiently compensate for  Obama's intellectual shortcomings.

But Carolyn knows better. She replies:

Pamela, Mikva's claim that he 'tried to offer' a clerkship to Obama is bull.  There was no offer, no clerkship. 

Obama proves it.  And so does the Committee which elected him as President of the Harvard Law Review.  So does Obama's predecessor at the post, Mr. Yu.  And so does every single one of the publications at that time. 

NONE of them cite a clerkship.  If there had been, they would have.  But they didn't.  And the reason they didn't was because the offer didn't exist.  Ever.  And it was humiliating beyond words.  Indeed, the embarrassing spectacle of the President of the Review not receiving a single offer of clerkship (a deprivation which has never happened in the history of Harvard) was so humiliating that the committee had to instantly try to explain it away.  Obama didn't want it, they blathered, he was 'instead' going to be returning to Chicago to do something else.  That's how embarrassing it was - that they had to explain it away.

So, tell me - how on earth can a committee be embarrassed by Obama having no clerkship and yet simultaneously refuse to mention a clerkship?  Answer - there was no clerkship. 

Secondly - we now have the claim that Obama "could have gone to the most opulent of law firms".  Oh, really?  Name them.  Name a single firm that made him an offer.  If you were able to name the judge who made this mythical offer of a clerkship, you can certainly mention the law firm.  In fact, the law firm that did make that 'offer' would insist.  After all, law firms exist on their connections - and nothing, nothing is more prized than one's connection to the future President of the United States.  "Ah, yes, we offered the President a position.  We were that smart."  But do I hear a name of a firm, any name of a firm?  No?  Didn't think so.  Again, as with the 'clerkship', it's nothing but smoke and mirrors.

Finally - there's something else that about Obama's failure to get an offer from a prestigious law firm upon graduation.  What few people outside the legal world realize is that graduation is not the time when those offers are made - they're made years earlier.  Yes, a law school student receives his/her offer to join a prestigious law firm the FIRST year of graduate school.  Indeed, the offers begin by the middle of the first year when prestigious law firms descend on top law schools like locusts on succulent wheat to carry off the finest crop for themselves.  Tables are set up in the Commons, cards are handed out, letters are given, phone calls are made, etc.  The students are taken to dinners, to lunches, etc. where representatives of the law firm lean across the sparkling linen and the chilled glass of wine to tell the bright young student 'you'd really like our firm'.  Before Christmas is tolled, the student has already received countless offers - and made his/her choice.

My own law firm, for instance, has just received its first crop of Summer Associates.  They come from all over, Harvard, Yale, etc. to walk into our firm bright-eyed and eager to show their smarts.  They're given a generous monthly stipend, an office, a secretarial staff and then the student gets to work.  They turn out memos, they research, they stalk the library, they pull files, etc.  In short, they prove their mettle.  And, just as importantly, the law firm proves its.  There are banquets, cruises through the wine country, dinners with senior partners, lunches, etc. - all aimed at one goal - to persuade the bright young summer associate that he/she really really wants to choose this firm to work at after graduation.  Thus, when the summer is over and the student returns to their school to begin their second year, the law firm then waits with bated breath to see if the associate will agree to return the next year.  Of course, it is not unusual for a summer associate to pick a different law firm the following summer - but at the end of that time, everyone knows which firm they will pick.

One other point that must be made - all major law firms choose a specific kind of student to make offers to.  The firms do not choose on the basis of the student's major (i.e., whether he's criminal or civil or contract law, etc.)  The firm chooses on the basis of the student's intelligence.  And they do that by the student's grades.  Come on, this blather about 'no grades' given in law school is simply that - blather.  There IS a grade given on those students - and the firms know precisely what it is.  They know it so precisely that this is repeated ad nauseum when a firm brags about the high quality of their interns.  "We recruit in the top 10%."  Okay, so if the myth about 'no grades' is true, than how could there exist a 'top 10% of grades' to recruit from?  Answer - there are grades given - and the law firms know it.  They know your standing down to the littlest percentile.  And they know more than that - they know the quality of that standing.  As a matter of rule, lawyers pick students from schools which the lawyers themselves have already attended.  Thus, the lawyers know the profs - i.e., which are good profs, which are bad, and more importantly, which courses are harder and thus taken only by the brightest, the best students.  Trust me, the lawyers know the caliber of those students practically down to the socks they wear and the party they vote for.

Standing in that top 10% is so important, so necessary (in fact, high powered firms aim for  the top 5%) then it isn't worth it for you to waste your time submitting your resume to any of the firms if you're not in that percentile.  If you're not in that upper percentile, the only thing you pick is whether you want fries with your burger.

The point I'm trying to make is that the refusal of major law firms to make Obama an offer  was not a refusal made at his graduation - it was made years earlier.  In his first summer and his second.  And in those summers NO law firm picked Obama as a summer associate.  None.  Zip.  Nada.  Even by then, those firms (every single one of them crowded with Harvard law graduates) knew precisely the mettle of Obama, knew his courses, knew his work, his grades.  And as a result they all knew Obama wasn't smart enough to join them.

Obama and his handlers can blow all the smoke they want on law firms refusing to make him an offer.  But that smoke doesn't obscure the truth.  The truth that law firms didn't want Obama.  They didn't want him because he wasn't a sharp lawyer, he wasn't a smart lawyer.  Obama was only a glib, facile, political animal who used his race and not his brains to get him where he is.

Improbable Open Thread

Andrea Bocelli Christina Aguilera Somos Novios (It's Impossible)

I just love it........... tears at me, My father adored this song when I would play it on the piano

IRAN NUKE DOCUMENT:IAEA "ALARMED", NOW WHAT?

Glick in our interview," The Mossad in Israel has come out and said that "Iran will likely have a nuclear bomb by 2009", and by the way, in my view, there is no reason to doubt that Iran will conduct its nuclear test, not in the Persian Gulf, but in Tel Aviv.

So here it is by next year they'll have a nuclear bomb, the IAEA's latest report seems to agree with that. And we can assume that the United States has taken itself out of the game."

IAEA "alarmed" by Iranian nuclear weaponization document Jihadwatch

"There was no reason why a country would need to possess such a document unless they wanted to produce uranium hemispheres for a nuclear weapon."

Alarming, yes. Surprising, no. "US: Strong reasons to suspect Iran was working covertly to build atomic bomb," from Agence France-Presse, May 29:

Inspectors from the UN atomic watchdog are "alarmed" that Iran has in its possession a document describing the process for making what could be the core of a nuclear weapon, a western diplomat said Thursday.

And at a closed-door meeting with diplomats, the International Atomic Energy Agency's chief for inspections, Olli Heinonen, revealed that the agency had gathered intelligence from around 10 countries suggesting Iran was engaged in weaponization studies in the past, the diplomat said.

Tehran has repeatedly dismissed the intelligence as "fabricated," and the allegations that it was seeking to build a bomb as "baseless".

At a briefing to prepare IAEA board members for a meeting of the full board next week, Heinonen talked about the so-called uranium metal document, the diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

The 15-page document describes the process of machining uranium metal into two hemispheres of the kind used in nuclear warheads.

"And the term he used for this document was 'alarming'. He essentially said there was no reason why a country would need to possess such a document unless they wanted to produce uranium hemispheres for a nuclear weapon," the diplomat said.

And the band plays on.

John Jay over Winter Solider analyzes the Iranian nuke and its target Tel Aviv here

"Pro-Jewish Blogger"

In the ABC News piece on the Dunkin Donuts brouhaha story I broke, they refer to me as a"pro-Jewish blogger - as oppsoed to what, an anti-Jewish blogger. Anti-Jewish? WTF? Is that ok now?

The controversial ad, which appeared earlier this month on the doughnut chain's Web site to promote its iced coffee, came under fire nearly two weeks ago when pro-Jewish blogger Pam [sic] Geller posted it under the headline "Rachel [sic] Ray: Dunkin Donuts Jihad Tool."

Caroline Glick nalied it when she said, " the Jew is emblematic of human freedom, of competition, of rights and when they want to strike them down because of their ideological preferences for different forms of totalitarianism their first target is always the Jews."

Yeajh, so I am staunchly pro-Jewish,  pro- American, pro- freedom, anti-jihad. You can take that to the bank.

SHOT OF THE DAY

Only in New York guys

Lovely studio  dream apartment, pre-war, open, airy, city views, view of bridge, gorgeous stone work

Homeowner not available for comment. Pursing the dream, perhaps.

ATLAS RADIO: BOLTON, BOSTOM, WOOLSEY

It's a studly month at Atlas on the Air.
Next week we got the man, Ambassador John Bolton - fresh from his escape from the fluffy moobat Moonbiat at the Hay Festival in Britain.

June 11th- Dr. Andrew Bostom, author of the just released blockbuster , The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History,"

June 18th - James Woolsey, former head of the CIA.

June in bustin' in the Atlasphere. Hot baby hot.

VAN SUSTERN'S ISLAMIC THINK TANK: STAR MAGAZINE

Greta Van Sustern asks Julia Allison over at Star Magazine  (!) about the Islamic symbolism of  Rachael Ray wearing a keffiyeh in a Dunkin Donuts advertisement (reported here first on May 18th). Clearly leading terror experts and the finest minds on Islamic jihad can be found at Star magazine. I guess Steve Emerson was unavailable.

Weighing in with careful consideration, Allison declares, "it's a scarf for Christ's sake!" So informed.....  doesn't she mean Allah's sake?  Allison further exposes her ignorance, exclaiming - its political correctness gone wild. The fact is wearing the keffiyeh is political correctness gone wild. Moral inversion, the inability to distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil is the sickness in our society.

The swastika had been around long before the Nazis - archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates from the Neolithic period. Would Americans have worn  a Nazi armband during World War II (or even now)?

Speaking of conservative bloggers, Greta bellows this priceless addition, "these people have too much time on their hands". I wish, Greta. I don't have time to hit the ladies room.

Bottom line, just because you don't recognize the uniform does not mean it is not a  uniform. The keffiyeh was the signature of Yaser Arafatbastard and is the signature of  Hamas and Hezbollah and the homicide bomber.  Pretending it's just a scarf is like pretending the klan white robe is a toga. Symbols mean something. Attempting to mainstream it, in effect softening its barbaric message, is an affront to every victim of Islamic jihad and the war we are engaged it. We are fighting for our way of life and our very lives, we should not be wearing the icon of the enemy. Dunkin Donuts was right. It does not belong in an advertisement.

There is a quiet jihad as powerful and as effective as violent jihad (if not more so) being waged on our culture, our economy, our schools, our freedoms.

Greta. Shame on you for such shallow reportage. Stick to missing blond girls.

Nicholas Berg (moments before his beheading)

Hamas leader Khalad Maashal

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah (Hezb'Allah)

mujahideen screen shot (off video)

 

UPDATE: Yidwithlid is lovin it: Atlas Shrugs Took on Dunkin Donuts and WON. BTW, I love Dunkin Donuts.

I understand the leftards  (ANSWER, the socialists, commies etc.) are attempting a boycott.  BUY DOUBLE! Munchkins for everyone! The leftist/islamic alliance

**Please circulate widely** Boycott: Don't Shop at Dunkin' Donuts! Say No to Anti-Arab Racism    Dunkin Donuts pulled this advertisement after right-wing racists complained that the scarf in the ad was a kaffiyeh. The ANSWER Coalition and others are calling for a worldwide boycott of Dunkin’ Donuts. The boycott intends to send a powerful message to Dunkin’ Donuts and other corporations that engage in racism or pandering to anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racists. Please lend your name to the boycott by clicking this link and send a letter to Dunkin' Donuts. Be sure to circulate this call to your friends on list serves and social networking sites.   Here’s the background:    Dunkin’ Donuts has capitulated and withdrawn an advertisement for its products following the allegation by a right-wing hack, Michelle Malkin, that the spokeswoman in the ad was pictured wearing a kaffiyeh, a scarf which is a staple of clothing traditionally worn by Palestinian men. The scarf pictured in the ad is not actually a kaffiyeh. But the anti-Arab racism of the right-wing, pro-Bush ideologues like Malkin is so extreme that they launched their campaign because they “thought” the scarf was this traditional Arab garment. Dunkin’ Donuts pulled their ad apologizing that the scarf might even resemble a kaffiyeh.  In Malkin’s twisted world anything “Arab,” even a scarf, is “terrorist.” This is the same line of thinking promoted by the Bush administration in the wake of 9/11, when thousands of Middle Eastern men living in the United States were rounded up and falsely imprisoned. Some were even tried on phony “terrorism” charges. It is the same line of thinking that was used to promote the racist war drive against Afghanistan and then Iraq.  The fact that a giant corporation like Dunkin’ Donuts quickly pulled the advertisement is a sign that the pervasive racism, chauvinism and xenophobia peddled by right-wing bigots is a real danger. This is a classic tactic of fascist intimidation and demonization of an entire population.  We demand that Dunkin’ Donuts immediately apologize to the Arab-American community for this disgraceful surrender to racism. Until that apology is issued we will refuse to shop or buy any products marketed by the Dunkin' Donuts Corporation.  Please lend your name to the boycott by clicking this link and send a letter to Dunkin' Donuts. Be sure to circulate this call to your friends on list serves and social networking sites. Please make an urgently needed donation right now to help build this boycott and important campaign against racism.
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition http://www.answercoalition.org/ info@internationalanswer.org  National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389 New York City: 212-694-8720 Los Angeles: 213-251-1025 San Francisco: 415-821-6545 Chicago: 773-463-0311 Click here to unsubscribe from the ANSWER e-mail list. If this message was forwared to you and you'd like to receive future ANSWER updates, Click here to subscribe.

UPDATE: Nidra Poller weighs in:

"I took another look at the Rachael Ray Dunkin' Donuts ad: if it isn't a keffieh it is worn as if it were a keffieh. If it isn"t a keffieh, how in the world could she justify wearing a rag like that? It is totally incongruous.  No one ever ever ever wears an item like that for an ad, a TV show or any other public appearance . It's all stringy and downright ugly.

Wearing a scarf like that is akin to the graphics of  the al Dura  scene: no news report is ever filmed that way, framed that way. The al Dura image was filmed as a poster, used as a poster.

This scarf is unlike any scarf worn by any woman wanting to look good to promote a product. If it isn't a keffieh it is made to look like one. It's either a frank handshake or a wink of complicity. The scarf detracts from the advertised product, messes with the lady's outfit, sticks out like a sore thumb.

I should know. I live in France. We are famous for knowing how to wear scarves. And you can't take two steps in Paris these days without seeing an idiot with a keffieh wrapped around his or her neck.

The joke is, the jihadis they are honoring have an eye on those silly necks! The cutrate jihad fans claim to think the scarf means peace. Are you kidding? Have they spent the last 10 years in some back to nature colony with no TV, newspapers, or internet? Of course they know what it stands for...half way. They think it stands for destroy Israel, and maybe the Jews too and, stretch it a bit, get Bush/Cheney and anyone who agre>es with them.

No, you idiots, it means CUT ON THE DOTTED LINE."

UPDATE: Pamela provided these gems. Brutal murderer Che wearing  (pretty pro-jihad these days too):

 

Debbie Schlussel says Dunkin Donuts "oughtt to be applauded for that". Hear, hear!

And Razor Sharp Claws agrees: And the swastika was just a swastika!

UPDATE 1:39pm: Joe over at Neocon express says you gotta know the history:  The kaffiyah - Not Just a Scarf

To understand the Dunkin-Donut-Racheal Ray-Kaffiah controversy one must have a minimal understanding of the history, otherwise, the entire matter can easily be portrayed as "it's just a scarf," as many on the left have been doing...knowing full well that most American have no clue what the fuss is all about. Political advantage is always on the side of those who appeal to ignorance, so to counter that let's do a tiny history lesson: (the rest here)

UPDATE:  ANOTHER HOLLYWEIRD USEFUL IDIOTS: DENSE WENTZ

This tool chooses to advertise that he is a moron. Fine. That is his prerogative. Using the icon for Islamic jihad in an advertisement is a whole other matter.

I don't suspect wearing the keffiyeh will hurt this maroon's career as he doesn't have one - apart from celebrity sister's inseminater.

 

 

100,000 US Muslims Engage in Polygamy

"Sometimes he doesn't know who's who, and he forget[s] the name" of his children and wives, she said.

"He calls them No. 1 and No. 2"

Seems to me law enforcement pursues various polygamy sects except Islamic multiple marriage . A hands off policy is permission to continue. A hands off policy is submission.

NPR won't reveal the last names of those interviewed. Why is NPR protecting these bigamists and more to the point, if NPR can find them, why can't law enforcement?

This from NPR (of all places): Some Muslims in U.S. Quietly Engage in Polygamy hat tip Michael

Listen Now [7 min 53 sec] 

All Things Considered, May 27, 2008 · Although polygamy is illegal in the U.S. and most mosques try to discourage plural marriages, [that's NPR's opinion - they do not substantiate it in any way. We do know that 3 out of 4 mosques in America preach hate -Atlas] some Muslim men in America have quietly married multiple wives.

No one knows how many Muslims in the U.S. live in polygamous families. But according to academics researching the issue, estimates range from 50,000 to 100,000 people.

If 100k is what leftists academics are approximating,  image what the actual number is.

[...]
Polygamy is freely practiced in parts of Africa, and almost every one of the women in the group has experienced polygamy firsthand – either as a wife in a plural marriage or having been raised in families with one father who has two or more wives.

Group member Sarah says that in her native Guinea, the husband springs it on his wife that he's going to marry someone else. Sarah, like the others interviewed for this story, would give only her first name.

"Sometimes he say, 'OK, I am going to be married tomorrow,' or 'I'm going to be married today.' He's going ask you like that. It happened to me," she says.

Sarah begins to cry. Others nod in sympathy. These women are all Muslim. The Koran states that men may marry up to four women. The Prophet Mohammad had multiple wives.
[...]

Invisible Lives

Still, Muslims practice polygamy in the U.S., despite state laws prohibiting it.

Here's how a man gets around the laws: He marries one woman under civil law, and then marries one, two or three others in religious ceremonies that are not recognized by the state. In other cases, men marry women in both America and abroad.

Many women keep quiet for fear of retribution or deportation.

For example, Sally's husband moved to the United States from the Ivory Coast before she did. When Sally joined him, she found he had married someone else in America. But without legal immigration papers, she didn't dare come forward and report him to the authorities.

She said when she arrived in the U.S., her husband and his new wife put her in the basement.

"They told me to cook, clean, do everything. I didn't speak English. And he told me, 'Don't say nothing. You say something, she's going make you deported. And me, I'm going to be in jail.'"

Eventually, Sally left the house with her children, and now works at a hair braiding salon. But that fear of deportation prevents many from leaving their polygamous relationships.

"Legally, they're invisible," says Julie Dinnerstein, a senior attorney for Sanctuary for Families. "If you are the second or third or fourth wife, that marital relationship is not going to be recognized for immigration purposes. It means if your husband is a citizen or green card holder, he can't sponsor you. It means if your husband gets asylum, you don't get asylum at the same time. The man is always going to be in a position of greater power."

For Others, a Blessing

Abed Awad, a family law attorney in New Jersey, says for many Muslim men, multiple wives means many children — which is considered a blessing in Islam. And since Islam allows for sexual relations only in marriage, polygamy legitimizes the relationship in God's eyes. [NPR sugarcoating]

Awad says conservative Muslims argue that in polygamy, "You're actually responsible for that person as your spouse. And the sexual relationship becomes a relationship of love and companionship as opposed to just a sexual fling."

Notice how the left loves to use the word "conservative" when referring to the worst aspects of Islam?

'One Is Enough'

At Mam African Hair Braiding salon in Queens, N.Y., husbands are often the topic of conversation.

As the Senegalese owner, Miriam Dougrou, weaves cornrows on a young woman, she says that her father married four women and she had 19 or 20 siblings. She lost count. So did her father.

"Sometimes he doesn't know who's who, and he forget the name" of his children and wives, she said.

"He calls them No. 1 and No. 2," says Dougrou's husband, Timothy.

 

Disgraceful: Passing Motion 25

When I spoke to Caroline Glick about the impending motion in the UK against Jews in academia she said,

"I think it’s important to understand, that you know, these calls for boycotts of Israeli universities and academics are seasonal propaganda initiatives that try to demonize Israel, you know, every spring or every fall, or whatever. But it’s important to understand that there is an academic boycott of Israeli institutions by British universities; it’s been going on for several years and whether it’s institutionalized in a vote or not the fact of the matter is that, university departments and professors in Britain and publications systematically boycott their Israeli counterparts. And I think, you know, that it’s important to realize that it’s already happening it’s not a “are they going to decide boycott Israel or not?”. They are boycotting Israel; it’s just a question of how often they want to bring it up.
[...]
Because in addition to the fact that they are already boycotting Israeli academics and institutions, they are using it not just quietly and saying “we prefer not to deal with Jews” but they are doing it in a way that gives them constant propaganda initiatives and campaigning items. Because they pretend that they are not doing it but they are because they have embraced this anti-Semitic ideology which they call anti-Zionism and they use it in their everyday lives that’s how prevalent it is in British culture today and that’s why Britain is such a problem".

Well today motion 25 passed ..... from the Normblog hat tip Mara

Passing Motion 25 (by Eve Garrard)

Yesterday I attended the University and College Union's annual congress, where a motion encouraging a boycott of Israel was debated. The union leadership were at great pains to say this wasn't a boycott motion, and it's true that the motion didn't use the word 'boycott': but it called on members to consider the moral and political implications of collaborating with Israeli academics; it asked them to discuss the occupation with those colleagues; it claimed that most Israeli academics are 'complicit' in the conflict; it mentioned that criticism of Israel isn't anti-Semitic 'as such', while ignoring the fact that the proposed measures are not a matter of criticism but of ostracism and punishment; and it raised the question of the appropriateness of continued educational links with Israeli academic institutions. Legal advice on this motion, taken by the Jewish community's Stop the Boycott campaign, has said that it amounts to a call to discuss a boycott of Israeli academics which risks violating the Race Relations Act, and the General Secretary implicitly acknowledged this when she said that the union would implement matters within the law. So it looked to me, and to all the other anti-boycotters I spoke to, exactly like a motion encouraging people to consider a boycott.

Motion 25 was passed, by a huge majority. There was a real, palpable desire in the meeting to take some action against Israel. An otherwise rather somnolent audience woke up at the first mention of Palestine, and applauded every suggestion that action should be taken against Israel. A congress which had just passed very moderate motions on Burma and Zimbabwe and Sudan, about solidarity with trade unions and asylum seekers, and putting pressure on governments, quite clearly felt that these measures weren't sufficient for Israel's crimes: that for Israeli academics, nothing but punishment would do.

At first the discussion was procedurally unexceptionable - both sides of a debate were permitted on an amendment which called, among other things, for the motion to be put to a ballot of the whole membership. This amendment was voted on and rejected - the majority of union delegates didn't want to give the membership of the union the opportunity to choose for themselves on this issue. But when Motion 25 itself was proposed and seconded, several delegates spoke in favour of it - and then it was moved that it be put to the vote. None of the people who wanted to speak directly against the motion were permitted to do so. However, the motion's proposer, Tom Hickey, was at this point allowed by the Chair to speak in favour of it again. No explanation or justification was provided for halting the debate before anyone could speak against the motion, while allowing its proposer to speak twice. I have to say, though, that in my opinion even if the debate had been conducted in an impeccably proper manner, it would have made very little difference: that audience really did want to vote against Israel.

This measure will discriminate against Israeli academics, and will impinge quite disproportionately on Jewish academics here in the UK. Most of them do not support any academic boycott against Israel, nor the de-legitimization of Jewish nationalism and of Israel's existence; and many of them want to work in collaboration with Israeli colleagues. Whether or not the procedures mandated by the motion are actually implemented is a matter on which the union executive will decide, but in some ways the damage is already done - the vote has normalized discrimination, the union leadership has made no effort to address, or to get Congress to address, the relevance and implications of anti-discrimination law in the UK, and if the policy isn't ultimately implemented the membership will be encouraged to think that some inappropriate force has pressured the union to drop it. So whatever now happens, the motion's supporters have achieved one thing: they have exacerbated the sense of isolation and alienation in the union felt by those who, even though they may strongly criticize some of Israel's policies and practices, sympathize with her often terrible problems, see the need for her existence, and wish her well. Their sense that the union is not a friendly environment, that it is ultimately a hostile place for people like them, will have materially increased as a result of today's activities by their union colleagues.

Because motion 25 was passed, I now belong to a union which is trying to discriminate against those of its Jewish members who don't think it's right to single the Jewish state out for punishment over and above far worse polities, or that it's right to hold it, and it alone, wholly responsible for the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. I spent yesterday afternoon sitting in a room with a large group of otherwise unobjectionable people, knowing that the great majority of them want in practice to discriminate against their Jewish colleagues. It wasn't a pleasant experience. (Eve Garrard)

Outfoxed: Murdoch OBAMACIZED

It ain't Alzheimers, its the saudi monay ........... how much of FOX did the Saudis buy? 6% percent. He's just kissing the ass of his paymasters. Obama,  the jihad's candidate.

Barack Obama’s Unlikely Supporter: Rupert 'Fox News' Murdoch Yahoo Finance

But they saved Rupert Murdoch -- their Wall Street Journal overlord -- for last. The highlight? Murdoch’s not-quite-but-almost endorsement of Barack Obama for president.

[...]

During the Q&A, I pressed Murdoch -- a new U.S. citizen -- on whether he would actually vote for Obama in November. He said he was leaning toward it, but would know in the next six months. When I asked if I could call him, he said yes, then joked I could probably just figure it out from reading the Post.

UPDATE: And another Obama endorsement: Iran sees US voters wanting change

Here's the deal

I am rushing back to New York to try and make a live TV interview with a broadcast news network (!)

They want to interview me on the the Dunkin Donuts story I broke on Rachel Ray and the keffiyeh, icon of the jihad. Don't know if I'll make it - it's the 5 - 6 slot. The Bostom event at AEI was incredible (but off the record - sorry guys I didn't know).

Wish me luck - don't think I'll make it to NY in time (delays at La Guardia)............story of my life

Much thanks to Debbie for giving credit where credit was due.

Check out ABC NEWS story here:

The controversial ad, which appeared earlier this month on the doughnut chain's Web site to promote its iced coffee, came under fire nearly two weeks ago when pro-Jewish blogger Pam Geller posted it under the headline "Rachel [sic] Ray: Dunkin Donuts Jihad Tool."

"Have you seen Rachel [sic] Ray wearing the icon of Yasser Arafatbastard and the bloody Islamic jihad," Geller wrote. "This is part of the cultural jihad."

Guess they dug the quote. :) I was spelling her name wrong - I made her ..... Jewish. lol.

UPDATE: The New York Times weighs in here:

Social security is no longer the undisputed third rail of American politics. Israel, race and religion and the draft all earned the title in May, leaving readers bewildered and journalists struggling to keep their dark metaphors straight. For the sake of clarity, shall we rotate the title on a weekly basis? We’ll kick it off with an unusual — yet completely plausible — nominee: the doughnut.

A few months after doughnuts became a presidential campaign issue, they stood at the center of a storm created by right-leaning bloggers. This was a story about “donuts and dumb celebrities” who were “mainstreaming terrorism” to make a buck, asserted Little Green Footballs and Michele Malkin. And Atlas Shrugs revised a bell-ringing catchphrase thusly: “TIME TO MAKE THE JIHAD!”   

Suddenly, Dunkin’ Donuts was accused of promoting terrorism, thanks to the wardrobe choices of Rachael Ray, its celebrity spokesman, during an online advertisement. According to the bloggers, she had decided to embrace “hate couture” by wearing a keffiyeh, a scarf popular in the Arab world and preferred by Yasir Arafat and other Palestinian militants during their rise in the West Bank and Gaza.

UPDATE 4:29 Stuck on the ground in DC. Ain't gonna make CNN. :(

Here's scenes from the lunch............. will be interviewing Bostom in the next few days.

Atlas, Father Roderick, Christian Solidarity International, and the mighty Bostom

Paul Wolfowitz and Diana West

DC BOUND

BOSTOM! AEI! LUNCH!

GOING ONCE, GOING TWICE, SOLD! NY ICON SOLD TO ISLAM

Selling America piece by piece (but you'd have to read the fine print to know that). Woolsey was right. Listen to his remarks here. He'll be on my show, Atlas on the Air June 18th. We  must stop funding the jihad. It is remarkable that we have enriched, empowered those that will hold us captive - those that have created nothing, invented nothing, have no other industry - just us oil addicts. We need a new drug. Why, in heavens name, have we not developed shale, drilled ANWAR, built nuclear plants, drilled off Florida (China does, thanks to Cuba), built any refineries in 30 years? ............ Democrat rule!

$2.8 Billion GM Building Sale the Most Ever Paid for a Single Office Building

Boston Properties expects to execute one or more joint ventures with financial partners. Though it did not name the partners or terms of the prospective JV, they’re believed to be Goldman Sachs, the Qatar Investment Authority and the Kuwait Investment Authority. In announcing the deal, the Boston-based REIT said it expects to own up to about 49%of the properties and provide fee-generating property management and leasing services.

Why so secretive?

Previously related at Atlas:

Islamic Geopolitical Influence in Financial Markets

Selling America

Shariah financing: The Quiet Jihad

Islam buys up the West piece by piece

NASDAQ Sheikdown

WSJ Chief Shariah Officer

Get the Armbands Ready

This is not a debate - it's a JEWbait
The Fourth Reich is alive and well.
Get the armbands ready. (hat tip David)

The universities' witch-hunt against the Jews Melanie Phillips

Yes, you read that correctly. The UCU is debating a motion which not only raises the spectre yet again of an academic boycott of Israel but demands of Jewish and Israeli academics that they explain their politics as a pre-condition to normal academic contact. The motion asks colleagues

to consider the moral and political implications of educational links with Israeli institutions, and to discuss the occupation with individuals and institutions concerned, including Israeli colleagues with whom they are collaborating... the testimonies will be used to promote a wide discussion by colleagues of the appropriateness of continued educational links with Israeli academic institutions... Ariel College, an explicitly colonising institution in the West Bank, be investigated under the formal Greylisting Procedure.

The implication is that, if they don’t condemn Israel for the ‘occupation’, or practising ‘apartheid’, ‘genocide’ or any of the other manufactured crimes laid at Israel’s door by the Palestinian/Islamist/neonazi/leftwing axis, they won’t be able to work. Their continued employment will depend on their holding views which are permitted. The views they are being bludgeoned into expressing as a condition of their employment are based on lies, distortion, propaganda, gross historical ignorance, blood libels and prejudice. And this in the universities, supposedly the custodians of free thought and inquiry in the service of dispassionate scholarship.

What makes it all the more appalling is that it is Israelis and Jews alone who are being singled out for this treatment. No other group is to be barred from academic activity unless they hold ‘approved’ views; no state-run educational institution controlled by any of the world’s numerous tyrannies is to be ‘grey-listed’. The UCU’s own rules state that it

actively opposes all forms of harassment, prejudice and unfair discrimination.

1996, Obama Ran on Marxist Party Line

There are 160 days until election day ............ and Obama is like an evil Scheherazade, spinning new tales daily to the eager, rapt media clowns.

OTOH, every day in the blogosphere brings a new story about Obama. And each one contributes to an increasingly disturbing picture of  a very dangerous candidate.  Seriously and deeply flawed.

Barack Obama Ran On A MARXIST PARTY Line in 1996 Yid with lid

It seems that Senator Obama's Old party was called the New Party. The party was a Marxist Political coalition. This was not a guilt by association thing. Senator Obama sought out their nomination. He was successful in obtaining that endorsement, and he used a number of New Party volunteers as campaign workers. Read more on the Marxist endorsement that Barack Obama sought out:

Co-founded in 1992 by Daniel Cantor (a former staffer for Jesse Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign) and Joel Rogers (a sociology and law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison), the New Party was a Marxist political coalition whose objective was to endorse and elect leftist public officials -- most often Democrats. The New Party's short-term objective was to move the Democratic Party leftward, thereby setting the stage for the eventual rise of new Marxist third party.

Most New Party members hailed from the Democratic Socialists of America and the militant organization ACORN. The party's Chicago chapter also included a large contingent from the Committees of Correspondence, a Marxist coalition of former Maoists, Trotskyists, and Communist Party USA members.

The New Party's modus operandi included the political strategy of "electoral fusion," where it would nominate, for various political offices, candidates from other parties (usually Democrats), thereby enabling each of those candidates to occupy more than one ballot line in the voting booth. By so doing, the New Party often was able to influence candidates' platforms. (Fusion of this type is permitted in seven states -- Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Mississippi, New York, South Carolina, and Vermont -- but is common only in New York.)

Though Illinois was not one of the states that permitted electoral fusion, in 1995 Barack Obama nonetheless sought the New Party's endorsement for his 1996 state senate run. He was successful in obtaining that endorsement, and he used a number of New Party volunteers as campaign workers.

In 1996, three of the four candidates endorsed by the New Party won their electoral primaries. The three victors included Barack Obama (in the 13th State Senate District), Danny Davis (in the 7th Congressional District), and Patricia Martin, who won the race for Judge in the 7th Subcircuit Court. All four candidates attended an April 11, 1996 New Party membership meeting to express their gratitude for the party's support.

The New Party's various chapters similarly helped to elect dozens of other political candidates in a host of American cities.

Read it all. The media whores won't cover it.

FOX MEET HENHOUSE: MIAMI PAYS $150k TO NATION OF ISLAM "PEACEMAKERS"

From the "you can't make this stuff" up department. The Nation of Islam  will be assisting law enforcement to "help keep the peace" to the tune of $150,000. Is this jiyza or what?

This is the brain child of ethically challenged Michelle Spence-Jones. A crooked politician who has previously faced indictment.  Spence-Jones has a history of pushing for payments to her close political allies.

Muslim group to help keep peace in Miami's Overtown Miami Herald hat tip Frank

As Miami steps up police presence in Overtown, it is starting a community outreach program run by a group affiliated with the Nation of Islam.

Seeking a balance between outreach and enforcement, Miami is launching a nearly $1 million crime-fighting initiative in Overtown that will mix police patrols, video cameras -- and suit-and-tie wearing Muslims.

The stepped-up policing seeks to deter would-be lawbreakers without making Overtown residents feel ''invaded,'' in the words of Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones.

Which is where the Muslims come in.

Along with budgeting hundreds of thousands of dollars for increased police patrols and the installation of surveillance cameras, Miami is spending $150,000 on a ''Peacemakers'' pilot program run by a nonprofit with ties to the Nation of Islam.

Under the proposed contract, which should be finalized in the coming weeks, the Peacemakers would function as a liaison between police and the community.

Nation of Islam - the "peacemakers".

A mixture of suit-wearing Muslims and T-shirt-wearing outreach workers -- of various denominations -- will walk the streets of Overtown, reporting crimes, referring the drug-addicted and homeless to support agencies and listening to concerns.

''Sometimes the residents don't want to talk to the police,'' said Spence-Jones, who is spearheading the effort. ``We have to look at other ways.''

[...]

The cameras are identical to those already monitoring some parts of downtown.

But where downtown has its ''Ambassador'' program -- a uniformed private-security detail that also exists to direct lost visitors -- Overtown's Peacemakers aim to inspire black youth in need of role models.

The group's suits and ties have meaning, according to Peacemaker organizer Minister Rasul Muhammad.

''What we need most is moral reform,'' he said.

Whose morality? Islam's?

PARAMETERS UNCLEAR

Yet questions remain on how exactly the partnership between police and Peacemakers will take shape.

Muhammad said his group would carry radios that can instantly connect with police.

Yet Miami Police Maj. Jorge Gomez, who supervises Overtown and surrounding areas, said: ``We really don't have anything to do with that program. They don't have any radios. . . . They've got to call 911 just like anybody else.''
[...]
Not all ventures found success.

New Orleans police in 2005 rescinded a $15,000 police-sensitivity training contract with a longtime security director for Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan -- after facing widespread criticism from local religious leaders and officers over that group's reputation as anti-Semitic.

Though Miami's Peacemakers say they will not advocate any religion and are not officially aligned with the Nation of Islam, the Peacemakers' corporate offices are at the religious group's Miami mosque.

Rasul Muhammad is a prominent Nation of Islam member and the son of former leader Elijah Muhammad.

Asked about the Peacemakers' planned role in Miami, the Anti-Defamation League raised concerns.

''While we appreciate the city of Miami's efforts to improve conditions in the Overtown area,'' wrote Andrew Rosenkranz, Florida regional director for the Anti-Defamation League, ``we are concerned that it did not fully understand the nature of the organization that it chose to provide these services.''

There are the polite Jews again, tiptoeing through the tulips. The vile jew hatred

Muhammad declined to have organizers pose for pictures for this article, saying he was reluctant to make a big media splash now.

Muhammad was also reluctant to discuss a minor lawsuit filed against the nonprofit Progressive Land Development International Inc., the group that would run Peacemakers. The suit alleged Progressive Land failed to return a $950 security deposit to a tenant in a Liberty City apartment building it owns.

Muhammad, who court records show was served in the lawsuit, denied his group even owns any apartments. County property records show multiple Liberty City apartment buildings owned by a Progressive Land Development Group Inc., that lists its business address as the Nation of Islam's Miami mosque.

''That has to be something else,'' Muhammad said. ``That's not us.''

Read it all. Nookin futz!

BOLTON ESCAPES MOONBIATS

MOONBAT Monbiot is held off by security guards

John Bolton escapes citizen's arrest at Hay Festival

John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, has escaped an attempted citizen's arrest as he appeared at the Hay Festival. George Monbiot is held off by security guards

Held off with a feather I am sure. Let's see Moonbiat get tough with the jihad. I'd pay to see that.

Security guards blocked the path of columnist and activist George Monbiot, who tried to make the arrest as Mr Bolton left the stage.

The former ambassador - a key advisor to President George W Bush who argued strongly in favour of invading Iraq - had been giving a talk on international relations to more than 600 people at the literary festival.

Mr Monbiot was blocked by two heavily-built security guards at the end of the one-and-a-half hour appearance, before he could serve a "charge sheet" on him.

A crowd of about 20 protestors, one dressed in a latex George Bush mask, chanted "war criminal" as Mr Bolton was ushered away.

Dressed in a condom.

During Mr Bolton's talk, to a packed-out audience, Mr Monbiot had asked Mr Bolton what difference there was between him and a Nazi war criminal.

Mr Bolton said the war was legal, partly because Iraq had failed to comply with a key and binding UN resolution after the end of the Gulf War in 1991.

He answered him? He's a better man than me. Talking reason to the irrational is futile.

On the war's legality, he added: "This is not my personal opinion, this is the opinion of the entire legal apparatus of the US government."

Bad dah bing, bad dah boom.

Earlier, festival director Peter Florence had said they had sought legal advice and been told carrying out such an arrest would be "completely unlawful" given the circumstances.

What pussies.

A spokesman for The Guardian, for which Mr Monbiot writes a regular column, said he was acting in a "personal capacity".

 

Miss Headscarf contest for Muslims attacked

Pity the Muslim women. Seriously.

Miss Headscarf contest for Muslims attacked  Bruno Waterfield Telegraph hat tip Wolf

Plans to hold a "Miss Headscarf" beauty contest for Muslim women on Danish television have been attacked by Islamic traditionalists.

The country's Islamic Faith Society has criticised the decision by Danmarks Radio to show "cool Muslim women who often make up a very fashion-conscious and style-confident part of the Danish street scene".

Living in tent garb, very cool.

"We would like to contact all the Muslim women who are seldom heard in the debate but are often just as preoccupied with fashion and beauty as other women," he said.

Smain Benyrbah, a spokesman for the Islamic Society, said: "I strongly advise the girls to shun the competition."

OBAMA TO MCCAIN: NO, I WON'T GO TO IRAQ

Watch this video.  hat tip Paul D

John McCain called out Senator Barack Obama for refusing to join him on a trip to Iraq. McCain rightly asserts  that Obama will not understand the progress thats been made in the region unless he sees it for himself. McCain reads Obama's comments on Iraq and says that it represents a fundamental misunderstanding about the war.

Barack Hussein totally pussys out, calling it a political ploy. Visiting our trips is a political ploy? Seeing the success of the surge is a political ploy?

Obama hates America.

UPDATE: Texas Fred says: Stop the Obamanation

ISRAEL, DYING FOR LEADERSHIP

Shame on every Israeli leader, every lefty asshat that acts as if  Jewish life is expendable. THIS IS THE PRIORITY! Stop  handing Jewish land over to Jew killlers and annihilationists. Stop paying your  blackmailers and start protecting your people.

Ben, my favorite engineer, notes historic milestone (and the American technology - gotta love it!):

One that will pass unnoticed for all save those few who are actually interested in the technical workings of air defence weaponry.

The Phalanx C-RAM defense system guarding the Green Zone in Baghdad has destroyed its 100th incoming mortar round.

C-RAM stands for Counter Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar, and it is development of the Phalanx system originally designed for air defense for the US armed forces. It has been re-engineered to destroy incoming rockets, artillery shells, and mortar rounds.  That is not easy.  These kinds of weapons are typically launched from very short range, and there are only seconds to react.  But the Phalanx C-RAM, thanks to its computer system, can do it.  Not perfectly, but well, and that is all you can ask of a weapon.

Go here: Defense Update

The C-RAM has been doing this for years, now, and a growing number of people have been asking, couldn't such a weapon intercept Qassam rockets coming out of Gaza? Yes, of course it could.  But Israeli politics seems to be allied with Palestinian rocket launchers in this case, and only now have the Israelis decided to "evaluate" a C-RAM. 

Every time the warning sirens sound in Sderot, remember that a simple phone call and a signature, and a few million dollars, would have had a capable, battle proven defense system spewing 6000 rounds of deadly accurate radar aimed 20 millimeter proximity fused ammunition at those incoming rockets. But the Israeli government has been dragging its feet.  The sordid and pitiful tale, the "flip side" of the stories of fear and horror stories coming out of Sderot, has been covered in the last few months by the defense weaponry geeks: GO HERE

Israeli bloggers, Over at the Green Line:

One needs not be a weapons expert to realize the incompetence behind the project. How could it be, with so many intelligent scientists and arms experts in Israel, nobody raised this rudimentary problem before the Israeli Defense Ministry decided to invest in the doomed project? Especially when there’s a much cheaper, more effective and readily available alternative found in the American made Phalanx artillery battery, developed by Raytheon to protect sitting duck warships from incoming missiles. The system has a radar (looks like R2D2) which tracks the trajectory of incoming projectiles and is then capable of firing 6,000 shells per minute at its target. And at least one of those shells usually scores a hit. The Phalanx also has a precedent of use over land, as seen in its deployment in the Green Zone in Iraq to protect U.S. forces from missiles and mortar barrages. I’m usually not one to pin my hopes on technological solutions, as though some new weapon system could finally put an end to the long-standing political conflict between Arabs and Israelis, but this could clearly help diffuse the situation.

Dr. Nathan Farber, a highly reputable ballistics expert believes that a mere five Phalanx artillery batteries, costing $1 million a piece (peanuts by the standards of Israel’s defense budget), would provide immediate relief to the residents of Sderot and other towns in the western Negev from daily Qassam barrages. Farber also writes off any environmental concerns as practically a non-issue, because the shells travel at such a high rate of speed, those which miss their target would end up somewhere over the Mediterranean before landing, and thus won’t pose a danger to residents of Israeli towns. Dr. Farber legitimately asks, “Why not deploy Phalanx batteries in the meanwhile (while Iron Dome is still under development), and protect the residents of Sderot? It will be cheaper, no less efficient, and above all provide immediate protection. If it’s good enough for the Americans in Iraq, why can’t it be good for us?” Pedatzur suggests that so-called “blue and white” economic motives were behind the decision to develop the homegrown Iron Dome system despite its obvious shortcomings in comparison to superior foreign-made alternatives. If true, it’s totally shameful and if not, the incompetence explanation isn’t much more promising. Those in the Defense Ministry should realize a rapidly escalating war with Hamas is ultimately far more costly, and in more ways than financial cost.

Most importantly, the advantages of the Phalanx don’t end with protecting the residents of the western Negev. If the system proves itself capable of intercepting most Qassams, it will end Israel’s immediate crisis, giving it some breathing space to seek a longer-term solution, undercut Hamas’ leverage over Israel, avert the inevitable large scale Israeli invasion of Gaza, and save a lot of lives in the process — including those Gazans who support the rocketing of Israel but don’t realize how much it’s hurting them. For these reasons alone, isn’t it at least worth trying? Dr. Farber has pleaded with the Defense Ministry to deploy Phalanx artillery batteries immediately, so far to no avail.

Pretty cool toy

and the Israeli media:

 

The Defense Ministry has placed a blackout on the visit, and its spokesman refused to confirm or deny that such a visit even took place. The ministry's secretiveness regarding this visit has nothing to do with state security. It seems that senior ministry officials - primarily director general Pinchas Buchris and the head of the Administration for Weapons Development and Technology (MAFAT), Shmuel Kern - are trying to cover themselves. For years, those responsible for formulating ministry policy have stubbornly rejected any proposal or initiative to develop, operate or deploy a defense system against short-range missiles such as Katyushas and Qassams. Only after public pressure, and specific instructions from then-defense minister Amir Peretz, were ministry officials forced to change their approach after the Second Lebanon War. But they did so against their will.

A professional evaluation committee set up by the Defense Ministry, which discussed the issue in the past, decided to accept Rafael's bid to develop Iron Dome, a system for intercepting short-range missiles. The system's development will cost $1 billion, and it will be ready for deployment, if at all, only in three years. But there are already doubts about the system's ability to intercept Qassams.

And until then, the Defense Ministry's message is essentially that it has no counter to the Qassam and mortar attacks against Sderot and other communities near the Gaza Strip.

Yet some experts argue that a solution exists, and its cost is low. Their solution: deploy several batteries of the Phalanx gun near Sderot. The Phalanx is a radar-guided weapon that fires as many as 6,000 rounds per minute, creating a cloud of steel against which the missile crashes. In the past, Israel acquired older versions of the gun, called the Vulcan.

The armed forces of the United States, Britain and Canada are using the system with great success to defend their soldiers and bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. Israel can make the guns already in its arsenal operational fairly quickly, or procure others from the U.S.

Ben adds, "At long last, some progress MIGHT be in the works.  At least, they've agreed to "evaluate".

NUTS!

GLICK/ATLAS PODCAST

Listen here. It rocks. If there are any transcribers out there who'd like to help a fatigued but indefatigable blogger out - email me.

Buy her blockbuster new book, Shackled Warrior, here -

SCHLUSSEL on the Keffiyeh

Debbie Schlussel weighs in on Dunkin spokesperson Ray's offensive garb but KUDOS for Dunkin for doing the right thing: Go here and read it all:

Recently, Pam Geller of Atlas Shrugs broke the story of how Rachael Ray wore a keffiyeh--the jihadist's fave accessory--in a Dunkin' Donuts online ad. As a result of the uproar in the blogosphere, Dunkin' Donuts apologized, saying it was a stylist's mistake and that the ad would no longer run. Pam should be very proud of her excellent work.

MENSCH!

I've written a lot about the keffiyeh and why it is offensive, violent garb, including a recent February column on First Daughter wanna-be Meghan McCain's engagement in that "fashion" offense. The message in that column is not just for Juniorette McCain, but for all of the celebs and pop culturists who adorn themselves with the scarf of death. Because neither Rachael Ray, nor the Dunkin' stylist, nor many others get it, and because several portions of that column have been appropriated (without credit) and repackaged by other parties in the wake of the Dunkin' controversy, I'm reprinting my February 25, 2008 column, "Fashion Tips by Meghan McCain: The Garb of Jihad," below. As I wrote then (and someone else has now reconstituted my statments), it's not just a scarf, just as a white hood is not just a hood.

They steal from the best Deb :)

O-bridge! YES WE SPAN!

Another pathetic attempt by Jewicidals and leftists to elect the imposter-- by his acts we shall know him, by his friends we shall know him, by his advisers we shall know him, and so we know him.

The most divisive Presidential candidate in American history is a "bridge builder". Orwell weeps.

An international action to promote Obama Barak for US president: Obama supporters around the world are doing group photos near a bridge in their city under a caption to the effect that Obama is a bridge builder and we support him.  It's crucial that such a photo be placed in Israel….to counteract the charge that Obama would not be good for Israel.

Organized by the international Democrats abroad association.

(slogan:  YES WE SPAN...)

To see a map with the participating bridges plotted on it, go here

To see the New York Times Political Blog on this story & reader reactions, go here.

To see the spreadsheet listing all the bridges taking part, go here.

Bridges/cities represented so far:

Pont Neuf, Paris

Westminster Bridge, London

Burrard Bridge, Vancouver

Rainbow Bridge, Niagara Falls

Nelson Mandala Bridge, Johannesberg

Bosphorus Bridge, Istanbul

Sant'Angelo Bridge, Rome

Bridge of Sighs, Cambridge UK

Ha'Penny Bridge, Dublin

Magere Brug, Amsterdam

Marienbrucke, Schwedenbrucke, Reichsbruecke,

Aspernbrucke & Zollamtssteg, Vienna

Pont d'Avignon, Avignon, France

Lavardin Bridge, France

Batavia Drawbridge, Jakarta

Ponte Vecchio, Florence

Sidney Harbour Bridge, Australia

Oberbaum Brucke, Berlin

Athpula Bridge, New Delhi

The Grund, Luxembourg

Viaduct of Millau, France

Pont-Vieux, Saint-Affrique, France

Kiev Bridge, Ukraine

Ponte Estaiada Octavio Frias de Oliveira, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Nijubashi Bridge, Japan

Millennium Bridge, London

Nagoya Castle Garden Bridge, Japan

Chennai (Madras)

Bridge on Calle Bailen, Madrid

Bridge, Barcelona

Foot bridge in Gustav Vidgeland Park, Oslo

Charles Bridge, Prague

Mimran footbridge, linking France & Germany (May  24th)

Keizerinnedreefbrug, Park van Tervuren,  Tervuren, Belgium

Marolles/Palaise Justice Bridge, Belgium

Quaibr0・ke and Munsterbr0・ke, Zurich 

OBAMA'S UNCLE JOE

lol!  Over at Red Square:

Obama's Crazy Uncle Surfaces in Moscow

(Particularly fitting seeing as that most of Obama's posters are Soviet inspired.)

CBS News’ Maria Gavrilovic wrote Obama also spoke about his uncle, who was part of the American brigade that helped to liberate Auschwitz. He said the family legend is that, upon returning from war, his uncle spent six months in an attic.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau camp was in Poland. It was liberated Jan. 27, 1945 by the First Ukrainian Front of the Red Army - just as the Western Allies were engaged in the Battle of the Bulge.

Perhaps, it was the Japanese internment camps. Why split hairs? After all he is the Obamessiah.

Last Century's Fashions Tracinski in TIA Daily

There has been a bit of a buzz going around on the blogs recently about the creepy posters being designed for Barack Obama by various volunteer artists and graphic designers—posters which are invariably described, correctly, as recalling old Soviet propaganda posters. The article linked to below gives an overview of the trend, while the Power Line blog provides some of the images, along with the comment that this has "a whiff of the totalitarian."

IRANIAN ENGINEER GUILTY: STEALING SOFTWARE FROM US NUCLEAR PLANT

Sleep fitfully America.

Jury convicts Iranian engineer of accessing computer to use software from US nuclear plant International Herald Tribune

PHOENIX: An engineer from Iran was convicted Tuesday of illegally accessing a protected computer in the United States to use training software he obtained at a former job at a nuclear power plant in Arizona.

The jury deadlocked on two other counts against Mohammad Reza Alavi: stealing protected software and illegally exporting the software in violation of the U.S. trade embargo with Iran. A retrial was set for Aug. 1.

Defense attorney David Laufman said he plans to file a motion asking U.S. District Judge Neil Wake to overturn the guilty verdict.

Puhleeze tell me this lawyer is not Jewish. It's enough to make you puke.

"The government failed to meet its burden of proof on the main charges in this case," Laufman said.

Alavi, 50, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Iran, ran afoul of the law in 2006, prosecutors said. That is when he quit his job at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station west of Phoenix and brought a laptop to Iran containing training software with design schematics and other details of the plant.

Surreal Moment of the Day

Atlas Shrugs on the World Page of the New York Times

That's a first, guys

heh
 

PRISON officer and Jail dog Axed after a Muslim Criminal Complained

The whole friggin country is ... terrorized.

MUSLIM LAG AXES 'ALLAH' JAIL DOG Sun

A PRISON officer and his sniffer dog have been moved after a Muslim inmate complained he had named it Allah.

Chris Langridge, 28, who served at Britain’s top high-security jail, insisted his labrador was called Ali, not Allah – which is the name of Muslims’ God.

But the prisoner – in Belmarsh, South East London, for burglary – made an official complaint and the dog handler was switched to another prison.

One Belmarsh officer said: “This is political correctness gone mad.”

The Category A nick houses some of Britain’s most notorious extremist Muslims, including hook-handed Abu Hamza.

It also has the highest proportion of Muslim prisoners of any jail in Britain.

A source said: “Muslims don’t like dogs and it would have been an insult to their religion if the dog had been called Allah, which is sacred to them.

“It is disgraceful the way the management kow-towed to them despite Chris’s denial.”

Mr Langridge and his dog, who swept Belmarsh for drugs, now work at Swaleside jail on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent.

A Prison Service source said last night: “There is no suggestion that he did call the dog Allah but, on balance, it was thought better to transfer him.”

The Prison Service claimed the move was for “training purposes”.

Big pussy.

"HONOR" KILLING VICTIM WANTED TO LIVE LIKE OTHER GIRLS

‘Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

Honor Killing Victim Wanted to Live Like other German Girls

At age 16, all Morsal Obeidi wanted was to live the way other girls in Germany do. She paid dearly: Obeidi's brother stabbed her 20 times. Her murder has sparked a renewed debate in Germany about the failure of many immigrant families to integrate into Western society.

This is a failure of the West??????????????? This is Islam.

Morsal met with Mohammed, her cousin, on the evening of May 15, a Thursday. They were sitting in a McDonald's restaurant. Morsal had only been back in the city for a few months, after a prolonged visit with relatives in Afghanistan. It was spring in Hamburg. As they ate, Mohammed thought about the plan that he was keeping a secret from Morsal. It seemed harmless enough. Mohammed said later that Ahmad, Morsal's brother, had asked him to bring his sister to the Berliner Tor train station. "He said to me: 'I want you to meet Morsal today. Then walk to the Berliner Tor with her. But don't tell her anything. I just want to talk to her."

It seemed harmless enough.

Morsal and Mohammed arrived at the suburban railway station shortly after 11 p.m. They walked around the corner to a small parking lot next to an apartment building, where they sat down to smoke a cigarette. At 11:20 p.m., Ahmad suddenly appeared out of the darkness. Morsal recognized him -- and froze. Ahmad approached his sister and then, without saying a word, began stabbing her. He stabbed her a few times. "I think he must've taken something first. Drugs. Or maybe he got drunk. I tried to stop him, but he pushed me away," says Mohammed.

Ahmad Obeidi, 23, is a strong, athletic young man. Morsal tried to run away, but she stumbled and fell. Ahmad stood over her and continued to stab her, five times, ten times, still silent as he swung his right arm up and down over his sister's body. He seemed intoxicated. The police counted 20 stab wounds, inflicted with such force that Ahmad would later wear a bandage on his right forearm.

AHMAD SHOULD BE GIVEN THE DEATH SENTENCE. Make honorcide a capital crime - - go here.

Morsal screamed, waking up the residents of the apartment building. Passersby called the police. Ahmad fled to a nearby subway station, and Mohammed followed him. The two cousins boarded a train, where they sat silently across from each other, a killer and his accomplice.

Is it possible to bring shame to barbarians?

Part 2: 'You Are Bringing Shame to the Family'

Morsal attended the Ernst-Henning-Strasse Schule, an elementary and junior high school in Hamburg's Bergedorf neighborhood with students from 18 different countries. In the same neighborhood, near a pedestrian zone, she would often get together with friends after school. It was not a very attractive place to meet but, being in a different neighborhood, it offered Morsal and her friends an opportunity to get away from their families.

Iran: Cleric 'calls all feminists whores and foreign spies'

How the hell do the feminazis, core to the leftist/Islamic alliance,  reconcile shiz like thiz. Unless of course, they agree with the good imam.

Iran: Cleric 'calls all feminists whores and foreign spies' ADNKRONOS

Tehran, 27 May (AKI) - A top Iranian cleric from the northeast, Ayatollah Ahmad Elmalhoda, has reportedly called feminists "whores and foreign spies".

"These whores, clutching a piece of paper in their hands to gather signatures, are working for foreign powers and want to destabilise the Islamic Republic," said Elmalhoda.

Pray G-d help those women, because the liberals certainly won't.

He is the highly influential prayer leader in the northeastern holy Shia city of Mashad.

Elmalhoda has called on the government to "intervene decisively against these whores, because it is improper to leave them to act with impunity."

A few weeks ago, Elmalhoda said women who do not wear the Islamic veil as instructed "turned men into animals."

What were they before they were animals?

Verbal attacks against feminists in Iran are also being accompanied by a vast judicial offensive.

Eight feminists involved in a campaign to gather "a million signatures in favour of equality" were recently given jail terms of various lengths and sentenced to public floggings.

The Iranian authorities have in the last two weeks censured twelve websites close to the feminist movement.

Go Obama, go sanction this malevolence and kiss ah- mahdi butt.

Lappen Reviews BostomInnate Islamic loathing for Jews

Alyssa Lappen in today's World Net Daily reviews Bostom's brilliant tome. I will be covering Bostom at The American Enterprise Institute on Thursday and he will be appearing on my show on June 11th at noon. Atlas never sleeps!

Exposed: Innate Islamic loathing for Jews
Exclusive: Alyssa A. Lappen affirms book reveals naked truth on Muslim anti-Semitism

Particularly since the late, lifelong Muslim Brother, Yasser Arafat, shifted anti-Israel jihad into fifth gear in September 2000, several Middle East and Islamic scholars have repeatedly asserted that 20th and 21st century Islamic anti-Semitism sprang solely from Nazi and European Christian influence.

Even now, Islamophiles like Bernard Lewis preach (as it were) that virulent Jew-hatred is not inherent to Islam – but rather, anti-Semitism migrated to the Middle East with European colonialism. The Quran uses "hard words ... about the Jews," even Lewis admits. Yet under Islamic rule, he claims they were "only rarely subject to persecution" and "their situation was never as bad as in Christendom at its worst. ..."

Dr. Andrew G. Bostom's extensive, scientific and largely unprecedented new book, The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History," definitively disproves such claims. (Full disclosure: I copy-edited several of these first-time English translations, and proofread many chapters.)

Publication of this landmark book informs self-respecting scholars, they can no longer shamelessly blame Christianity as the sole source of anti-Semitism – or more importantly, that Islam does not and never had its own innate brand of loathing for the Jewish people.

Islam detests non-Muslims generally – whom sharia laws institutionally oppress and tax as underclass "dhimmis" – but inveighs especially intense odium against Jews.

Indeed, Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism, a sort of continuum from Bostom's ground-breaking "Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non-Muslims," conclusively proves that profound Islamic hatred for the Jewish people originated with the religion's founder, Muhammad. Moreover, his companions, successor "rightly guided" Caliphs and Islamic jurists over the next 1,400 years maintained that hateful overarching passion.

Bostom's evidence is impossible to ignore, waive off or attribute to anti-Islamic bias. Most of the book's double-columned 766 pages contain primary source material: excerpts from Islamic sacred texts, jurisprudence and historical accounts (by Muslims and non-Muslims alike) across the span of Islamic history.

The opening 171-page review (and 962 citations) breathtakingly maps the roots of Islamic anti-Semitism – within the religion's unique theological and judicial traditions, and its historical record.

This alone should convince even skeptics that Islamic anti-Semitism began in the 7th century.

The Quran refers to Jews as apes and swine (2:65, 7:166, 5:60), themes that were repeatedly exploited in incitements to murder, including a 1066 "anti-Jewish ode containing the line, 'Many a pious Muslim is in awe of the vilest infidel ape.'" Letters from the Cairo Geniza, from up to one millennium ago, further explode "the common assumption" that a unique Islamic strain of anti-Semitism was "absent" at that time (950-1250 C.E.). S.D. Goitein's "A Mediterranean Society" reports two special words coined and much-used in the geniza era to describe Islamic hatred of Jews: "sin'úth, 'hatred,' [and] a Jew-baiter being called sóné, 'a hater.'"

Read it all.

ISLAMIC PROPAGANDA AT REDUCED PRICES!

Stockhom syndrome. Watch the demographics portion of Fitna.

The new version of the Qur’an aims to give police officers more insight into Islam. Expatica

AMSTERDAM - Police officers in Amsterdam are to get a special deal if they buy Dutch writer Kader Abdolah's new translation of the Qur'an. The capital's police authority reckons that the new version, designed to be more accessible to the Dutch public, will give officers more insight into Islam.

It is subsidising police purchases of the book by 50 percent. A police spokesman explained that while many officers have some knowledge of the Bible, the Qur'an is often unknown territory.

Right-wing Party for Freedom (PVV) MPs are outraged by the plan, with Sietse Fritsma calling it "Islamic propaganda" and saying that public money should not be spent on it.

On Tuesday, the PVV will demand the government intervene to scrap the plan.

OBAMA ANXIOUS TO GIVE IT AWAY, GIVE IT AWAY, GIVE IT AWAY NOW

Another indicator that Obama wants to destroy American power. The man is an idiot. hat tip Jan

The Islamisation of Britain Melanie Phillips

Listen to the audio: he wants a fairer 'special relationship'. Download the MP3 File. It runs  roughly 4 minutes.

Barack Obama has called for the "special relationship" between the US and Britain to be "recalibrated" to make it a fairer, more equal partnership, the Guardian has learned.

Senator Obama, who leads the race to be the Democratic candidate for the US presidency, made the remarks in a telephone address to a fundraising event attended by American expatriates in London.

He has long been seen by British officials as the most anglophile of the three remaining presidential candidates, but these latest comments are his first public suggestion that the relationship is unequal and ripe for change. .......

The general opinion among the Obama foreign policy team is that Tony Blair got very little in return for his support of the Iraq invasion, in terms of promoting his agenda for multilateral action on global issues and for a Washington-led push towards forging a settlement to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Prime minister Gordon Brown's foreign policy team agrees with that assessment, arguing Blair put too much emphasis on Britain being a bridge between the US and Europe.

"The trouble with being a bridge is that people walk over you," one senior British official said recently. Brown has previously had close relations with the Clinton camp, but his first meeting with Obama, in Washington last month, was said by both sides to have gone very well.

There is no England!

IRAQ : MCCAIN SAYS OBAMA WILL SURRENDER

McCain - becuase the alternative is suicide. McCain takes it to the mats.
Over at Blogs for McCain hat tip Larwyn

In an interview Sen. John McCain did on Memorial Day, May 26, 2008, he drew a stark contrast between himself and Barack Obama. McCain said Obama favored surrender prior to the amazingly successful "surge" proposed by McCain. McCain declared again he will never surrender.

Gateway had this:

"Senator Obama said the war was lost. Senator Obama said we had to have a specific withdrawal as soon as possible which would have been chaos, genocide, increased Iranian influence; Al-Qaeda restoring much of their strategy; Shiite-Sunni conflicts and we would have to come back."

"We are succeeding. Every indicator showed that the surge strategy has succeeded. Senator Obama was wrong in wanting to surrender. And, I will never surrender."

And this:

Senator McCain had more harsh words yesterday on the Democratic candidate's willingness to surrender and not win in Iraq:

"Senator Obama has consistently offered his judgment on Iraq, and he has been consistently wrong. He said that General Petraeus' new strategy would not reduce sectarian violence, but would worsen it. He was wrong. He said the dynamics in Iraq would not change as a result of the 'surge.' He was wrong. One year ago, he voted to cut off all funds for our forces fighting extremists in Iraq. He was wrong. Sectarian violence has been dramatically reduced, Sunnis in Anbar province and throughout Iraq are cooperating in fighting al Qaeda in Iraq, and Shi'ite extremist militias no longer control Basra -- the Maliki government and its forces do..."

More... Senator McCain also suggested that he and Barack take a trip to Iraq so that he could educate him on the progress there. Via The Wall Street Journal

On Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of McCain’s closest friends, suggested on CBS’ "Face the Nation" that the two travel to Iraq together. Asked about the idea today, McCain said sure.

"Sure it would be fine. I go back every few months because things are changing in Iraq," he told the Associated Press in an interview. "I would also seize that opportunity to educate Sen. Obama along the way."

McCain also used the opportunity to criticize Obama for not visiting Iraq since 2006.

"If there was any other issue before the American people and you hadn’t had anything to do with it in a couple of years, I think the American people would judge that very harshly," McCain said. "He really has no experience or knowledge or judgment about the issue of Iraq."

POST AMERICAN OBAMA

Anti-American Barack Obama is Reading "The Post-American World"

Barack Obama was photographed on the tarmac by Doug Mills of the New York Times with a book in his left hand titled "The Post-American World." Notice, his finger is near the mid-point, obviously saving his page, telling us that he didn't want to fold the page or stick a bookmark in it because he wished to get back to the book as quickly as possible.

Question: Why would a man that desires to be President of the United States read a book about the demise of America?

Could it be because he is anti-American?

Read it all. You won't like what comes after America, I tell ya.

More on the Post American world

UPDATE: Larwyn advises me that the CNN, the Crescent News Network, the author of The Post American World was getting his own show on Sundays at 1 pm on CNN!

SICK!

MISSILE LAUNCH OR MODEL ROCKET FIRED AT CONTINENTAL JET?

Cover up begins. And make sure you read to bottom.....comments from airline pilots.hat tip Bill

FAA: Continental jet has near miss with rocket By Jeremy Desel / 11 News HOUSTON

-- Jet pilots aren’t used to sharing their airspace, so you can bet a rocket will get some attention. Continental Flight 1544 was flying at 5,000 feet about 11 miles east of Bush Intercontinental Airport after takeoff this morning when the pilot called the tower to report an object headed toward the plane. The FAA now says it thinks that object was some kind of model rocket. Both the FAA and the Houston Area Joint Terrorism Task Force continue to investigate the incident that KHOU.com first reported early this afternoon.

Neither said conclusively what the pilot saw was indeed a model rocket, but an FAA spokesperson told 11 News that it was likely a high-powered model rocket. It is a federal crime to launch a rocket of any sort without notifying the FAA.

The plane was at about 5,000 feet at the time of the sighting and the flight continued on to Cleveland. Sources told 11 News that the flight was met by Continental officials and FAA investigators to interview the passengers and crew.

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

Subj: FAA: Continental jet has near miss with rocket | TOP STORIES | KHOU.com | News for Houston, Texas

This was posted on an internal pilot web site:

Missile Shot

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

Just got back from the 5 day Bogata trip. We pulled up the Atis for IAH on the way in and it advised to exercise extreme caution for MANPAD events. Queried dispatch and they were clueless. Center said someone reported a missile launched at or near their a/c 11 miles east of IAH. Did anyone learn what happened or if this is bogus?

=====================================

Just landed from SLC. Theres's nothing on ATIS now & we didn't hear anything about it on the way in. I guess the FAA/NTSB/DOT/FBI/CIA/NSA/KGB/PBS cover up has already begun. The Truth is Out There!

Islam Attacks: al-Qaeda video calls for Nuclear Strike

A religion of peace, my friends. This is the enemy we face. You really want Obama in the White House when the nukes hit the fan? He's a joke. A tool that calls for a summit of Muslim nations to address their grievances? A tool that calls for an unconditional meeting with nuclear mad Ahmadinejad. The stakes could not be higher.

Terrorism: New al-Qaeda video calls for nuclear strike ADNKRONOS hat tip rut

Dubai, 27 May (AKI ) - By Hamza Boccolini - A new video called "Nuclear Terrorism" has been posted on the worldwide web calling for jihadists to use nuclear or chemical weapons to strike the west.

A simple jihadi propaganda video or a dangerous message to a sleeper cell in the west? That is the question raised by the video and no-one has yet claimed responsibility for it.

"Strike civilians in the west without mercy using weapons of mass destruction" is one of the calls made in the 39-minute video.

The question now being asked is whether the video is presenting a coded message or signalling an imminent terrorist attack.

Before the video was posted on the Arab internet forum Ekhlas a banner headline appeared on the website that said: "Pray, pray, Allah is great. America is destroyed by a fatal jihadist nuclear strike."

Clicking on the banner gives the viewer access to a documentary which shows diverse images - from al-Qaeda speeches to western documentaries and other Islamist videos.

The objective appears to be to incite followers of al-Qaeda to use weapons of mass destruction to strike the west, but there may be more to it.

The video opens with two verses of the Koran that emphasise "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth". It then says "Fight them until there is no more persecution and Allah is the only object of worship. If they desist, there will be no hostility, except against those who are dishonest."

Attack those who attack you. Fear Allah and know that Allah is with those who fear Him."

The documentary, filmed in Arabic, begins with images of a documentary distributed in November 2004 by the Italian news network, Rai News 24 entitled, The Hidden Massacre, in which US soldiers allegedly used chemical weapons against Iraqis in the city of Falluja.

It also includes the voice of an Arab jihadist who appears to be giving a lesson to a group of people on the need to conduct attacks against the US and Europe.

"This is called terrorism, but we cannot stop aggression against our countries if we do not use these arms, as Russia and the US did when they were conducting their arms race. If you have them, we must also have them."

Then a voice off camera invites mujahadeen or Muslim fighters to learn how to obtain these weapons of mass destruction and shows a document on the "rules for using weapons of mass destruction against.

REPORTING ON TACTICAL NUKES Gertz file hat tip Michael

The current House version of the fiscal 2009 Defense Authorization bill contains a provision that would require the Pentagon to report annually on the threat posed by tactical nuclear weapons.

The $601 billion bill contains language stating that numerous "nonstrategic" nuclear weapons are deployed by various countries and "their prevalence and portability make them attractive targets for theft and for use by terrorist organizations." "The United States should identify, track, and monitor these weapons as a matter of national security," the bill states, noting that a report should assess the risks of these arms being obtained by rogue states, terrorists and non-state entities.

Ya think?

The measure appears aimed at countering tactical nuclear arms, including so-called "suitcase" nuclear weapons that actually are steamer trunk-sized bombs, developed during the Cold War by both the United States and Soviet Union.

Christopher Carson in Front Page magazine:

Where a nuclear attack once may have been beyond the capacities of stateless terrorists, that is no longer the case. One need only consider Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM), mastermind of 9/11 and chief operating officer of al-Qaeda, who revealed under intensive interrogation -- including the much-maligned tactic of waterboarding -- that a nuclear attack against the United States was a top priority for al-Qaeda.

According to the New York Daily News and its sources, the captive KSM told his interrogators that Osama bin Laden was planning a “nuclear hell storm” in America. Normally such a lurid claim would be disbelieved by our “inside-the-box” intelligence officers, but KSM’s recovered laptop had corroborating details.

UPDATE: Jan shares his powerful observations with us:,

Backpack nukes are real.  They don’t have to be carried by a man.  Just stick on in your car.

A simple nuclear design used two hemispheres of uranium 235 (highly enriched uranium) smashed together by the equivalent of two artillery shells.  It is simple and they don’t even need to be tested.  Israel is reputed to have nukes made with just two kilos (4.4 lbs) of Uranium.  That would be about the size of a baseball.

Suitcase nukes are smaller than steamer trunks.  Here is some information.

This is from the Brookings institute:

For instance, the Davey Crockett XM-388 nuclear artillery shell weighed 76 lbs, was 30” long, 11” in diameter.

The W54 warhead weighed 51 lbs, with an explosive power equal to .01 Kilotons of TNT (10 tons of TNT) to 40 tons of TNT.

More information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W54

Known and theoretical uses.

 The W54 would have fit into the Special Atomic Demolition Munition ("Backpack Nuke") casings.

These small size devices were first intended for use by United States Army ground soldiers in battle, and were in theory small enough to be delivered by a bazooka style firing mechanism. Early known versions could destroy a two block area, with an estimated yield comparable to approximately 10 tons of TNT. Larger versions were later developed with a selectable yield of between 10 and 250 tons. Though small compared to most other nuclear weapons, whose yields are usually measured in the thousands of tons of TNT (kilotons), in human terms they are still extremely large. By comparison, the smallest yield version of the W54 (10 tons) is two to four times as powerful as the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, making the 250 ton version 50 to 100 times as powerful.

Several variations of the W54 are known to exist and they were used in weapons projects by every branch of the U.S. armed forces (except Coast Guard).

The W54 style warhead was known to be used on the M-388 Davy Crockett, a tactical nuclear recoilless rifle projectile that was deployed by the United States during the Cold War.

The W54 is small enough to be deployed as a SADM (Special Atomic Demolition Munition) or so called "Backpack Nuke". It was the closest thing the U.S. is known to have to developed to a so-called "suitcase bomb".

The W54 was tested for use in a U.S. Navy SEALs project that was demonstrated as feasible in the mid-to-late 1960s, designed to attack a harbor or other strategic location that could be accessed from the sea. The SEALs version would be delivered into water by parachute along with a two man team, then floated to the target, set in place and armed by hand.

The United States Air Force also developed a project using the W54, the Hughes Electronics AIM-26 Falcon. This was a larger, more powerful version of the AIM-4 Falcon air-to-air missile. It is notable for being the only U.S. guided air-to-air weapon with a nuclear warhead.

UPDATE: IRAN PURSUING ITS NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM, SAYS UN (!)

 

 

LIVE: CAROLINE GLICK AND ATLAS

Caroline Glick, national treasure, original thinker, indomitable warrior, brilliant bombshell will be my featured guest on Atlas on the Air Today at 12 noon.  Listen live here.

Glick on Obama:

American Jews who vote for Obama are sticking a finger in the eye of the Jewish people. Because, this is a man who surrounds himself with people who are known anti-Semites, who have dedicated their careers to vilifying the Jewish State, to trying to force the U.S. to abandon its alliance with Israel.

And he wants to talk with Ahmadinejad, who’s worse than Hitler in a lot of ways because he is not just resonating in one country, but, you know, throughout an entire region. And, he makes very clear that the Holocaust that he and his cadres in Iran want to enact is not something that’s going to take place over five or six years but over five or six seconds.

And, so, you know, the idea that he would say that he wants to talk to him is crazy. And, to say that, oh he’s going to—somehow or another—be acceptable from, from Israel’s perspective is ridiculous. The only good thing that I can see coming about—out of an Obama presidency for Israel is that perhaps, finally Israel will stop taking its orders from the U.S. State Department because it’s going to be impossible to ignore the fact that they’re hostile.

But as to that, I mean, I think that American Jews—and I understand that still over sixty percent of American Jews claim that they’re going to vote for him if he’s the Democratic nominee for President—, you know, should be ashamed of themselves. And, I think that it’s important for American Jews to be educating their fellow Jews about how dangerous that would be not only for the United States generally, but for American Jews specifically. And, so that’s one of the things that I would do. And, the other thing that I would do is what American Jews are doing and have taken on an increased role in doing since 2000 which is that they’ve been trying more and more to influence the kind of intellectual debates that are going on in college campuses.

We will be talking about Obama, Olmert, and her blockbuster new book, Shackled Warrior, buy it here - be informed. Call in  347 -996-3944.

If you miss this blockbuster hour, you have no one to blame but yourself.

 

 Shackled Warrior: Israel and the Global Jihad , is a collection Glick's brilliant  Jerusalem Post columns from the last five years. You can order here NOW. Caroline will be joining me on Atlas on the Air and if you heard our last show together, you know this is one not to be missed. Wild women.

  The Shackled Warrior
by Caroline Glick

"In eloquent and passionate prose, Caroline Glick examines some of the most important and troubling issues facing Israel and the world. Her message is clear and coherent: Islamic fundamentalism is the greatest challenge facing the West today."
Benjamin Netanyahu
Former Minister of Finance and Former Prime Minister of Israel

"In a world of self-deception and the desire to find false comfort by escaping the challenges facing the free world and Israel, it is important to hear the sober voice of Caroline Glick which reminds us that the real answers to building a secure world are based on values and not in immediate political gratification."

FUTURE GUESTS: DR. ANDREW BOSTOM, JUNE 11th at noon, author of the newly released, ground breaking work, The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitsm

June 18th: James Woolsey, former head of the CIA.
 

UN "PEACE"KEEPERS RAPING 6 YEAR OLDS

This has been going on for years. I have been reporting on it as long as I have been blogging (2005). This is the most depraved breach of trust. We underwrite 22% of this cesspool of criminality. When does someone take control and put an end to the evil of the UN. OUT OF THE UN NOW!

UPDATE: NEW VIDEO ON CHILD ABUSE hat tip Kasper

Six-year-olds sexually abused by UN peacekeepers Telegraph hat tip wolf

By Mike Pflanz in Man, Ivory Coast

Sexual abuse of children as young as six by aid workers and United Nations peacekeepers has continued unchecked despite repeated promises to stamp it out, according to a 12-month investigation. More than half of the children interviewed in three countries, Ivory Coast, South Sudan and Haiti, knew of cases of forced sex with aid staff or peacekeepers.

The assaults were often in return for the very food or protection supposed to be provided to the vulnerable in a crisis.

Jail them fore life!

Similar allegations have dogged UN missions since the organisation sent peacekeepers to Cambodia in the 1990s. However, today's report, from Save The Children, is the first to point the finger at civilian aid staff, including those working for British charities, as well as soldiers.

Its findings suggest a continuing lack of action despite promises to tackle alleged abuse made at a conference of UN officials and aid agencies in December 2006.

Six months after that meeting's stern commitments, 12-year-old "Elizabeth" claimed that she was walking to tend her mother's fields past the camp of a battalion of UN peacekeepers in northwestern Ivory Coast.

"There were men there who called my little brother over and gave him biscuits," she haltingly told The Daily Telegraph last week in a village close to the town of Man.

"I refused to go, but one man came to me and held me by my dress and took me into the bush far from the road. His friends came, there were 10 of them. They held me down and raped me one by one. I could not flee. They were big men.

Afterwards I ran to my village, I was crying all night and vomiting. Even today I have medical problems. I can never forget that thing, it is stuck in my mind and I keep seeing it happen over and over like a film."

Too fearful to leave the security of her village, she has dropped out of school. Even now, almost a year later, she says she freezes with fear whenever she sees a white UN or aid agency vehicle.

Elizabeth's case is not unique among the 341 children interviewed.

A third claimed that they knew of someone in their community who had been sexually attacked by a peacekeeper or an aid worker.

More than half claimed to know of cases where penniless children, some as young as six, were forced into sexual acts in return for money or food.

Heather Kerr, Save The Children's country director in Ivory Coast, said: "Even one prosecution would show that local authorities will act, and that would be a big step forward."

A spokesman for the UN's Department of Peacekeeping Operations in New York said: "The abuse of children by those who are sent to help is a significant and painful issue and one that we have begun to address. We are doing everything we can to train and monitor our civilian staff."

Urbane savages. Doing nothing is as treacherous as the act itself. Arrests should be made at Turtle Bay.

Save The Children itself is not immune. There were 15 allegations of misconduct towards children made against its staff in 2007, three of which were proven and led to dismissal. Oxfam reported 12 allegations of exploitation or abuse in 2007, leading to three staff being sacked.

Related: Atlas Shrugs: UN Sanctioned Heinous Sex Crimes of UN Workers  5/31/2005

Atlas Shrugs: UN Pervs Still Committing Sex Crimes 5/13/06

UN told it ignored years of abuse by peacekeepers 

• UN Peacekeepers in sex abuse scandal

• UN peacekeeper sex abuse still "unacceptably high"

• Rape and Sexual Violence continue

• 150 charges of sexual misconduct some of it abuse of children

• AUSTRALIAN soldiers drew arms to protect themselves from peacekeepers after a discovering ' sexual abuse of East Timorese boys here


• United Nations: A Network of Pedophiles  A French UN worker accused of child rape in Congo says there is an organized network of pedophiles at the UN mission: Explicit Photos Fan U.N. Sex Scandal. UNITED NATIONS —

Boltin John has Bolton called the problem here "one of the greatest stains on U.N. history.

UPDATE: Sex for Food, Oil for Food: Why not?  Its the United Nations. Read it at Chesler Chronicles

 

Haute Hijab

Even non-Muslims indeed. Part of the cultural jihad ............... hat tip Michael

HAUTE HIJABI : SALIMAH

This week’s Haute Hijabi is Salimah, a 23-year-old Muslimah from New Jersey. Salimah is a Muslimah diva when it comes to fashion. And she does a beautiful job of turning runway trends into fabulous hijab styles! (Just check out her colorful Etro-esque outfit above!) Read on to find out more about this lovely Haute Hijabi…

Part of the plan folks. Advancing Islam in every aspect of daily life.

Here's more cultural seduction. hat tip Liam

O-Gaffe Rewrites History on Backs of Auschwitz Jews

This man is beneath contempt. Here's the latest ..... anybody got a hair sample yet?

Obama rewrites WWII history Ace

In one of his more egregious and easily demonstrated lies, made even more so by the day he decided to let it loose on, Obama has rewritten WWII history such that the allies liberated Auschwitz.

...Obama also spoke about his uncle, who was part of the American brigade that helped to liberate Auschwitz...

Auschwitz of course is in Poland. It was liberated by the Red Army on Jan 27 1945. Poland, on most maps is usually placed to the east of Germany, although we may need to investigate the geography textbooks the Messiah used as a child...

The Allies were wrapping up the battle of the bulge in late January of 1945 -- the Rhine crossings were still well into the future when Auschwitz was liberated. The first, the Remagen railway bridge which was discovered intact, was crossed on March 7 1945.

Of course it goes without saying that the media has thus far failed to call the Messiah on this apparently obviously outrageous lie. Unless Obama's "uncle" was serving in the Red Army, its a pretty safe bet he was many hundreds of miles from Auschwitz on its day of liberation.

Add this to his history gaffe about Selma, the Civil Riights era, and his parent's marriage.

Crickets chirping in mainstream media newsrooms.

MORE JEW HATE OUT OF OBAMA CAMP

As Obama half heartedly attempts to assuage the fears of the Jews, his betrayal is obvious. Show me your advisers and I'll show you who you are. This is a disaster.

Obama Advisor Accuses Jews of 'McCarthyism' American Thinker

Ed Lasky

A foreign policy adviser of presidential candidate Barack Obama, Zbigniew Brzezinski, accused members of the American Jewish establishment of "McCarthyism" in its attitude towards critics of Israel. He called the pro-Israel lobby "too powerful" and accused American supporters of Israel as being too ready to use the slur of "anti-Semitism" against critics of Israel.

He also misrepresented the facts, stating that AIPAC, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee has "consistently opposed a two-state solution and a lot of members of Congress have been intimidated and I don't think that is healthy". In fact, AIPAC does indeed support a two state solution. Congressmen Artur Davis (a Democrat) and Eric Cantor ( a Republican) are just two critics who have refuted the allegation that Congress is intimidated or pressured by the "Israel Lobby" . He offered further criticism   

It's not unique to the Jewish community -- but there is a McCarthy-ite tendency among some people in the Jewish community. They operate not by arguing but by slandering, vilifying, demonising.

They very promptly wheel out anti-Semitism. There is an element of paranoia in this inclination to view any serious attempt at a compromised peace as somehow directed against Israel."

Brzezinski has wholeheartedly endorsed Barack Obama for President and was one of the first well known foreign policy experts to do so. Barack Obama has also been very forthright in his praise of Brzezinski as "someone I have learned an immense amount from", and "one of our most outstanding scholars and thinkers".    

American supporters of Israel have expressed concern in the past regarding the involvement of Brzezinski in Barack Obama's campaign  and some have called for the Obama campaign to separate itself from Brzezinski..

He has long been one of Israel's fiercest critics in America. He has also been an outspoken supporter of Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer whose book on the putative "Israel Lobby" has been roundly faulted across the political spectrum for its factual flaws and bias (indeed, a Washington Post op-ed called it "anti-Semitic."). American Thinker was among the first to offer its readers its own analysis of the working paper upon which provided the genesis of the book, written by myself and my colleague Richard Baehr.   

Brzezinski is just one of several experts and advisers who are close to Barack Obama who have concerned American supporters of Israel. Robert Malley was recently forced to separate himself from the campaign due to his pro-Palestinian views.  American Thinker has just been one of many critics of Malley and questioned his role in the campaign. Samantha Power was Obama's top foreign policy adviser. She also was recently forced to "resign" from the campaign and was a fierce critic of Israel who had an array of ideas regarding America's approach towards the Middle East that took a very harsh view of Israel and the American-Israel relationship. She also was critical of American Jews stating that criticism of Barack Obama all involved "what is good for the Jews" .

Obama campaign co-chairman and top military adviser Merrill "Tony" McCpeak has "echoed" the views of Walt and Mearsheimer regarding the influence of American Jews in the foreign policy debate. During an interview he was asked about the source of the failures of the peace process in the Middle East. The interviewer asked McPeak: "So where's the problem? State? White House?"

McPeak replied: "New York City. Miami. We have a large vote -- vote, here in favor of Israel. And no politician wants to run against it."   

As journalist Robert Goldberg wrote in the American Spectator, McPeak also claims that a combination of Jews and Christian Zionists are manipulating U.S. policy in Iraq in dangerous and radical ways: "Let's say that one of your abiding concerns is the security of Israel as opposed to a purely American self-interest, then it would make sense to build a dozen or so bases in Iraq. Let's say you are a born-again Christian and you think that Armageddon and the rapture are about to happen any minute and what you want to do is retrace steps you think are laid out in Revelations, then it makes sense. So there are a number of scenarios here that could lead you in this direction. This is radical...."   

Of course, Pastor Jeremiah Wright-who Barack Obama has called his "moral compass", "sounding board" and "confidant" and whom he has had a twenty-year relationship with-has views towards America, white people, and Israel that are similarly problematic, if not scathing,

American Thinker has been in the forefront of expressing qualms about the candidacy of Barack Obama for President. An increasingly large number of experts, journalists, analysts, media outlets and-most importantly-voters have also called into question the views and readiness of office of Senator Obama. Zbigniew Brzezinski's latest outburst will only further stoke concerns about Obama's views and the problematic views of his closest advisers towards not just Israel, but also American Jews.

It's all bad. Obama is not the American candidate - he is the candidate of the enemy.

WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?

Where's the UN? Where's Amnesty International? All those bogus human rights groups? The world is so full ot it.
Give 'em a state! Billions! Arms! Munitions! Respect of the international communitay!

Palestinian group accuses Hamas, Fatah of abusing human rights Y Net hat tip Davida

Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens' Rights says both factions abuse laws as tools against each other, concerned Hamas takeover of Gaza Strip has led to further regression of civil rights

Human rights conditions have worsened in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank since Hamas took over Gaza last year, a Palestinian rights group said on Tuesday.

The Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens' Rights (PICCR) said rights abuses had increased in both territories after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip following clashes with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ' Fatah faction in June.

"Our report finds that unfortunately because of what happened in Gaza, and the violent confrontation between Fatah and Hamas, grave human rights violations have resulted," PICCR head Mamdouh al-Aker said. "There is a regression in the status of human rights in Gaza and the West Bank," he told Reuters ahead of the release of his group's annual report.

And then there was no England.....

What state of Englishness. There is no Englishness .........a lost and weak people.

The State of Englishness The Brussels Journal

A few days ago (Friday, May 23rd) 18 year-old Ben Smith was stopped, in a routine check by a police officer, while driving his Vauxhall Corsa to his home in Melksham, Wiltshire. The officer found nothing amiss, but noticed an England flag on the parcel shelf (which Mr. Smith used to cover his music system from potential thieves) and ordered him to remove it. According to Smith:

He saw the flag and said it was racist towards immigrants and if I refused to take it down I would get a £30 fine. I laughed because I thought he was joking, but then I realized he was serious so I had to take it down straight away. I thought it was silly – it's my country and I want to show my support for my country.

This is merely the latest in a long line of such “politically correct” discrimination on the part of England’s authorities or its employees. In January 2007, a 27 year old man was ordered by Bedford Council to take down an England flag, that he had hung on the side of his house. In 2006 a fire station was ordered to remove an England flag, because, they were told, it might offend ethnic minorities (despite the local mosque protesting that it did not), and earlier this year a government report revealed that children were routinely punished for wearing clothing bearing the English flag.

But, then, ‘England’ is a subversive idea to a government that wants to hold the United Kingdom (UK) together, to sink it into the homogenizing machine of the European Union (EU). And ‘England’ and English nationalism are anathema to political correctness. We have seen this before, of course. A few decades ago a rising Scottish nationalism was considered a threat to the UK.

To combat this rise, the chief secretary of the Treasury in James Callaghan’s Labour government, Joel Barnett, was asked to devise a system of distributing funds between England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. While this was supposed to be a fair, as well as temporary system, the Barnett formula remains, and, today, means that 8 billion pounds (approximately 16 billion U.S. dollars) are diverted to Scotland every year, giving the Scottish government approximately 1,500 pounds more per person. Wales enjoys a similar financial advantage. Moreover, in 1998 the British government granted devolution to Scotland and Wales, creating a Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly. It did not, however, devolve any powers to England, which remains the only country in Europe without national representation. Consequently, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs are able to vote the House of Commons, on matters that are limited to England, though English MPs have no reciprocal right.

Read it all.