Atlas Shrugs

Trolls of a feather

Love finds Andy Hardy (somebody tell Beck not to give these leftrolls traffic!)

They do look alike .............  :)

In case you missed the Lizard Lounge series:
Part I
Part II
Part III

Glenn Beck Squashes Chuckie Johnson, Beck Bats Wingbat

Glenn Beck took to swatting flies today. Nail, meet coffin.

The Beck takedown -- He destroys n0 johnson .............. the only mistake Beck makes is in calling no johnson a conservative. He is so not.

MISSING THE MARK Glenn Beck hat tip Underzog

There's only one way to affect revolution

The media, of course, has a narrative that they cannot stop spewing.

On Wednesday, 300,000 people (dangerous enough to be suspicious characters to the Department of Homeland Security) gather around America with barely a traffic ticket to show for it.

Thursday, the media — undeterred — is continuing their push that this network, this audience and this host might be responsible for violence that might happen.

This time, they focused their furious google searches on locating conservative critics of me. Guess what? They're not hard to find. I hack off conservatives just as much as liberals. (Well, maybe not quite as much… but a lot.)

Today's Glenn Beck expert: Charles Johnson, a jazz musician, software programmer and writer for the blog "Little Green Footballs."

Johnson says: "I don't know if he's necessarily going to incite violence, but I do think it's irresponsible. It kind of drags down the discourse to a level that I, for one, am not comfortable with."

As evidence of this lowered discourse, he posted a video that supposedly showed a fan of mine yelling "burn the books" at a 9/12 project meeting. Only later, did someone do the two clicks of research that showed she was actually just a liberal there to make fun of the gathering.

That's not really the point. There probably are a couple of stupid people at the meetings. There always will be stupid people saying stupid things. There will always be violent people doing violent things.

But the insinuation that this network is somehow responsible or approving of anything violent is ludicrous and quite honestly a destructive attempt to silence free speech. That's something blogger Charles Johnson should know about, since he's been called an anti-Muslim bigot by most of the same people that unfairly said the same things about me.

We've come to a place where we're not even playing a game of "blame the messenger," it's a game of "blame the messenger who's specifically saying the opposite message."

Stop the ACLU has it too.

That message — for the one trillionth time — is: If you are considering violence against anyone who isn't a pirate off the coast of Somalia, you are not only wrong, you are an enemy of the state and an enemy of freedom and liberty.

The Founding Fathers fought and died for our freedom so that we would have the structure available to achieve change without doing the same.

And you know that: 300,000 people peacefully gathered yesterday and honored our founders. That's why today, instead of an honest critique of the spending of Barack Obama, George W Bush and both sides of the aisle in Congress, you're getting non-stop "tea bag" jokes and accusations.

It's almost like they want to distract you from what's really important.

Thank you, Glenn Beck.

UPDATE: Tundra needs to update the bus. We need an 18 wheeler!

LIZARD LOUNGE: The Prequel.... in the Bunker

A behind the scenes look inside the bunker during this defining moment (hat tip Kasper)

lol

Blog Mole Charles Johnson, Leftist Operative, Attacks the Right again

THE LIZARD LOUNGE: THE SEQUEL

Lizard Lounge Part II ..... the fallout. These boys, uh, auteurs, are on a roll. If you missed the riotous part I - go here. Enjoy!

Behind the scenes: The Lizard Lounge

Lol, this is da bomb. Much thanks to Kasper who found it  .....I don't know the comic genius who created it but I am still laughing.

ALYSSA LAPPEN INTERVIEWS ATLAS: THE MUSLIM WAR ON FREE SPEECH

It's not like World War II. How many people are clued in to the doctrine in the Qur'an? They can expound on it all day long, but have never read it, and still call anyone a racist who cites what's in there. This is not about al Qaeda, or Hamas, or Islamic Jihad, or any of those organizations. They are just changing their underwear. It's all about jihad. Pamela Geller

I am pulling my own quotes. I crossed over to the other side. :)

The exceptional and esteemed journalist Alyssa Lappen did an extensive interview with me over at Right Side News. She conducted it over the past few weeks. It's lengthy but juicy. For the Atlas curious -- it's your cuppa. Go here -- read it all.

The Muslim War on Free Speech
By Alyssa A. Lappen

The U.S. Constitution, ratified on March 4, 1789, forbade treason against the young republic. Article III, section 3 reads:

"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort."

The founding fathers apparently were more concerned with treason than individual rights---since the first ten amendments, establishing individual rights, were neither drafted nor ratified until 1791.

American patriots, whether of Christian or Jewish religious conviction, suffered brutal oppression at the hands of the British and their allies. Their homes were invaded, their property stolen, and their very lives forfeit. Therefore, they naturally cemented life and liberty "for all" into the Constitution's very foundation. Moreover, to maintain that standard the founders realized that all citizens must support equal rights to life and equal liberty for all, without exception.

To put it another way, America's fathers and the Constitution's ratifying states---in both historical sequence and principal---held above everything else, loyalty to the supposition of life and liberty for all. Before all else, the nation's founding idea was that citizens' Constitutionally guaranteed rights were and are not exclusive to some, but deniable to others.

The very first clause of the opening item on the Bill of Rights (the initial ten Constitutional amendments) sets into U.S. law the principal of a federal government free from legislation "respecting an establishment of religion." Americans generally understand that phrase to establish each individual's right to freedom of faith, yet the precise wording mentions no individual rights at all. Rather, it pointedly prohibits U.S. federal laws or regulations that require or in any way institutionalize religious practices.

Now, President Barack Obama advocates a so-called civil rights agenda---to "expand hate crime" statues like the Matthew Shepard Act, named for a student tortured and murdered in 1998 for his sexual orientation.

Yet this insidious legislative turn would raise motive above the importance of criminal acts themselves, and attempt to legislatively control thinking---something time and again proven impossible, always with murderous consequences.

Even "New York Times bestselling" uber-thought cop Glenn Greenwald recognizes the danger. In defense of free speech, Greenwald decries Obama's new policy, albeit from inside a little glass house, while casting obnoxious epithets at journalists with whom he disagrees (totally without basis in fact). One needs only imagine hate-crime "proceedings directed at opinions and groups that one likes," Greenwald correctly observes. "If Muslim groups can trigger government investigations due to commentary they find offensive, so, too, can..." Now, replace Greenwald's stone-throwing and name-calling with whatever you like.

Here's the rub: In the 21^st century, some claiming themselves pious consider their right not to be offended---however they perceive that---more valuable and sacrosanct than all rights of all other Americans. Thwarting every criticism of that faction would simultaneously gut Constitutional rights to life and liberty for all, without exception.

Muslims constitute the "political faction" advocating loudest for "hate crime" statutes. Their intent is to "restrict and punish speech" they dislike, i.e. criticism of Islam and Mohammed, to benefit their global war on free speech. To consolidate gains against free speech in Europe and the United Nations, the Islamic faction is heavily campaigning against North American free speech too.  

Most large North American Muslim organizations hope to globally impose shari'a law, which prohibits "defamation" of Islam and Mohammed. Muslims who leave the faith or "blaspheme" against Islam or Mohammed earn the classical punishment, death---a statute on the books in several Muslim states, and elsewhere, widely enforced by mob rule. Non-Muslims daring to criticize Islam or Mohammed often receive the same punishment, whether in Islamic states or not.

Pakistan's hudud code for example enforces shari'a on all citizens and residents---Muslims and non-Muslims. Iran, Saudi Arabia and Sudan also execute hudud laws---and not on modern whims. Under 7^th century Islamic law, these statutes apply to all mankind. 

The widespread Muslim hope to prosecute shari'a laws globally stems partly from the basic Islamic belief that "all people are Muslims at birth," enshrined for example in Morocco's legal code and Malaysia's constitution, despite the latter's ostensibly secular nature and 40% non-Muslim population. Indeed, everyday Muslims often advocate for global shari'a laws. A Malaysian blogger addresses such a message to "all Non Muslims reading this."

"You must know about the Hudud Laws of Islam as you are also a creation of Allah, no matter that you are today a Kaffir @ an Unbeliever in Allah because you have been born as such

"It is up to you, as a free human being to choose to learn and study about these True Laws of Allah, as a source of knowledge and information about what they truly are and not be misled anymore about them based on what you have read or been fed by those who have an agenda to keep you in the dark about the Truth of Islam as revealed to us by our Lord and Creator." (emphasis in original)

Fortunately, the West has individually sponsored websites too---like Right Side News.

Also fortunately, America has stalwart patriots such as Pamela Geller, editor and publisher of AtlasShrugs.com. Geller considers America's current situation extremely dire. The U.S., she thinks, stands on the edge of a precipice. Like revolutionary-era journalist Thomas Paine, however, Atlas speaks common sense to, and for, common Americans. She too considers America "ultimately unconquerable." And most importantly, unlike Paine, Atlas will never retreat to Europe or anywhere else.

Herewith we begin an interview with Atlas Shrugs founder Pamela Geller, on the evils of Islamic ideology. Right Side News opens this exclusive interview four-part series by investigative journalist Alyssa A. Lappen with a discussion on the worldwide Islamic assault on free speech, now intensifying in North America. Please check Right Side News in coming weeks for the second through fourth parts, covering other important aspects of the Islamic ideological threat.

AAL: What induced you to start a blog, and when? 

Atlas: The blog was born on February 11, 2005. We just had our third birthday. I started it because I'm an individualist. I grew up in a post-historical world, as it were. I assumed my freedom. It was a given. After World War II, the good guys won. It was over.

I noted world events. But apart from being Jewish and supporting Israel because it is a beacon of democracy in modern civilization, I was not involved in politics. I was very ambitions and had a good career. I was the associate publisher at the New York Observer.

Then 9/11 clubbed me. On that day, I lost everything at the very foundation of what I believed. At that moment, I realized that nothing is forever, not even America. I felt very guilty that I did not know anything about who had invaded this country. So what could I do? One reacts to the political scene. But I was politically inactive, and I had a lot to learn. 

Then I went to hear [Islamic scholar] Bat Ye'or speak at Columbia University. After her lecture, I asked  for advice. She told me to learn everything. I started reading, and read all her books. I read everything I could about Islam. The media was not giving us information. And I read the internet---websites, news and blogs on subjects the media wasn't reporting. I began to see that many people were saying what I was thinking.

In a way, I was raised to do this. My mother and father had a very good marriage. They worked hard. My father was a tough guy. He made $60 a day. He was a workaholic. My mother really respected him. Once, we were driving, and he said, "Nothing is for ever." My mother objected, "America is." My father said, "No, not even America." On 9/11, I realized my father was right.

Initially, I did not do the blog. I went to protests. If there was an anti-Ahmadinejad protest, I was there. If there was a Hamas rally and counter-protest against them, I was there. I covered protests; I took videos and recorded them. Now the same rallies are against Jews, in America. Finally, a really smart commentator---I have a lot of respect for him---said, "Start a blog." He said, "Do it," and I did.

I am exactly the same now. I blog exactly the same as when I had 10 readers, and when I had 20,000 readers. My focus is just bigger and broader. It is hard when I go to my computer. There are always another 300 emails. It's not terribly lucrative. But the responses are worth it. Today, I got an email from a woman. Listen to this. She writes, "I found your site by accident. I never realized what a mess we are in. Thank you. My eyes are open. I am passing this on."

AAL: What took so long?

Atlas: I had never thought of blogging. And anyway, I had to learn before I could say anything. I spent about four years. You need to know what you're talking about. It's not like World War II. How many people are clued in to the doctrine in the Qur'an? They can expound on it all day long, but have never read it, and still call anyone a racist who cites what's in there. This is not about al Qaeda, or Hamas, or Islamic Jihad, or any of those organizations. They are just changing their underwear. It's all about jihad.

AAL: Why did you name the blog Atlas Shrugs?

Atlas: I loved the metaphor [Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged]. That was exactly what people were doing. Atlas Shrugging.

There are so many misconceptions about Ayn Rand. She is individualist. Her party is the party of individual rights, the smallest minority in the world. In this story, the world's producers and entrepreneurs, people who make things happen, are so put upon by regulation and government. It is like what's happening now. And the characters give nice names to things, like now, calling it a "Stimulus package" when it's really a socialist package

In the novel, all the producers go on strike. The book is a stunning indictment of statism. It speaks for capitalism. It says, "I will not ask another man to live for my sake."

Ayn Rand was an uncompromising person. In any compromise between good and evil, she understood that evil profits. The bad never comes over to our side. Evil has to be crushed. People do not like to hear that. But it does. Science advances and technology advances. Human nature stays the same.

AAL: Why do you think mainstream newspapers and broadcast media do not cover the influence of the Qur'an, Islamic jurisprudence and theological edicts on Islam's basically totalitarian goals?

Atlas: It is auto censorship and fear. Also, everyone is worried all about insulting Islam. Reporting even the smallest factoid earns an onslaught of charges of bigotry and racism. The net result is that you cannot even call an honor killing an honor killing and not get that kind of charge.

There's a lot more. Read it all.

RISKY ATLAS? FRAUD OR FREEDOM OF SPEECH?

A reader forwarded me this exchange. Does anyone have information on how this is generated? It is jaw dropping, the lengths the bots will go through just to suppress information.

-Forwarded Message Attachment--
From:  XXXXX
To:  XXXXX
Subject: Atlas Shrugs
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2009 06:55:46 -0500

What the ? I got an instant message that this a fraud site from AT & T and if I continue, I do so at my own risk?

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

--Forwarded Message Attachment--
From:  XXXXX
To:  XXXXX
Subject: Atlas Shrugs
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2009 06:55:46 -0500

H,
I don't know if you know about this blog. It is by Pamela Geller, a Jewish woman from New York. She is about my age. She is very good. She has lots of people from all over who send her video and information about things that are going on all over the world. For example, I know who Hugo Chavez is, but I did not know about the anti-semitism that is going on in Venezuela right now. Two and three weeks ago, she had video and photos from every anti-jewish rally from all over. Anyway, this is a good place to get your news that you won't hear or see on TV.
Marlene
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/

Just for knowing, I have been getting a lot of subscribers writing me that their daily updates have stopped coming. And why? The notifications I have been getting from Feedblitz (the subscriber list company) say Reader XXX has unsubscribed from "Atlas Shrugs." The reason is: 08: ISP requested removal.

 "ISP requested removal" WTF?

UPDATE: D'vorah adds:

"Pamela; that's been happening to me also; you surf to website that gives you a warning that if you continue on it will load a virus into your computer.  I don't know how an ISP (Internet Service Provider) for example, Time Warner or RCN, would have the "nerve" to block a site, unless the site actually has been "hacked" and that makes it impossible for others to continue on or continue on despite a scary warning. 

VOTE!

Vote for Atlas here --you can vote every 24 hours, c'mon you know you wanna :)  I am last on the list - last but not least.

JIHADWATCH ATTACKED!

Jihad Watch has been down all day. A major conduit of critical news and analysis is under attack. An attack on Spencer is an attack on free speech.

The site is visible but Spencer cannot update or post.

Robert Spencer sent me the latest from his web host, Hosting Matters:

From Hosting Matters: "The traffic, as noted in one of the earlier replies, is coming from everywhere....Short of blocking out Australia, France, and multiple other countries, or just removing all DNS entries for the site entirely to make it disappear, there is no real way to stop this sort of thing other than by individually blocking the IPs that are making the direct requests, which yes, look to be just traffic directed to make sure the site is either slow/sluggish or not reachable because of the amount of requests. Mixed in with those are no doubt legitimate requests, which is why this is so difficult: we cannot differentiate between good and bad traffic....This traffic started out of nowhere, so I imagine that you wrote something that ticked off somebody."

Ya think?

You can write to Robert at this address, jihadwatchers@yahoo.com, since director@jihadwatch.org is Gone With the Site.

Pamela Geller Grande Conservative Blogress Diva 2009

I am .... forever your girl. I love you guys..... big time. Gino time. Grande Conservative Blogress Diva 2009 - that sounds so hard, so smart, so sexy. I dig it baby

Thank you for voting for moi. The competition for this crown was the best of the blogs (Amy Alkon, The Anchoress, Ann Althouse, Little Miss Attila, Tammy Bruce, Dymphna of Gates of Vienna, Sondra K of Knowledge is Power, Mary Katharine Ham of The Weekly Standard, Rachel Lucas, Michelle Malkin, neo-neo con, Pundita, Debbie Schlussel, Sister Toldjah) - so this is an enormous honor. I have a very silly grin on my face.

I guess I'll have to pull my tiara out of the vault.

- Gay Patriot announced the winner here. My deep thanks to Dan who got a taste of the petty but fierce jealousy we girls elicit from the leftard wing of the asylum. No matter.  We are the bomb no matter what they do.

Pamela Geller
Grande Conservative Blogress Diva 2009       

We are please to announce that Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs, with a total of 3,408 votes (combining the scores of both polls), is the new Grande Conservative Blogress Diva.

We are busy tabulating the totals to determine this year’s runnerup, the first ever Conservative Blogress Regent.

In honor of Claire Boothe Luce, an outspoken and witty conservative women, we are dubbing this trophy, the Boothie.

Right now, we are reviewing the photo finish for runner-up with current results having Tammy Bruce edging out neoneocon by just six votes for Conservative Blogress Diva Regent, more commonly known as the Endora in honor of “staunch Republican,” Agnes Moorehead.

UPDATE:  After consultation with our electoral advisors and given the shift from one poll to another, in a contest this close, we have decided to award the Conservative Blogress Diva Regent title to both blogresses.  As one advisor said, “this isn’t a presidential election here!”  While we can have only one president and one Grande Conservative Blogress Diva at a time, perhaps we can have two regents.

Maybe one could be the Endora and the other the Agnes?  Here’s the trophy which Tammy and neoneocon will share:

OT but related: The free world warrior, Geert Wilders, was chosen to be the Man of the Year by FrontPage Magazine.

He battles for freedom of speech with every cell of his being. Wilders leads the worldwide movement to save the free world and for that lives under constant threat of death. Islam is so tolerant indeed.
Go Geert!

The 2008 Weblog Awards

Hey, the Oscars of the blogs have been announced. It's a mighty big deal and I want to thank any and all who nominated yours truly.

Atlas is a nominee in the "Best Conservative Blog" category. Yeah bbbbbabay.

Atlas readers r da best!

Finalists for The 2008 Weblog Awards have been announced. 

There were over 5,000 nomination for us to sort through and visit, and it was a very difficult task.  When the process pushed the potential voting dates too close to Christmas we made the decision to hold off voting until after the New Year. 

From all of the nominations we have selected nearly 500 finalists in 48 categories.  The full list of finalists is here:

Finalist badges will be available Wednesday.  Voting is scheduled to begin January 5.

_______________________________

Grande Conservative Blogress Diva!

I made the finals of the GayPatriot » Vote for Grande Conservative Blogress Diva 2009.  Ya gotta love that title. Whoever wins ought to engrave that on her blogbiz cards, eh?
Am I a diva? Only my blogreaders know fosho. But only one blogress can be the Grande Conservative Blogress Diva, so go here and vote (as many times as your browser allows).

Anti-Dhimmi Awards etc .... Beaten but unbowed

I may have lost but I was in the most supreme company and while I don't wish to sound like some full of shitnik -- the fact is I was privileged to be nominated. It was a huge deal. I am flattered to be beaten full-on by Steyn and to have run neck-n-neck with the iconic John Bolton.  Wild man Wilders took it for International Anti-Dhimmi and all is right with the world (well, at least our world anyway ...).

More results here

And speaking of Fjordman ......

Over at GoV: If you are voting on the Dhimmi and the Anti-Dhimmi at Jihad Watch, here's Fjordman's advice:

I suggest people vote for either Andrew Bostom or Pamela Geller. Mark Steyn is a good man, but not in the same league as Bostom. Geert Wilders is a strong candidate, with Bat Yeor a close second. As for the dhimmis, I don't have any preferences. They're all bad.

Very cool coming from F.

Speaking of which ..... if you admire and respect Fjordman as much as I do, we owe him an enormous debt of gratitude for educating us on the continuing descent of Eurabia. Here's your chance to repay that debt  or just show him some love.  AND FJORDMAN NEEDS SOME LOVE.

Seriously, Fjordman is a tenacious scholar who devotes he life to bringing us the terrible but unspoken truths of what is really happening in Europe. Here in the States, we ought to pay heed to what he documents, it is the very vision of our future.

Do me a favor. donate to the Fjordman fund. Everbody knows there is little to no money in what we do. It's Christmas, Chanukah, festivus, whatevuh your thang .... do the right thing. Hit his tip jar. And no, he did not inititate this, much thanks to the Baron on that one.

WHO IS YOUR GRANDE CONSERVATIVE BLOGRESS DIVA?

Uh .... moi! So vote for your favorite blogress diva over at the Gay Patriot
GayPatriot » Nominees for Grande Conservative Blogress Diva 2009

Your favorite American anti-dhimmi over at Jihadwatch (A VOTE FOR PAMMIECAKES IS A VOTE FOR YOUR NECK)

and await the nominations for the Weblog Awards....................... I know but hey, it's once a year and Atlas wants her props

NOMINATE THIS!

Hey, and now for a little diversionary fun.Over at Jihadwatch

Nominations are hereby open for the renowned and hotly coveted Jihad Watch annual awards!

Awarded this year as usual will be two raspberries:

1. American Dhimmi of the Year 2008.
2. Dhimmi Internationale of the Year 2008.

These should, of course, be those who behaved during the year 2008 in the most pusillanimous, abject, and/or suicidally, self-servingly stupid ways in the face of Islamic supremacist bullying and intimidation, peaceful or violent.

Then we will honor two heroes:

3. American Anti-Dhimmi of the Year 2008.
4. Anti-Dhimmi Internationale of the Year 2008.

I encourage you to search through the archives here -- on both the Jihad Watch and Dhimmi Watch sides -- and you will find many, many worthy candidates for both honor and dishonor

GO here and nominate! (I did)

UPDATE: Folks are nominating Atlas. OMG. I consider these awards bigger, more important and more legitimate than the Pulitzers. Emmis.

Jihadwatch is down

sigh

"SANDBOXED"/ BLACKLISTED BY GOOGLE

How does Atlas grow? Google search is one critically important way. People find Atlas when they do a word search in google ie "Obama birth certificate", "Obama odinga", "honor killings", "Obama campaign finance fraud"  - stories that I broke or did groundbreaking work on and Atlas is usually in the top five of the search results. That's how folks find my work and generally I keep 15-20% of them as return readers. Regular Atlas readers know the media refuses to cover these stories - building readership is the only way to boost awareness in this increasingly dangerous world.

A couple of days ago I was wiped off google search pages. Yes, if you google Pamela Geller or Atlas Shrugs, I come up, that is not the issue. My work is not there, it does not come up in google's search results. It is critical to building Atlas that I be searchable.Youtube searches are still intact as are images.

Further my google search box (left sidebar) which I use almost constantly to search my site for reasearch (as do my readers) has been dramtically affaected. Input any term, any word in my search box and the same thing comes up - FORBIDDEN.

I have had to hire a separate security/consulting firm to get me back online. It is costly.  I need your help. Anything you could contribute to help offset the cost - it's a lot of hours would be greatly appreciated.

You can paypal my email address writeatlas@aol.com - go here to paypal.

Or write me offline if you wish to send a check.

UPDATE: And my google ads, which used to throw off a few bucks a day, generate nothing now. Nada. Zilch. Zero.

I juat want to be Atlas again in the googlesphere

I earned it.

THE GOOGLE OBAMA CONNECTION:

Owen Thomas, editor of the Silicon Valley gossip blog Valleywag, has penned a reasoned argument as to how Google is winning political influence in the wake of this month's presidential election. In the column he wrote, he takes a sharp-tongued look at how CEO Eric Schmidt appears to be trying to win and use influence in the new Washington.

Schmidt is savvy enough to realize that YouTube's growing prominence as a media outlet could help the company become a larger political player -- which is why the site sponsored two campaign debates. Traffic? Come on. YouTube hardly needs the help.

Thomas concludes:

In that light, isn't there something that stinks about handing the president's weekly addresses to a single commercial outlet controlled by a political ally of the president? Obama's YouTube chats amount to a large, unspoken, behind-the-scenes government kickback. Every election has something dirty about it. And there's no question Google won this contest.

UPDATE: Google CEO Could Be Obama's Tech Advisor

Rumor has it that Google CEO Eric Schmidt will be occupying the newly-formed tech advisor position to the president of the United States. Barack Obama created this position just shortly before visiting the Google headquarters during his campaign, and some believe that the reason this happened was because the job was promised to Schmidt.

The head of Google endorsed the Democratic candidate throughout the elections, though the ads the company posted on various sites were mostly Republican. However, Google employees donated far more to Obama's campaign than they did for John McCain – about $487,355, and $20,600 respectively, as estimated by the Wall Street Journal.

Me thinks it was the birth certificate story .... I broke it. I have the forensics.

Remember this back in June? Atlas Shrugs: GOOGLE SHUTS DOWN ANTI-OBAMA SITES

UPDATE 2:23pm: Jan did a little investigating:

How is this one for lies?

Policies and Principles: Google and censorship

It is Google's policy not to censor search results. However, in response to local laws, regulations, or policies, we may do so. When we remove search results for these reasons, we display a notice on our search results pages. Please note: For some older removals (before March 2005), we may not show a notice at this time.

UPDATE: Mike in Texas pointed me to Google Ranking Diagnostics

Website Diagnostics panel
Helping you self-diagnose your website

Please note that this page is using NOINDEX, NOARCHIVE, NOFOLLOW to prevent it from being indexed.
Check URL: atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/ -
what to look for

Uh, please note I am indexed, and I am archived.

Banned from Google
Penalized by Google

UPDATE: From reader Mairi:

After checking the online support site, I found out there is NO WAY to access information on WHY a site has been deemed "Forbidden" or HOW to get the problem corrected.

     I phoned google again. The young "no named" woman stated that NO PERSON handles the problem, and NO ONE would take my call. When I told her I had been to the support site, and there was NO WAY to get info or support there, she stated that was my ONLY option.

     The rest of the conversation was something like this:
Me: Someone had to have made a conscious decision to label the info on the Atlas site "Forbidden"
She: I don't know who that person would be, I cannot release any "name" information, and if there is no support online, than there is no support, we don't do "tech" support, and there is no one I can transfer you to who does "tech" support.
Me: Someone made the decision to label the site info "Forbidden", who do I contact to straighten this out?
She: I cannot give you any other information. I don't have any one to transfer you to. Me: So if a site has been labeled "Forbidden", then that decision has been handed down, and there is nothing else that can be done?
She: I would guess so.
Me: google STINKS! Mairi

UPDATE: Have a look at my google earnings for November:

Totals	582,541	1,503			$262.67
Date	Page impressions	Clicks	Page CTR	Page eCPM [?]	Earnings
Saturday, November 1, 2008	25,411	60	0.24%	$0.81	$20.59
Sunday, November 2, 2008	28,109	57	0.20%	$0.53	$14.79
Monday, November 3, 2008	41,367	90	0.22%	$0.67	$27.80
Tuesday, November 4, 2008	42,606	52	0.12%	$0.26	$11.25
Wednesday, November 5, 2008	47,634	47	0.10%	$0.27	$12.96
Thursday, November 6, 2008	36,408	53	0.15%	$0.32	$11.63
Friday, November 7, 2008	32,684	49	0.15%	$0.34	$11.03
Saturday, November 8, 2008	27,604	33	0.12%	$0.35	$9.65
Sunday, November 9, 2008	30,147	66	0.22%	$0.43	$13.10
Monday, November 10, 2008	36,732	103	0.28%	$0.36	$13.24
Tuesday, November 11, 2008	31,011	129	0.42%	$0.58	$17.95
Wednesday, November 12, 2008	28,618	118	0.41%	$0.68	$19.38
Thursday, November 13, 2008	34,782	139	0.40%	$0.36	$12.65
Friday, November 14, 2008	30,009	128	0.43%	$0.51	$15.41
Saturday, November 15, 2008	20,087	93	0.46%	$0.49	$9.79
Sunday, November 16, 2008	20,132	91	0.45%	$0.44	$8.91
Monday, November 17, 2008	25,438	76	0.30%	$0.48	$12.23
Tuesday, November 18, 2008	25,990	74	0.28%	$0.29	$7.54
Wednesday, November 19, 2008	17,692	45	0.25%	$0.72	$12.75
Thursday, November 20, 2008	13	0	0.00%	$0.03	$0.00
Friday, November 21, 2008	17	0	0.00%	$0.00	$0.00
Saturday, November 22, 2008	16	0	0.00%	$0.01	$0.00
Sunday, November 23, 2008	9	0	0.00%	$0.00	$0.00
Monday, November 24, 2008	9	0	0.00%	$0.00	$0.00
Tuesday, November 25, 2008	14	0	0.00%	$0.00	$0.00
Wednesday, November 26, 2008	2	0	0.00%	$0.00	$0.00
Totals	582,541	1,503			$262.67
Averages	22,405	57	0.26%	$0.45	$10.10

UPDATE: Reader TGH posted this -- until it's censored?

UPDATE: Boycott Google

Nominate this!

It's that time again - show Atlas some love

You will be missed

You will be missed, dear friend ..... don't make too much trouble in whatever you have lined up next.

NEW WIKIO RANKINGS

This is the top 50 in the Political blog category. Atlas ranks 36  - DOUBLE CHAI! You get to see it first - the new rankings go live on Monday.

Please note that the October rankings are the result of important changes in our algorythm Wikio Blog. Here are the main modifications :

The position of a blog in their rankings still depends on the number and weight of the incoming links from other blogs or media sites, however, from now on, they count links from the last 9 months (120 days before) with a progressive enfeeblement. It means that September's links count as 1, August ones count as 1 – 1/9th , July ones count as 1 - 2/9th and so on.

Another newness rest on a huge cleaning up in our index to better fight against spam, to limit links exchanges, to penalize none active blogs...

1	The Huffington Post		=
2	The Corner		=
3	Political Punch		+
4	Think Progress		-
5	The Caucus - New York Times blog		-
6	Political Radar - ABC Blog		+
7	The Daily Dish		-
8	Michelle Malkin		-
9	Political Ticker - CNN		+
10	Talking Points Memo		+
11	NewsBusters		-
12	Crooks and Liars		-
13	Swampland		+
14	Firedoglake		=
15	Power Line		-
16	Washington Wire - WSJ.com		+
17	The Plank		-
18	Political Animal		-
19	The Liberal Blog Network		-
20	AMERICAblog		-
21	Redstate - Conservative News and Community		+
22	Daily Kos		-
23	Eschaton		+
24	TalkLeft		-
25	Political Intelligence		-
26	Obama HQ		-
27	The Blog		+
28	Balloon Juice		-
29	Marginal Revolution		+
30	The Volokh Conspiracy		+
31	The Jawa Report		+
32	Lynn Sweet		+
33	MyDD		-
34	Political Wire		+
35	Stop the ACLU		-
36	Atlas Shrugs		+
37	Outside the Beltway		-
38	Hullabaloo		-
39	The Hotline on Call		-
40	Michael Goldfarb - The Blog - The Weekly Standard		-
41	TIME - The Real Clear Politics Blog		+
42	Ross Douthat		+
43	JustOneMinute		+
44	Patterico's Pontifications		-
45	Confederate Yankee		+
46	Oliver Willis		+
47	Jihad Watch		-
48	FP Passport		-
49	Reason Magazine - Hit & Run		+
50	JammieWearingFool		+

EMAIL CHANGE

Atlas readers -- new email address. So if you've emailed me  at the old AtlasShrugs2000 I can't get it -- new address writeatlas@aol.com

UPDATE: For those dear, sweet, Great American souls that contribute to atlas - please use the new writeatlas@aol.com email address over at Paypal.

FRONT PAGE IN THE NETHERLANDS

How cool is this? I can't read a word of it but I love it. yeah baby. The party of Freedom.

He was on Glenn Beck .... if you missed it watch it here. "

"You have almost lost Europe. I think it's one minute to 12:00."

Here's my interview this past Thursday with Geert Wilders.

A note to readers

I am working with typepad to speed load on Atlas. We are trying something different effective today. PLEASE let me know if the load time for you has changed for the better.

Don't be shy.

Guest blogging at Right Wing News

Over here .........thanks John.

Blogger Breaks the Mainstream Media's Wall of Silence

My friend Larry is in Time magazine. heh. Finally, the lamestream media, in its libtarded fog, did a piece on my source in Indonesia. I picked up Lary's intel on Obama in Indonesia  back in 2007 and have been running his original reportage for 18 months. And Jerome Corsi used all of Larry's work in his blockbuster bestseller, Obamanation.

"The Blogger Behind the Obama Hit Job" American Expat in Southeast Asia

It is one thing to be called "The Blogger Behind the Obama Hit Job" and quite another to be referred to as a "less-than-authoritative source". Needless to say, it naturally begs the question - Who would be an authoritative source? For much of America's mainstream media, the answer is of course themselves. But alas the times they are a changing.

On to the rebuttal.

"The first mention of Martin's blog comes on Page 52 of Obama Nation, when it is cited as the source for Corsi's assertion that when Obama's Muslim stepfather registered him at a Catholic school in Indonesia, Obama's religion was recorded as "Islam." No one disputes that."

Actually, the Obama camp and America's mainstream media has been disputing this from the very first day it was reported on this blog.

"In fact, Martin is not the only one who reported the information; on Jan. 25, 2007, the same day that Martin posted it on his blog, the Associated Press reported the same information, from the Fransiskus Assisi Catholic school, and ran a photograph of the document."

Actually, the post Time magazine is referring to was posted here on the 24th of January 2007 and not the 25th. And not to split hairs or anything, but don't forget that over here in Southeast Asia we are a day ahead of you guys back in America. (International Date Line). That would make my posting actually 2 days prior to the Associated Press report.

"Although Lolo Soetero, Obama's stepfather, was nominally a Muslim, Obama (then known as Barry Soetoro), studied Catholic catechism at the school."

Nope false. Obama never studied "Catholic catechism" at school, he studied Islam.

"What was Martin's source for his repeated insistence that Obama's former school requires students to dress in traditional Muslim attire on Fridays? "I've lived [in Southeast Asia] for 20 years; I go to schools all the time," he says. However, he admits that he never visited Obama's former school on a Friday."

Martin's source is... Martin himself. Did you think I was going to use CNN as a source?

Having spent almost my entire adult life in Southeast Asia, I think I might have an idea of what goes on in the schools here and believe it or not, but after 20 years I don't need a weatherman to tell me which way the wind blows.

Obama and the Audacity of CNN

"In a 2007 post, Martin also claims that the Indonesian title of Obama's book The Audacity of Hope — Menerjang Harapan — means "Jihad." This, says Martin, is what Indonesians see when they encounter Obama's book. However, his translation is a distortion of the Indonesian phrase, which in English is literally "To Challenge Hope."'

"Menerjang Harapan" is not an Indonesian phrase nor is it a distortion. It is two Indonesian words that are never used together. Google it (the two words together) and the only references you will find will be Barack Obama's own self-serving book.

In the context the words are used it leaves the actual meaning open to ambiguous interpretation, kind of like poetry if you will. As I stated and as many of the comments have conceded, the translation is incorrect and done in such a way as to excite the Indonesians. How exactly it excites the Indonesians is the only area of contention.

It is the truth that always prevails.

Read it all.

Little Atlas Big Media :)

The Wall Street Journal  - on my Gaza story although their headline is wrong  (hat tip Laura)

The New York Sun  on the shutdown of Anti-Obama bloggers  here and here (hat tip Rick Richman)

UPDATE: On Drudge!Anti-Obama bloggers Say They were Silenced

Shariah Finance Watch is Back

Allyson Rowen Taylor of Sharia Finance Watch is back and running. If you recall, her blog was deleted (I posted about it here).

Allyson wrote me this:

We have left our old domain as we felt we need a place that we could openly express and post the issues that are important to the fight against Shariah Finance while educating the public about shariah at the same time.  It's simply a move to a permanent, more protected location, in the same home with Andy Bostom and Alyssa Lappen.  Other blogs may want to move at this time, to locations where they can protect themselves from possible censorship in the event of "O" winning the election and the censorship laws that may follow. This was a real concern for us and we felt that this was the right time, to move on.

We had serious problems with the export and import, and  it took several attempts and the xml file that had to be broken into pieces. We are finally up at our new home, www.shariahfinancewatch.org, and looking forward to sharing, communicating and educating our readers, and working with fellow bloggers against Shariah.

www.Sharianfinancewatch.org blog is a project of the Center for Security Policy's project to educate the public about the risks of Shariah-Compliant Finance, and please ckeck our newsletter and register to receive updates on Shariah Compliant and Terror Finance. AND to top it off, we will be introducing  the stopshariahnow.org website, which will re-launch with new content in September 2008!

She has created a new blog and it's up and running here.

If your site is not loading

I got a ton of email from folks who couldn't get Atlas on internet explorer -lots of "internet explorer cannot open this site" error msgs.  I get it at your site along w/ many others (eg. JihadWatch, Gates of Viennaetc.  So, I went thru all my sites and it looks like this may be the problem as described by RedState

IF YOUR BLOG IS NOT LOADING IN INTERNET EXPLORER, DISABLE SITEMETER.

IF YOU HAVE SITEMETER ON YOUR BLOG, IT WILL NOT CURRENTLY LOAD IN INTERNET EXPLORER.

Posted by: Moe Lane

Friday, August 1, 2008 at 08:57PM

1 Comment

Sorry to shout, but I wanted to get your attention.

Don't thank me. Thank Apples of Gold, the blog that told me what was wrong. Thank Neil, too, for fixing this.

Thanks!

Mensch!

The Goddess Links!

u da best. Love that girl :)

Bloggers who Weekend in New York :)

Coffeetime! John Hawkins over at Right Wing News came into Gotham. He was invited by  NHK, which is a Japanese public television network, who in touch with him and invited him to participate in a panel on nuclear weapons issues in New York (more here).

John invited Karol (of Alarming News) and I met him for some comfort at the The Comfort Coffee shop. Coffeetime!

It's lovely when cyber reltionships are given flesh and bone and snarky conversation. John blogged about here and he has some great shots (particularly the one in front of the retarded gun in front of the UN. His post "Weekend in New York" is a cheeky read.

Karol is delicious. Smart, witty and knows her shiz. Atlas loves that. And John? The blogger's motherboard. He hooked me with Coleman who saved my ass on the Islamist "rabbi" lawsuit and urged me to submit an app to the RNC for the convention. And I was selected ..... tip of the old hat to John.

The next day, I headed over to a local diner for lunch with my buddies, Karol Sheinin from Alarming News and Pamela Geller from Atlas Shrugs.

Karol is very sweet and laid back and Pamela is, as you'd guess from her Vlogs, a bundle of energy. As Karol said, you can practically feel her when she walks into a room.

After we ate, we took a little mini-tour of a few nearby landmarks. We walked over to the Chrysler building, headed into the stunning lobby of the New York Globe, and then Pamela and I (Karol had to split) beat feet over to the United Nations where we took a pic in front of some anti-gun artwork.

Later that night, NHK scooped up all the panelists, took us to an Italian restaurant, and then we bounced over to the Reuters Studios in Times Square to film.

Occupational Hazards

Marked Manner found this nasty shiz from those shiny, happy people.

Spencer vs Auster: Smoke out the Imposters, I say

Ugh ..... more of the right eating their own. Not sure if you've seen Auster's latest attack on Robert Spencer but I find it curiouser and curiouser. The counter jihad movement is too small, too important and too put upon to continually besmirch those who claim to understand Islam and its malevolent ends. These attacks  "from the right"  infect those with limited knowledge of such things on our side of the ideological fence. Auster does not speak for me and I don't read him. The little I have come across suggests ....a false premise (at best):

"On one hand, I can see this statement as coming from a consciousness that modern liberalism is so evil that anything, including Islam, would be better than it. Islam is not evil exactly; Islam is like a predator that you know will kill you and you have to protect yourself from it, but you don't hate it because it's simply its nature to be a predator, whereas modern liberalism is truly evil."  (Auster here)

Making fallacious statements  about what Spencer writes or says and then drawing conclusions about his character and judgment based on those false claims is malevolent. (!) Anybody that reads Spencer, and I know many Atlas readers do, know Spencer does not favor Muslim immigration  and certainly does not sit idly by waiting for Islam to reform. NUTS!

Why does Auster go after Spencer like a pit bull? Why? Why did Johnson go after the counter jihad movement like a pit bull? Why? When did he ever engage in such personal attacks?

Or ever engage in the comment section -- and so incessantly?

Why does he still go out of his way to destroy and malign those in the counter jihad movement?

Why? Why did D'souza go after Spencer like a pit bull?

Fjordman does not agree with me in lumping Johnson and Auster together. He comments here at Atlas  on the vicious smear campaign Auster seems to gleefully engage in.

Fjordman writes:

Blogger Lawrence Auster, who is widely read in the politically incorrect blogosphere, has repeatedly attacked Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch. I believe in fairness, and that should extend to Auster, too. You cannot criticize the ideas of Little Green Footballs because they don't have any, at least not well-articulated ones. Charles Johnson almost never writes anything longer than two paragraphs. When Mr. Johnson says that we should not cooperate with "Fascists," he never defines exactly what a "Fascist" is, at least partly because he's not smart enough to do so.

 

If he did, he would find that Islam is Fascism, in every meaningful sense of the word, and that Bush' policy of promoting a "moderate Islam" in Iraq, which LGF has always supported, is almost exactly like supporting a "moderate Nazism" during WW2. It's a fraud, and the entire "democracy to Iraq" project has made a mockery out of the three thousand Americans who were murdered by Islamic Jihadists on September 11th 2001. The only thing it has achieved, apart from bleeding American taxpayers financially and American soldiers literally, is sponsoring the ethnic cleansing of non-Muslims in Iraq while the Islamization of Western countries is accelerating and the mullahs in Iran are building nuclear weapons.

 

The Muslim Brotherhood, which US authorities (and many other Western countries) are now "talking to," is a Fascist organization. There's a reason why its founder Hassan al-Banna admired Hitler, next to Muhammad. In Europe, the deliberate anti-democratic ideology embodied in the European Union corresponds a lot closer to totalitarian ideologies than anything I have ever seen by the Vlaams Belang. Hearing the pro-Islamic EU oligarchs and their counterparts on a national level denounce their opponents as "extremists" and "Fascists" is like hearing Joseph Goebbels call Winston Churchill an "extremist" and get away with it.

 

In this respect, Lawrence Auster is very different. Whereas LGF is a link blog which produces virtually no ideas of its own, Auster debates ideas. He questions every assumption of the ruling ideologies, and he does so under his own name, which takes guts to do. He deserves credit for that. The problem with the Western world today, and the reason why we have an Islamic threat in the first place, is too much ideological censorship and conformism. In such a situation, I can definitely see the value in having a website such as Auster's, which is contrarian as a matter of principle and leaves no ideological stone unturned.

 

That does not mean that he should not receive criticism when that is called for. I have been annoyed for some time with his repeated attacks on other anti-Jihadists, especially Robert Spencer. Among the more absurd examples, Auster made a post stating that Spencer's use of the word "Qur'an" instead of the more Western spelling, "Koran," proved that he was giving in to political correctness. I tried to point out that although I usually employ the spelling "Koran" myself, "Qur'an" is strictly speaking the correct transliteration. The fact that Spencer uses the formally correct spelling only demonstrates that he wants to be as accurate as possible in his representation of Islam, so that he cannot be criticized for inaccuracies later. Auster didn't understand this. He is also repetitative with his attacks against Melanie Phillips. I listened to
her during a conference this spring, and found her to be one of the best speakers there.

It is legitimate to include some criticism of anti-Jihadists who still believe in a moderate Islam. I like Daniel Pipes, but his understanding of this particular issue is flawed. Auster's charges against Robert Spencer, however, are unwarranted and uncalled for, both for ethical and strategic reasons. For ethical reasons because they target Spencer's character with unjustified criticism. Spencer receives death threats regularly for his work and clearly does not deserve to be derided as an appeaser of political correctness for this. I would go as far as claiming that this is immoral, which is strange given the fact that it comes from a man who frequently - and in many cases correctly - laments the lack of basic morality in the Western world.

 

It is also stupid. Robert Spencer has never claimed that there is such a thing as a moderate Islam. I consider it one of my primary objectives to kill the myth of a moderate Islam, and I still publish at Jihad Watch. I would never have done that if I believed the blog owner supported this myth. In fact, Spencer has done more to expose this idea than any other individual I can think of, and Jihad Watch is more mainstream and international than any other website on the Internet which rejects the concept of a moderate Islam.

 

The fact that Robert Spencer can pull this off, and still remain an important figure whose books end up on the bestseller list, which is definitely not the case with Auster, is a great achievement that can only be attributed to Spencer's personal skills in popularizing what he knows. There are extremely few individuals out there who possess a similar combination of scholarly knowledge, personal courage, dedication and explanatory skills, and we desperately need the ones we have.

 

The fight against the resurgent global Islamic Jihad is one of the most important ones of our time, and killing the myth of a moderate Islam is an absolutely essential component of that struggle. In this situation, it is strange that a person who champions himself as an anti-Jihadist attacks one of the individuals who has done the most to achieve this goal.

 

The repeated attacks Lawrence Auster has launched against Robert Spencer and Jihad Watch at his blog are not only unfair, they undermine what should be one of the primary objectives of the entire counter-Jihad movement, and they need to stop. If Mr. Auster wants to have a website with a different profile that's OK, but he should realize that Spencer is taken seriously by many people who will never take Auster seriously and leave it at that.

Conservative Swede weighed in as well here: Auster's tone deaf attack on Robert Spencer

UPDATE: Also, don't miss: PAMELA AND FJORDMAN WEIGH IN ON AUSTER (a lot of the back story is there as well)

UPDATE: The man has class:

But there is a serious point to be made in all this. This man spending an astonishing amount of time savaging me when there are people with far greater reach and influence than I who have far greater differences with him than I do (although one of our principal disagreements, that I do not believe the anti-jihad resistance is or should be a racial issue, has not come up at all in this silly exchange). Those who are aware of the problem of jihad need to put aside what differences we may have and stand together -- Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, whatever -- and fight against the jihad and Islamic supremacism, or it will surely triumph. That unity is farther off, and more needed, than ever.

Mensch!

 

Lucky 7!

Wow ..... this is HUGE. Banner week here at ATLAS. Check this out now. Top 100 Female Bloggers. Hubba hubba.

 

US HEZBO MUSLIM TO BLOGGER: "HEY WHITE BTICH JEW.FUCK YOU.HEZBOLAAH IS AWSOME.WE WILL NEVER DIE BITCH.WERE GONNA BLOW YOU UP"

Imagine if an infidel wrote such a thing to CAIR or MAS or Keith Ellison? A healthy fear of of Isalmic terror aka islamophobia is "hate speech" but death threats against Jews and truth tellers ... slap on the wrist. Unbelievable. And you just know the leftards gleefully root for these enemies in our midst.

Dearborn Muslim Hezbo Pleads Guilty in to Sending Schlussel Anti-Semitic Death/Rape Threats; HOW YOU CAN HELP

Abdallah, a Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah supporter--and apparently, Hezbollah member--from Dearbornistan, didn't like my writing about the many Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah supporters in Dearborn. And so he decided to settle things the way the Islamic world settles 'em: threatening to rape and kill me. A refresher on what he sent me (you'll notice the important/offensive subject lines were left out of the plea agreement for some inexplicable reason):

--- michael b mikeb1968@hotmail.com wrote:

From: "michael b" mikeb1968@hotmail.com
To: dschlussel@yahoo.com
Subject: YES I LOVE HEZBOLLAH...AND FUCK YOU..
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2006 19:34:47 -0400

HEY WHITE BTICH JEW.FUCK YOU.HEZBOLAAH IS AWSOME.WE WILL NEVER DIE BITCH.WERE GONNA BLOW YOU UP.

*** --- michael b mikeb1968@hotmail.com wrote:

From: "michael b" mikeb1968@hotmail.com
To: dschlussel@yahoo.com
Subject: HEY WANNA SUCK MY ARAB COCK??
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2006 19:35:33 -0400

FUCK YOU AND YOU WILL SOON BE RAPED AND WILL DIE.

But Mr. Abdallah got off easy. Unlike non-Muslims who send far more benign e-mails to Muslims, Mr. Abdallah was offered a very lax deal: He gets to plead guilty to a misdemeanor, rather than the multiple felonies he should get and would get if he weren't a member of the protected and favored "Religion of Peace (and Rape and Death threats)". A felony would have been important because it would be the only thing keeping this Hezbo from legally owning and possessing firearms. But why protect Americans from this Islamic criminal, when we can help him out in his mission?

And because then-U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy III a/k/a "Abu Porno" (now a Bush appointed federal judge) refused to prosecute Mr. Abdallah or any of those who sent death threats to me--and only prosecuted those who sent e-mails to Muslims rather than vice versa, your tax dollars had to pay to fly in federal prosecutors from the Justice Department's Office of Civil Rights to handle the case. I hope you are as disgusted as I am by this waste of federal tax dollars because a local Islamofascist butt-kisser (now a Bush judge) refused to do his job.

I've written about the double standard--the far lower standard of "justice" I got against Robert Mustaq John and what I had to go through to get him prosecuted by the Feds, versus their drooling over and leaping to far tamer cases of "hate crimes" "against" Muslims. Read about what I went through here and here. And I wrote about airheaded liberal Magistrate Joan Azrack, who didn't follow federal sentencing guidelines and was soft on this pan-terrorist.

Oh, and don't look for this to get the coverage in the mainstream media that federal indictments of two men--who sent more benign e-mails to an extremist Hezbo Muslim Imam--got. The feds charged those men were charged with felonies, and it was all over Detroit and national mainstream media.

A note about the plea agreement: Not that it would justify a thing, but Mohamad Fouad Abdallah never wrote in his death and rape threat e-mails why he was sending them or that they were in reference to a specific post I wrote. The plea agreement claims it was something I wrote about "two Arab men," but clearly, he was responding to what I wrote about the Hezbollah supporters and agents here in the greater Detroitistan area.

Mr. Abdallah stands to serve a year in prison and pay a $30,000 fine (the maximum is $100,000). I need your help in getting this Hezbollah sympathizer and death/rape threat purveyor sentenced to that year. Even though it is the minimum sentence, according to federal sentencing guidelines, you never know what judges will do.

* HOW YOU CAN HELP

Go here and help.

DEATH TO BLOGGERS IN IRAN

Again and again the left is on the wrong side of history and the wrong side of good -- always sidling up to evil. They cant' kiss Ahmadinejad's ass hard enough or fast enough or Chavez or  SADDAM or Castro blah blah blah ..... but nothing is static. Keep empowering these brutal despots and the more pwoerful they get.

Iran may start putting bloggers to death GEEK hat tip Liam

Some sobering news from the Middle East today, and something that should make all of us here at Geek.com incredibly happy to not be Iranian. The parliament of that country, last week, voted to discuss giving the death penalty to bloggers. This means that while the new law hasn’t been made official, it is seriously going to be considered.

The country is no stranger to blog hatred. They have previously shut down blogs, and even jailed the bloggers responsible. The new bill is particularly problematic because of the language used. The bill will make punishable by death, anybody that “establishes websites and weblogs promoting corruption, prostitution and apostasy.” Apostasy is defined by dictionary.com as “a total desertion of or departure from one’s religion, principles, party, cause, etc.” but in Iran it could have a wide-ranging net. The government might simply use the bill at its discretion.

Last year, Iran tried to have bloggers register their sites with the government so that they could keep tabs on the blogs, but they quickly realized that this was a difficult thing to do and that any sort of website monitoring is near impossible. Asking for bloggers to volunteer this information was even harder. The bloggers thought that giving up the information would make prosecution against them even easier for the government. Whatever happens with this new bill, the entire world will be watching for the results.

The world is watching them build the A bomb and circle jerking to the beat.

Laying it out

Changing the layout, experimenting with templates to ease load time. Is it any better? Thanks for all of your emails ..... let me know if its improved. The slow load is killing traffic ... I know Atlas is worth waiting for but puhleeze.

Bear with me while I work out the bugs and like I said, let me know what you think.

UPDATE: Lots of feedback .............. I had no idea how many people couldn't view Atlas. Alright. I am removing the vlogs from the sidebars and most everything that waits for outside code. Also, I will refrain from running videos on the main page as that slows down load as well. I will start to tun more extended posts, which means you will have to click on a bottom link to read the whole post and get the link.

HOW'S IT NOW?????????????????

UPDATE: Stogie updated the size of the banner. Smokin' Stogie to the rescue -- does it work in your browsers? Who is still having site load issues? What kind?

UPDATE: THANK YOU, ATLAS (your welcome)  :)

What Bloggers Do ...

At least the fabi ones in NYC -- Abe Greenwald, erudite Commentary blogger made a party last night with Karol over at Alarming News. Excellent moment? Meeting Jennifer Rubin, whose work I admire enormously. Here's Abe over at Contentions:

Last night CONTENTIONS and Alarming News threw a little blogger get-together, and I’m happy to say the turnout was excellent, the conversation scintillating, and the disagreements civil. I want to thank everyone for showing up, and that includes CONTENTIONS’ own Jennifer Rubin and Ted Bromund, as well as Pamela of Atlas Shrugs, Todd Seavey, Neo-Neocon, Walter Olson from Overlawyered, Sean Macomber from the American Spectator, and of course, Karol Sheinin of Alarming News. Let’s do it again soon — and in a slightly quieter spot.

Nobody dresses up downtown, but I do.  Not at all glam. I blog in lounge wear - I like dresses :)

Want pics? I don't have 'em. But lots of folks were taking them so if anyone posts, I'll let you know.

Obama Dirty Ties: Auchi Strong Arms Blogger

A Jacksonian who has done the best work I have seen in the net regarding the dirty money trail of Obama, Rezlo and Auchi is being strongarmed.  AUCHI'S LAWYERS  want Kurt to take this down the following post.

KURT wrote Larwyn, "The article that Nadhmi Auchi wants taken down .

As the solicitors have sent me a private pdf email... yes, not even trying to contact me otherwise so as to have a civil conversation about this... I will be responding via a lead-in to the article in the near future."

Fpr all tof he whole OBAMA-REZKO-AUCHI-ALSAMMARAE-MONZER connections, see all the links in his June 17th post, The Fall of the Prince of Marbella (hat tip Larwyn) 

Connecting some dots between the candidates A Jacksonian Dumb Looks Still Free

This has been a few months to remember in politics with serious swings up an down on all sides with candidates going from front-runner to no-running and vice-versa in no time flat. Through it all, however, have been some sign posts that have been coming up again and again that, really, have been showing that there is an underlying set of associations between the rich and infamous and the current crop of politicians. Now not all the candidates, it is true, got to hob-nob with these folks, but the trend amongst the front-runners and well financed is interesting.

To start out lets get on with Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) smiling his way to the nomination, if only he could shake the pesky associations with the Chicago Mob, its ties to the Democratic Machine and the relationship with one Antoin "Tony" Rezko. It is not everyday that one gets to see a Presidential candidate appear on the witness list of reputed mobster, and we might even get to hear the money exchanges between said mobster, Tony Rezko, Michelle Obama's interest in the neighbor's yard, and a bit of funding coming from the mobster's friend, Nadhmi Auchi, to help pay for the deal so that Mrs. Obama could have some 'gardening space' which would, more or less, include a whole lot next door. A lot owned by the Rezkos. Yes, all sorts of graft, corruption and cash moving around between foreign financiers, local Syrian born mobsters and a Presidential candidate will make one wonder just what the hell is going on. All of this because the friendly financier wanted to be the 'Donald Trump' of Iraqi origin in Chi-town, via land deals featuring lots in upscale areas... or soon to be upscale, at least. And a few folks realized it wouldn't look good to have a Presidential candidate of the 'new and clean' variety get a bit dirtied knowing these sorts of folks, so better to just forget it all, hmmm?

Apparently lots of folks want you to not even think about names like Rezko and Auchi because you just may have a nerve tingling on that letter one. The reason is that Nadhmi Auchi tends to have a *lot* of connections out there, due to his past, which starts with Saddam Hussein and continues on to this day getting to meet Bashar Al-Assad, President of Syria via his ties to the British parliament, Anglo-Arab organization. His main claim to infamy... no, wait a second... he has no *single* infamous claim that stands out above the rest. So it is best to start at the beginning and this article from The Observer on 06 APR 2003 (Source: waybackmachine) gives us the quick synopsis of that early life:

In a series of astonishing new developments in a story first broken by this newspaper two years ago, a fresh Observer investigation has discovered that Auchi:

· Was tried alongside Saddam Hussein for his involvement in a conspiracy to assassinate an Iraqi prime minister in Baghdad in the 1950s;

· Used money from military contracts in Iraq to establish a business and banking empire in Britain and Luxembourg; and

· Was employed to pay alleged bribes from Italian companies to win oil contracts in Iraq because of his close links to the regime.

The disclosures have already prompted opposition MPs to demand full details of Auchi's relationship with the Blair government.

Nadhmi Auchi's influence stretches to the highest levels of the British political establishment and he counts princes and presidents among his personal friends. The wealth of the Iraqi billionaire outstrips the Queen and Sir Richard Branson and has given him access to the rich and powerful from Crown Prince Abdullah of Jordan to Lord Sainsbury. He collects prominent former politicians from across Europe as directors of his companies.

Yes, quite the busy life! In the earlier article, that was updated on 16 NOV 2003 at The Observer in which Mr. Auchi responds to the original, we also see some of the other things that went on with Mr. Auchi including being conveniently out of Iraq when Saddam staged his final coup in 1979 and executed 66 Ba'ath party members, including Mr. Auchi's brother. Mr. Auchi would not only include lucrative arms deals via front companies in Panama, but also dealing with the Italian Mafia. This from the report:

In the mid-1980s he got to know Pierfrancesco Pacini Battaglia, a man whose role in directing money to politicians led Italians to call him 'the one below God'. Saddam Hussein had ordered the construction of a pipeline from Iraq to Saudi Arabia. Battaglia and Auchi secured the contract for a Franco-Italian consortium. In a statement to New York lawyers Battaglia alleged he knew how. 'To acquire the contract it was necessary, as is usual, especially in Middle Eastern countries, to pay commission to characters close to the Iraqi government... In this case, the international intermediary who dealt with this matter was the Iraqi, Nadhmi Auchi.' Auchi has denied any wrong-doing.

The scandals unearthed by the 'Clean Hands' investigating magistrates destroyed a generation of corrupt Italian politicians. But they didn't affect Auchi. He carried on receiving the compliments of Labour, Tory and Liberal Democrat leaders, a tasteful water colour from Lord Sainsbury and sober advice from the presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament.

For those of you who remember the days when Italy seemed to go through a government a year, this was part of the investigation causing the turmoil. So that gets one up to the late 1980's... but Mr. Auchi would continue to be busy, so busy that he would get caught up in a few scandals as seen in this Institute for Ethics and Economic Policy at Fordham University cache of article summaries, from 2003:

LONDON: FRANCE DEMANDS EXTRADITION OF ARRESTED IRAQI BILLIONAIRE FRIEND OF UK POLITICIANS- Nadhmi Auchi the Iraqi billionaire with controversial links to Saddam Hussein's regime was arrested in London this week on a French extradition warrant after two years under British protection. Auchi whose Business Empire is worth more than Pounds 1bn, is expected to appear corruption trial involving the giant oil firm TotalFinaElf. The trial, expected to start next month, will involve testimony about Mr Auchi's alleged role in channeling a pounds 28m commission from the French oil company to buy an oil refinery from its Kuwaiti owners. British politicians linked to Auchi included former Tory chancellor Norman Lamont, former Tory health minister Gerry Malone and former Conservative Home Office minister, Tom Sackville, who resigned from a board of one of the banks Mr Auchi bought into, BCN of Germany. Scotland Yard is quoted as saying Auchi is bailed to appear at a London magistrates Court on April 8, 2003. His business empire is also involved in pounds 27m lawsuit by the National Health Service, which claims one of Auchies pharmaceuticals firms, is one of those that colluded to overcharge the NHS for the drug warfarin. (The Guardian 02 Apr 2003 summary by Davis Joseph Weddi).

He would go on to be convicted of the charges under TotalFinaElf and get 15 months suspended sentence for it. At the 10th International Anti-Corruption Conference Jean-Francois Medard presented a paper on the relationship between Elf, Angola and individuals at the head of the banking concerns involved, like Nadhmi Auchi (and for a not officially published work you can't quote from, it is excellent). The resultant method used to ensure that funds, arms, oil and company assets would not be easily traced is what is termed 'a nebula of networks' and I commonly refer to as person-to-person trust-based networks. As many have heard about jobs 'it is not what you know, but who you know' the exact, same thing goes on for illegal transactions of arms, equipment and money laundering. It is a question of who you know and who they trust who can help lead to getting whatever needs to be done, accomplished. This includes not only the direct p2p network, but also trusted organizations and the individuals in them, so that things like Masonic Lodges (quite the societal networking group for European business and mafioso) in which the establishment, itself, represents a node on the p2p network.

It is this network that would include individuals like Pierre Falcone, Etienne Leandri, Charles Pasqua, Marc Rich, Bill & Hillary Clinton, Nadhmi Auchi and organizations like Elf, the corrupt Menatep Bank of Russia (used by the Abromovich organization) and the Bank of New York system compromised by the Berlin couple and Semion Mogilevich. By exchanging Angolan debt and cash from other parts of the system, the entire affair was able to arrange for arms to be shipped illegal to Jonas Savimbi in Angola. That entire deal, involving so many multiple level 'cut-outs' in the banking structure (between BNP and the corrupt BoNY system), off-shore banks and money transfers (mostly to paper front companies) plus the high level of individuals and organizations ensured that no one would be able to properly figure the whole thing out. Just to be sure, President Clinton pardoned Marc Rich due to his high level of involvement in that and with the Russian Mafia.

Yes a busy 1990's for Nadhmi Auchi that would see, beyond this, beyond his overcharging for medications in the UK and generally making money hand over fist, he would also be involved with the other TotalFinaElf scandal: Oil For Food. This would become Saddam Hussein's main method of money laundering and moving funds outside the oversight of the UN because the UN, quite plainly, lacked the ability to conduct oversight on the entire affair. It says a lot when Saddam was able to tell the UN to use BNP-Paribas which just happens to have Nadhmi Auchi as its largest shareholder. One of the recent sidelights of BNP-Paribas is its takeover of a previous bank used to support Saddam Hussein's regime: Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL). Actually he may have been involved in that, but, as Kenneth Timmerman points out in a 01 NOV 1996 document (Source: gulfweb) it may have had so many high level individuals on both sides of the political aisle involved, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, that the Dept. of Justice let those things that might actually still be prosecutable slide under the Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations.

What was apparent, however, is that the system that Saddam had been setting up since the 1960's and 1970's to supply Iraq and launder its funds had demonstrated its capability. In the Middle East Review of International Affairs Journal of DEC 2000, Amatzia Baram looks at how that system operated on a p2p level and was utilized to undermine OFF and ensure that there would be a supply of arms and munitions for the Iraqi regime, plus funds available for enticing French, German and Russian companies into pressuring their governments to remove the sanctions. On 13 APR 2003 the Times Online (UK) would publish the background on how the system set up by Said al-Mahdi for Saddam worked in the west.

Like the work seen in TotalFinaElf and its 'nebula', the al-Mahdi system would feature numerous offshore companies and accounts in Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Panama, Bahamas and elsewhere. The account also links those to the French firms Dassault and Thomson-CSF, along with Russian arms manufacturers that continued to sell to Iraq during the sanctions. Other firms included in this web are Dumynta, Radistal and Technoservice International (Vaduz). The funding web, itself, would go much farther, however, and the reporting of Lucy Komisar on 02 JUN 2004 would show the connections between Saddam Hussein's al-Mahdi system and the Taqwa banking system used by al Qaeda:

The Banca del Gottardo in Lugano, Switzerland, moved al-Qaida money via the Al Taqwa bank, a shell bank that operated through correspondent accounts at the Gottardo branch in Nassau. It also handled payments for the Saddam money network. The bank’s spokesman wrote, “Please be advised that we do not intend to make any comments or discuss any issues with you regarding the article you proposed in your e-mail.”

Banque Paribas, headquartered in Paris, with a significant portion of shares owned by Saddam’s cousin Nadhmi Auchi, moved money for the Al-Mahdi network in the 1980s and was the bank chosen to handle the Iraqi oil-for-food payments. In fact, Iraq insisted that Paribas handle the oil-for-food escrow account.

A corporate document for Al Taqwa Trade, Property and Industry Co. Ltd. of Liechtenstein — an al-Qaida network shell company also shut down by the United States — lists Banque Paribas, Lugano, where it had accounts. (Paribas in 2000 merged with another French bank to create BNP Paribas, with Auchi continuing as one of the largest shareholders.)

This puts Nadhmi Auchi's role in the banking system front and center, having BNP (and then BNP Paribas) serve as the transit bank for funds shifting from the al Qaeda banks of Al Taqwa and for the corrupt Al-Mahdi banks for Saddam Hussein. Saddam had sent his half-brother, Barzan Ibrahim Hasan Al-Tikriti, to Switzerland in 1968 (yes, you read that correctly) to scope out the lay of the financial land as he knew that Iraq would need a method to quietly and untraceably move funds for arms, munitions and other needs, so that Western institutions would have trouble tracking them. She then points to Said Rahim Hussein Al-Mahdi and Nadhmi Auchi as the key operatives sent in after that to establish ties with Said's father-in-law, who had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and who was already working for Barzan in Switzerland. Nadhmi Auchi's role was to establish multiple offshore companies and accounting systems, and would see the construction of a web of companies that were approximately one sheet of paper deep. Even more fun is that Banca del Gottardo is the subsidiary of the collapsed 'Vatican Bank', which had collapsed due to fraud via offshore companies. Al-Mahdi himself, however, would not resist temptation to skim funds and was executed in 1986 by beheading in Iraq.

Marc Rich, who had been indicted for tax evasion to the tune of $48 million dollars and illegally trading in Iranian oil after the revolution there, was *also* a part of this network. The Kroll report would detail the links between Marc Rich and Iranian banking sources and the ability to use those in shifting funds through the al-Mahdi and Al Taqwa systems. Before the 'Clean Hands' investigation in Italy, a previous Italian report had detailed the following:

After Roger Watson in 1987 became Saddam’s financial consultant, he also became an adviser to Auchi’s International Company of Banking and Financial Participations (CIPAF). According to official Italian documents, Auchi used Panama to launder kickbacks for two contracts for the Iraqi military. An Italian parliamentary report in 1987 said that one of them, Dowal, set up by Watson, was used to collect $23 million in hidden commissions on Baghdad’s purchase of warships manufactured by the Italian shipyard, Cantieri Navali Riuniti.

This sophisticated system of bribes, kickbacks, overcharges, offshore banks and companies would exist *before* the OFF scandal broke and *before* the Bank of New York penetration a bit less 6 years later by the Red Mafia. Nadhmi Auchi was no stranger to large scale financial fraud by the time OFF rolled around, to say the least, and had his own network clearly set up when the Red Mafia added its capability into as seen from the Angolagate material above. For a time the largest criminal and underground network for financial transactions and illegal purchases spanned from the Bank of New York (done by the Ivankov gang with help of Semion Mogilevich), trading in the largest industrial money laundering scheme seen in Trans World Commodities run by the Chernoy brothers and with the most complex schema of paper companies ever seen (or unseen) done by Simon Reuben, shift funds via BNP Paribas system to and from Iraq (my look at this part of the Red Mafia is here), Iran and al Qaeda, and include the burgeoning natural gas empire being shifted over to Dmitri Firtash in Ukraine (my look at DF Group is here). This banking and funds transfer system literally spanned the globe, reaching all the way to bank affiliates in China and Japan, to Australia, and across Africa and South America all the way to San Francisco and Vancouver, BC. While BCCI may have been a forerunner of this, it is dwarfed by orders of magnitude by this combined system and the complexity of it remains so opaque that multiple individuals running it remain not only free but uncharged with *anything* because no one in securities and banking investigation can figure it out. Or, as Jules Kroll points out, no one wants to figure it out.

To get an idea of how the Al Taqwa system worked there is the testimony of Steve Emerson before the House Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, looking at this problem of terrorist funding, on 12 FEB 2002. He goes through the informal p2p ethnic systems like the Hawala system (my previous article on that and the Black Market Peso Exchange system is here) and then goes on to the more formalized Al Taqwa banking system:

Al-Taqwa was founded by the Muslim Brotherhood in 1988 in the Bahamas and later in 1991 in Algeria, as the beginning of —establishing a world bank for fundamentalists“ aimed to compete with Western financial institutions.64 Al-Taqwa reportedly has other branches in Liechtenstein, Italy, Malta, and Panama with its headquarters in Switzerland. As a world bank for fundamentalists, al-Taqwa was open to money laundering with a number of terrorist organizations, most notably al-Qaeda and, in the past, Hamas.

Al-Taqwa enabled al-Qaeda‘s financial network to obscure its paper trail by transferring money from one al-Taqwa branch to another. French Intelligence officials claim that by 1999, the bank was channeling funds for Osama Bin Laden.65 A Swiss investigation that started in 2000 revealed that al-Taqwa transferred funds for Bin Laden from Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates to al-Taqwa‘s affiliates in Malta and then on to Switzerland and the Bahamas.

He then goes on to describe how institutions obscure their past via name changes, shifting of connections and other means so as to remove those prior connections from current institutions. Then by utilizing the paper companies and institutions offshore, the money trail becomes harder and harder to trace. After that he looks at HAMAS' Al-Aqsa Bank, Beit al-Mal, and its working with Citibank via Joint Ventures. Finally he examines the purely p2p courier system, for securely moving documents and cash via trusted routes and individuals outside of the banking system.

It is *that* system that was added on to the Al-Mahdi system of Saddam Hussein. As Lucy Komisar reports on 15 MAR 2002, this Al-Taqwa system was going on to the knowledge of the FBI for 4 years and it was only 9/11 that drove them to actually start looking at shutting it down.

Now to catch up on *another* scandal of Nadhmi Auchi, and that is the Clearstream scandal. Clearstream is, or was, the trusted financial transaction system for Europe to exchange currencies during financial moves overseas. This system, in theory, had its own safeguards to ensure that each financial transaction was from a reputable source, covering a reputable company with assured funds. Unfortunately it didn't work out so well and was compromised by the Bank of New York system and was then utilized by the likes of Auchi for shifting OFF funds through it via less than reputable banks and companies. This was part of the reason he was prosecuted by France on the Elf deal, as TotalFinaElf was also involved in the oil shipment end of Oil For Food.

And that my friends is just the tip of the iceberg. Go here for the full post.

Previously at Atlas: Obama Partied with Crook Rezko & "taste for blood" Saddam hatchet man Auchi

Atlas Shrugs: Obama's Filthy Payoffs: Hussein Afraid to go to Iraq?

Atlas Shrugs: Obama Lied About Rezko's $$$ Payoffs

Atlas Shrugs: bama & Indicted Syrian SlumLord Rezko

Atlas Shrugs: Obama's Graft Man: Antoin "Tony'' Rezko Undue ...

Atlas Shrugs: Obama: Sleeping with Dogs (many)

Atlas Shrugs: Obama: "It was a mistake"

Atlas Shrugs: OBAMA THUG BACKER SENT TO JAIL SECRET MIDDLE EAST ...

Atlas Shrugs: Obama:The Audacity of Graft

Atlas Shrugs: Obama: Defense Witness for Thugs

Atlas Shrugs: Teflon Obama took Millions from Billionaire Nadhni Auchi

Atlas Shrugs: More Dirty Obama Middle Eastern Bucks

UPDATE: A Jacksonian updated his seminal post with this:

This article has received the attention of the subject of the article and his solicitors in the UK. As they have asked for the email to be kept private, and very strange that I get a pdf and not even a polite asking to speak with me, I will address some of the generalities they bring up. That is to keep in the spirit of the correspondence and yet address their concerns as much as possible.

First off, let me say that I am a United States citizen, born in the US, lived and worked in the US, now disabled in the US, writing in the US, and have this lovely low-traffic blog in the US that gets the ability to be read worldwide. If having readers in the UK makes me published in the UK, then that is true of Iran, Kenya, Israel, Russia, Ukraine, Spain, and quite a few other places. I really don't keep track of who reads me or from where. Indeed, given such things as the TOR network, any attempt to filter traffic would, as the Chinese are finding out, prove well neigh impossible.

I will point out that when I utilize a blockquote or indent, I am utilizing a quotation from another source, that I link to. I also try to do that thematically, so that the same color holds to a source, but there are only a limited number of colors that I find pleasing to read, so a careful reader needs to pay attention to source citation and linkage.

From there I will say that I found The Observer article referenced to be very fascinating including the give and take between the subject of the article and The Observer, as the subject had specific points of contention that he brought up. And The Observer was addressing those. There was some problem between their original publication date, in 2001 and the subject bringing up his problems with the article. At the time, unaware that there was a lawsuit ongoing, I linked to the information brought up by the subject with The Observer. In my two extracts, I utilized 176 words and 165 words from the article for a total of 340 words, which I considered to be 'fair use' under US standards. The electronic media, being unlike print media in which linked material can be brought up to examine a discussion, video or other interplay by the reader allows for such linking to put the reader into the position of determining if I am giving a fair analysis of the material.

That fair analysis included reading the original, the subject's response and the response to that.

Part of that give and take is allowing there to be a record of what was inaccurate and how such things get published. At the time, being unaware of legal proceedings and taking what was happening as an interplay between the subject and The Observer I utilized a web cache for the historical document being referenced as many of the larger media systems tend to age or pull down articles on a regular basis. There is little way for a reader to know if there is a lawsuit starting up or not, or if that is part of the regular shifting of articles. Thus I considered that I had given fair use of content, linkage to both parts of a dispute and review of both the original article, the subjects protest and the rejoinder. This includes all parts of it that I had cited, and I did my best to ensure that other articles linked to in my article had distinctive research outside of The Observer, in particular the work of Kommisar and Kommersant.

Do note that I did the exact, same, thing with regards to the later Financial Times article and the subject's problems with it.

The next point of interest is in the lack of reading ability by the solicitor and/or the subject: at no point in my article do I say or impute that the subject gave money to Sen. Obama's campaign funds of any sort.

With regards to having talked or spoken to Saddam Hussein: BNP-Paribas certainly had discourse with the Government of Iraq during the late 1990's as it was the chosen source for selling oil under the Oil For Food program. As the subject has a substantial investment in BNP-Paribas during the Oil For Food scandal, it is difficult to see how there could be no gain, connection or understanding that funds gained under that system would benefit the subject. For said subject to have no connection to it he must have no interest, investment or seek no gain from such things and ensure he is isolated from them via non-investment in said financial institution. Do note that the subject is cited via linkage as being the largest shareholder out of that union of banks. While a minority it is, apparently, the largest minority.

Read the rest here.

 

I Would Rather Die Fighting than Live as a Slave

And  leftard big mouths would die fighting too if they had a half a clue (let alone half a brain). Leftfetishists  are outraged by this post of mine.  So now they've taken to calling me  an exterminationist. Yet again - a leftist canard. Their ridicule belies the seriousness of the issues of the day. I did not call for the blowing up of the world. But they know that. I said I would rather  blow up the world than surrender to Islam. I would rather die fighting than live as a slave and I stand behind that.

The leftards are mortified by my headline, "Why wasn't A.Q. Khan  assassinated?" Uh, why wasn't he assassinated? Abdul Q. Khan provided rogue Islamic states with nuclear weapon technology. He nuclear armed the Islamic jihad and he is living high on the hog giving unedited interviews to the Associated with terrorists Press. The Rosenbergs were put to death for sharing sensitive information with just one nation, why wouldn't the man who ultimately will be responsible for the millions of dead when Islamic jihad drops their first nuke be executed too? Certainly in the case of Pakistan, we are one bullet away from a jihad nuke, thank you A.Q. Iran promises the annihilation of Israel and America, thank you A.Q.  The North Koreans have become the nuclear engine of unstable Middle Eastern regimes, thank you A. Q.

The left has no compass, no ability to distinguish between good and evil so they sleep with the enemy. They ass kiss those that would kill them first and so I pity their smug stupidity.

OT but related: On a different blog I came under attack by a group of  jihad lovers/enablers  on a post entitled Obama's 'Stop the Smears' Website Angers Muslims. Blog proprieter D. Martin ran a post defending his loyalty to Atlas here.

It starts with this gem:

Sick of Hypocrisy said...

The "Muslims against Sharia" blog is a project started by virulent anti-Muslim bigot Pamela Geller of the hate blog "Atlas Shrugs".

You can read the whole thread here and the Liberty Sphere's response here.

THE PISTACHIO RETURNS

WOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Go here for the back story.

The Return of Political Pistachio I don't scare easily, but when a threat is delivered to my house, accompanied by a broken window, and someone using a black marker on the bumper stickers on my truck, it is enough to make anyone nervous. The anonymous note specifically referred to my Political Pistachio blog and BTR show, called me a homo-phobe, and included a threat regarding the safety of my wife. That was enough to make me decide to shutdown permanently. Mrs. Pistachio, however, has scolded me, saying I am giving them exactly what they want. It was their goal to silence me. So, after increasing the level of my security system, with plans to add a surveillance system, I am returning to my blog, and BTR show. I will begin Monday with Andrea Shea King, and resume my normal nightly BTR schedule. This situation has made me more determined, and now the fire under me is hotter than ever! My only regret is that authorities are calling it "harassment" rather than a threat, and have added to the report "possible prank." God Bless, and thank you for the outpouring of support. Doug

Love the wife Dougy.

 

Silencing the Blogs: Pistachio Gone

I do not know what happened but I smell a rat. Liberals! Douglas Gibb over at Political Pistachio, a terrific blog, has gone dark.  He hosted an electric BlogTalkRadio radio show that I had the pleasure of appearing on. Shut down as well.  Douglas Gibb is a great American. His smart, optimistic , distinct voice  will be sorely missed.

Here's his last post. (hat tip Carolyn)

Probably My Last Post

This may be my last post. I cannot discuss the reason for the shutdown, nor can I say if I will be allowed to return to blogging about politics. All I can say, and I may even be at risk for saying this, is: "Thank you, Liberal Left, for proving my point."

That is what I get for calling a spade a spade in a politically correct world.

Freedoms Lost.

Posted by Douglas V. Gibbs at 1:11 PM

Ugh ........... this is so depressing

UPDATE:  One Newt laments whats happening  and has screenshots

I DON'T KNOW WHY MY BANNER IS GONE

ugh ............waiting to hear from typepad

BLOGGER DEATH THREAT

My friend Brian is being threatened with some nasty shiz. Read it here. Can anyone be helpful is tracking the IP addy?

Your site is stupid, you act like a stupid American, and it would be my pleasure to end your site and your wife's life with a rocket propelled grenade. How ignorant, you think America is the world? America will see itself bombed and its soldiers families raped on the docks that they return upon. Sincerely, An Iranian Dual National who loves how ignorant your ideasb are. Go back to your trailer park or die in Jihad.

I think he ought to report it a/s/a/p.

CENSORING FREE SPEECH Blogger arrests hit record high

The recent suspension of blogs here in America, the trials and lawsuit against Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn and the other bloggers in Canada and  the suppression and arrest of bloggers in totalitarian countries bodes most ill. Once a free country accepts censorship of free speech, nothing can be done or won without violence. We are entering a dark age.

BLOGGER ARRESTS HIT RECORD HIGH BBC

More bloggers than ever face arrest for exposing human rights abuses or criticising governments, says a report.

Since 2003, 64 people have been arrested for publishing their views on a blog, says the University of Washington annual report.

In 2007 three times as many people were arrested for blogging about political issues than in 2006, it revealed.

More than half of all the arrests since 2003 have been made in China, Egypt and Iran, said the report.

UPDATE: More censorship here in the US:

And now the Usenet Website Is Being Attacked By The Government? Astute Bloggers

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced on Tuesday that Verizon Communications, Time Warner Cable, and Sprint would "shut down major sources of online child pornography."

What Cuomo didn't say is that his agreement with broadband providers means that they will broadly curb customers' access to Usenet--the venerable pre-Web home of some 100,000 discussion groups, only a handful of which contain illegal material.

Time Warner Cable said it will cease to offer customers access to any Usenet newsgroups, a decision that will affect customers nationwide. Sprint said it would no longer offer any of the tens of thousands of alt.* Usenet newsgroups.

Verizon's plan is to eliminate some "fairly broad newsgroup areas."

It's not quite the death of Usenet (which has been predicted, incorrectly, countless times). But if a politician can pressure three of the largest Internet providers into censorial acquiescence, it may only be a matter of time before smaller ones like Supernews, Giganews, and Usenet.com feel the squeeze

Go read the whole thing at Astute Bloggers.

And don't miss this at the Gathering Storm:

It Begins - The Shutdown of the Free Internet by 2012

 

TELUS (formerly owned by Verizon) employees officially confirm that by 2012 ISP's all over the globe will reduce Internet access to a TV-like subscription model, only offering access to a small standard amount of commercial sites and require extra fees for every other site you visit.

These 'other' sites would then lose all their exposure and eventually shut down, resulting in what could be seen as the end of the Internet.

From I Power.

Dylan Pattyn, who is currently writing an article for Time Magazine on the issue, has official confirmation from sources within Bell Canada and is interviewing a marketing representative from TELUS who confirms the story and states that TELUS has already started blocking all websites that aren't in the subscription package for mobile Internet access. They could not confirm whether it would happen in 2012 because both stated it may actually happen sooner (as early as 2010). Interviews with these sources, more confirmation from other sources and more in-depth information on the issue is set to be published in Time Magazine soon.

 

Could this be the Net in 2012?

 

Read it all

OMG! ANOTHER SITE SUSPENDED!

Always on watch just alerted me that Sharia finance blog has been suspended. It's a wordpress blog not typepad. WTF is going on? I just posted this yesterday.

Frances is right:

1, Dependence upon a large institution makes you subservient to it.
2, Evil forces love large institutions, because they're easy to target and provide large payoffs if you can saddle and bridle them.

In other words, get off TypePad and get an independent site. Your own freedom of expression could well depend on it.

I've got to get to work on this ....... I suggest other bloggers do the same.

UPDATE: Always tells me more. It seems the two leading  sharia finance blogs were suspended this morning. Allyson Taylor's site went missing this morning.  Allyson's  is back now here.

But Sharia finance blog is gone, gone, gone  (for violations of TOS). Always reminds me that  Allyson has had trouble before.  She is banned from Google Alerts!   Always explained, "She wasn't at first, but somebody noticed her heavy-hitting info and instituted a ban."

These investigative bloggers deal in Islamic finance. Were the the posts on the Saudis  behind this?  We know how relentlessly the Sauds try to shut up those that expose their nefarious dirty dealings. Rachel Ehrenfeld could tell you a thing or two.

Bottom line is, this is a freakin nightmare.

UPDATE: It's part of the plan. DCat explains (hat tip Indigo Red)

TYPEPAD SUSPENDS BLOGS

This is scary. Typepad made good on their threat. And the thing is the posts with copyright issues were removed, so why delete his blog? Kevin at Aussie News and Views sent me their email:

Your Account Has Been Suspended

Dear Aussie:

We're sorry to say that access to the following weblogs has been suspended:

• Aussie News & Views
• Maverick News Media MNM

Access to these weblogs has likely been suspended for one of the following reasons:

• You have exceeded your alotted storage and/or bandwidth allocation associated with your current service level
• You have violated the TypePad Terms of Service

Your account is still active and access to your weblog will be restored once you have rectified your account status.

We appreciate your prompt attention to this matter. Thank you for using TypePad.

Sincerely,
The TypePad Team

Strange Linkage

Getting a ton of hits from this Iranian site. Any translators out there have a clue as to what they are about?

UPDATE: Brian over at Snapped Shot wrote me,""Balatran" is the Iranian Digg.  Apparently, someone over there liked one of your recent posts."

We're all good, baby.

Censoring/ Silencing the blogs

My favorite Aussie blogger, Kevin at Aussie News and Views, is being forced by TYPEPAD to take down a huge chunk of his blog. This is bad. Very bad. I am on typepad too. Read his whole depressing account here. Here's what he writes me

Dear Pamela,
                    Please read the forwarded email I have just received from Typepad, It looks like my blogging days are over, that is of course if I want to report on the activities of Australia's new arse clown Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his Islamic cheer squad.

No coincidence the content objected to concerns the antics of these two blights on Australia and the world.