From the "Why can't this happen to me?" file:
Woman Gets Beer From Her Kitchen Faucet
47 minutes ago
It almost seemed like a miracle to Haldis Gundersen when she turned on her kitchen faucet this weekend and found the water had turned into beer.
Two flights down, employees and customers at the Big Tower Bar were horrified when water poured out of the beer taps.
By an improbable feat of clumsy plumbing, someone at the bar in Kristiandsund, western Norway, had accidentally hooked the beer hoses to the water pipes for Gundersen's apartment.
"We had settled down for a cozy Saturday evening, had a nice dinner, and I was just going to clean up a little," Gundersen, 50, told The Associated Press by telephone Monday. "I turned on the kitchen faucet and beer came out."
However, Gundersen said the beer was flat and not tempting, even in a country where a half-liter (pint) can cost about 25 kroner ($3.75) in grocery stores.
Per Egil Myrvang, of the local beer distributor, said he helped bartenders reconnect the pipes by telephone.
"The water and beer pipes do touch each other, but you have to be really creative to connect them together," he told local newspapers.
Gundersen joked about having the pub send up free beer for her next party.
"But maybe it would be easier if they just invited me down for a beer," she said
2006-03-13
Adali Stevenson, Worth Naming a School For?
My damn kid's middle school is named for Adali Stevenson. Who was he? I read about him in history books, and all I can remember is that he was a senator who unsuccessfully ran for president, and served as UN ambassador. When my kid started at the school I looked him up, figuring I must have missed something important. I can't find anything more than what I wrote above. Is he worth naming a school after? Maybe if he wad from our neighborhood. Can anybody convince me that he's worth naming a Michigan school after?
My kid's previous school was named for James Madison. Now there's a worthwhile white guy; I proudly told my kid that he's one of the guys who penned the revolutionary Federalist Papers, which I keep by my bedside. But Adali Stevenson?
My kid's previous school was named for James Madison. Now there's a worthwhile white guy; I proudly told my kid that he's one of the guys who penned the revolutionary Federalist Papers, which I keep by my bedside. But Adali Stevenson?
Sopranos, Must Watch Art
There is nothing better than The Sopranos; there is nothing even possibly better. It is a perfect artistic achievement. Why aren't you bastards watching?
Death squads in iraq
The Iraqi government's recent hanging of 12 accused insurgents, applauded on RL by Sixstringslinger, may be the public face of an official, underground campaign that includes use of death squads. According to the Guardian on March 2 (linked above):
Note that the 7,000 bodies emerged before the outbreak of open Sunni-Shiite hostilities sparked by shrine bombing in Samarra.
Unreformed leftists will remember the prodigious use of death squads in the 1980s by U.S. proxy governments in El Salvador, Honduras, and--most appallingly--in Guatemala. There's even a direct link from those bloody days and these: John Negroponte. He served as ambassador to Honduras from 1981-1985; and ambassador to Iraq from June 04 to April 05. Read all about this illustrious patriot's career here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Negroponte#Ambassador_to_Honduras_.281981_-_1985.29
Faik Bakir, the director of the Baghdad morgue, has fled Iraq in fear of his life after reporting that more than 7,000 people have been killed by death squads in recent months, the outgoing head of the UN human rights office in Iraq has disclosed.
"The vast majority of bodies showed signs of summary execution - many with their hands tied behind their back. Some showed evidence of torture, with arms and leg joints broken by electric drills," said John Pace, the Maltese UN official. The killings had been happening long before the bloodshed after last week's bombing of the Shia shrine in Samarra.
Note that the 7,000 bodies emerged before the outbreak of open Sunni-Shiite hostilities sparked by shrine bombing in Samarra.
Unreformed leftists will remember the prodigious use of death squads in the 1980s by U.S. proxy governments in El Salvador, Honduras, and--most appallingly--in Guatemala. There's even a direct link from those bloody days and these: John Negroponte. He served as ambassador to Honduras from 1981-1985; and ambassador to Iraq from June 04 to April 05. Read all about this illustrious patriot's career here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Negroponte#Ambassador_to_Honduras_.281981_-_1985.29
Thou Shalt Not Speak Ill of Bush
A Republican loyalist is fired for sticking to principle.
From the article:
Knowing what I know now, I would not have supported the war. But sometimes leaders must take action based on incomplete and inconclusive evidence. Where I really fault the White House is on its extreme reluctance to admit error and for inadequately preparing for the postwar operation. A willingness to admit honest error has always seemed to me to be a hallmark of great leadership. Sadly, this White House failed that test.
From the article:
Knowing what I know now, I would not have supported the war. But sometimes leaders must take action based on incomplete and inconclusive evidence. Where I really fault the White House is on its extreme reluctance to admit error and for inadequately preparing for the postwar operation. A willingness to admit honest error has always seemed to me to be a hallmark of great leadership. Sadly, this White House failed that test.
As someone primarily concerned with economic policy, enactment of the Medicare drug benefit hit me the way the failure to find WMD hit supporters of the war, especially on the Left, or the way Harriet Miers’s nomination affected judicial conservatives. This is going to cost taxpayers trillions upon trillions of dollars and will eventually lead to massively higher taxes, while doing little to improve the health of those who will benefit from the program or the political fortunes of the Republican Party, which sold its soul just to buy one lousy election.
2006-03-12
Impeaching George W. Bush
Since September 11th, 2001, there has been no shortage of news regarding this administration’s involvement in torture, lies, secrecy and obstruction of the law. Yet, there has been little discussion in the mainstream media of holding those in power accountable for the actions so diligently catalogued by the press. It is a conspicuous vacuum that helps to explain why calls for impeachment are rapidly gaining currency.
In fact, the case for the impeachment of President Bush is arguably the strongest in American history. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) makes this amply clear in its recent book, a concise indictment of President Bush that lays out four clear legal arguments that point to impeachment as a necessary remedy for the gross violation of our Constitution. The Articles of Impeachment Against George W. Bush covers illegal wiretapping, torture, rendition, detention and the Iraq war. An appendix compares the impeachment proceedings of Andrew Johnson, Nixon and Clinton to the comparatively more powerful case against Bush.
Watch What You Say
Two months after the New York Times revealed that the Bush Administration ordered the National Security Agency to conduct warrantless surveillance of American citizens, only three corporations--AT&T, Sprint and MCI--have been identified by the media as cooperating. If the reports in the Times and other newspapers are true, these companies have allowed the NSA to intercept thousands of telephone calls, fax messages and e-mails without warrants from a special oversight court established by Congress under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Some companies, according to the same reports, have given the NSA a direct hookup to their huge databases of communications records. The NSA, using the same supercomputers that analyze foreign communications, sifts through this data for key words and phrases that could indicate communication to or from suspected terrorists or terrorist sympathizers and then tracks those individuals and their ever-widening circle of associates.
Despite the President's rigorous defense of the program, no company has dared to admit its cooperation publicly. Their reticence is understandable: The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation of the government officials who leaked the NSA story to the Times, and many constitutional scholars and a few lawmakers believe the program is both illegal and unconstitutional. And the companies may be embarrassed at being caught--particularly AT&T, which spent millions advertising its global services during the Winter Olympics. "It's a huge betrayal of the public trust, and they know it," says Bruce Schneier, the founder and chief technology officer of Counterpane Internet Security, a California consulting firm.
Some companies, according to the same reports, have given the NSA a direct hookup to their huge databases of communications records. The NSA, using the same supercomputers that analyze foreign communications, sifts through this data for key words and phrases that could indicate communication to or from suspected terrorists or terrorist sympathizers and then tracks those individuals and their ever-widening circle of associates.
Despite the President's rigorous defense of the program, no company has dared to admit its cooperation publicly. Their reticence is understandable: The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation of the government officials who leaked the NSA story to the Times, and many constitutional scholars and a few lawmakers believe the program is both illegal and unconstitutional. And the companies may be embarrassed at being caught--particularly AT&T, which spent millions advertising its global services during the Winter Olympics. "It's a huge betrayal of the public trust, and they know it," says Bruce Schneier, the founder and chief technology officer of Counterpane Internet Security, a California consulting firm.
You Know It's Hard Out Here Being Pimped
From the article:
"I can't get Three 6 Mafia's Academy Award winning lyrics out of my head: 'You know it's hard out here for a pimp. When he tryin' to get this money for the rent. For the Cadillacs and gas money spent.'
"And every now and then, keeping the same beat with the same mood, thinking of pimp and pimping in a non-sexual way, with the pimp being the president of the USA, I find myself also humming and singing: 'And you know it's hard out here being pimped. And our pimp don't have to worry 'bout his rent. He gets a nice percent of gas money spent.'
"And whereas the pimp in Hustle and Flow was trying to leave the pimping life, our pimp is ever on the go. Pimping is all that he knows. Our pimp, too, "Done seen people killed, done seen people deal. Done seen people live in poverty with no meals." But "staying the course" is how this pimp feels. This pimp lied about Iraq and Katrina standing behind the presidential seal. This pimp has "seen some crazy thangs in the streets" but he, unlike the pimp in the movie, can walk right by it all, spouting platitudes about "being safe," without missing a beat. And if you don't watch what you say and who you say it to, this pimp will listen in on you and the next thing you know you're pricing a prison tattoo or two."
British Soldier Quits in Disgust at 'Illegal' American Tactics in Iraq
After three months in Baghdad, Ben Griffin told his commander that he was no longer prepared to fight alongside American forces.
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He said he had witnessed "dozens of illegal acts" by US troops, claiming they viewed all Iraqis as "untermenschen" - the Nazi term for races regarded as sub-human.
2006-03-11
Islam's God is a Monster
From the article:
"The Jews have come from the [Holocaust] and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror; with their work, not with their crying and yelling. We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people."
"Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people and destroying embassies. This path will not yield any results. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them."
"The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions or a clash of civilizations," Dr. Sultan said. "It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality. Knowledge has released me from this backward thinking. Somebody has to help free the Muslim people from these wrong beliefs."
She said she no longer practiced Islam. "I am a secular human being," she said.
"The Jews have come from the [Holocaust] and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror; with their work, not with their crying and yelling. We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people."
"Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people and destroying embassies. This path will not yield any results. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them."
"The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions or a clash of civilizations," Dr. Sultan said. "It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality. Knowledge has released me from this backward thinking. Somebody has to help free the Muslim people from these wrong beliefs."
She said she no longer practiced Islam. "I am a secular human being," she said.
2006-03-10
Hear No Evil
The Sept. 11 hijackers made dozens of telephone calls to Saudi Arabia and Syria in the months before the attacks, according to a classified report from the office of German Chancellor Angela Merkel," the Chicago Tribune reports:
According to the report, 206 international telephone calls were known to have been made by the leaders of the hijacking plot after they arrived in the United States--including 29 to Germany, 32 to Saudi Arabia and 66 to Syria.
These are calls between al Qaeda terrorists and their associates, in which one side of the call is in the U.S. and the other is in another country--that is, just the kind of call the National Security Agency listened to under the terrorist surveillance program. Had such a program existed in 2001, it might have prevented 9/11--but if some journalists and Democrats are scandalized now, imagine how they would have howled in outrage if 9/11 hadn't happened.
According to the report, 206 international telephone calls were known to have been made by the leaders of the hijacking plot after they arrived in the United States--including 29 to Germany, 32 to Saudi Arabia and 66 to Syria.
These are calls between al Qaeda terrorists and their associates, in which one side of the call is in the U.S. and the other is in another country--that is, just the kind of call the National Security Agency listened to under the terrorist surveillance program. Had such a program existed in 2001, it might have prevented 9/11--but if some journalists and Democrats are scandalized now, imagine how they would have howled in outrage if 9/11 hadn't happened.
Crash Crap; Syriana Mythsteria
I'm unhappy with "Crash" as best picture. I saw it, and found it to be a liberal's fantasy of America as comprised of white people who are essentially racist, and who constantly act on their racism, causing non-whites to regularly experiance tangable, un-ambiguous examples of overt racism that they could easily prove, and successfully articulate, to any human on earth. Since this violates what I have come to understand about America, most of the film's story fell dead flat with me. I notice that all the film's producers and writers are honkies, a group that some would insist lack qualifications to expound on racism in the US. If "Crash" accurately depicted the US, Nadir would have no trouble rattling off a list of recent outrages visitted upon him by the many whites scared of his existance in their neighborhood and stores, and Tom would be able to relay a similar list of all the nasty things random white folks say when blacks aren't around.
If you remove that essential element from the film, I think what's left was pretty good, though. I certainly agree with the point that the same person in different situations can act heroicly or horribly.
Syriana fell flat for me for similar reasons, depicting another aspect of the world that liberals imagine to exist: a massive international conspiracy wherein shady charactors pull levers that dictate all world events, which we are all powerless to affect, and in which The Rich Get Richer and The Poor Get Poorer. The truth is out there! When that brave young man at the end of the film goes off to impliment a suicide bombing, it reminded me of what it must have been like for neo-confederate apologists explaining why those poor white guys go lynch a nigra every now and then.
I loved Capote. There's a world that truly exists for me. A wierd, gay NY writer covering a sensational murder, acting in bizarre and contradictory ways.
Bareback Mountain I didn't see. I admit that I'm off-put by the prospect of seeing manlove manifested. And I'm disappointed that the "gay cowboy" movie was really about sheep herders. What a cop-out! If the original story was about sheep herders, was the author scared to make cowboys gay? And if so, why not for the purposes of the film have the guts to make the gay guys cowboys.
And why have them find love on Double Entendre Mountain? Why feed all the idiot jokesters like me such easy ammunition, "Brokeback Mountain"? There's an infinite number of titles that don't demand sendups.
Walk the Line was a lot of fun, just like Ray; nothing great, but lots of fun. Nothing untrue or repulsive about it. I could have lived with it winning anything.
Good Night and Good Luck, I didn't see. Mostly because I've lost my enthusiasm for 100% opposition to McCarthism, now that I have come to learn that there really were commies in the govt and they really did want to end democracy and support Stalin. We're very lucky that the anti-commies won, at least I think so. I haven't examined this topic enough to have a firm opinion on McCarthy; I simply no longer hold my previous 100% opposition to McCarthy, which -- upon reflection -- wasn't based on a great deal of consideration, and certainly no critical thought. I percieved that Good Night was -- like Siriana and Crash -- premised on a reality that would ring falsely with me (assmumed villians and assumed heros that I could not assume). So I made no effort to see it.
I see that the top 10 grossing movies of 2005 were either repulsive enough on their face that I refused to see, or that I saw and declare unwatchably aweful. I don't even remember what came out in 2005 other than what got nominated or was on the top money list.
If you remove that essential element from the film, I think what's left was pretty good, though. I certainly agree with the point that the same person in different situations can act heroicly or horribly.
Syriana fell flat for me for similar reasons, depicting another aspect of the world that liberals imagine to exist: a massive international conspiracy wherein shady charactors pull levers that dictate all world events, which we are all powerless to affect, and in which The Rich Get Richer and The Poor Get Poorer. The truth is out there! When that brave young man at the end of the film goes off to impliment a suicide bombing, it reminded me of what it must have been like for neo-confederate apologists explaining why those poor white guys go lynch a nigra every now and then.
I loved Capote. There's a world that truly exists for me. A wierd, gay NY writer covering a sensational murder, acting in bizarre and contradictory ways.
Bareback Mountain I didn't see. I admit that I'm off-put by the prospect of seeing manlove manifested. And I'm disappointed that the "gay cowboy" movie was really about sheep herders. What a cop-out! If the original story was about sheep herders, was the author scared to make cowboys gay? And if so, why not for the purposes of the film have the guts to make the gay guys cowboys.
And why have them find love on Double Entendre Mountain? Why feed all the idiot jokesters like me such easy ammunition, "Brokeback Mountain"? There's an infinite number of titles that don't demand sendups.
Walk the Line was a lot of fun, just like Ray; nothing great, but lots of fun. Nothing untrue or repulsive about it. I could have lived with it winning anything.
Good Night and Good Luck, I didn't see. Mostly because I've lost my enthusiasm for 100% opposition to McCarthism, now that I have come to learn that there really were commies in the govt and they really did want to end democracy and support Stalin. We're very lucky that the anti-commies won, at least I think so. I haven't examined this topic enough to have a firm opinion on McCarthy; I simply no longer hold my previous 100% opposition to McCarthy, which -- upon reflection -- wasn't based on a great deal of consideration, and certainly no critical thought. I percieved that Good Night was -- like Siriana and Crash -- premised on a reality that would ring falsely with me (assmumed villians and assumed heros that I could not assume). So I made no effort to see it.
I see that the top 10 grossing movies of 2005 were either repulsive enough on their face that I refused to see, or that I saw and declare unwatchably aweful. I don't even remember what came out in 2005 other than what got nominated or was on the top money list.
Cubicles: The great mistake
Robert Oppenheimer agonized over building the A-bomb. Alfred Nobel got queasy about creating dynamite. Robert Propst invented nothing so destructive. Yet before he died in 2000, he lamented his unwitting contribution to what he called "monolithic insanity."
Propst is the father of the cubicle. More than 30 years after he unleashed it on the world, we are still trying to get out of the box. The cubicle has been called many things in its long and terrible reign. But what it has lacked in beauty and amenity, it has made up for in crabgrass-like persistence.
2006-03-09
Israel Spies on US
Let us be clear here. There is nothing benign about Israel spying on the United States. When Jonathan Pollard stole our nuclear secrets (which your taxes paid to develop) and sent them to Israel, Israel did not hesitate to trade those secrets to the USSR in exchange for increased emigration quotas.
The story of the uncovering of the largest spy ring ever discovered inside the United States should be the story of the century, if indeed the US media is looking out for the best interests of the American people. That this spy ring helped drug smugglers evade investigators should be a major scandal, if indeed the US media is looking out for the best interests of the American people. That the spy ring includes companies able to track and tap into any phone in America, including the White House, should be a cause celebre', if indeed the US media is looking out for the best interests of the American people.
The story of the uncovering of the largest spy ring ever discovered inside the United States should be the story of the century, if indeed the US media is looking out for the best interests of the American people. That this spy ring helped drug smugglers evade investigators should be a major scandal, if indeed the US media is looking out for the best interests of the American people. That the spy ring includes companies able to track and tap into any phone in America, including the White House, should be a cause celebre', if indeed the US media is looking out for the best interests of the American people.
Iraq Hangs 13 Insurgents Amid More Attacks
Get caught attempting to foment civil war, then here's your fate.
Banned Iraqi Weapons Shuttled to Syria?
I have always said that I supported Bush's invasion of Iraq independant of the baathist govt having banned weapons as of 911. And I have always taken seriously the numerous claims that no such weapons then existed. Will Tom, Nadir, and the other peaceniks just as seriously consider the reports that such weapons got transported to Syria in the year or so prior to the invasion? This claim is a lot less contrived (it's not even contrived at all) than the numerous anti-Bush charges (such as the Valarie Plame episode, or invading to steal oil). The claim here is simple: all the people who believe that Huissein had those weapons were correct, Huissein evaded weapons inspectors because he had those weapons, but he spirited them to his neighboring baathist ally in the year between Bush's announcement of invasion and the start of the invasion.
If this is true, Tom and Nadir, what will your reaction be? "Bush lied about other things, and people died"? Will the people who were wrong in claiming that Huissein lacked those weapons, will you accuse them of lying?
If this is true, Tom and Nadir, what will your reaction be? "Bush lied about other things, and people died"? Will the people who were wrong in claiming that Huissein lacked those weapons, will you accuse them of lying?
School Vouchers in Baltimore
Here's a documentary about 20 Baltimore kids from a ghetto school who essentially get vouchers to go get taught at a boarding school run by volunteer crackers out in the country. One of the 20 kids after just one year goes from having a horrible attitude to getting Maryland's top score on a math test. I don't see 95% of the parents of such kids voting democrat/anti-voucher forever.
Free Speach for Teachers
Let's discuss the high school teacher who told his class that Bush was just like Hitler. The school board and conservatives (including some parents and students) want him fired. I want him put back into the classroom. As long as he covers the required material, I think it is fine for him to tell the students that he believes that Bush is just like Hitler. I think that his students should challange him -- and each other -- on this topic. Such discussions are excellent often result in people learning more about Hitler and Bush than they otherwise would. They can also help people learn to tolerate the expression of veiws that oppose their own without wanting to fire or force appologies the expressor of such views.
And I'm confident that about half of his students will oppose his view and present credible facts and logic to support themselves.
And I'm confident that about half of his students will oppose his view and present credible facts and logic to support themselves.
Child Support Rights for Men
I developed this idea years ago, and have articulated it ever since: Since women have 100% choice in "keeping" or "aborting" their pregnancy, unwed fathers should have a similar choice. And non-costodial parents who pay child support should have lots of rights in decision-making. Currently, if an unwed women gets pregnant, she holds all of the cards. The unwed father is at her mercy. If she wants to abort the pregnancy, he cannot force her to keep the baby. If she chooses to have the baby, she has an inducement: 20% of the schmuck's paycheck, for 18 years. The only choice that the father has is upon birth he can sue for custody. But if the woman has a choice that will nullify that option: don't tell the dad she's pregnant until the baby is born and has lived with the mom long enough to establish primary residence. At such a point, custody transfer is very hard.
Rumsefeld: What civil war in Iraq?
Oh yeah, and we don't torture, either. And this whole thing was about democracy. And Iraq posed an imminent danger to U.s. security before the war. And...
2006-03-08
More Proof that Republicans Respect the Power of the Black Vote More Than Democrats
Republican leaders, preparing a strategy for several critical elections this year, are expanding their outreach efforts to black voters by offering a two-day training session for minorities interested in running for public office, becoming political advisors or facilitating GOP campaigns.
This is something the Democrats should have been doing for the past 40 years...
This is something the Democrats should have been doing for the past 40 years...
With Friends Like These, Who Are the Enemies?
Dick Cheney, the man who admittedly shot his friend in the face, addresses the lobbying organization that was found guilty of spying on the United States and giving secrets to Israel.
With friends like these...
With friends like these...
Conduct Unbecoming of the Commander-In-Chief
After viewing the nearly homo-erotic “pornographic” like photos and video clips, one could put an “E” rating—for morally evil-- on this sequel to the 2004 prison abuse scandal. There are many versions as to how this troubling incident happened in an Iraqi chicken coop, guarded by U.S. military foxes, but the origin is the most telling and indisputable.
Seymour M. Hersh wrote in “The Gray Zone,” “The roots of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal lie not in the criminal inclinations of a few Army reservists but in a decision, approved by… Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.” Called by U.S. black ops in code names (i.e., “Copper Green” in Afghanistan), interrogation of prisoners in Iraq is based on research presented by the late cultural anthropologist Raphael Patai in his 1973 “The Arab Mind.”
The book, which defined the psychological make-up of Arab peoples, became the bible for how to break them down psychologically and morally. Patai claims Arabs only understand force, and an Arab’s weakness is shame and humiliation. Thus, techniques for coerced sexually explicit humiliation were openly enforced in the prisons, and photographed to the delight of the U.S. MP guards.
RIP Gordon Parks, Sr.
Photographer, filmmaker, poet, musician, author, activist, businessman.
Gordon Parks was one bad mutha-shut-yo-mouf...
Gordon Parks was one bad mutha-shut-yo-mouf...
2006-03-07
Real "Courage": Courage To Speak The Truth
| #1050 - Arab-American Psychologist Wafa Sultan: There Is No Clash of Civilizations but a Clash between the Mentality of the Middle Ages and That of the 21st Century | |||
| Al-Jazeera TV (Qatar) - 2/21/2006 - 00:05:28 |  |  |  |
This Week's "Rare" Racist Hate Crime Story
UNC Attacker Will Use Trial to Proselytize
The Muslim psychology graduate who allegedly drove an SUV into a crowd of students at UNC-Chapel Hill appeared in court today and said he intends to use his trial to tell people about Allah: UNC attacker appears in court.
HILLSBOROUGH — Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, the 22-year-old former UNC student charged with trying to run down other students at the University of North Carolina on Friday, thanked the judge Monday during his first appearance for the opportunity tell people about Allah.
“I’m thankful you’re here to give me this trial to learn more about the will of Allah, the creator and the merciful,” Taheri-azar said to the judge during the short hearing in Orange County District Criminal Court.
Taheri-Azar, wearing the typical orange jumpsuit of jail inmates, was escorted into the crowded courtroom under tight security by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and was immediately seated in the defendant’s chair.
Orange-Chatham District Attorney Jim Woodall told Judge Pat DeVine that Taheri-Azar had been charged with nine counts of attempted murder and nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury. He then read through each of the 18 warrants, naming each of the nine victims.
Taheri-Azar sat quietly, only glancing once to his right at the phalanx of deputies who stood nearby. He answered each of DeVine’s questions politely as she explained his rights and the procedures. Susan Seahorn, an assistant public defender, stood behind his chair.
When DeVine asked Taheri-Azar if he wanted to hire his own attorney or have one appointed for him, he answered, “I am representing myself.”
Taheri-Azar spoke softly and it was difficult to hear exactly what he said. Woodall, who was standing near him during the first appearance, later said Seahorn spoke to Taheri-azar as he was sitting in the defendant’s chair. “She whispered in his ear to stop talking, and he said he would decide when to stop talking,” Woodall said.
Although Taheri-Azar said he would represent himself, DeVine still appointed the Public Defender’s office to represent him “out of an abundance of caution,” she said.
DeVine told Taheri-Azar that his bond would remain at $5.5 million and that he would remain in custody under a safekeeping order at Central Prison in Raleigh.
After speaking briefly in a backroom with two representatives of the Public Defender’s office, deputies escorted Taheri-Azar to a sheriff’s car that was waiting to transport him back to the prison. As news reporters shouted questions at him about representing himself, Taheri-Azar replied, “Allah is my lawyer.”
Mohammad said he tried to rent the largest SUV he could, in order to kill as many people as possible. It’s a good thing Hertz doesn’t rent 747s.
Meanwhile, the University is urging students to understand the root causes so they can take constructive action, and not to jump to any conclusions about “terrorism,” even though Mohammad Taheri-azar attempted to commit mass murder in the name of Allah. In his own words.
Students To Protest UNC’s Reluctance To Label Pit Incident Terrorism.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Protests are planned for Monday in the same area of campus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where, authorities said, a former student plowed a sport utility vehicle into nine people Friday afternoon.
The College Republicans, Americans for an Informed Democracy and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies are sponsoring the event, scheduled for 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Monday in “The Pit,” a central area of the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. The event is open to the public and free of charge.
Police said Mohammad Taheri-azar, a 2005 UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, admits he acted to “avenge the death of Muslims around the world.” UNC police and local authorities, however, say they have not taken a stance on that interpretation, but are simply repeating what the suspect has told them.
UNC-Chapel Hill student leaders said that Monday’s protest is aimed at the reluctance of the university to label Friday’s incident as an act of terrorism. “This is innocent people being attacked by an SUV, driven by a man who was doing it for retaliation for treatment of Muslims around the world,” said Jillian Bandes, with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. “To me, that spells terrorism.”
Taheri-azar, who is currently in Raleigh’s Central Prison under a $5.5 million bond, is charged with nine counts of attempted first-degree murder and nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury with intent to kill. ...
But were Taheri-azar’s alleged actions acts of terrorism?
“I think (what Taheri-azar did) is extreme,” said Dan VanAtta, a friend of the suspect. “But then again, I don’t know what was going through his head. ... Mohammed was a good guy.”
David Schanzer, the director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security at Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill, said it is fine for students to voice their dismay, but that they should be cautious. “(They should) understand the roots of it and understand the strategies for addressing it in a constructive way,” Schanzer said.
He takes the same position as officials at the Islamic Center of Raleigh...
Bird Disease Hysteria
Big Gov is taking another dreadful lurch forward into causing needless problems: making all owners of commercial birds tag and register them, in the name of addressing Bird Flu Hysteria. This new US law will apply not only to the huge commercial chicken complexes, but also to the small farmer who gathers eggs each morning from chickens that have names and personalities. This article hasn't been posted on the internet yet; I have copied it from an email from Austin's beloved Boggey Creek Farm, and pasted it into the Comments section of this post.
The Thirty-Year Neoconservative Plan for Global Dominance
The Richard Dreyfuss article linked above offers the best analysis of the thirty-year neoconservative plan to take over the Middle East. If you are looking for the historical background on the current US wars of conquest, this 2003 Mother Jones story is the best place to start.
After that check out THIS ARTICLE from Project Censored which covers "The Neoconservative Plan for Global Dominance". It specifically references a classified 1989 document called "Defense Planning Guidance" authored by Dick Cheney, Colin Powel and Paul Wolfowitz after the fall of the Soviet Union.
From the Project Censored article:
"The Plan called for the United States to maintain and grow in military superiority and prevent new rivals from rising up to challenge us on the world stage. Using words like 'preemptive' and military 'forward presence,’ the plan called for the U.S. to be dominant over friends and foes alike. It concluded with the assertion that the U.S. can best attain this position by making itself 'absolutely powerful.' "
Of course, a good scholar like Paul will dismiss these articles as leftist propaganda. Therefore, we should examine primary neoconservative sources like the infamous Rebuilding America's Defenses published in September 2000 by the Project for the New American Century. This neoconservative think tank is chaired by William Kristol, publisher of The Weekly Standard (not former Oscar host Billy Crystal). This Guardian article from 2003, appropriately titled "Out of Their Own Mouths" covers the highlights, if you don't want to sift through the actual white paper.
For SixStringSlinger, that right-wing champion who detests the "No Blood for Oil" cries of the left, we have another slightly dubious source, The U.S. House of Representatives. Posted on their website is a page titled "Iraqi Oil Will Pay For This" which includes quotes from administration officials that reveal their double-talk and outright lies about the estimated cost of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Former Undersecretary of Defense and now World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz is quoted as saying, "...the oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years..."
It is ludicrous to say that neocons only want to spread democracy to the Middle East. In their own words they call for an expansion of the US empire, and their aim is to acheive that through military dominance of the Middle East and its oil fields. So it seems the difference between the right-wing and left-wing perspectives of neoconservative statements on this blog at least is that our right-wingers believe what they are told to believe, and our left-wingers listen to and believe what the neocons actually say!
After that check out THIS ARTICLE from Project Censored which covers "The Neoconservative Plan for Global Dominance". It specifically references a classified 1989 document called "Defense Planning Guidance" authored by Dick Cheney, Colin Powel and Paul Wolfowitz after the fall of the Soviet Union.
From the Project Censored article:
"The Plan called for the United States to maintain and grow in military superiority and prevent new rivals from rising up to challenge us on the world stage. Using words like 'preemptive' and military 'forward presence,’ the plan called for the U.S. to be dominant over friends and foes alike. It concluded with the assertion that the U.S. can best attain this position by making itself 'absolutely powerful.' "
Of course, a good scholar like Paul will dismiss these articles as leftist propaganda. Therefore, we should examine primary neoconservative sources like the infamous Rebuilding America's Defenses published in September 2000 by the Project for the New American Century. This neoconservative think tank is chaired by William Kristol, publisher of The Weekly Standard (not former Oscar host Billy Crystal). This Guardian article from 2003, appropriately titled "Out of Their Own Mouths" covers the highlights, if you don't want to sift through the actual white paper.
For SixStringSlinger, that right-wing champion who detests the "No Blood for Oil" cries of the left, we have another slightly dubious source, The U.S. House of Representatives. Posted on their website is a page titled "Iraqi Oil Will Pay For This" which includes quotes from administration officials that reveal their double-talk and outright lies about the estimated cost of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Former Undersecretary of Defense and now World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz is quoted as saying, "...the oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years..."
It is ludicrous to say that neocons only want to spread democracy to the Middle East. In their own words they call for an expansion of the US empire, and their aim is to acheive that through military dominance of the Middle East and its oil fields. So it seems the difference between the right-wing and left-wing perspectives of neoconservative statements on this blog at least is that our right-wingers believe what they are told to believe, and our left-wingers listen to and believe what the neocons actually say!
2006-03-06
The Court-Martial Of Willie Brand
Brand told 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley what he did wasn’t torture, it was his training, authorized and supervised by his superiors. So how is it he was charged with assault, maiming and manslaughter?
"I didn’t understand how they could do this after they had trained you to do this stuff and they turn around and say you’ve been bad you shouldn’t have done this stuff now they’re going to charge you with assault, maiming and 'unvoluntary' manslaughter, how can this be when they trained you to do it and they condoned it while you were doing it," says Brand.
"I didn’t understand how they could do this after they had trained you to do this stuff and they turn around and say you’ve been bad you shouldn’t have done this stuff now they’re going to charge you with assault, maiming and 'unvoluntary' manslaughter, how can this be when they trained you to do it and they condoned it while you were doing it," says Brand.
Jon Stewart Rocks, Exposes Tight Asses
Looks like Jon Stewart did a great job. I'm not as high on him and his show as the lefties are, but I think that he has consistently great stuff on his show. I only watched the last half of the oscars, but reports that Stewart bombed include some jokes that I think are extremely funny, and the non-response of the audience exposes once again that they're a humorlous bunch. Letterman I think is a comic god, and I very much like Chis Rock. Rock's man-on-the-street interview at the last Oscars showing that no black people watch the nominated films was great. But holliwood can't laugh at itself, and he flopped. They will need to bring back that horrible Billy Crystal.
Great Stewart jokes that reportedly got no laughs:
1. Pointing at the rich audience: "You dvd burning theives, these are the people you are stealing from."
2. After a commercial break: "... and that's why I think that Scientology is right of you, and for America."
3. The Oscars are a chance to "see all your favorite stars without having to donate any money to the Democratic party."
I have new respect for Stewart. Perhaps Nadir would object to him if in response the audience errupted into a murdering, arsoning mob.
Great Stewart jokes that reportedly got no laughs:
1. Pointing at the rich audience: "You dvd burning theives, these are the people you are stealing from."
2. After a commercial break: "... and that's why I think that Scientology is right of you, and for America."
3. The Oscars are a chance to "see all your favorite stars without having to donate any money to the Democratic party."
I have new respect for Stewart. Perhaps Nadir would object to him if in response the audience errupted into a murdering, arsoning mob.
Randy and Jermaine Jackson's Living arrangement
Our first entertainment gossip post: Did any of y'all know that Randy and Jermaine Jackson share a house with Jermaine's ex-wife... and that the woman has children by both of them? I found that even more interesting than the revelation that Jermaine -- despite vigorously asserting Michael's innocence -- wrote a book proposal asserting his belief that Michael molests little boys.
2006-03-05
Iraq: Pure War, Pure Crime
"The Iraq War is a pure war, a war for the sake of war. Congress is debating whether to spend another fortune on it, another fortune that could completely remake this nation if spent on useful projects, and Congress has no reason for the war.
"But any Congress member or Senator who claims to be voting for a war that neither Americans nor Iraqis want because of the crumbs for good things had better be signed onto Congressman Jim McGovern's bill to simply end funding for the war. Otherwise that Congress member or Senator is a hypocrite and a murderer lacking the nerve of a Texas idiot to stand up and say, 'I am a murderer, what are you going to do about it?'
"But any Congress member or Senator who claims to be voting for a war that neither Americans nor Iraqis want because of the crumbs for good things had better be signed onto Congressman Jim McGovern's bill to simply end funding for the war. Otherwise that Congress member or Senator is a hypocrite and a murderer lacking the nerve of a Texas idiot to stand up and say, 'I am a murderer, what are you going to do about it?'
"Because, let's be clear: an aggressive war without UN sanction, whether marketed on a mountain of lies or not, is a crime and the legal equivalent of mass murder."
2006-03-03
Taliban Presence is Bigger and More Menacing Than Ever
This is in addition to the record opium output since the US invasion. And they never did find Osama. But on the positive side, a former UnoCal exec is the president of the country. Was that (and the opium) the point all along?
Videotape Spares Innocent Men from Hell of Rape Charge
If one of these party boys hadn't taped the group sex, he and his three buddies would be in jail, and would very likely have gotten convicted of rape, thanks to the politicization of sex crimes. Remember that poor Mike Tyson got convicted merely on the accusation of an accuser. Bill Clinton was one of the people who successfully pushed the damnable legislation that has led to this sorry state of affairs. If you doubt that there is a problem, try this experiment:
1. Have a woman call the police and claim that three days ago a particular guy stole $100 from her. Most likely, the cops won't even go ask the guy if he has $100, and if he got if from her. But in the unlikely case that they did go and interview him, if he said that she gave him $100, the cops would tell the woman that there is nothing that they can do.
2. The same woman now calls the police and claims that three days ago the same guy raped her. I guarantee you that the cops will go interview him, and if he admits that they had sex, they will arrest him, charge him with rape, and let the judge sort it out. That's what happened to Tyson; he probably should have lied and claimed that he didn't have sex. The feminists claim that "women don't lie about rape." That is very false.
Laws like those involved in the above scenario enabled Jennifer Flowers in suing Clinton for sexual assault to delve into Clinton's past, and probe his "character." That's how Monica Lewinski was forced to testify, and then Clinton about her testimony. For no other accusation could a litigant do such a thing, and prior to the new feminist laws, they could not.
1. Have a woman call the police and claim that three days ago a particular guy stole $100 from her. Most likely, the cops won't even go ask the guy if he has $100, and if he got if from her. But in the unlikely case that they did go and interview him, if he said that she gave him $100, the cops would tell the woman that there is nothing that they can do.
2. The same woman now calls the police and claims that three days ago the same guy raped her. I guarantee you that the cops will go interview him, and if he admits that they had sex, they will arrest him, charge him with rape, and let the judge sort it out. That's what happened to Tyson; he probably should have lied and claimed that he didn't have sex. The feminists claim that "women don't lie about rape." That is very false.
Laws like those involved in the above scenario enabled Jennifer Flowers in suing Clinton for sexual assault to delve into Clinton's past, and probe his "character." That's how Monica Lewinski was forced to testify, and then Clinton about her testimony. For no other accusation could a litigant do such a thing, and prior to the new feminist laws, they could not.
This Week's "Rare" Racist Hate Crime Story - Fatal Shooting Not Seen As Hate Crime
The killing of a 47-year-old chasidic man on the streets of Crown Heights early Tuesday morning does not appear to be an anti-Semitic attack but possibly a random shooting between members of rival gangs, according to early indications.
“The police are pursuing all avenues of investigation,” said David Pollock, associate executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council. “There is no evidence that it is a hate crime, nor is there evidence that it is not.”
“The police are pursuing all avenues of investigation,” said David Pollock, associate executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council. “There is no evidence that it is a hate crime, nor is there evidence that it is not.”
Canada backs Sikh dagger rights
Canadian Sikhs should be allowed to wear small daggers central to their faith when they go to school, the country's Supreme Court has ruled. In an 8-0 judgement, the court reversed the ruling of a Montreal school board, which banned Gurbaj Singh Multani from wearing his dagger, known as a kirpan. The kirpan is deemed sacred by Sikhs as a symbol of power and truth.
2006-03-02
Black Chicago's Hamas
From the article:
"The Chicago City Council may rename a one-block section of an inner city street for murdered Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton.
Remembering the Black Panthers, I understand why Palestinians voted for Hamas. Like Palestinians on the West Bank, we on the west side of Chicago in the 1960's understood how violent and well-armed are our opponents, in our case the Chicago Police Department."
"The Chicago City Council may rename a one-block section of an inner city street for murdered Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton.
Remembering the Black Panthers, I understand why Palestinians voted for Hamas. Like Palestinians on the West Bank, we on the west side of Chicago in the 1960's understood how violent and well-armed are our opponents, in our case the Chicago Police Department."
What Bush Was Told About Iraq
Two highly classified intelligence reports delivered directly to President Bush before the Iraq war cast doubt on key public assertions made by the president, Vice President Cheney, and other administration officials as justifications for invading Iraq and toppling Saddam Hussein, according to records and knowledgeable sources.
Has Larry Elder seen this article?
Has Larry Elder seen this article?
Bombs vs Bombshells
It says everything you need to know about the current state of TV news -- indeed the current state of our media culture -- that on a day that saw Iraq moving closer to all-out civil war, with at least 76 Iraqis killed and 179 wounded in sectarian attacks, the CBS Evening News devoted one minute and thirty-nine seconds to coverage of Iraq... and one minute and fifty-six seconds to coverage of Anna Nicole Smith's appearance in front of the Supreme Court.
Of course, the Mrs. Smith Goes to Washington story came with all that irresistible B-roll of Anna Nicole jiggling her way through a pack of jostling paparazzi into the High Court.
Hard for civil war to top that.
Of course, the Mrs. Smith Goes to Washington story came with all that irresistible B-roll of Anna Nicole jiggling her way through a pack of jostling paparazzi into the High Court.
Hard for civil war to top that.
George Will says Bush Failing in Iraq
Pretty devistating commentary from George Will. I'm not certain how this will turn out. But I always hope that people get modern prosperity and security, and have found that only one way of obtaining it: organizing themselves into a constitutional, liberal, secular government based on individual liberties, which includes property rights and the right of individuals to enter into private trade agreements amoungst themselves.
Bush's Worlds Collide
Pat Buch, with another missive that'll enthuse Tom and Nadir. One think that I like about Pat Buch is that he doesn't employ silly semantics. For example, he opposes warrentless evesdropping on international communication, but he doesn't mis-lable this as "domestic" communication. The word "domestic" means "within a nation", whereas "international" means "involving more than one nation." Nadir's email to Fidel Castro is not a "domestic" email; nor is his call to Robert Mugabe a "domestic" call. As Nadir's phone bill will attest, that call is "international." A proper description of the contested Bush practice would be, "Unchecked international communications spying." I don't think that anybody really wants the US military or its intelligence agents to get a federal warrent before tapping calls between Iraq and the US, but we all want congressional officials to monitor the tapping, right? But please, no more refering to these communications as "domestic"; according to the dictionary, they are not.
Bush Lied, People Died?
Here's an Iraqi General who would beg to differ. Of course, I'm sure there are those of you who will simply disregard his opinion.
I have always felt it was a very a realistic probability that Iraq's WMD went to Syria and that some, or all of them were used in the attempted 2004 terrorist attack on Jordan that has oddly been forgotten about.
Funny how the mainstream media and the Bush haters forget about certain events that don't fit there agenda, isn't it?
I have always felt it was a very a realistic probability that Iraq's WMD went to Syria and that some, or all of them were used in the attempted 2004 terrorist attack on Jordan that has oddly been forgotten about.
Funny how the mainstream media and the Bush haters forget about certain events that don't fit there agenda, isn't it?
Extent of Eavesdropping May Go Beyond NSA Work
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales appeared to suggest that the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance operations may extend beyond the outlines that the president acknowledged in mid-December.
In a letter to senators in which he asked to clarify his Feb. 6 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Gonzales also seemed to imply that the administration's original legal justification for the program was not as clear-cut as he indicated weeks ago.
At least one constitutional scholar who testified before the committee said in an interview that Gonzales appeared to be hinting that the operation disclosed by the New York Times in mid-December is not the full extent of eavesdropping on U.S. residents conducted without court warrants.
"It seems to me he is conceding that there are other NSA surveillance programs ongoing that the president hasn't told anyone about," said Bruce Fein, a government lawyer in the Nixon, Carter and Reagan administrations.
2006-03-01
I was a paid torturer for the U.S. government
Linked above you'll find an Op-ed piece from yesterday's NY Times by Anthony Lagouranis, who served in the Army from May 2001 to July 2005. He served as an army interrogator in "many places" in Iraq, he writes, including Abu Ghraib. A pair of Army sergeants are now on trial, essentially for using dogs to terrify suspects during interogations. People much higher up the chain of command, Lagouranis implies, should be answering for this practice. Below is an excerpt from his piece, "Tortured Logic." Emphasis added.
Following orders that I believed were legal, I used military working dogs during interrogations. I terrified my interrogation subjects, but I never got intelligence (mostly because 90 percent of them were probably innocent, but that's another story). Perhaps, I have thought for a long time, I also deserve to be prosecuted. But if that is the case, culpability goes much farther up the chain of command than the Army and the Bush administration have so far been willing to admit.
When the chief warrant officer at our interrogation site in Mosul first told me to use dogs during interrogations, it seemed well within what was allowed by our written rules and consistent with what was being done at Abu Ghraib and other detention centers. The dogs were muzzled and held by a handler. The prisoners didn't know that, though, because they were blindfolded; if they gave me an answer I didn't like, I could cue the handler so the dog would bark and lunge toward them. Sometimes they were so terrified they'd wet their jumpsuits. About halfway through my tour, I stopped using dogs and other "enhancements" like hypothermia that qualify as torture even under the most nonchalant readings of international law. I couldn't handle being so routinely brutal.
"Europe is Shuffling into Darkness"
Douglas Murray attends a conference of Islam critics in the Netherlands, and says “We should fear Holland’s silence.”
Holland — with its disproportionately high Muslim population — is the canary in the mine. Its once open society is closing, and Europe is closing slowly behind it. It looks, from Holland, like the twilight of liberalism — not the “liberalism” that is actually libertarianism, but the liberalism that is freedom. Not least freedom of expression.
All across Europe, debate on Islam is being stopped. Italy’s greatest living writer, Oriana Fallaci, soon comes up for trial in her home country, and in Britain the government seems intent on pushing through laws that would make truths about Islam and the conduct of its followers impossible to voice.
Those of us who write and talk on Islam thus get caught between those on our own side who are increasingly keen to prosecute and increasing numbers of militants threatening murder. In this situation, not only is free speech being shut down, but our nation’s security is being compromised.
Since the assassinations of Fortuyn and, in 2004, the film maker Theo van Gogh, numerous public figures in Holland have received death threats and routine intimidation. The heroic Somali-born Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali and her equally outspoken colleague Geert Wilders live under constant police protection, often forced to sleep on army bases. Even university professors are under protection.
Europe is shuffling into darkness. It is proving incapable of standing up to its enemies, and in an effort to accommodate the peripheral rights of a minority is failing to protect the most basic rights of its own people.
The governments of Europe have been tricked into believing that criticism of a belief is the same thing as criticism of a race. And so it is becoming increasingly difficult and dangerous to criticise a growing and powerful ideology within our midst. It may soon, in addition, be made illegal.
Holland — with its disproportionately high Muslim population — is the canary in the mine. Its once open society is closing, and Europe is closing slowly behind it. It looks, from Holland, like the twilight of liberalism — not the “liberalism” that is actually libertarianism, but the liberalism that is freedom. Not least freedom of expression.
All across Europe, debate on Islam is being stopped. Italy’s greatest living writer, Oriana Fallaci, soon comes up for trial in her home country, and in Britain the government seems intent on pushing through laws that would make truths about Islam and the conduct of its followers impossible to voice.
Those of us who write and talk on Islam thus get caught between those on our own side who are increasingly keen to prosecute and increasing numbers of militants threatening murder. In this situation, not only is free speech being shut down, but our nation’s security is being compromised.
Since the assassinations of Fortuyn and, in 2004, the film maker Theo van Gogh, numerous public figures in Holland have received death threats and routine intimidation. The heroic Somali-born Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali and her equally outspoken colleague Geert Wilders live under constant police protection, often forced to sleep on army bases. Even university professors are under protection.
Europe is shuffling into darkness. It is proving incapable of standing up to its enemies, and in an effort to accommodate the peripheral rights of a minority is failing to protect the most basic rights of its own people.
The governments of Europe have been tricked into believing that criticism of a belief is the same thing as criticism of a race. And so it is becoming increasingly difficult and dangerous to criticise a growing and powerful ideology within our midst. It may soon, in addition, be made illegal.
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