Pause Mode

Due to end-of-the-school-term tasks and other matters to mull over, my blogging will remain in pause mode until June 1 — with the exception of announcements related to The Gathering Storm Radio Show.
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In other words, I have neither the time nor the inclination to blog right now.

(Posted on May 15, 2008 @ 10:26 PM)

CONTINUE READING....

FEATURED QUESTION: Our Economy

(Each "Featured Question," an idea which I gleaned from A Republic If You Can Keep It, will remain toward the top of the blog until the next question appears. The previous QUESTIONS are HERE. Please scroll down for recent postings)

The cost of gasoline, heating oil, food, and health insurance continue to rise. This FEATURED QUESTION doesn't need any links to substantiate that statement.
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As for gasoline, we have significantly cut back on distances we drive — not that we did all that much driving in the first place. My work commute for the entire week is under 100 miles. Dur to lack of business for the company where he had worked for nearly twelve years, Mr. AOW lost his primary job in January, thus limiting his work-related driving to commuting to his second job, located a mere two miles from our house. During the course of a week, we now drive less than 200 miles every week, even forgoing pleasure trips in our Mustang.

At home, we keep the thermostat set lower during the cold and cool months (64 degrees) and higher during the warm and hot months (78 degrees). To reduce the impact of the soaring price for petroleum, Mr. AOW and I had thermal windows installed a few months ago. Fortunately, we had savings enough to pay for the windows and their installation. We have already noticed that our home is more efficient, keeping in the heat and the cool. Of course, with the cost of heating oil and electricity continuing to rise, we may still experience monthly bills of amounts inconceivable this time last year.

The rising cost of food has hit all of us, I think. Mr. AOW and I have found Angel Food Ministries, available throughout the United States, to be a blessing in coping with the cost of food. In addition, at the store we shop more wisely and look for bargains. Required by the doctor to adhere to a high-protein diet, I also substitute Melaleuca protein bars for at least one meal every day. Even our cats are cutting back on how much they eat!

Cutting back on local taxes and health insurance present a conundrum. They continue to climb! I suspect that the next round of local elections will result in throwing our present leadership out of office. But maybe not: everyone claims to favor budget cuts, but various groups are unwilling to have their services cut or reduced. As for health insurance, we are trapped. No reasonable coverage is available for us fifty-somethings with pre-existing conditions, even though we rarely go to the doctor. At COBRA rates, the cheapest coverage available to us and lasting only for another year, the cost of the coverage approaches 40% of our gross income. Mr. AOW and I have no control over the rising costs of local taxes and health insurance.


FEATURED QUESTION: What are you doing to cope with the rising costs as outlined in this posting?

CONTINUE READING....

Weekly Radio Show: May 16 — Ibn Misr and Chaim

Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.

The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.

Callers welcome!

Friday, May 16 (90 minutes): Our guests this week are Ibn Misr of Sons of Apes and Pigs and Chaim of Freedom's Cost.
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Ibn Misr, who will be with us for the first hour, is a Coptic and a real firebrand who knows Islam inside out. According to information at his web site, his blog was launched in an effort to blow away the barrier of the Arabic language for Westerners, and give the proofs, from none other than Mohammad himself in his Koran and Hadiths.

Chaim will be with us at the top of the second hour for thirty minutes. According to information at his web site, his blog counters the revisionism, the lies and the ignorance (whether real or purposeful) of what is written about world events.

If you are unable to listen live to this week's edition of the radio show, you can listen later by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS
May 23: Cassandra USA
May 30: John Kenneth Press and Radio Free Dar Al Harb
June 6: Gary Swenchonis and Vadim

CONTINUE READING....

Muslims And Dogs

(With a hat-tip to The Merry Widow, who emailed me the first link in this posting)

Tyler Hurd and Emmitt





We infidels have heard numerous stories about how Muslims hate dogs, even the very sight of a dog. From this article in World Net Daily comes another such story:

Muslim threats force out
disabled teacher with dog
Islamic students reportedly taunted 'unclean' animal

A Muslim high school student's intolerance for a service dog needed by a student teacher with a disability has reportedly prompted the student teacher to abandon the last 10 hours of his scheduled assignment at Technical High School in St. Cloud, Minn.

The St. Cloud Times online said the situation developed with student teacher Tyler Hurd, 23, of Mahtomedi, who hopes to teach special education.

He's a student at St. Cloud State University, and was assigned to Technical High School in the St. Cloud district for his 50 hours of student teaching, and took with him his service dog, Emmitt.

The newspaper said Hurd needs a service dog because of a childhood injury that leaves him with seizures, sometimes happening as often as weekly. The black lab is trained to protect Hurd when he has a seizure.

The school district told the newspaper it wasn't really a threat.

"I think it was a misunderstanding where we didn't really prepare either side for possible implications," Julia Espe, curriculum director for the public schools, said.

Hurd, however, reported a student threatened to kill his dog. He said the threat came from a Somali student who is Muslim.

[...]

A meeting was set up involving Kate Steffens, the dean of education at St. Cloud State, and assistant principal Lori Lockhart of Tech, in order to avoid future problems.

"We certainly welcome (Hurd) in our district, and we hope we can get this all resolved so he feels welcome and his dog is welcome," Espe said.

Oh, really, Ms. Espe? Considering Muslim dogophobia, just how will such "future problems" be avoided? By locking away service dogs such as Emmitt in some isolated corner of the campus and having a human escort for Mr. Hurd from the dog's confinement point to the work Mr. Hurd does?

From the above-cited article, the following comment demonstrates a laudatory anti-dhimmitudinal attitude:

On the newspaper's forum, "scorpionthoughts" said: "The last time I checked this is the United States of America!!!!! So many people are getting shipped over here and expect to be treated like they and their beliefs are better …. If you don't like the way things are in this country – stay in your own … place of origin!!!"

Kudos to you, Scorpionthoughts!

In addition the above information comes the following about the role of service dogs in assisting human beings who suffer from seizures:

Seizure dogs can help when a family member is having a seizure. A few dogs may even be able to predict when people will have a seizure.

[...]

...Some dogs have been trained to bark or otherwise alert families when a child has a seizure while playing outside or in another room. Some dogs learn to lie next to someone having a seizure to prevent injury....

As King of SCSU Scholars stated regarding the situation with Hurd and his service dog Emmitt:

One would think that the Americans with Disabilities Act would allow this student to participate to the fullest extent possible in pursuing his goals...

Still, Tyler Hurd seems to have stopped short of finishing his student teaching at Technical High School — all because some Somali Muslim suffers from dogophobia (or claims to, anyway). Furthermore, Islam does allow for work dogs, and Emmitt, being a service dog certainly qualifies as a work dog, even if he isn't herding goats.

Muslims need to get over themselves.

CONTINUE READING....

RIP: Irena Sendler

Excerpt from this obituary in the Washington Post:

...In recent years, a biography of Mrs. Sendler called her "Mother of the children of the Holocaust," and Polish President Lech Kaczynski awarded her the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest civilian decoration.

"Every Jewish child who survived due to my efforts has justified my existence on this Earth but is no cause for praise," Mrs. Sendler told the Express. "We who were rescuing children are not some kind of heroes. That term irritates me greatly. The opposite is true. I continue to have qualms of conscience that I did so little. I could have done more. This regret will follow me to my death."...

Read the rest of the article.

Read more about Irena Sendler and "Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project" HERE. More details about her acts of heroism in saving 2500 Jewish children can be found HERE.

(The above entry also posted at THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS)

CONTINUE READING....

The Ailing Republican Party

(All emphases by Always On Watch) to expand

Have you noticed the concerns and the general malaise on the part of typically-Republican voters with regard to the party's choice for the November 4 National Election? John Hawkins of Townhall.com has written an essay with his views as to why conservatives are less than enthusiastic about McCain's candidacy. Excerpt from "The Republican Party's Real Problem in a Nutshell," in which he states the following:

[C]onservatives, who are the heart and soul of the Republican Party, no longer believe that the GOP has their best interests at heart.

In his essay, Mr. Hawkins goes on to draw a distinction between supporters and allies:

Conservatives will stay up late volunteering for a campaign, give until it hurts, and crawl over broken glass to put candidates in Washington who're "on their side."

However, it's a totally different ball game when we're talking about mere allies. Why give money and spend precious time volunteering on the campaigns of people who are going to turn right around and cut you off at the knees on spending and illegal immigration once they get to DC?

Read the entire essay.

In my view, Mr. Hawkins has drawn an important distinction. Many conservatives will vote for McCain simply because he is not the Democratic Party's candidate, who certainly leans further left than McCain. Other conservatives will stay home, excercise the write-in option on the ballot, or cast their votes for a third-party candidate — even though those options will almost surely give the victory to the Democratic Party's candidate. The Republican Party has moved away from its conservative base, and that shift could put a Democrat into the White House.

How did the Republican Party get itself into such a mess? Yes, the GOP shares some of the blame. But not all of it. Consider this excerpt from Seth's recent essay "In The Proverbial Nutshell":

I firmly believe that the “silent majority” of right-thinking Americans referred to during the Vietnam era is still alive and well, our self-deception is in our belief that it is sufficient that we do our talking at the polls on Election Day.

The problem there is that in between mid-term and Presidential elections, the only “talking” that really gets done is between elected politicians. Granted, there are occasional, though few and far between, voter rebellions wherein We, The People intercede en masse, such as the thankfully aborted amnesty legislation a couple of years back, but for the most part, we just kinda’ sorta’ sit back in blissful unawareness or semi-awareness...

Read Seth's entire essay here.

Mustang, too, has posted an essay on the coming election. In the concluding paragraph of "Exciting Politics," Mustang opines as follows:

[T]he problem isn’t really our politicians (snakes that they are); it is about the uninformed voter who swallow everything candidates tell them and then cast their ballot based on illogical and patently untrue political supposition.

In my view, Mr. Hawkins, Seth, and Mustang are sounding important alarms about conservatism's future in America. For the coming election, however, and for a variety of reasons, many of which are conservatives' own fault, we on the right side of the political spectrum are limited to choices not reflective of our views. Perhaps by 2012, our choices for leadership will change. At the moment, such a change is the best that conservatives can hope for and, more importantly, work toward.

CONTINUE READING....

Weekly Radio Show: May 9 — "Mohammed Abdul"

Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.

The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.

Callers welcome!

Friday, May 9: Our guest for the full hour is "Mohammed Abdul."
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Mohammed Abdul is a pseudonym for this week's interviewee, who is an expert on the Middle East and on some of the lesser-known tenets of Islam.

If you are unable to listen live to this week's edition of the radio show, you can listen later by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS
May 16: Ibn Misr and Chaim
May 23: Cassandra USA
May 30: John Kenneth Press and Radio Free Dar Al Harb
June 6: Gary Swenchonis and Vadim

CONTINUE READING....

Hezbollah Takes Beirut

(Hat-tip to Michael)

Blurb from this May 9, 2008 news article:

Gunmen loyal to Nasrallah take control of Muslim part of Lebanese capital, seize outlets owned by governing coalition leader Hariri; Lebanese troops begin taking up positions in some Sunni neighborhoods. Saudi Arabia, calls for emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers over crisis

Read the entire article here.
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Reuters also reports here, in "Hezbollah routs pro-government gunmen; controls Beirut."

Update from this source:

- The highway to Tripoli (Tarablous) has been closed. (not sure by which side)

- Death toll in the past 72 hours: 13 dead / +45 injured

- Sporadic gunfire ongoing in Koreitem. Mini markets in Hamra have opened shop for the locals stuck in the area.

- Reports indicate Saniora & Hariri are still in Beirut.

- The government vs opposition fight has moved to the South and North of Lebanon. Akkar [Minieh & Miniara] is a flashpoint, with Hariri's Future Movement militias setting up roadblocks and firing automatic weapons. Tyre (Sour) is also seeing some activity.

- Pro-government media outlets admit defeat of pro-government militias [by opposition militias] in Beirut.

- Italy has just opened up a hotline for its citizens in Beirut. (don't know the number)

- Aoun has just gone on TV to say that the fighting is over, the opposition has won, and the tomorrow all life will be back to normal in Beirut, with a greater sense of safety as the militias have either disbanded or fled, with militia offices and weapons now controlled by the Lebanese Army.

- MEA has cancelled all flights for another 24 hours.

CONTINUE READING....

Islamic Divorce Denied In Maryland

The information below the fold is an encouraging development that provides some anti-dhimmitudinal satisfaction. Nevertheless, the case may not have larger significance in the greater counter-jihad.
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Excerpt from the May 7, 2008 edition of the Baltimore Sun:

Saying "I divorce thee" three times, as men in Muslim countries have been able to do for centuries when leaving their wives, is not enough if you're a resident of Maryland, the state's highest court ruled yesterday.

Yesterday, the Court of Appeals rejected a Pakistani man's argument that his invocation of the Islamic 'talaq', under which a marriage is dissolved simply by the husband's say-so, allowed him to part with his wife of more than 20 years and deny her a share of his $2 million estate.

The justices affirmed a lower court's decision overturning a divorce decree obtained in Pakistan by Irfan Aleem, a World Bank economist who moved from London to Maryland with his wife, Farah Aleem, in 1985. ...

Irfan Aleem had lived for nearly twenty years at the top echelons of the bankings in the West. But when his wife filed for divorce in Montgomery County, Maryland, in 2003, Mr. Aleem decided to pursue a shari'a avenue to limit the cost of the settlement terms:

But before the legal process could be completed - and without telling his wife - Aleem went to the Pakistani Embassy in Washington and invoked the 'talaq', in effect attempting to turn jurisdiction of the case over to a Pakistani court that later granted him a divorce.

The Maryland Court of Appeals nullified his Aleem's plan, although

Muneer Fareed, secretary-general of the Islamic Society of North America, said that if Aleem had traveled to Pakistan and invoked his talaq there, it might have been recognized in a U.S. court under the concept of comity, under which nations accept the premise of a law in another country "whether or not we agree with the law or its spirit."

Read the entire article. Additional information about the case is here and here.

The above small victory for anti-dhimmitude, apparently achieved because Irfan Aleem didn't physically travel to Pakistan to invoke 'talaq', is encouraging. But, at the same time, another form of shari'a law — shari'a banking — continues to gain ground within Western nations.

From this source, an article entitled "The Silent Jihad Against the West" (Hat-tip to Infidel Bloggers Alliance):

Islamic Sharia banking is coming to the United States and other western nations, thanks to global banks such as Citigroup, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Great Britain is now pledging to become the Islamic banking center of the world. Clearly the headlong rush by all global banks to enter the world of Islamic banking is well underway. Why do western banks seek to participate in Sharia banking; because it gives them a chance to enter the Islamic banking industry which has over $1.5 trillion available today and is growing at a steady and explosive rate of over 15% per year.

The implications for the west, and especially for the United States, are staggeringly destructive. Islamic banking working through global banks is doing for Islam what it could never do on its own: giving legitimacy to Sharia law and infiltrating it into the fabric of western society.

For those not familiar with Sharia Banking; it is a system which creates and sells services and products that are in strict accordance with Sharia law. Sometimes it is referred to in the Islamic culture as "Sharia finance". It dictates how the practices of banking, investment, bonds, loans, brokerage, etc, are to be conducted.
To insure compliance and to become "Sharia banking" compliant, banks must hire Sharia experts to review and approve each product and practice of the bank....There is a shortage of such Sharia experts so there is competition among banks to find such experts to sit on their boards of directors. By having an "expert" involved in banking decisions, this provides the legitimacy to each banking decision because it is made at the director rather management level. However, most of these Sharia experts" are from the radical Wahhabi school of Islam in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, and they hold views diametrically opposed to the basic values of Western civilization.

Read the entire article.

For current developments in shari'a banking, please visit Shariah Finance Watch.

[Cross-posted to THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS]

CONTINUE READING....

Demeaning The Office

I find myself growing sick of the displays on the part of the candidates for the office of President of the United States. These candidates appear on television shows such as Late Night with David Letterman, Jay Leno, and Saturday Night Live. Are these appropriate forums for those individuals running for the highest elected office in our land?

Until the last several election cycles, I labored under the misapprehension that such television shows existed for the purpose of entertainment. Indeed, Mr. AOW and I occasionally tune into such programs so as to unwind after a long day of dealing with reality. We don't want to see a political candidate on the screen when we watch such shows! After all, we switched from watching the news and surfing the web so that we can have a break and get some laughs — not to see on the screen a Presidential candidate schmoozing it up with a late night talk-show host. We want a break from politics and the wall-to-wall media coverage of the months leading up to our national elections!

In my view, candidates' appearances on these programs demean the office of President and send the message that our democratic process is a form of entertainment — a political dog-and-pony show. What is your opinion?

CONTINUE READING....

Catching Up

Verizon finally restored my phone and Internet service this morning! I'd be cheering — except that I'm so worn out with all that I had to go through to get my service restored. I haven't yet tackled Verizon's billing department, but that step is not far in the future.
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Of course, after nearly a full week off the web, I have a lot of catching up to do. I will first be tending to work matters (end-of-term papers and grades), then getting to emails, reading comments here, visiting my favorite web sites, and posting again.

Anyway, for now, I'm no longer living under a rock.

CONTINUE READING....

Cut Off From The World

My troubles are not over. My line is still not connected to the Internet. I merely have a few hours' access to my neighbors' computer while they're out to dinner. This computer feels strange to me, but at least I have a bit of access to news on the web.

Today, I called Cox Communications to see how fast they can get me back online. They could've gotten my up and running today — so the sales representative said. The appointment time, however, would have interfered with my co-hosting the radio show. I have opted for a Saturday appointment with Cox. Of course, a new system will mean new glitches; I may not be online immediately with Cox either.
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I'm boiling over with anger at Verizon! To be without both a landline telephone and Internet access for a full four days here in the D.C. Metro area is unconscionable! Furthermore, the only way I got Verizon even to agree to come out at all before May 7 was to threaten them yesterday with both an announcement on the radio show and contacting the media. Still, Verizon informed me that the technician could not get to my house before Saturday.

Meanwhile, as I suspected, the subcontractor Al Tech has finished their work and have departed, leaving me disconnnected. Verizon had told me that my problem was "a system problem." Not so! I have since found out that I am the only house without service in my neighborhood. So much for customer service from the company which I've always used, from the first day I moved onto this property over thirty-five years ago.

I don't take kindly to lying. Perhaps I will rue the day I signed on with Cox Communications. Right now, though, the word "Verizon" is anathema to me. Never mind Verizon's commercials about reliability. That promise is merely a sales pitch.

CONTINUE READING....

I have a new nickname for AOW...

...BeniHime(pronounced, benny hemay), means Red or Crimson Princess in Japanese. It's the name of a katana.
And after what Altel and Verizon have done, OR NOT done, I can very well understand it!
Seems Altel is putting in new phone lines, using a sub-contractor, who apparently unplugged AOW's module, and forgot to plug it back in.
Verizon claims it has no techs available to deal with the problem before Saturday...BUT, she passed a technician parked on the side of the road, talking to his girlfriend on a cell phone...ummmhmmm, sure Wilbur!
We are about to start betting on the legality of the sub-contractor's workers...
Stay tuned for further adventures of BeniHime...

tmw

CONTINUE READING....

Whatever you do...

...don't use a certain phone company!

Actually, Verizon has silenced (temporarily) the voice of AOW. Her landline AND computer are completely out.

So, calling from an undisclosed location, with her cell phone, AOW has instructed me to let EVERYONE know that she is incommunicado.

Hopefully she will be back on line and raring to go later today.

Meanwhile, check the post below for "The Gathering Storm" Blog Talk Radio program for this Friday!
tmw

CONTINUE READING....

Shari'ah Law And Church's Chicken

The story below relates what happened to the Beasleys (Baltimore, Maryland) and illustrates just one aspect of how shari'ah-compliant finance can directly affect us here in the United States.
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From this source:

A Baltimore couple has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Islamic investment bank that owns the Church's Chicken fast-food chain, alleging their franchise failed because the bank's strict adherence to the religious code of Shari'ah prohibited the couple from selling pork.

Read the entire article HERE.

(Hat-tip to Shariah Finance Watch, interviewed during the last hour of the April 25, 2008 edition of The Gathering Storm Radio Show. CLICK HERE to access the podcast and to learn more about shari'ah finance)

CONTINUE READING....

Weekly Radio Show: May 2 — Bill Warner

Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.

The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.

Callers welcome!

Friday, May 2: Our guest for the full hour is Bill Warner, the director of The Center for the Study of Political Islam. He also writes articles for his web site Political Islam and has been interviewed numerous times by Jamie Glazov at Front Page Magazine.
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Additional information about this week's guest:

Bill Warner is a pen name for a retired mathematics professor and research scientist. He had read the Koran and understood the political aspects of Islam before 9/11, so he immediately knew the significance of the bombing of the World Trade Towers.

Since 2003, Bill has been the Director of the Center for the Study of Political Islam and its spokesperson. CSPI is a team of independent scholars and researchers who have written 11 books revealing the ideology of political Islam, using the primary sources, the Koran, the Hadiths or Sunnah, and Mohammed’s biography, the Sirah. The books are written in a clear, direct style and can be used as a reference for quotes, examples of warfare, strategy and political ideas.

"The Two Kinds of Dhimmis" and "Islam Slavery and Rape" are two of his recent interviews at Front Page Magazine.

If you are unable to listen live to this week's edition of the radio show, you can listen later by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS
May 9: Mohammed Abdul
May 16: Ibn Misr and Chaim
May 23: Cassandra USA
May 30: John Kenneth Press and Radio Free Dar Al Harb

CONTINUE READING....

Not At Gunpoint

(An explanation as to why I haven't felt much like blogging for several days)



I learned a hard lesson several days ago: never let your purse get out of your sight in any public place, including the public library.

The thief was clever. I didn't discover that I'd been robbed until nearly twenty-four hours later.
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When I got up to go to the ladies' room about an hour and a half into a two-hour tutoring session at the public library, I noticed that my purse, instead of being next to my chair, lying on its side behind my chair. I thought to myself at the time, "What is my purse doing there?" I immediately reached inside, felt for my wallet (which was indeed in my purse), and breathed a sigh of relief. I didn't open my wallet until the next morning, when I stepped up to the coffee machine at work and found an the cash compartment of my wallet totally empty.

The best I can figure out, the thief slid my purse from beside me on the library's floor, removed my wallet, stepped into the stacks of books, removed the cash and clients' checks, and placed the wallet back into my purse, which he had slid into a spot which was not the place I had originally placed my purse. Stupid as it may sound, I would not have noticed my purse being stealthily moved because I was concentrating on the tutoring I was doing. Like most of my tutoring sessions, the work the student and I were totally absorbed in the task at hand.

I have, of course, spoken to the library manager. She told me that such thefts, identical to the method described above, have occurred at least five times before in that particular library and near the section where my student and I were working. Those previous thefts happened some time ago. The thief was never apprehended. It is possible that the same thief is again stalking purses in the study section of the library.

The library has filed a report for use in the library system. I have filed a report with the police. The checks can be replaced, but the cash, possibly as much as $300, will not be recovered. Five days have gone by, and nobody has turned in either the cash or the checks.

What an ugly start to my week! I'm just now getting over my feelings of anger and violation.

CONTINUE READING....

Two Kinds Of Dhimmis

Recently, Bill Warner of The Center for the Study of Political Islam and PoliticalIslam.com made the following statement in this interview at Front Page Magazine:

...[W]e have two types of dhimmi—the subjugated dhimmi who is under the political power of Islam and the apologist dhimmi who seeks Islamic favor....[T]he word dhimmi has two separate meanings—a subjugated dhimmi is persecuted and the apologist dhimmi helps the persecutor. The context determines which dhimmi we are talking about. One dhimmi is to be pitied and helped; the other dhimmi needs to be educated. But the apologist dhimmi is the key to defeating Islam.

This April 22, 2008 posting by Robert Spencer indicates that one of our most important leaders, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, falls into that second classification of dhimmi:

A reliable source has informed me that Condoleeza Rice has approved a new lexicon for State Department usage, absolutely forbidding the use of the terms "jihad" and "jihadist" by any State Department official.

Via this posting today at Jihad Watch, the new lexicon at the State Department and other federal agencies has been confirmed. Excerpt from this item at Associated Press:

Federal agencies, including the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the National Counter Terrorism Center, are telling their people not to describe Islamic extremists as "jihadists" or "mujahedeen," according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. Lingo like "Islamo-fascism" is out, too.

[...]

At least at the top level, [the memo] appears to have made an impact. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who once frequently referred to "jihad" in her public remarks, does not appear to have used the word, except when talking about the name of a specific terrorist group, since last September.

The memo mirrors advice distributed to British and European Union diplomats last year to better explain the war on terrorism to Muslim communities there.

Why would Ms. Rice take such a position? The AP item gives some "reasons," but this comment at Jihad Watch also provides a possible clue:

About a year ago a story briefly surfaced about Rice's executive assistant, an attractive young Pakistani woman, I believe it was, who was very influential in shaping Rice's views....

Posted by: Eastview at April 24, 2008 6:43 AM

The above commenter Eastview did not have further information, i.e., the executive assistant's name. But if Eastview is correct, the highest-ranking member of our State Department could well have a subverter at her side.

What we have at the highest level of our government is a failure to name the enemy in this so-called "War On Terror." How are we going to win if we can't even identify and name the enemy?

CONTINUE READING....

The Murders Of Amina & Sarah Said (Updated)

Other bloggers have been following the story of the murders of these two beautiful girls in the Dallas, Texas area, although I did post about the story HERE.

According to this source and this source, Yaser Said, the girls' father, remains the prime suspect. He is still on the loose, and the reward for his apprehension has been doubled.

Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs is one of the bloggers who have been following the story of the murders of Amina and Sarah Said. The following is an excerpt from Pamela's posting of April 20, 2008:

These girls trusted the West. These believed the West would save them. They believed that education would save them They poured themselves into school, were enrolled in many AP level classes. They played soccer, tennis, ......they got scholarships. They secretly went to certain teachers to express their terrible fear of their father.

Read the entire posting, which has numerous photos and links.

Also see this January 10, 2008 posting at Atlas Shrugs. The posting, with numerous photos and links, provides information about allegations of abuse on the part of Yaser Said. The man's history of accusations previous to the murders of his daughters is ugly and includes stories of physical and sexual abuse perpetrated on his daughters. Although the allegations of sexual abuse were later dropped, the girls' mother, at the time (Amina and Said were only seven and eight years old then) did sign an affidavit as to the truth of those allegations.

On Wednesday, April 23, at noon Eastern Daylight Time, Pamela will interview the girls' aunt on Blog Talk Radio to discuss the cover-up of an Islamic honor killing right here in the United States. Because of my work schedule, I won't be able to listen to the entire show live, but I will definitely be listening to the podcast.

UPDATE #1: Anyone with information on Mr. Said's whereabouts can call Crime Stoppers at 1-877-373-TIPS or go to this web site.

North Texas Crime Commission Said Fund.
NTCC
1601 Elm Street,
Suite 2350
Dallas, Texas 75201

This posting shows pictures of Yaser Said.

UPDATE #2: Yaser Said's possible ties to Al Quaeda.

CONTINUE READING....

Weekly Radio Show: April 25 - Bob McCarty, Elisabeth of Austria, and Allyson Taylor

Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.

The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.

Callers welcome!

Friday, April 25 (120 minutes): Our guests this week are Bob McCarty, Elisabeth of Austria, and Allyson Taylor.


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At the top of the first hour, Bob McCarty of the blog Bob McCarty Writes will discuss with us humor, politics, culture, and capitalism. At the bottom of the hour Elisabeth of Austria will bring us up to date on the ongoing Islamification of Europe. At the top of the second hour, Allyson Taylor of Shariah Finance Watch will instruct us on the basics of the threats which shari'a finance pose to Western countries.

If you are unable to listen live to the radio show, you can listen later by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS
May 2: Bill Warner
May 9: Mohammed Abdul
May 16: Chaim

CONTINUE READING....

All You Need To Know About Hillary

Hat-tip to my dear friend Mustang, who sent me the following (Click directly on the image to enlarge it):



[END OF THIS POSTING - NOTHING ELSE FOR ME TO SAY]

CONTINUE READING....

Protecting A UK "Asian"

"Asian" is the Twenty-first Century code word for Muslim, of course.

For over seven months, Jamie Bauld, who has Down's Syndrome and the mental age of five, was investigated for assault and the crime of racial hate after a minor incident on a school campus.

Excerpt from this article at the Times Online:

Jamie, 18, cannot tie his shoelaces or leave home on his own, nor can he understand simple verbal concepts such as whether a door is open or shut. But his parents said that he was charged with attacking a fellow student, an Asian girl who also had special needs.

[...]

The incident in question took place last September at the special needs department of Motherwell College, in Lanarkshire, where Jamie is a student. Fiona Bauld, Jamie’s mother and full-time carer, claimed that the Asian student, who is only slightly older than Jamie, had been following her son and staring at him. Jamie had earlier complained to his parents that her behaviour scared him, and they had advised him just to walk away.

But one day, his mother said, the girl came close up to Jamie as he was eating lunch. He pushed her with one hand and told her to go away....

Not an unusual action from one with Down's Syndrome, but his rejection of her led to charges of lawbreaking, in part because the "Asian" girl

had scratched her own face to mark it and referred to herself as “blackface”.

The police at first told the Baulds that no legal consequences would occur.

That's not how the situation worked out.

For over seven months, Jamie and his parents endured the legal ordeal. Finally, the charges were dismissed:

Mrs Bauld said: “The incident was blown out of all proportion. I can’t believe that two special needs people should be dealt with like this. The whole thing was handled so badly.”

Apparently, Jamie's mental age isn't enough to prevent an insulted Muslim from finding a way to make an infidel's life miserable. After all, an infidel touched a muslima. Can't have that!

The fear and anxiety which Jamie endured are inexcusable. Jamie did understand that he was in some kind of trouble. From this article in the Daily Mail:

[O]ne night shortly after Christmas, as the family watched TV, Fiona realised to her horror that Jamie was not as oblivious as she'd hoped.

A scene featuring a prison appeared on screen, at which point Jamie said quietly: "I don't want to go to jail, Mum. Please don't let them take me away." He then burst into tears.

"I rushed over, put my arms around him and told him everything was going to be fine," says Fiona.

"All through this nightmare I've done my best to put on a smile and act normally around Jamie, simply to protect him from everything that was happening. But that night, as he sobbed in my arms, I wasn't sure everything would be OK.

"My worst fear was that Jamie would be taken away somewhere that I wouldn't be able to protect him. I said: 'Jamie, you're not going to prison', but I found myself in tears, too."

When Fiona - who lives in Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire, with her husband James, 46, a telecommunications contractor, and their daughter Stephanie, 17 - uses the word "nightmare" she is making no understatement.

It is the insane climate of political correctness which led to a legal and emotional situation which should never have transpired at all.

Further reading: Robert Spencer's take on the above story.

(Hat-tip to Aeneas)

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April 19, 2008, On Blog Talk Radio

WC and I will be the interviewees on the Saturday, April 19, 2008 edition of Radio Free Dar Al Harb, broadcasting from an undisclosed location inside the Nation's Capital,...fighting Dhimmitude one episode at a time....Radio Free Dar al Harb is husband to a 9-11 survivor, son to a Khobar Towers survivor, and a determined patriot.
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In a change of pace, WC and I will be the interviewees instead of the interviewers, and we are looking forward to our interview. Join us by tuning in, visiting the radio show's chat room, or phoning in!

If you are unable to listen live, you can listen later by CLICKING HERE.

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Nation-Building In Pseudostine

Apparently, the dhimmis in charge want to do more than provide Americans with mortgage bail-outs and an "economic stimulus package." Reaching across the globe, they are poised to extend the meaning of nation-building.

Excerpt from this article in the April 15, 2008 edition of the New York Times (Hat-tip to Michael):

RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian West Bank...got a boost on Monday: the announcement of a plan, led by the American government, to help tens of thousands of people buy homes.

The plan, which establishes a $500 million mortgage company, aims to build 10 new neighborhoods over the next five years and, in the process, create thousands of jobs in construction and real estate. In doing so, it could improve the depressed local economy and the political prospects of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, of the...Fatah party.

[...]

A secondary aim of the housing program is to send a message to the Gaza Strip, run by the Islamist party Hamas, that its citizens, too, could benefit from international generosity and economic progress if they restore Fatah’s authority, overturned by Hamas forces in a battle last June.

The new company’s name, Affordable Mortgage and Loan Company, yields the acronym AMAL, an Arabic word meaning hope.

[...]

Half of the money for the new mortgage company, $250 million, will come from the United States through the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. The rest will be from the Palestine Investment Fund, the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank and the Bank of Palestine, with a smaller contribution from the British government.

Tony Blair has at least a public-relations role in the program:

At a ceremony in Ramallah, Tony Blair, the former British prime minister who is representing the international community in helping the Palestinian Authority build institutions, called the plan “a major step forward for ordinary Palestinians.”

Ah, yes, those "ordinary Palestinians." Might those be the ones who voted Hamas into office?

Back in 2000, in those pre-9/11 days, many of us voted for George W. Bush because he campaigned on a no-nation-building platform. Instead, he's moved on to embrace the idea that poverty is the root of terrorism and pursues the goal of nation-building without a definitive military or ideological victory. As Debbie Schlussel said in the following comment about the above story:

...Would John Kerry and Al Gore have been any different on this issue? Would they really have been worse? Or just the same.

Attempting to buy off the enemy — what this kind of nation-building really is — will do nothing except embolden and enable the enemy. That lesson will be learned, but at the cost of many, many lives.

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The U.N. Fit over Fitna

I'm in too much physical pain to post much right now. Nevertheless, I'm posting today because commenter Vlad left an update about further objections to the film Fitna.
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The United Nations has taken a position against Geert Wilders, despite a recent court ruling in Wilders's favor.

From this source:

Muslim countries call for action on Wilders

Wednesday 16 April 2008

Muslim members of the human rights commission of the United Nations want the Netherlands to take steps against Geert Wilders and his anti-Koran film Fitna, reports Trouw on Wednesday.

The comments came during a two-week meeting of the commission in which countries are being judged on their human rights.

Junior justice minister Nebahat Albayrak, who is part of the Dutch delegation, said the public prosecution department is looking into whether the film broke any laws.

Egypt had harsh words for the Dutch judge who said that as an MP Wilders had the right to criticise radical Islam and the Koran and that he was not inciting racial hatred. The judge's comments showed a lack of feeling for the duties and jurisprudence on human rights, the Egyptian delegate said.

The commission plans to hold three meetings each year until all 192 UN member countries have been judged on their human rights. The Netherlands is in the first batch of 16 countries.

What other countries are in "the first batch"?

Don't Fitna's "insults" pale in comparison to Islamic misogyny, female genital mutilation, the stonings of adulterers (whether or not adultery actually occurred), beheadings, the selling of children into arranged marriages, the apparent necessity of an eight-year-old girl's seeking a divorce in Yemen?

The United Nations Human Rights Commission has a lot more wrongs to address than some 15-minute film released on the Internet and nearly ignored by the mainstream media.

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Weekly Radio Show: April 18 - Pamela Geller

(This posting stuck toward the top for several days. Scroll down for newer postings)

Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.

The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.

Callers welcome!

Friday, April 18: This week on the nearly famous Gathering Storm Radio Show, our guest for the full hour is Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs. Citizen journalist and citizen soldier, she will share with us the latest news from her blog and the latest news about those Islamists whose goal is to rob us of our freedoms.

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If you are unable to listen live to the radio show, you can listen later by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS
April 25: Bob McCarty, Elisabeth of Austria, and Allyson Taylor
May 2: Bill Warner
May 9: Mohammed Abdul
May 16: Chaim

CONTINUE READING....

Possibly A Few Days Off

I'm having another round of Prolotherapy treatment first thing tomorrow (April 16). This treatment involves anywhere from eight to twenty injections into the sacroiliac ligament.
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The good news is that these expensive and painful treatments are working!

Following these injections and depending on my reaction to them, I may or may not be around for a few days. I'll check in and make blog rounds as I'm able to do so.