FYI

Due to the sudden death of a close friend, I won't be blogging for the next few days.

So Mitt Romney Is a Mormon--So What?

Leaving aside the Broadway show that earned multiple Tonys by poking fun at Mitt's faith (an easy target, since no Mormon is going to, say, blow you up for your mockery), and given the fact that non-Mormons (like me) might have a hard time believing what the Book of Mormon (which I have read) says, why should anyone care that Mitt is a Mormon? Atheists and leftists believe a lot of dang-fool things that I think are utter crap, but I would never say that those beliefs should exclude them from highest office.

Let me rephrase that: there's faith that makes you a better person--kinder, more decent, more family oriented, more philanthropic--and faith that makes you act like a sanctimonious asshole. Every indication is that the Mormonism Mitt practises makes him the former, while the type of faith Barack Obama has embraced, at least during his Rev. Wright years, was far more problematic. Yet I don't hear anyone saying boo about that.

Now, if Mitt were into Scientology, then his "religion" would be of concern.

From the "New Books I Won't Be Reading" Dep't

Naomi Wolfe's Vagina: A New Biography:

Perhaps best known for her 1991 book The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf rocketed to prominence a decade ago with her basic-science-meets-cultural-history approach to female beauty standards. Vagina gives the Beauty Myth treatment to a much more clearly defined part of the female anatomy, seeking to redefine its role—as well as the role of female desire in general—in creativity, politics, and collective female identity.

"A New Biography"? Did I miss something--is there an older one? Or is the only thing that's getting old here Ms. Wolfe's vajayjay, and her own (though I can't imagine anyone else's) fascination with it? And, here's a thought, isn't reducing women and their sexuality to their body part something sexists and pornographers do, and for which they are rightly criticized?

Relativistic, Interfaithy Type Gets It Wrong, Wrong, Wrong Re Islamic "Blasphemy"

After arguing (in a NYT op-ed piece) that the idea of blasphemy in the religious sense is not conducive to freedom (so far, so good), an interfaithy Christian clergywoman makes this ridoinkulous claim:      

The antidote to blasphemy is not blunt and counterproductive law but efforts by civil society — specifically political and religious leaders cooperating across religious and ideological lines — to condemn any curtailing of religious rights or speech that incites violence.  

We saw this working in New York City when Jewish, Christian, Muslim and other religious leaders stood with the mayor in August 2010 in support of Muslim leaders who wanted to build an Islamic center near the World Trade Center site.  

We are seeing it now as the All Pakistan Ulema Council, an umbrella group of Muslim clerics and scholars, joins with the Pakistan Interfaith League, which includes Christians, Sikhs and members of other religions, to support Rimsha Masih and to call for an end to the “climate of fear” created by “spurious allegations.”

Those "spurious allegations" being that Rimsha, a girl of 11 who has Down Syndrome, blasphemed Islam by supposedly burning pages of the Koran. Hard to see how that's "spurious," though, since it isn't as though there's much--or, indeed, any--wiggle room in the blasphemy component of Islam's sharia law.

As for that bit of fluff about Christians and Jews standing with Muslims in support of erecting a triumphalist mosque at Ground Zero: that's not the way to constrain the spread of Islam's draconian punishments for blasphemy. Just the opposite, in fact, because it encourages Muslims of a triumphalist bent to think that they're making headway in Dar al Harb, the portion of the world that is not yet governed by sharia.

Friedman At a Loss Re Egypt's Morsi

For the life of him, Thomas L. Friedman cannot figure out why the democratically-elected president of Egypt would head off to Tehran there to consort with the Ayatollah. After all, Morsi is the product of the "Arab Spring" while the Ayatollah is the chap who put a lid on Iran's "Green Revolution." What could these two possibly have in common? (BTW, I read the TLF piece in the paper version of the National Post, begging the question: What the heck is it doing there?)

Where Tom goes wrong, of course, is in assuming that the Muslim Brotherhood dude is likely to be any better than the Ayatollah when, in fact, more unites than divides them.

You Want Arugula With That?

In yet another display of its cluelessness/dexterity at squandering heaps o' cash, the TDSB has hired celebrity chef Susur Lee to "spice up" the dreary fare in school cafeterias. Great idea, 'cuz from my own personal experience I know there's nothing kids like more than teensy portions of "cool"/fancy-shmancy food. ;)

Al Jazeera Criticizes Paul Ryan for "Extremism," Stance on Chicks

Dryest, drollest line of the morning:

If Al Jazeera is going to run attacks on Paul Ryan, they may want to skip the feminist angle.

Okay, So Maybe He's Not a Neville...

In an unexpected display of grit, Ban Ki-Moon launched a verbal cannonade on his Iranian hosts, condemning their Holocaust denial and cartographical mischief (they want to redraw the world's map to exclude Israel).

Great. Kudos. Go Ban!

It would have been nice, though, had he been able to actually say the word "Iran" during his comments, and had he stiffed the mullahs altogether by staying away from their triumphalist soiree.

Reuters, naturally, is most concerned about the accuracy of Ban's words:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly denied the Holocaust and this month described Israel as a "cancerous tumor". In 2005 he caused uproar by being quoted as saying that Israel should be "wiped off the map".

Persian language scholars say a more correct translation of his comment would read: "Israel must vanish from the page of time."

Potato; potahto.

Update: From today's Toronto Sun editorial:

What possible "diplomatic engagement" -- those words come from a UN spokesman -- could Ban possibly pursue that would make countries such as North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela suddenly start listening to reason?

It's Mission Impossible.

With the summit held in Tehran, it will be nothing more than a six-day orgy of western hatred, and Ban will be the high-profile eunuch giving it legitimacy.

Surely the man cannot be that thick.

Even if given the benefit of the doubt, it is difficult to understand how Ban could have announced his intention to attend this hatefest on the very day the Security Council heard a top-level report exposing Iran's complicity with Syria in the wholesale murder of its people. But he did.

Not so difficult to understand, really. He's the head of the UN, which, sad to say, is morally bankrupt.

Coffee Drinkers on Pacific Coast Causing Environmental Crisis--Their Pee Has So Much Caffeine That It's Harming Marine Life

How's this for an irony--people in places like Vancouver and Seattle, who pride themselves on being on the cutting edge of environmental awareness, are drinking--and excreting--so much coffee that the caffeine is having a negative impact on the Pacific's fragile eco-system.

Oops!


If you love the fish, you may not want to drink this

Ban Ki-Moon Channels a Feckless Buffoon

There once was a dummy named Ban
Who hewed to the Khomeinists' plan.
He showed up to revel
And act a la Neville.
Not in Berlin. In Tehran.

Heather Mallick, Hater

She accuses Republicans of hating chicks, but, really, she's the one who hates--Republicans. Re the Republican Convention, she hyperventilates:

Never underestimate how much you are hated, I always tell women. Follow the Tampa Three-Days-Hate this week. You’ll be stunned by the backlash against women’s rights, and indeed women, inside whom we were all carried for nine months and then born amid much blood and pain.

Off your meds again, eh, Heather? I can understand why. Your columns aren't nearly as, erm, impassioned when you're on 'em.

From the "No Hordes Here" Dep't: "While the Rest of us will Join the Labour Movement in Parades or Relish the Last Days of Summer Around Family and Friends, the Islamists will Congregate in Edmonton and Montreal to Receive Guidance from Tariq Ramadan"

Tarek Fatah "welcomes" the arrival of a MuBros scion with brickbats, cold water and a great deal of well-earned derision. (FYI, I never spend my Labour Day by joining labour movement parades.)

Update: For insight into Tariq Ramadan and his forked tongue, Paul Berman's exposé that appeared in the New Republic back in '07 is unsurpassed.

"You Didn't Build That": The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Thanks for going off teleprompter, Barry.

BC NDP MLA Hails Cuba as a Socialist Utopia

British Columbia NDP MLA Jagrup Brar cannot contain his praise for the Castros' Cuba:

Brar told a Radio India audience in Metro Vancouver last week that the gap between rich and poor is virtually non-existent in Cuba, education is free and no child goes to bed hungry.

Of course, there's no freedom or human rights to speak of, but that's a small price to pay for free education and standardized economic circumstances, right?  (In reality, it's standardized--i.e. crappy--for the hoi polloi. As in all such centralized systems, the ruling few at the very top enjoy a much more lavish and privileged lifestyle, one ordinary folks can only dream of.)

Update: Canadian standardizers bemoan the gap between rich and poor in Ontario.

Doug Sanders' Tide-y Thesis Is Awash in Foolishness

Have no fear, hysterical Islamophobes. According to the National Post, which reprints a chunk of Saunders' new book, The Myth of the Muslim Tide, the author effectively "debunks the myth that the West is about to be overrun by fast-multiplying hordes of Islamic immigrants."

Now, if only he could debunk the theory (oh, wait--it isn't theory, it's fact) that there are hordes of angry Khomeinists in our parts, men, women and, yes, lots of little children, who, upon hearing their leaders' commands, will descend on Queen's Park en masse to seethe and rage against "Zionists" and the West's "secular values."

Guess you had to be there, Doug.



Update: Don't know what Dougie's definition of a horde is, but 15,000 expected to show up for this year's "MuslimFest" sounds pretty hordey to me.

"Experts" Claim Major Hasan's Beard Might Bias a Jury Against Him

As opposed to, say, his PowerPoint presentation on the necessity of waging jihad, or his having shouted the age-old jihadi war cry ("Allahu Akbar") before unloading his load into a load of army infidels?

Thanks for that heads up, "experts," but you're obviously full of crap.

This Just In--Yasser Arafat Still Dead

Nonetheless, the French are opening an inquiry into his timely demise. (His widder lady is hoping it will show that the Jooos and not, say, AIDS acquired through homoerotic hijinks, are behind it.)

If, as the NYT Claims, a Climate Trial Could Echo the Scopes Monkey Case, Does That Make Mark Steyn the William Jennings Bryan Figure?

And "hockey-stick" climate scientist Michael Mann the Clarence Darrow?

Steyn cheekily suggests that it might have the makings of "Climate-gate: The Musical," so I thought I'd take a stab at writing its showstopper. You may recall it from Gypsy! (one of Mark's Broadway favourites, I believe):

Have a big stick, Mr. Mann, sir,
Have a tactic, have a mission, give a graph.
Have a closed mind, Mr. Mann, sir,
Any mindset like Al Gore's mindset's
Good for a laugh.

Have a hope, have a plan,
Have the dope, do a scan,
Throw your hands up--you're da Mann!
Have a fit, have a rave,
Do you think Mark Steyn will cave?
No, sir--he'll sing with elan!

Kind of grouchy, Mr. Mann, sir?
Tell us any little thing that we can do.
Who'll go "ouchy," Mr. Mann, sir,
With a lawsuit or two?
Everybody say, "By gosh,
Mr. Mann, sir, it won't wash.
Mr. Mann, sir, think it through"...

There are drumsticks and chopsticks
And fish sticks and mop sticks
And Popsicle sticks for a start.
There are sticks for your lollies,
Pick-up-sticks for jollies,
But Mann's hockey stick's
Nor for the faint of heart...

Sharia-Minded Qatari Film Maker Wanted Men Banned from Her New Zealand Exhibition Featuring Un-Veiled Muslim Chicks

But since New Zealand still subscribes to British Common Law and not the strictures of Islam, which so rarely gibe with the kafir's man-made jurisprudence, her request was denied on grounds of "human rights" (men's rights, that is). That's my take-away from this story, altough it's written in a convoluted manner that's a bit confusing at first. (Isn't it interesting that you can go months--years, even--without so much as a half-way interesting New Zealand story, and all of a sudden find yourself posting two on the same day?)

If a Tree (call it "the NDP") Engages in Corruption in a Primeval Forrest (for the Sake of this Extended Metaphor, the Terrain Staked Out By Singing-from-the-Same-Leftist-Hymnal Canadian Media) Does It Make a Sound?

It does--a little one, but it's no thanks to the communal hymn-singers who are determined to find the Conservatives (them and their "hidden agenda") behind that robo-calls scandale, by gum.

Samuel L. Jackson Tweets His Rage at Hurricane Isaac's "Unfairness" In Not Flattening the Republican Convention

Dude is freaking out that the eee-ville Republicans were spared the full fury of the storm.

Wishing for the deaths of people with whom you disagree: really classy, Sam. You're a gentleman (not) and a humanitarian (in yer own addled mind, at least).



Don't think pink is his best colour

Dr. Roy's in Tampa With the Republicans

I'm so jealous!

Toronto Cops Come Through for the Threatened. Sometimes. Depending on Who They Are and What Their Complaint Is

They sure came through lickety-split for this chick--a visitor from N.Z. who received threats on Facebook after making disparaging comments about a dead Canadian soldier:

Burstyn, who is in Toronto on business, began fearing for the safety of her Auckland-based children after a flood of threatening posts, emails and phone calls. (The soldier has since shut down the Facebook page.) 

Someone put one of her old addresses up online, she said, and another volunteered to go there and harass whoever answers. She said she had also seen some Canadians writing that they’ll "get her" in Canada.

"I tear up when I think about them [the threats] because they’re so extreme," she said.
Burstyn said she first called Auckland police about the threats but they wouldn’t look into it. She said they told her to go to Interpol.

"I tried to explain my children and property were at risk right now from a cyber lynch-mob inciting people to leave the safety of the internet and visit my home where my family live," Burstyn wrote on a recent blog.

Burstyn said when she contacted Auckland police, an officer responded: "Sorry, there's nothing we can do."

But Burstyn said the Canadian response was "vastly different." She said she called the main number at the Toronto police station at around 1 a.m early Saturday and explained the situation. By 2 a.m, police officers were at her door, she said.

Burstyn said "they were very interested" and was told those kinds of threats are considered a "major crime in Canada."

She said a report was later filed with a Toronto Interpol liaison officer who forwarded the report to police in New Zealand.

Wow. Given how quick they were to respond to a non-Canadian in distress, I'm sure they'll be similarly prompt in dealing with this threat:

TORONTO -- A Facebook page inviting people to walk their dogs outside an east-end mosque is becoming a hotbed of hostility. 

Facebook administrators removed a post from the "Walk Your Dog at Mosque" page early Monday that threatened to throw attending dog owners in a "lake of fire" and shoot their beloved pooches on the spot.

Posted by Ali Shirazi, who identified himself as an Iranian-born resident of Toronto, it was aimed at the dog owners who plan to attend the Sept. 14 event at the Salahuddin mosque and community centre.

Some devout Muslims believe dogs to be unclean and vehemently avoid them.

The Facebook page emerged in the wake of the Al-Quds Islamic rally held at the legislature just over a week ago. The yearly anti-Israel demonstration, started by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979, was also attended by counter-protestors, one of whom was a Jewish man who brought his 160-pound English Mastiff.

Allan Einstoss was arrested by police after getting into a scuffle when he was told by Muslim demonstrators to keep his dog away. His dog, Cupcake, was also kicked by at least on demonstrator.

"I'll tie you all up and throw you all in a lake of fire if you show up at the Salahuddin mosque ... every dog will be shot on (the) spot," wrote Shirazi.

Facebook spokesman Meg Sinclair said administrators would keep an eye on the site for other threatening posts.

Facebook is monitoring it. Oddly enough, though, as yet there appears to be no word from our Kiwi-protecting local constabulary.

Update: Gee, do you think authorities are hoping this "Ali Shirazi" will pull a Salman Hossain and skip town so that they don't have to bother with him?

The Bizarre Thought Patterns of Zion-Loathing "Victim/Schmictim" Jews

Bruce Bawer, author of a new work on the bollixed-up world of "identity studies," describes the twisted (pathological?) thinking of one Judith Butler, mangler of prose, Queen of Queer Studies, and Zion-loathing Jewess. In so doing, he describes many such Jews (such as the ones who showed up to speak at the Queen's Park Al Quds Day hatefest on behalf of their buds, the Khomeinists):

Get this: (1) Butler identifies as an “anti-Zionist Jew.” (2) Back in the summer of 2010, while she was in Berlin to attend gay-pride events, she publicly embraced Hamas and Hezbollah as “progressive” organizations of the left and turned down an award from a gay group that she accused of “Islamophobia” for criticizing the Muslim gay-bashing. (3) Since then, Butler has publicly declared her fervent support for the “BDS” movement, which seeks to isolate Israel with boycotts, divestment, and sanctions.

Dear Zafar: Looking for a new Jewess to adorn the roster of speakers at your annual fiesta of Zionhass? I think we have just the gal!

Zion-Loathers of a Feather Roost Together as Egypt's Morsi Visits Ayatollahville

Not since Stalin let bygones be bygones with Hitler (for a time, anyway) has the world seen the seemingly irreconcilable put aside their differences.

Israeli Court Rules Rachel Corrie Bulldozing "A Regrettable Accident'; Corrie Family "Deeply Troubled" By It

They'd have been far happier had the ruling been "the wicked Jews flattened her on purpose." Alas, as a wise man once sang, you can't always get what you want.


Rachel Corrie in happier times, treating adorable Gaza moppets to the sight of a torched American flag

Toronto Star Ignores a Thousand Seething Khomeinists Rallying at Queen's Park for Al Quds Day, Covers Handful Who Turn Out for the Rohingyas

Ro-who-yas? They're Muslims living in Burma, where they're being persecuted by Buddhists. Trust the Toronto Star, which gave the much larger Al Quds Day Queen's Park event the cold shoulder, to race to that rally in a flash:

About 100 people took part in Saturday’s rally, sharing tales of rape, beatings and house-burnings at the hands of Burma’s Buddhist majority. They lamented the lack of western media coverage of their plight. One called the Star’s front-page story this week “an anomaly.”

Tabasum Hussain, a rally participant who learned of the plight of the Rohingyas only a few weeks ago, said the silence on the issue is frightening.

“This place, Burma, is it of no geopolitical interest to the major global parties that are involved in the Middle East? Why is it just the Middle East attracting attention?” Hussain asked. “Thousands of people are being massacred in Burma: where is the condemnation? Where are the sanctions? Where are the calls for NATO troops to be flown in? Don’t these lives have any value?”

The demonstrators want Canada to press Burma to repeal a 1982 law that stripped Rohingyas of citizenship rights. They also want an independent investigation into the violence, a call echoed earlier this month by Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN’s special envoy on human rights in Burma.

M'kay. Are they also looking to make Burma sharia-compliant (a question that the Star reporter neglected to pose)?

In a way, it's a good thing that the Star and its ilk didn't give the Khomeinists the free publicity they so desperately crave. That said, in the longer term I don't think "going ostrich" and ignoring the crazed Zion-loathers in our midst, and failing to comment on the craven way the government caved in to their demands, is in Canadians' best interest (to put it mildly).



Update: Muslims persecuted by non-Muslims is big news in the Star (in a "man bites dog" sort of way?). Search the paper for "Muslims persecuting Christians," though, and this is what you'll find--links to stories about Muslims being persecuted. Also, a link to the informed, completely unbiased thoughts of Toronto Star sage, Harpoon Siddiqui.

That about says it all re where the Toronto Star's head is at, ostrich-wise.

Update: A story you won't read in the Star--Ramadan: Islam's 'holy month' of Christian oppression.

Say Yes to the Dress--But Don't Go Swimming In It

You wouldn't think you'd need to give brides that advice. But since a young bride, in the throes of a "trash the dress" photo-shoot, drowned in Quebec the other day when the wedding gown she was wearing in a rushing river made her sink like a sack of potatoes, apparently you do.

"Trash the dress"--that's a new one on me (but then, I'm on the cusp of my 25th anniversary, and way back when I wore a borrowed gown). The Ottawa Citizen explains it thus:

The “trash the dress” or “rock the frock” phenomenon is still relatively rare in Canada. It started about seven years ago at Caribbean destination weddings, with brides wanting photos of themselves walking into the water in their nuptial finery or getting sandy and dishevelled walking on the beach or a pier. 

The genre has evolved, becoming riskier and more fantastical seemingly with each wedding. Brides plunge into the surf wearing swaths of tulle and shantung silk worth thousands of dollars. They descend into bat caves, leap into Dumpsters and track around muddy fields in rubber boots. They are photographed underwater among the fish, kibitzing with cows in pastures and with street folk in gritty neighbourhoods. They want an image worthy of Vogue.

The genre has expanded so much that the Wedding Photojournalist Association gives out awards in four trash the dress categories: water (from oceans to puddles) urban (busy downtown streets, in front of graffiti-covered walls) rural (on a dirt road or with livestock) and details (sand on the skin, a muddy wedding dress).

Evolved has it? Well, maybe in a Darwin Awards sense...

Instead of trashing a frock purchased for thousands of dollars, couldn't these brides, post-nuptials, donate them to charity? I realize it doesn't allow for a "splashy" photo-op, but it's a nice thing to do and, even better, it won't kill you.

Forget About the All-Inclusive in Mexico. How About a Pretend-to-Be-a-Muslim "Pray-Cation"?

From CNN:

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• 'Muslim for a Month' is a tour giving non-Muslims an inside look at Islam
• Participants live, pray and fast as Muslims in Turkish homes and mosques
• The aim is to encourage global understanding and a deeper spiritual outlook
• Some travel agents have been wary of the tours, say organizers

Er, no thanks. If I can't get a mojito then, dammit, I'm not going!

"It Was Hot Out, and They Were Hungry 'Cuz It Was Ramadan, And...Did I Mention That It Was Really Hot Out?

American general John R. Allen uses every excuse in the book to excuse Afghans turning on and killing their supposed American allies. The real reason for the recent spate of murders is, as Diana West points out, glaringly obvious: "elementary and emphatic Islamic exhortations to kill 'infidels,'" i.e. the jihad.

"American Taliban" John Walker Lindh Allowed to Preach Jihad (!) in Games-Filled Prison (!) But Kvetches That He's Being Deprived of His "Right" to Hanbali Group Prayer

Now, that's what you call chutzpah!

Bruce Bawer's New Must-Read--The Victims' Revolution--Examines "Identity Studies," the Toxic Core of PC

Reviewer Janice Fiamengo writes:

Bawer’s central thesis is that to understand the moral and political confusion at the heart of Western life today, in which many voices are eager to denounce the most open, tolerant, and vibrant civilization ever created and to romanticize violence and thuggery as a cure, one must look first to our schools, and especially to higher education. For the past 30 years, there has been brewing in humanities classrooms a murky stew of sexual rebellion, hatred of democratic capitalism, and contempt for the institutions and traditions of American society. As Bawer shows, young people since the 1980s have undergone an intensive indoctrination to despise their country. In particular, women, people of color, and homosexuals have been trained to see themselves not as individuals with a stake in America’s collective future but as members of victim groups with the right to far-reaching compensation for their perceived injuries, which are dwelt upon to the exclusion of all else in courses that combine self-help therapy with Marxist and other revolutionary dogmas.

It's the toxic core of Canada's "human rights" malarkey, too. 

I, for one, can't wait to read the book.

All You Wannabe Barbara Halls and Jennifer Lynches Out There--The "Human Rights" Mausoleum Has the Perfect Job for You

It's hiring (on our nickle, of course). Here's the kind of worker it wants:

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights is looking for talented people who share our passion and commitment to creating a world class museum that will enhance the public’s understanding of human rights, promote respect for others and encourage reflection and dialogue.

Well, that lets me out. ;)

Indonesian Security Looks to Islamic Clerics to Uproot Terrorism

Best of luck with that one. In other news, farmers look to foxes to uproot henhouse poaching.

Beeb Squanders Mega-Bucks in Bid to Bury Report Exposing Its Anti-Israel Bias

It can bury a report, but the bias is profound, systemic and on display daily, and thus impossible to conceal (rather like the Ceeb's).

Update: Stating the obvious about NYT bias

Taliban "Disapproves" of Party, Beheads 17 Party-Goers

Their crime: the party consisted of men and women. Dancing together. To music.

"Disapproves" is the namby-pambyish way VOA puts it. I would have said: "Taliban imposes draconian sharia law on defiant party-goers, beheads 17."

Update: Mark Steyn riffs deliciously on VOA's tepid "disapproves" (h/t papijoe).

Hole-y Crap: Ottawa's Dyke March a "Friendly" Stroll in the Park?

Not so much, really:

Participants wore brightly coloured clothing and carried rainbow flags and, new to this year’s march, puppets depicting various female body parts, including the vagina.

The puppet project, known as the Hole-y Army, is led by Coral Short and Ariel Speedwagon of Brooklyn, New York. Short and Speedwagon brought approximately 100 textile puppets of all sizes and shapes, some decorated with bunny ears and feathers, to the Ottawa Dyke March.

“There’s a whole bunch of different bodies represented within those holes,” said Short. “We are just opening up the notion of what a dyke is because the queer communities are shifting and changing. We’re having a renaissance of queer...

A renaissance that apparently involves an obsession with/objectification of nether orifices and itsy-bitsy body parts--on sticks.

Jihadi Kerfuffle in "Moderate" (the NYT's Word) Region Causing Consternation for the Kremlin

If it's concerned now just wait until this "moderate" region hosts the 2014 Winter Olympics.

McCarthy to Republicans on the Eve of Their Convention: Get a Clue Re Your Enemies and "Outreach" Be Damned

Andrew McCarthy writes:

[S]omething happened to the GOP in the Bush years. For all the welcome understanding that Bill Clinton was wrong — that the jihad could not be indicted into submission — the Bush administration never learned a fundamental truth that Reagan knew only too well: You cannot defeat your enemies unless you understand them, and you cannot even begin to understand them if you are too craven to name them. 

As they gather in Tampa for their quadrennial showcase, Republicans, but for the 1 percent, remain timorous on the subject of America’s enemies. Oh, they’ll tell you that we must confront “terrorism” and crack down on the “terrorists.” But that’s not much different from claiming to be against “burglary” and “burglars.” Terrorism is a vicious crime, but it becomes a national-security threat only when it is an instrument of an ideology that aims to destroy our country. What made the terrorist organizations armed and trained by the Soviets in the Sixties and Seventies a threat was the Soviets, not the terrorism.

America’s enemies are Islamic supremacists: Muslims adherent to a totalitarian interpretation of Islam who, like Soviet Communists, seek to impose their ideology throughout the world, very much including the United States. Terrorism is an offensive strategy they use, but it is only one arrow in the quiver. Its chief utility, moreover, is not that it will coerce surrender on its own; it is the atmosphere of intimidation it creates. That dramatically increases the effectiveness of the enemy’s several other offensive strategies — legal demands for concessions, media campaigns, infiltration of society’s major institutions, and influence operations against government.

The most disheartening thing about the modern Republican party’s dereliction — about its accommodation and empowerment of our enemies under the delusional guise of “Muslim outreach” — is that it flies in the face of the Bush Justice Department’s signal counterterrorism achievement...

I dunno. Wasn't it Bush who called it a "War on Terrorism"--which it most decidedly was/is not? (It was/is like calling the U.S. war in the Pacific circa WW2 a "War on Kamikazism.") The most disheartening thing about the modern Republican party is that not even the guy who was president when the jihadis attacked the U.S. on 9/11 was willing to name the real enemy (i.e. "Islamic supremacists").

The UN's Clownish "Human Rights" Body Has a "Special Rapporteur" for Iran? Who Knew?

And here I thought they only had special rapporteurs to, um, rapporteur on the antics of hated Zionists. Silly moi. Not that the S.R. for Iran has actually made any headway since his appointment. That said, don't expect the UN's head honcho, currently attending the Ayatollah's NAM confab, to comment on the lack of progress:

Having made this decision [to attend NAM], the secretary general should take the opportunity while in Iran to press the Iranian government to permit the U.N. special rapporteur for human rights entry into the country to do his investigative work. The U.N. Human Rights Council created the Office of Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran in March 2011, the first appointment of an investigator with a mandate to monitor a specific country since the council was created in 2006 to replace the 60-year-old U.N. Human Rights Commission. The Iranian government lobbied vociferously against the creation of the special rapporteur, whose mandate represents a significant diplomatic achievement for the Obama administration. It is also an important vindication of the administration’s decision to join the Human Rights Council, reversing the policy of the George W. Bush administration, which had shunned the council.

Since being elected as the special rapporteur, Ahmed Shaheed, a former Maldivian foreign minister, has produced two important reports—an interim report in September 2011 and one at the completion of his first term in March 2012, after which Shaheed’s mandate was extended—featuring extensive testimony cataloguing “allegations that produce a striking pattern of violations of fundamental human rights.” This marks the first time any U.N. agency has documented abuses in Iran in this way. While the Iranian government’s continuing refusal to allow Shaheed entry into the country has made his work more difficult, Iranian human rights activists say his impact has been considerable.

According to Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, there are a number of areas in which the creation of the special rapporteur has made a difference. “First, the appointment has activated a U.N. mechanism, which put the Iranian government on notice that it’s being watched,” he explains. “We believe that this has had a preventative impact, putting a break [on potential abuses], preventing things from getting too out of hand. It has also created an address for victims of abuses to register grievances.” Indeed, immediately after his appointment, hundreds of Iranians contacted Shaheed to submit their testimonies.

The work of the special rapporteur also had an impact on Iranian foreign policy, seriously complicating Iran’s diplomacy. “We know firsthand that as a result of the creation of the monitor, relations between Iran and Brazil have cooled off quite a lot,” Ghaemi says. With regard to the Iranian domestic front, the existence of a special rapporteur has helped to keep human rights on the agenda. “We’ve even seen references to this in [Iran’s] Parliament,” Ghaemi says. “The human rights issue has become part of the discourse within Iran.”...

Big whoop. Are the mullahs any less maniacal? Is the Ayatollah any less intent on building nukes and imposing his will on the world? If you answered "yes" to either question, you, too, likely see the American presence on this odious body as an "important vindication" of Obama's policies--you silly goose.

Hitler Had So-Called "Ubermenschen." The Ayatollah's Iran Has Uber-Chutzpah

That's the only way to describe this:

Iran opened a world gathering of self-described nonaligned nations Sunday with a slap at the U.N. Security Council and an appeal to rid the world of nuclear weapons even as Tehran faces Western suspicions that it is seeking its own atomic arms. 

Iran seeks to use the weeklong gathering — capped by a two-day summit of various leaders — as a showcase of its global ties and efforts to challenge the influence of the West and its allies. Among those expected to attend include U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh, whose nation remains an important Iranian oil customer as Tehran battles Western sanctions over its nuclear program.

The 120-nation Non-Aligned Movement, a holdover from the Cold War's pull between East and West, is also seen by Iran and others as an alternative forum for current world discussions. Iran says it plans talks on a peace plan to end Syria's civil war, but no rebel factions will attend because of Tehran's close bonds with Bashar Assad's regime.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi opened the gathering by noting commitment to a previous goal from the nonaligned group, known as NAM, to remove the world's nuclear arsenals within 13 years...

What a joke--on the rest of mankind. Because, if all goes according to plan, the Shia apocalypse, sparked by the Ayatollah's nukes, will occur years before that.

Convicted Al Qaeda Jihadis Take Their Case Against the UK to a "Higher" Authority

No, not to the Ineffable One up in the Heavens. To the European Court of Human Rights.



The imposing/quasi-totalitarian architecture of the Strasbourg "human rights" edifice rivals the yet-to-open Canadian one

"Bitchin'" Closing Door Sounds Like a Miles Davis Riff

Like Rodents Fleeing From a Sinking Ship

Hollywood bails on Obama and the DNC.

The "Breast" Way to Get Quick Publicity for Your Ludicrous Cause/Cult

Get chicks to go topless in public to raise awareness about their "cause": the right to go topless in public.

UCC Campsite: Shias Welcome But "Zionists" Need Not Apply?

It's so nice and accommodating of the famously Zion-loathing United Church of Canada to offer its camping facilities to Shia racket NASIMCO for a Mom 'n' Daughter Shia camping experience. (At this year's Queen's Park al Quds Days rally, the UCC got a shout out for its just-passed anti-Israel/pro-boycott resolution.) Knowing how tight the UCC is with Khomeinists, and the contempt with which they view Zionism (i.e. the right of Jews to govern themselves in their ancient, ancestral land), I have a hard time believing the UCC would extend the same courtesy to a Zionist organization looking for a cool place to hold a retreat.

Just sayin'.

Yiddish Curses for Republican Jews

They're as amusing as toenail fungus--and much nastier. Here's an example:

May you find yourself lost and stranded in a village of Palestinian Muslims, and may you be treated only with dignity, kindness and respect.

Um, I'd like to know the name of that village, so's I can locate it on a map. It is called al-Shangri-la? Al-Utopia? 

Al-Delusional?
 
Here's another diss:

May you have a large store, and have it all dismantled by vulture capitalists.

Obviously, the cursers (a mean-spirited lot, it must be said) would prefer to have a large store dismantled by, say, vulture Occupests.

Update: The best rebuttal--and it's a curse, a prediction and a statement of fact: May the jackass you elected President kite the debt into the stratosphere, and may your kids, grandkids and great-grandkids be saddled with the bill.


The fabled Palestinian village--whatever it's called--where right-wing Jews are treated with dignity, kindness and respect

Propaganda Opportunities Past and Present: Hitler Had the Olympics, the Ayatollah Has NAM

And don't think he isn't making the most of it. Here's his PressTV crowing triumphantly about the significance of holding the confab in Tehran:

Iran’s hosting of the forthcoming Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit signifies the support of the world’s sovereign nations for Tehran in defiance of the West’s campaign to isolate the Islamic Republic, a political analyst says.

In an article at Press TV website, international affairs analyst Finian Cunningham alluded to the escalating pressures by the US and its allies against Iran and noted, “In defiance of arm-twisting by Washington and its lynch mob, nations from Latin America, Africa and Asia are making their way to Tehran.”

“The poetic justice of the NAM summit is that the majority of the world is standing with Iran in the face of this aggression. Countries from as far as Mexico and Brazil to Indonesia and Malaysia are clearly saying that Iran has the right to develop on its own terms without interference or hegemonic spoiling,” he added.

Cunningham pointed to the West’s pressures against Iran’s nuclear energy program and pointed out, “In a world dominated by rogue states, the US, Britain and France and their illegal nuclear-powered attack dog, Israel, have the audacity to daily threaten Iran with military strikes and, by doing so, cast a shadow of annihilation on the rest of the world.”...

No doubt about it: this regime is every bit as diabolical and genocidal as Hitler's.

Update: UN Sec'y Gen Ban-Ki Moon could have told the Ayatollah to shove it but chose to toady himself instead.

Canada Post Prints Eid Stamps; CIC Approves Wholeheartedly

From a Canadian Islamic Congress media release:

CIC PRAISES CANADA POST FOR NEW STAMPS CELEBRATING ‘EID FESTIVALS

The Canadian Islamic Congress is praising Canada Post Corporation (www.canadapost.ca) for issuing new Special Edition Picture Postage™ stamps in two designs marking the major Muslim festivals of ‘Eid.

‘Eid-ul-Fitr, which concludes the holy fasting month of Ramadan, is currently being celebrated by Muslims worldwide; in Canada its official date for 2012 is August 19.

‘Eid-ul-Adha,– named to commemorate Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son to God – will be marked during the month October this year.

“This is a major national recognition by Canada Post of the rich diversity in Canadian culture,” said CIC national president Amin Elshorbagy. “There are few more positive symbols of unity than a postage stamp – this tiny, but powerful statement that can travel everywhere throughout Canada and the world!”... 

Bo Obama Is On a Diet

Why am I not surprised?



Update: Speaking of trimming the fat, Mark Steyn writes:

But don't worry, Obamacare will "lower costs." Since passage of the bill in 2010, the CBO has revised its estimate of Obamacare's gross costs over 10 years. Can you guess in which direction, boys and girls? Yes, up from $944 billion to $1.856 trillion. That's some "revision." I wonder where it'll be in another two years.

Well, I'm not the CBO, but I'll take a wild guess: Obamacare is going to be expensive on a scale unknown to European health systems. Look around you. Americans are not Swedes. Obesity rate in the United States: 36 percent; Sweden: 9.7 percent; Japan: 3.2 percent; China: 2.9 percent; India: 0.7 percent. Ours is a country where 78 million people (or about the entire population of Germany) are classified by the Centers for Disease Control as "obese" – including over 40 million women. If 40 million women have it, isn't that a "women's health" issue? Perhaps even a bigger "women's health" issue than the right of thirtysomething students to free contraception? It's the first thing the average American of, say, 1950 would notice if you catapulted him forward from his midcentury Main Street to today: not how amazing all these computer gizmos are, but how large and sick today's Americans look.

As George Will pointed out this week, nanny-state solutions (such as Michelle Obama's current campaign to get us all nibbling organic endives) don't work: Overweight kids in schools with high-calorie junk food, 35.5 percent; overweight kids in schools that banned all the bad stuff, 34.8 percent. Indeed, the bloating of government, of entitlements, of debt, and the increase in obesity track each other pretty closely over the past four decades. If all those debt graphs showing how we've looted our future to bribe the present are too complicated for you, look out the window: We are our own walking (or waddling) metaphor for consumption unmoored from production. And, to the Chinese and many others around the world pondering whether America has the self-discipline to get its house in order, a trip to the mall provides its own answer.

Oy to the Vey!

The DNC invites D.C. area Jews to come to an Obama Shabbat.

Grab a Gibungous Coke and a Tub of Popcorn--Thomas Sowell Reviews the Doc 2016

The Great One writes:

The documentary itself was fascinating, as Dinesh D'Souza presented the story of Barack Obama's life and view of the world, in a very conversational sort of way, illustrating it with visits to people and places around the world that played a role in the way Obama's ideas and beliefs evolved.

It was refreshing to see how addressing adults as adults could be effective, in an age when so many parts of the media address the public as if they were children who need a constant whirlwind of sounds and movements to keep them interested.

Dinesh D'Souza's own perspective, as someone born in India who came to America and became an American, provided a special insight into the way people from the Third World often perceive or misperceive the United States and the Western world.

That Third World perspective is Obama's perspective, D'Souza demonstrates in this documentary, as in his book – and it is a perspective that is very foreign to that of most Americans, which may be why some believe that Obama was born elsewhere.

D'Souza is convinced that the president was born in Hawaii, as he claims, but argues that not only Obama's time living in Indonesia and his emotionally charged visits to his father's home in Africa, have had a deep and impassioned effect on his thinking.

The story of Barack Obama, however, is not just the story of how one man came to be the way he is. It is a much larger story about how millions of Americans came to vote for, and some to idolize, a man whose fundamental beliefs and values are so different from their own.

For every person who sees Obama as somehow foreign there are many others who see him as a mainstream American political figure – and an inspiring one... 

Anyone Wondering Why the Cops Favoured the Khomeinists Over the Good Guys at Toronto's Al Quds Day Rally, Here's Your Answer

They've been co-opted by the Islamists and their useful interfaithy idiots. Gag moi with a tasty samosa:

At the Toronto Police Friendship Iftar Dinner, our guests were able to experience the centuries old Istanbul tradition of Ramadan Iftar Tent where people come to break their fest and celebrate the Ramadan festivities for 30 days. This year Canadian Turkish Friendship Community (CTFC) have set up the Ramadan Iftar tent to offer public iftar dinners with stage shows for 30 days and have kindly agreed to allocate one day for IDI Toronto and Toronto Police so that they could host community leaders. It was a great experience to break bread with neighbours from many different cultural backgrounds.

 

At the dinner, IDI Toronto was given Community Service Award 2012 by Toronto Police. Deputy Chief presented the award on behalf of Toronto Police. MP Ted Opitz, and Stephen White, assistant commissioner of RCMP addressed the audience, while MP Rathika Sitsabaiesan presented a certificate of thanks to IDI Toronto.

 

Wonderful performance of whirling dervishes with traditional live sufi music brought joy to the night.

Whirling dervishes; seething Khomeinists; dhimmified cops: they're part and parcel of our eye-poppingly colourful multiculti tapestry, don't ya know?

Question: Does Helping "Spread Islam to the Broader Community" Really Count as Ontario High Schoolers' Community Service?

In order to graduate, every Ontario High School student must complete at least 40 hours of community service. Call it compulsory altruism, a measure that could only have been instituted by well-meaning lefties. (That said, JFK never thought to force young people to join The Peace Corps.) One organization--Seeker's Hub--is looking for volunteers. Here's its pitch:

Attention all Ontario High School Students : Get your 40 hours today!

Are you wondering where you should volunteer to complete your mandatory 40 hours toward your high school diploma? Look no further! SeekersHub Toronto can offer you a fun & dynamic environment in which to build your skills & learn new ones.

Here are a few reasons why you should choose SeekersHub Toronto:

1- *To gain valuable experience and skills, which can be put on a resume and job application.

2- *Most university and college scholarships and admissions program request community service.

3- *The satisfaction of helping others in your community

4- *To work for an organization that is focused on social engagement within the local community. Various initiatives include poverty campaigns and environmental initiatives. Choose a project you are passionate about when you volunteer!

5- *To help spread access to free Islamic education to the broader community.

6- *Diverse opportunities are available based on the skill sets you wish to develop (IT media, human resources, marketing, administration and much more). Meet with us and we can help place you in position that is right for you.

Please e-mail info@seekershub.org if interested in volunteering.

Please note: All Ontario high school students must complete 40 hours of volunteer work in order to graduate. The purpose of this requirement is to encourage students to develop an understanding of the various roles they can play in their community and to help them develop a greater sense of belonging in the community.

And getting to help spread Islam--that's both an incentive and a bonus!

The Mothers of Invention and the Fathers of Fiction: D.C. Museum Touts "I001 Muslim Inventions"

While short on specifics, it is invention of a certain kind (i.e. pure PR puffery intended to endear Islam to the infidel:

Instead of a list of 1001 inventions, there was more slippery language throughout the exhibit. Consider the station boldly entitled “Creating the Chemical Industry.” It starts, “some sources say” that in the 8^th Century Jabir ibn Hayyan used an Islamic alembic for distillation. How does distillation, a process that existed for 2,800 years before Jabir, have any bearing on “creating the chemical industry”? The exhibit gets around to that question, sort of.

“Scientists of this period laid important foundations of the modern chemical industry.” These include new ways of “classifying substances,” sort of like Aristotle classifying Earth, Air, Fire and Water a millennium before Jabir. But other Muslim scientists developed varnishes, synthetic chemicals, paints and pesticides, we are told. No details are provided for these very specific inventions.

Other “inventions” or skills used (and therein lies the riddle) described in the exhibit are windmills, water pumps, and crop rotation. One exhibit entitled “Home Life” claims that the influence of Muslim civilization on modern living is ubiquitous. “From gardens to games, fashions to fabrics, clocks to cameras, today’s home life is packed with influences from early Muslim civilization.”

The Soviets were notorious for claiming communists were the first in everything...

Had the curators asked, I'd have gladly let them use my song:

Thanks for the minarets.
The muezzin's call to prayer,
I sure wish I was there
To hear that "Allahu Akbar" shouted
Here and ev'rywhere.
We thank you so much.

And thanks for the algebra.
It's such a groovy math.
It set us on our path.
So what if there were times when we
Experienced your wrath?
We thank you so much...

Update: From the National Geographic Museum website:

The 'Global Strategic Partner' for 1001 Inventions is Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives, which has sponsored the exhibition and its international tour.

Quel shockeroo--the above-named sponsor is 100% pure Wahhabi.

"Obama Rabbis Must Disavow Anti-Zionists"

Agreed, but that's about as likely as their disavowing Obama. Which is to say, not bloody likely.

What Today's Young Radicals Can Learn From Robespierre

As near as I can tell, it boils down to this: don't behave like Robespierre.



If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs...then you're not a Robespierre

How Do Islam and Judaism Differ?

Well, off the top of my head I can think of one huge difference: there's no jihad in Judaism. MuBros website onIslam, however, notes other key differences:

The essential deviation of Judaism was to elevate the material success of the Jewish race to being the core religious value, overriding all other concerns. This manifests itself in a number of key differences to Islam...

Islamic monotheism refutes this god-like position of the Jewish race and by making Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) a prophet, Allah showed that the promise of spiritual leadership was with Abraham, not the Jewish race as such. This is because Muhammad (peace be upon him) was a descendant of Abraham through his firstborn son Ishmael, and because Abraham was not a Jew. (The very word "Judaism" – and "Jewish" - associates the religion with the people from Judea and that is a long time after Abraham)

Islam, in contrast, promotes and prescribes universal morality, applicable to and achievable by all human beings. No person is better than another in Allah's sight except through their seeking to obey Allah:

O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other). Verily the most honored of you in the sight of God is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And God has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things).

Surah 49 Verse 13

This is the Islamic framework for understanding Judaism as well as for explaining the essential difference between Islam and Judaism. Other differences are often manifestations of this core difference.

A particular well known example of the way their teachings favored the Jewish race is in their law about usury (interest). This forbids Jews from lending money to one another with usury but allowed them to lend to non-Jews (Goyim) based on interest. This led to the European stereotype of Shylock the despised Jewish money lender – found in Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice"... 

Jews a crafty, greedy, exclusive, usurious "race"; Islam moral, inclusive, forbids usury: call me nutty, but that sounds a lot like something Hitler's pal the Grand Mufti might have written, no? (Plus ca change, as they say.)

 

Obama Says Todd Akin "Somehow Missed Science Class"

Maybe so, but little Barack seems to have skipped a few too many math classes.

Israel to Tehran NAM Conference Delegates: You're Caught in a Trap

The wily Khomeinists use willing dupes (who obviously aren't familiar with the Elvis song):

Israel on Thursday warned UN chief Ban Ki-moon and other world leaders not to fall into an Iranian propaganda 'trap' when they attend a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran next week.

"This conference will doubtless be exploited by the Iranian regime for propaganda

purposes and will try to create the impression of legitimacy for its policies," foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP.

"We expect all those who decide to go there to be aware of such manipulation and to take care not to fall into the trap," he said.

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky confirmed on Wednesday that Ban would attend the Tehran summit on August 30-31, in the face of opposition by Israel and the United States.

Diplomats said he would also have a private meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad...

 

Update: UN's Ban snubs Obama, embraces Iran. Guess he knows which one is the real power player in that duo.