Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Well, That Didn't Take Long: The RCMP Repudiates the Anti-Radicalization Handbook

It seems I got it wrong in the post below. The handbook in question wasn't created by the RCMP with input from Muslim groups. It was created by Muslims with little or no input from the RCMP, but with the RCMP logo stuck on front to make it appear as though the Mounties had a hand in its creation. Now, however, the red coats are trying to distance themselves from the thing:
RCMP headquarters in Ottawa directed Mounties in Manitoba not to attend a press conference this week unveiling a counter-radicalization handbook put together by a group of national Islamic associations because of the “adversarial” tone of the book, officials said Tuesday. 
“After a final review of the handbook, the RCMP could not support the adversarial tone set by elements of the booklet and therefore directed RCMP Manitoba not to proceed with this initiative,” spokesman Sgt. Greg Cox said in a statement. 
The statement did not specify which parts of the handbook the RCMP took issue with. But the 38-page booklet, titled United Against Terrorism and unveiled at a Winnipeg mosque on Monday, included a section that recommended Canada’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies avoid using terminology such as “Islamist terrorism,” “Islamic extremism” and “jihad,” and discontinue “inappropriate information gathering techniques,” such as “showing up at workplaces” and “intimidating newcomers.” 
While the handbook encouraged more interaction between the Muslim community and law enforcement “socially and recreationally,” another section of the handbook stated that co-operation with Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP in investigations was “voluntary” and that there was “no obligation” to answer their questions or to provide them personal information about family and friends. 
Neither representatives of the Islamic Social Services Association nor the National Council of Canadian Muslims, the two groups behind the handbook, could immediately be reached for comment late Tuesday...

"Is Jihad the Same as Terrorism?"

According to a new RCMP handbook designed to curtail the radicalization of Muslim young'uns--it was created with input from the entity formerly known as CAIR-CAN--the answer to that question, you probably won't be surprised to learn, is
ABSOLUTELY NOT! Jihad is an Arabic term meaning striving, struggling and exertion in the path of good. Every day a Muslim struggles with his/her desires and does good and strives to be a better human being he/she is performing jihad. Prophet Muhammad told his companions as they went home after a battle:
“We are returning from the lesser jihad [the battle] to the greater jihad,” the far more vital and crucial task of extinguishing transgression from one’s own society and one’s own heart. (Riyadh-us-Saliheen)
Well, okay. Then what about that cockamamie notion that jihad is a Muslim holy war and, according to Islamic doctrine, the obligation of every single Muslim?:
Jihad is not holy war either.  Islam allows for Jihad in the form of a military action in self defense only. Even in self-defence, terrorism and violence against civilians, women, children, non combatant spiritual leaders and destruction of infrastructure, places of worship, poisoning of wells (food supplies) and burning of orchids is strictly prohibited. Generally Islamic tradition and law encourages peaceful resolution through negotiations over military combat.
Generally speaking, that's a vast rewriting of history for the purposes of sanitizing Islam's history of conquest via jihad.
 
Also--the burning of orchids? Seriously?
 
If I didn't know for a fact that the "Jihad is not holy war either" paragraph was taken directly from the RCMP handbook, I might have mistaken it for satire. That our equivalent of the FBI considers it to be, you should pardon the expression, the gospel truth, is more than pathetic. It is downright terrifying.

Update: Something you won't read in the RCMP handbook--Islam's founder, who first and foremost was a warrior, used to name his swords. He gave one of his favorite ones a super-special name: Cleaver of Vertebrae.

Update: But wait, it gets worst. In a Section headed "What Does the RCMP Believe Is the Root Cause of Terrorism?" (p. 19) we learn that
There are no single “root causes” of terrorism. Research has indicated that there may be several reasons that may influence someone to go down a path of violent criminal activity. Some of the reasons could include family or social influence, the sense of belonging or status, devotion to a cause, sense of adventure, revenge/grievance, or feelings of victimization or alienation.
So don't you be thinking that it has anything to do with the siren call of jihad embedded in the Quran because that's just plain old "Islamophobia." And if you don't believe me, the handbook mentions some Muslim authorities you can consult (because they have demonstrated " good understanding of life and Islam in North America" and have a firm grasp of "the current geo-political environment"; p. 13). They include (my links):
Dr. Ingrid Mattison (sic), Sheikh Zaid Shakir, Sheikh Humza Yusuf, Dr. Jamal Badawi, Dr. Iqbal Nadawi, Sheikh Siraj Wahaj, Dr. Ihsan Bagby, Sheikh Abdallah Idris, (sic) Ali, Imam Ahmed Kutty, Imam Slimi, Imam Yusuf Badat, Ustad Nouman Ali Khan and Imam Sikander Hashmi.

Grovel, Grovel, Cringe, Bow, Stoop, Fall

In other words, the posture the Canadian Human Rights Commission assumes in the face of one of the odious UN "human rights" body's "Special Rapporteurs":
The Canadian Human Rights Commission would like to thank former Special Rapporteur James Anaya for his report, and in particular, for bringing to your attention the issues facing Indigenous peoples in Canada. The Commission shares many of his concerns.  Acting Chief Commissioner David Langtry was pleased to meet with the Special Rapporteur during his time in Canada and the Commission would like to acknowledge the efforts made by the Government to facilitate Mr. Anaya’s visit. 
The Canadian Human Rights Commission is Canada’s National Human Rights Institution.  
It works cooperatively with provincial and territorial human rights institutions, Indigenous peoples’ organizations and civil society to promote and protect human rights. 
In 2008, the Canadian Human Rights Act was amended so that discrimination complaints could be filed concerning matters governed by the Indian Act. This provided access to avenues of redress that had previously been closed to Indigenous peoples. 
Since the coming into force of this amendment, the Commission has received complaints involving many of the important systemic issues identified by the Special Rapporteur such as equitable and culturally appropriate access to child welfare and other services in Indigenous communities.  This experience has demonstrated that, while positive steps have been taken, a range of barriers continue to impact Indigenous peoples’ access to human rights justice in a meaningful way.  
One such barrier is the fact that Indigenous women and girls in Canada face a persistent and disproportionate level of violence. The Commission recognizes that people facing discrimination and violence suffer more acutely if they lack access to justice.   
The Commission will continue its efforts towards ensuring that all Indigenous peoples have access to justice, guided by the human rights principles enshrined in the Canadian Human Rights Act and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. To this end, the Commission is hosting a series of roundtable discussions with Indigenous women from coast to coast to coast, regarding the barriers to justice they encounter, as well as how to eliminate or reduce those barriers.   
As a final note, the Commission would like to congratulate Ms. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, on her recent appointment as Special Rapporteur. The Commission recognizes the positive impact that the Special Rapporteur’s work has on reconciliation, and urges Governments, Indigenous peoples, human rights institutions and civil society in Canada to work towards implementing the recommendations in her predecessor’s report. It’s the Commission’s sincere hope that, through these collective efforts, Ms. Tauli-Corpuz will observe measurable progress in the advancement of the rights of Indigenous peoples should she visit Canada in future years.

Thank you.
To paraphrase Sigmund Freud: the CHRC can most highly recommend the UN's "human rights" Special Rapporteurs to everyone.

Disgusting: Babi Yar Monument Vandalized in the Ukraine

Cue the Yevtushenko:
No monument stands over Babi Yar.
A steep cliff only, like the rudest headstone.
I am afraid.
Today, I am as old
As the entire Jewish race itself...
No fiber of my body will forget this.
May "Internationale" thunder and ring
When, for all time, is buried and forgotten
The last of antisemites on this earth...
Clearly, that time has not yet arrived.

Liverpool Soccer Team's "Happy New Year" Tweet Unleashes Torrents of Zionhass

Here's an example of how "inclusion" plays out in the U.K.:
A Rosh Hashanah tweet from Liverpool Football Club was removed after it received a barrage of antisemitic abuse online. 
The club tweeted on Thursday night: “Liverpool FC would like to wish all our Jewish supporters around the world a happy new year. #RoshHashanah.” 
However, the post prompted a torrent of offensive replies, many referencing Hitler, and a few hours later the tweet was removed by the club, along with the comments. 
A Liverpool spokesperson said: “Due to a number of offensive comments that were attached to a tweet on the official LFC twitter account, the tweet and comments have since been removed from the account.” 
Kick It Out, Football’s inclusion and equality organisation, received a number of complaints and contacted Liverpool. However, the football club acted independently in removing the messages.
A spokesperson for Kick It Out told the Guardian: “It is encouraging that a football club recognises these holidays and religious landmarks – Liverpool did the same for Ramadan – but extremely sad when a club does that in a proactive manner and gets these responses...
"Sad," is it? I wouldn't say it's "sad" so much as it is entirely predictable. What do you expect when, in the name of the fatuous doctrine of multiculturalism, you allow millions of Ramadan-celebrating, soccer-loving, Zion-loathing hooligans to come live in your land?

Iran Accused of Killing Its Own Nuclear Scientist (After First Blaming His Death on Israel)

Apparently, the scientist was reluctant to build a nuke for the Grandiose Ayatollah, and therefore rendered himself nonessential.

And speaking of His Grandiosity, NYT opiner Roger Cohen thinks we should solicit his assistance in order to defeat our common enemy, ISIS. I wrote this letter by way of saying nuts to that:
Using that old "enemy of my enemy is my friend" argument, the one the U.S. employed when it hooked up with Stalin (who had for a brief time been allied with Hitler) to defeat the Nazis, Roger Cohen would have us make common cause with, of all countries, Iran.
 
There's a word for such an idea, and it's one which has a distinctly Cold War ring to it: it is MAD.
 
In case the meaning of that acronym has slipped your mind, it is short for "Mutually Assured Destruction." It refers to what would be triggered if and when one power with nuclear weapons (either America or the Soviets) decided to drop an A-bomb on the other, and therefore acted as a deterrent to that Dr. Strangelove scenario.
 
Alas, it does not apply to an atomically-empowered Iran. For one thing, you are dealing with religious fanatics who, unlike Godless Communists, put little value on life in the here and now and who are looking forward to spending an eternity in a balmy Paradise while we non-believers roil in Hell. For another, "mutually assured destruction" squares with the Shia's end-times narrative which requires such a cataclysm to effect the return of their messiah, the long-hibernating twelfth imam.
 
For those reasons, an alliance with Iran is sheer MADness--only without the element of deterrence. And Roger Cohen, who has had some nutty ideas about Iran in the past, should have his head examined for even suggesting it.

Monday, September 29, 2014

What's the Deal With ISIS's Decapitation Inclination?

Contemporary theologians have been drawing comparisons of the extremist beliefs and actions of the Khawarij to those of the Islamic State. The analysis illuminates the dangerous allure of this militant group, and Muslims’ duty to combat them by all means. The sword and the pen have now joined forces: Nations have mobilized to destroy the Islamic State, while more than 100 international Muslim scholars have issued a refutation of the group’s anti-Islamic ideology. 
The Prophet Mohammed had warned the nascent Muslim community about a sect that would emerge from Iraq; its followers would pray, recite the Koran, call for sharia and invoke God in persuasive fashion. Yet, the Prophet warned, they would have nothing to do with Islam, for their actions would betray the very fundamentals of the faith. In the name of God, they would kill those who did not agree with their interpretation. They would consist mostly of youths with “foolish dreams” of grandeur. And, if he were alive when they emerged, he would fight them, for they would be the “worst of creation.” 
The Khawarij emerged shortly after the Prophet’s death...
Wow, that was very prescient of him. There's a far simpler explanation for the beheadings, though, but it's one that true believer and propagandist-for-Islam Sheema would, for obvious reasons, prefer we ignore: the Prophet himself was into decapitation in a really big way. And for those who believe in the literal truth of Islamic doctrine, that can be reason enough to perpetuate the practice.



"Climate Change Is Affecting Gravity"

Nuh uh. Climate change (or at least, the specter thereof) is affecting sanity.

Silly Infidel Compares Entity Formerly Known as CAIR-CAN's Libel Case Against the Harper Gov't to Maher Arar's

Found a link to this one (under "LATEST TWEETS") on the NCCM site:
What happened to Maher Arar wasn't supposed to ever happen again.
 
Arar, a Canadian citizen with a wife, a family and a good job, was 'rendered' to a Syrian prison in 2002. There he was tortured for months because anonymous Canadian officials, working hand-in-glove with the U.S. government, used bogus 'intelligence' to tar him as a terrorist.
 
Simply put, that's what former Ontario Associate Chief Justice Dennis O'Connor concluded after he exhaustively examined what happened to Arar and why it happened.  In the end, Ottawa had to pay Arar millions of dollars for smearing his name and for permitting a loyal Canadian to be secretly shipped like a piece of baggage - first to Jordan, then to Syria, where he was kept in a coffin-like cell where rats roamed free.
 
Despite the horror that Arar endured - and the undeniable role that powerful Canadian officials played in it - more Canadians are being put in a position of having to defend themselves against the terrorist smear. This time, the powerful government officials making the terrorist-ties accusation aren't anonymous. They're in the PMO.
 
And the latest target of the thinly-veiled 'terrorist' smear is the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), an independent, non-partisan, non-profit group that has worked for 14 years on human rights and civil liberties issues on behalf of Canadian Muslims.
 
The NCCM is having none of it. In May, the Ottawa-based NGO filed a defamation lawsuit against Harper and his chief spokesperson Jason MacDonald, after the latter told Sun News that he would "not take seriously criticism from an organization with documented ties to a terrorist organization such as Hamas."
 
And what did the NCCM do to offend the government's notoriously fragile (verging on paranoid) sensibilities? It criticized Harper for including a controversial rabbi in his official delegation to Israel in January. That's it, largely. This rather mild rebuke prompted MacDonald to go nuclear and accuse one of Canada's oldest Muslim-Canadian advocacy groups of having concrete links to Hamas.
 
Let's be frank about what that incendiary broadside - delivered to a so-called news channel operating as a bullhorn for the Conservative party - really means. The odious accusation here is that the NCCM is a hive of terrorist sympathizers, or worse. The ghost of Joe McCarthy haunts the PMO.
Let's be frank about what this infidel is doing by hauling out Joe McCarthy's ghost: he's trying to smear the most pro-Israel government in the world. And let's be frank about what NCCM really is: not a victim, and certainly not a victim of torture. It's CAIR mutton dressed up as a sort of Anti-Defamation League lamb.

Laughing Their Heads Off: New Iraq TV Sitcom Aims to Spoof ISIS

To paraphrase that old one-liner, "Beheading is easy; comedy is hard":
A new 30-part satirical series, State of Myths, which started airing on Iraqi state television on Saturday, aims to expose the true nature of the Islamic State extremist organisation — through slapstick and puns. 
The show demonstrates the extraordinary ability of people in this war-scarred nation to challenge violence with humour. But making light of the group notorious for beheadings and massacres brings serious risks. Some of the cast members have not allowed their names to appear on the show's credits, while the scriptwriter has insisted on remaining anonymous.
In light of ISIS's atavistic antics, probably not such a bad idea.

NatPo Article Calls for Ezra Levant's Head on a Platter

There's an article to be written about why it is that Ezra Levant pushes the NatPo's buttons in such a predictably hysterical way--but that'll have to wait. For now it's sufficient to note that this appears in a NatPo piece about a forthcoming Sun Media apology to Justin Trudeau because of Levant's "mean" rant:
Any apology is likely to prompt further debate, with some likely to suggest it will set a bad precedent for future dealings between politicians and the media. Others will say undoubtedly say the only real apology will be to take Levant, who has run into trouble with his rants before, off the air entirely.
"Others" say that, eh? "Please take Ezra off the air entirely" sound to me like the wish Jonathan Kay makes when he blows out his birthday candles.

Snoozuki's Last Tour?

They say it's his last one (the Canadian icon wants to constitutionalize the right to a clean environment). But then, that's what Barbra and Cher have said time and time again, too.

Animal Act: Kangaroo Court Gets A-Hoppin' in Turtle Bay

The UN's "human rights" show trial, a proceeding bound to be as stinky as Pepe Le Pew, pre-convicts perfidious Zion of crimes against humanity.

CAIR's Ibrahim Hooper Claims to Be Flummoxed By Oklahoma Beheader's "Hebrew" Pseudonym

Decapitationist Alton Nolan's having assumed the name "Ja'Keem Yisreal" elicited this response:
Sources close to the investigation said Nolen adopted the online persona of “Jah’Keem Yisreal,” a phrase that the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations leaders said has no meaning in the Arabic language. Muslim leaders said it was odd that someone proclaiming themselves as Muslim would adopt a name so close to Hebrew. 
“I can’t imagine any Muslim taking a Hebrew name,” said Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for CAIR.
That prompted a sassy infidel to observe:
That’s funny since Ibrahim is an Arabized Hebrew name. Muslims also use Suleiman for Solomon, Daoud for David, Musa for Moses and Yusuf for Joseph. Since Islam borrowed Jewish history, it’s chock full of Hebrew names some of which Muslims use. 
It’s funny how Ibrahim Hooper, another convert to Islam, hasn’t bothered learning much about his religion. 
Isn't it, though?

Reuters: Obama Says He Underestimated the Islamic State

To be clear, he didn't just "underestimate" it. In an interview that appeared in the New Yorker, he dismissed it as being "JV".

But as long as he didn't "misunderestimate" it, he's still, like, really, really smart.

Update: Obama, the Anti-Truman

It Seems To Me I've Heard That Song Before

Mark Steyn's Song of Week (there are two songs, actually, both from one of my favorite--if now semi-obscure and forgotten--musicals, Bells Are RingingI'm probably one of the few people around who knows all the words to Judy Holliday's Bells showstopper, "I'm Going Back...to the Bonjour Tristesse Brassiere Company") inspired me to reprise this parody (with more than a few new tweaks):

Justin time,
They want him,
Justin time.
Before he came their time
Had plum run out.
Got great hair,
And so much youthful flair,
Chased away their despair
Without a doubt.
Now he's here
With all his passion and panache
He'll fashion a big Lib'ral victory.
For he came,
Justin time,
And now it's Justin time.
They're swooning coast to coast
As you can see.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

When the Going Gets Tough, the Timorous Get Euphemizing

In Baltimore, a man thought to be of Middle Eastern origin fired a BB gun at some Orthodox Jews, many of them kids, all the while shouting, "Jews, Jews, Jews."

Authorities in that city, sensitive folks who would sooner pass a kidney stone than offend the easily offended and who have therefore perfected the sort of language that George Orwell said was "designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind," could not bring themselves to call this attack what it was (and how it would have been described had those targeted been Muslim): a hate crime. Instead, police are using a much softer, far less sinister-sounding euphemism: it's "a bias incident."

Riiiight. And the Fort Hood massacre was "workplace violence." And Kristallnacht was "an incident of urgent urban renewal."

The Canadian "Human Rights" Mausoleum--Not Ready for Prime Time

Let's just say that the phrase "up and running" does not apply to the colossally expensive and ill-conceived monstrosity:
WINNIPEG -- Less than a week after a splashy grand opening, officials at the country's newest museum said half the galleries won't be finished when the Canadian Museum for Human Rights opens its doors to the public Saturday. 
President and CEO Stuart Murray said they had intended to have all 11 galleries open by Saturday, but that isn't possible. Only five galleries will be done when the museum welcomes the public
People will only be able to tour the museum through a choice of two 90-minute guided tours until November and are encouraged to buy their tickets online in advance. 
"There are some elements that we thought would be here that just are not here," Murray said Wednesday without elaborating on what those are. ...
Spoken by a man who seems not to know his arse from his ankle, a trait which will no doubt continue to inform his leadership, however long or short it may be.

Beware of Saudis, Qataris Who Use ISIS Extremism to Portray Themselves as "Moderates"

Michael Coren sounds the alarm:
Thing is, Muslim fanatics with no connection to ISIS have slaughtered innocent people for many years now and the silence of the Islamic world has been deafening in its empty cacophony. We hear justifications and apologetics, we hear of oppression, deprivation, imperialism, America, Israel, Islamophobia and dictatorships. Excuses and obfuscation, a cloud of unknowing and a failure and refusal to speak and act. 
I welcome the new consensus against ISIS but when the likes of Saudi Arabia and Qatar are part of the coalition against them I cannot take the condemnation seriously; the former is responsible for most of the world’s fundamentalist mosques, schools and propaganda, the latter for the financial support of Hamas and other Islamist entities.
It occurred to me the other day that one would never say that so-and-so was a "moderate" Christian or a "moderate" Jew.

An odd but significant fact, I think.

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Suitable--and Unsuitable--Nursery Songs

Some months ago, I was waiting in line to pay for a few items at my local pharmacy. The woman ahead of me was trying to settle her fussy infant by rolling her stroller back and forth while humming a soothing tune--"Papa's Gonna Buy You a Mockingbird," as I recall. She hummed it for bit when, abruptly (at least, I found it abrupt), she started on a new song, performing it at the same slow tempo, in the same soft-voiced, lilting way. I had to bite my lower lip to keep from laughing, though, because of the song she'd chosen: "What Shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor?"

Needless to say, I'd never thought of that one as a lullabye.

Mind you, I wasn't at all offended; was amused by it, really. Unlike, say, some folks on a bus in Old Blighty who were said to be greatly affronted when a couple tried to lull their toddler to sleep by singing (and snorting) the Peppa Pig TV show theme song (link via SDA).

Peppa Pig--now, why does that name sound so familiar?

"Great" News

Iran is fully ready to counter ISIL. Of course, should Iran prevail in such a war, Ayatollahville will become even more emboldened and powerful than it is already. Add a nuke of two into the mix, and there'll be no living with 'em at all.

Silly Moi--I Thought the Recurring "Theme" Was "Slam/Slander/Bash Israel"

In a Xinhua report about reaction to Mahmoud Abbas's UN speech (a hate-filled tissue of Big Lies about Israel unleashing a "genocide" on their Palestinian "victims") we learn the "theme" of this General Assembly session--and it's a real beaut!:
Namibian President Hifikepunye Phamba also voiced concerns about multiple crises confronting the international community, including terrorist groups disrupting peace and stability in different parts of the world, the abduction of 200 girls in Nigeria; the "political instability" and armed conflict in South Sudan, Mali, and the Central African Republic. 
However, he said the challenges were not insurmountable. The enduring values and principles of the United Nations Charter should guide the international community, as should the theme of this 69th session of the GA, "Delivering on and Implementing a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda.
The theme was chosen because the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were to be attained by next year.
It's official. My new favorite name is Hifikepunye Phamba. (Gee, I wonder if he can do the rhumba.) And, oh yeah: on the whole, the UN is worse than useless.

Rude--But True

There once was a lad named J.T.
And he was as mad as can be
'Cuz a loudmouth named Ez
(Oh, the rude things he sez!)
Said his folks romped promiscuously.

The old-timey media are aghast.
Their umbrage and horror are vast.
Ez's words and his quarrel
Are outrageous!, immoral!
And they hope his employment won't last.

Canadian-Somali ISIS Fighter Resurfaces Weeks After Reports That He'd Kicked It in Syria

And since he's still alive and seething (despite a report some weeks back that it was his turn for some posthumous nooky) he's delighted, writes Islamic terrorism expert Stewart Bell, to do some jihadi P.R. for his peeps:
Interviewed from Iraq by the U.S. website Vice.com, Farah Mohamed Shirdon, a former Calgary movie theatre employee, appeared erratic and became increasingly enraged as he dished out threats and claimed God wtas on his side.
“God willing, we will make some attacks in New York soon, a lot of brothers are mobilizing there right now in the West, thanks to Allah,” he said. Smiling, he added they were “mobilizing for a brilliant attack, my friend.” 
ISIS was conducting beheadings because “you attack one of us, we will attack one of you,” he said, adding, “We will stop when we behead the kuffar' 
He is one of several Somali-Canadians thought to have joined ISIS, prompting the Canadian Somali Congress’s Western branch to appeal for government help. A Hamilton, Ont. man presumed dead in ISIS was also a Somali-Canadian. 
“No one recruited me. Actually no one spoke a single word to me. All I did, I opened the newspaper, I read the Koran. Very easy,” he said. Five days before he left, Canadian authorities interviewed him, he claimed. “All their intelligence workers are imbeciles,” he said, although he then named the FBI before correcting that it was the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. 
The nephew of the former Prime Minister of Somalia, Mr. Shirdon has made grandiose threats before. After arriving in Iraq, he appeared in an ISIS video in which he burned his passport and threatened Canada and the U.S...
Don't worry, though. Authorities have assured us that such incendiary activity is in no way connected with Islam, the contents of which remain entirely peaceful, loving, beautiful and benign.

Friday, September 26, 2014

In Speech to the UN, Abbas Pins the Blame for ISIL on Is'el

But for the Joooos' "occupation," everything would be hunky-dory, the Zion-despiser insists:
We, and all the Arab countries, have constantly cautioned about the disastrous consequences of the continuation of the Israeli occupation and the denial of freedom and independence for the people of Palestine. We have repeatedly draw attention to the fact that allowing Israel to act as a state above the law with impunity and absolving it of any accountability or punishment for its policies, aggression and defiance of the international will and legitimacy has absolutely provided fertile ground and an environment conducive for the growth of extremism, hatred and terrorism in our region. 
Confronting the terrorism that plagues our region by groups – such as “ISIL” and others that have no basis whatsoever in the tolerant Islamic religion or with humanity and are committing brutal and heinous atrocities – requires much more than military confrontation. It is an urgent matter that requires much more than condemnations and declarations of positions, which are of course necessary. What is primarily needed is a comprehensive, credible strategy to dry out the sources of terrorism and eradicate its roots in all political, intellectual, economic and social spheres in our region. It requires the creation of solid foundations for a reasonable consensus that makes the fight against all forms of terrorism in any place everywhere a collective task that is undertaken by the alliance of nations, peoples and civilizations. It requires, in this context and as a priority, bringing an end to the Israeli occupation of our country, which constitutes in its practices and perpetuation, an abhorrent form of state terrorism and a breeding ground for incitement, tension and hatred.
You can read the full text of Abbas's unhinged screed here. As a service for those who have neither the time nor the inclination to plow through it, here's an abbreviated version: Naqba, Naqba, genocide, victims, occupation, victims, Naqba, victims, victims, genocide, pre-1967 borders, declare Palestine statehood now!

Canadian Somali Leader Wants the Prime Minister to Do Something to Stop Somali "Yutes" From Running Off to Join ISIS

The onus is on us to stop them from becoming radicalized, apparently:
EDMONTON—The leader of a Somali group has written to Prime Minister Stephen Harper warning that young people in Alberta are being recruited to become fighters for the radical group ISIS. 
In his letter, Mahamad Accord says he has solid sources, including elders, who say youths from the Somali community as young as 16 have signed up to become terrorist soldiers. 
Accord, who is president of the Canadian Somali Congress Western Canada, says he doesn’t have any hard numbers on how many young people have been recruited. 
He says some youths who have left have called home from countries such as Turkey without any explanation. 
Accord is asking the prime minister for help to reach out to disaffected Somali youth to counter ISIS recruiters...

A Cheat Sheet for Those Who Missed Ken Burns' 14 Hour-Long Doc About The Roosevelts

This one seems to hit all the salient points, although I must admit that had I gone strictly by the list and avoided watching the thing I would have missed my favorite part: Meryl Streep's uncanny vocal impersonation of Eleanor.

A Sweet Way to Ring In the Palindromic New Year

Just think: this too shall pass (the "this" being Obama).

Also: Wishing all my Jewish readers a happy, healthy, prosperous and peace-filled 5775!

Caroline Glick on the Great American Divide Between Zionist and Ant-Zionist Jews (and the Uselessness of Official Jewdom)

Ms. G. explains that radical, Zion-loathing Jewish leftists have filled the void left by feckless Official Jews, to the detriment of American Jewry as a whole:
Radical groups that reflect the views of almost no significant American Jewish constituency, have jumped in to fill the void. And owing to the absence of a clear, strong message from key components of the community, they are making headway in their goal of unraveling and disempowering the Jewish community of America.

Consider the organized opposition to the Metropolitan Opera of New York’s decision to produce the harshly anti-Semitic opera The Death of Klinghoffer.

On Monday some 3,000 people attended the mass rally to protest the prestigious opera house’s decision to produce the opera that demonizes Jews and glorifies Palestinian terrorists. It was an impressive turnout. This is particularly true because very few of the major Jewish organizations agreed to participate in the protest. The American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Federation of New York and the Jewish Council on Public Affairs were particularly conspicuous in their absence.

It’s not that all these groups think that the Met’s decision to mainstream hatred of Jews, dehumanization of Jews and delegitimization of the Jewish state is acceptable.
In a press release published on September 19, the AJC for instance excoriated the Met’s decision to produce the opera and highlighted the anti-Semitic positions of the opera’s composer and librettist.

AJC Executive Director David Harris said, “Today, with increasingly virulent anti-Western, anti-American, anti-Semitic, and anti-Israel terrorism, all reminiscent of the cruelty perpetrated against Leon Klinghoffer, we should not rationalize or humanize acts of terrorism or terrorists.”

But then, at the end of the press release, Harris turned his guns on the Jews who organized the protest against the opera, which he refused to join.

Harris said, “We call upon all who are planning to protest the Klinghoffer opera to do so with civility, so that the focus of public criticism may remain, as it should, on the opera’s totally inappropriate and insensitive messages.”

Harris’s position regarding the opera is substantively indistinguishable from the positions of the 52 organizations that sponsored and participated in the protest. Those included StandWithUs, the Zionist Organization of America, CAMERA, Americans for a Safe Israel, JCCWatch, Endowment for Middle East Truth, several major synagogues and Jewish day schools, and the Catholic League, among many others. None of these organizations gave anyone the slightest reason to believe that they would do anything but focus on the anti-Semitic, pro-terror message underlying the opera.

So why did Harris treat them like irresponsible children who cannot be trusted? And why, given the commonality of views, and his own concerns, did he not ensure that the message would be effectively delivered, by delivering himself, as a participant in the rally?

By standing on the sidelines and drawing distinctions between the supposedly responsible AJC and the supposedly irresponsible organizations that participated, Harris weakened the campaign to fight anti-Semitism. Not only was this an irresponsible thing to do, it was deeply destructive, not least because it expanded the polarization of the Jewish community.

Peter Gelb, the Met’s director, is Jewish. And many defenders of the decision to produce The Death of Klinghoffer have argued that Gelb’s Judaism makes it unacceptable to point out that by producing an anti-Semitic opera, the Met is mainstreaming anti-Jewish bigotry.

But the sad fact is that a growing number of radical Jews, who reject the very notion that Jews have rights, including the right to support Israel and defend the Jewish state, are filling the void left by the Jewish leadership establishment that would rather attack activists whose agenda they share than cooperate with them.
The situation is more or less the same here in Canada, one big difference being that we have a prime minister who is second to none in his unabashed and vocal support for the Jewish state. That may well change, of course, should Justin the Mosqueteer (who has the support of many left-leaning Jews) win next year's election.

Even so, it is heartening to note that Jews who support Israel aren't waiting for Official Jewry to take the lead. Indeed, the Zionists have taken it upon themselves to seize the initiative and do something productive--and have left the O.J.s in the dust.

Mahmoud Abbas Tries to Position Himself as a Martin Luther King

Well, he does have a dream--of the day when the Palestinians will rule "from the river to the sea."

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Margaret Wente Makes Mincemeat Out of Naomi Klein's Climatist Manifesto

Wente writes:
The thesis of This Changes Everything is that global warming is a war of capitalism against the planet, and that we need a people’s uprising to reclaim true democracy from the venal and corrupt politicians who have been co-opted by Big Oil. If this sounds like the Occupy movement all over again, you’re right. “We need an ideological battle,” Ms. Klein told the Guardian. 
But wait. What about the rest of the world? Do they need an ideological battle, too? How do we get them to sign on? Every effort at global collective action has so far been a colossal flop, and there is not a hope in hell that that is going to change. 
China alone now accounts for a whopping 28 per cent of the world’s C02 emissions – twice as much as the U.S. Over the past five years, China’s emissions increased more than the rest of the world combined; on a per-capita basis, it now out-pollutes the EU. India produces less than 7 per cent of the world’s total emissions, but most of its people still live in a state of energy starvation. India’s most pressing health problem isn’t climate change. It’s indoor pollution from dung fires. 
The developing world is now responsible for nearly 60 per cent of global emissions. Even if the developed nations make substantial cuts to CO2, over the coming decades emissions growth in the developing world will dwarf their efforts. Yet in every interview, excerpt and review I’ve read about her book, Ms. Klein has nothing to say on this subject. Talk about denial! No book on climate that ignores elementary facts like these can be counted as a serious work.
Sounds to me like capitalism isn't the problem, it's the solution.

Good Advice for Rabbis Re Their High Holidays Sermons: "Don't Wimp Out on Israel"

David-Seth Kirshner writes:
On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, print journalism and the blogosphere are abound with conversations about what rabbis will be talking about when congregants sit in the pews on Thursday and Friday. After this summer, there is no shortage of material. A rise in anti-Semitism worldwide, an increase in violence on college campuses, the murders of four teenage boys — three Israeli and one Palestinian — a 50-day war with Hamas in Gaza where more than 75 percent of Israel was within reach of rockets, not to mention the worsening situation in the Ukraine and the proliferation of ISIS — should be enough for any clergy person to sink their teeth into and make a meaningful message.  
Thus, I am surprised to see an article in the New York Times yesterday which claims many rabbinic colleagues — most maintaining anonymity for fear of their views affecting their positions — will not broach Israel, or events surrounding Israel, as a topic for their sermon for fear of offending the right or left and for an inability to craft a take-away message from the sermon.          
Further to the point, Peter Beinart wrote in Haaretz this week that rabbis should steer away from sermons about Israel these High Holidays because they are “B-grade pundits.” His point expressly implies that rabbis are ill equipped to speak about Israel effectually. Additionally, Beinart says the real issue with the Jewish world today is illiteracy with Jewish texts, not issues about Israel and that is where rabbis should dial in their sermonic coordinates this New Year. 
My response to Peter Beinart and the many anonymous rabbis quoted by the New York Times is simple: Don’t wimp out. 
What congregations around the globe want from their leaders more than any teaching or story is simple. They want courage. They want leaders with convictions and principles and passion. Congregants want to be infected by their clergy with that passion. As clergy members we have been deputized to share our interpretation – both of texts and current events – and to lend a Jewish voice and lens to the situation we find ourselves living within. Few people want to come to synagogue to hear a tofu-flavored thought about the Torah portion these days. They want to know what you think and why you think it. That is, after all, why they hired you...
Then again, if you're going to mimic the execrable Peter Beinart's views on Israel, maybe you should stick to the texts.

Londonistan a No-Go Zone for Pro-Israel Ad Campaign

Billboard and transit companies complained that the ads, which were designed to show that there's no diff between Hamas and ISIS, were "too political."

Well, what do you expect in a city that has been cowed into submission by decades of propaganda touting the benefits (but not the drawbacks) of multiculturalism?

Arbor Daze

According to the nutty New York Times, trees--yes, trees!--are partially responsible for global climate change.

Monday, September 22, 2014

Jihad: The Opera...

...will likely never be written--and therefore will never be mounted by--the Metropolitan Opera company. Kill the Crippled Jew!: The Opera, however, is bound to do boffo business.

A Wholly Holy Useful Idiot: The Dalai Lama Claims the "Jihad" Is Misunderstood

Good golly, Mr. Dalai--you're such a Lama rama ding dong: 
DELHI – Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has condemned violence in the name of religion, clearing misconceptions about Islam’s Jihad as misinterpreted by extremists. 
"Killing in the name of faith is unacceptable," the Nobel Pease prize winner told a meeting of India's religious leaders representing as many as nine different faiths including Islam, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported. 
Jihad or holy war should be a fight "to combat our inner destructive emotions", the 79-year-old spiritual leader said. 
"It (jihad) does not mean harming other people." 
The Dalai Lama was referring to the atrocities committed by the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 
The opinion of the Dalai Lama reflected a growing anger with the militant group, especially after the killing of three British and American hostages...
Au contraire. The opinion of the Dalai Lama reflects a growing disinclination to address the Islam's jihad imperative and the jihadis' history of warfare and conquest in Allah's name.

Today's Weather Forecast: Cloudy With a Chance of Apocalypse

The UN is having another one of those "climate" conferences, the kind that marry the apocalyptical and the anti-capitalistic. (Not by co-incidence, that's exactly what Naomi Klein--or as I like to call her, Karla Gore--does in her new eye-glazer, This Changes Everything--or as I like to call it, The Climatist Manifesto.) Ironically enough, the confab is sure to result in tons of smoke, much Harper-bashing (by/in the Harper-hatin' Canadian media) and oodles of hot air--stuff like this, for instance, which conflates "climate change" with weather.

Also--one wonders how much trash was left behind yesterday when all those eco-freaks ("hundred of thousands"--really?) gathered in New York.

Update: John "Smoggy Bottom" Kerry promises that, for the regime he serves, climate change (not ISIS) with be "front and center."

Arms and the Terrorists: Why U.S. Weapons Have Ended Up in Hezbo's Hands

What a friend they have in Obama (something which the Jews cannot say with any degree of certainty):
The United States has reportedly sent indirect military aid to the Hezbollah terrorist organization, according to information released in a New York Times interview with Hezbollah public relations liaison Mohammed Afif. 
The aid, which came in the form of new weapons, was channeled via the Lebanese Army, which closely coordinates with the Hezbollah terrorist group, according to Afif. In addition, U.S. intelligence is being channeled to Hezbollah as well, according to Lebanese sources. This would explain how the terrorist organization was able to pinpoint its first UAV bombing so precisely against the Al Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group, which is not associated with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group and which in fact currently is fighting against the organization. Al Qaeda has denounced ISIS as “too brutal.” 
The assistance to Hezbollah, which appears on America’s list of foreign terrorist organizations, comes in stark contrast to the block placed by the Obama White House on a needed transfer to Israel of Hellfire missiles during this summer’s counter terror Operation Protective Shield in Gaza. The transfer of any weapons and other military hardware to Israel, even routine munitions requests, was temporarily blocked by the State Department and the White House, which required a double signature on any delivery. The hold was released following an intense protest against the action by Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle. However, any form of American military aid – once a ‘given’ by Israel’s “closest friend and ally” – continues to be scrutinized by President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry; an unprecedented situation in relations between the two countries.

"Club Dead"

Too funny! (Don't forget--you can also book the joint for weddings, Bar Mitzvahs and other assorted soirees.)

Update: The Globe and Mail's scribbler was exhausted by his visit to the mausoleum, and, to demonstrate his virtuousness bona fides, is mega-p.o.'d about an aboriginal woman who was murdered nearby.

Update: Jonathan Kay has a great idea about how to deal with victim groups upset with they way they've been depicted--or have been ignored--by the mausoleum:
Which of these complaints from anti-museum critics have merit and which don’t? Till now, the museum has responded on an ad hoc basis — ignoring some groups, consulting with others. But surely, now that the museum is open, a more systematic approach is needed, one that recognizes the plain fact that the proper curation of human-rights-related material in a museum explicitly dedicated to the issue of human rights must itself be treated, legally, as a matter of human rights. 
Fortunately, Canada already has an expert body dedicated to such matters — The Canadian Human Rights Commission. As the web site informs us, “anyone who works for or receives services from a business or organization that is regulated by the federal government can make a complaint.” That would appear to include the Museum for Human Rights, which was established by Parliament in 2008. 
And so the path forward is clear: The Canadian Human Rights Commission must establish a special human-rights tribunal to address human-rights complaints pertaining to the presentation of human-rights issues at the Canadian Museum For Human Rights. 
But why not go further? 
If the true goal of the Canadians Museum For Human Rights is to create a “national hub for human rights learning and discovery,” as its web site boasts, shouldn’t visitors to the museum be able to file a human rights complaint at the museum itself?...
An excellent idea, one which would help demonstrate how foolish, useless and essentially totalitarian the Canadian "Human Rights" Commission is.

If the "human rights" mausoleum succeeds in doing that, then it won't have been a colossal waste of taxpayers' dollars after all.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Whoop Dee Doo--Canada's "Human Rights" Mausoluem Finally Opens in Winnipeg

Canada's "human rights" mausoleum has finally opened. Fittingly, the launch is being protested by Palestinians and aboriginal chicks, two victim groups who are upset because their tales of woe haven't been accorded the full Holocaust treatment.

It's heartening to see the NatPo's Joseph Brean repeat much of what I've been saying about this edifice for years--that it's a shrine to victimhood, that it assigns "a hierarchy of atrocities," etc. On the other hand, the thing is also described as "a beacon of hope," which is just plain silly.

In "honour" of the opening, I thought I'd repost some of Mark Steyn's deliciously irreverent thoughts about the edifice (which include--aw, shucks--a reference to yours truly):
Having been put through the mill by Canada's "Human Rights" Commissions, I naturally despise any juxtaposition of the words "Canadian" and "human rights." But if you have to yoke them, this is the place: To paraphrase Justin's fellow musician Joni Mitchell, they took all the rights and put 'em in a rights museum, and they charged the people a dollar-and-a-half just to see 'em.  
But I've warmed up to what the blogger Scaramouche calls the Canadian Mausoleum for Human Rights. It could have been just the usual sucking maw of public monies had it not descended into an hilarious, er, urinating match of competing victimhoods. For those who thought "human rights" had something to do with freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and so forth, it turns out to be about which guy's genocide is bigger. The Ukrainian-Canadian Congress was wary of the mausoleum from the get-go, suspicious that it would downplay the Holodomor, Stalin's enforced famine in the Ukraine 80 years ago. The mausoleum assured them that they were going to go big on the Holodomor, but to guarantee the UCC came onboard offered to throw in a bonus exhibit of Canada's internment of Ukrainian immigrants during World War I. This would be part of "Canada's Journey," a heartwarming historical pageant illustrating how the blood-soaked Canadian state has perpetrated one atrocity after another on native children, Chinese coolies, Japanese internees, Jews, gays, the transgendered, you name it. And, of course, the Ukrainians. Per Izzy's wishes, the Holocaust would have pride of place in a separate exhibit, because, its dark bloody history notwithstanding, Canada apparently played a minimal role in the murder of six million Jews. However, the Holodomor would be included as a permanent featured genocide in the museum's "Mass Atrocity Zone."  
Oh, you can laugh at the idea of a "Mass Atrocity Zone" tourist attraction in Winnipeg, but there isn't an ethnic lobby group that doesn't want in. The Polish-Canadian Congress complained that lumping all the non-Jew genocides in one Mass Atrocity Zone meant they'd have to be on a rotating schedule, like revolving pies on the lunch counter. The Armenian genocide was felt to be getting short shrift, considering it was the prototype 20th-century genocide. On the other hand, the Rwandan genocide, the last big 20th-century genocide, and the Congolese civil war don't appear to have got a look-in at all. The Poles wanted room made for the Germans' ill treatment of the Poles, which did not seem to be a priority of the mausoleum.  
The floor plan has now emerged, and the Ukrainian-Canadians are furious that their people's suffering has been "ignored or minimalized." The Holodomor has been relegated to "a small obscure gallery near the museum's public toilets." Don't you hate it when that happens? When your genocide gets the lousy seats at the back by the bathroom while those Jews are all at the big power table up front? Adding insult to injury, the bonus exhibit about the internment of Ukrainian-Canadians turns out to be one measly photograph — whether a respectable distance from the toilets or not, I cannot say...
On such a momentous occasion it also behooves us to consider the travesty that "human rights" has become in our time, both internationally and domestically, and to ask whether a "human rights" museum serves the interests of those who believe in and are committed to freedom, democracy and Zionism. I would venture to say that, with its emphasis on victimhood and Canada's sucky "human rights" record,  it most decidedly does not.