Friday, December 31, 2010

Best Wishes For The New Year To My Readers!



Happy 2011!

Be good and remember - if you can't be good, be careful...

My first post for the New Year will involve a few predictions for the New Year..see you then.

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Thursday, December 30, 2010

The Council Has Spoken..New's Years Eve Edition





Welcome to the results of the last Watcher's Council contest of 2010. And it's been quite a year, hasn't it?

2011 promises to be even more interesting, and you can bet that the Watcher's Council will be chronicling it.

All the best in the New Year!

Appropriately, this week's crown went to a recap/prediction piece on what could be in store for 2011.

In the Glittering Eye's winning entry, Domestic Sitrep Dave Schuler focused on an analysis of where we are now and where we might be headed:

As the year draws to a close it seems appropriate to take stock of the conditions in which we find our country at the end of 2010. In this post I’ll consider three areas: the economy, politics, and the environment. I also plan to post a similar assessment of the international situation at the end of the year over at Outside the Beltway.

The economy is essentially moving sideways. The level of employment continues to deteriorate and the unemployment rate, at least to some degree an artifact, remains at 9.8%. The decrease in employment renders the unacceptably high unemployment rate that much less acceptable. {...}

The political situation at the close of 2010 remains uncertain. The November elections produced the largest change in the part affiliation of the House of Representatives since the end of World War II. Many of the incoming freshmen ran with Tea Party support or on a Tea Party-style platform. The upcoming months will show whether they genuinely believe in the small government gospel they’ve preached or whether they differ from their Democratic opponents primarily in how they want to spend tax dollars and the borrowed money on which the federal government depends.


Is he right? Time will tell.

Our non-Council winner was Discriminations for Journalistic History Lessons (Or Not) a fascinating piece in which the writer, John Rosenberg gives a very well written history lesson to the WAPO'S clueless E.J. Dionne on the causes and issues surrounding the Civil War.

Here are this week’s full results:

Council Winners

Non-Council Winners



See you next year!

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The 111th Congress - Special Greatest Hits Edition!



Oh, the memories....

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Rep. Peter King: Obama Recess Justice Dept. Appointment 'Shocking'


Rep. Peter King ( R- NY), the incoming head of the House Homeland Security Committee had some harsh words to say about President Obama's new recess appointment for Deputy Attorney General, James Cole.

“I strongly oppose the recess appointment of James Cole to lead the national security team at the Department of Justice,” King said in a statement. “The appointment indicates that the Obama Administration continues to try to implement its dangerous policies of treating Islamic terrorism as a criminal matter.”

Umm,Congressman, in ObamaSpeak those incidents are referred to as 'man made disasters'.

Peter Cole, like most of the other six recess appoints Obama shoved through during the Lame Duck session is indeed a real peace of work.Most of them were so radioactive that even a number of Democrats didn't want to have to vote on them, not with elections coming up in two years.

“After the American people, and the Democratic Congress, unequivocally rejected President Obama’s plans to close Guantanamo and transfer admitted 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed to the United States for trial in federal civilian court, I find it absolutely shocking that President Obama would appoint someone who has diminished the 9/11 terrorist attacks by comparing them to the drug trade and who believes that a civilian courtroom is the appropriate venue for 9/11 trials,” King continued.

“This may be one of the worst appointments by President Obama during his presidency,” King added, referring to Cole as a “left-wing ideologue who places terrorists in the same categories as drug peddlers."

What he's talking about is an editorial Cole wrote for the Legal Times on the one year anniversary of 9/11 in 2002.

"[T]he attorney general is not a member of the military fighting a war -- he is a prosecutor fighting crime. For all the rhetoric about war, the Sept. 11 attacks were criminal acts of terrorism against a civilian population, much like the terrorist acts of Timothy McVeigh in blowing up the federal building in Oklahoma City, or of Omar Abdel-Rahman in the first effort to blow up the World Trade Center. The criminals responsible for these horrible acts were successfully tried and convicted under our criminal justice system, without the need for special procedures that altered traditional due process rights.

Our country has faced many forms of devastating crime, including the scourge of the drug trade, the reign of organized crime, and countless acts of rape, child abuse, and murder. The acts of Sept. 11 were horrible, but so are these other things."


Yep, just another street crime, like a liquor store holdup or something. Nothing to do with national security at all.

Cole truly is clueless when it comes to national security. It's ironic that he cited the Oklahoma City Bombing and the first World trade Center bombing.Both of them were likely operations perpetrated by Saddam Hussein, and both atrocities had Iraqi intelligence officer Ramzi Yousef involved and both bombing used exactly the same techniques, right down to the the same method used to secure a rental truck and the type of explosives.

But wait, there's more. Cole not only talks the talk, he walks the walk.

As an attorney, he represented Saudi Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud against his fellow Americans in a lawsuit filed by insurance companies and 9-11 survivors after Treasury Department documents provided evidence of extensive financial support by the Saudis for Al-Qaeda and other Islamist groups. Prince Naif was the mover and shaker of the Al Haramain Foundation, a name my readers should recognize as a Saudi 'charity' that funded to Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups before and after 9/11.

That's who President Obama hand picked as our Deputy Attorney General, folks..and I have to admit, he fits in quite well with the current administration.

(h/t, Jennifer Rubin)

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Obama Bypasses Senate, Appoints Ambassador To Syria


President Obama now has a record among US presidents for recess appointments..and that's with a veto-proof Democrat majority. Please tell me some more fairy stories about Bush being arrogant and 'obstructionist Republicans'!

Among today's appointments were four US Ambassadors, most of whom have been held up in the Senate because they were simply political hacks and high level Democrat donors and there were questions about their qualifications. But one in particular is a cause for concern because of where he's being posted.

Robert Ford is a career diplomat and a classic State Department Arabist,whose last posting was in Algeria.Obama has named him as the first US envoy to Syria since 2005.

The Bush Administration withdrew our ambassador to Syria because of their widespread support for terrorism and their willingness to act as a conduit for arms and jihadis en route to war against our troops in Iraq. In fact, Syria is still an officially designated state sponsor of terrorism by the US State Department.

No matter...Obama plans to 'engage' with Syria, so Ambassador Ford was appointed despite Congressional opposition.

"Making undeserved concessions to Syria tells the regime in Damascus that it can continue to pursue its dangerous agenda and not face any consequences from the US," Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the incoming chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement. "That is the wrong message to be sending to a regime which continues to harm and threaten US interests and those of such critical allies as Israel."

And that doesn't even mention the message it sends to our other Arab allies like Jordan and Lebanon, where it's widely known that Syria and its proxy Hezbollah were behind the assassination of Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri, among many others.In the Middle East, sending a high level diplomat to an enemy is regarded as a sign of weakness and conciliation. This will be seen as a US concession and endorsement of the Assad regime, and by extension, its ally Iran.

Smartest, most intellectual president evah...

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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

UNRWA The Terrorist Enabler

http://frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/UNRWA-848x1024.jpg
The 'Palestinians' are the only refugees ever to have their very own exclusive UN agency, the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA).

Having UNRWA in charge of the 'Palestinians' and their welfare has always struck me as the equivalent of employing someone to paint the only house in town for an hourly wage, with the painter realizing that as soon as the job was completed, he'd be unemployed.

That explains why in the last 60 years, UNRWA has spent millions on the 'Palestinians' but they still live in refugee camps and have been encouraged to do so.

As Michael S. Bernstam puts it in an excellent article in Commentary, UNRWA is, in effect, underwriting a self-destructive Palestinian cycle of violence, internecine warfare, and a perpetual war against Israel. Here's a slice:

British Prime Minister David Cameron recently called Gaza a “prison camp.” Former President Jimmy Carter has called it a “cage.” At first glance, these characterizations of the Hamas-ruled ­province seem like rhetorical excesses designed to cast Israel in the role of the unjust jailer blockading the strip. But Cameron and Carter have got it right, in a way. Gaza is a totalitarian paramilitary camp at war with its neighbors and other Palestinians. It is a paramilitary camp because it is a unique type of refugee camp. The narrow confines of the 139 square miles of the Gaza district—surrounded by Israel to the north and east, Egypt to the south, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west—feature eight separate Palestinian refugee camps, plus dozens of surrounding ghettos. Altogether, they combine the features of a refugee camp and a military camp and, cut off from the world, look to some extent like the cages Carter mentioned.

These camps were established in 1949 and have been financed ever since by the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Yet far from seeking to help residents build a new and better life either in Gaza or elsewhere, UNRWA is paying millions of refugees to perpetuate their refugee status, generation after generation, as they await their forcible return to the land inside the State of Israel.

Though pundits and foreign-policy experts focus on the question of settlements or the current temperature of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, UNRWA’s institutionalization of refugee-cum-military camps is, in my view, the principal obstacle to peace in the Middle East. The chances of achieving peace and security in the Middle East will continue to be remote as long as UNRWA is, in effect, underwriting a self-destructive Palestinian cycle of violence, internecine warfare, and a perpetual war against Israel.

The core issue is a phenomenon we can call “refugeeism.” For 60 years, UNRWA has been paying four generations of Palestinians to remain refugees, reproduce refugees, and live in refugee camps. It is UNRWA that put them in refugee cages and watched the number of inhabitants grow. The Palestinian refugee population in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, and Gaza has exploded from 726,000 in 1950 to 4.8 million in 2010. About 95 percent live under UNRWA care. The unprecedented nature of this guardianship is rooted in the unusual nature of this institution. UNRWA is a supranational welfare state that pays its residents not to build their own nation-state, for, were they to do so, they would forfeit their refugee status and its entitlements of cash, housing, health care, education, credit, and other largesse.

It is these perverse incentives above all that have undermined efforts to improve the lot of the Palestinian people, such as those measures aimed at fostering economic development in the West Bank undertaken by Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and the Israeli government. If the international community truly wishes to serve the needs of the Palestinians and improve their lot, its first task would be the abolition of UNRWA.



Read the rest here.

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Iraq Wants The US Out...Right On Schedule, No Matter What


In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Iraqi Prime Minister made no bones about the fact he wants US troops out of the country completely by the end of 2011, exactly as agreed.

"The last American soldier will leave Iraq" as agreed, he said, speaking at his office in a leafy section of Baghdad's protected Green Zone. "This agreement is not subject to extension, not subject to alteration. It is sealed."

According to the interviewer, Maliki went to some pains to say that he doesn't plan to let Iraq align with Iran either. Since Maliki is only Prime minister after an extremely questionable election and is relying on Iranian proxy Moqtada al-Sadr and the Shi'ite Bloc to stay in power, I'll be kind and say that last part is going to be difficult for Maliki to pull off even if he wants to - which I doubt.

After all, Maliki spent the Saddam years as a guest of the mullahs.

According to the interviewer, Maliki laughed out loud when he was told that U.S. Ambassador James F. Jeffrey keeps a frayed copy of the so-called Strategic Framework Agreement in his briefcase which calls for long-term cooperation in security, defense, economy, energy and culture, among other areas.

I can well believe it.

It's hard to fault Maliki for laughing, really. President Bush's frequently stated war goals in Iraq were to have a stable Iraq who would be democratic and an ally of ours in the so-called 'war on terror.' The goals themselves were absolutely farcical in terms of the reality on the ground and what our actual war aims should have been, and even at that we have only barely accomplished one out of three, stability. And it cost us 4,000 lives and a trillion dollars, much of which was wasted or stolen.

In the end, we didn't even wind up with the oil. The leases on the oil fields Halliburton was miraculously able to save after Saddam set them on fire went to China.

To repeat what I said more than two years ago, General Petraeus, his successor General Ordiano and our warriors achieved an amazing victory in defeating an in-country insurgency backed by unfriendly states to the east and north that acted as havens, bases and transit areas for our enemies.

That said, what their valiant achievement accomplished(aside from sending a notable number of jihadis to their just desserts and putting a fighting edge on our army) was to put the best possible face on a bad situation and allow America a graceful exit.

Now, even that victory has been wasted. President Obama's weakness, his failure to confront Iran and his obvious desire for the hastiest possible departure of US forces has ensured that Iraq will fall into the Iranian axis as soon as we leave.

Maliki, like the creature of the region he is is simply doing what comes naturally and gravitating towards wha the perceives as the strong horse. If we're not seen as that strong horse, the fault doesn't lie with Maliki.

The Iraq we established at such a cost is a Shiite Islamic Republic based on Sharia with a great deal of its leadership friendly to our enemies in Iran. It will no more be a 'ally ' of ours against our enemies than say, Saudi Arabia or Yemen and will limit their 'war on terror' activities to simply suppressing any dissident elements in their own society.

Res ipsa loquiter.


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Watcher's Council Nominations - Pre New Year's Eve Edition


Welcome to the Watcher's Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the 'sphere, and the longest running group of its kind in existence. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday.

Two news items...first, the Council received an award from none other than Doug Ross @ Journal's 2010 Fabulous 50 Blog Awards as the best best blogging group in the 'sphere. Congrats to our members and a high five to Larwyn's Links!

Also, starting with this edition,I'm re-instituting our Honorable Mentions category. Want to see your work appear on the Watcher's Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn't get nominated by a Council member? No worries.

Simply e-mail me a link at rmill2k@msn.com with the subject heading 'Honorable mention' no later than Monday 6PM PST to be considered for our honorable mention category, and return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher's Council contest for the week.

The Council doesn't vote on a winner in Honorable mentions, but it is a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher's Council readers and Council members.This week, The Political Commentator took advantage of my generous offer and earned honorable mention status.

So, with that out of the way, let's see what we have this week....

Council Submissions


Honorable Mentions


Non-Council Submissions



Enjoy!



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Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Standing Upright



One can hardly go a day without finding harsh judgment on Israel in the media and elsewhere of a kind not visited on any other nation. And along with these judgments come the most amazing suggestions on how Israel ought to behave, where their citizens may live, what and where they may build, how much of their small country they ought to give up and to whom, what risks they ought to take and how they should respond to violent aggression to protect themselves.

What is it about Israel that elicits this?

Aside from it being the Jew amongst the nations, I think a part of it is because Israel almost alone among the countries of the world seems willing to live in a permanent defensive crouch, simply for having the audacity to successfully exist these past 62 years.

Instead of the proper response to these presumptuous assertions, which should be a cold smile and a diplomatic variant along the lines of 'thank you for sharing, but we know best for ourselves and our country' Israel seems compelled to come up with explanations for any possible wrong doing in advance, to take these accusations seriously and bend into various unnatural pretzel shapes attempting to explain things no nation ought to have to explain.

And it is this constant, compulsive need to apologize, to rationalize, to explain that feeds the frenzy of judgment against Israel and by extension, the Jews. It clothes Israel in the guise of squatters caught trying to steal something not legitimately theirs who need to constantly come up with fresh alibis.

Every fresh libel, no matter how bizarre, gives way to an anguished back and forth among both Israelis and diaspora Jewry about how to defend themselves against things that ought to be self evident and need no defending. And the ironic thing is that the verdict is almost always known in advance, no matter how good the defense.

The way it works is insidious and it never changes.

For instance, back in 2002, a Jew hating UN functionary named Terje Roed-Larsen made headlines in the media worldwide accusing Israel of massacring thousands of 'Palestinians' in Jenin during Operation Defensive Shield when the IDF finally responded to Arafat's terrorist War Against the Jews. Anti-Israel media outlets like the BBC convicted Israel out of hand, citing academics' opinions from an anti-Israel NGO as 'growing evidence' of a massacre.

Instead of booting the UN, the BBC and the NGO unceremoniously out of Israel for this blatant libel, instead of openly calling Roed-Larsen a liar, declaring him persona non grata and deporting him, the Israelis did exactly the opposite and went into their typical defensive crouch. So did their allies, especially many Jews in the diaspora, who ought to have known better.

So Roed-Larsen and the UN stayed right where they were ,as did the BBC. The NGO in question, Amnesty International was allowed back into Jenin to investigate, while the IDF was charged by Israel to do its own investigation, giving the impression to the world that the charges actually held some credence.

The end result? Every independent investigation agreed that approximately 56 'Palestinians' died in Jenin, all but four were enemy combatants engaged in fighting with the IDF and those four were killed by booby traps set Arafat's forces. There were 23 IDF soldiers who lost their lives, largely because Israel deliberately used its ground troops to try and minimize civilian casualties instead of using its air and armor to its advantage.

The BBC, along with most of the rest of the European media retreated from their "massacre" language, but never backed down from or apologized for their wildly inflated coverage. Neither did Terje Roed-Larsen or the so-called academics from Amnesty International.

Thus the 'Jenin Massacre' is still accepted fact in the Muslim world and among many of Israel's accusers. And just like the many other ongoing myths, it continues to be hurled against Israel, over and over again...and taken seriously each time, with the same frantic efforts at refuting and defending what should need no refutation or defense.

It's like the old carny game of whack-a-mole. The Jenin myth gets hammered down, and up pops the old blood libel about the Israelis harvesting organs in Gaza. Refute that , and up comes the one about the IDF targeting and killing children. It never ends.

Contrast this, if you will, with the attitude of Israel's accusers, and that of the Palestinians. Here are people who openly glory and celebrate the brutal murder of innocents.

Are they embarrassed in the least about it? Do they have any hesitation about calling a sniper who deliberately targeted and murdered a 10-month baby in her stroller a 'hero of freedom' and insisting on his release, along with his fellow murderers? Not a bit. They hold these 'heroes of freedom' as models for their children to emulate and unashamedly bathe in the glow of what they see as victories in a tribal struggle.

Neither the 'Palestinians' or their allies ever bother over apologies or explanations. In fact, Israel's harshest critics never question the 'Palestinians' legitimacy, let alone their humanity. It is the height of hypocrisy and indecency that the 'Palestinian' national liberation movement with its long record of inherent savagery and inhumanity is glorified and funded by the so-called International Community while Zionism, the national liberation movement of the Jews is singled out alone for demonization.

There's a message in that for Israel.

In the end, the explanations, the investigations, the evidence, none of it matters to Israel's enemies and their enablers. No matter how humane the IDF is, they will always be pictured as murderers and war criminals simply for defending their countrymen. The truth changes nothing for Israel's accusers because it's Israel's existence itself that matters to them, and there is nothing Israel can do short of national suicide that would satisfy them.

It's about time Israel realized it.

Every country in the world, including America, was and is built by the plow held in one hand and rests peacefully on the sword held in the other. Israel is no different...nor should it be.

The Israelis are surrounded on three sides by genocidal enemies with their backs to the sea, and for all that, they have managed not only to exist but to prosper. They owe apologies to no one for their success or their survival...and especially not to themselves, let alone those who live in safety outside Israel and place every presumed flaw under a microscope.

With all their considerable accomplishments in a mere 62 years, the very young nation of Israel still needs to master one final task to come into its own as a nation like any other.Because a nation living on its knees is unnatural.

Israel must learn to stand upright. And to cease apologizing for doing it.

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Palestinian Terrorists Claim Responsibility For Train Accident In Israel

There was a major train accident in Netanya, Israel on board a train running between Haifa and Tel Aviv.

Seventy-nine people were injured, mainly by cuts and smoke inhalation when as a result of a fire that broke out on a passenger train, carrying 400 people.

The fire completely burned up three carriages and some passengers were forced to evacuate the train through windows because the carriage doors did not open automatically as they're supposed to.

Police are saying there was a short circuit in one of the rear engines as the likely cause of the fire, and they're investigating why the carriage doors failed to open automatically when the emergency brake was pulled....but one of my contacts there provided the real explanation.

The fire was deliberately set, the doors were sabotaged, and 'Palestinian' terrorists have already claimed credit:

agell Ma'sadat Al-Mujahideen in Palestine: Statement Claiming Responsibility for the Attack on the Israeli Train Ma'sadat Al-Mujahideen in Palestine: Statement Claiming Responsibility for the Attack on the Israeli Train

In the name of God the Merciful

الحمد لله الذي تكفل بنصر دينه ، وإعلاء كلمته ، ولو كره الكافرون. Praise be to Allah who ensure the victory of religion, and uphold his word, even though the Unbelievers.

وبعد: After:

ففي هذا الوقت الذي تجمعت فيه الأمم على المسلمين ، ونصرة اليهود الغاصبين لديننا وديارنا وأنفسنا وأعراضنا وأموالنا ، أخرج الله طائفة من فلسطين مجاهدة ، تقاتل في سبيله دفاعاً عن دينه ، لا تخشى في ذلك لومة لائم ، فعملت جاهدة على أن لا تستثني في معركتها أي مكان محتل تسطيع أن تصل إليه وقد وفقها الله لتنفذت عملية جهادية في عقر دار القوم الكافرين ، أحرقت بها قلوب المعتدين ومرغت أنوف الحاقدين ، وسرت قلوب قوم مؤمنين ، فحشد الكفار حشودهم ، وجيشوا جيوشهم ، وحزبوا أحزابهم ، ومضوا في أكبر حملة إطفاء دولية يذودون فيها عن أسيادهم اليهود ويمكنون لكيانهم المعتدي ، وبعد ضخامة العملية وكثير حصادها أنكر اليهود أن يكون الحريق ناتج عن عملية جهادية بعدما كانوا قد أكدوا ذلك ، فما وهن جند الله لهذا الإنكار ولا للتكالب الذي صاحبه في محاولات إنقاذ أرواح اليهود الكفار وما استكانوا فقاموا في هذا اليوم المبارك الثلاثاء 22 محرم 1432هـ ، وفي نفس توقيت العملية السابقة بتنفيذ عملية جهادية مشابة بإحراق قطار في شفايييم أثناء مروره من حيفا متجها نحو تل أبيب في رسالة تأكيد منهم لكل من أنكر مسؤولية المأسدة عن العملية الأولى أو حاول أن يعين الناكرين في نفيهم حسداً من عند أنفسهم لأن السلفين هم من نفذوا هذه العملية ، فكشف الله بذلك عورهم وصدق الله حيث قال {لَوْ خَرَجُواْ فِيكُم مَّا زَادُوكُمْ إِلاَّ خَبَالاً ولأَوْضَعُواْ خِلاَلَكُمْ يَبْغُونَكُمُ الْفِتْنَةَ وَفِيكُمْ سَمَّاعُونَ لَهُمْ وَاللّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِالظَّالِمِينَ } وحيث قال أيضا {يُرِيدُونَ لِيُطْفِؤُوا نُورَ اللَّهِ بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَاللَّهُ مُتِمُّ نُورِهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْكَافِرُونَ} وصدق من قال وإذا أراد الله نشر فضيلةٍ طويت أتاح لها لسان حسودِ. At this time, which gathered the nation on the Muslims, and the support of the Jewish usurpers of our religion and our homes and ourselves and Oaradhana and our money, out of God sect of Palestine mujahideen, fighting in the process of defending his religion, is not afraid in order to blame, I worked hard on that does not exclude in the fight anywhere occupier learn to reach him have been fabricated God Tnfzt process of jihad in their own house disbelievers, burned the hearts of the transgressors and rubbed the noses of hate, and walked the hearts of those who believe Vhacd infidels Hacadeh, and mobilized their armies, and Hsboa their parties, and went in the largest campaign of international fire Ivodon them for their masters Jews and empowered to their being the aggressor, and after the magnitude of the process and many harvested denied the Jews to be the fire caused by the process of jihad after they have confirmed that, what they do God's Soldiers for the denial or to scramble the owner in attempts to save the lives of Jews, infidels and submissively and they have at this blessed day Tuesday 22 Muharram 1432 AH, at the same time the previous process of carrying out the jihad that is similar to burning of a train in Chweeyem while it is in Haifa, heading toward Tel Aviv in the confirmation message, including both denied responsibility Almosdp for the first operation, or try to appoint deniers in their denials of envy from themselves because the ancestors are who carried out this process, but angered God so Aouram and truth of God when he said {If you took the only Zadokm Bala and spreading corruption through you Ibgonkm sedition and you have Smaon have sent before them} and when he also said {they want to extinguish Allah's light with their mouths, but Allah will averse} and sincerity of the said if God wanted to publish a virtue wrapped allowed it to San envious.

وإننا في هذا البيان إذ نعلن مسؤولينا الكاملة على عمليتي الإحراق فإننا نقول للنافين هذه رسالة تأكيد وإن أردتم المزيد فسيأتيكم ولن ينفعكم كذبكم ودجلكم ولن يغني عنكم أحلافكم من غزواتنا شيئا. We in this statement, as we announce our officials on the full processes of burning, we say to these Naveen confirmation message if you want more profit you will not Fisseotekm Kzbkm Djlkm and will sing you Ohlafcm Gzoatna of nothing.

كما إننا نطمئن إخواننا المسلمون بأننا ماضون في طريقنا ثابتون عليه بفضل الله ، لن يثنينا عن القيام بفريضة الجهاد شيئا ، ولن يردنا عن تطهير بلادنا فلسطين من اليهود المحتلين راد ، حتى ننال من ربنا إحدى الحسنيين. We also assure our brothers that we Muslims are involved in our steadfast upon the grace of God, will not deter us from doing something obligation of jihad, and will takes us back our country for a cleansing of Palestine from the Jewish occupiers Rad, until we receive from our Lord one of two goals.

وَاللّهُ غَالِبٌ عَلَى أَمْرِهِ وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ And Allah has ordered, but most people do not know

مأسدة المجاهدين في فلسطين Mosdp the mujahideen in Palestine
الثلاثاء 22 محرم 1432هـ Tuesday, 22 Muharram 1432 AH
الموافق 28 ديسمبر2010م Approved December 28, 2010
__________________ __________________
حي على الجهاد Come to Jihad


Congratulations are definitely in order for Border Guard officer Salman ( Suleiman) Amar. When the doors jammed it was he who had the coolness and presence of mind when others were panicking to shoot out the windows when the doors didn't open. "The flames were around us in all directions, and the doors didn't open," he said. "When I saw we had no way of escaping, I fired in order to do all I could to assist the passengers."

"I tried to break the windows using my rifle butt," said Amar, who was on his way from Acre to his base in the West Bank. "When I saw I wasn’t succeeding, I fired at the windows. They shattered with the shot, then I simply grabbed the passengers and began shoving them out of the window."

"The flames and smoke surrounded us completely," he added. "If I hadn't had done that, it would have ended in disaster. Had I not done this I would have burned. I wouldn't be speaking to you right now. Not me or any other person there."

Amar, like most Israeli heroes considers his deeds all just part of a day's work. "Whoever wishes can write 'hero of the day', but as far as I'm concerned there's a god above.In such a case, you don’t think, you just do. First of all, save lives. After I fired I helped people jump out."

(Todah rabah to EV for the mujahadeen screen shot)


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Wikileak's Julian Assange Gets 7 Figure Book Deal On Autobiography

A new low in the publishing industry..

Wikileaks' boss Julian Assange has revealed that he's getting an advance of $502,000 (£325,000) from U.K. publisher Canongate Books Ltd. and $800,000 from U.S. publishing house Alfred A. Knopf, a subsidiary of Random House,( which is in turn owned by Germany's Bertelsmann AG) for writing an autobiography.

Assange told the UK's Sunday Times that he sold the memoir because he needs the money to pay legal fees to keep WikiLeaks afloat. "I don't want to write this book, but I have to," he said.

The book is expected out sometime next year and Knopf and Canongate are to be commended, if that's the right word, for reminding us that some people will wallow in anything for money, no matter how dirty:





(The famous final scene from The Magic Christian..unfortunately part of the sound track's been deleted because it contains Thunderclap Newman's 'Something in the Air')

Some suggested titles fopr Assange's new opus?.."Stealin' it"...."Bareback Riding"..."The Parasite King"..

Your thoughts?



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Obama Nabs A Slur-pee!

They ain't just for Republicans! And please, nobody tell Michelle!

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Senator Tom Coburn: Control Government Spending or Face 'Apocalyptic Pain'


Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has a message and it's one we had best heed...we're spending ourselves into poverty and decline.

In an important interview on "Fox News Sunday", Coburn, who recently finished a report on government spending and waste warned that we have only a few years left to get things under control.

"The history of republics is they average 200 years of life. And they all fail in the history over fiscal matters. They rot from within before they collapse or are attacked." Coburn said.

"The problem that faces our country today, the last 30 years we have lived off the future, and the bill is coming due," he added.

"I think you'll see a 15 to 18 percent unemployment rate. I think you will see an 8 to 9 percent decline in GDP. I think you'll see the middle class just destroyed if we don't do this. And the people that it will harm the most will be the poorest of the poor, because we'll print money to try to debase our currency and get out of it and what you will see is hyperinflation," Coburn said.

"If we didn't take some pain now, we're going to experience apocalyptic pain, and it's going to be out of our control. The idea should be that we control it," he added.

According to Coburn, he can name $350 billion off the top of his head in inefficiency, waste and duplication that could be eliminated fairly easily without major impact. Among that is over $100 billion in Medicare and Medicaid fraud that was not addressed or considered in ObamaCare.

He also cited defense spending, noting that the Pentagon does little in the way of auditing and has only a foggy idea of where its huge budget is being spent.

Things Senator Coburn didn't mention that would help might involve a degree of privatization in Social Security, (which is bankrupt now anyway), eliminating several huge Federal institutions like the Department of Education, repealing ObamaCare and instituting items like tort reform, assigned risk and inter-state shopping for insurance instead, and dealing with America's illegal alien problem decisively. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Speaking of eliminating waste, Senator Coburn was a major force in getting a duplicative health bill for 9/11 responders ( almost all of whom are covered by city, county or state heath insurance) reduced from $7.2 billion to $4.3 billion and making sure it was paid for through additional fees and spending reductions.

"I took all the heat, but we solved the problem and spent $7.2 billion less than we would have, and there is not going to be any difference in impact for the people we're trying to help," he said.

"I don't care if you're rich or poor, liberal or conservative. If we don't fix the problems in front of us, everybody is going to pay a significant price."

He's right about that.

(Hat tip, Joshua's Army member Louie Louie and the Baron over at Gates of Vienna)

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Monday, December 27, 2010

Roxi Copeland "I'll Be Groped For Christmas"



A little travelin' music...enjoy

(hat tip, Rhymes with Right)


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Hamas Sets Up 'Gaza Holocaust' Website


You have to admire the unmitigated gall of Hamas, if nothing else.

Here's a genocidal organization sworn to the murder of Jews world wide setting up a website dedicated to "the electronic encyclopedia of the Gaza holocaust", and documenting "the Israeli war crimes."

The organization running the website is the "Ibdaa institute for research and training".

The chairman of the institute's board of directors, Muhammad al-Madhoun, held a press conference and said that the site included field activity by some 120 'researchers' who collected the information. According to al-Madhoun, they were also aided by human rights organizations - read 'anti-Zionist' EU Non Governmental Organizations and a couple of far Left fringe Israeli groups funded out of the EU.

According to Madhoun, the idea to set up the site was raised "immediately after the Zionist attack on the Gaza Strip".

"This encyclopedia aims to take part in reducing the legitimization of the occupation, as part of a system seeking to annul the moral and human legitimization of this entity," he said. "This encyclopedia will protect history from fraud and provide a platform of data through documents, sound and pictures. All this will help support the steadfast stand of the Palestinian people in Gaza."

This should be a lesson for the Israelis.

In going into Gaza after 8,000 missiles were launched against their civilians , the Israelis risked the lives of IDF ground troops in an attempt to limit civilian casualties, rather than using all means necessary to defeat Hamas and destroy them.

Hamas does not understand that kind of warfare, and Israeli restraint strikes them as weakness...nor does the IDF get any credit for its effort to wage a humane war from the UN and those so-called human rights groups, who would rather demonize Israel than criticize terrorists like Hamas who not only target Israelis but brutalize their own people.

If there's another war between Israel and Hamas, the IDF should simply destroy Hamas as quickly and efficiently as possible. If the IDF is going to be falsely accused of 'war crimes' no matter what they do, they're better off having less casualties and a decisive victory over these jackals to show for it.


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"Refusing To Name The Enemy"


Blogpal Michael over at the Political Commentator sends us this article (PDF), from the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO) and I recommend it to Joshua's Army members.

It's called "Refusing to Identify or Name Our Enemy," and deals with something I've discussed with you before, category error - the inability to solve a problem because of incorrect labeling. Here's a slice:

The fundamental principles of intelligence, as they are for war, have been understood since the beginning of time. The ancient Chinese warrior Sun Tzu taught his army to “know your enemy” before going into battle. For if you “know your enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” But…“If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.”

Intelligence and military officers know this, and it is common sense. But something has changed. When the enemy, in this modern era, cleverly uses the cloak of religion, we are reluctant to name the threat,and we are urged not to judge, nor recognize, or name, the followers of that religion as terrorists, or silent co-conspirators. But it is precisely their silence—and our denial of who they really are—that worries me.

Not until the 9/11 attacks did America wake up to the fact that we were in a war. We had ignored scores of earlier Muslim terrorist attacks against Americans, and others outside the U.S. Yet even earlier, a subtle, more insidious challenge from Islamic radicals began to take root. In 1976, President Carter made a series of ludicrous responses to violent Muslim extremists who besieged our embassy in Tehran; a situation that held the staff hostage for 444 days. It made Carter a virtual media hostage to the situation, as well.

The event was misidentified as an uprising of “Iranian terrorists.” The missing word: “Muslim.” When gifts of birthday cakes and a Christian bible didn’t work [a clear example of not understanding the enemy], Carter then implemented a poorly planned, disastrous, and globally embarrassing rescue attempt—an operation with no chance of success.

Emboldened, more Muslim terrorism followed.

When Pan Am 103 was shot down, when our embassies in Africa were fire-bombed, when the Navy ship USS Cole was attacked, followed by the attacks of 9/11,
and then the London transit system bombings, and the Spanish train bombings—the sleeping American giant took brief notice, and refused to precisely name that one, obvious, and unifying characteristic of all these terrorists and their acts: all were Muslims proudly committing violent acts in the name of Islam.

This avoidance of identifying the driving forces common to all these terrorists, created a vacuum of truth, quickly filled by Muslim lies that 9/11 was manufactured by America and the Mossad, that the other Muslim acts of terror were fake, or misrepresented, and that any blame is nothing less than blatant acts to defame their “religion of peace”: Islam. America’s unwillingness to counter these fictions, has left a surprising number of our own citizens believing this rubbish.

Our tepid response is clear to Islam; America is weak, reeling, broke… a shadow of the nation it once was. America is so frightened, we dare not speak the name of the enemy coiling around our necks.


Read the rest here.

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A Small Anti-Jihad Victory


A few days ago, I was notified by someone I unfortunately do not recall(and if you read this, please remind me so I can give proper credit) about an absolutely abhorrent ad by HSBC bank touting it's investments in Iran.

After locating the company's US advertising officials, I sent the following To Diane Bergan, listed as their Senior Vice President in charge of Public Affairs US:

Dear Ms. Bergan;

In view of its stance on civil liberties and how Iran treats women, homosexuals, Jews, and Baha'is, I was surprised to see a major Western bank endorsing the Iranian regime with an advertising campaign, let alone boasting about investing there.

Tell me, does that 25% mentioned in the ad refer to female filmmakers or the percentage of Iranian women who have been beaten and/or raped by the basij in places like Evin Prison?

Needless to say, I will out of principle refuse to have my company fund any construction or investment through HSBC in the future.

Sincerely,
Rob Miller


I then alerted my e-mail list. Today, I received the following:

Dear Mr. Miller:

Your email correspondence directed to Diane Bergan, Senior Vice President – Public Affairs, regarding an “Unlocking the World’s Potential” campaign advertisement has been forwarded to the Executive Offices of HSBC Bank USA, N.A.

First and foremost on behalf of HSBC Bank I apologize for the concern which our advertisement in Greece caused. The advertisement was part of an HSBC global campaign and one of many which identified simple but surprising facts as a way to facilitate a conversation about unlocking the world’s potential.

So while our aim is to encourage debate and discussion we certainly have no intent to cause offense or be insulting, in fact quite the opposite.
Given the clear level of offense that this advertisement has caused the decision has been taken to remove it from our global campaign.

We respect your position and thank you for taking the time to raise your concerns with us.

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Moog
Senior Vice President
Head of Customer Experience


Note two things...first, while HSBC may not curtailing its investments in Iran just yet, they recognize the hypocrisy and inappropriateness of the ad they used and took action. That's an important first step.

Second, even a huge corporation like HSBC are very conscious of their public image, as they should be. Point out something like this to them, and they notice. Realize that you can make a difference, and such small differences add up over time.

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Once Again..Sarah Palin Was Right About The Death Panels


As I mentioned before, Sarah Palin was exactly right when she mentioned that ObamaCare featured rationing and Death Panels..and now me have it confirmed by no less a source than Pravda-on-the-Hudson.

Originally, the language on the so-called 'end of life planning'- AKA death panels- was removed before ObamaCare was shoved through, although the provision for those Independent Medical Advisory Boards was left in, which amounted to the same thing.

However, President Obama sneaked the language back in under the guise of regulation, so MediCare is now going to pay doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care, which includes directives to forgo what's termed 'aggressive life-sustaining treatment.'

The decision was made back in November, after the midterms and goes into effect January 1st....and we're now hearing for the first time during the Christmas holidays news doldrum, when people are distracted and their attention is elsewhere.

To paraphrase lunatic and ex-congressman Alan Grayson, Obama and the Democrats just want you to die quickly. And there's no clearer indication of that than Obama's choice to head Medicare and Medicaid, Dr. Donald M. Berwick...a radical proponent of rationing care who Obama shoved through as a recess appointment.

This approach to health care is strikingly similar to the Nazi's policy of rationing care and weeding out what they termed 'unnütze Esser', useless mouths.

Expect Obama to sneak more 'regulation'in on this and other matters that bypasses Congress. Which is exactly why the entire Obama agenda has to be repudiated and defeated.

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Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas!





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Friday, December 24, 2010

The Council Has Spoken...Christmas Eve Edition



I have an admission to make..although I don't celebrate Christmas, I especially love this time of year.

Part of it is simply the feeling of the Winter solstice. As our lucky old sun gets closer to the new year and my early January birthdate, I seem to pick up energy and optimism directly from the chill, crisp air. This time of year smells different to me..scented pines, the aroma of fireplaces, the moisture in the air, people baking.

But what I most appreciate is the way people act towards one another at this time of year. People seem to smile more, even with all the stress of getting ready for the big day and the usual battles of daily life. They drive more courteously. They don't sweat the small stuff as much, and let the little things go. They give in, cheerfully, to the logic of hope and happiness, with 'Merry Christmas' as the magic words that embody those things and transform them into the stuff the season is made of.

I wish all my readers a blessed and joyous Christmas for you and yours.

Indeed, G-d bless us each and every one..so says the King.



Well, the votes have been cast, and this week’s Watcher’s Council results are history.

Fittingly for Christmas, this week's winner, The Razor dealt with faith and forgiveness in Michael Vick and redemption which asked the question:
Can all sins be forgiven? And if so, what does it take?

There is something unique about animal cruelty that sets it apart from all but a handful of crimes except child molestation or abuse. I believe that it is because the only thing that separates it from cruelty towards children is the fact that the sadists are afraid they’ll get caught if they do to a child what they do to a dog.[...]

Michael Vick admitted his crime and went to prison. In every interview he has not attempted to dodge the severity of his crime or his responsibility for it. He has followed the letter of his sentence without complaint. He has listened to his mentors like Tony Dungee and his former and current coaches – and by doing so he has forced me to answer this question:

Is it possible for a man to atone for his crime no matter how heinous its nature or how honest his atonement?

As an alcoholic I did terrible things to others. As a recovering alcoholic I have done my best over the years to make amends where possible for these actions. Now nothing that I did was anywhere near the same magnitude of what Michael Vick did, but who are we to judge whether redemption is possible for one man but not another? That sounds like Supreme Diety turf to me.

Over the past three years I have viewed everything Vick has said and done through the lens of suspicion, just as every ex-con or recovering addict understands the games played by other cons and addicts. Everything he says is worthless; only his actions add credibility to them. Vick followed the program laid out to him by the courts and by his mentors. When the Human Society president Wayne Pacelle spoke well of Vick’s efforts to end dogfighting, I took note. I respect the The Humane Society because they don’t get to cherry pick the easily adoptable dogs the way some so-called “no kill” shelters do, and they are often on the front lines of cruelty, working in the inner cities where the affluent are afraid to go to rescue or adopt pets.

How many people haven’t done something that they need redemption for? How many have never experienced the shame and disappointment of finding yourself in a deep well dug with your own hands and struggling to see the light above? How many have never struggled upward against a heaviness that sucks you down as you reach upward towards the light? How easy it must be for them to not feel the icy fear in the pit of your stomach with each loose stone that pulls away at your fingertips.


Our non-Council vote this week ended in a tie between Walter Russel Mead's Give The People What They Want , a fine essay on the evolving of liberalism and the American psyche and Robert Averech of Seraphic Secrets' Harry Potter Actress Beaten and Branded a Prostitute by Her Family After Dating a Non-Muslim… a cautionary tale of Islamism run amuck in the United Kingdom and its implications for the West.

As per our bylaws, I was required to break the tie and even though I admire the scholarship and style that went into Mead's essay ( which I disagree with in some particulars) the message of Averech's piece and its immediacy got my vote, so Robert Averech of Seraphic Secrets' Harry Potter Actress Beaten and Branded a Prostitute by Her Family After Dating a Non-Muslim…is accordingly our non-Council winner for this week.

Here are this week’s full results:

Council Winners



See you next week!





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LATMA's Latest - SOTA Israeli Political Satire! With A Special Christmas Song..



Laugh out loud funny!

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Obama Gets Punked By The Russians - Final START VoteDelayed Until Mid-January!


The Russian Duma 'tentatively approved' the new START treaty after the Senate vote, but made it clear that final approval will not be voted on until after the legislators return from their holiday break - which end January 11th.

And after that, the treaty also needs to be ratified by the upper house, the Federation Council.

So much for all the urgency of getting this passed in the Lame Duck session!

Actually, there's no doubt that the Russians will eventually ratify this - after all Obama gave them everything but the beer concession for the Redskins' games.We've traded in nuclear superiority and missile defense in exchange for some dodgy 'verification' and the hopes the Russians will help out with Iran. But it's obvious that they wanted to send him a message, and that message was not exactly complimentary.

Here's Serge Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister talking about the treaty: "This treaty takes our relations with the United States to a qualitatively new level of equality, parity and balance of interests."

"he ratification is a priority task for the state," Lavrov said. "But we must do it in such a way that no one has any doubts about our determination to firmly demand the fulfillment of the treaty's conditions."

Exactly. Obama wants the US to be just another nation, and not the sole global superpower. In his mind, we need to be taken down a peg.

I hope the Republicans who were in such a huge hurry to jam this through are happy with themselves.

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