Human beings have evolved as social creatures. We come into the world and if lucky are nurtured and cared for by loving protecting families. We are socialized to understand that there are those that want us and protect us and those that mean us harm. A child learns quickly. Watch the human face of a normal person that picks up a child. We say the face "beams". We have different faces for every type of emotion from love and lust, to happiness and contentment. We have malicious faces, evil faces, faces of barbarians, faces of liars, faces of fools. The human face is a face of all of mankind. A smile is a universal signal to every human face, male or female, on the planet. When I see a Niqab, I think of other hidden faces, with only their eyes exposed, standing behind other faces, with only their eyes hidden. When I see a Niqab, I see a medieval remnant of the repression of woman and everything incompatible with western culture. The Niqab has no place in the West.
From this mornings Telegraph, that great English treasure:
Integration can't be achieved behind the veil"The sight of a Muslim woman wearing a niqab has become commonplace in Britain's towns and cities. Many non-Muslims find these veils a little unsettling. This is not because they are an exotic import to these shores – this country has happily assimilated the exotic for centuries – but because they conceal the face. As Jack Straw pointed out on Thursday, we relate to people we do not know by reading their faces, and if you cannot see the face, there is a degree of "separation" that is not conducive to healthy community relations.
(Filed: 07/10/2006)
The Leader of the Commons is better qualified than most to wander into this particular minefield. His anti-racism credentials are impeccable and his stock is high with Muslim leaders, both in his Blackburn constituency and nationally. Mr Straw stressed he was not being prescriptive – no one is talking about bans (unlike the French government, which has banned Muslim headscarves from schools). He was simply seeking to start a reasoned debate about an issue of public concern.
It is part of a choreographed sequence, as the Government beats a long overdue retreat from the creed of multiculturalism which encourages separateness – what Mr Straw calls "parallel communities" – and towards assimilation and integration. The Communities Secretary, Ruth Kelly, and the Home Secretary, John Reid, have already spoken out on the issue. So, too, have prominent voices such as Trevor Phillips of the Commission for Racial Equality, Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, and the BBC's George Alegiah."
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing veils are good for is the "Dance of the Seven Veils", especially when you just give them three veils.
ReplyDeletePakistan and the Taliban
ReplyDelete“Nato's report on Operation Medusa.... demonstrates the extent of the Taliban's military capability and states clearly that Pakistan's Interservices Intelligence (ISI) is involved in supplying it…”
“Hundreds of Taliban reinforcements in pick-up trucks who crossed over from Quetta – waved on by Pakistani border guards – were destroyed by Nato air and artillery strikes.”
“Nato captured 160 Taliban, many of them Pakistanis who described in detail the ISI's support to the Taliban.”
2164th,
ReplyDeleteYou have posited that the Achilles heel of Islam is its misogyny. Have the Queen's ministers discovered this as well; hence, the exploitation of the removal of the veil, the quintessential sign of subservience?
Well done!
At the request of the poster, I have removed the first post, where he kindly noticed me about a typo error. I thank the poster-noster, Doug.
ReplyDeleteReynolds in NY26 has slipped. The Republican incumbent going from +3 to -8, since Foley was "outed"
ReplyDeleteIn AZ, Mr Kyl is polling up 9
ReplyDeleteMr Allen and Mr Menendez are both up 3.
Mr Talent and Ms McCaskill are tied
Mr Ford is up 2
The Republicans are down by more than that in the other RCP tracked races
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteH/T to TigerHawk for providing the lead into a short but profound assessment of the Israeli-Hezbollah War, with specific reference to American doctrinal and political involvement.
ReplyDeleteThe Second Lebanon War
Ahh, the quandries of experience.
ReplyDeleteOver the past two days I have seen opinions from Mr Rumsfeld and Mr Chafee have both opined on the same "Goal".
Mr Rumsfeld: "... In the post-battle phase, however, the measure of progress is not as clear -- especially in a war such as the Global War on Terror, which relies so heavily on the development of civic institutions in places that have known little more than war and destitution. ..."
Mr Chafee (R,RI) discusses his travels with his father:"... I’ll tell you one thing that stands out from my time in Vietnam. You could see intact in Saigon essentially all the infrastructure that we’re trying to build now in Iraq. Political infrastructure, utility infrastructure, public safety and military infrastructure: it all was there when I was living there with him in 1973. It wasn’t too long later, less than two years I believe, that we had pulled out. All that infrastructure intact, and yet this happened. ..."
ReplyDeleteMr Chafee is right about 'Nam but is the a correlation?
Even rufus is thinking we will bug out, whether the Battle Baghdad goes for bettor or for worse.
Mr Chafee's interview
About the same as the Iraqi?
ReplyDeleteMohammed @ ItM's father said the Iraqi voted for Religion and War.
Figure he'd know, he's there and can speak Iraqi.
Wonder how many of US, of those that are in the US decision chain can the same be said?
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteallen,
ReplyDeleteNever read that before, "post-heroic warfare". The description is right on, but "post-heroic", we need to improve on the label.
Deuce,
ReplyDeleteIt looks as if the new Swedish government has jumped on the “Let’s Go for the Muslim Gals” bandwagon.
Sweden’s new integration minister
Don't forget to celebrate today.Why
ReplyDeleteBattle of Lepanto (1571)
Muzzies got a can o'whoop ass
Battle
The Fernandez Files
ReplyDelete"What the hell happened here?"
"Some damn fool thing in the Borders, some half naked nutcase with a cattle prod attacked those three males. The woman in the ambulance is just short of breath."
"Everyone out of there as far as we can tell?"
"As far as we can tell, yes. We've surrounded the place and think he's still in there - spotted him in a spotlight a few times."
"A cattle prod?"
"Yeah, thats what those kids said - injuries seem consistent with that. One of em was just plain hit upside the head with it. He's the worse off one of them but'll be ok."
"So we assume he's on speed, schizoid?"
"He's one helluva literate tweeker nutcase if thats the case; before he cut the lights, we spied him pacing around the western part of the store, the history section as the manager explained. He's barricaded the main entrance with three or four aisles, and was last seen, as of 10 minutes ago or so, behind the Starbucks counter on the eastern side."
"No one talk to him?"
"He doesn't seem very conversational, you know?"
Through the side entrance they crept into the dark maze of shelves, obnoxiously lit as they were by the red and blue circus pageantry of law outside.
"We don't even have a name for this guy do we?"
"Guy probably has a PhD. Call him doctor."
"Ha, yeah. I get to taze a doctor today."
Their voices searched for the mysterious man, plumbing the threatening shadows with empty inflections of kindness, all the while gripping their guns. The half dozen flashlights found empty shelves and the floor cluttered with books, as if an epic tantrum had spilt them.
"Fella, I think its best if you cut the crazy stuff and just come with us."
The line of them all came to focus on the eerie display case lights of the Starbucks. The air wreaked of sweetness overwhelmed by alkaline, and the carpet squished wet. And as the tiny trails of flame nipped along the wetness, a voice, intoned like some imp, leered from darkness unlocated.
"Fella, the crazy stuff?"
The trickling flames leapt onto an aisle in a split second, erupting it like some hellish wish materialized onto God's creation by an agency impossible to know.
"Find this fucker. Get a fucking extinguisher!"
"Boastful orisons, rife with panic and misnomer! Whose saddened brows will commemorate your pointless sacrifice?!"
The voice was everywhere, loud even next to the roar of flames, now devouring the hapless Starbucks, as it steadfastly advertised brownies and muffins within the hellish maw of young sputtering flames.
The fire spread fast, there were few choices. They searched hastily, their eyes now lit by the inventions of the madman. He mocked their futile searching.
"Only the MONSTROUS ANGER of the GUNS! Only the STUTTERING RIFLES ANGRY RATTLE!"
The property would be left to its insurers and the man to a fate he apparently endorsed with enthusiastic insanity, his theatre esoteric and bizarre.
runtchard,
ReplyDeleteGood, oh!
When is the next installment?
DR,
ReplyDeletere: post-heroic
Not much appeal, to be sure. I was reminded of the "end of history." A bit premature, it seems in retrospect. When last I checked, "victory" was still spelled the same. Not that anyone in the administration has noticed.
rufus,
ReplyDeleteTalent is a good fellow. When he represented the 2nd District, he was the guy everyone stuck in Gephardt's 3rd District went to for answers and problems. How he has found himself in this pickle is inexplicable, although I think the failure of Ashcroft and Bond to contest vigorously Ashcroft's being cheated by the St. Louis machine in 2000 might say something.
Chechen war reporter found dead
ReplyDeletePolitkovskaya had often received threats
Anna Politkovskaya, a prominent Russian journalist known as a fierce critic of the Kremlin's actions in Chechnya, has been found dead in Moscow.
The 48-year-old mother of two was found shot dead in a lift at her apartment block in the capital. BBC
rufus,
ReplyDeleteJim Talent built his reputation over the years as a true-blue conservative, in a region where this was not universally approved. Nevertheless, his consistency won respect and election.
Over the last six years, he, as many conservatives, has made compromises in support of the President that do not set well with the base. With no disrespect intended, if Mr. Bush is a Republican, then, I'm a Jesuit Cardinal.
The mid-term election for any lame duck president can be expected to be tough. When coupled with the bone weariness of the base, supporting an administration's discordant policies, the odds are not good. Certainly, the Republican base will not desert to the Democrats. What they may do, instead, is stay home. The polls against Mr. Talent may signal this.
If the President has an October surprise, it had better be a good one.
well, that ought to chill domestic criticism of the government, for awhile, in USSR, oops, i mean Russia.
ReplyDelete("OIMR" new acronym, for "oops, I mean "Russia")
ReplyDeletebuddy,
ReplyDeleteO MIR
Dr. Kissinger took a lot of flak shortly after the fall of the Wall for suggesting the Russian Bear was not dead, only in hibernation for a season. That was perspicacious, in retrospect.
2164th,
ReplyDeletere: four bullets
In the days of Stalin, it would have been a simple suicide. So, progress has been made.
"Defenestration" was big, esp in foreign cities.
ReplyDeletebuddy,
ReplyDeletere: "Defenestration"
Her elevator was not at the Pompidou Center. Again, maybe the killers had no institutional memory.
One thing about jumpers, they always get to the bottom of their problems.
ReplyDeleteDoug has an interesting post at the BC, quoting Thomas Friedman, a man for whom I have little affection. In fairness, Friedman makes some points worth considering in future operations.
ReplyDelete10/07/2006 06:16:58 AM
ALLAH! Protect me from your people."
ReplyDeleterufus,
ReplyDeleteDems Cut And Run On Lamont
H/T Riehl World View
Allen, on BC's "Breaker Morant" thread, up near top of comments, read Chris, @ 10/06/2006 06:21:08 PM.
ReplyDeleteIf JK had any spine, after that letter from a young OIF vet, he'd defenestrate himself.
ReplyDeleteI posted this, just now, @ BC:
ReplyDeleteChris, @ 10/06/2006 06:21:08 PM (back up atop), I wish Wretchard would post your letter, as "Letter from a Soldier".
Or somebody could put it up here, someday when the time is right.
Rick Moran is reporting that “Pervez Musharraf” means “I have the US by the short hairs and, if I am killed or deposed, the West is screwed.” The educational value of the internet is overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteH/T to The American Thinker
buddy,
ReplyDeleteRe: Chris
That kind of brings us full circle to where we ended our conversation on the fembats and other lovers of the "little people." The revolution is all. To make an omelet you have to break some eggs. Right? Viva Che!
I once wrote that JK was not a serious person. Permit me to amend that: JK is a seriously stupid person; but, I repeat myself.
good economic news and, something which sounds good, maybe, I dunno....
ReplyDeleteAllen, I disagree, JK is smart but extremely hateful. Of course, being that way is pretty stupid, so maybe you're right after all.
ReplyDeleteJK is:
ReplyDeleterufus,
ReplyDeletere: Kean
I had not seen that thread until your link. Thanks.
Kean, as his father, is exactly was ails the Republican Party. The epithet Democrat-lite is perfect.
This election cycle may wake actual Republicans to the necessity of regaining control of our party.
Buddy,
Pardon me for earlier failing to thank you for the Boortz link. Good stuff, as usual. He is clearly disenchanted with Republican leadership. Is a pandemic in the making?
Hey, what happened to Ms. T? Just a big tease, I guess. I just hate being wipped and wanting.
hell, Musharraf is a new Simon & Schuster star. he don't want no wowa, he want royalties--
ReplyDeleteBuddy,
ReplyDeleteI mean “stupid” in the sense of “pointless” or “worthless” opinion. JK is obviously intelligent.
Of course, I still have the advantage of having a sixteen-year old son at home for practice in the wiles of sophistry. He is also highly intelligent. From time to time, I admonish the lad that, having grown up on a farm, I can smell and distinguish from a mile bullsh#t, horsesh#t, chicken sh#t, cat sh#t, sheep sh#t, dog sh#t, and pig sh#t, so save the sh#t.
Karl Marx, when off the sauce, was prolixicly gifted. He loses something when the listener or reader, also off the sauce, stops to think about what was said. That sort of sums up JK, for me.
rufus,
ReplyDeletere: Pakistan
Right on!
I think Iraq the most strategic place in the world today, but Pakistan is the most strategically dangerous. We better hope like Hell that somebody has thought about taking out those nukes.
rufus,
ReplyDeletere: B-2s
We had also better hope like Hell that the hit doesn't first have to pass the scrutiny of a bunch of airhead lawyers! No offence to non-airheads, including Mr. Ford, who technically doesn't count, except in his own mind. Now, how stupid was Ford?
It's those naps that are making you delirious--think about it--
ReplyDeleteteresita,
ReplyDeleteCommon on now, darlin, play fair. If your are going to quote and respond to Buddy at the BC, give your old pals here at the EB a link, hey?
Turn about is fair play. I did link you yesterday, remember.
I think she got her copy/pastes mixed up. And that, of course, is the problem with the 19th amendment. (oo, i'll regret *that* one).
ReplyDeleteteresita,
ReplyDeletere: PhDs
The problem of statistical male v. female inequality in the academy, Teresita, is not at the Bachelors level. PhDs are SUBSTANTIALLY brighter than the population as a whole. Unfortunately for females, at the 130-150 IQ levels required for serious math and science at the PhD level, males outnumber females by 2.1:1 and 5:1 respectively. If it is any comfort, many more males are below average than females.
Any woman with the requisite intelligence and desire will advance. The decried "discrimination" at the PhD level is a red herring, served in rage against nature. Advancing a woman on the basis of political correctness, however, is unfair both to the woman and society. Moreover, it might prove downright dangerous in some fields.
At the BC, on the thread “Whose Prison?” a writer appears, who has a hard time making a point. In time, he may overcome that shyness.
ReplyDeleteThrippthwaite Blutscheiss III said...
A Belmont Club compatriot has written:
"It is because the ACLU Jews and the Euroweenies and the remaining organs of the post-Communist Left elites are still so powerful that we force our guards (in US prisons or terrorist internment facilities) NOT to behave rationally."
I say! So, it's the Lefties who force you into the criminal life, eh?
Tough break, eh, to be so cursed, six years in power, six of the last nine administrations you've had the upper hand, still failures, perverts and pouffters, one and all. All that time you've held the reigns of power and yet the Lefties still force you into criminal behavior. Alas, they can't seem to force you to pay your dues and do the time, can they? Hurts you more than it does us, I wager.
You never could take responsibility. Nazis and traitors never could; your competence manifests itself as a good Massacre of the Innocents once in a while, that's about it.
You buggers'll soon be blaming all of your failures all on the Global Warming, won't you now. Sissies and bullies every one of you. Queers all in the closet acting all high and moral. No wonder you're losing the war. Patriotic frauds and poseurs and con-jobs, every one of you.
10/07/2006 01:05:47 PM
BC
ah, the roman-a-clef--great style for the embittered drawing-room aesthete.
ReplyDeleteFor those worried, concerned, angered…about the US southern border, Spengler has some depressing news germane to TWAT.
ReplyDeleteSpengler
rufus,
ReplyDeleteWhat struck me about the article was the extremely dangerous political volatility in Mexico and the resistance to peaceful change exhibited there over the decades.
He's on shakey ground with the notion that wars have reduced population pressure. They don't; the numbers just don't add up. Look it up. The wars he mentioned killed lots of second sons, but the effect on national populations was just a faint temporary blip.
ReplyDeleterufus,
ReplyDeleteWe at the EB have approached the annexation of Mexico somewhat tongue-in-cheek. The next economic and/or political collapse of Mexico may force us to seriously consider the possibility. After all, if the US is going to get are great deal of spillover (which it is and will) why deprive ourselves and the average Mexican of the benefits of free market capitalism? Frankly, I appreciate and respect the Mexican culture with is its religiosity, and work ethic. America has profitably embraced people with far less to offer.
rufus,
ReplyDeletere: 40 families
That is my point. Of course, the powers that be will resist all efforts at systemic change. All the investment in the world will have no impact on the vast majority of Mexicans without revolutionary change. That will come, eventually. The US ought to prepare to intervene when the lid blows. Again, the US is getting the disadvantages of spillover, without the advantages of sovereignty. Consequently, the US is unfairly affected as are the Mexicans.
Mexico has the potential to be a highly disruptive powder keg; indeed, a destabilized Mexico could pose a strategic danger. The good news is that it has the potential to be a wealthy region of the US, with millions of Americans of Hispanic origin ready to fill the multiplicity of administrative slots created.
Well bugger his mum, TB has a blog. A new one, to be sure, with two postings, He has a San Fran bathhouse picture of some bloke I’ll wager is not TB.
ReplyDeleteOh, TB does not take well to Republicans and/or conservatives. He is, however, fixated with Democrats and buggering, not necessarily in that order. Oh, well, he could be German, in which case he would be fixated with coprophagia, while remaining a good liberal, nonetheless. Thank goodness for small favors, no snarkiness to TB intended.
Allen said:
ReplyDeleteA Belmont Club compatriot has written:
"It is because the ACLU Jews and the Euroweenies and the remaining organs of the post-Communist Left elites are still so powerful that we force our guards (in US prisons or terrorist internment facilities) NOT to behave rationally."
C4 continued with:
"I do hope the next big Islamic attack happens in Europe rather than here..better they start the Big Ugly than us...but I believe we are primed..and some Lefties as well as Muslims may be metaphorically or litterally the object of deadly anger next time around."
when this happens will this "deadly anger" be specific about who they take their anger out on? I mean how do you tell "secular Jews" from regular good "American Jews"?? This is the problem with C4. He Plays a "Cleric" role by making his "Pill" easier to swallow. He writes well of historic events and charismatically sells his ideas but it always has, as its center, the scapegoat and, if he got his way, would lead to a "Rage against the Jews" scenario. I think people at BC and 2164th's can take the good info from C4 and discard the bad but I have my doubts whether the "Blue Collar" community, the one with which he "Clerics" to, (he is a Volunteer Fire Fighter) has the propensity to find fault with ideas that make a lot of sense to them. Hitler and his buddies did it quite well and a lot of the German people swallowed the whole pill.
His Dogma uses made up statistics to convince who?
"Many posters may object to my fingering secular Jews out, but they are the drivers of half the Leftist Fronts, including the ACLU. I find it amazing that they have all but admitted they have embraced Muslim terrorists as positive forces - for implementing the destructive change on Western values and institutions the secular Jews (and Euroweenies, and Gentile Leftists) covet so."
Certainly not a statistician or a person of real knowledge. It's like trying to convince someone that the Jews are the most horrific cereal killers by saying Berkowitz (the son of sam) was jewish but if you look at the long list of cereal killers you'll see that the huge percentage are non-jewish white males, like most of us on this and BCs blog. I'm just saying.
rufus,
ReplyDeleteThis may work for TB.
TB
slimslowslider,
ReplyDeletere: C4
Check out Jamie Irons on the net. You will find him under Jamie Woolery or Woolry, as I recall. He has written some illuminating descriptions of persons such as C4, in a somewhat different context.
You may have noticed that C4 will never succinctly or cogently answer a question that would require introspection. To do so would risk, in my opinion, the destruction of his paranoid delusions. Because he must labor so assiduously to protect his constructs, I am hopeful that eventually someone will be clever enough to break through.
As for me, C4 is just another Jew hater. Until a better day, they will be with us. To the extent that he may be useful as a foil, fine.
By the way, it is good to see you here. Don't be a stranger. Would you care for a drink or something to eat?
rufus,
ReplyDeletere: TB
I may safely assume you did not communicate? :-))))D
Yeah, thinking about it, a warning label does seem fitting. Did you leave with the sense of needing a shower?
Jack and coke. Actually I'll just stick my mouth under the beer spout like Bukowski (Micky Rourke) in "BarFly". my wife makes sure that i am always well fed. i'd say more but usually someone says it better. i am a faithful reader of BC and now 2164th's.
ReplyDeleterufus,
ReplyDeleteYour last comment had me laughing so hard I couldn't see the screen. Some things are priceless!!!!!
slim,
ReplyDeleteJump in anywhere, anytime. No one here knows much worth knowing, in any event.
rufus,
ReplyDeleteMy gut hurts and I still wiping snot and tears off the screen.
slimslowslider,
ReplyDeletere: Jamie Irons
If he is able, Buddy Larsen might be able to point you to some of Dr. Iron's poetic and non-poetic work. It's worthwhile, I assure you.
Jamie Irons
ReplyDelete