tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post5261966870826900952..comments2024-03-29T05:30:32.626-04:00Comments on The Elephant Bar: Iranian Islamism challenges the West again. Is it part of a last gasp?Deuce ☂http://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-31606682920839386102007-03-31T16:46:00.000-04:002007-03-31T16:46:00.000-04:00Ex-Partner Of Giuliani May Face ChargesKerik Count...Ex-Partner Of Giuliani May Face Charges<BR/>Kerik Counts Said To Include Deception During Cabinet Bid<BR/><BR/>Washington Post Staff <BR/><BR/>Federal prosecutors have told Bernard B. Kerik, whose nomination as homeland security secretary in 2004 ended in scandal, that he is likely to be charged with several felonies, including tax evasion and conspiracy to commit wiretapping.<BR/><BR/>Kerik's indictment could set the stage for a courtroom battle that would draw attention to Kerik's extensive business and political dealings with former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who personally recommended him to President Bush for the Cabinet.<BR/>---<BR/>There have been more politically motivated prosecutions against REPUBLICANS under BS Bush's New Tone "Justice" than any in my memory.Doughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16770268554450465514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-90097393659173603602007-03-31T16:34:00.000-04:002007-03-31T16:34:00.000-04:00T and Bobal should get a gig on the new Dennis Mil...T and Bobal should get a gig on the new <BR/>Dennis Miller show.Doughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16770268554450465514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-59664239738122136872007-03-31T16:32:00.000-04:002007-03-31T16:32:00.000-04:00Nonsense 'Rat:No one kummunicates our massage as w...Nonsense 'Rat:<BR/>No one kummunicates our massage as well as the inscrutable <BR/>Master Poker Player.<BR/>ROP Be With You.Doughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16770268554450465514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-32038106713139015212007-03-31T15:30:00.000-04:002007-03-31T15:30:00.000-04:00d'Rat,This is a basic anti trust issue. Nothing mo...d'Rat,<BR/><BR/>This is a basic anti trust issue. Nothing more, nothing less. These monopolies need to be broken up and closely monitored. Furthermore, there's great potential for enterprising lawyers to make their name and fortune pursuing this issue. <BR/><BR/><BR/>===<BR/><BR/>Bob,<BR/><BR/>There's something terribly wrong at the BBC. Their habitual Orwellian practices just keep getting more and more outrageous.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11132252460964519368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-14683106927926837262007-03-31T15:16:00.000-04:002007-03-31T15:16:00.000-04:00No disagreement with the sentiment, but the realit...No disagreement with the sentiment, but the reality, mat, is that it won't happen until the International War or Clash of Civilization becomes US policy.<BR/><BR/>Until the International War is recongnized there will not be War Time behaviours from the Government.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-1927623688608613562007-03-31T14:59:00.000-04:002007-03-31T14:59:00.000-04:00Bobalharb: They are talking about the New Doctrine...Bobalharb: <I>They are talking about the New Doctrine, and one counselor says, 'O King, our life is like that sparrow that flew in from the window over there, from the dark and cold, here to the light and warmth, and then out the other window there, to the cold and dark again. We don't know where we came from, or where we go. If this New Doctrine can teach us more of these things, we should consider it'. And they did.</I><BR/><BR/>Perhaps the difference between Christianity and Islam is that the conditions of the afterlife are left relatively vague in the former and quite explicit in the latter, such that they even give the number of the paradaisical <I>houris</I> who will serveice you, and in what manner. The end result is that Islam sees living this life as luke the sparrow in the cold and dark, and the next life as the one with the light and warmth...thus has no shortage of volunteers for suicide belts.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-44030817265307856922007-03-31T14:54:00.000-04:002007-03-31T14:54:00.000-04:00Another thing needed is the requirement of outside...Another thing needed is the requirement of outside ombudsman to investigate for possible political and financial corruption when local marketshare for a given media entity exceeds 3 percent.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11132252460964519368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-26633977247491235712007-03-31T14:43:00.000-04:002007-03-31T14:43:00.000-04:00d'Rat,The media is the message. Access to the inte...d'Rat,<BR/><BR/><B>The media is the message. </B><BR/><BR/>Access to the internet will liberate minds, those minds that want to be liberated anyway. What responsible government needs to do is break apart and delegitimize illegitimately subsidized big media like the IBA, BBC, CBC, al-Jazeera, etc. You do that be denying them government funding, an operating license, and the personnel that worked there professional credentials. It would be good to see class action suits filed against these illegitimate pseudo-government propaganda entities to get this rolling.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11132252460964519368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-24047996047382338342007-03-31T14:25:00.000-04:002007-03-31T14:25:00.000-04:00Define the messagebecome the messengerControl the ...Define the message<BR/>become the messenger<BR/><BR/>Control the content, let the GIs do it themselves, no <A HREF="http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/mauldin/mauldin-atwar.html" REL="nofollow">Bill Mauldin</A> required, now we can go GI direct to the public. <BR/><BR/>Our men know the deal, give 'em the chance to fight in the new battlespace. $10 million is all it'd take.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-75971522028722712052007-03-31T14:19:00.000-04:002007-03-31T14:19:00.000-04:00In the now fabled movie "300" good King Leonidas s...In the now fabled movie<B> "300" </B>good King Leonidas sent one Spartan away from the last battle at the pass. With a new Mission:<BR/><BR/><B>"Go speak of our Victory"</B><BR/><BR/>Go tell the tale<BR/>Go tell the Spartans.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-20301364353267458882007-03-31T14:16:00.000-04:002007-03-31T14:16:00.000-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-80633845505678437992007-03-31T14:13:00.000-04:002007-03-31T14:13:00.000-04:00kermit the frog, GI video content will soon be par...kermit the frog, GI video content will soon be part of the days' rotation, on FOX.<BR/><BR/>This is just one wat to send a message. To explain the Mission to US, direct from the Front, by E3s and '4s.<BR/><BR/>$10 million USD, would get a thousand firstclass productions units in the country. No embeds required. Let our guys loose in the propagada wars. No need to hire it out, overtly.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-61677788424067491332007-03-31T13:49:00.000-04:002007-03-31T13:49:00.000-04:00"The message I want to send is I think everyone re..."The message I want to send is I think everyone regrets that this position has arisen. What we want is a way out of it."<BR/>___Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett <BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/idUSPAR13371220070331" REL="nofollow">Britain regrets Iran's "sabre-rattling"</A><BR/><BR/>Madame Beckett is a tough negotiator. By this time next week, she may be in tears. That always breaks the will of hardened terrorists.allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01798524644256471907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-77268996398246768562007-03-31T12:05:00.000-04:002007-03-31T12:05:00.000-04:00Sabah al-Jaf, Director-General of Evaluation and E...<I>Sabah al-Jaf, Director-General of Evaluation and Examination at the Iraqi Ministry of Education, was killed by unidentified gunmen in the Al-Karradah district of Baghdad on 22 May.<BR/><BR/><BR/>UNESCO <BR/>2006-05-26 3:00 pm <BR/><BR/>“I categorically condemn the murder of Sabah al-Jaf,” Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, declared today. “The escalating violence against Education Ministry officials and academics is intolerable. It marks an assault not just on individuals but on society as a whole”.<BR/><BR/>Mr Matsuura added that education is a basic human right and a key to sustainable development and peace. “By targeting educators, the perpetrators of such violence are undermining the reconstruction of Iraq and jeopardizing the future of the country and of democracy,” he said.<BR/><BR/>According to a recent study, close to 200 academics have been killed in Iraq since 2003 and thousands have been driven into exile.</I>desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-33285082304152542162007-03-31T12:04:00.000-04:002007-03-31T12:04:00.000-04:00According to the ministry, at least 180 professors...<I>According to the ministry, at least 180 professors have been killed since February, when a mosque bombing in Samarra sent sectarian violence skyrocketing around the country. <BR/><BR/>"There are even more on the ground. We can't really deny that," conceded Basim al-Abdili, professor of sociology at Baghdad University. "But in most cases, teachers have been killed outside the university. Sometimes, they get killed while they are shopping."<BR/><BR/>It's difficult to tell who is killing Iraq's academics. Nabil al-Tikriti, an assistant professor of history at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia, said it's difficult to tell, but the killings are carried out in a different way from much of the violence.<BR/><BR/><B>"They're very professional assassinations," he said. "'Professional' meaning that they're only going after the person they're going to get. So they're not dying in car bombs or sectarian killings where a checkpoint is being set up and everyone is being killed that goes through that checkpoint that's from the wrong sectarian background. They're not getting killed in those random ways. There are assassins that go up to them and kill them and only them."</B><BR/><BR/>The killing of so many professors has compelled those still alive to flee the country. The Ministry of Higher Education estimates at least 3,250 have fled since February. </I>desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-24856853507610105482007-03-31T11:49:00.000-04:002007-03-31T11:49:00.000-04:00The other day amigo mio, habu, asked about Schools...The other day amigo mio, habu, asked about Schools and Hospitals in Iraq, he inquired as to these two public institutions as sign posts of success in Iraq.<BR/><BR/>Well, the Health Ministry has been in the hands of al-Sadr's minions for the past year. That I had known, but what of the schools?<BR/><BR/>google search "schools iraq"<BR/>sixth from the top<BR/><I>" ... I became a target for a variety of twisted reasons. I was editor of the Baghdad Mirror, the only English-language weekly. Zealots who mistakenly assumed we were aligned with Western sensibilities bombed our building in March 2005, causing extensive damage but, mercifully, no loss of life. It was too dangerous to continue operating, and I reluctantly closed the paper the next day.<BR/><BR/>At the time, I had just started as dean of the College of Arts at Mustansiriya University in Baghdad. Several weeks after the newspaper bombing, I was surrounded by students dressed in white shrouds and chanting death threats at me. Being a secular person, like most scholars, I was getting a chilling message of intimidation and violence.<BR/><BR/><B>Today the Mahdi Army is running university life in Baghdad, installing its political agenda by canceling classes, altering syllabuses to include its version of religion courses and ultimately driving away professors and students alike.</B><BR/><BR/>Virtually overnight I became an editor without a newspaper and a professor without students or a university.</I><BR/><BR/>Dated 27 Nov 06.<BR/><BR/>I'll keep looking.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-13315219486215787322007-03-31T11:38:00.000-04:002007-03-31T11:38:00.000-04:00How We Fund Hamas UniversityBy Joel MowbrayHow cou...<I><B>How We Fund Hamas University</B><BR/>By Joel Mowbray<BR/><BR/>How could the U.S. government be funding Hamas's university in Gaza? It's the question that has been asked often since my front-page story in the Washington Times earlier this month, from Capitol Hill to the State Department's daily press briefing.<BR/><BR/>No good answer was provided--but in fairness, no good answer exists for supporting a college controlled by Hamas. The alternatives, though, aren't much better. The sad reality of Palestinian society is that almost any university the U.S. might choose to support at a minimum has student chapters of terrorist organizations on campus. <BR/><BR/>Whereas Americans have College Republicans and College Democrats, Palestinians have College Hamas and College Islamic Jihad.<BR/><BR/>Even Al Quds University--embraced as the bastion of moderation by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)--engaged in a weeklong celebration this January of the terrorist credited with developing the first suicide belts more than a decade ago.<BR/><BR/>Given how much leverage the U.S. has--just through money alone--officials could have demanded that at least some of the support or glorification of terrorism be put to an end. There's no indication, though, that any such pressure was applied. <BR/><BR/>Rather, it appears that USAID, most likely with guidance from State, decided to fund Palestinian universities with troubling terrorism ties--including the Hamas-controlled Islamic University--and simply hope that no one would catch on. That might have been the case--if not for the Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), which keeps a watchful eye on everything from school textbooks to television shows and newspaper articles.</I><BR/><BR/>Schools are open, but who defines the syllabus?desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-82749647335009959652007-03-31T11:14:00.000-04:002007-03-31T11:14:00.000-04:00At Newweak, they have an interview with Saudi Fore...At Newweak, they have an interview with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, who I believe is Prince Bandar's daddy, but ...<BR/><BR/><I>And on the question of Iran’s nuclear program?<BR/><BR/>al-Faisal- "On the nuclear issue, we warned him: “Don’t play with fire. Don’t think the threat [of an American attack on Iran] is a nonexistent threat; think that it’s a real threat, maybe even a palpable threat. Why do you want to take a chance on that and harm your country? What is the rush? Why do you have to do it [enrich uranium] this year and not next year or the year after? Or five years from now? What is the real rush in it?”</I><BR/><BR/>Do not enrich now, enrich later.<BR/>The Sauds always consoul later, we listen, the Iranians ... time will tell.<BR/><BR/><I>It’s been said that Saudi Arabia may force oil prices down to punish Iran.<BR/>al-Faisal- "They’re not going to be brought down."<BR/><BR/>No?<BR/>al-Faisal- "No. People need oil." </I><BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17863202/site/newsweek" REL="nofollow"/><BR/><BR/>Quite interesting.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-76900973296772192362007-03-31T10:53:00.000-04:002007-03-31T10:53:00.000-04:00Arabian horses, Mike "Brownie" Brown's specialty.Arabian horses, Mike "Brownie" Brown's specialty.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-53227972600849770432007-03-31T10:51:00.000-04:002007-03-31T10:51:00.000-04:00Doug said... (although I have not heard of one of ...<I>Doug said... <BR/>(although I have not heard of one of them dying by taking the big one from a horse.<BR/>Yet) <BR/><BR/>Sat Mar 31, 01:48:00 AM EDT </I><BR/><BR/>They breed little horses, doug,<BR/>itsy bitsy ponies. <BR/><BR/>I'm sure they've learned to adapt.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-35717264042174671662007-03-31T10:45:00.000-04:002007-03-31T10:45:00.000-04:002164th: Iran has its reasons for taking the Britis...2164th: <I>Iran has its reasons for taking the British hostages.It is clearly not to impress the West. Is it possible that it is for their bigger goal of rallying Islam behind them? Iran is after all the bastion of Islamic purity.</I><BR/><BR/>Sunni Islam can be likened to Roman Catholicism, as both dominate the globe in numbers and geographic presence. (But while Catholics have a Pope, the Sunnis lack a Caliph).<BR/><BR/>Shi'a Islam can be likened to Eastern Orthodoxy, which has much smaller numbers and is largely a collection of national churches (Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Serbian Orthodox, etc). <BR/><BR/>Suppose the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church gets Putin to arrest fifteen reporters for The Skeptical Inquirer magazine who were looking too diligently into reports that an icon in a Moscow church was crying tears of blood. <BR/> <BR/>Further suppose that a blogger writes the following:<BR/><BR/><I>Russia has its reasons for taking the journalists hostages. It is clearly not to impress the Secular Humanist world. Is it possible that it is for their bigger goal of rallying Christiandom behind them? Russia is after all the bastion of Christian purity.</I><BR/><BR/>Immediately it can be seen that such an assertion is ludicrous, on the grounds that it totally ignores the utter depths of hard-core dogmatism in the two main branches of Christianity.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-53542641196694856402007-03-31T10:39:00.000-04:002007-03-31T10:39:00.000-04:00The Iranian Mullahs came to power in 1979. It is n...The Iranian Mullahs came to power in 1979. It is now 2007. 28 years of either success or failure, that is open to debate, but "soon"...<BR/><BR/>Failure being such a subjective a perception. Based upon whose Goals is the judgement to be made, US goals for Iran differ greatly from the Mullahs goals for Iran and the Region. Which is the Standard that should be used as a measure of success or failure?<BR/><BR/>The Mullahs do not see themselves as failures, perhaps.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-53828224848394631152007-03-31T10:16:00.000-04:002007-03-31T10:16:00.000-04:00"That becomes clear as soon as the Islamists come ..."<I>That becomes clear as soon as the Islamists come to power: <BR/>All islamist regimes end up in dramatic failure.</I>"<BR/>---<BR/>True,<BR/>But when they infest the PC/Welfare State West,<BR/>it also results in a dramatic failure of the host.Doughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16770268554450465514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-79022566562069770652007-03-31T10:08:00.000-04:002007-03-31T10:08:00.000-04:00I had this posted and took it down to correct some...I had this posted and took it down to correct something. Cutler posted this and I was not sure if he had seen the most and then I orphaned it so I post it again on his behalf:<BR/><BR/>Cutler said...<BR/>"One thing good coming from the Iranian piracy is it is clarifying people's perspectives in the problem between the Muslim world and most everyone else. This from the Washington post:<BR/><BR/>..."Whatever the motive, Iran is faring well in the public relations battle in the Middle East, she said. While many in the West accept the British government's version of events, a great number of people in Arab countries believe Iran is telling the truth. Khalili said many people in the Middle East are "profoundly suspicious" of the British, because of their historical role as a colonial power in the region and because of the "very recent history of false information about the Iraq war."...<BR/><BR/>It is going a long way to ending moral equivalency and that is good for us in the long game."<BR/><BR/>Given current trends, I'd say that our opinion makers would go out of their way to rationalize it or just ignore it. On Thursday I sat in a, we'll call it a discussion, on political Islam. The Middle Easterners in the back were quick to sing the praises of groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah for delivering the, so vital services at which the governments fails, i.e. supposedly running the trains on time. The Westerners sat there or joined in while they continued with the the usual dose of 'it is all your fault.'<BR/><BR/>The only person that openly reacted negatively to the Political Islamists as welfare saviors was the exiled Iranian in the class.<BR/><BR/>-True story.-<BR/><BR/>Sat Mar 31, 09:25:00 AM EDTDeuce ☂https://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.com