Archive for September, 2006
October 5th Is A Big Day, And I Mean BIG
Friday, September 29th, 2006Besides the vacuum that will be caused because I will be out of town on my first vacation in a full year (no long weekends, nuthin!) on October 5th, evidently there will be an American coup attempt because the fascist Bush regime will never end (until 2008, but whatever).
So, one more thing for you to put on your Oh Shit! Sheet. I’m not worried ‘cuz I’ll be kickin’ it in Sunny Florida’s Disney World theme park. Me-n-Mickey will tour Animal Kingdom and then set sail for the Caribbean pirate style.
I am going to try to get some guest bloggers over here to help. Any recommendations or volunteers?
Mark Victor Hanson: The New Anti-Semitism
Thursday, September 28th, 2006I have written over and over ad nauseum about my concern for the anti-semitism growing throughout Europe and even in America ….. on the far Left side of the spectrum. My concern in Europe, at least, is that the too smart by half crowd at the top emboldens the simmering far right crowd with their tacit agreement to look the other way at Islamist thought-tyranny and actual terror. While the far Right agrees with the Muslims about hating Jews (it’s something everyone can agree on, it seems) the far Right also hates the invasion by the Muslims of their superior culture. The far Right is gaining traction even as the far Left fiddles, enables and tacitly approves through wrong-headed moral equivalence and multi-culturalism.
In America, the Right (except the very fringy of the fringe) overwhelmingly supports Israel in particular and Jews in general. The bastions of so-called enlightened thought–the academy, the art and literary world, journalism, and government–have become havens of hate. The hate is delicately prepared and presented with a sophisticated flair. Many people eating the delicacy, delight in believing they are trying something new and demonstrating their worldliness (not to mention being so “in” because it also involves hating Bush) not realizing they are chomping on good old anti-Semitic garbage.
Victor Davis Hanson over via Real Clear Politics calls this anti-Semitism, post-anti-Semitism.
We’re accustomed to associating hatred of Jews with the ridiculed Neanderthal Right of those in sheets and jackboots. But this new venom, at least in its Western form, is mostly a leftwing, and often an academic, enterprise. It’s also far more insidious, given the left’s moral pretensions and its influence in the prestigious media and universities. We see the unfortunate results in frequent anti-Israeli demonstrations on campuses that conflate Israel with Nazis, while the media have published fraudulent pictures and slanted events in southern Lebanon.
The renewed hatred of Jews in the Middle East – and the indifference to it in the West – is a sort of “post anti-Semitism.” Islamic zealots supply the old venomous hatred, while affluent and timid Westerners provide the new necessary indifference – if punctuated by the occasional off-the-cuff Amen in the manner of a Louis Farrakhan or Mel Gibson outburst.
The dangers of this post anti-Semitism is not just that Jews are shot in Europe and the United States – or that a drunken celebrity or demagogue mouths off. Instead, ever so insidiously, radical Islam’s hatred of Jews is becoming normalized.
It is with growing unease that I watch this phenomenon. The blithness with which the Left disparages the Jews at the same time approving of those who murder Jews is disconcerting. What I find even more disconcerting is the cognitive dissonance I see in some Jews.
It defies imagination, as a non-Jew, seeing this toxic brew bubbling again, but it is bubbling. As a Jew, it must feel inconceivable that the notion “never again!” is being tested. It is my fear that the testing has only begun. If the enemy cannot even be named, if the enemy cannot be identified (you were my friends) how can action be taken? I am talking of America now. And I’m not talking about military action.
Have you heard the voices of protest? When the protesting does happen, if media silence ensues, does it really happen? While a big contigent went to the UN to protest Iran’s sociopathic ruler’s hate mongering, the press didn’t acknowledge it. Jewish suffering isn’t newsworthy, but the Palestinians is newsworthy. Hezbollah’s losses are newsworthy.
And the voices of protest are protesting the wrong thing: the intellectual elites, some Jews, are selling the Jews out by giving everyone a voice--even murderous thugs. In their supreme betterness, they somehow believe that allowing everyone to spill their feelings, all feelings are valid. It’s psychobabble of the worst kind–humanizing the inhumane.
We can kill jihadists. Hezbollah fighters can be wiped out (and if we didn’t worry so much about collateral damage would be), but the real trouble are the stooge foot soldiers doing their master’s bidding. Even Iran’s neo-Nazi leader isn’t the root of the problem. The root is right here in America and at the top of the European rulership. In a vain search for fairness, the Left is selling the Jews and ultimately their own cherished freedoms away. The Left is identifying their own perceived oppression with that of another group of indulged malcontents.
Who ever thought that leaders of free thought would become the very embodiment of oppression?
Cockroaches: A protected PETA pet
Wednesday, September 27th, 2006
This from Maxed Out Mama. I just have to sigh.
There is one thing I won’t get used to here in Texas: the surprising skittle, that clickety clack sound as their little feet travel over the ground, up the wall, on the ceiling, through the air vents–you get the idea.
I HATE COCKROACHES.
And as much as I hate them, I loathe centipedes even more. They wig me out. Snakes? ehh. Spiders? (And I’ve been bit by a Brown Recluse) Don’t really bother me. Centipedes? Save me.
But the worst PETA pet of all? Rats. Big, fat, nasty rats. One reason I don’t mind snakes so much is they eat those disgusting vermin. I’m jiggy with that ya’ll.
And, further up the food chain–I don’t like cats indoors, but a good cat does a number on the rats and snakes. Fine by me.
Pictured above is the neighbor’s cat who saunters by every day at the exact same time. She is relatively antisocial but she looks pretty. Kind “view from my window” thing. I’m having an Andrew Sullivan moment.
My favorite PETA pet? Bald eagles. I kid you not, in our suburban development, a Bald Eagle family winters here and hatches their babies. They are amazingly effective at ridding a couple square miles of rodents. Even a cat or two has been known to vanish. Now that’s my kind of PETA pet.
Anna Nicole’s Son: Cause of Death
Wednesday, September 27th, 2006Perez Hilton has the disturbing news. The toxicology reports are back and the kid had heavy doses of Lexapro and Zoloft along with Methadone–a drug to help heroin addicts detox.
What a weird life Anna Nicole has lived. I wonder if it is as surreal to her as it seems from the outside looking in.
Belgium is Burning in Brussels
Wednesday, September 27th, 2006It’s been all over the news….haven’t you heard about it? Three whole days of rioting by “youths” also known as Muslim Morrocans over the death in prison of a Muslim man.
This from the Brussels Journal:
The authorities are especially nervous since the Belgian municipal elections are being held on Sunday October 8th. It is likely that the elections will be won by anti-immigrant, “islamophobic” parties. Since ramadan will not be over on October 8th and many immigrants might perceive a victory of the indigenous right (as opposed to their own far-right) as an insult, Muslim indignation over the election results in major cities may spark serious disturbances. According to a poll published today the Vlaams Belang party is set to win 38.6% of the vote in Antwerp (compared to 33,0% in the previous municipal elections six years ago).
Here is my concern with Europe’s dope-headed multiculturalism: the populace does not hold the same elitist, “tolerant” suicidal views as the ruling class. I fear the hard right pushing back in a major, violent way to reclaim their identity and protect their way of life.
I see Europed throwing the baby out with the bathwater. After the borders close to foreigners, will expulsions come next?
Snapped Shot has video, more information and translations from the scant press coming out of Europe.
There is another issue, of course: Media silence. The Media’s quiet about this speaks volumes. Amazing to me how a huge news story is virtually ignored. “Deprived of air” the story doesn’t exist.
If a city burns and no one reports it……
Breastfeeding: Makes for Healthy Weight Kids
Wednesday, September 27th, 2006More research about the benefits to breastfeeding. This data is very robust. The longer you breastfeed the better.
Here’s the theory: fat kids, fat mom (they are all eating junk, right?). I think breastfeeding is a better indicator. A mom might not take care of her own diet but have other biolgical reasons for obesity, but breastfeeding (long term) indicates that she has concern for her child’s diet and will take the time to dedicate to it.
(For those who disagree, I would posit that you haven’t nursed a wiggly toddler. Now that’s commitment.)
A Faith Club–Let’s All Get Along, Shall We?
Wednesday, September 27th, 2006
There are stumbling blocks, however. Will everyone be as open, as bold, as willing to press on with these women’s mantra of absolute honesty, constantly asking one another, “What do you really think?”
For anyone who reads the Quran or the Bible literally, rather than metaphorically or in cultural context, the women say, their views will be too liberal. For people who believe there is exactly one way to one heaven, described and delineated only by their own faith, The Faith Club may not offer a template.
Doesn’t really work if you really believe what you profess to believe.
Oil Drops Just in Time for the Election
Wednesday, September 27th, 2006Another conspiracy theory debunked. Can we get on with the business of enjoying cheap gas or must we always, always complain?
