[9/26/07]
[Joel
Rosenberg - novelist]
12:15
am [permalink]
Ahmadinejad two quick points: first, it's curious how began the speech....rather than end with a prayer that Allah would hasten the coming of the Islamic Messiah known as the "Mahdi" or the "Twelfth Imam" or the "just and promised One" as he did in 2005 and 2006 in his speeches at the U.N., the Iranian leader actually began the speech this way.... "Oh, God, hasten the arrival of Imam al-Mahdi and grant him good health and victory and make us his followers and those to attest to his rightfulness"....why has he moved the prayer to the front of his remarks?....it's not yet clear, but it's important to note that in 2005, Ahmadinejad was telling colleagues that the end of the world was just two or three years away, and that the way to hasten the coming of the Mahdi was to annihilate Israel and the U.S....that was two years ago....now, he's no longer burying the lead....yet much of the American media is....they don't seem to realize how central Ahmadinejad's Shiite Islamic eschatology (end times theology) is to Iran's current foreign policy....and that's why they are missing how dangerous this regime really is....when the Mahdi arrives on earth, Shiite scholars say he will appear in Mecca and Medina, but where does he go then?.....not to Iran....not to Jerusalem....not to Europe or Russia....he supposedly heads for Iraq -- Kufa, to be specific....that's what Shiite leaders have taught for centuries....and this helps explain why Iran is sending insurgents, weapons and money into Iraq, to create the conditions of chaos and carnage into which the Mahdi can arrive, finish off the U.S. and Israel, and set up a global Islamic caliphate headquartered in Iraq....who's the leading Shiite insurgent in Iraq?....Muqtada al-Sadr....what's the name of his militia?.....the Mahdi Army.....and now you know the rest of the story.
[9/24/07]
[Julia
Gorin pundit/comedian] 12:05
am [permalink]
Life Imitates Julia’s Jokes VII In a Friday post titled “Columbia University: See? We’re not an Anti-Semitic Institution. Just ask Ahmadinejad!” I joked that Ahmadinejad’s opening act on Monday would be the ghost of Adolf Hitler. The latest from Columbia, via Fox News Channel and Columbia dean John Coatsworth:
If Hitler were willing to engage in a debate, and a discussion, to be challenged by Columbia students and faculty, we would certainly invite him.
While it’s nice that he at least made the analogy, the point is that, like Ahmadinejad, Hitler would require much less security at Columbia than would the likes of Benjamin Netanyahu, Ariel Sharon, George Bush, Ann Coulter or Bill O’Reilly. [Gorin Glob]
[9/19/07]
[Julia
Gorin pundit/comedian] 12:05
am [permalink]
Madonna: I’m an "ambassador for Judaism”
"Madonna toasted the Jewish new year with Israeli President Shimon Peres and declared herself an 'ambassador for Judaism,' local newspapers reported Sunday."
That’s all we need: another liberal Jew.
“You don’t know how popular the Book of Splendor is among Hollywood actors,” Yediot quoted Madonna as telling Peres. “Everyone I meet talks to me only about that. I am an ambassador for Judaism.”
Given her past, particularly the book Sex, I fear Madonna may be an ambassador for Judaism the way Monica Lewinsky and Chandra Levy were.
"Other celebrities who flew in for the Kabbalah conference included movie star Demi Moore and her husband, actor Ashton Kutcher, Rosie O’Donnell and fashion designer Donna Karan."
There you have it: Rosie O’Donnell is a student of Kabbalah. Does she seem self-improved to you? What sort of endorsement is that for a movement? And notice that both she and Madonna have a pathological hatred for Christianity.
"The Haaretz daily quoted Kutcher as telling a group of Israeli businessmen and entertainers on Saturday that Kabbalah had answered fundamental questions in his life and made him a better actor."
I thought that’s what Scientology was for. Shouldn’t there be a South Park episode about Scietology vs. Kabbalah? [Gorin Glob]
[9/18/07]
[Julia
Gorin pundit/comedian] 12:05
am [permalink]
Institute on Religion and Public Policy: Germany Should be Consistent The Institute on Religion and Public Policy [last week] cautioned German authorities against the targeting of Muslim converts in any domestic surveillance policies.
Federal and state security authorities met just days after German law enforcement officers arrested three men involved in a terrorist plot. Several proposals have been considered, including the use of Internet surveillance that would target Muslim converts. Guenther Beckstein, the interior minister of Bavaria and supporter of this policy, reportedly stated “Germans converting to Islam should be watched because they tend to show particular fanaticism in order to prove worthy of their new religion.”
Joseph K. Grieboski, President of the Nobel Peace Price-nominated Institute on Religion and Public Policy, notes Germany’s poor record in religious freedoms. “Germany has a history of targeting religious minorities,” Grieboski claimed. “Singling out Muslim converts would not only violate their fundamental rights; it will also weaken Germany’s ability to defend against the full spectrum of threats facing their country.”
In other words, because Germany has a history of persecuting Jews and Christians, it shouldn’t impede those who seek to persecute Jews and Christians.
No wonder this group got a Nobel nomination. [Gorin Glob]
[9/13/07]
[Julia
Gorin pundit/comedian] 12:05
am [permalink]
Which Part of the Word “Jihad” does bin Laden not Understand? From USA Today, about the new bin Laden tape:
Bin Laden said there were two solutions to stopping the Iraq war. “One is from our side, and it is to escalate the fighting and killing against you…The second solution is from your side. … I invite you to embrace Islam,” he said.
Essentially: Join us or we’ll kill you.
Let’s think about this for a moment. Let’s say Bush announces tomorrow that we’re all converting to Islam. What if we become the wrong kind of Muslims? No matter what sort we convert to, it won’t be the right kind, and one type of Muslim or another will need to kill us. ( “You’re not praying right…your ass is supposed to angle this way, not that way…”) Basically, there’s nothing you can do to avoid getting killed by Muslims.
Then again, converting to Islam comes with a free license to kill a whole lot more Muslims than we’re killing now, since Muslims kill more Muslims than anyone else.
In the tape, bin Laden also went into a tirade against capitalism, expressed concern over global warming, criticized JFK for not stopping the Vietnam War, praised Noam Chomsky (a Jew), and said that the war against the U.S. is about our foreign policy — the last two items indicating that the leading face of jihad doesn’t quite get what jihad is all about.
While analysts disagreed on whether there were any overt threats contained in the message, the tape confirms what some of us have long suspected: bin Laden is a Democrat. [Gorin Glob]
[9/12/07]
[Streetsweeper]
12:05 am [permalink]
Streetsweeper's Opinion Sweepings: McCain At the COP Convention: [from SF Chronicle] McCain, asked whether his party is resonating with the political middle, acknowledged a host of problems facing GOP elected officials and candidates at all levels.
"I don't think it's our message. I think it's our actions," he said. "I think when you have former members of Congress in federal prison; when you have the corruption that was bred by this out-of-control spending, which betrayed our Republican base that cares about fiscal conservatism; when we fail after Hurricane Katrina - we say everything's fine and there's people that literally are dehydrating without water in the Superdome - they've lost confidence that we can ... be effective (as) the ruling party."
But, said McCain with resolute firmness, "We can restore that."
[9/8/07]
[Ralph
Peters - novelist, author] 12:03
am [permalink]
Marine Humor Behind their no-non sense personas and pa rade-ground posture, the Marines have the wickedest sense of humor of any of our services. It's a hoot to be around them.
That take-no-prisoners humor was on display in the Fallujah area of operations. As I walked into a headquarters shack, a poster on the front door made me do a cartoon double-take. To appreciate the beauty of it, you just have to understand one military term, "OPSEC," or operations security - the protection of any tidbit of information that might be of value to an enemy.
On the poster, a frightened kitten bounds across a field of wildflowers straight toward the viewer, as if about to leap into your arms for protection. Fanged gingerbread monsters are in hot pursuit. The main caption:
"Every time you break OPSEC, God kills a kitten."
At the bottom, flanked by twin photos of beseeching kittens, the poster begged: "Please, think of the kittens."
I laughed out loud, then laughed again at the audacity of it. My own service, the Army, would've worried about offending religious organizations. The Navy would've failed to see what kittens have to do with aircraft carriers.
And the Air Force would've objected that its chief of staff had never been personally involved in the execution of kittens, that the scandal was all the contractor's fault.
God bless 'em, the Corps realized that if it made young Marines laugh - memorably - they'd be more apt to remember the message.
In the Outpost Delta office of Capt. Quintin Jones, the commander of Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, there's a grab-your-attention poster featuring a lineup of players in football gear. The caption runs: "Ever wonder why the Marines don't have a football team like the Army, Navy or Air Force?
"We're here to protect a country, not a quarterback."
And, at the bottom, beside a charging warrior: "The Marines. The few, the proud."
Shameless self-promotion? You bet. And brilliant.
[9/5/07]
[Julia
Gorin pundit/comedian] 12:05
am [permalink]
Understanding Whoopi
Goldberg defends Vick in ‘View’ debut Whoopi Goldberg used her first day on the daytime chat show Tuesday to defend football star Michael Vick in his dogfighting case. Goldberg said that “from where he comes from” in the South, dogfighting isn’t that unusual.
Goldberg said that for many people, dogs are sport, adding that it took a while for Vick to realize he was up against serious charges. “I just thought it was interesting, because it seemed like a light went off in his head when he realized this was something that the entire country didn’t appreciate.”
In that case, Goldberg would understand if, as punishment, Vick was lynched just as his dogs were, since where he comes from in the South, lynching black people wasn’t that unusual until recently. In fact, many considered it a sport, and I thought it was interesting to see a light go off in some KKKs’ heads when they saw they were up against serious charges and realized this was something the entire country didn’t appreciate.
Never thought I’d say this, but could we have Rosie back? [Gorin Glob]
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