Outspoken Muslim cleric Yussef al-Qaradawi, whose visit to Britain has provoked protests, denounced Muslim religious extremism in an interview Tuesday. "There are among Muslims some fringe groups who represent the strength of violence and extremism, such as Abu Hamza and Abu Qatada, but these have no scholarly, practical or community weight," the Egyptian-born, Qatari-based preacher told Channel Four television. Abu Hamza al-Masri, the former radical imam of north London's Finsbury Park mosque, was arrested in May on an extradition request from the United States on terrorism-related charges. Qatada, a suspected leading member of Al-Qaeda, has been held in London's high-security Belmarsh prison since October 2002 under Britain's anti-terror legislation. "Had it not been for the media, which projected these, nobody would have heard of them," Qaradawi said. "The great majority of Muslims in Britain are co-operative and constructive. We call for love not hate, for tolerance not fanaticism, for peace not war," he added.
When pressed on suicide attacks in Israel, the cleric said that such operations were permissible. "They are necessary because, simply, the Palestinians do not have any other means of confronting their enemies. When you see the Palestinians being killed every day, their houses blown up, their trees pulled down, their land taken away, what can they do? Give them Apaches (helicopters) and tanks and not one of them would explode himself in a martyrdom operation," he said.
Qaradawi's arrival in the British capital on July 5 for several conferences on Islam sparked an official complaint by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which has called for a ban on him. Despite the protests, the Labour Party's Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has invited the cleric back to Britain for further conferences.
#2
The great majority of Muslims in Britain are co-operative and constructive.
Except for those refusing to assimilate, and those who aren't voting because it's not Islamic . . .
Give them Apaches (helicopters) and tanks and not one of them would explode himself in a martyrdom operation
No, but the casualty rates would remain the same.
Posted by: The Doctor ||
07/18/2004 21:54 Comments ||
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He's not only a deserter. He went over to the enemy. That makes him a traitor.
Japanese and American officials say [Charles] Jenkins, 64, needs medical attention after botched abdominal surgery in North Korea and for other health problems. Pray for sepsis.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2004 6:47:23 PM ||
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From the stupid white mass of blubbering protoplasm
CONTROVERSIAL American filmmaker Michael Moore urged Australians to vote out the Howard government at the forthcoming election for its role in the Iraq war.
Mikey's just poking his nose everywhere in sight, isn't he?
Moore's anti-war documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, which premiered in Australia last week, criticises US President George W Bush over the September 11 terrorist attacks and the Iraq war. He told Channel Nine's 60 Minutes the point of his film was to show people how Iraqi people were suffering as a result of the decision to go to war. "Personally, though I have no say in any of this because I'm not an Australian, I hope the Australian people throw Mr Howard and his people out of office for participating in this," Moore said. Moore repeated his bewilderment that Mr Howard, who he described as someone with half a brain, had chosen to back Mr Bush's war plan. "What is John Howard doing in bed with an idiot?" he asked. "What was he promised? He knew this wouldn't be popular with the Australian people."
"There's no such thing as right and wrong, so he shoulda gone with what was popular."
#1
As a corollary to Godwin's rule, whenever a leftist accuses someone of being stupid, it is a confession that they, themselves, are utterly stumped, confused, bewildered, in ignorance and are unable to grasp what is really going on. They are painfully aware that others are smarter, more talented, and generally more capable than they are. And this pains them, so they lash out by calling others "stupid."
A subset of this corollary is only for those individuals leftists feels *inherently* superior to, such as the ethnic minorities they normally patronize. They feel they cannot call them "stupid", so they attack their 'credentials' as minorities--African-Americans are "oreos", for example, if they hold a opinion different from the leftist.
#2
A right-winger with the same high profile as Moore and who spouted 10 % the bullshit Moore comes out with (and I'm talking downright lies, not opinion) wouldn't last a week without his/her credibility being torn to shreds from all sides. As it is, the left regards Moore's deceit as not just permissible but irrelevant to his value as an opinion-maker. He's walking, talking, blimp-sized proof that the majority of today's anti-American left isn't interested in objective truth - they're either utterly unprincipled or insane.
Moore tells us that there are conspiracies everywhere. Why then hasn't anyone managed to shut him up?
#3
Does Michael Moore have any solutions to any of these problems he sees, or does he just enjoy shooting his big, fat mouth off? I think I probably answered my own question.
#4
firing up his loser base... the film's not doing well anymore...
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2004 14:51 Comments ||
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"He's walking, talking, blimp-sized proof that the majority of today's anti-American left isn't interested in objective truth - they're either utterly unprincipled or insane."
Moore tells us that there are conspiracies everywhere. Why then hasn't anyone managed to shut him up?
Second paragraph is answered by the first.
Posted by: too true ||
07/18/2004 15:28 Comments ||
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Anonymoose, I've recieved a couple of email from friends, good guys all, which to them constitutes high level thought about the current situation.
One was a picture of GW's cabinet heads, with a snarkey comment about how each one, ah, stupid!
The other was a picture of GW at his desk signing an order. The caption was something like, "Time to attack Afgannan, Afginis, er Iraq!"
Nothing there but stupid shit. Stupid, dum, moron, empty stuff. Compared to what you can get if you want to, say like DaveD's Iraq: Distraction?, piece.
It's fun to reply to these guys with some solid stuff and get back....chirp,chirp...chirp.
#7
It's fun to reply to these guys with some solid stuff and get back....chirp,chirp...chirp.
I don't know if you read Chronwatch or not, but I think it's great. In one section it analyzes 3 or 4 ordinary biased MSM articles published each day. In another section it focuses specifically on over the top nutty pieces like Michael Moore tirades. And it also has a section of featured cartoons. Maybe you can find "treasures" on Chronwatch to email back to your pals who make fun of Bush and his cabinet. http://www.chronwatch.com
I get personally ticked off when I hear or read a left winger mocking the smarts of GWB. While it's true he is a disaster with a microphone when he's reading Karl Rovian words like "evil doers', he does pretty well for himself when he speaks from the heart, and getting an MBA from Yale is no easy feat as it is, for example,like getting a theatre arts or journalism degree. cough,cough
Anyways here' a serious article written by one of the Chronwatch editors who researched the education levels of GWB and company versus the Hollywood great minds who see their sorry siliconized/Botoxed selves as being oh-so erudite and statesmanlike. http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=1991
"Who's Smarter, Hollywood Types or Bush and Cabinet?"
Posted by: rex ||
07/18/2004 16:23 Comments ||
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Bush's bachelor's degree is from Yale but his MBA is from Harvard.
Yale doesn't really have an MBA program, exactly ... more of an organizational theory program when I looked a decade ago ....
#9
ooops...you are right, #8, I meant to type Harvard but my fingers were faster than my brain, which was still savoring GWB's undergraduate degree, which was from Yale as you note.
Here's another article pub'd in 9/07/2000 in the Boston Globe that was written by an attorney and research fellow at Harvard Law School. She debunked the Rat myth that Al Goresky was oh-so much smarter than GWB and therefore would do a better job as Prez. Reprinted courtesy of Larry Elder. http://www.larryelder.com/Gore/goredubiousrecord.htm "Gore's Dubious School Record" When will the liberal media stop treating left-wing ideology as a proxy for intelligence? For months the press has questioned the intellect of Republican candidate George W. Bush, while describing Al Gore as "serious," "intellectual" - even "wonkish." The basis for the media's unfair attacks on Bush's intelligence is his 30-year-old Yale College transcript (purloined last fall and published by The New Yorker). Yet The Washington Post's subsequent revelation of Gore's unimpressive academic record has done little to alter the media's false portrayal of Gore as "the smartest kid in the class." It is a record that is worth reviewing, if only to debunk the myth of Gore as a serious student.
Gore's undergraduate transcript from Harvard is riddled with C's, including a C-minus in introductory economics, a D in one science course, and a C-plus in another. "In his sophomore year at Harvard," the Post reported, "Gore's grades were lower than any semester recorded on Bush's transcript from Yale." Moreover, Gore's graduate school record - consistently glossed over by the press - is nothing short of shameful. In 1971, Gore enrolled in Vanderbilt Divinity School where, according to Bill Turque, author of "Inventing Al Gore," he received F's in five of the eight classes he took over the course of three semesters. Not surprisingly, Gore did not receive a degree from the divinity school. Nor did Gore graduate from Vanderbilt Law School, where he enrolled for a brief time and received his fair share of C's. (Bush went on to earn an MBA from Harvard).
But whereas the liberal press has described Bush's college days as a time of misspent youth, media accounts of Gore's undergraduate years are grossly fawning. (The New York Times: "As Mr. Bush was frolicking around Yale, a young man named Al Gore was studying at Harvard"; "Harvard nurtured the part of [Gore] that is in love with the world of ideas." The New Republic: "At Harvard, Gore set himself formidable intellectual challenges.")...Biased reporters, however, are not the only ones to blame. Indeed, the vice president himself has cultivated this genius persona (one of many). Thus, he did not correct PBS News anchor Gwen Ifill when she referred to him as a graduate of Vanderbilt Law School. Even more significant was the line in Gore's convention acceptance speech in which he stated, "I know my own imperfections. I know that sometimes people say I'm too serious, that I talk too much substance and policy." Poor Al, he's just too smart for the job.
Of course, the stereotyping of conservative candidates as dumb and liberal candidates as "brilliant" is nothing new. During the 1950s, the media lionized Democrat Adlai Stevenson as an intellectual, while ridiculing Republican Dwight Eisenhower as an ineffectual simpleton. Back then, the members of the press knew full well that Stevenson attended Harvard Law School and, yet, had not received a degree. But the media gave Stevenson a pass. (Sound familiar?) Had resourceful journalists investigated, they might have learned (as we now know from Stevenson's biographer John Bartlow Martin) that Harvard Law School Dean Erwin Griswold had hidden Stevenson's transcript in a locked cabinet in his office. What was he hiding? Stevenson, the so-called "thinking man's candidate," had, in fact, flunked out of Harvard Law.
In the end, neither intellect nor academic performance is an especially important criterion by which to judge our presidents. Ronald Reagan and Harry Truman were no scholars, but they rank among the best presidents in our country's history. And what about many liberals' favorite president - Franklin Roosevelt? Social, popular, and famously unserious as an undergraduate at Harvard, FDR had an undistinguished academic record. Yet, later in life, Roosevelt's charisma and his ability to persuade, compromise, and lead helped him to become a "reformer with results."
This election is not an I.Q. test; it is about which candidate has better judgment. And that is why, despite the media's love affair with the celluloid image of Al Gore the policy-wonk, it is the affable, authentic, and sensible Bush who would make the better leader.
Posted by: rex ||
07/18/2004 16:52 Comments ||
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Moore-on a half ass accusing Howard of being a half brain? How mooronic
Posted by: Capt America ||
07/18/2004 16:52 Comments ||
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#11
Does Australia also have a law against electioneering by foreigners? The Canadian authorities don't have the balls to enforce their own such law against Lumpy (who is after all one of their own in the only terms that matter) but the Oz-niks who have so far resisted the non-stop Hate America indoctrination from the local Oil tick propaganda whores media might be a different story.
#12
Michael Moore: Dropped out first year University of Michigan. Major claim to fame comes as a result of directing movies that criticizes others.
GWB[whom MM calls an idiot]:Received a bachelor's degree from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.He served as an F-102 pilot for the Texas Air National Guard. He began his career in the oil and gas business in Midland in 1975 and worked in the energy industry until 1986. He was elected governor on November 8, 1994, with 53.5 percent of the vote. In a historic re-election victory, he became the first Texas governor to be elected to consecutive four-year terms on November 3, 1998, winning 68.6 percent of the vote.
John Howard[whom MM describes as having 1/2 a brain]: attended University of Sydney, graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1961 and was admitted as a Solicitor of the NSW Supreme Court in July 1962. Prior to his election to Parliament he was a partner in a Sydney firm of solicitors.
Posted by: rex ||
07/18/2004 17:48 Comments ||
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#3
Over the last few years Sharon has several times called on French Jews to move to Israel, citing the horrible antisemitism there. Each time, Chirac has been highly indignant, "because there is no antisemitism in France." And besides, it isn't Sharon's place to criticize the French.
Once one of the most tolerant and most densely populated countries on the continent, the Netherlands has embraced tough new immigration policies in the past two years. The laws and proposed regulations target both those who applied for asylum and the more than 400,000 long-term legal immigrants — so-called "oldcomers" — who have failed to integrate into Dutch society...
Dutch Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk has shown no signs of backing away from her aggressive enforcement of the new immigration and asylum laws. Mrs. Verdonk last week pressed the mayors of the four largest Dutch cities — Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht — to evict failed asylum seekers from temporary public-housing centers, saying it is the responsibility of those who have failed to qualify for asylum to make their own way home. But the cities fear the rejected applicants will simply flee the centers and remain in the country illegally...the Netherlands in the 1980s and 1990s had one of the most liberal immigration policies in Europe, coupled with a generous social-welfare net for newcomers. Leading political parties avoided any debate on the social and economic effects of a growing number of Turkish, Moroccan and other minority communities clustered in so-called "black" districts in major Dutch cities. By 2002, some 18.4 percent of the country's 16.1 million people were born outside the country.
Posted by: rex ||
07/18/2004 8:32:22 PM ||
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Interesting. Even AP can't ignore it, though the press in general will play it down. The damage has already been done, of course — it's been playing for a year, despite half-hearted rebuttal and refutation.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2004 6:43:17 PM ||
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Groups planning to demonstrate against the upcoming Republican National Convention will have some unfriendly company on the asphalt and concrete outside Madison Square Garden. Members of a new group of young GOP conservatives plan to protest the protesters. Tom Paladino, who leads the New York chapter of Protest Warriors, a nationwide organization, said members want to show the protesters that "there are Republicans that will protest them right back." Added Jason Sager, a member from Brooklyn: "We are the right-wing freedom fighters. We are out there and are just as animated as the protesters can be."
Protest Warriors, which claims about 3,000 members nationwide, expects about 200 in New York for the four-day convention, which begins Aug. 30 and is expected to draw tens of thousands of opponents of President Bush. Leaders say they know they won't have equal representation, but hope the contrast helps them stand out. They will be armed with their own picket signs and T-shirts, even video cameras to capture their mission. "It's going to be the protest Olympics. They're all going to be trying to outdo each other," said Kfir Alfia, of Austin, Texas, who formed the group last year with Alan Lipton after they crashed anti-war demonstrations in San Francisco, carrying signs that said: "Except for Ending Slavery, Fascism, Nazism and Communism, War Has Never Solved Anything." Activists hurled signs at them and hissed "Fascists!" as they marched along, Alfia and Lipton said. They said they were surprised to encounter animosity at a peace rally, and decided to publicize their experience.
They posted videos of their counterprotests on the Internet and began coordinating more actions. The movement attracted young conservatives from across the country, as well as stalwarts like Rush Limbaugh, who has hailed them. This spring, the group protested anti-war rallies in several cities, including New York. For now, Protest Warriors' convention plans are unclear because they depend on the anti-Bush groups. Some of those groups are still awaiting police permits for their demonstrations.
These guys are great. I just might join them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/18/2004 4:58:56 PM ||
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APnews picked them up? And without demonizing them? I think my suprise meter might be alive.
Posted by: Charles ||
07/18/2004 18:16 Comments ||
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#2
Hmmm... I am curious how much Media coverage any conservative protesters in Boston will get opposed to the liberal protesters in New York....
Yikes! This is worse than GWB's "temporary" work permit slowly morphing into amnesty. What a choice-either a bullet train to destruction of our nation or an Amtrak slow but sure train to the same destination.
Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate, pledged that within 100 days of becoming president, he would ask Congress for immigration reforms that would enable undocumented immigrants to obtain permanent resident status and establish a guest worker program for temporary labor. Senator Kerry's proposal for "earned legalization" was welcomed by many immigrant communities. The proposal also put the immigration issue at the center of the presidential campaign... Under Kerry's plan, immigrants would qualify for legal residency, the first step toward citizenship, after staying in the U.S. for five years and after close screening for security purposes. Based on false birth/residency information forwarded to US Immigration by the corrupt Mexican gov't...that makes me feel secure...
Kerry's proposal is very similar to a bill filed in Congress on Mary 4, 2004 by Democrat lawmakers, which is entitled the "Safe, Orderly, Legal Visas and Enforcement (SOLVE) Act of 2004. Barf. Continued on Page 49
Posted by: rex ||
07/18/2004 3:29:42 PM ||
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Wimpy: "I will gladly pay you Tuesday Wednesday (Nov 4th), for a hamburger your vote today.
Iran's hard-line judiciary on Sunday abruptly ended the trial of a secret agent charged with murdering an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist, prompting Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi to lead her legal team out of the court and threaten to take the case to international organizations. Ebadi, who is representing the mother of slain journalist Zahra Kazemi in her first high-profile case since winning the Nobel last year, refused to sign documents charging the agent, saying they were flawed. No date was set for the verdict, but Ebadi's team has said the agent on trial, Mohammad Reza Aghdam Ahmadi, is innocent and his indictment part of a cover-up. Ahmadi, the only person charged in the killing, has pleaded innocent.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2004 8:11:00 PM ||
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Iran said today some Al Qaeda operatives blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States may have illegally passed through Iran from Afghanistan months before the terror strike, but Tehran dismissed as "fabrications" U.S. reports that Iran may have helped in the assault.
What's that phrase again, 'causus belli' ...
"It's normal that five or six people may have crossed the border within a couple of months without our knowledge. ... Our borders are long and it's not possible to fully control them even when we want to which we don't," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters. Asefi was responding to a September 11 Commission report, expected out Thursday, that says Iran may have facilitated the 2001 attacks in the United States by providing eight to 10 Al Qaeda hijackers with safe passage to and from terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. "Even more people may (illegally) cross the border between Mexico and the United States," he said.
I hate it when an Iranian mullah is right about something.
The spokesperson said possible crossings through Iran occurred months before the Sept. 11 attacks but Iran has since increased border security. "Who knew Sept. 11 was going to happen?" Asefi told reporters.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/18/2004 1:19:30 PM ||
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"Lies! All lies! Except for part of it, which wasn't our fault!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2004 17:16 Comments ||
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"Even more people may (illegally) cross the border between Mexico and the United States," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hamid Reza Asefi said.
I hope our Republican and Rat politicians in Congress as well as in the WH are paying attention to this guy's words. Mocking our well known loosey goosey southern border will not be so funny if and when some swarthy middle Eastern Al Queda folks decide to bribe some coyotes and their Federale escorts to get them safely across the border to have some "fun" at our expense.
Posted by: rex ||
07/18/2004 17:59 Comments ||
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#3
Could this post and this post have any thing to do with this post? Sounds like the Mullah's burkas are twisted in a knot and they are trying to figure out how triangulation works.
Posted by: Mr. Davis ||
07/18/2004 18:54 Comments ||
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#4
In other news, the sun rises in the East and water is wet.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/18/2004 23:52 Comments ||
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Syrians jailed or charged on minor crimes will be exonerated under an amnesty issued Friday apparently to mark the fourth anniversary of Hereditary President Bashar Assad's ascendancy to power, Syria's official news agency reported.
The old Royal Pardon routine, is it?
The agency, SANA, said the amnesty offer covers offenses like theft, forgery, military desertion and other white-collar crimes committed before Thursday. No details were provided on how many people could be cleared under the amnesty, but the number is expected to reach thousands. Saturday marks the fourth anniversary of the Syrian Parliament's swearing in of Bashar as president. Bashar was elected Syrian leader on July 10, 2000, a month after the death of his father, President Hafez Assad.
They love him in Syria, y'know...
Bashar's amnesty applies to people serving prison terms or facing trial on minor charges. Fugitive criminals wanting to take advantage of the amnesty must turn themselves in to authorities within three months. Under the amnesty, prisoners will be freed or people facing court cleared of their charges. However, it does not cover political prisoners. Political activist and lawyer Anwar Al-Bunni urged the government to include political prisoners in the amnesty. "Syrian authorities continue to ignore all calls for releasing political prisoners and their inhumane situation," Al-Bunni told The Associated Press. "What is important for them (the government) is to issue amnesties for those who have committed crimes of robbing people and those who have looted their money."
Also any hard boyz who might be in jug, rather than wearing police uniforms...
Since becoming president, Bashar has routinely released hundreds of prisoners under amnesties coinciding with the anniversary of his coming to power. But he has also clamped down on pro-democracy activists, showing there are limits to the dissent that his administration is willing to tolerate.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2004 11:49:19 PM ||
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#1
the amnesty offer covers offenses like theft, forgery, military desertion and other white-collar crimes committed before Thursday.
#2
I'd close off the border with Iraq. They'll be issuing these a-holes guns and one-way tix to Fallujah and Ramadi. Supply of Jihdis must be down
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2004 13:05 Comments ||
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#3
But next year or the year after or the year after that, when person or persons unknown are issuing arms and ammunition to anti-Baathists swarming into Syria, the border will be much more tightly controlled.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2004 18:38 Comments ||
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This is Part 5 in a series of articles written by me, Mike Sylwester, based on a new book, Nemesis, written by Peter Evans. This posting is based also on the book American Assassins, by James Clarke, and on The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy: The Conspiracy and Coverup, by William Turner and Jonn Christian. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)
Sirhan Shirhan was born in 1944 in Jerusalem, one of seven children. His father worked for the city water department. The family fled their home in 1948 and lived in a refugee camp in Jordan until the end of 1956, when they emigrated to Pasadena, California. Within a year the father returned to Jordan. Sirhan Sirhan graduated from high school in 1963. He then enrolled in a local college but failed to attend classes and dropped out within a few months. He worked in a series of odd jobs.
In late 1965 he got a job at the Santa Anita horse-racing track. He decided to become a jockey. In the summer of 1966 he began working as an exercise boy at a horse ranch in Corona. In September he fell off a horse and injured his head. He subsequently complained of head pains and blurred vision. He continued to work at the ranch but in July 1967 he filed a workers compensation claim and quit that job and went to work for a health-food store in Pasadena. He eventually received a couple thousand dollars from his claim in February 1968 and then quit his health-food job in March 1968.
Back while he worked at the Corona ranch, he became interested in mind control. He thought that mind-control techniques might help him to achieve his personal and political goals. After his head injury, he also employed the techniques to try to alleviate the pain from his injuries. His mind-control exercises includes self-hypnosis and "automatic writing" in a notebook while in self-induced trances. His "automatic writing" on January 31, 1968, includes the statements: "Robert Kennedy is going to die" and "Who killed Kennedy? I don't know I don't know I don't know." At that time, Robert Kennedy was a US Senator representing the state of New York, not yet a candidate to become President. (David Karr arranged a meeting between Mahmoud Hamshari and Aristotle Onassis in January 1968.)
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
07/18/2004 5:29:36 PM ||
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To be continued.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
07/18/2004 17:36 Comments ||
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I think Middle East Online get a press release from the Tunisian president's office. But it sounds good to me. It shows you can have a country that's Muslim by culture without tripping over nutbags...
If there was a Queen Dido in Tunisia's past, there seem to be many in the country's present. Queen Dido, also known as Elissar or Elissa, is a Phoenician princess from Tyre who founded ancient Carthage (modern-day Tunisia) in 814 BC.
We knew that. Aeneas was enamored of her on his way to found Rome...
The same unbridled spirit of ambition and achievement seems to drive many of Tunisia's women today. Some of them, like Elissa Karoui, share with the Phoenician princess both her name and the pursuit of achievement. The 17 year-old was honored by Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali for her academic excellence, as she achieved a near 100% score in the national secondary school graduation exam known as the "baccalaureat".
Smart girl. Good for her.
Miss Karoui's performance is illustrative of an overall trend, namely outstanding academic results achieved by Tunisian young women. The issue seems intriguing to many of the country's newspaper columnists. For experts about Tunisian society, the explanation is almost simple though. "Young Tunisian women are aware more than ever that there is no glass ceiling", says a Tunisian sociologist. "They know of yesterday's handicaps and are determined to take their rights seriously. And with today's virtually gender-blind social system, they feel education is the ultimate instrument of social promotion."
That's very... ummm... un-Arab of them. Almost Phoenician, y'might say...
Israel has completed military rehearsals for a pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear power facility at Bushehr, Israeli officials told the London-based Sunday Times... Maybe sooner rather than later?
#1
"Israel will on no account permit Iranian reactors - especially the one being built in Bushehr with Russian help - to go critical."
Good, while you're blowing up stuff in Iran the civilized and rational portion of the world would like to respectfully request you add some Mullahs to your target list.
The paper also quoted from a classified document on the Iranian threat which was presented to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon earlier this year and which it claims to have seen.
The document, entitled "The Strategic Future of Israel," was reportedly written by four of Israel's senior defense experts and advocated military action against "countries which develop nuclear weapons."
It described Iran as a "suicide nation" and recommended "targeted killings" of members of the country's elite, including its leading nuclear scientists.
There might not be any mullahs left to blow gaskets. Or maybe they'll leave Khatami and kill all the others sort of like they've done to the Paleos. I'm indifferent.
Posted by: Mr. Davis ||
07/18/2004 20:31 Comments ||
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Personally I can't figure why the Iranian's have been allowed to get this far with their nuke ambitions. Of course the ever responsible and far sighted Russians being involved really shouldn't surprise I suppose. If Israel shows the moxie needed to end this nonsense I hope we (US) back them to the hilt!
Posted by: RJB in JC MO ||
07/18/2004 20:46 Comments ||
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Why the f-ck are the israelis announcing their intentions?
Everybody would love to see the mullahs gone by the hand of the Iranian people. Check out all the other posts today about Iran. There seems to be a full court psyops press on the mullahs. All this puts pressure on the mullahs to do something stupid and let's hope we are helping the Iranian people to do something smart, to the extent we can.
Besides, by telegraphing the punch, they precede the injury with insult. How humiliating.
Posted by: Mr. Davis ||
07/18/2004 21:22 Comments ||
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DPA - this is a surprise?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2004 21:46 Comments ||
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Why the f-ck are the israelis announcing their intentions?
In addition to Mr. Davis' comments, it also serves notice to the usual suspects, who would loudly condemn such an action, to do something about the problem and quickly. Else they lose credibility.
#10
Why wait til now? Easy -- let the Iranians sink every available hard currency dollar, man-hour and part into the reactors -- and then blow them to hell. If you blow them at the beginning, the loss is less and the Iranians just figure to start over.
Saddam never really recovered a nuclear option after Osirak -- we want the same thing here.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/19/2004 0:09 Comments ||
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Severely EFL; go read it all. Hat tip: LGF
... This hatred has been the hallmark of the Left's attitude to the USA throughout the ten years since [Gulf War I], steadily strengthening, not at all mitigated - on the contrary, noticeably sharpened - by the events of September 11, and hugely exacerbated by the recent, second, war against Iraq, about which there was some real moral ambiguity. Today, it has reached the proportions of an epidemic, with disturbing additional characteristics. Anti-Americanism has become a superstition. Fear, loathing, fury and resentment have combined to produce something that resembles nothing so much as a new form of virulent anti-Semitism. Within the USA and without, tirades are daily directed against America, its values, its founding fathers, its policies past and present, its very being. Intellectuals as notable as Gore Vidal Vidal an "intellectual"? HA!
have allowed themselves to descend to conspiracy theories about September 11 that would shame even an undergraduate. "Bush knew about it in advance and allowed it to happen in order to give him a pretext for invading Afghanistan and seizing its oil" - this summarises, I think, the startling truth Vidal unleashed on the world. Such a construction would do the authors of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion proud. And Vidal didn't even have to forge anything; his audience was never going to ask to see the evidence. Nor will their fellow travelers, the media.
As Alice once remarked: "What on earth is going on?" The reasons are not all that hard to find. It's about an ideology in defeat and retreat, yet not acknowledging either. And I doubt it ever will. They're sure that if they just keep hating harder and harder, they'll finally win. Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/18/2004 5:16:44 PM ||
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Rights activists in Tanzania yesterday protested Saudi Arabia's refusal to lift immunity on one of its diplomats accused of rape in the east African country. "If the Saudi government is not ready to waive diplomatic immunity to allow the trial of the suspect, there is no need for Tanzania to maintain diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia," Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) Managing Director Hellen Bisimba said. Tanzania Women Lawyers Association (TAWLA) chairperson Tumaini Slaa also urged the Saudi authorities to lift the immunity, saying the offence is serious enough. "It is our believe that Riyadh will sooner rather than later lift diplomatic immunity on the official," Slaa said in a statement. "This is a criminal offence. Does it mean that the official could still be shielded with diplomatic immunity if he were to attack and kill someone with a machete or a gun?" she asked.
Well yeah. Silly woman.
Tanzania's Diplomatic Immunity Act and the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations bar the government from prosecuting the suspect. "Such a law is utterly absurd and must not be applied blindly," Slaa added.
By Sarfaraz Ahmed
The rivalry between the MQM and the Jamaat-e-Islami appears to have taken on a new dimension with Governor Ishratul Ibad having said on Thursday that the government is seriously examining all possible repercussions if the Jamaat is banned. He said this after the alleged confessions of doctor brothers Akmal Waheed and Arshad Waheed, who are accused of abetting suspects in various terrorist activities, including the June 10 attack on the convoy of the Karachi corps commander, that they are associated with the Jamaat.
The seemingly calculated move of the governor, who is the former convener of the MQM, is the beginning of another war of words with the Jamaat, which includeds another demand that the government prohibit the Jamaat "to protect the lives and property of citizens and ensure law and order" in Karachi. "The Jamaat-e-Islami has intimate links with the Al Qaeda terrorist gang and it reportedly masterminded terrorist acts in Karachi. It is destroying Karachi through its terrorism," the MQM is quoted as saying. After last month's ban on the entry into Karachi of Jamaat-e-Islami Amir Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Jamiatul Ulema-e-Islam leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the city had regained peace and tranquility, and that people heaved a sigh of relief.
The Jamaat-e-Islami has criticised the MQM's talk of a ban as "the wishful thinking of those whose sole aim is to appease the Americans." The Jamaat's Karachi Amir Dr Mairajul Huda Siddiqui said his party was "the main obstacle in the fulfillment of the designs of America and its local agents", and that the party would not succumb to the government's pressure. The Jamaat claims the governor is involved in a number of serious crimes and had cases registered against him. But what is more significant about the MQM outburst is its "disclosure" that Jamaat Amir Qazi Hussain Ahmed, who also heads the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, had "escaped" from Pakistan after the disclosures made by Dr Akmal Waheed and Dr Arshad Waheed. According to it, his escape is a cause for concern even for his members and supporters. But party members told me that Qazi had gone to London to attend a weeklong conference of Islamic scholars, and has returned to the country. They gave me his cell phone and suggested I speak to him on his way to Nowshera after leaving Islamabad. I spoke to him and asked when he was coming to Karachi. His answer was that he had no visit scheduled.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2004 1:05:20 PM ||
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Afghanistan's new US-trained army is a match for any of the warlord militias which control much of the country, an American general said on Saturday. The Afghan National Army, built up under American guidance since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, now numbers some 13,000 men, Brig. Gen. Thomas Mancino said. "I can tell you that the current Central Corps is well-trained, well-equipped, professional and able to defeat any regional force," Mancino told reporters. The general didn't identify any of the forces that could confront the new Afghan army, whose main Central Corps includes artillery and armoured units as well as infantry. But his remark comes days after President Hamid Karzai said that "warlordism" was a bigger threat to the country than Taliban insurgents and announced a tougher approach with warlords resisting disarmament.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2004 12:43:36 PM ||
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#1
Let's hope he's right. The international force (Germany, Canada, France, etc.) seems to be in general withdrawal mode with a slight blip for the elections.
Posted by: Capt America ||
07/18/2004 16:16 Comments ||
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#2
Either the new Afghan army is really good, or the warlords' armies are really bad. Hmmm, which is it?
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/18/2004 16:27 Comments ||
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#3
A bit of both, I suspect. Those Afghani fighters in the Northern Alliance were pretty impressive, even underequipped as they were.
I just hope we managed to teach them how to duck (too much machismo is not a good thing).
Posted by: Kathy K ||
07/18/2004 18:42 Comments ||
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ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today called on all Jews living in France to leave and move to Israel "immediately" after a rise in anti-Semitism. "Move to Israel as early as possible - that's what I say to Jews all around the world, but there (France) I think it's a must," Mr Sharon told a meeting of an American Jewish association. "They have to move immediately."
#2
Not a good development, IMO. For ex-Israeli Jews who are already threatened by local enemies, thiscould be seen as confirmation by both parties that they don't 'belong' where they are. For those who are content with the countries they're in, this will only raise doubts about where their loyalties might lie, amongst some of their neighbours. Sharon's intention may have been to shame countries like France, but he's probably also thrown fuel onto the embers of anti-semitism elsewhere.
#3
I don't think that Sharon's comments have any negative influence on people questioning the patriotism or loyalties of Jews. Nowadays so many people in Western nations have dual citizenship, it's accepted that a person may have loyalties to more than one nation.
But more importantly I think Sharon's comments subtly reflect a growing concern that Israel's population has increased at the lowest rate in 2003 since 1990, largely because of declining numbers of Jewish immigrants moving there. Israel needs to attract more immigrants, no doubt about it, if it's to survive as a vital nation. The average birth rate of Israelis will not be enough. http://www.jafi.org.il/agenda/2001/english/wk4-5/7.aspIsrael's population grew by 1.9% (127,000) in 2002 - the lowest growth rate since 1990. The major reason for the decline in the growth rate is the drop in the number of new immigrants. 34,831 new immigrants arrived in Israel in 2002 - compared with 43,471 in 2001...Aliyah from has doubled in the past 15 years. Results of a recently published survey, "The Jews of France, Values and Identity," reveal that 6 percent said they would make aliyah "very soon" double the percentage of the last survey in 1988. That number was 12 percent among families with school-age children, and 28 percent among families with children attending Jewish schools. These figures were confirmed Jewish Agency data, which showed that aliyah from France doubled in 2002 to more than 2,500. On the other hand, percent of respondents said they had no intention of moving to Israel, up from 40 percent in 2002.
The survey, based on interviews with more than 1,000 heads of households was commissioned by the United Jewish Social Fund (FSJU), and France's United Jewish Appeal. It also revealed an aging population, increasing rates of intermarriage, and declining numbers of French Jews.
Conducted in January 2002, just at the beginning of a wave of attacks on French Jews and community institutions, Jews expressed concerned about their future in France -Nonetheless, while they placed terrorism, anti-Semitism and racism at the top of their concerns, some 90 percent of respondents expressed satisfaction with their lives in France.
Posted by: rex ||
07/18/2004 17:34 Comments ||
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#4
true Rex, and the Arabs and Islamists breed like cockroaches
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2004 17:38 Comments ||
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#5
While you're right to point out Israel's demographic motive for attracting immigrants, I disagree with your dismissal of Sharon's raising the Jews-should-be-in-Israel announcement as harmless. Now I don't know how many people in the UK actually possess dual citizenship, but I'm sure it's a very low percentage, and only a small minority of them will be people of British origin who've adopted a foreign nationality later in life. Why should Jewish people who for the most part live comfortable lives free of discrimination or persecution suddenly find themselves being told they shouldn't be here? It could only make life more difficult, put it that way.
#6
Bulldog,
This is one of those 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' things for the Jews.
Israel was established precisely so that in the case of extreme antisemitism, the Jews would be guaranteed a safe haven. You'll notice that Sharon hasn't suggested mass emigration from, eg. the States, because the Jews are not at risk here, and so only the ideologues would desire to move, a very small number these days, as Israel's aliya (immigration) numbers show.
But, in places where the antisemites are active, a significant number -- however small -- of the country's residents have already deemed their Jews to be not-us. Such an attitude only thrives where the general atmosphere is already baseline anti-Jewish, and this will not change no matter how hard the Jews work to demonstrate that they are good sons of the soil. I know, my maternal grandfather earned an Iron Cross in the first World War, but the SS came looking for him all the same.
At the urging of Yasser Arafat's top advisers, the Fatah al-Aksa Martyrs' Brigades has banned the chief UN Mideast envoy from entering the Palestinian territories or meeting Palestinian officials, al-Aksa leaders said Friday. Arafat's office has already made it clear that Terje Roed-Larsen - long considered close to Arafat and sympathetic to the Palestinian cause - was no longer welcome in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. A spokesman for the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a group with ties to Arafat's ruling Fatah movement, said on condition of anonymity that Arafat aides asked the group to release a statement barring Roed-Larsen from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
But another Aqsa official, in a phone call to the Associated Press, denied his group was ordered by Arafat to release the statement. "The statement reflects our views," said Abu Amin, an Aqsa leader in the West Bank town of Jenin. "It has nothing to do with Yasser Arafat." Thursday's statement said Roed-Larsen is also forbidden to meet with Palestinian officials, including Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei. Roed-Larsen could not immediately be reached for comment.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2004 1:14:14 AM ||
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#1
...the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a group with ties to Arafat's ruling Fatah movement...
Posted by: Scott R ||
07/18/2004 12:07 Comments ||
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#4
I am still amazed, though I guess I shouldn't be, at how the apparent longterm strategy of Israel, as speculated upon here on Rantburg and elsewhere, has played out almost exactly as predicted.
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
07/18/2004 12:47 Comments ||
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#5
Right-O, Carl in NH! The MSM may be getting the clue in a month or so, heh heh. Doesn't mean that they will write about it. It has to go through the Agenda Filter⢠first.
The Paleos will find out in jig time that pissing on your friends loses friends.
It is a Bwahahahahaha day in the neighborhood. I feel good! *James Brown music inserted here*
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/18/2004 13:18 Comments ||
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"They told us Larsen is now with Israel and America. ... They asked us to intervene to stop him in his tracks," he said. The statement meant the Norwegian diplomat could be at risk of being attacked if he defied the ban
Is it possible that the Paleos could be that stupid as to kill a UN official? Sorry, stupid question, never expect them to lose an opportunity to lose an opportunity.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/18/2004 14:27 Comments ||
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#7
So what if they do,Tony.It is not like the U.N.would do anything abou it.
#8
Ah, yes, Raptor, the UN wouldn't take any positive action, but I foresee a massive upwelling of donor fatigue. Arafat without a funding stream is just a dirty old man with no friends, not even worth bothering about.
via WaPo
Login: bigwig@bigwig.com / bigwig
AP - Sunday, July 18, 2004
Talks to end violence in the region of Darfur in western Sudan collapsed on Saturday, with two African rebel groups charging that Sudan's Arab-led government had not kept its end of the bargain. Mediators worked late into the night trying to save the negotiations, which began Thursday at the African Union headquarters in the Ethiopian capital. But the rebels, insisting that the Sudanese government fulfill a list of earlier commitments first, walked out on Saturday without meeting the government delegation. "These talks are now finished," Ahmed Hussain Adam said on behalf of his Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Army. "We are leaving Addis Ababa."
Ibrahim Ahmed Ibrahim, spokesman for the government delegation, said Sudan was not prepared to accept preconditions. "The demands of the rebels are not acceptable, and it is a disrespect to the African Union," he said. Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said the government remained open to further negotiations.
The rebels' main demand was an internationally supervised timeline for Sudan to make good on its promise to disarm a shadowy Arab militia called the Janjaweed, which is accused of killing tens of thousands of black Africans and driving more than a million more from their homes. The rebels were also seeking a government commitment to respect previous agreements to allow an international inquiry into the killings, prosecute those responsible, lift restrictions on humanitarian workers and release prisoners of war. Most of the rebels' demands were contained in a widely ignored cease-fire deal signed with the government on April 8.
Posted by: .com ||
07/18/2004 12:34:49 AM ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
