Free men are aware of the imperfection inherent in human affairs, and they are willing to fight and die for that which is not perfect. They know that basic human problems can have no final solutions, that our freedom, justice, equality, etc. are far from absolute, and that the good life is compounded of half measures, compromises, lesser evils, and gropings toward the perfect. The rejection of approximations and the insistence on absolutes are the manifestation of a nihilism that loathes freedom, tolerance, and equity.
What Hoffer was getting at is that you cannot build Heaven on Earth, and the people that think you can are fools at best and megalomaniacs at worst. The comprehensive transformation of society to be wrought by the People's Republic/Thousand-Year Reich/Juche Idea/Bolivarian Revolution/Great Leap Forward/Great Society/Hope and Change/call-it-what-you-will is never going create utopia, and will likely only make things worse. You cannot perfect human nature. The best you can do is let free people work through life on their own.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/30/2009 12:20 Comments ||
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Daniel Ortega muscled Nicaragua's courts to permit his permanent re-election, effectively making him dictator. He's not alone. After the U.S.' shabby treatment of tiny Honduras, a new wave of tyrants is rising.
'Nothing can stop me from re-election," crowed Ortega, a man Ronald Reagan once called "the little dictator." Last Monday Nicaragua's Supreme Court issued a ruling permitting the Marxist Ortega to run for a second term after he and a group of allied mayors petitioned them, overruling a one-term limit in the constitution. Same old Ortega: His dictatorial hunger hasn't changed.
But one thing is different: U.S. actions since the Honduran crisis that have only emboldened him. Last June 28, Honduras' Supreme Court ruled that then-President Manuel Zelaya's bid to hold a reelection referendum was unconstitutional and subject to the sanctions of Honduras' 1982 constitution: removal from office.
Out he went, but the U.S. cried foul, shortly after Zelaya's patron in Caracas, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, yelled "military coup." Unlike Chavez, whose means of striking at Honduras were threats and mayhem -- such as sneaking Zelaya back to Tegucigalpa to whip up mobs -- the Obama administration was in a position to inflict long-term punishment on the Hondurans.
Over the past four months it has: pulled visas to impede business travel, humiliated leaders, kicked out Honduran diplomats from the U.S., cut off $30 million in economic and military aid, and threatened to not recognize Honduras' Nov. 29 election.
These acts have harmed the economic climate and cost Honduras $200 million in lost business. Most significantly, they've put Honduras on the spot, creating the perception of "crisis" even as Ortega next door creates a real dictatorship. Sure, the State Department says it's "concerned" about the latter. But we don't see any OAS missions or "peace talk" initiatives coming of it.
It's based on an utter misreading of what's threatening Latin America. No, it's not military coups -- which went out of style in the 1970s. It's dictators in democracy's clothing. Would-be tyrants use democratic institutions to gut separations of powers and end checks and balances, leaving just an institutional shell of a country with a democratic label. Venezuela's Chavez is its epitome.
Ortega was next, shifting his tactics from the days when he shot his way to power for his last dictatorship, but his goal is the same.
Some may ask what's wrong with this. In Ortega's case it's that the mayors who stood at his side at the court were mayors at all only because of elections that even the State Department called fraudulent. That gives a whiff of the integrity of the widely detested Ortega's coming re-elections now that he can hold them repeatedly.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/30/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I will not forget the misery you spread world wide obama.
I can't believe I'm saying crap like that. I wasn't a black-helicopters guy the last time 'round. Of course, I was a lot younger & more of a liberal the last time 'round. Hell, I voted for Clinton once.
But only once.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
10/30/2009 13:09 Comments ||
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#6
he won't get reelected in 2012, g
He believes otherwise---ballots are just paper, after all.
Luqman Ameen Abdullah, the imam of Detroits Masjid Al-Haqq (Mosque of Truth), was killed Wednesday in a shootout with FBI agents. The agents were trying to arrest him on charges of conspiracy, receipt of stolen goods, firearms offenses and more. Agents also arrested eight mosque members; then Thursday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police caught Abdullahs son, Mujahid Carswell. Two other accused jihadists also fled, and have not yet been found.
According to the indictment, in his mosque in Detroit Luqman Abdullah was preaching offensive jihad and the establishment of a Sharia state in North America. This sovereign Isamic state would be ruled by Islamic law and by the apparent godfather of Abdullahs movement, Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin. Al-Amin is the former Black Panther and convert to Islam who gained fame under the name H. Rap Brown. Al-Amin is now serving a life sentence for murdering two police officers, while his disciples, like Luqman Abdullah, carry on the message he articulated so memorably in the 1960s: If America dont come around, were gonna burn it down.
In the spirit of his mentor, Abdullah has told his flock: America must fall. He has encouraged the Muslims in his mosque to support Hizballah, the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. He exhorted them to bestir themselves to pious deeds: We should be figuring out how to fight the Kuffar that is, unbelievers. We got to take out the U.S. government. The U.S. government is nothing but Kuffars. Among the unbelievers were FBI agents, about whom Abdullah declared: Deal with them, deal with them the way, the way they supposed to be dealt with . Its not that complicated, man .If they are coming to get me Ill just strap a bomb on and blow up everybody. A law enforcement official wrote in an affidavit that Abdullah and his followers have trained regularly in the use of firearms, and continue to train in martial arts and sword fighting in accord with Abdullahs dictum that every Muslim believer should have a weapon and should not be scared to use their weapon when needed.
Abdullah found justification for all this in the Islamic holy book, the Quran, which he said justified stealing, robbing and other illegal acts, as long as they profit Islam.
One would think that Muslim spokesmen in America would be anxious to prove their moderate bona fides by repudiating Abdullah, praising the efforts of law enforcement officials, and announcing new measures to teach against the understanding of Islam that prevailed at the Masjid al-Haqq and to shore up the moderate Islam that politically correct orthodoxy insists prevails in all mosques in America in the first place. But no such luck. Instead, they praised Abdullah and excoriated law enforcement. Rest at link
Posted by: ed ||
10/30/2009 07:18 ||
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#1
According to the indictment, in his mosque in Detroit Luqman Abdullah was preaching "offensive jihad"
As opposed to that first-rate inoffensive jihad we hear so much about.
#4
This sovereign Isamic state would be ruled by Islamic law and by the apparent godfather of Abdullahs movement, Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin. Al-Amin is the former Black Panther and convert to Islam who gained fame under the name H. Rap Brown
From Daniel Pipes:
H. Rap Brown is a famous black nationalist and the self-styled namesake of "rap" music...His 1971 conversion came at the hands of Dar-ul-Islam, a Sunni organization of African-Americans. He went on pilgrimage to Mecca following his release in 1976, then settled in Atlanta, where he soon founded the Community Mosque. By 1980, Al-Amin had become spiritual leader-imam-of over thirty Islamic centers belonging to the Dar-ul-Islam "national community." Estimates of its total membership have run as high as 10,000.
The Islam that Al-Amin adopted is - no surprise - the radical variety. The transition was easy from the hate-America sentiments he had espoused as a black nationalist in the 1960s. "When we begin to look critically at the Constitution of the United States," he wrote in a 1994 book Revolution by the Book (The Rap is Live), "we see that in its main essence it is diametrically opposed to what Allah has commanded."
He chastises American blacks for being too integrated into their country's life: "The problem with African-Americans is that they are so American," he wrote. Men who belong to Al-Amin's Atlanta mosque wear either Islamic-style skullcaps and long robes or black-nationalist combat boots and fatigues. In 1995, two of its members were convicted of illegally shipping more than 900 firearms to groups in Detroit and Philadelphia, and to an Islamic gang linked to Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind sheikh of New York. One young convert at Al-Amin's mosque subsequently joined Islamic separatists in Kashmir, where he was killed attacking an Indian army post.
Al-Amin has never been shy about invoking Islam in his struggle against white "ameriKKKa." Indeed, he falls into the usual trap of the extremist, mirror-imaging - he assumes that the U.S. government reciprocates his own fear and hate. "Islam is under attack on a global scale by those who wish to control the world" he wrote after his 1995 arrest. "The charges leveled against me are in direct relationship to the success that Islam has experienced in our immediate area. My persecution by the U.S. government is nothing new."
Al-Amin went on to call the United States a country "where Islam is under attack." Similarly, his first words in an Alabama courtroom, explaining his arrest in 2000 were: "It's a government conspiracy." His habeas corpus petition elaborated on this claim, stating that law enforcement authorities and organized crime "want him dead," and had joined forces to frame him for Kinchen's murder. "This matter is not just about me." he wrote in a letter that was later published. "It is about Islam and the entire Muslim Ummah. There is a pre-meditated conspiracy to destroy Islamic leadership. When the truth is established, the disbelievers will start to do things."
One might think, given his record and his wild-eyed views, that Al-Amin would be shunned by America's Islamic establishment. Just the opposite. He has been celebrated by Council on American-Islamic Relations for - of all things - his "moral character." A coalition of Islamic organizations in 1995 called him one of the "leading figures" of American Islam.
Al-Amin has been a sought-after speaker on the Islamist circuit, addressing meetings of CAIR, the Islamic Society of North America and the Islamic Committee for Palestine. He has held starring roles at major Muslim rallies, including the Bosnia Task Force USA rally outside the United Nations in New York in October 1995, where an audience of 18,000 heard him condemn the world body for its "betrayal" of Muslims in Bosnia. Revolution by the Book garnered rave reviews in the Islamic press. "Clear, sharp, focused, alert, lively, snappy; eminently reasonable and accessible to one and all," read one assessment, which called it "a classic of its genre."
What became standard Black Panther discourse emerged from a long history of urban activism, social criticism and political struggle by African Americans. As inheritors of the discipline, pride, and calm self-assurance preached by Malcolm X, the panthers became national heroes in African American communities by infusing abstract nationalism with street toughness-by joining the rhythms of black working-class youth culture to the interracial élan and effervescence of Bay Area New Left politics. Their agenda was defined as a 10 Point Program:
The Ten Point Program
The Ten Point Program was as follows:
1. We want power to determine the destiny of our black and oppressed communities' education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present day society.
2. We want completely free health care for all black and oppressed people.
3. We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people, other people of color, and all oppressed people inside the United States.
5. We want an immediate end to all wars of aggression.
6. We want full employment for our people. We want an end to the robbery by the capitalists of our Black Community.
7. We want decent housing, fit for the shelter of human beings.
8. We want decent education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society.
9. We want freedom for all black and oppressed people now held in U. S. Federal, state, county, city and military prisons and jails. We want trials by a jury of peers for all persons charged with so-called crimes under the laws of this country.
10. We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, peace and people's community control of modern technology.
No "former" about it. This sounds like the agenda coming out of the WH!
#6
Abdullah found justification for all this in the Islamic holy book, the Qur'an, which he said "justified stealing, robbing and other illegal acts, as long as they profit Islam."
Abdullah openly says that the Qur'an is a crook book justifying any criminal activity. Wow! I appreciate his honesty.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/30/2009 12:31 Comments ||
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#7
3. We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people, other people of color, and all oppressed people inside the United States.
Chicago teenager, Derrion Albert, could not be reached for comment.
#8
two of its members were convicted of illegally shipping more than 900 firearms to groups in Detroit and Philadelphia
So where do these firearms come from? I or anyone else I know would have difficulty purchasing 900 firearms. A FFL wouldn't allow me to purchase this many firearms without a lot of scrutiny. This most likely means a lot of people stole a lot of firearms from a lot of places.
#2
I think they will be successful. All they have to do is hint at a little beheading, or a bomb going off.
"I would never do anything like that, BUT ..."
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
10/30/2009 15:14 Comments ||
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#3
Well if Christians wont stand up for themselves it leaves the task open for others... Great new picture. The guys glasses are even dirtier than mine.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/30/2009 16:01 Comments ||
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#4
#3 Well if Christians wont stand up for themselves it leaves the task open for others... Great new picture. The guys glasses are even dirtier than mine.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon 2009-10-30 16:01
Several Christian clergy have lodged complaints and at least one post by a Christian blogger was posted here "the Anchoress". CAIR's motive is not in support of the hated "people of the Book" or for a Jew (Jesus) but is an attempt to project fear of CAIR upon Hollywood by any means possible. This simply illustrates how rabid Ialamists are in regards to any messenger, however remote they may be to Islam, a warning shot aimes at Hollywood.
Posted by: Boss Snomotle8280 ||
10/30/2009 16:40 Comments ||
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#5
Wver wonder why didn't CAIR protest Brokeback Mtn or any of the many other pro Gay films?
Possibly because they feel they are now strong enough to scare a Jesus mocker but they aren't strong enough to take on the Gays (which is funny in a way).
Posted by: lord garth ||
10/30/2009 16:44 Comments ||
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#6
Funny that Curb thought they were picking a safe target and avoid the Moslims but the line was moved.
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.
Daniel Ortega muscled Nicaragua's courts to permit his permanent re-election, effectively making him dictator. He's not alone. After the U.S.' shabby treatment of tiny Honduras, a new wave of tyrants is rising.
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