I Knew I'd Eventually Get Tagged For The Book Meme

Recovering Ortho Jew has tagged me to do a Book Meme.

I was sort of hoping to avoid this Meme, but it was inevitable to get tagged as I've seen many blogs on my blogroll do book meme posts. I am not much of a fiction reader. And the truth is that I am a slow deliberate reader. Sure, I can "read" a book quickly, but it is a lie to say that I retained much of anything if I try this approach. And I have a sneaking suspicion that those of you who think you can read a 250-300 page book in a night, haven't really read the book. It is impossible to read a book properly at a rate of more than 10 pages per hour.

Most of the non fiction books I've read were in high school. I enjoyed reading in high school, and the focus on existentialism that my school had in their English department definitely had an impact on my transformation from someone who assumed there was a God, to me becoming Agnostic, to finally becoming Atheist.

Don't get me wrong, I read tons now. Most (all) of the books I read though are non fiction texts though. And of course I must read 30 to 40 blog posts a day and 30 to 40 newspaper/science/sports articles a day.

Now for the Meme:

A book that changed my life?:
Who Has Seen The Wind by W O Mitchell; all about life and death, I found it thought provoking at the time and it made me become introspective of my own life, and the mortality of everything from amoebas to humans.

A book I’ve read more than once:
Tough one. Does Winning At The Races by William Quirin count?

A book I would take with me if I were stuck on a desert island:
Here is where I get practical. Robinson Crusoe. I figure it would give me an idea of how to cope. I'd also consider a book on how to make a boat.

A book that made me laugh:
Horton Hears A Who by Theodor Geisel.

A book that made me cry:
I don't know about crying. I admit I've come close though, especially while watching some feel good movies. I think there were parts of Johnny Tremain that made me come close, but I was pretty young back then.

A book that I wish had been written:
The Harry Potter series. I haven't read them, but it made the author filthy rich.

A book I wish had never been written:
The Koran, or Qu'ran, or whatever you call it. Too many people have some ugly interpretations when it comes to what it says.

I'm currently reading:
Outside of Now You Know, by Doug Lennox(the red version and the blue version), books about trivial facts, I am not reading any book right now. Especially non fiction.

A book I've been meaning to read:
The End of Faith by Sam Harris. I came close to buying the Jesus Mysteries, but I found out enough on the internet to satisfy my curiosity.

What turned me onto fiction?
Other than being forced to read fiction in school, absolutely nothing.

Now it is time to tag 5 bloggers. I will focus on tagging females. One, their gender seems to like reading fiction, and secondly, they seem to like to talk about themselves, generally speaking of course:)

Atheist Girl, Begin Each Day As If It Were On Purpose, Lemons and Lollipops, Memoirs Of A Gouda, and Beep Beep It's Me.

Actually this group of chicks I'm tagging has a lot of smarts, so I expect their responses to be quite impressive.

Hezbollah Used UN Bunkers

It must of been a UN bunkers. The UN wouldn't just watch bunkers being built by terrorists and not report it.................would they?

I just can't figure out why the UN would build bunkers so close to UN buildings. Someone could have mistaken them to be bunkers that are being used to hide terrorists, and this would put the UN buildings in danger of getting blown up.

Thanks to Jaakobou, who has been emailing me some very informative clips lately. Check out his videos and favorites here.

DING DING DING: HAMAD ACTUALLY BEGINS TO GET IT

Ghazi Hamad, is a spokesman for the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Authority government and a former newspaper editor. He is also a Palestinian who is actually telling the truth.

Mr. Hamad wrote an introspective piece that was published Sunday on some Palestinian news Web sites.

I don't know who hates him more for it though, Arab Muslims or Moonbats. Arab Muslims for stating the obvious that they have been trying to dance around for 58 years, or Moonbats for being conned by the Arab dancing and actually putting blame where blame deserves.

OK, here is much of what he said:

"When you walk in the streets of Gaza City, you cannot but close your eyes because of what you see there: unimaginable chaos, careless policemen, young men carrying guns and strutting with pride and families receiving condolences for their dead in the middle of the street."
**********************************
OK, so far, he is just observing stuff. Right now, his fellow Arab Muslims are thinking "of course this happening, damn Israel, damn Zionists, damn USA." Moonbats are thinking "This wouldn't be happening if Israel didn't exist. Poor Palestinians, look what the Jews make them do."


"Gaza is suffering under the yoke of anarchy and the swords of thugs," Hamad wrote. "I remember the day when Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip and closed the gates behind. Then, Palestinians across the political spectrum took to the streets to celebrate what many of us regarded as the Israeli defeat or retreat. We heard a lot about a promising future in the Gaza Strip and about turning the area into a trade and industrial zone."
*********************************
OK Mr. Hamad, you started by observing reality, but don't tell me you fell for what the Palestinians talk about growing a nation. You should have read my blog post from just over a year ago.

Hamad said the "culture of life" that prevailed in the Strip has since been replaced with a nightmare. "Life became a nightmare and an intolerable burden," he said. "Today I ask myself a daring and frightening question: 'Why did the occupation return to Gaza?' The normal reply: 'The occupation is the reason.'"

*********************************
So Hamad is saying that since the Jews left, the culture of life has left. Now all there is a culture of death. I coulda told him that. The idea of an "occupation" is just one very large Red Herring, the problem is the culture which is one of hate.

Dismissing Israel's responsibility for the growing state of anarchy and lawlessness in the Gaza Strip, Hamad said it was time for the Palestinians to embark on a soul-searching process to see where they erred.

"We're always afraid to talk about our mistakes," he added. "We're used to blaming our mistakes on others. What is the relationship between the chaos, anarchy, lawlessness, indiscriminate murders, theft of land, family rivalries, transgression on public lands and unorganized traffic and the occupation? We are still trapped by the mentality of conspiracy theories - one that has limited our capability to think."
*****************************************
Are you embarrassed yet Moonbats? Do you feel really stupid yet? Or are you too stupid to understand that Hamad just called you a bunch of dupes?

Hamad admitted that the Palestinians have failed in developing the Gaza Strip following the Israeli withdrawal and in imposing law and order. He said about 500 Palestinians have been killed and 3,000 wounded since the Israeli pullout, in addition to the destruction of much of the infrastructure in the area.

By comparison, he said, only three or four Israelis have been killed by the rockets fired from the Gaza Strip over the same period.

"Some will argue that it's not a matter of profit or loss, but that this has an accumulating effect" he said. "This may be true. But isn't there a possibility of decreasing the number of casualties and increasing our gains by using our brains and making the proper calculations away from demagogic statements?"
***********************************
Asking Palestinians to collectively think might be harder than turning a crocodile into a vegetarian. Palestinians collectively are driven by emotion..........hate. As long as they whine victimhood, they are doomed.

The Hamas official said that while his government was unable to change the situation, the opposition was sitting on the side and watching and PA President Mahmoud Abbas was as weak as ever.

"We have all been attacked by the bacteria of stupidity," he remarked. "We have lost our sense of direction and we don't know where we're headed."
********************************
OK, I go along with the bacteria of stupidity. But I think that attack occurred around 1400 years ago. I think he is escaping reality by doing a bit of that Arab pride thingy when he says that the Palestinians have LOST their sense of direction.
I don't think they ever had it, and they never showed that they have thought more than one move ahead. Are my Moonbat readers upset by Hamad calling Palestians stupid collectively? They sure get mad at me when I say it.

Addressing the various armed groups in the Gaza Strip, Hamad concluded: "Please have mercy on Gaza. Have mercy on us from your demagogy, chaos, guns, thugs, infighting. Let Gaza breathe a bit. Let it live."
*********************************
Nice words, but he should have said it in sign language. If Palestinians were capable of self criticism collectively, there would be a real shot at peace.

Thanks to Jordan who brought this to my attention in the comments on Atheist Girl's wonderful blog.

See also the Quada Blog, Common Sense America, and Captain Quarters for more.

This Is Pretty Cool: A Celebrity Look Alike Program

Hat Tip to Allie from Memoirs of a Gouda.

I tried this with different pictures and got different results each time. I didn't include the women that I apparently look like according to the program. Apparently I share many features with Goldie Hawn and Billie Jean King. I'm not offended by this either, but nobody has ever called me Goldie.

I always thought I looked like Billy Joel and even Bruce Willis, and sometimes Chevy Chase (around 10-15 years ago). I also knew that I resemble Kelsey Grammer lately.

When I was in grade 6 I was the spitting image of the first Partridge Family drummer Chris, Jeremy Gelbwaks. I remember one incident when I was in the AV room (I forgot what AV stood for, but I know it had something to do with the projector) with two girls. They sort of cornered me and were trying to get me to admit that I was really Chris. I escaped without getting the "cooties," and those girls forgot I was alive after that:(

Here is the first Chris on the Partridge Family:


Below is me from my grade 6 class picture (the year I was cornered):


Johnny Cash introduces the Partridge Family:

What I Find Most Disturbing About This Video...

......are the comments by some Muslims on Youtube:

Tareeqa (1 month ago)
'authobillah

I can't believe that a Muslim would turn in his own brothers. An act of kufr. He should take his shahada again, repent, and ask for forgiveness from the brothers & their families.

buz42 (1 month ago)
...funnyly according islam...his action was wrong....his action is apostacy....his action isn't justyfyed with any of the quranic verse or the saying of the prophet...he chose man made state over what allah wants to establish. sad


mejowski (1 month ago)
The consensus (Ijma') of the Islamic scholars, based on Quran and Sunnah, is against harming civilians. Anyone that deviates from the consensus of the scholars is not from mainstream Islam. Preventing terrorism is a great thing.


QuietRain (1 month ago)
Are you crazy? Spying is completely harram, and so is turning in muslims.. not to mention that he slandered them on TV calling them fruitcakes.. O you who believe! avoid most of suspicion, for surely suspicion in some cases is a sin, and do not spy nor let some of you backbite others. Does one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? But you abhor it; and be careful of (your duty to) Allah, surely Allah is Oft-returning (to mercy), Merciful. (al Hujraat:12)

NOT ONLY THAT, but he was encouraging their actions instead of actually correcting them if he really thought they were wrong. What kind of friend leads people further in their wrong actions and then turns them in.. what a hypocrite


Mubin Shaikh is a courageous hero, and if Muslims took his stance, there would be no problems with Muslims. The bad ones would be weeded out. However, it seems that most Muslims are completely silent, or even worse, terror apologists and obviously at least some, probably more, see something fundamentally wrong and even sinful with narcing on Muslims, no matter what terrorist act is planned or carried out.


Side note: I joined another blog roll yesterday. REJECT THE UN

How could I not join it? The UN might is nothing but CAIR's head office these days.

MORE DISHONESTY FROM THE ANTI-EVOLUTIONISTS

A "documentary" about to be shown this weekend, Darwin's Deadly Legacy, is yet another attempt by the Fundamentally Retarded to whine and lie about evolution.

Since I haven't seen it, I will cut up World Net Daily's article entitled Darwin-Hitler connection sparks attacks It is an attempt to shoot down people who have seen this argument many times before. Anyone familiar with the analogy that Hitler used "Darwinism" doesn't need to watch the documentary to know that this is going to be another dishonest attempt at saying evolution is bad and creation is good.

The documentary was done to "show why evolution is a bad idea that should be discarded into the dustbin of history,"


The documentary is trying to show that because Hitler supposedly incorporated "Darwinism," evolution is very very very bad. Lets even say that Hitler did use Darwin's theory to weed out the Jews (which he didn't). This still wouldn't mean that evolution isn't correct. It still doesn't mean that you can throw away facts becasue you don't like the repercussions of the facts. Lets throw cancer into the dustbin of history too, yeah lets ignore cancer.


WorldNetDaily columnist Ann Coulter also was a target for the critics who have yet to see the program.

She has, the critic contended, "no knowledge of science or history," and others on the program are nothing but "creationists."

Ann Coulter plagiarizes pieces from Behe and other creationists. I very much doubt she would ever be able to last one minute in a debate with a real scientist. I won't say she doesn't know anything about history, but from what I've seen, she doesn't know a lot. The others who are mentioned on the website promoting the documentary are in fact creationists. Creationists are not scientists, as stated before here. Those who mock evolution either don't understand evolution, or try to poke holes in certain parts of evolution theory. There has NEVER been one peer reviewed scientific study that puts doubt on evolution theory.

The program, according to producer Jerry Newcomb, is about the social effects of Darwinism, and the bloodshed that can be attributed to those beliefs. He said before Darwin, the basic concept was that man was made in the image of God, and was therefore valuable. But Darwin changed all that.

Hellooooooo, since when was Hitler the first person who tried to wipe out a people who were different than him. This dude is trying to say, for example, that Hitler was the first one to try get rid of Jews.
Lots of people, including Christians tried to rid the world of Jews even before Darwin came around.

"To put it simply, no Darwin, no Hitler," said D. James Kennedy, who is host for the special. "Hitler tried to speed up evolution, to help it along, and millions suffered and died in unspeakable ways because of it."

Coulter, who also wrote the bestselling "Godless: The Church of Liberalism," said Hitler simply was taking Darwinism from the theoretical to the practical.

"He thought the Aryans were the fittest and he was just hurrying natural selection along," she said.

Hitler believed in a special creation for the Aryan race. He believe in God, and he believed he was carrying out God's plan.

He never mentioned evolution.



'Hitler's goal was the "purification" of the "Aryan race" through the elimination of "subhumans", which included Jews, gypsies, Asians, black Africans, and everyone else who was not a white Aryan. Despite the creationists claims that this was based on Darwinain evolutionary theory, Hitler's own writings give quite a different story. The ICR claims that "Hitler used the German word for evolution (Entwicklung) over and over again in his book." (ICR Impact, "The Ascent of Racism", Paul Humber Feb 1987) Like so many of ICR's claims, this one is simply not true -- a quick scan of several online English translations of Mein Kampf shows only ONE use of the word "evolution", in a context which does not refer at all to biological evolution, but instead to the development of political ideas in Germany: "This evolution has not yet taken the shape of a conscious intention and movement to restore the political power and independence of our nation."... "White Aryans," Hitler writes, "are the special creations of God, the "highest image of the Lord", put here specifically to rule over the "subhuman" races: "Human culture and civilization on this continent are inseparably bound up with the presence of the Aryan. If he dies out or declines, the dark veils of an age without culture will again descend on this globe. The undermining of the existence of human culture by the destruction of its bearer seems in the eyes of a folkish philosophy the most execrable crime. Anyone who dares to lay hands on the highest image of the Lord commits sacrilege against the benevolent Creator of this miracle and contributes to the expulsion from paradise."..."Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord," adding "Compared to the absurd catchword about safeguarding law and order, thus laying a peaceable groundwork for mutual swindles, the task of preserving and advancing the highest humanity, given to this earth by the benevolence of the Almighty, seems a truly high mission." For Hitler, removing the subhumans from earth was not a matter of biology or evolution -- it was a divine mandate from God Himself, the "work of the Lord", a "truly high mission".'



Hitler was a creationist. A special creationist. A believer in God. He most likely believed in a young earth as well, which makes evolution impossible.

Some Hitler quotes:


"I believe today that I am acting in the sense of the Almighty Creator. By warding off the Jews I am fighting for the Lord's work." [Adolph Hitler, Speech, Reichstag, 1936]

"I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator." [Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf, pp. 46]

"What we have to fight for...is the freedom and independence of the fatherland, so that our people may be enabled to fulfill the mission assigned to it by the Creator." [Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf, pp. 125]

"I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so" [Adolph Hitler, to Gen. Gerhard Engel, 1941]

The first edition of Mein Kampf suggests that Hitler may once have believed in a young earth: "this planet will, as it did thousands of years ago, move through the ether devoid of men" (p. 65; the second edition substitutes "millions" for "thousands," and chapter 11 refers to "hundreds of thousands of years" of life in another context.) Other passages further support his creationist leanings:

The undermining of the existence of human culture by the destruction of its bearer seems in the eyes of a folkish philosophy the most execrable crime. Anyone who dares to lay hands on the highest image of the Lord commits sacrilege against the benevolent Creator of this miracle and contributes to the expulsion from paradise. (Hitler 1943, 383)

and

What we must fight for is to safeguard the existence and reproduction of our race and our people, . . . so that our people may mature for the fulfillment of the mission allotted it by the creator of the universe. (Hitler 1943, 214)


It is amazing that dishonest creationists will only use part quotes and forget about everything else in order to try to keep their false illusions alive.

In the documentary they used Human Genome Project Director Francis Collins, whose book, "The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief," was published only a few months ago.

Collins is a theistic evolutionist. Therefore, he believes in evolution, only he thinks God made everything possible.

He must have been quoted so out of context that he has now made this statement:

"absolutely appalled by what Coral Ridge Ministries is doing. I had NO knowledge that Coral Ridge Ministries was planning a TV special on Darwin and Hitler, and I find the thesis of Dr. Kennedy's program utterly misguided and inflammatory."

Hitler even outlawed Atheism in 1933


I know this is a bit of stretch but how about:

NO CREATIONISM, NO HITLER

or

NO CHRISTIANITY, NO HITLER

Just Think Of Me As The William Hung Of Anti-Terrorism

Watcher from Eye on the World has FINALLY put together the slideshow to go with the song written by Elder of Ziyon, and to some extent, me.

If Fox News wants to pay my fare and accomodations, I have no problem performing it live on the O'Reilly Factor.

Take A Deep Breath: How Can Anyone Believe the Exodus Story?

This is pretty good but the narrator forgot about the fact that the trip to cross the Sinai would only take 10 days tops, and that is if the Israelites were walking into a sandstorm.


Now for some Moses humor:


God's quirkiness is revealed in the Exodus.

More on the lack of proof that the Exodus happened.

More here:

Building a history. Archaeologist Israel Finkelstein of Tel Aviv University also points out that there's no physical evidence that thousands of people wandered for decades in the desert. Besides, Jericho and other Canaanite cities described in the Bible didn't exist when the Israelites were supposed to be conquering them. Finkelstein says the Bible isn't just fantasy, though. He thinks the first books of the Bible were written in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C., long after the Exodus might have happened. The writers drew on a pool of folk tales, of myths, of shreds of evidence to build a history for Israel, he says.

I may have to buy and READ "The Bible Unearthed." I've seen Israel Finkelstein (not to be confused with the retarded Jew, Norman Finkelstein) in a documentary touch upon his findings. Here is part of an Amazon review of the book:

"The authors did not intend to change a persons faith only to point out the Biblical stories may be more allegory than historical. E.g., they propose the early writings of the OT were written c. 700 BCE. They also suggest the early Israelites were probably Canaanites. The points are supported by archaeological studies that may be more academic than the casual reader comprehends but doesn't burden the reading for the casual reader."

BLOGGERS STILL NEEDED TO WRITE 9/11 TRIBUTES

The 2,996 Project

The idea is simple, but powerful: have a special tribute for each victim of 9/11, with each tribute being created by a different blogger. We started 2,996 Project to coordinate the creation of the tributes, and that's what this site is all about. Here you can sign up to make a tribute yourself, on your blog (we'll randomly assign a victim to you). You can also browse or search through either the victims that have already been assigned, or those that have not -- and you can get pointers to more information on all of them.

SIGN UP HERE (no cost, only a couple of hours of your time is required)

To date over 1900 bloggers have signed up, which means 1000 victims do not have a tribute writer assigned to them yet. The tributes are to be written on September 11th.

I signed up yesterday. The process took less than one minute. I was randomly assigned to do a tribute to John Iskyan. He left behind a wife and two young children. There is lots of information on the internet for all victims. Tributes have been done before. But this is a unique tribute which marks 5 years since the 9/11 tragedy.

Join up now. These victims need to be remembered.

People Wonder Why An Atheist Is An Atheist

I get emails all the time. Some people tell me I'm doing a good job or that they like my blog. I get religious people telling me I'm wrong about God, but I usually argue with them to the point that they stop emailing me.
Someone just emailed me a few days ago and asked how I can be an Atheist instead of being an Agnostic, in other words, how do I know for sure there isn't a God?.....it is unanswerable as to whether God exists or not, so why not just be Agnostic?

My reply:
I think the term atheist is just a term for strong agnostic. As you say, I can't disprove that God exists, just like I can't disprove that there aren't 50 Gods. In fact, I can't disprove that my dog isn't
God.
However, from everything I see, there is absolutely no proof that God ever existed or needed to exist. Science explains almost everything, and in the near future I am confidant that it will explain everything
about abiogenesis to the beginning of the universe. The concept of God is created by man's need to give genuine purpose to
our existence, and to give us hope of eternal life in many cases.

Coincidentally, another reader, Mark, sent me a link to this short video narrated by Richard Dawkins. Enjoy The Teapot Atheist. This compliments my reply to my other reader:


It is only when believers actually give God characteristics (or a personality) or give God credit for doing specific things, that one can disprove God's characteristics or personality, or actions.

For example, if a believer says that God created man less than 10,000 years ago, science has proved that wrong. The same goes with the Ark story.

And of course there are many contradictions when it comes to God's personality. Loving and vengeful tend to conflict a tad, for example.

Generally speaking, believers are very vague about God. And lets not forget there are over 3000 Gods out there, each are either very different or slightly different from the next. Remember what Dawkins says, every believer is an Atheist when it comes to all the other Gods and teapots that exist or existed in the minds of others.

MUSLIMS IN THE STREETS (THE SONG)

This song was written by Elder of Ziyon and moi. Performed by moi. Forgive the offkeyness but enjoy:


Eye on the World is supposed to be working on a slideshow, but I couldn't wait.

Green Helmet Song: I Just Had To Do It

Normally, I like to write my own parodies, however, when I saw this at Green Helmet Guy's very funny blogsite, I decided to grab the bull by the horns. I hope I am forgiven for stealing one of his photoshop pics too. Enjoy:


LYRICS

Green Helmet is the guy to see
Dead babies for your news TV
He’ll set it up to show his side
Damn Israelis, engaging in genocide

o/~ Qana is where you’d rather go
He’ll pull the plug if you don’t show
He just creates such tragic scenes.
Truth doesn’t matter just get him on TV screens

...The Jews

...No news!

...Dead child

...Go wild!

You are a dupe...

Farewell to the truth!

Green Hel-met Guy is heeeere!


Thanks to Zionist Jordan for finding me Green Helmet Guy's site.

THE USA IS ISLAMIC WHEN IT COMES TO EVOLUTION

A recent survey of the United States and European countries (hey what happened to Canada?) found that the United States ranked 33 out of 34 when it came to accepting evolution. Turkey, which is 99% Muslim ranked 34.

“American Protestantism is more fundamentalist than anybody except perhaps the Islamic fundamentalist, which is why Turkey and we are so close,” said study co-author Jon Miller of Michigan State University.

Click image to enlarge it



It seems that more Americans have become doubters from both camps over the last 20 years:

The study found that over the past 20 years:

* The percentage of U.S. adults who accept evolution declined from 45 to 40 percent.
* The percentage overtly rejecting evolution declined from 48 to 39 percent, however.
* And the percentage of adults who were unsure increased, from 7 to 21 percent.

This could be possibly due to demographic changes. Immigrants who have come to America who don't believe in evolution to children being taught at home by parents who are ignorant when it comes to science.

The shift of those who rejected evolution and now don't know, could be due to the Catholic church's stance that ID is crap, combined with the fact that it is impossible to watch the Discovery Civilization channel or the National Geographic channel on TV and think evolution is garbage.

There are liberal Muslims who believe in evolution, but from what I've found in my internet searches is that even though there is a broad spectrum of beliefs about evolution and an ancient earth amongst Muslims, most do not accept it. This person's comments from Answers.com are what I believe is the most popular Muslim view on evolution(I think this was written by a kid):

No, we don't believe in evolution, but we do believe the world is that old. We do believe there was life before humans, like dinosaurs and the other fossils and that the first life was in water. Noone really knows the exact time of Adam and Huwwa (Eve), but there is a rough figure from hints in the Quran and Hadith (sayings of Muhammad) of a little over 10,000 years ago. The Quran and the rest of Islam actually encourages growth of knowledge, unlike some other religions....

So it looks like Ann Coulter and Muslims do have something in common.

To my Fundy readers, if you want to learn about evolution, please check out the short movies at this site. And that goes for Ms. Coulter as well.

Time To Play STUMP THE ANTI-ZIONIST

Ok, that is a quick video. The chant is "Khaybar Khaybar Ya Sahyun... Hezbollah Qadimun..." This means "Khaybar Khaybar O Zionists... Hezbollah is Coming..."

What is significance of Khaybar you might ask? A place in Saudi Arabia? What the heck does that have to do with Lebanon and Israel?

From Wikipedia:

The Battle of Khaybar (Arabic: معركة خيبر‎) was fought in the year 629 between Muhammad and his followers against the Jews living in Khaybar, an oasis located 150 kilometers (95 miles) from Medina in the area of Hejaz of the western part of the Arabian peninsula in what is nowadays Saudi Arabia. Contemporary scholars believe that Muhammad moved to attack Khaybar in order to raise his prestige among his followers, as well as to capture booty to sustain subsequent conquests.[1][2]
****************************
Conquests? You mean to say that Muslims conquered land. But I thought you anti-Zionists say that Jews conquered Palestine.


The battle ended with Muhammad's victory, which allowed him to gain sufficient money, weapons, and support from local tribes to capture Mecca just 18 months after Khaybar.[3]
*****************************
And this was just part of a bigger conquest? But, but.

The defeated Jews were reduced to serfdom.
****************************
Serfdom? I don't know what that is, but I doubt it has anything to do with beaches, waves, and chicks in bikinis.


They surrendered on condition of paying tribute to Muhammad and giving up all their land to Muslims. Some scholars hold that this agreement did not cover the Banu Nadir tribe, which had sought refuge in Khaybar after their expulsion from Medina, and that the Muslims beheaded all the men of Banu Nadir, sparing only the lives of the Khaybarian Jews.[4] But this issue is contentious. Jews continued to live in the oasis for several more years until they were finally expelled by caliph Umar.
*****************************
Jews gave THEIR land to Muslims? The UN didn't even make Muslims give up their land to Jews when they came up with the partition.

The imposition of tribute upon the conquered Jews served as a precedent for provisions in the Islamic law requiring the exaction of tribute known as jizya from dhimmis, i.e. non-Muslims under Muslim rule, and confiscation of land belonging to non-Muslims into the collective property of the Muslim community.
*******************************
Jewish owned land became Muslim state land. That didn't even happen when Israel was created, Muslim owned land was not to be affected by the partition.

So this is what the idiotic blood lusting terrorists of Hezbollah are chanting? They are celebrating in chant the fact that Jews had their land taken by conquerers.
Isn't this what the Palestinians (albeit falsely) have been bitching about for 58 years? Isn't this what they claim the Jews did to the Palestine region? And some Moonbats wonder why I call Arab terrorists, their supporters, and other enablers, ASSMONKEYS.

It is funny that Arabs have to go back over 1300 years to find a victory over the Jews to sing about.

By the way, mention this story to a Paliphile, and they will laugh it off.


Today link would be funny if it wasn't true: Todays Koran Lesson

OBSESSION: Watch It While You Can

UPDATE, AUGUST 12TH 7:30 AM EST, Youtube has removed parts 2-9, so I have decided to link part 1 here as well as an interview about the movie.

UPDATE, AUGUST 10TH 8:30 PM EST, Google has taken the film down again. To watch it, you have to go here to Youtube, and see it in 9 parts.




"Obsession shocked the audience with its carefully constructed, objective, and fact-based examination of radical Islam today.

Powerful would be an understatement in describing the impact of this film."

Drew Mcweeny
AintItCool.com

"It is a brilliant assemblage of archival footage of radical Islamic barbarities perpetrated across the globe, sermons of radical Imams from 24/7 satellite TV and undercover footage from Lebanon, the Palestine disputed territories, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, London and New York.
Obsession is indeed a wake up message to a sleeping American public cowed by fear and menace by radical Islamists in our midst. And yes, the film is distressing that such hate, incitement and barbarity flourishes in the 21st century. But the film rouses the American public into concerted action then it will have served a vital and important purpose."

Jerry Gordon
Former U.S. Military Intelligence officer and Middle
East Affairs analyst for American Congress for Truth

“Obsession is required viewing for everyone. Especially for people who have tried to understate or ignore the threat of Radical Islam to our national security, Obsession shows how real and present the danger is."

Howard Gordon
Executive Producer “24”

"As a retired Air Force Major General who has lived and traveled through the Middle East and has commanded major combat organizations in key Muslim countries, I believe Obsession is a movie that every American ought to see. It is the most accurate description I've seen of the great struggle that the western world will face for many years to come."

Bentley Rayburn
Maj Gen, USAF (Ret)

When Israel Does Attack Iran, What Happens To The Iranian Jews?

This really is a serious question I have. And I don't know enough about the situation to have an educated opinion.

It is estimated that there are 25,000 Jews still living in Iran (down from 100,000 before the Iran revolution), and many live in Tehran, which has 11 functioning synagogues today.

Jews in Iran are pretty much Dhimmis. From Wikipedia:

Discrimination

Like other religious minorities in Iran, Jews suffer from officially sanctioned discrimination, particularly in the areas of employment, education, and housing. They may not occupy senior positions in the government or the military and are prevented from serving in the judiciary and security services and from becoming public school heads.[26]

The anti‑Israel policies of the Iranian government, along with a perception among radical Muslims that all Jewish citizens support Zionism and the State of Israel, create a hostile atmosphere for the Jewish community. In 2004, many Iranian newspapers celebrated the one-hundredth anniversary of the publishing of the anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.[26] Jews often are the target of degrading caricatures in the Iranian press.[27] Jewish leaders reportedly are reluctant to draw attention to official mistreatment of their community due to fear of government reprisal.[26]

The legal system also discriminates against religious minorities who receive lower awards than Muslims in injury and death lawsuits and incur heavier punishments.


It is impossible to find out exactly what the Persian Jews are thinking right now. According to this article, they are caught in no man's land:

Any public expression of sympathy for Israel would invite a sharp crackdown from authorities and hard-line Islamic groups.

"We are Iranians. We work for what's best for Iran. The fighting, fortunately, does not affect the Jewish community in Iran," said Moris Motamed, who holds the single parliament seat reserved for Jews. Other seats are set aside for the Christian Armenian and Assyrian minorities and followers of Iran's pre-Islamic Zoroastrian faith.

But Iran's Jews have undeniable bonds with Israel -- most notably Israel's Iranian-born president, Moshe Katsav. Thousands of Iranian Jewish families have relatives in Israel. The historical links between Persia and the Holy Land go back to antiquity and are celebrated each year with the festival of Purim.

In January, the leader of Iran's Jewish community, Haroun Yashayaei, issued a rare challenge to Islamic authorities after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the Holocaust a "myth." He said Ahmadinejad was questioning "one of the most obvious and saddening incidents in human history."

Israel, however, presents a red line no one will cross. Iran's Jews have remain publicly silent as Iranian leaders have called for Israel's destruction, including Ahmadinejad's call last year for Israel to be "wiped off the map."



The Iranian Jewish website reminds me of Communist Russia Propoganda. Check it out:
http://www.iranjewish.com/English.htm

'Last week, Jews in the southern city of Shiraz held a pro-Hezbollah rally that was covered by state-run television -- a sign that the march was likely overseen by the Islamic regime to reinforce the idea of national solidarity.'


I'm not sure, because I can't speak for them, but the Iranian Jews seem to be taking a page out of the people of Peakville in the famous Twilight Zone episode, It's A Good Life, where everyone feared the 6 year old boy, Anthony Freemont.

Ahmadinejad right now, is focusing on wishing Israel into the cornfield, and he might be thinking that the Iranian Jews are potential human shields right now. How will Israel deal with the Persian Jews, who are deeply rooted in Iran? Who knows what their ultimate fate will be?

One thing is for certain: Israel will never let Iran build nukes, and I believe an attack on Iran is a given. It is just a matter of when.

Musical Interlude

I need to throw in the odd meaningless and possible fun post, so it doesn't look like I have an agenda. It makes it tough for certain people to label my blog.

Everyone is invited to sing along and help drown my voice:)


The Summer Wind

The summer wind, came blowin' in
From across the sea
It lingered there, to touch your hair
And walk with me
All summer long, we sang a song
and then we strolled the golden sand
Two sweethearts and
The summer wind

Like painted kites, those days and nights
Went flyin' by
The world was new, beneath a blue
Umbrella sky
Then softer than a piper man
One day it called to you
I lost you to - the summer wind

The autumn wind, the winter wind
Have come and gone
And still the days, those lonely days
Go on and on
And guess who sighs his lullabies
Through nights that never end
My fickle friend, the summer wind

MODERATE MUSLIMS MUST SHUT UP OR DIE

Fearing for safety, Tarek Fatah, communications director of the Muslim Canadian Congress, has resigned, citing concerns for his safety and that of his family.

Who would be threatening him you wonder? The KKK? The B'Nai Brith? The JDL? Peta? The Vatican? Stephen Harper? Tony Soprano? The Atheist Jew?

Wrong on all counts. It was fellow "Canadian" Muslims who have threatened Mr. Fateh's life.

"I'm physically drained and fatigued and disappointed by how much leverage these extremists have," he said.

'Fatah said he has been assaulted both verbally and physically, including an incident in which he was attacked at an Islamic conference in Toronto by dozens of young Muslim men.

He also said that an associate informed him of a discussion she overheard in which young men were discussing how Fatah should be killed.

Fatah said he's reported the threats he's received since 2003 to Toronto police, who are investigating the allegations.'

What a bad bad Muslim he is:

Aside from advocating for gay and women's rights, Fatah has also vigorously opposed the adoption of Shariah law, the legal code of Islam based on the Qur'an.

Last July, Fatah also fought against granting a visa to controversial British Muslim cleric Sheik Riyadh ul Haq.

Globe and Mail story


Max says at Israpundit: "This is the effect of Terrorism. They are already in Canada and destroying our society. It’s not enough to make investigations into a few death threats. Terrorists and terrorist supporters must be rooted out and purged. Support of terrorism and Muslim Fundamentalism in any form must be punished by severe laws. We need to change our immigration and multicultural policy. We need to purge the devils we have already taken in before we start to pay a higher price for this. We are starting to have the same syndrome as England. We cannot tolerate the intolerant. We cannot allow them to use our freedoms to destroy us. We are already paying the price for this.

This is the Lebanonization of Canada."

I couldn't agree more. The governments of the US and Canada don't have the guts, but I think it would be more than sane to not permit anymore new Muslims to live in Canada or the US. This is getting out of hand. The moderate Muslims don't even have a chance to become a voice. It is evident with what has transpired with Mr. Fatah.

On a side note, it looks like Mr. Fatah's last piece for MCC was quite a whine. I'm Canadian, I voted for the PC's. And Harper and Mackay, are doing a wonderful job of speaking for Canadians like me. Canadians who were born here. Canadians who take too kindly to being threatened because we exist.

By the way, how about learning how to spell Peter Mackay's name correctly. It makes the whining more affective.

Even a moderate Muslim aint perfect.


A great piece can be found at Combs Spouts Off called Naming the War Properly. Here is a paragraph from it:

"As was the case with the first three world wars, we are at war not with terror or any other particular tactic, but with an idea, or rather, a large set of ideas, most or all of which are inimical to our culture, and to the civilization that is an outgrowth of the Enlightenment. There is no win-win outcome to this war. There are, in the words of divorce courts, irreconcilable differences between the West and the Jihadis. There is, ultimately, not room enough on this planet for both ideologies, because theirs demands submission of all to it."

Canada Has The Right People Making Decisions Today

Foreign Minister Peter Mackay (to my knowledge Mackay isn't a Jew) has spoke the truth: "Hezbollah a 'cancer," also, "it is not a difficult choice between a democratic state [Israel] that was attacked by terrorists and cold-blooded killers."

More from the story in the Globe and Mail: "Lebanon's being held hostage by Hezbollah," Mr. MacKay told a House of Commons foreign-affairs committee special session that was called by the opposition parties to deal with the Middle East crisis.

"They started it," he said, describing Hezbollah's daylight attack across the border into Israel on July 12. He said Hezbollah is a "terrorist army" that "has shown no interest in a ceasefire" and is using civilians as human shields.

Why doesn't everybody get it? Mackay's words are the truth and pretty easy to understand.

On the other hand, using typical Arab assmonkey deflection, terrorist apologist MP Omar Alghabra was quoted saying 'the Conservatives are shamefully trying to raise political funds "on the backs of tragedy."'

Hey Omar, you should be talking about why Islamists like yourself take the side of terrorists who purposely put children at risk on purpose. How can any human being support that?


Jason Cherniak has written a lengthy and extremely informative piece on the history of Canada's political involvement in the formation of Israel up until 1967. The really interesting stuff has to do with the USA, Canada, Britain and the Soviet's view of the partition. Moonbats should give it a read too. Maybe they can learn something.