"...there are no moderate Muslims." - I didn't think so...

Cross post from:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122792271890965883.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

• THE WEEKEND INTERVIEW
• NOVEMBER 28, 2008, 11:45 P.M. ET

Geert Wilders

'Our Culture Is Better'

Champion of freedom or anti-Islamic provocateur? Both.

By JAMES TARANTO New York

By his own description, Geert Wilders is not a typical Dutch politician. "We are a country of consensus," he tells me on a recent Saturday morning at his midtown Manhattan hotel. "I hate consensus. I like confrontation. I am not a consensus politician. . . . This is something that is really very un-Dutch."

Yet the 45-year-old Mr. Wilders says he is the most famous politician in the Netherlands: "Everybody knows me. . . . There is no other politician -- not even the prime minister -- who is as well-known. . . . People hate me, or they love me. There's nothing in between. There is no gray area."

To his admirers, Mr. Wilders is a champion of Western values on a continent that has lost confidence in them. To his detractors, he is an anti-Islamic provocateur. Both sides have a point.

In March, Mr. Wilders released a short film called "Fitna," a harsh treatment of Islam that begins by interspersing inflammatory Quran passages with newspaper and TV clips depicting threats and acts of violent jihad. The second half of the film, titled "The Netherlands Under the Spell of Islam," warns that Holland's growing Muslim population -- which more than doubled between 1990 and 2004, to 944,000, some 5.8% of the populace -- poses a threat to the country's traditional liberal values. Under the heading, "The Netherlands in the future?!" it shows brutal images from Muslim countries: men being hanged for homosexuality, a beheaded woman, another woman apparently undergoing genital mutilation.

Making such a film, Mr. Wilders knew, was a dangerous act. In November 2004, Theo van Gogh was assassinated on an Amsterdam street in retaliation for directing a film called "Submission" about Islam's treatment of women. The killer, Mohammed Bouyeri, left a letter on van Gogh's body threatening Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the film's writer and narrator.

Ms. Hirsi Ali, born in Somalia, had renounced Islam and been elected to the Dutch Parliament, where she was an ally of Mr. Wilders. Both belonged to the center-right People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, known by the Dutch acronym VVD. Both took a hard line on what they saw as an overly accommodationist policy toward the Netherlands' Muslim minority. They argued that radical imams "should be stripped of their nationality," that their mosques should be closed, and that "we should be strong in defending the rights of women," Mr. Wilders tells me.

This made them dissenters within the VVD. "We got into trouble every week," Mr. Wilders recalls. "We were like children going to their parents if they did something wrong, because every week they hassled us. . . . We really didn't care what anybody said. If the factional leadership said, 'Well, you cannot go to this TV program,' for us it was an incentive to go, not not to go. So we were a little bit of two mavericks, rebels if you like."

Mr. Wilders finally quit the party over its support for opening negotiations to admit Turkey into the European Union. That was in September 2004. "Two months later, Theo van Gogh was killed, and the whole world changed," says Mr. Wilders. He and Ms. Hirsi Ali both went into hiding; he still travels with bodyguards. After a VVD rival threatened to strip Ms. Hirsi Ali's citizenship over misstatements on her 1992 asylum application, she left Parliament and took a fellowship at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. Mr. Wilders stayed on and formed the Party for Freedom, or PVV. In 2006 it became Parliament's fifth-largest party, with nine seats in the 150-member lower chamber.

Having his own party liberates Mr. Wilders to speak his mind. As he sees it, the West suffers from an excess of toleration for those who do not share its tradition of tolerance. "We believe that -- 'we' means the political elite -- that all cultures are equal," he says. "I believe this is the biggest disease today facing Europe. . . . We should wake up and tell ourselves: You're not a xenophobe, you're not a racist, you're not a crazy guy if you say, 'My culture is better than yours.' A culture based on Christianity, Judaism, humanism is better. Look at how we treat women, look at how we treat apostates, look at how we go with the separation of church and state. I can give you 500 examples why our culture is better."

He acknowledges that "the majority of Muslims in Europe and America are not terrorists or violent people." But he says "it really doesn't matter that much, because if you don't define your own culture as the best, dominant one, and you allow through immigration people from those countries to come in, at the end of the day you will lose your own identity and your own culture, and your society will change. And our freedom will change -- all the freedoms we have will change."

The murder of van Gogh lends credence to this warning, as does the Muhammad cartoon controversy of 2005 in Denmark. As for "Fitna," it has not occasioned a violent response, but its foes have made efforts to suppress it. A Dutch Muslim organization went to court seeking to enjoin its release on the ground that, in Mr. Wilders's words, "it's not in the interest of Dutch security." The plaintiffs also charged Mr. Wilders with blasphemy and inciting hatred. Mr. Wilders thought the argument frivolous, but decided to pre-empt it: "The day before the verdict, I broadcasted ['Fitna'] . . . not because I was not confident in the outcome, but I thought: I'm not taking any chance, I'm doing it. And it was legal, because there was not a verdict yet." The judge held that the national-security claim was moot and ruled in Mr. Wilders's favor on the issues of blasphemy and incitement.

Dutch television stations had balked at broadcasting the film, and satellite companies refused to carry it even for a fee. So Mr. Wilders released it online. The British video site LiveLeak.com soon pulled the film, citing "threats to our staff of a very serious nature," but put it back online a few days later. ("Fitna" is still available on LiveLeak, as well as on other sites such as YouTube and Google Video.)

An organization called The Netherlands Shows Its Colors filed a criminal complaint against Mr. Wilders for "inciting hatred." In June, Dutch prosecutors declined to pursue the charge, saying in a statement: "That comments are hurtful and offensive for a large number of Muslims does not mean that they are punishable." The group is appealing the prosecutors' decision.

In July, a Jordanian prosecutor, acting on a complaint from a pressure group there, charged Mr. Wilders with blasphemy and other crimes. The Netherlands has no extradition treaty with Jordan, but Mr. Wilders worries -- and the head of the group that filed the complaint has boasted -- that the indictment could restrict his ability to travel. Mr. Wilders says he does not visit a foreign country without receiving an assurance that he will not be arrested and extradited.

"The principle is not me -- it's not about Geert Wilders," he says. "If you look at the press and the rest of the political elite in the Netherlands, nobody cares. Nobody gives a damn. This is the worst thing, maybe. . . . A nondemocratic country cannot use the international or domestic legal system to silence you. . . . If this starts, we can get rid of all parliaments, and we should close down every newspaper, and we should shut up and all pray to Mecca five times a day."

It is difficult to fault Mr. Wilders's impassioned defense of free speech. And although the efforts to silence him via legal harassment have proved far from successful, he rightly points out that they could have a chilling effect, deterring others from speaking out.

Mr. Wilders's views on Islam, though, are problematic. Since 9/11, American political leaders have struggled with the question of how to describe the ideology of the enemy without making enemies of the world's billion or so Muslims. The various terms they have tried -- "Islamic extremism," "Islamism," "Islamofascism" -- have fallen short of both clarity and melioration. Melioration is not Mr. Wilders's highest priority, and to him the truth couldn't be clearer: The problem is Islam itself. "I see Islam more as an ideology than as a religion," he explains.

His own view of Islam is a fundamentalist one: "According to the Quran, there are no moderate Muslims. It's not Geert Wilders who's saying that, it's the Quran . . . saying that. It's many imams in the world who decide that. It's the people themselves who speak about it and talk about the terrible things -- the genital mutilation, the honor killings. This is all not Geert Wilders, but those imams themselves who say this is the best way of Islam."

Yet he insists that his antagonism toward Islam reflects no antipathy toward Muslims: "I make a distinction between the ideology . . . and the people. . . . There are people who call themselves Muslims and don't subscribe to the full part of the Quran. And those people, of course, we should invest [in], we should talk to." He says he would end Muslim immigration to the Netherlands but work to assimilate those already there.

His idea of how to do so, however, seems unlikely to win many converts: "You have to give up this stupid, fascist book" -- the Quran. "This is what you have to do. You have to give up that book."

Mr. Wilders is right to call for a vigilant defense of liberal principles. A society has a right, indeed a duty, to require that religious minorities comply with secular rules of civilized behavior. But to demand that they renounce their religious identity and holy books is itself an affront to liberal principles.

A Crime Punishable By Death - "...and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction." - Barack Obama

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The actual quote from the book is from page 261 and is as follows: "Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific reassurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."... Read More

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Madrasas provide free religious education, boarding and lodging and are essentially schools for the poor. Over one and a half million children attend madrasas.[1] These seminaries run on public philanthropy and produce indoctrinated clergymen of various Muslim sects. Some sections of the more orthodox Muslim sects have been radicalised by state sponsored exposure to jihad, first in Afghanistan, then in Kashmir. However, the madrasa problem goes beyond militancy. Students at more than 10,000 seminaries are being trained in theory, for service in the religious sector. But their constrained worldview, lack of modern civic education and poverty make them a destabilising factor in Pakistani society. For all these reasons, they are also susceptible to romantic notions of sectarian and international jihads, which promise instant salvation. http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=1627

CRA - The beginning of crap! - The Community Reinvestment Act Revisited

Stop Covering Up And Kill The CRA

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Posted Friday, November 28, 2008 4:20 PM PT

Regulation: The Community Reinvestment Act is to blame for the financial crisis, but it so powerfully serves Democrats' interests that they'll do anything to protect it — including revising history.

---

The CRA coerces banks into making loans based on political correctness, and little else, to people who can't afford them. Enforced like never before by the Clinton administration, the regulation destroyed credit standards across the mortgage industry, created the subprime market, and caused the housing bubble that has now burst and left us with the worst housing and banking crises since the Great Depression.

The CRA should be abolished, along with the government-sponsored enterprises that fueled the secondary market for subprimes — under pressure from Clinton, who ordered HUD to set quotas for "affirmative action" lending at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

But powerful Democrats in Washington want to protect the act — along with Fannie and Freddie — and spin the subprime scandal as the result of too little regulation, not too much.

"Repealing or weakening the CRA would be a mistake," warns Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., who argues that the CRA should be strengthened.

Dodd, the top recipient of Fannie donations and himself a beneficiary of a sweetheart mortgage brokered by a subprime lender, recently invited one of Clinton's top enforcers of the CRA to testify.

"The notion that CRA has caused this problem is a pernicious thought," said former Comptroller of the Currency Gene Ludwig. "These are not truthful statements. The CRA has helped to create a better and sounder world for finance, not the opposite."

Dead wrong. But the mainstream media believe it, and have attacked those, including this paper, who dare to tell the truth about the crisis. Already the debacle has erased $13 trillion in wealth, while putting taxpayers on the hook for up to $8 trillion in bailouts.

"The latest salvo from conservatives began via a Sept. 15 editorial in Investor's Business Daily, titled 'The Real Culprits In This Meltdown,' " grumbled a column distributed by Scripps Howard News Service. "Its editorial blamed President Clinton for today's mess."

As we said, Clinton beefed up the CRA and used it to force banks to subsidize poor communities with close to $1 trillion in high-risk loans and other commitments that flouted underwriting rules.

Yet, somehow, these media-driven myths keep getting in the way of actual facts, such as:

Fact: The 1977 law was only lightly enforced until Clinton added teeth to it in 1994 and launched an anti-redlining campaign against banks, led by Ludwig, Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros (and later Andrew Cuomo) and Attorney General Janet Reno that lasted into this decade.

Minority homeownership rates, which had been flat, began a steep rise in 1995, and home prices soon followed, stoked by easier lending. Numerous bank officials complain that they still feel pressured by CRA regulators to make inner-city loans they know are at great risk of defaulting.

Myth: The CRA could not have led to financial Armageddon, because the overwhelming share of subprime mortgages came from lenders that were not banks and not regulated by the CRA.

Fact: Nearly 4 in 10 subprime loans between 2004 and 2007 were made by CRA-covered banks such as Washington Mutual and IndyMac. And that doesn't include loans made by subprime lenders owned by banks, which were in effect covered by the CRA.

Last year, when the bubble burst, bank subprime loans totaled $142 billion, dwarfing those made by lenders.

What's more, the biggest subprime lender, Countrywide, while not subject to the law, still came under federal pressure to make risky loans in minority communities.

Clinton created a separate department at HUD to police "fair lending" at Fannie and Freddie and also at lenders like Countrywide, which became Fannie's biggest client. In 1994, Countrywide became the nation's first mortgage lender to sign with HUD a "Declaration of Fair Lending Principles and Practices."

As a result, Countrywide made more loans to minorities than any other lender — and not surprisingly, was one of the first lenders swamped by loan defaults.

Other lenders felt the heat from Reno's Justice Department, which prosecuted them for failing to operate enough branches in black neighborhoods. Reno put the entire banking industry on notice about the CRA and her enforcement program.

Myth: The CRA did not force anyone to do subprime loans or take excessive risks.

Fact: Subprime loans were the vehicle banks used to satisfy CRA compliance, and Clinton and his regulators encouraged their use. Before Clinton took office, subprimes were virtually unheard of. By the time he left, they made up more than 9% of the market for mortgage originations. Today they're 20%.

"It's instructive to go back to the early stages of the subprime market, which has essentially emerged out of the CRA," ex-Fed chief Alan Greenspan said in recent testimony on the roots of the crisis.

Clinton pushed banks to grant mortgages to minorities with poor credit by using "flexible" underwriting standards — or risk being branded racist. Rules were weakened to the point where welfare and unemployment checks were accepted as qualifying income.

Myth: Greedy investment bankers, who securitized and sold subprime mortgages, drove us to the credit crisis, not government.

Fact: Clinton's regulatory policies led to the creation of this new risk on Wall Street. His CRA amendments created the subprime market, and only after he pressured Fannie and Freddie to socialize the risk and guarantee the profit from the subprime loans did Wall Street get involved in a big way.

The exotic securitizations that have gotten so much of the blame were a symptom, not the cause, of the crisis.

The architects of the crisis want to divert attention from their own culpability by blaming the markets rather than their own regulations mandating that banks make high-risk loans based on race.

In fact, regulations had almost everything to do with this mess. And instead of strengthening them to atone for the alleged "sins of capitalism," we should be abolishing them.

Two bills in the House would be a good place to start. HR 7264, which has nine co-sponsors, would repeal the CRA. And HR 7094, with 17 co-sponsors, would dissolve Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

During the last severe slump, President Reagan deregulated the economy, saying: "Government is not the solution to the problem; government is the problem." He's as right today as he was then.

"Tell that long-legged mac-daddy to tell me where he was born..." (Why do we even have to ask? )

Any American, regardless of what ANY judge says, has the right (or as the judge defines it, "STANDING" ) to know if Barack Obama is a United States citizen...IT SAYS SO, RIGHT THERE IN THE CONSTITUTION OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! Ya gotta be a natural born citizen! No ifs, ands, or buts! Why do we even have to ask? Whoops sorry! Dumb question. We are no longer a country of laws! Lawless judges? Yes! Lawless politicians? Most definitely! If judges and law makers are exempt from the very basic law, the foundation of our country, the Constitution, then we are no longer a nation! There are no laws!

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Frank Talk About Guns

Cross posted from: http://archives.subscribermail.com/msg/a9d031aad61443d9a1dce5ce4695fe78.htm

November 28, 2008

Meanderings From Some Crowded Minds Dear Folks, Around here, we've talked a lot about what may lie ahead for the gun industry. And if we thought it was almost surreal before the election, times have gotten even stranger after the election. The economy is still wildly yo-yoing and nobody can tell you where it's all going. But what we can tell you is that the firearms industry is having gang-buster sales - one of the few really bright spots in the economy right now. There is one heck of a rush to the local gun shop and online gun stores. Of course, this is panic buying... all those folks who figured "it couldn't happen", or "I'll get a gun sometime", are now realizing that we are going to have the most anti-gun administration this country has ever seen. One that doesn't believe or care about the second amendment being a personal right, despite the Supreme Court ruling, or their election promises, or about self-protection, or about the castle doctrine or any of those other issues we gun owners care about. So they are rushing out to buy the guns while they still can. I'm telling all my gang here to hunker down and ride out the storm. In two years we have a chance to re-do the House of Representatives; in four the Presidency, the House again and some of the Senate. Of all the factors causing the current buying rush, the Obama-nation effect has the largest impact because of the Democratic agenda and their penchant for banning guns. The current make-up of the House and Senate, being almost filibuster-proof, also adds to the fray. Keep in mind it was the Dems who put together the most restrictive weapons ban law we have seen. Word from those in the know is that the Assault Weapons Ban will come back for a vote - hi-cap mags for rifles and handguns are just the tip of that mess - however, this time there won't be a sunset clause. They also want to close the so called "gun show loophole", limiting private sales of firearms between individuals. We should expect the first shot across the bow not long after January 20th. They also plan to try to slip this through with little warning or discussion. For those of you with gun shops, basement gunsmithing businesses and retail gun stores - something my Dad, Bob, told me about years ago still runs true today: When auto sales and durable goods purchases are at an all time low, our business, the gun business, will do well. It's really simple when you think about it. If people are taking part of their income to buy cars and keep their washing machine and refrigerator up-to-date, they have less disposable cash in their pocket to spend on their hobby. If they are not buying cars, houses, or expensive stuff for their homes, they do have a little left over for hobbies. Add to that "pocket change" the fact that when gas prices drop one penny at the pump, it puts one billion plus dollars back into the economy. Oddly enough the combination of all of these means the consumer has more dollars to be spending right now for less expensive items. If you're one of those buying, buy wisely. Cheap is still cheap and often crap. Was, is, and will still be in the future. If you're buying for the future, go with the best you can manage. Go with the products which are going to last the longest. Another odd thing has happened. We're all trying to bulk up our retirement funds. Most of those were invested in equities, that's stock market talk for "stocks". And, frankly, the stock market got trashed. So, now the advent of the "New 401k". Many people are reducing or stopping participation in the former programs and spending their money on something that retains its value in good times and in bad. People are buying guns. Most gun values don't seem to have gone down and they certainly haven't seen the 40-60% loss in value like our stock market has. They may be the recession proof investment plan. From our side - the industry side - the whole industry is building up inventory as quickly as possible and filling back orders as quickly as possible. This huge demand has caught everyone flat-footed. Everything AR-related is flying off the shelves and there are ever increasing back-order positions. If the ban does go through, any extra capacity built today to handle that demand will go unused so manufacturers are being cautious and wise in their investment in building up production capabilities. What this means to all of us is that everyone is going to have to be more patient and let this all work through. Taking all of these into account, we've seen a perfect storm created for the firearms industry. Everyone I know, which includes even some very left-leaning democrats, has purchased or is considering purchasing a firearm. The whole nation seems to clearly understand what is at stake if there is going to be some type of firearms ban in the future. They are investing now and all those new gun owners give us something to build on. What we all have to do, manufacturers, shops, sport shooters and hunters is work together to get our message out. All those panic buyers who might not have owned an AR before can be strong allies if we get them out shooting. So, keep working with the new shooters, the kids, the ladies, the neighbors. We have to have enough participants in the shooting nation to push back. The stronger the industry, the louder our voice, the more contacts who can carry our message to the Representatives and Senators. Which brings up the final point - and then we're through. We have got to pull together. In numbers comes our strength. So - join the NRA. Add your voice to theirs. There are twelve million of us who say we are members of the NRA, but only around four million plus who have paid dues. Only with numbers will we be able to push back on any legislative action that will ban our rights as guaranteed under the second amendment. Check your membership status now. Join up for this next twelve months, and continue to carry the economic enthusiasm you are feeling now into helping our industry survive the next four years.

Massachusetts Flexes Muscle ...and makes a little girl cry!

Kids Told Not to Dress as 'Indians' at Plimoth Plantation
Thursday, November 27, 2008
By Sara Burrows
Wampanoag Indians in a History Channel scene, filmed at Plimoth Plantation (AP Photo)

(CNSNews.com) – A nine-year-old girl was recently asked to remove her “Indian” costume before entering the Wampanoag Homesite of the Plimoth Plantation, a historical site that allows visitors to experience Plymouth, Mass., as it was in the 17th century.

The outdoor museum features a 1627 English village beside a Wampanoag home site. The purpose of the museum is to educate visitors (school-children and adults) about what happened between the Native Americans and the colonists, especially during the first Thanksgiving.

The nine-year-old was one of thousands who flock to the colonial museum during the Thanksgiving season. She dressed as an Indian and her friend dressed as a pilgrim to celebrate the occasion.

Linda Coombs, associate director of the Wampanoag Indigenous Program, asked the girl to remove her homemade beaded costume before visiting the site, reducing the child to tears and upsetting her mother, the Boston Globe reported on Nov. 24.

“Native people find it offensive when they see a non-native person dressed up and playing Indian. It’s perceived as us being made fun of,” Coombs told CNSNews.com.

Coombs said she understands it was not the girl’s intention to be offensive – that she was only trying to “honor the Indians.”

“I could see that she’d put a lot of effort into making this dress and that it meant something to her … I could see by taking this dress off, I was dashing this whole thing that was going on in her mind,” Coombs said.

So she gave her a necklace from the gift shop in exchange.

“I wanted to acknowledge that she was giving up something that meant something to her and that I could appreciate everything she was feeling,” said Coombs. “Typically, in our culture, you give something away to show you appreciate what someone else has given up. And I wanted to mark that moment with her.”

Coombs said good intentions do not matter because she and the other Native staff members perceive the costumes as mockery before the wearer has a chance to explain his or her intent.

“Costumes are offensive because of what has happened in history – the Hollywood pseudo Indians, the Italian actors playing Indians, the crappy dress they put them in, the Halloween costumes. When other people dress up as Native people it’s offensive, period,” Coombs said.

She compared people wearing Native American costumes to white entertainers who put on blackface in old minstrel shows.

Visitors to the Wampanoag home site are asked not only to refrain from dressing up like “Indians” – they are asked not to use words like “how” or “chief” or “squaw.”

Cultural sensitivity requests are posted on signs in front of the museum and on their Web site, plimoth.org.

The Web site also advises visitors not to refer to the Wampanoag people as either Indians or Native Americans. “The term Native American suggests that Native People were always American but this country was populated by Native People long before it was called America,” the site states.

Instead, they prefer to be called Native People or Indigenous People.

Guests are asked not to engage in stereotypical “Indian” behavior, such as war-whooping and dancing around the fire.

The museum also requests that people not ask questions like, “Are you a real Indian?” Not just because of the word “Indian,” but because of the world “real.”

“The tour guides here are real people, Native people. Our nationalities are not fodder for joke material, because then you get into the aspect of racism and historical erasure,” Coombs said.

Most people have no idea that what they say or wear might be hurtful, insulting or offensive, she said.

“That’s why we’re trying to educate people about our culture and to correct stereotypes and wrong information,” she said. “We’re here to make a bridge between people, not to just send them packing.”

"There will be no dressing up as Irish on St. Patricks Day."

And don't you forget it!

Developing Story - The Russians Are Coming

The following story is from a reliable source...
http://www.drudgereport.com/flashrur.htm
RUSSIAN ANALYST PREDICTS DECLINE AND BREAKUP OF USA
Tue Nov 25 2008 09:04:22 ET

A leading Russian political analyst has said the economic turmoil in the United States has confirmed his long-held view that the country is heading for collapse, and will divide into separate parts.

Professor Igor Panarin said in an interview with the respected daily IZVESTIA published on Monday: "The dollar is not secured by anything. The country's foreign debt has grown like an avalanche, even though in the early 1980s there was no debt. By 1998, when I first made my prediction, it had exceeded $2 trillion. Now it is more than 11 trillion. This is a pyramid that can only collapse."

The paper said Panarin's dire predictions for the U.S. economy, initially made at an international conference in Australia 10 years ago at a time when the economy appeared strong, have been given more credence by this year's events.

When asked when the U.S. economy would collapse, Panarin said: "It is already collapsing. Due to the financial crisis, three of the largest and oldest five banks on Wall Street have already ceased to exist, and two are barely surviving. Their losses are the biggest in history. Now what we will see is a change in the regulatory system on a global financial scale: America will no longer be the world's financial regulator."

When asked who would replace the U.S. in regulating world markets, he said: "Two countries could assume this role: China, with its vast reserves, and Russia, which could play the role of a regulator in Eurasia."

Asked why he expected the U.S. to break up into separate parts, he said: "A whole range of reasons. Firstly, the financial problems in the U.S. will get worse. Millions of citizens there have lost their savings. Prices and unemployment are on the rise. General Motors and Ford are on the verge of collapse, and this means that whole cities will be left without work. Governors are already insistently demanding money from the federal center. Dissatisfaction is growing, and at the moment it is only being held back by the elections and the hope that Obama can work miracles. But by spring, it will be clear that there are no miracles."

He also cited the "vulnerable political setup", "lack of unified national laws", and "divisions among the elite, which have become clear in these crisis conditions."

He predicted that the U.S. will break up into six parts - the Pacific coast, with its growing Chinese population; the South, with its Hispanics; Texas, where independence movements are on the rise; the Atlantic coast, with its distinct and separate mentality; five of the poorer central states with their large Native American populations; and the northern states, where the influence from Canada is strong.

He even suggested that "we could claim Alaska - it was only granted on lease, after all." Panarin, 60, is a professor at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and has authored several books on information warfare.

Developing...

Update: See also http://normanhooben.blogspot.com/2008/12/its-time-from-russia-withnot-whole-lot.html

Advertise Here...the UN needs more money. Your money!

Acknowledge The Providence Of Almighty God... "Hey George! Have you not heard of the ACLU

Take Me Back To The Fifties - Over 68 Million Anericans Recently Failed This Simple Test

#1 Failed to understand our American way of life and what makes it tick
#2 Failed to understand Communism's basic Godless philosophy and goal of world conquest
# And the list goes on...SIXTY-EIGHT MILLION VOTERS FAILED
...AND ALL OF THEM STILL WANT TO BLAME GEORGE BUSH.

Here's your little Civics Lesson... (That's OK Sue. There's no quiz today.)

For all those who failed, make-up exams will be held at the discretion of the Fuhrer.

The next politician who calls this the religion of peace needs to be put in uniform and sent to the front lines...the very front!

Jihadi videos shown in Wahhabi trial

26 November 2008 20:44 Source: Beta

BELGRADE -- The trial of a group of Sandžak Muslims charged with terrorism continued before Belgrade's Special Organized Crime Court on Wednesday. The prosecution showed the judges video footage recovered from the computer of one of the defendants. The accused men are members of a radical Islamic faction known as Wahhabism. The videos contain messages sent by al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, and propaganda films glorifying Jihad and murder of non-Muslims. The computer was confiscated in the home of Ismail Prentić – the Wahhabi that died in the spring of 2007 in a shootout with MUP special police. His brother, Mirsad Prentić, who was arrested and is standing trial in Belgrade, said he had "no connection" with the videos. The court saw dozens of films showing fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, murder of American soldiers and their bodies, photographs of U.S. troops crying, explosions blowing up tanks and APCs belonging to the U.S.-led coalition, and murder and humiliation of Iraqi soldiers loyal to the country's government set up after the fall of Saddam Hussein. One of the films, entitled, "Why Jihad?", contains farewell messages recorded by 9/11 suicide bombers and terrorists, heard saying that "Allah will reward them with eternal life in paradise for their fight for Islam". "America and the west can only dream about peace until there's peace in Palestine," Bin Laden is heard saying in one message. Bin Laden's closest associate, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is also seen talking about "America's vicious crimes", and glorifying the former Taliban leadership in Afghanistan as the only one where "no law written by man rules, but only those of Allah". The film has Arabic songs as the soundtrack, with text shown in Serbian subtitles, while explosions are heard as the sound effects. The indictment quotes one of the songs that the prosecution says inspired the Novi Pazar Wahhabis: "Let our blood spill, on Allah's road we march, we are defending Islam". One of the videos shows images of Mirsad Prentić and a Novi Pazar mosque, edited with the sound of an explosion, followed by the word, "congratulations!", written on the screen. But Prentić told the court that he had never seen this footage, made by his late brother, and also claimed that he saw his sister-in-law's face for the first time in the same video, adding that the woman was always veiled. The group, apprehended in two raids the special police forces staged in April and March 2007 in Sandžak, is charged with planning the murder of Mufti Muamer Zukorlić. The indictment also alleges that the defendants intended to blow up a mosque in Novi Pazar, and several buildings in Belgrade. The trial continues on Thursday.

How Great Thou Art

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts…

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said, "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night.
"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.”
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
“I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

PLEASE, would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many
people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our U.S service men and women for our being able to celebrate these
festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.

LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN
30th Naval Construction Regiment
OIC, Logistics Cell One
Al Taqqadum, Iraq

Destroy The Fed - Destroy, Destroy, Destroy - (Hey Sue, you should study up on this so you won't make anymore ridiculous comments.)

...also note the comment about the New World Order. It's important Sue...your buddy Clinton is one of it's leaders.

Happy Thanksgiving

Sometimes we search for all the right and meaningful words...and sometimes a good friend just happens to read your mind. Thank you Ron for being you...and along with all that you are thankful for, I am too...thankful for all my friends, just like you. - Norm




The following was sent by a good friend.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have so much to be thankful for. My family is well. I'm blessed with wonderful friends. I was born in America. I have a wonderful wife, and intelligent, well-behaved children. I have food, water, shelter, transportation, a job, and so much more. I am truly blessed beyond anything I deserve. I am a living example of GOD's mercy and grace on one of his children. Stumbling through life as a young man, making some mistakes along the way, it was hard to see what life was all about. Coming from two alcoholic parents who fought continuously, I had know idea what a family was. I eventually learned what a family is, and what love really is when I met my wife Shelia, and we had our children. My wife's family was just that, a family. There is a real love in their family. GOD has aloud me to be a part of that family. Why, I do not know. I can only thank him for the many blessing He had allowed in my life.
I am a living example of GOD's grace and mercy.

Please be thankful for your blessings. They may be everywhere, and you don't even see them.
Ron

But Most Of All, I Remember Sarah

It was the first time in my adult life that I could say, "I was not proud of my country."
...and that's sad. Even so called friends and relatives were so naive and mesmerized by the false prophet...
The prophet of socialism would be true, for as it was in the beginning, Obama declared his intentions with every utterance of his forked-tongue driven mouth. And they were all blinded by their own ignorance; following their leader to the sea of death as surely as lemmings do.
This too, was the first time in the history of our once great country that the majority of voters were outwardly ignorant and racist. For no matter what the excuse they never had any knowledge about the ideology of the man, but they all knew the tone of his exterior. ...and that's sad.

And sad it was, when all the time there was an alternative to the pied piper. Lady Liberty otherwise known as Sarah...

Sarah, better than Obama a million to one!

Bail Out !!! My butt !!!

Commentary
It's Not an Auto Bailout, It's a Union Payoff
Democratic leaders, media push for more cash to help liberal voting bloc.

By Dan Gainor
The Boone Pickens Free Market Fellow
Business & Media Institute
11/19/2008 8:54:16 AM

When America battled for economic supremacy against Taiwan, Japan, Germany and others, many of us adopted a patriotic battle cry. “Buy American!” we exclaimed and many of us did.

In 2008 we are still buying American, but that phrase has taken on a whole new meaning. We don’t just buy TVs, or soap or cars from U.S. companies. We now buy the companies themselves. And the many of our so-called “leaders” in Washington want us to buy even more.

Bailout fever has become a full-fledged epidemic inside Washington and the list of bailouts is still growing. Now the Big Three automakers – Ford, GM and Chrysler – and their congressional allies are lobbying for $25 or $50 billion or more from the government.

Only it has little to do with saving Detroit and a lot to do with helping out the Democratic Party’s political machine. The chief recipient of this deal isn’t the companies, it’s the union. A bailout of Detroit would secure that the Big Three continue to fail and pay exorbitant sums to thousands of union workers.

The Los Angeles Times says unions funded the Democratic victory to the tune of more than $80 million just this election. The San Francisco Chronicle puts the number a bit higher – $450 million. Either way, they want their payback. They already have two things in mind – eliminating secret ballots in union elections and saving their 139,000 brothers and sisters in the United Auto Workers.

The New York Times quoted Gary N. Chaison, professor of labor relations at Clark University, saying without a bailout the union will “be a shadow of what it was 50 years ago.” “The future of the U.A.W. will be determined over the next two weeks,” he explained in a Nov. 17 story.

Labor knows it doesn’t have to budge. The Nov. 17 Financial Times made that clear. “The US United Auto Workers (UAW) union has ruled out concessions – at least for the time being – to help rescue the ailing Detroit-based car industry.”

That refusal should be front and center in the news, but it’s not. This week, we can expect more pro-bailout coverage from a news media that thinks government should run all private industries except the media. Watch the spin as auto executives and their temporary union allies are coming to Washington to beg for more of our cash.

It’s certainly not new. Watching the news, you’d wonder why anyone opposes it. CNBC’s money madman Jim Cramer keeps warning viewers that the loss of GM will cause a market “meltdown.” “Well you know we would have closed GM and have 10 percent unemployment – then really have some fun,” Cramer said in his Nov. 11 “Stop Trading” segment on CNBC’s “Street Signs.”

The reason for Cramer’s rant: He says he wants to prevent Great Depression II. Not a downturn, mind you, but another Great Depression.

Other stories have basically taken the attitude of everything else got bailed out, why not the auto industry? ABC’s “World News with Charles Gibson” on Nov. 11 even listed other troubled industries to pose the same question. “If we’re bailing out autos, why not U.S. steel companies, airlines or newspapers?” asked ABC correspondent Chris Bury. And one Detroit Free Press columnist complained that the industry is being forced to fail and that he “never knew Detroit was a dirty word.”

In a front-page list of eight recommendations to the president-elect, even the financial weekly Barron’s seemed to reflect the media mindset. It urged the president to “invest $25 billion each in GM and Ford.” But the kicker was the publication said Obama should “demand concessions from labor, management and shareholders.”

Labor give concessions with their candidate taking over in Washington? Never!

At least Republicans are raising the points the media is missing. "Just giving them $25 billion doesn't change anything," Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the Senate's second-ranking Republican, said on Fox News Sunday. "It just puts off for six months or so the day of reckoning."

Kyl is right. There is no guarantee even $50 billion will do anything. It’s an unfortunate reality, but companies fail. Some times you can blame bad management, other times intractable labor. In this case, you can blame both as well as products that are inferior to their competition at Honda and Toyota.

Still we’ll be urged by the Democratic leadership and the media to “buy American.” What they really want us to buy is a bill of goods. Ordinary car shoppers make that decision every day and when they buy a car, they no longer buy what Detroit’s selling. Now they’re supposed to buy the same line from Hill Democrats?

I don’t buy it.