Diary and Commentary
Page 14
Eco-Madness
I have written and spoken many times of the absurdity and inherent inhumanness of the environmental movement: how it elevates snails and owls and whales above men and women and children; how it brainwashes students from elementary school through college using wild exaggerations, unproven claims and junk science; how it lies about the true state of the world---whether about 'disappearing rain forests' or 'population bombs' or global warming or genetically modified food---so it can institute its program of anti-modernism; how it deifies and anthropomorphizes animals while reducing humans to chattel; how it treats indigenous peoples as zoo specimens and works to keep them in disease and poverty; how it is really a New Age religion that harkens back to Babylon and the pantheistic beliefs of the ancient Near East.
Environmentalism is a tremendously destructive and murderous myth, the greatest fallacy since communism---with which it has many ideological parallels---and is laden with racist and fascist overtones. It glorifies the State against the individual and its paganism is overt and in direct contravention to Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Of all the rabid and outrageous predictions made by environmentalists over the last 30 years---of declining resources, over-population, DDT horrors, increasing cancer risks, a coming 'dark age'---not one has come true. To use only one example, Paul Ehrlich, one of the poster boys of the environmental movement and the man behind the 'population bomb' fantasy (although his expertise is in butterflies), said at Earth Day 1970:
In ten years all important animal life in the sea will be extinct.
Large areas of coastline will have to be evacuated because of the stench of dead fish.
Five years is all we have left if we are going to preserve any kind of quality in the world.
Wrong again, Paul.
You may not believe anything that I write about environmentalism---actually, I would rather that you did not---but the following words might be harder to dismiss:
The environmental movement I helped found has lost its objectivity, morality
and humanity. The pain and suffering it is inflicting on families in
developing countries must no longer be tolerated.
These are from Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace. He advises you to read this book:
http://www.eco-imperialism.com
CS Prakash, Professor of plant genetics at Tuskegee University, says this---about the book in particular but about the environmental movement in general:
"Developing countries need to be free to make their own decisions about
how to improve their people’s lives. Activists who’ve never had to worry about
starvation, malaria and simple survival have no right to impose their fears,
prejudices and ideologies on the world’s poor. That’s the central message of this book.
It’s a message that needs to be spread far and wide."
Time to end the nonsense peddled by the environmental movement. Time to stop brainwashing the captive audience of our schoolchildren in this imbecility. Time to relegate this claptrap to the ash heap of history. To borrow from Voltaire, time to ecrasez l'enfame.
Oh Those Peace-Loving Palestinians!
Having a bit of trouble finding that perfect gift for that special someone this Christmas?
How about this cute little fellow?
(Strategypage, November 22, 2003)
On sale now in the Palestinian territories!
Get yours today!
Hey Yasser, Where`s the Dough?
The United States currently supplies approximately $70 million annually for development projects
in the West Bank and Gaza through the U.S. Agency for International Development and
an additional $120 million to United Nations relief organizations.
The Palestinian Authority receives approximately $1 billion a year in direct aid
from the European Union and from Arab donors.
TOTAL PER YEAR: $1,200,000,000.
Question: Where has all this money gone? Peace? Security? Clean water? Health? Education? Housing? Employment opportunities? Roads? Hospitals? Books?
Well, not exactly. According to the International Monetary Fund
An audit of the Palestinian Authority revealed that President Yasser Arafat
had diverted US$900 million in public funds to a special bank account
he controlled and most of the money was later invested in Palestinian assets.
Hmm...would those assets include the manufacture of the above toy?
But more likely the money goes here:
And here:
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Does this qualify as child abuse? We could ask an expert on the subject:
Here is part of this week's majority legal opinion concerning the right of sodomites to marry. It was laid down by Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. This great jurist does not quite get around to mentioning the law but she does dwell upon her feelings:
Without the right to marry -- or more properly, the right to choose to marry --
one is excluded from the full range of human experience and denied full protection
of the laws for one's avowed commitment to an intimate and lasting human relationship.
The marriage ban works a deep and scarring hardship on
a very real segment of the community for no rational reason.
The confusion of this touchy-feely notable is vast. Her arguments would equally apply to polygamists and pedophiles and those who really, really love their animals---'very real segments of society' and very much a part of 'the full range of human experience'.
The venerable justice's arguments are the temporal salvation of Jacko (aka 'the Gloved One'): he should simply marry the objects of his affection and his legal problems, which have caused 'deep and scarring hardships' to be sure, would be over. Jackson would then be able to claim the 'full protection of the laws' for all of his 'avowed commitments to intimate and lasting human relationships'.
There is a fiercely puritanical streak in monotheistic religions. Maybe that is because they all arose from the desert in about the same place. Sins of a sexual nature are always associated with the idea of uncleanliness, and homosexuality is seen both as unclean and an abomination---an assault upon the natural order.
How would the three great monotheisms look upon judge Marshall's legal opinion?
Here is one Islamic scholar on homosexuality:
This sin, the impact of which makes one’s skin crawl, which words
cannot describe, is evidence of perverted instincts, total collapse
of shame and honor, and extreme filthiness of character and soul…
The heavens, the Earth and the mountains tremble from the impact of this sin.
The angels shudder as they anticipate the punishment of Allah to descend
upon the people who commit this indescribable sin.
Yikes! Any questions?
Here is Jewish Scripture:
The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed
"because
the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord." (Gen.
19:13)
Jude 7 records that Sodom and Gomorrah "acted immorally and indulged in
unnatural lust." Ezekiel says that Sodom committed "abominable
things." (Ezek. 16:50)
"You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.
. .If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an
abomination; they shall be put to death, their blood is upon them." (Lev.
18:22, 20:13)
Nope. Crystal clear.
And according to Christian Scripture:
"...God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct. . . . Though they know God’s decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them." (Rom. 1:26–28, 32)
"Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Cor. 6:9–10)
We get the point.
Islam, Judaism and Christianity may disagree on the divinity of Christ and on suicide bombers, but they do not disagree on homosexuality. (Actually, the moral codes of all religions---monotheistic and otherwise---are remarkable similar. But that will be a subject of another day.)
Leaving now monotheism, Buddhism is unclear on the subject---it never mentions it actually---but places it under the same ethical disciplines as heterosexuality. As far as polytheistic Hinduism...who knows? Hindu and Buddhist scholars do mention a 'third sex,' though I have no idea what that is---and I am not going to look for it either.
Judge Marshall's ruling could (very loosely) be interpreted as Buddhist---or maybe it is just plain stupid as well as breathtakingly arrogant. Anyway, perhaps Wacko Jacko should convert from his Jehovah Witness faith and become a Buddhist.
Speeches
Number one:
We in this country, in this generation are--by destiny rather than by choice--the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility--that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint--and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient wisdom of 'peace on earth, good will toward men.' That must always be our goal--and the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written, 'Except the Lord keep the city, the watchmen waketh but in vain.' "
Number two:
The advance of freedom is the calling of our time; it is the calling of our country. From the Fourteen Points to the Four Freedoms, to the Speech at Westminster, America has put our power at the service of principle. We believe that liberty is the design of nature; we believe that liberty is the direction of history. We believe that human fulfillment and excellence come in the responsible exercise of liberty. And we believe that freedom -- the freedom we prize -- is not for us alone, it is the right and the capacity of all mankind.
Working for the spread of freedom can be hard. Yet, America has accomplished hard tasks before. Our nation is strong; we're strong of heart. And we're not alone. Freedom is finding allies in every country; freedom finds allies in every culture. And as we meet the terror and violence of the world, we can be certain the author of freedom is not indifferent to the fate of freedom.
Whose speeches are these? Give up?
OK, the first was to be given by JFK in Dallas, but Oswald's bullet precluded it.
The second was given by George W. Bush.
Is there a difference?
Oh...here are more stirring words from another great American president:
I did not have sex with that woman!
Great Minds Think Alike
Who wrote this?
The twentieth century has not been kind to the constant human striving for a sense of purpose in life. Two world wars, the Holocaust, the invention of nuclear weapons, and now the global environmental crises have led many of us to wonder if survival - much less enlightened, joyous, and hopeful living - is possible. We retreat into the seductive tools and technologies of industrial civilization, but that only creates new problems as we become increasingly isolated from one another and disconnected from our roots.
And who wrote this?
Among the abnormal conditions present in modern industrial society are excessive density of population, isolation of man from nature, excessive rapidity of social change and the breakdown of natural small-scale communities such as the extended family, the village or the tribe.
One was written by Al Gore, one by the Unabomber (aka Ted Kaczynski). Who wrote which?
Take the entire quiz!
It Was Forty Years Ago Today
Who died on November 22, 1963?
Aldous Huxley
or
John F. Kennedy
or
C.S. Lewis?
ANSWER: All of them.
Coming Soon to a Desert (not) Near You
The US Military may soon be using this beautiful rifle, the Heckler-Koch M8:
Pros:
Does not jam. Interchangeable barrels. Larger round than the M-16.
Cons:
Made in Germany.
Update November 24: Problems with the M-16; and see here. Money quote from US soldier in Iraq:
Most
of our drivers would rather drive through town armed with a 9mm pistol than try
to defend themselves with the bulky M16. You might as well try jousting.
We were supposed to get issued the M-4 carbine variant of the M16, soon.
Basically, a smaller version of the M16, but we got mobilized and never got
around to it... there would be a slight decrease in the effective range of the
weapon. But the Max effective range of the M16A2 is 525 meters. Nobody is likely
to even acquire a man-sized target at ranges beyond 300. And the vast majority
of engagements here take place within 200 meters, and even down to point-blank
range. So in reality, the reduction in the effective range wouldn't hurt us. At
longer ranges, we're usually able to bring other, larger caliber weapons to bear
just fine.
Meanwhile, some of our more connected individuals have procured sub-machinegun
type arms for themselves, such as the Heckler & Koch
MP
5, which is also the favored arm of the US Special Forces guys around here.
And:
Since we are on the subject: Most of us have no knowledge of military weaponry. Here begins the lesson.
We have heard much of this pesky thing, the RPG (rocket propelled grenade) that has brought down some helicopters (as in 'Black Hawk Down'). Here it is in the flesh, as it were.
Properly aimed and positioned---no easy tasks---it can most
certainly bring down any commercial airliner in the world.
The bad guys have lots of these. That is one reason we hunt them.
Plan on flying soon?
Happy travels!
In 1981 Israel sent planes into Iraq to destroy a nuclear power plant there, the Osirak nuclear plant---built by France, by the way. The mission was brilliantly conceived and executed. All planes returned safely and Hussein was left with no possibility to build a nuclear weapon. Imagine if he had had one in the wars against Iran (1980-88) and Kuwait (1991) and the US (1991-2003). More than likely Hussein would control Middle Eastern oil and would have enslaved many other Islamic nations just as he had enslaved his own people. He would control the Middle East more effectively than Hitler controlled Western Europe. He could not have been dislodged without engaging his nuclear weapons.
After Israel removed this threat the entire world, shamefully including the US, castigated her at the UN. Nation after nation mounted the rostrum to throw denunciations and slander at the plucky Israelis. Israel was unbowed however, and the rhetorical storm passed. (Of course, many nations sheepishly congratulated Israel out of the public eye, thankful to have been freed from having to actually do more than talk about an possible Iraqi nuclear arsenal. But Israel, like the US, is a nation of deeds not words.) The Middle East remained free from a nuclear nightmare---until today.
Iran has been Hell-bent on acquiring a nuclear bomb. She has received much technical and financial help from Russia and---guess who?---the French. Iran has made it plain again and again that as soon as she acquired nuclear weapons, she would mount them on missiles and blow the Jewish state to smithereens.
[Iranian President] Rafsanjani said last year that on the day the Muslim world gets nuclear weapons the Israeli question
will be settled forever ''since a single atomic bomb has the power to completely destroy Israel,
while an Israeli counter-strike can only cause partial damage to the Islamic world.''
Well. What does one say about the military tactic of letting your enemy know long beforehand of your plans? The word stupid comes to mind. Recall that right up to the beginning of the most recent Iraq war the US kept the entire world guessing about how it would end the Iraqi threat. What did in fact ensue shocked and awed the globe.
Prepare to be shocked and awed again. I have mentioned before that Iran will never---never---acquire nuclear weapons. That decision does not rest with the Iranians but with the Israelis. It is a question of national survival. Consider some recent headlines:
Israel
threatens strikes on Iranian nuclear targets
ISRAEL has warned that it is
prepared to take unilateral military action against Iran
if the international community fails to stop any development of nuclear weapons
at
the country’s atomic energy facilities.
As the International Atomic Energy Agency prepares to meet again this week to
discuss
the situation in Iran, Israel has told Washington it is prepared to ct alone and launch
a strike similar to its attack on Iraq in 1981 when its air force bombed a nuclear reactor near Baghdad.
[Israeli Defense Minister Shaul] Mofaz’s warning has been reinforced by Meir Dagan, the head of Israel’s secret services,
Mossad, who claimed that the spectre of nuclear weaponry in Iran represented the greatest threat
Israel had faced since the founding of the Jewish state in 1948.
Exactly. Israel is preparing a preemptive military strike against Iranian nuclear capability. That nation has left her without any other option.
Have a
nice day!
Man's Best Friend
Woman's Best Friend
Glock .45
Scenario One
A rapist is terrorizing the community. Husband goes to work and tells wife, "Don't worry honey. If someone breaks in, call 911."
Scenario Two
A rapist is terrorizing the community. Husband goes to work and tells wife, "Don't worry honey. If someone breaks in, shoot him."
QUESTIONS: Which husband is less fearful? Which wife is safer?
Let us ask feminist superstar Susan B. Anthony:
"Women must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself." (July 1871)
(source for most of below)
A Feminist on Arms
I carried (a revolver) religiously... and asked a friend...to give me some practice in target shooting so that if the need arose I would know how to use the gun.
---Eleanor Roosevelt
Blacks on Arms
The Constitution of the United States of America clearly affirms the right of every American citizen to bear arms. And as Americans, we will not give up a single right guaranteed under the Constitution. The history of unpunished violence against our people clearly indicates that we must be prepared to defend ourselves or we will continue to be a defenseless people at the mercy of a ruthless and violent racist mob.
---Malcolm X
What do they think of our condoning the violence which led to their own taking up of arms? ... Surely we must see that the men we supported pressed them to their violence.
---Martin Luther King, Jr.
A Carpenter on Arms
But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.
---Luke 22:36
A Hindu on Arms
I would rather have India resort to arms in order to defend her honor than that she should in a cowardly manner become or remain a helpless witness to her own dishonor.
Where the choice is between only violence and cowardice, I would advise violence.
Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest.---Gandhi
A Buddhist on Arms
If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun.
---Dalai Lama
A Bishop on Arms
Though defensive violence will always be 'a sad necessity' in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men.
---St. Augustine
A Moslem on Arms
And whoever defends himself after his being oppressed, these it is against whom there is no way (to blame). The way (to blame) is only against those who oppress men and revolt in the earth unjustly; these shall have a painful punishment.
---The Koran, The Counsel: 42: 36 - 42
A Jew on Arms
If the thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed.
---Exodus 22:2-3
The First Democrat on Arms
Laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes...Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.
---Thomas Jefferson
Another Democrat on Arms
Gun laws haven't been an effective solution to the underlying problem of violent crime.
---Al Gore
A Pope on Arms
...Certainly, the intrinsic value of life and the duty to love oneself no less than others are the basis of a true right to self-defense ... legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for someone responsible for another's life, the common good of the family or of the State. Unfortunately, it happens that the need to render the aggressor incapable of causing harm sometimes involves taking his life.
---Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Letter from 1995, Evangelium Vitae
A Mobster on Arms
Gun control? It's the best thing you can do for crooks and gangsters. I want you to have nothing. If I'm a bad guy,
I'm
always gonna have a gun. Safety locks? You will pull the trigger
with a lock on, and I'll pull the trigger. We'll see who wins.
----Sammy "the Bull" Gravano
A Socialist on Arms
That
rifle on the wall of the laborer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol
of democracy.
It is our job to see that it stays there.
---George Orwell
And to Those Who Fear Arms
A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity.
---Sigmund Freud, General Introduction to Psychoanalysis
Why Catholic Schools Are Better
Did you get your homework done?
Oh Those Peace-Loving Palestinians!
Already have the Osama doll?
Don't worry!
Just in time to celebrate the end of Ramadan:
Candy hand grenades!
On sale now in Gaza!
An American Army officer serving in Iraq has started his own blog. His views on the US media are...well, what you would expect:
The antipathy between the military and the media culture is bigger than politics.
It reflects an immense, yawning cultural gap between military people and the culture
of journalism. It's red-states vs. blue states. It's Manhattanites at the Newsweek editorial office
blithely referring to heartland America as 'flyover country.' Military voters vote Republican because
even when the American left tries to be understanding and sympathetic towards veterans,
they too often wind up being insufferably condescending instead.
Forget Dan Rather and Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw and all the rest of that crowd. Read this guy.
Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose
Who said this:
The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance
of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be
reduced, if the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt.
People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.
Some Republican economist? A politician running for office? Or maybe a conservative writer? No. It was written by Marcus Tullius Cicero more than 2000 years ago. (Actually, one could have counted him 'all of the above'.)
Cicero lived during one of those eras when one world was dying---the Roman Republic---and one was being born---the Empire. It was a time of political violence and war that threw up the most powerful characters in history. A partial list of these fellows would include Sulla, Marius, Antony, Caesar, Cato, Brutus, Cataline, Octavian, Crassus, Pompey---and Cicero knew them all personally. He drank with them, ate with them, argued with them, insulted them and died by the hand of one of them (Antony in 43 BC). In those days holding a moral position in politics could cost your life, and Cicero paid the price. He had faults---lots of them, actually---but he lived and died like a Roman, offering his head to his executioners. Cicero wrote widely, though he embellished the truth---a vice I understand well. Compared to the age of Cicero our own seems weak and effeminate, a trifle dandified and sterile---except the US military, of course. Of course, this might be a good thing. Imagine what would happen to our world were the likes of those Romans to appear on the scene.
Truly, there were giants in the earth in those days.
Not Quite Gone With the Wind
Women and children abducted in slave raids are roped by the neck or strapped to animals and then marched north.
Along the way, many women and girls are repeatedly gang-raped. Children who will not be silent are shot
on the spot. In the north, slaves are either kept by individual militia soldiers or sold in markets. Boys work
as livestock herders, forced to sleep with the animals they care for.
It was stories such as these that led to the outrage among Christians in 19th century Britain that finally sent the navy around the world in a moral and military crusade to wipe out slavery. And it was successful---mostly. Some areas of the globe could not be reached by much of Western Civilization. Take the Sudan. The tale you read above happened there recently; such things continue. There has been a civil war between the Moslem north and the Christian south for decades. The Moslem government makes regular slave raids into the Christian areas.
Some
who try to escape have their Achilles tendons cut to hamper their ability to
run. Masters typically use
women and girls as domestics and concubines, cleaning by day and serving the master sexually by night.
Survivors report being called "Abeed" (black slave), enduring daily beatings, and receiving awful food.
Masters also strip slaves of their religious and cultural identities, giving them Arabic
names and forcing them to pray as Muslims.
Can one read this and not remember Conrad?
The horror. The horror.
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19th century Arab slavers. Early 19th century Portuguese slavers.
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Modern Slaver
Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir
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The Slaver of the Ages
The greatest slaver of them all, Tippu Tip---Hamed bin Mohammed el Marjebi (1837 - 1905).
Tippu Tip was both ruthless and commercially successful. He had a monopoly on slaving in the region extending from
the Sudan to Zanzibar to the mouth of the Congo River---a tremendous hunting ground for his trade in human chattel. Tip often accompanied famous African explorers such as Stanley in his hunt for more and more slaves. He figures in all accounts of European exploration of Africa in the mid- to late 19th century and knew personally all African tribal leaders of note. At one point in his career he was among the richest men in Africa. His house on the island of Zanzibar---where he allegedly buried 40 slaves to strengthen its foundations---is now a tourist attraction.
Tip was involved in Sudanese politics, serving a variety of emirs, pashas and sultans,
eventually carving out his own commercial empire around Lake Tanganyika.
Tippu Tip would fit in quite comfortably in modern Sudan.
Oh, Those Peace-Loving Palestinians!
Not Quite Toys "R" Us
Those peace-loving Palestinians keep churning out great stuff for your kids---and just in time for the end of Ramadan!
And just in time for Thanksgiving.
This Saddam doll could use some dieting and exercise.
I love his double (triple?) chin and jowls.
Obligatory Thanksgiving Commentary
Yesterday
Today
Just bad luck.
The Best Thanksgiving in the World for the Best Soldiers in the World
(Make that the best soldiers in history.)
More 'shock and awe' by the master of 'shock and awe'
Later
I leave early in the morning for the next phase of my sabbatical, six months in the jungles of Central America. I have much enjoyed my time in Portland, but now my tent beckons. Tomorrow I dine in Antigua, Guatemala; three days after that I will be in the jungles to the north. My next writing will be...well, I really do not know, at least a week. There is internet all over Latin America but finding software to write to my site might take a bit of time. I use Office 2000, which is the standard and usually---but not always---has FrontPage (Microsoft's web editor) installed as well as Word and PowerPoint.
Thanksgiving was superb: great family, great friends, great people. Sure, I ate too much but soon begins six months of rice and beans. And beer---very cold beer.
Check the SABBATICAL ITINERARY to find out where I am between now and June. There is some very difficult solo jungle work coming up, and so pray for me! And while you are at it, pray for the world. God hears all prayers and will answer according to His will and the desires of your heart.
I once said that I was the luckiest man in the world. Still true.
Bye.
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