Sunday, September 19, 2010
Little Red Hen, 2009
Ethel C. Fenig "The classic children’s fable has been updated for the times but the moral remains the same."
Islamic Religion and American Culture
Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, "The diversity of the American Muslim community, racially, by national origin, ethnically, makes untenable the confusion of culture and religion that has entrenched the stagnation of so much of the Muslim world. On top of that, the rising number of Muslims born in America means that it is only a matter of time until the Muslim community is dominated by indigenous Muslims who are already integrated into the American culture. To paraphrase an old saying, you could take them out of America but you couldn’t take America out of them. Either they will have an American understanding of Islam, in which case they will expand its integration into and influence upon the American culture, or they will have no good understanding of Islam at all, in which case they will become secularized as have so many Muslims, Jews and Christians before them. We, my fellow children of Adam, are the khulufah, and the choice is ours." http://minaret.org/
Perhaps one reason some American Muslims are driven to violence against this country.
Perhaps one reason some American Muslims are driven to violence against this country.
A Class War or War?
Abe Greenwald "The enemy is becoming an intimate part of the American landscape and less easily identifiable as a distinctly foreign phenomenon. This is precisely the time for our leaders to find an intelligent way of discussing the true nature of the fight. Officially denying that there are Muslim terrorists among us will not protect innocent Muslims; it will put them at greater risk, as a potentially traumatized citizenry becomes frustrated with leadership that refuses to take seriously the complicated threats arrayed against it. Yet at no time since 9/11 has our government been this willfully inarticulate — even insulting — about the challenges we face."
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Freedom of expression forces cartoonist to go ghost
Ethel C. Fenig "...The gifted artist is alive and well, thankfully. But on the insistence of top security specialists at the FBI, she is, as they put it, "going ghost": moving, changing her name, and essentially wiping away her identity. She will no longer be publishing cartoons in our paper or in City Arts magazine, where she has been a regular contributor. She is, in effect, being put into a witness-protection program-except, as she notes, without the government picking up the tab. It's all because of the appalling fatwa issued against her this summer, following her infamous "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" cartoon." Background here.
U.S. Supreme Court depicts Muhammad "While Muslims engaged in violent protests worldwide over caricatures of Muhammad have insisted any image of their prophet is considered blasphemous, a prominent frieze in the U.S. Supreme Court portrays the Islamic leader wielding a sword."The stone sculptures of 18 lawgivers, from Hammurabi to John Marshall, are meant to signify the law's foundation in a stable society. Included is Moses with the Ten Commandments."
U.S. Supreme Court depicts Muhammad "While Muslims engaged in violent protests worldwide over caricatures of Muhammad have insisted any image of their prophet is considered blasphemous, a prominent frieze in the U.S. Supreme Court portrays the Islamic leader wielding a sword.
Obama’s Washington Animal Farm
Victor Davis Hanson"Obama, the supposedly savvy politician, oddly has little appreciation of the psychology of business. Millions of job creators still have only a vague idea of the net effect of Obama’s policies — except that they will probably mean less profits, and they are being enacted in a punitive spirit for past sins."
History and War: An Interview with Victor Davis Hanson
John Hawkins Hawkins:" America's media seems at times to be ambivalent, even to the point of being hostile toward our military and efforts to win the war on terrorism. Can you talk about other times in history that's happened and what the results of it have been?"
Hanson: "I think if we were to go back to England and France between 1920 and take an arbitrary date — 1936 — it was politically incorrect to evoke Verdun. The Battle of Verdun was not mentioned in the school system. By the same token, those who wanted to re-arm in Britain were accused of trying to evoke these ghosts of the Somme. The media wanted to condition the British public to the notion that any other war would end in the nightmare of the trenches. So, it was much better to use the arts of appeasement — which wasn't a dirty word. It was a positive word that meant you were willing to avoid a blood bath in the trenches. The result of that, of course, was the serial aggrandizement of Germany from 1936 to 1939."
Hanson: "I think if we were to go back to England and France between 1920 and take an arbitrary date — 1936 — it was politically incorrect to evoke Verdun. The Battle of Verdun was not mentioned in the school system. By the same token, those who wanted to re-arm in Britain were accused of trying to evoke these ghosts of the Somme. The media wanted to condition the British public to the notion that any other war would end in the nightmare of the trenches. So, it was much better to use the arts of appeasement — which wasn't a dirty word. It was a positive word that meant you were willing to avoid a blood bath in the trenches. The result of that, of course, was the serial aggrandizement of Germany from 1936 to 1939."
The Buckley Rule; Pro and Con
Charles Krauthammer "Bill Buckley — no Mike Castle he — had a rule: Support the most conservative candidate who is electable."....
"Castle wasn’t only electable. He was unbeatable. Why do you think Beau Biden, long groomed to inherit his father’s seat, flinched from running? Because Castle, who had already won statewide races a dozen times, scared him off. Democrats had already given up on the race.
"O’Donnell, a lifelong activist who has twice lost statewide races, is very problematic. It is not that the Republican establishment denigrates her chances — virtually every nonpartisan electoral analyst from Charlie Cook to Larry Sabato to Stuart Rothenberg has her losing in November."
The Limbaugh Rule "It waters down and destroys the brands of Republicanism, and we end being blamed for liberal policies because our guys vote for it. The Limbaugh Rule is if you got a liberal or a conservative running, you vote the conservative. Period! End of story. But who knows who's "electable"? This was any point. The "Buckley Rule" that these guys are all quoting -- and, by the way, half of these people quoting the Buckley rule couldn't carry his typewriter."
"Castle wasn’t only electable. He was unbeatable. Why do you think Beau Biden, long groomed to inherit his father’s seat, flinched from running? Because Castle, who had already won statewide races a dozen times, scared him off. Democrats had already given up on the race.
"O’Donnell, a lifelong activist who has twice lost statewide races, is very problematic. It is not that the Republican establishment denigrates her chances — virtually every nonpartisan electoral analyst from Charlie Cook to Larry Sabato to Stuart Rothenberg has her losing in November."
The Limbaugh Rule "It waters down and destroys the brands of Republicanism, and we end being blamed for liberal policies because our guys vote for it. The Limbaugh Rule is if you got a liberal or a conservative running, you vote the conservative. Period! End of story. But who knows who's "electable"? This was any point. The "Buckley Rule" that these guys are all quoting -- and, by the way, half of these people quoting the Buckley rule couldn't carry his typewriter."
Jimmy Carter Slams Ted Kennedy (Updated)
CBS News "Former President Jimmy Carter tells Lesley Stahl Americans would've had comprehensive health care for decades had Ted Kennedy not killed his bill. Sunday, Sept. 19, 7 p.m. ET/PT."
They tease us with only this much.
Why Carter dissed Kennedy "The interview proved that Carter is desperate to be credited with something – anything, be it health care reform, or as the architect of a never adopted, money-saving energy conservation program. For many reasons, Jimmy Carter’s presidency was, and is still, considered abysmal. Yet at this late date a departed senator could redeem Jimmy’s forlorn legacy.
"President Carter’s truthful “60 Minutes” expose of Kennedy’s willingness to “kill” to advance a political career has shed new light on Mr. Poucha Pond's malicious nature and could turn out to be the most glorious political achievement of Carter’s fifty-year career." Jeannie DeAngelis
They tease us with only this much.
Why Carter dissed Kennedy "The interview proved that Carter is desperate to be credited with something – anything, be it health care reform, or as the architect of a never adopted, money-saving energy conservation program. For many reasons, Jimmy Carter’s presidency was, and is still, considered abysmal. Yet at this late date a departed senator could redeem Jimmy’s forlorn legacy.
"President Carter’s truthful “60 Minutes” expose of Kennedy’s willingness to “kill” to advance a political career has shed new light on Mr. Poucha Pond's malicious nature and could turn out to be the most glorious political achievement of Carter’s fifty-year career." Jeannie DeAngelis
Figures. Obama Drops “Creator” From Declaration of Independence
Gateway Pundit "What a shock. Barack Obama dropped “that are endowed by our Creator” from the Declaration of Independence in a speech he gave this past week."
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness..."
Enough Already with Reverend Jones
Victor Davis Hanson "We are reaching the point where the damage done to America’s image by 50 book-burners is outweighed by the damage done by hypersensitivity on the part of the United States government, which hopes to assuage the hurt feelings of those abroad who equate that tiny number with our culture at large — often in an abjectly hypocritical fashion. We know where this leads — to endless efforts to micromanage all elements of American life to protect the sensitivities of those who, by act and deed, are far more intolerant of different religions and cultures."
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