When push comes to shove landowners stand up for their rights
(31Dec 06) This opinion piece by Michael Duffy, Sydney Morning Herald, zeros in on the theft of private property and water by stealth and the slippery antics of the NSW government. It is a must read for all in the lead up to the state election.
“..The natives are getting restless. On February 11 there will be a rally in Hyde Park to protest against the State Government's long-running assault on democracy and private property. At a meeting at Rouse Hill just before Christmas, about a dozen community groups decided to join forces for what they hope will be a big event. The political ramifications could be interesting. Some of the groups are small, but others have previously organised demonstrations of thousands of people in their own areas. They have a range of issues, but as a coalition they are calling for three things. 1. Fair compensation when government legislation, such as rezoning or native vegetation law, reduces the value of private property. 2. An end to developer donations to political parties. 3. Restoration of the planning powers of local councils, possibly by entrenching councils in the constitution of NSW…” When push comes to shove landowners stand up for their rights , Michael Duffy, Sydney Morning Herald “…Another big rural issue at the moment, as reported by Daniel Lewis in the Herald on December 16, is the Government's theft of water that irrigators have been promised and have paid for ….The legal situation regarding compensation for the state theft of property rights was considered in a 2003 paper by Bryan Pape, a senior lecturer at the University of New England's law school. The State Government is legally obliged to pay just compensation if it takes property, but has no obligation at all if it only goes halfway, as it were, and reduces a property's economic value by taking away some of the usage rights previously attached to it…One farmer who will be at the rally is Peter Spencer, who lost the use of about 90 per cent of his property because of native vegetation law . Backed by a new group called the Constitutional Property Rights Association, he is pursuing legal action against his council, because the rates it charges him are still based on the assumption his land is economically productive….”
(31Dec 06) Of the many pieces I've read about what drives the radical, militant Islamists and their nihilistic, suicidal behaviour, this is by far the best.
“…Just recently, the Taliban issued a new set of 30 rules to its fighters. Many of the instructions were to be expected: rule No. 25 commands the murder of teachers if a warning and a beating does not dissuade them from teaching. No. 26 outlines the exquisite delicacy of burning schools and destroying anything that aid organizations might undertake -- such as the building of a new road, school or clinic. The essence of the other rules are easily left to the imagination, basically involving what militant Islam is about: vile hate, death and destruction. But there is a curious rule that the Western media has typically ignored . Rule No. 19 instructs that Taliban fighters must not take young boys without facial hair into their private quarters…. Rule No. 19 obviously indicates that the sexual abuse of young boys is a prevalent and institutionalized phenomenon among the Taliban and that, for one reason or another, its widespread practice has become a problem…. While secrecy and taboo surround this phenomenon, some courageous Arabs have dared to discuss and expose it….” Boys of the Taliban by Jamie Glazov, FrontPageMagazine.com “…Walid Shoebat, for instance, a former Palestinian terrorist, has openly related the abuse of young boys in Palestinian Muslim society. He himself witnessed a line of shepherd boys waiting for their turn to sodomize a five-year-old boy…This lust for violence against “the enemy” and the accompanying yearning to die in the process are fuelled by the morbid earthly existence that is engendered by militant Islam. Indeed, there exists very few reasons for males to value their time on earth; their freedom of action and ability to experience joy and pleasure are extremely limited in terms of what is allowed…. It is on this eerie and putrid plateau that we come to see the factors that spawn the yearning for death and suicide inside militant Islam. Circumscribed in the most vicious and sadistic of ways, the men imprisoned in these cages long to regain a masculinity and humanity that was violently robbed from them as children. In a setting where healing through contact with feminine affection is denied and considered evil, self-extinction through hurting the “enemy” -- and the tempter -- becomes the only way out.
Nobel Peace Prize winner was a murderer (updated)
(31Dec 06) “…Well, it took only 33 years but our very own State Department has finally admitted that a Nobel Peace Prize, Jimmy Carter's bestest friend, honored White House guest, leader of a great, peaceful nation, worthy partner in peace and genuinely all around nice guy was gasp! shock! actually a murderer! And more!...” Nobel Peace Prize winner was a murderer (updated) Ethel C. Fenig “… Yep, according to a finally released declassified State Department document…Arafat arranged the assassination of two US diplomats, how the Department of State lied about the record and covered for him and why the State Department has earned our distrust….”
(31Dec 06) And while we're talking about Jimmy Carter!!!
Sometimes you really can tell a book by its cover. Former president Jimmy Carter's decision to title his new anti-Israel screed Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid tells it all. His use of the loaded word “apartheid,” suggesting an analogy to the hated policies of South Africa , is especially outrageous, considering his acknowledgement buried near the end of his shallow and superficial book …..The Carter book is so filled with simple mistakes of fact and deliberate omissions that were it a brief filed in a court of law it would be struck and its author sanctioned for misleading the court. Carter too is guilty of misleading the court of public opinion. A mere listing of all of Carter's mistakes and omissions would fill a volume the size of his book…. And it's not just the facts; it's the tone as well….” The World According to Carter by Alan M. Dershowitz “…It's obvious that Carter just doesn't like Israel or Israelis. He lectured Golda Meir on Israeli's “secular” nature, warning her that “ Israel was punished whenever its leaders turned away from devout worship of God.”…He apparently got along swimmingly with the very secular Syrian mass-murderer Hafez al-Assad. He and his wife Rosalynn also had a fine time with the equally secular Yasir Arafat—a man who has the blood of hundreds of Americans and Israelis on his hands:…. The Carter book is so biased that it inevitably raises the question of what would motivate a decent man like Jimmy Carter to write such an indecent book. Whatever Carter's motives may be, his authorship of this ahistorical, one-sided and simplistic brief against Israel forever disqualifies him from playing any positive role in fairly resolving the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. That is a tragedy because the Carter Center , which has done much good in the world, could have been a force for peace if Jimmy Carter were as generous in spirit to the Israelis as he is to the Palestinians…”
Happy Haj! You're not invited!
(24Dec 06) “…As Jews began their Hanukkah celebrations this week, commemorating the recovery of the Holy Land and the Temple from foreign invaders by Judas Maccabeus, and more than a billion Christians prepare for one of the holiest days of the church year, where the doors of Christian churches will be thrown open to anyone willing to hear the good news of Christ's coming to earth as a human to redeem humanity, millions of Muslims are preparing for their own spiritual journey next week in the annual trek to Mecca to perform the Hajj…. unlike the Jewish and Christian religious celebrations of Hanukkah and Christmas, if you are a non-Muslim, don't plan on investigating the mysteries of Islam by joining your Muslim friends on their trip to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj – you're not invited……Perhaps no better contrast between Judaism, Christianity and Islam exists than the treatment of non-believers on the respective holy days of each religion….But if I wanted to join my Muslim friends next week on the Hajj, I would have to bear in mind that my reception would not be as friendly. I would be forbidden to bring my Bible or any Christian literature with me on my trip to Saudi Arabia , and be required to remove anything identifiably Christian from my person (crosses, etc.)…” Happy Haj! You're not invited! Patrick Poole FrontPageMagazine.com “…For Muslims in the West, they have as much freedom as any other to practice their faith openly and freely without any fear of being molested….Such is not the case for Jews and Christians in Islamic lands, however, where people of those faiths are subject to countless acts of intimidation and violence on a daily basis…As former President Jimmy Carter travels the country promoting his book identifying Israel as an apartheid state because they refuse to capitulate to Palestinian terrorism, perhaps he might take some time and try to join his Wahhabi patrons during the Hajj this year and see what religious apartheid is really all about. While believers and non-believers alike will enjoy the Hanukkah and Christmas holidays, the invitation for Jews and Christians to join their Muslim friends and neighbors for the Hajj this year didn't get lost in the holiday mail. It was never sent…”
Winds of War: Imagine No Right or Wrong
(24Dec 06) “…The liberal left has infiltrated the educational system in this country and has produced a generation of politically correct multiculturalists unable to think logically and rationally. The prime reason is that a liberal feels and a conservative thinks. So the primary response from a liberal is always an emotional one based on ‘feeling' not logic…. The depth of her misunderstanding, or blindness to reality, came when I tried to use an example of how moderate Muslims agree with the tenets and objectives of their belief system by their reaction to the Mohammed cartoon controversy…. She said people riot over silly things all the time. Drunken students sometime riot after football games at her college if their team loses. The behavior of the rioting students and the rioting Muslims were equivalent. They both were upset for whatever reason. And though she did not condone the rioting of either party, she understood their anger. Their reaction was equivalent…” Winds of War: Imagine No Right or Wrong , Gathering When I asked her if the rioting students at her college burned down the opposing team's stadium, demanded that the opposing college apologize for their win, the football coach fired and death threats put out on the opposing players, and that the rioting Muslims were demanding that free societies self-censor themselves and bury the concept of freedom of the press and free speech - she just walked away….Their secular belief of multiculturalism is as much a religion as our traditional ones. But their belief system fails on another count. They can not accept the concept of right and wrong and good or evil. They live in a world of relativity where every belief system is morally equivalent… Like all enemies to democracies in the past, the enemy today is an ideology in this clash of civilizations and that ideology, not terrorism, is to be defeated wherever it's found….The Allied leaders knew that the war was not against a nation but against an ideology that had hijacked those nations…”
(24Dec 06) Richard H. Shultz Jr. and Andrea J. Dew have done more than write a book on America 's new enemies. The two authors have done a public service…. "Insurgents, Terrorists, and Militias." The authors are academicians, but the book is not a tedious professorial term paper. Instead, it is a plain-English, but detailed, explanation of who these Islamists are and why it is so difficult to defeat them… Mr. Shultz and Ms. Dew first explain the clan and tribal systems that dominate Islamic countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq . They write of the tradition of Jihad (tribes fight ferociously and forever). And finally, Islam's history of rejecting invaders, no matter how noble their cause. Historically, their tactics shun distinct battle lines and conventional formations. Instead, they rely on ambush, planted bombs and sabotage to wear the invaders down…. The book reminds us of what history clearly shows: Whenever an Islamic country is pierced by invaders, two developments follow: the tribal or clan ethos of fighting; and outside actors…” A jihadist template , Washington Times. “…In Somalia , an anti-American warlord mobilized an insurgency that began ambushing and murdering United Nations troops. Al Qaeda terrorists arrived, teaching the militias new tactics for shooting down low-flying U.S. helicopters. "The form of warfare they practiced had little in common with the principles set down by the founding fathers of modern Western warfare," the authors point out…. Mr. Shultz and Ms. Dew write that the Iraqi way of fighting has its roots in the ancient tactics of Bedouins, the nomadic Arabic tribes who settled in Iraq . "Bedouin social customs and tribal structure were ideally suited for the key operational feature of irregular warfare -- the raid," the authors write. "Avoid the opponent's strength and exploit targets of opportunity through highly mobile and unpredictable attacks."… If only this book had come out in 2002 and been briefed inside the Pentagon. Someone needed to be reminded of the Islamists' centuries-old methods of fighting.
Rowan Scarborough, the author of "Rumsfeld's War," is a reporter for The Washington Times.
Why Radical Islam—And Why Now??
(24Dec 06)“…Read any newspaper or turn on any news broadcast and you're bound to encounter stories of Islamic radicals fighting, killing and threatening each other - and just about everyone else….In Somalia, jihadists, with the support of al-Qaida, have clashed with troops loyal to the country's internationally recognized interim government and now threaten neighboring Ethiopia with all-out war…Nearby in Darfur, Muslim militiamen called janjaweed are waging genocide…Shiite and Sunni militias, each claiming to represent true Islam, keep slaughtering each other in Iraq….Hezbollah ("Party of God") seeks to destroy democracy in Lebanon by provoking Israel, which it is sworn to eliminate….On the West Bank, Hamas and Fatah have taken a timeout from their attacks on Israel to murder each other and innocent bystanders…” Why Radical Islam—And Why Now?? Victor Davis Hanson “….The Iranian Shiite theocracy - when not hosting Holocaust deniers or sending terrorists into Iraq - issues serial pledges to finish off Israel…So how, aside from killing jihadist terrorists, can we defend ourselves against the insidious spread of radical Islam? Here are a few starting suggestions:..Bluntly identify radical Islam as fascistic - without worrying whether some Muslims take offence when we will talk honestly about the extremists in their midst…Keep confident in a war in which our will and morale are every bit as important as our overwhelming military strength. The jihadists claim that we are weak spiritually, but our past global ideological enemies - Nazism, fascism, militarism and communism - all failed. And so will they…”
(21Dec 06) “…Since the short conventional war in Iraq ended in 2003, the vast majority of Iraqis who have died have not been victims of American fire but of terrorists, ethnic militias or opportunist criminals. All of the terrorists, militias and criminals are adult human beings exercising moral choice. They can choose to do evil things…. Here is a revelation: Terrorists are responsible for terrorism…. A rather nasty campaign is under way in many Western societies to stigmatise and delegitimise some of those who supported military action in 2003. This is an entirely partisan and ideological effort. This is evident in the fact that no such campaign is waged against the Democrats who supported overthrowing Saddam, such as Hillary Clinton or Australia 's Martin Indyk. This is because Clinton and Indyk are opponents or critics of Bush and therefore exempt from criticism…. In the great partisan point-scoring about Iraq in the West, history is comprehensively rewritten. You often hear the argument that the Iraq operation was born out of a neo-conservative fantasy that they could easily reshape the political culture of the Middle East or that it was all based on lies. Neither of these assertions is remotely true….” Ousting Saddam was right , Greg Sheridan, The Australian “…Slogans mostly beat complexity in political battles, but history is mostly complex…. Undoubtedly chief among these considerations was the sincere belief that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction. It is easily forgotten, but the book that did more than any other to bring about war in Iraq was Saddam Defiant, by former UN weapons inspector and governor of Tasmania Richard Butler. The French, Germans and Russians all opposed taking action against Saddam, but all their intelligence services thought he had WMDs. Kevin Rudd and Kim Beazley both declared it as a matter of incontrovertible fact. Saddam contrived to make even his own generals believe it…. If you opposed Hitler and he was replaced by the even more murderous Stalin, as happened for much of eastern Europe, you were still right to have opposed Hitler. The obligation then was to oppose Stalin…”
(19Dec 06) “…All is quiet in Bethlehem . On Manger Square , the Church of the Nativity stands in the pale gloom of dusk, its doors open to passing pilgrims…. it is one of the most sacred sites in Christendom, but there are no tourists queuing to see it….. Just 500 yards down the road, Joseph Canawati is not looking forward to Christmas. The expansive lobby of his 77-room Hotel Alexander is empty and he says: "There is no hope for the future of the Christian community. "We don't think things are going to get better. For us, it is finished." Life for Palestinian Christians such as 50-year-old Joseph has become increasingly difficult in Bethlehem - and many of them are leaving…. The town's Christian population has dwindled from more than 85 per cent in 1948 to 12 per cent of its 60,000 inhabitants in 2006. There are reports of religious persecution, in the form of murders, beatings and land grabs…” O, Muslim town of Betlehem , Daily Star “…The town, is being "steadily strangled". The sense of a creeping Islamic fundamentalism is all around in Bethlehem …. George Rabie, a 22-year-old taxi driver from the Bethlehem suburb of Beit Jala, is proud of his Christianity, even though it puts him in daily danger. Two months ago, he was beaten up by a gang of Muslims who were visiting Bethlehem from nearby Hebron and who had spotted the crucifix hanging on his windscreen. "Every day, I experience discrimination," he says. " "It is a type of racism. We are a minority so we are an easier target. Many extremists from the villages are coming into Bethlehem . " … Bethlehem 's hotel owners estimate that tourist numbers have dropped sharply, from 91,276 each month for the millennium celebrations in 2000 to little more than 1,500 a month now. During the past six years, 50 restaurants, 28 hotels and 240 souvenir shops have closed… As Christians, we have no future here," he says. "We are melting away. Next summer I will leave this country to go to the States. How can I continue? "I would rather have a beautiful dream in my head about what my home is like, not the nightmare of the reality."
Honour killing being exported to Italy
(19Dec 06) “…Pakistani women living in Italy are virtually absent from Italian social life, according to an Italian academic, who has cited examples of honour-killings in Italy . In her paper “Exporting (dis)honour: the practice of honour killing among the Pakistani community in Italy” Italian academic Anna Vanzan discussed honour killing among the Pakistani community in Italy, its perception among the Italians, its possible repercussions on the project of multiculturalism and on Pakistani women's life in Italy…. Some women's role in honour killing was ambiguous, she said, as in the murder of Hina, a 19-year-old-Pakistan girl killed by her male relatives in Brescia , the town which hosts the biggest group of Pakistanis settled in Italy (13,000 in total). “In Italy , the relationship between the local people and the Pakistanis has been affected by the case of honour killing in August 2006,” Honour killing being exported to Italy . Daily Times, “…Many Muslim women's documents were confiscated by their husbands or fathers when they reached Italy, which forced them to live clandestinely and prevented them from being able to bring domestic violence charges against male relatives…. Pakistani women risked being left apart from the benefits and opportunities offered by the Italian institutions, she said, such as free Italian classes, free medical assistance for them and their children, and other facilities available only to people who were aware of what was going on and who could be benefited from it…. The problem was not only how to conciliate Pakistanis' desire to be different, to maintain their cultural values and identity while living in a Western context, she said. “The problem is also how to prevent patriarchal structures from using cultural and religious pretext in order to impede women from participating in social life….”
A terror so great we forget at once
(17Dec 06) “…Mention Dhiren Barot to anyone and the chances are that you'll be met with blank looks. At best, some might say, ‘Oh, wasn't he that guy who, er, that trial recently, yeah, bit worrying…' This former airline ticket clerk plotted to kill hundreds of thousands of people in a series of synchronised atrocities in Britain and the US . He planned to blow up public buildings using gas cylinders in limousines, to mount a gas attack on the Heathrow Express rail shuttle, and to blow up the Tube under the Thames to rupture the walls keeping out the river… Myth one is that Britain is only threatened by such terror because the war in Iraq has radicalised British Muslims. Yet Barot was laying his infernal plans before 9/11, let alone the fall of Saddam…. As long ago as 1999 he advocated bringing western countries to their knees. Significantly, he observed that this could only be achieved by Muslims living in western countries,…” A terror so great we forget at once , Melanie Phillips, The Spectator “…The reason terrorism was a religious duty, he wrote, was that ‘terror works'…. Myth two is that British Muslims turn to terror because they live segregated lives or are poor and alienated. But Barot, a middle-class, suburban former grammar school pupil, was born and raised as a Hindu, converting to Islam only at the age of 20…No-one has asked how on earth we are to deal with such mass brainwashing of millions into a death cult in the name of a religion. There has been only near-universal silence….But there is another reason for the silence. There is still widespread denial of the threat facing Britain …the pragmatic British simply don't grasp that what they are facing is totally irrational and non-negotiable. They insist instead on viewing the jihad as caused by negotiable issues, such as the war in Iraq ..”
(13Dec 06) “…Welcome to the triumph of global hypocrisy…..Europe wrings its hands - as Europe always does - but declines an invitation to the dance. After all, "responsible" governments can't play fast and loose with another state's sovereignty. No dictator or president-for-life would be able to get a decent night's sleep…. Our own left mourns theatrically for Darfur 's dead… the uncomfortable fact that Arab Muslims are slaughtering black Muslims goes ignored. It doesn't fit the left's comfortable worldview…. Isn't it curious that, when it comes to liberation, Iraq didn't count? For the endlessly hypocritical left, there's one magic difference between the half-million dead of Darfur and the 1.5 million people killed by Saddam in his internal massacres and neighborhood wars: Bush… The Damned of Darfur , Ralph Peters, New York Post “…Now the global intelligentsia is getting yet another lesson in what happens when the United States and its fellow English-speaking democracies are otherwise engaged: When the "Great Satan" doesn't act, the killing continues… One begins to suspect that all too many on the left enjoy pitying Darfur as they wait in line for their lattes. Others, of course, just refuse to accept the troubling fact that this broken world's problems demand more profound solutions than a chant of "Stop the killing."…No campus seminar ever provoked a cease-fire, and no demonstration ever halted a massacre. Those who are unwilling to fight injustice will ultimately face injustice and a fight….”
The danger of engaging with the enemy
(8Dec 06)“….As things stand now, however, negotiating with Iran and Syria over the future of Iraq is about as promising a strategy for preventing more bloodshed as negotiating with Adolf Hitler over the future of Czechoslovakia was in 1938. There were eminent "realists" then too, many of whom were gung-ho for cutting a deal with the Fuehrer…..How many times does the lesson have to be relearned? There is no appeasing the unappeasable. When democracies engage with fanatical tyrants, the world becomes not less dangerous but more so…” The danger of engaging with the enemy Jeff Jacoby, The Boston Globe “…With totalitarian regimes like those in Iran and Syria , the effect of such "conversations" is usually negative. It buys time and legitimacy for the totalitarians, while deepening their conviction that the West has no stomach for a fight. No one was more pleased with Chamberlain's diplomacy than Hitler, for it proved that Germany was in the saddle, riding the democracies -- that the momentum was with Berlin , while London and Paris were flailing. The Baker panel's recommendations will bring similar satisfaction to Tehran and Damascus …They are as much our enemies today as the Nazi Reich was our enemy in an earlier era….”
The Hijab, a weapon for Islamists worldwide
(7Dec 06) “…In 1989, the first hijab incident in Europe took place in Creil, a suburb of Paris, when three high school girls tried to go to class wearing the Islamic headscarf. The students were expelled. Fifteen years later, with the hijab spreading fast among Muslims in France, the government formally banned the wearing of religious symbols in public schools. At the time, most European countries criticized French "intolerance" and deemed the issue a uniquely Gallic problem. But it wasn't. Today most European countries--and a number of Muslim countries--are debating what to do about this increasingly problematic sign of Islamization….in Italy, where the niqab is banned, the controversy has reached new heights since the broadcast of a heated exchange on a television talk show. Right-wing member of parliament Daniela Santanche clashed with the imam of a mosque near Milan , Ali Abu Shwaima. Said Santanche: "The veil isn't a religious symbol and it isn't prescribed by the Koran." Retorted Shwaima: "The veil is an obligation required by God. Those who do not believe that are not Muslims. You're ignorant, you're false. You sow hatred, you're an infidel…..” The Hijab, a weapon for Islamists worldwide Weekly Standard “…For Islamists, the imperative to veil women justifies almost any means. Sometimes they try to buy off resistance. Some French Muslim families, for instance, are paid 500 euros (around $600) per quarter by extremist Muslim organizations just to have their daughters wear the hijab . This has also happened in the United States . Indeed, the famous and brave Syrian-American psychiatrist Wafa Sultan recently told the Jerusalem Post that after she moved to the United States in 1991, Saudis offered her $1,500 a month to cover her head and attend a mosque…. Commenting recently on the veil and the Islamists' strategy, Professor Iqbal Al-Gharbi, from the famous Islamic Zaytouna University in Tunis, explained: "The veil is just the tip of the iceberg. Behind the veil, there is the regressive interpretation of the sharia [Koranic law]. There are the three essential inequalities which define this interpretation: inequality between man and woman, between Muslim and non-Muslim, between free man and slave…."
(5Dec 06) WHAT THE HELL IS THIS MAN ON ABOUT?….This gives new meaning to the word Gobbledegook, A prolix Kim Beazley on steroids…Like wading through a vat of Molasses…
Faith in Politics by Kevin Rudd (leader of the ALP opposition)
“…. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian, pastor and peace activist . Bonhoeffer is, without doubt, the man I admire most in the history of the twentieth century. He was a man of faith. He was a man of reason. He was a man of letters who was as well read in history and literature as he was in the intensely academic Lutheran theology of the German university tradition. He was never a nationalist, always an internationalist. And above all, he was a man of action who wrote prophetically in 1937 that “when Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” For Bonhoeffer, whatever the personal cost, there was no moral alternative other than to fight the Nazi state with whatever weapons were at his disposal…”
“…. How would Bonhoeffer respond to militant Islamism and the broader challenge of international terrorism today? Unlike climate change and global poverty, where there is a gaping silence in the national debate, when the topic turns to terrorism the political cacophony is deafening. But much of this noise is made up of the soundbites that are part of the colour, movement and superficiality of contemporary Australian politics. Islamic terrorism is a complex phenomenon that demands an integrated, complex response. An appreciation of complexity is not a recipe for inertia. It should instead be a recipe for effective rather than rhetorical action….”
“….Bonhoeffer's voice, speaking to us through the ages, would ask this simple, truth-based question: what is causing this phenomenon? He would also caution against inflammatory rhetoric that seeks to gain political advantage, rather than to respond substantively and find a way forward. Of discomfort to certain elements of the far Left would be the truthful conclusion that there is a fundamental problem within militant Islamism, which values violent jihad in its own right and is not amenable to engagement, dialogue or persuasion. Of discomfort to the Right is the conclusion that the politics of economic underdevelopment in much of the Islamic world breeds resentment, denies opportunity and therefore provides fertile recruitment fields for jihadists. The World Bank gives us the unsettling statistic that an extra 80-100 million jobs will need to be created in the decade ahead if the current level of unemployment for young males in the Muslim world is not to deteriorate further…”
Que? Again please Mr Rudd!! Please forget "the fork in the road" and speak the talk of the street in future.
(5Dec 06)“….Don't say we weren't warned. When it happens, images of hundreds of boatpeople from West Papua and PNG pouring ashore on our northern coastline will come as no surprise to a small band of patriotic ex-PNG hands who have been trying for years to alert Canberra to the serious threat posed by the instability of Pacific rim countries to our north….From Timor through West Papua and on to PNG and across the Solomons to Vanuatu, Fiji and beyond, the Pacific rim has been slowly sinking into a morass of corruption, criminality, disease and a reversion to tribalism over the past 30 years….The appalling law-and-order problems in PNG and elsewhere grind on. Canberra has not woken up to the steadily increasing influence of Taiwan and mainland China in the region, bringing with it Asian gangs who have been attracted by the easy road to Australian markets for their drugs…” Be ready for Island Exodus , John Pasquarelli, The Australian “…The boom in the drug ice has resulted in the widespread establishment of methamphetamine labs and in 2004 a massive bust was made in Fiji, where police confiscated ice with a street value of $800million….Canberra has no idea of the huge disaster that lies ahead. Against this backdrop there are silly people who want Australia to bring in guest workers from the Pacific rim….The Pacific rim is rushing towards disaster. Centrelink and other benefits shine to those offshore like a welcoming beacon and continuing upheaval and social dislocation will only herd hapless islanders into their small boats and canoes. We will have to play catch-up, but if the Government can start to listen to those who know, all is not lost….”
John Pasquarelli, an internationally recognised expert on Oceanic art, was elected by the Sepik people to PNG's first parliament from 1964 to 1968
(5Dec 06) “…..A meeting of Muslim feminists from across the world in New York last week made a brief paragraph in The Australian, and in no other newspaper that I saw. It should have made front pages, being at least as important as the Group of 20 or Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation meetings, which had as wide a coverage as sound editorial judgment demanded….The reason I make such a claim is this: if Islam is to be reformed, and the world consequently made safer and happier for all, it is women who will do it. Yes, there are male Muslim reformers, but in general most Muslim men do not see a feminist interpretation of Islam as in their interest. Why should they? Western men didn't see last century's women's liberation movement as in theirs. It had to be driven by women because the status quo advantaged men….If Christian women have been able to argue, more or less successfully, that the misogynistic passages in the Bible are merely a reflection of the era in which they were written and have no relevance to today, there should be no reason Muslim women can't do the same….” Womens rights to equality by Pamela Bone, The Austrailian “…And why is it important that Muslim women be liberated? Well, if women's freedom from honour killings, forced marriages and stoning for adultery were not reason enough, consider that any country in which women are badly oppressed is an economically and socially backward country, and that such conditions provide fertile ground in which resentments against the West can grow….Given that a half-billion Muslim women are not going to abandon their faith, the only way they can be liberated is for Islam and women's rights to be reconciled. That is why all power and support - and maximum publicity - should be given to Muslim women reformers…Western leaders should be pouring billions of dollars into the education and empowerment of women around the world. If John Howard really cares about the rights of women, he should increase Australia's meagre overseas aid budget and direct it into health and education programs for girls who will then grow up to have healthier, better educated and fewer children. …If Western governments can't manage to support women out of compassion, they should do so out of self-interest……”
Gaza Women warned of immodesty
(5Dec 06) “…….A hitherto unknown group calling itself the Just Swords of Islam issued a warning to Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip over the weekend that they must wear the hijab or face being targeted by the group's members… The warning was directed primarily against female students in a number of universities and colleges who do not cover their heads in line with Islamic tradition. ….The group said its followers last week threw acid at the face of a young woman who was dressed "immodestly" in the center of Gaza City . They also destroyed a car belonging to a young man who was playing his radio tape too loudly… Gaza Women warned of immodesty “….Its members used rocket-propelled grenades to attack 12 Internet cafes and a number of music shops in different parts of the Gaza Strip….. It said the places were targeted because they were "distracting an entire generation of Palestinians from their duty to worship [Alla] and jihad so that they could serve their Zionist masters and the Crusaders."… While many seemed to support the demand that all women wear the hijab, others expressed fear that the group was trying to create a Taliban-style regime…:”
The Conspiracies of Multiculturalism, The Betrayal that Divided Australia
(3Dec 06) Australian author, Greg Clancy has written a book that all Australians who wonder what's gone wrong over the years should read.. The Conspiracies of Multiculturalism, The Betrayal that Divided Australia
“…Throughout the brief history of multiculturalism in Australia, important decisions on the policy have been effected by politicians influenced by minority group interests….What do other citizens with concerns on the social environment really think about multiculturalism?.,.. In February 2006, the Nine Network's television program A Current Affair conducted a viewer poll asking: Do you believe Australia 's policy of multiculturalism should be changed? Of the 35,000 respondents, 93% replied “yes”… Prior to 1970, Australia entertained core social values similar to other English-speaking and European nations. Following the introduction of multiculturalism, Australia 's changing core values underwent a profound mutation…” THE ENIGMA OF MULTICULTURALISM foreword to the book by Greg Clancy The Conspiracies of Multiculturalism, The Betrayal that Divided Australia. “… Prior to 1970, Australia enjoyed a social contract – a general community acceptance of rights and responsibilities. Multiculturalism has destroyed this balance and the nation no longer enjoys the benefits of an established basis for the expectation of equal treatment under accepted laws. Until a genuine social contract is reinstated, community standards will be subject to arbitrary and possibly inappropriate rules of behaviour from the forces of selfishness and disunity. The nature of multiculturalism's objectives will ensure that an acceptable social contract is not possible under its prevailing influence…. The purpose of this book is to highlight the reasons why the policy of multiculturalism has both failed and betrayed Australia . A failure is usually repairable, a betrayal is not …”
Gitmo Captives Not POW's, Just Prisoners,
(3Dec 06)“….Those being held at Guantanamo Bay are not regular prisoners of war who would automatically be protected by regulations provided under the Geneva Convention now ratified by 194 member countries of the United Nations. …The convention represents the collective effort of states to maintain some basic humanitarian concerns even in the midst of war's brutalities, and bring countries to abide by the laws and customs of war…It describes whom are to be considered prisoners of war when taken captive by an enemy power…” Gitmo Captives Not POW's, Just Prisoners, Salim Mansur, Toronto Sun “…But the basic problem with the Guantanamo detainees is they are disowned by their native countries for being terrorists, or for having been associated with organizations such as al-Qaida engaged in preaching politics of violence against states (non-Muslim or Muslim) seen as enemies of their radical Islamist ideology….These detainees do not fit any category of prisoners of war as defined by the Geneva Convention which does not anticipate the dilemmas of war resulting from hostilities precipitated by non-state entities such as al-Qaida…”
(3Dec 06)“…The Council on American-Islamic Relations, (CAIR) is demanding Congress investigate US Airway's removal last week of six imams from one of its flights. The Muslim-rights group claims the imams, who were behaving suspiciously, posed no threat….It's "very, very inappropriate to treat religious leaders that way," a spokesman fumed….According to CAIR , imams are as harmless as Buddhist monks and deserve no less respect. Tell that to flight attendant Kimberly Banducci….Here's what happened: On Oct. 23, 2003, Sheikh Ahmed Hamman Mahmoud Hamman claimed he needed assistance as he boarded Delta Flight 1586. Banducci, who was flight coordinator that day, escorted the Egyptian imam, dressed in a flowing robe, to his seat. Imams Gone Wild by Paul Sperry “…As she helped him get seated, Hamman remarked in heavily accented English how good she smelled and asked her name….As she began to recoil from the bearded man's passes, he suddenly grabbed her face with one hand and wouldn't let go. Banducci told him he was hurting her and asked for help from passengers in the immediate area. She was able to pull away, but then His Most Holiness grabbed both her breasts and again would not release his grip. Banducci yelled at him to let go, but he refused, squeezing even harder. Only after she screamed for help and two air marshals broke cover did the man back down. A local Muslim leader bailed the violent groper sheikh out of jail….” Read on, this story gets worse
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