CultureWatch » Israel and the Middle East

Hamas and the Islamists at War with Civilisation

Bill Muehlenberg — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 08:03:14 +0000

The Islamist Palestinian movement Hamas was founded in 1987 as an offshoot of the militant Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Since 2007 it has controlled Gaza. The 1988 Hamas Charter made it clear that the complete removal of the Israelis and the establishment of a totalist Islamic state must occur.

For years now it has been involved in firing rockets into Israeli civilian centres. Moreover, it launches these rockets from civilian centres in Gaza. If any Israeli retaliation takes place, there may in fact be collateral damage. Thus civilians are being killed in both areas due to the deliberate actions of Hamas.

The latest crisis is simply more of the same. Israel is under relentless attack, with hundreds of rockets raining down upon it. It has no choice but to defend itself. As Hamas insists on planting its rocket launchers in, on, or near mosques, schools and hospitals, the mainstream media will often focus on any civilian casualties, no matter how hard Israel seeks to prevent them.

Indeed, the embattled nation goes to unprecedented lengths to avoid such casualties, including leaflet drops to warn of approaching strikes; phone calls and text messenger also warning of such actions; and the use of pinpoint strikes to minimise as much as possible any civilian casualties.

I am not aware of any other nation which goes to such great lengths to protect civilians in enemy territory. Yet for all this the MSM tends to paint Israel as the aggressor, and Hamas as the victim. But on occasion truth gets out – even if in unexpected places. A piece yesterday in the leftist UK Guardian was one such example.

In it Danny Ayalon argues that “Hamas leaves Israel no choice”. He writes, “Hamas’s charter includes the aspiration that ‘The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews)’. While many concentrate on its death-cult worship, its bloodthirsty killing of adversaries, or its contempt for women, Christians and homosexuals, it is this aspiration for genocide that is at the root of Hamas activities. This is the primary reason why Hamas, the governing regime in Gaza, will never recognise or accept a peace accord with Israel in any form.

“Since Israel left Gaza in 2005, thousands of rockets have rained down on Israeli cities and towns in deliberate contravention not just of international law, but all humanity and morality. While some might suggest the so-called blockade is the cause of the attacks, it is actually a consequence. The restrictions were only implemented two years after Israel left Gaza, when it was clear that instead of building a ‘Singapore of the Middle East’, Hamas was interested in importing stockpiles of weapons from places like Iran. Instead of building a future for its people, Hamas built an open-air prison for the million and a half inhabitants who fell into its grasp.

“However, Gaza was never enough for an organisation whose raison d’etre is the annihilation of Israel, and whose charter begins with the ominous warning that ‘Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it’.

“Every rocket from Gaza is a double war crime. First, the rockets are aimed at civilians; second, they are fired from built-up civilian areas, often close to schools, mosques and hospitals. And about 10% of Hamas rockets fired from Gaza don’t reach Israel, exploding in Gaza. Mohammed Sadallah – a four-year-old killed on Saturday, his body displayed in a press conference with Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s leader – was, according to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, most likely killed by an errant Hamas rocket.”

Richard Cohen has also just written a piece on “The Callousness of Hamas”. He begins, “Of all the points of disagreement between Israel and Hamas, maybe the most profound is this one: Israel cares more about sparing innocent lives – including those of Palestinians – than does Hamas. Not only have Hamas and other militant groups this year sent more than 700 rockets crashing haphazardly into southern Israel, but Hamas instigated yet another war where the chief loser will certainly be its own people. If hell has a beach, it’s located in Gaza.

“The Gaza Strip is a congested, fetid place. It is densely populated and in the slums and housing blocks, Hamas has hidden its weapons, explosives and rocket launchers. Israel has gone out of its way to avoid civilian casualties. Its air force has used new, highly accurate ammunition aiming for rocket-launching sites and government installations. For the most part, it has succeeded.

“For Hamas, civilian casualties are an asset. Palestinians love and grieve as do other people, but Hamas leadership knows that the world has gotten impatient with Israel. Increasingly, many people now see Israel as the aggressor, as Gaza’s occupying power (never mind the 2005 pullout), and they overlook such trifles as the Hamas charter, which is repellently anti-Semitic and cites the discredited forgery ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.’ In the Hamas cosmology, Jews are so evil that somehow ‘they also stood behind World War II, where they collected immense benefits from trading with war materials.’ This, you would have to concede, is a wholly original take on the Holocaust.”

He continues, “Hamas is not the passive party in this struggle. It rules Gaza by force. The other day it murdered – please don’t say ‘executed’ – an alleged collaborator without the inconvenience of a trial, shooting the man on a crowded street. It chose to make war by allowing more militant groups to use Gaza as a launching pad for rockets and firing off the occasional rocket itself. No nation is going to put up with this sort of terror. The rockets do some, not a lot of damage, but that’s not the point. The point instead is that people who have the wherewithal will not continue to live in a place where even the occasional rocket can come down on your kids’ school. This is not a mere border problem. For Israel, this is an existential threat.

“What various editorial writers and others seem not to understand is that the very peace agreement they accuse Israel of forestalling is, in fact, impeded by Hamas’ use of violence. Who wants to make peace with extremists? Who wants to give up land for the promises of peace offered by zealots who read Hitler for inspiration?”

Finally, if there remains any doubt as to why Israel is fighting a life and death battle for the preservation of civilisation from the inroads of the barbarians, simply consider this example of Hamas “justice”. The link below features the sickening pictures of a supposed Israeli collaborator who was dragged through the main streets of Gaza City behind a motorcycle. He was one of six men killed, without a trial, without witnesses, without anything.

That is Hamas justice pure and simple. No wonder Israel is fighting for its life. Despite its many faults and weaknesses, it is the only nation in the region which is a thriving democracy, with human rights, freedoms of all kinds, and the rule of law.

How many of its surrounding neighbours can claim this much? Indeed, the militants want to destroy all that, and establish their own Islamic “paradise” there instead. No thanks – Israel does not want it and the rest of the civilised world should not want it either.

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/19/hamas-leaves-israel-no-choice

www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/11/20/the_callousness_of_hamas_116211.html

elderofziyon.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/hamas-kills-six-collaborators-drags-one.html

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On Israel, Again

Bill Muehlenberg — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 01:51:28 +0000

With over 12,000 rockets pouring into Israeli cities in the past 12 years, and another barrage of them in the past week, Israel is again in the news. The trouble is, the leftist MSM is once again getting it all wrong, wringing its hands about Israeli aggression and the like.

What the MSM refuses to tell us are various inconvenient truths, such as:
-the fact that a number of times now Israel has traded land for peace
-the fact that a nation of 6 million people is surrounded by over 300 million hostile people
-the fact that the majority of its neighbours have vowed to drive it into the ocean
-the fact that Israel is the only free, democratic nation in the entire region
-the fact that Israel is the last bulwark against Islamist imperialism in the region

There are plenty more such facts which you will seldom hear from the MSM. In their eyes everything is Israel’s fault, and many of them would be quite happy to see Israel obliterated from the face of the earth. That is why once again the alternative media is so important here. They are willing to speak some truth and sense while the MSM is not.

Around a thousand rockets have rained down on Israeli population centres in the past week or so. No nation on earth can sit back and allow its civilian population centres to take such sustained and unprovoked attacks. Israel has every right to defend itself, and if it does, all we will hear again is baloney about “Israeli aggression”.

Benjamin Netanyahu hit the nail on the head in 2006 when he said, “The truth is that if Israel were to put down its arms there would be no more Israel. If the Arabs were to put down their arms there would be no more war.” Or as Golda Meir put it in a 1957 speech: “Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”

So we see the same old story being played out here – this time with Hamas pouring in rocket after rocket. The launchers of course are all handily located in civilian areas. Thus they are more than happy to make fellow Arabs human shields as they fire indiscriminately into Jewish population centres.

The capabilities of the Israel Defense Forces however are such that they can still seek to make surgical strikes on where these rockets are coming from. As always, they will seek to limit any collateral damage, as difficult as that is when offensive weapons systems are deliberately placed in civilian regions.

And of course the world’s media will happily report on any civilian casualties which may have accidently occurred as a result of IDF defensive strikes. They will do little by way of reporting on Israeli civilian casualties however. But that is how the anti-Israel MSM operates.

But here I wish to finish this article by looking at a bigger issue, and in some ways a more important issue. For years America has been Israel’s biggest supporter. But under the Obama regime things have turned in the other direction. Obama has been the most anti-Israel and pro-Muslim US president ever.

He has never once visited Israel during his term in office, while he has bowed in true dhimmi fashion before plenty of Muslim leaders. He has given millions of US tax dollars to anti-freedom, anti-democracy and anti-Israel groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, who in turn are using that money to finance terrorist groups like Hamas.

Thus the US can no longer be counted on as an ally here, and Israel must go it alone. Thus we have the strange situation where the only two really consistent supporters of Israel of late have been Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, an evangelical Christian, and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, an avowed atheist.

But the former leader of the free world is no longer someone to be counted on. Indeed, Israel may now have to lay claim to that mantel. Columnist Matt Barber has just penned an important piece on this very issue, and is worth quoting at length here.

He writes about how Obama has been “leading from behind” and says: “More commonly known as ‘following,’ President Obama’s follow-the-leader strategy in the Middle East represents, in my view, either inherent weakness on his part, sympathy toward the Islamic cause or both. I suspect both.

“Indeed, during his first term, Mr. Obama betrayed both weakness personified and sympathy toward the goals of Islamic fundamentalism with his ongoing embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood. This extremist group, with Obama’s help, now controls much of the Arab world. It has sworn, in its own words, to ‘destroy’ our ‘Western civilization from within … so that it is eliminated and God’s religion (Islam) is made victorious over all other religions.’

“Not surprisingly, today the Brotherhood rushes to the aid of both the terrorist group Hamas and Holocaust denier Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority. This, as terrorists ramp-up decades-long rocket attacks and suicide bombings against innocent Israeli women and children. Nonetheless – and clearly stemming from a cynical political calculus – Mr. Obama persists in paying shallow lip service to support for Israel – all the while he continues to play footsie with the Muslim Brotherhood.”

He continues, “Whether due to naiveté, foolishness or pure dishonesty, President Obama’s bungling of the Middle East crisis – let alone his unprecedented attacks on our constitutional freedoms stateside – has disqualified him to lead the free world.

“And so, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stepped forward to answer the call. He has become de facto leader of the free world – chief defender of Western civilization. As America’s light fades under the Obama regime, Israel has become – for now at least – ‘the shining city on the hill.’

“With a nuclear Iran perhaps only months away, Western civilization needs defending now more than ever. Israel needs defending now more than ever. Consider these words from top Hamas cleric Muhsen Abu ‘Ita: ‘Annihilation of the Jews here in Palestine is one of the most splendid blessings for Palestine.’ Thus, Israel defends herself. Israel defends the free world….

“Yet, inexplicably, many in the West – people Vladimir Lenin might have called ‘useful idiots’ (i.e., ‘progressives,’ mainstream media and moderate American Muslims) – willfully suspend disbelief. They play directly into the blood-soaked hands of these terrorist cowards.

“Having time and again demonstrated a willingness to sacrifice their own innocent people (consider child suicide bombers), these monsters today both deliberately target Israeli neighborhoods with rockets and intentionally place their own military launch sites and terrorist headquarters next to mosques, playgrounds, factories and the like. This, as intended, has created a propagandist boon. Much of the world blames Israel when these human shields are tragically killed during pinpoint military strikes. Who needs missile defense when you have women and children to hide behind?”

He concludes, “To Benjamin Netanyahu I pledge this: Mr. Prime Minister, Christian America thanks you for your bold leadership. We thank you for being the lone voice of freedom in the Middle East. Sir, you, too, are in our thoughts and our prayers. America stands with Israel. We demand our president do the same.”

Yes quite so. Israel is not perfect by any means, and has made many mistakes. But compared to the bloodthirsty haters of freedom and democracy surrounding it, it certainly does appear to be a “light upon a hill”. For that reason alone it deserves far more support than what the current US president is willing to give it.

www.wnd.com/2012/11/benjamin-netanyahu-leader-of-the-free-world/

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Islam and the Offence Industry

Bill Muehlenberg — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 07:35:25 +0000

We have in our society today entire groups of people who have decided that they exist to take offence at things. Not only that, but they think they have some inherent right never to be offended. They think they are meant to go through life never being offended, and if they are, they think someone is going to have to pay.

A culture of offence has sprung up in which all sorts of folks are hyper-sensitive to seemingly everything. One has to walk on egg shells for fear of offending anyone. A wrong word, a wrong turn of phrase, a wrong look, and all hell can break loose. This of course fully ties in with Political Correctness and our culture of complaint.

We think we are owed everything, and we think life is about a never-ending stream of rights (but no responsibilities). Thus we somehow think we have a fundamental right never to be offended. As far as I am aware, there is no charter or declaration spelling out such rights, but it has become a major growth industry in the West nonetheless.

Thus if you dare to speak up in favour of heterosexual marriage, for example, every activist group on the planet goes into a spin, begins to foam at the mouth, and screams about how much they have been offended. They think it should be against the law to be subject to anything which might offend them.

Of course the most glaring example of all this is radical Islam, and their never ending offence-taking. Any and every excuse will do to take offence, and they effectively have much of the West in a condition of dhimmitude, with leaders, the MSM, and our cultural elites all fearful of saying anything or doing anything which might offend the religion of peace.

And one can almost forgive such fear and cowardice: dare to say anything which even remotely might be seen as an insult or a slight of Islam, and airplanes start flying, bombs go off, and the rioting begins. Whether it is Danish cartoons, or supposed disrespect for the Koran, or any film which might be made critical of this faith, and the explosive repercussions instantly occur.

The latest round of riots are supposed to be about some film recently made about Islam. I have not seen the film, and I don’t really wish to focus on it here. Even if it was so horrific, the question is: so what? Every day of the week offensive, derogatory and insulting remarks and more are made about Christianity and Christians.

The last time I checked they did not respond with a quick batch of flying lessons, or the blowing up of innocent men, women and children in crowded public spaces. Nor were fatwas issued, or protests held with banners proudly displaying the words, “Behead all those who insult Jesus” or “Death to all those who dare mock Christianity”.

The radicals are in a perpetual state of taking offence, and no amount of grovelling, apologising or appeasement will change things. Indeed, a steady stream of apologies and kowtowing to the radicals simply ups the ante, and causes them to make even more of a stink, and expect even more dhimmi responses from the West.

Commentator Bruce Thornton has recently written about this very issue: “Einstein’s definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. By this standard, our foreign policy in the Middle East has been managed by crazy people since 1979. In fact, so consistent are the mistakes and delusions characterizing our responses to the jihadists that anything one can say has already been written.

“The riots and violence in Afghanistan over some accidentally burned Korans are following a script that by now is all too drearily familiar. As we have seen over the years with the riots over the Mohammed cartoons, Pope Benedict’s comments about violence in Islam, or false rumors of Korans flushed down toilets, violent Muslim overreactions to slights are immediately followed by anxious apologies from American leaders. Rather than defusing the anger, however, such groveling merely encourages more contempt and violence.

“I wrote that on FrontPage back in February, but change the first sentence and it applies perfectly to the murders of our ambassador and three other Americans in Libya and the continuing violent demonstrations against our embassies in Yemen and Egypt.”

He continues, “The futility of apology and the lack of reciprocity is as obvious today, when apologies have been followed by more violence, as it was in February: ‘Indeed, over the past few decades, no amount of apologies for alleged “insults” to Muslims has stopped Islamists from attacking us. Nor have the good deeds benefiting Muslims, from rescuing Bosnians from genocide to liberating Libyans from Gaddafi, stopped jihadists from wanting to kill Americans for an endless list of reasons. The past decades of such incidents have shown instead that apologies are useless, and merely confirm the impression among Muslims that we are spiritually inferior, and so endorse the perverse logic that accidentally burning a book is worse than murdering our soldiers and citizens. Why else would we publicly flagellate ourselves over such “insults” even as we say nothing about the Muslim murders of Christians in Egypt and Nigeria, or the Muslim laws prescribing capital punishment for converts to Christianity, or the Muslim vandalizing and destruction of 300 churches in Cyprus, or the Muslim slow-motion extermination of Christians in lands that worshipped Christ for 6 centuries before Islam even existed?’…

“This double standard today, as in previous such episodes, has the same source: a willful refusal to acknowledge the true nature of Islam: ‘What we refuse to accept is the intolerant chauvinism inherent in Islam, the belief that Muslims are the “best of nations” and destined to rule the world. Accepting the double standard merely confirms their superiority and our inferiority. After all, to let someone behave according to one set of principles or standards while demanding that you be subjected to others is to validate a claim of superiority that justifies the disproportionate and unjust behavior. It’s acting like a battered wife, who accepts a beat-down from her husband as justified punishment for burning his dinner. This double standard also reflects incoherent thinking, a failure to apply consistently a principle that presumably has universal validity. Hence we celebrate and practice “tolerance” at the same time we enable, ignore, excuse, and rationalize intolerance. In the West’s struggle with Islamic jihad, our doubts about the superiority of Western beliefs have coupled with this breakdown in ethical reasoning. The result is the appeasement of jihadist aggression and the confirmation of the jihadist estimation of the West’s weakness and corruption’.”

As Mark Steyn has said, “They can’t keep taking offense at everything”. But it seems that is just what they are seeking to do. The more they take offence, the more we apologise and grovel on our faces before the militants. And the more we do that, the more they take offence.

Well, here’s the scoop: I take offence at all these Muslims taking offence at everything. If they want to hate everything about the West while in their own homelands, I guess that is one thing. But when they hold up signs which read, “Behead all those who insult the prophet” – not in Tripoli or Cairo, but in Sydney – then it is time for the West to say, “enough is enough”. If you detest our values and our way of life, no one is forcing you to come here or stay here.

Indeed, I would have to concur with Pam Geller who said yesterday: “You cannot ask me to sacrifice my freedom so as not to offend savages.”

frontpagemag.com/2012/bruce-thornton/the-futility-of-apology/

www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/police-use-pepper-spray-on-anti-islamic-film-protesters-in-sydney-at-the-us-consulate/story-e6freuy9-1226474744811

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Democrats, Death and Deicide

Bill Muehlenberg — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 06:40:01 +0000

The contrast between the two main American political parties keeps getting more and more obvious. The Republicans, for all their faults, value God, faith, freedom, free markets, family, and support Israel, among other things. The Democrats on the other hand seem to value secularism, socialism, statism, and social suicide.

They can hardly claim to be friends of the family, of Christianity, of Israel, of free enterprise, and of limited government. Indeed, simply note what the main emphases have been at the Democratic National Convention. It has been all about abortion, contraception, homosexual marriage, and bashing the Republicans. Nothing of real substance in other words; nothing which most Americans would be concerned about.

They are clamouring on about all sorts of radical lefty social engineering agendas, but saying and doing nothing about the real issues which impact Americans: the economy, education, family life, and so on. Oh, and you won’t hear anything about that $16 trillion debt they helped to rack up. Nope, wouldn’t want to spoil the party with that one.

Indeed, they won’t want to look closely at what has actually happened under BHO during the past four years. But I am happy to share some of this: A triple A credit rating is now just double A. The 5% unemployment rate is now nearly 9%. Gas then cost $1.80 a gallon, now it is $3.80. And 52 months of continuous jobs growth is now replaced with 42 months of high unemployment.

But hey, what are a few inconvenient truths when you are trying to pat yourself on the back and con the American people that somehow another four years of this is going to be a great thing for the country. Oh, and BTW, simply to point out these facts of course automatically makes me a racist.

Never mind the fact that I would love to have an Allen West or Alan Keyes or Mia Love or even Condi Rice over a liberal whitey as POTUS. And don’t get me started on how so much of the MSM deliberately ignored covering any of the black speakers at the RNC. Nothing like a bit of censorship to help push agendas.

Simply taking Obama’s pro-abortion and pro-infanticide position should be enough to convince any rational and moral human being – let alone someone claiming to be a Christian – not to vote for this guy. A short video here on his love of the death mill Planned Parenthood should be all we need to steer clear of this modern day King Herod and his Slaughter of the Innocents: www.youtube.com/watch?v=65OLSWWs87s

And if that still does not convince you of the evil of abortion, and why no one claiming to be a true follower of Jesus Christ can vote for a party with abortion on demand as part of its official party platform, then you might try watching this one, if you dare: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD9aF9OXN0U

On top of all this, these Democrats – who claim to be so in touch with the average American – at first refused to even allow God to be dragged into their convention, or the nation of Israel. But after a major backlash, they had to relent, and a motion had to be made to allow both back on to their platform.

But to allow such a change, there had to be a clear 2/3 majority in support. Well they never got that two-thirds. Indeed, the whole world knows they did not. They actually had to call for a vote on this three times. And in each case the ‘no’ vote got louder and clearer.

Thus we can affirm that at least half – if not more – of all the Democratic delegates there did not want God, or the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital – to go ahead. Yet the chairman just ignored the clear and consistent ‘no’ votes, and pretended the motion passed anyway. You can watch this entire appalling episode here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4z64YjfEaQ

This is simply incredible stuff. I love what Father Peter West had to say about all this: “If God gets booed at your Party’s Convention, you’re in the wrong Party.” Amen! What kind of party is it that actually boos when someone simply wants God to get a tiny look-in at a convention?

This is clearly – if we did not already know this – a party of radical secular lefties. They seem to hate God, hate Israel, hate America, hate freedom and hate democracy. They just want to see King Obama back in for a second term so they can really let him loose to do even more damage.

And Obama has promised to do just that – if he gets in again he will let his entire radical crusade loose on the American people. If you thought things were bad now, just wait till what comes during the next four years – if America lasts that long under his reign of terror.

There is little doubt that this man has been among the worst US presidents ever, and he will simply prove this beyond any shadow of a doubt if he gets back in. His pro-death stance alone should convince us all of this. Indeed, any guy who can actually say, “I would never punish my daughters with a baby” has got rings around King Herod big time. God help us all.

www.lifesitenews.com/news/abortion-redefining-marriage-take-center-stage-on-democratic-conventions-op?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=40b8c28bc0-LifeSiteNews_com_Intl_Headlines_09_05_2012&utm_medium=email

www.charismanews.com/us/34100-dems-scrub-god-references-from-party-platform

www.lifenews.com/2012/09/05/democrats-reverse-stance-put-god-back-in-platform-amid-massive-boos/

finance.townhall.com/columnists/bobbeauprez/2012/09/06/act_of_god_jerusalem_a_disaster_for_dems

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Crucifixion Again, and the Meltdown of the Middle East

Bill Muehlenberg — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 12:28:32 +0000

We might have thought that crucifixion was no longer being practiced in the world. And we might have thought the Arab Spring was a good thing. Wrong on both counts. For quite some time the Muslim rulers in the Sudan have been crucifying Christians and others who would not submit. And what we now have in the Middle East is a Christian Winter for many.

Indeed, crucifixion now seems to be raising its ugly head elsewhere in the Muslim world. For example, it appears to be occurring in Egypt – a nation which was supposed to see freedom flourish and human rights emerge because of the Arab Spring.

But it seems to be all one big nightmare for everyone except the Muslim hotheads. Indeed, any opposition to the new Muslim Brotherhood-led regime is being met with horrendous violence. Here is how Raymond Ibrahim covers this horrific story:

“Last week in Egypt, when Muslim Brotherhood supporters terrorized the secular media, several Arabic websites—including Arab News, Al Khabar News, Dostor Watany, and Egypt Now—reported that people were being ‘crucified.’ The relevant excerpt follows in translation:

“A Sky News Arabic correspondent in Cairo confirmed that protestors belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood crucified those opposing Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi naked on trees in front of the presidential palace while abusing others. Likewise, Muslim Brotherhood supporters locked the doors of the media production facilities of 6-October [a major media region in Cairo], where they proceeded to attack several popular journalists.”

He continues, “Far from condemning these terrorists, Al Azhar, Egypt’s most authoritative Islamic institution, has just issued a fatwa calling for more violence and oppression, saying that ‘fighting participants in anti-Muslim Brotherhood demonstrations planned for 24 August is a religious obligation.’

“Most of the aforementioned Arabic sites point out that these attacks are part of the Muslim Brotherhood’s campaign to intimidate and thus censor Egypt’s secular media from exposing the group’s Islamist agenda, which Youm 7, On TV, and Okasha do daily.”

He concludes: “In reality, there is little reason to doubt this crucifixion story. Militant Muslims crucifying their opponents is a regular feature of the Islamic world—recent cases coming from the Ivory Coast, where two Christian brothers were crucified, similarly by supporters of a Muslim president who ousted a Christian; Indonesia, where Islamic separatists crucified a fellow Muslim for being a military informant; and in Iraq, where Muslim militants crucified Christian children.

“Moreover, those alleged to have been crucified in Egypt certainly fit the Koran’s description of who deserves to be crucified. According to Allah, ‘The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this: that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off…’ (Koran 5:33)….

“In short, under the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the bottle has been uncorked and the Islamic Genie set loose. Expect much worse to come.” Yes quite so. Commentator Caroline Glick offers more depressing information about just how bad things are getting in Egypt:

“On Sunday, new President Mohamed Morsy completed Egypt’s transformation into an Islamist state. In the space of one week, Morsy sacked the commanders of the Egyptian military and replaced them with Muslim Brotherhood loyalists, and fired all the editors of the state-owned media and replaced them with Muslim Brotherhood loyalists.

“He also implemented a policy of intimidation, censorship and closure of independently owned media organizations that dare to publish criticism of him. Morsy revoked the military’s constitutional role in setting the foreign and military policies of Egypt. But he maintained the junta’s court-backed decision to disband the parliament. In so doing, Morsy gave himself full control over the writing of Egypt’s new constitution.

“As former ambassador to Egypt Zvi Mazel wrote Tuesday in The Jerusalem Post, Morsy’s moves mean that he ‘now holds dictatorial powers surpassing by far those of erstwhile president Hosni Mubarak.’ In other words, Morsy’s actions have transformed Egypt from a military dictatorship into an Islamist dictatorship.”

Israel rightly has much to fear from all this: “Morsy intends to remilitarize Sinai and so render the Egyptian military a clear and present threat to Israel’s security. Indeed, according to Haaretz, Egypt has already breached the peace accord and deployed forces and heavy weaponry to Sinai without Israeli permission.

“The rapidity of Morsy’s moves has surprised most observers. But more surprising than his moves is the US response to his moves. Obama administrations officials have behaved as though nothing has happened, or even as though Morsy’s moves are positive developments….

“Morsy’s Islamism, like Mao’s Communism, is inherently hostile to the US and its allies and interests in the Middle East. Consequently, Morsy’s strategic repositioning of Egypt as an Islamist country means that Egypt – which has served as the anchor of the US alliance system in the Arab world for 30 years – is setting aside its alliance with the US and looking toward reassuming the role of regional bully.

“Egypt is on the fast track to reinstating its war against Israel and threatening international shipping in the Suez Canal. And as an Islamist state, Egypt will certainly seek to export its Islamic revolution to other countries. No doubt fear of this prospect is what prompted Saudi Arabia to begin showering Egypt with billions of dollars in aid.

“It should be recalled that the Saudis so feared the rise of a Muslim Brotherhood-ruled Egypt that in February 2011, when US President Barack Obama was publicly ordering then-president Hosni Mubarak to abdicate power immediately, Saudi leaders were beseeching him to defy Obama. They promised Mubarak unlimited financial support for Egypt if he agreed to cling to power.

“The US’s astounding sanguinity in the face of Morsy’s completion of the Islamization of Egypt is an illustration of everything that is wrong and dangerous about US Middle East policy today.”

The implications of all this are enormous: “The reason Israel and the US are allies is that Israel is the US’s first line of defense in the region. If regional events weren’t moving so quickly, the question of who lost Egypt would probably have had its moment in the spotlight in Washington.

“But as is clear from the US’s denial of the significance of Morsy’s rapid completion of Egypt’s Islamic transformation; its blindness to the dangers of Syrian chemical and biological weapons; and its complacency toward Iran’s nuclear weapons program, by the time the US foreign policy establishment realizes it lost Egypt, the question it will be asking is not who lost Egypt. It will be asking who lost the Middle East.”

We are facing the prospect of a major Middle East meltdown. The resumption of crucifixion is but one ominous token of what lies ahead.

www.investigativeproject.org/3711/muslim-brotherhood-crucifies-opponents-attacks

townhall.com/columnists/carolineglick/2012/08/19/who_lost_egypt

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A Review of Marked For Death. By Geert Wilders.

Bill Muehlenberg — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 17:38:29 +0000

Regnery, 2012.

You have to be a rather unique individual to have been living under 24/7 police security and safe housing for ten years running: either very evil or very wonderful. His foes – which are many – see him as pure evil, but his many supporters see him as a hero – a champion of free speech, and a valiant defender of the West against a relentless Islamic assault.

I take the latter view, and the reason for his decade-long effective imprisonment is his willingness to speak out against Islam. This means you are targeted, you are hated, and you will be killed. Wilders should know – he has seen two of his fellow Dutchmen already assassinated because of their views on Islam, and another now exiled to America.

Islam is the new communism which is warring against the free West, and unless we stand against it, we will lose everything. That is why Wilders has had to go through all this misery, and that is why he has written this book. He has seen his own nation deteriorate rapidly, and he wants to see it – and the West – freed from the shackles of a seventh century political ideology.

Buy this from Amazon: Marked for Death: Islam's War Against the West and Me by Geert Wilders Click Here

And that is what Islam really is: “I am talking about the ideology of Islam, not about individual Muslim people. There are many moderate Muslims, but that does not change the fact that the political ideology of Islam is not moderate – it is a totalitarian cult with global ambitions. We should not treat Islam more leniently than other political ideologies like communism and fascism just because it claims to be a religion. We must treat Islam as we do every other despotic creed that calls for the submission of those who do not adhere to it.”

Despite the left’s portrayal of the Dutch politician and freedom fighter as a firebrand maverick and redneck, one certainly does not get that impression reading this important book. It is an intelligent, calm, well-argued and thoughtfully written volume, buttressed by over 700 endnotes.

Wilders is not an outside observer of what Islam actually does to a Western nation: he has experienced it firsthand. For example, during his 20 years living in a borough of Utrecht he saw it transformed from a peaceful, law-abiding and clean community to a much different place.

“As Islam exploded, crime spread throughout the district – cars were vandalized, people were robbed, and eventually Dutch women no longer felt safe in the streets. Marxists claim poverty causes crime, but I noticed the opposite: crime reduced the area to poverty. . . . As lawlessness spread, Dutch residents began moving out and Dutch shops closed down.” And that has been repeated throughout Europe and the UK.

Mass migrations of Muslims, a failed policy of multiculturalism, and naive appeasement policies by the Westerners have resulted in huge and growing problems. And this has not happened by accident: the goal of Islam is the establishment of a universal Caliphate, with everyone submitting to sharia law.

The Islamic doctrine of immigration is a political strategy of taking a nation over from within. The first step is to establish a mosque as a beachhead. While we may see these as mere religious symbols, Muslims see them differently: as the beginning steps of taking over the kafirs’ (unbelievers’) lands.

He quotes Turkey’s prime minister: “The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers”. Muslim immigration, following the example of the Prophet, is the mandatory means by which a non-Muslim culture can be captured. It stops only after total submission. As Muhammad said, “There is no Hijra [migration] after the Conquest”.

Europe now has well over 10,000 mosques, and in many European cities entire areas are no-go zones for non-Muslims – including police and fire personnel. While gullible Westerners are basically welcoming these ominous developments with open arms – and closed eyes and minds – it is all one-way traffic of course.

As Mark Steyn explains in his brilliant foreword to this book: “Imagine it the other way around. Rotterdam has a Muslim mayor, a Morocan passport holder born the son of a Berber imam. How would Saudi Arabia feel about an Italian Catholic mayor in Riyadh? The Jordanians about an American Jewish mayor in Zarqa? Would the citizens of Cairo and Kabul agree to become minorities in their own hometowns simply because broaching the subject would be too complex?”

Or as Wilders puts it, “Today, for the third time in history, Islam is waging an offensive to conquer Europe. For the first time, however, it is threatening the continent from within. The doctrine of immigration is Islam’s Trojan horse, paving the way for jihad. From the inside, Islam is now eating its way out while many Westerners look on helplessly.”

In this fine book Wilders weaves scenarios about contemporary Islamic usurpation of the West with historical and religious discussion concerning the rise of Islam, its bloody history of conquest, its antipathy to human rights, freedom and democracy, its abhorrent treatment of women, and its utter contempt of all non-Islamic faiths.

Thus he provides a solid and very helpful overview of what Islam is, what it believes, what it has done, and where it is headed, and combines that with the grim situation we find in the West today. He very carefully makes the case for the very real war we are in – a war which will be fought to the death, with only one victor, and one loser.

But he offers hope – his own story is a story of how just one person, or a small group of individuals, can turn things around. Partly through his own political party, the Party for Freedom, he has managed to radically turn around the nation of Holland. It’s basically open-slather policies of immigration, multiculturalism and uncritical “tolerance” which caused tremendous harm have been largely abandoned.

Just recently Holland, like Germany and some other nations which have finally wised up, has ditched its bankrupt and dangerous policies, and radically tightened up, mostly due to Wilders’ efforts. “Indicative of its new outlook, in July 2011, the Dutch government did something that no other nation has dared to do – it denounced the Organization of Islamic Unity (OIC), the tyrannical organization of fifty-seven Islamic countries, most of them barbaric dictatorships, that tries to bully Western nations into submitting to Islam’s diktats.”

It also built a stronger relationship with Israel; boycotted the anti-Semitic Durban III conference; banned public uses of the burka; toughened up naturalisation requirements; and in general took steps to resist the slow but steady Islamisation of Holland. The result: “Those who settle in the Netherlands are now obliged to integrate. … Immigrants must benefit the Netherlands, not the other way around.”

Of course Wilders has paid a great price for all this. The death threats and non-stop police protection is a part of this. Then he had to go through a two-year trial in his own country for “hate speech” – but that was finally dismissed. As Mark Steyn said, “In twenty-first-century Amsterdam, you’re free to smoke marijuana and pick up a half-naked sex partner from the front window of her shop. But you can be put on trial for holding the wrong opinion about a bloke who died in the seventh century.”

He concludes with some steps to preserve our freedoms and resist the spread of radical Islam:
-Defend freedom of speech (and repeal all hate speech laws)
-Reject all forms of cultural relativism
-Stop the Islamisation of the West
-Cherish our national identity.

The rationale is this: “We have to stop pretending that Islam is merely a religion – it is primarily a totalitarian ideology that aims to conquer the West. A free society should not grant freedom to those who want to destroy it.” He finishes his invaluable volume with these words:

“If we do not oppose Islamization, we will lose everything: our freedom, our identity, our democracy, our rule of law, and all our liberties. It is our duty to defend the legacy of Rome, Athens, and Jerusalem.”

Near the end of the book he cites the assassinated US President, William McKinley: “That’s all a man can hope for during his lifetime – to set an example – and when he is dead, to be an inspiration for history.” Wilders has certainly been both an example and an inspiration – and so far he is still alive to continue in his important work.

May he long live, and may his book sell extremely well.

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Iran, Israel and Armageddon

Bill Muehlenberg — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:12:26 +0000

Not learning the lessons of history, or worse yet, refusing to learn the lessons of history, will always get us into big trouble. And one of the lessons we all should have learned by now is that appeasement against tyrants is never going to be helpful.

Indeed, whenever we try to cosy up to dictators and seek to appease those who have declared their hatred of us, all we do is ask for, and get, trouble – and lots of it. Chamberlain was not the only appeaser that comes to mind in recent history.

Sadly they are still around today. People like Ron Paul seem really quite clueless about the threats America and the West face, from radical Islam in general and Iran in particular. He seems to want to out Chamberlain Chamberlain as he makes apologies for Iran while denigrating his own nation.

In case you are not savvy as to Paul’s foreign policy credentials, just one paragraph from Joseph Klein helps explain why he is such bad news:

“Rep. Ron Paul believes the United States is a greedy, militaristic empire that brought 9/11 upon itself. He believes that Iran poses no threat to U.S. or Israeli security and that Iran deserves to have a nuclear weapon if it wants one. As for Israel, he does not think it should have ever come into existence as a Jewish state. Nevertheless, Ron Paul, whose crackpot beliefs would be disastrous for the United States and the free world if ever implemented, is a serious contender for the GOP presidential nomination.”

If someone like Paul ever made it into the White House, we would all be toast, beginning with Israel. Yet for some incredible reason there are people who consider themselves to be conservative Christians who absolutely love this guy, and think he is the Republican equivalent to the Messiah that Democrats have thought about Obama.

The truth is, Paul is not at all a conservative, but a rather radical libertarian who has all sorts of nutter ideas on all sorts of issues. But it is his utter naivety and cluelessness about our external enemies that is here under discussion. Fortunately we have some more sober-headed people who are fully aware of the dangers of militant Islam and a nuclear-armed Iran.

Consider the words of Gavriel Queenann who assesses some very recent words from Iran’s leadership: “Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday endorsed a new doctrine explaining why it would be ‘legally and morally justified’ to commit genocide and wipe Israel off the map.

“The article was written by Khameini’s close adviser Alireza Forghani and endorsed by the Supreme Leader whose writings played a critical role in its drafting. The article has since appeared on numerous Iranian government and military websites. ‘Israel is a cancerous tumor in the Middle East,’ the article in the ultraconservative Farsi-language Alef news site. ‘Israel is a satanic media outlet with bombers. Every Muslim is required to arm themselves against Israel.’

“‘I have already noted the usurper state of Israel poses a grave threat to Islam and Muslim countries. Islam and Muslim states must not lose this opportunity to remove the corruption from out midst. All of our problems are because of Israel – Israel of America. The first step should be the absolute destruction of Israel. To this end, Iran could make use of long-range missiles. The distance between us is only 2,600 KM. It can be done in minutes.’ The crux of the piece says Iran would be justified in launching a pre-emptive strike against Israel because of the threat the Jewish state’s leaders are posing against its own nuclear facilities.”

Melanie Phillips offers us the bigger picture to all this: “War with Iran is a truly fearsome prospect. Its likely consequences would include attacks on US air bases from thousands of Iranian missiles, the unleashing of terrorist attacks within the US and Europe, the rocketing of Israeli towns from the tens of thousands of missiles trained on Israel from Lebanon, the closing of the Straits of Hormuz thus paralysing western oil supplies, and doubtless other horrors.

“But however fearsome this prospect, that of a nuclear-armed Iran is worse. The consequences are simply insupportable. A regime which has seen itself at war with the west ever since it came to power in 1979, and which has been involved in arguably every major terrorist atrocity against it, will be equipped with nuclear weapons to bring the west to its knees. Working as it does through puppet rogue regimes and terror organisations, it could perpetrate acts of nuclear terrorism – or threaten to do so.

“It could mount its long-threatened attempt to wipe Israel off the map, thus provoking a nuclear response to prevent a second genocide of the Jews. Last but by no means least, it will spark a nuclear arms race throughout the region, thus ensuring that nuclear weapons come under the control of some of the most unstable and belligerent regimes on earth. To all these threats and more, the west will be paralysed by Iran’s nuclear capacity, just as it is currently paralysed over North Korea.”

She too cites Iranian leadership. They have made their aims perfectly clear, and we ignore these warnings at our own peril: “The deeper problem is the west’s assumption that the Iranian regime is capable of ‘coming to its senses’ – its assumption that these are rational actors who ultimately will act in their own interest. Few in the west understand that, on the contrary, the Iranian regime is impervious to reason. Educated, intelligent and cunning they may be – but they are religious fanatics driven by an entirely different set of considerations. That’s what makes this situation so terrifying.

“As I have written over and over again, from the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei downwards the Iranian regime is dominated by people (adherents of a sect called the ‘Twelvers’) who believe that the Shia messiah, the Mahdi, will return to earth either as result of or to bring about the apocalyptic end of days. It is that apocalypse that they are intent upon facilitating. That is why the argument that ‘they wouldn’t dare launch a nuclear attack because they know half of Iran would be obliterated as a result’ is so fatuous. They would be happy if that were to occur.”

Being naive about our enemies and seeking to appease them helps absolutely no one. And another important lesson of history is this: when someone says they want to annihilate you, you had better take them seriously. I close with a short video clip which I suggest you all watch. Douglas Murray seems to have more understanding in his little pinky than people like Ron Paul have in their whole body: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dBzslDdQ_g

And just in case that is not very convincing, I suggest you watch this even shorter video clip to see what we are up against here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs0xLdFqU_s&feature=related

frontpagemag.com/2011/12/28/ron-pauls-destructive-foreign-policy/

www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/152478#.TzDTT8X9PDO

www.melaniephillips.com/why-iran-will-not-come-to-its-senses

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Durban III and Anti-Israel Mischief

Bill Muehlenberg — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 10:40:26 +0000

Back in 2001 the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance took place in Durban, South Africa. A follow-up conference was held in Geneva in 2009. Now Durban III is about to take place in New York (September 21).

What unites all three conferences is that they have been, and will be, little more than anti-Israel gabfests. Of course anything put on by the UN has to be questioned, but these conferences have been especially reprehensible. The amount of anti-Semitism and Israel-bashing that occurs there is quite ludicrous.

As if there are no nations on earth that deserve genuine censure for genuine racism and discrimination. Because the blatant hypocrisy and anti-Israel sentiments have been so bad, a number of nations have boycotted the conferences. Around a dozen countries boycotted the 2009 session, and already some nations have declared their absence from the upcoming conference.

Fortunately Australia has been one of them. It did not go in 2009 and will not go in 2011. The US has also boycotted both. Israel, of course, along with Holland, Italy, Canada and the Czech Republic are also boycotting the September conference.

While little good can be said about Julia Gillard, she has tended to be very supportive of Israel, which is one of the few reasons for supporting her. For example, she recently tangled with former PM Rudd over the issue of voting on a Palestinian state. Rudd wants Australia to simply abstain from the vote next month, while Gillard wants a stronger stance.

And Canada is currently led by a Prime Minister who is also very strongly pro-Israel. Conservative Stephen Harper has turned Canada into arguably the most pro-Israel nation in the world at the moment, and he has consistently been so since coming to power in 2006.

But such leaders and nations are few and far between. There may be nearly 150 nations attending next month, offsetting those who will boycott the event. So we can expect to see more business as usual in New York next month. The anti-Israel venom will continue apace and unabated.

Given all this hatred of Israel, it is worth getting some perspective on things here. Just how bad is Israel? Indeed, considering the Middle East as a whole, does it make any sense to pick on Israel? American Jewish commentator Dennis Prager offers some wise words here.

He demolishes the myth that Israel is some sort of apartheid nation which needs to be demonised. Consider how Arabs are treated in Israel, in contrast to how blacks were treated in South Africa: “Not one of those restrictions applies to Arabs living in Israel.

“One and a half million Arabs live in Israel, constituting about 20 percent of that country’s population. They have the same rights as all other Israeli citizens. They can vote, and they do. They can serve in the Israeli parliament, and they do. They can own property and businesses and work in professions alongside other Israelis, and they do. They can be judges, and they are. Here’s one telling example: it was an Arab judge on Israel’s Supreme Court who sentenced the former president of Israel — a Jew — to jail on a rape charge.

“Some other examples of Arabs in Israeli life: Reda Mansour was the youngest ambassador in Israel’s history, and is now Consul General at Israel’s Atlanta Consulate; Walid Badir is an international soccer star on Israel’s national team and captain of one of Tel Aviv’s major teams; Rana Raslan is a former Miss Israel; Ishmael Khaldi was until recently the deputy consul of Israel in San Francisco; Khaled Abu Toameh is a major journalist with the Jerusalem Post; Ghaleb Majadele was until recently a Minister in the Israeli Government. They are all Israeli Arabs. Not one is a Jew. Arabs in Israel live freer lives than Arabs living anywhere in the Arab world. No Arab in any Arab country has the civil rights and personal liberty that Arabs in Israel enjoy.”

What about the Palestinians who live in the occupied territories who are not citizens of Israel? “They are governed by either the Palestinian Authority (Fatah) or by Hamas. The control Israel has over these people’s lives is largely manifested when they want to enter Israel. Then they are subjected to long lines and strict searches, because Israel must weed out potential terrorists.

“Otherwise, Israel has little control over the day-to-day life of Palestinians and was prepared to have no control in 2000 when it agreed to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state to which it gave 97 percent of the land it had conquered in the 1967 War. The Palestinian response was to unleash an intifada of terror against Israeli civilians. And what about the security wall that divides Israel and the West Bank? Is that an example of apartheid?

“That this is even raised as an issue is remarkable. One might as well mention the security fence between the United States and Mexico as an example of apartheid. There is no difference between the American wall at its southern border and the Israeli wall on its eastern border. Both barriers have been built to keep unwanted people from entering the country.

“Israel built its security wall in order to keep terrorists from entering Israel and murdering its citizens. What appears to bother those who work to delegitimize Israel by calling it an apartheid state is that the barrier has worked. The wall separating Israel from the West Bank has probably been the most successful terrorism-prevention program ever enacted.

“So why, then, is Israel called an apartheid state? Because by comparing the freest, most equitable country in the Middle East to the former South Africa, those who seek to Israel’s demise hope they can persuade uninformed people that Israel doesn’t deserve to exist just as apartheid South Africa didn’t deserve to exist.”

Much more can be said about Israel in contrast to its many antagonistic neighbours, and the bigotry of the UN. But since a picture is worth a whole lot more than mere words, this short video clip is well worth watching. Please have a look and listen: www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRf57UPdaEg

www.jta.org/news/article/2011/08/23/3089082/australia-withdraws-from-durban-iii-over-israel-bashing-fears

www.theage.com.au/national/rudd-says-abstain-on-palestine-vote-gillard-backs-israel-20110807-1ihrc.html

townhall.com/columnists/dennisprager/2011/08/30/israel_–_an_apartheid_state

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Two Liberation Movements

Bill Muehlenberg — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 04:02:49 +0000

As I have just written elsewhere:
Liberators enter the Libyan capital to oust an inept and corrupt ruler.
Liberators enter the Australian capital to oust an inept and corrupt ruler.
I hope both groups have great success.

Of course in both cases it is still early days yet. We will have to wait and see how both situations unfold. But it may be the case that in both scenarios we have people power at work, seeking to stand against governments which have lost touch with their citizens.

Rebel forces have now entered Tripoli, the Libyan capital, and it looks like it is all over for the cruel dictator who ran that nation for four decades. One report says a son of his has been captured by rebel forces. But all this is unfolding as I type, so things are likely to change by the minute.

And one must always be cautious here. The general conservative principle of “better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know” is usually worth preserving. But here we have a largely isolated and unpopular dictator which his many Middle Eastern neighbours do not necessarily have high regard for.

So while it is always good news to see the likes of this creep being disposed of, we have to wait to see who in fact will take his place. Hardline Islamist groups may not be much better. Of course this is true about the uprisings taking place all over this part of the world.

It is one thing to get rid of oppressive regimes, but what will follow? Will the new regime be any better? So we must bide our time here. But let me mention one further thing before moving on to the next protest group. When Obama sanctioned this intervention in Libya, he assured us it would just be for a few weeks.

It has now been a half a year. Make no mistake: if it had been a Bush or a Howard government that had done such a thing, the lefties and their MSM supporters would be screaming bloody murder by now. They would be carrying on about militarism, and warmongering, and meddling in other people’s affairs, and having blood on our hands, etc.

They would be out on the streets with their inane chants of “No war for oil” and other equally idiotic slogans. They would be demanding the scalp of a Bush or a Howard. But because this has been backed by Obama, there has basically been silence on all this.

What we have here is just another example of the glaring double standards of the lefties. War and intervention is evidently not all wrong – only if it is conducted by conservative governments. But if leftist governments do it, then no probs.

The other major protest movement which has entered a nation’s capital is the Convoy of No Confidence here in Australia. Truckers from all around the nation are pouring into Canberra to protest the Carbon Tax in particular and the Gillard government in general.

In the face of so many lies, so much corruption, so many broken promises, and so much inept and derelict leadership, they are rightly calling for an election now. And with their latest disaster zone teetering on the rocks, this may come sooner than later.

Embattled MP Craig Thomson is a walking mess, with all sorts of charges of ugly, unethical and illegal behaviour hanging over his neck. But given that Julia is reigning over a hung Parliament, she of course cannot afford to see him go, so she is supporting him to the hilt.

And she and Labor sought to win last year’s election by talk of good, sound ethical leadership. Yeah right. But what is really reprehensible is the way the lame-stream media has been reporting this Canberra protest. The ABC has been especially – and oh so typically – reprehensible.

The comrades there have been barely able to contain themselves, and have been mocking and ridiculing this entire protest, claiming it is a flop and that basically no one has turned out for it. This is typical ABC editorialising in the name of news reporting.

They did the same thing last week with the National Marriage Rally and the anti-carbon tax rally held on Tuesday. I wrote up this deplorable coverage – or lack of coverage – here: www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/08/16/marriage-attacked-and-defended/

News and opinion have become forever intertwined at the ABC, and they show no shame in replacing objective reporting with leftwing political commentary and editorialising. And we still have to pay for this wretched bunch with our hard-earned tax dollars.

But what is even more galling are reports emerging which are telling us that trucks have been prevented from entering into Canberra! If true, this is scandalous. So much for democratic Australia. And if this has been the case, will the ABC report this?

I will not hold my breath. They not only should report it, but they should issue a public apology and retraction for their ugly political commentary which they try to pass off as actual news. But this too is quite unlikely. The ABC has long ago abandoned any pretence of impartiality and objectivity.

It is arguably the most biased, bigoted and agenda-ridden news outfit in Australia. And there would be plenty of other contenders for that title. So as always, we need to go elsewhere to seek to get some balance in what is happening in our world.

That in part is why this website operates. As long as the secular left has a stranglehold on the media in this nation, then I and others will seek to provide an alternative voice. Until they shut us down, that is.

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