Barrel Strength

h/t Weasel Zippers

After a week in which the British government caves in to Islamic pressure to prevent Geert Wilders from visitng England, a ray of sunshine lights the sky in a different place.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — The Saudi king on Saturday dismissed the chief of the religious police and a cleric who condoned killing the owners of TV networks that broadcast “immoral” content, signaling an effort to weaken the country’s hard-line Sunni establishment.

The shake-up — King Abdullah’s first since coming to power in August 2005 — included the appointment of a female deputy minister, the highest government position a Saudi woman has attained.

The king also changed the makeup of an influential body of religious scholars, for the first time giving more moderate Sunnis representation to the group whose duties include issuing the religious edicts known as fatwas.

Did he have to get rid of his ex-wife that way? The proverbial Texas defence: “Your Honor, the bitch just needed killing”, is unlikely to work in these circumstances. Doubtless Islamophobia is to blame.

NEW YORK A prominent Buffalo area businessman who founded the BridgesTV network to improve the image of Muslims in the U.S. has been arrested and charged with murdering his estranged wife – by beheading her at his company’s office in Orchard Park, N.Y., on Thursday.

Police have charged the husband, Muzzammil Hassan, 44, with second-degree murder in the death of Aasiya Z. Hassan, 37.

As if we should be surprised, considering  what is coming out of the Republic of Political Correctness:

Tests carried out in 1980 and again in 2008 show that the IQ score of an average 14-year-old dropped by more than two points over the period.

Among those in the upper half of the intelligence scale, a group that is typically dominated by children from middle class families, performance was even worse, with an average IQ score six points below what it was 28 years ago.

The trend marks an abrupt reversal of the so-called “Flynn effect” which has seen IQ scores rise year on year, among all age groups, in most industrialised countries throughout the past century.

Professor James Flynn, of the University of Otago in New Zealand, the discoverer of the Flynn effect and the author of the latest study, believes the abnormal drop in British teenage IQ could be due to youth culture having “stagnated” or even dumbed down.

Germany’s image as a fiscally conservative nation was not helpful in their attempts to sell 10-year bunds.  One hopes that this is an aberration, because there will be large supply of paper coming into the market from nations big and small, as funds will be required to bail out banks, provide stimulus and grease the political wheels.

A German sovereign bond auction failed yesterday amid growing danger signs for governments as they attempt to raise record amounts of debt to pay for fiscal stimulus packages and bank bail-outs, writes David Oakley.

It was the second successive failure this year of a 10-year Bund auction – usually one of the most sought-after – as demand fell 20 per cent short of the €6bn (£5.4bn)the German government wanted.

Obama & Bush: Can you tell the difference?

1. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-solicitor-general11-2009feb11,0,7158432.story

2. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/opinion/11wed2.html?ref=opinion
   

3. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-rendition1-2009feb01,0,4661244.story?page=1
   
4. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/opinion/11wed2.html?ref=opinion

So me time ago, in a video,  Prince Harry  affectionately referred to his fellow soldier in the platoon as a Paki. “There’s our little Paki friend” or something to that effect. The officer referred to explicitly told reporters he took no offence. But this is not an offence for which innocent intention is a sufficient defence. Evil intention is imputed from certain word usage, and failure to observe these social protocols demands the most aggressive treatment of thought crime -  sensitivity training, training that is, in the dire offrence that white people commit when they use certain words for ethnic groups.

The treatment of this non-issue by the British leftwing press has been hysterical.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/02/12/army-chiefs-formally-discipline-prince-harry-over-racist-remark-115875-21116274/

Notice how in the quotation below Paki is referred to as P***. The magic wordism of the Left would have us believe that if I  call an Inuit an  Eskimo I am engaging n some form of racist act. My political stance towards Eskimos is assumed to be hostile, whereas if I call him an Inuit my views are assumed to be benign and progressive. The same treatment is given to fag and gay. 

 Furious Army chiefs are determined to stamp out the racist blunders that are blighting Prince Harry’s reputation as an officer.

He has been formally disciplined after being caught on video calling fellow soldier Ahmed Raza Khan a “P***”.

And top brass have ordered the 24-year-old to attend an equality and diversity course in an effort to drive home to him just how offensive and damaging his insensitive remarks are.

But a senior military insider last night insisted the prince’s military career “will not suffer” because of the P*** jibe. The source said: “Although this matter will go on Harry’s record it will not go against him.”

Clarence House added: “Prince Harry has said sorry for his remarks and has been subjected to normal Army disciplinary procedures. The matter is now closed.”

It will be the second time the young royal has had lessons on how not to be racist since joining the Army. But this one will be more intensive with senior officers hoping the tough sessions will drum it into Harry that his behaviour is unacceptable.

His latest blunder will also be written permanently into his Army record.

The move comes a day after the Mirror revealed Harry told black comic Stephen K Amos when they met at Prince Charles’ 60th birthday last November: “You don’t sound like a black chap.”

____________________________________

O the shock! the horror!

 The word ban is spreading. I wish it would extend to Muslim use of “kuffar”.

The point is to make all normal speech impossible, to make one constantly conscious that Big Brother is watching and listening. How the Left has managed to do this should be the subject of many PhD theses. The object is to make people fear to speak freely, and the Left is succeeding in their goal.

See also the excellent Brussels Journal at http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3789 for a more profound treatment of the issue.

Taliban feel pinch of world financial crisis:

Just as financial support from donors in the Middle East and Turkey has dropped off, prices for ammunition and weapons on the black market are skyrocketing.

A rocket shell that used to cost $20 US now goes for $100, according to Seyfulkahar al-Muhaciri, part of the volunteer brigade of fighters.

I wait breathlessly for the Live Round Aid benefit concert to be announced.

The Christian Science Monitor looks at China’s plans for greater innovation and higher-end manufacturing. Niall Ferguson’s recent work, “The Ascent of Money“, is a must-read that puts this in perspective with his account of the “Chimerica” economy.

And what will the current flavours of government-driven stimulus do to cope with these prospects?

Exactly.

From the National Post article by Joseph Brean
 

“The Ontario Human Rights Commission is calling for Parliament to force all Canadian magazines, newspapers and “media services” Web sites to join a national press council with the power to adjudicate breaches of professional standards and complaints of discrimination.

“The media’s freedom of expression comes with a duty to “address issues of hate expression, and [media] should do so either voluntarily through provincial press councils, or through statutory creation of a national press council with compulsory membership,” the report reads.

“At the same time, the OHRC recognizes the media have full freedom and control over what they publish. Ensuring mechanisms are in place to provide opportunity for public scrutiny and the receipt of complaints, particularly from vulnerable groups, is important, but it must not cross the line into censorship.”

“Barbara Hall, OHRC chief commissioner, said in an interview the rise of the Internet has strengthened the case for a national media watchdog. In her vision, a national press council would be “a vehicle for full discussion about what’s written in the media” that is less strict and more accessible than the courts. ”

 She is right: the rise of the Internet has strengthened the case for a national media watchdog, if your goal is thought control.

Read the rest…

Geert Wilders, a Dutch MP who was on the way to the House of Lords to broadcast Fitna, a documentary on Islam, was informed by the British Embassy in The Hague, that he is a “persona non grata” in the United Kingdom.  This ban brings forth several questions.

Why is it that Labour government claims that the it cannot prevent EU citizens entering UK but it can do so with a democratically elected MP from an EU country?  What are the security priorities of the UK government when it feels necessary to bar a law abiding citizen yet refuses to devote resources internally?  Why is it that UK has to cede sovereignty by allowing CIA to fulfill the internal security requirements?  A report in Telegraph notes the following.

American spy chiefs have told the President that the CIA has launched a vast spying operation in the UK to prevent a repeat of the 9/11 attacks being launched from Britain…

Intelligence briefings for Mr Obama have detailed a dramatic escalation in American espionage in Britain, where the CIA has recruited record numbers of informants in the Pakistani community to monitor the 2,000 terrorist suspects identified by MI5, the British security service.

A British intelligence source revealed that a staggering four out of 10 CIA operations designed to thwart direct attacks on the US are now conducted against targets in Britain.

Given the persistent parallels between the current economic crisis and 1930s, it is instructive to go back and examine some of the ways in which FDR politically manipulated events, as this is likely to be the path that Obama will chose when market will fail to respond to his policies or his admonitions.  Today was a precursor of things to come, as stock market fell hard on Geithner’s much awaited rescue proposals which did everything but instill confidence.  Later in the day, “administration official were greeted with sarcasm and laughter Monday night when they briefed lawmakers and congressional staff on Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s new financial-sector bailout project, according to people who were in the room.”  Not a good day at all.

In FDR’s 1937 inaugural address, he talked about how progress has been made but a lot more work was needed.  It was 8-years after the economy had peaked, but the thrust of his message was still against capitalism and open markets.  Here are a couple of key excerpts:

“In fact, in these last four years, we have made the exercise of all power more democratic; for we have begun to bring private autocratic powers into their proper subordination to the public’s government…”

“…We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics. Out of the collapse of a prosperity whose builders boasted their practicality has come the conviction that in the long run economic morality pays. We are beginning to wipe out the line that divides the practical from the ideal; and in so doing we are fashioning an instrument of unimagined power for the establishment of a morally better world…”

The following summer, according to the book The Forgotten Man by Amity Shales, the economy collapsed again.   Some of her quotes:

“..when the data came in, they showed that August had seen the steepest drop in industrial production ever recorded. The DJIA dropped from its 190 level in August down to 114 on November 24…with unemployment moving back to 1931 levels.”

The book goes on to make an excellent point that this collapses was mostly caused by the government’s increased taxes, destruction of entire industries like the utilities, minimum wage laws and massive regulations. So FDR kept obstructing the economy and then telling the people they needed him to clean it up.

These facts seem to be lost on Obama apologist such as the Atlantic’s resident gynecologist, Andrew Sullivan, who provided informed commentary on Bristol and  Sarah Palin’s pregnancy during the last election and is now providing market commentary.  He states that this bank selling is “a good sign” and a sign that “the market has accepted that banks will face a reckoning”.  Market accepted that fact long ago Andy.  Now it is a question how much money will be wasted before the zombie banks are allowed to bust.  Congratulations on joining the Zimbabwe School of Economics.

Pompous, ferret-like Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) responds to critics of the “stimulus” bill by boasting that citizens do not care about wasteful self-serving spending:

[youtube JEfICUoWKBw]

Tragically, he may be correct to a degree.

http://www.internationalfreepresssociety.org/

Readers of this blog will probably wish to support this worthy Danish endeavour. Every time I read the Internet I see enormous forces arrayed against the free society, in the name of sensitivity and Islam in this era of market states, as it was in the name of peaceful accommodation with the Soviets in the previous nation state era. They will always try to make you feel isolated and inferior for thinking what you think. The establishment and expansion of thoughtcrime is their essential agenda. Who theyare changes from time to time, but right now it comes from the Left and the Muslims. No, not all Muslims, but enough of them that their general direction can be discerned. First tolerance is sought, then recognition of special status, then expansion, then domination of the whole society. Enemies of freedom may come from all directions, but in this era these two groups, roughly speaking, seek to abolish freedom, each for their own reasons. The mystery is why the Left thinks its ally is Islam. In Tarek Fatah’s incisive book “Chasing a Mirage: the Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State“, he shows that the first groups eliminated by Muslim extremists in Islamic countries are the political left. Fatah, who is a Bangladeshi Canadian journalist, has written the history of Islam.

It is a long story of slaughter, caused by the inability of Islam to solve the problem of political order, a problem which goes back to Mohammed’s inattention to the subject. (Moderns would call it a failure of succession planning). And when I mean slaughter, I mean the chasing down and beheading of the prophet’s grandchildren, for starters. The recourse to violence was made necessary because Islamic doctrine abhors monarchy, and there was no consensus on who was the rightful successor of the prophet or how he should be chosen. The ensuing centuries have not seen any improvement in the Islamic theory of government. In principle, the nation state should not even exist. We should all be subsumed in the community of the faithful, under the direction of the Caliph.

In a brilliant observation,  Glendronach once remarked how absurd it was that a society that could not even make a decent toaster oven (the Soviet Union) pretended to be the wave of the future. Now a society that cannot make a consumer product of any kind pretends to have the right govern us. They do not lack for allies in the West.

It is time to resist their claims to govern us. Consider contributing to this Society and its allies in Canada.

We all heard during the election campaign how Obama was going to talk to the Muslim world and it was going to set everything right.  Now that we have the case of horrifying video of militants beheading a Polish engineer by Pakistani Taliban, the question must be asked – where was Obama?  Why didn’t he talk to them?

Poland has vowed to track down and punish the perpetrators but Obama hasn’t said a word.  So much for  a “reset” in the Muslim world.

Don Suber asks: If Gitmo helped al-Qaeda, then shouldn’t this video of another beheading trigger liberals from the Ivy League colleges to enlist?