Isaac Schrödinger

Just Because They are Black

Yahoo News:

"The trust is gone. We will be happy if we end up in any other country, but look how this Arab country is treating us, just because we are black. It's a disgrace," Paul, a young refugee from the southern Sudanese city of Juba, told AFP just before being evacuated.

But but but ... that simply can't be. Islam doesn't discriminate on the basis of skin color -- it is, like, totally color-blind. Therefore, it is emotionally, intellectually, physically, METAPHYSICALLY impossible for Muslims to treat blacks differently than folks who're fair.

We don't have to look further than the Land of the Holy Pro Mo. At the very heart of Islam, Muslims of all different colors and nationalities are treated with the utmost respect and dignity. The conclusion is obvious. This story about the poor treatment of blacks is thus a fabrication. Its purpose is to show pious Muslims in a bad light and it's likely written by Zionists!

First link via Protein Wisdom.

What the ....

Today is Saint Rambo Day!?

Hunh. I learn new stuff everyday.

Let's Give Them a State

Dafydd comments on the recent flowering of peace in Palestine:

... a "family" of Palestinians (read: tribe) launched an attack on the border-crossing police station to free one of their tribe members, who was being held on drug charges there. In the course of that assault, a member of the attacking tribe was killed. Today's renewed assault by the same tribe was in retaliation for that death: they demanded that whoever had had the temerity to return fire when they assaulted the station must be "executed."

But, of course! Their allegiance is to "the family," not some Infidel (read: Jewish) notion of equally-applied-laws and the government.

Also see this lovely post at LFG!!!

Arrogance in the Stratosphere

What the hell is wrong with these Canadian Liberals?

A Liberal party official's posting of "racist" comments on a website, comparing Jack Layton's Chinese-born wife Olivia Chow to a dog, was "no joke," the NDP leader said Thursday.

Mike Klander, executive vice-president of the federal Liberal party's Ontario wing, stepped down Boxing Day after photographs of Chow - who is also an NDP candidate in Toronto - and a chow chow dog were posted on his blog, under the heading Separated at Birth.

Charming.

Link via Ran at Daimnation.

No Gym for You, Khallas!

From the Land of Mo:

A few public girls’ schools in Jeddah submitted requests to have gymnasiums built, but their hopes for introducing physical education classes were dashed after the Ministry of Education announced that physical education for girls would not be allowed.

Why not?

Two days ago the Ministry of Education stated that it “would not introduce physical education in girls’ schools” and requested that the media “respect religious, literary and national responsibility” in this regard, according to Arab News’ sister publication Asharq Al-Awsat.

But, of course!

The Religious Policeman speculates on the matter:

... what's the problem? Are the authorities afraid that if enough girls might get fit, they may take on the Saudi national soccer team and beat them? Or if their husbands start smacking them around for their disobedience, they might beat them?

That last one might be a real possibility. Imagine the catastrophic loss of honor if an abusive Saudi husband were to taste his own medicine. Astaghfirullah!

Documenting Crime, Terror and Repression

Mary Anastasia O'Grady via Babalu Blog:

The Cuba Archive project (www.cubaarchive.org1) has already begun the heavy lifting by attempting to document the loss of life attributable to revolutionary zealotry. The project, based in Chatham, N.J., covers the period from May 1952 -- when the constitutional government fell to Gen. Fulgencio Batista -- to the present. It has so far verified the names of 9,240 victims of the (c)astro regime and the circumstances of their deaths. Archive researchers meticulously insist on confirming stories of official murder from two independent sources.

Cuba Archive President Maria Werlau says the total number of victims could be higher by a factor of 10. Project Vice President Armando Lago, a Harvard-trained economist, has spent years studying the cost of the revolution and he estimates that almost 78,000 innocents may have died trying to flee the dictatorship. Another 5,300 are known to have lost their lives fighting communism in the Escambray Mountains (mostly peasant farmers and their children) and at the Bay of Pigs.

But hey, at least they have free health care!

Cuba Archive finds that some 5,600 Cubans have died in front of firing squads and another 1,200 in "extrajudicial assassinations." (c)he (g)uevara was a gleeful executioner at the infamous La Cabaña Fortress in 1959 where, under his orders, at least 151 Cubans were lined up and shot. Children have not been spared. Of the 94 minors whose deaths have been documented by Cuba Archive, 22 died by firing squad and 32 in extrajudicial assassinations.

And yet clueless idiots in the West praise Castro and his terror apparatus and think Guevara to be oh-so-cool. Sickening.

Read it all.

The Battle of Iran in 2006

Spiegel Online:

According to DDP, during his trip to Turkey, CIA chief Goss reportedly handed over three dossiers to Turkish security officials that purportedly contained evidence that Tehran is cooperating with Islamic terror network al-Qaida. A further dossier is said to contain information about the current status of Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program. Sources in German security circles told the DDP reporter that Goss had ensured Ankara that the Turkish government would be informed of any possible air strikes against Iran a few hours before they happened. The Turkish government has also been given the "green light" to strike camps of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Iran on the day in question.

Link via discarded lies.

LMAO

A little fun with Democrats.

Deceit

Umar Lee:

I hope that as Muslims we are not deceiving ourselves into believing that the only ones hostile to us are those on the Right who are seeking a crusade against the Islamo-fascists in defense of a supposed Judeo-Christian civilization. There are those on the Left, who will never pick up a gun (but don’t mind others fighting and dying for them), who are conducting just as viscous of a campaign of lies and deceit against Muslims.

Umar Lee doesn't elaborate on the "viscous" lies of the Left. Though, he does take issue with what Robert Dreyfuss has to say.

Today, the Ikwaan is a force for democracy in the Muslim World, and is working towards democratic reforms and religious moderation and because of that they are the target of religious extremists. When Dreyfuss mentions the fact that Islamic Jihad in Egypt and others grew out of the Ikwaan; he fails to mention they were forced out of the Ikwaan and they hate the Ikwaan because they feel the brothers are too soft and moderate.

The Muslim Brotherhood is a "force for democracy" and "soft and moderate"? Stop it, you're killing me!

Vienna, Australia

Tim Worstall:

... full marks to By GEORGE JAHN     Associated Press Writer or whoever it is that writes his headlines. Only out by, what, 11,000, 12,000 miles? Half the globe perhaps?

Yeah, something like that.

How NOT to Deal with "Youths"

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French Interior Minister, has lost his marbles.

Positive discrimination is the only way to guarantee equal opportunities for all people in France...

Robert Spencer replies:

"Positive discrimination" in order to guarantee "equal opportunities"? Welcome to Multiculturalist Wonderland, where common sense just doesn't apply.

Soon that last sentence will be modified to read, "Welcome to Islamist Wonderland, where ..."

Denying Reality

Tanvir Ahmad Khan:

Israel insists that Hamas cannot be allowed to participate in the forthcoming Palestinian elections and if Mahmoud Abbas does not eliminate Hamas from the contest, Israel will not allow voting in Jerusalem . Sharon’s spokesman considers a possible Hamas victory as the end of the peace process.

This is a disconcerting and perplexing response to the recent gains made by Hamas in the local body elections. Analysed in the framework of accepted norms applicable to conflict resolution, the transition from armed struggle to a readiness to participate in a political process — the momentous shift from bullets to the ballot — is a desirable transformation that should be encouraged.

Mr. Khan is saying that the Israelis ought to welcome the political legitimization of a terrorist group which aims for the complete destruction of Israel. I find his bloviating wish "perplexing". Later on:

Unlike some other militant factions such as Islamic Jihad, Hamas has shown an awareness of present day regional and global realities by its willingness to terminate its boycott of political institutions under conditions of alien occupation. It regards abandonment of armed struggle as premature, but implicit in its bid for a share of political power is the promise of accepting Israel’s right to exist within its pre-1967 borders.

[Emphasis mine]

Don't you just love that implicit promise! You see, Palestinians are voting for a genocidal bunch and when these charming fellows do get into power, then they'll stop calling for the extermination of Jews.

I mean really, who ever heard of a political organization, with genocidal aims, which got voted in and then went on to kill millions of Jews!? Hogwash. The West should greet Hamas with a sidewinder smile.

Perspective on Freedom

Farris Hassan:

“You go to, like, the worst place in the world and things are terrible,” he said. “When you go back home you have such a new appreciation for all the blessing you have there, and I’m just going to be, like, ecstatic for life.”

Indeed.

Link via Lorie Byrd at Polipundit.

More on Munich

Bruce Thornton:

The Israeli agents tracking down the murderers of Israeli athletes in Munich are defined for the most part by their agonizing moral doubts and ambiguities, incessantly reprising the mantra of “violence begets violence.” The Israeli bomb-maker makes a speech about how killing terrorists somehow compromises Jewish “righteousness,” which suggests that Jews can be righteous and worthy of our sympathy only as long as they remain passive victims, as they are in Schindler’s List.

Ouch.

An Honest Muslim

Moez Mobeen:

Islam is not just a religion it is a complete ideology which consists of the faith as well as systems organising human societies. Islam has its own view towards life and global affairs. This is where the clash lies — the worldview of capitalism is contradictory to that of Islam.

In fact Islam has presented the system of a caliphate — a super Islamic State which was a major political and military force in the past — which ensured that the Islamic view was implemented and known to the world. So it is all about civilizations and their clash. If really the Muslims are at fault why is the West interfering in the affairs of the Ummah and imposing its system on them. Let the Muslims decide politics. At the moment, it is Mr Bush who is being guided by God in his foreign policy.

[Emphasis mine]

Mobeen directly states that in Muslim-majority societies, the political sphere can't be secular since in Islam there is no separation of mosque and state. He is correct. Though, I disagree with him on a technical aspect. You see, we can't have a clash of civilizations when one side doesn't have a civilization to speak of. It's more like a clash of worlds: the West vs. Islam.

Fixing an "Image" Problem

The Daily Times:

Islamic clerics in Australia will have to register their credentials and adhere to a strict code of conduct under proposals put forward by a government-backed group of moderate Muslims to curb extremists. The Muslim Advisory Council, created by Prime Minister John Howard in the wake of July’s London bombings, said a registration system would allow Muslims and the wider community to distinguish between responsible clerics and “mavericks” on the fringes of society.

Oh please, do go ahead and abuse the English language. Those who preach hatred towards women, homosexuals, Jews, and Western society are now "independent in behavior or thought". Gag me with a burqa.

I am just waiting for the day when the unbiased MSM calls these non-mainstream and gentle folks "mavericks".

Blue and Red

Jonah Goldberg has a unique take on the two different cultures in the US.

Dark Vengeance

Andrea Levin:

... it is stunning to watch Munich and realize that its director brought Schindler's List to the world. Where that was artistry drawn from truth, Munich is cinematic manipulation rooted in lies.

Link via Dry Bones.

A friend of David Horowitz comments on Munich. A small part:

IT IS NO ACCIDENT THAT SPIELBERG PREVIOUSLY PRAISED CASTRO. HE JUST DOESN'T GET IT. A SUPER-RICH GUY WITH EVERYTHING, HE HAS NO REAL CONCEPT OF SELF-DEFENSE. HE IS CONSUMED WITH THE ART FORM, WITH HOW HE TELLS A STORY, AND HE IS A GENIUS IN THAT RESPECT, BUT HE IS, AT BEST, TERRIBLY MUDDLED AND A MORAL IDIOT. OF COURSE, HE COULD HAVE MADE HIS SAME POINTS IN A MOVIE THAT DIDN'T PRETEND ANY RESEMBLANCE TO REALITY; HE COULD HAVE MADE A MOVIE THAT HAD NOTHING TO DO ABOUT MUNICH, THAT DEALT WITH HIS PARTICULAR AMBIVALENCE ABOUT SELF-DEFENSE. THIS IS NOT A GUY I'D WANT NEXT TO ME IN THE TRENCHES OR TO CONFRONT ARMED THUGS AND RAPISTS. BUT HE DIDN'T. HE TOOK HIS VIEWS AND SCREWED OVER ISRAEL AND JEWS.

Riot in Bahrain

Mahmood posts about the violence that took place in the Bahraini airport after the authorities detained an Iranian cleric.

The photos from the airport with the shattered glass and guys attempting to hurl furniture look quite bizarre and scary since I've been to that airport multiple times. According to this article only ten were arrested.

Australian Society in Trouble

Read this unbelievable and eye-opening account of the police breakdown in Australia which has contributed to the rise of Middle Eastern crime.

... As we drove away in our marked police car, a half-brick bounced on the roof of the vehicle. The driver kept going.

I said, “What are you doing, they’ve just hit the car with a house brick!”

The young constable said, “Oh, they always do that when we drive past.”

Aren't they a cute bunch? On the second page, we get this gem:

The power and influence of the local religious and minority leaders cannot be overstated. Police began to use selective law enforcement. They selected targets that were unlikely to use their ethnic background and cultural beliefs to hinder police investigations or arrests. It was mostly Anglo-Saxons and Asians that were the targets, because they were under-represented by religious leaders and the media. They were soft targets.

The classic case of ignoring the problem. There is much more, read it all.

Having It Both Ways

Fatima:

My other colleague D said he met a young woman from M’s home country. She is single and nice. Do they want the hook up? M starts asking questions about her. When he hears she has been in Dubai for two years he voices hesitation. He says that when young single Middle Eastern women live in Dubai for too long they aren’t good anymore.

Being the way that I am, I asked for clarification. M knew what was coming and avoided answering me, but I joked with him and prodded him until he finally spit it out:
“When girls live here for too long they become too free and start to act like sluts. They also get really materialistic.”

I saw that coming from a mile away. And, it's not just Dubai. Girls from Turkey and Lebanon are routinely called sluts and whores within the oh-so-pious Arab and Pakistani communities.

This Muslim male mentality goes much further than that -- it's pathological. It is also, as Fatima says, deeply hypocritical. An extreme example which I'll never forget came from Athena at Terrorism Unveiled. Here it is from November 30, 2004:

Today I was visiting the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan and my roommate, we’ll call here Sally, went with me because she had to meet with the same professor as I.

She started crying in the taxi on the way back home telling me about her experience the other night with her Jordanian boyfriend, we’ll call him Malik.

Sally and Malik haven’t been dating for very long and I won’t go into the details of their relationship, but she really did like this guy, and I liked him as well. He seemed very Western, spoke English well, acted respectably, dressed nice, came from an affluent and well-off family. He even lived in Europe for two years and had relationships with girls there.

They went out to eat last night and she brought up the subject of honor killings. Malik nonchalantly said that he would be willing to kill his sister or support his uncle or dad if they killed her if she had sex.

How can one not recoil with horror?

The Charming Canadian Liberals

Wow.

"Alberta can blow me" - Scott Reid, communications director

Kate at small dead animals:

There's a flippancy, an utter lack of respect being exhibited for political opponents and by extension, the political process. The casualness with which these comments are uttered is revealing in that it telegraphs that there is no expectation of reprisal from within.

The curtains have been pulled back to give Canadians a view into the internal culture of the Liberal party.

And it sure is ugly.

A friend of mine recently said that the Liberals are practically writing the ads for the Conservatives. Every day he's proven correct.

Proportional Violence

Gavriel recommends new tactics for the IDF that comply with "proportionality". I do agree with those who say that Israel uses disproportionate force but not in the exact way they mean it. I think Israel uses too little force. I don't think another Western country -- oh, let's say the United States* -- would react in the same manner. Just look at the past four years. After 9/11, the US has utterly destroyed two tyrannical regimes and she is likely not going to stop there.

* Yeah, I know it's an unfair comparison since Israel is tiny relative to the US and surrounded by enemies. Though, in my limited opinion, the tactic of targeted killings of Islamist-terrorists should not be paused.

The Father of Islamist Groups

FrontPage provides a few facts about the Muslim Brotherhood:

The recent electoral victory of the outlawed Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), which won 88 seats up from 15 in the 454 member Parliament, should not be celebrated as an indication of liberalization, democracy and freedom. Neither should the 62 seat win predicted for Hamas - the MB’s progeny - in the Palestinian territories. Both the MB and Hamas are exploiting the U.S. call for democratization in the Middle East, using free elections to gain legitimate political power. However, neither organization has changed its charter; both seek to create a global Islamic state, where life would be dictated by the Shari’a.

The MB was founded in 1928. It's influence since then has been enormous:

The MB is the fountainhead from which Sunni terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Gamaat Islamiyyah, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, and the Abu Sayyaf group have sprung. Their ties to the MB are clearly evident from their identical strategic agenda.

It was, thus, heavy symbolism for Osama bin Laden to have an Egyptian lead the 9/11 attackers.

Link via Jihad Watch.

Just the Facts

Bill Roggio responds to this Washington Post article.

The embed process requires you to be credentialed by a legitimate media source; any citizen who obtains the proper press credentials can embed as a journalist. Once I obtained the credentials, I chose where and when I embedded, and the Public Affairs Officers merely provided assistance with facilitating the embed and movement to the different units.

The only approval required was for embeds that were of a potentially classified nature, such as a Special Forces embed, or requests to work with sensitive intelligence gathering platforms. That a media organization which must certainly deal with the embed process on a regular basis got this entirely wrong is stunning.

Do read it all.

Link via Power Line.

Top Ten List

10 Worst Americans Ever by Jeff Goldstein. Appetizer:

2.  George Soros

The man who would be king. Keeps Oliver Willis fueled on snack cakes.

Now, that's just eeevil.

Laugh and Cry

What's the word for that...oh yes, karma.

So Very Appealing

Sigh. Idiots.

Link via Dhimmi Watch.

Bitter Comrades

The first sentence of this post is quite revealing.

Ravishing Ruby

The Big Pharaoh:

Ruby expressed her concern at the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood during the parliamentary elections and the possible repercussions on art and artists. You're not the only one concerned here Ruby!

Ditto.

Convenience vs. Toughness

DJ Drummond:

Another lesson I learned from RISK, is that sometimes a player is far too strong to oppose. When this happens, the only smart move is to be his buddy, so he has less reason to go after you. I wonder how long it will take for the real world to learn that particular lesson.

For most of the countries in the world, the choice boils down to:
A. Diplomatically disagree with the US and hence be neutral in WWIV.
B. Militarily oppose the Islamists and thus be a member of the Coalition of the Willing.

The countries that pick A. think they're being safe and "enlightened." They correctly assume that the fallout from the US will not be deadly. Though, they naively think that not opposing Islamists buys them harmony, as though Islamists are in the business of only retaliation. Their position is in no way moral. To sit back and not use rhetoric and military might against the evil of our age is shameful.

These nations have turned their backs on the principled strong to, de facto, side with the wretched weak. Through the relentless march of time, they'll one day see their moral high ground for what it truly is: a blood-soaked illusion.

The New World

Pejman links to this fascinating piece on games:

... computer games have some advantages. They train players to master complex rules, to weigh odds and solve problems and make quick decisions. Indeed, players learn how to learn: The mysteries of a new and unknown game must be unlocked by trial and error. Marc Prensky, the author of the book "Don't Bother Me, Mom -- I'm Learning," tells the story of Stephen Gillette, an entrepreneur who picked up his leadership and organizational skills by playing online games. "I remember my mom and dad yelling at me," he quotes Gillette as saying. "They didn't know I had a 200-person [online] guild to manage."

And to think that I didn't even have a computer 10 years ago.

Australian Islamist

The Western Resistance on the radical cleric Sheikh Mohammed Omran:

He said his opinions on global terrorism, and especially bin Laden, were largely shaped by his research on the internet and in print. "I am a man of common sense - I am not an idiot who hears what people say and take it and go. I don't talk from nonsense ... I study and I put so much effort (in) before I talk."

Sure. Do read his response to, "Who is responsible for September 11?" and be mesmerized by his research. If sensible Islamic clerics think this way, then imagine what the idiots are peddling.

Saudi Christmas

The Religious Policeman:

Everywhere else in the world, you expect a visit from Santa on December 25th. In Saudi Arabia, it's a visit from the Muttawa. We sure know how to party.

In over 10 years in Saudi Arabia, not once did I see any celebratory atmosphere around December 25. It was just another day where people went to work. It was only after I came to the West that I understood the whole concept, and saw candy canes for the first time. Mmm, candy canes.

Merry Christmas, Infidels!

I couldn't resist taking this cute photo from here:

That's Matthew Hayden, the Australian cricketer, playing with his son -- Josh Hayden -- on Christmas day.

Iraq the Model:

Christmas is here but this year Christians in Iraq decided to cancel all celebrations and parties they usually have in their social clubs and will limit the celebrations to ceremonies in churches for fear from terror attacks.
If you pray, take a moment and pray for peace in Iraq.

CatHouse Chat: The cat makes a dashing pose.

James Lileks: "Punjabi subcontractors." Hey, I'm from Punjab. Why didn't I know about this? Link via Port McClellan.

A picture of the adorable Gnat.

Dodgeman:

What happens at the North Pole, stays at the North Pole!

Hunh.

I just started watching Die Hard on cable. The villains make their entrance and the top baddie starts talking and I'm like, "OMG, it's Snape!"

MSM Slobbers Over Him

He is no Bob Hope.

Compassionate Socialism

Anthony Dick:

Dr. Chaoulli came upon a patient who was waiting to undergo hip-replacement surgery. Already suffering from the painful immobility that his illness entailed, the patient had his plight exacerbated by his country’s oppressive blanket of regulations: With private clinics prohibited from performing hip-replacement surgeries, and private insurance companies banned from paying for such services, the patient had no choice but to take a place in the public-health-rationing line. He would have to endure his crippling condition for an indefinite period, until the state decided it could fit him into its schedule. To make matters even worse, there were concerns about the quality of the prosthetic hip replacement that awaited Dr. Chaoulli’s patient at the end of the line. It is in the nature of universal-public-health provision that quality must often take a back seat to quantity: Any cash-strapped government that tries to provide free prosthetics to all needy recipients will tend to purchase the cheapest units possible. This was exactly the situation in Canada, Chaoulli says, and patients were given no further choice about it: To guard against special treatment for “the rich,” public-health patients were prohibited from chipping in some extra cash of their own to upgrade their prosthetics.

The conclusion of the article neatly crystallizes the mainstream -- and scary -- thinking in Canada.

Darkness Will Fill the Void

Theodore Dalrymple on France:

For if everyone could see that a tenth of the most able children of the ghetto were able to move beyond it merely by having applied their intelligence, it would be sufficient to persuade the rest of the ghetto that they did not live in a hostile society, and that they were therefore not born to hopelessness, the cold and invariably grudging charity of the state, and the moral and psychological squalor of dependence, that leads young men in particular to misidentify respect for themselves as fear of themselves. They would then, perhaps, bestir themselves constructively, rather than hoping for “social justice” to grow out of the bottle of a Molotov cocktail.

I don't have much hope for spineless Europe. What will follow in the coming years will neither be constructive nor just.

The Horror!

Darth Cheney gets more power.

No Pity

MikeP is guest-blogging at Daimnation. He just put up a hilarious post. I burst out laughing after reading this one:

Vin Diesel solved Fermat's Last Theorem by pistol-whipping a mathematician.

This one is good too:

Vin Diesel was originally cast in "Brokeback Mountain", until he learned that...

You'll have to click here to read the funny bit. In addition to Diesel, Chuck Norris and "Dr. T" also make memorable appearances.

Appealing to the "10th"

Dafydd on the patriotic MSM:

Isn't there any point at which even the MSM realizes that it's dug itself halfway to China by now, and it's going to start getting powerful hot in just a few more strokes of the spade? First there was the scandal that a few sadistic, exhibitionist prison guards at Abu Ghraib were humiliating probable al-Qaeda members. Then we discovered that guards at Gitmo occasionally handled the Koran without wearing surgical gloves and apologizing afterwards for the passengers of Flight 93 preventing the holy martyrs from completing their mission and earning paradise and seventy-two raisins.

Yes, we should not only be respectful of such scum but also offer them legitimacy. The MSM's compass is out of whack.

Ho-Ho-Holy Cow

This is what I call rebellion! Thanks to LFG.

Nation of Jihad

Mark Krikorian lays out a most un-PC explanation for the anti-Israelis.

Booby Art

There are some things that I will never understand.

Context

Can you see the big story of 2005?

Who was in the John?

Um, I don't have a cat.

Equal Dhimmi Opportunity

Lost Budgie Blog:

The head of the Victoria Government's Equal Opportunity Commission, Diane Sisely, hired Muslim investigators to assist the Commission in targeting people criticising Islam.

First stop for the Muslim investigators? A Pentacostal Church where two pastors were reading passages from the Koran and quotes from terrorists who used the Koran to justify violence...

Are they going to lock up every ex-Muslim in Victoria?

Link via Kate.

Jihad via Demography

Hugh Fitzgerald talks about the counter-intuitive phenomenon of second and third generation Muslims in the West being more extreme than the first.

Cakewalk vs. Tough Work

I feel a little differently about this matter. Now, I agree with the Republicans on most issues and I want them to continue their winning ways. But I don't want it to be that easy. I think that competition helps the Republicans to be on their toes, to keep on communicating their ideas and policies, and to keep on pushing legislation. I want the Republican to fire up their base and then deliver -- not to take their base for granted.

Sometimes, a small part of me (just out of curiosity) wants to see Democrats nominate a fire-breathing anti-war candidate. For example, two years ago, I kinda wanted Dean as the Democratic candidate. Just so that Rove could carve him up and we'd get the final episode in the Trilogy of Thrashings (Episode I: 1972, Episode II: 1984).

In the end, I would take competition over curiosity, even though Markos Moulitsas Zuniga is quite charming.

Standing in the Way of Progress

According to this report [link via Wikipedia], by December 20 of this year, there were a total of 1670 cases of poliovirus in the world. The top four countries had a whopping 1513 cases. These four nations subscribe to the Religion That Must Not Be Named.

Abbagav points out why Nigeria is the top culprit.

... an immunisation programme has been put on hold because of claims by Muslim clerics that the vaccine is being deliberately contaminated as part of a western plot.

Yup, it's always some Western plot. For example, there is an area in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) in Pakistan where folks don't even allow Pakistani aid workers to enter because they are afraid of spies or they fear that the Western medicine will make them impotent. This same area has markets where hashish is sold right next to AKs. So, understandably these places are left alone. Would you want to say hello to their little friends?

A small story from personal experience: Many year ago in Pakistan, likely in 1995, I came across a conversation between my aunt and family. She was talking about a non-Pakistani woman who came to a place near her mosque to teach the women about birth control. As a I wrote earlier:

She said that the Westerners were afraid of Muslims. This talk of birth control was a scheme by the Westerners to keep the number of Muslims low in the world.

Think about that. Some Western woman left her family and friends, likely against their wishes, to help the Pakistani society. Yet, instead of thanking her, the Muslims accuse her of a diabolical plot. For Muslims like these, the West by definition can't do any good.

By the way, this aunt had seven kids.