Isaac Schrödinger

Right Wingers Vote

RWN: Right-Of-Center Bloggers Select Their Least Favorite People On The Right. Maverick McCain is not getting much love.

Reality vs. Empty Words

Fabio at The Italian Version writes:

In the Second World War, hundreds of thousands of non-combatants were killed and maimed, and everyone - except the most slimy revisionist from the safety of their ivory towers - regards that as being fully justified. My little village in Italy was subjected to American bombing and strafing runs in the attempt to destroy the two railway bridges over there; the bombing were ineffectual because the Germans blocked the valley with two AA batteries, but my grandparents lost their home and were nearly killed. But guess what, they were happy when the Nazis finally surrendered.

Contrast the above with what Samantha from Ealing, UK has to say (via The 3rd World View):

The British Board of Jewish Deputies give full backing to Israel. These are the same people who always bang on about the Holocaust. Never again will I watch a Holocaust documentary, play, movie or TV special produced by Zionists Jews who clearly have no regard for the life of anyone that isn’t Jewish! You people demand sympathy, yet commit genocide? Shame on you and shame on those politicians who are too gutless to stand up to you.

Not a word about Hamas, Hezballah or Iran and their real and explicit desire for a second Holocaust.

Israel is committing genocide? Yeah, right. It's the only recorded 58-year-long genocide where the people being eradicated increase in numbers.

Update
Iraq The Model:

... if Zawahiri, Nesrallah, Ahmedinejad and Sadr are calling upon extremists whether, Sunni or Shia, from all over the world to put aside their differences and unite in this war against the free world and to establish the Empire of terror from "Afghanistan to Andalus" then this is more than enough reason for you in the free world and for us who are struggling for our freedom to put aside our differences and disagreements and unite, from Sydney to Mumbai to Baghdad to Paris and London all the way till California, all must stand against this evil that is trying to destroy our world.

Yes!

Synagogue Attacked

Aussie Dave is liveblogging the war from Israel. He links to this news from Australia:

A rabbi and his young family were inside the house attached to Parramatta Synagogue when it was attacked about 9pm (AEST) yesterday. Police said the rabbi heard the sound of smashing glass.

A block of cement was thrown through a glass door of the house and the windows of two vehicles parked on the property were also smashed.

Witnesses told police that shortly after the incident, a group of about 10 men of Middle Eastern men ran laughing down a nearby street.

What an odd coincidence.

Best Lyrics of the Year

From Israel: yalla ya Nasrallah - we will screw you inshallah.

We Are All Terrorists

Using the logic here, name a country that is not a terrorist state.

Why Anyone Buys the LA Times is a Mystery

LA Times: Jewish Center Shooter's Motive is a Mystery.

I kid you not.

Instilling Fear and Loathing

[1 of 2]

"COME TO THE FRONT," the teacher barked.

One of the toughest kids in our class had been caught chatting while the teacher was regurgitating material from the textbook. The teacher was aware of his stubborn nature. Extreme punishment was forthcoming.

The teacher took a thick and long wooden stick in one hand and grabbed the miserable student with the other. He pushed down the head of the kid, finally placing the neck between his legs. He, then, proceeded to hit the back of the student with the heavy stick. He hit the kidneys around ten times before stopping and letting go.

The student raised his deep crimson face without uttering a word or a cry and then went back to his seat. The entire class was mum.

An indiscretion could earn a disproportionate response from any teacher. Let me rephrase: Any perceived indiscretion could earn a disproportionate response from a teacher.

Many teachers checked our homework during class time. Our homework was basically copying material from the course book to our notebook. During the checking, we lined in front of the teacher and presented our notebook. The teacher would then put a few ticks and sign at the last page. Rarely did he ever read what we had written down. What mattered was the right volume of words and figures.

Once during this checking process, a student didn't gently put down his notebook in front of the teacher. As a result, the teacher clutched the notebook and hurled it across the room.

"What do you think I am? Some kind of a dog! Go to hell," the sage said. The kid had no choice but to meekly walk away.

Everyone knew about the insane cruelty: The teachers, the students and the parents. Once in a blue moon, the principal would get a phone complaint. The offending teacher would be told about it and then nothing would change.

One time, the headmaster had received numerous complaints about a specific teacher. The hideous man in question finally revealed this news to us in class and then asked, "Do you really think I swear in front of you?" Of course, our lips remained sealed since his gutter rhetoric was the least of our concerns.

Such was life at my Pakistani school in Khobar, Saudi Arabia. While at home in the desert Mordor, I once watched a documentary on television that confused me. You see, it showcased the life of a teacher who had passed away. He was deeply missed by all especially his students. I simply could not understand how that could be.

Teachers were vicious creatures. For us students then, the "favorite" teacher was the one who was the least violent. Yet, there on the TV screen were people who actually praised the departed soul.

I was dumbfounded.

The documentary also presented a few photos of that peculiar personality. I soon forgot his name but the face of that man was forever etched in my mind.

Some years later while attending a private school in America, I would see him again.

to be continued...

The Communist Bully?

It's for the greater good.

Link via Daimnation.

A Parade of Depravity

EU Referendum via LFG:

Whatever else, the event in Qana was a human tragedy. But the photographs do not show it honestly. Rather, they have been staged for effect, exploiting the victims in an unwholesome manner. In so doing, they are no longer news photographs - they are propaganda.

Relaxing in the Summer

Three dudes chillin'.

Mr. Harper, Take Back the Jets!

The Calgary Sun:

Calgary Sunni Imam Alaa Elsayed, railing against the Harper government's pro-Israel stance last week, told the Sun: "We cannot accept the fact you give one side an F-16 and another side stones in their hands. Mr. Stephen Harper can still redeem himself."

The Canadian government gave the Israelis F-16s?

The Imam slipped a little bit--by "you" he meant the infidel world.

If Hezbollah hadn't kidnapped Israeli soldiers, if Israelis could go shopping without wondering if everybody wearing an overcoat was hiding a suicide bomb vest, if all their neighbours would just announce Israel has a right to exist and quit musing how much fun it would be to drive the Jews into the sea, maybe Israel's idea of public relations wouldn't begin and end with self-propelled artillery.

This is a crisis and a war of Hezbollah's making.

Correct. Thus, Prime Minister Harper needs no redemption.

AFM Seeking Wives

58-second video: Hezballah Video Dating Service.

The Meaning of Words

"Islamic Dictionary for Infidels". The following terms are defined in detail.

1. Peace
2. Freedom
3. Religious freedom
4. Jihad
5. Aggression

Link via Dhimmi Watch.

Update
Victor Davis Hanson provides definitions of:

• Ceasefire
• Civilians
• Deliberate
• Deplore
• Disproportionate
• Innocent
• Militants and much more!

Jews Can't Get a Break

Atlas Shrugs:

It appears that for the Danes, Israel is already history.

Gems Online

Sepia Mutiny:

There are a number of good explanations for why downloading is popular. First, not everyone lives near an Indo-Pak grocery/music store, and a lot of Desi stores aren’t very serious about getting current music, or a broad range of it. Second, so much of the music is kind of crappy and derivative to begin with (Hindi film producers often borrow bass-lines and samples from western or Arabic pop songs), so why worry about making sure the artist is adequately paid for his or her work?

I have always thought that an online music store with Rahman's work would do very well. He is certainly the best music composer of his generation and he has sold over a 100 million records so far. A track by him is definitely worth a $1.

The real problem would be to get all or most of his music in one place since numerous companies own his huge body of work.

Jayawardene The Giant

Cricinfo:

And finally, like all good things, even the Kumar Sangakkara-Mahela Jayawardene partnership came to an end. By then the partnership, worth 624, had shattered all records. It was not just the highest ever partnership in Tests, it was also the highest ever in first-class cricket.

Dang. Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan captain, finally fell for a mammoth 374--the fourth highest individual score in Test cricket history.

This Sri Lankan team is gearing up very well for the World Cup next year.

Haq Does Wrong

MSNBC on the demented shooter:

Naveed Afzal Haq was booked into jail late Friday for investigation of homicide and attempted homicide.

[...] Mayor Greg Nickels and Kerlikowske said officers were moving to protect synagogues and mosques around the city, but said there was no evidence of a broad threat.

“This was a purposeful, hateful act, as far as we know by an individual acting on his own,” Nickels said.

Seattle Jewish Federation

A Pakistani-born Muslim went on a shooting rampage at the Jewish Federation in Seattle. Five women shot; one dead, three in critical condition. Updates at:

• Little Green Footballs
• Instapundit
• Pajamas Media
• Michelle Malkin
• Gateway Pundit

KIROTV:

A witness said the gunman told staff members at the Jewish Federation: "I'm a Muslim American. I'm angry at Israel."

Right after that sentence, we get:

Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel said detectives are investigating whether the shooting was random or religious- or culturally-motivated.

That should be pretty tough.

Islamic Tolerance

Survey results from Indonesia:

The new survey was carried out between 2001 and March 2006. 43.5% of respondents said they would be prepared to wage war on threatening non-Muslim groups, while 40% said they would employ violence against anyone seen to be blaspheming against Islam. 14.7% said they would be prepared to tear down Chrisian churches which did not have official permits.

[...] between 30% and 58% approved of hand amputations for thieves and the stoning to death of rapists as well as other aspects of Sharia law, and also opposed the election of non-Muslims for presidential office.

History Rhymes

The Hezballah thug-in-chief seems to be hiding in the Iranian embassy. Glenn Reynolds can't help but comment:

The Iranians are no doubt confident that no one would be so depraved as to disregard the sanctity of an embassy . . . .

Hunh.

The All-Seeing Eye

Sauron lives!

The Value of Life

Kabobfest:

Apparently Hezbollah miscalculated Israel’s response. It did not expect full-scale war; the group thought could exchange soldiers for its prisoners in Israel. Honestly, no normal person would have expected such a response; it only makes sense in the context of religious and ethnic supremacy where hundreds of Arab lives are seen equal to a Jewish one, if that.

It's strange to see such moral calculations. Just apply such "logic" to a different conflict, say the Pacific theatre of the Second World War. Approximately 2.6 million Japanese lost their lives versus approximately 100,000 Americans who were killed.

Ergo, 1 American is worth 26 Japanese. Not to mention, the cruel disproportionality of the whole thing. How dare the Americans kill more of the enemy including hundreds of thousands of civilians while calling themselves morally superior!

As though morality in war depends on mediocre lethality.

Update
Another example of bad moral arithmetic, though in a different context.

The Pentium is Dead

Intel has officially launched the Core 2 Duo, code-named Conroe, into the market. This will likely be the processor of the year.

• Engadget and Gizmodo chime in.
• Reviews of Core 2 Duo monsters: Dell XPS 410, Gateway FX510, Samsung BZ60, HP Pavilion d4600y and more.
• And a machine that deserves its own bullet point: The mean Alienware 7500. It comes packed with the Core 2 Duo Extreme Edition.

The Ugly Truth

"Islamic fascism is the great test of this generation."

"We had no problem understanding that Nazism and fascism were evil racist empires — they were. We must now bring the same clarity to the war against Islamic fascism."

"I believe that the threat of Islamic fascism is just as menacing as the threat from Nazism and Soviet Communism. Now, as then, we face fanatics who will stop at nothing to dominate us. Now, as then, there is no way out; we will either win or lose."

Who made such blunt statements?

Click here to find out.

Moral Authority

Known Unknowns has got an amusing video.

Do the Spaniards Want Peace?

Al Zawahiri:

"It is a Jihad for the sake of God and will last until (our) religion prevails … from Spain to Iraq," al-Zawahri said.

The Big Pharaoh:

So my advice to my Spanish friends is this: please for the sake of peace, give him your country.

Will Spain remove herself from "the occupied territories" for "peace"?

Isn't it curious that there aren't any Spaniards in Iraq. Yet, Al Qaeda still has Spain on its hit list!

The Spaniards had a choice between war and dishonor in March of 2004. They chose dishonor. They shall get war.

Genteel Gestures

Another generation is being nourished on venom in The Land of the Pure^TM:

Open Vote

This is likely the funniest post ever at Gizmodo.

"Dispelling Myths"

Retired Canadian Major General Lewis Mackenzie was recently interviewed on CBC radio. Just hear what he has to say.

Update
Discarded Lies has a post about an Israeli man who saw the horror of terror at a young age. His response to the vicious cowards is worthy of praise.

Where is the Israeli Sherman?

John Hawkins:

We have terrorist groups in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, regularly advocating genocide against Israel and following up their words with bloody attacks, even though the Israelis are capable of bombing them both back to the stone age in a matter of months. Yet and still, sizable percentages of civilians in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories are so nonplussed by the prospect of a conflict with Israel, that they go to the polls and enthusiastically support terrorists who are sure to drag them into war. That would seem to be a strong indication that Israel isn't being sufficiently hard on her enemies.

Yup.

Lebanon is Innocent?

Further justification for Israeli retaliation:

Lebanese President Emil Lahoud said today that he supports the Hizbullah terrorist organization.

Link via Aussie Dave who is liveblogging the war from Israel.

That Sinking Feeling

Mr. Mustard:

In a recent post, The Central Question of Islam, I tentatively began to lay out what has been solidifying in my head about Islam. The main conclusion I've come to is that Islam itself is incompatible with the West. Many others have decided the same thing, and have put it in much more forceful language than that. I'm trying to be careful because I recognize that I am, essentially, writing off an entire faith as unredeemable.

Join the club.

A Cutie

eDating has gone too far.

Zero Loyalty

Celestial Junk has a devastating post directed at Lebanese-Canadians:

We in Canada are a stop of convenience, a safe haven to park their asses in times of strife. In the meantime, their beloved Lebanon is a haven for terrorists, a haven for radical Islamists, and a haven for Iranian and Syrian agents. Many Lebanese-Canadians live quite happily in Lebanon, thriving on its tourist industry and cottage industries, while ignoring the evil that permeates its politics. They are not willing to lift one little glutted finger to out the fascists that are destroying Lebanon, but they certainly are willing to criticize our Prime Minister for supporting another democracy.

A courageous lot, aren't they?

This has reminded me of a conversation I had with a Pakistani family in 2002. Here's a different one involving Canada from 2003.

For many, the West is truly a comfy hotel--nothing more.

Battle in Georgia's 4th District

Winds of Change.NET has openly endorsed a candidate for office. Joe Katzman offers an explanation:

It's something I didn't want to talk about until it was firm, but now I can. We believe this is a fight that matters to our blog, ties into the things we talk about here, and is something that all members, left-leaning and right-leaning, can agree on. Heck, even non-American foreigners like me can get behind this one.

The candidate? Hank Johnson, a Democrat.

He is running against Cynthia McKinney.

I look forward to the blogging of Rep. Johnson at Winds of Change.

Those Crazy Canadians

Canadians are so nice:

Being a member of a terrorist organization won't necessarily land someone on Canada's no-fly list, The Canadian Press has learned.

A commenter states:

Perhaps in Canada you actually have to fly a plane into a building to get on the no fly list.

The Aim is Victory

Foreign Dispatches:

Israel is no more obliged to restrain itself to exchanging the odd missile with Hezbollah than the United States was to dealing with September 11 by crashing a few jets into downtown Kabul.

Correct. Nothing would have been accomplished had the American hit the "Twin Caves" in downtown Kabul.

Similarly, the Israelis need to use enough force to crush Hezballah, "proportionality" be damned.

Update
This banal talk of proportionality reminds me of a different era--1940. Right after one of the most humiliating defeats in British history, Prime Minister Churchill refused to give in. At that time, Britain didn't even have enough pistols and rifles to fully supply its small army, yet, the leader of this tiny nation stood tall against the German beast.

Goering promised to bring the Brits to their knees with the Luftwaffe. The air campaign gained intensity as the summer ended, London was bombarded on many nights.

One day, Prime Minister Churchill went out to see the damage. He genuinely loved his countrymen and it pained him to see the shattered homes and lives of so many innocents. When the public realized that the Prime Minister was with them, they started to cheer for him. They forgot their sorrow and shouted and waved.

Quite a few came up to him, shook his hand and said, "Pay those Germans back 10-fold, a 100-fold!"

Such is war.

Strat Loving

Kabobfest is having a meltdown (When were they ever solid?):

This is the serious problem, the long lasting culture of hate. This is why israel will produce a generation after generation of war mongors, it will not end until the Israelis strat loving thier children more than they hate the Palestinians.

Writing messages for terrorists on artillery shells makes "war mongors" of kids.

I wonder what the following does to children:

The Hated Sect

Pakistan already has explicit laws that declare that Ahmadis are non-Muslims. An Ahmadi who says otherwise can be sentenced to jail. The same punishment can be applied if they call their place of worship a mosque.

Now, Indonesia is going down the same wretched path:

On 27 July last year, the Indonesia Council of Ulemas issued a fatwa, which declared that the Ahmadiyah followed an unlawful illegitimate religion.

There followed physical attacks upon the sect in Indonesia, such as the incident on September 20 where a mob of 1,000 people attacked the local Ahmadiyyah community at Sukadana in West Java, damaging more than 70 homes and six mosques.

It's interesting that when Americans in Iraq return fire to snipers who shoot from mosques, the response from Muslims is indignation, yet a thousand people, likely all Muslim, have no qualms about damaging mosques...if the structures belong to an "illegitimate" sect.

Matters for the sect were exacerbated by a decree made by Indonesia's Religious Affairs Minister, Maftuh Basyuni (pictured) who declared in March that the Ahmadiyah in the country should stop calling themselves Muslims and announce that they follow a new religion. "If they refuse to do so, they should return to Islam by renouncing their beliefs," he said.

Islamic organizations in Western countries bitch and moan about discrimination against Muslims and the Islamophobia of Western nations and the phantom apartheid in Israel. However, when it comes to real oppression and persecution of minorities in Muslim nations, not a word is uttered.

World War IV Watch

The New York Sun via Jihad Watch:

Jordanian officials told the Sun they are "100% sure" Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers have fired rockets into Israel. They also said the Syrian army has provided Hezbollah with intelligence information on the locations of strategic Israeli targets to aid in Hezbollah rocket fire.

Obviously this is some vast right-wing Zionist conspiracy to sully the name of the peaceful Iranian regime.

It's So Not Fair

Those tricksy Christians and Je-

Need I even bother?

Reserved Might

The Big Pharaoh:

One of the most common things you will hear from our pundits these days is this: While using very primitive rockets and weapons, Hezbollah managed to confront one of the mightiest armies in the world  "Israel used everything in its arsenal, it has the best weapons in the world, yet it failed to stop the rockets from reaching its cities," they say.

Used everything in its arsenal!?

Now, why do I grin when I hear these statements coming from our pundits on TV or simply the average citizen on the street? I grin because I know that, unlike what they say or believe, Israel did not use its full arsenal to try to stop the rockets from reaching Haifa or Safed.

Later:

While reserving my anger at the stupid targets Israel unjustly hit so far, only God knows what will happen if it used its full arsenal.

It'll certainly be Biblical.

Religion As Authority

Rezwan posts some predictable results from a survey: Most Muslims consider themselves Muslims first and citizens second.

This is one of the major differences between religious non-Muslims and Muslims. Non-Muslims consider their religion to be private. The outside world, the public sphere, is controlled by the government whether it be local, state or federal. The end result is numerous non-religious nations with different, and tolerant, policies.

Muslims, however, want a Sharia-based government. Period. All the other religions can survive if they bribe the collective Ummah pay a small tax. The conclusion is Islam as a global religion with nations, and other cooperative religions, within it.

In essence, for Muslims, Islam supersedes the filthy human-based governments and arbitrary nationalities. For some odd reason, many Westerners think that they've done something wrong to deserve such hostility and callous disrespect.

It's nothing personal, it's just Islam.

"The Side of Human Decency"

Aussie Dave is liveblogging the war from Israel. From his update on 6:45PM, comes this video of Ben Stein.

The title of this post comes from Stein--it refers to Israel.

Update
Just to be "proportional" I'm linking to an instance of Israeli barbarity.

We Must Fight

Bob Rosenschein, the CEO of Answers.com, emailed Rishon Rishon a few somber words.

We hate this conflict, but we will not commit suicide. As Golda Meir said, "We will have peace when our enemies love their children more than they hate ours."

My father was a survivor of Auschwitz and Buchenwald, was the most optimistic person I ever knew, but he once taught me, "Above all else, when someone threatens to kill you or your loved ones - just believe him!"

Read it all.

Bricks Are So Cool

That's no joke.

Assad The Peacemaker?

The Italian Version:

At this point, I cannot help but notice the disconnect between the focus and information provided by Belmont Club (and other blogs) and the mainstream media. The latter are focused on reporting about civilian casualties - without apparently asking themselves if those are actually all civilians - and the lofty ceasefire talks. The tactical dimension seems not to exist for the MSM; in their reports there are soldiers and jihadis that fight, but how and when and the progress of the battle is constantly ignored.

Somewhat related, check this out from Reuters via LFG:

Syria has offered to play a constructive role, but there is no sign the Bush administration is ready to turn to a country it accuses of sponsoring terrorism and helping insurgents in Iraq -- or to pay the price the Syrians would try to extract.

The MSM has little clue about the military and political aspects of the war.

The Depravity of Sharia

Sunday Mirror via Islamic Evil:

Kicking and screaming, Atefeh was left dangling for 45 minutes from the arm of the crane as the crowd sobbed and - under their breath - damned the mullahs.

Atefeh's crime? Offending public morality. She was found guilty of "acts incompatible with chastity" by having sex with an unmarried man, even though friends say Atefeh was in such a fragile mental state that she wasn't in a position to say no.

[...]

Her life is also the subject of a secretly filmed documentary, Execution of a Teenage Girl, which will be screened on BBC2 on Thursday.

One of Atefeh's teachers said the authorities wanted to make an example of her: "She wouldn't take injustice from anyone, but the mullahs equate these qualities in a girl to prostitution and evil. They wanted to give all the girls and women a lesson."

Read the end of the article as well where punishments of various "crimes" are detailed according to Sharia law--the same barbarity that large numbers of Muslims want to establish in the West.

Charred Kabobs

Kabobfest opines on American sale of precision-guided bombs to Israel:

America will add to its hands Lebanese blood. The damage caused by this episode of Israeli/US aggression will be felt for generations. Even Lebanon, the westernized, moderate country was not spared the imperial wrath of the US-Israel alliance.

If Israel really wanted to kill large numbers of Lebanese citizens, then why is she buying precision-guided bombs? Israel could easily go all "proportionate" and lob fire indiscriminately into Lebanon.

Imperial wrath? Please. Israel left Lebanon in 2000 and pulled out of Gaza in 2005. Instead of the flowering of peace, Israel got attacked from exactly those two places. Israeli-controlled space in the Middle East has dwindled over the past three decades (remember the Sinai desert), yet somehow it's deemed an imperial power.

What Peace Movements Achieve

Thomas Sowell:

People are calling for a cease-fire in the interests of peace. But there have been more cease-fires in the Middle East than anywhere else. If cease-fires actually promoted peace, the Middle East would be the most peaceful region on the face of the earth instead of the most violent.

There's the rub. There won't be peace in the Middle East till one side is completely defeated by the use of overwhelming force. A cease-fire now would merely bring another suffocating pause to war, not peace.

Update
Also read what Dean Barnett has to say about a cease-fire. Via Port McClellan.