Ruled Britannia

Melanie Phillips has a scathing indictment of British society, as it rapidly falls under the sway of radical Islam, seemingly without even putting up a fight: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1033189/This-country-pro-Muslim-giving-succour-extremists-destroy-us.html. Despite the justified anger in the article, there is clearly an air of sadness about it, with Phillips watching powerlessly as the elites in the country eagerly accept their dhimmi status.

Is this really the country that fought Hitler to a standstill?

Could the U.N. have LESS credibility?

Well, as it turns out, yes it could, if it allowed Iran a seat on the Security Council: http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/jul/09/iran-seeks-asia-seat-on-security-council/. I can't wait to see how this plays out. We could have a nation which is already the deserving target of Security Council sanctions taking a seat on the very body that sanctioned it. Only in the U.N. could this happen.................

Not good at all

The Iranians have just tested a missile which can reach Israel: http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSDAH91544220080709. With the U.S. refusing to greenlight an Israeli raid to take out the Iranian nuclear facilities (for more on that, go here: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1000048.html), it's now only a matter of time before Iran has nuclear weapons as well as the means to deliver them. Once it does, you can say "Shalom" to Israel, a development which the world will greet with either a yawn or a cheer................

Still another "honour" killing

I'm late to this particular discussion, which has been all over the blogosphere for days now, and even the MSM is paying some attention to it, but a Pakistani immigrant recently killed his daughter after she told him that she wanted out of her marriage: http://news.aol.com/story/_a/georgia-man-charged-in-honor-killing/20080708154209990001. Of course, the MSM is glibly glossing over the connection of Islam to this horrible murder, going out of its way to portray as a simple "domestic violence" issue as opposed to a cultural or religious issue. Yeah, like we see Southern Baptists and Catholics killing their daughters because of perceived stains on their "honour". If you don't buy that first narrative offered by the MSM, then they'll throw the "It's our fault because we're not tolerant enough" argument at you, as if something like this should ever be tolerated in a civilized society.

What I want to know is, where is NOW (the National Organization of Women) on this? Where are any feminist organizations? You haven't heard word one out of them. Their silence borders on the criminal. One would think that if they truly do represent women, and are not simply a left wing lobby group, they would speak loudly and often on this subject. I think that their silence speaks volumes.................

The law of unintended consequences

While most Canadians were and still are celebrating the sharp rise of the Loonie against the Greenback, there is a segment of the population that is none too happy about what has happened, and that is the tourism industry: http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20080707/wl_csm/oloonie. Many Canadian cities such as Montreal thrive on the influx of American tourists who traditionally visit the city in the summer. This year, those tourists aren't there.

I hate to break to Canadians, but unless OUR government and the Federal Reserve get their collective acts together, that situation is is not going to change anytime soon..........

Academic anti-Semitism in Germany

Some nutcase professor in Germany is spouting off that the Israeli athletes who were murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the Munich Olympic Games were actually NOT killed, but in fact committed suicide so as to help Israel extract money from what was then West Germany: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1214726193804&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull. This is a new manifestation on the "Jews are only interested in money" staple of anti-Semitic tripe, and I'll give the professor credit for a novel twist on an old lie. That doesn't make it any less offensive, though...........

Bizarre election factoid of the week: Obama is favored by people who don't own pets

I thought that just about every angle on this election had been covered, a tough achievement given that we're still only in early July, but now comes a new statistic: Barack Obama has a wide edge in polls done of people who don't own pets: http://news.yahoo.com/page/election-2008-political-pulse-pets-and-politics. Of course, the flip side of this is that John McCain has a lead among pet owners.

What does all of this mean? Not very much, probably, but I'd be willing to be that we'll see even more quirky stats get thrown our away as November approaches.

Israel as a Nazi state

The Angry Left in this country (which is to say, much of the MSM) and the Arab media just love to portray Israel as being the heir to Nazi Germany's title as the most evil regime in modern times. Whether it's accusing Jews of killing Arab babies to use their blood to make matzohs or asserting that death camps are being set up, the invidious comparisons never stop. The latest is renewal of the canard that Israel conducts medical experiments on captured terrorists: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3565291,00.html. What's distressing about this is that it will be readily lapped up by a public which is only too happy to believe every negative thing it reads about those "evil Jews"......................

No good deed goes unpunished

Four years ago, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were getting set to air their ads against Democratic Presidential nominee John F. Kerry. His Senate colleague, John McCain, also a Vietnam veteran, condemned the ads: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5612836/. Well, four years later McCain is himself a Presidential nominee, and how does Mr. Kerry repay McCain? By trashing him on Bob Schieffer's "Face the Nation": http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/FTN_070608.pdf.

I never had much respect for John Kerry, and the little I had is gone after this bitter and mean-spirited attack. Kerry doesn't have to agree with McCain. In fact, he doesn't even have to support him. But, to attack him this way is deplorable.

Watch out for racist babies!!

No, really! The British nanny state has issued very strict guidelines on how nursery teachers and the like need to watch out for racism anywhere and everywhere, and the guidelines are sufficiently strict that a three-year old who says "Yuk" to unfamiliar food could be considered to be a racist: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/education/2261307/Toddlers-who-dislike-spicy-food-racist,-say-report.html.

Today's Brits hardly seem like the ones who helped defeat Nazi Germany............

Gotcha!

Sacha Baron Cohen, who has made a career out of playing characters and "ambushing" people to conduct phony interviews, has done it again. His latest hijinks involve an Israeli Mossad agent and a Palestinian representative, who Cohen interrogated in Jerusalem: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,376847,00.html. Part of the interview involved a confused "Bruno" (one of Cohen's many alter egos) trying to figure out the difference between Hamas and hummus.

I admit that I'm a sick bastard, but I find this to be very, very funny..................

7/7, three years on..............

Family members of one of the 7/7 London Tube homicide bombers are holding a life celebration today, the third anniversary of the terrorist attacks which killed over 50 people: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1032699/Relatives-July-7-bomber-hold-PARTY-grave-celebrate-life.html. The U.K. being what it is these days, this story is barely eliciting a ripple across the pond. It should be greeted with horror and revulsion, of course, but that's not the way things are done these days, unfortunately...............

Move over, Chris Satullo, you're not alone on the self-hating express train

A couple of days ago I posted an entry on Chris Satullo's execrable piece of self-hating tripe, which the Philadelphia Inquirer was only too happy to publish. Well, he has company in the form of the Associated Press, which has never met a pro-American viewpoint it wanted to publish, but which is always more than happy to print up any piece of anti-American propaganda it can find: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080705/ap_on_re_us/america_s_bad_mood.

I wonder if there are self-hating Iranians, or self-hating Syrians, etc., or even self-hating al Qaeda members? Why is our society so seemingly unique in producing people who live here but who seem to hate it so much?

The greatest tennis match ever?

About half an hour ago I finished watching what I think is the greatest tennis match of my lifetime, outdoing even those epic Borg-McEnroe clashes in 1979 and 1980, as Rafael Nadal outlasted (there really isn't a better word) five-time champion Roger Feder 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-7 (8-10), 9-7 in a match that ran just a little less than five hours: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/25552202/site/21683474/. Aside from both players never giving an inch and making one great shot after another, we as sports fans were treated to incredible sportsmanship both ways by two of the most classy athletes out there. Their mutual respect was something to see, and given how incredibly disappointed Federer must have been after losing the title (correction--he didn't lose it, Nadal WON it), he was nothing but gracious after the match, as was Nadal, who was effusive in his praise of the man many think will ultimately break Pete Sampras' record of 14 Grand Slam titles.

I felt privileged to have watch such a great exhibition.

UPDATE (6:57 p.m.): It was 7-5 in that third set tiebreaker, and for a great feel for the match as it occurred, check out the official Wimbledon blog from Drew Lilley. It can be found here: http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/news/articles/2008-07-06/200807061215337388343.html.

This doesn't sound good

Ted Forstmann, one of the more astute financial analysts out there, says that contrary to the "Don't worry, be happy" words we are hearing from government officials and some other financial analysts, the worst of the malaise affecting the American economy may be yet to come: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121521029377229405.html?mod=djemEditorialPage. For someone like me who pours 10% of his pay every year into his 401(k), that's not a very good thing to hear at all.

I've said before that we are too free with our money, a perspective shared by Forstmann, and that it is the Federal Reserve which leads the way in this profligacy. The long and the short of it is that we are in for a lot more financial pain before that proverbial corner is turned........

United States prepares to surrender to Iran......

..........just as the Iranians ramp up their preparations for an attack on Israel. Good timing!

The U.S. is apparently set to drop a key element of its position with respect to Iran, which is that Iran halt all uranium enrichment, changing its position instead to one that would call for Iran to just keep its enrichment at current levels: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/2242595/America-softens-stance-on-Iran's-nuclear-programme.html. Meanwhile, an American admiral has authored a report in which he concludes that Iran is likely to attack Israel: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/999009.html.

Is this more of the influence of Condhimmileeza Rice? More of the James "F--- the Jews" Baker's influence? Just more of the same out of the dhimi State Department? Yet another sign that the Bush 43 Administration's morphing into the Bush 41 Adminstration is now complete? All of the above? Regardless, one thing is certain, and that is that this is not good at all.............

Great Britainistan

A school in Stoke-on-Trent in the U.K. is under public scrutiny after a teacher in a religious education class forced children to wear Muslim garb and to pray to Allah, punishing those who refused: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1031784/Schoolboys-punished-detention-refusing-kneel-pray-Allah.html.

Every time I think that the U.K. has hit a new "high" (or should I say low?), it sets a new standard. That country really is beyond hope, and I thank the anonymous poster who alerted me to this story.

It's an issue for me

There is an excellent piece in the Jerusalem Post on why SOME Jewish voters who support Israel here in the U.S. will not vote for Barack Obama in November. Unfortunately, it's all too few, but there are at least some who recognize that when it comes to the subject of Israel, Obama can not be trusted.........nor should he be: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=1&cid=1214726181011&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull.

Regrettably, I don't think that Obama's considerable weakness on Israel will cost him much in the way of Jewish votes in November. Most of those voters are like my parents, and would vote for whoever they considered to be the most liberal candidate no matter what that person said or believed regarding Israel.

Canada, heaven for U.S. deserters

Thanks to an asinine ruling from a Canadian judge, Canada will in essence become a "sanctuary" for any U.S. military deserter who feels as though American military policies are causing him/her to "insult human dignity": http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/07/04/jonathan-kay-on-joshua-key-canada-just-became-a-utopia-for-u-s-military-deserters.aspx.

Basically, what this does is open up Canada to a flood of military deserters who signed up to serve and then found that, well, serving is not all its cracked up to be.

A Fourth of July reflection

This is from Robert Spencer, the founder of the Jihad Watch website. He penned an excellent piece, intersplicing therein quotes from the Koran and Islamic "thinkers" on how the principles for which we are fighting are so important: http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/021628.php. Links to it have already popped up on several blogs, but I felt compelled to include it on mine as well. Please read it all.