February 01, 2006

Panel: Victor Davis Hanson, Walid Shoebat, Phillipe Karsenty (Post 1)

Victor Davis Hanson.

In about 20 minutes I have to leave for a second event with Victor Davis Hanson, so I'll take this opportunity to post about what he said last night at the panel with Walid Shoebat and Phillipe Karsenty. The subject of the panel was the French riots; but the statements of the panelists took in a much larger universe of discourse. All three made very significant points; later today I'll post my notes of what Shoebat and Karsenty said.

From my handwritten notes (not expected to be verbatim) of Hanson's remarks:

What is it about what 5 or 6 million Muslims did for 3 weeks in France? Or a single politician in Holland who was murdered? A million people died in Rwanda and nobody blinked an eye. What gives these things such worldwide resonance? Right away, Israel comes up. Why do Muslims and the rest of the world care so much about Israel? Tibet is occupied. Cyprus is occupied.

Hamas announces that the Israeli flag should change. Why do we care? To quote Shakespeare, the answer is not in our stars, but in ourselves. We give them this power. Why do we do it? Two things: nuclear weapons and oil.

The world became dependent on a society that is flush with $500 billion a year in oil. That society is given a clout that is not deserved but is undeniable.

Nuclear weapons -- take away nuclear weapons and the President of Iran ceases to be a significant factor. Take away nuclear weapons from Pakistan, and we would have Bin Laden out of there in a cross-border action in a second.

[The aggression of fundamentalist Islam will continue to increase dangerously] unless the U.S. acts to avoid blackmail by nuclear roguery and ceases to provide $300 billion a year to such regimes for oil.

My note: Nuclear weapons -- oil -- and the other half of the statement -- a Koranic command for fundamentalist Islamists to kill all non-Muslims, or to make them accept second-class citizenship under Sharia law.

Hamas—Astonished to Find Those it Seeks to Destroy Don’t Wish to Finance It

From Voice of America:

Israel Says No Tax Payments to Palestinians

Israeli officials say they are almost certain to suspend the transfer of millions of dollars in customs and tax revenues payments to the Palestinian Authority until they complete a policy review of the current situation in the Palestinian territories.

The review was ordered by acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert following last week's Palestinian legislative elections, which saw Hamas win 56 percent of the seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council.

"The whole idea that money would come from Israel and be transferred to the Palestinian Authority if that authority is led by an extremist terrorist group responsible for suicide bombings is almost as if we were to transfer money to have our own citizens killed in suicide bombings. There is no logic to that whatsoever," said Mark Regev, the spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry.

...Israeli spokesman Regev says Israel agreed to the payments under international accords - agreements that Hamas has rejected.

"The transfer of the money, which has been routine, is part of the accords signed between Israel and the PA [Palestinian Authority], part of the Oslo Agreement and the Paris Protocol," said Mark Regev. "Now Hamas, the new incoming leadership on the Palestinian side, say they reject all those agreements - from their point of view those agreements are null and void. So they cannot have it both ways. They cannot say they are against all these agreements and then, at the same time, expect Israel to keep the part of the agreement they want, which is the transfer of funds."

It's great to see Hamas at the mercy of the people it is devoted to destroy.

Dean Makes a Habit of Losing Millions of Dollars

January, 2006:

DEAN UNDER FIRE FROM PARTY DEMS; NEARLY ALL CASH SPENT
Mon Jan 30 2006 10:52:31 ET

Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill are privately bristling over Howard Dean's management of the Democratic National Committee and have made those sentiments clear after new fundraising numbers showed he has spent nearly all the committee's cash and has little left to support their efforts to gain seats this cycle, ROLL CALL reports.

Congressional leaders were furious last week when they learned the DNC has just $5.5 million in the bank, compared to the Republican National Committee's $34 million.

Senate and House Minority Leaders Harry Reid (Nev.) and Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), along with the Senate and House campaign committee chairmen Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), have made their concerns -- directly or indirectly -- known to Dean, claims the paper.

Emanuel was particularly upset last week upon seeing the latest DNC numbers.

"A lot of people are scratching their heads as to what's going on," said one senior Democratic aide.

Another Democratic source familiar with the party fundraising apparatus said there is "obvious displeasure" among the leaders.

January, 2004:

What Happened To Dean's Money?

This item is buried in a Wall Street Journal story on yesterday's primary: "The major Democratic contenders all have nearly exhausted their campaign treasuries; advisers say that even Mr. Dean, who raised an unmatched $40 million in 2003, has less than $5 million left. That leaves all the candidates largely dependent on attention from the news media to reach voters as they move from small venues and intensive personal campaigning to far-flung contests that play out almost entirely on television screens."

Dan Conley makes the same observation and notes "the Dean campaign has burned through it's treasury faster than a five pool table dot-com company."

This irresponsible, unreliable loose cannon wanted to be President.

I JUST GOT BACK from a fantastic panel event with Victor Davis Hanson, Walid Shoebat, and Phillipe Karsenty. It's way past 12 am here. I haven't even seen the SOTU yet (I Tivo'd it). I've got tons of notes; I'll try to write them up and post them later today (Wednesday).