| July 2006 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 | 31 | |||||
Isn't it interesting that no matter how many Israeli civilians are killed by Hamas or Hezbollah, the U.N. never even considered sending any "peacekeepers" to the Mid-East? Now that Israel is destroying Hezbollah, all of a sudden the dictator-driven U.N. is talking about sending in some "peacekeepers." Without question, such a U.N. force would be nothing more than a defensive shield for Hezbollah.
YOU MAY HAVE HEARD that Los Angeles International airport was totally shut down yesterday for several hours.
A spokesman for Southern California Edison said a vehicle that crashed into a power pole in Palmdale caused a power fluctuation, which prompted the air traffic control center's backup generator to automatically turn on. About an hour later that generator failed.
"Their backup generator sensed there was a problem and kicked in, but for some inexplicable reason it malfunctioned," said Marlon Walker, a utility spokesman.
...At Los Angeles International Airport, the world's fifth-busiest in passenger volume, 221 flights with about 25,000 passengers were delayed, diverted to other airports, or canceled, said airport spokeswoman Nancy Castles.
I was in a plane that was supposed to land at LAX at 7pm. We circled over Phoenix until about 7, then landed in Tucson. (Las Vegas airport was packed with planes finding a place to land - and Phoenix had a sandstorm). We stayed in the plane until around 12pm, got into LA at 1pm, and sat in the plane again until 2pm waiting for a gate to open.
Yuck.
As noted yesterday, Olah Chadasha, of the Greetings from the French Hill weblog, is doing live blogging from Israel of the Israel-Hezbollah war. This exchange in the comments section of that post is very informative:
A.M. Whittaker: It certanly seems from Olah’s comment as well as news sources that Israel is targeting Hezbollah and military installations and Hezbollah is going after ordinary Israeli citizens.
Olah Chadasha: Yes, A.M., that’s exactly the point. Not only is Israel JUST targeting military and strategic point, they are also dropping thousands upon thousands of fliers telling people in the aware that they have X amount of time to evacuate the area before they strike in order to prevent civilian casualties.
Hezbollah gives the citizens no such courtesy, and over 600 people have been injured because of it, including 13 dead. Do you know why only 13 people have died and not more? It is simply because Israelis know what to do in times of crisis. Unfortunately, we are very used to this. The Israeli Army, Police, and other rescue services are so in sinc (sp?) and coordinated in times of crisis, it’s scary. It is this coordination that allows for rescue workers to get to rocket bombed scenes and get the injured out in record time. It is that fact alone that has saved god knows how many lives.
Unfortunately, the MSM and international body believes that proportional force is defined by casualties. How wrong and sickening that is. Why have there been so many Lebanese casualties? A couple of reasons. 1) The Lebanese are not prepared to handle something like this. There is no coordination between the various rescue services, police, and army personelle. Therefore, they get to the injured too late to save them. 2) Hezbollah’s headquarters and centers of oporation are in the middle of densely populated areas with high numbers of civilians. They have also enlarged apartment buildings in order to stockpiles missiles and rockets. This is in complete violation of the Geneva Convention and internation laws on the rules of war and engagement. They are using the surounding civilian populations as human shields, ensuring more civilian casualties because of their location.
Casualties does NOT equal “proportion”. This is the information you’re NOT getting from the international MSM.
From commenter Olah Chadasha, of the Greetings from the French Hill weblog:
I am doing up to the minute live blogging of what’s going on here, in Israel. The international media has done a pathetically poor job of reporting what’s really happening in Israel, instead of focusing on the attacks in Lebanon. Not even Fox News has done very well in reporting that over 700 Katyusha rockets and mortars have fallen within the northern half of Israel, resulting in the injuries of at least 500 people, not including the deaths at least 5 people. Two of which were killed last night; a grand-mother and her grand-son were killed, as the family was bringing in the Sabbath in their home in Meiron. The grand-parents’ grand-children and their parents came to their home in Meiron attempting to get away from the continuous falling rockets in their home of Nahariya.
More than 50 cities, towns, settlements, and villages have been hit, including Tiberias and Haifa, and numerous Druze and Arab villages. These are reports that have not been seen in the international media. It’s all about what’s happening in Lebanon. My family’s settlement has now been officially chategorized as being in the “line of fire”. Houses have been destroyed, tourism has been ruined, lives have been decimated, but I guess this isn’t sexy enough news for those not on this side of the border. Oh yeah, after all, it’s only Jews dying. Nothing serious. So, if you want to see what’s really happening here, check out my site. Also, please keep the numbers 700 and 500 in mind, the next time you hear or read a reporter or foreign official or politician screaming that Israel is using “disproportionate force”.
I'm travelling; posting will resume later this week.
Something tremendously significant is developing in the way the world is responding to the current armed actions in the Mid-East. From Fox News:
Fox has it right - it's a war of Israel against Hezbollah, not Lebanon. It would be one thing if only Fox News was saying it. But for Arab nations to be taking the same point of view is of tremendous significance for the region:
Arab Nations React Mildly to Lebanon Attack by Israel
CAIRO, Egypt - Moderate Arab governments reacted with relative restraint to Israel's offensive in Lebanon, condemning attacks on civilians and infrastructure, but also implicitly criticizing Hezballah.
The relative silence appeared to reflect a sentiment in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia that the Shiite Lebanese guerrilla group had dragged Lebanon into a needless fight by snatching two Israeli soldiers - a fight that would only benefit the hard-line regimes in Syria and Iran.
The mild response from these Arab nations confirms that Israel can attack the terrorists without provoking a war with these nations.
As I noted recently, Israel is far more admired when it moves with courage to put an end to those who wish to destroy it, than when it does the bidding of the dictator-driven U.N. In that post I concluded, "...a powerful nation like Israel, or like the U.S., can only be terrorized when it doesn't fight back." Israel is showing the world that it isn't terrorized, and that those who seek to kill Israelis with impunity can no longer count on Israel to hold back.
And astonishingly, the Arab nations are showing the terrorists, that the terrorists can no longer count on those nations to go to war in their behalf.
The term "paradigm shift" [represents] the notion of a major change in a certain thought-pattern — a radical change in personal beliefs, complex systems or organizations, replacing the former way of thinking or organizing with a radically different way of thinking or organizing...
Bill Crawford at National Review Online has a tremendous amount of good news from Iraq. A sampling:
On the economic front, Iraqi-oil output is now at its highest level since the liberation...
...attacks on oil facilities are lessening...
...oil production is booming...
...a U.S. Marine writes that the insurgency is crumbling [and] A recent story in the Boston Globe backs him up...
...Iraq recently celebrated two years as a free and democratic nation, and the progress that has been made in this short time is remarkable...
...The empowerment of women has been especially impressive since Saddam’s fall, and the country now has a radio station just for women...
It just goes on and on. As usual, readers of MSM haven't heard a word of any of it.
There have been 8 different surveys of Muslim opinion in England since July 7th, 2005. A shockingly high percentage of those polled are only too willing to show their support for terrorism. From Daniel Pipes:
The London transport bombings of July 2005 prompted no less than eight surveys of Muslim opinion in the United Kingdom within the year. When added to two surveys from 2004, they provide in the aggregate a unique insight into the thinking of the nearly 2 million Muslims in "Londonistan." The hostile mentality they portray is especially alarming when one recalls that London's police commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, recently said that the threat of terrorism "is very grim" because there are, "as we speak, people in the United Kingdom planning further atrocities."
The July 7 attacks: About one in 20 British Muslims has voiced overt sympathy for the bombings a year ago. Separate polls find that between 2% and 6% endorse the attacks, 4% refuse to condemn them, 5% believe the Koran justifies them, and 6% say the suicide bombers were acting in accord with the principles of Islam.
...Violence acceptable? Before 7/7, 11% found it acceptable "for religious or political groups to use violence for political ends" but only 4% thought so after the attacks, showing a rare improvement. Two polls turned up the identical figure of 7% of Muslims endorsing suicide attacks on civilians in Britain. (Among 18- to 24-year-olds, those most likely to carry out such an attack, the number jumps to 12%.) How about suicide attacks on the military in Britain? Positive answers came in at 16% and 21% (with 28% of 18- to 24-year-olds). Are the respondents themselves willing to embrace violence to bring an end to "decadent and immoral" Western society? One percent, or some 16,000 persons, answered in the affirmative.
...Implementing Islamic law: Muslims widely state that Shariah should reign in Britain. Forty percent approve of Shariah being applied in predominantly Muslim areas, and 61% want Shariah courts to settle civil cases among Muslims. All of 58% want those who criticize or insult Islam to face criminal prosecution. Schools should be prohibited from banning female pupils from wearing the hijab, say 55%, while 88% insist that schools and work places should accommodate Muslim prayer times.
...In sum, more than half of British Muslims want Islamic law and 5% endorse violence to achieve that end. These results demonstrate that Britain's potential terrorists live in a highly nurturing community.
Given the behavior of Islamists in England, France, Holland, etc., there is reason for great concern that something similar could happen here. We have to find out more about what's going on inside the mosques in the U.S.
As noted here previously, Eric Scheie of Classical Values has observed the concerns of his neighbors about a local madrassa:
I happen to live 500 or so yards away from a mosque which is part of a Saudi-funded Madrassa/school, and all kinds of weird things go on around here. Their national director was deported for terrorist activities and I wish to God they'd close the place down. Neighbors are frightened.
Eric has just posted that this madrassa is now getting national attention. It has openly violated the covenants and zoning order it agreed to in order to get permission to open, and is being described as "a threat to the surrounding community." From a Philadelphia Inquirer article linked in the Classical Values post:
Neighbors testified at the May hearing that they were especially concerned that the foundation could not provide much information on what groups used the grounds for retreats or assurances that the foundation supervised their activities.
"It gets kind of scary in terms of security and what they're doing up there," said Kent Haas, one of about 30 neighbors whose properties abut the foundation.
Exacerbating relations with neighbors were reports this year that a convicted child abuser, subsequently identified through the Pennsylvania Megan's Law Web site, had been spotted at the foundation. In addition, the foundation's Web site was discovered to link to what Greenfield said was "some material that can be construed as anti-Semitic or anti-American."
Eric concludes:
...it seems that the suspicions I voiced previously were not unwarranted.
From Scott Adams:
The greatest weakness of the GWB administration, is that it's very rare for Bush to speak to the public about his views. We're left wondering what, if anything, he's doing on issues like energy and immigration. When there's good news, we rarely hear about it from him.
Finally, that seems to be changing:
Bush is spending more time on the road this summer _ and less time vacationing on his Texas ranch _ as part of a public-relations effort aimed at boosting his low standing in polls and GOP chances in this fall's midterm elections.
"It might do me some good," Bush said.
Following a government report showing unemployment holding steady at 4.6 percent in June, Bush also praised the U.S. economy. "Productivity is high, people are better off, people are working," he said.
Bush said immigration was one of the top issues in this midterm election year. "The system we have now isn't working," he said.
It's amusing to think that the behavior the U.N. seeks to force on Israel, can be summed up by this famous line from Shakespeare: "Discretion is the Better Part of Valor."
The U.N. seeks to force Israel into inaction. The U.N. never condemns Hamastan for its official policy of wanting to destroy Israel; it never condemns Hamastan for its suicide bombings and rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. But it wants Israel to do nothing. In effect it is siding with Hamastan. From Bridget Johnson:
But Israel is apparently so wicked that it merited the first special session of the United Nations' new Human Rights Council - and we are so blessed to have Algeria, Saudi Arabia, China, Cuba, Syria, Iran, Sudan and Libya, who all participated in the Wednesday debate, spelling out human rights for us.
With nations such as those on the Human Rights Council, there can be no doubt that the U.N. is a corrupt mechanism that acts for the benefit, not of the world's people, but of the world's dictatorships.
Shakespeare wrote the great line, "Discretion is the Better Part of Valor." But to understand what he meant, you have to remember what character of his said it. That character was the immortal Falstaff. And who was Falstaff? From Bartleby:
Falstaff
An endearing, fat, aging rogue who appears in several of the plays of William Shakespeare. He is prominent in the two parts of King Henry the Fourth, where he is the jolly companion of Prince Hal, the future King Henry V. Falstaff is a lover of wine, women, and song; although a coward in practice, he loves to tell tales of his supposed bravery.
The behavior the U.N. requires for Israel (and not for Palestine) is the behavior of Falstaff, the coward. So it's no surprise that the more Israel bows to the will of the U.N., the less it is admired. Israel bowed to the will of the U.N. and gave back the Gaza strip. At the time, my only hope for this to have a benefit for Israel, was the opinion of Charles Krauthammer, (with whom I agree on almost everything), that the Gaza pullout plus the fence would make Israel safe from attack. But it didn't turn out that way. Hamastan regularly rockets Israel from Gaza, recently landing a rocket near a high school.
Now Israel is taking action, the only action possible to a nation that wants to survive, and taking the fight to those who want to destroy Israel. In doing so, it is winning admiration it hasn't experienced in all the many years of trying to please the dictator-loving U.N. From Bridget Johnson (same link as above):
Ever since the June 25 kidnapping of Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit - and the abduction and murder of 18-year-old Eliyahu Asheri in the West Bank - Israel has been poised to open a can of whup-ass on the Gaza Strip.
While that thought may make Ramsey Clark want to sob in his soy, some of us see action in Gaza in a much more positive light.
Yes, war is bloody and ugly. But so was the Popular Resistance Committees' threat that Asheri would be "butchered in front of TV cameras" if the Gaza operation to rescue Shalit did not stop. So was the raid in which Shalit was wounded and snatched, and two other soldiers killed. And so was every ensuing vicious ultimatum. And the fact that Hamas's military wing keeps aiming for distance records with their Qassam rockets, two last night in the coastal city of Ashkelon and one there Tuesday night that hit a school parking lot. Enough is enough.
Frankly, it made my day when Israel nabbed dozens of Hamas parliamentarians and cabinet ministers, and when Israeli forces did a not-so-friendly flyby over the abode of Hamas babysitter and Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. I considered the 2 A.M. Sunday airstrike on Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's office a bit of redecorating. Never mind that rampaging Fatah backers already redecorated the place just a few weeks ago - when Israel does it, it's considered evil.
Bridget's article is titled, "It Takes One to Terrorize." But I think I might differ from her on that. It takes two. A weakling can't avoid being bullied; but a powerful nation like Israel, or like the U.S., can only be terrorized when it doesn't fight back.
