Food For Though From The Hollow Deck

A few thoughts from Kobiyashi Maru on Katrina- sobering thoughts.

Also, from the bridge, a cool look at todays tragic events in Iraq.

Taken together, they put ionto perspective, a bit of the world we share with others.

Time For A New New Orleans?

SC&A pose a serious question to you, our well informed readers.

Why on earth would we even consider rebuilding New Orleans in the exact same place it is? Wouldn't it be smarter to rebuild the city a few miles down the road, out of the below level 'cereal bowl'?

The city is effectively destroyed. Why not move Bourbon Street, the French Quarters and all the other tourist attractions to a new New Orleans- one better situated and safer. Moving the historic buildings and relocating them would be far cheaper than having to rebuild a multi billion dollar levee system- a system that will cost millions upon millions just in maintenance, every year. A rebuilt city will have to pay untold million in insurance premiums, every year. Why not relocate the city to safer ground? The city could be a carbon copy of the old New Orleans, only newer, better and safer.

Further, New Orleans was a poor city, with substandard schools and social services infrastructure. In a country as rich as ours, maybe it's time we invested in something new- and that would not perpetuate substandard facilities and neglect.

The mayor of New Orleans says there may well be thousands of victims. Thousands. Now, think about that for a minute- the number, in the end, may be comparable to or even exceed, the number of coffins sent back from Iraq and Afghanistan.

In addition, there are tens of thousands of refugees- maybe more- all along Gulf Coast. Can we afford to go through this again?

Do we really want to rebuild in the same place, only to potentially face the same disaster?

On Culture, Economics And The Urban Setting

Yesterday, we posted a piece by the Lost Budgie, about rampant crime in Toronto's Jamaican community.

We believe that the conversation generated in the comments of our post, warrants and merits further attention.

In the his post, the Lost Budgie postulated that crime in the Jamaican community was in no small measure due to the 'matriarchal society' that appears very prevalent in the Jamaican community. According to the Lost Budgie, 'Culture is the Factor - Not Race.'

He says that

'We were told that it was normal and quite acceptable in the Jamaican culture for men to maintain several women at the same time. The message of the Jamaican-Canadian community leaders was that illegitimacy had no stigma in Jamaica, that fathers were not required to marry or support the mothers of the their children, and that we should not impose our value judgements upon the Jamaican-Canadians when policing the community.

"Fair enough," we thought with the open values of the time. Who are we to say that our cultural values are better than any others?

Thirty years later, as we look back and see generation after generation of fatherless young men running wild in the community, we should re-visit our collective decision that there is no downside to the Jamaican Matriarchal family culture.

From here on, the discussion has evolved into an interesting discussion, found in the SC&A comments section, here.

Arethusa, of Stalkers Not Allowed, speaks about poverty and culture as a single and inextricably bound idea- and that reality, serves to expand the conversation and to examine areas we might not have considered.

The matriarchal structure is also one of economics. Girls, at almost if not every level of education in Jamaica outnumber and often outperform boys. I'll google some figures but the gender percentage at their university is alarming. In their communities the male role figures they have are, quite often, criminals or shady personages. These gangs are not recruiting women.

It is quite true that it is normal and "accepted" -- in so far as no one quite sees how to change it -- that children are born out of wedlock, and while sharing the same mother, may have different fathers. This is often glorified by Jamaican DJ's in their music.

Kateland, of The Last Amazon has a unique perspective- and that alone make her remarks substantive- and elegant. She asks us to dispel certain 'realities' we are sure of- and she may be right. Her remarks prove the conversation needs to be widened.

Firstly, to characterize the recent gun violence in Toronto as the work of "Jamaican gangs" is far from accurate though I will acknowledge that Canadians find it far easier to blame violent crime in Canada on Jamaicans among us rather than look at the mote in our own eye. And if we can't blame the Jamaicans there are always the Americans and their guns.

Though among certain circles to pretend to be Jamaican is considered radical chic these days. I often pass Somali and Canadian black youths in the downtown who pretend to speak a Jamaican patois. Mostly they have heart failure when a middle aged white woman corrects their lingustic fobbles though at least I do have Jamaican citizenship. She also says, forcefully, I object to this characterization of Jamaican matriarchal families being the root cause of violent crime in Toronto. I don't see it as a Jamaican/Canadian problem but a societal problem in Canada. There are far more two parent Jamaican homes than not - even in Canada. Furthermore this idea that Jamaican society is based on the matriarchal society is absurd. Certainly single headed female homes are common among a certain sub-class of Jamaicans but I would not call it a cultural characteristic. My home is in the interior of the island. Crime even in Gimme-me-bit is explosive but mostly the rise in crime is the direct result of what Jamacians call "broke foreigners". Meaning those who were born in Jamaica but raised and schooled in Toronto, London, Manchester, New York and South Florida who have been deported from those countries for violent criminal behaviour and returned with absolutely no ties to the communities that they find themselves in other than a piece of paper.

The Lost Budgie himself answers and addresses all these matters at length in the comments section. Some of his remarkd are spot on and others beg thoughtful consideration. Both Arethusa and Kateland offer up real insight. We would ask you to read all the comments. This is an excellent conversation whose relevence far exceeds the Toronto city limits.

On The Warpath

We have been reading with more than a bit of incredulity the myriad of bloggers and frenzied, shrill voices out there blaming President Bush for hurricane Katerina, global warming and the shortage of ice cream among the Maori.

As we have noted earlier, it is that 'getting' the president supersedes any other consideration- including preserving life. The Anchoress has an assortment of links about Katerina, including those from the 'Bush is to blame' crowd. In her post, Breathtaking Katerina, she covers some of te breadth and scope of how Katerina is perceived, from those who want to help to those who want to hate. Taken together, the post provides a fascinating look at the who's and why's that divide us.

What struck us more than anything else is the level of intensity of the vitriol. The aversion, venom and visceral hatred directed at the president is remarkable, given the situation. There is more noise about Bush being responsible for the hurricane than there is sympathy for the victims of Katerina. It is if an army of Fred Phelps have been unleashed..

Katerina and New Orlean are irrelevant, as is the war in Iraq and how many will die. For many it seems, 'getting the president' is of utmost priority.

Politics, it seems, is less about ideologies and what is good for the country, and more about personal destruction, as if that would validate the superiority of those who would destroy others for their own benefit- and that applies to both sides of the political divide.

Their ideas are no different than than that of the ruling class of a totalitarian state.

That's a helluva political platform.

What Does It Mean To be An American? The Questions

When the Cold War abruptly ended, there was a euphoric if yet undefined expectation that our better selves would migrate into a new form of brotherhood. The arms race, the military industrial complex and defense technology industries would be transformed into mechanisms for the betterment of mankind. There would be miracle cures, miracle drugs, economic growth, and the world in general, would be a better place to live. We would face new challenges and strifes of course, but we would be better equipped to handle them, in kind, more humane way than the horrors of war known in the 20th century.

No, it didn't work out that way .

Now, let us pose a thought to consider: Should the American citizenship test ask the following questions?

"Do you believe that every individual has the right to believe or not believe as they see fit?"

"Do you believe in the right of individuals to renounce or change their beliefs?"

For most of us, those are questions hardly worth any serious thought.

Those questions have become very relevant now.

It is our belief the two points we raise have a lot to do with the world we live in now.
Societies have been immeasurably enriched by religion. Religion has helped define our laws and customs and religion has provided comfort and solace to individuals that no government ever could.

Equally, the same could be said for the irreligious. Secular thought has given us new ideas and torn down barriers. Secularism has been a substantial basis for our social safety nets and the freedom to be as non conformist as we wish to be.

Until now, religion and secularism in the west have coexisted and indeed, have thrived together. They have each benefited from essential truths they each bring to the table. There were and our tensions of course, but by and large, we have learned to live with our neighbors, irrespective of their beliefs.

The migration of Islam into the west and into western awareness has changed all that. The compacts shared by western societies have been changed.

It is an oversimplification to say a more visible and engaged Islam is responsible for all the ills we face. Nevertheless, the impact of Islam and Muslims cannot be discounted.

We do wish to make clear that we not attacking all Muslims nor am I attacking Islam, per se. We are posing certain questions and drawing conclusions based on what we all see and hear. Clearly, Muslims in general, are defined in ways beyond their own control.

In the post communist era, the secularists were presented with a bonus they could never have dreamed of. The liberation of Europe unleashed generations of peoples that had no real connection to religion. In the free western societies, religious affiliations and beliefs are part of our collective mosaic. Eastern Europeans were different. They were and are not bad people- they just came from a place where all religious affiliations were frowned upon and a society that made deliberate religious affiliation were a barrier to social acceptance.

Eastern Europeans are not necessarily atheists or agnostics. However, whatever their religious convictions are, they have, out of necessity, removed religion from their exterior lives. One friend of mine from Poland cannot fathom what a political candidate's religious beliefs have to do with the ability to serve as an elected official. In candor, I have a tough time answering that question.

In any case, the secularists in the west discovered a new faith of their own- Multiculturalism. Eastern Europeans were quick converts. Languages and customs unfamiliar to us and the initial overdosing on American culture quickly made Eastern Europeans rediscover their own heritage. They wanted to preserve that heritage in a pure a form as possible, forgetting at times that all things move forward and adapt.

The secularists, ever foes of the religious and the traditional, pounced on more conservative values, referring to those values as 'racist' and 'hateful.'

Multiculturalism, masquerading as righteousness, assaulted western values like bin Ladens call to Jihad.

To a true Multiculturalist, all is sacred and nothing is profane. Tolerance is transformed from appropriate and considered behavior into belief- the belief that all is equal. From moon worshipers to Jim Jones, all is equal in the eyes of the Multiculturalist. Secularists no longer have to present cogent and reasoned argument. They wave the religious icon of their beliefs and all must bow before the god(s) du jour. Religious people and those not so religious, but of more conservative values, yield to 'Judge not, lest ye be judged' and the values of decorous behavior. In other words, they resigned themselves into accepting the multiculturalist agenda. For the most part, they could simply ignore that agenda. Multiculturalism became an integral (and politically involved) part of the western societal fabric.

It is into this environment, Islam appeared in the west. The Islam we are exposed to forces us all to my earlier query.

Should the following questions be added to our citizenship exam?

"Do you believe that every individual has the right to believe or not believe as they see fit?"

"Do you believe in the right for individuals to renounce or change their beliefs?"

The answer to those questions affect us all. Whether or not you are religious, conservative, atheist, agnostic or a confirmed multiculturalist, the importance of the answer to these question will define our future.

We're not ALWAYS long winded

We know what's in your closet- oh yes we do. Three times and your wishes come true. No wonder you lead a charmed life.

Father of the Year and the birthday bust.

You may not want to be thought of as a native. Sit! Stand!

Another health alert. We like this one better.

Democracy, Freedom, Events and Experiences

In the world we live in, one of the freedoms we least acknowledge are property rights. In a war on terror, and with the goings on in Afghanistan and Iraq, what does this have to do with the likes of Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and all the other despotic regimes out there?

Everything.

One of the underlying philosophies of these tyrants (like tyrants before them) is to deny the absolute right of ownership of anything. What you own is allowed by the grace of the leader. Deny him, and you may very well deny yourself of what you thought was yours. The threat of having what is yours suddenly taken away is an every day, ever present and powerful threat to human dignity.

That threat to human dignity is a rejection of plurality-- the notion that people can have different ideas and beliefs and still be secure in their rights and safety.

Americans and the west democracies defend that right and allow disparate views. Regardless of what we believe in, our dignity is our own and we remain free from the threat of being stripped of our property simply because our views aren't 'in line' with others. In other words, we live in an inclusive society.

It is this very notion, that we can exercise the greatest freedom of all, the freedom from fear, that has proven to be the greaest attractant to democracies. From the four corners of the world, immigrants have come to America and other democracies, with the knowledge- and not just the expectation- they would be free to exercise their voices in freedom.

The words of Emma Lazarus proved to be prophetic- It was the 'tired and poor,' and the 'wretched refuse,' that, when allowed to 'breathe free,' built the greatest country in the world- never to be beholden to the princes and priviledged.

Compare that with the regimes in most totalitarian countries. The mindset there is very different. They have constructed exclusive societies that demand loyalty and tolerate no dissent or difference of opinion. Decades of such indoctrination and the current tidal wave of hate taught in schools and preached from the pulpit have resulted in the marginalization and inevitable, if slow, decay of those societies.

Democracy is a threat simply because in a democracy, there is no 'us vs them' mentality-- at least not in the real sense. We understand that we can agree to disagree-- an inclusive society-- and need not threaten to take each other's dignity or property.

We respect each other's rights and we respect the freedom of dissent. 'Dissent is the truest form of patriotism', to paraphrase a Founding Father.

One needn't be a religious person or even believe in God to understand that tolerance is the lifeblood of civilized societies. If weren't so, none of us would be here. We accept and tolerate differences to accommodate trade between nations. We learned the hard way that we all suffer greatly when tolerance isn't applied accepted and applied equally. Centuries of wars and empires, death and destruction have reinforced that truth.

We live in a society that has lively political debate. We have an independent media and a judiciary that at times, has to remind us that there is a greater good than our needs and beliefs. That judiciary, while not perfect, is free and independent.

There is a distinction between an event and an experience. An event has a finite beginning and a finite end. An experience is different-- it stays with us and molds us and teaches us. We see the future through the eyes of of what can be, rather than through the eyes of what was.

Living in an open society is living an experience. We are not defined by particular events nor bogged down by our history (despite the attempts by some to do so). We move forward and thus, always, 'our best days are yet to come', elicits a universally understood response. We are building on what we have learned and looking forward to tomorrow.

Contrast these ideas with totalitarian regimes in the Middle East and elsewhere. They are bogged down by the past, reminding us and themselves of former glories while they waste away their present and future, going nowhere. A recent UN report on the state of education in the world placed the Arab countries at the bottom of the list, only above sub Saharan Africa in terms of quality of education. Given that there aren't that many schools in sub Saharan Africa to begin with, the distinction of not being at the bottom of the list is moot. Did that result in any outrage in Arab society? Hardly. It was ignored.

In totalitarian regimes, life is an orchestrated event, scripted by a government- lived until the death of the leader and new script is handed down.

One pundit wrote something to the effect that Arabs feel humiliated. Not because they can't read, have real no real economies and have to send their kids to the west to get educated-- that was no cause for shame, mind you-- but because they see themselves as victims of a conspiracy by the west to hold them back.

The response? A few months ago, Syria came out with it's new Five Year Plan. Remember those?

Plus ca change, plus ca reste la meme. These regimes are incapable of dealing with reality.

These regimes never accept blame or accountability. Abu Ghraib was met with outrage at the same time far greater horrors occur everyday at home. It is lost on much of the Arab world that we deal with our problems-- and they don't.

Why is it so? Well, these regimes and societies, in their hubris, see the world in an 'us vs them' framework, as was mentioned earlier. They never make mistakes and thus are never responsible or accountable. We, who live in democracies and commit to and demand, an always better society, are looked down upon-- after all, it is only we who make and correct our mistakes.

Thank God/Mother Earth/Supreme Architect/Elvis/(insert deity here/ that we aren't as perfect as they are.

Nurture, Nature And Culture

From The Lost Budgie, an interesting post. The Lost Budgie is in law enforcement, which, depending on your point of view, provides him with a highly accurate or highly inaccurate view of 'life on the streets.'

Regardless, what he describes is troubling. In no uncertain terms, he sees it as a matter of culture and not race. One the one hand, that is comforting, that race is not blamed for the troubles. On the other hand, if the problems are indeed culturally related, how do we keep those cultural mores from poisoning our own culture in an increasingly homogeneous society?

Welcome to Toronto: where Jamaican gangs murder in public without fear of the police, and where citizens who know what's good for their families keep their eyes closed and their mouths shut.

Whether it's a daytime shooting in the park, night-time gunfights in the middle of the street or a simple contract murder of a rival drug dealer - the violence of Jamaican thugs has become a normal part of the Toronto landscape.

Why is it that such a tiny and identifiable segment of Toronto's population (3.2%) is responsible for so much of the violence, death and mayhem?

Culture is the Factor - Not Race

Even the politically correct mainstream media, politicians and leaders in the Black & Caribbean communities now readily acknowledge that a disproportionately high number of shooters and victims are of Jamaican heritage.

What is it about Jamaican values and culture that spawns so many violent young men? What is it about Jamaican values and culture that seems to prevent young Canadians of Jamaican heritage from successfully integrating into the Canadian mosaic, while countless other Caribbean immigrants thrive and do well in Canada?

A Culture Without Fathers

In the late 70's, members of the Jamaican-Canadian Association gave a lecture to Lost Budgie's recruit class at the Toronto Police College. The Jamaican Community leaders explained that the typical Jamaican family was matriarchal - with the mother as the head of the household. We were told that Jamaican morality does not require a woman to marry any of the fathers of her children, and that it is within the community's values if a woman has many children by different men: as long as she can name the fathers of the children.

We were told that it was normal and quite acceptable in the Jamaican culture for men to maintain several women at the same time. The message of the Jamaican-Canadian community leaders was that illegitimacy had no stigma in Jamaica, that fathers were not required to marry or support the mothers of the their children, and that we should not impose our value judgements upon the Jamaican-Canadians when policing the community.

"Fair enough," we thought with the open values of the time. Who are we to say that our cultural values are better than any others?

Thirty years later, as we look back and see generation after generation of fatherless young men running wild in the community, we should re-visit our collective decision that there is no downside to the Jamaican Matriarchal family culture.

Matriarchal Message to Young Men: "You are Not Needed"

Toronto Community leaders talk much about the need for "role models" for young men, but dance all around the question of generations of young Jamaican Canadians being raised without fathers. While most thinking persons will acknowledge that young men need real fathers, and that all teenaged young men occasionally need a father's strong hand to keep them on the straight and narrow - this issue of a father's discipline and guidance is only part of the equation.

For young men living in Jamaican Matriarchal families, the message of the matriarchal culture is... "Fathers are not needed in a family. Fathers do not support familes. You will never be the head of a family. You are little more than a biological donor - like your father before you."

No father, no future purpose, no future family, no manhood to be found in marriage or family.

This powerful message of hopelessness and lack of core male purpose in life is directed at Jamaican-Canadian young men: who run wild with no hope and no future.

Could it be that the typical Jamaican Matriarchal family structure is a root cause of the Jamaican violence on Toronto streets?

Is The Lost Budgie right?

Dumb, Dumber And Dumbest

How not to steal a car.

Three men trying to steal fuel from a New Zealand farm Monday ended up setting fire to their own car.

Police said the trio had siphoned diesel into a petrol-driven vehicle. When their car would not start, they examined the fuel pipe using a cigarette lighter.

One click, a boom and the car burst into flames.

We were never that stupid. Ever. Tell us you weren't that dumb. Please.

What It All Means, Parenting And What it All Means

This week, the surviving terrorist of the Beslan massacre is on trial.

Soon enough, we will become inured to the testimony of the children and we will become numb to the voices describing the horrible events. We will be haunted by the ‘why’ of Beslan in the same way we are haunted by the unspoken ‘why’ of the ghosts of Columbine.

Lawrence Kelerman wrote a widely circulated piece in 2002. It created a stir- especially after it was posted on NY Indymedia. It has since disappeared from the archives if Indymedia, but that has not lessened it’s impact.

We have chosen to repost the article in it’s entirety. While it has been reposted elsewhere in a redacted form, we believe that like most things, context is in order. Although the article was written for a specific audience, it is not hard to understand why it has became a 'must read ' for educators, parents, clergy and anyone interested better understanding the world we live in.

We also believe that understanding the concept of Jihad, imposed on children from an early age, is relevant to comprehending what many of our adversaries are taught- and believe.

Learning From Sadism.

Early last week Revital Ohayon, 34, was reading her sons Matan, five, and Noam, four, a bedtime story when a Fatah terrorist burst into their home on Kibbutz Metzer. She jumped in front of the children to protect them, but he shot all three dead.

A few months ago, on a Shabbat morning, Palestinian terrorists burst into the bedroom of Shiri Shefi, took aim, and sprayed her and her three children with bullets using M-16 assault rifles. Shefi, her four-year-old son Uriel, and her two-year-old son Eliad were wounded. Five-year-old Danielle, who was shot in the head, was killed.

About a year ago, a Palestinian sniper trained his high-powered rifle on 10-month-old Shalhevet Pass, killing the baby girl in her father's arms.

About six months before that, Vadim Novesche and Yosef Avrahami, two Israeli reserve officers abducted by Palestinian police, had their heads beaten into unrecognizable pulp and were then disemboweled by a waiting crowd outside the Palestinian Authority's Ramallah headquarters who then danced, entrails in hand, through the city's streets.

Cases like these stand out among the hundreds of murders of Israelis and foreign visitors here in recent months, not because of their evil but because of their inhumanity. They reveal a terrifying angle of the story of this war.

Beneath the strata of Islamic unity, Pan-Arabism, and Palestinian national aspiration at the root of this great campaign engineered by Arab leaders is pure, unbridled sadism, a delight in cruelty that boggles the Western mind. And even if this lust for savagery is slightly less evident in the "ordinary" shootings and suicide bombings that people suffer in this country on a daily basis, there is a growing suspicion that much of this violence flows from a visceral, Palestinian truculence a craving for Jewish pain, for blood.

Those of conscience ask not only what practical steps we can take to escape this nightmare, but also how it could ever have been conceived. What great power have Palestinian leaders tapped into? How do they draw forth so much human energy and direct it for evil? And can we learn from them how to harness the same energy and use it for good?

"The sword and the book descended intertwined" (Midrash Rabba)

The Palestinian leadership takes education very seriously. When visiting the Palestinian National Authority Web site, you will notice that the first three listings are "Ministry of Higher Education," "Ministry of Information," and "Ministry of Education" before the ministries of Labor, Health, or Water.

Since September 2000, the PA composed and introduced into its elementary and high schools a series of new textbooks, replacing Egyptian and Jordanian texts on four grade levels.

These books obliterate the State of Israel from history and maps, showing instead a greater Palestine that stretches from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea with Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state.

These texts present the liberation of Palestine as a struggle against Jewish occupation, describe the waves of aliya as "infiltration," and glorify Jihad and martyrdom.(See examples at www.edume.org.)

Beyond its local educational products, the PA also imports a wealth of educational materials from its neighbors: a 30-part series produced by Arab Radio and Television, featuring a cast of 400, and aired during the second half of Ramadan last year which "dramatized" the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Arab viewers were also recently treated to a popular political satire showing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon drinking the blood of Palestinian children. The myth that Jews sprinkle the blood of Arab children into their matza is graphically described in The Matza of Zion, published in 1983 by the current Syrian minister of defense, Mustafa Tlas. The Egyptian mass circulation daily al-Ahram also recently reported "many cases of the bodies of [Palestinian] children who had disappeared being found, torn to pieces, without a single drop of blood. The most reasonable explanation is that the blood was taken to be kneaded into the dough of extremist Jews."

One can only imagine the effect academic and media presentations such as these have on the Palestinian soul.

Hardwiring for sadism

However frightening this propaganda and its effects might be, we must confront the possibility that an even more hideous engine drives the terrorists' cruelty. Relative to the West, life in Arab countries has always been harsh. Corporal punishment of children is thoroughly embedded in the culture. No mainstream Islamic authority has yet spoken out against slapping children's faces, dragging them by their hair, or any of the other disciplinary approaches that shock Western onlookers.

The American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that approximately 100 million Islamic girls between the ages of four and 10 have had their clitoris (and usually surrounding tissue) removed, typically without any anesthesia and while held down forcibly on a table or bench.

AAP said the procedure, typically performed with "instruments such as knives, razor blades, broken glass, or scissors," is performed four million to five million times annually. In one of the six undisputed hadith collections (Sunan of Abu Dawud, chapter 1888), Muhammad states, "If you cut, do not overdo it, because it brings more radiance to the face and it is more pleasant to the husband," and "Cut slightly without exaggeration, because it is more pleasant for your husbands."

A report in Pediatrics (102:1 July 1998, pp. 153-156) explains that Muslim parents "feel obligated to request the procedure because they believe their religion requires female genital alteration."

In January 1981, Great Sheikh of Al-Azhar (the head of the Islamic world's most famous university) stated that "Parents must follow the lessons of Muhammad and not listen to medical authorities because the latter often change their minds. Parents must do their duty and have their daughters' clitorises removed." (See www.religioustolerance.org.)

Although Muslim authorities often deny the existence of this custom when speaking with Westerners, Amnesty International recently discovered that in Egypt, the PA's closest neighbor, 97% of little girls have their genitals mutilated. In 1996 the Egyptian minister of health banned FGM, but in 1997 that ruling was challenged by Sheikh Youssef Badri, and the Egyptian courts overturned the ban, permitting FGM once more.

Sheikh Badri commented, "Female circumcision is Islamic; the court has said that the ban violated religious law. There's nothing which says circumcision is a crime." He later told Germany's Der Spiegel,"Many Muslim women are pleased with this victory of Islam over its enemies." According to both Amnesty International and the World Health Organization, the PA has not yet banned FGM.

Survival in such a culture necessitates some numbing. But this psychological component might be insignificant relative to the neurobiological effects of being beaten and tortured in childhood. It was Harvard researchers who first revealed that stress hormones released when children experience physical and sexual abuse actually impede development of that part of the brain responsible for empathy and conscience.

Brain scans of those who suffered through events common in the childhood of Palestinian children reveal an underdeveloped hippocampus and vermis. Among the behaviors associated with this sort of brain damage: impulsivity, sadism, and suicide. It is almost too frightening to consider that Israel today faces a population many of whom are hardwired for the sort of violence we have been witnessing.

More terrifying is the long-term prognosis for Palestinian society. Martin Teicher, a lead researcher in the Harvard study, reports that sadistic parents neurobiologically infect their children with the same trait: Society reaps what it sows in the way it nurtures its children.

Whether it comes in the form of physical, emotional, or sexual trauma or through exposure to warfare, famine, or pestilence, stress can set off a ripple of hormonal changes that permanently wire a child's brain to cope with a malevolent world. Through this chain of events, violence and abuse pass from generation to generation as well as from one society to the next.

Our stark conclusion is that we see the need to do much more to ensure that child abuse does not happen in the first place, because once the key brain alterations occur, there may be no going back. (Scientific American, March 2002)

Extracting light from the darkness

In the near term it is unlikely that Israel will do much to stem the flow of anti-Semitic propaganda or reduce the violence that Palestinians commit against their own children. We must accept that Israel is locked in a battle with a population many of whom are programmed for inconceivable callousness and hatred.

Ironically, we can learn from our neighbor's example: Islam is a powerful force. If given a chance, Judaism can be too but in a very different way. The Palestinians use the Koran to teach hatred. We can use the Torah to teach sensitivity, altruism, and righteousness.

But this would require teaching our tradition as passionately as the Palestinians teach theirs. Just as Palestinian parents speak to their children about the need to sacrifice for the Palestinian national dream, so too we can speak to our children about giving of themselves to achieve real tikun olam (mending the world).

To date, we are failing at this mission. The percentage of Jewish charitable funds directed to teaching Jews Torah is minuscule.

And Israeli leaders and heads of major Jewish organizations in the Diaspora all too often play down or outright deny the value of an immersion in Judaism.

The solution might also require changing our parenting habits. Just as the harshness of Palestinian parenthood might be wiring children for hatred and violence, so too might attentive, loving parenting wire our children for goodness.

Perhaps the moment has arrived to rethink the amount of time we spend (or don't spend) with our children; the way we discipline them; and the media we expose them to.

Perhaps, ironically, we can be inspired by the horrors of this war to commit ourselves to raising a different sort of child.

Perhaps those of us who survive the current crisis can emerge different, better, for the horrors we have seen.

Midnight Jihad Programs, Anyone?

So much for after school and midnight basketball programs.

Saudi Clerics declare football un-Islamic

Ulema in Saudia Arabia have issued a fatwa (religious decree) declaring football [soccer] an un-Islamic sport, and have urged the youth to quit it immediately, BBC radio reported on Saturday.

According to the report, the clerics urged the youth to indulge in jihad and other constructive activities that could help the Muslim ummah, the radio reported. The ulema argued that football wastes a lot of time and the participants wear shorts, which they said was an un-Islamic dress, the radio reported.

We can only imagine how the clerics might define 'other constructive activities.' In conjunction with the word 'Jihadi, the adjective 'BOOM' comes to mind.

For a change, we are quite sure that the renowned SC&A wisdom is unnecessary.

For a heads up, check out The Last Amazon. Spend a bit a time and realize what this post and the one below, really mean.

Take A Good Look At Your Kids

If you ever hesitate and wonder why the war on terror is important, we can come up with a few reasons to remind you just how important the war on terror really is..

If you imagine that you are worn out from the Hurricane Katerina wall to wall television coverage and the regularly scheduled news from Camp Casey and you can't be moved anymore, this story, from Gateway Pundit via LGF might just prove otherwise.

The trial for the only Beslan school hostage taker is now taking place. Lots of lawyers, judges, journalists and children. This is what some of the children had to say:

Irina Dzagoyeva testified that her sister was forced to wash blood off a floor.

A 10-year-old boy testified Thursday, August 25th in the trial of the one lone terrorist to be captured alive after the siege in Beslan. One of the female terrorists ... told us that if she found a phone on anyone, that person would be killed and three more people near him or her would be killed too.

A 17-year-old girl testified that the hostage takers gave a bucket of water to one boy and told him to give it only to the children. They said that if any adult drank the water, they would shoot the boy.

Malik Kalchakeyev, 14, speaking slowly and in great detail, told of how the schoolchildren and their parents were herded into the school's gym, how the attackers stopped providing water and how they taunted the exhausted hostages, often forcing them to stand and sit quickly in the hot, crowded gym.

"On the second day, we were all very thirsty. Women told us, the boys, to pee into plastic bottles so that the children could then drink our pee," the boy said, bursting into tears. "I peed into a bottle, and small children -- even babies -- drank it."

The trial had to be delayed as the child witness wept.

So behaved the terrorists that followed the fatwas of hate- the same fatwas that terrorists everywhere, celebrate.

This is why we need to fight the war on terror.

The tragedy in Beslan was inevitable. We have watched societies encourage, tolerate and justify escalating terror as a form of political expression. This isn't criminal violence for the sake of personal gain. It isn't even violence for the sake of political power. It is violence and destruction that serves no purpose, will provide no victory and will not bring about the changes the perpetrators hope for.

What made Beslan even more tragic is that we live in world with readily accessibility to information.

Today, in the beginning of the 21st century, 30,000 children a day die of preventable diseases. Other children are callously used as political fodder and are educated in hate and recruited by suicide bombers.

In Beslan, they were taken hostage not for their political value or worth. They were taken because they were an easy target, sure to garner the world's attention. Though the perpetrators and planners took a long time to set up their evil plot, in all that time, they never reconsidered.

That children died so tragically at the hands of a Russian Security Forces plan that went awry, should cause no moral outrage. The school was wired throughout with explosives and bombs by the terrorists. The lives of those children meant nothing to them. Their public threats made that very clear.

Every child represents all that is possible within the universe. All our hopes, dreams and imagination are reflected in the face of a child. To negate that is to negate every pretense of humanity. To justify and call for the slaughter of children is an evil rarely seen. It was only a matter of time before terrorism led to the escalation.

In what has to be one of the most incredible ironies of all, the perpetrators of these crimes as well their apologists are quick to refer to refer to their enemies as Nazi's. They deny the truest source of evil in history to date, and refer to the holocaust as hoax. With their attitudes, behavior and carefully poisoned societies, they have proudly laid claim to that evil themselves.

WMD are really irrelevant, in a sense. Beslan, 9/11, Bali, terror in Israel and global terror are committed by individuals with no respect for even natural law of man- the sanctity of life.

This isn’t about ‘politics.’ This is about the fight between good and evil- and your kids are on the front lines.

Read the story and be sure to click through the links.

This Must Be The Twilight Zone

From the Arab News, a most unexpected editorial, entitled, 'End the Debacle, Mrs. Sheehan'

Ms. Sheehan is a liberal nut case who needs to be put in her place.

I know these are strong words to use against a “grieving mother”, but the time for grief is over. Ms. Sheehan’s own hateful words ended her grievance.

...She has also started protesting the war in Iraq and has since become the poster child for the anti-war wackos who are calling for the complete withdrawal of troops from Iraq...

I think it is time for our gloves to come off. Many columnists around the country have “tip-toed” around the Sheehan controversy because they have respected the loss of her son. But now Ms. Sheehan is showing her true colors: Liberal activist, not loving mother. I think it is time to fight back.

Ms. Sheehan and other appeasers around the world provide the fuel that feeds the fire of terrorism. If not for this fuel, terrorists would realize that they do not have a chance to sway the minds of people and would end the bombing. Terrorists are not stupid, they understand that bombing innocent civilians will not change the minds of the strong, but will break the will of the weak. So they attack the weak and the weak fold...

Unfortunately her son’s good name will soon go down in history as the son of a wacko liberal instead of a war hero.

Read it all here. Truth really is stranger than fiction.

The Upside Down World We Live In

In response to the attempt by a Palestinian suicide bomber to kill as many Israelis as possible, comes this pearl from an editorial in Al Quds, courtesy of BBC Monitoring.

"The Israeli pullout should be complete and exclude any Israeli security role, especially on the Palestinian-Israeli border. Ending the occupation and establishing a Palestinian state will create a new reality on the ground that will leave no room for Israeli intervention in Palestinian relations with the Arab world."

In other words, Israel should not protect itself- even along her own borders. To do so might impede other suicide bombers- clearly an unacceptable situation for the Palestinians.

Cindy Sheehan: The Biggest Con Since Newman And Redford

We will repeat, one more time, what you have heard a hundred times.

Cindy Sheehan is grieving over her son, Casey, who was killed in Iraq at the young age of 24. Many Americans- but not all- extend their sympathy to Mrs. Sheehan and the other mothers that have made similar sacrifices.

Some Americans are very selective as to whom they extend their goodwill. If you don’t share their politics, you can go to hell, and may you and yours suffer and rot away. The hypocrisy is stunning. Unless you support their agenda, you and your dead son deserve no sympathy. In fact, you can be derided and ridiculed.

That is not an overstatement. “I am starting to lose a little compassion for them. I know they have been as brainwashed as the rest of America..” So says Cindy Sheehan. "I have been silent on the Gold Star Moms who still support [President Bush] and his war by saying that they deserve the right to their opinions because they are in as much pain as I am. I would challenge them, though, at this point to start thinking for themselves"

"The fact that some of us mothers vehemently disagree with you does not mean that we have been brainwashed. We are perfectly capable of thinking for ourselves and forming intelligent opinions about this war...The more you belittle others the less likely they are to hear and respond to your message." "What an elitist, arrogant [remark]," Hallie Lord writes in an online message board.

And so it goes. There is no disagreement, there is no room for tolerance or dissent. Disagree and you are labeled a fool, or brainwashed.

To be clear- if Ms. Sheehan were to have adopted a real anti war stance, we would have applauded- and even celebrated, her right to protest the war. While we can respect Cindy Sheehan the mother, we cannot abide Cindy Sheehan, ‘political activist.’

Ms. Sheehan is no more sympathetic a figure than any other mother who has suffered a loss and in fact, she may be less deserving. Instead of legitimately opposing the war, as is her right, Ms. Sheehan has made a deliberate choice to misrepresent her agenda. Ms. Sheehan has made a deliberate choice. She has chosen to align herself with those who have a particular political agenda, as we have noted, and she has allowed the death of her son to be used to camouflage those actions and that agenda.

It is not a principled anti war stand, in the least. Cindy Sheehan and company are asking us to leave Iraq now- right now, and the consequences be damned. Of course, that in fact would most resemble what happened after we left Vietnam. Jane Fonda’s ‘heroes’ swarmed into the south, killed hundreds of thousands and kept ‘re-education camps’ populated for decades. That is what Cindy Sheehan and her supporters are asking us to do now- to turn Iraq over to the ‘freedom fighters’ Ms Sheehan and her supporters speak so highly of.

Apparently, some lives are worth less than others.

It is notable that whenever the Vietnam debacle is alluded to, as of often the case in attempting to make comparisons to the current conflict, no one ever mentions that it was Presidents Kennedy and Johnson that foisted that war upon the country- Democrats. No one today ever refers to those Presidents as ‘Hitler.’ When you consider that over 57,000 Americans died in that war, we find the lack of outrage curious, though not at all surprising.

It is also interesting to recognize that President Johnson, who signed the Civil Rights Act, is not credited for wanting to keep South Vietnam free and democratic. It is clear that

Cindy Sheehan is irrelevant. Everything she now claims to stand for and with, is irrelevant, because it is predicated on barely veiled deceit. She has made her choice and she will now have to live with that deliberately chosen deceit, surrounded by people who live by and worship deceit. In due course, she will be abandoned and forgotten., replaced with another, more photogenic icon. She will soon be relegated to a trivia blip in the real world and will have earned an irrelevant immortality in the politically correct next generation of junior high school history textbooks. As a mother who lost a son in war, she will always have our sympathy. As a political activist, she has earned our contempt.

Cindy Sheehan’s most important accomplices haven’t been the professional political activists, deliberately posing as anti war protestors, hiding the funding and their agenda.

That distinction belongs to the media, barely able to contain itself. The media won’t tell you that David Duke and Stormfront, the neo Nazis have aligned themselves with Sheehan. They won’t tell you that Sheehan and her supporters have not distanced themselves from those people. If the cause is worthy, we suppose, much can be ignored. They won't tell you just how orchestrated this 'grass roots' movement really is. For more insight on the Cindy Sheehan circus, read The Media Force Field, from the The Anchoress.

This unholy alliance of deceit is one of the greatest cons since the pairing of Paul Newman and Robert Redford in The Sting, with one exception. That great film was about a fictional con job. Today, the con job is a real one, designed to separate us from the truth and tear it up in the process.

Behind the scenes, machinations are contrived and hatched at a frenzied pace. Say anything, do anything, that pushes the sacred agenda. Another overstatement? Nope. See this. Touching, isn’t it? One of those special moments in time, right? OK, now see this. Welcome to the real world of Cyndy Sheehan's principled world of honesty and integrity.

In Georgia, Cynthia McKinney writes an open letter, insisting that Mr. Bush meet with Cyndy Sheehan, in the interest of 'fairness' and 'decency.' This is the same Cynthia McKinney that refused to vote on a congressional resolution condemning the vile and racist anti-Semitic speeches of Louis Farrakhan disciple, Khalid Muhammad. McKinney saw the vote as a threat to freedom of speech and expression. Apparently, 'fairness' and 'decency' are relative. You can ignore those calls if you stand behind a racist and a bigot like Khalid Mohammed.

Ms. McKinney was the only American delegate that refused to walk out the Durban conference, of the 'Zionism is Racism' fame. This is notable because Ms McKinney sat on the House Armed Services Committee and the House International Relations Committee.

We suppose Ms. Sheehan is willing to overlook McKinney's track record of hate because of her virulently anti American credentials- the kind that suit Cindy Sheeham and her supporters just fine.

When McKinney lost her seat in the House in 2002, many Democrats breathed a sigh of relief. She openly attributed her loss to 'the Jews' among others. When she was reelected, she was hailed as a conquering hero- mostly because she could be counted on as an anti Bush vote.

Someone needs to remind Cindy Sheehan that you are known by the company you keep.

She also needs to be reminded that her son, Casey, too, will be remembered by the company he kept- some of the finest men and women this nation have to offer. Despite all her efforts to the contrary, Cindy Sheehan will be unable to change the legacy of of Casey Sheehan, despite the cynical use of her own son's memory.

He will best be remembered by a grateful nation for having given his life in the defense of freedom.

Good Deeds For Sure, Prayers If You Like. Godspeed, New Orleans

By now, everyone is aware of the emergency facing the city of New Orleans and the Louisiana, Alabama and Mississipi coastlines. While there is no way most of us can directly help, we can help those who will have to deal with the disaster.

The Red Cross, at the national and local levels are gearing up to do the things they do best- help others. Please consider contacting your local Red Cross chapter to offer whatever help you can. The affected areas will be in need of everything. If donating money might be a burden, consider helping in other ways. There will be a need for volunteers to assist in the local collection, transportation and distribution of donated goods.

In addition, churches, synagogues and other religious and civic institutions will no doubt be in need of help and volunteers to assist in the relief efforts. Help your neighbors help others.

Finally, one of our regular readers, Boomr, is from New Orleans. We know he has left the city. When we heard from him earlier today, he was 80 miles from the Big Easy, and considering moving further away. We hope that he, with his parents, have indeed moved further away from this 500 mile behemouth. We ask all of you to keep Boomr and his family in your prayers and thoughts.

Good night, America how are you?
Don't you know me I'm your native son,
I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans,
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.

The Other WTO And Other Matters Of Concern

Let the education begin. It can and will make a difference in your life- especially if you anal-retentive.

What would we do without experts? Accountants struggle with creativity.

Another reason to control the border.

And YOUR dog makes a mess.

And the number one, absolutely stupid, idiotic and moronic story of the day... California calls for warning labels on and apples or bananas.

The Mirror

As happened the first time we published Liberal Jihad, Morality And God, we have received email and comments taking issue with what we have written.

We are still shaking our heads in disbelief.

Let us be clear. We have no trouble with many liberal ideas. In fact, as we have said, liberals have, and continue to contribute mightily to the American political and social landscape. Our contention isn't with liberals. per se, but rather, with what Liberalism, as a political ideology, has become- an unforgiving and dogmatic faith.

We are clearly and unequivocally saying that liberal ideology has been hijacked by the liberal elite. If it weren't, liberals would not have lost their core constituent base, middle America. Hard working, church going, blue collar workers don't vote Democrat anymore. Not even the unions can deliver the vote. Karl Rove did not and could not 'deliver' middle America. No one could. In fact, middle American bellied up to the conservative bar, all by themselves.

In fact, an argument could be made that the loyalty conservatives now have with middle America is a tenuous one at best, predicated on the abandonment people feel. It was not that long ago that people who went to church weren’t ridiculed. Liberals didn’t call them stupid and suggested they not be allowed to vote. Were those loud of those fringe voices? Sure they were. Even louder however, was the silence from liberal leadership, as they did not castigate those bigoted voices. They wanted- and still want it- both ways. The real disappointment today is that middle Americans aren’t as stupid and pliable as liberal leadership would like. They still haven’t figured out that they have to offer something other than hatred as an option to conservative voices.

Take a step back and think about it. It is now conservatives that offer up social programs and it is now liberals that deride them. The legacy of the war on poverty has been passed on to conservatives. The most visible and widespread legacy the liberals can call on is racist- Clarence Thomas is an ‘Uncle Tom’ and Condaleeza Rice is an ‘Uppity Nigger.’ It is perfectly acceptable for liberals- even, and especially, in the halls of Congress, to use those epithets.

There are liberals who understand that. While we don’t always agree with Michael Lerner, of Tikkun, his arguments in Common Dreams are hard to ignore. He puts it this way:

For years the Democrats have been telling themselves "it's the economy, stupid." Yet consistently for dozens of years millions of middle income Americans have voted against their own economic interests to support Republicans who have tapped a deeper set of needs…

Tens of millions of Americans feel betrayed by a society that seems to place materialism and selfishness above moral values. They know that "looking out for number one" has become the common sense of our society, but they want a life that is about something more --- a framework of meaning and purpose to their lives that would transcend the grasping and narcissism that surrounds them. Sure, they will admit that they have material needs, and that they worry about adequate health care, stability in employment, and enough money to give their kids a college education. But even more deeply they want their lives to have meaning --- and they respond to candidates who seem to care about values and some sense of transcendent purpose...

Yet to move in this direction, many Democrats would have to give up their attachment to a core belief: that those who voted for Bush are fundamentally stupid or evil. Its time they got over that elitist self righteousness and developed strategies that could affirm their common humanity with those who voted for the Right. Teaching themselves to see the good in the rest of the American public would be a critical first step in liberals and progressives learning how to teach the rest of American society how to see that same goodness in the rest of the people on this planet. It is this spiritual lesson --- that our own well-being depends on the well-being of everyone else on the planet and on the well-being of the earth- a lesson rooted deeply in the spiritual wisdom of virtually every religion on the planet, that could be the center of a revived Democratic party. Yet to take that seriously, the Democrats are going to have to get over the false and demeaning perception that the Americans who voted for Bush could never be moved to care about the well being of anyone but themselves. That transformation in the Democrats would make them into serious contenders.

…liberals, trapped in a long-standing disdain for religion and tone-deaf to the spiritual needs that underlie the move to the Right, have been unable to engage these voters in a serious dialogue… the liberal world has developed such a knee-jerk hostility to religion that it has both marginalized those many people on the Left who actually do have spiritual yearnings and simultaneously refused to acknowledge that many who move to the Right have legitimate complaints about the ethos of selfishness in American life…

…The hostility of the Left to spirituality is so deep, in fact, that when they hear us in Tikkun talking this way they often can't even hear what we are saying ---- so they systematically mis-hear it and say that we are calling for the Left to take up the politics of the Right…Read Michael Lerner’s entire article here.

You may agree or disagree with Rabbi Lerner, but in fact, he raises many very valid points. In fact, no one can argue or deny the truth of much of what Rabbi Lerner says. Given the right focus and direction, as we once said, liberal values can and will appeal to many. It would be a mistake to dismiss Rabbi Lerner because of his political affiliations. We certainly do not always agree with Rabbi Lerner, but more than one of his ideas contain more than a kernel of truth.

Do you think Daniel Patrick Moynihan (one of our all time favorite politicians) could get elected now? Do you think that great American liberal patriot would have ever had the opportunity to become the American icon he was, if he we in Congress today? Simply having differing views does not disqualify the relevance or patriotism of worthy adversaries. We consider Patrick Daniel Moynihan a real American patriot. Although in many areas, the late senator Moynihan challenged the views of many not as liberal as he, there was never a question of his love of country or his dream to make America a better place for all her citizens.

Mr. Moynihan often crossed party lines and confounded his supporters and detractors on a regular basis. His entire raison d'etre was to help build a better America. His politics were not centered around ‘getting’ anyone or just looking for any and every reason to vilify an opponent. Mr. Moynihan actually stood for something.

Hillary Clinton states the obvious- there are far too many abortions- and she called a traitor (in the interest of disclosure, SC&A do not like the idea of abortion, but support choice). ‘Screw Abstinence’ parties, hosted by abortion rights groups are flaunted as ‘au courrant’ in the face of parents and others who might think otherwise. There is the idea that 'getting' the 'other side' is the object of the game- whatever it takes. Women's movements, for example, founded on the ideal of choice, seems not to tolerate choice at all.

Anyone not adopting the liberal leadership position is the enemy. Is it any wonder that liberalism has lost much of it's luster?

Mort Zuckerman commented on current liberal values:

.. Americans rejected the hedonism of Woodstock, in which individual choice and uninhibited, personal expression trumped all. Hollywood came to epitomize for them this narcissism and repudiation of conventional values. They were tired of the new counterculture of radical change, seeing in the New Left contempt for middle America and its values, reflected in fathers abandoning their families, the delegitimization of the sanctity of marriage, raising children without clear moral guideposts — all of which, in their minds, led to increased criminality, drug abuse,people being recast as society's victims rather than accepting responsibility for their own actions. They yearned to restore the authority of public institutions and to remove some of the violence and sexuality in TV programs, records, and computer games, whose content they ascribed to the liberals who write the screenplays for TV and movies.

Against this backdrop, the Democratic Party saw its leadership shifting away from its working-class and middle-class roots, away from moral traditionalists, especially families that go to church, away from those who live in unfashionable tract suburbs and even in working-class neighborhoods. The Democratic Party was increasingly identifying more with the rising elites of the information and entertainment age - what commentator Joel Kotkin calls the"hip-ocracy" of well-educated people, high-tech tycoons, Hollywood moguls and celebrities, Wall Street financiers, and an academic world of people with graduate degrees - a new social elite, much more liberal than the country at large. Bill Clinton's "I feel your pain" and "It's the economy, stupid!" reflected the need to reconnect with the traditional Democratic middle-class constituencies, but then he exacerbated the concern over moral values and family issues with his personal behavior. The entire article can be found here.

As with Michael Lerner, you may not agree with Zuckerman's politics, but there is also a more than a kernel of truth in his remarks.

Our post was not about liberal and liberal ideas. It was about what has become liberal ideology and and liberal leadership. If liberals want to regain the credibility they once had with the American people, they need to reclaim their party.

Liberal Jihad, Morality and God

What strange times we are in. America is at war from without and from within.

American, British, Australian and other troops face danger in Iraq and Afghanistan in an attempt to instill freedom and democracy, and to wrest power from those who would continue to repress tens of millions.

The anti-war contingent wake every day, ready to do battle with America and her allies- and care not a whit about those who blow up children or subway cars and kill as many as they can.

At home, Americans are at battle too, attacking each other with a ferociousness and using tactics never before seen. There is no semblance or pretense to civility or exchange; there is just a visceral hatred that permeates the debate. In another time, it could be said that this is the stuff that revolutions are made of.

It is a Jihad of sorts, American style. The real issues aren't being discussed. The only things that count are winning and subjugating opponents. The merit or veracity of any argument is irrelevant- if the origin is ‘the other side,‘ it is to be discarded and treated as if it were toxic. There is no mercy for the dissenters and no room for compromise. From an empirical standpoint, how and why this came to pass is quite evident.

It is about God, morality and moral relativism.

A standard mantra of American religious and not so religious conservatives is that we would all be better off if there were more religious values in the public square. The left of course, recoils in horror at that very thought. Religion, they argue, is the last thing that should be tolerated in the public square. Religious values are the bane of liberalism.

Why are they so opposed to religion and religious values? What is it about religion and values that so frightens them? The left would have you believe that God in the public square would be akin to the Mullahs in Iran given free reign here.

Values, by definition are definable. Values require commitment to standards that are measurable. Most dangerous to the left are that those values can be measured. These are things that liberalism can never reconcile with. Measurement means accountability.

It is important to acknowledge that there was a time that liberalism was a force for great good. Bound by overbearing social strictures and harsh ruling class restraints and dictum, the liberal achievements for the common man are inestimable. Unions served their purpose in providing for decent pay and the elimination of hazardous working conditions and child labor. The political mobilization of the poor and of minorities have in the end, served our society well. We would do well to remember that the American Revolution was about revolt over tyranny and provided a voice to the voiceless, clearly a liberal idea that upended the status quo, with the idea that the individual was indeed capable of taking care of himself, without interference from the powers that were.

That was liberalism then. Liberalism now is an entirely different creature.

Let's start with God.

For most of us, whether we wear our religion on our sleeves or not, God is Master of the Universe, timeless in the message of faith and the teaching of morality. We beseech from him guidance and mercy and have established our society and laws predicated on religious principles. Some accept that there is a higher power, to whom we are answerable or at the very least, gave to us rules that keep us from anarchy. Our society has never been literalist, despite what the left would have you think. We do not stone adulterers, nor do we chop off the hands of thieves. We have, within the framework of belief, created a society that concedes that we are created “In His Image” and at the same time, reinforces the notion of free will.

In the world of liberalism, all gods are equal.

In fact, to a liberal, God is not a god. He is a partner-- a junior partner to our desires and ideals. We are not accountable to God. He becomes accountable to us.

Whatever it is we believe in at the moment, whatever desires we have, must be accommodated by the ever faithful junior partner, God. We do not have to commit to Him, He has to commit to us, whatever the cause. Liberalism is not about obligation, it is about accommodation. No matter how absurd the idea, no matter how shocking the behavior, it is sanctioned by the liberals interpretation of God. Whatever the cause, whatever the belief, liberals will tell you that they are sanctioned by God, for whom they purport to speak. There is no evil, there are no standards. All is equal is the eyes of the liberal god. Anyone who denies that is ostracized, ridiculed and set upon, as if they were the epitome of evil.

To be fair, some conservatives are the very obverse of that. They will say that they are charged with fulfilling God's mission on earth. Like the very liberals they so despise, they too, would take free will out of the equation.

In fact, God is not our partner, no matter how religious we are. On the other hand, not all gods equals. The god that does demand the stoning of adulteresses and the amputation of limbs is not a moral equivalent to our concept of God, anymore than the society that has no wheel is equal to the society that does.

To say that all belief systems are equal is contemptible.

One may accept for themselves any belief structure they wish, but we are not obligated to accept that choice as a moral equivalent to our own way of thinking. No, we are not so obligated.
That liberals will parrot the mantra that all belief structures are equal, is ridiculous.

Belief structures that encourage hatred and violence are not equal to our own. Belief structures that produce terror, supporters of terror and apologists for terror are not equal to our own. To say that such beliefs are cut from the same cloth as our own, is a is a gross insult to our own beliefs.

Neither Christianity or Judaism, upon whose beliefs our governments- and freedoms- were founded, are guilty today of the above mentioned behaviors. Our societies have long since abandoned those behaviors in favor of an environment that best allows for us to express our better selves, through hard work and rules formulated to benefit all of us.

To a liberal of course, all behavior is equal.

Many liberal ideologies are the barometers of an ideal that has no moral foundation. The only evils they see, are the ones that demands accountability. The target of their venom is a society that still has the notion that responsibility, accountability and effort are the measure of worth. To the liberal elite it is enough simply to have an idea and be rewarded and celebrated for that idea, no matter what the idea is. They believe their ideas alone merit superior standing and positions of leadership. That others might suggest they actually earn whatever it is they want is to arouse rabid hatred.

This ideology was not adopted easily. Many liberals were and are, God fearing and religious people. They see the manifestation of their liberal values as an extension of their religious values. That changed when leadership of the liberal ideology abandoned those voices in favor of voices that were louder- and voices that eschewed any connection to religious values, because those values could be measured. They could be held accountable- and that accountability was a hard sell, certainly harder than ‘anything goes.’

Societies and religions are measured by their contributions. It is clear who has contributed to society and who has contributed to it’s destruction. Those societies and religions that have contributed nothing but destruction to society, are not equal to those who contribute.

New liberal ideology can’t change that truth. That is why so many religious liberals feel betrayed. They, more than anyone, see with clarity that new liberal ideal that somehow the contributions of our own society and the destruction of society are morally equivalent.

It is an ideal that is based on the false god of moral relativism- and that kind of deceit and Jihad we can do without.

This post was originally published on July 22, 2005

Blast From The Past

We've decided to use some of the weekend posts to highlight some of our previous efforts.

This piece was originally posted on July 20, 2005.


Changing Dance Partners

'If you want to make an enemy, propose change.' A long time ago, a very wise person said that.

In other words, inertia is human nature.

It is that aspect of human nature that has kept us- and the generations before us- from achieving our full potential. Why rock the boat, right? Of course, if inertia only meant passivity, the ramifications of that inertia would be limited. Instead we find that inertia to be far more damaging. Rather than look at the change as a vehicle for clearer understanding, many of us choose to do just the opposite, and to remain indifferent. That indifference is a the most powerful weapon against us in the struggle to achieve our full potential.

Remember Jonas Salk and the Polio vaccine? Well, we can celebrate Dr Salk and recognize his achievement in the lab, but in the end, there were even bigger heroes- the people who went into the jungles of Africa and the Amazon and into remote regions all over the world, to actually distribute the vaccine and inoculate millions, one at a time. They saved millions of lives, one at a time.

The same applies here. Terror is the polio of our time.

Sooner or later, like polio, terror will get us- or someone close to us. We never understood what that really meant, until we visited Israel a few years ago. In our conversations with Israelis, it was made clear that in a country as small as Israel, not a single family was untouched by terror. Not one. Further, it was pointed out to us, that in the wars Israel was forced to wage, not a single family was was spared a casualty, of one sort or another. Terror is not some etherral or academic subject to the Israelis- it is as real, and as close, as their front doors.

While the politicians of our time are working on 'solutions' and root causes of terror, we need to be the ones to fight it on our own front steps, as we did in combating polio. To do that is to recognize the problem- and the magnitude of the problem.

In recognizing that we even have a problem, we are proposing change- and a lot of people are unhappy about that. Change means upsetting the order of things. Change means acknowledging that business (and attitudes) as usual, just aren't good enough anymore. In other words, we have to get out from being under the ether.

The terrorists, the supporters and apologists (TS&A), are attacking the monument of freedoms, western democracies, with a tiny rock hammer. Those who oppose change are oblivious to the state of affairs, don't seem to care and in many cases, encourage it- not realizing that with each tap of the hammer, we are weakened- much in the way the tiniest of germs, with enough exposure, can rend even the strongest man helpless.

Is it any wonder those who would do us harm do not want us to change our attitude towards them?

Don't say you weren't warned.

Tidbits, Knick Knacks And A Whacko Pet Owner

Lazy dog days of summer...

You just might be an Angel...

And you think YOU have problems...

Fly me to the moon...

If you can't blend in, don't stand out...

New kind of bumper sticker...

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And of course, we have an insane pet owner...

Friday Night Thoughts

You need to make a couple of stops this pleasant Friday evening.

Maxed Out Mama has an interesting post up about a little girl, a dead father, a hoax and the Sullivans. You'll remember who the Sullivans are as soon as you click on the link. The story is heartbreaking, in more ways than one.

Armies of Liberation has an important post on the goings on in Yemen- to be accurate, it is a story about a kidnapped journalist.

Before you roll your eyes, realize that Yemen is important to us, for many reasons. We are supporting the government of country that is strategically important, in both the political and geographical sense. It is also the country from which the attack on the USS Cole was attacked.

Read AOL's post- we may need to rethink our relationship with Yemen- and soon.

The Times, They Are-A-Changin...'

From Norway, where the men are strong, the women are blond and the Muslim community has just about managed to tear apart the country- well, some Norwegians are kicking back.

It seems some Anti Muslim remarks have rocked the boat, for daring to suggest Muslims are terrorists. When some of diplomatic community blasted the politician who made the remark, ee politician fired back.

Now read this.

To Those Idiots Who Want Our Troops Out Of Iraq

So you want the US to leave Iraq. OK, let's talk about it. It won't be a long conversation, so don't worry about having to spend too much time out of the ether zone you inhabit.

There is only one ground rule: Honesty.

You don't care about the reasons we went to war. If it means screwing the President of the United States, you're all for it. You will lie, misrepresent and even commit terror to do just that. It has nothing to do with the war. You just want to screw over the President and his supporters. This is about you and what you believe because you are under the mistaken impression anyone really cares about you. Pay attention, we'll come back to this

You don't give a rats ass about the Iraqis. You never have. As a matter of fact, you don't care about anybody, except yourselves. You didn't give a damn when Saddam was gassing people, you didn't give a damn when Uday was raping women at will and you didn't give a damn when Qusay was pushing people through plastic chippers.

There was the matter of the rape rooms, but you don't give a damn about that. Hey, we're being honest. The insurgents are freedom fighters, looking to bring back the 'good old days.' That is what you are advocating, right?

Shut up, we have yet to get to the 'Bush lied' crap. That has nothing to do with you not caring about Iraqis. You don't care about Cindy Sheehan or Casey Sheehan either. They are vehicles for your arousal- that's it. Aww, don't like getting called on it?

Besides Casey Sheehan, which dead vet has made a difference in your life? What's the matter, did you think we would forget the 'We support out troops when they shoot their officers signs'? Do you think we'd forget the assaults on US servicemen home on leave, or after having served their country? Admit it- before you heard of Cindy Sheehan, you'd be just as happy to see Casey Sheehan have the crap kicked out him. That's right. You'd be delighted to see Casey kicked around. Hell, you'd be happy to participate. He re-upped after a tour of duty. He was 24, not some kid of 18. He wanted to serve. He believed in what he was doing. If you were honest, you'd admit Casey Sheehan was everything you hate. He was a soldier, he believed in his mission and he was stupid. You don't care about Cindy or Casey or anybody else that the crosses you planted for PR purposes, represent.

If you did, you'd have the common sense to understand that if you call the terrorists that killed Casey Sheehan 'freedom fighters,' what the hell do you think that makes the average Iraqi who wants the US to stay and wants to live in a free country? It doesn’t matter, you don’t care about the Iraqis- alive or dead. What passes for your prayers, the hope that the ‘freedom fighters’ will blow up more children being given candy by American soldiers, makes for great pictures.

We understand that you don't give a damn about Iraqis. Quit pretending you do. Standing in 'solidarity' with organizations that promote terror or anti Semitism does not make you avant garde, informed or progressive. Such behavior only clearly identifies you for all time as a self absorbed idiot and a self centered bigot. Let us make it clearer for you: Aligning yourself with and associating with most of these 'peace organizations' is like joining the Ku Klux Klan and declaring your support for human rights and equality. You see, when you get into bed with those that support terror against civilians, apologize for terror against civilians or fund terror against civilians, you and your precious beliefs become as relevant as a fly on cow manure. Still confused? Let's try this one more time: Here is the rationale used by the very organizations you align yourself with:

"The U.S. and Israel are democracies, their governments are elected by their people -- thus it is legitimate to attack their people."

Got it? Think you can connect the dots? Do you get it yet? No? OK, we'll explain further. Your new friends support and apologize for people who would rape your sister and your mother because they were dressed ‘provocatively,’ so it was their fault. Your new friends support people that would kill every gay and lesbian you know. Of course, they would kill every Jew, too, but you don’t care about that. After all, you have yet to denounce David Duke (he hates blacks, too, but since he hates Jews, you’ll give him a pass) and Stormfront, the Aryan Nations group that are headed down to stand shoulder to shoulder with you. Like you, they are only too happy to cast America and the Jews (do you really believe calling them Zionists fools anyone?) as the great evil forces in the world today. Maybe you can get your picture taken carrying an Adolph Hitler placard, or maybe you can wear a swastika armband. Don’t look so hurt. David Duke and Stormfront have made their intentions known for weeks. If you wanted to distance yourselves from them, you would have done so already.

We’re almost at ‘Bush lied!’ so hang on.

While you haven’t denounced David Duke or Stormfront, you have no hesitation calling George Bush ‘Hitler.’ As a matter of fact, you love saying that. As we noted once before, don’t be surprised if your kids grow up to be conservatives- most of them would not tolerate your stupidity.

There have been no revocations of civil rights and no martial law. There aren’t millions of people in concentration camps, put their for their beliefs or ethnicity. There aren’t people being rounded up, never to heard from again, as much as you wish for all those things to be true- so you can say George Bush is Hitler. You pray for all of those things to be true, don’t you? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all those terrible things came to pass? That you make those references speaks volumes about you.

Here’s some more of the truth: If we left Iraq now, we’d screw the Iraqis for the second time. That’s right. The first time we screwed them over was Gulf War One. We promised to support the Shia in their fight against Saddam, and we walked away. George Herbert Walker Bush made that mistake. If you really cared, you’d hold him accountable- and you should. Of course, you don‘t really care- after all, what are few hundred thousand more dead Iraqis? If more Iraqis have to die in the future, so what? It’s all about getting GW, isn’t it?

We believe that you have the right to protest the war. As we have said, we ourselves are uncomfortable about the war in many ways.

Whether or not you agree with the war is irrelevant when it comes to pulling out our troops. If we pull our troops out now, hundreds of thousands more Iraqis will die, slaughtered at the hands of yours and Cindy Sheehan’s ‘freedom fighters.’

George Bush didn’t lie to get us into this war. He relied on the intelligence that preceded him.- the UN, Russians, French and Brits all believed Saddam had WMD. The problem was that the intelligence was flawed. Bill Clinton was not responsible for the flawed intelligence- and that intelligence was gathered under his administration. That has been made clear. Grow up.

That is another truth you hate- and that is another reason you need this to be about George Bush.

Who is supporting Cindy Sheehan? The same people who can’t abide George Bush. The same people that refuse to accept the reality that he was elected into office- twice. It isn't about anti war sentiment- it's all about politics.

Fenton Communications, a long time liberal PR company, heads up the effort. Ben and Jerry’s Ben Cohen, of True Majority, an organization whose anti Bush stance is it’s raison d’etre, is front and center. MoveOn.org and Code Pink are sponsors, who came into being only because of George Bush- and the efforts to ‘get him’ at all costs.

Mostly, it's about your hatred of George Bush- and the truth that you don't care how many more Iraqis die. If they have to die to 'get' George Bush, it is a worthy sacrifice.

How 'progressive' of you.

SC&A Money Advisory

Have you missed the dotcom boom, real estate boom, bank stock boom and ostrich farm boom?

Fear not. SC&A will bail your sorry selves out with an investment tip.

Buy Laidlaw International (symbol:LI).

In conjunction with AMR (America's Medical Response, an LI subsidiary), the nations largest medical transportation and ambulance company, has teamed up with North Carolina's AEV (American Emergency Vehicles) and together developed the next generation ambulance (AEV manufactures the Secret Service Presidential Detail vehicles. Yes, there are pics).

In other words, they will sell tens of thousands of emergency vehicles- and they will sell maintenance contracts as well as extended warranties. Buyers- that is, counties, cities, fire departments and a host of other government agencies will order this next generation ambulance as they retire the older models. Entire fleets will be replaced.

It would make sense for the company to bid on military contracts as well. Given their already extensive relationship with various federal agencies, the notion is not unrealistic.

See and read about the next generation ambulance, here.

Laidlaw has the financial depth to make the endeavor well funded and well managed.

We can bring you to water, but we can't make you drink.

Before you do anything, due diligence is a must. In other words, look before you leap- and no, we're not getting paid for the commercial.

Don't Bother Tidying Up

Wanna be on TV? Take a look around the house- you may just qualify.

The Lovely Loo episide is upcoming, so get your videos in now.

Something To Think About

Did you know that your state was asked to submit plans to the Feds to prepare for a medical crises, for which there was no vaccine?

Today, the Hoosier State (Indiana, for you clueless types), released their plan to the CDC on how they intend to deal with the potential bird flu pandemic.

The bird flu mortality rate of 50 percent is the highest of any influenza virus in history. Indiana’s best-case scenario is a 15 percent “attack rate,” meaning about 15 percent of the population would be infected with avian influenza, said Dr. Charlene Graves, medical director of the Indiana State Department of Health immunization program and co-chair of the Pandemic Influenza Plan committee.

But U.S. and international health experts suggest if human-to-human transmission occurs, the attack rate will be more in the 30 percent to 35 percent rate. In Indiana, at the 15 percent attack rate there would be 4,894 hospital admissions on the lower end to more than 16,000 on the higher end, with 1,400 to 4,000 deaths, according to the state preparedness plan.

But at the 35 percent attack rate, hospitalizations would range from 11,420 to nearly 40,000, with a death toll of 3,200 to 9,600.

But my concern is if there are enough ventilators,” McMahan said.

According to projections by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an average of 7.5 percent of admitted flu patients will need ventilators for breathing support for an average of 10 days per person.

This is bigger than anything we have ever seen in this country. Read it all here, and get better informed. You and your family need to know.

Now that we have your attention, read Maxed Out Mama. She has been following the bird flu for quite a while and she knows what she is talking about (unlike, well, you know). Scroll down, look through her archives and get better informed.

This is for real and this is serious.