Sanity Squad Does Hollywood, Abortion And Other Cultural Shibboleths

The latest Sanity Squad Podcast of psychological brilliance, insight and intellectual illumination is up.

The scintillating minds of Neo-neocon, Shrinkwrapped, Dr Sanity and ourselves, gathered round the couch and sat in a circle on our very own red carpet. We discuss the court jesters of Hollywood, their selfishness, self absorption and the meaningless culture they have come to represent.

Our conversation becomes more relevant, as the discussion of the Hollywood illusions that have clouded our cultural, political and societal realities merge with both sides of the abortion debate and the lasting impact of abortion.

The Wednesday Weekly Whacky Award Goes To....

The SC&A Academy of Extremely Peculiar Pathologies, is pleased to announce the winners of the first of our Weekly Wednesday Whackjob Awards, commonly referred to as the ‘Whacky’s.’

Nominations will open each week until 10:00 PM, EST (After the broadcast of House, M.D.).

Each week, a ‘Whacky‘ will be in each of the following categories:

The Thorazine Shuffle and Dance Award, presented each week to the politician who dances and shuffles without actually answering a question, goes to Hillary Clinton and her on again, off again mambo with her Iraq war vote record.

The Thomas Szasz Psychotherapy Award, presented each week to the biggest idiot therapist we can find, goes to the psychiatrist that prescribed Zyprexia to a 2 1/2 year old child.

...if not for the disruption by Rebecca's untimely death, this family represented five steady customers for the "mental health industry," with 100% of the costs for doctor's visits and prescriptions paid for by public health care programs.

Psychotropic drug expert, Dr Ann Blake Tracy, Director, International Coalition for Drug Awareness, and author of "Prozac: Panacea or Pandora?," says, "this is what is referred to as the "Family Discount," when everyone in the family is drugged."

And this is the type of tragedy she worries about, Dr Tracy says. "The parents unable to function, the children acting up and unable to function - all due to the effects of the drugs."

The Valium Award, presented to the dullard of the week goes to the Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, for "Going back in time."

The Prince and the Duchess came across the campfire scene during a visit to Bastakia, a heritage site where the homes of Persian merchants were built in the 1890s.

The area was saved thanks to Charles, who suggested a number of years ago to the Dubai authorities that the area should not be redeveloped but restored.

When he arrived, Rashad Bukhash, chairman of the UAE Historical Society, thanked the Prince for his efforts saying: "If it wasn't for you this would not be here now."

The Trojan Award, presented each week to the person we wish had never been born, goes to Ronald E Kuch. No amount of therapy can fix some pathologies.

The NutriSystem “I’m Not So digusting to My Spouse Anymore” Award, given to the biggest loser of the week, is awarded to the Media Conspiracy To Make Hillary Look Good.

...actual humans are not buzzing about Gore's Oscar. They're buzzing about Rudy on one side and Obama on the other.

The Haldol Honor awarded each week to the person or persons most out of touch with reality, either on or off medication goes to the 'Nazis Who Call Jews Racists.'

Although Massad's lecture began with an acknowledgment of Israel's "substantive and psychological" desire for peace, he soon added that Israel has simply requested that the world recognize its "right to be a racist state."

Now for a bit of reality:

Anyone who hopes for peace should be horrified by the content of the latest set of Palestinian schoolbooks. In many respects, these new books for Grade 12, written by Fatah-appointed Palestinian educators, are the worst of the textbooks produced by the Palestinian Authority since 2000. These newest books deny Israel's right to exist, anticipate its destruction and define the conflict with Israel as religious, not merely territorial...

Because Israel has no right to exist, and must be fought and destroyed for Islam, violence and terror against Israel since its founding are justified and glorified as muqawama, resistance: "The tragedy of Palestine of 1948 and afterward the muqawama in which the inhabitants carried acts of most glorious heroism and sacrifice" (Arabic Language, Analysis, Literature and Commentary, grade 12 p. 105).

The Methamphetamine Medal, awarded each week to the most hyper, histrionic, hysterical, spaced out documented behavior goes to the teacher who cut a pupil's tongue with a pair of scissors.

The teacher, a support tutor on a temporary contract, risks being fired from the elementary school.

The Viagra Statuette, awarded to the wimpiest metro sexual (male or female), goes the person who demanded to know Why Don't Men Wear Makeup?

(Third Runner-up, Second Runner-up, First Runner-up)

The ECT Battery Award, presented to the most shocking news story of the week, goes to the man who lost three, then found three.

Darmi Ali lost his three daughters and wife to the 2004 tsunami in Aceh. The 44-year-old remarried and last week became a father again - of triplets, all of them female.

The HRT Prize, awarded weekly to the loudest and most inconsequential feminist drivel the SC&A jury can find, goes to Journey To Enlightenment. There are no words.

Read the entire post.

Nominations for future awards can be emailed to sigmundcarlandalfred at gmail.com

Defending Rape: The Next Cause Celebre For The Left

Watch for the words 'root causes' to be overused and the victims to be blamed.

Gang Rapes Jewish Women As Revenge.

A gang of serial rapists has been prowling the North, raping Jewish women as revenge for IDF actions in the West Bank, police revealed Tuesday after arresting six suspects.

"We are raping Jews because of what the IDF is doing to the Palestinians in the territories," one of the six suspects told investigators from the Northern District Central Investigative Unit (CIU) during questioning. During their questioning and their brief appearance at the Nazareth Magistrate's Court Tuesday, none of the four main suspects indicated that they felt remorse for their actions...

The whole story can be found here.

Notwithstanding the revulsion at the outrageous and heinous behavior by residents of the Arab village from which the perpetrators hail, look for leftists to blame the victims, of course.

We noted that

We are all too willing to attach ‘root causes’ to immoral behavior and actions only after the bad acts and immoral behaviors. Before they occur, we are told the perpetrators are ‘just like us.’ Well, you can’t have it both ways. Either the perpetrators are ‘just like us’ or or they are dysfunctional. The Palestinians are either ‘just like us,’ people from whom we can expect civilized behavior, or they are dysfunctional. While poverty, child abuse and politics may influence a person or society, in the end, the ‘root cause’ of most ugly and immoral acts is an immoral character.

The left will call into question logic itself- that Israel, and Jews, need to sufficiently defend and explain their right to self defense.

Rather than deal with the cults of death worship, hate and religious bigotry that so dominates Palestinian culture, the left has to insist that Israel is to blame.

Why? Because in truth, ideologies that espouse, promulgate and teach terror are not brought on by poverty or political unrest or dissatisfaction. Hostages are not taken and held to be traded for economic aid. Planes aren’t flown into buildings in response to GDP of the free markets of the western world versus the GDP of the many tyrannies of the Muslim world.Women- and 13 year old girls- are not raped to avenge a stalled peace process.

In fact, the terrorists aims are deliberately misrepresented by the much of the left. The terrorists and their leftist supporters don’t want to see western values and successes brought into the Muslim world. Indeed, that is what they are fighting against. Religious freedoms, abortion rights, gay rights and human rights are anathema to Radical Islamist ideologies. That ideology demands the murder of those whose behavior they find offensive- usually administered in a cruel and brutal fashion. These are truths many on the left somehow manage to forget. The truth is that the adversaries of freedom are not, 'Just like us.'

If the terrorists and their 'progressive' supporters and apologists really wanted to better the lives of hundreds of millions of oppressed people, they would use America and the west as models for success. Instead, terrorists and their 'progressive' supporters seek to destroy the freedoms that have authored success. They deliberately want to keep failed leaders and failed ideologies in place.

When nations that are that are led by or are under the influence of tyrants or dictators, attempt to justify those actions, we can rightly assume that justification is false. Tyrants and dictators do not make moral choices, because moral choices can only lead to the demise of the tyranny.

Anyone that comes to the defense of tyrannical regimes and their leaders, have themselves made a conscious choice to defend and stand by what is immoral. They themselves consciously adopt an immoral posture.

Here is another truth. As we noted in Show Me The Money And Other Leftist Failures,

Leftists see the redistribution of wealth and materialism as an expression of values. That is why they believe they can buy their way out of any confrontation of evil. They cannot accept the truth that evil is defeated by defending and insisting upon a set of values and behaviors from everyone and standing firm.

Eliminating poverty does not- and cannot- change a mindset. Economic status does not determine morality and codes of conduct. Only values, born of dignity and the recognition that all men and women are of equal value, determines morality and codes of conduct. It is an ideology that drives people to exceed their potential for good. And it is also an ideology so terrifying to those who preach hatred, that it will drives other people to even more hate people to hate and destruction.

Terror and hate- and the defense of terror and hate- are driven by an ideology of evil, period.

Freedom and democracy are antithetical to hate and terrorism because freedom usurps the power of the terrorist. With out the power to instill fear and punishment, the terrorist is nothing.

In the Middle East, the icons of freedom are the US and Israel. Freedom of all kinds, success and ever growing potential are what the terrorist must destroy. Prosperity is the fifth column the terrorists fear most. They cannot abide by a culture that is prosperous, because that culture seeks growth and progress. The terrorists cannot abide economic and educational progress because those things weaken their grip.

Terror and hate must be dealt with directly. We have also noted

The fact is, we need more hatred of evil. We need to be outraged at Darfur and the other places like it. We must be so outraged that we must be ready to inflict a pain so great and a punishment so profound, that the evil doers will take note and cease their brutality...

The evil doers must tremble in fear from the thought of our hate for them, and at the thought of retribution.

The real threat that America poses to much of the world is neither economic or even social, really. America represents ideas that have changed the world and have upset the status quo. In fact, no nation has helped nurture more people and more societies escape the bonds of repression, persecution and that great bond of enslavement to hate, than America. Freedom is the antidote to victim hood and hate.

As we have noted many times, 'to presume that we must somehow persuade populations that freedom is better than tyranny, is absurd. That kind of argument presumes that tyranny and freedom are of equal value and standing. In fact, we appear foolish- and weak- when are forced to plead our case. In reality, when we argue the case for freedom as equal to tyrannical regimes, we belittle freedom.'

With freedom, comes the truth that there will far fewer victims for the left to embrace.

"Of the almost 7 billion people on this planet, only 300 million are Americans. To put that in perspective, less than 5% of the population of this planet are Americans- and yet, the world is obsessed with our existence and what we represent. In the course of just over 200 years, we have provided the world with ideas, contributions and realities that are in the consciousness of every human being on the planet. Given our numbers and short history, we should not have had this profound influence on history and mankind- and yet, we have. The secret to our our successes and influence can be attributed to one powerful word: Freedom."

For decades, leftists have defended those who use terror, hate and murder of innocents as a way of life and as a form of acceptable political expression. Defending rape is just business as usual.

See Fausta's Gang Rape As Revenge for a look for further insights and implications of using rape as a tool of political expression.

Name That Tune

Earlier today we wrote,

...leftist ideologies abhor restraints on behavior. There are no behaviors that are unacceptable- none. The only constraints are the claimed justification of those behaviors. Some are acceptable, some are not. To kill a political/religious opponent in the name of leftist ideologies is good. To kill defending oneself from those ideologies is bad.

Of course, it didn't take long for our point to be validated.

Dean Barnett, writing at Town Hall (h/t: The Anchoress) noted some leftist responses to the attempt on the Vice President's life.

“Cheney's spokeswoman said he was fine. F**k.”

“So Cheney is personally responsible for the deaths of 14 innocent people...and then he waddles off to lunch!! What a piece of s**t!”

“To (sic) bad they missed!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“What a different world we would be living in today if they had succeeded.”

“In 1944 Claus von Stauffenberg's bomb unfortunately missed Hitler. I see the parallel and the inherent risk. This is to that what 9/11 was to the burning of the Reichstag. I am waiting for this effort to obliterate Cheney to be linked to Iran just like 9/11 was purposefully linked to Iraq by the ghouls who control our country.”

“Isn't this the moral dilemma that Deitrich Bonheoffer found himself in when he chose to join a plot to assasinate (sic) Hitler. If we know that Cheney is plotting to light up the entire Middle East region by instigating an attack on Iran, if we know he is lying to do so, if we know that he is launching these wars to line the pockets of his corporate friends, and establish hegemony around the globe, if we know that he intends to hijack civil liberties and destroy constitutional government in this country, should we cheer if someone could stop him before hand?”

Yup, Bush and Cheney are the real problem. The world would be a perfect place without them. Sudan, Mauritania, Syria, Iran, Sierra Leonne, the Congo and the millions butchered by regimes supported or ignored by the left. After all, what could be more important that BusHitler, right?

Here's more:

"Bush did this. You all know it. He's gonna bring in that Nazi Giuliani and his mob to act as veep, and together they're going to declare martial law, and we'll never have another election in the whole world! Free Tibet!!!!

"%&$# Bushitler killed his own veep to try to keep us scared about terrorism. Yeah, I bet that so-called "suicide bomber" was wearing a Skull and Bones ring and regularly takes it in the butt from both Bush Boys! F**king Nazis!"

"We have to do something, NOW! We need to march on the White House and forcibly remove this murdering bastard before he can install his brother Jeb as the new VP and insure his familie's oil and Mercedes Benz dynasty for all time!!! Who'se with me!"

"America is over...I grieve for America which has become Amerikkka under this murdering swine, George Doubledumb Bush, who has stolen all of our civil liberties, crashed our economy and our ecology and made the world a very unsafe place, and this makes me feel very sad. I may strangle my puppy and that will be Bush's fault because he's made me so desolate...my puppy must die so that Barney the frat-boy puppy can live and Mrs. Beasely. Ohhhh, I hate that f**ker, Bush. I hated Cheney, but he should have been murdered by Bush. Even Cheney should have known better than to trust Bush."

"I agree! Cheney should not have been killed by Bush! He should have been murdered by the oppressed muslim people by submerging his head in a vat of his own precious Halliburton oil...not killed by Bush so that Chimpy can get a dead cat bounce and a little public sympathy!"

"Code Pink calls for urgent action: protest outside the Veep mansion until Lynne Cheney hands over to us their pregnant lesbian daughter so that we can teach her to finally love herself and come away from the dark side of those eeeevil conservatives."

Surprised at the rhetoric? Why? That's nothing new.

John Sylvester, a radio host in Milwaukee referred to Condaleeza Rice as 'Aunt Jemima' and called Colin Powell an 'Uncle Tom.'

In response to criticism, Sylvester said

He said he was planning a giveaway on Friday’s show of Aunt Jemima pancake mix and syrup. “I will apologize to Aunt Jemima,” he said.

This is nothing new. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been referred to as an 'Uncle Tom' and Condaleeza Rice has been called an 'Uppity House Nigger' by leftist ideologues.

And the leftist band plays on.

Show Me The Money And Other Leftist Failures

"Show me the money."

That loaded expression has surfaced as the mantra for a generation, but not for the reason many people think, because in fact, "show me the money" is the embodiment of part of the extremes of either side of the the value system that is our own.

The center of conservative ideology revolves around morality and ideas. Behavior, responsibility and accountability are the foundations of society.

The center of leftist (as opposed to classical liberal) ideology revolves around wealth- or rather, the redistribution of wealth. As far as leftists are concerned, responsibility and accountability are one way street. Government and the approved ideologues are responsible and to held accountable for the redistribution of wealth. Further, leftist ideologies abhor restraints on behavior. There are no behaviors that are unacceptable- none. The only constraints are the claimed justification of those behaviors. Some are acceptable, some are not. To kill a political/religious opponent in the name of leftist ideologies is good. To kill defending oneself from those ideologies is bad.

Leftist believe that consuming wealth is the same as creating wealth. They also believe that a consumer society is the same kind of society that facilitates the creation of wealth. To that end, those to whom redistributed wealth is apportioned, are good. Those who create the wealth, are bad. That in a nutshell, is the definition of populism- a government says 'We will take care of you, cradle to grave. We will give you what we take from others.'

Leftists see the redistribution of wealth and materialism as an expression of values. That is why they believe they can buy their way out of any confrontation of evil. They cannot accept the truth that evil is defeated by defending and insisting upon a set of values and behaviors from everyone and standing firm.

Leftists do not want to acknowledge that evil is defeated by values and not by sharing wealth. That is why leftists are comfortable with taking the sides and defending some of the most dysfunctional and despicable tyrants to be found anywhere. They believe that their 'enlightened' ideas of wealth distribution will change pathological behaviors.

For example, they believe that Arab misogyny, homophobia and racist hate will abate, once there is a 'redistribution' of wealth (and ideological values) from the west. In the event that doesn't happen, leftists believe they and their 'values' will be excluded from persecution. After all, they have proved themselves to be a useful part of the 'cause.' The dysfunctional Arab world leadership is only too happy to keep this generation of 'useful idiots' under the ether.

One might be tempted compare the leftists of today of today to the Jews of prewar Germany, blind to the horror and the inferno that was about to engulf the world.

The Nazi era German Jews desperately wanted to believe that German racist ideologies were really expressions of political rjetoric. The German volk were a civilized lot, cultured and well educated. The social, cultural and political elite, those who filled the Berlin salons with progressive ideas and discussions that centered around sophisticated philosophy, art, literature and the new kultur would in the end, never allow for such brutality. They would never turn their backs on the persecution and wholesale slaughter, predicated on racialism.

We all know how that turned out.

Leftists today believe that in the end, the redistribution of wealth, will 'enlighten' the tyrannies they support and bring them into line with their own relativism, multicultural and a value system that honors nothing but the self. Unlike the Jews of prewar Germany, the left are supporting regimes that already have a track record of evil. The Nazis attempted to hide and deny their evil- the darlings of the left, the Arab world, cannot be bothered. The left cannot say they knew nothing of the misogyny, racism and bigotry, because in fact, those behaviors are in plain view. Nevertheless, they choose to support and defend the tyrannies.

Leftists have failed women because they have chosen to embrace regimes and causes that oppress and betray women. Leftists have failed the gay community because they will 'out' a gay person if and when it suits their needs.

The leftist dance is reminiscent of the Nazi era, with German government officials denying their atrocities by taking Red Cross workers to 'show camps' where Jews and other minorities were portrayed as 'happy guests' of Reich generosity and largesse, even as the gas chamber and ovens were going at full tilt just down the road.

Why the leftists go to extremes to defend evil isn't hard to understand.

There is a phenomena of the self hating Jew, an individual who denies his or her own identity, culture and faith, and seeks to identify and support those who make no secret of their own pathological agendas, directed against Jews.

The pathology of the self hating Jew is not new. Jews were attracted to communism and socialism, because someone said, "We are all equal. You are a comrade." For the first time, Jews believed they were to be 'free.' After centuries of relentless oppression the idea was intoxicating.

After the horrors of the Second World War were made clear, there were a whole sub culture of Jews, even the children of Holocaust survivors that migrated to the self hating brigades. Why? Because those Jews believed that if they could be unlike the Jews (and more like their oppressors), then no one would come for them. They would be safe and secure. Surely the oppressors would see there were 'good Jews' too, noted just evil and hated Jews.

The same is true today of leftists (Jews included) who believe that siding with the racist, bigoted and dysfunctional oppressors might save them from the destiny of those their new friends promise. They are the Kapos of this generation, willing to sacrifice their own so as to save themselves.

Prewar German Jews could at least hope against hope that there would be no Holocaust. Leftists of today cannot argue ignorance.

Leftists today hate freedom and democracy because those ideas have created the environment for success. Assistant Village Idiot recently noted in a comment that Arabs don't hate us because we have succeeded, but rather, because they have failed. The same is true for the leftists- their burning hatred of democracy stems from their failure to create a single instance of a functioning society that isn't a least a generation behind our own. Not even the redistribution of wealth can make up for the values and freedom that create an environment that allows for the creation of wealth.

For the left, it is the appearance that becomes the brass ring. Iran, like North Korea, wants the 'materialism' of nuclear technology so that they might be perceived as equals. They do not understand that materialism has nothing to do values. Free western nations can easily have more in common with nations that share our values than with nations who enrich uranium.

Appearance is not a substitute for substance. Religious garb is often spoken of as a sign of religiosity that must be respected, as if appearance alone were to be regarded as sacred. When it is all said and done, religiosity is not measured by what goes on the head, but rather, what goes in the head. That 'magnificent' Mohammed Atta spent the the night of September 10, 2001 in a strip club, paying for lap dances with a Quran at his side. So much for his religiosity.

The left will support the redistribution of 'nuclear wealth' to unstable totalitarian regimes that threaten their neighbors and other- especially if they hate American and western freedoms. In their mind, that gives these regimes the appearance of equality with the west. The believe that appearance of equality, precludes us from noting their hypocrisy and their failures.

(On the other hand, the very suggestion that a non nuclear western and democratic nation go nuclear is sure to set the leftists off into a wild frenzy.)

Of course, it is only by managing behavior of those who threaten us or our allies that we can ensure our security. When values and beliefs are shared, we do not need to 'manage' behavior. We do not need to manage our relationships with other free nations because free and democratic nations do not go to war with each other. Free and democratic nations do not need to institutionalize racism, bigotry and religious hate.

In the end, it is not the redistribution of wealth that will ensure our security. Rather, it is the redistribution of principles, values and beliefs of free nations that will make all the difference.

Love, Law, Legs And Lane Changers

There's road rage and then there's rage.

The legs of Saint Peter?

All aboard the Love Train!

How about a law for Mexican women?

We're all for heavy petting!

Love hurts, love costs...

An Exchange Of Cowboy Hats For Keffiyahs? Nope

Fortress Islam- one would think that Muslims the world over were under assault, a coordinated effort by Israel and the US.

In an ever shrinking and increasingly homogeneous world, the self imposed isolation and separation of the Islamic world from everyone else, is curious. Other ethnic and religious groups are as fiercely protective of their own heritage and religion as the Islamic community, but few, if any, have resorted to the same kind of ideologies and strategies, such as deliberate (and at times violent) confrontation, or espousing, teaching and promoting racist ideologies, in the preservation of their identity.

So, what is going on? We will look at some of those things that might be contributing factors to ‘Fortress Islam.’

Individuals, groups an communities that fear integration and assimilation, do so because they are insecure with themselves or their community. To be sure, there are groups and communities that choose to eschew assimilation into society at large, but they do so quietly, for a myriad of reasons. They do not demand attention or that the general society bend and accommodate their needs. For the most part, they ask only to be left alone so that they may pursue their beliefs. Occasionally, those beliefs may come into conflict with the beliefs of society at large (some religious sects refuse any medical care beyond the most basic treatments), but rarely if ever do those confrontations become violent. Those groups want to be left alone. They do not choose or relish adversarial confrontations. It is unlikely that cartoons depicting the Amish in a negative light would result in violence.

It is also true that insecure people need to believe they, their culture or religion are superior. Insecure people believe they are under assault from the world and in turn, need to fight back. Reality is of little consequence- if it were, the Arab world, revolutions in the Arab world would have occurred decades ago. As we have often noted, the Arab world is a smorgasbord of dysfunction, led by leaders that are little more than corrupt tin pot dictators. Notwithstanding obscene oil wealth, Arab populations do not demand better education and schools or actual functioning economies or jobs (Arab world education is just about at the bottom of the global barrel, according to the UN and Arab world economies combined are less than that of hated Israel). The Arab world demands the destruction of Jews and Israel- as if that would change Arab world realities overnight. Their superior society and culture would be recognized instantly, if it were not for the enemies they so desperately want to destroy. They believe that the oppressive tyrannies under which they live would disappear once the hated Jew and Israel were destroyed. In the mind of much of the Arab world, they are like the long suffering artists, unappreciated and misunderstood. If only they could kill the artists with which they compete and the art critics, all would would be well.

We have noted in Blind Poets, Peace and Evil that

Our eyes become irrelevant if we can only see ourselves. Allowing ourselves to retreat into our perfect fantasy, while a pleasant distraction at times, in reality, only widens the gap with truths and realities that need to be dealt with or understood. Our personalities become great as we relate to others and not as we relate to ourselves. Lakes become great because of their depth and not the length of their shoreline.

A poet does not become a poet by writing words. A poet becomes a poet by having the words he writes become meaningful to others. It is in the understanding that the meaningfulness and depth of his words are part of a compact, an agreement we have with each other, that it is what we have in common, the shared ideals and values, more than anything else, that determines our worthiness.

It is in understanding that it is our universality and not our individuality that we can determine our highest truth. When we live in a world where only our own thoughts, ideas and needs count, we live in a prison. Our greatest joys and achievements have come as the result of sharing and in the union with others. This truth applies in every human endeavor, from love to business. If we allow the conflict between individuality and universality to manifest itself within us, we suffer great pain- and separation from that which might allow us our greatness.

Societies and cultures are measured by what they build and not by what they destroy. They are also measured by how they compare with each other, no matter how much political correctness abhors that truth. The character of a nation can be determined by the institutions that nations enshrines. That is no less true in the Middle East.

Israel has built some of the finest educational institutions in the world. Her neighbors have some of the worst.

Israel has built a self sustaining, first world economy. The Arab world’s singular notable achievement has been in achieving almost universal hatred of Jews. Mein Kampf remains an Arab best seller and the desire to ‘finish what Hitler started,’ is more essential to the Arab world than and the study of physics.

Israelis celebrate humanitarians, scientists and artists. In the Arab world, terrorists and terror leaders are hailed as heroes. Schools are named after suicide bombers that target innocents. In Syria, the ‘Lion’ leader, Hafez al Assad is an object of veneration. The reality that 20,000 to 30,000 were slaughtered in Hama, is of little consequence, at least publicly. Assad hated Israel and Jews- that was enough. The Syrian regime was relieved of it’s obligation to her citizens.

The Arab world believes that Europe is supportive of their delusions and dysfunction. They are wrong. Europe finds the Arab cause as temporarily useful, and no more. Why? Because for the time being, anti Americanism and anti Semitism are once more, politically acceptable and au courrant, in Europe.

Europe will not trade cowboy hats for keffiyas. To believe otherwise, even for a moment, is absurd. The Arab world does not understand that they are no more than this generations ‘useful idiots’ for the fickle Europeans. The nations of Europe will be no more loyal to the Arab world than they were to each other. History tells that tale.

In rhetoric and deed, Arab world leaders have more in common with Pol Pot, Hitler and Stalin than Washington, Jefferson or Winston Churchill. In following their leaders, the Arab world reveals more about itself than they might care to admit.

This post was originally published on July 31 2006

Glass Does Not "Respond"

From Haaretz:

Three Arab states in the Persian Gulf would be willing to allow the Israel Air force to enter their airspace in order to reach Iran in case of an attack on its nuclear facilities, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Siyasa reported on Sunday.

According to the report, a diplomat from one of the gulf states visiting Washington on Saturday said the three states, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, have told the United States that they would not object to Israel using their airspace, despite their fear of an Iranian response.

Al-Siyasa further reported that NATO leaders are urging Turkey to open its airspace for an Attack on Iran as well and to also open its airports and borders in case of a ground attack.

According to a British diplomat who spoke to an Al-Siyasa correspondent, Turkey will not repeat the mistake it made in 2003, when it refused to open its airspace to U.S. Air Force overflights en route to attacking Iraq.

British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday that Israel is negotiating with the U.S. over permission for an "air corridor" over Iraq, should an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities become necessary.

The existential threat posed by a defiant nuclear Iran has managed to do what was once thought impossible: Israel stands united. After decades of hand wringing, despair and inertia over the Palestinian/Israel peace process, Iranian threats have united usually contentious Israeli political parties.

Israelis are famously divided on almost every issue, but there is strong consensus regarding an urgent need to do something to curb Iran's nuclear program.

The debate is about what to do and when.

...Evoking the Holocaust, the ex-prime minister said: "This is 1938. Iran is Germany and it is about to arm itself with nuclear weapons."

...acquires a nuclear bomb, it will mean that for the first time Israel will face an enemy who could deal it a fatal blow. While others may think it, Iran has been the only government that has stated that it wants to eliminate Israel. Syria doesn't say this. Saddam Hussein and Moammar Gadhafi never said it even when they were threatening Israel."

Iran's small fleet of Su-24 bombers has been conducting in-air refuelling training missions at night recently, according to Jane's Defence Weekly. In theory, these Soviet-era aircraft could drop a nuclear bomb on Israel.

Predictably, as the Arab world recoils in horror at the implication of Iranian nuclear weapons, the Palestinian factions are yet again on the wrong side of history. As Abba Eban famously noted, "The Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity." Instead as being perceived as population in search of legitimate nationhood, they are gleefully siding with the Iranians and threatening Israel with retaliatory action if Israel- or anyone, attempts to neutralize the Iranian threat.

The public stance taken by Palestinian factions will ensure decades more of Palestinian failure and dysfunction.

"Our strategy is not to leave the Islamic alliance (Iran) alone against the enemy. All Palestinian organizations will work together in shooting rockets, suicide bomb attacks and other steps and actions decided closely."

All the major Palestinian terrorist organizations are preparing to work together and hit out at Israeli targets in the event Iran is attacked, Abu Ahmed, the northern West Bank chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, told WND.

A senior leader of the Islamic Jihad terror group, which Israel says is backed by Iran, claimed during any attack his organization has been directed by Iran to "wreck havoc" on Israel with suicide bombings, rocket attacks and "special surprises." He said rocket attacks would be launched from both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank...

He said overall Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Shallah has been coordinating war plans with Iran, Syria and the Iranian-backed Hizbullah Lebanese militia. Shallah resides in Damascus and travels frequently to Tehran.

He threatened his terror group will target American interests in the Middle East whether any purported strike against Tehran is carried out by Israel or the US.

"The Zionists and the Americans are coordinated 100 percent. It doesn't matter who attacks Iran, we are planning to hit them both," said the Islamic Jihad leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he said the topic was "very sensitive."

The recent willingness to use of chlorine gas as terrorist weapon in Iraq are of particular concern to the Israelis and Americans.

In 1990, during Gulf War One, CNN broadcast images of frenzied Palestinians, dancing on rooftops and screaming 'GAS THE JEWS' as Saddam rained SCUDS down on Jerusalem.

Of course the Iranians are issuing their own threats nd responses, promising all kinds of 'surprises' directed at American and Israeli interests world wide (for an an example of what that means, see this).

In the end, glass does not respond.

Emergency Brain Intubation

The research laboratories located in the dark, damp and excellent electrical current conducting basement of the SC&A Institute (heretofore referred to as the 'dungeons') have developed a new life saving protocol, BPR (Brain Power Resuscitation).

The BPR protocol was developed because of the widespread epidemic that has led to the exponentially increasing death of your brain cells. All over America, brain cells are dying by the millions, made comfortable in a Disneyworld enviroment of intellectual paralysis (yes, we're talking about you).

This is no small matter. The most recent government studies indicate a direct connection between stupidity and global warming. Alarmingly, there are now those who believe there are actual connections between Teddy Kennedy, sobriety and advanced driving skills. In six weeks you will have more in common with a beagle, Al Gore and Boy George than the kid who drys your windshield at the car wash.

End the slaughter of brain cells immediately. Say no to brain cell murder and say 'yes' to Dr Sanity's Carnival of the Insanities, the first step in the two stage process that will make up Advanced Brain Life Support.

Of course, Emergency Brain Intubation is only the first phase of BPS.

Advanced Brain Life Support (ABLS) are called for, to once and for all stop the meaningless slaughter of your innocent brain cells. If you care about baby seals or puppies, you can care about your brain cells.

BPR and ABLS are not like vitamin or Ron Popeil's rotisseries, where you 'just set and forget it.' Brains saving techniques require your own efforts to bring you back from the abyss of psychosis, delusion and CSS (Chronic Stupidity Syndrome).

These brain saving technique works seamlessly with the SC&A Wednedsay Whack Job Awards. Taken together, they will save your sorry asses from the lifetime of mediocrity and dysfunctionality you are so familiar with. As added bonus, patients who participate in their own ABLS will have children who will be unable to regard you as mere briskets, wrapped in layers of fat, irrelevant, out of touch and utterly clueless.

If properly followed, these protocols will result in the future therapist of your children being unable and unwilling to blame you for your children's whining and miserable and totally ineffectual lives. You will be exonerated and regarded with the highest esteem.

Staying with the protocol will allow you to emotionally and permanently scar your your children with unwarranted worship and adoration for you. They will be forever wracked with guilt for not living up to your expectations and pursuing their own selfish happiness. As an added bonus adherence to the ABLS protocols will allow you to assign permanent blame to your spouse and in laws for passing on mediocrity by providing so much substandard, loser genetic material.

Start the protocols immediately! Proceed immediately to Dr Sanity for emergency brain intubation.

Carnival of the Insanities. Save your sorry ass selves!

And Now, A Few Words On Sex

"I believe that sex is one of the most beautiful, natural, wholesome things that money can buy."- Tom Clancy

"Clinton lied. A man might forget where he park or where he lives, but he never forgets oral sex, no matter how bad it is" - Barbara Bush, former First Lady

"You know "that look" women get when they want sex? Me neither." - Steve Martin

"Having sex is like playing bridge. If you don't have a good partner, you'd better have a good hand." - Woody Allen

"Bisexuality immediately doubles your chances for a date on Saturday night." - Rodney Dangerfield

"There are a number of mechanical devices which increase sexual arousal, particularly in women. Chief among these is the Mercedes-Benz 380SL." - Lynn Lavner

"Leaving sex to the feminists is like letting your dog vacation at the taxidermist." - Matt Barry

"Sex at age 90 is like trying to shoot pool with a rope." - George Burns

"Sex is one of the nine reasons for reincarnation. The other eight are unimportant."- George Burns

"Women might be able to fake orgasms. But men can fake whole relationships." - Sharon Stone

"My girlfriend always laughs during sex ---no matter what she's reading." - Steve Jobs, found Apple Computer

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." - Jack Nicholson

"Ah, yes, divorce, from the Latin word meaning to rip out a man's genitals through his wallet." - Robin Williams

"Women complain about premenstrual syndrome, but I think of it as the only time of the month that I can be myself." - Roseanne Barr

"Women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a place." - Billy Crystal

"According to a new survey, women say they feel more comfortable undressing in front of men than they do undressing in front of other women. They say that women are too judgmental, where, of course, men are just grateful." - Robert De Niro

"There's very little advice in men's magazines, because men think, I know what I'm doing. Just show me somebody naked." - Jerry Seinfeld

"Instead of getting married again, I'm going to find a woman I don't like and just give her a house." - Rod Stewart

The Cost Of The Abortion Debate

Shrinkwrapped's series on abortion provides a particularly useful and non emotional look into one of this nation's great divides.

His four part series is a readable and cogent dissection of the impact abortion has had on American culture and society. He takes no position on abortion, other than to look at the effects of abortion.

In Part I, Shrinkwrapped sets up the parameters that will contain his observations:

Please note that I am not taking a moral stand for or against abortion. I fully understand the view of those who believe, for religious or moral reasons, that life begins at conception. I also appreciate the views of those who believe that an unwanted pregnancy in certain circumstances, due to bad luck or irresponsibility, can be a personal disaster for the parent(s) and the child(ren). I would like to set those questions aside for the moment and concentrate on what abortion means to those who have been affected by it; perhaps through such a discussion, the moral and ethical arguments can become clearer.

Part II begins to address definitions:

For a couple who desire a child, life begins before conception. A couple trying to become pregnant find that each month, if the woman has her menses, there is a small feeling of loss; the hoped for and already loved child has not appeared. When, finally, the woman determines she is pregnant, often responding to barely conscious and unconscious bodily signals that herald the changes taking place within, the child begins to take on a reality, a life of its own. By the time of "quickening", typically in the fourth month or thereabouts, the child is already a baby in the minds of the parents. There is no question that wanted children are psychologically already babies from very early in the sequence. Furthermore, a wanted child is the repository of all that is best in the couple. They imbue the soon-to-be infant with all sorts of possibilities and qualities. Most first time parents have significant anxiety over their ability to parent and raise a child, but there is no question that from the moment of the positive EPT, reinforced each step of the way (heartbeat, sonograms, movement), the woman is carrying a person, not a fetus, and not a clump of cells.

Contrast this with an unwanted pregnancy. The language and the psychological processes couldn’t be more different. The future abortion is dehumanized from the start. It is a clump of cells or a fetus. It is the repository of all that is rejected and ambivalent in the parents.

In Part III, Shrinkwrapped delicately attempts too

...tackle the most problematic aspect of abortion on demand, its effect on the generations of children who have grown up in its shadow...

The difficulty for our post-Roe children is that a child growing up in a culture that supports abortion on demand is a child growing up in a culture where even a wanted child is treated (by the larger society, certainly not by all parents) as a commodity. This, of course, fits right into the unconscious agenda of the narcissist, who views the importance of every relationship as hinging on how the other person affects him. Even children who grow up in families which for religious or other reasons are pro-life, recognizes that the surrounding society, for all the lip service that is offered to the notion that our children are our most precious possessors of the future, does not value children in the most basic way possible. For children whose parents are pro-choice, the problem is more difficult. For those children whose mothers have had abortions, the problem becomes acute. The idea that your parents have chosen to have a particular number of children is not at issue; the idea that your parents have parents decided to abort a potential sibling is a significant issue, made more so when done in a perfunctory manner as a matter of course. Such a "choice" unavoidably conveys the message that a child’s life is hostage to the parent’s desires.

Consider the impact of a child growing up in a society which believes that a child is a gift from the Deity. A child in such a culture knows that their surround considers them precious above and beyond the love they may receive from their all too human and fallible parent. While such an "archaic" notion opens one up to ridicule in the precincts of sophisticated thought where the liberal pro-choice views hold sway, it was the prevailing wisdom not that long ago. In contrast, a child who is growing up in a culture which idealizes the freedom of women to abort for no more reason than her comfort or convenience, is a culture that fundamentally does not value children. Children who experience themselves as commodities whose existence serves the needs of others, have a natural tendency to treat themselves and others as mere "need satisfying objects."

Part IV is Shrinkwrapped's final installment. His look at the effects of abortion moves from the clinical/academic types of discussion to a 'boots on the ground' experience.

He makes no grand, sweeping conclusions about abortion. He does not attempt to predict global weather patterns. Instead, he looks out his window and says,

'It's raining. What kind of actions must we take to keep ourselves dry? What kind of environment can we create for ourselves that will limit the damage too much exposure to the elements?'

During a session in the midst of the episode, while Susan was complaining of her loneliness, that no one would ever love her because of what a terrible person she was, and how her hostility drove everyone away, some barely conscious awareness led me to ask when she had had her abortion. I don’t recall the exact circumstances in the session, but the question felt organic, as if it arose from the material, though I could not describe precisely what chain of associations by Susan or myself led to this. She was silent for quite a while, an unusual state for Susan, and then tentatively offered that she had her abortion in April, 10 years ago. Inexplicably, for the first time in her treatment, Susan began to cry. She told me the baby had been in its fourth month and she was convinced, though never told, that it was a girl. She never told anyone that she had actually named the baby Cynthia. She recalled a moment of sadness, with a clear mental image of an infant baby girl, in a pink dress with bows in her blond hair, and then put Cynthia out of her mind. She became overwhelmed with tears and sadness. She told me that lately she had been fixated on little blond girls and now understood why. With a start she realized that almost every girl she had ever had a fling with was blond. Over the course of several weeks, Susan explored her feelings about her abortion. She had never realized it was still alive within her. She had killed her child and could understand why no one would ever see her as worthwhile or lovable. How could she have done something so terrible. She hadn’t even thought of it at the time. She had just done it.

The reverberations of the event were felt and worked through over the course of another 2 years in her analysis. She learned, another barely repressed memory, that her mother had had an abortion when she was 4 years old. Her mother did not want to lose her slim figure, of which she was so proud. Susan began to understand her tendency to gain weight as related to unconscious wishes to become pregnant again, as well as to differentiate herself from her mother, who championed a woman’s right to choose.

Like it or not, the issue of abortion is one of the Great Divides of the Americal political landscape.

One of the great tragedies of this divide is that both sides of the abortion debate have politicized the debate. Abortion has been used by both sides as a lightening rod to attract or repel voters of all stripes.

We are going to look at both sides of the coin.

Pro life supporters need to realize that having a baby is not like having puppies. Until there is a guarantee that there will be enough volunteers to adopt, raise and care for millions of children put up for adoption, abortion will remain a real option for women who might otherwise agree with pro life sentiments. We cannot insist that women have babies they are unable or willing to care for and then walk away.

No rational adult likes abortion as a form of contraception, save for the bitter feminists who don't really care about women or children to begin with. That said, until women that are faced with making a choice believe that having that child isn't a choice between bad and disastrous, not much will change in how many view abortion.

Hillary Clinton noted that

Seven percent of American women who do not use contraception accoint for 53 percent of all unintended pregnancies.

See Safe, Legal And Never, Hillary Clinton's anti abortion strategy. Irresopective of your opinion on Hillary Clinton, she raises issues that need to be a part of new discussion on Roe v Wade and what are issues that surround abortion that need to be discussed. As the author of the article notes,

I've heard a few liberals complain that this message is too preachy and encroaches on the sexuality of teenagers...Many proound things are at stake in the abortion debate. Afternoon delight isn't high on the list.

While overturning Roe V Wade is unlikely, that does not mean the issues of abortion cannot and should not be revisited.

Partial birth abortion (most often a form of contraception used by women who could not be bothered to deal with their pregnancy earlier) needs to be banned. Unless the mother of the child is at risk, there is no reason for the procedure to be performed on a full term fetus.

It is ironic that supporters of partial birth abortion usually rail against capital punishment.

Contraception needs to fully funded and be to made available t both women and men, if we are as a society, serious about eliminating or reducing the number of abortions performed in this country each year.

Sex education is as important as religious and moral instruction. The biggest part of real sex education is the discussion of values, choices, respect and responsibility. While sex education that focuses on bananas and condoms are a part of the program, they are a small part of the program. Our identities are not shaped by our genitalia, but rather, by our character. Will kids have sex? Yes, as they have since time began. Let's at least teach them about character and emotional maturity are also components of intimacy.

No one wants their kids to grow up and be identified and appreciated for their sexual proclivities only.

Like it or not, girls need to learn that they and they alone are responsible for their bodies. If prevailing culture has no problem with girls and women obsessing over their sexuality and appearence, they must acknowledge that they are responsible for their sexuality if and when their clothes come off.

It is unfair, perhaps, that when it's all said and done, women are indeed responsible for contraception. Whether it is God or biology that is to blame, is irrelevant, because in the end, it is women who get pregnant (the flip side being that women who want to get pregnant wouldn't change that for anything).

If a woman is unhappy with that state of affairs, sterilization is an option. Abortion is not an 'alternative' to irresponsible behavior anymore than abortion is a valid expression of any kind of political ideology.

The nature of the national abortion debate is a cancer that has attacked the political, moral and social fabric of this nation- and a generation of Americans on both sides of the political divide have been made to pay the price.