Notoriously, the infant mortality rate…
… is twice as high in the lowest social class as in the highest. But the infant mortality rate of illegitimate births is twice that of legitimate ones, and the illegitimacy rate rises steeply as you descend the social scale: so the decline of marriage almost to the vanishing point in the lowest social class might well be responsible for most of its excess infant mortality. It is a way of life, not poverty per se, that kills.
(Click image.)
Always use a safety fuse.
Update Advice that, sadly, came too late. ..
Add yours in the comments.
Liberation Army Against Freedom!
ROTFLMOA!
Kinsella and his band of Fascists are going to file a human rights complaint in The Hague, for sure.
That cartoon of Dion is far, far too kind. Not only isn’t he wimpy and weaselly enough, he should be sporting a Fascist hairstyle and a black turtleneck if it were the late 30’s early 40’s.
It may be old hat for many of you but for a great laugh, watch the “All in the Family” Archie Bunker rant about Democrats on YouTube. Subsitute Liberals for Democrat and he’s bang on. And that was 30 years ago!
Interesting that Dion was in Vancouver to celebrate the Chinese New Year..the Year of the Rat.Isn’t that how he is portrayed in cartoons in Quebec?
Government rewards bad behaviour and punishes good.
Government rewards bad behaviour and punishes good.
Political collectness; Led Chinese afflicted.
Mao Stlong say: Not Yeal of Lat; Yeal of Mouse.
…-
BEIJING – Chinese people are enjoying the week-long holiday ushering in an auspicious Year of the Mouse […]
“”We have tamed the disaster with strong determination. Let’s now brace for the grand Olympic event,” Ren Libo, a native of Guizhou, said before getting off his homebound train on Wednesday night.”
http://tinyurl.com/2o7xvr (xinhua)
and while in Vancouver he leaked the news that his non carbon tax rate will be $30/tonne.
But he says it is not a tax, just a compulsory donation to his “Green Bank” that will then re-invest the non-tax” in projects governments decide are green enough for a free dollop on non-taxed taxpayer’s money.
For perspective . . that $30/tonne is about an annual $10 Billion tax grab.
$10 $BILLION
That’s an excellent outline of the results of Welfarism – a level of the population who are demoralized and antisocial because they have moved into a parasitic state of existence.
It’s based on the socialist ideal of ‘equal outcomes’ rather than equality of opportunity. And, with regard to the equal outcomes, it rejects any individual input into this desired goal.No-one is responsible for themselves. So, everyone is assumed to be entitled by default to the same standard of living.
The problem with this utopian idea is that it has to remain isolated in fiction. The irrationality of it is that it focuses only on Outcomes. It ignores that reality is – how can I describe it – not a Single State of Existence, but, Triadic.
There are THREE parts to reality. Input, Mediation, Output.
Put seeds into the ground. That’s Input.
Transform seeds via soil, water, sun. Mediation.
Voila – Output. A harvest of wheat.
If I focus only on the Output and ignore that to get there, I have to add Input and Mediation, well..nothing much will happen. I can dream about a loaf of bread forever.
The socialist utopians, who insist that ‘everyone must have the same Output, are ignoring those other two steps. Who does the work for those two steps?
By insisting that some people must not participate in those two important steps, but must still receive the same output as everyone else – what happens?
First, we reduce the Output. Fewer seeds planted means less wheat.
Second, Ignoring Mediation means that we, in a sense, assign this process to the gods rather than to man. We don’t work in this area. We expect the government to ‘do it all’. We become mindless serfs of a Higher Power, ignoring that governmental power must rest with us.
Third, if we as a people are only involved in the Output, the Handouts, we become entrenched as Serfs. We are not responsible for Steps One and Two.
Reducing people to Serfdom – that’s what the Welfare State has accomplished.
From cbc just now,top taliban commander captured near Pakistan border.
From cbc soon, Dion very concerned that top taliban commander captured near Pakistan border will be treated roughly.
Henry Morgentaler’s supporters are campaigning for him to be awarded the Order of Canada. The Globe and Mail has an online poll at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/v5/content/poll/static/nationalPoll.html
The Aislin cartoon sums up Citoyen Dion perfectly.
He Taliban Jack Layton and Denis Coderre are the best allies the Taliban butchers can possibly have – and all right here in Ottawa!
The Islamic Republik of Britain won’t be a welfare state.
fred:
a few solar panel arrays have been put in arizona, portugal and germany
when you do the math ,using their published figures, a 20 year life,no maintance
arizona…. 125 bucks per ton of co2 not burnt
portugal….the same 125
germany …240 bucks…lousy weather,further from a vertical sun
guess what the co2 price will be in the future??
*
now, if you’re the obit guy at the kabul star… what the hell do you do with this?
” — KABUL, Afghanistan — A bomb killed a militant mullah and two of his children
when it exploded prematurely in their southern Afghanistan home, a police chief
said Monday.”
*
The LAAF videos have gone viral.
Expect liberal hand wringing and foaming at the mouth very soon.
Martin Fletcher, Al-Qaeda leaders admit: ‘We are in crisis. There is panic and fear’
Al-Qaeda in Iraq faces an “extraordinary crisis”. Last year’s mass defection of ordinary Sunnis from al-Qaeda to the US military “created panic, fear and the unwillingness to fight”. The terrorist group’s security structure suffered “total collapse”.
These are the words not of al-Qaeda’s enemies but of one of its own leaders in Anbar province — once the group’s stronghold. They were set down last summer in a 39-page letter seized during a US raid on an al-Qaeda base near Samarra in November…
The LAAF videos are frickin’ HILARIOUS. ~:D
There are some interesting lectures coming up at American Enterprise Institute.
Lawrence M. Krauss, Science versus Anti-Science: From Washington to the Classroom
11 February 2008
Science has become political, but too few politicians and citizens are well-versed in science. Even though science and technology will be the focus of many of the challenges facing the next president, there has been little discussion of any of these issues in the campaign thus far. Mr. Krauss will speak about how public scientific literacy affects policy on issues like teaching evolution in schools, global warming, national defense, stem cell research, and support for the scientific research that can preserve U.S. economic competitiveness.
John Tomasi, F. A. Hayek, Spontaneous Order, and the Mirage of Social Justice
10 March 2008
Videos are usually available within a day after the event.
(Via ICT) EU plans to require biometrics of all non-European visitors
BRUSSELS: All non-Europeans would need to submit biometric data before crossing Europe’s frontiers under sweeping European Union proposals to combat illegal migration, terrorism and organized crime that are to be outlined this week.
The plans – arguably the biggest shake-up of border management in Europe since the creation of an internal travel zone – would apply to citizens of the United States and all other countries that now enjoy visa-free status.
They would, however, allow EU citizens and “low risk” frequent travelers from outside the bloc to pass through automated, fast-track frontier checkpoints without coming into contact with border guards. Voluntary programs for prescreening such visitors, who would register fingerprints and other data, would be stepped up…
Fiat justicia ruat coelum
Hitler’s prime tactic was the debauchment of the German people. This was accomplished by Germany’s main stream media (MSM) that told ordinary Germans what to think.
…-
How Hitler Won Over the German People
By Ian Kershaw
There were still many Germans who were skeptical of Hitler when he became chancellor in 1933. But Führer propaganda and military success soon turned him into an idol. The adulation helped make the Third Reich catastrophe possible.
“Today Hitler Is All of Germany.” The newspaper headline on Aug. 4, 1934 reflected the vital shift in power that had just taken place. Two days earlier, on the death of Reich President Paul von Hindenburg, Hitler had lost no time in abolishing the Reich Presidency and having the army swear a personal oath of unconditional obedience to him as “the Führer of the German Reich and People.” He was now head of state and supreme commander of the armed forces, as well as head of government and of the monopoly party, the NSDAP. Hitler had total power in Germany, unrestricted by any constitutional constraints. The headline implied even more, however, than the major change in the constellation of power. It suggested an identity of Hitler and the country he ruled, signifying a complete bond between the German people and Hitler. …-
http://tinyurl.com/yswa9r (spiegel)
Enviro wack-jobs hate trees.Just saw on Fox News,man in California ordered to cut down huge beautiful redwoods in his yard,because they are ‘blocking’ his neighbours solar panels.Hullloooo,where are all the tree-huggers now?
Also,6 Gitmo detainees to be charged in 9/11 attacks.Cue the outrage,wait for Byers,Attaran,Dawn Black,and cbc/Khadr sympathy sect to come out swinging.
http://www.international.gc.ca/department/skelton/menu-en.asp
Noted today the O.D. Skelton Lecture, sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs, is being given this year by Gen. John de Chastellain. More interesting is the list of previous lecturers, all of whom are strongly liberal, and almost all of whom are specifically Liberal.
2006 Denis Stairs
2004 Michael Ignatieff
2003 Margaret MacMillan
2002 Sylvia Ostry
2001 Louise Arbour
1998 Gwynne Dyer
1997 Landon Pearson
1996 Yves Fortier
1995 Mitchell Sharp
1993 Robert MacNeil
1992 Maurice Strong
1991 Allan Gotlieb
Interesting despite the global warming slant:
Israeli researchers close in on drought-resistant crops
Israeli researchers have identified the genes that allow plants to tolerate and survive the harsh desert conditions of heat, drought and salinity.
The discovery, by a team of scientists at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, could lead to the development of staple crops like corn and rice that can cope with the climate changes associated with global warming.
Temperature extremes, drought and saline soils are the three main causes of low crop yields, and most annual crop losses are due to such environmental difficulties…
White men make news, Tonto.
Ugh, the Idiot also makes news.
…-
“White men charged in grow-op applied for adoption to become aboriginal
“With membership came certain advantages, such as the right to grow “medicine” in a sovereign land without a permit, Lawrence Hubert Agecoutay, the self-described community leader, explained to the jury Wednesday.
There were also other benefits.”
http://tinyurl.com/3e4wbr (canwest)
…-
“AFN plans to invite ‘visionary’ Chavez to visit Canada
OTTAWA – The Assembly of First Nations plans to invite Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales to visit Canada this year as part of its campaign to pressure the Conservative government into signing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”
http://tinyurl.com/2vcqxk (canwest)
From the I know whats Better then the Experts Files.
“Afghan Mission must Change or Fail” Bob Rae
CTV.CA feb 11/08
The Gitmo 6 to be charged with murder,war crimes,hijacking,terrorism,violate laws of war,targeting civilians,and civilian property.
Khalid Sheik Mohammed (of the bad hair photo) to be charged as ‘mastermind’
And what is the press at the Pentagon press conference concerned about???
“Was the info leading to these charges obtained under duress?”
“Were enhanced interrogation techniques involved?”..specifically mention waterboarding.
Death penalty will be sought.
Am waiting for the Canadian response.
Stephen Taylor has an interesting post up about a new Liberal non-fund-raising fundraiser.
Stop the Presses? MSM, aka The Chronically Terrible reports. Front page noose.
…-
Daily News stops its presses
92 people to be given layoff notices as Halifax tabloid calls it quits
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9005503.html
Roseberry, General de Chastelain may be a Liberal, I’m not sure. I do know, while he served, he was an excellent officer who will surely have some valuable input on Afghanistan debate, if that’s what he talks about.
He’s not perfect and certainly became a politician who, IMO, backstabbed the then CDS when he took back the job. Didn’t think much of that, but, still good speaker choice.
The National Post has an article on what is being taught in Germany today. It’s the Welfare State:
The next generation in Germany – and in Europe- is being taught to be passive recipients of Output, of Welfarism. They have no role in producing goods and services, no role in starting up businesses, no role in innovation.
“One 10th-grade social studies text titled FAKT has a chapter on “What to do against unemployment.” Instead of describing how companies might create jobs, the section explains how those without jobs can organize into self-help groups and join weekly anti-reform protests “in the tradition of the East German Monday demonstrations” (which in 1989 helped topple the communist dictatorship). The not-so-subtle sub-text? Jobs are a right to be demanded from the government. The same chapter also details various welfare programs, explains how employers use the threat of layoffs as a tactic to cut pay and concludes with a long excerpt from the platform of the German Union Federation, including the 30-hour work week, retirement at age 60 and redistribution of the work pie by splitting full-time into part-time jobs. No market alternative is taught. When FAKT presents the reasons for unemployment, it blames computers and robots. In fact, this is a recurring theme in German textbooks — the Internet will turn workers into “anonymous code” and kill off interpersonal communication.”
And: “Students learn that private companies destroy jobs while government policy creates them. Employers exploit while the state protects. Free markets offer chaos while government regulation brings order. Globalization is destructive, if not catastrophic”
Now, what kind of a future can there be, if a society deliberately removes its children, the future population, from the first two processes of life – input and mediation – or work and innovative technology?
Arizona, Portugal…..
I think we should be installing these babies in Vancouver…… where the sun dont shine. then our CO2 credits will be thousands. doesnt this get stupider everyday?
a few solar panel arrays have been put in arizona, portugal and germany
when you do the math ,using their published figures, a 20 year life,no maintance
arizona…. 125 bucks per ton of co2 not burnt
portugal….the same 125
germany …240 bucks…lousy weather,further from a vertical sun
guess what the co2 price will be in the future??
maintenance in vancouver would be scrapping off the moss.
couldn’t happen to nicer people . . . Woo-hoo
Mullah accidently blows up self, sons
From correspondents in Kandahar
February 11, 2008 06:07pm
Article from: Agence France-Presse
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A LANDMINE blew up in the home of a religious cleric in southern Afghanistan, killing the mullah, two of his sons and two other men who had been preparing an attack, police said today.
The cleric’s wife was critically wounded in the blast in their compound in the southern province of Helmand late yesterday, and a daughter was hurt, provincial police chief General Mohammad Hussein Andiwal said.
The bodies of the mullah and his two sons, both under 15 years old, remained at the site of the blast, he said.
Other people in the compound said two other men were killed but their bodies had been removed before police arrived, he said.
The group was likely associated with the Taliban, he said. The extremist militants are particular active in Helmand province, where they are said to be tied up with opium and heroin traffickers.
An insurgency by the Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001, was its deadliest last year with more than 6,000 people killed, most of them rebels but including hundreds of civilians.
Taliban suicide and roadside bombings are generally aimed at Afghan and international soldiers but kill more civilians.
The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, aka Mo&Al’s Sharia Commission.
“They visited us last night,”
…-
“No red roses for Saudi sweethearts on Valentines Day
RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s religious police have banned red roses ahead of Valentine’s Day, forcing couples in the conservative Muslim nation to think of new ways to show their love.
The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has ordered florists and gift shop owners in the capital Riyadh to remove any items coloured scarlet, which is widely seen as symbolising love, newspapers said.
“They visited us last night,” the Saudi Gazette quoted an unidentified florist as saying.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1968543/posts
“when you do the math ,using their published figures, a 20 year life,no maintenance
arizona…. 125 bucks per ton of co2 not burnt
portugal….the same 125
germany …240 bucks…lousy weather,further from a vertical sun
guess what the co2 price will be in the future?”
Hey guys I am just quoting Steffi from last week on the radio saying “$30/tonne”
Here’s the facts.
All units in MT’s unless otherwise indicated.
Canada’s 1990 GhG emissions – 473, 310Mt
Our required Kyoto emissions cut (6%) – 28, 399Mt
Our Kyoto 1 Target emissions level 444, 912Mt
Canada’s 2005 emissions level (last available year) – 729,710Mt or 54.17% above the 1990 base year
As of 2005 Canada’s emissions OVER target by
284,799Mt
Estimated level of Canada’s emissions for the end of 2007 (add Annual average increase of 17,100Mt for 2006 and 2007) – 763,897Mt or 61.39 % above the 1990 base year
As of 2007, Canada’s emissions are OVER target by 319,985Mt
Annual cost, as of the end of 2007 of Mr. Dion’s non carbon tax, at $30/tonne $9, 569, 556, 874
At $50/tonne that would $15, 949,261, 457
You can do the rest of the math.
And Dion, Suzuki et al tell us we need to do is throw an few extra bats of insulation in the attic and we are good to go on Kyoto.
Ya right.
To put the challenge Canada faces into perspective – if Canada was to eliminate every car, truck, train, plane, tractor and ship from our annual GhG emissions, we would achieve only 69.4% of our required emissions cut.
Kinda puts switching from a V8 to a V6 into perspective, doesn’t it.
“in the rural areas, food is still being used as a weapon*,””
…-
“Mugabe in Winter
The world is watching what may seem to be the last moments of the reign of President Robert Mugabe, the autocratic leader of the African nation of Zimbabwe.
The Hon. David Coltart, the Zimbabwean Shadow Minister for Justice and Member of Parliament for Bulawayo South said that the “Zimbabwe African National Unity Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) has never been as divided as it is today.”
President Mugabe, 83, has been in power since 1980 and is known for using the state machinery, such as the police and military, to crack down on the opposition. “The Police are highly partisan and in the rural areas, food is still being used as a weapon,” said Mr. Coltart.”
http://tinyurl.com/2wkonm (campusreport)
…-
*”Deliberate,” “diabolical” starvation
“Malcolm Muggeridge on Stalin’s famine”
“Q: I have read in a British Foreign Office dispatch that Drusag employed five people simply to pick up bodies of peasants who had come in and died of hunger.
A: Yes, that’s what I’d heard too, if not more. The peasants staggered in and dropped dead.”
http://www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/1983/228321.shtml
Fred: “Kinda puts switching from a V8 to a V6 into perspective, doesn’t it”
A growing resource based economy is a socialist nightmare. It’s the apex of wealth creation which is necessary for capitalism to exist. Kill it and capitalism so goes. Kill capitalism and so goes individual freedom and democracy.
That is why Socialists can’t have nations like Canada with healthy economies. It gets in the way of “Great Leap, part deux”.
Another poll gone horribly wrong. Take a look at the Globe and Mail website. They are shilling to try to have the Order of Canada bestowed on Morgentaler. Thus far, the “no’s” are way ahead (86%). Check out the G&M website at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/national/ and look for the poll “Should Dr. Henry Morgentaler be awarded the Order of Canada?”
Great posts on Steyn Online today, “Barney Rubble” and “Nero fiddles while Rome’s municipal toilet burns. Read for today’s entertainment.
One, or the other, is lying….
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080211.mulroney11/BNStory/National/home
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/content/poll/pollResultHub?id=76595&pollid=76595&answerid=88679&poll=GAMNational&save=_save76595&show_vote_always=no&hub=National&subhub=VoteResult&vote=88679
Should Dr. Henry Morgentaler be awarded the Order of Canada?
Yes 14%
2933 votes
No 86%
17515 votes
Another politically correct poll gone horribly wrong!
Cheers
Mulroney NEVER sdaid he worked for Thyssen.
He said, and KHS confirmed it, that he worked for Thyssen Canada,
KHS was the President of Thyssen Canada.
No story, just cheap yellow headlines
ET said: “Put seeds into the ground. That’s Input.
Transform seeds via soil, water, sun. Mediation.
Voila – Output. A harvest of wheat.
Reducing people to Serfdom – that’s what the Welfare State has accomplished.”
We’ve got a classic example happening on Vancouver Island right now. Our local MP is organizing a massive clean-up campaign of the Nanoose Bay area, which is littered with bits of styrofoam and other debris.
And the source of this debris?
The Nanoose Band was given a state of the art marina by the (Liberal) Feds in the early 90’s. It was a beautiful facility and with a severe lack of local moorage and an excellent location, it should have provided the band with a sustainable and solid income.
Today there is nothing and I mean nothing, left of it. Except for tens of thousands of bits of styrofoam spread over many square kilometres of gorgeous waterfront.
And that’s the problem as ET so clearly stated it. The Band had no input. It was simply given to them, no strings attached. They provided no ‘mediation’ in looking after the asset they received for free, leading to its’ destruction. And they have no output, as they receive no revenue.
BTW, because even Conservative politicians have to be oh so PC, the flyer that went out calling for volunteers for cleanup, listed the loss of the marina as being due to ‘weather’. We who live here, know otherwise.
Oh. And the local Band MAY provide some volunteers to assist in the cleanup.
Just ‘Thyssen Canada’?
Wow. That Canadian division sure gets around….:
“Mr. Mulroney also testified before the committee that he lobbied former Russian president Boris Yeltsin to buy Thyssen vehicles”
Or in selling armored vehicles to France…?
Another instalment of Lyin’ Brian Potter and the Blarney Stone.
Getting envelopes of cash in hotel rooms is as sleazy whether a Librano or Conservative hand is grabbing it.
Partisanship trumps principle too much in this country. “…as long as they are our thieves darling….’
Excellent post over at Black Rod regards Lieberal-CBC collusion in the Mulroney “Ethics” committee inquiry questions.
Who was the second Lieberal involved? and who knew what at the CBC?
Keep reading, I think these guys are eventually gonna bust this open. Then watch the downfall of the CBC, it will be as ugly as the evacuation of Saigon.
Al Qaeda Fighters Flee Cities, Head for Desert or Out of Iraq
WASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2008 – A surge in military operations and a shift in local support in northern Iraq has driven many al Qaeda fighters out of cities that once provided them safe haven and into the desert, or even out of the country, a commander in the region said today.
Citizens in the four-province region of Multinational Division North have begun shifting their support to coalition and Iraqi forces in “droves,” and security gains are increasingly putting extremists on the run with no clear place to go to be safe, said Army Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, commander of Multinational Division North and the U.S. Army’s 1st Armored Division. The northern division is about the size of Pennsylvania and includes Diyala, Salahuddin, Ninevah and Tamim provinces.
Some foreign fighters are returning to their home countries of Syria and Saudi Arabia, he said, taking with them funds earmarked for fighters in Iraq. Some are trying to reorganize outside the country’s borders, but Hertling’s troops are watching the border and have arrested some as they try to return, he said.
Others, who no longer feel safe in the cities because they are afraid that local citizens will turn them in, are hiding out in abandoned mud huts, canals or caves in the desert.
“That’s their biggest fear. So many of them are going to the desert regions to just get away from being ratted out by the citizens by being pointed out and captured,” Hertling said. …-
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1968637/posts
“One might expect Europeans to view the world through a slightly left-of-centre, social-democratic lens. The surprise is the intensity and depth of the anti-market bias being taught in Europe’s schools. Students learn that private companies destroy jobs while government policy creates them. Employers exploit while the state protects. Free markets offer chaos while government regulation brings order. Globalization is destructive, if not catastrophic. Business is a zero-sum game, the source of a litany of modern social problems.”
Socialism alive and well, maybe not well, in Germany.
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=299753
(Via Melanie Phillips) Canon Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo, Barnabas Fund Response to the Archbishop of Canterbury`s recommendation to apply Islamic law in the UK
[The Archibishop’s] view of shari`a is utopian and naïve. He has claimed that shari`a is not the monolithic system of detailed rules which most Muslims consider it to be, but rather an expression of universal principles being implemented flexibly according to context by means of ijtihad (individual effort at interpretation). While this expresses what liberal Muslim reformists would like to see happen, the reality is that for the vast majority of Muslims shari`a is still viewed as God`s immutable divine law regulating all areas of life. Furthermore, it discriminates against women (for example, in divorce and inheritance) and against non-Muslims. It lays down a multitude of penalties, including imprisonment, beating, annulment of marriage, disinheritance and death, for Muslims who leave their faith.
Even Tariq Ramadan, who is referred to positively in the Archbishop`s lecture, could not bring himself to advocate changing the strict hudud laws of shari`a which demand stoning, amputation and flogging. The most he could suggest was a moratorium on these punishments for the time being, until a perfect Islamic society arises that could implement these laws in a fair and just manner. For this innovation he was severely attacked by many famous Islamic religious scholars from across the Muslim spectrum who accused him of bordering on heresy. They claimed that the hudud laws are immutable and that severity is a valued hallmark of Islamic shari`a…
Embattled Muslim aide to leave Pentagon job
Hesham Islam’s ‘resume didn’t add up,’ official says
“The top Pentagon aide, Egyptian-born Hesham H. Islam, came under a cloud of suspicion after reports raised doubt about his resume and contacts he had made with radical Muslims. He is expected to leave the government next month, officials say.”
“For example, Claudia Rosett of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies wrote a column challenging key claims in Islam’s official biography. Within days, a Defense Department profile of Islam was removed from the department’s website.
A Pentagon spokesman said it was “taken down in an attempt to reduce the rhetoric and the emotion surrounding this issue while we try to determine the facts.”
A senior U.S. official says the life story Islam presented now appears sketchy.
“His resume didn’t add up, and he knows it,” the official said. “He’s voluntarily leaving the government in March.”
At the same time, a report by terror expert Steven Emerson revealed that Islam, as special assistant to the deputy secretary of defense, has scheduled at least two meetings in the Pentagon with Syrian-tied radicals – including a leading member of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood – in direct violation of U.S. policy.”
http://tinyurl.com/yw43ns (wnd)
Mehdi Khalaji, Apocalyptic Politics: On the Rationality of Iranian Policy
Apocalyptic politics in Iran originates from the failure of the Islamic Republic’s initial vision. The 1979 Islamic Revolution began with a utopian promise to create heaven on earth through Islamic law and a theocratic government, but in the past decade, these promises ceased to attract the masses…
When the Iranian government failed to deliver its promises, many Iranians looked for alternatives and found the cult of the Mahdi—the Messiah or the Hidden Imam—to establish a world government. The number of people who claim to be the Mahdi himself, or in direct connection to him, has increased remarkably in both urban and rural regions. Taking refuge in this primitive form of religion has created a new world of meaning where people have power and significance, and not just religious concepts.
(Available in PDF format)