Here is another point of comparison between Israel and the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. Le Figaro reports that three men have been hanged, one for collaborating with Israel. Two of the men were accused of "complicity in murder".
http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2012/04/07/01003-20120407ARTFIG00366-trois-prisonniers-executes-a-gaza-dont-un-traitre.php
Some snippets translated into English:
"Le Hamas, qui a pris le pouvoir dans la bande de Gaza en 2007, a procédé à ses premières exécutions en avril 2010 avec la pendaison de deux hommes condamnés pour collaboration avec Israël. Depuis, au moins 11 prisonniers ont été exécutés et les tribunaux ont prononcé plus de 30 condamnations à mort, notamment pour collaboration avec l'État juif, dont la charte du Hamas prône la destruction."
Hamas, who took power in the Gaza Strip in 2007, proceeded with its first executions in April 2010 with the hanging of two men condemned for collaborating with Israel. Since then, at least 11 prisoners have been executed and the tribunals have pronounced 30 death sentences, especially for collaboration with the Jewish state, of which the Hamas charter preaches its destruction
"En mars, un Palestinien de 27 ans soupçonné d'avoir collaboré avec Israël a été condamné à mort par un tribunal militaire de Gaza pour «trahison»."
In March, a Palestinian of 27 years, suspected of having collaborated with Israel, was condemned to death for treason by a military tribunal.
"Dans la bande de Gaza, 42 infractions différentes sont punies par la peine de mort"
In the Gaza Strip, 42 different infractions are punished by the death peanlty.
So I ask you; who are the Nazis here? Can you imagine oif Israel treated its citizens like this for supporting the Palestinian side? What do you think would have happened to figures like Matan Cohen and Ilan Pappe by now? Instead, they are free to walk around and condemn their own country both at home and abroad. Nevertheless, world-wide condemnation is levied at Israel, the only democracy in the region, where Arabs live in more freedom than they would in any of the neighboring states. nevertheless, Israel is accused of genocide in spite of the fact that the Palestinian population has increased dramatically in the last 40 years.
Go figure.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Fast and Furious-Now the White House is Stonewalling
Hat tip to Daily Caller
For quite some time, it has been clear that the Department of Justice has been stonewalling the House and Senate probe of the ATF's Operation Fast and Furious. I have been saying all along that the idea for this operation had to have come from the highest levels of the DOJ-if not the White House itself. Now we have a case of the White House stonewalling Congress. They won't let Kevin O'Reilly come forth and testify-even though he is willing to do so. O'Reilly is the White House official who was discussing Fast and Furious on a regular basis with ATF Phoenix agent in charge William Newell.
http://dailycaller.com/2012/04/06/chaffetz-white-house-blocking-access-to-fast-and-furious-witness-who-wants-to-testify/
Why won't the White House let O'Reilly testify?
For quite some time, it has been clear that the Department of Justice has been stonewalling the House and Senate probe of the ATF's Operation Fast and Furious. I have been saying all along that the idea for this operation had to have come from the highest levels of the DOJ-if not the White House itself. Now we have a case of the White House stonewalling Congress. They won't let Kevin O'Reilly come forth and testify-even though he is willing to do so. O'Reilly is the White House official who was discussing Fast and Furious on a regular basis with ATF Phoenix agent in charge William Newell.
http://dailycaller.com/2012/04/06/chaffetz-white-house-blocking-access-to-fast-and-furious-witness-who-wants-to-testify/
Why won't the White House let O'Reilly testify?
Friday, April 6, 2012
New Book on Fast and Furious
Hat tip to PJ Media
J Christian Adams of PJ Media has written on the new book that is out on Operation Fast and Furious. It is written by Katie Pavlich and entitled, "Fast and Furious- Barack Obama's deadliest scandal and its shameless cover-up". Adams knows what he is talking about. He was a prosecutor in the Justice Department-including under Eric Holder.
http://pjmedia.com/jchristianadams/2012/04/05/book-review-fast-and-furious/
I hope you will buy it. Fast and Furious isn't getting the media coverage it deserves (for obvious reasons). It is, however, a major scandal. In my opinion, it is worse than Watergate. If any skeptical readers would like to challenge me on that statement, I will be happy to engage in a debate.
J Christian Adams of PJ Media has written on the new book that is out on Operation Fast and Furious. It is written by Katie Pavlich and entitled, "Fast and Furious- Barack Obama's deadliest scandal and its shameless cover-up". Adams knows what he is talking about. He was a prosecutor in the Justice Department-including under Eric Holder.
http://pjmedia.com/jchristianadams/2012/04/05/book-review-fast-and-furious/
I hope you will buy it. Fast and Furious isn't getting the media coverage it deserves (for obvious reasons). It is, however, a major scandal. In my opinion, it is worse than Watergate. If any skeptical readers would like to challenge me on that statement, I will be happy to engage in a debate.
Report on Indoctrination Within the University of California
"The analysis begins from a nonpolitical fact: Numerous studies of both the UC system and of higher education nationwide demonstrate that students who graduate from college are increasingly ignorant of history and literature. They are unfamiliar with the principles of American constitutional government. And they are bereft of the skills necessary to comprehend serious books and effectively marshal evidence and argument in written work."
Peter Berkowitz of the Hoover Institution at Stanford has written a damning article on the extent of liberal dominance within the University of California (and education in general) and the effect it has on students. It appeared in the Wall Street Journal. (Hat tip to Miggie and Latinosreadytovote.com)
http://latinosreadytovote.com/?p=1659
"The politicization of higher education by activist professors and compliant university administrators deprives students of the opportunity to acquire knowledge and refine their minds. It also erodes the nation's civic cohesion and its ability to preserve the institutions that undergird democracy in America.
So argues "A Crisis of Competence: The Corrupting Effect of Political Activism in the University of California," a new report by the California Association of Scholars, a division of the National Association of Scholars (NAS). The report is addressed to the Regents of the University of California, which has ultimate responsibility for governing the UC system, but the pathologies it diagnoses prevail throughout the country.
The analysis begins from a nonpolitical fact: Numerous studies of both the UC system and of higher education nationwide demonstrate that students who graduate from college are increasingly ignorant of history and literature. They are unfamiliar with the principles of American constitutional government. And they are bereft of the skills necessary to comprehend serious books and effectively marshal evidence and argument in written work.
Related Video
Hoover Institution fellow Peter Berkowitz on the politicization of higher education by activist professors.
This decline in the quality of education coincides with a profound transformation of the college curriculum. None of the nine general campuses in the UC system requires students to study the history and institutions of the United States. None requires students to study Western civilization, and on seven of the nine UC campuses, including Berkeley, a survey course in Western civilization is not even offered. In several English departments one can graduate without taking a course in Shakespeare. In many political science departments majors need not take a course in American politics.
Moreover, the evidence suggests that the hollowing of the curriculum stems from too many professors' preference for promoting a partisan political agenda.
National studies by Stanley Rothman in 1999, and by Neil Gross and Solon Simmons in 2007, have shown that universities' leftward tilt has become severe. And a 2005 study by Daniel Klein and Andrew Western in Academic Questions (a NAS publication) shows this is certainly true in California. For example, Democrats outnumbered Republicans four to one on University of California, Berkeley, professional school faculties; in the social sciences the ratio was approximately 21 to one.
The same 2005 study revealed that the Berkeley sociology department faculty was home to 17 Democrats and no Republicans. The political science department included 28 Democrats and two Republicans. The English department had 29 Democrats and one Republican; and the history department had 31 Democrats and one Republican.
While political affiliation alone need not carry classroom implications, the overwhelmingly left-leaning faculty openly declare the inculcation of progressive political ideas their pedagogical priority. As "A Crisis of Competence" notes, "a recent study by UCLA's prestigious Higher Education Research Institute found that more faculty now believe that they should teach their students to be agents of social change than believe that it is important to teach them the classics of Western civilization."
Some university programs tout their political presuppositions and objectives openly. The mission statements of the Women's Studies program at UCLA prejudges the issues by declaring that it proceeds from "the perspectives of those whose participation has been traditionally distorted, omitted, neglected, or denied." And the Critical Race Studies program at the UCLA School of law announces that its aim is to "transform racial justice advocacy."
Even the august American Association of University Professors—which in 1915 and 1940 published classic statements explaining that the aim of academic freedom was not to indoctrinate but to equip students to think for themselves—has sided with the politicized professoriate.
In 1915, the AAUP affirmed that in teaching controversial subjects a professor should "set forth justly without suppression or innuendo the divergent opinions of other investigators; he should cause his students to become familiar with the best published expressions of the great historic types of doctrine upon the questions at issue."
However, in recent statements on academic freedom in 2007 and 2011, the AAUP has undermined its almost century-old strictures against proselytizing. Its new position is that restricting professors to the use of relevant materials and obliging them to provide a reasonably comprehensive treatment of the subject represent unworkable requirements because relevance and comprehensiveness can themselves be controversial.
On the boundaries, they can be—like anything else. However, it is wrong to dismiss professors' duty to avoid introducing into classroom discussion opinions extraneous to the subject and to provide a well-rounded treatment of the matter under consideration. That opens the classroom to whatever professors wish to talk about. And in all too many cases what they wish to talk about in the classroom is the need to transform America in a progressive direction. Last year the leadership of AAUP officially endorsed the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Excluding from the curriculum those ideas that depart from the progressive agenda implicitly teaches students that conservative ideas are contemptible and unworthy of discussion. This exclusion, the California report points out, also harms progressives for the reason John Stuart Mill elaborated in his famous 1859 essay, "On Liberty": "He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that."
The removal of partisan advocacy from the classroom would have long-term political benefits. Liberal education equips students with intellectual skills valued by the marketplace. It prepares citizens to discharge civic responsibilities in an informed and deliberate manner. It fosters a common culture by revealing that much serious disagreement between progressives and conservatives revolves around differing interpretations of how to fulfill America's promise of individual freedom and equality.
It is certainly true that not all progressive professors intrude their politics into the classroom, but a culture of politicization has developed on campus in which department chairs and deans treat its occurrence as routine. "UC administrators," the California report sadly concludes, "far from performing their role as the university's quality control mechanism, now routinely function as the enablers, protectors, and even apologists for the politicized university and its degraded scholarly and educational standards."
In California, this is more than a failure of their duty as educators. It is also a violation of the law. Article IX, Section 9, of the California state constitution provides that "The university shall be entirely independent of all political or sectarian influence and kept free therefrom."
It is incumbent upon the UC Board of Regents, not to mention the governing bodies of other institutions of higher education across the country, to begin the long and arduous work of depoliticizing our universities and renewing liberal education."
Mr. Berkowitz is a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and a member of the National Association of Scholars board of directors. "A Crisis of Competence" is posted at www.nas.org/images/documents/A_Crisis_of_Competence.pdf.
A version of this article appeared March 31, 2012, on page A13 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: How California's Colleges Indoctrinate Students.
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The "Golden Age" in Spain
Hat tip to Vlad Tepes
Wrong picture! Not this Golden Age! That Golden Age
I am no expert when it comes to ancient history, but when I listen to folks like Abdul Faisal Rauf and Muzammil Siddiqi talk, they like to make references to the so-called Golden Age in Spain under Islamic rule. To listen to them-and a lot of politically-correct textbooks- Muslims, Christians and Jews all lived and worked together in harmony. This is a common theme you will hear at these inter-faith meetings. Far be it from me to know whether it is true or not. Here is an explanation from good old politically-correct BBC.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/spain_1.shtml
Here is another view from one who lived in that era.
“The nation of Ishmael persecutes us severely and devises ways to harm us and to debase us. None has been able to reduce us as they have. We have done as our sages instructed us, bearing the lies and absurdities of Ishmael. We listen but remain silent. In spite of all this, we are not spared from the ferocity of their wickedness and their outbursts at any time. On the contrary, the more we suffer and choose to conciliate them, the more they choose to act belligerently toward us.”
-Moses Maimonides- 12th century Jewish scholar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maimonides
I guess Maimonides was born just a little too late.
Wrong picture! Not this Golden Age! That Golden Age
I am no expert when it comes to ancient history, but when I listen to folks like Abdul Faisal Rauf and Muzammil Siddiqi talk, they like to make references to the so-called Golden Age in Spain under Islamic rule. To listen to them-and a lot of politically-correct textbooks- Muslims, Christians and Jews all lived and worked together in harmony. This is a common theme you will hear at these inter-faith meetings. Far be it from me to know whether it is true or not. Here is an explanation from good old politically-correct BBC.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/spain_1.shtml
Here is another view from one who lived in that era.
“The nation of Ishmael persecutes us severely and devises ways to harm us and to debase us. None has been able to reduce us as they have. We have done as our sages instructed us, bearing the lies and absurdities of Ishmael. We listen but remain silent. In spite of all this, we are not spared from the ferocity of their wickedness and their outbursts at any time. On the contrary, the more we suffer and choose to conciliate them, the more they choose to act belligerently toward us.”
-Moses Maimonides- 12th century Jewish scholar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maimonides
I guess Maimonides was born just a little too late.
UC Irvine Campus Paper Convicts George Zimmerman
I am very reluctant, as a rule, to criticize writings by students in the UC Irvine campus paper (New University) with which I disagree. The reason is simple; I teach at UCI, and the writers are, after all, students. Since this week's editorial is in the name of the editorial staff, I will make an exception here.
This week's issue has a lead editorial entitled, "Justice for Trayvon Martin".
http://www.newuniversity.org/2012/04/opinion/justice-for-trayvon-martin/
"It’s scary to see how a man who murdered a young African-American boy in cold blood because of his own prejudices can go free, even though the masses are calling for his arrest and evidence supports this."
I could go through the entire article and point out the implications (like the reference to the Red State) and the examples of slanted writing, but it is the above quote that I want to focus on.
In this sentence, the writer(s) has convicted George Zimmerman of cold-blooded murder acting out of racial bias. It also states that the evidence supports this.
None of that has been proven. First of all, from the audio we have heard, as well as witness statements, I think we can assume that the shot was fired in the middle of a fight. At this point, I think it is a stretch to think that Zimmerman simply stood face to face with Martin, pulled his weapon and fired. That would be cold-blooded murder.
As I have said before, this case will rise or fall on the following:
1 What happened at the moment Zimmerman and Martin came face to face?
2 Who initiated the physical struggle?
3 Under what exact circumstances did Zimmerman draw his weapon?
4 Under what circumstances did Zimmerman fire his weapon?
The fact that Zimmerman may have called 9-11 dozens of times in the past is not the deciding issue. The fact that he was told by the 9-11 operator not to follow Martin is not the deciding issue. Even if he used bad judgment in trying to follow Martin after being told by the 9-11 operator not to do so, the deciding issues are numbers 1-4 above.
Zimmerman has his version of events. There has been disagreement over the extent of his injuries. There is no clear audio that shows that Zimmerman called Martin a name. Some say he referred to Martin as a
"f------ coon". Some think he said it was "f------- cold." The Zimmerman family has reportedly said, the word was "f-------punk". I can't tell. Unless he used the first word in referring to Martin, why are they calling Zimmerman a racist? Don't forget how NBC edited that 9-11 audio to make it sound as if Zimmerman volunteered the fact that Martin "looked black", when in reality, he was answering the 9-11 operator's question.
I am not trying to acquit Zimmerman here because I don't know the answers to the above 4 questions myself. The point of the matter is that the New University editorial again causes me to wonder what the Hell they teach these kids in journalism class. It is not the role of the media to proclaim someone guilty who is yet to be charged. The fact that this case is being played out with a bounty on Zimmerman's head, courtesy of the New Black Panther Party, makes such language even more irresponsible.
Let the police and prosecutors do their job.
This week's issue has a lead editorial entitled, "Justice for Trayvon Martin".
http://www.newuniversity.org/2012/04/opinion/justice-for-trayvon-martin/
"It’s scary to see how a man who murdered a young African-American boy in cold blood because of his own prejudices can go free, even though the masses are calling for his arrest and evidence supports this."
I could go through the entire article and point out the implications (like the reference to the Red State) and the examples of slanted writing, but it is the above quote that I want to focus on.
In this sentence, the writer(s) has convicted George Zimmerman of cold-blooded murder acting out of racial bias. It also states that the evidence supports this.
None of that has been proven. First of all, from the audio we have heard, as well as witness statements, I think we can assume that the shot was fired in the middle of a fight. At this point, I think it is a stretch to think that Zimmerman simply stood face to face with Martin, pulled his weapon and fired. That would be cold-blooded murder.
As I have said before, this case will rise or fall on the following:
1 What happened at the moment Zimmerman and Martin came face to face?
2 Who initiated the physical struggle?
3 Under what exact circumstances did Zimmerman draw his weapon?
4 Under what circumstances did Zimmerman fire his weapon?
The fact that Zimmerman may have called 9-11 dozens of times in the past is not the deciding issue. The fact that he was told by the 9-11 operator not to follow Martin is not the deciding issue. Even if he used bad judgment in trying to follow Martin after being told by the 9-11 operator not to do so, the deciding issues are numbers 1-4 above.
Zimmerman has his version of events. There has been disagreement over the extent of his injuries. There is no clear audio that shows that Zimmerman called Martin a name. Some say he referred to Martin as a
"f------ coon". Some think he said it was "f------- cold." The Zimmerman family has reportedly said, the word was "f-------punk". I can't tell. Unless he used the first word in referring to Martin, why are they calling Zimmerman a racist? Don't forget how NBC edited that 9-11 audio to make it sound as if Zimmerman volunteered the fact that Martin "looked black", when in reality, he was answering the 9-11 operator's question.
I am not trying to acquit Zimmerman here because I don't know the answers to the above 4 questions myself. The point of the matter is that the New University editorial again causes me to wonder what the Hell they teach these kids in journalism class. It is not the role of the media to proclaim someone guilty who is yet to be charged. The fact that this case is being played out with a bounty on Zimmerman's head, courtesy of the New Black Panther Party, makes such language even more irresponsible.
Let the police and prosecutors do their job.
Hazem Chehabi Issue Still Plagues UC Irvine
Hazem Chehabi
This week's issue of New University, the campus newspaper of UC Irvine, has a letter to the editor from a student protesting the fact that Hazem Chehabi, the honorary consul general of Syria in Orange County is also the chair of the UC Irvine Foundation. To read the letter, open the below link and proceed to page 11. The letter appears in the lower right-hand corner.
http://bluetoad.com/publication/?m=17734&l=1
If Mr Chehabi thinks that those opposing him are all "Islamic fundamentalists", then I guess that makes me one too.
CAIR in Tampa and Oklahoma
Hat tip to Red County
The below article from Red County was written by Randy McDaniels and concerns activities of CAIR in Tampa and Oklahoma. Pay particular attention to the statements of ex-CIA chief James Woolsey in regards to CAIR.
http://www.redcounty.com/content/cia-director-vs-tampa-school-board-intelligence-vs-arrogance-re-cair-and-your-childs-educati
Don't you just want to know what the US Attorney's Office in Dallas has in its files? We will need a new administration, however, tio see it come to light. If President Obama fails to win re-election, I will predict that a lot of these so-called leaders from CAIR and going to leave the country.
The below article from Red County was written by Randy McDaniels and concerns activities of CAIR in Tampa and Oklahoma. Pay particular attention to the statements of ex-CIA chief James Woolsey in regards to CAIR.
http://www.redcounty.com/content/cia-director-vs-tampa-school-board-intelligence-vs-arrogance-re-cair-and-your-childs-educati
Don't you just want to know what the US Attorney's Office in Dallas has in its files? We will need a new administration, however, tio see it come to light. If President Obama fails to win re-election, I will predict that a lot of these so-called leaders from CAIR and going to leave the country.
Equal Opportunity, Diversity, and Fair Hiring Practices at Univ of Iowa Law School
How bad is it when even in Iowa, a university law school only hires liberals as professors? Read the sad tale of Teresa Wagner, a conservative who was foolish enough to think she could be a professor at the University of Iowa Law School
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/05/iowa-republicans-blast-law-school-over-refusal-to-hire-conservative-professor/#ixzz1rGqSf2ib
"committed to equal opportunity, diversity and to following fair hiring practices."
What that means for all you UC Santa Cruz Community Studies majors is that they have white liberals, black liberals, Hispanic liberals (Chicanos, if you will), Asian liberals, Arab liberals, American Indian liberals, women liberals, and gay liberals. Very diverse. The problem is you can be black, Asian, Hispanic, gay, or whatever, but if you are conservative, you are not wanted. In other words, there is no diversity of thought.
"committed to equal opportunity, diversity and to following fair hiring practices."
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Is George Zimmerman a Racist?
Here is a new twist to the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman saga. The below video shows a homeless black man being attacked from behind by a white male. This occurred in December 2010 in Sanford, Florida.
The attacker was a local thug named Justin Collison, who happened to be the son of a local police officer. In spite of the video, weeks went by and no arrest was made. Now read the below report from Daily Caller. The article centers around a letter reportedly written to the NAACP by a Zimmerman family member.
http://dailycaller.com/2012/04/04/zimmerman-demanded-discipline-in-2010-race-related-beating-for-officers-who-investigated-martin-shooting/
If the facts in that letter from a Zimmerman family member to the NAACP are accurate, do you still think George Zimmerman is a racist? Many are actually scrambling to define what Zimmerman's race is since his father is a white Anglo and his mother Hispanic. Now they are referring to George as a "white Hispanic".
How convenient.
The attacker was a local thug named Justin Collison, who happened to be the son of a local police officer. In spite of the video, weeks went by and no arrest was made. Now read the below report from Daily Caller. The article centers around a letter reportedly written to the NAACP by a Zimmerman family member.
http://dailycaller.com/2012/04/04/zimmerman-demanded-discipline-in-2010-race-related-beating-for-officers-who-investigated-martin-shooting/
If the facts in that letter from a Zimmerman family member to the NAACP are accurate, do you still think George Zimmerman is a racist? Many are actually scrambling to define what Zimmerman's race is since his father is a white Anglo and his mother Hispanic. Now they are referring to George as a "white Hispanic".
How convenient.
Rutgers University Back in the Spotlight
Hat tip to Doc's Talk
Rutgers University has seen more than its share of anti-Semitic harassment in the past several years. It is currently the subject of a Title VI (Civil Rights Act) investigation by the Dept. of Education's Office of Civil Rights as a result of complaints of anti-Semitism. At the center of current controversy at Rutgers is Aaron Marcus, a Jewish student. The below article by Doc's Talk centers around a letter sent to Rutgers by the Zionist Organization of America. (For the sake of full disclosure, one of the writers, Susan Tuchman, is a friend and colleague of this writer.)
http://docstalk.blogspot.com/2012/04/reprehensible-rutgers-state-university.html
Kudos to the Zionist Organization of America, one of the few national Jewish organizations with the courage to support Jewish students on college campuses who have to endure anti-Semitism.
Rutgers University has seen more than its share of anti-Semitic harassment in the past several years. It is currently the subject of a Title VI (Civil Rights Act) investigation by the Dept. of Education's Office of Civil Rights as a result of complaints of anti-Semitism. At the center of current controversy at Rutgers is Aaron Marcus, a Jewish student. The below article by Doc's Talk centers around a letter sent to Rutgers by the Zionist Organization of America. (For the sake of full disclosure, one of the writers, Susan Tuchman, is a friend and colleague of this writer.)
http://docstalk.blogspot.com/2012/04/reprehensible-rutgers-state-university.html
Kudos to the Zionist Organization of America, one of the few national Jewish organizations with the courage to support Jewish students on college campuses who have to endure anti-Semitism.
Another Quote of the Day From Harry Reid
There are certain benefits in keeping old Harry Reid around in the Senate for a few more years. This latest proclamation from the leader of the Senate should brighten your day. Be sure and send it on to at least 10 of your friends, and the world will be a better place.
http://www.lvrj.com/news/reid-to-tsa-smile-146181975.html
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