Garbanzo Toons

But They're Not All Terrorists

I don't have to tell anybody which religion I'm talking about when I say that. Even the defenders who use that as their big talking point and try desperately not to think of Islam when they try to excuse each new terror attack can't help but think of Islam, because - do I really need to say it?

Besides the fact that "they're not all terrorists" is at best, damning with faint praise, and at worst, setting the bar embarrassing low, there are other pathologies to consider. Honor killings have been imported to the United States by members of the Religion of They're Not All Terrorists. Just to keep everyone happy, please allow me to admit that not all Muslim fathers murder their daughters, even if the daughters do become too westernized.

A homicide case that drew attention to so-called honor killings moves into the trial phase this month for an Iraqi immigrant accused of killing his daughter because he believed she was too Westernized.

Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 50, faces life in prison if convicted. In October 2009, he slammed his Jeep into Noor Almaleki, 20, prosecutors said.


The woman, who longed to live a normal American life, laid in a coma for two weeks before succumbing to her injuries, which drew outrage from people nationwide.

First question for the murderer: Why move to the West if you object to your children becoming "too westernized?" Second question: Have you stopped beating your wife, or would that make you "too westernized"?

In a stunning development, the Detroit News did, near the end of the article, mention that this whole concept of "honor killing" has been brought to our doorstep by the Religion Whose Depravity is Regularly Ignored or Excused. In reviewing past murders of Muslim women by their families,

In the Dallas suburb of Lewisville, Texas, Yaser Abdel Said, of Egypt, is accused of shooting his two Texas-born teenage daughters in the back of his taxi cab in 2008 in what the FBI calls an honor killing. Family members say Said felt the girls were acting too Western and had shamed him by dating non-Muslims.

In Buffalo, N.Y., Muzzammil Hassan is accused of beheading his wife in 2009, about a week after he was served with divorce papers. The body of Aasiya Hassan was found at the offices of Bridges TV, the station the Pakistan-born couple established in 2004 to counter negative stereotypes of Muslims.

Peoria police spokesman Mike Tellef said Noor Almaleki's killing raised awareness about honor killings in the U.S.

"Raising awareness," he says. Many of us have been aware of this pathology for years. How about if our law enforcement officers and our main stream media stand up for themselves and the people who depend on them, and stop kowtowing to CAIR, the multiculturalists, and the other enemies of Western Civilization. Maybe then, we could put a stop to this madness.

Labels: CAIR, Detroit News, honor killings, islam, terrorism

posted by Harry @ 2:09 PM 2 comments

Islam Must Turn the Other Cheek

This is by Nolan Finley from the Detroit News:

How absurd is it that the deranged pastor of a tiny Florida church can make the entire world hold its breath just by threatening to burn a book?

The Rev. Terry Jones of the Dove Outreach Center in Gainesville is a hate-filled nut, for sure. But nothing he's done or vowed to do in offering what can only be viewed rationally as a minor insult to Islam merits the paranoia in the West about a worldwide wave of bloodshed at the hands of offended radicals.

Jones was implored not to carry out his promise to burn a copy of the Quran by, among others, the United Nations, the pope, Gen.general David Petraeus and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

His back-and-forth deliberating was covered as if it was another Bay of Pigs stand-off and this scruffy preacher had his finger on the button.

Come on. Jones should have been entirely ignored. He's not an official of our government, nor is he a national leader in any fashion. He's an obscure redneck, or at least he was until the cameras showed up at his 50-member church.

That Jones captured so much attention is an indication of what the West is up against in its effort to coexist with Islam.

Yeah, I know -- all Muslims aren't mayhem makers. But the lunatic fringe is apparently wide enough to trigger an extreme overreaction from our nation's top offices to a silly little publicity stunt.

If Muslim sensibilities are so tender they can't ignore the bizarre rants of an insignificant American fanatic then this is a culture with a serious anger management issue, and one the West can't help with.

There's no way to head-off every potential slight to Islam. Last time it was Danish cartoons, this time it's a Pentecostal pew jumper who lays down his snakes to strike a match.

Tomorrow, an atheist in Italy may name his dog Mohammad, or a biker in Australia will have a likeness of the prophet tattooed on his backside.

The only answer is for Islam to grow up. Religion invites antagonism; get used to it.

Using the destruction of a book as an excuse to rampage is unacceptable and immature. A Quran, like a Bible, is a physical thing. What makes both books holy are the ideas and inspiration they contain, not the pages and ink. The religion won't be broken by taunts, or by bonfires.

Burning a Quran in the Florida swamps doesn't weaken the foundation of Islam any more than burning an American flag in Pakistan dents our nation's underpinnings, or coating an icon of the Virgin Mary with elephant poop, like that "artist" once did in Cincinnati, undermines Christianity.

Grown-ups shrug off such affronts for the ignorance they are, and move on. They don't go nuts, as the radicals did after the cartoon episode.

We've had the mantra "Islam is a religion of peace" drilled into us for the past nine years. But Muslims still have some work to do to make that case. Peaceful religions aren't so easily provoked to violence. Religions of peace turn the other cheek.

What more is there to say?

Labels: Detroit News, islam, Koran, Muslims, Nolan Finley, religion

posted by Harry @ 5:53 PM 1 comments

Fourth of July Thoughts

In today's Detroit Free Press, Stephen Henderson offered his views on the Fourth of July. Being an editor at the liberal Free Press, Henderson is no simple-minded cheerleader for America. Sure, we can celebrate, but we also have to acknowledge those less than savory episodes in our country's history.

But the Declaration's principal author, Thomas Jefferson, and its signers in the Continental Congress were clouded by a much more complex morality, principally hobbled by their inability to ensure that the independence they were asserting for themselves would apply to everyone.

and

There are, for example, our historic struggles with gender equality and the current debate over equal protection for gay Americans. You can see it in arguments over how we treat our enemies in the war on terror and how a nation of immigrants welcomes -- or shuns -- those who want to share in our freedom.

Of course, he's going somewhere with this. And it's his next sentence.

America is a journey toward perfection, defined by its struggles to overcome the frailty of human imperfection.

Perfection? Understanding that all we have to work with in this country, and on this planet, are imperfect, fallible human beings, the quest for perfection is strictly for suckers. I think we have to understand that first, and look at the other plans throughout history that sought perfection, but found instead slavery, fascism, and death.

I began rereading volume II (out of 3) of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (my summer reading project) and came across the following quote:

A people who still remembered that their ancestors had been the masters of the world would have applauded, with conscious pride, the representation of ancient freedom, if they had not long since been accustomed to prefer the solid assurance of bread to the unsubstantial visions of liberty and greatness.

And then there was this, by Nolan Finley in today's Detroit News:

Voters in Port Chester, N.Y., went to the polls last month carrying six votes each to cast in the village board election. They could spread them out among multiple candidates, or plunk them all for one favorite. They were also allowed to cast ballots over a five-day period.

The hope of federal Judge Stephen Robinson was that Hispanics, who make up nearly half the Port Chester populace, would target their six votes each at Hispanic candidates, thus achieving his goal of crafting a board more demographically in line with the local population.

Robinson ordered the scheme, called cumulative voting, under the federal Voting Rights Act, which has turned into one of the greatest perversions of democracy ever imagined. The judge acted on complaints that despite their large presence in the community, Hispanics had never managed to win a seat on the board.

There was no evidence that Hispanics were being kept from the polls or discouraged from voting. Nor was there anything stopping Hispanic citizens in the past from pooling their considerable single votes behind one Hispanic candidate. But the fact that a Hispanic hadn't been elected was evidence enough for the judge to determine racial discrimination was at work.

Even some Hispanic voters found the solution unnerving.

With that kind of voting, why do we need people to vote at all? Our wise progressive judges can let us know who the winners should be, and then votes can be appropriately divided so that the correct candidate wins. All candidates will receive at least some of the votes. Self-esteem of the candidates must also be a consideration . . . mustn't it?

Off to the barbecue!

Labels: Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, Fourth of July, Gibbon, Nolan Finley

posted by Harry @ 1:41 PM 0 comments

Who's Hijacking What?

The Detroit News and others who are sympathetic to the Islamic community are making a big deal of the fact that an estimated 150 Muslims protested against terrorism at the arraignment of the latest high profile Islamic terrorist.

Muslims, Arab-Americans and Nigerian-Americans stood together Friday outside the federal courthouse downtown to speak out against terrorism and Islamic extremists.

An estimated 150 people attended a peaceful demonstration, carrying large American flags and signs that read, "Not in the Name of Islam" and "Not in Our Name."

The rally was held during the U.S. District Court arraignment of terror suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who is accused of trying to blow up a Northwest Airlines jet bound for Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Christmas Day.

Majed Moughni of Dearborn said he hopes Friday's rally leads to a "movement" by Muslims to become more vocal in standing up to Islamic radicals who invade their schools and mosques.

"We are not going to let these terrorists hijack our religion," said Moughni.

"We've been trying to recover from (the Sept. 11 terror attacks) for nine years. (This) comes right in our backyards, right over the heads of the largest Muslim population in North America."

There are other article about how outraged local Muslims are over recent Islamic terrorist attacks, but they could only muster 150 for an anti-terror rally? That's it? This was pretty well publicized too, so there are no excuses for not showing up if one is a true opponent of terrorism.

As a contrast to this pathetic, limp-wristed attempt to garner public sympathy, let's take a look at a previous rally (actually rallies) held by local Muslims. Back in the summer of 2006, Israel was forced to go to war against Hezbollah in Lebanon. How did local Muslims feel about terror back then? According to this NPR report:

Daily protests occur in Dearborn. At one recent demonstration, organized by the Congress of Arab-Americans, about 1,000 people attended. College-age men asked, in call and response fashion, "Who is your army?" Protestors responded: "Hezbollah." "Who is your leader?" they were asked. "Nasrallah," the chanters responded. Many carried placards of the Hezbollah leader. A few days earlier at an even larger demonstration, more than 15,000 turned out, about half of Dearborn's Arab community.

Those who regularly attend the demonstrations tend to be the most strident.

"Oh, Jews, remember Khaibar," the marchers chant. "The army of the Prophet will return."

The line is a reference to Khaibar, a Jewish town north of Medina that, according to Islamic tradition, was overtaken by the Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century. Once defeated, the surviving Jews of Khaibar were forced into serfdom. Two decades later, they were expelled from the Arabian peninsula.

Hmm, let's review: 150 show up to condemn terrorism and they're lauded. 15,000 show up to support terrorism and outright Jew-hatred, and they are forgotten.

Final thought: Out of the 150 protesters, how many really meant it? I bet the high profile names were there only for show.

Labels: Detroit News, Hezbollah, islam, Israel, Jews, Lebanon, Muslim anti-semitism, terror trials, terrorism

posted by Harry @ 3:11 PM 1 comments

Interesting Point of View

The following letter was printed in today's Detroit News:

The doctor-patient relationship is already compromised. Patient care decisions are influenced by private insurance companies, private clinic administrators and private hospital business officers. Private institutions lack transparency and provide little or no opportunity for doctors and patients to effect changes and improvements. Government, on the other hand is participatory. Witness health care debate. Private companies would never consider opening public discussion on what they do and how they do it. I favor the Obama health care initiative because government is by Constitution and legislation more responsive to public opinion than any other American institution.

Go ahead, read it again. I didn't believe it the first time either.

So since government is participatory, will there be public debate on my next colonoscopy? What about yours? Will the letter writer, instead of getting a second opinion if he needs one on a serious medical issue, take his doctor in front of a televised congressional investigation? Will there be debate in the Senate?

What about intrusion by lobbyists and wealthy special interests? Will the writer know he's getting the best care possible, or will he (or she) be subject to some inferior yet more expensive methods that were pushed on his congressional representative who then forced them on to his busy, unsuspecting doctor? Will congressional opinion on the writer's medical care be based on knowledge of the writer as a person or a patient, or will it be based on what ever will get his representative reelected? Will campaign contributions have any effect on the medical care he receives?

It doesn't matter. Government is transparent . . . especially under Obama.

Labels: Detroit News, government, Obama, Obamacare

posted by Harry @ 1:19 PM 1 comments

The Humorous, the Not so Humorous, and the Downright Stupid

This is one of those things that I found humorous, but many white liberals would go to great lengths to try and explain why the writer of the piece is self-loathing and doesn't really get it. My question to them would be, who doesn't get it?

Thank you very, very much. You see us poor helpless inferior blacks (oh forgive me, I must be politically correct, "African Americans"), and you want to help us using your superior intellect. After all, we could not possibly succeed in this racist, homophobic and greedy country without your assistance.

I first met you guys in the 70s when I attended the prestigious Maryland Institute College of Art on a scholarship. A black kid from the ghetto, I found myself amongst white kids from well to do families. I worked a part-time job to cover my books and art supplies. You guys did not have to work.

And yet, I remember many conversations about how you would never bring a child into this "freaking world" and how "freaking screwed up" this "freaking country is". You told me how "freaking selfish" your "freaking parents" were and how they only cared about "freaking money". Then, you drove off in your convertible given to you be your "freaking parents" as I stood at the bus stop.

Yeah, you know you want to read the rest.

This, not as humorous article, is from the Detroit News. It explores the effects of the Obama-like health care reforms in Massachusetts. I believe that's a state or something like that, in the United States, so it should give a pretty good picture of what would happen to our nation should we be foolish enough to believe that a government medical bureaucracy would truly be in our best interest.

If you are curious about how President Barack Obama's health plan would affect your health care, look no farther than Massachusetts. In 2006, the Bay State enacted a slate of reforms that almost perfectly mirror the plan of Obama and congressional Democrats.

Those reforms reveal that the Obama plan would mean higher health insurance premiums for millions, would reduce choice by eliminating both low-cost and comprehensive health plans, would encourage insurers to avoid the sick and would reduce the quality of care.

Massachusetts reduced its uninsured population by two-thirds -- yet the cost would be considered staggering, had state officials not done such a good job of hiding it.

Government lying about costs? Why that could never happen under the absolutely honest and totally transparent Obama administration!

Finally, Massachusetts shows where "ObamaCare" would ultimately lead: Officials are already laying the groundwork for government rationing.

As we all know, due to the unprecedented costs of Obamacare, there would have to be rationing. Not now, but down the road a week or two, after all good citizens have forgotten past promises of free medical care for all, a new crisis would be claimed due to - must I really say it? - rising health care costs. This crisis, as all crises, would only be solvable by more government and rationing health care - and it would be blamed on George Bush's failed policies.

The most sweeping provision in the Massachusetts reforms -- and the legislation before Congress -- is an "individual mandate" that makes health insurance compulsory. Massachusetts shows that such a mandate would oust millions from their low-cost health plans and force them to pay higher premiums.

The necessity of specifying what satisfies the mandate gives politicians enormous power to dictate the content of every American's health plan -- a power that health care providers inevitably capture and use to increase the required level of insurance.

In the three years since Massachusetts enacted its individual mandate, providers successfully lobbied to require 16 specific types of coverage under the mandate: prescription drugs, preventive care, diabetes self-management, drug-abuse treatment, early intervention for autism, hospice care, hormone replacement therapy, non-in-vitro fertility services, orthotics, prosthetics, telemedicine, testicular cancer, lay midwives, nurses, nurse practitioners and pediatric specialists.

The Massachusetts Legislature is considering more than 70 additional requirements.

Those requirements can increase premiums by 14 percent or more. Officials further increased premiums by imposing new limits on cost-sharing.

"The effect," writes the Boston Globe, "has been to provide more comprehensive insurance than in most other states but also to raise costs." Premiums are growing 21 to 46 percent faster than the national average, in part because Massachusetts' individual mandate has effectively outlawed affordable health plans.

Massachusetts long ago adopted another feature of the Obama plan: price controls that prohibit insurers from varying premiums based on a purchaser's health status. Those price controls further increase premiums for the young and healthy.

They also eliminate comprehensive health plans. Obama adviser David Cutler found that in Harvard University's price-controlled health insurance exchange, "adverse selection" or the attraction of the sickest patients caused premiums for the most comprehensive plan to rise until insurers eventually canceled it. Those price controls also encourage insurers to avoid the sick. And who can blame them, considering that the government is forcing them to sell a $50,000 policy for just $10,000?

And after all that, please tell me again how Capitalism and the free market are immoral and don't work. Oh, and there's more to the article. It's very informative, and probably something the Obama White House would want you to report as "fishy" information.

If the writer of this piece were a tiny bit smarter, she would understand the stupidity of what she wrote and posted on the Internet for all to see.

But in all the florid or scalpel-sharp prose, there's one constant: Peeking out from the center of the story is the matter of his playing a major part in the death of a 28-year-old woman.

Mary Jo wasn't a right-wing talking point or a negative campaign slogan. She was a dedicated civil rights activist and political talent with a bright future -- granted, whenever someone dies young, people sermonize about how he had a "bright future" ahead of him -- but she actually did. She wasn't afraid to defy convention (28 and unmarried, oh the horror!) or create her own career path based on her talents. She lived in Georgetown (where I grew up) and loved the Red Sox (we'll forgive her for that). Then she got in a car driven by a 36-year-old senator with an alcohol problem and a cauldron full of demons, and wound up a controversial footnote in a dynasty.

We don't know how much Kennedy was affected by her death, or what she'd have thought about arguably being a catalyst for the most successful Senate career in history. What we don't know, as always, could fill a Metrodome.

Still, ignorance doesn't preclude a right to wonder. So it doesn't automatically make someone (aka, me) a Limbaugh-loving, aerial-wolf-hunting NRA troll for asking what Mary Jo Kopechne would have had to say about Ted's death, and what she'd have thought of the life and career that are being (rightfully) heralded.

Who knows -- maybe she'd feel it was worth it.

Yeah, I know. I had the same reaction. Did she really write that? I'm not going to try and delve into her twisted psyche. I'm sure plenty of others are hard at work doing that. I know everything I need to know about her, not only because of that quote, but because in the days since, she hasn't found it necessary to retract, apologize, or explain in any way her plumbing the depths of stupidity - all while inserting the obligatory slamming of Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin. She did forget to slam Bush. That must have been in a previous column.

Oh, and speaking of the dearly departed Big Eddy Kennedy, in an effort to humanize that larger-than-life senator, we were helpfully informed that he enjoyed Chappaquiddick jokes. How about that?

Labels: Detroit News, Obamacare, racism, Ted Kennedy

posted by Harry @ 8:34 PM 3 comments

Sharia Law in Dearborn?

According to the Detroit News,

A group that aims to convert Muslims to Christianity has sued the city of Dearborn and its Police Department, claiming the city is violating its free speech and religious rights by limiting its access to patrons at this weekend's 14th annual Dearborn Arab International Festival.

The group, Arabic Christian Perspective, filed a lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit, alleging its rights were violated when Dearborn police told the group its members would not be able to walk freely through the festival's four- to five-block area passing out literature promoting Christianity over Islam. Organizers want to confine the group to a designated area, the lawsuit said.

In Islamic countries under Sharia law the penalty for proselytizing any religion except the Religion of Peace, is death. Fortunately they haven't gone that far in Dearborn yet.

In fairness (a concept unknown in the Islamic world) to the city of Dearborn, the article also reports that,

Festival organizers say the issue is not about religion.

"We have Christian and Muslim groups that have information booths (at the festival)," said Fay Beydoun, the executive director for the American Arab Chamber of Commerce in Dearborn, one of the groups organizing the event. Arabic Christian Perspective is welcome to rent a booth as well, she said, but the group has not contacted her organization.

But,

Beydoun said it would be a safety issue to have large numbers of people passing out fliers during the festival.

The safety issue thing sounds shady. How would these flyers be dangerous? Oh yeah, they promote Christianity to Muslims. That could cause dangerous thinking patterns to arise. And will there be a large number of people passing out flyers? I think not.

I've actually wanted to go to one of these things for years, but I never have. If I get my act together, I might go down there. And then I will report back.

Labels: Arab International Festival, Dearborn, Detroit News, islam, sharia

posted by Harry @ 11:18 AM 2 comments

Writing About not Writing - sort of

I don't post much during the school year. I've got too much work to do. I do write letters though, lots of them - to newspapers - mostly my two hometown rags, The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press. The News is the more conservative of the two, but they run the same biased-against-Israel type articles that the Free Press does. And they give space to Hezbollah supporting Imam Mohammed Ali Elahi. The only place their conservatism shows is when editor, Nolan Finley writes the occasional piece demanding that Palestinians take responsibility for the violence they promote.

Over the past two days I wrote four letters. And since they're for publication (happens about 10% of the time) I work a lot harder polishing than I do on blog posts. Some nights I'm up way past my bedtime to finish a letter or two. I don't want to be up on these nights. It makes my head hurt. But I know that I must write or the rising bile will never go down, and it will eat away at me until I write. I will be angry the next day if I don't get the letter out before I go to bed. It will be what I think about all day. I will be angry and I might take it out on my students. From what I understand about teaching, that is a bad thing. The headache disappears as soon as I hit the "send" key.

Obama made his speech to the Muslim world. My local papers ran stories, editorial, and analyses. They were exactly what I expected. Write, I must. And I did. And now I'm tired. So I am sitting around reading for most of today even though it is a beautiful day for being outside and working in the yard (and if saw my yard, you would agree that I really should be out there working).

I got it all out though, and I think I did it in an intelligent, well-reasoned manner. Sometimes when I write, I have to remove the anger and sarcasm, but I didn't have a problem this time. Maybe it was because I knew in advance that I was going to have to write.

And now Obama made his D-Day speech. I could have watched it or read a transcript. I don't want to. I know it will be praised by liberal progressives, and actually analyzed and critiqued by conservatives. I don't think Mr. Obama has any respect for our military or understands the role of the military in keeping us free and safe from attack by our enemies. Had Obama led the Spartans, he would have marched 300 negotiators to meet the Persians. After Pearl Harbor, he would have gone to Tokyo to let the Japanese know that we were not at war with them, and apologize for the American arrogance and anti-Japanese policies that made them angry at the United States in the first place. He would have taken an "even-handed" approach to the Holocaust.

So rather than write any more about Obama and his speech, I'm going to steal a bit from Vanderleun,

Today your job is straightforward. First you must load 40 to 50 pounds on your back. Then you need to climb down a net of rope that is banging on the steel side of a ship and jump into a steel rectangle bobbing on the surface of the ocean below you. Others are already inside the steel boat shouting and urging you to hurry up.

Once in the boat you stand with hundreds of others as the boat is driven towards distant beaches and cliffs through a hot hailstorm of bullets and explosions. Boats moving nearby are, from time to time, hit with a high explosive shell and disintegrate in a red rain of bullets and body parts. The smell of men fouling themselves near you as the fear bites into their necks and they hunch lower into the boat mingles with the smell of cordite and seaweed.

And here is Ramirez,

Labels: American Digest, D-Day, Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, Israel, Michael Ramirez, Obama

posted by Harry @ 7:33 PM 1 comments

There is the current world-wide recession to consider. Then, if like me, you live in Michigan, you also have to deal with the fact that this state has been on the skids for years. As the auto companies slowly die, Michigan slowly fades. But what if you live in that part of Michigan known as Detroit, you know, the Motor City, Motown, home of what used to be known as "the Big 3", Ford, Chrysler, and GM? Then you really know what failure is.

I've been a Detroit area resident all of my life. (No, I'm not asking for sympathy.) Both of my parents lived and grew up in Detroit. I've had a close up view of the disintegration of a once fine city. I suppose there are a lot of reasons for the current failure of Detroit. Many say its decline began with the 1967 riots. I remember those riots well, even though I was safe in my suburban home, and got no closer than newspaper and TV reports. Except for the first day of the riot. I was at a baseball game at Tiger Stadium, a short distance from 12th Street, where the riot began. We knew nothing at the time, but we did notice smoke rising in the distance and paddy wagons on the drive home.

Between then and now, the city has suffered through the long reign of Coleman Young and the abbreviated reign of Kwame Kilpatrick. Both of these men were freely elected, so one would have to assume that much of Detroit's downfall is self imposed. Yes, there was also the generation of "white flight" after the riots. Detroit public schools are so bad that parents who can, take their children out to my district and other suburban districts. The antics of the Detroit School Board have been news fodder for decades. They've hired, eaten, and spit out superintendent after superintendent. And some of those superintendents were less than stellar. Right now, they're in the process of firing the latest one.

As embarrassing as the Detroit School Board has been over the years, the city council has set the standard for lunacy. That's clear from this editorial by Nolan Finley of the Detroit News, which I'm reprinting in its entirety. Read it and weep for Detroit. Or laugh. After all, these people were freely elected and reelected by Detroit's citizens.

Nowhere is Michigan's brain drain on greater display than in the Detroit City Council chambers.

My hopes for Detroit's future faded as I watched the tape of last Tuesday's council meeting, the one that considered the Cobo Center expansion deal.

It was a tragic circus, a festival of ignorance that confirmed the No. 1 obstacle to Detroit's progress is the bargain basement leaders that city voters elect. The black nationalism that is now the dominant ideology of the council was on proud display, both at the table and in the audience.

Speakers advocating for the deal were taunted by the crowd and cut short by Council President Monica Conyers, who presided over the hearing like an angry bulldog; whites were advised by the citizens to, "Go home."

Opponents were allowed to rant and ramble on uninterrupted about "those people" who want to steal Detroit's assets and profit from the city's labors.

A pitiful Teamster official who practically crawled to the table on his knees expressing profuse respect for this disrespectful body was battered by both the crowd and the council.

When he dared suggest that an improved Cobo Center would create more good-paying jobs for union workers, Conyers reminded him, "Those workers look like you; they don't look like me."

Desperate, he invoked President Barack Obama's message of unity and was angrily warned, "Don't yousay his name here."

Juxtapose the place and the faces and imagine a white Livonia City Council treating a black union representative with such overt racial hostility. The Justice Department would swoop down like a hawk, and the Rev. Al Sharpton would clog Five Mile Road with protesters.

But in Detroit, dealing with the council's bigotry is part of the cost of doing business. As is dealing with its incompetence. (I'll pause here and excuse from that indictment Sheila Cockrel and Brenda Jones, who supported the Cobo deal, as did Kwame Kenyatta, who although he's an avowed nationalist, most often votes in the city's best interests.)

Emmet Moten, the developer who just opened the Fort Shelby Hotel downtown, was at the meeting and found it appalling. Moten went to Lansing in 1983 on behalf of Mayor Coleman Young to successfully lobby for a regional tax to support Cobo.

"And now we're saying, 'We don't want your money,'" Moten says. "If Coleman were alive today, he'd be outraged. It hurts, it really hurts."

Now, Moten says, "we Detroiters gotta be outraged."

Outraged enough to go to the polls in November and elect a brighter, more responsible council. Moten and others I talked with this week are encouraged that mayoral primary voters picked Dave Bing and Ken Cockrel Jr., the two most rational candidates on the ballot.

The test now will be whether it's those primary voters or the angry council crowd who represent the real Detroit.

As Moten notes, "You can't fix this for us. We have to fix it ourselves."

Nobody can help Detroit if voters again elect a City Council composed of separatists, clueless dowagers and the apparently insane.

There they are, exposed as both stupid and racist.

It gets better though. Union leaders in Detroit are willing to excuse Monica Conyers blatant racism.

Union officials agree that Conyers, who is black, was likely trying to make a valid point -- a desire to see more minorities in construction jobs -- but her presentation could have used some polish.

"I think she spoke without thinking, and it was totally unnecessary and something that should have not been said," said Leamon Wilson, chairman of the 18 presidents of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees locals that represent city employees. "Building trades have not integrated like we would like to see, but I don't think that comment should have been made like that. "That was totally improper," said Wilson, who is black.

and

John Riehl, president of AFSCME Local 207, representing hundreds of Detroit Water and Sewerage Department workers, said there is a separation of growth in the labor movement between public employees, auto workers and steelworkers -- more diverse unions -- as opposed to the building-trade and construction unions.

"President Conyers touched on an important issue that is a global battle, and really an affirmative action issue," said Riehl, who is white. "Her point is that we must keep the employment levels up for black Detroiters, both as public employees and construction workers, and that is totally supportable. Detroiters are very keen on keeping as much work in Detroit as possible and keeping black Detroiters employed. Detroit is an 85% black city, and people want to see their neighbors working."

So what is the message here? Union leaders who depend on the largesse of the Detroit City Clowns - uh - council will excuse hatred, racism, and outright stupidity.

Also, this hasn't been made public, and I'm betting that there is a serious effort to hush this up, and I may be the only person to realize what's going to happen, so listen carefully. It's obvious to me, that in the name of Affirmative Action and diversity (which has replaced skill and competence as the defining factor in hiring workers) the construction trades need more workers who look like Monica Conyers. Are there blacks and minorities - oh, and women - who are seeking these jobs? I don't know, but if not, here's what's going to happen. Union leaders will be staking out bars and lounges where men (and women) gather. They will buy these men (and women) drinks. The drinks will drugged. Men (and women) will disappear, only to reappear as apprentices on job sites around the city. They will claim to be voluntarily working these jobs, but in reality, they and their families will be hostages of the unions, forced to labor for long hours at union wages (and benefits) so that Detroit and its unions can claim a racially and gender based diverse work force.

So Detroit is destined to remain the armpit of the nation as minority members get shanghied into working construction, and Detroit voters continue to elect incompetents. It will continue until Detroit is completely empty and some brave citizen explorers go back into the deserted city to reclaim it.

Labels: Detroit, Detroit City Council, Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, Monica Conyers, Nolan Finley

posted by Harry @ 5:16 PM 4 comments

Media Bias in Detroit?

I wasn't sure if this was worth mentioning, but it's been annoying me for the past couple of days, so I'd better write about it. The Detroit Free Press, our more liberal paper (not to be confused with the more conservative Detroit News that carries a regular column by Hezbollah-delegate-in-Dearborn Imam Ehahi) ran an article with the following headline:

Construction worker goes on a spree.

What construction worker? Where? What kind of spree? Gambling? Spending? Drinking? The subheading only added to the obfuscation:

3 killed, dozens wounded in Jerusalem.

These two lines seem to have nothing in common unless you had already read the story on the Internet. Or unless you wonder what the writer is talking about and you read the article following the headlines. And then you know - the "construction worker" was a Palestinian on a murder spree. My, how unusual. Who could have possibly guessed?

JERUSALEM -- A Palestinian construction worker commandeered a construction vehicle and rampaged through central Jerusalem on Wednesday, killing three people in what police later called the act of a lone attacker.
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Dozens were injured as the front loader flattened cars and flipped a crowded bus before its driver was shot dead by an Israeli soldier on leave who scrambled onto the vehicle.

The attack evoked memories of the politically motivated suicide bombings during the second Palestinian uprising, but police said the man appeared to have no ties to militant groups.

Three Palestinian groups claimed responsibility for Wednesday's rampage, but police officials dismissed them.

Police identified the driver as Hosam Dwayyat, a married, 30-year-old father of two who lived in predominantly Arab East Jerusalem.

Near the end, we read,

Moshe Plesser, an 18-year-old Israeli soldier who just finished basic training, said the man yelled "God is great" in Arabic before trying to continue with his rampage. The officer then fired a final shot in the back of the driver's head.

"To our regret, the attackers do not cease coming up with new ways to strike at the heart of the Jewish people here in Jerusalem," Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski said.

So you really have to dig to get all of the facts. But sometimes, even if you read the whole article, all of the facts just aren't there. For example, The Free Press also ran a glowing piece called:

Palestinian Christian leader calls for American support

OK, he wants American support for what?

Archbishop Theodosius Attallah Hanna, of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, visited an Arab-American church in Livonia on Wednesday and an Islamic center in Dearborn, where he met and spoke with a range of religious and community leaders.

“As a religious man, I ask for justice for the Palestinians,” Hanna told the Free Press in an interview at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn. “Defending human rights is a duty for Christians and religious people.”

The archbishop, who heads the Palestinian Orthodox church in Jerusalem, said through a translator that:

“My wish is that the American people understand what the Palestinians go through,” he said. “Their struggle is a just struggle”

Oh, now I understand. He wants American support to help with the dismantling of Israel and the destruction of the Jewish people. Typical Muslim demand, but this is from an alleged Christian. Talking to a friend about it, he suggested that Hanna may be under pressure from Hamas. Since Israel abandoned Gaza and parts of the West Bank to Muslim control, the Christian minority has been getting forced out, and clergy have been murdered by gunmen. So that is a possibility. But according to Debbie Schlussel,

Hanna was fired by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate because of his open support for terrorism. But Hanna continues to claim he speaks on behalf of the Church, anyway.

He has repeatedly expressed his support for homicide bombers and "all forms and methods" of "resistance," not only against Israel, but also U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Hanna proudly paraded his views to HAMAS' news agency:

These martyrdom freedom fighters are the heroes of the people, and we are proud of them. We categorically reject suspicious attempts to cast suspicion on their deeds. They are not suicidal, as some are claiming. Nor are they terrorists, as others are claiming. They are resisting the occupation.

Hanna also said,

We support the martyrdom [suicide] operations without any reservations, regardless of what skeptics and opponents of this form of resistance are saying.

In a January 2003 sermon marking the Epiphany and the baptism of Jesus, Hanna said,

We do not believe in so-called "peace with Israel" because peace cannot be made with Satan. Israel is the greatest Satan. No concession and no truce must be made [with Israel]. Any type of peace with this entity is concession, submission, and retreat from pan-Arab and national principles . . . . We encourage our youth to participate in the resistance, to carry out martyrdom attacks.

Hanna has repeatedly traveled to Syria and Lebanon to meet with Sheikh Hasan Nasrallah, Secretary-General of Hezbollah, the terrorist group that murdered over 300 U.S. Marines and civilians in Beirut.

So there you have it, the Free Press, when it comes to Israel, is engaged in a campaign of omission of facts, hiding facts, and writing half truths. But as the saying goes, "A half truth is a whole lie." That's why I get more of my news from the Internet than I do from my daily newspaper. If it weren't for the comics, I would have no use for a newspaper at all.

Labels: Anglicans for Israel, archbishop hanna, Debbie Schlussel, Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, Imam Elahi, media bias

posted by Harry @ 9:01 AM 0 comments

Writing the Truth About Palestinian Society - Sort of

It took the massacre of 10 teenage Jewish seminary students to do it, but some news outlets are actually seeing fit to condemn the Palestinians. Not all, even in their denunciations though, can bring themselves to use the word "terrorist" to describe Palestinian - uh - terrorists. For example, read the following column by Nolan Finley of the Detroit News.

No matter what atrocities are committed in their name, the Palestinians never forfeit their victim status.

Last week, a gunman burst into a Jerusalem seminary and sprayed it with bullets, killing eight Jewish students and wounding nine. The victims were teenagers and young adults. They weren't soldiers. They were innocents studying to be men of peace. And Palestinians danced in the streets over their deaths.

Did you hear a whisper of protest from the United Nations? Notice any words of denunciation from the European Union? Did the American college professors lobbying to promote suicide bombers to "sacrifice" bombers find anything unseemly about the Gaza jubilation?

All rose rapidly in condemnation when Israel finally lost patience with the relentless barrage of rockets fired into its southern cities by Hamas, demanding the Israelis remove their tanks and troops from the Gaza Strip. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice fretted that Israel would derail her ill-conceived peace process.

But Israel acted in response to unprovoked attacks on its civilians. It did so only after enduring months of daily rocket assaults aimed indiscriminately at homes, hospitals and schools. It was motivated only by self-defense.

The Palestinians who fired the rockets and shot the guns can make no such claims to justify their actions. They are aggressors, aiming to provoke.

And why not? The Palestinians have used violence to further their political goals without consequence. They engage in the genocidal brainwashing of their children, and their supporters pretend it's just harmless rhetoric.

No matter how heinously they behave, no connection is ever drawn between their affinity for bloodshed and the suffering of their people.

Instead, whatever they do is excused as the legitimate response of an oppressed people, and they are time and again brought back into the fold.

No wonder they continue to kill.

There is an unspoken expectation that Israel must endure steady assaults on its sovereignty and security so as not to upset the rotten apple cart that is the Middle East.

The promise is that if Israel sits on its hands and ignores the thousand cuts, it will someday have peace.

What other country would agree to such a flimsy trade-off? What other people would tolerate a shower of bombs without responding?

Israel's reluctant resignation to the violence has not brought it any closer to peace. The only thing that has curtailed the attacks is the construction of a wall between Israel and its tormentors, and even that is denounced, as if there's something unfair about not opening your doors to your would-be killers.

Israel should be permitted -- encouraged -- to sweep the Gaza Strip clean of Hamas and the other militant groups, and should be able to respond to attacks the way any other country would -- by smashing its attackers.

Coddling killers only invites more killing. Those who long for peace in the Middle East must accept that to get there, the killers must be wiped away.

Those are strong words, but the word "terrorist" never shows up does it? And as much as Finley blasts the Palestinians, he still runs a regular column by local Imam Mohammed Ali Elahi, who constantly engages in the very moral inversion that Finley condemns. Why?

Once before, in the aftermath of the Gaza elections that propelled Hamas to power, Finley told the truth about Palestinians and local terror apologists were in an uproar, going so far as to try and pass a resolution in the state house condemning him. Those Islamo-Nazis and their fellow travelers don't like to be exposed as the vile hate mongers that they are. I'm waiting to see if they try the same trick this time. I hope they do, only so that people can see that they really do sanction the murder of Jews by Islamic terrorists. I'm guessing that if they do go on the attack, they will try and camouflage their desire with talk of condemning all terrorism against all innocent people; and yes, this was a tragedy, but-

They always find a way to justify killing Jews.

Labels: Detroit News, Imam Elahi, Nolan Finley, Palestinians

posted by Harry @ 5:39 PM 3 comments

Redefining "Islamophobia"

We could say that the 25 newspapers that refused to run the comic strip Opus these past two Sundays are all suffering serious symptoms of Islamophobia. I don’t mean that phony malady promoted by CAIR and their fellow traveling jihadi sympathizers. I mean a real fear of Muslims. The papers that wimped out on the Opus issue did so out of a genuine fear of Muslims and what they would do if some insane irresponsible imam whipped the Muslim world into the same kind of frenzy that we witnessed during the Danish Cartoon meltdown. This is the Islamophobia that the Islamists want us to feel. They want us to be afraid to "insult" Islam, or even question Islam. This is the Islamophobia that keeps the dhimmis in their place. It's the Islamophobia the Swedes refuse to bow down to (at least in this case) in their defense of the Mohammed dog cartoons.

A phobia is defined as an irrational fear. But based on past experience, this fear is far from irrational. Cowardly maybe, but not irrational. Since so many in the mainstream media (who should know better) have once again twisted and debased the English language by accepting Islamophobia as a legitimate state of mind, we can call their acceptance of dhimmi status, Islamophobia.

Besides self-censoring the comics page, are newspapers also censoring and adjusting the news because of their Islamophobia? After all, both Detroit papers ran glowing press releases – uh – I mean articles on the appointment of Ismail Ahmed as head of Michigan's Department of Human Services. Debbie Schlussel was the only source of information as to Ahmed’s dark past, which, had either paper also reported it, outraged readers might have demanded his appointment be rescinded. My letters to newspapers and government officials, alas, were not enough to do the trick.

Both papers give Muslims, including spokesmen from CAIR, valuable space on their editorial pages to advance their causes. A Muslim spokesmen was allowed to criticize those of us who are against the building of Muslim footbaths at U of M Dearborn with student fees, as Islamophobes. Another prominent Muslim was quoted in an article on the New York City Police Report on homegrown terrorism, making the idiotic claim that Islamophobia is morally equivalent to anti-Semitism and racism. That's the phony Islamophobia by the way. The real Islamophobia is that fear of Muslims that keeps the News and Free Press pages always open to Islamic spokesmen.

There are other stories that we are not getting from the News or the Free Press. When is the last time they reported on the constant bomb attacks across the “restive” south of Thailand by Islamic terrorists? Why haven’t we read about the destruction of the Nahr al-Barad refugee camp in Lebanon that has left 40,000 Palestinians homeless? Last summer, The News and The Free Press featured Al-Jazeera style reports, day after day, as reporters from both papers followed a group of Lebanese-Americans on a tour of houses that were destroyed by Israel simply because they housed Hezbollah-built rocket launchers that blasted rockets indiscriminately into Israel in order to murder innocent civilians. Then there was the tiny story of four Sudanese refugees being beaten to death by Egyptian soldiers as they sought to gain refuge in Israel. Not refuge in any Muslim country, but in Israel, you know the Jewish state condemned by the Muslim world, Europe, and the United Nation's so-called Commission on Human Rights, but the only country in entire Muslim dominated North Africa/Middle East that Muslim genocide victims looked to find at least a tiny sliver of hope.

Can all of this be chalked up to Islamophobia? Is there a fear in newsrooms across America that protects Muslims from reports of all but their most egregious crimes? What have you heard about the Holy Land Charity trial in Texas? Outside of the Internet, and a few MSM sources, not much. In Detroit papers, nothing. So maybe they’re right. Maybe Islamophobia is a serious problem. But remember, it's the Islamophobia of the dhimmi, that very real fear that makes one accept a second class existence under the "protection" of Islam. Is that what our newspapers have accepted?

Labels: "islamophobia", Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, MSM, Opus

posted by Harry @ 3:51 PM 3 comments

Another Pre-emptive MSM Surrender

There was the warning a few days ago on Little Green Footballs.

Cartoonist Berkeley Breathed has inked his share of anti-Bush episodes, but tonight he’s run afoul of an enemy that really does want to destroy his free speech.

And I’m not talking about radical Islamic front groups this time. Berkeley Breathed is being preemptively censored by our very own Western mainstream media.

One of the cartoons in question was supposed to run today (Sunday) the other one is supposed to run next Sunday. Today's cartoon is at Salon.com. Salon.com also has this commentary by Joan Walsh on the newspapers not running Opus.

I waited to see if my own Detroit News would wimp out, and sure enough they did. Instead of the precious half page that Opus gets each Sunday, there was Candorville, a strip that on its best day is almost worth a chuckle, but is usually so ham handed in its political humor, that I cringe at the consistent lack of wit. Not only that, but Candorville was a single panel gag today. With the size of comic strips being squeezed more and more every year, to give a half page to a lame one panel joke was even more of an insult than the pre-emptive dhimmitude of the News. A real cartoonist (had they known in advance) could have really done something with a half page.

Once again, our newspapers have looked into the eyes of the Jihad and surrendered. But this time, there were no protests, no riots, no murders due to the usual insult or humiliation that the not-the-Amish claim every time they demand a concession from Western civilization. This time, news editors didn't even wait for the fight. They refused to stand up for the First Amendment. Rather, they censored themselves. There was no talk of fighting the good fight for freedom, no boasting of speaking truth to power. Why is that? Because this time, there may have been consequences for practicing that freedom. Newspapers, including the Detroit News have decided that the First Amendment is not worth fighting for. They no longer have that right if claiming that right offends the not-the-Amish.

The not-the-Amish, on the other hand, have been granted the special freedom, by craven newspaper editors, to not be offended. It's a good thing we have the Internet.

Labels: comic strips, Detroit News, Muslims, Opus

posted by Harry @ 8:05 PM 4 comments

Muslim Civil Rights

The Detroit News is the more conservative of Detroit's two dailies. When it comes to whitewashing our terror supporting Muslim neighbors, however, they are as willing and able as the more liberal Detroit Free Press to do the job. Both papers seem to have their staff apologists. Here is a recent whitewash - uh - I mean article concerning young local Muslims speaking up.

When Sofia Latif sees news reports portraying Muslims as terrorists, she sometimes sends e-mails to journalists deploring coverage she views as one-sided and urges them to publicize good works done in the name of Islam.

Like what?

Most of the Muslims interviewed said they deplore suicide bombing, that it defies the teachings of Islam and that terrorists cloak themselves in religion to excuse their evil acts. But they also stress that they understand the enormous frustration over conditions in the world that give rise to extremism.

Do all Muslims talk out of both sides of their mouths? And why does this "frustration leads to extremism" equation only apply to Muslims?

As part of their assertiveness, younger Muslims sought to explain some of the findings in the Pew poll, which found that 25 percent of Muslims ages 18-29 view themselves as Muslims first, before identifying themselves as Americans. It is not unusual, Muslims said, for many people to identify themselves by their faith. They cited a finding in a previous Pew poll that 42 percent of all Christians and 62 percent of evangelical Protestants say they are Christian first.

As for the finding about suicide bombing, many asserted that the Prophet Muhammad expressly prohibited even collateral damage in war, let alone intentional assaults on civilians. They also point to a poll published in February by the Christian Science Monitor revealing that 24 percent of Americans say that "bombing and other attacks intentionally aimed at civilians are often or sometimes justified."

As always, rather than taking responsibility and admitting there is a problem within Islam, they trot out the well-worn "moral equivalence" argument. When was the last terror attack by a Christian or any nonMuslim again? I can't remember either. Muslims must become familiar with the concept of "personal responsibility."I'm getting tired of every Islamic depravity anywhere in the world being somebody else's fault.

"I constantly feel that we are on the defensive," said Shahad Atiya, 19, of Bloomfield Hills. "Personally, I am sick and tired of that. I want to ask people, 'Why do you single me out?' "

Actually, ever since 9/11, Islam in this country has been on the offensive. It is the rest of us who are expected to be on the defensive and act like good dhimmi to avoid the dreaded accusation of "Islamophobia."

It's a good thing that Michael Chertoff and the Department of Homeland Security is on the job and protecting us from Islamic terror; right? Wrong! According to another Detroit News article,

While the NAACP has been fighting for the rights of African-Americans for nearly a century, it's important to fight for Muslim Americans in a post-9/11 world, the nation's Homeland Security chief told guests at the 98th NAACP national convention Tuesday evening.

"(We've) fought too long and too hard for the rights of African-Americans to turn our backs on the rights of Muslim Americans," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told a crowd of more than 600 at the Armed Services and Veteran Affairs awards dinner at the Renaissance Marriott Hotel.

Huh? Who is this idiot working for again? It certainly isn't the American public.

Not only haven't we not turned our back on the rights of Muslim Americans, but their rights are so well protected that they are busy demanding more rights: The right to wear a veil in court, the right of Muslim cabbies to refuse service to people carrying liquor or using a Seeing Eye dog, the right of Muslims to have footbaths built at the expense of the rest of us on university campuses, the right to disrupt airline flights, and once they gain these extra and special rights, they will, of course, demand more.

Debbie Schlussel has lots more here and here.

Labels: Debbie Schlussel, Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, islam, Michael Chertoff

posted by Harry @ 9:22 PM 2 comments

Today's rant

I write letters to newspapers. It may be a waste of time, but I do it anyway. If it weren't for email, I probably wouldn't do it. I would sit and stew. My letters used to focus on two issues, Israel and education. Now I just focus on Israel. Since I'm a teacher, and an after-school reading tutor, I can attempt to effect the change that the educational establishment needs. With Israel, I can't do much but write about it. I send letters to both of my local newspapers. I sometimes also respond to calls for action by Honest Reporting and some of my favorite bloggers (in the sidebar) when they report something especially outrageous.

The thing about writing to newspapers is that I'm competing with the liars, moral retards, and Jew-haters on the other side. And no, I'm not engaging in hyperbole. The enemies of Israel have created an alternate universe, a Bizarro world, a 1984-style thought process where good is called evil and evil is called good, or is excused because it's the fault of the Jews. Of course they won't say Jews. That would expose them. They use terms like: zionist, neocon, or Israeli. But they mean Jew. And they get printed in mainstream newspapers in the interest of "presenting both sides."

For example, here is a response to a pro-Israel column by News editor, Nolan Finley. (For some reason, I can't find it or I would link to it.)

Following the revolting experience of reading Nolan Finley's extremely racist piece of garbage, several thoughts came to mind. First, I wondered how many Israeli shekels it took to purchase The News. The News has become an ambassador of hate by regurgitating the lies bigots have historically used to dehumanize and terrorize the Palestinian people.

It was none other than your employer, Ariel Sharon, and his Zionist predecessors who defined terrorism in the region and unleashed countless campaigns of brutality and unrelenting terror upon the innocent.

It was written by the membership representative of the Arab American Chamber of Commerce. I'm sure she would deny her antisemitism. And yet, there she is, recalling the anti-semitic canard of Jews owning the media. And there is the Detroit News printing it.

For sheer dishonesty, it would be hard to beat this response by M. Kay Siblani, editor of Arab American News to Nolan Finley's column.

For one thing, Hamas is not part of an effort to take someone else's land away. Its struggle is defensive, not offensive.

Neither does Hamas want to create a state wherein one religion reigns supreme. In Israel, Jews have automatic citizenship and other rights not afforded to people of other faiths. The double standard applied to Hamas -- and Arabs and Muslims -- is fueling support for more extremist groups.

It's OK to have a Jewish state, but not an Islamic one, even though the Jewish state is undemocratic, consistently violates international law, commits state-sponsored terrorism, has no constitution and no defined, internationally recognized borders.

The double standard is glaring on peace negotiations. The Palestinians are portrayed as an equal partner required to make all sorts of concessions before anyone will talk to them. But they have no land, no money, no arms and a compromised leadership.

The Israelis, on the other hand, have a country, an infrastructure, a government, an economy and the world's fourth strongest army. Because of its strength and the biased way in which the United States supports it, Israel continues to take land and kill people even while it convinces the world that it is trying to talk peace.

[ . . . ]

Those who know that the time has come for justice for Palestinians and believe that it will somehow detract from Israel's well-being have descended into name-calling and demonizing. People like this are irresponsible and should not have a public podium.

This was written before the latest successful homicide bombing in Tel Aviv, but I'm sure it wouldn't matter a bit to the lying Siblani.

And it didn't matter to the Israel-haters who wrote letters to the Detriot Free Press to excuse the Tel Aviv bombing and to lambaste the paper for its coverage of the bombing. It seems the Free Press wasn't sympathetic enough to the murderer of nine innocent people. Even though he injured dozens in addition to the nine he killed using a vest filled with explosives, and nails and ball bearings coated with rat poison in order to cause infction and delay blood clotting, they demand that we sympathize with the murderer.

Why?

The usual reasons that usually begin with "it was tragic but-". And then they go on to give the usual delusional reasons why Israel should be blamed and why both sides must be presented. I don't recall that argument being used for Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Timothy McVeigh, or Jeffery Dahmer. But they didn't target Jews. The Free Press printed all of the lies and moral equivalence between murderer and victim.


Golda Meir once said that peace will come to the Middle East when the Arabs love their children more than they hate the Jews. With the election of Hamas that obviously hasn't happened. With main stream newspapers printing thinly veiled antisemitism and excuses for Hamas inspired terror attacks, things seem to be getting worse.

Labels: Detroit News, Hamas, Honest Reporting, Israel, Nolan Finley, Osama Siblani, Palestinians

posted by Harry @ 7:55 PM 1 comments

Notes from the Islamic Ministry of Truth

The Detroit News, seems to have become home to any Muslim voice that wants to subvert the truth in order to further its agenda of destroying Israel and the West.

First off, we have the Detroit area's Islamic Minister of Truth, Imam Mohammed Ali Elahi, weighing in on the currrent cartoon controversy. His column is in regular rotation with other local religious leaders. Among other typical pronouncements in his truth-free zone, he lets us know that

Muslims, who believe in the virgin birth of Jesus and the revelation to Moses, never ridicule other people's faith symbols and would appreciate the same respect in return. We wouldn't mind if the terrorists were ridiculed: Those who hijack the name of Islam and kidnap the innocents like Jill Carroll and sometimes behead them and even bomb peaceful religious observances -- but to dishonor a prophet is inexcusable.

and

It's so sad to see how Prophet Muhammad is misunderstood and poorly appreciated in the West. Mohammad's life was filled with concern for his fellow human beings. He was a sincere servant and messenger of God.

Muhammad never attempted to forcibly convert anybody to his faith. It was his wisdom, patience, forgiveness and the humility of his teachings that attracted people. The prophet was asked to curse his enemies who tortured his followers in brutal and barbaric ways. Instead, he asked God to forgive them and save them from ignorance.

and of course

The animosity between Europe and the Muslim world hurts both sides, but it gives power to those who don't like to see the Western world cooperating with Muslims, who ignore humanity's basic needs and who love to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to launch more wars under the banner of "Christian crusade" or "democracy."

Imam Elahi must not have read this article at The American Thinker.

(1) Before Muhammad’s Hijrah, he used to sit in the assembly and invite the Meccans to Allah, citing the Quran and warning them of God’s punishment for mocking his prophets. A Meccan named Al-Nadr bin al-Harith would then follow him and speak about heroes and kings of Persia, saying, “By God, Muhammad cannot tell a better story than I, and his talk is only of old fables which he has copied as I have.” On other days al-Nadr would interrupt Muhammad until the prophet silenced him.

It was al-Nadir’s bad fortune to join Mecca’s army, riding north to protect their caravan, which Muhammad attacked at the Battle of Badr. The story-telling polytheist was captured, and on Muhammad’s return journey back to Medina, Ali, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, at Muhammad’s order, beheaded him instead of getting some possible ransom money. He was one of two prisoners who were executed and not allowed to be ransomed by their clans—all because he wrote poems and told stories critiquing Muhammad.

[Source: Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, trans. A. Guillaume, (Oxford UP, 1955, 2004), pp. 136 (Arabic pages 191-92); 163 / 236; 181 / 262; 308 / 458. Reputable historians today consider Ibn Ishaq to be a good source of early Islam, though they may disagree on his chronology and miraculous elements.]

That's only one. There are other examples of wonton cruelty of course, including the beheading of the male Jews of the Qurayzah tribe, whose families were then enslaved, except for th beautiful Jewess who was forced to become one of his wives.

The News also printed this appalling piece of reality inversion in defense of Hamas by M. Kay Siblani, executive editor of Arab American News in Dearborn Michigan. She informs us that

T he political party in power in Israel is the direct descendant of a terrorist organization that bombed and killed Palestinians and Westerners alike while trying to establish a Jewish state on someone else's land.

and

For one thing, Hamas is not part of an effort to take someone else's land away. Its struggle is defensive, not offensive.

Neither does Hamas want to create a state wherein one religion reigns supreme. In Israel, Jews have automatic citizenship and other rights not afforded to people of other faiths. The double standard applied to Hamas -- and Arabs and Muslims -- is fueling support for more extremist groups.

It's OK to have a Jewish state, but not an Islamic one, even though the Jewish state is undemocratic, consistently violates international law, commits state-sponsored terrorism, has no constitution and no defined, internationally recognized borders.

The double standard is glaring on peace negotiations. The Palestinians are portrayed as an equal partner required to make all sorts of concessions before anyone will talk to them. But they have no land, no money, no arms and a compromised leadership.

and of course

If there's any doubt about who is the aggressor and who is the victim in this struggle, take a look at the statistics. Six times as many Palestinians have been killed by the Israelis as Israelis by the Palestinians. For children, the ratio is seven to one.

It's important to realize that standing against what Israel does -- or even whether it should exist -- is not anti-Semitic. Israel is a political aspiration of a particular group of people, some of whom are Jewish and some of whom are not. There are Jews who don't believe a state where Jews have rights above others should exist.

and the kicker

Those who know that the time has come for justice for Palestinians and believe that it will somehow detract from Israel's well-being have descended into name-calling and demonizing. People like this are irresponsible and should not have a public podium.

Short version: It's all the fault of Israel. Isn't everything?

Obviously Ms. Siblani hasn't paid much attention to recent history or read the Hamas charter, you know, the one that quite explicitly calls for the destruction of Israel.

Attempting to be fair to the Detroit News, I have to point out that Siblani's "blame the Jews" rant and the following example of a Muslim "moderate's" undisguised anti-semitism was in response to this column by Detroit News Editor, Nolan Finley. The headline is: "Palestinians failed democracy, not the other way around."

Democracy didn't fail when the Palestinians used their first truly free vote to install terrorist leaders. The Palestinians failed. Again.

Those who see the Hamas victory as evidence that democracy is not the answer for all people in all places ignore the unique nature of the Palestinians. They lack a key ingredient for sustaining freedom - self-interest.

The Palestinians' lust for Jewish blood is stronger than their desire to lead peaceful, secure lives, to rule an independent state, to lift themselves out of their misery.

That, given the opportunity, they would give their votes to terrorists should not be a shock. This is the same people who deified Yasser Arafat, the father of modern-day terrorism.

Terror defines Palestinians

Under Arafat, terrorism became an inseparable part of the Palestinian identity. He perfected the use of terror as a means of gaining a political wedge, proving that those willing to shed blood without relenting, without remorse and without regard to external pressure will be rewarded with a seat at the table.

Their suicide bombers should have made the Palestinians international pariahs. Instead, apologists depicted the violence as the natural response of a persecuted people. The excuses invited more terror, from more sources and in more places.

It's obvious why the usual cast of terror-supporters, "human rights activists", and Muslim spokesliars were upset.
This letter, "presenting another point of view", is reprinted in its entirety:

Following the revolting experience of reading Nolan Finley's extremely racist piece of garbage, several thoughts came to mind. First, I wondered how many Israeli shekels it took to purchase The News. The News has become an ambassador of hate by regurgitating the lies bigots have historically used to dehumanize and terrorize the Palestinian people.

It was none other than your employer, Ariel Sharon, and his Zionist predecessors who defined terrorism in the region and unleashed countless campaigns of brutality and unrelenting terror upon the innocent.

I'm sure the News sees itself as brave and selfless for printing this letter. They probably congratulate themselves on being even-handed and presenting both sides of a difficult issue. What they miss, or don't care to notice is the anti-semitic libel of "The Jewish control of the media." When discussing Israel, lies and anti-semitic slurs are not seen as the bigoted statements of hatred that have caused the deaths of millions over the past millenia. Now they are just another point of view. But they won't insult those delicate Muslim sensibilities by printing those "offensive" cartoons.

And that scares me.

Labels: American Thinker, anti-semitism, Arab American News, Detroit News, Hamas, Imam Elahi, Israel, M. Kay Siblani, Mohammed, Nolan Finley, Palestinians

posted by Harry @ 1:50 PM 2 comments

An Islamic Twist to the American Declaration of Independence

In this twisted, chock-full-of-lies op-ed from Hamas terrorist Mousa Abu Marzook in the Washington Post, he ends by appealing to our founding documents.

We appeal to the American people's sense of fairness to judge this conflict in light of the great thoughts, principles and ideals you hold dear in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the democracy you have built. It is not unreasonable to expect America to practice abroad what it preaches at home. We can but sincerely hope that you use your honest judgment and the blessings of ascendancy God has given you to demand an end to the occupation. Meaningful democracy cannot flourish as long as an external force maintains the balance of power. It is the right of all people to pursue their own destiny.

In a morally reprehensible defense of the Iranian President's vow to wipe Israel off of the map, Imam Mohammed Ali Elahi, of the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights Michigan, offers this appeal:

In fact, the Iranian president's quip can best be understood in the American context of the Declaration of Independence:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

Americans fought a civil war and struggled for a century to end racial discrimination. "One man, one vote" worked for us here in the United States, and it is worth a try in the Holy Land.

This lovely piece of anti-semitic hatred was originally published in the Detroit News, the more conservative of Detroit's two daily papers.

So, in effect, a known terrorist and an obvious terror supporter attempt to misrepresent documents that guarantee freedom and liberty in order to convince the gullible to support tyranny, religious hatred, and the destruction of the very ideals of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. The fact that Islam stands in direct opposition to these ideals is supposed to be ignored. In order to advance the cause of freedom and liberty throughout the world, these jihadis want us to believe that they must be free to destroy the country of Israel. Only then will the true beliefs of our founding fathers be realized. Well, maybe not quite then, it may have to wait for the destruction of the democratic United States and Europe and their admittance into the Umma.

This can't be coincidence. I have to assume that other Muslim writers are trying to subvert our institutions by appealing to our founding documents. I wonder if the jihadis exported to the U.S. learn which words to mouth in Iranian and Saudi Arabian jihad schools, or if they study us long enough once they get here, to figure out which of our buttons to push and how to push them. Either way, they obviously are using their knowledge of our culture and values in their struggle to undermine us. We, on the other hand in our politically correct, multicultural haze, can't even admit that the enemy is Islam!

Labels: Detroit News, Hamas, Imam Elahi, Mousa Abu Marzook, Washington Post

posted by Harry @ 8:35 PM 0 comments

A Glimpse of Sanity from the Detroit News

I know I'm not supposed to, but this is the entire editorial from the Detroit News.

T he United States cannot possibly continue to send financial assistance to the Palestinians now that they've chosen terrorists to lead them.

The Hamas terrorist organization prevailed in last week's balloting and will lead the new government of the Palestinian Authority.

That should put an end to all aid, both direct and indirect, from the United States, as well as from all other countries committed to the war on terror.

Last year, America sent $50 million to the Palestinian Authority and had pledged to increase that to $150 million this year, with an additional $84 million funneled through the United Nations. President Bush has said assistance would increase as the Palestinians embraced democratic reforms and ended attacks on Israel.

But the Paletinians have chosen a different direction. It can expect to suffer the consequences.

Hamas, with 217 terrorist attacks on Israel to its credit, is listed by the United States and the European Union as a terrorist group. It would send an unacceptable message to put money in the hands of those terrorists.

In truth, it was hypocritical of the United States to send money to the Palestinians while they were harboring and encouraging terrorists.

Bush says financial support is under review. There's no need for review -- the White House knows very well what Hamas is and what it's done.

If the president doesn't yank the aid immediately, Congress should.

There it is, short and refreshingly sweet.

Labels: Detroit News, Palestinians

posted by Harry @ 11:40 AM 0 comments

Stop treating government like God

Here is an excellent column by Father Robert Sirico from yesterday's Detroit News. The whole thing makes a lot of sense, but here is the opening:

The media lately have grilled government officials about their responses to natural disasters -- from the South Asian tsunami to the Gulf Coast hurricanes to the recent earthquakes in Pakistan and India. Media watchdogs want to know what government will do to relieve suffering, how it will rebuild and compensate victims, and what it will do to prevent problems in the future.

Well, we can stop this cat-and-mouse game and state the bottom line: Government officials are mere mortals. They are not omnipotent.

It is true that government officials often create the expectation that they will perform in a way that would remind everyone of their God-like power. That's how they get re-elected, and how bureaucracies survive and expand. Elected officials, in particular, want us to believe they will make us safe and secure in a world without risk. After the government inevitably fails to live up to these expectations, elected officials and bureaucrats promise to learn from the mistake and eradicate the problem in the future. Again.

Labels: Detroit News, Father Robert Sirico, government

posted by Harry @ 6:42 PM 0 comments

Priorities in a Disaster

In the letters section of Saturday's Detroit News the issue being debated was whether to penalize states for not planning pet evacuations.

There are over 40,000 people dead from the earthquake in Pakistan. Over 200,000 people were killed in last December's tsunami. And here in the United States, after about 1,000 people died in hurricane related flooding, we are debating the rescue of pets.

Trivial? Maybe. But it does serve to show that because we in the West live in societies that are proficient in creating wealth, not only do we suffer less when a natural disaster strikes, but we are also quicker to recover, and we are so sure about our ability to rebuild that we can consider other things beyond mere survival.

I see this as another reason to create and celebrate wealth instead of condemning it. And, by the way, this wealth was not created by the government. It was created by hard working private citizens who are allowed to and encouraged to make better lives for themselves and their families. It's one of the hallmarks of a successful society.

Labels: Detroit News, pet evacuations, wealth

posted by Harry @ 6:25 PM 0 comments