Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Actually, This is Good News, Right?

Iranian 'students' rampage in Tehran.

DEBKAfile are reporting that the Gulf Cooperation Council, led by the Saudis, have given up hope of the US dealing with Iran's plans to go nuke and will themselves "defend the oil emirates" by military action if necessary.

Saudi King Abdullah reportedly also told US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on April 6 and National Security Adviser Tom Donilon a week later, that he (the king of Saud) "could not forgive the Americans for throwing former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to the wolves in Cairo and for the unrest they were promoting against Arab regimes."

For their part, Iran has "beefed up its strength along the Pakistani border to warn Islamabad that if it matters come to a clash with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and its military will not escape punishment."
At the same time, thousands of Iranian 'students', mobilized by the Revolutionary Guards and Basijj voluntary corps have laid siege to the Saudi embassy in Tehran for most of the past week, complete with firebombs.

Of course, the whole Arab-Persian thing predates the Old Testament, so the idea of a nuclear Persia is not one the Arabs will view with any relish.
Myself, I figure any time any parts of the "Muslim world" go after each other, they're less likely to go after the rest of us.

Oh, and note the irony, the Saudis and their neighbors are unhappy because the US and the Israelis are not "interfering" in the region's affairs.

They should make up their minds already. Sheesh.

Barry One Note and the Beat Goes On

Another Day, Another Enraged Imam

The oddly-named "imam" Steve Rockwell, from that TV network no-one watches, is reportedly very upset with Ezra Levant for airing the Danish Motoons, these ones:

on his new Sun News show.

I'm not sure, but I think Steve is the same guy who says its offensive for non-Muslims, like myself, to quote the Koran, like this:

Infidels are your sworn enemies (Sura 4:101)
Be ruthless to the infidels (Sura 48:29)
Make war on the infidels who dwell around you (Sura 9:123, 66:9)
Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day (Sura 9:29)
Strike off the heads of infidels in battle (Sura 47:4)
Take neither the Jews nor the Christians for your friends (Sura 5:51, 60:13)
Never be a helper to the disbelievers (Sura 28:86)
Kill the disbelievers wherever we find them (Sura 2:191)
I wonder if that's as offensive as quoting the Satanic Verses:

Have you thought of Allat and al-'Uzza and Manat the third, the other?
These are the exalted Gharaniq, whose intercession is hoped for. Sura 53 ("Satan's Version")


And what's more, Steve warns of "consequences" to arousing his ire. Gosh, do you think maybe Steve will blow himself up in a mall or something?

BC NDP Turn Harder Left

Friday, April 15, 2011

George Jonas Outdoes Himself

" ... What is the issue in this election? Why, the same as in all elections, my libertarian self exclaims. In the last 45 years, the only question has been whether the government implementing the NDP's policies will be Liberal or Conservative. ...

The NDP may do abysmally in federal elections, but the NDP's ideas flourish. ...

Canada is governed from the middle, yes, but the middle is on the left. The politicians who form our next government will be statist -- socialists in all but name -- because there are no other kinds running. Our statists may vary in degree, but not in kind. Since the 1960s, classical liberals or conservatives either haven't entered the arena or changed their policies afterwards. They wouldn't have had a chance otherwise.

Here's the irony, though: If socialists called themselves socialists, they wouldn't stand a chance either. Canadians are funny that way. They'll buy nothing but socialist policies and practices, but never from socialists. Calling things what they are isn't politically polite in Canada.

In the tradition of Orwell's Newspeak, in Canadian English the word "free" denotes a prohibition, as in "smoke-free environment." Canadians call laws and institutions that deny people fundamental freedoms of conscience, expression, and association "human rights" laws and commissions. In this eccentric world, going to the polls is like skeet-shooting in a stiff breeze: A vote for Stephen is a vote for Michael. ..."

http://www.georgejonas.ca/recent_writing.cfm?id=967

Hmmm, an empire pretending to be a federation, a quasi-pseudo-semi-elected dictatorship pretending its not ... yes, George, the Empire of the Canadians is quite the "eccentric world", where little or nothing is as advertized.

Singing From the Same Songbook