THE MADNESS MAY SOON RETURN

IT'S HAPPENED BEFORE. IT MAY SOON HAPPEN AGAIN:

I MUST DEFEND NAFTALI BENNETT HERE

The leader of the Jewish Home party, Naftali Bennett, has been attacked by the Likud over statements he allegedly made that were actually taken out of context by an interviewer on Israel's Channel 2 station, and accused him of promoting the idea of defying orders in the IDF to evacuate people from their homes in Judea/Samaria. Bennett has given a press conference about this:

Following a wave of criticism from the Likud and Center-Left parties over comments he made on Thursday night, Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett called a press conference on Saturday night to clarify that he opposes refusing military orders.

On Thursday night, Bennett said in an interview on Channel 2 that he would ask his commander to excuse him from evacuating settlements.

Bennett accused the Likud of "pouncing on my words, twisting them and making it look like I called for people to refuse orders just for a quarter of a seat in the next Knesset."

"They harmed the unity of the IDF. Thousands of young people could think that I called to refuse orders and take a mistaken example from me. I did not call to refuse orders. I have been serving in the IDF for 22 years as a fighter and a commander, and I never called to refuse orders - every intelligent [television] viewer understood that," he stated.

The Bayit Yehudi leader added that he spoke from his heart, and does not apologize, because a military command to remove a Jew or an Arab from his home is a human rights violation that would put soldiers in a moral dilemma.

"I pray with all my heart that a command like this will never be given again, but I want to say clearly: Every soldier must fulfill orders," he said.

Bennett concluded his speech by saying that the fact that the Likud is dealing with the issue of refusing orders shows that the party could be planning a second disengagement and to evacuate more settlers.

"Mr. Prime Minister - yes or no? Do you plan to uproot Jews from their homes gain?" he asked. "[The Bayit Yehudi] will be a big, significant party that will prevent a situation in which IDF soldiers will face such inhumane dilemmas again."

I'm afraid the PM is going to have to answer seriously here, and tell why defeatism is acceptable. And I should note that Netanyahu is someone who so far has made any unambiguous condemnations of the PLO's adherence to Islamic sharia, or condemned the oppression of women, or even condemned Islamists in those areas for holding Jewish wives hostage. Any politician who isn't willing to confront or address serious issues like those hardly has a case to make on military matters either.

Bennett is a man who served in the army for at least 2 decades, and has been quite a success in technology business. That's something to admire about him as well.

Update: on the plus side about Netanyahu, he has defended the "settlement" construction:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has defended the planned construction of thousands of apartments in settlements in and near Jerusalem.

'What future awaits Israel if we cannot build in Gilo and Ramat Shlomo?' he asked in the interview with Channel 2 television.

Gilo and Ramat Shlomo - located within the Israeli-drawn municipal boundaries of Jerusalem but beyond the 'green line' that separates Israel from the occupied West Bank - are two of the areas where the Netanyahu government plans to build.

The plans to build there, as well as in the E1 area east of Jerusalem, and Givat Hamatos, to the south, have sparked a storm of international criticism.

'So we, the state of the Jews, cannot build in our capital? I don't accept that,' Netanyahu said.

The international community has not recognised Israel's claim that Jerusalem is its capital.

And if they're not going to recognize Jerusalem, and if Sky is going to keep using that "occupied west bank" propaganda, then I don't see why I should offer them any respect.

NEW JEWISH CITY PLANNED FOR GUSH ETZION DISTRICT

Finally, after many years, a new Jewish city is in the works for the Judea/Samaria region:

After many years, a new Jewish city is being planned in the Gush Etzion bloc in the Judea region. To start, the Defense Ministry has approved plans to build 523 housing units on the site that will someday be Gevaot.

"This is a huge achievement,” David Perel, head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, told the AFP news agency.

In the year 2,000, the regional council had presented plans for a city of at least 6,000 homes. But until now, the government had never granted its approval. At present there are a handful of caravans at the site, which functions as an outpost.

It's just one more thing the disgraceful Peace Now is griping about, in all their lack of shame. So be it. This is something positive for Israel's sake.

US-LED GLOBAL FORUM ON COUNTERTERRORISM EXCLUDES ISRAEL

The Investigative Project on Terrorism found that the American-led Global Counterterrorism Forum has a very odd structure:

A multilateral counter-terror initiative generated by the United States excludes Israel while featuring many states with terrorist ties. The Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) has 30 founding members including Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Morocco, Nigeria, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

Israel's exclusion is noteworthy, considering it is at the forefront of counterterrorism operations, constituting an unprecedented hub of expertise on the matter.

But including Israel would offend many of the GCTF's founding members, many of which are sworn enemies of the Jewish state and actively finance and support terrorist operations against it.

The GCTF can therefore be viewed as a U.S. attempt at forging closer ties with countries that have a history of sympathizing and actively supporting Islamist terrorism in the past. Israel was barred from participating in a June GCTF meeting, reportedly due to vehement protests by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

So there's yet more political correctness in motion, along with the inability to call a spade a spade. This forum is only bound to be a complete farce.

THE SCHIZOPHRENIA OF THE LEFT: HATING POVERTY AND CONSUMERISM

NYTIMES; The War Against Too Much of Everything

IF you haven’t finished your holiday shopping yet, don’t bother. Kalle Lasn, the maestro of Adbusters, says that new waves of global activism fill him “with more optimism than I’ve felt for many years.”Skip the mall and the neighborhood store, resist the urge to shop online and, by all means, don’t buy anything you don’t truly need. 

So says Kalle Lasn, 70, maestro of the proudly radical magazine Adbusters, published in Vancouver, British Columbia. Mr. Lasn takes gleeful pleasure in lobbing provocations at global corporations — and his latest salvo is “Buy Nothing Christmas.” 

“As our planet gets warmer, as animals go extinct, as the humans get sicker, as our economies bail and our politicians grow ever more twisted,” Americans just go shopping, Adbusters says on its Web site. Overconsumption is destroying us, yet shopping is “our solace, our sedative: consumerism is the opiate of the masses.”

I HATE THESE TWISTED LEFTIST PRICKS WHO THINK THEY KNOW BETTER THAN US WHAT WE SHOULD DO WITH OUR HARD-EARNED MONEY.

I ESPECIALLY HATE THESE PRICKS WHO THINK THAT IF THOSE WHO HAVE SPEND LESS THAT SOMEHOW THE LOT OF THE POORER FOLKS WILL IMPROVE.

IT'S INSANE.

ALL A DECREASE OF CONSUMPTION WILL DO IS THROW THE ENTIRE GLOBAL ECONOMY IN TO A DEPRESSION.

LIFE IN CHINA IS BETTER PRECISELY BECAUSE THEY ARE ABLE TO AFFORD TO CONSUME MORE.

CONSUMERISM IS THE SOLUTION, NOT THE PROBLEM.

WE NEED TO MAKE POOR PEOPLE BETTER CONSUMERS WITH MORE DISPOSABLE INCOME TO SPEND AS THEY WISH, NOT MAKE THEM AND  THE WORLD DECLINING MIDDLE-CLASS ENJOY THEIR IN VOLUNTARY ASCETICISM.

AND OF COURSE, THE LEFTIST SCUM AT THE NYTIMES HAD TO RUN THIS ARTICLE JUST BEFORE CHRISTMAS - THE TIME OF YEAR WHEN PEOPLE SPEND MONEY FOR OTHERS AND THE TIME OF YEAR THAT MOST BUSINESSES DEPEND MORE CONSUMERISM SO THAT THEY MIGHT REMAIN PROFITABLE AND IN BUSINESS.

LEFTIST SCUM: SCHIZOPHRENIC AND SOCIOPATHIC.

THEN AND NOW: NERO FIDDLED AS ROME BURNED. OBAMA IS BODY-SURFING AS DC IS ENGULFED IN A TSUNAMI OF DEBT

OBAMA HAS NOT MADE ONE SINGLE SOLITARY COMPROMISE SINCE 2009.

AND HE HAS NOT SACRIFICED ONE SINGLE THING. HE'S RAMMED THROUGH ABOMINABLE LEGISLATION BY PLYING THE POLITICIANS WHO CONTROL CONGRESS WITH PORK.

BILL CLINTON AND GEORGE DUBYA BUSH WERE BOTH MORE COMPROMISING AND ACCOMMODATING TO THEIR POLITICAL OPPONENTS.

AND MORE FRUGAL, TOO.

AND MORE GOOD THINGS GOT DONE

MEANWHILE - IN FOREIGN POLICY, THE ARENA IN WHICH THE POTUS HAS A FREER HAND - OBAMA'S SINGULAR ACHIEVEMENT IS THE EMPOWERMENT OF THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD ACROSS NORTH AFRICA.

IT'S AS IF A TSUNAMI OF ISLAMISM HAS SWEPT ACROSS THE MUSLIM WORLD.

YET HALF THE USA AND MOST OF EUROPE SEES IT NOT - AS THEY ARE SWIMMING IN A SEA OF DENIAL.

IF WE DON'T COUNTER THESE DEVELOPMENTS WE SHALL SURELY ALL DROWN IN DEBT AND DECAY.

I PRAY THAT NEXT YEAR MORE PEOPLE ON THE LEFT SEE THE LIGHT - BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE....

AND THAT IT DOESN'T TAKE A CATACLYSM TO OPEN THEIR EYES.

"REPLACE BOEHNER" MOVEMENT GROWING

TAB YESTERDAY:

THE GOP CAN END THE LOG-JAM IN DC BY SELECTING A TRUE LEADER AND DEALMAKER AS SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: MITT ROMNEY 

MITT ROMNEY WOULD MAKE GOOD THINGS HAPPEN AS SPEAKER. 

THE GOP SHOULD FIRE BOEHNER AND SELECT MITT.

SMART MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE TODAY:

Several conservative House Republican members are contemplating a plan to unseat Speaker John Boehner from his position on January 3, Breitbart News has exclusively learned. Staffers have compiled a detailed action plan that, if executed, could make this a reality. 

The Republicans, both conservatives and more establishment members alike, are emboldened after the failure of Boehner’s fiscal cliff “Plan B” on Thursday evening. 

MITT HAS THE LEADERSHIP SKILLS AND THE PUBLIC APPEAL TO ENSURE THAT THE HOUSE GOP CAN EFFECTIVELY COUNTER OBAMA.

AND HIS ONLY CONSTITUENCY WOULD BE THE GOP, NOT ANY DISTRICT.

NRA chief: “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun”

NRA chief: “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun”


GUN FREE ZONES ARE PRE-CONFIGURED FOR THE MASS MURDERER:

IMAGE FROM HERE.

THE GOP CAN END THE LOG-JAM IN DC BY SELECTING A TRUE LEADER AND DEALMAKER AS SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: MITT ROMNEY

MITT ROMNEY WOULD MAKE GOOD THINGS HAPPEN AS SPEAKER.

THE GOP SHOULD FIRE BOEHNER AND SELECT MITT.

OPPOSITION TO MOSQUE PLANNED IN MELBOURNE

There is another mosque building project - not unlike what was intended for Ground Zero in NYC - being planned in Australia, and opposition to it has come up:

ANGER at plans for a mosque and evangelical church to be built side-by-side in Melbourne's east has spilled over amid claims Islam ''directly contravenes our freedom values''.

It was standing room only at the City of Casey chambers in Narre Warren on Tuesday night at one of the last meetings before the council debates a proposal to build a mosque and community centre on a vacant industrial lot in Green Street, Doveton.

The mosque would be next to the church and headquarters of Catch the Fire Ministries, run by controversial anti-Islam Pastor Danny Nalliah who was acquitted of a racial vilification charge brought by the Islamic Council of Victoria in 2006. The church has already been approved by council and construction is expected to begin within weeks.

Residents at the meeting cited traffic concerns, noise pollution, and fears the mosque would be used to preach hate speech.

And they've got every right to be concerned. How strange that it's being built right next to the church of a man who's opposed to the Religion of Peace. Is this some attempt to set the stage for clashes? One could assume that.

Until the ocean covers every mountain high

"As"

As around the sun the earth knows she's revolving
And the rosebuds know to bloom in early May
Just as hate knows love's the cure
You can rest your mind assure
That I'll be loving you always
As now can't reveal the mystery of tomorrow
But in passing will grow older every day
Just as all is born is new
Do know what I say is true
That I'll be loving you always

Until the rainbow burns the stars out in the sky---ALWAYS
Until the ocean covers every mountain high---ALWAYS
Until the dolphin flies and parrots live at sea---ALWAYS
Until we dream of life and life becomes a dream

Did you know that true love asks for nothing
Her acceptance is the way we pay
Did you know that life has given love a guarantee
To last through forever and another day
Just as time knew to move on since the beginning
And the seasons know exactly when to change
Just as kindness knows no shame
Know through all your joy and pain
That I'll be loving you always
As today I know I'm living but tomorrow
Could make me the past but that I mustn't fear
For I'll know deep in my mind
The love of me I've left behind Cause I'll be loving you always

Until the day is night and night becomes the day---ALWAYS
Until the trees and seas just up and fly away---ALWAYS
Until the day that 8x8x8 is 4---ALWAYS
Until the day that is the day that are no more
Did you know that you're loved by somebody?
Until the day the earth starts turning right to left---ALWAYS
Until the earth just for the sun denies itself
I'll be loving you forever
Until dear Mother Nature says her work is through---ALWAYS
Until the day that you are me and I am you---AL~~~~~~WA~~
~~~~~AA~~~~~~~AA~~~~
Until the rainbow burns the stars out in the sky~~~~~AA~~~~
~~~~AA~~~~~~~AA~~~~~~~~~AA~~~~~~~YS~~ALWAYS

We all know sometimes lifes hates and troubles
Can make you wish you were born in another time and space
But you can bet your life times that and twice its double
That God knew exactly where he wanted you to be placed
so make sure when you say you're in it but not of it
You're not helping to make this earth a place sometimes called Hell
Change your words into truths and then change that truth into love
And maybe our children's grandchildren
And their great-great grandchildren will tell
I'll be loving you

Until the rainbow burns the stars out in the sky--Loving you
Until the ocean covers every mountain high--Loving you
Until the dolphin flies and parrots live at sea--Loving you
Until we dream of life and life becomes a dream--Be loving you
Until the day is night and night becomes the day--Loving you
Until the trees and seas up, up and fly away--Loving you
Until the day that 8x8x8x8 is 4--Loving you
Until the day that is the day that are no more--Loving you
Until the day the earth starts turning right to left--Be loving you
Until the earth just for the sun denies itself--Loving you
Until dear Mother Nature says her work is through--Loving you
Until the day that you are me and I am you--
Now ain't that loving you
Until the rainbow burns the stars out in the sky
Ain't that loving you
Until the ocean covers every mountain high
And I've got to say always
Until the dolphin flies and parrots live at sea~~AL~~~WA~~~AYS
Until we dream of life and life becomes a dream-Um AL~~WA~~AYS
Until the day is night and night becomes the day-AL~~~~WA~~AYS
Until the trees and seas just up and fly away-AL~~WA~~~AA~~~~~
Until the day that 8x8x8 is 4~~~~~AA~~~~~~~AA~~~~~~~AA
Until the day that is the day that are no more-AA~~~~AA~~AA~~~AYS
Until the day the earth starts turning right to left-AL~~~WA~~~A~~~AA
Until the earth just for the sun denies itself-~~AA~~~AA~~~AA~~~AYS
Until dear Mother Nature says her work is through-AL~~~WAYS
Until the day that you are me and I am you
Until the rainbow burns the stars out in the sky
Until the ocean covers every mountain high
Until the dolphin flies and parrots live at sea
Until we dream of life and life becomes a dream
Until the day is night and night becomes the day
Until the trees and seas just up and fly away
Until the day that 8x8x8 is 4
Until the day that is the day that are no more
Until the day the earth starts turning right to left
Until the earth just for the sun denies itself
Until dear Mother Nature says her work is through
Until the day that you are me and I am you

BRITISH CONVERTS TO ISLAM COME IN GROWING NUMBERS

The Gatestone Institute informs that conversions to the Religion of Peace take place in Britain on a frequent basis:

Although immigration is the biggest factor in the rise of Islam in Britain, it is also true that hundreds of Britons are converting to Islam every month.

According to a recent survey conducted by an inter-faith group called Faith Matters, the number of British converts to Islam recently passed the 100,000 mark, and there are as many as 5,000 new conversions nationwide each year. Previous estimates had placed the total number of Muslim converts in Britain at between 14,000 and 25,000.

The survey revealed that nearly two thirds of the converts were women, more than 70% were white and the average age at conversion was just 27.

The survey, conducted by Kevin Brice from Swansea University in Wales, asked converts for their views on the negative aspects of British culture. They identified "alcohol and drunkenness," a "lack of morality and sexual permissiveness" and "unrestrained consumerism."

More than one in four acknowledged there was a "natural conflict" between being a devout Muslim and living in Britain. Nine out of ten women converts said their change of religion had led to them dressing more conservatively. More than half started wearing a head scarf and 5% had worn the burka.

Separately, government authorities recently revealed that an increasing number of inmates at British prisons are converting to Islam. For example, one-third of the inmates at one of Britain's most notorious youth jails are Muslims and the religion is attracting a large number of converts.

Prison insiders say most non-Muslims are locked up during Friday prayers because so many guards are needed to monitor the lunchtime service. As a consequence, many disillusioned youngsters are becoming attracted to Islam by the prospect of getting better food and superior treatment at the prison.

Most conversions to Islam are being triggered by a combination of increasing proselytizing activity by Muslims as well as by a growing disaffection with Christianity.

Some observers say the decline of traditional Christian churches in Britain, a trend that is being accompanied by the demise of Judeo-Christian moral codes in British society, is creating a spiritual vacuum that Islam is beginning to fill.

In any event, all indications are that a growing number of Britons who grew up in nominally Christian households are converting to Islam. This partially explains why the number of Muslims is increasing while the number of Christians is declining.

This trend can be expected to continue.

Tragically, realizing the bizarre mindset that holds fast in Britain, that's why their point is very valid. That the indoctrination of women to join a religion that subjugates the fairer sex has been so effective is scary.

It's also worth reading this piece on how freedom of press in the UK is increasingly under threat of extinction.

LEONARD COHEN: CLOSING TIME

"Closing Time"

Ah we're drinking and we're dancing
and the band is really happening
and the Johnny Walker wisdom running high
And my very sweet companion
she's the Angel of Compassion
she's rubbing half the world against her thigh
And every drinker every dancer
lifts a happy face to thank her
the fiddler fiddles something so sublime
all the women tear their blouses off
and the men they dance on the polka-dots
and it's partner found, it's partner lost
and it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops:
it's CLOSING TIME
Yeah the women tear their blouses off
and the men they dance on the polka-dots
and it's partner found, it's partner lost
and it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops:
it's CLOSING TIME
Ah we're lonely, we're romantic
and the cider's laced with acid
and the Holy Spirit's crying, "Where's the beef?"
And the moon is swimming naked
and the summer night is fragrant
with a mighty expectation of relief
So we struggle and we stagger
down the snakes and up the ladder
to the tower where the blessed hours chime
and I swear it happened just like this:
a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss
the Gates of Love they budged an inch
I can't say much has happened since
but CLOSING TIME
I swear it happened just like this:
a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss
the Gates of Love they budged an inch
I can't say much has happened since
CLOSING TIME
I loved you for your beauty
but that doesn't make a fool of me:
you were in it for your beauty too
and I loved you for your body
there's a voice that sounds like God to me
declaring, declaring, declaring that your body's really you
And I loved you when our love was blessed
and I love you now there's nothing left
but sorrow and a sense of overtime
and I missed you since the place got wrecked
And I just don't care what happens next
looks like freedom but it feels like death
it's something in between, I guess
it's CLOSING TIME
Yeah I missed you since the place got wrecked
By the winds of change and the weeds of sex
looks like freedom but it feels like death
it's something in between, I guess
it's CLOSING TIME
Yeah we're drinking and we're dancing
but there's nothing really happening
and the place is dead as Heaven on a Saturday night
And my very close companion
gets me fumbling gets me laughing
she's a hundred but she's wearing
something tight
and I lift my glass to the Awful Truth
which you can't reveal to the Ears of Youth
except to say it isn't worth a dime
And the whole damn place goes crazy twice
and it's once for the devil and once for Christ
but the Boss don't like these dizzy heights
we're busted in the blinding lights,
busted in the blinding lights
of CLOSING TIME
The whole damn place goes crazy twice
and it's once for the devil and once for Christ
but the Boss don't like these dizzy heights
we're busted in the blinding lights,
busted in the blinding lights
of CLOSING TIME
Oh the women tear their blouses off
and the men they dance on the polka-dots
It's CLOSING TIME
And it's partner found, it's partner lost
and it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops
It's CLOSING TIME
I swear it happened just like this:
a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss
It's CLOSING TIME
The Gates of Love they budged an inch
I can't say much has happened since
But CLOSING TIME
I loved you when our love was blessed
I love you now there's nothing left
But CLOSING TIME
I miss you since the place got wrecked
By the winds of change and the weeds of sex.

GREEN LANTERN #15: HOW PREDICTABLE

The 15th issue of the series has come out, still focusing on Geoff Johns' adherent to Islam named Simon Baz, and as this review on Blog of Oa tells, the identity of the culprit who rigged the van was rather expected:

...Baz makes his way to the address his sister Sira provided to him last issue, the address of the owner of the explosive filled van that Baz stole. The occupant, Edward Wale, greets Baz at the door, recognizing him as the "terrorist" and threatening to call the police before being convinced to allow Baz to come in and talk. Agents Valdez and Fed continue their pursuit of Baz but Fed still follows his hunch that Simon is innocent so the two men split up to try differing methods of tracking the Green Lantern down.

Things at the Wale residence don't go as planned and we learn that Wale himself rigged the van and parked it under the bridge in an attempt to blow it up for reasons as yet unknown other than taking out a train. Baz's ring prevents him from being shot but that ends up being the last act of a ring desperately in need of a charge and before long the scene turns into a chase scene as Wale hunts a perplexed Green Lantern.

[...] Wale gets the drop on Baz but Fed arrives in the nick of time to prevent the man from killing Simon Baz and emerging as a hero triumphant over the man who tried to blow up the city. Their confrontation is interrupted by the arriving Third Army who had been tracking Baz's ring signature. While Wale doesn't survive the encounter, both Baz and Fed manage to escape after blowing up the home, only to be met by B'Dg, who was sent to Earth to find Hal. [...]

We all knew that Simon Baz's story is one that is very personal for Geoff Johns, and of course Baz is not going to be a terrorist, but I honestly was looking for something perhaps a little more original with how it turned out. While we may never know Wale's backstory his form of domestic terrorism seems to be aimed at advancing a white supremacist or xenophobic agenda. Having the hero falsely judged based on some sort of bias only to have the villain revealed as one of "us" has been overused and I really hope that Johns doesn't overreach the bounds of competent story telling and fall into the abyss of the cliche. Or as I like to call it, pulling a Terry Berg.

Ah yes, that older story by Judd Winick, where he shoved his leftist positions down the readers' throats with overbaked leftist blather about gay agendas. And even when it wasn't stuff like that, the book was still pretty bad: at one point, he came up with a son for Abin Sur, the dying alien who gave Hal Jordan his power ring and lantern, who was named Amon Sur, and made him a villain, thus insulting a key part of Hal's origins. And also during Winick's run, there was a peculiar discrepancy in the character design for Kyle Rayner's mother Maura: the first time she appeared in issue 88 of volume 3, she looked early to mid 50s, but when she turned up a second time during Winick's run in issue 153, she looked more like early 40s, with lighter-colored hair. Clearly, the editors by that time didn't place much value on the book.

But turning back to the current subject in focus, knowing where Johns was taking his cues from, I realized we couldn't expect him to take any negative position on the Religion of Peace, and so, we get a cliched story where the culprit turns out to be a non-Muslim white criminal who'd planned an act of terrorism for reasons that'll probably never be fully explored. But that's why subtlety and stealth make such cunning tools.

I think I'll also take the time to comment on this confrontation between Baz (who's still noticeably wearing an orange outfit like what's seen at Gitmo) and his sister from the 13th issue:

I'm not sure why we're supposed to feel sorry for a guy who steals cars and gives an unconvincing defense for why he'd do it. "Cars no one would miss"? It wouldn't matter if it were an Edsel or a lousy-looking Studebaker; if the cars were owned, and the engines worked well, someone's bound to notice them missing, namely, the owners. And it wasn't a car in this case that Baz stole, it was a large van. As far as I know, panel vans are far from the most coveted vehicles on the black market in America, even for spare parts.

And Baz's sister didn't need the money before he began stealing cars with the job she had in the Michigan state government offices. So after he got arrested, all he did was embarrass her standing at the workplace. Maybe Johns doesn't think so, but he's actually making the character look more like he's got a low-IQ. What's so admirable about that?

I really don't care where the story is going to go from here, not even if it travels into the galaxy. But Johns has once again insulted the intellect in his downhill spiral as a writer.

JERUSALEM IS NOW INSEPARABLE

Michael Freund's written in the Jerusalem Post that no matter what the rest of the world thinks, the demographic facts on the ground have made Jerusalem completely indivisible.

SYRIA'S END?

In this new PDF-based bulletin from the BESA Center, the contributors ponder the possibilities that Syria could be breaking up, or that a Muslim Brotherhood style dictatorship could emerge. Anything's possible - Syria could split up into smaller states (and maybe Lebanon could regain some of the land Syria took from them), but the dangers of another Muslim Brotherhood rising on Syrian soil are also quite probable. And that's why Israel needs to be on the lookout for such a thing happening.

The Discovery of Massive Amounts of Freshwater Under Africa Slays Another Environmentalist Apocalyptic Fantasy

Back in December of 2009, I predicted "The Next Environmental Crisis That Threatens Life on Earth" would be a trumped up Peak Water.

Yes folks, the environmentalists will try to convince us we are running out of water, just as they have tried to convince us we would run out of oil, and of decent weather.

Environmentalists have never met an Apocalyptic scenario which did not work like Viagra on their shriveled selves.

Indeed, in May of 2011, Environmentalists thought they had found the Holy Grail proof that the world was ending as a result of massive dehydration:

In some agricultural areas of California, the ground level has dropped 30 feet from excessive draining of aquifers. 

The Colorado River no longer empties into the Gulf of California (Mexico) as all of its water has been taken by irrigation. 

Decades from now, when there will be little snow pack in the Northwestern states, some large western rivers will have even less flow, and large U.S. hydroelectric facilities in the West will no longer supply much of their current electric power.

Yemen’s aquifers around some of its cities are nearly gone. 

Saudi Arabia is phasing out its wheat crop as its large aquifer will be nearly exhausted in a decade.
In upper China, the large fossil aquifer (which is not easily recharged) is being drawn down several meters a year. 

Near Beijing, water wells go down a kilometer (0.6 mile) to get water for the city’s inhabitants.
It is even worse in India as many wells have gone dry and in some regions, half of the electricity is being used to pull up water for people and crops.

With news like this, we might as well all put a gun to our heads before Obama bans them, right? (Though, if we used guns primarily for suicide, rather than for protection against the encroaching tyranny of our government, Obama would likely be all for them.)

Thing is, as with any "Peak Theory", it's all crap. We live on a tremendously abundant Earth, and man's mind is infinite in it's creative capacity to find new ways to use the resources provided by this bountiful Earth that God gave us.

Today, we find that BENEATH AFRICA THERE ARE MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF FRESHWATER:

Deep beneath Africa, under some of the hottest and driest places on earth, lie vast reservoirs of fresh water. According to geologists, these “aquifers are some 410,000 cubic miles thick and contain 100 times the freshwater that exists on the continent’s surface.” Tapping that water could transform dry and barren land in places like the Sahel into wet and fertile oases.

In fact, with:

Slowing population growth. The restoration of massive swaths of farmland to nature. Increasing world food supplies. Lower food prices for billions of people. Massive water supplies beneath the driest deserts. Abundant oil and gas. The 21st century is looking like it will be a very different kind of place than the greens and Malthusians have warned us about.
Malthusianism is a psychological disposition more than an intellectual conclusion, and we have no doubt that the alarmists among us will find new looming catastrophic shortages to warn us about. But it’s striking nevertheless that centuries of failed predictions haven’t dented the confidence so many people have in what is so clearly a wrong-headed approach to world affairs.

Every new generation falls prey to the Maulthusian scare stories. Young people are particularly vulnerable to these frightening tales whispered around the campfire, because they have yet to have watched as the Malthusian fantasies are proven wrong by the turns of time.

When I was a kid, my supposedly wise elders filled my head with Apocalyptic nightmares of a worldwide Ice Age brought on by man's abuse of the Earth. Because these stories frightened me so much, and because over time it became obvious they were nothing but lies, I have not fallen prey to the pure insanity of the Global Warming myth.

One must wonder what is going to happen to the Environmentalist hegemony as medicine helps us attain longer, healthier lives, wherein we can store up the wisdom of our own generations of personal experience. Who will they fool when there is no one left to fool?

Will Peak Environmentalism become the first Peak Theory fantasy to actually come true?

We can only hope.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH EXPELS UN'S RICHARD FALK FROM BOARD

UN Watch has some good news, telling that the awful Richard Falk, who's responsible for mongering anti-semitism and 9-11 trutherism at the UN, has been removed from the board of HRW:

GENEVA, Dec. 18 – Human Rights Watch has just expelled top U.N. official Richard Falk from one of its committees, where he helped played a key role in the organization’s global work.

UN Watch, an unrelated non-governmental organization based in Geneva, had called for HRW to sack Falk from the post, noting he has been condemned for spreading antisemitism and 9/11 conspiracies by British Prime Minister David Cameron, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

“We commend Human Rights Watch and its director Kenneth Roth for doing the right thing, and finally removing this enemy of human rights from their important organization,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

“A man who supports the Hamas terrorist organization, and who was just condemned by the British Foreign Office for his cover endorsement of a virulently antisemitic book, has no place in an organization dedicated to human rights,” said Neuer.

He shouldn't be allowed into civilized society either. He shouldn't be welcomed at prominent resturants or the bowling alley. Falk should definitely apologize to both Israel and America for the harm he's still bound to cause. But alas, it's unlikely he ever will.

RAMAT SHLOMO EXPANSION PROJECT MOVES AHEAD

The government's advanced approvals for 6,500 housing units in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem:

Four days of marathon meetings in the Interior Ministry and the Jerusalem municipality’s planning committees, which started on Monday, are expected to advance approvals for almost 6,500 apartments over the 1967 Green Line in Israel.

After spending nearly three years in limbo for causing a major diplomatic crises between the United States and Israel, the 1,500 apartment units in Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo received final approval from the Interior Ministry on Monday. This means construction can begin in the coming year. [...]

City Councilor Yair Gabbai (Likud) who sits on both the local and district committees, also welcomed the wave of approvals. “The Prime Minister [Binyamin Netanyahu] stopped the discussion of these projects because of due to outside pressure from so many places,” Gabbai said. “The moment Palestinians went to the UN and went unilaterally, the PM gave a green light to do all [of the building in east Jerusalem]. Everything was ready years ago, we were just waiting for green light,” he said.

And now, finally, it looks like they got it. The PLO and some of the leftists in Israel, naturally, hate that the project is moving ahead, and the former is going to exploit the UN for protesting Israel's democratic right to develop its own land. What a shame they continue down the path of being enemies with Israel, and any hostility they show to this project only proves where they really stand.

WHEN AUTISTS BECOME MONSTERS

From Salon in March of 2009:

The monster inside my son

For years I thought of his autism as beautiful and mysterious. But when he turned unspeakably violent, I had to question everything I knew.

On Feb. 14 I awaken to this headline: “Professor Beaten to Death by Autistic Son.”

I scan the story while standing, my coffee forgotten. Trudy Steuernagel, a faculty member in political science at Kent State, has been murdered and her 18-year-old son, Sky, has been arrested and charged with the crime, though he is profoundly disabled and can neither speak nor understand. Sky, who likes cartoons and chicken nuggets, apparently lost control and beat his mother into a coma. He was sitting in jail when she died.

This happens to be two days after my older son’s 21st birthday, which we marked behind two sets of locked steel doors. I’m exhausted and hopeless and vaguely hung over because Andrew, who has autism, also has evolved from sweet, dreamy boy to something like a golem: bitter, rampaging, full of rage. It happened no matter how fiercely I loved him or how many therapies I employed.

Now, reading about this Ohio mother, there is a moment of slithering nausea and panic followed immediately by a sense of guilty relief.

I am not alone.

- – - – - – - – - – - -

Andrew started life as a mostly typical child. But at 3 and a half he became remote and perseverative, sitting in a corner and staring at his own splayed hand. Eventually he was diagnosed with high-functioning autism, a label that seemed to explain everything from his calendar memory and social isolation to his normal IQ....

Read the entire essay HERE.  Relate the contents of the essay to Adam Lanza, who according to the information to date, had a form of autism.

It is not politically correct to criticize the disabled.

But sometimes disability is mental illness. Dangerous and deadly mental illness, which resulted in the horror inside the walls of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012.

A NATION IN WHICH ONLY THE STATE IS ARMED CAN NEVER BE A UTOPIA

Libs'n lefties think defenseless people are safer than people who can defend themselves.

This is another example of their "fantasy ideology."

Another example:

Obama saying at the memorial "this must never happen again".

Libs'n lefties think that if they could only have their way and create a "liberal utopia" that there'd be no murders or hurricanes.

This goes hand in glove with their belief that they'd also have an unlimited amount of money to spend on utopianist schemes if they were just allowed to tax people enough.

If this was true, then the USSR and Red China would be paradises - instead of turds flushed down the toilet of history.

REMINDERS:

WE WON'T MAKE ANYONE SAFER BY TAKING GUNS AWAY FROM LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS.

WE WILL MAKE PEOPLE SAFER BY PROPERLY DEALING WITH MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES.

PEOPLE LIKE ADAM LANZA NEED TO BE INSTITUTIONALIZED FOR LIFE AND/OR FORCED TO TAKE MEDS VIA IMPLANTS AND/OR FORCED TO WEAR ANKLE BRACELETS.

LIMITING THE RIGHTS OF HEALTHY LAW-ABIDING PEOPLE WILL SOLVE NOTHING - EXCEPT ASSUAGE THE UTOPIANIST FANTASIES OF LIBS'N LEFTIES.

THIS IS WHAT NEWTOWN MASSACRE IS REALLY ALL ABOUT

IT'S ABOUT MENTAL ILLNESS:

I am sharing this story because I am Adam Lanza’s mother. 

I am Dylan Klebold’s and Eric Harris’s mother. 

I am James Holmes’s mother. 

I am Jared Loughner’s mother. 

I am Seung-Hui Cho’s mother. 

And these boys—and their mothers—need help. 

In the wake of another horrific national tragedy, it’s easy to talk about guns. But it’s time to talk about mental illness.

 (VIA ACE).

ENGLAND DROPS HEBREW FROM THEIR LIST OF OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZED LANGUAGES

No surprise, really. This is the country that still shows no remorse over their dictator-like occupation of this country and endangering citizens to the Islamofascists at the time. Here's the news (via Atlas Shrugs):

The U.K. government has dropped Hebrew as an official recognized language for the purpose of teaching it to school children, according to press reports.

The government exclusion of Hebrew from the provided list of officially recognized languages ​​for primary schools could damage Jewish education, the Board of Deputies warned this week.

Education Minister Elizabeth Truss last month announced plans to make it mandatory from September 2014, to teach a foreign language to children aged 7 to 11. Schools must offer at least one of seven recognized languages​​, excluding Hebrew.

Many elementary Jewish schools, who have to fit in Jewish studies, along with the national curriculum, are currently offering only Hebrew as a foreign language. According to the Board, they would be unable to continue their education if they were forced to offer another foreign language.

Board Senior Vice President Laura Marks said the government's proposals could be "extremely damaging to our community's identity, such as language, including classical and modern Hebrew, is a vital ingredient for the understanding of our faith and culture." He urged the government to "reject the idea of stipulating only a narrow range of languages​​." The importance of classical Hebrew was recognized almost 600 years ago in England when Henry VIII established Regius professorships in the subject at Oxford and Cambridge, according to official records.

One can only wonder if they'll be making Arabic the toplining foreign language to be recognized in England soon enough. And in another generation, it'll probably replace English as the official language too.