CAN ATHEISM DEFEAT RELIGIOUS FANATICISM?

As New Year's approached there was a flare up of articles in the left leaning press about atheism. An underlying theme of these columns was that - in a world on the brink of destruction - it would be the rational minds and voices who would "talk the world down from the balcony. " It comes as no suprise that in the post-modern world view where G-d and History are dead - and where the leader of the Free World leads the fight against Islamofascism with Old Testament metaphor - that the PC crowd pines for an easy way out.

Now, I'm a big fan of skeptics and creative thinkers, but I do not have much faith that atheism will be the bastion of Western Civilization. Whether or not you ascribe to the view that Civilization, or the Environment, or the Economy, is on the brink, the clear fact is that the islamofascists intend to destroy the United States, and their fanaticism must be met with fervent determination, and can only be defeated by ACTION - and not polite discussion.

THE FRUITS OF APPEASEMENT - PART 4: WEAKNESS INVITES PRESSURE

Netanyahu:

Hizbullah and Hamas are rapidly arming themselves thanks to the Israeli government's decision to refrain from taking action against them. Since the cease-fire was declared, dozens of Kassam rockets have been fired at the western Negev. The government continues not to react.

... The Baker-Hamilton Report also argues that a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a condition to stabilizing the rest of the Middle East's core problems. Here we find an attempt to create affinity: If Israel was to carry out concessions and territorial withdrawals, the Iranian and Iraqi problems would be solved.

In reality, the situation is the complete opposite: If the problem of Iran, which Ismail Haniyeh defines as "the strategic backbone of Hamas", were solved, it would be easier to treat the conflict with the Palestinians. ... The weakness of the Olmert government only expedites the decline of Israel's stature, both in the Middle East and around the world. If the Israeli government accepts the ongoing firing of Kassams at its cities, why shouldn't the world? If Olmert's government reacts limply to Iran's statements about its intentions to destroy Israel, why should we expect the world to act against them?

... Weakness invites pressure.

The fruits of appeasement are always the same: it never mollifies one's enemies; it always emboldens them. It's time Bush and Olmert turned down the rhetoric and the symbolic gestures and TURNED UP THE HEAT. It's time Likud regrouped and mounted a real challenge to Kadima - which is seeming more and more accommodationist every day.

NANNY-STATE NONSENSE FROM THE UK: THEY DECIDE WHAT IS FOOD, AND WHAT IS "JUNK"

TELEGRAPH (VIA NRO/STUTTAFORD):

New advertising rules that will officially label cheese as "junk food" were condemned yesterday by the dairy industry as unfair, misleading and counter-productive.

Under regulations coming into force this month, broadcasters will be banned from advertising cheese during children's television programmes or in shows with a large proportion of child viewers

.... The ban is part of a government drive to crack down on junk food adverts on television, which is designed to reduce the exposure of children to foods high in fat, salt and sugar.

HERE'S A LIST OF BANNED FOODS:

Marmite, Flora Lite, half-fat cheddar cheese, Dairylea triangles, bran flakes, camembert, sugar-coated puffed wheat, instant hot oat cereal, Jaffa cakes, reduced calorie mayonnaise, multi-grain hoop cereal, half-fat creme fraiche, takeaway chicken nuggets, potato waffles, Greek yoghurt (sheep), ham, sausages, bacon rashers, low-fat spreads, peanuts, cashew nuts, pistachio nuts, peanut butter, raisins, sultanas, currants, low-fat potato crisps, olive oil, butter, pizza, hamburgers, tomato ketchup, chocolate, brown sauce, cola, lemonade

HERE'S WHAT MIGHT ALSO BE BANNED - BASED ON IT'S FAT CONTENT: MOTHER'S BREAST MILK.

SAY NO MORE. THEN AGAIN, I WILL SAY THIS:

IDIOTIC LISTS LIKE THESE ARE WHAT ONE ALWAYS GETS WHEN A "POLITBURO" DECIDES WHAT INDIVIDUALS OR MARKETS MAY OR MAY NOT DO.

Why not let people eat what they want? Why not let parents feed their own children the way the way they deem fit? Why have the State make these decisions for them?

The reason is the State pays for the health care of these people, and the COST of health care for obese people is higher than for skinny people.

THEREFORE.... the ultimate PROBLEM here is NOT what people eat, but WHO PAYS FOR IT. Socialist states - with "universal" healthcare - are states that inevitably tell people what they can eat, drink, and smoke. And whether they can have a gun to defend themselves. It's ALL part-and-parcel of the same thing: STATISM - nanny-statism is only the SEEMINGLY benign way it starts... "YOU SEE, IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!"

Yeah. Like: "We're from the government, and we're here to help."

IRAQ BANS TV STATION FOR INCITING VIOLENCE

And you'll notice the name of the station, which seems to suit it well: put another way, it's run by sharks. From AFP:

The Iraqi government said it has banned private television channel Al-Sharkiya from reporting in Baghdad after accusing the station of inciting sectarian violence. "The channel has been ordered to stop work in Baghdad forever," said interior ministry spokesman Brigadier General Abdel Karim Khalaf on Monday.

Khalaf said the ministry had told all television channels to take care reporting on violence so as not to "incite sectarian violence and hatred." "But Al-Sharkiya continued working in this direction," he added. A senior employee at the Dubai-based channel confirmed the ban in the Iraqi capital, now engulfed in sectarian warfare between Shiite and Sunni extremists, although it was not immediately clear whether the station could continue reporting from elsewhere in the country.

But look at what an even more positive step they took in banning a hate-mongering TV station from their country:

The government had also earlier banned pan-Arab station Al-Arabiya for a month in September and has permanently banned its better known Arabic-language rival, Al-Jazeera, from reporting in Iraq.

Now isn't that something! Al-Jazeera, as one of the worst of the hate-mongers, was rightfully and wisely banned by an Arabic country, of all places. And that's good. They're one of the most pro-terrorist TV channels to be found, and Iraq is doing the right thing to get rid of them. Western nations would be strongly advised to follow.

NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER FROM PERU ABDUCTED BY TERRORISTS IN GAZA

A photographer from the land of the Inca tribe was kidnapped in the latest of many such abductions:

GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian gunmen kidnapped a Peruvian photographer working for Agence France-Presse in Gaza on Monday, while several militants were seized in separate abductions that sparked new violence between rival factions.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the abduction of the photographer, named by the French news agency and Palestinian security sources as Jaime Razuri. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's office said in a statement that Abbas condemned the kidnapping and had called for all Palestinian security forces to search for and free the man.

Frankly, I don't believe a word of what Abbas says.

A NEW YEAR LIKE THE OLD: 400 CARS SET AFLAME IN FRANCE; FRENCH IN DENIAL

NINE/MSM/(AAP):

Vandals set fire to about 400 cars overnight and police said they arrested more than 250 people, as violence marred France's New Year celebrations. ... Setting cars on fire has become a regular event in France during New Year's Eve celebrations, especially in the deprived suburbs that surround many cities. [Umph added.]

"DEPRIVED SUBURBS" IS A LEFTIST/MSM EUPHEMISM FOR MUSLIMS.

HITLER, THE MUFTI, AND MODERN ISLAMO-NAZISM

Just under 6 minutes. WTWT.

OKAY, PARTY'S OVER: BACK ON YOUR HEADS!

TIMES SQUARE, JANUARY 1ST, 2007; 10:42AM.

MOSQUE BOMBED IN THAILAND

NEW.COM (AU):

A SMALL homemade bomb exploded at a mosque in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai on today, injuring a Myanmar migrant worker, police said. Witnesses told police that two men riding a motorcycle threw the explosive device at the mosque in central Chiang Mai.

... Police refused to say if they thought the attack was linked to the [NINE!] bomb blasts that killed three on New Year's Eve in Bangkok. [And injured more two dozen!]

When the government fails to defend the people, then the people take things into their own hands.

*******1/3/07 UPDATE: it was an inside job/ACCIDENT. RTWT. I think this proves the other bombs on New Year's Eve were done by Muslims.

FPOTY

FIRST!

SERIOUSLY: I HOPE WE ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND VERY ACCOMPLISHED NEW YEAR!

ALL THE BEST - TO YOU AND YOURS!

BOLTON AND KOFI BOTH LEAVING THE UN

Bolton and Kofi are both leaving the UN - one as a hero, and the other as an utterly corrupt, tyrant-coddling anti-American failure.

And each leads in their respective categories for a prestigious award! (Bolton for a Fallaci and Annan for a Fiskie.) How fittingly delicious.

Good Luck John!

Good Riddance Kofi! (More HERE.)

Good Luck Ban Ki-moon! (I'll call him Bankie!)

Maybe under the new UNSG's leadership the UN can fulfil its promise and uphold its principles - instead of coddling tyrants and fostering socialism and transnational "progressivism." I HOPE SO... IT WOULD MAKE 2007 A BETTER YEAR THAN 2006!

LINK TO 16 LIVE WEBCAMS IN TIMES SQUARE

HERE. THEY HAVE 16 WEBCAMS
- INCLUDING ON THE BALL-DROP.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

CHECK IT TOMORROW, TOO - SEE THE MESS!

DO EUROPEANS SECRETLY LONG FOR A NEW DARK AGE?

My wife - who was born and lived the first nine years of her life in a third-world, Muslim infested, hellhole called Mindanao, Phillipines - proposed an interesting idea today. I was telling her that, while Europeans always comment on the fact that Americans don't know history (and, they don't, for the most part), it is astounding to me that Europeans seem to have no recollection of their own history with Islam.

Repeatedly, throughout history, Europe has been invaded by Muslims (Moors) who have attempted to do exactly what they are doing today, establish Sharia law and a Muslims state to rule over the Infidels. Repeatedly, Europe has had to do battle with those Moors, and in several cases throw them the hell out of their countries.

The history of the encounter between Islam and Europe is long and brutal, with no positive fruits to speak of. And yet, the Europeans act as if allowing millions of Muslims to flood into their countries (and establish Muslim neighborhoods which then become "no-go zones" for the police) does not pose any danger whatsoever to their way of life.

I told my wife that the blogger Fjordman theorizes that the future of Europe will be a return to the Medieval world, where strong nation-states will be replaced by townships with localized armies of citizens protecting, possibly, walled cities. I asked how it is that Europe doesn't see the danger, doesn't recognize this slow drift into a new dark age.

My wife responded that it might not, at all, be that they don't recognize it, but instead, that they don't fear such a world the way we do in America. They don't fear it because it is the world they come from. It is the familiar world of their history, and so, it doesn't seem so unthinkable.

Instead, she said, there may be many Europeans who harbor romantic notions about the good old days, the pastoral life, the visceral reality of a life of small community, banded together against the brutal outside world.

She said that such a life has no part in the dreams of Americans because we have always been about hopes, dreams, and ideas, about building towards a better future, whereas, Europe is more about clans, tierra, and a sense of place.

I have to wonder if, perhaps, my wife is correct, and Europeans really do see the coming of a new dark age as a return to the good old days. Perhaps, what we perceive as the roar of an onrushing Islamofascist monster out to destroy our modernity, Europe hears as a medieval siren song, and swoons, sucked down under into the beautiful dream of their past.

HOLLAND: SIGNS OF A REBIRTH OF CHRISTIANITY

WEEKLY STANDARD - (via PJM):

Years of gradual but seemingly unstoppable secularization have given way to a reaffirmation of old religious identities. The change is also starting to affect the attitudes of pupils at these schools. In a recent newspaper interview, a head teacher at a Catholic secondary school in Rotterdam observed, "For years, pupils were embarrassed about attending Mass. Now, they volunteer to read poems or prayers, and the auditorium is packed."

... The success in the Netherlands of the so-called Alpha Course program--a sort of Christianity 101 for beginners--is another case in point. The Alpha formula, first developed at Holy Trinity Brompton in London, aims to provide small groups of interested people with an introduction to Christianity through a series of meals-with-discussion evenings. Since its inception in 1997, 120,000 people have taken the Dutch version of the course. The number of related courses is growing by around one hundred a year. Prison Alpha, Business Alpha, Student Alpha, Youth Alpha, and more recently the Alpha Marriage Course: Collectively, they seem to have struck a chord in Holland's secular society.

Jan Bakker, national coordinator of Alpha Holland, admits he is as surprised as anyone about the success of the program: "There are still those who laugh at Christianity. But there's a growing group, most of them young people, who are genuinely interested, for whom this is all completely new."

This is a good omen. Perhaps Europe will fight back and retain it's culture and remain part of the West.

LIKUD LEADER - BIBI NETANYAHU - MAY OPEN AN ENGLISH-LANGUAGE BLOG SOON

Benjamin Netanyahu may be the first prominent Israeli politician to open his own blog. The following from INN is a translation of one of his statements there:

Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu had harsh words for the government in a statement Wednesday on his new Hebrew-language blog. The former Prime Minister outlined an itemized response he demands from the Olmert government to the incessant rocket attacks from Gaza against Israel.

“The rocket fire aimed at Sderot has become routine in the past few weeks since the government agreed to the ceasefire,” wrote Netanyahu. “More than 50 rockets have been launched at Sderot since that imaginary truce and it has been a miracle that no one wounded until now... The expected has finally occurred [on Tuesday night]: people have been hurt.”

A spokesperson said he intends to start an English-language blog in the near future. I hope it'll be soon, because then, it'll be easier for English-language readers to read it too. Reliapundit adds: This is good; more people need to hear regularly from the hawks within Israel.

PALESTINIAN ARABS MOURN SADDAM

LGF HAS THE PHOTOS AND THE NEWS:

VDH/NRO THE ANALYSIS:

Nothing was more evident of the moral impoverishment of the Palestinians than their collective lamentation over the fate of this mass killer of the Kurds and Arabs.

We gave the Palestinian Authority hundreds of millions of dollars for housing, schools, and security and they hate us; Saddam gave them a few thousand dollars as bounty for suicide murderers and they loved him. That says it all.

INDEED.

VIDEO: SADDAM HUSSEIN'S EXECUTION UNCENSORED AND UNCUT; SADDAM DEAD UNCENSORED / UNCUT

LINK HERE.

Our ability to witness this momentous day in history is all because of this.

THE REAL MAN OF THE YEAR: "... the guy who invented the camera phone"

The Time Magazine "Man of the Year" (or as it's now P.C.-called, "Person of the Year") has always been a joke.

Some years they had no choice but to do what was right, like naming George W. Bush in 2000, but most of the time, it's politically motivated. When they named Mikhail Gorbachev, "Man of the Decade" for the 1980s, you knew where the publication stood.

My view has been that we should start giving awards and recognition to people that deserved them, even when it may seem incredibly sarcastic or unusual. Last August, I floated the idea that a Pulitzer Prize should be given to the creators of Photoshop for allowing journalists to doctor photos in order to bash the Iraq War, the Jews, and all the other bete noir's the MSM so hates. Why not?

On a less sarcastic note, I think a man (or woman) we should honor this year on the cover of Time (rather than "You") should be the guy who invented the camera phone.

Without this nifty invention, or I guess combination of two separate inventions, we might never have seen the two of the biggest stories of the year: Kramer's racial tirade and Saddam Hussein's execution. I don't know if there is another technology device that has had a bigger impact on the news this year.

Reliapundit adds: Welcome PAJAMAS MEDIA readers. This post is by one of TAB's eight excellent co-bloggers: Jim Rose. Check out the whole blog, and come back frequently. And Happy New Year!

THIRD WAY CANDIDATES: WHAT DEMOCRAT SENATORS-ELECT WEBB, AND TESTER - AND INDEPENEDENT SENATOR LIEBERMAN PORTEND FOR 2008

Senators Webb and Tester are socially conservative anti-Iraq War types.

Senator Lieberman is a socially liberal hawk.

These examples proves that the American electorate is very open to candidates who buck their party's platform in key areas. and present them with a novel combination of policies and values.

I think this FACT should dissuade folks of predicting that ANY candidate in either party who fails to tow the line on ANY part of their party's traditional platform will have a tough time winning their party's nomination for POTUS in 2008. In fact, it might very well mean that voters PREFER candidates who seem to have complex hybrid platforms of their own - as long as they are consistent and based on firmly held values. (If their positions seem tailor-made just for the campaign, or as hodge-podge amalgams without any core beliefs, then I think they will come off as phonies and lose traction early on. Hillary and Obama and Edwards come to mind, as none of these seem to have any consistency as far as I am concerned, and merely come off as shifty politicians.)


Though the three examples I gave are all from the Democrat Party, I think this also holds for the GOP - and that McCain and Rudy can EASILY win the nomination - as can Romney - even though each has held a variety of positions over the years which was out-of-step with the base of the party.

THE FRUITS OF APPEASEMENT - PART 3: THAILAND

CNN (VIA PRAIRIE PUNDIT):

Thai authorities have canceled all major New Year's celebrations in Bangkok after at least seven explosions ripped through several areas of the capital, killing two people, police and hospital officials say. At least 12 other people were wounded in Sunday's attacks, which appeared to have been coordinated, and took place hours before New Year's Eve celebrations at midnight (noon ET). Major events in Thailand's second largest city, Chiang Mai, have also been canceled.

... Bombings occur on a regular basis in Thailand's three southernmost provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani, where an Islamic insurgency that flared in January 2004 has killed more than 1,900 people. But Ajirawit said the insurgents were probably not behind Sunday's attacks, AP reported.

ABC (AU):

This is the first time anything like this has taken place within Bangkok. The government had warned of an attack over the New Year holiday, but it was widely believed the warnings related to the troubled southern provinces of the country, where insurgent groups have waged an ongoing battle against the government for many years.

The latter news item seems to contradict the prior as it relates to the probable perps; IOW: IN VIEW OF THE EASRLIER PUBLIC WARNING, it is very LIKELY these were jihadist attacks.

IN A LARGER SENSE, IT MATTERS NOT WHICH TERRORIST GROUP "TAKES CREDIT" FOR THESE ATTACKS; THE FACT THAT THEY HAVE OCCURRED AT ALL IS A DIRECT RESULT OF THE FACT THAT THAILAND NOW HAS A REGIME WHICH HAS MADE IT CLEAR THEY WILL APPEASE ANYONE WHO THREATENS THEM. AND THIS POLICY OF APPEASEMENT OF COURSE ONLY INVITES MORE ATTACKS.

UNLESS AND UNTIL THE THAIS HAVE A GOVERNMENT COMMITTED TO COUNTER-ATTACK AND ENFORCE THE RULE OF LAW, TERRORISM WILL INCREASE.

More HERE and HERE. And here and here. UPDATE: MORE HERE AT GATEWAY.

THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS WISH YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

WE WISH ALL OF YOU AND YOURS A MOST HAPPY AND HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!

HOW COME ARCTIC SEA-ICE IS MELTING BUT LAND-ICE IS NOT?

Amid the latest polar bear panic I am reproducing part of a 2003 article that explains LOTS about the Arctic -- but no Greenie will ever mention it. Read it and I will point out some of the implications below.

Note that my post yesterday concerned Arctic ice sitting on land in Canada, Greenland and elsewhere. Today I am looking at sea-based (floating) Arctic ice; (to Greenies they are all the same, but that is what you expect of simplistic thinkers):

Results from a German-American Arctic expedition to the Gakkel Ridge have implications for the understanding of the generation of new seafloor. The Gakkel ridge is a gigantic volcanic mountain chain stretching beneath the Arctic Ocean.... The scientists had expected that the Gakkel ridge would exhibit "anemic" magmatism. Instead, surprisingly strong magmatic activity in the West and the East of the ridge and one of the strongest hydrothermal activities ever seen at mid-ocean ridges were found. These results require a fundamental rethinking of the mechanisms of seafloor generation at midocean ridges (Nature, January 16 and June 26).

The Gakkel ridge extends about 1800 kilometers beneath the Arctic Ocean from north of Greenland to Siberia. It is the northernmost portion of the mid-ocean ridge system, the global 75,000 kilometer long volcanic chain where the ocean crust is generated by erupting magma....

Current theories of oceanic crustal production predict that volcanic activity deminishes as the spreading rate of the tectonic plates decreases and only little or no hydrothermal activity. Instead, the scientists found high levels of volcanic activity. "We expected the volcanic activity to gradually decrease from West to East as the magmatic systems shut down. Instead, approximately in the middle of the survey area, the magmatism shut down completely, then dramatically increased," says Dr. Jonathan Snow, the leader of the research group from the Max Planck Institute. This group was responsible for the petrological and geochemical investigations.

Hydrothermal hot springs on the seafloor were also far more abundant than predicted. "We expected this to be a hydrothermally dead ridge, and almost every time our water measurement instrument came up, they showed evidence of hydrothermal activity, and once we even 'saw' an active hot spring on the sea floor," noted Jonathan Snow. (H/T Ice Age Now)

Note how much the above explains. The sea-borne Arctic ice has undoubtedly been melting in recent years. Yet the land-borne ice in both Greenland and Antarctica has been thickening. There is very little comment about that oddity, but the above work explains it: The melting sea ice is melting, not because of global warming, but because of volcanism -- heat coming up from under it. Greenland and Antarctica are not affected by such volcanism so they are not melting. It also would seem to explain why SOME polar bear populations are decreasing. Most bear populations are doing fine or expanding but the ones dependent on sea-ice SHOULD be shrinking as the sea-ice shrinks.

For the benefit of any ignorant Greenie who might read this, I guess I should point out again a basic fact of physics: Even if the WHOLE of the sea-ice melted, it would not effect world sea-levels one iota. In other words, the bit of the Arctic that is melting doesn't matter.

(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)