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Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.

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Monday, 6 February 2006
The Open Trackback Alliance XIII
For your listening pleasure while you browse

"Der er et yndigt land" (There Is A Lovely Land)


Words by: Adam Gottlob Oehlenschlager
Music by: Hans Ernst Kr?yer
Adopted: 1844

"Derer et yndigt land" was first performed for a large gathering of Danes in 1844, and became popular quickly with the Danish people. It was adopted later that year by the Danish government as a national anthem, but not the sole national anthem. This anthem is on equal status with "Kong Christian",which is both the national and royal anthem.

When the Danish anthem is usually performed or sung, the first verse is played in its entirety, then it is followed by the last four lines of the last verse. (This is true whether the lyrics are sung or not



Recentlty I have been posting music to Illustrate the Diversity of America, this week I have a different motive to express Solidarity with DENMARK







When I first started upon my journey through the blogverse I created a
Statement of Purpose
Now upon reading it, one can realize that I did not hold to every detail of that original statement, but from it's basic premise, I have never swayed, in my belief that the Blogs are in fact the Committees of Correspondence of the Second American Revolution.

And that it is a Revolution of Information, no longer can we afford and allow elite gateways to control what we can see, hear and discuss.

For I believe that those bloggers who find their way, here and in particular from the Blogs associated with Sam.

HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY.

Some of us are more Serious, some of us are more lighthearted and some post the common ordinary things that make one smile and recall that Life without the simple things to treasure is meaningless.

And it is important that all have a platform from which to speak.

As I understand this process you can link to this post and trackback to this post on ANY subject or post you think important. It is open. I will repeat this every Monday.

The Committees of Correspondence welcomes your intelligent comments. And also welcomes you to join the

OPEN TRACKBACK ALLIANCE


This week I also have shortened my usual introduction for a more inportant message.




In it's struggle for Freedom of Speech.

Sign the Petition NOW!




Open Trackback Alliance


Blogs that Trackback to this Post:

On Monday
Will they throw cartoon bombs? JIHAD!!! voices of from Mark My Words
Reverse the flow (GTB/0pen Post) from third world county
Oh, please from The Elecktronick Tyger Roares
Crash! Boom! Bang! at MacBros' Place
The Right Way to Look at the Cartoon Intifada from Conservative Cat

Y'al come back now, Y'heah? ;-)

|



Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 6:18 AM CST
| Post Comment | View Comments (1) | Permalink | Share This Post
Updated: Tuesday, 7 February 2006 5:26 AM CST
Saturday, 4 February 2006
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark
Hamlet | Act 1, Scene 4

And I do not really believe it is cartoons.

In this world there are patterns which can be overlooked if one's focus is too narrow.

Let us step back, look for patterns in this event and other events recently and see if there is something they can tell us.

The surface narrow view of the present events in Denmark and elsewhere is that the caricatures of the Prophet have inflamed and incensed Muslim sensibilities.

To some extent this is true, but it is too simplistic to stop at that level.

Consider these factors.

The cartoons were published in September

"Why have the protests erupted from Muslims worldwide only now? The person who knows the answer to this question is Ahmed Abdel Rahman Abu Laban, a man that the Washington Post has recently profiled as “one of Denmark's most prominent imams.”

Last November, Abu Laban, a 60-year-old Palestinian who had served as translator and assistant to top Gamaa Islamiya leader Talaal Fouad Qassimy during the mid-1990s and has been connected by Danish intelligence to other Islamists operating in the country, put together a delegation that traveled to the Middle East to discuss the issue of the cartoons with senior officials and prominent Islamic scholars. The delegation met with Arab League Secretary Amr Moussa, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Mohammad Sayyed Tantawi, and Sunni Islam’s most influential scholar, Yusuf al Qaradawi. "We want to internationalize this issue so that the Danish government will realize that the cartoons were insulting, not only to Muslims in Denmark, but also to Muslims worldwide," said Abu Laban.

On its face, it would appear as if nothing were wrong. However, the Danish Muslim delegation showed much more than the 12 cartoons published by Jyllands Posten. In the booklet it presented during its tour of the Middle East, the delegation included other cartoons of Mohammed that were highly offensive, including one where the Prophet has a pig face. But these additional pictures were NOT published by the newspaper, but were completely fabricated by the delegation and inserted in the booklet (which has been obtained and made available to me by Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet). The delegation has claimed that the differentiation was made to their interlocutors, even though the claim has not been independently verified. In any case, the action was a deliberate malicious and irresponsible deed carried out by a notorious Islamist who in another situation had said that “mockery against Mohamed deserves death penalty.” And in a quintessential exercise in taqiya, Abu Laban has praised the boycott of Danish goods on al Jazeera, while condemning it on Danish TV."



A period of some SEVEN months from the time of the articles in Jyllands Posten and this outburst of outrage? Am I the only one who finds this curious?

Would not one normally expect a more rapid response?
I mean it does seem that the Arab Street can be inflamed by incidents such as this in an explosive manner but what could prompt one of Denmark's most prominent imams.” to delay publicity of something like this so long?

This is not the only curious event in recent times.

We all recall the French Riots. Over 300 Cities in flames, hundreds, nay thousands of cars torched.

The explanation for this outbreak of violence, the deaths of two young boys fleeing from the Police.

I find it odd that one of the first vehicles attacked and torched was the Emergency Vehicles and it's crew that rushed to the scene to try to save their lives. Can anyone believe that the Rioters could not tell the difference between that type of vehicle and crew and the Police?

Can anyone believe that such actions showed some concern for those boys?

I spoke of patterns. Take a very close look at this pattern,

it is a graph of the numbers of cars torched during the Riots.





"Commentary
Two inflection points immediately jump out. The first occurs on Day 6 when the car burnings really took off after trending flat for the previous 5 days. I think this represents the missed opportunity to deal with the riots at an early stage, either with large concessions or large crackdowns. I don't think it mattered which as long as the authorities acted decisively, which they didn't, because this was the period when the French government stood paralyzed like a deer in headlights.

The second inflection point is Day 11, when the graph appears to be flattening out. Appears because Day 11 is also the day in which the modality of the disturbances began to change from Car-B-Qs to arson against churches, schools and buildings combined with shooting attacks against police officers. But clearly it may be the case that the French riots may be running out of steam and therefore susceptible to the countermeasures the government is now putting in place. Let's wait and see.'


I find the pattern extremely odd. A flat line for car torchings for almost a week and then an explosion of activity which seemed to be divided into two distinct attack patterns.

Attacks with almost military precision. Supplied by manufacturing sites for incendiaries, with command and communication via cell phones and the Internet and at the end cars modified with steel beams to aid penetration of business walls for entry,

Do these factors sound like a "spontaneous" riot, or do they sound like a manipulated event?

Does the present outburst of outrage sound like a spontaneous reaction to the newspaper articles or a staged event?

I do not mean to imply that the Rioters, or those incensed at this moment are disingenuous, but I do wonder if all this was, shall we say, "arranged"?

Recall the Piglet controversy? As I wrote in an earlier post. I myself found it odd that a Muslim complained about Pig images, but no mention was ever made about Dog images, which to a Devout Muslim are FAR more unclean.

If a Muslim touches a pig, they must wash their hands, once. After touching a dog? They must wash their hands about 7 times I believe, one of them with an earth/water mixture, for a scrubbing action maybe.

Does touching a dog make one's hand naajis (impure)?

"The impurity of dogs is the greatest of animal impurities. The impurity of a dog can only be removed by washing seven times, one of which should be with earth. Even pigs, which the Qur?aan states are haraam and describes as an abomination (rijs) are not naajis (impure) to such an extent


When one steps back and looks at the patterns, these do not appear to be isolated events but are connected in a pattern.

To me this pattern is, probing attacks to see how much reaction and advantage can be gained from the Useful Idiots who leap to appease, placate and excuse.

These are but crafted examples of Asymmetric Warfare on the Publicity and Propaganda Front.

Folks we are being set up and the Transnational Progressive Useful Idiots are leaping at the bait.

I am not alone in this conclusion.

"It is important to note that the Danish Islamofascists had to gin up three more poor quality and insulting cartoons in order to incite the desired outrage and violence that is going on now. Without these three false cartoons added to the mix, this whole uproar might never have happened."

From What really started the Muslim anti-cartoon rampage at Mark in Mexico




Linked to

Open Thread/Open Trackbacks at The Crazy Rants of Samantha


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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 6:36 AM CST
| Post Comment | Permalink | Share This Post
Updated: Sunday, 5 February 2006 8:19 AM CST
Thursday, 2 February 2006
I Support Denmark




In it's struggle for Freedom of Speech.

Sign the Petition NOW!

"On the 30th of September 2005 the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed. Mohammedans raised a storm of protest and two artists went into hiding after receiving death threats. Islamic organisations demanded an apology from the Danish government and the incident turned into a world-wide diplomatic issue. The OIC (the Organisation of the Islamic Conference), the Council of Europe and the UN all criticised the government of Denmark for not taking measures against the newspaper Jyllands-Posten. The Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen defended the freedom of the press and free speech and stated that any measures, if appropriate, could not be taken by the government but only by a court of law. Meanwhile in Islamic countries Danish flags are burned and Danish products are taken off the shelves. Several countries have withdrawn their ambassadors from Denmark and armed men attacked the office of the EU in the Gaza strip.

Denmark needs our support. Show that you care and put one of these banners on your website.



For information about this issue go to

Danske ?jne p? svenske forhold

"English islamists target Denmark
Famous english sense of humor seems to have gone down the drain. Also it has become evident, that europeans are no longer master in their own house.
Radical groups call on supporters to wage holy war against Israel and Denmark, slam Muhammad cartoons.
UK-based jihadist groups have issued calls for their followers to mobilize and wage "holy war" against Israel and Denmark in recent days through internet messages on their websites"



As usual No Pasarn! is on top of things with Support for the Underdog and America's Most Blasphemous Cartoonists

Could some of the Blasphemous Cartoonists be our good friends at Cox and Forkum read Image Problem

Don't wait for the Movie!

An always read on European matters of media and it's coverage of issues Medienkritik!

with

Danish Cartoons: German Journalist Association Says "No"...Make That "Yes



How could one fail to mention the lovely Michelle Malkin and her extensive recital of sources and information at
FIRST, THEY CAME FOR THE CARTOONISTS

And one last time let me urge you to

Sign the Petition NOW!

I am #425

Captain's Quarters weighs in with

"These cartoons have been privately drawn and published by privately-owned enterprises. That is the essential nature of free speech. The Danes understand that, and I find the European impulse in supporting them the most hopeful sign from the Continent in a long time, Soir's surrender notwithstanding."

As one thinks about what is at stake the words of Gates of Vienna come to mind.

"At the siege of Vienna in 1683 Islam seemed poised to overrun Christian Europe. We are in a new phase of a very old war."

Prophet Cartoons Hit the MSM in the USA

"The controversy over the Jyllands-Posten cartoons of Mohammed has reach the MSM here at last; the story is on CNN.

But no images -- yet.

There?s a photo of someone reading a newspaper with the offending cartoons thoughtfully cropped out.

UPDATE 6:18pm EST: Fox has the story now, too, but still no pics'


Like Gates of Vienna says, this is nothing new, I guess every 322 years the dust needs to be settled?



Linked to

Thursday Already? Open Trackbacks at MacStansbury.org
Thursday Open Trackbacks at Right Wing Nation
Best Of The Blogs: Thursday at Don Surber
It's Thursday which means.....at Liberal Common Sense

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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 6:25 AM CST
| Post Comment | Permalink | Share This Post
Updated: Thursday, 2 February 2006 7:25 PM CST
Tuesday, 31 January 2006
Don't Break the Heart of a Poetic Genius


It's a BAD Idea!



I know this is a little off track for me, but sometimes you write the story and sometimes the story jumps up, hits you in the head and delivers an ultimatum.

This is the latter.

I have been putting some different types of music to my weekly Open Track Alliance Posts to show some of the diversity in America and it's musical tastes.

This week I chose Sukiyaki. I have always liked that song. Don't understand it, but I like it. It came out when I was about 12 years old.

I never gave the meaning of the words much thought until a Russian friend asked a question and that got me in my investigative mood. ;-)

Now you talk about a STORY? This one has it all.




Sakamoto, Kyu "Kyu-chan"
- b. November 10, 1941. d. August 12, 1985.
Internationally acclaimed singer. Sakamoto made his show business debut in 1960. His biggest hit, Ue o Muite Aruko (I Look Up When I Walk; "Sukiyaki" in the West), was released in Japan in 1961. After its release in the U.S. in 1963, the song's earnestness and melodic beauty proved irresistible despite its incomprehensible lyrics. Against all odds, on June 15, 1963, the song ousted Leslie Gore's "It's My Party" to become the No. 1 popular song in the U.S. "Sukiyaki" remains the biggest international hit by a Japanese popular singer. Credit for the song's popularity also is due to the music by Hachidai Nakamura and the lyrics by Rokusuke Ei, who is said to have written this touching evocation of loneliness after his heart was broken by the actress Meiko Nakamura. Sakamoto also recorded such popular songs as "Shiawase Nara Te o Tatako" and "Miagete Goran Sora no Hoshi o." Tragically, he was killed when JAL Flight 123, a 747 bound from Haneda Airport in Tokyo to Osaka, lost pieces of its tail sections and spiraled downward nightmarishly for 30 minutes (long enough for some passengers to scribble shaky farewells to their families). The plane crashed and burned on a thickly wooded mountain about 60 miles northwest of Tokyo, killing 520 and injuring four, in the worst single airplane disaster in aviation history. Sakamoto's songs remain popular in Japan and overseas. "A Taste of Honey" and "4PM" are among the performers who have subsequently released their own renditions of "Sukiyaki."


Boys and Girls have been breaking up and getting their hearts broken ever since Eve figured out the "Forbidden Fruit" wasn't really the apple.


Most times in the words of Maxims of Hafiz

Blister we not for bursati? So when the heart is vexed, (is not)
The pain of one maiden’s refusal is drowned in the pain of the next.


But in this case the young man did not pick himself up, dust himself off and go get his heart broken by yet one more pretty face.

Oh no, THIS boy wrote a song that was to become the Number One International Hit by a Japanese Singing Artist of ALL Time.

I mean can you just picture the pathos for the poor girl?

She was a actress, possibly with some fame and notoriety of her own.

Now will she be remembered for any professional accomplishments she might have?

Not a chance!

Posterity will remember her as the Woman who BROKE THE HEART of Rokusuke Ei.


I mean just go the the website with the link above!

The click on the MP3s Link to see what I mean.

This song has been recorded by everyone from Bob Dylan to Chet ATKINS!

Selena, the Ventures, Taste of Honey.

You cannot get a broader spread of musical tastes than that friends.

No the poor girl is doomed whether she deserved or not.

Now there is----

"La Belle Dame Sans Merci", by John Keats

The Vampire by Rudyard Kipling

and Meiko Nakamura in Sukiyaki (Ue o Muite Aruko) the woman who broke the heart of Rokusuke Ei.

In the Pantheon of Hard Hearted Cruel Women.

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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 4:43 AM CST
| Post Comment | View Comments (1) | Permalink | Share This Post
Updated: Tuesday, 31 January 2006 4:50 AM CST
Monday, 30 January 2006
The Open Trackback Alliance XII
For Monday

For your listening pleasure while you browse


Sakamoto Kyu Sukiyaki



Sukiyaki in English


the world thinks they know all about Americans, I intend to present music each week in this post illustrating our extreme diversity







When I first started upon my journey through the blogverse I created a
Statement of Purpose
Now upon reading it, one can realize that I did not hold to every detail of that original statement, but from it's basic premise, I have never swayed, in my belief that the Blogs are in fact the Committees of Correspondence of the Second American Revolution.

And that it is a Revolution of Information, no longer can we afford and allow elite gateways to control what we can see, hear and discuss.

One of the most important discoveries I make in those early days was the website of Samantha Burns, which included a unique informal community of bloggers, who not only linked to each other but actually browsed and read the blogs they linked to.

Later I was honored to be allowed to join another more formal blog community. At that time I decided that while I welcomed blogs that wanted to link to me, I was not that interested in simply joining blogrolls to add links. After that I made no more attempts to join any blog alliances. I have been kept busy supporting the linkages I have and at times I feel guilty that I cannot get around to all the websites on my blogroll as I could when it was smaller.

So why do I welcome this recent invitation to join the Open Trackback Alliance? Have I reconsidered my former decision?

No I am posting and joining this Alliance because it is RIGHT for me to do so.

Because it FULFILLS my original Statement of Purpose that the Blogs are indeed the 21st Century Committees of Correspondence, whose duty and honor it is to SHARE information, thoughts, ideas, news and to discuss the same. To diligently search for the truths that lie behind the distortions and half-truths of the Legacy Media.

What the blogs associated with the Samantha Burns site did informally, and without structure, this Alliance only aids and structures. There is in fact no conflict between what I do now, and what I decided to do sometime ago.

For I believe that those bloggers who find their way, here and in particular from the Blogs associated with Sam.

HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY.

Some of us are more Serious, some of us are more lighthearted and some post the common ordinary things that make one smile and recall that Life without the simple things to treasure is meaningless.

And it is important that all have a platform from which to speak.

As I understand this process you can link to this post and trackback to this post on ANY subject or post you think important. It is open. I will repeat this every Monday.

The Committees of Correspondence welcomes your intelligent comments. And also welcomes you to join the

OPEN TRACKBACK ALLIANCE



Open Trackback Alliance


Blogs that Trackback to this Post:

On Monday
My Very Own Study of Brain Function from Conservative Cat
Call the Whitehouse Hotline TODAY! from third world county
8 The Other War from Freedom Folks

Y'al come back now, Y'heah? ;-)

|



Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 2:23 AM CST
| Post Comment | Permalink | Share This Post
Updated: Tuesday, 31 January 2006 4:11 AM CST
Sunday, 29 January 2006
Egyptian Copts:
Are Oppressed
.. Oppressed
.. Oppressed.

By

Tarek Heggy

Tarek Heggy brings a unique and important voice to MidEastern Issues

"Please find attached Tarek Heggy’s recent article on the Copts of Egypt that was written on the occasion of the recent Coptic conference in DC.

On the occasion of Hamas victory in the recent Palestinian elections, Tarek Heggy spoke yesterday to Al-Arabiya satellite TV repeating his opinion that the current American administration mixes (wrongly) democracy and elections – that are totally different phenomena. As a result, elections will only bring about undemocratic parties to power, which will be disastrous to the free world and to the non-Muslim minorities. USA should have focused (in Tarek Heggy’s views) on building a complete atmosphere of democracy as he described in his article “Institutions of Democracy are more Important than Democracy” (http://www.heggy.org/democracy.htm).


"Last month, members of the Coptic community (Orthodox Christian Egyptians) and other individuals convened in Washington, D.C. to discuss the problems facing Copts in Egypt. Despite the complete personal disagreement between myself and the individual who initiated this conference, I will put aside the personal angle in dealing with this topic… since I feel that my way of thinking and writing is above getting dragged into the kind of style known from the security services' investigations department, which [tends to] abandon the heart of the matter and pursue marginal issues related to personalities, suspicions and conspiratorial thinking.


"This security-service mentality is one of the factors that contributed to the collapse of objectivity and rationality in our thinking, and which [cause this kind of thinking] to be so far removed from objective and civilized modes of analysis which are one of the achievements of human civilization.


"The basic issue is: 'Do the Copts in Egypt suffer from serious problems in their own country?' The only possible answer is: 'Yes'.


"Yes, Copts fear for themselves, their families, their property and their safety much more than Muslims do, though the latter, too, are not completely safe."


"Yes, Copts Suffer From a Public Atmosphere of Fanaticism".


"Yes, Copts suffer from a public atmosphere of fanaticism, which is not characterized by friendliness towards them.


"Yes, Copts encounter exceptional obstacles in various stages [of their lives] - in [acquiring] education, obtaining a job and getting promotions - merely because they are Copts.

"Yes, Copts feel that, even though their qualifications exceed the average level of the Muslims (a fact that most Muslims admit), they do not hold important public offices such as district governor, deputy governor, mayor, university president, college dean, or [even] most of the secondary-level positions in the Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry, Ministry of the Interior, etc. Copts feel that, as soon as a Copt utters his name, which reveals his Coptic identity, he often feels a sharp decline in the degree of friendliness shown towards him."


Even Though Copts Make Up 15% of the Population, They Make Up Only 1% of the Parliament.


"Yes, Copts feel that it makes no sense that, even though they constitute about one sixth (15%) of the population, Coptic MPs constitute less than one percent of the parliament. One does not need to be exceptionally bright in order to realize that this cannot be a mere coincidence, but can only be the result of motivations that are nefarious, irrational, unjust, inhuman and contrary to the basic concept of citizenship.


"Yes, Copts feel that it is an insult to the intelligence of all Copts and all Egyptians to claim that 'everything is all right' now that Sheikh Al-Azhar has been seen embracing the [Coptic] Pope.
"Yes, Copts feel that it is strange that the taxes they pay are spent on building mosques and on the Al-Azhar [Islamic] University, while [at the same time] they must invest huge efforts to build churches at their own expense.


"Yes, Copts, and especially those above the age of 60, feel that the attitude displayed today towards themselves, their wives, their daughters, and their sons is totally different from what they experienced over 40 years ago in the very same Egypt."


"To Accuse Anyone Who Speaks of These Matters of Being an Agent of Parties Hostile to Egypt is Simply a Joke".


"These are the essential aspects of the subject. To accuse anyone who speaks of these matters of being an agent of parties hostile to Egypt, or of being involved in a plot against Egypt, is simply a joke, an insult to the truth and an affront to reason.

"Among the Copts who are concerned with the general Coptic issue, none fail to realize the extent of the disagreement between myself and the engineer 'Adli Abadir, who sponsored the Zurich conference and the upcoming conference in Washington.


"However, I am the kind of person who can say, and I do say, that [despite the fact that] I cannot stand 'Adli Abadir, nor the way in which he presents his thoughts and his style of writing and speaking. I shall continue so long as I live to reiterate what I have said in this article, and even more. Likewise, I will never say that 'Adli Abadir is an agent acting in someone else's [interest], or that he is conspiring with anyone to harm Egypt. [To make such accusations] is the style of riffraff and a reflection of the style of the security services' investigations department, whose time has passed.


"[As] someone who respects his own thought and intellect - and in my case, his writing - I do not allow myself to join the pack of barking dogs or to abandon the essence of the issue and to look to impugn 'Adli Abadir and Mike Munir's character, because an intellectual must have a totally different nature than that of a police detective."


Egypt Will Never Get On the Road to Recovery so Long as Copts and Women Do Not Enjoy Full and Unimpaired Citizenship.


"A few years ago, a person came to my office whose high-level position and job had direct bearing on the Coptic issue, and he asked me why I was so enthusiastically involved in what I call in my writings 'the Coptic issue.' I told him at the time that as an Egyptian it is my obligation to do so, and this is also what makes me support women's issues in Egypt - because Egypt, which today is sick, will never get on the road to recovery so long as Copts and women do not take part in treating Egypt's problems from a position of full and unimpaired citizenship.


"A person who is oppressed and whose rights are denied cannot participate in pushing forward the broken-down wagon. I was sure that this visitor did not understand what I told him, because he was trained to treat the Copts as a threat to Egypt, despite the fact that they are the original Egypt."


If We Don't Recognize the Problem, it Will Turn Into an International Human Rights Issue.

"At the time, I also told him: 'If the Coptic issue is not discussed here, in Egypt, it will eventually be discussed abroad, and if we don't recognize all the aspects of the problem, then the Copts abroad will take [their cause] from the stage of merely crying out that they are being oppressed to the stage of [calling it] a human rights issue, and then many will pay attention to them on an international level, including important decision-makers.'


"When I was young, I heard the Arab adage: 'Most fires start from small sparks that people overlooked.' Today [we realize that] most troubles result from their having been ignored when they were small. We demand of the world that they believe our claim that we are above reproach in our treatment of non-Muslims and women, and we relish repeating this, while the world looks at our deeds and finds them to be totally contrary to what we say.


"To come back to the issue of the Copts in Egypt, I contend that the fact that most senior officials continue to ignore the Coptic issue will bring Egypt to crises which I can almost make out on the horizon. They are similar to the crises of others in the region - others who fell prey to the temptation to ignore some problems, and especially to ignore the realities of today's world, that is, the post-Cold War world.


"This is a world in which the idea of sovereignty in its old sense, which had been stable for the many decades preceding the fall of the Berlin Wall, is no longer of any use to anyone. There are those who understand this new world, and there are those who are unable to understand and take in all dimensions of this change…".
http://www.heggy.org

|


Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 7:34 AM CST
| Post Comment | Permalink | Share This Post
Updated: Sunday, 29 January 2006 8:01 AM CST
Friday, 27 January 2006
Do The Math

President Bush Job Approval

Saturday January 21, 2006--Forty-five percent (45%) of American adults approve of the way George W. Bush is performing his role as President.

Bill Clinton


On November 3,(1992) won election as the 42nd President of the United States by a wide margin in the U.S. Electoral College, despite receiving only 43 percent of the popular vote. It was the first time since 1968 (Nixon) that a candidate won the White House with under 50 percent of the popular vote.


Hillary Meter

January 11, 2006--The first Hillary Meter of 2006 shows a more positive perception of New York's Junior Senator than any survey conducted in 2005.

For the first time ever, fewer than 40% of Americans view Clinton as politically liberal. Thirty-nine percent (39%) now see her as liberal while 38% say moderate. Last January, 51% of Americans viewed the former First Lady as liberal. (see trends).

The perceived shift to the right has made her more appealing to voters--

34% now say they would definitely vote for Clinton while 35% say they would definitely vote against her.

In mid-December, those numbers were 30% for and 37% against.

Thirty-seven percent (37%) would definitely vote against Senator Clinton. Demographic crosstabs are available for Premium Members.


I leave it to the reader to draw their own conclusions. ;-)

While not one of my readers, but instead one of my daily reads, Big Lizards seems to agree
with the drift of this post in Hillary Will Never Be the Presidential Nominee

Now I will admit it is a dream of mine that Hillary be the Democratic Nominee mainly because I think that would be a lemming move for them. ;-)

Update: note this post will be bumped to the top from time to time as the figures vary

President Bush Job Approval Friday January 27, 2006

-Forty-six percent (46%) of American adults approve of the way George W. Bush is performing his role as President.

Hillary Meter: 46% Liberal

January 25, 2006--

Thirty-two percent (32%) of Americans say they will definitely vote for Senator Hillary Clinton if she runs for President in 2008. Thirty-nine percent (39%) will definitely vote against her.

The former First Lady is viewed as politically liberal by 46% of voters (up from 39% two weeks ago). Thirty-three percent (33%) see her as politically moderate (see trends).

Demographic crosstabs are available for Premium Members.

Collectively, today?s Hillary Meter places Senator Clinton a net 53 points to the left of the nation's political center. That's the closest to the political center she has been since we began bi-weekly polling last year. As with all tracking polls, it remains to be seen whether this is a lasting improvement or merely statistical noise.

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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 12:01 AM CST
| Post Comment | Permalink | Share This Post
Updated: Friday, 27 January 2006 5:27 PM CST
Thursday, 26 January 2006
What Kind o f Global Warming is THIS?



Hat Tip Goodbye-Okay the world's gone topsy-turvy. at The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns


Snow Actually Falls in Hawaii

Provided By: The Associated Press
Last Modified: 1/25/2006 12:02:16 AM


HILO, Hawaii (AP) -- The access road to the summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island was closed on Monday afternoon because of snow.

A telescope operator -- Paul Sears -- says the snow began to accumulate quickly and an evacuation was needed to prevent being trapped at the summit.

Kimo Pihana -- a ranger at Mauna Kea -- says he closed the road to ensure health and safety.

It marks the first time this winter that the road has been closed because of a snowstorm.

Meanwhile, unstable air over Hawaii also brought snow flurries to Haleakala on Maui.


Now children Evil Dan the Neo-Con World-wrecker is going to do something, underhanded, dastardly and decidely unfair.

If you throw the above humourous tale in the Face of a "Let's Destroy the World's Economy, let 90% of the Human Race Die off and Save Gaia Crowd"

They will LEAP at you with the information that it often snows at high altitudes in Hawaii.

SEE THERE! You don't know what you are TALKING ABOUT- HUFF!!!

You have now lured them into a false sense of security.

Now go straight for the throat and ask them.

Why, "The mammoth west Antarctic ice sheet, which contains enough water to lift the world's sea levels by 20 feet, isn't melting after all. Instead, it's actually thickening and Antarctica itself is getting cooler.1"

February 2002 New Research Indicates the Earth May Be Cooling

Then walk away leaving them sputtering incoherently.

MWUH-HAH-HAH,Hah-HAH!!!!!



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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 2:59 AM CST
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Updated: Thursday, 26 January 2006 3:19 AM CST
The Latest From Heggy.org
Kindly be informed that a collection of sixteen essays on (The Arab Mind Misconceptions) is now posted by winds of Change and could be reached via the following URL: http://www.windsofchange.net/archives/008002.php. Another collection of eleven essays on (The Arab Mind Medieval Religious Mentality) is also posted by the same site and could be reached via the following URL: http://www.windsofchange.net/archives/008003.php .


For those of you who are based in Cairo, Tarek Heggy’s second lecture at the 38th Cairo Book Fair will take place in the Book Fair Area, Nasr City, Takky Hall No. 16 on Wednesday February 1st at 2.30pm – Attendance of this lecture is free i.e. without invitation.


With my regards,


Mariam Rashad
**************************************************
For those who might be unfamiliar with Tarek Heggy

This is the site of Egypt?s well-known liberal thinker Tarek Heggy ?
One of the most quoted Arab authors on the web.


"Tarek Heggy is one of the most creative and prolific writers in the Arab world. His writings probe the political and social limits and present a refreshing message of self-reliance that challenges the prevailing sense that regional ills are largely made abroad".

(Professor Shibely Telhami, Maryland University, USA).

"Heggy is the most systematic social critic currently active in Egypt".

(Emmanuel Sivan).

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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 2:45 AM CST
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Updated: Thursday, 26 January 2006 2:58 AM CST
Wednesday, 25 January 2006
Osama's Vietnam Syndrome
By George Friedman

Osama bin Laden has broken his long silence: An audiotape containing his latest statement was delivered to and broadcast by Al Jazeera on Jan. 19. The United States has said that the tape appears to be authentic, and there has been ample time for al Qaeda to have denied its authenticity if it were fake. That hasn't happened, so it appears reasonable to assume that this is, in fact, an authoritative statement by the head of al Qaeda.

This obviously puts to rest the question of whether bin Laden is still alive. The tape apparently was recorded after Nov. 22, 2005, since bin Laden discusses the widely circulated story that U.S. President George W. Bush had suggested to British Prime Minister Tony Blair that Al Jazeera's headquarters should be bombed. That story first appeared in the press on Nov. 22. While the tape theoretically could have been made anytime between Nov. 22 and Jan. 19, logic and precedent dictate that it would have been recorded some time before it was aired. It generally takes -- and has always taken -- at least a week, and often longer, for messages from bin Laden to reach broadcast stage. Security requires a slow and tortuous journey, lest the tape be tracked back to bin Laden's location. So we would guess that the tape was not made much after Jan. 1.

If we were to guess -- and this is pure guess -- we would argue that the tape was made after Dec. 15, 2005. Dec. 15 was the date of the election in Iraq. That election drew extensive participation by the Sunni population and posed a serious crisis for the jihadists in Iraq. It raised the real possibility that a substantial portion of the Sunnis would turn against the jihadists, since they would now have a role to play in the government. There were also serious discussions within the Muslim world, and in the United States, as to whether al Qaeda remained functional and whether bin Laden -- who hadn't been seen or heard from since December 2004 -- was still alive. The Dec. 15 date represented a crisis for al Qaeda, and it was logical that bin Laden would be willing to face the security risk involved with making and transporting a tape. Therefore, not that this is critical, but we would guess the tape was made sometime between Dec. 16 and the first week of January.

The recording reveals two things about bin Laden.

First, he is still in touch with the world. He knows what is going on in American politics, he has access to American books -- he mentions one book by name -- and he is aware of the state of operations in Iraq. The level of detail varies, but it is unlikely that he is stuck in a cave somewhere. Unless there are platoons of couriers bringing reports to him -- something that would violate all rules of security -- it would appear that bin Laden is able to access satellite television and possibly the Internet. Wherever he is, there is electricity and some degree of connectivity to the world. He's getting his news from somewhere.

Second, and much more important, bin Laden is aware of the state of the war and has decided that he needs to change tactics somewhat. He acknowledges the possibility of al Qaeda's defeat, which is not like the old bin Laden. On the tape, according to a translation made by The Associated Press, he says:

"Finally, I say that war will go either in our favor or yours. If it is the former, it means your loss and your shame forever, and it is headed in this course. If it is the latter, read history! We are people who do not stand for injustice and we will seek revenge all our lives. The nights and days will not pass without us taking vengeance like Sept. 11, God permitting."

At this juncture, he is separating the war from the attacks of Sept. 11. He is open to the possibility that the war might be lost. However, acts of revenge -- like the Sept. 11 attacks -- will continue. Bin Laden therefore is referring to Sept. 11 as an operation other than war.

In referring to the true war, he specifically cites Iraq and Afghanistan. About those, he speaks -- at the beginning of his recording -- with his usual bravado: "The war in Iraq is boiling up without end and the operations in Afghanistan are continuing in our favor." Thus, there is a disconnect between this assertion that the war continues and that the trends favor al Qaeda, and the assertion that the war might go either way. Two things are clear: First, bin Laden increasingly means, by "war," operations in Iraq and Afghanistan; and second, he views Sept. 11-type operations not as part of the war, but as an alternative to war.

These points are interesting. But what is fascinating and vital is his turn to Vietnam as a mode of analysis and strategy. Bin Laden refers to the U.S. Army as the "Vietnam butcher." This indicates that he has been thinking about Vietnam, but that thinking becomes clearer in the way he addresses the problems and opportunities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

First, he focuses on anti-war sentiment in the United States:

"But I plan to speak about the repeated errors your President Bush has committed in comments on the results of your polls that show an overwhelming majority of you want the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. But he has opposed this wish and said that withdrawing troops sends the wrong message to opponents, that it is better to fight them on their land than their fighting us on our land."

Bin Laden clearly knows about the polling trends in the United States and obviously knows that Bush has slipped substantially in opinion polls. He overstates the numbers when he says that the overwhelming majority want withdrawal -- it is a majority, but far from overwhelming -- but he clearly is speaking to the anti-war movement in the United States.

He is also speaking to troops in Iraq, saying: "Pentagon figures show the number of your dead and wounded is increasing not to mention the massive material losses, the destruction of the soldiers' morale there and the rise in cases of suicide among them." Bin Laden is portraying the U.S. Army in Iraq as being in fairly desperate straits, while the Pentagon remains indifferent.


[ I feel I must interject a few words here. The DoD does take the increase in suicide rate very seriously, it has climbed to an equivalent level with Civilian Rates (military personnel usually have a much lower rate than civilians) though it is still below the Military Suicide Rate for instance in 1995.

Iraq Troops Suicide Rate Spikes ]


Analytically, he views the condition of the United States as if it were Vietnam. Bin Laden is asserting that there is massive sentiment against the war and that Bush, like Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, is resisting that movement and resisting withdrawal. He is portraying the Army in Iraq as if it were the Army in Vietnam, late in that war. The truth or falsehood of the view is not material here -- nor should his statements be taken as propaganda directed at the American public. Bin Laden is not unsophisticated. He is not trying to persuade the American public to oppose the war. His view is that the polls show that Bush's political base has collapsed, along with morale in the U.S. Army.

Bin Laden then pulls a maneuver right out of Ho Chi Minh's playbook, saying:

"We don't mind offering you a long-term truce on fair conditions that we adhere to. We are a nation that God has forbidden to lie and cheat. So both sides can enjoy security and stability under this truce so we can build Iraq and Afghanistan, which have been destroyed in this war. There is no shame in this solution, which prevents the wasting of billions of dollars that have gone to those with influence and merchants of war in America who have supported Bush's election campaign with billions of dollars -- which lets us understand the insistence by Bush and his gang to carry on with war. If you are sincere in your desire for peace and security, we have answered you."

[ Another interjection on the meaning of "long term truce" I would advise some study on two issues, the concept of



"Hudnaنة) is an Arabic term meaning "truce" or "armistice" as well as "calm" or "quiet", coming from a verbal root meaning "calm". It is sometimes translated as "cease-fire". In the Lisan al-Arab (Ibn al-Manzur's definitive dictionary of classical Arabic, dating to the 14th century) it is defined as follows:

"hadana: he grew quiet. hadina: he quieted (transitive or intransitive). haadana: he made peace with. The noun from each of these is hudna."

A particularly famous early hudna was the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah between Muhammad and the Quraysh tribe.

According to Umdat as-Salik, a medieval summary of Shafi'i jurisprudence, hudnas with a non-Muslim enemy should be limited to 10 years: "if Muslims are weak, a truce may be made for ten years if necessary, for the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) made a truce with the Quraysh for that long, as is related by Abu Dawud" ('Umdat as-Salik, o9.16)."

And the information in an Essay by Tarek Heggy where he states,

" A few years ago, I discovered that there is no equivalent in the Arabic language, classical or colloquial, for the English word ?compromise?, which is most commonly translated into Arabic in the form of two words, literally meaning ?halfway solution?. I went through all the old and new dictionaries and lexicons I could lay my hands on in a futile search for an Arabic word corresponding to this common English word, which exists, with minor variations in spelling, in all European languages, whether of the Latin, Germanic, Hellenic or Slavic families. The same is true of several other words, such as ?integrity?, which has come to be widely used in the discourse of Europe and North America in the last few decades and for which no single word exists in the Arabic language. As language is not merely a tool of communication but the depositary of a society?s cultural heritage, reflecting its way of thinking and the spirit in which it deals with things and with others, as well as the cultural trends which have shaped it, I realized that we were here before a phenomenon with cultural (and, consequently, political, economic and social) implications"

Those two factors do complicate any Truce leading to a Lasting Peace ]




If there is a massive anti-war movement in the United States and if the Army is weary of war, then the next logical move is to offer negotiations toward a cease-fire. Bin Laden completely understands that Bush would reject that offer. His hope is that the offer of a truce would further split the United States -- undermining Bush's political power even more and giving ammunition to those who want an end to the war. "If you are sincere in your desire for peace and security," he says, "we have answered you."

During the Vietnam war, the North Vietnamese introduced the idea of a negotiated settlement in large part because they wanted to provide a rational basis for the anti-war movement. They understood that there would be only a tiny pro-Hanoi movement in the United States. They also understood that as the war dragged on and victory became less visible, support would grow for a negotiated settlement as the only reasonable outcome. The view of the pro-war faction -- that the offers of peace talks did not provide any basis for a real settlement but were a cover for a North Vietnamese victory -- was opposed by those who argued that settlement and withdrawal were the only rational actions for the United States in an unwinnable war.

Wherever he is, bin Laden has done a lot of thinking, and he apparently has come to think of himself as Ho Chi Minh. From his viewpoint, Bush, like Johnson, is resisting a wave of anti-war sentiment. The Army is tired. An offer of a long-term, honorable truce would build up the anti-war faction. Add to that the promise that even if the United States wins the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, al Qaeda will continue to stage Sept. 11-type attacks, and you have an added incentive for a negotiated settlement.

Bin Laden may be deluding himself, but he smells serious political problems for Bush in the United States and a movement that wants to withdraw forces in return for a truce that guarantees no further attacks on the American public. That is the heart of his message. He is prepared to negotiate a truce. He believes that this will fuel anti-war sentiment today, just as the offer of negotiations fueled anti-war sentiment in the 1960s. And if that truce is agreed to, he believes that he can reshape the Islamic world today much as North Vietnam reshaped Indochina.

What is most clever in this move is that it doesn't require actual negotiations. If Bush starts to draw down forces in Iraq, bin Laden can declare a truce and imply in the Muslim world that he compelled the United States to capitulate. He is trying to trap Bush in two ways. If there isn't a drawdown, Bush would face an anti-war movement calling for truce with al Qaeda. And if there is a drawdown, Bush would face assertions that he is implicitly or secretly agreeing to the truce that bin Laden proposed.

Bin Laden is not Ho Chi Minh. No one will call him "Uncle Osama" or liken him to George Washington, as they did Ho. It is difficult to imagine that anyone -- pro- or anti-war -- in the United States would think seriously of negotiating with him. Even the Europeans, who have never seen an offer of negotiation they didn't like, took a pass when it came to bin Laden. Nevertheless, as a glimpse into bin Laden's strategic thinking, the view is fascinating. Above all, there is this parallel: The most creative diplomacy of the North Vietnamese followed their defeat in the Tet Offensive. The moment that bin Laden's strategic position in Iraq (but not Afghanistan) is at its weakest -- following the Dec. 15 elections -- is the moment he offers a truce.

Fascinating.

Send questions or comments on this article to analysis@stratfor.com.

This report may be distributed or republished with attribution to Strategic Forecasting, Inc. at
www.stratfor.com

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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 7:22 AM CST
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Updated: Wednesday, 25 January 2006 8:05 AM CST

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