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.
I will be the first to admit that at times I am a little slow on the uptake, but last night I had an Epiphany which filled me with instantaneous outrage.
Let me digress to explain how I arrived at this mental crux.
This Spring the Iowa Legislature raised the Tax on Cigarettes by $1/pack and $10/carton.
Now this was no surprise the Democrats took control of the State Legislature during the last election so Tax raises of some kind were a given.
It was a little odd that the Left which raises the most complaints about Regressive Taxes was silent on this one. The fact is that cigarette smoking is skewed towards the lower income brackets so this Tax is much more regressive than others they have complained about, but again that was not much of a surprise either.
It was not until I stood last night before a cash register ringing up my sale, that I realized the full extent of their perfidy.
The $10 increase in Cigarette Tax was not enough for them I was paying Sales Tax on that $10!
The Trouble With Islam SENSE OF UMMAH Sadly, mainstream Muslim teaching accepts and promotes violence.
BY TAWFIK HAMID Tuesday, April 3, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
Not many years ago the brilliant Orientalist, Bernard Lewis, published a short history of the Islamic world's decline, entitled "What Went Wrong?" Astonishingly, there was, among many Western "progressives," a vocal dislike for the title. It is a false premise, these critics protested. They ignored Mr. Lewis's implicit statement that things have been, or could be, right.
But indeed, there is much that is clearly wrong with the Islamic world. Women are stoned to death and undergo clitorectomies. Gays hang from the gallows under the approving eyes of the proponents of Shariah, the legal code of Islam. Sunni and Shia massacre each other daily in Iraq. Palestinian mothers teach 3-year-old boys and girls the ideal of martyrdom. One would expect the orthodox Islamic establishment to evade or dismiss these complaints, but less happily,
the non-Muslim priests of enlightenment in the West have come, actively and passively, to the Islamists' defense.
All of this makes the efforts of Muslim reformers more difficult. When Westerners make politically-correct excuses for Islamism, it actually endangers the lives of reformers and in many cases has the effect of suppressing their voices. Tolerance does not mean toleration of atrocities under the umbrella of relativism. It is time for all of us in the free world to face the reality of Salafi Islam or the reality of radical Islam will continue to face us. Dr. Hamid, a onetime member of Jemaah Islamiya, an Islamist terrorist group, is a medical doctor and Muslim reformer living in the West.
Here is a video on a Secular Islam Summit he took part in
Are you green? How many flights have you taken in the last year? Feeling guilty about all those unnecessary car journeys? Well, maybe there's no need to feel bad.
According to a group of scientists brought together by documentary-maker Martin Durkin, if the planet is heating up, it isn't your fault and there's nothing you can do about it.
We've almost begun to take it for granted that climate change is a man-made phenomenon. But just as the environmental lobby think they've got our attention, a group of naysayers have emerged to slay the whole premise of global warming.
There you will find links to: The Programme, The Arguments, Watch the Trailer, Ask Our Expert, Vote, Play the Quiz, Find Out More and the Forum.
Since I am updating this I have to decided to bump it up to the top with a couple of images to stimulate some thought.
It seems that Global Warming is no longer a theory but a dogma to many. We are not experts on climate change - and we don't pretend to be - but we do recognize that an entire school of thought has been suppressed in the German media and political culture. As Chancellor Merkel and others debate what to do about Global Warming, we think it would be appropriate to at least listen to what "the other side" has to say instead of blindly accepting what is becoming a state religion in much of Europe.
Google seems to be having problems if you cannot view the above Video there are several posters with segments on Technorati HERE
I feel a need to redeem myself after that last post. Here is a highly intelligent women, being interviewed on Al Jazeera .
Oh and here is a censored version of one of the responses to this video
nav1181 Country: United Kingdom (8 hours ago) kill the f^^^^n jew, gas the m^^^^^^^^s and those who helped create a country for the most hated people on earth, everywhere these pigs go people want to kill them. why not create israel in aushwitz on top of the pigs who got their just deserts for their terror all over europe
Wafa Sultan is a secular psychologist of Syrian-American origin. Go read more about her on Wikipedia to get the background. Although she is quite well-known for her part in the the public discussion on the clash of civilizations her recent appearance on Al Jazeera has spread on the Internet like wildfire.
After blogger Judith Klinghoffer and an army of Davids declared a "Buy Danish" campaign to combat the Muslim boycott. The Guardian says "fervent rightwing Americans" participated in the buying spree and implies that the cartoonists were responsible for the deaths of 139 people.(like it was the cartoonists who killed those people instead of the ones who shed their blood, how like the Progressive TransNazi viewpoint)
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
Recently I have been posting music to Illustrate the Diversity of America, this week I have a different motive to express Solidarity with DENMARK
I maintain my Support of Denmark, and will later today, post links to and my thoughts about a Danish Editorial "We are being pissed upon by Per Nyholm "
I think I shall title my Post, "There is no "But" in "Freedom of Speech".
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 important message.
MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism Created by Mark Jefferson on March 1st, 2006 at 5:42 pm AST
After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism. We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all. "
The Iranians also blundered in diplomatic talks by giving the British their own compass reference for the place where they said the 14 men and one woman had been seized. When Britain plotted these on a map and pointed out that the spot was in Iraq’s maritime area, the Iranians came up with a new set of coordinates, putting the seizure in their own waters.
Let us end with the Immortal Words of Rosie O'Donnell
Welcome to GOP Bloggers' ninth 2008 Straw Poll. Our straw poll last month tallied over 11,000 votes.
Like our last poll, you get to pick which candidates you find acceptable and which ones you don't and you get to choose which candidate is your first choice for the GOP nomination in 2008. In this poll you can indicate your state, age, and gender. You can also indicate how many hours a week you read blogs, and how you can tell how committed you are to your first choice candidate.
Like our previous polls, you can post this one on your own blog and have your readers vote in the poll directly from your blog! The code is located at the bottom of this post:
After blogger Judith Klinghoffer and an army of Davids declared a "Buy Danish" campaign to combat the Muslim boycott. The Guardian says "fervent rightwing Americans" participated in the buying spree and implies that the cartoonists were responsible for the deaths of 139 people.(like it was the cartoonists who killed those people instead of the ones who shed their blood, how like the Progressive TransNazi viewpoint)
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
Recently I have been posting music to Illustrate the Diversity of America, this week I have a different motive to express Solidarity with DENMARK
I maintain my Support of Denmark, and will later today, post links to and my thoughts about a Danish Editorial "We are being pissed upon by Per Nyholm "
I think I shall title my Post, "There is no "But" in "Freedom of Speech".
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 important message.
MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism Created by Mark Jefferson on March 1st, 2006 at 5:42 pm AST
After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism. We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all. "
Our 14 Ounce Premium Pouch Preserves Freshness and is Resealable Makes Around 2 Cartons of Premium Cigarettes TDR0001 One 14 OZ. Pouch of Vengeur $15.95
Now some may think that getting the papers, rolling your own is a bit of trouble and in time I will opt to pay the State the extra money and give that up too.
Actually I am a tad bit lazier than that. I choose not to roll my own cigarettes instead I will use these.
BTW I can get loose cigarette (and it hasn't gone up) at the grocery store, 4 blocks from my house. I will have to buy the corn cob pipes on line but at a couple of bucks each when compared to $10 a carton increase guess what I am going to do when I finish this post.
