The MSM should not be setting the criteria for success

Yet that has happened on Iraq and Katrina

To read the MSM, you would think that Iraq is an unmitigated disaster, that US losses are unsustainable and that the war is ultimately unwinnable. Every story is framed around this view so good news rarely gets out. The reality is that Iraq has been an unmitigated disaster for Al Qaeda, the Sunni insurgency is running out of steam, and the end result will be a Democratic Iraq and a US victory over the evil of radical Islam.

How has it been a disaster for Al Qaeda? Simple. They lost any support they had from the Iraqi population with their brutal attacks against civilian targets. They have also lost a lot of experienced leaders and fighters, a point made in this comment at Bill Roggio's Fourth Rail blog. Ayman al-Zawahiri's mob even ended up fighting with their erstwhile allies in the Sunni insurgency. The wedding bombing in Jordan cost them a lot of moral support across the Arab world.

The Sunni insurgency is losing steam as the political process has advanced and the tribal leaders have realized that there is no way the Baath party is coming back to power. Three successful elections have put the democratic process on track. There will be a lot of wheeling and dealing but Iraq will end up with the most democratic government in the Arab world. The leaders know that Uncle Sam will be looking over their shoulders and any un-democratic power-grab will not be tolerated.

By the standards of any major conflict, US losses have been low, as this commentary by James J. Na at Real Clear Politics makes clear:

In fact, during World War II, more American soldiers died in one week on average than in all of 32 months of operations in Iraq. Despite the tragically higher fatalities rate of World War II, the media of its day kept respectful distance, and allowed the families of the fallen to grieve privately in dignity.

There was no complaint that American soldiers were dying "needlessly in a war of aggression" against a Nazi Germany that did not bomb Pearl Harbor. There was no talk of a "quagmire" as thousands of American died on the beaches of Normandy in one day and as thousands more died in the jungles of the Pacific, facing suicide attacks from a fanatical foe. No one was accused of hyped intelligence when the actual German atomic weapons program turned out to be substantially less advanced than estimated.

Instead, the families of the Greatest Generation, already having survived a crippling Depression, quietly endured the deaths and supported the military endeavors to defend American interests and to extend the boundaries of freedom.

Today's mainstream media, on the other hand, sensationalize -- almost herald -- the war deaths in a highly partisan political effort to paint the Iraq war as a failure, emphasizing its flaws with minimal -- if any -- references to its successes or even its context, such as toppling a murderous dictatorship, defeating a sponsor of terrorism and bringing self-determination to a region crippled with corrupt monarchies and repressive socialism.

Clearly, the comparisons to the past military deaths do not imply that the American casualty in the current war is insubstantial or less tragic. On the contrary, every one of the military sacrifices in Iraq was a noble, meaningful one, suffered by an all-volunteer force that needed no draft, no compulsion to fight for our nation.

The Committee report also criticizes the DHS and FEMA for not including the Department of Defense in their pre-storm and immediate post-storm planning. However, the same August 28 transcript shows that DoD was included from the beginning. In reality, despite organizational shortcomings, the rescue spearheaded by the National Guard and the Coast Guard turned out to be the largest and fastest in U.S. history, mobilizing nearly 100,000 responders within three days of the hurricane’s landfall. While each of the 1072 deaths in Louisiana was a tragedy, the worst-case scenario death toll would have been 60,000.

Tue Feb 14, 2006

Some advice for our rioting Muslim friends

Or was that fiends?

Sigmund, Carl and Alfred have some useful words of advice on how to honor the prophet.

It sort of goes with this cartoon at Tigerhawk.

Posted by: Pat on Feb 14, 06 | 10:11 am |
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Sun Feb 12, 2006

The problem with Islam

The perfect promise conflicts with stark reality

According to Islam, Muhammed was God's last prophet. He revealed the perfect religion set down in the Koran, a perfect reproduction of God's word. In the first thousand years of Islam's existence it spread from the Arabian peninsula across most of Asia, North Africa, and into Europe. If God's will was to convert the world from Dar El Harb (the house of War) to Dar El Islam (the house of Islam) then his will was being done. Islam was ascendant and seemed unstoppable.

But something happened. Europe emerged from the dark ages and became the economic, political, scientific and cultural capital of the world. The Muslim world stagnated, a state that persists to this day. Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali links to a piece by Thierry Gattuso that asks Why do Moslems Underachieve? He sums up the sad state of the Muslim world today:

Muslims make up 22% of the World’s population, according to the United Nations' Arab Human Development Report: "Half of Arab women cannot read; One in five Arabs live on less than $2 per day; Only 1 percent of the Arab population has a personal computer, and only half of 1 percent use the Internet; Fifteen percent of the Arab workforce is unemployed; 60% of Muslims are illiterate”. Only two Muslims have won the Nobel prize in a scientific field - Dr. Abdus Salam, in 1979 for Physics and Dr. Ahmed Zewail, in 1992 for Chemistry. Dr Salam a native of Pakistan , is not considered to be a Muslim in his home country as he follows the Ahmadiyyas sect of Islam.

Only 600 universities service a Muslim population of 1.2 billion in 57 countries. Half the universities concentrate on teaching Islamic education and science. India has 8,407 universities for 1 billion people and the United States has 5,758 for 280 million people. The combined annual GDP (purchasing power parity basis) of the 57 Muslim countries is under $2 trillion. The US produces goods and services worth $10.4 trillion; China $5.7 trillion, Japan $3.5 trillion, India $3 trillion and Germany $2.1 trillion. The oil rich states Saudi Arabia , United Arab Emirates , Kuwait and Qatar collectively produce goods and services worth $430 billion; Thailand alone produces goods and services worth $429 billion.

All that oil wealth and nothing to show for it. Gattuso claims the reason is the nature of Islam itself:

The underachievement of Muslims should come as no surprise to those of us who understand the true nature of Islam. Everything a Muslim needs to know is in the Koran, Hadith or Sunnah. Muslims are not encouraged to seek knowledge and better themselves. Muslims are against progress, modernity and science. Those that control Islam do not want to see Muslims educated as an educated Muslim will apply commonsense and logic to the Koran and see it for what its is, a collection of distorted Bible and Torah stories and in print the mind of a 7th century Bedouin bandit leader.

The superiority that Islam preaches comes up against a harsh reality; the Infidels are superior in every material measurement. Worse, the lowly Jews, given a sliver of land in territory that Islam had conquered, converted it into a modern society and military powerhouse in a generation.

What's left to the religious Muslims is rage and a retreat back to their religious roots.

Posted by: Pat on Feb 12, 06 | 8:50 pm |
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Thu Feb 09, 2006

Last post on the "Cartoon" kerfuffle

It has led to a greater understanding of Islam

We've learned that Muslims expect Infidels to respect their religious rules even though they persecute those who don't share their 6th century view of the world. Don't believe me? Try taking a Bible into Saudi Arabia. Try taking the Christian message to Qatar. Try building a church in Jordan. Try being a Christian or Animist in Sudan (or a black Muslim, for that matter).

We've learned that Muslim leaders will lie and deceive in order to create a religious uproar. See previous post.

We've learned that too many in the West will sacrifice the right to free speech to appease a primitive mob. Next time a newpaper editorial goes on about free speech, check whether they could bring themselves to publish a few innocuous drawings depicting Mohammed. Apparently, defaming Christianity is free speech but poking fun at Islam isn't.

I'm getting sick of seeing billions of dollars of US taxpayer money go to the likes of Pakistan, Indonesia, and the Palestinian territories only to see their raging mobs on the news burning the US flag. To quote Bette Midler, "F**k them if they can't take a joke".

Car Pundit has similar sentiments.

Posted by: Pat on Feb 09, 06 | 5:29 pm |
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Tue Feb 07, 2006

The Pig Face cartoon is Radical Islam's Rathergate

Animated proof here

Neander News provides the proof that one of the cartoons that Copenhagen imam Abu Laban produced on his ME tour is actually a flattened black and white photo of:

Jacques Barrot, a pig squealing contestant at the French Pig-Squealing Championships in Trie-sur-Baise’s annual festival.

Inspired by Charles Johnson's work on the Rathergate memo I converted the two images into an animated gif. It is pretty obvious that the Imam is misrepresenting the image in order to stoke Islamic rage.

Posted by: Pat on Feb 07, 06 | 9:50 pm |
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Mon Feb 06, 2006

Ayaan Hirsi Ali on the Danish drawings of Mohammed

The maker of Submission knows full well whereof she speaks

In an interview with SPIEGEL she takes an uncompromising line:

SPIEGEL: Hirsi Ali, you have called the Prophet Muhammad a tyrant and a pervert. Theo van Gogh, the director of your film "Submission," which is critical of Islam, was murdered by Islamists. You yourself are under police protection. Can you understand how the Danish cartoonists feel at this point?

Hirsi Ali: "The cartoons should be displayed everywhere." They probably feel numb. On the one hand, a voice in their heads is encouraging them not to sell out their freedom of speech. At the same time, they're experiencing the shocking sensation of what it's like to lose your own personal freedom. One mustn't forget that they're part of the postwar generation, and that all they've experienced is peace and prosperity. And now they suddenly have to fight for their own human rights once again.

SPIEGEL: Why have the protests escalated to such an extent?

Hirsi Ali: There is no freedom of speech in those Arab countries where the demonstrations and public outrage are being staged. The reason many people flee to Europe from these places is precisely because they have criticized religion, the political establishment and society. Totalitarian Islamic regimes are in a deep crisis. Globalization means that they're exposed to considerable change, and they also fear the reformist forces developing among émigrés in the West. They'll use threatening gestures against the West, and the success they achieve with their threats, to intimidate these people.

SPIEGEL: Was apologizing for the cartoons the wrong thing to do?

Hirsi Ali: Once again, the West pursued the principle of turning first one cheek, then the other. In fact, it's already a tradition. In 1980, privately owned British broadcaster ITV aired a documentary about the stoning of a Saudi Arabian princess who had allegedly committed adultery. The government in Riyadh intervened and the British government issued an apology. We saw the same kowtowing response in 1987 when (Dutch comedian) Rudi Carrell derided (Iranian revolutionary leader) Ayatollah Khomeini in a comedy skit (that was aired on German television). In 2000, a play about the youngest wife of the Prophet Mohammed, titled "Aisha," was cancelled before it ever opened in Rotterdam. Then there was the van Gogh murder and now the cartoons. We are constantly apologizing, and we don't notice how much abuse we're taking. Meanwhile, the other side doesn't give an inch.

Read the whole interview. Better yet, read her complete blog.

Posted by: Pat on Feb 06, 06 | 11:25 pm |
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Non-offensive cartoons from the Muslim world

Or is there a double-standard?

Check here if you have a strong tolerance for vile anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism. Here's one of the milder samples:

The apple represents the Arab states. Rather than reproduce the Danish illustrations of Mohammed, Westerm media should firstly show the three extra cartoons that Copenhagen imam Abu Laban produced on his ME tour, and secondly, a good sample of what is acceptable in Arab state-run media.

The Counterterrorism Blog has far more on the nefarious Abu Laban.

Hat tip: Right Wing News.

Posted by: Pat on Feb 06, 06 | 10:25 pm |
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Sun Feb 05, 2006

What Islam is coming to mean to many Americans

These images should explain a perception reinforced by the "cartoon" kerfuffle

I put together a montage of pictures of attacks by Muslim terrorists. To me, the only thing that separates the perpetrators of these atrocities and the Muslim demonstrators holding up signs reading "Exterminate those who slander Islam" is their willingness to act on their vision of their faith. As the "Famous 4" demonstrated on 7/7, any of that screaming throng could seek martyrdom.

Note that many of the attacks were carried out by the Iranian regime, either directly or through its terrorist proxies.

Caution - extremely disturbing images. Do not click "Read More" if images of death and destruction upset you. Read more »

« Collapse

Posted by: Pat on Feb 05, 06 | 10:38 pm |
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When the Truth Hurts

Kill the Messenger

While some people, including the Bush administration, dig deep into the multicultural well and moan about the injustice and lack of tolerance shown by 'the cartoons', others rely on common sense to defend the right and reason for refusing to bow before a foe that will never be appeased. For instance, Denmark's queen seems to have the Islamo situation figured out:

We are being challenged by Islam these years - globally as well as locally. It is a challenge we have to take seriously. We have let this issue float about for too long because we are tolerant and lazy.

We have to show our opposition to Islam and we have to, at times, run the risk of having unflattering labels placed on us because there are some things for which we should display no tolerance.

And when we are tolerant, we must know whether it is because of convenience or conviction.

Now, that's enlightenment. Too bad there seems to be very little of it in current world leadership ranks. Meanwhile, Jeff Jacoby lets it be known that we are all Danes now and should stand up to the lunatics who threaten civilization everywhere:

That anything so mild could trigger a reaction so crazed -- riots, death threats, kidnappings, flag-burnings -- speaks volumes about the chasm that separates the values of the civilized world from those in too much of the Islamic world. Freedom of the press, the marketplace of ideas, the right to skewer sacred cows: Militant Islam knows none of this. And if the jihadis get their way, it will be swept aside everywhere by the censorship and intolerance of sharia.

Everyday, Muslim fanatics attack civilization and attempt to turn modern societies into their version of totalitarianism. Finally, maybe, citizens and a few leaders of European countries like Queen Margrethe II are letting it be known that they are not willingly going to be lead down the enlightened path to Islamo servitude. It may be too late to undo the damage that has been done to their societies, but at least they seem to have had enough of bowing down to a hideous beast that will accept nothing short of total submission to all of its demands. It is past time to end the pretend and get on with the business of freeing our lands of the plague that threatens to consume us all. As far as the cartoons go, my own view is that the Islamos need some serious messages that we the free don't much care what it is they believe or hold sacred. After all, not many religions feel the need to go such lenghts to protect themselves from all criticism, legitimate or otherwise. Such protectionism should raise red flags and doubts everywhere as to the true nature and motives of said sect. For, if we didn't know better, we might reach the conclusion that such stifling of any and all dissent was designed to promote some very dark ambitions. If we do know better already, like the good Queen, then the excitable masses of Islamofascism simply underscore the need for greater diligence in the fight against those whose clear intentions are to enslave or destroy the rest of the world. In the current cartoon war, in light of the preceding rant, and taking into account the senseless excitation exhibitted by Islamos, it would seem that they could easily be induced into a state of spontaneous combustion and consume themselves. Barring that, some desensitation therapy is in order. So mock away, satirize to your heart's content, and give no credit where none is deserved. If that fails, simply tell the truth about the wonderful, enlightened religion of peace. That should suffice and serve to speed the inevitable on its way.

For your Sunday entertainment, before the Superbowl starts, get your cartoons here and/or visit Little Green Footballs for a roundup of the activities in progress by the Religion of Pieces.

Posted by: Randall on Feb 05, 06 | 2:01 pm |
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Sat Feb 04, 2006

Putting the Danish cartoon protests in perspective

The protesters regard the 7/7 bombers as heroes

Cabal of Doom has a series of pictures of British Muslims protesting the cartoons. One of the placards reads "Exterminate those who insult Islam". Behind that, and partially obscured, is another that reads "[Fan]tastic 4 [O[n] Their [w]ay!!!". Just who are the Fantastic Four? It sure ain't John, Paul George and Ringo. Here's an explanation, courtesy of Egypt Today:

Ever since the [London transport] bombings, Britain’s Muslim community has come under scrutiny. While moderate Muslim leaders have rallied round and condemned the bombings, a number of ‘extremists’ have not. One example is Omar Bakri Mohammed, who sought asylum in Britain, where he has lived for nearly 20 years. He came to the fore describing the July 7 bombers as “the fantastic four.” He fled to Lebanon, ostensibly on holiday, and it later became apparent that he was collecting thousands of pounds a month in disability allowance, incapacity benefit and state benefits from the British state.

The London Times quotes this conversation obtained by monitoring an Islamic chatroom:

In one session a man calling himself Mizaan, who spoke with an English accent, said: “We should all of us glorify terrorism and we should incite religious hatred.

“Don’t worry, it’s not illegal for us to say that the Mujahidin on 9/11 were the magnificent 19, and it’s not illegal for us to say that Mohammad Sidique Khan (July 7 ringleader) and the four on 7/7, that they were the fantastic four.”

So, the Muslims protesting the Danish cartoons regard the London bombers as heroes. That should tell you all you need to know about the state of Islam today.

So, just where are the moderate Muslims?

Posted by: Pat on Feb 04, 06 | 4:33 pm |
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Fri Feb 03, 2006

Why the Danish cartoons caused such an uproar in the Muslim world

Here's as good an explanation as any

Jerry commenting in Belmont Club in response to an appeasing commenter, writes:

It's not like we're adding more fuel to the fire here - as an unbeliever the Islamists would love NOTHING more than to kill you or convert you - and I think they get more pleasure out of killing than converting. To justify their anger at you (and the West) they're perpetually looking for ANYTHING they can take offense to.

There is no grudging tolerance of other opinion, no give-and-take, no willingness to compromise. There's no Bibles allowed in Saudi Arabia, no churches - yet they demand tolerance of their religion. Riots, demonstrations, beating up of Danes who haven't anything to do with the cartoons - it's all justifiable. There's ALWAYS something to be offended about. And because you offend them, you must die.

There is no way to come to an understanding with someone who is fully intending to kill you - and sees absolutely not a damn thing wrong with that - if they have the chance. You can bend over backwards for them, to avoid causing offense, and they'll demand you bend further. And further. The demands will get more and more unreasonable - to the point where you censor yourself in word and deed to avoid possibly causing offense.

Would you give up everything - including a pig-shaped stress releiver (http://www.expressandstar.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=32&num=81092) because a muslim says it offend them? Would you ask your local store to stop carrying pork, hams and bacon because it might offend a Muslim?

Where do you say "Enough!"? They're not looking for 'equal rights' - they're looking to be the only ones who have rights.

To think otherwise is to ignore a lot of history.

Enough already. If Muslims want to live in the West they MUST accept Western freedom of speech. Buddists do. Hindus do. Christians do. Atheists do. Agnostics do. Scientologists do. Jews do. Wiccan do. Muslims, and, interestingly, the far left don't.

Mark Steyn speaking on the Hugh Hewitt show agrees with me:

When you attempt to show a representation of Mohammed, you get people threatening to kill you, you get national boycotts, you get people burning down buildings. And at some point, Muslims living in Western Europe have to decide whether or not they're prepared to be offended, because that's what it involves in a free society. Every day of the week, you, I'm sure...every morning, I wake up to hate mail on the e-mail, and I shrug it off. And I'm sure you do, too.

HH: Yes, yes.

MS: And that's what Muslims have to learn to do in the Western world, if they're going to be citizens of the Western world.

Posted by: Pat on Feb 03, 06 | 9:15 am |
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Thu Feb 02, 2006

Are Booze and hooch the answer to oil addiction?

Ethanol and methanol may well be viable substitutes for petroleum

Instapundit links to this article by Robert Zubrin that makes the case for alcohol (ethanol and methanol) as the fuel of the future.

Ethanol for fuel use is currently manufactured using the starch in wheat or corn kernels. This is little different from the process used to produce alcoholic beverages. Research is underway to try to use cheaper plant materials, such as wood, and, presumably, the complete corn plant. The process of converting biomass to ethanol is an application ripe for genetic engineering and that is already happening:

In 2005, more than 4.5 billion gallons of fuel ethanol will be manufactured from corn starch and sugars. He said his technology will further expand ethanol production by converting celluloic waste into fuel ethanol, more than doubling current ethanol production.

Ingram, who is director of the Florida Center for Renewable Chemicals and Fuels at UF, cited a recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and DOE that indicates more than one billion tons of biomass can be produced on a sustainable basis each year. Converting this to fuel ethanol could replace half of all imported petroleum in the United States.

Ingram said he genetically engineered the E. coli organisms by cloning the unique genes needed to direct the digestion of sugars into ethanol. With the ethanol genes, the engineered bacteria produce ethanol from biomass sugars with 90 to 95 percent efficiency.

Greg Luli, vice president of research for BC International's laboratory at the Sid Martin Biotechnology Center in Alachua, Fla., said the firm plans to build a 30-million-gallon biomass-to-ethanol plant in Jennings, La (shown in pre-construction drawing at the header of this posting). "The facility, expected to be operational by the end of 2006, will convert organic waste into ethanol, a form of alcohol that can be used as an industrial chemical and as a clean-burning fuel," Luli said. "Waste from the sugarcane industry in Louisiana will serve as the plant's main feedstock."

According to the BBI website, "BCI has successfully tested many cellulosic biomass materials, including these:
Sugarcane bagasse
Rice straw
Rice hulls
Softwood forest thinnings
Pulp mill sludge"

From an environmental perspective, the carbon in the ethanol comes from CO₂ already in the atmosphere. When the fuel is burnt, the CO₂ is recycled back into the atmosphere. Net impact on CO₂ concentrations is far lower than is the case where fossil fuels are burnt. In that case, very ancient CO₂ is being returned to the atmoshere hundreds of millions of years later.

The costs of transition from a petroleum economy to an alcohol economy are not unbearably high. Zubrin notes that:

...the development by the Netherlands Research Institute for Road Vehicles of a sensor capable of continuously measuring the alcohol content in mixed alcohol/gasoline fuel, and using this information to regulate the engine.

With this breakthrough, some 4.1 million vehicles were produced between 1998 and 2004 capable of handling various alcohol/ gasoline combinations. That is already five times the number of gasoline/electric hybrids on the road, and vastly increased use of such vehicles could happen overnight, for just a few hundred dollars extra per vehicle (compared to many thousands more for hybrids).

Current automotive technology can easily cope with a decades long transition from 100% petroleum to 100% alcohol and/or alcohol derived diesel substitutes. The fuel distribution system would need gradual revamping as the alcohol percentage rises. The US stock of oil refineries is so old it is a sunk cost for the oil industry. The gross profits of the industry could be profitably redirected to ethanol production.

Posted by: Pat on Feb 02, 06 | 10:24 am |
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