Iraqi Blogs

It is quite interesting to read the blogs of the Iraqi people as they write about their experience with the election on 30 January 2005. I feel the the new blogoshere will reshape the entire middle east, as more and more people are allowed to express their views and read those of others. It is an historic time. The Iraqis are brave people. God Bless America.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iraq election log: 31 January 2005

The New Iraq
So much for the argument that Arabs don't want democracy.

Electing to Leave The US

A reader’s guide to expatriating on November 3

Originally from "Harper's Magazine", October 2004.
By Bryant Urstadt.

"So the wrong candidate has won, and you want to leave the country. Let us consider your options.

Renouncing your citizenship:

Given how much the United States as a nation professes to value freedom, your freedom to opt out of the nation itself is surprisingly limited. The State Department does not record the annual number of Americans renouncing their citizenship—“renunciants,” as they are officially termed—but the Internal Revenue Service publishes their names on a quarterly basis in the Federal Register. ... The number of renunciants is small. In 2002, for example, the Register recorded only 403 departures, of which many (if not most) were merely longtime resident aliens returning home." Electing to Leave (Harpers.org)

Law of Unintended Consequences

The following story, although published in the News Telegraph, may not be accurate. See http://www.snopes.com/media/notnews/brothel.asp
for more information.

The job seeker said that she had worked in a cafe as a waitress and was willing to work as a bar maid in the evenings, so the state decided that qualified her for the world's oldest profession. Other women who had worked as telephone callers were sent to jobs in the telephone sex industry. Anyone who refuses to take these jobs, risks having her unemployment benefits recinded. One has to wonder what kind of "interesting" positions are offered to males at German Unemployment Offices.

"If you don't take a job as a prostitute, we can stop your benefits ~~ A 25-year-old waitress who turned down a job providing "sexual services'' at a brothel in Berlin faces possible cuts to her unemployment benefit under laws introduced this year. Under Germany's welfare reforms, any woman under 55 who has been out of work for more than a year can be forced to take an available job – including in the sex industry – or lose her unemployment benefit."

"There is now nothing in the law to stop women from being sent into the sex industry," said Merchthild Garweg, a lawyer from Hamburg who specialises in such cases. "The new regulations say that working in the sex industry is not immoral any more, and so jobs cannot be turned down without a risk to benefits."

"Now that prostitution is no longer considered by the law to be immoral, there is really nothing but the goodwill of the job centres to stop them from pushing women into jobs they don't want to do."

After the War

Congratulations to Arthur Chrenkoff, an Australian blogger, for making the Wall Street Journal's Editorial Page today.

AFTER THE WAR

Happy Birthday
A roundup of the past two weeks' good news from Iraq.

BY ARTHUR CHRENKOFF
Monday, January 31, 2005 12:01 a.m. EST

Demand Perfection!

"It is hard to say that something is legitimate when whole portions of the country can't vote and doesn't vote," ~Senator John Kerry, D-Mass., 30 January 2005

What if ... John Kerry had been George Washington, unanimously elected by his countrymen in 1789? John Kerry, true to his principles would have abdicated, because of the Illegitimacy of the election. Only one in fifteen of his countrymen was permitted to vote in the new republic.

The founding fathers had worried about the liberalization of suffrage laws. John Adams wrote: "It is dangerous to open so fruitful a source of controversy and altercation as would be opened by attempting to alter the qualifications of voters; there will be no end of it. New claims will arise: women will demand a vote; lads from twelve to twenty-one will think their rights not enough attended to; and every man who has not a farthing will demand an equal voice with any other in all acts of state."

When my mother was born, although voting rights had been expanded to some descendants of slaves, her own mother was not eligible to vote because she was a woman. Somehow our democracy has muddled through to the "perfection" of today. Thank God that John Kerry was not George Washington, as the "imperfect" fledgling Republic of 1789 would have been too illegitimate to bother with.

The "Illegitimate" Election of 1789

"It is hard to say that something is legitimate when whole portions of the country can't vote and doesn't vote," ~Senator John Kerry, D-Mass., 30 January 2005

The election of 1789 was the first presidential election in the United States of America. New York failed to appoint its allotment of eight electors, and subsequently cast no electoral votes. North Carolina and Rhode Island also did not cast votes, as they had not yet ratified the United States Constitution.

Women, non-whites, non-property owners and others were not allowed to vote. How does John Kerry characterize America's first election? How does it compare to the Iraqi election today? Seems to me, to remain consistant, Senator Kerry would have to describe our very first election, as a brand new democracy, to also have been illegitimate. Then again, who in his or her right mind expects John Kerry to be consistent?

Sour Grapes Kerry

"It is hard to say that something is legitimate when whole portions of the country can't vote and doesn't vote," Senator John Kerry, D-Mass., said on NBC's "Meet The Press" today.

Was he speaking of the very first election on American soil at the birth of the first democracy in the world? Let's see, those Americans elected their Revolution's military commander as President of their country with only one in fifteen people eligible to vote. About half the population was ineligible because of its female gender. Another large percentage was counted out because of its race being other than white. In addition, anyone not owning real estate in the new country was unqualified to vote also. Even religion was a factor in some of the new states.

Oh no, Kerry was speaking of Iraq! Their election was NOT legitimate he says. Please, someone ask him about the election of George Washington. Also, how about the votes for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights of the United States? Were they illegitimate, because my great great great grandmothers were not allowed a say?

Say a prayer of gratitude that such a "non-leader" is NOT president of these United States.

No Joy says Kerry!

Oh dear, I was too joyous, too soon! Senator Kerry is warning that there is to be NO JUBILATION! John Kerry was just speaking on "Meet the Press" and he said “No one in the United States should try to over-hype this election.” Let us all hide our joy under a bushel somewhere, so as not to offend - whomever. And suppose the election had been a total failure? Would the same John Kerry be saying "No one should try to disparage this election?" Oh yeah - think again.

70% - 75%?

Can it be true? The Iraqi election turnout is much higher than anyone expected! Indications are that 75% of Baghdad turned out. Contemplate the meaning of such actions of the populace in the face of horrific violence. Could it be that Iraqi people love democracy more than we do? Could the naysayers be proved totally wrong? Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Contemplate the ramifications of a democratic regime in the heart of the Islamic world. God bless us all! God bless America!

"And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born." ... Acts of the Apostles 22:28

Hate Tracts in American Mosques

In the United States, Muslim hate ideology has escaped notice until recently because of America's traditional respect for all religions. We do not attact and criticize the faiths of others. However, what is being taught in American mosques is not religion, but political dogma. We tolerate this because we have been told that Islam is a religion of peace and that most Muslims are moderates.

From The Washington Times: World - January 29, 2005:

The government of Saudi Arabia is spreading 'hate propaganda' in religious tracts sent to mosques throughout America, telling Muslims to hate Christians and Jews and to kill any Muslim who converts to another religion, a leading human rights group charged yesterday. Saudi government literature collected during the past year from American mosques also tells Muslims living in the United States to 'behave as if on a mission behind enemy lines.' according to a report: "Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology Fill American Mosques." The report studied more than 200 original documents, all published and disseminated by the government of Saudi Arabia. "When a government agitates hatred and intolerance, when it counsels people in an authoritative voice to kill other people, that's a human rights violation. That's not protected by First Amendment or free speech," said Nina Shea, director of the Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom and the editor of the report. Freedom House, which was founded by Eleanor Roosevelt, is one of the oldest human rights groups in the United States. In most instances, the report said, involvement by the Saudi government was immediately evident from the seal or name of a government department emblazoned on the cover of the literature. These documents advised Muslims in the United States on how to snub Jews and Christians, for example by refusing to greet them and congratulate them on religious holidays.In addition to demonizing "nonbelievers," documents call Muslims who practice a moderate interpretation of Islam and embrace tolerance traitors deserving of punishment, even death. Says one document: "Those who reside in the land of unbelief out of their own choice and desire to be with the people of that land, accepting the way they are regarding their faith, or giving compliments to them, or pleasing them by pointing out something wrong with the Muslims, they become unbelievers and enemies to Allah and his messenger."

One particularly chilling tract urges Muslims to kill any Muslims who convert to another religion. It says of Muslims who accept Judaism or Christianity: "If you do not repent, you are an apostate and you should be killed because you have denied the Koran." This tract was published by the Saudi Ministry of Religious Affairs and collected at the King Fahd Mosque in Los Angeles.

Billboard Blitz to Blast Hollywood

From HUMAN EVENTS ONLINE :: Billboard Blitz to Blast Hollywood: "Billboard creator Citizens United, a group that advocates a return to traditional American values, has purchased the use of three billboards near the Kodak Theatre (home of the Academy Awards) for the month of February, which includes Oscar Night, Sunday, February 27."

HALLELUJAH! Nobody said "no gloating" this time around!

The Faith of Our Fathers

On 8 June 1783, General Washington, upon his disbanding of the Continental Army, addressed a missive to the governors of the thirteen orginal states. Here is what the Father of our country wrote:

"Now I make it my earnest prayer that God would have you and the State over which you preside, in His holy protection, that He would incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government, to entertain brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow citizens and the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the field, and finally, that He would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. I have the honor to be, with much esteem and respect, Sir, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant. George Washington."

The words quoted above are said to be inscribed on a bronze tablet adjoining the Washington pew in Saint Paul's chapel in New York City. Someone please, remind me again about the debate over "separation of church and state".

Cross Posted at "Blogging the Revolution".

Who Deserves Freedom?

Are we idealists or realists for attempting to spread freedom to people and places where it has never been known? In 1775, not so long ago by historical reckoning, there were no democracies anywhere. Then, a band of ragtag colonials, lead by a realist general, fought a Revolution, at the end of which there was one nascent fragile democracy in the entire world. Today, 230 years later, there are 117 democratic governments. In South America, the Caribbean, Asia, the Pacific, the former Soviet Union and Sub-Saharan Africa there are countries with governments elected by their citizens. Our forebears truly did fire the "shot heard round the world" and it is still reverberating.

"By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, Hence once the embattled farmers stood And fired the shot heard round the world."~~ Emerson

We have managed to keep freedom's torch burning and to share it with others of God's children yearning to be free. However, freedom has not been allowed to flourish in the Middle East and North Africa. There is only one democratic government there, Israel, and it is in constant threat of annihilation. This area, lacking essential human rights, is the same area where terrorists are trained to attack and destroy free peoples and their works. Democracies do not spawn terrorism.

Tomorrow we have an opportunity in Iraq. By helping the Iraqis, we are helping ourselves remain free. We need to hope and pray that the elections will be a success. The Middle East and the French are fighting our efforts. Our own citizens of the left are hoping that we will fail, as they do not believe people in that part of the world can govern themselves. Or perhaps, they just hate George Bush that much. If their hopes come true, we all lose. Let us try to have the courage of our forebears. Let us fight the fight, however long it may be. That was the commitment made by the American patriots of 1776, and they bequeathed freedom to their heirs and the world. They were idealists. We are realists, as we know that democracy is possible, and that it can survive, at least for a few centuries. Who deserves freedom? All of God's children - that's who!

I am proud that twenty-six of my mother's Virginia ancestors acted the part of patriots in the first Revolution for human freedom. They were her great great great grandparents. They put their lives and fortunes at risk for freedom. Today, some Americans are still doing that.

My Patriot Ancestors

Freedom - Just Another Word?

The Justice of Roosting Chickens

On February 3rd, at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, where parents pay almost $40,000 a year for their children's liberal arts education, in the name of "academic freedom", those children will listen to Ward Churchill, a teacher of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado. This is the same person who, on September 12, 2001, in his "Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens", described "gallant sacrifices" of the "combat teams" that struck America's heart the day before, and that those Americans who died that day got what they deserved.

This passage is from darknightpress.org: "The [Pentagon] and those inside comprised military targets, pure and simple. As to those in the World Trade Center: Well, really. Let's get a grip here, shall we? True enough, they were civilians of a sort. But innocent? Gimme a break. They formed a technocratic corps at the very heart of America's global financial empire--the 'mighty engine of profit' to which the military dimension of U.S. policy has always been enslaved--and they did so both willingly and knowingly. If there was a better, more effective, or in fact any other way of visiting some penalty befitting their participation upon the little Eichmanns inhabiting the sterile sanctuary of the twin towers, I'd really be interested in hearing about it."

Liberal Lunacy

If you want to wake up with a bit of the Liberal Lunacy, check out
Too Stupid To Be President
and We Are Fascists.

Dutch murder suspect described as fanatic

Theo Van Gogh was brutally slaughtered, in the way of Allah with knives, in broad daylight, and a note speared to his body with one of the knives.

The Theo van Gogh murder in the Netherlands indicates that at least some will not hesitate to enforce Sharia penalties even in the lands of the infidels.

Van Gogh Murderer was Doing God's Will
The new details underscore concerns over homegrown radicals in the Netherlands after the Nov. 2 killing of Van Gogh, who offended many Muslims with his film "Submission," which criticized the treatment of women under Islam.

Dutch murder suspect described as fanatic
"Amsterdam -- The man accused of murdering filmmaker Theo van Gogh on Nov. 2 dreamed of replacing the Dutch government with an Islamic theocracy, and was supported by a network of like-minded fanatics, prosecutors said yesterday at his first public hearing.

The suspect, Amsterdam native Mohammed Bouyeri, 26, did not appear at the pretrial hearing, but his lawyer said Mr. Bouyeri wants to 'be held accountable for his actions' and sees them as part of a religious war.

Mr. van Gogh offended many Muslims with his film Submission, which criticizes the treatment of women under Islam. AP"

How stands freedom of speech in Holland now?

Dutch fest pulls film by slain director
ROTTERDAM: A screening of the controversial short film Submission Part 1 by murdered director Theo van Gogh has been cancelled by Rotterdam International Film Festival organisers because of security concerns.

The 10-minute short, a critical look at the way Muslim women are treated, was to be shown Sunday as part of a debate about filmmakers' freedom of speech.

Van Gogh was murdered in November. In a note left on his body, the assassin indicated that one of his motives for the killing was the film.

The film's producer, Gijs van de Westelaken of Column Prods, has withdrawn the film. "We do not want to take any chance of endangering anyone else who participated in the film," he said in a statement.

The writer of "Submission," politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali, only recently returned to the Dutch Parliament after two months in hiding following the showing of the film on Dutch television in November.

The festival screening was set to take place the same week the trial of a suspect charged with van Gogh's murder was due to get under way in the Netherlands.

Islamism's feisty female foe

Explosives found near Rotterdam port

Then They Came for the Copts ...

~~
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me--
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Martin Niemoeller's message still carries a powerful moral impact. He was speaking of the culmination of the Nazi genocide of the Jews, so long ago now, that many have seemingly forgotten it.

". . . they will have to kill me to keep me from voting"

Retired Air Force Colonel Ronald Wassom, is in Iraq working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He is quoting an Iraqi worker at his current base at Al Ramadi. I'm not so sure about voting in Iraq, Mr. Ron. Maybe, how you say 'absentee' voting would be the way to do it here. Many people may die trying to vote here, Mr. Ron. Maybe it would be better for me to go to Paris or Rome and vote from there, it would be safer for me, he said chuckling.

I agreed it might be safer and then asked Mustafa if he planned to vote any way. 'Mr. Ron, I have lived many years in Iraq. I can remember before there was a Saddam Hussein in Iraq. I have never been free to vote here, Mr. Ron. Iraqis don't know about voting. If I don't get killed going to vote or at the voting place, my vote may not even count anyway. So what have we gained? But I will tell you something, Mr. Ron; they will have to kill me to keep me from voting. And many of my tribesmen feel the same. We have suffered too much and been denied too long to not go this last step. Mr. Ron, it may be just a trickle at first, but when Iraqis see the results of their votes it will be like a flood over all Iraq. Iraqi people, Mr. Ron, want to be free more than anything else.'

How many of you Liberals does it take to win a war?

(A War Poem from a Vietnam Vet)

How many of you Liberals
does it take to win a war?

Well how the hell can we tell?
You won’t fight one anymore.

You say that you support the troops,
but the truth’s plain as your face,

You’d pull us from the battle,
march us home in full disgrace.

You’ve no stomach for the fighting,
got no mettle, got no pluck;

If you ran this war on terror,
we’d be a very well plucked duck.

The wolves of Jihad smell your dread,
can smell your craven breath,
And emboldened by the fear they scent,
lust for our bloody death.

~~The Rest of the Poem

DeFazio says ....

You've just got to wonder about that investigation of the Coptic murders in New Jersey. Just what is the meaning of all the conflicting statements we get from this guy, Edward DeFasio? A few days ago he was quoted as saying there was no evidence of it being a hate crime. Here is the latest:

They were bound, gagged, and had bled to death from multiple stab wounds, including wounds to their throats, before they were found two days later, DeFazio said. ... But DeFazio said religious items in the victims' home were not desecrated, there was no mutilation of the bodies, and that no religious message was left at the scene.

Jihad in Jersey City

Egypt Grudge Eyed in Killings

Why the Copts are so upset

Carter & Oil for Food

Could it be? Was our do-gooder ex-President, Jimmy Carter, doing good for Saddam Hussein and himself with the "Oil for Food" program? Don't we give these people enough life-time retirement benefits when they leave government service? Is this why he has been on the other side of our foreign policy efforts?

Group presses Carter on oil-for-food scam - ex-president linked to key figure

Jimmy Carter linked to oil-for-food scam
Ex-president worked with key figure in scandal combating Iraqi sanctions

"Did President Carter know he was dealing with an agent of Saddam Hussein or was he just terribly gullible?" asked Morgan. "And if he truly was naïve as to Samir Vincent's true agenda, then now is the time for him to come forward and repudiate Mr. Vincent and his actions."

Air Head America Radio Gunning for Gonzales

This is from the Museum of Left Wing Lunancy. Don't you just love his blog banner?

No Proof or Evidence

Yesterday, the Hudson County, New Jersey prosecutor, Edward DeFazio, said there was no proof that religious hatred was to blame for the Armanious family's murder. He added "Certainly, based on the viciousness of the attacks, we think there's more than taking the money that was in the apartment". When asked if it could be a Muslim against Christian murder, authorities are saying that nothing so far supports that theory. "Is it possible? Yes," DeFazio said. "Do we have anything that gives us reason to believe this is what it was, factually? No. Nothing indicates that was the prime motivation for this. That we can clearly say."

So we are told, the murders were more than a robbery, but it is clear that the murders had nothing to do with religious hatred. That seems to be the government's conclusion and probably all that we will know for now. Jihad Watch seems to be staying on top of the story, so if you want to keep up with it, check with them. This is a brutal crime that the news outlets find uninteresting. The Muslim PR group CAIR, seems to have convinced the MSM, and investigators, that a robber gang armed with knives, instead of guns, is on the loose, and to top off the robberies the gang "inexplicably" leaves their victims bound and beheaded.

C.A.I.R. Watch

CAIR - True to Form ~~ The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) contacted a New York radio station on Friday complaining about a song it aired that mocked victims of the recent tsunami in South Asia. The radio station, HOT 97 FM, issued a public apology; "HOT 97 regrets the airing of material that made light of a serious and tragic event. We apologize to our listeners and anyone who