Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Compare and contrast

The Qur'an:
Sura (9:29) - "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued."
Sura (9:5) "But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war); but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practice regular charity, then open the way for them..."
Sura (9:12) - (Continued from above) "But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then are they your brethren in religion"
Sura (2:193) - "And fight them until persecution is no more, and religion be only for Allah. But if they desist, then let there be no hostility except against wrong-doers."

From the Hadith:
Muslim (1:33) The Messenger of Allah said: "I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah..."
Muslim (19:4294) - "When you meet your enemies who are polytheists [Christians...], invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withhold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them ... If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah's help and fight them"
Bukhari (8:387) - "Allah's Apostle said, 'I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.' And if they say so, pray like our prayers, face our Qibla and slaughter as we slaughter, then their blood and property will be sacred to us and we will not interfere with them except legally and their reckoning will be with Allah.'"
Bukhari (53:392) - "While we were in the Mosque, the Prophet came out and said, "Let us go to the Jews" We went out till we reached Bait-ul-Midras. He said to them, "If you embrace Islam, you will be safe. You should know that the earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle, and I want to expel you from this land. So, if anyone amongst you owns some property, he is permitted to sell it, otherwise you should know that the Earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle."
Bukhari (2:24) - "Allah's Apostle said: "I have been ordered (by Allah) to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah's Apostle, and offer the prayers perfectly and give the obligatory charity, so if they perform a that, then they save their lives and property from me except for Islamic laws and then their reckoning (accounts) will be done by Allah."
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The New Testament

John 13:34 "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. "
John 15:12 "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. "
John 15:17 "I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another."
Rom. 12:10 "[L]ove one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor."
Rom. 13:8 "Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law."
1Ths. 4:9 "Now concerning love of the brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another; "
1Pet. 1:22 "Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. "
1John 3:11 "For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another."
1John 3:14 "We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death. "
1John 3:23 "And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us."
1John 4:7 "Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. "
1John 4:11 "Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. "
1John 4:12 "No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us."
2John 5 "But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning, let us love one another."
1John 4:20 Those who say, "I love God," and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

This Person Could be President

Hillary is (or should be) known for her vile temper, foul mouth, condescending attitude toward her peers and subordinates, arrogance, and hate speech.

Here are just a few examples (warning, some of the following quotes are rated R):



"Where is the G-damn f**king flag? I want the G-damn f**king flag up every f**king morning at f**king sunrise."
(From the book "Inside The White House" by Ronald Kessler, p. 244 - Hillary to the staff at the Arkansas Governor's mansion on Labor Day, 1991)

"You sold out, you mother f**ker! You sold out!"
(From the book "Inside" by Joseph Califano, p. 213 - Hillary yelling at Democrat lawyer.)

"F**k off! It's enough that I have to see you sh*t-kickers every day, I'm not going to talk to you too!! Just do your G*damn job and keep your mouth shut."
(From the book "American Evita" by Christopher Anderson, p. 90 - Hillary to her State Trooper bodyguards after one of them greeted her with "Good morning."

"You f**king idiot."
(From the book "Crossfire" p. 84 - Hillary to a State Trooper who was driving her to an event.)

"If you want to remain on this detail, get your f**king a*s over here and grab those bags!"
(From the book "The First Partner" p. 259 - Hillary to a Secret Service Agent who was reluctant to carry her luggage because he wanted to keep his hands free in case of an incident.)

"Get f**ked! Get the f**k out of my way!!! Get out of my face!!!"
(From the book "Hillary's Scheme" p. 89 - Hillary's various comments to her Secret Service detail agents.)

"Stay the f**k back, stay the f**k away from me! Don't come within ten yards of me, or else! Just f**king do as I say, Okay!!!?"
(From the book "Unlimited Access", by Clinton FBI Agent in Charge, Gary Aldrige, p. 139 - Hillary screaming at her Secret Service detail.)

"Many of you are well enough off that [President Bush's] tax cuts may have helped you. We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We're going to have to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."
(Hillary grandstanding at a fund raising speech in San Francisco; SFGate.com 6/28/2004.)

"Why do I have to keep proving to people that I am not a liar?!"
(From the book "The Survivor," by John Harris, p. 382 - Hillary in her 2000 Senate campaign)

"Where's the miserable c*ck sucker?"
(From the book "The Truth About Hillary" by Edward Klein, p. 5 - Hillary shouting at a Secret Service officer)

"Put this on the ground! I left my sunglasses in the limo. I need those sunglasses. We need to go back!"
(From the book "Dereliction of Duty" p. 71-72 - Hillary to Marine One helicopter pilot to turn back while en route to Air Force One.)

"A right-wing network was after his presidency...including perverting the Constitution."
(To Barbara Walters about the Republicans who impeached her husband; 20/20, ABC 6/8/2003.)

"Son of a b*tch."
(From the book "American Evita" by Christopher Anderson, p. 259 - Hillary's opinion of President George W. Bush when she found out he secretly visited Iraq just days before her highly publicized trip to Iraq)

"What are you doing inviting these people into my home? These people are our enemies! They are trying to destroy us!"
(From the book "The Survivor" by John Harris, p. 99 - Hillary screaming to an aide, when she found out that some Republicans had been invited to the Clinton White House)

"I mean, you've got a conservative and right-wing press presence with really nothing on the other end of the political spectrum."
(C-Span, 1/19/1997 - Hillary complains about the mainstream media, which are all conservatives in her opinion)

"Come on Bill, put your dick up! You can't f**k her here!!"
(From the book "Inside The White House" by Ronald Kessler, p. 243 - Hillary to Gov. Clinton when she spots him talking with an attractive female at an Arkansas political rally)

You know, I'm going to start thanking the woman who cleans the restroom in the building I work in. I'm going to start thinking of her as a human being -Hillary Clinton
(From the book "The Case Against Hillary Clinton" by Peggy Noonan, p. 55)

"We are at a stage in history in which remolding society is one of the great challenges facing all of us in the West."
(From the book "I've Always Been A Yankee Fan" by Thomas D. Kuiper, p. 119 - During her 1993 commencement address at the University of Texas)

"The only way to make a difference is to acquire power"
(From the book "I've Always Been A Yankee Fan" by Thomas D. Kuiper, p. 68 - Hillary to a friend before starting law school.)

"We just can't trust the American people to make those types of choices.... Government has to make those choices for people"
(From the book "I've Always Been A Yankee Fan" by Thomas D. Kuiper, p. 20 - Hillary to Rep. Dennis Hastert in 1993 discussing her expensive, disastrous taxpayer-funded health care plan)

"I am a fan of the social policies that you find in Europe"
(Hillary in 1996" From the book "I've Always Been A Yankee Fan" by Thomas D. Kuiper, p. 76 - Hillary in 1996)

This person could be our next President!

Saturday, July 28, 2007

The Two-Dimensional Anti-war Thinking

The difficulty we are having with this war (and the debate over it) is that it is being won militarily but lost politically due to the completely 2 dimensional thinking of the anti-war crowd. Liberals appear to have very little nuance when it comes to discussing Iraq specifically, or the larger war against Islamic Jihadism in general. This is because it is quite apparent that they see everything through the "neo-cons are pulling Bushitler's strings" prism.

Note to the Bush Haters:

Realize that this is an ASYMMETRICAL war, the first of its kind ever fought by this country. There is has never been a more complicated set of variables laid out for a president and his generals to consider and there is no blueprint for how to succeed.

Consider:

1. This is a proxy war with Iran and AQ fought on soil that is rife with civil unrest and tribal hatred.

2. This is a war that was historically necessary to prove that America is not a paper tiger. I firmly believe that one of the prime reasons that this administration chose to eventually go into Iraq was to demonstrate that you don't mess around with the UN security council or the United States. This is what Saddam was doing and Bush decided that the line had to be drawn in the sand or risk total loss of credibility on the world stage.

3. This is a war being fought in the midst of political game playing by the Democrats - game playing played solely for their political gain. Remember, Clinton didn't take on the Iraq problem because he knew it was a political mine-field and would be deeply unpopular with Americans. Clinton was not the kind of president to do the right thing when doing the popular thing would work much better. Bush hesitated for 18 months before going into Iraq for likely the same reasons. He knew it was going to be hell for his party if he got involved in a war in Iraq. In other words, there was NO upside for Bush or the GOP to get into this war. The only upside was for the long term good of the nation (assuming that he could reestablish our street cred). Meanwhile, there was huge upside for the Dems for Bush to get into this war if they could succeed in undermining his efforts. They have played this advantage to the hilt and ultimately to the detriment of the country as a whole. They have been invested in a loss in Iraq since the shock and awe portion was over.

4. The American Media hates Bush as much as the Dems and like the Dems, want to see a humiliation for him in Iraq. This became patently clear when they started saying the surge was a failure before we even got the surge troops in place.

5. The jihadists are WELL AWARE of points #3 and #4 above. They see the American populace as easily swayed. They see that very little is required to raise the angst level here in the States because the Dems and Media will exaggerate the chaos in Iraq and downplay or simply not report American successes. This amplifies any successful efforts that they undertake.

6. It is evidently easier to believe we are failing than succeeding in Iraq. Petraeus, a man of impeccable credentials and expertise has a plan he is enacting in Iraq but we don't take his word for the successes he says are happening there. No we take the word of Reid, Pelosi, and Murtha, people who are invested in losing, that the surge is a failure.

7. Our Rules of Engagement prevent success in many situations in Iraq. This is unheard of in our history of warfare. As long as we are tying the hands of our military, lives will be lost and the propaganda benefits to the enemy of those losses are incalculable.

8. We don't understand Islamists and they rely on this ignorance. These people are motivated by an ideology that hates both red and blue states in the US equally. They hate Americans in the red states because those people are Christian, Israel supporters. They hate the bluestaters because they represent weakness, materialism, feminism, gay rights, and the export of American cultural malaise.

All of these factors and several more make this a near impossible situation for Bush, made only worse because we have very little resolve left to fight to win (and by win I mean dishearten the Islamists to the point of pulling out of Iraq.) They now see that we are not the aggressive, strong military might they saw at the beginning of the war. In fact, they are seeing that their feeble efforts are actually causing our Congressional leaders to prepare for retreat. This emboldens them in the face of otherwise impossible military odds.

So what to do? If we think Hillary is going to win then we should pull out now because she will anyway if elected. This will save American soldiers lives (for now). If we think Rudy or FDT will get elected we should step it up now and make it easier for either of them to mop up and then prepare for the next onslaught of radical Islamic Jihadism that will surely come. In the end, I don't think this war will ever be won given that the Islamists will not give up until we are destroyed.

Baptists and Bootleggers

"Bruce Yandle authored the Baptists and Bootleggers Theory of Regulation, which said that two groups often work together to have regulations passed, but for two very different reasons. For example, both Baptists and Bootleggers might pressure government to outlaw alcohol; Baptists due to religious beliefs and bootleggers because of the potential for profit."

- Rob Blackstock


Over the last 40 years or so, as the socialist enviros started gaining the ear of legislators, business and industry have been forced to either go on the defense (fight socialist enviro legislation), or go on the offense (join the opposition and seek to benefit by squeezing out competition).

Offense by corporate interest is what we are seeing with the corporate social responsibility movement. Companies that are savvy enough, can capitalize on regulations by twisting them to their advantage. Cat may be misjudging the current AGW environmental regulatory landscape but in the past other companies have benefited from similar deals with the devil. However, these deals rarely benefit the consumer.

A notable example is DuPont, with their promotion of the bogus CFC Ozone depletion scare. Of course, CFCs have no impact on stratospheric ozone since CFCs are too heavy to rise to that level (similar problem with C02 by the way) but that didn't stop the environmental alarmists and DuPont from joining forces. Seeing an opportunity to make multi-billions in selling newly patented refrigerants, Dupont was only too happy to work with environmentalist interests and weak-minded legislators. We have been paying dearly ever since R-12 was outlawed due to this con.

For a good summary of the Baptist and Bootlegger aspects of the CFC debacle, see this article.