‘Religion of peace’ explained

The Iranian navy a couple of days ago “completely” destroyed a full-size model of an American aircraft carrier.

Bzz, bzz, go dozens of little gray Iranian navy boats as they busily maneuver around until the carrier “was struck by hundreds of rockets and tens of missiles, including a number of cruise and two ballistic missiles, and was completely destroyed.”

http://www.oratert.com/news/iran/81307.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrgLFcIMYDk

The key to all that was not untold dollars spent on the “model carrier of a hypothetical enemy,” but (as the video states) that the drill “sends a message of peace” to countries in the region.

Nothing says peace like blowing to bits hundreds of tons of floating steel.

'Russia is the third Rome'

"’Russia is the only center of unenslaved civilization capable of revealing itself as Christian. So our patriotism is not chauvinism or a call of blood...It's primarily an understanding of the importance of our unique Christian mission -- a mission, I'm convinced, that our people have been put on earth to fulfill.’" – Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin.

In Chaplin’s Machaut and the Bears, Moscow is destroyed in 2043 by a force of Ukrainians, homosexuals and Islamists.

‘Orthodox Priest Gives Russians One More Thing to Think About’

http://www.eurasianet.org/node/72331

New democratic Russia differs from old USSR in disappearing people

Soviets just disappeared people into the Gulag; in the new Russia, the thing to do is simply gun down opposition on a bridge in central Moscow.

‘Russian Opposition Leader Murdered in Moscow’

“Major Russian opposition leader and former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov was shot dead Friday night in central Moscow.

“The Interior Ministry said Nemtsov was shot four times from a passing car as he walked across a bridge over the Moscow River right next to the Kremlin.”

Chicago Depression-era style of murder.

President Vladimir Putin was “immediately notified” of Nemtsov’s murder. Putin said the Kremlin will oversee investigations.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/russia/2015/russia-150227-voa01.htm?_m=3n%2e002a%2e1354%2eye0ao05v9c%2e18pl

(Reichstag fire?)

Vladimir Bukovsky, a friend of Nemtsov’s, said the killing was “a state murder.” That can mean more than one thing in Russia -- state security apparatus orders or Russian mafia goons working for people who have peculiar influence in government.

Next: Muslims discovered Scandinavia

“TRONDHEIM, NORWAY—Last year, a metal detectorist discovered a sword from the Viking Age in a field in central Norway. Archaeologists from the Museum of Natural History and Archaeology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology excavated the site, and found a grave dating to about A.D. 950 that contained the remains of a Viking and his shield, in addition to the inscribed, high-quality sword. Hidden inside the shield boss they found a leather purse that contained several Islamic coins. Norwegian Vikings arrived in Spain in the 800s, where they may have come in contact with Islamic culture, or perhaps the coins were obtained through trade. 'We have not managed to find out who owned the sword, but we know that he was a well-traveled man,' archaeologist Ingrid Ystgaard told NRK, as reported by ThorNews. The shield boss also bears combat scars. 'The shield boss has a clear cut mark by an ax or a sword. If he died in combat, we do not know,' added Ystgaard.”

http://www.archaeology.org/news/3041-150225-norway-viking-islamic-coins

(Vikings went anywhere their ships would float, and when dry land prohibited ships, the axmen walked or rode horses. They went everywhere. Since Muslims were first to announce a round world and built at least one mosque in Cuba before Columbus arrived, it stands to reason Muhammadans discovered Scandinavia. And all of Nordic Europe, probably.)

Link at gatesofvienna.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/muslims-discovered-earth-is-round-says-religion-that-believes-its-flat/

http://dailycaller.com/2013/01/04/cair-chief-claims-muslims-discovered-america-first/

Religion of peace kills more Christians

“Of the hundreds of Christians abducted by the Islamic State in recent days, at least fifteen have been executed, including one woman who was beheaded. Meanwhile, kinetic activists for the Islamic State destroyed priceless ancient artifacts in a museum of antiquities in Mosul. Neither incident had anything to do with Islam.”

http://gatesofvienna.net/

Driverless cars another shot at keeping humans from harm and freedom

“’Mr. Musk expects autonomous driving to be safer for riders and pedestrians by a factor of 10.’

“I absolutely believe this. In addition, when the computer gets traffic reports, it will choose the quickest way to the destination, and will choose the speed to use the least amount of fuel.”

(Years and years ago there was a science fiction short story about an older man who turned out to be the inventor of house-keeping robots, said robots taking to n-th degree the Laws of Robotics. The First Law enslaved man, since, as a robot may not allow a human to come to harm, humans could do nothing except exist, and that would soon become nothing.)

‘The next big thing’

http://chicagoboyz.net/

Gonna save all my money (turnin' it on, blowin' it out) and buy a GTO (turnin' it on,
blowin' it out)
Get a helmet and a roll bar (turnin' it on, blowin' it out) and I'll be ready to go
(turnin' it on, blowin' it out)
Take it out to Pomona (turnin' it on, blowin' it out) and let 'em know (turnin' it on,
blowin' it out), yeah, yeah
That I'm the coolest thing around
Little buddy, gonna shut you down
When I turn it on, wind it up, blow it out GTO

Little GTO, by John Wilkin

How stupid do manufacturers and marketing people think we are?

Enough, apparently.

On cereal box: “You asked for gluten-free rice cereal, and here it is!” Uh, rice does not contain gluten.

On a carton of eggs: “All natural!” As opposed to lab eggs?

However …

Last year, to show her appreciation for work done, my wife made breakfast for her office – around 20 women. I don’t remember what all she made – sausage, eggs and cheese casserole and several other dishes, strawberries, fruits and such. She had informed and reminded everyone of what she was doing. The Friday she had everything laid out in the office kitchen, people began reminding her of things.

“You know Melissa is vegetarian.”

“Well, then, she can have (these dishes prepared with no animal products) and the fruits and berries.”

And: “You know Jessica is vegan.”

“She can have (these dishes prepared with no animal products) and the fruits and berries.”

And: “You know Amber is on a gluten-free diet.”

“Well, then, Amber can kiss my …”

No, she did not say that, although she wanted to after several women looked at what she had spent hours cooking, and said, “No, I think I’ll just not eat.”

Those women, the reminders and the vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, all were 20-somethings, all their lives babied and protected and told how special they were. They were not free-range, cage-free and most likely never will be.

You can have all the feminist foreign policy you want – The Bear doesn’t care

Russia bullies Sweden and Sweden blinks

Elisabeth Braw

Sweden has, if nothing else, added a new definition to the concept of partnership. Earlier this week the Swedish daily Expressen reported that an extraordinary meeting had taken place between the state secretary in the Foreign Ministry, Annika Soder, and Russia’s ambassador to Stockholm, Viktor Tatarintsev. It wasn’t the meeting that was extraordinary: it was Tatarintsev’s demands.

But first, a bit of background: during an upcoming military exercise this spring in the Baltic Sea, Swedish aviators will join Finnish and American colleagues in practicing the defense of regional airspace. An exercise involving the Swedish, Finnish, and American air forces is a logical response to Russia’s growing military activities in the skies above the Baltic Sea and its neighboring countries: the Baltic states only have minimal air force capabilities, whereas Sweden and Finland’s air forces are, at least in theory, able to hold their own against intruders. It makes sense to practice together and to be joined by the United States, which the Baltic states consider their protector.

But, Tatarintsev told Soder, Russia is not pleased. “The fact that these countries, who don’t belong to a military alliance, conduct an exercise with the United States can’t leave Russia indifferent,” said the Swedish Foreign Ministry in a memo written after the meeting that leaked to Expressen. To this end, Tatarintsev asked Soder to specify both the dates and objectives of the exercise. Apparently Soder and her boss, Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom, caved in: the memo notes Soder later informed Tatarintsev that no Swedish planes will land in Estonia.

“Tatarintsev appeared pleased with the response,” the memo reads.

Here’s a lesson in transatlantic solidarity: Sweden, being unable to defend itself for more than a week, effectively relies on NATO to help. But when it comes to standing up for its friends, a mere pointed inquiry by a Russian official seems to be enough to forget about corresponding solidarity.

http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog/elisabeth-braw/russia-bullies-sweden-and-sweden-blinks

Connecticut legislators want power to say, ‘You have too much stuff’

Task force on hoarding studied.

“It creates a real danger when a person has too much stuff in the house.” – Monica Wheeler, mental health nurse.

http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Lawmakers-seek-to-create-a-task-force-on-hoarding-5997882.php

Link at https://westernrifleshooters.wordpress.com/

From feminist foreign policy to gender commissars

‘Sweden appoints special military gender advisors’

The Swedish Armed Forces are determined to have a gender advisor in every regiment by 2016, as part of an ambitious action plan to help the military develop its gender policies.

With the number of women applying to join the military on the rise, so called 'Gender Focal Points' (GFPs) will be appointed to help develop and implement gender action plans for their respective regiments.

Captain Anna Björsson, who supports the chief of operations on gender issues, said: “We've been working with this for ten years. It's nothing new, but what we want to do now is try to find concrete ways of working with gender issues.”

A course to educate the GFPs has just been held by the Nordic Centre for Gender in Military Operations.

Course leader Major Ola Nilsson said in a statement: “The course has by and large consisted of workshops and seminars. The goal is that we will have a GFP stationed at every regiment, by 2016 at the latest, who will use 10-20 percent of their work hours to focus on gender issues.”

While Sweden already has a global reputation for gender equality, Captain Björsson said much work remains to be done.

“Even today, only 10 percent of our staff are women. It's not a question of asking what women as such can bring to the organisation – I think you have to be wary of that – but it is very important to have a gender mix, but also a mix of ages, backgrounds and ethnicities. A homogeneous group never get to develop their arguments, because they just agree with each other all the time," she said.

The initiative has sparked some debate on social media, with one Twitter user asking "Is this a joke?"

A prominent Swedish psychiatry expert and debater also commented, saying "Who needs Monty Python's Department of Silly Walks when we have the Swedish gender defence."

Captain Björsson replied: "I buy that there are other things that are also important, but as one of Sweden's largest organisations we have to live up to the gender ideals we promote. It is not our top priority above everything else and gender issues are not the most important all of the time, but it is still very important that we act as a role model."

“We have a direct order from the government to integrate equality into our work. And as the organisation whose job it is to defend our nation in the event of an attack, women's rights concern us very much. The job of the military as an organisation is to defend our democratic values, so it is important that we live up to that."

"We need not only to look externally, but also make sure our own organisation reflects the thing we want to achieve," she added.

http://www.thelocal.se/20150220/swedish-army-appoints-gender-advisors

Link at www.gatesofvienna.net

One of the dumbest Obama beliefs

"Here in America, Islam has been woven into the fabric of our country since its founding. Generations -- (applause) -- Generations of Muslim immigrants came here and went to work as farmers and merchants and factory workers, helped to lay railroads and to build up America.”

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/obama-islam-has-been-woven-fabric-our-country-its-founding

Link at www.floppingaces.net

How the 8th century trumps the 21st

"There is a temptation to rehearse this observation—that jihadists are modern secular people, with modern political concerns, wearing medieval religious disguise—and make it fit the Islamic State. In fact, much of what the group does looks nonsensical except in light of a sincere, carefully considered commitment to returning civilization to a seventh-century legal environment, and ultimately to bringing about the apocalypse.

"The most-articulate spokesmen for that position are the Islamic State’s officials and supporters themselves. They refer derisively to 'moderns.' In conversation, they insist that they will not—cannot—waver from governing precepts that were embedded in Islam by the Prophet Muhammad and his earliest followers. They often speak in codes and allusions that sound odd or old-fashioned to non-Muslims, but refer to specific traditions and texts of early Islam."
…

"The reality is that the Islamic State is Islamic. Very Islamic."

…

"Centuries have passed since the wars of religion ceased in Europe, and since men stopped dying in large numbers because of arcane theological disputes. Hence, perhaps, the incredulity and denial with which Westerners have greeted news of the theology and practices of the Islamic State. Many refuse to believe that this group is as devout as it claims to be, or as backward-looking or apocalyptic as its actions and statements suggest."

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/02/what-isis-really-wants/384980/

Field exercises will be interesting, pointy bullets from Chechnyan guerrillas and all

“Russia may soon be exporting its model of counterinsurgency across the globe, as Chechnya's president is building an international special operations training center with the aim of training elite troops both from Russia and abroad.

“The center is already under construction in the town of Gudermes and should be finished by the end of the year, the president, Ramzan Kadyrov, told Russian newspaper Izvestia.”
…
Talks “are underway with Belarus and Kazakhstan to train their forces at the center. Latin American, Arab, and other ex-Soviet countries are other potential customers, Izvestia reports.”

http://www.eurasianet.org/node/72106

If your ancestry is Northern European, you are of the steppe

“A mysterious group of humans from the east stormed western Europe 4,500 years ago — bringing with them technologies such as the wheel, as well as a language that is the forebear of many modern tongues, suggests one of the largest studies of ancient DNA yet conducted. Vestiges of these eastern émigrés exist in the genomes of nearly all contemporary Europeans, according to the authors, who analysed genome data from nearly 100 ancient Europeans1

“DNA recovered from steppe herders that lived in western Russia around 5,000 years ago closely matched that of 4,500-year-old individuals from Germany, who were part of a group known as the Corded Ware culture.

“The herders, named the Yamnaya, lived in present-day Russia and Ukraine and represent ‘a massive migration into the heartland of Europe from its eastern periphery…’”

http://www.nature.com/news/european-languages-linked-to-migration-from-the-east-1.16919

There was a time in history when every event in Europe was caused by movement of peoples in Central Asia. Perhaps the Yamnaya and the farmers from the Middle East were pushed west.

Link at www.gatesofvienna.net

If you’re having a Draw Mohammed contest, you need Geert Wilders

"Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders will deliver the keynote address at the Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest being held on May 3rd, in Garland, Texas. The Art Exhibit is being put on by Pamela Geller’s American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI). It will be put on at the same facility in Garland as the Honor the Prophet Conference that was held by a pro-Islamic group in January."

http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/02/15/geert-wilders-to-keynote-muhammad-art-exhibit-and-contest-in-texas/

Hank Hill would be proud.

‘25% of gold buyers are crazy.’ Only 25%?

The “fear trade” is common in the U.S. Just take a look and a listen to any TV news program, local or national, for confirmation.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/12/investing/buy-gold-market-fear/index.html

Link at www.gatesofvienna.net

Army begins separation proceedings for Maj. Matthew Golsteyn

Silver Star revoked, Distinguished Service Cross recommendation canned.

Army says Golsteyn might have acted outside rules of engagement concerning death of known Taliban bomb maker.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/02/12/army-revokes-green-berets-silver-star-starts-separation.html?comp=7000023468004&rank=4

Obama wrong on Crusades

By Raymond Ibrahim

“Were the Crusades a reflection of the “terrible deeds [done] in the name of Christ” as U.S. President Obama recently warned, or were they a reflection of something else, namely, centuries of Islamic jihad? In the following essay, one of the top historians of the Crusades definitively answers the question.

“Thomas Madden — former Chair of the History Department at Saint Louis University and Director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies — wrote this article in 2002 when President Bush used the word “crusade” in a positive sense, creating controversy. Its relevancy today is that Obama invoked the Crusades in a negative sense, also creating controversy.

“Madden presents the most recent scholarship on the Crusades — scholarship that completely contradicts the popular image of these wars that permeates much of Hollywood, the writings of amateurs such as Karen Armstrong and, as seen, the worldview of Barack Obama.

(Due to its length (approximately 4000 words), only the most germane portions appear in the significantly shorter version below; especially relevant sentences and paragraphs are highlighted in bold, while removed text is reflected by bracketed ellipses.)

The Real History of the Crusades

Crisis Magazine

By Thomas Madden

[...]
Misconceptions about the Crusades are all too common. The Crusades are generally portrayed as a series of holy wars against Islam led by power-mad popes and fought by religious fanatics. They are supposed to have been the epitome of self-righteousness and intolerance, a black stain on the history of the Catholic Church in particular and Western civilization in general. A breed of proto-imperialists, the Crusaders introduced Western aggression to the peaceful Middle East and then deformed the enlightened Muslim culture, leaving it in ruins. For variations on this theme, one need not look far. See, for example, Steven Runciman’s famous three-volume epic, History of the Crusades, or the BBC/A&E documentary, The Crusades, hosted by Terry Jones. Both are terrible history yet wonderfully entertaining.

So what is the truth about the Crusades? Scholars are still working some of that out. But much can already be said with certainty. For starters, the Crusades to the East were in every way defensive wars. They were a direct response to Muslim aggression—an attempt to turn back or defend against Muslim conquests of Christian lands.

Christians in the eleventh century were not paranoid fanatics. Muslims really were gunning for them. While Muslims can be peaceful, Islam was born in war and grew the same way. From the time of Mohammed, the means of Muslim expansion was always the sword. Muslim thought divides the world into two spheres, the Abode of Islam and the Abode of War. Christianity—and for that matter any other non-Muslim religion—has no abode. Christians and Jews can be tolerated within a Muslim state under Muslim rule. But, in traditional Islam, Christian and Jewish states must be destroyed and their lands conquered. When Mohammed was waging war against Mecca in the seventh century, Christianity was the dominant religion of power and wealth. As the faith of the Roman Empire, it spanned the entire Mediterranean, including the Middle East, where it was born. The Christian world, therefore, was a prime target for the earliest caliphs, and it would remain so for Muslim leaders for the next thousand years.

With enormous energy, the warriors of Islam struck out against the Christians shortly after Mohammed’s death. They were extremely successful. Palestine, Syria, and Egypt—once the most heavily Christian areas in the world—quickly succumbed. By the eighth century, Muslim armies had conquered all of Christian North Africa and Spain. In the eleventh century, the Seljuk Turks conquered Asia Minor (modern Turkey), which had been Christian since the time of St. Paul. The old Roman Empire, known to modern historians as the Byzantine Empire, was reduced to little more than Greece. In desperation, the emperor in Constantinople sent word to the Christians of western Europe asking them to aid their brothers and sisters in the East.

That is what gave birth to the Crusades. They were not the brainchild of an ambitious pope or rapacious knights but a response to more than four centuries of conquests in which Muslims had already captured two-thirds of the old Christian world. At some point, Christianity as a faith and a culture had to defend itself or be subsumed by Islam. The Crusades were that defense.

Pope Urban II called upon the knights of Christendom to push back the conquests of Islam at the Council of Clermont in 1095. The response was tremendous. Many thousands of warriors took the vow of the cross and prepared for war. Why did they do it? The answer to that question has been badly misunderstood. In the wake of the Enlightenment, it was usually asserted that Crusaders were merely lacklands and ne’er-do-wells who took advantage of an opportunity to rob and pillage in a faraway land. The Crusaders’ expressed sentiments of piety, self-sacrifice, and love for God were obviously not to be taken seriously. They were only a front for darker designs.

During the past two decades, computer-assisted charter studies have demolished that contrivance. Scholars have discovered that crusading knights were generally wealthy men with plenty of their own land in Europe. Nevertheless, they willingly gave up everything to undertake the holy mission. Crusading was not cheap. Even wealthy lords could easily impoverish themselves and their families by joining a Crusade. They did so not because they expected material wealth (which many of them had already) but because they hoped to store up treasure where rust and moth could not corrupt. They were keenly aware of their sinfulness and eager to undertake the hardships of the Crusade as a penitential act of charity and love. Europe is littered with thousands of medieval charters attesting to these sentiments, charters in which these men still speak to us today if we will listen. Of course, they were not opposed to capturing booty if it could be had. But the truth is that the Crusades were notoriously bad for plunder. A few people got rich, but the vast majority returned with nothing.

Urban II gave the Crusaders two goals, both of which would remain central to the eastern Crusades for centuries. The first was to rescue the Christians of the East. As his successor, Pope Innocent III, later wrote:

How does a man love according to divine precept his neighbor as himself when, knowing that his Christian brothers in faith and in name are held by the perfidious Muslims in strict confinement and weighed down by the yoke of heaviest servitude, he does not devote himself to the task of freeing them? …Is it by chance that you do not know that many thousands of Christians are bound in slavery and imprisoned by the Muslims, tortured with innumerable torments?

“Crusading,” Professor Jonathan Riley-Smith has rightly argued, was understood as an “an act of love”—in this case, the love of one’s neighbor. The Crusade was seen as an errand of mercy to right a terrible wrong. As Pope Innocent III wrote to the Knights Templar, “You carry out in deeds the words of the Gospel, ‘Greater love than this hath no man, that he lay down his life for his friends.’”

The second goal was the liberation of Jerusalem and the other places made holy by the life of Christ. [...]

It is often assumed that the central goal of the Crusades was forced conversion of the Muslim world. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the perspective of medieval Christians, Muslims were the enemies of Christ and His Church. It was the Crusaders’ task to defeat and defend against them. That was all. Muslims who lived in Crusader-won territories were generally allowed to retain their property and livelihood, and always their religion. Indeed, throughout the history of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, Muslim inhabitants far outnumbered the Catholics. It was not until the 13th century that the Franciscans began conversion efforts among Muslims. But these were mostly unsuccessful and finally abandoned. In any case, such efforts were by peaceful persuasion, not the threat of violence.

The Crusades were wars, so it would be a mistake to characterize them as nothing but piety and good intentions. Like all warfare, the violence was brutal (although not as brutal as modern wars). There were mishaps, blunders, and crimes. These are usually well-remembered today. During the early days of the First Crusade in 1095, a ragtag band of Crusaders led by Count Emicho of Leiningen made its way down the Rhine, robbing and murdering all the Jews they could find. Without success, the local bishops attempted to stop the carnage. In the eyes of these warriors, the Jews, like the Muslims, were the enemies of Christ. Plundering and killing them, then, was no vice. Indeed, they believed it was a righteous deed, since the Jews’ money could be used to fund the Crusade to Jerusalem. But they were wrong, and the

Church strongly condemned the anti-Jewish attacks.
Fifty years later, when the Second Crusade was gearing up, St. Bernard frequently preached that the Jews were not to be persecuted:

Ask anyone who knows the Sacred Scriptures what he finds foretold of the Jews in the Psalm. “Not for their destruction do I pray,” it says. The Jews are for us the living words of Scripture, for they remind us always of what our Lord suffered…. Under Christian princes they endure a hard captivity, but “they only wait for the time of their deliverance.”

[...]

When we think about the Middle Ages, it is easy to view Europe in light of what it became rather than what it was. The colossus of the medieval world was Islam, not Christendom. The Crusades are interesting largely because they were an attempt to counter that trend. But in five centuries of crusading, it was only the First Crusade that significantly rolled back the military progress of Islam. It was downhill from there.

[...]

From the safe distance of many centuries, it is easy enough to scowl in disgust at the Crusades. Religion, after all, is nothing to fight wars over. But we should be mindful that our medieval ancestors would have been equally disgusted by our infinitely more destructive wars fought in the name of political ideologies. And yet, both the medieval and the modern soldier fight ultimately for their own world and all that makes it up. Both are willing to suffer enormous sacrifice, provided that it is in the service of something they hold dear, something greater than themselves. Whether we admire the Crusaders or not, it is a fact that the world we know today would not exist without their efforts. The ancient faith of Christianity, with its respect for women and antipathy toward slavery, not only survived but flourished. Without the Crusades, it might well have followed Zoroastrianism, another of Islam’s rivals, into extinction.

http://www.raymondibrahim.com/study-corner/the-truth-about-the-crusades/

Link at gatesofvienna.

Swedish ‘feminist foreign policy’ vs. arms deals with Saudi Arabia

I don’t know what a “feminist foreign policy” is; maybe something to do with The Vagina Dialogue?

“The Saudi arms deal was put into place in 2005, and the current government has until May this year either to pull out or renegotiate. Because the deal is only renegotiated every five years, it may end up being extended until 2020.

“The deal gives Sweden the right to sell weapons to the Saudis. It also obliges Swedes to develop and build weapon technologies.”

But, Sweden now has a minister of foreign affairs (Margo Wallstrom), who, when taking office last fall said the government would take a “feminist foreign policy.”

If a country is going to base its foreign policy on something as vague as feminism, politicians should be ready to overhaul everything.

http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2054&artikel=6093369

Link at www.gatesofvienna.net

When do we get this equal coverage?

“Gov. Ann Smith, who has sex only with her husband, today said …”

What we are getting:

‘Media welcomes Bisexual Governor with Open Arms’

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/02/media_welcomes_first_bisexual_governor_with_open_arms.html

Mountain top removal in Vermont

Goodbye, trees! Gotta make room for wind farms!

http://www.thepiratescove.us/2015/02/12/big-wind-practicing-mountain-top-removal-in-vermont/

Link at maggiesfarm.

(Progress in any form has always meant destruction of something. But those people – environmentalists and their billion-dollar energy company friends – should stop believing the rest of us are idiots.)

Made in USA

“The GeoSpring suffered from an advanced-technology version of ‘IKEA Syndrome.’ It was so hard to assemble that no one in the big room wanted to make it. Instead they redesigned it. The team eliminated 1 out of every 5 parts. It cut the cost of the materials by 25 percent. It eliminated the tangle of tubing that couldn’t be easily welded. By considering the workers who would have to put the water heater together—in fact, by having those workers right at the table, looking at the design as it was drawn—the team cut the work hours necessary to assemble the water heater from 10 hours in China to two hours in Louisville.”

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/12/the-insourcing-boom/309166/?single_page=true

Link at www.maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com

Draw the Prophet, win $10,000

American Freedom Defense Initiative schedules First Annual Mohammad Art Exhibit and Contest in Garland, Texas.

http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/02/11/10000-muhammad-art-and-cartoon-contest-to-be-held-at-site-of-stand-with-the-prophet-conference-in-texas/

'I think if history offends people it needs to be rewritten if possible'

So says Wellborn Adams, mayor of Greenwood, S.C.

On Greenwood city property is a memorial to local men who died in two world wars, Korea and Vietnam. The dead from the world wars are divided into “white” and “colored.” The mayor decided to change the memorial, listing all by war, but not dividing the world war dead by race. He ran into a little problem. South Carolina law prohibits changing historical monuments. Of equal opposition, many historians said changing the monument would be an attempt at changing history.

Of course, when opposition raised its commonsense head, the mayor decided what he said was not what he meant.

“The mayor acknowledged he didn't choose his words carefully. He later said he meant that while history doesn't change, the way a community presents itself does.”

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/02/07/war-memorial-separates-dead-by-race-divides-southern-city.html?ESRC=army-a.nl

(A guess: The mayor is embarrassed by his city’s past and wanted to ease his embarrassment by removing the offending monument. Mr. Mayor: History is not always pretty, but it is history. And, the story does not support the headline part about "divides Southern city.")

You shouldn't say that!

“Chilean mountaineers say they have found the wreckage of a plane that crashed in the Andes 54 years ago, killing 24 people, including eight members of a professional soccer team.
…
“The team and staff were spread over two flights.”

(Not to mention a mountain.)

And: “The location of the wreckage was not where official publications indicated it should be.”

(Don’t you just hate it when your crashed airplane shows up in an unexpected location?)

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/02/09/plane-missing-54-years-found-chile

Link at www.fark.com

(Twenty years later, they would have eaten each other.)

Typical modern US reporter’s writing …Or how to suck at your job

“Ruff Start Rescue partners with PetSmart to house cats so they can gain exposure and have the chance to be adopted.”

http://kstp.com/article/stories/S3700592.shtml?cat=1

(OK, let’s look at phrases and modifiers. “Ruff Start Rescue partners … so they can gain exposure and have the chance to be adopted.”

(Link at fark.com, whose editor does not care that much of the stuff he cites sucks.)

Money has no politics or religion, only a very loud voice

“Fox News Correspondent James Rosen reported on Wednesday night that a “major investor in the parent company” of Fox News has been implicated in financing the terrorist group al-Qaeda. Rosen made the embarrassing disclosure in a story on the channel’s ‘Special Report’ show hosted by Bret Baier.

“The alleged al-Qaeda financier, Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, is a very close friend of Rupert Murdoch and his family, who control major media companies like News Corp and 21stCentury Fox. The latter is now the parent company of the Fox News Channel.

“The second largest shareholder in the Fox News parent company after the Murdoch family, Alwaleed has been addressed as “Your Highness” during his appearances on the network. His recent appearances have made him sound moderate, while denouncing Islamic extremism and the ISIS terrorist group.”

http://counterjihadreport.com/2015/02/06/scandal-rocks-fox-news-over-saudi-terror-link/

Army officer says Afghan tactics screwed; Army revokes his Silver Star

‘Army Major Matt Golsteyn betrayed by cowardly leaders’

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/afghanistan-war-hero-stripped-of-silver-star/

Link from www.floppingaces.net

(This is the kind of upper-level military we will have, now that fighters are no longer necessary.)

Albatross, Sopwith and Fokker in NZ

http://www.network54.com/Forum/149674/message/1385149639/Photos+from+The+Vintage+Aviator+Ltd%27s+Remembrance+Day+airshow

Link at www.maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com

Why Obama is not a secret Muslim

“So the reason Obama says crap like that is not because he's a secret Muslim. No, Obama says these things because he's a dumbass. A world-class dumbass. A transnational dumbass. Compared to him, Jimmy Carter was a freaking genius. Obama is not a secret Muslim because he's not smart enough to be a secret Muslim. If he ever tried to be a Muslim, he'd probably do all sorts of dumb stuff like holding the Quran upside down or praying in the opposite direction so he'd be mooning Mecca.”

Obama, The Secret Muslim [OregonMuse]

http://ace.mu.nu/#354696

(But he is such an arrogant dumbass.)