Just when I though, egotistically, that I had seen everything, now I’m pretty sure that I have. A news article I read tonight states the following:
Government researchers have found elevated levels of toxic rocket fuel in milk bought at Virginia stores, according to FDA records released this week.
As a contentious US citizen and consumer of milk, the first thing I want to know is, what made the “government researchers” start looking for “rocket fuel” in cow’s milk--as if cow belches and their posterior gaseous emissions weren’t already enough of a published threat to the environment in the first place? You know what I mean? At first I thought that this Hampton Roads, Virginia news story was a parody, but apparently it is not.
Really, can you just see it?
A bunch of highly educated nerds sitting around the conference table at the FDA on Monday morning, each armed with pocket protectors, glasses taped together with scotch tape, financed by a chunk of government cash, and the boss says: “Hey Virgil, take a half million bucks and go out and look for rocket fuel residue coming out of cows utters.” Is this type of exercise even legal for a grown man to do in most states unless a female registered nurse or some other authority personally witnesses the inspection process?
After making light of this story, I have to come back to one of my re-occuring themes—this story is totally useless, unmitigated crappola, delivered under the guise of being NEWS. Here is where the guilty news organizations give themselves away as wasting our time and where the FDA is exposed as wasting our tax dollars
“The results noted perchlorate in virtually all the lettuce and milk. In high doses, perchlorate affects thyroid function. Researchers tested three samples of Virginia milk and noted perchlorate levels near or exceeding seven parts-per-billion. While there is no nationally-mandated limits, Massachusetts caps concentration at one part-per-billion; California, six.”
Here are the facts on this issue. First of all, even the EPA admits that perchlorate is a naturally occurring chemical. This means that its presence in meat or milk or lettuce is not necessarily NASA’s fault. The FDA Website also mentions that there are other sources of perchlorate besides rocket fuel, including Mother Nature. Further, perchlorate is not automatically called rocket fuel, this is just more media hype. Like I just said--it occurs naturaly in nature.
Back in the 1980’s I did several projects for Morton Thiokol, now called ATK Thiokol. You might not know of Morton Thiokol, but they are a sister company of the Morton company that makes the salt commonly found on your dinner table. There is no coincidence that they both had the same name. They both make products containing salt—just different kinds of salt.
You see, table salt is sodium chloride, a compound containing sodium and chlorine (NaCL). That’s one Sodium atom attached to one chlorine atom. The vilified “perchlorate” is actually potassium perchlorate. That’s two chlorines attached to one potassium atom. So what is the difference to me and you?
Both compounds are mined out of the ground and refined for their end use. Sodium Chloride is refined for human consumption. Potassium Perchlorate is refined to make solid rocket motors that blast satellites and the space shuttle into orbit. The ingestion of both substances interferes with the thyroid function. Ever hear of Iodized Salt? We have to add Iodine to normal table salt to keep it from screwing with our thyroid gland and causing everyone to be running around with a giant goiter growing on their neck.
Any more questions?
OK…End of discussion…
Friday, December 03, 2004
Thursday, December 02, 2004
Wanted--One Big Damn Muffler
I’ve been ranting about this topic for years, and today I heard the Godfather—Rush Limbaugh—mention it on his radio show using the same basic argument. I said to myself—self, you were right all along, and now Rush is stealing your thunder.
What Rush was talking about today was this Associated Press story about Mt. St. Helens being the largest polluter in the state of Washington. I’ve been saying for fifteen years that it’s not people that are the major polluters of the earth’s atmosphere, it’s the earth itself--and I aught to know a little about pollution (besides the words coming out of my mouth.)
You see--I spent over twenty years in the air pollution control business. First as a staff engineer, then as the owner of a company that built industrial smokestacks. I’ve seen the business from the inside out and looked at the government regulation and legislation on an up close and personal basis.
News flash—Most, if not all of the air pollution provisions enacted in the past ten years are mostly a bunch of well-intended crappola. The Kyoto treaty—absolute, total, complete, scientific mumbo jumbo—designed to allow the Chinese and the rest of the third world to dump everything they want to into the environment while at the same time attempting to cripple our economy with a bunch of “curtailment measures” designed based on voodoo science at best. Bill Clinton wouldn’t sign it, and George Bush shouldn’t either.
Most news stories on pollution generally have two things in common. They all are introduced by some sort of scary headline predicting the end of the world, as we know it. The stories are then backed up by either a bunch of generalizations and opinions offered by the author or they are filled with mind numbing, out of context facts and figures that cause the average reader’s eyes to cross. The final result is usually doom and gloom, backed up by a liberal portion of blame placed squarely on the shoulders of capitalism and the American way.
Here is my take on air pollution. Yes, we do need to prevent the wholesale dumping of heavy metals like mercury into the atmosphere. Yes, we can limit what other man-made compounds we allow to escape from the industry we require to support our lifestyles. No, we don’t need to excessively freak out over carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide--the hated “green house gasses.” No, we don’t need to allow the rest of the developing world to place unfair and unnecessary restraints on our economy by limiting our industry and energy production efforts.
I was trying to learn how to fly an airplane in 1991 when the monster volcano in the Philippines, Mount Pinatubo, decided to destroy about half of the south Pacific. Can you say ten feet of ash and mudslides? During that summer, three out of four times, I would schedule a flying lesson at Cobb County’s McCullum Airfield, drive to the airport at the appointed time, only to have the flying lesson cancelled because we could not see Kennesaw Mountain (which was only two miles away) because of the yellow/brownish haze that covered the mid-latitudes of the entire earth for months during the eruptions. What a complete and total “un-natural” natural disaster, and it's not like we can pass a law or sign a treaty to prevent it from happening again in the future.
Anyone got a big damn Muffler?? Sooooooo, back to today.
Here is my bottom line on this issue:
We have come a long way from the 1940’s and 1950’s with factories belching soot and smoke everywhere and owners turning their back while PCB’s and Dioxin were dumped in the creeks in their back yards. We still have a long way to go. BUT…
Just remember, just when we think that we can sit back all smug and happy with our efforts, Mother Nature comes along and Farts or Belches a big old cloud of sulfur and methane (or shakes the hell out of Japan and California) and we all realize that all of our self edifying efforts are for naught.
So stop your whining and go out and plant a tree or something…
What Rush was talking about today was this Associated Press story about Mt. St. Helens being the largest polluter in the state of Washington. I’ve been saying for fifteen years that it’s not people that are the major polluters of the earth’s atmosphere, it’s the earth itself--and I aught to know a little about pollution (besides the words coming out of my mouth.)
You see--I spent over twenty years in the air pollution control business. First as a staff engineer, then as the owner of a company that built industrial smokestacks. I’ve seen the business from the inside out and looked at the government regulation and legislation on an up close and personal basis.
News flash—Most, if not all of the air pollution provisions enacted in the past ten years are mostly a bunch of well-intended crappola. The Kyoto treaty—absolute, total, complete, scientific mumbo jumbo—designed to allow the Chinese and the rest of the third world to dump everything they want to into the environment while at the same time attempting to cripple our economy with a bunch of “curtailment measures” designed based on voodoo science at best. Bill Clinton wouldn’t sign it, and George Bush shouldn’t either.
Most news stories on pollution generally have two things in common. They all are introduced by some sort of scary headline predicting the end of the world, as we know it. The stories are then backed up by either a bunch of generalizations and opinions offered by the author or they are filled with mind numbing, out of context facts and figures that cause the average reader’s eyes to cross. The final result is usually doom and gloom, backed up by a liberal portion of blame placed squarely on the shoulders of capitalism and the American way.
Here is my take on air pollution. Yes, we do need to prevent the wholesale dumping of heavy metals like mercury into the atmosphere. Yes, we can limit what other man-made compounds we allow to escape from the industry we require to support our lifestyles. No, we don’t need to excessively freak out over carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide--the hated “green house gasses.” No, we don’t need to allow the rest of the developing world to place unfair and unnecessary restraints on our economy by limiting our industry and energy production efforts.
I was trying to learn how to fly an airplane in 1991 when the monster volcano in the Philippines, Mount Pinatubo, decided to destroy about half of the south Pacific. Can you say ten feet of ash and mudslides? During that summer, three out of four times, I would schedule a flying lesson at Cobb County’s McCullum Airfield, drive to the airport at the appointed time, only to have the flying lesson cancelled because we could not see Kennesaw Mountain (which was only two miles away) because of the yellow/brownish haze that covered the mid-latitudes of the entire earth for months during the eruptions. What a complete and total “un-natural” natural disaster, and it's not like we can pass a law or sign a treaty to prevent it from happening again in the future.
Anyone got a big damn Muffler?? Sooooooo, back to today.
Here is my bottom line on this issue:
We have come a long way from the 1940’s and 1950’s with factories belching soot and smoke everywhere and owners turning their back while PCB’s and Dioxin were dumped in the creeks in their back yards. We still have a long way to go. BUT…
Just remember, just when we think that we can sit back all smug and happy with our efforts, Mother Nature comes along and Farts or Belches a big old cloud of sulfur and methane (or shakes the hell out of Japan and California) and we all realize that all of our self edifying efforts are for naught.
So stop your whining and go out and plant a tree or something…
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Rearranging The Furniture On The Deck Of The Titanic
Arrogance and over confidence, basic design flaws and miss-management. All of these were contributing factors in the loss of over 1500 persons on the passenger liner RMS Titanic on April 14, 1912. The owners and the passengers were described as having been lured into a “false sense of security.”
I’m afraid that a large portion of the world’s population is in the very same position when it comes to placing their faith in the United Nations to referee international relations. Whether it’s the failure of the UN Human Rights Commission evidenced by inaction to civil war and genocide in Africa, the unending issuance of non-binding, toothless resolutions to Saddam's Iraq by the corrupt UN Security Council, the inept handling of North Korea’s and Iran’s nuclear aspirations by the IAEC, or the unfolding wide-spread corruption of the Oil for Food program in Iraq--all of the evidence points to the UN being a broken organization that at least needs a major dose of fixing. I say it needs replacement in its entirely.
Not to worry however, Masseur Kofi Annan, psychic statesman that he is, has anticipated the problems and is about to propose a solution. The ship is still going down though, the captain is still on board (he won’t leave before 2006 unless forced out) and I’m afraid that his efforts amount to rearranging the furniture on the sinking ship’s deck.
“The United nations unveiled a sweeping proposal to overhaul the organisation, including the Security Council, in what would be the most comprehensive UN reform since its founding in 1945.
After bitter divisions over the war in Iraq, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan ordered a high-level panel last year to come up with the blueprint and help the United Nations adapt to the global realities of the 21st century.
The panel's report released Tuesday proposed more than 100 recommendations, including some -- an expansion of the Security Council and a definition of terrorism -- that have eluded UN diplomats for years.
"What is needed is a comprehensive system of collective security, one that tackles both old and new threats, and addresses the security concerns of all states -- rich and poor, weak and strong," Annan said in his preface to the report.”
Since the United States contributes approximately 22% of the budget of an organization composed of 191 nation/states, I say that it is time for us to put our mouth where our money is and demand our own major changes in the UN operations and membership and the immediate dismissal of Kofi.
The UN is today and always has been an anti-Israel and anti-American organization composed primarily of nations ruled by corrupt despots and dictators. The idiots, OK, OK—diplomats, at the UN have been fighting for over five years and have yet to even come up with a mutualially agreeable definition of what terrorism is. The so-called Human Rights Commission is a laughing stock as long as it includes member nations like Cuba and Syria.
Here are a few more tidbits from the report:
"There is little evident international acceptance of the idea of security being best preserved by a balance of power or by any single -- even benignly motivated -- superpower," the panel said."
By using the word “superpower,” our ears shouldn’t be burning here in the US? And I say that we not give a damn whether there is “international acceptance” of our massively superior military capability—it is what it is.
"The yearning for an international system governed by the rule of law has grown," it said. "No state, no matter how powerful, can by its own efforts alone make itself invulnerable to today's threats."
Gee whiz, the idea of “governing by rule of law” seems a bit familiar. We have a Constitution here in the US that is over 230 years old that is based on that premise. What we are not going to accept is the rule of “international laws” designed by dictators and corrupt socialists to separate our citizens from the protections of our constitution while we at the same time pay a quarter of the costs and provide free real estate in New York City.
"Annan intends to use the report as a basis for widespread reforms he would like to see carried out before his tenure ends in 2006, and he commissioned it while acknowledging that divisions over Iraq had brought the international system to a "fork in the road."”
Forget “fork in the road” Mr. Annon, I say “stick a fork in it, it’s done…”
Update: December 1, 2004
I've done two posts on the UN Oil For Food Scandal, beginning with my November 12th writing "It's My Party And I'll (Lie) If I Want To." I wish I could do more that rant and rave, but I can point out the story to everyone since the mainstream media is doing their best to avoid it.
Here is more information from someone that should know. Norm Coleman, chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has a great article today in the Wall Street Journal calling for the resignation of Kofi Annon.
A good read...
I’m afraid that a large portion of the world’s population is in the very same position when it comes to placing their faith in the United Nations to referee international relations. Whether it’s the failure of the UN Human Rights Commission evidenced by inaction to civil war and genocide in Africa, the unending issuance of non-binding, toothless resolutions to Saddam's Iraq by the corrupt UN Security Council, the inept handling of North Korea’s and Iran’s nuclear aspirations by the IAEC, or the unfolding wide-spread corruption of the Oil for Food program in Iraq--all of the evidence points to the UN being a broken organization that at least needs a major dose of fixing. I say it needs replacement in its entirely.
Not to worry however, Masseur Kofi Annan, psychic statesman that he is, has anticipated the problems and is about to propose a solution. The ship is still going down though, the captain is still on board (he won’t leave before 2006 unless forced out) and I’m afraid that his efforts amount to rearranging the furniture on the sinking ship’s deck.
“The United nations unveiled a sweeping proposal to overhaul the organisation, including the Security Council, in what would be the most comprehensive UN reform since its founding in 1945.
After bitter divisions over the war in Iraq, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan ordered a high-level panel last year to come up with the blueprint and help the United Nations adapt to the global realities of the 21st century.
The panel's report released Tuesday proposed more than 100 recommendations, including some -- an expansion of the Security Council and a definition of terrorism -- that have eluded UN diplomats for years.
"What is needed is a comprehensive system of collective security, one that tackles both old and new threats, and addresses the security concerns of all states -- rich and poor, weak and strong," Annan said in his preface to the report.”
Since the United States contributes approximately 22% of the budget of an organization composed of 191 nation/states, I say that it is time for us to put our mouth where our money is and demand our own major changes in the UN operations and membership and the immediate dismissal of Kofi.
The UN is today and always has been an anti-Israel and anti-American organization composed primarily of nations ruled by corrupt despots and dictators. The idiots, OK, OK—diplomats, at the UN have been fighting for over five years and have yet to even come up with a mutualially agreeable definition of what terrorism is. The so-called Human Rights Commission is a laughing stock as long as it includes member nations like Cuba and Syria.
Here are a few more tidbits from the report:
"There is little evident international acceptance of the idea of security being best preserved by a balance of power or by any single -- even benignly motivated -- superpower," the panel said."
By using the word “superpower,” our ears shouldn’t be burning here in the US? And I say that we not give a damn whether there is “international acceptance” of our massively superior military capability—it is what it is.
"The yearning for an international system governed by the rule of law has grown," it said. "No state, no matter how powerful, can by its own efforts alone make itself invulnerable to today's threats."
Gee whiz, the idea of “governing by rule of law” seems a bit familiar. We have a Constitution here in the US that is over 230 years old that is based on that premise. What we are not going to accept is the rule of “international laws” designed by dictators and corrupt socialists to separate our citizens from the protections of our constitution while we at the same time pay a quarter of the costs and provide free real estate in New York City.
"Annan intends to use the report as a basis for widespread reforms he would like to see carried out before his tenure ends in 2006, and he commissioned it while acknowledging that divisions over Iraq had brought the international system to a "fork in the road."”
Forget “fork in the road” Mr. Annon, I say “stick a fork in it, it’s done…”
Update: December 1, 2004
I've done two posts on the UN Oil For Food Scandal, beginning with my November 12th writing "It's My Party And I'll (Lie) If I Want To." I wish I could do more that rant and rave, but I can point out the story to everyone since the mainstream media is doing their best to avoid it.
Here is more information from someone that should know. Norm Coleman, chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has a great article today in the Wall Street Journal calling for the resignation of Kofi Annon.
A good read...
Monday, November 29, 2004
Ye Shall Know The Tree By Its Fruit
Every time we here in the US turn around, the world media and the citizens of that all knowing, always tolerant utopia of Europe are right there to criticize our actions and point out errors in our decision making process. “We just need to be more tolerant and considerate of other world viewpoints,” they say.
Well, I’ve resisted commenting on this topic in an effort to let things develop and see what kind of play it gets in the US media. I’ve stood it as long as I can, and it is time to speak out myself…Here goes.
In the King James version of the Bible, in the book of Matthew (Chapter 7, verses 15-20) it is said:
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”
I’d say that the citizens of Europe are getting a pretty good opportunity to learn about the “fruits” produced by their large Arab immigrant population that have been allowed to swell in a virtually unchecked fashion in the years since World War II. In the past thirty years, Muslim immigrants of every description have been actively encouraged to move to Europe legally—unlike our indigenous illegal Mexican population—to fill labor positions considered beneath the self-image of the cosmopolitan denizens of Paris, The Hague, and Berlin.
This kettle has apparently been simmering for some time, but only recently, with the November 1st murder of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh (great, great nephew of artist Vincent Van Gogh) following on the heels of the murder of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn just weeks before the election in 2002, has the pot come to a full, obviously deadly, public boil.
“Van Gogh, 47, had received death threats after his film ‘Submission’ was shown on Dutch TV. It portrayed violence against women in Islamic societies. The film was made with liberal Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali refugee who fled an arranged marriage. Ayaan Hirsi Ali has been under police protection since the film was aired. She has also received death threats and has renounced the Islamic faith.”
You know the Netherlands, that nirvana of tolerance and the self-proclaimed Eden of political correctness. Live and let live, love and let love, whatever your drug, whatever “floats your boat,” bring it to the Netherlands and they’ll pass a law to make it legal so you can do it in public. Well folks, the Netherlands, of all places, is getting a little worried about their native towel heads.
And then there is our so-called ally, the Republic of Germany that is getting more than a little concerned about successfully integrating their growing Muslim minority into their society.
"“Pointing out the problem doesn't make you a racist," said Leopold Bongart, who has taught German language courses in Neukoelln since the 1970s.”
Would someone please tell this to the NY Times and the rest of the domestic media here in the US? Further, would somebody light a match under the world wide Muslim population that supposedly isn’t bent on world conquest and implementing jihad?
There are a couple of brutal facts that every non-violent Muslim, Islamist, or other defined follower of Muhammad is going to have to face. They are going to have to do two things. The first step is to demand that their political and religious leaders publicly denounce the killings, the jihads, and the proclamation of a “fatwa” against anyone who expresses an opinion critical of the actions of the HUMANS that follow their lovely, peaceful religion.
Secondly, that they un-categorically disassociate themselves from any person and any government that does not do the same. Then, let the chips lie where they fall, and let the militaries of the US and our allies be the dealers of the cards.
Robert Spencer, author of Jihad Watch has this to say:
“If the murder of van Gogh does indeed turn out to have been committed by a Muslim enraged at his "blasphemy," it has precedents. In 1947, Iranian lawyer Ahmad Kasravi was murdered by Islamic radicals after he had been accused of attacking Islam. Four years later, Iranian Prime Minister Haji-Ali Razmara was killed after Muslim clerics issued a fatwa calling for his death. In 1992, Egyptian writer Faraj Foda was murdered by Muslims enraged at his "apostasy" from Islam -- another offense for which traditional Islamic law prescribes the death penalty. Foda's countryman, Nobel Prizewinning novelist Naguib Mahfouz, was stabbed in 1994 after accusations of blasphemy. Under Pakistan's blasphemy laws, many non-Muslims have been arrested, tortured, and sentenced to die on the slimmest of evidence. And of course, there is the Ayatollah Khomeini's notorious death fatwa against Salman Rushdie.”
“But for such things to happen in Iran and Egypt, two countries where Islamic radicalism is widespread, is one thing; to have a "blasphemer" gunned down on the streets of Amsterdam in broad daylight is another. Europe has for thirty years encouraged massive immigration from Muslim nations; Muslims now comprise five percent of Holland's population, and that number is growing rapidly. Yet it is still largely taboo in Europe -- as in America -- to raise any questions about how ready that population is to accept the parameters of secularism. When Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn tried to raise some of those questions in 2002, he was vilified as a racist -- in line with the continuing tendency of the Western media to frame questions regarding Islam in racial terms, despite the fact that the totalitarian intransigence of the ideology of radical Islam is found among all races. And Fortuyn himself, of course, was himself ultimately murdered by a Dutch assailant who, according to The Guardian, "did it for Dutch Muslims."”
”The deaths of Fortuyn and van Gogh indicate that the costs of maintaining this taboo are growing. One prerequisite of the peaceful coexistence of ideologies in secular society is freedom of speech -- particularly the freedom to question, to dissent, even to ridicule. Multiculturalism and secularism are on a collision course: if one group is able to demand that its tenets remain above criticism, it no longer coexists with the others as an equal, but has embarked on the path to hegemony.”
I hate the loss of Van Gogh’s life, but if this is what it takes to wake up the balance of the world's population to the threat that radical Islam poses to the stability of our governments and the safety of my family and yours, then so be it.
We are in World War Four (World war three was against the Russians) and it is time to take off the kid gloves and get down to business.
We're looking for rotten fruit and the trees that it grew on...Go get 'em George...
Well, I’ve resisted commenting on this topic in an effort to let things develop and see what kind of play it gets in the US media. I’ve stood it as long as I can, and it is time to speak out myself…Here goes.
In the King James version of the Bible, in the book of Matthew (Chapter 7, verses 15-20) it is said:
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”
I’d say that the citizens of Europe are getting a pretty good opportunity to learn about the “fruits” produced by their large Arab immigrant population that have been allowed to swell in a virtually unchecked fashion in the years since World War II. In the past thirty years, Muslim immigrants of every description have been actively encouraged to move to Europe legally—unlike our indigenous illegal Mexican population—to fill labor positions considered beneath the self-image of the cosmopolitan denizens of Paris, The Hague, and Berlin.
This kettle has apparently been simmering for some time, but only recently, with the November 1st murder of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh (great, great nephew of artist Vincent Van Gogh) following on the heels of the murder of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn just weeks before the election in 2002, has the pot come to a full, obviously deadly, public boil.
“Van Gogh, 47, had received death threats after his film ‘Submission’ was shown on Dutch TV. It portrayed violence against women in Islamic societies. The film was made with liberal Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali refugee who fled an arranged marriage. Ayaan Hirsi Ali has been under police protection since the film was aired. She has also received death threats and has renounced the Islamic faith.”
You know the Netherlands, that nirvana of tolerance and the self-proclaimed Eden of political correctness. Live and let live, love and let love, whatever your drug, whatever “floats your boat,” bring it to the Netherlands and they’ll pass a law to make it legal so you can do it in public. Well folks, the Netherlands, of all places, is getting a little worried about their native towel heads.
And then there is our so-called ally, the Republic of Germany that is getting more than a little concerned about successfully integrating their growing Muslim minority into their society.
"“Pointing out the problem doesn't make you a racist," said Leopold Bongart, who has taught German language courses in Neukoelln since the 1970s.”
Would someone please tell this to the NY Times and the rest of the domestic media here in the US? Further, would somebody light a match under the world wide Muslim population that supposedly isn’t bent on world conquest and implementing jihad?
There are a couple of brutal facts that every non-violent Muslim, Islamist, or other defined follower of Muhammad is going to have to face. They are going to have to do two things. The first step is to demand that their political and religious leaders publicly denounce the killings, the jihads, and the proclamation of a “fatwa” against anyone who expresses an opinion critical of the actions of the HUMANS that follow their lovely, peaceful religion.
Secondly, that they un-categorically disassociate themselves from any person and any government that does not do the same. Then, let the chips lie where they fall, and let the militaries of the US and our allies be the dealers of the cards.
Robert Spencer, author of Jihad Watch has this to say:
“If the murder of van Gogh does indeed turn out to have been committed by a Muslim enraged at his "blasphemy," it has precedents. In 1947, Iranian lawyer Ahmad Kasravi was murdered by Islamic radicals after he had been accused of attacking Islam. Four years later, Iranian Prime Minister Haji-Ali Razmara was killed after Muslim clerics issued a fatwa calling for his death. In 1992, Egyptian writer Faraj Foda was murdered by Muslims enraged at his "apostasy" from Islam -- another offense for which traditional Islamic law prescribes the death penalty. Foda's countryman, Nobel Prizewinning novelist Naguib Mahfouz, was stabbed in 1994 after accusations of blasphemy. Under Pakistan's blasphemy laws, many non-Muslims have been arrested, tortured, and sentenced to die on the slimmest of evidence. And of course, there is the Ayatollah Khomeini's notorious death fatwa against Salman Rushdie.”
“But for such things to happen in Iran and Egypt, two countries where Islamic radicalism is widespread, is one thing; to have a "blasphemer" gunned down on the streets of Amsterdam in broad daylight is another. Europe has for thirty years encouraged massive immigration from Muslim nations; Muslims now comprise five percent of Holland's population, and that number is growing rapidly. Yet it is still largely taboo in Europe -- as in America -- to raise any questions about how ready that population is to accept the parameters of secularism. When Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn tried to raise some of those questions in 2002, he was vilified as a racist -- in line with the continuing tendency of the Western media to frame questions regarding Islam in racial terms, despite the fact that the totalitarian intransigence of the ideology of radical Islam is found among all races. And Fortuyn himself, of course, was himself ultimately murdered by a Dutch assailant who, according to The Guardian, "did it for Dutch Muslims."”
”The deaths of Fortuyn and van Gogh indicate that the costs of maintaining this taboo are growing. One prerequisite of the peaceful coexistence of ideologies in secular society is freedom of speech -- particularly the freedom to question, to dissent, even to ridicule. Multiculturalism and secularism are on a collision course: if one group is able to demand that its tenets remain above criticism, it no longer coexists with the others as an equal, but has embarked on the path to hegemony.”
I hate the loss of Van Gogh’s life, but if this is what it takes to wake up the balance of the world's population to the threat that radical Islam poses to the stability of our governments and the safety of my family and yours, then so be it.
We are in World War Four (World war three was against the Russians) and it is time to take off the kid gloves and get down to business.
We're looking for rotten fruit and the trees that it grew on...Go get 'em George...
