Tiraden

fredag, september 30, 2005

I Sverige er det svenske flag racistisk. Jojo, den er godt nok.

Fra Expressen:

Linda Larsson och Charlotte Bertelsen har gjort det mest förbjudna. De har tagit på sig tröjor med symboler för Sverige. Skulle de gå till skolan i så anstötliga saker blir de hemskickade på stört. Sånt är livet på Gullhögskolan i Vårgårda.

Stars and Stripes og andre flag er OK - det er kun det svenske der er forbudt i Sverige. Tag selv til linket og se billedet af de to "racistiske" trøjer.

Henrik

Mere "frihedskamp" i Irak

Fra CNN:

A separate attack on a minibus in the al-Mushtal neighborhood of southeastern Baghdad killed two employees of al-Shaab International Stadium and wounded seven others.

In a third attack, two people were killed and third was wounded when gunmen opened fire at al-Mustafa bakery in the al-Dora area in the southern Baghdad.

Ja, det har sikkert været undertrykkende, amerikanske sportarter der blev spillet på stadionet, og undertrykkende, amerikanske brød der blev bagt på bageriet.

Henrik

Spanierne er jo ikke jøder, må i forstå

Fra Wall Street Journal, 26. September (intet link):

The "security fence" consists of two high-rise metal fences, topped by razor wire and equipped with sensor pads, movement detectors, spotlights and infrared cameras. It's patrolled 24 hours a day by the military. The six mile-long barrier, which many Arabs believe stands on occupied land ringing an illegal settlement, will now be doubled in height to 20 feet, making it higher than the old Berlin Wall.

No, we're not talking about Israel's security barrier. The "apartheid wall" described above surrounds Melilla which, together with Ceuta, is a leftover of Spain's colonial past in northern Africa. Surrounded by Morocco, both enclaves are claimed by Rabat.

In the last few weeks alone, hundreds of black Africans trying to cross into Melilla have clashed with Spanish troops leaving dozens of would-be immigrants injured. Doctors Without Borders criticizes the "violence" used by the Spanish security forces. Three Africans have died in or near Melilla in unclear circumstances. Spanish police deny any responsibility for the deaths.

There's more than a hint of hypocrisy here. While Spain and much of Europe condemn Israel for building a security fence on disputed territory, the Socialist government in Madrid -- which talks grandly of an "Alliance of Civilizations" -- does exactly the same. Only, unlike in Israel's case, this wall isn't there to stop terrorists and save lives. It's intended to keep out Sub-Saharans looking for a better life. Spain even gets European Union funding for it.

Moral er godt. Dobbeltmoral er dobbelt så godt.

Update:

Fra BBC:

Over the last few weeks would-be immigrants have been using ladders and what Spanish officials have described as military tactics in their increasingly desperate attempts to get over border barriers, our correspondent says.

CNN 28. September:

Hundreds of Africans using makeshift ladders tried to scale a razor wire barrier into a Spanish enclave in Morocco in the second mass assault on the border in 24 hours, the government said on Wednesday.

Spain's North African enclave of Melilla asked the army for help after 400 migrants tried to scramble into its territory on Tuesday night. Some 200 succeeded, adding to the 100 or more who entered during a bid by 500 people before dawn on Tuesday.

Forty of the mainly sub-Saharans involved in the latest attempt were injured, along with five civil guards, a government spokesman in Melilla said.

BBC 29. September:

Spain and Morocco will send troops to secure two Spanish enclaves on the north African coast, officials say.

The move was announced as Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero met his Moroccan counterpart after five men died in the enclave of Ceuta.

Bullets that killed two of the African migrants were "not Spanish", Spanish investigators said on Thursday.

Two migrants died on Spanish soil and two in Morocco, as hundreds aiming to enter Spain rioted on Wednesday night.

Henrik

onsdag, september 28, 2005

Tre tusinde islamiske terrorangreb siden 11. September

I går kom The Religion of Peace´s (TRP) liste over islamiske terrorangreb siden 11. September op på over tre tusinde.

I den anledning syntes jeg, jeg ville give et billede af, hvad en uge i den globale Jihad ser ud som, ugen mellem onsdag i sidste uge og tirsdag i denne. I den uge er 139 omkommet og 322 blevet såret i de 29 islamiske terrorangreb TRP har opregnet. Disse inkluderer ikke mange angreb, TRP ikke har ment klart kunne henregnes under deciderede terror-angreb - feks Iraq Coalition Casualties (ICC) giver et godt billeder af hvor mange islamiske angreb der er udeladt. Ud af ni angreb ICC lister tager TRP kun to med.

De tre tusinde terrorangreb der er nået gennem TRP´s nåleøje har kostet over 16.000 mennesker livet, og har lemlæstet over 36.000 i større eller mindre grad. Alene i den sidste uge:

Onsdag 21/9

  1. Jozjan, Afghanistan: Islamiske terrorister massakrerer syv musikere på deres vej hjem fra et bryllup.
  2. Msila, Algeriet: Islamiske terrorister angriber en patrulje fra den Algeriske hær, dræber to og sårer fem.

Torsdag 22/9

  1. Lahore, Pakistan: Islamiske terrorister sprænger to bomber i butikskvarterer, dræber 6 (deriblandt en kvinde) og sårer syvogtyve.
  2. Baghdad, Irak: Islamiske terrorister dræber ni og sårer tre i fire forskellige terror-angreb. Blandt de dræbte er ejeren af en flise-fabrik, der bliver dræbt i sit eget hjem sammen med sine to sønner og sin sviger-datter.
  3. Pathan Mohalla, Indien: Islamiske terrorister kidnapper to slægtninge fra deres hjem. Faderen løslades efter hans søn er blevet henrettet.

Fredag 23/9

  1. Jebaliya, Palæstina: En lastbil tilhørende den islamiske terror-organisation Hamas, og indeholdende raketter bestemt for Israel eksploderer. Sytten bliver dræbt (deriblandt tre børn) og 140 bliver såret.
  2. Yala, Thailand: Islamiske terrorister skyder og dræber en fremmedarbejder.
  3. Pattani, Thailand: I forskellige angreb skyder og dræber islamiske terrorister en bygningsarbejder og en offentligt ansat sundhedsarbejder.
  4. Narathiwat, Thailand: Islamiske terrorister dræber to politifolk og sårer to andre med en fjernstyret bombe.
  5. Baghdad, Irak: Islamisk selvmordsbomber sprænger en bus i luften, dræber seks civile og sårer tolv andre.
  6. Karbala, Irak: Islamisk selvmordsbomber dræber et lille barn. Fire andre såres.
  7. Gilgit, Pakistan: Islamiske terrorister åbner ild mod en bus og dræber to, deriblandt en 15-årig pige. To andre såres.
  8. Kulgam, Indien: Islamiske terrorister dræber en kvindelig betjent i hendes eget hjem.
Lørdag 24/9
  1. Grozny, Rusland: Tre islamiske terrorangreb dræber seks russiske soldater og sårer elleve.
  2. Gandoh, Indien: Islamiske terrorister dræber svigermoderen til en politimand i hendes hjem.
Søndag 25/9
  1. Hilla, Iraq: Islamiske terrorister planter en bombe på en cykel uden for en musik-butik. En tilfældig fodgænger dræbes og 48 andre såres. Andetsteds bliver fire lige fundet bundne og henrettede.
  2. Baghdad, Iraq: Islamisk selvmordsbomber dræber ni uskyldige og sårer 12 andre.
  3. Mussayib, Irak: Islamisk selvmordsbomber på motorcykel dræber seks uskyldige og sårer nitten andre.
  4. Skikda, Algeriet: Islamiske terrorister opsætter falsk vejspærring, stopper en civil bil og snitter struben over på to passagerer. Familie-medlemmer bliver bortført.
  5. Kalotra, Indien: Islamiske terrorister skyder og dræber en offentligt ansat lærer.
  6. Lahore, Pakistan: To flere ofre for bomberne 22/9 dør af deres sår, deriblandt en 7-årig pige.
Mandag 26/9
  1. Helmand, Afghanistan: En landmine udlagt af Taleban dræber alle fire passagerer i en bil.
  2. Tonmaisoong, Thailand: En 54-årig mand dræbes af muslimske terrorister i en cafe. En anden såres.
  3. Baghdad, Irak: En islamisk selvmordsbomber sprænger en bus med offentlige ansatte i luften, dræber seks uskyldige og sårer fjorten kritisk.
  4. Muelha, Irak: Islamiske terrorister går ind i en folkeskole, tvinger fem lærere og en chauffør med dem ud af klasselokalerne, putter dem op mod en mur og henretter dem.
  5. Ramallah, Israel: Liget af en Israelsk fabriksarbejder bliver fundet, efter manden har været kidnappet, torteret og dræbt af Hamas.
Tirsdag 27/9
  1. Mendhar, Indien: En terrorist fra Lashkar-e-Toiba bruger en teenage-pige som menneskeligt skjold under en ildkamp. Begge dræbes.
  2. Kut, Irak: Ligene af 22 ofre for islamisk terror bliver fundet uden for en mindre by, bundede og henrettede.
  3. Bakuba, Irak: En selvmordsbomber dræber sig selv og ni uskyldige mens de ansøger om arbejde i det offentlige. Enogtyve andre bliver såret.

Ingen yderligere kommentar burde være nødvendig.

Update:

Hmmm....det lykkedes for mig ikke at fortælle hvilken dag IBC nævner 9 islamiske angreb, hvoraf TRP kun medtager 2 som terror. Det var fredag den 23. September.

Henrik

Voldtægt for at konvertere - Multireligiøs harmoni, nu også i Pakistan

Compass Direct via The Religion of Peace:

Ribqa Masih, 22, testified at last Thursday’s court hearing that Ghulam Abbas and Mohammad Kashif drugged and kidnapped her on September 2.

Masih had made the 10-mile trip from her home town of Chak to the city of Faisal Abad that morning with her Muslim friend Humaira Hussain. Hussain said she wanted help in gaining entrance to a Dominican boarding house in Faisal Abad, where Masih had previously stayed while receiving her teacher’s training.

A Trap

Unbeknownst to Masih, she said, Hussain had arranged to meet Abbas and Kashif at the bus stop in Faisal Abad, where the two men offered Masih a drink of water that made her lose consciousness.

She said the two men took her to a house in the city of Lahore, approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles) away, and raped her repeatedly throughout the night. They threatened to shoot her and to kill the rest of her family, she said, if she did not repeat the Islamic creed, an act which, if done in the presence of two Muslims, is considered a valid form of conversion to Islam.

Masih refused to convert, saying that she would rather die than change her religion. The next morning her kidnappers handed her over to another Muslim man, whom they said would return her home.

The Catholic woman’s new captor, however, repeatedly raped her over the next three days and threatened to kill her if she told anyone, Masih testified.

On September 6, the man finally returned Masih to Faisal Abad and left her at a public bus stop. Unable to walk due to vaginal injury, Masih hired a rickshaw to take her to her uncle’s house, where she telephoned her parents.

Som om det ikke skulle være nok, har familiens muslimske naboer og Masih´s søskendes skolekammerater rottet sig sammen mod familien:

Despite his vulnerability as a poor Christian living in a Muslim village, Ribqa’s father, Rafique Masih, sought out Fr. Paulus and asked for his help in taking legal action.

“This is a very courageous family,” the priest said. “But in this case, if you are really becoming courageous, then you really have to carry your cross.”

That cross has come in the form of threats from Muslim neighbors.

The Masih family has been told that if they do not retract the court case, they will have one opened against them.

Ribqa Masih’s six younger siblings have all withdrawn from school, where they faced constant taunting from classmates who called them “prostitutes.”

The Masih family has also received threatening phone calls from two of the alleged kidnappers, who remain at large. Fr. Paulus and the family suspect that the police’s failure to arrest these men signifies a deliberate attempt to protect them.

Multikultur, værsgo.

Henrik

mandag, september 26, 2005

Pallywood - hvordan araberne lyver for medierne i Palæstina

Enhver der har bare den mindste interesse i den jødiske forsvarskrig mod arabiske terrorister i Mellemøsten er pinedød nødt til at se Pallywood. Mini-dokumentaren (den varer kun 18 minutter) tager medie-dækningen af et arabisk overfald på en jødisk post den 30. September 2000 ved Netzarim-krydset i Gaza-striben, og går så i gang med at pille den fra hinanden ved at se på rå-filmen fra de palæstinensiske kameramænd. Vi får lov at se hvordan action-scener bliver instrueret, "ofre" bliver "ramt" og "nyheder" skabt.

Klip fra senere i den anden intifada viser hvordan de populære arabiske begravelser af "martyrer" også bliver forfalsket, hvordan en "død" martyr bliver tabt af ligbærerne to gange, og begge gange selv kravler tilbage på ligbåren, for eksempel. Der er også den arabiske læge der bliver fanget på film igang med at instruerer "ofret" i hvordan han skal lyve.

Se selv doku´en her.

Se den, og spekulere på hvor troværdige de næste nyheder du ser fra Palæstina er.

Tænk også på at en stor del af de kameramænd vestlige nyhedstjenester bruger i Irak også er arabere fra Palæstina. Nissen plejer jo som bekendt at flytte med....

Henrik

"Den blodigste dag" - folkene på TV2 aner ikke hvad de snakker om

Tag nyhederne idag: “Den blodigste dag i Gaza-striben siden den israelske evakuering” - Israelerne dræbte to terrorister. Så ser vi lige bort fra de femten arabere Hamas slog ihjel i fredags - alt for at israelerne er onde og dumme, ikke?

Sheeesh!

Henrik

søndag, september 18, 2005

Har Reuters forfalsket et memo fra George Bush?

Nå ja, nu har jeg været igang med BBC en gang idag, så her kommer en til (Biased BBC via Little Green Footballs):

Now they really are taking the obsession with Bush to new extremes. Yes, the BBC has reported that the president once needed to pee. (Hat tip: Susan)

Stop the presses! In another blow for the media credibility, "Susan" a reader of "bloggs", has thrown a googly to demonstrate that his handwriting's not like that.

I await the retraction from the BBC. ("Correction: Bush Did Not Need To Urinate After All.")
Some may suspect that the whole thing was a Karl Rove put-up job to make the BBC look silly.


After all, just how likely is it that some amateur could detect and disprove the so-called hoax in a mere six minutes, when trained professionals had taken it at face value?

Hvis man selv vil sammenligne er der et billede af det påståede memo her, og et reelt eksempel på Bush´s håndskrift her.

UPDATE:

Ked af, det har skullet tage mig så længe, men jeg må dementere historien foroven - Condoleezza Rice har stemplet den som sand. Her på bloggen har jeg været klog nok til ikke at udtale mig om historiens sandhed, men i mandags var jeg knapt så klog ovre på Uriasposten. Jeg kan altid undskylde mig med, jeg var syg og på penicillin, men indrømmer alligevel gerne at jeg der tog fejl.

Mea Culpa.

Henrik

Blair: "BBC hader USA". Clinton: faktuelt, men vinklet for at ramme Bush

Yahoo News har en interessant historie.

"Tony Blair -- perhaps I shouldn't repeat this conversation -- told me yesterday that he was in Delhi last week. And he turned on the BBC world service to see what was happening in New Orleans," Murdoch was quoted as saying in a transcript posted on the Clinton Global Initiative website.

"And he said it was just full of hate of America and gloating about our troubles. And that was his government. Well, his government-owned thing," he said of the publicly owned broadcaster.

Bill Clinton er enig:

The former US president, who held his conference to coincide with the United Nations summit in New York, agreed that the BBC's coverage was lacking.

While the BBC's reports on the hurricane were factually accurate, its presentation was "stacked up" to criticize President George W Bush's handling of the disaster, Clinton said.

"There is nothing factually inaccurate. But ... it was designed to be almost exclusively a hit on the federal response, without showing what anybody at any level was doing that was also miraculous, going on simultaneously in a positive way," Clinton said.

Jojo. Vi andre har jo vidst det hele tiden.

Henrik

Jeremy Clarkson - nu knapt så meget respekt for manden

Jeg plejer normalt at nyde det britiske bilmagasin "Top Gear" med chef-værten Jeremy Clarkson. Ikke fordi biler interesserer mig - det gør de ikke - men fordi showet, og Jeremy Clarkson, er eminent underholdende.

Jeg var imidlertid ikke klar over at han samtidig er en eminent uvidende amerikaner-hader og - åbenbart - løgner (fra The Corner, National Reviews blog - et scan af Clarksons originale artikel findes her) :

"Hollywood has taught America that the military can solve anything. It's full of chisel-jawed heroes who never leave a man on the field and never fail to get the job done. So they'd have New Orleans sorted out in a jiffy.

Unfortunately, on the street you've got some poor, starving soul helping themselves to a packet of food from a ruined, deserted supermarket. And as a result, finding themselves being blown to pieces by a helicopter gunship. With the none-too-bright soldiers urged on by their illiterate political masters, the poor and needy never stood a chance. It's easier and much more fun to shoot someone than make them a cup of tea. Especially if they're black."

Hvis vi ser bort fra den ligegyldige race-baiting, så er det interessant at Jeremy Clarkson er den eneste person i hele verden der har set kamphelikoptere massakrere uskyldige.

Mark Steyn bruger også historien som startpunkt for en kommentar i The Telegraph, der også når rundt om bl.a. midtvejsvalgene 2006.

Henrik

Katrina - det der gik godt

Real Clear Politics havde for et par dage siden en fremragende artikel om den del af redningsarbejdet efter orkanen Katrina, der faktisk gik udmærket. Nemlig alle de ting der ikke blev afholdt pressekonferencer om - amerikanernes evne til at improvisere sig ud af situationer hvor "the nanny state" kollapser:

With body recovery teams in New Orleans finding far fewer than the expected 10,000 to 25,000 dead, despite the flooding of 80 percent of the city, it is time to ask: What went right?

Largely invisible to the media's radar, a broad-based rescue effort by federal, state and local first responders pulled 25,000 to 50,000 people from harm's way in floodwaters in the city. Ironically, FEMA's role, for good or ill, was essentially non-existent, as was the Governor's and the Mayor's. An ad-hoc distributed network responded on its own. Big Government didn't work. Odds and ends of little government did. ...

During the critical period beginning Monday, rescue helicopters were already reeling in at least 2000 people a day. These independent units comprised dozens of Coast Guard, Air Force, Air National Guard and Army choppers. Various boat-rescue operations by New Orleans first responders saved thousands more-even as the media's attention was focused on the Superdome, snipers and scenes of looting. The response to the real threat of Katrina, other words, was immediate and massive -it just wasn't the response the media wanted, expected or was spoon-fed at a press conference. ...

The Connecticut Post, of all places, gives the best overview of the operation in a column by Peter Urban. He points out that a single chopper of the Louisiana National Guard, on Monday after the storm hit, pulled some 250 people to safety; there were 16 other 30- passenger Black Hawks in the unit that had been stripped of seating to fly similar rescue missions. If the other choppers only saved half as many people, that one unit alone pulled out 2000 people a day.

But the Louisiana Blackhawks weren't the only rescuers. The Coast Guard was flying as soon as the hurricane passed on Monday as well and had already accounted for several thousand victims by Wednesday.

The Air Force reported 1,300 rescues and some 14,000 "transported" by Sept. 4.
By Tuesday night, the
Navy's USS Bataan amphibious assault ship -cited for its inaction by New York Times columnist Paul Krugman--in fact had five choppers flying rescue missions and had pulled out several hundred people.

But those weren't the only helicopters flying. Overall, 113 choppers were in operation around New Orleans by Sept. 1, according to The Armed Forces Press Service.

Urban also notes one explanation why the rescue operation flew below the radar of the media: Individual federal and state units were not coordinating their efforts overall. There was no central clearing house for information on rescue efforts. What looked like a hurricane relief breakdown was in fact a press release breakdown.

Local rescue efforts by boat were surprisingly robust, contrary to conventional wisdom. The much maligned New Orleans police and fire departments, which began operations Monday afternoon, were able to field 100 to 200 boats in the first 24 hours after the breach, according to local officials quoted in the Times Picayune. However, with the City's communications system broken down, the 500 to 1000 rescue workers had to organize themselves and so were operating without central command and control, thus also below the media radar. How many these police and firefighters saved is unknown, but with so many boats in the water so quickly, the number would have easily been in the thousands.

Meanwhile the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, claimed 20,000 rescues by Sept. 8 at which point it suspended calls for more volunteers and boats. While it is unclear how many of these rescues took place in the critical time frame, the only mention of this staggering achievement came in the Sept. 8 press release. How many national reporters thought to call the Wildlife department, or even thought it was a go-to agency?

Sandheden er ved at komme frem. Og jeg vil også lige gerne benytte lejligheden til at æde hvad jeg end måtte have sagt om NO politi´s inkompetence i mig igen.

Henrik

"Strings" - venstreorienteret propaganda

Mens jeg nu er i gang med manipulation i Danmark kan jeg da også nævne at jeg konen med i biografen og så "Strings", et marionet-eventyr i spillefilmslængde.

Jeg havde hørt lidt af hvert om filmen i forvejen, men da jeg har været fan af marionet-film siden barndommen (tysk fjernsyn havde en mani med at vise tjekkiske kvalitets-udgaver af genren i 80erne) valgte jeg at se den uanset.

For at koge det ned til det vigtigste, så var den visuelt eventyrligt smuk, men historien lod en del tilbage at ønske. Lad mig forklare:

På den ene side har vi Hebalonerne i deres by Hebalon, og på den anden det mavedansende "frihedskæmper"-folkeslag Zeritterne. Hebalonerne er rigtigt onde, har bla hugget Hebalon fra Zeritterne, og har også begået massakrer på Zerittiske børn og kvinder.

Hele historien handler så om hvordan Hebalonernes kronprins Hal Tara skal en tur ud i marken, møde de herligt eksotiske og helt uskyldige Zeritter, og overbevises om værdien af det multikulturelle samfund ("Der hvor du ender, begynder jeg"), før han overtager magten i Hebalon og indfører dette.

Hele historien stinker med andre ord af venstreorienteret propaganda, og selv om Arbejderen ("Danmarks røde dagblad", som de kalder sig) ikke normalt er en.......publikation jeg synes er citat-værdig rammer de da sømmet lige påhovedet med denne del af deres anmeldelse:

Med andre ord springer kritik af Irak-krigen, terrorlister og -love lige ind på nethinden, når denne historie ruller hen over det store lærred.

Men nu er det jo også et eventyr....

Henrik

...og så manipulerer DR lige lidt med virkeligheden

Jeg ligger pt med influenza, og får derfor set en del fjernsyn. Lørdag var det en blandet fornøjelse, og det førte bla til at jeg sendte følgende mail til Danmarks Radio:

Idag kom jeg til, mens jeg dyrkede lidt kanal-surfing, at se et kort snip af et afsnit af "Danmark For Begyndere" under titlen "Kunstneren fra Bagdad". Ud over Abbas, den irakiske mand afsnittet er opkaldt efter, handler det også om Mali Khan Azizi, en Afghaner der er flygtet til Danmark. Det jeg studsede over ved det korte klip jeg så var fortællerens baggrundsfortælling om Azizi: "Azizi var officer under Afghanistans tidligere demokratiske præsident Najibullah".

Undskyld, men lige præcist hvad er det i har røget?

Najibullah var chef for det kommunistiske diktaturs version of Gestapo (KHAD), og stod som sådan bag mord og tortur på titusindvis af mennesker op gennem 1980erne. Da Sovjetunionen blev træt af deres afghanske marionet Babrak Karmal´s inkompetence blev Najibullah indsat som Afghansk præsident - valgt af Sovjetiske bajonetter, ikke ved demokratiske valg.

I den tid Najibullah var chef for KHAD og præsident af Afghanistan dræbte det kommunistiske diktaturs styrker sammen med sovjetiske besættelsestropper mellem to og tre millioner hovedsageligt civile afghanere. Det er de styrker Azizi har været medlem af.

Var det ikke en ide om i måske fik jeres baggrund i orden før i laver en sådan udsendelse?

MvH

Henrik Krog

Og mere er der jo sådan set ikke at sige om det.

Henrik

Allah og Isvaflen

Burger King har fået problemer i Storbritannien (The Scotsman):

THE fast-food chain, Burger King, is withdrawing its ice-cream cones after the lid of the dessert offended a Muslim.

The man claimed the design resembled the Arabic inscription for Allah, and branded it sacrilegious, threatening a "jihad". ...

"This is my jihad. How can you say it is a spinning swirl? If you spin it one way to the right you are offending Muslims."

Multikultur in action.

UPDATE:

Hvis man har lyst til selv at sammenligne de to (Allah og Isvaflen), så kan man finde Allah her og Isvaflen her.

Henrik

New Orleans: Et nærmere kig på dige-sagen

Salt Lake Tribune havde i forgårs en artikel af Rich Lowry, der så lidt nærmere på "Bush gav ikke digerne omkring New Orleans nok penge"-beskyldningerne:

The ''more funding for levees'' argument perpetuates a common misperception. The long-standing earthen levees surrounding the city did not fail. It was the floodwalls around the drainage canals that protrude into New Orleans that were overwhelmed. One breach seems to have been caused by a barge breaking loose from its moorings and battering down one of the walls. Will Nancy Pelosi now accuse Bush of underfunding barge moorings?

It is still a matter of debate what caused the other breaches. One expert at the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center told The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune that he suspects a ''catastrophic structural failure.'' Another expert suggested that ''the flaw may not be in the design but in the construction or materials.''

So the flooding didn't result from old levees desperately needing more funding. In fact, the section of 17th Street canal where a major breach occurred had just been upgraded, and The New York Times writes ''received more attention and shoring up than many other spots in the region.'' Even if Bush had larded more money on New Orleans - according to a broad-brush comparison in The Washington Post, he spent more in his first five years in office than Bill Clinton did in his last five - it wouldn't have stopped such a breach.

Han tager derefter et nærmere kig på New Orleans Levee Board, staten New Orleans´ organisation der bla står for vedligeholdelse af digerne:

The Orleans Levee Board, the state agency charged with protecting the levees, is so notorious that it makes Bush's FEMA look like a paragon of professionalism. Former president of the board Billy Nungesser, who was ousted after trying to reform it, says: ''Every time I turned over a rock, there was something rotten. I used to tell people, 'If your children ever die in a hurricane, come shoot us, because we're responsible.' We threw away all sorts of money.''

The board operates an airport, two marinas, and has a private police force that Nungesser says ''wears more gold braid than Gen. MacArthur when he went to the Philippines.'' The board just spent $2.4 million on a Mardi Gras Fountain near Lake Pontchartrain. NBC News reports that the board spent $15 million on building overpasses to a riverboat casino, and paid $45,000 to a private investigator to find dirt on a board critic - followed by another $45,000 to settle the resulting lawsuit. Feeling dry yet?

Alligevel får Bush skylden.

Henrik

WHO-politik fører til medicin-resistent AIDS-virus

Tech Central Station har en interessant artikel om de katastrofale følger WHO´s kampagne for at behandle millioner af 3.-verdens AIDS-patienter med billig kopi-medicin har: livsvarigt bindende udgifter og medicin-resistente AIDS-varianter. Smagsprøver:

Two recent studies should have set off alarm bells at WHO headquarters and the Global Fund. On July 15, during the 10th National AIDS Seminar in Bangkok, scientists from the faculty of medicine at Ramathibodi Hospital in the Thai capital announced that the rate of drug resistance from antiretroviral copy drugs manufactured by the Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO) have led to dramatic increases in drug resistance and it is expected to worsen. The GPO drug is a triple dose combination consisting of lamivudine, stavudine and nevirapine. The hospital reported the following rates of drug resistance: "lamivudine, 49 percent; stavudine, 39.6 percent; and, nevirapine at 58 percent".

Thai authorities estimated that while the price of the GPO triple dose drug is $24 per person per month, drug resistance will force patients onto second line therapies in which the price rises to $239 per month, almost a 10 fold increase. Unfortunately, this increase only covers the price of drugs. The costs of medical care treatment, such as by healthcare specialists, in-patient care, etc., have not been factored in. They can be at least three times to four times the product price.

The second study appeared in the August edition of The British Medical Journal. It reported that "resistance to antiviral drugs is climbing and evidence from research that followed 4500 British patients infected with HIV indicates that after two years of standard treatment with a combination of different classes of antiretroviral drugs 10% of people become drug resistant to at least one drug. Six years after starting treatment, 27% are resistant to at least one of their drugs".

Forsøg på kemisk krigsførsel i Irak

Det blev for nyligt nævnt i de danske medier, at de islamiske folkemordere i Irak havde truet med at bruge kemiske våben. Vi fik ikke at vide at de faktisk har forsøgtpå det, i Tal Afar. Winds of Change har mere:

In terms of specialized weapons, some crude attempts, I think, in the western part of the city. We've been able to put this picture together now. The enemy had rigged a lot of buildings for destruction, and they wanted to time the destruction of these buildings with the entry of our forces. In one of these buildings the enemy had big barrels of chemicals that had explosives implanted in the chemicals, wires running around, and the whole house was rigged for demolition.

Around this house a lot of families were living. Our soldiers were conducting an area reconnaissance operation. They went into this house. Immediately their eyes began burning, their throat began burning, so they withdrew out of the house immediately and then we conducted reconnaissance with some chemical protective gear and with a remote reconnaissance capability into the house and we could tell that the thing was rigged with chemicals.
We stopped all of our operations. We were actually pursuing a particular enemy, but this was more important. We evacuated the civilians from the area and then we demolished that building without a hazard to the people.

I don't know if you've been following some of the enemy's propaganda. You know, one of the cells in this enemy's structure here, this very well developed enemy structure, is a propaganda cell. And on the sort of jihadist and extremist websites, they've been saying, you know, that coalition forces are using chemical weapons. I think what they had hoped to do was detonate this building, kill innocent civilians in this neighborhood and then blame it on coalition forces.

Læsere af Tiraden, der har holdt øje med den i længere tid vil huske at fanatikerne også påstod at amerikanerne brugte kemiske våben i Fallujah sidste efterår.

Og husk nu: islamiske fanatikere dufter dejligtnår de rådner. Det siger de selv.

Henrik

al Qaeda i N-Irak ved at blive knust

Gode nyheder fra Irak, via Winds of Change - al Qaeda er lige så stille ved at blive knust i det nordlige Irak:

One of the great pieces of information we got recently is 80 percent of the al Qaeda network in the north has been devastated. And those are not our figures, those came from the last six leaders in Mosul, al Qaeda leaders that we captured; they informed us of that. We also had a letter that was captured from Abu Zaid (sp) going to Zarqawi. We recently killed Zaid (sp) and we had that letter, and it also talked about the desperate situation for the al Qaeda and the insurgents in Mosul and in the north. And then also, sources we have inside the al Qaeda network up here have also informed us of that. ...

..clearly the foreign network is disrupted. The leadership is severely disrupted. We captured Abu Talha, the number-two al Qaeda leader in the north of Iraq. And right after that we got Abu Bara, Madhi Musa (sp), Abu Zab (sp), the next six leaders that would step up and take over. Nobody's taken over now. It's not a very popular position because if they step up, they get captured or killed.

Held og lykke til amerikanerne og irakerne med at få udryddet fanatikerne.

Update:

Mens jeg er igang med det kan jeg da lige citere et par presse-meddelelser fra koalitionen i Irak. 15. September:

Acting on intelligence sources and tips from concerned citizens, Multi-National Forces recently raided suspected terrorist safe houses in the Mosul area, resulting in the capture of three Al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist leaders.

Abdallah Najim Muhammad Husayn (aka Abu Nijim or Abu Muhammad) was captured Aug 26. Muhammad was a terrorist battalion commander for Al-Qaida in Iraq in Mosul . He planned, coordinated and financed terrorist attacks against Iraqi Security and Coalition Forces in the Mosul area. The methods of these attacks and ambushes included the use of vehicle borne improvised explosive devices, improvised explosive devices and mortars.

Also captured Aug. 26 was Bassam Muhammad Ahmad Sultan (aka Abu Shayma, Shayma), who was a cell leader under Abu Muhammad. As a cell leader, Abu Shayma led his cell in executing terror attacks against Iraqi Security and Coalition Forces.

On Sept. 3, Iraqi Police assisted Coalition Forces in capturing Nawfal Muwafaq Ahmad ‘Abdullah (aka Abu Abd al Karim). Abu Abd al Karim was the driver for Abu Zayd, the Al-Qaida in Iraq Military Emir of Mosul . He was responsible for driving Abu Zayd as well as other terrorists to various meetings between the Mosul terrorist leadership. Abu Abd al Karim participated in more than 30 attacks against Iraqi Security and Coalition forces. He was elevated to cell leader under Abu Zayd, who was recently killed by Coalition Forces.

Fra 17. September:

Multi-National forces, acting on multiple intelligence sources and tips from local citizens, raided a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist location in southwest Mosul, Sept. 5, capturing the top al-Qaida leaders in the city.

Captured during the raid was Taha Ibrahim Yasin Becher, (aka Abu Fatima), the al-Qaida in Iraq’s Emir of Mosul, and Hamed Sa’eed Ismael Mustafa, (aka Abu Shahed), the organization’s West Mosul Emir.

Abu Fatima and Abu Shahed were in a meeting at the time of their capture.

Abu Fatima had recently taken over the role of Emir after Abu Talha was captured in June and Abu Zubayr, who replaced Talha, was killed in mid-August. Abu Fatima had only held the position for 12 days when he was captured.

Abu Fatima supervised and directed the day-to-day operations of the organization and was responsible for numerous attacks against Iraqi security and Coalition forces.

Abu Shahed was responsible for organizing al-Qaeda activities in western Mosul. He was responsible for attacks conducted in the area and also participated in attacks involving small arms and other weapons directed against Iraqi security and Coalition forces. As the leader of one of Mosul’s territories he was in line to succeed Abu Fatima in the event of his death or capture.

The simultaneous capture of both leaders damages the organizational structure of al-Qaida in Iraq’s northern network. Abu Fatima and Abu Shahed were both originally from Tall Afar prior to assuming their roles in Mosul. In the past, the Emir position had been filled by terrorists who were already operating in the Mosul area.

Multi-National Force-Iraq announced the Sept. 6 capture of Dara Mohammad Sept. 16.

Dara Mohammad was the Ansar al Sunna Emir of Mosul.

Henrik

Split den islamiske trussel.

The American Conservative har en interessant artikel med et forslag til hvordan den islamistiske trussel bør bekæmpes. Istedet for at satse på at splitte islamisterne i moderate og radikale - der lader ikke til at være nok moderate, og de lader uanset ikke til reelt at have lyst til at lægge afstand til de radikale - er forslaget at man istedet bør satse på den allerede eksisterende splittelse mellem shia- og sunni-muslimer. Noget sådant ville enddog inkludere at lade Iran få atomvåben.

Splittelsen mellem Russisk og Kinesisk kommunisme, og det amerikanske spil på dette fra Nixon og frem skulle danne præcedens.

Læs det hele selv.

Henrik

Palæstina igen-igen

Nå ja, nu er det ved at være længe siden jeg har lavet et indlæg om de palæstinensiske arabere, så mon ikke det var tid igen? Det bliver nu bare et par links:

Palæstinensiske sikkerhedsstyrker involveret i mord på tidligere sikkerhedschef

Hamas sprænger hul i grænsen Gaza-Egypten

Et citat fra det sidste er næsten påkrævet:

In chaotic scenes, thousands of Palestinians have streamed over the border in the last few days without undergoing official checks.

Despite this, Egypt says that its Gaza border is officially closed.

Militants from Hamas cleared an area before setting off explosives that blew away a section of the wall. Palestinian security officers present did nothing to prevent them.

A local Hamas commander warned them not to try to intervene, AFP news agency reported.

Business as usual i Mellemøsten. Besøg også Camera, og læs om hvordan medierne hvidvasker de palæstinensiske Araberes nedrivning af over 20 jødiske synagoger.

Henrik

New Orleans - alt er regeringens skyld

Gerard Baker har i Times Online nogle interessante betragtninger over dækningen af orkan-katastrofen i USA, nærmere over mediernes valg næsten kun at dække offentlige hjælpe-foranstaltninger og ignorere private:

Most of the attention has focused on how the Government failed in responding to the disaster. I have done it myself. Grand conclusions have been drawn about the (flawed) nature of American society. I’ve done a bit of that too. But little has been said about what the response of ordinary Americans — not mayors or governors or presidents — tells us about the strengths of that same American society.

Another lucky group of New Orleans evacuees has been housed not far from where I live in Washington at the DC Armoury, the local headquarters of the National Guard. This week, along with the truckloads of food, water and clothes, came something that will, in the longer term, be of even greater assistance, a group of eager employers looking for workers.

Forty-two local businesses participated in a job fair for the new homeless at the Armoury on Tuesday; more wanted to take part but couldn’t because there was limited space. Twenty of the 150 or so evacuees were hired on the spot. An official at the District of Columbia government involved in organising the event said that more were expected to be offered jobs in the next few days. The exercise was such a success that employers are demanding another one. If there’s anyone left still to hire it will take place in the next couple of weeks.

The story is being replicated across the country. The victims of Katrina are getting new opportunities. Some of it comes from an immense outpouring of compassion by Americans in the form of hundreds of millions of dollars in charitable contributions and unquantifiable help in housing families and schooling children. Some of it comes from the unsentimental compassion of the free market: the unerring capacity of the capitalist system to match those who have something with those who need it, whether it be labour, capital, goods or services.

Both tell us far more about the way this country works, the strengths of its values and people, than the bureaucratic bungling in Baton Rouge and Washington.

Of course you will almost certainly not have read or seen much about this, especially outside the US. The world has indicted America once again on charges of ineptitude and racism and has moved on to more important matters such as Britney Spears’s baby. For a variety of reasons this good news about the response of ordinary Americans is of little interest to the media. First, no self-respecting reporter wants to waste his time with insights into the better angels of human nature. No one ever won a Pulitzer or a Bafta recounting banal tales of man’s humanity to man.

Secondly, it really doesn’t fit too well into the stereotype that entrances most of the world these days. Anything that doesn’t show Americans as stupid, selfish, warmongering, religious bigots, half of them living in pampered luxury in garish purpose-built Italianate mansions, the other half downtrodden in the ghetto by Halliburton stock-owning fat-cats, isn’t going to make it to the front pages or the Ten O’Clock News.

But the main reason I think these recovery efforts by millions of people attract insufficient attention is that most people have become conditioned to thinking solely in terms of government’s responsibility. Of course, the bulk of the recovery effort must be paid from public funds as President Bush announced yesterday but most Europeans and — despite decades of a so-called conservative revolution — a large number of Americans, can’t think beyond the government.

Something bad happens: it’s government’s fault for not preventing it. It’s government’s responsibility for cleaning up the mess. And if the mess gets bigger, that’s government’s fault too.

The irony is that New Orleans is one of those cities where government-dependency had reached such levels that a kind of economic and social anomie had set in. For many of its victims the escape depicted by Barbara Bush is just what they needed.

Det lader til at flygtningene fra New Orleans er enige. En nylig meningsmåling viste at flertallet af dem ikke ville vende tilbage til Louisiana.

Henrik

Service announcement

Nå, jeg må jo til det.

Man skal nok være ny her for at have overset at indlæggene er begyndt at komme med noget større afstand i tid. Der er sket det, at jeg er startet på et nyt studie, og samtidig har en større opgave jeg skal have ud af verden. Tilføj at jeg de sidste fire dage har været nødt til at holde sengen med en influenza der pure nægter at give slip i mig, og så i årsagen.

Men mht studierne, så vil disse nok medføre at jeg - med enkelte undtagelser - kun vil blogge i weekender for fremtiden.

Bare så i ved det.

Henrik

søndag, september 11, 2005

Venstrefløjens falske stormløb på Præsident Bush

Peter Ferrara havde for et par dage siden en udmærket artikel på Human Events Online, under overskriften "The Left's False Assault on President Bush". Det er artige sager:

With this background, let’s examine who did what in response to Katrina. President Bush declared the entire Gulf Coast, including New Orleans and Louisiana, a Federal disaster area days before the hurricane hit, to enable Federal aid to get there sooner.

The disaster that struck New Orleans did not become apparent until the morning of Tuesday, August 29, as the levees broke after the brunt of the storm had passed. But that very day, the Army Corps of Engineers was already working on levee repair. And the Coast Guard was already in the air with helicopters rescuing people from rooftops, ultimately employing 300 choppers. These are both Federal agencies under Bush’s command.

In addition, before the end of that week, Bush had already pushed through Congress and signed an emergency aid package of $10.5 billion for the Gulf Coast region.

Now what about Governor Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin? President Bush had to get on the phone two days before the hurricane to plead with the Governor to order a mandatory evacuation. In response, she dithered and delayed. Mayor Nagin also had full authority, and responsibility, to order an evacuation. He dithered and delayed as well.
The city’s own written evacuation plan requires the city to provide transportation for the evacuation of those without access to vehicles or with disabilities. But
Nagin did absolutely nothing to carry out this responsibility.

Instead, hundreds of city metro and school buses were ruined in the flood, as Nagin left them in low lying areas. Jesse Jackson and Kanye West, do you think Nagin cares about poor blacks in New Orleans?

Nagin asked residents who couldn’t get out to go to the Superdome. It was his responsibility to then provide water, food, portable bathrooms, and security for them. But, again, Nagin did nothing to carry out this responsibility in service to the poor blacks who primarily exercised this option.

Incredibly, we now know that even though the Red Cross was ready to bring food and water to the Superdome the day after the storm, Governor Blanco actually barred them from doing so! She didn’t want to encourage the survivors to stay at the Superdome due to such relief, but somehow thought they should disperse back into the flooded city once the hurricane passed.

President Bush pleaded with Governor Blanco that same day after the storm to get the National Guard into New Orleans. Not much happened. Seeing this, he asked her to give him Federal authority over the state’s Guard. She refused. As a result, the Guard didn’t show up in force in the city until near the end of the week.

Ferrara slutter af med at bemærke kontrasten mellem de republikansk kontrollerede stater Alabama og Mississippi, der på trods af at blive ramt af den fulde styrke af orkanen hurtigt kom igang med redningsarbejdet, og et demokratisk kontrolleret Louisiana, der opløstes i et rod af plyndrende bander:

Finally, we have not seen public officials in Mississippi, which was hit even harder by the hurricane itself, or Alabama, crying on television or complaining about the lack of Federal aid. They properly mobilized their local police, fire, transportation, ambulance and emergency services, and the state National Guard, to serve their roles as first responders. Unlike Blanco in Louisiana, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, Republican, announced looters would be shot on sight. That maintained law and order, without Federal troops.

Let’s shortcircuit the sickening and dopey political posturing now just beginning in Washington. President Bush organized the largest and quickest Federal mobilization in response to a natural disaster in U.S. history. Blanco, Nagin, and Broussard just need to resign in disgrace, as thousands of their own constituents died because of their misconduct.

Ikke at fakta rager medierne og venstrefløjen synderligt.

Henrik

Spredt sofisteri og bøvserier

På en af mine tidligere indlæg om orkanen Katrina mener en "anonym" (hvordan kan det være, at anti-folkene næsten aldrig vil lægge navn til deres bøvseri) at jeg tager fejl:

Og Henrik tager notorisk fejl. Bush har ikke bare mulighed for at lade det føderale beredskab rykke ud i tilfælde af så store katastrofer. Han har selv gennemført en beredskabsplan der giver regeringen et klart ansvar for at rykke ud med hvad man kalder en "proaktiv indsats", hvor man netop ikke behøver at vente på at blive tilkaldt af lokale myndigheder.

Fyren (eller tøsen, hvem ved) henviser så til nogle co-anti´ers bøvserier i kommentar-sektionen på Uriasposten, der alt i alt svarer til hans egne påstande, bare med et link til den nævnte beredskabsplan. Det der kommer nærmest nogetsomhelst specifikt er et semantisk kunstgreb, der forsøger at omdefinere hvad "may" betyder (in-joken "depends of what the meaning of "is" is" trænger sig på), nærmere betegnet i følgende sætning:

A Governor may request the President to declare amajor disaster or emergency if the Governor findsthat effective response to the event is beyond thecombined response capabilities of the State andaffected local governments.

Sofisteriet ruller sig ud som følger:

Dine citater påpeger, at NRP ikke giver regeringen ubegrænset interventionsret ... åbner mulighed for, at en guvernør selv kan bede om hjælp (men ikke som Henrik siger, at det er en betingelse - ordet er “may")

Ja, netop. Guvernøren KAN bede om føderal indgriben, men han/hun BEHØVER ikke gøre det. Det betyder så bare at der ingen hjælp kommer. Altså medmindre Præsident Bush havde erklæret staten "in insurrection" og afsat Louisianas demokratiske guvernør og den ikke bare demokratiske, men også sorte borgmester af Louisiana, noget der ikke er sket siden afslutningen af reconstruction-perioden efter den Amerikanske Borgerkrig for 130 år siden.

Hvis man leder efter en parallel kan man forestille sig at Fogh genopstillede De Blå Gendarmer og sendte dem ind for at rydde Christiania, Nørrebro og.....nå ja, Grønland, nu vi er i gang. Men bøvserierne fortsætter:

og det sidste citat siger direkte at Henrik tager fejl: Præsidenten har meget vide interventionsbeføjelser i tilfælde af katastrofer.

Ja det har han da - når han er blevet bedt om at udøve disse af katastrofe-statens guvernør. Eller, som ovenfor nævnt, har erklæret staten for værende i oprør.

Men da Lasse nu har været så flink at finde et link til beredskabsplanen så lad os da kigge på den. Da det er Bushs ansvar, vi snakker om slår vi op i afsnittet "Roles and Responsibilities", side 26. Her ser vi ansvar fordelt som følger. Guvernøren:

As a State’s chief executive, the Governor is responsible for the public safety and welfare of the people of that State or territory.

Local Chief Executive Officer (deriblandt New Orleans´ borgmester):

A mayor or city or county manager, as a jurisdiction’s chief executive, is responsible for the public safety and welfare of the people of that jurisdiction.

USAs præsident er overhovedet ikke listet i sektionen.

Mon ikke det lukker den diskussion?

Henrik

lørdag, september 10, 2005

Katrina og racismen II

Når jeg nu var i gang med emnet kommer en kommentar fra Patrick J. Buchanan (Human Events Online):

And so, Jesse Jackson brazenly plays the race card. "We have great tolerance for black suffering," he told CNN. "Those who are suffering the most ... in New Orleans certainly are black people.

"Today, I saw 5,000 African-Americans on the I-10 causeway, desperate, perishing, dehydrated, babies dying. ... It looked like Africans in the hull of a slave ship. It was so ugly and obvious."

Jackson is parroted by the Black Caucus and rapper Kanye West, who blurted out on an NBC benefit program, "George Bush doesn't care about black people."

Now, about these race charges. Yes, the vast majority of those who refused to leave or were left behind and wound up in the squalor and terror of the Superdome and convention center were black. But, so, too, is that klutz of a mayor, many of the cops who fled, and nearly all the looters and rapists.

But most of the Army and Guard troops and U.S. agents pouring in to restore order and almost all of the rescue workers are white, a fact the race-baiters ignore, not wanting truth to dilute the purity of their hate crimes.

Vel brølt.

Henrik

Samarbejde mellem islamiske terrorister og venstreradikale

Bangladeshisk politi har konfiskeret flere 200 bomber i razziaer efter de 400 bombe-angreb i løbet af en dag sidste måned (BBC):

One of the targets was an apartment rented by Ataur Rahman, the brother of the main suspect behind the serial explosions, Abdur Rahman.

Abdur Rahman is the chief of the banned Islamic group Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, which has been blamed by the government for the unprecedented attack.

Although no one has claimed responsibility for the bombings, leaflets found at bomb sites carried a call by the Jama'atul Mujahideen for the introduction of Islamic rule in Bangladesh.

Investigators now believe a banned leftist radical group, Janajuddha, or People's War, was also behind the attack.

Jaja, det er jo ikke mere end man kunne forvente.

Henrik

Advarsler om kup i Nicaragua

Taget balladen om forsøgene på at køre en rigsretssag mod Clinton i betragtning kan man undre sig over hvorfor forsøgene på at gøre det samme mod Nicaraguas præsident Bolano ikke får lignende opmærksomhed. Man fristes til at tro at det er fordi heksejagten denne gang kommer fra venstre fløj. Nærmere betegnet fra en uhellig alliance af venstreradikale tidligere diktaturtilhængere og klienter af tidl. præsident Aleman, der for tiden sidder en dom på 20 års fængsel for korruption af (fra BBC):

Sandinistas and members of Mr Bolanos Liberal Party are trying to strip the president of his powers.

The legislators have passed constitutional reforms limiting the president's power, despite a ruling by the Central American Court of Justice which declared them inapplicable. ...

President Bolanos - who took office in 2002 after a landslide victory over Sandinista leader and former President Daniel Ortega - has said he will view any attempt to impeach him as a coup.

Members of the ruling Liberal Party turned against Mr Bolanos after his government decided to prosecute former President Arnoldo Aleman for corruption.

Aleman is serving a 20-year sentence for fraud and money-laundering, but he still commands the loyalty of many of his party's legislators.

Forsøgene går for tiden på at prøve at køre en rigsretssag mod Præsident Bolano på grund af påstået misbrug af valgmidler.

Henrik

Venstreradikal dominans i amerikansk undervisning

Jeg har indtil videre holdt mig fra at blogge om det notorist venstreorienterede amerikanske undervisnings-system, men den her historie er simpelthen så radikal så jeg ikke kan lade være.

Robert KC Johnson er professor i historie ved Brooklyn College ved The City University of New York, og for nylig er han kommet ud i en sand storm af vrede fordømmelser fra venstreorienterede undervisere efter han har kritiseret politiseringen (den venstreorienerede dominans over) lærer-uddannelserne. The National Council for Acceditation of Teacher Education ændrede i 2002 procedurerne for godkendelse af uddannelsessteder til at uddanne lærere. Fra da af var et af kravene, at de skulle producere lærere der gik ind for "social retfærdighed". Det er resultaterne af dette Robert Johnson vovede at kritisere (fra Rocky Mountain News):

The education faculty, he said, assumes as fact that "an education centered on social justice prepares the highest quality of future teachers." He cited a required course called "Language and Literacy Development in Secondary Education" whose instructor spent the class period before Election Day showing Michael Moore's political polemic Fahrenheit 9/11 and insisted that students acknowledge that "white English" was an "oppressors' language." Several students, Johnson said, had filed written complaints with the department chair about inappropriately political instruction.

Normalt ville de fleste vel tage given kritik op til overvejelse, for at se om der måske kunne være noget ved det. Ikke i New York:

Instead, the School of Education went into full "How dare you say that!" mode. On official letterhead, signed by 34 faculty and administrators and sent to just about everybody important they could think of who might have some say over Johnson's position at Brooklyn College, they expressed their "contempt" for what they describe as his "attacks on a colleague" and decried his "woeful ignorance" of "what educators across the country are trying to accomplish."

They admit he has the right to make whatever claims he wishes, but conclude "we must insist you stop such attacks."

That is, he has the right to express opinions with which they disagree, but they insist he not exercise it.

Anti-fløjens respekt for andre folks holdninger glimrer ved sit fravær. Tag Kim fra Uriasposten´s oplevelse fra pro-USA-demoen som eksempel. Tidligere fik jeg også at vide her på bloggen at jeg skulle "holde min kæft".

Jeg ser på om jeg bringer mere om emnet i fremtiden.

Henrik

Muslimsk pogrom på kristne i Palæstina

Fra Haaretz:

At least 14 houses belonging to Christian residents of Taybeh, a West Bank village northeast of Ramallah, were torched by Muslims from neighboring Dir Jarir on Sunday, to avenge what they termed the dishonor of a Muslim woman.

According to Taybeh residents, several dozen young men from Dir Jarir descended on their village before dawn, torched the homes and destroyed a great deal of other property.

"The young men, who were holding Molotov cocktails, threw them at the houses, which began to go up in flames, one after another," said Buthaina Sha'aban, a Taybeh resident and the sister of the town's mayor. "They vandalized parked cars and beat village residents who went out into the streets. Entire families were thrown into the street after their homes were torched. Not much remains of their property. We urge all international, Israeli and Palestinian actors to intervene and protect village residents from the Muslim rage."

The attackers also torched stores, a farm and a gas station. The latter fire was put out before fuel tanks exploded.

Og hvorfor var muslimerne så vrede? Jo, de havde slået en muslimsk kvinde ihjel fordi hun havde forelsket sig i en kristen mand fra Taybeh. Bagefter havde de kylet liget ned og håbet at noget så ligegyldigt som et æresmord på en uskyldig kvinde ville blive overset. Istedet begyndte politiet at efterforske sagen.

Og hvad er så mere naturligt når man er ved at blive afsløret i sit religiøst betonte had end at prøve at brænde en kristen by ned til jorden?

Fy for satan.

Henrik

søndag, september 04, 2005

Katrina og racismen

Ud over de simple beskyldninger om inkompetence den amerikanske venstrefløj har fundet tiden belejliget til at fyre af mod Bush i USA, så er der også en anden type beskyldninger der er under opsejling: Bush er racist, simpelthen fordi orkanens ofre hovedsageligt er sorte.

Det startede i det små, men da vi kom til i fredags valgte en forsamling af sorte medlemmer af kongressen og ledere af sorte lobby-grupper så at tage del i mudder-kampen også. Samme dag fik rapperen Kanye West lov til at komme med lignende racistiske beskyldninger under et velrørenheds-program udsendt på nationalt fjernsyn. Om lørdagen gik den venstre-religiøse præst Jesse Jackson så også i gang.

Nu er de venstreradikale afro-amerikanske interesse-organisationer aldrig svære at få ud med beskyldninger om racisme - noget man bla også kan se i Michael Moores "film" Fahrenheit 911. Hvad angår situationen omkring orkanen Katrina har de da også en notorisk dårlig sag: som før nævnt er manden der havde det primære ansvar for ikke at få evakueret New Orleans´ fattige sorte befolking i tide, borgmesteren, nemlig selv sort. Det er da også derfor interesseorganisationerne sigter højere, mod Bush.

Problemet er, at de lader til selv at hænge fast i en racisme betinget af deres syn på sig selv som ofre. Hvis noget får ud over sorte, så må det pr definition være nogle hvide der er skyld i det. Det giver sig også udslag i decideret halvdumme krav som at redningsaktionen efter orkanen, fordi hovedparten af ofrene er sorte, også pr definition skal ledes af sorte.

Skidt med at det vil skabe kaos og koste menneskeliv at en hvilken som helst redningsorganisation først skal skræddersys efter ofrenes racemæssige og/eller etniske tilhørsforhold før den får lov til reelt at redde mennesker.

Det skægge er, at bortset fra problemerne med at evakuere de fattige, hovedsageligt sorte indbyggere i New Orleans, så er det eneste tilfælde af noget der bare kunne ligne racisme, de er kommet op med, at nogle har fundet to billeder af folk der har plyndret i New Orleans, hvor det ene billede er af et hvidt par der har "fundet" mad, mens et er af en sort mand der har "plyndret".

Det interessante er så, at billedet der hvidvasker (ja, undskyld udtrykket) de hvide kommer fra et EUROPÆISK nyhedsagentur - Agence France Press (AFP). Det andet billede kommer fra amerikanske Associated Press, der har en politik med at kalde alle folk der har plyndret det samme - "looters". Noget endnu mere interessant er, at AFP har valgt at kræve at alle nyhedsmedier fjerner det "problematiske" billede fra deres databaser. Man kommer næsten til at tænke på Minisand (Ministeriet for Sandhed) i George Orwells 1984.

Faktisk er det eneste reelle tilfælde af racisme jeg har kunnet finde i syndfloden af medie-historier følgende:

Brit diary-writer Jamie had been coaching football to disabled children as part of the Camp America scheme. ...

He said of his eventual Superdome refuge: "There was a lot of heat from the people in there, people shouting racial abuse about us being white.

"The army warned us to keep our bags close to us and to grip them tight."

Jamie, an economics student from Sunderland, said he saw crack cocaine being used in the filthy toilets, youngsters breaking into soft drink machines and men brawling. Urine and excrement spilled into corridors where they were sleeping.

At one point, up to 30 British students gathered in the dome were so terrified of attack when the power went down that they set up a makeshift security cordon.

Zoe Smith, 21, from Hull, said: "All us girls sat in the middle while the boys sat on the outside, with chairs as protection.

"We were absolutely terrified, the situation had descended into chaos, people were very hostile and the living conditions were horrendous.

Ingen hvide interesseorganisationer har endnu brokket sig.

Henrik

Tudefjæs peger fingre over New Orleans

Nu er hjælpen lige så stille ved at nå frem til New Orleans, efter orkanen Katrina satte byen under vand. Samtidig har den amerikanske venstrefløj imidlertid måske endelig fundet det tema de kan føre en succesrig kampagne mod USAs Præsident Bush på. Her i Danmark er medierne også travlt optagede af at køre med på vognen. Der er bare et problem ved kampagnen: den bygger på uvidenhed eller deciderede løgne.

Til at starte med er idéen om at den Republikanske præsident Bush har ansvaret for alt forkert. I forhold til europæiske forhold er den amerikanske præsident faktisk rimeligt svag, og ud over at erklære en given region for katastrofeområde er han reelt begrænset til at reagere på forespørgsler fra lokale myndigheder, som han så kan reagere på. Det er her problemet er opstået - i tilfældet New Orleans er problemet så bare at de lokale myndigheder - domineret af Demokraterne - har fejlet totalt. Istedet for at agere har både New Orleans´ borgmester Ray Nagin og Louisiana´s guvernør Kathleen Blanco (begge demokrater) trippet rundt og syntes det var hårdt uden at gøre noget ved det.

Istedet var Bush nødt til at tage initiativet ved at erklære området omkring New Orleans og nordpå for katastrofeområde allerede to dage før orkanen nogensinde nåede frem. Da de lokale demokratiske buraukrater stadig ikke kunne tage sig sammen til at gøre andet end at "anbefale" at folk forlod New Orleans tog han kontakt til dem og pressede dem til at beordre evakueringen af New Orleans sidste søndag.

Hvor vigtig en sådan decideret ordre er kan ses af en artikel fra Juli, hvor det nævnes at 62% af New Orleans-boerne ville føle sig sikre i deres egne hjem hvis en kategori 3-orkan ramte byen. Problemet var så bare, at istedet for at organisere evakueringen for dem der ikke havde bil og selv kunne flygte fra byen valgte guvernøren så at trippe rundt og lave ingenting, mens borgmester Nagin stak halen mellem benene og flygtede 130 kilometer mod nord til Biloxi. I sikkerhed langt fra katastrofen kunne han så i et interview med CNN tude, pege fingre og prøve at skubbe skylden for at titusindvis af folk sad fast i byen over på de føderale myndigheder og Bush. I samme hysteriske interview begyndte han så også at kræve hvad han nu havde lyst til, bla 500 busser til at evakuere folk.

Hvis han nu ikke havde ladet sine bysbørn i stikken, var blevet i byen, og faktisk havde udført sit job, så kunne det være han kunne have reddet de 500+ kommunale busser der idag er parkeret i pæne rækker under et par meter vand. Ud over godt 360+ busser fra New Orleans Regional Transportation Authority drejer det sig om bla de 205 skolebuser man kan se på den oversvømmede parkeringsplads her. Hvor mange bysbørn kunne han have reddet ved at blive i byen istedet for at tage til Biloxi og lade sig interviewe af CNN?

Istedet for at se lidt på sine egne fejl prøver han så at tørre det af på Bush. Her sviner han feks manden der samtidig skal tage sig af katastrofen i Louisiana, resten af et land med 300 millioner indbyggere, og så også en lille krig i Irak for at holde en pressekonference. Det er åbenbart ikke gået op for ham at han måske selv skulle tage sig sammen og få ryddet op i den by der har valgt ham til at gøre det.

Det er ikke fordi der mangler eksempler til efterfølgelse. Selv hvis man ser bort fra politifolk og andre offentligt ansatte er der feks 18-årige Jabbor Gibson. Han stak ikke af til Biloxi, men blev i New Orleans. Da orkanen var ovre "organiserede" han en forladt bybus, samlede 100 folk der sad fast i byen op, og kørte 7 timer i et stræk for at få dem til et opsamlingssted for orkan-ofre i Houston. Han ankom endda før nogen af de busser der var organiseret af myndighederne til at udføre samme job.

Det er så selve katastrofe-balladen. Dertil kommer imidlertid forsøg på at give Bush skylden for at New Orleans i det hele taget er under vand. Jeg har allerede behandlet de hysteriske tyske beskyldninger om at Bush har ansvaret for selve tornadoen, men den amerikanske venstrefløj påstår nu også at bruddet på de diger der beskyttede New Orleans mod oversvømmelse også var Bush´s skyld.

Påstanden går ud på, at Bush gennem beskæringen af tilskuddet til digebygningen omkring New Orleans skulle være skyld i at diget brød sammen. Problemet er her, at det dige der brød sammen under trykket faktisk netop var et af dem der fornyligt var blevet forstærket.

Dertil kommer, at New Orleans´ diger kun var bygget til at kunne modstå en kategori 3-orkan, mens de blev udsat for en af kategori 4. De amerikanske venstrefløjsere mener at Bush burde have kunnet forudse dette, hvorfor det er hans skyld. Hvorfor Clinton ikke også burde have forudset det er der ingen der snakker om.

Problemet er så, at en opgradering af digerne til at kunne modstå kategori-4 orkaner ville tage mimum et årti, og mere sandsynligt tre årtier, hvortil kommer 6 år til projektering. Selv hvis det allerførste Bush havde gjort da han blev svoret ind i januar 2001 var at starte processen, var der ikke blevet foretaget et eneste spadestik før orkanen ramte.

Og så ser vi helt bort fra hvor længe det ville have taget at bygge digerne op til at kunne tage den kategori-5 orkan meteorologerne oprindeligt forudså ville ramme byen.

Men selvfølgelig: hvornår har fakta kunnet forhindre venstreradikale i at åbne munden.

Henrik

lørdag, september 03, 2005

Tyrkiet: Folkemord = National karakter?

Efter vi fandt ud af at Hitlers´"Mein Kampf" var en bestseller i Tyrkiet kommer nu fængslingen af en af landets bedste forfattere for at fortælle om Tyrkernes folkemord på over en million kriste armeniere under 1. Verdenskrig, og 30.000 kurdere siden 1984 (BBC):

One of Turkey's best-known novelists faces three years in jail for making controversial comments on his country's killing of Armenians and Kurds.

Orhan Pamuk has been charged with insulting Turkey's national character.

He was quoted in a Swiss paper as saying that only he had dared to say that Turkey killed 30,000 Kurds and a million Armenians.

Hvorfor er det lige vi skal forhandle om optagelse i EU med den bande holocaust-benægtere?

Henrik

fredag, september 02, 2005

Mild irritation

Normalt plejer jeg at brokke mig over BBC på grund af den venstredrejede propaganda stationen spytter ud, men denne gang er det simpel dumhed der irriterer mig ved dem. At finde i deres artikel om baggrunden for den islamiske terror-kampagne i Thailand:

"They want Pattani state back," he said, referring to the independent Islamic Sultanate of Pattani that had been part of British Malaya and was then incorporated into Thailand around 100 years ago.

Det siger sig selv at det Britiske Imperium aldriv ville have fundet sig i at et uland som Thailand bare rykkede ind og overtog dele af dens kolonier, og det er da heller ikke tilfældet. Tværtimod var det Storbrittanien der overtog en hel håndfuld af små malayiske sultanater der i århundreder havde været Siamesiske (altså Thailandske) protektorater - nemlig Terengganu, Perak, Kedah og Ulu Perak.

Ja, undskyl, men engang i mellem kommer historikeren i mig op til overfladen.

Henrik

Amerikanerne er ONDE! ONDE! ONDE! - part II

Jeg har før beskrevet hvordan de onde, onde amerikanere står bag både tørken i Zimbabwe, Tsunamien i det Indiske Ocean og tyveriet af en hel sø i Rusland.

Nu er vi så kommet til at de - eller rettere Præsident Bush - også er skyld i Orkanen der har sat New Orleans under vand (Davids Medienkritik via Filtrat):

You won't believe this: In an article in Frankfurter Rundschau, a leading left-wing daily, Germany's environmental minister Jürgen Trittin holds U.S. president George Bush responsible for hurricane Katrina.

Yes, that's right. The hurricane Katrina that killed dozens of people, that destroyed countless homes, flooded parts of Louisiana and Mississippi, that left millions without electricity - it's all Bush's fault, according to a leading member of the German Green party, who happens to be Environmental Minister in Chancellor Schroeder's cabinet. Never mind that statistics don't show a particularly increase in the frequency of hurricanes in the U.S. in the last decades.

Problemet er at USA siden 1960erne faktisk har været udsat for FÆRRE store orkaner (styrke 3, 4 og 5) end gennemsnittet for de sidste 150 år. Det sjove er så, at faldet faktisk sker samtidig med at videnskabsmændene siger drivhuseffekten slog igennem.

Hvis man kigger på antallet af samtlige orkaner (altså inklusive styrke 1 og 2) har det lagt under gennemsnittet siden 1940erne.

Men det får Bush jo nok ikke kredit for.....

Henrik

Initiativet Fred og Frihed - aktion II

Ja, så fik vi i Initiativet Fred og Frihed skudt Aktion II af. Medie-delen har kørt i snart en måned, og i tirsdags var en flok progressive aktivister så i Aalborg for at ryste den reaktionære venstrefløjs ideologiske luft-kasteller. De til lejligheden fremstillede godt 200 skrifter, der pillede myten om Che Guevara fra hinanden blev revet væk, og givet muligheden for at få en anden vinkel end den gængse venstreradikale var mediernes opmærksomhed næsten for meget for os. Personligt var jeg nødt til at melde fra i sidste øjeblik, så Kim fra Uriasposten var nødt til at rekruttere to talsmænd mere ud over ham selv, og så var der endda pres på fra tid til anden.

Hvem ved, måske fik vi endda pirket lidt til folks nysgerrighed, fik dem til at stille spørgsmål ved det venstrefløjsbavl de er blevet stopfodret med siden barnsben.

Mere på Uriasposten og So Blogging What.

Henrik