European or Western Civilization has been at war with totalitarianism and its variants for the last century.
Broadly speaking, the European Thirty Years’ War (1914-1945) was fought on and off with Germany which developed a Fascist state consciously modelled on Stalinism.
Immediately the Cold War commenced (1945-1991) and was fought between the Western democracies and Communist totalitarianism until the latter’s collapse.
Immediately another totalitarian war had commenced between the West and Militant Islam. This Islamic War (circa 1990 to date) was made highly visible by the attack of 9/11 and the exploits of Osama bin Laden.
Since 1945, the concept of two competing world super-powers developed - the USA and the USSR.
Communism collapsed in 1991 and Militant Islam took its place as the other world power.
Totalitarian states or powers are marked by their control (or attempted control) of every aspect of their citizens’ lives and their thoughts.
An early example was the Mediaeval Roman Catholic Church and later, of course, Leninism, Stalinism and Maoism. Regressively, the West is now challenged by another mediaeval religion: Islam.
Islam is a totalitarian belief in the sense that it reaches every aspect of its believer’s lives (as do all religions). The problem for the world in general and the Western democracies in particular is that the more militant Muslims have declared war (jihad) on the West. Their philosophy is one of death which will greatly challenge Western beliefs that value life. In any conflict, those who do not value life and who are prepared to die have a considerable advantage.
It is important that the West see these issues as simply a continuation of the wars that have attacked Western values for the last century. This Militant Islamic War can only be won when the West admits that it is at war.
Theodore Dalrymple writes:
The head examiner of a British school-examination board, Peter Buckroyd, whose examinations are taken by 780,000 children, recently explained to teachers why a pupil who answered the question, “Describe the room you’re in,” with “Fuck off”—an actual case, apparently—should receive a grade of 7.5 percent rather than a grade of zero. Indeed, Buckroyd went so far as to say that “it would be wicked to give it zero because it does show some very basic skills we are looking for.”
The rest of the article is here.
Men Plead Guilty to Lesser Charges
Five of eight men accused of plotting to detonate liquid explosives on board trans-Atlantic passenger jets — including some destined for Canada — pleaded guilty to lesser offences Monday.
Three men — Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, Assad Sarwar, 28, and Tanvir Hussain, 27 — admitted to conspiring to cause explosions.
The three men and two other defendants — Ibrahim Savant, 27, and Umar Islam, 30 — also admitted to “conspiring to cause a public nuisance” by creating videos threatening suicide bomb attacks.
The five men, along with three other defendants are accused of targeting at least seven airliners heading to Canada and the U.S. in 2006.
The two Air Canada flights were bound for Montreal and Toronto.
All of the men are British with ties to Pakistan.
Prosecutors say the group wanted to kill hundreds of passengers using bombs concealed in soft drink bottles.The men were close to carrying out their plan but were arrested in August 2006, alleges the Crown.
Although Ali, Sarwar and Hussain admitted to conspiring to cause explosions the men said they weren’t targeting planes from London to North America.
Ali and Sarwar told the court they were getting the weapons together to stage a publicity stunt as a promotion for an anti-Western documentary.
Ali said he hoped a small, non-fatal blast at Britain’s Houses of Parliament, an oil refinery, or at an airport would create attention for his film.
Jurors still need to decide on the main charge against the eight defendants.
“The most serious charge that they’re still facing is conspiracy to murder,” CTV’s London Bureau Chief Tom Kennedy reported Monday. “They have not pleaded guilty to that charge, so the trial on that charge continues and it should go to the jury next week.”
CTV.ca
I wonder what religion they are - they are described as having “ties to Pakistan”.
But looking at the photographs, I am sure they are innocent. They were just making a movie.
This is the cover of The New Yorker magazine
.
.
Note the following:
1. It is set in the Oval Office at the White House (inferring that he/they have taken power).
2. They are bumping knuckles in the black power sign of victory (as they did after he beat HC).
3. Obama is in traditional Muslim dress.
4. So is Osama in the picture in pride-of-place above the fireplace.
5. The US flag is being burned in that fireplace.
6. Michelle is dressed in revolutionary clothing with an AK47 and ammunition over her shoulder and an Angela Davis hairstyle.
7. They are standing on the American Eagle. She is wearing combat boots and he traditional Islamic sandals.
The Obamites are complaining but it looks like a pretty accurate prediction/depiction to me …
Update: Perhaps a lot of Americans agree with me:
[Newsweek today]
A month after emerging victorious from the bruising Democratic nominating contest, some of Barack Obama’s glow may be fading. In the latest NEWSWEEK Poll, the Illinois senator leads Republican nominee John McCain by just 3 percentage points, 44 percent to 41 percent. The statistical dead heat is a marked change from last month’s NEWSWEEK Poll, where Obama led McCain by 15 points, 51 percent to 36 percent.
Two recent op-eds deal with this issue.
New York Times
Christian Science Monitor
Read them!
Guess who said this?
“recognising that the cost of everything is still going through the roof” [SMH today]
Kevin Rudd.
That’s the best he can do?
People voted for Rudd because they wanted a change. Welcome to the change.
[Published in The Australian 9 May 2008]
In Victoria this week, Attorney-General Hulls announced a new Koori County Court costing $600,000 to set up and God knows what to run. It will “tailor sentencing orders to the cultural needs of Koori offenders”. Or as one of my clients might say, let me have their tailor!
Meanwhile, in South Australia, the Mullighan Report has identified terrible sexual assaults on Aboriginal children by Aboriginal men in the outback. Mullighan described the situation as comparable to a third-world country. SA Premier Rann immediately promised action by announcing a joint task force with the federal Government and increased numbers of police and child protection workers.
Two States, two different approaches to endemic problems for Aboriginals.
Victoria has opted to spend money on a touch, feely criminal court designed to give soft justice to Aboriginal (sorry, “Koori”) offenders. This is a stupid waste of money.
The new Court was foreshadowed in the County Court Annual Action Plan under the strange heading of Customer Focus to make sure that the “Court is responsive to court user needs and cultural and linguistic diversity”. This is odd because the Victorian Aboriginals do not retain any of their own languages and little, if any, culture. Customer focus based upon language and culture would be more appropriate for the Muslims, who have roughly the same numbers in Victoria as the Aboriginals. The Muslims also have a highly developed legal system (Sharia). The Aboriginals, on the other hand, would still be applying White Man’s law.
The new Court is supposed to be based upon the success of the Koori Magistrates Court which disposes of 150 Aboriginals a year in six courts – an average of one a fortnight.
The Victorian County Court (District Court elsewhere) deals with all indictable criminal matters except for murder.
The new Court will deal with “serious criminal matters” but Hulls has backed away from it dealing with sex offences. We cannot have an Aboriginal rapist receiving a culturally tailored sentence.
What is the purpose of the Court? We can judge its purpose from the official descriptions of the existing Koori Magistrates’ Courts which “sentences defendants who have pleaded guilty.
The Koori Court provides an informal atmosphere and allows greater participation by the Aboriginal (Koori) community in the court process. A Koori Elder or Respected Person, the Aboriginal Justice worker, Koori defendants and their families can contribute during the Court hearing. It reduces perceptions of cultural alienation and tailors sentencing orders to the cultural needs of Koori offenders.”
All very vague. I assume that it will still be up to the Judge to sentence the offender so all we are talking about is the presence and contribution of a support group who “contribute during the Court hearing”. But this is nothing new: any Magistrate or Judge must take into account these sort of matters. It is not necessary to fund a special racially-defined Court.
A long time ago, when I went to law school, we were taught that everybody was equal before the law. It didn’t matter what your colour or religion was, you got a fair go in Australian courts.
This year, the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities came into full force and what I had been taught became the law. Section 8 states “Every person is equal before the law”. This seems to directly contradict the concept of Koori Courts.
With Koori Courts, we now have a separate court system, a separate court procedures and no doubt separate punishments for a group of persons defined by race. We will be told they are “separate but equal”, which is the historical basis of segregation in the deep South of the USA and of apartheid in South Africa. These concepts are repugnant to us all simply because it is true that every person must be equal before the law. It is obviously impractical and undesirable to set up a Muslim Sharia County Court, a Jewish Court, a Vietnamese Court, a Sudanese Court or even a good old White Anglo-Celtic Court.
We now have a form of reverse discrimination, defined by racial characteristics and to be applied by the justice system.
And what is the purpose? Why is it that our existing judges in the County Court cannot (apparently) treat Aboriginal offenders properly?
There is really one answer: Aboriginals will receive different sentences for the same crimes. They will receive be lesser sentences than Whites, Asians or Africans for the same crime – otherwise there is no point in having a separate Court. And this is admitted by the Government when they say the Koori Magistrates’ Court “tailors sentencing orders to the cultural needs of Koori offenders”.
I have been around the criminal courts for more than 45 years and I can say, without exception, that all criminals have a “cultural need” when it comes to sentencing: not to go to jail. Nobody wants to go to jail. And, yes, I have acted for Aboriginals. In 1973 I set up the Aboriginal Legal Service in Alice Springs and then I worked at the Victorian Service.
Victorian Aboriginals are overwhelmingly mixed blood and often with 1/8th or 1/16th Aboriginal parentage. It is nonsense to say that a person of 1/16th Vietnamese and 15/16th European blood needs to have a special court to tailor his sentence to his Vietnamese “cultural needs”. Anyone making this argument would be laughed out of court. And yet, we will now make it the law in the case of Aboriginals.
Whilst we are on this point, let me say this. What on earth are the cultural needs of a 1/16th Aboriginal which enable his sentence to be tailored? If we are culturally tailoring sentences then surely his sentence should be tailored by his 15/16th European cultural heritage?
In any event, the result is that millions of dollars will be wasted in Victoria by the introduction of softly, softly sentences for “Kooris”. The money could be better spent in providing Aboriginal children with food, education and medical care so that we can increase their life expectancy in Victoria (and Australia for that matter) from a figure of about 20 years below that of the rest of the community.
At least South Australia recognises the problem and is trying to deal with it.
[Published in Crikey today]
On the same day that Victoria announced a separate-but-equal Koori County Court, the South Australian government released the Mullighan Report on Aboriginal welfare in the northern part of the State.
The Report is deemed so shocking that it comes with a warning label “WARNING: This report deals with allegations of abuse of children while in state care and in places contains graphic details which may be distressing.”
Sadly, there are no surprises, just a continuation of the horror that we have already seen in the Northern Territory and Queensland. The abuse is largely of Aboriginal children by Aboriginal adults or adolescents. It is widespread. Outside the family groups but within the community, there are sections on Sex for petrol, Sex for food or marijuana and Sex for money for gambling. There were cases of abuse within families.
We have now had similar reports or situations in S.A., W.A., Qld. and N.T.
This sexual abuse of Aboriginal children has to be stopped now. Period. If cultural factors are the reason then the culture is wrong and must be changed. More likely is the total breakdown of family and community values. This is not a Third World problem, it is much worse.
Let me spell it out clearly. There is now overwhelming evidence that Australian Aboriginals living in remote communities sexually abuse Aboriginal children, sometimes their own. This not the White Man abusing them, this is their own people.
The only solution on the table is the Federal intervention launched by the Howard Government and apparently supported by Rudd. It must be extended to all Aborigines in all parts of Australia. The Australian Constitution gives the Federal Government power to make laws for Aborigines under section 51(xxvi). The power is there, it must be exercised now.
Let me make two footnote comments.
First, when Jenny Macklin was in opposition I particularly disliked her as the typical extreme-Left trendy politician. I was pleased that she lost the Deputy’s job to Julia Gillard. Well, I was wrong. As Minister of Indigenous Affairs she has been strong and magnificent. She is Labor’s Brough.
Second, we should put aside the signing of Treaties, more saying Sorry, 2020 Summits and other futile symbolic gestures. Let us develop a 12-year plan of action to save the Aboriginal children. In 2020 we can then all celebrate our success together. If we cannot start today, the Aboriginal race will be destroyed by 2020 and there will be no need for symbolism, just mourning.
UPDATE: But she won’t: “Tonight we come from behind, we’ve broken the tie and thanks to you it’s full speed on to the White House,” Clinton said.
Obama won North Carolina by a wider margin than expected 56-42%.
Clinton jus won Indiana by an unexpectedly small margin 51-49%.
I predict Clinton will withdraw.
Obama will be the candidate against McCain.
It has been suggested in the media that there is a misprint in the Koran: suicide martyrs do NOT get 72 virgins.
The truth is they get a 72 year-old virgin instead.
They must be pretty disappointed.
Maybe the bombings will stop when this news gets around.
We drive, they starve. The mass diversion of the North American grain harvest into ethanol plants for fuel is reaching its political and moral limits.“The reality is that people are dying already,” said Jacques Diouf, of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). “Naturally people won’t be sitting dying of starvation, they will react,” he said.
The UN says it takes 232kg of corn to fill a 50-litre car tank with ethanol. That is enough to feed a child for a year. Last week, the UN predicted “massacres” unless the biofuel policy is halted.
We are all part of this drama whether we fill up with petrol or ethanol. The substitution effect across global markets makes the two morally identical.
[UK telegraph today]
UN Special Rapporteur for the Right to Food Jean Ziegler told German radio Monday that the production of biofuels is “a crime against humanity” because of its impact on global food prices
…
The European Environment Agency, advisors to the European Commission, on Friday recommended that the EU suspend its 10 percent biofuels target.It argued that the target would require large amounts of additional imports of biofuels leading to the accelerated destruction of rain forests. The agency also questioned the environmental benefits of biofuels.
Also in a recent report the World Bank said bluntly “biofuel production has pushed up feedstock prices”.
Meanhwile Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, head of Nestle, the world’s biggest food and beverage company, last month argued that “to grant enormous subsidies for biofuel production is morally unacceptable and irresponsible”.
“There will be nothing left to eat,” he added.
[Yahoo News today]
[Herald-Sun today]
THE 2005 AFL Grand Final was nominated as the original bombing target of an alleged home-grown Melbourne terror cell by the man described as its leader or ’sheik’.
A jury heard today that in conversation with a witness at the terror trial Abdul Nacer Benbrika, 48, said the MCG bombing had been cancelled because of police and ASIO raids on members of the group in July 2005.Izzydeen Atik told the Supreme Court that Mr Benbrika nominated two other targets, the NAB Cup and Crown Casino during the 2006 Melbourne Grand Prix weekend.
Mr Atik, 27, has admitted he had discussions about bombings with Mr Benbrika as a follow up to two earlier secretly taped conversations heard by the jury today.
While they were driving together Mr Atik said they had a conversation about terrorist attacks.
“The original target was supposed to be the Grand Final of 2005,” Mr Atik said he was told by Mr Benbrika.
The president of the World Bank has called for immediate action to deal with rapidly rising food prices that have caused hunger and deadly violence and threatened the economic stability of the world’s poorest countries.
A doubling of food prices over the last two years was potentially pushing 100 million people deeper into long-term poverty, said Robert Zoellick.
[The Times today]
The IMF tells us that the price of food has rocketed causing mass starvation.
One reason (I think the main reason) is that land formerly used for food cultivation is being used for bio-fuels for the production of oil because it pays much better.
One of the main factors behind the surge in prices is the increased use of crops for biofuels as an alternative energy source in developed countries.
Almost all of the rise in global corn production from 2004 to 2007 went to biofuels in the United States. As of tomorrow, all petrol and diesel sold in Britain will have to contain at least 2.5 per cent biofuel from crops.
[The Times today]
The demand for bio-fuels is immense due to global warming.
We are told that we cannot use petrol, coal or any other fossil fuels.
We are told we cannot use nuclear power.
The solution: bio-fuels.
The collateral damage: the world food supply is reduced and millions starve.
C’est la vie!
MITCHELL: You could well be Prime Minister by the time the Beijing Olympics happen. Would you come?
RUDD: If I was invited by the Chinese Government, I would see no reason why not to.
[6 August 2007 Rudd interview with Neil Mitchell published on ALP website]. (my emphasis)
By now, China must realize that they have made a terrible blunder in taking on the Olympic Games.
Uncharacteristically, they have exposed themselves to forces they cannot control, that is, protesters supporting Tibetan independence.
China, once the darling of the Left, is now reviled.
But wait … this can all be solved by the intervention of Our Kev who is our Dear Leader and Great Helmsman. Kevin and the Chinese speak the same language - literally. His recent efforts to become adviser to the World will be enhanced if he can simply speak to the Chinese (in fluent Mandarin, of course) and convince them to give Tibet its independence immediately.
I am sure that he can do this. His earlier efforts have been astonishingly successful. He has solved the Aboriginal problem with one word (Sorry) and now all Aboriginals are living happy, healthy and wealthy lives. He has solved the problem of Global Warming by the stroke of a pen - literally with the signing of the Kyoto Treaty. He punished Japan (a major trading partner of Australia) for their slaughter of the Whales by refusing to include them in his world trip of Saving and Redemption. Like Superman, there is nothing he cannot do.
We all want these games to be the Tibetan Independence Games. China is a major trading partner of Australia and, like Japan, they will capitulate when Our Kev speaks to them in Mandarin.
Kevin07 certainly looks like the big tip for the 1998 Nobel Peace prize.
On the other hand, things may not go right. The Chinese might tell him to “get fucked” - in Mandarin of course. Is Our Kev’s Mandarin good enough to understand this? Of course, it is possible that fuck is not part of his vocabulary.
But if things do go wrong, let me suggest some alternatives for Our Dear Leader:
1. Australia should demand that Tibet be made independent immediately and threaten to take China to the International Court (as we did with Japan over the whales).
2. If China refuses, we should end our trade with them until they comply. This will devastate our economy but surely it is the right thing to do for a principled leader like Kevin07.
3. We could pull our forces out of the Middle East and send them into Tibet to establish freedom there.
Thanks to our leader’s efforts over the last few months, Australia is a World Leader. He has had the privilege of taking the salute with the US President. He has had tea with the Corgis. Let us flex our muscles and make other countries behave properly. No more nonsense from these foreigners.
More seriously, what is Rudd’s policy on Tibetan independence? Does he reject it and support China? Will he say so? A search of the ALP website reveals no mention of Tibet.
If he does support Tibet independence then he cannot go to the Olympic Opening ceremony - as a matter of principle he must boycott it. Does his comment at the top of this article mean that Tibet is “no reason why not to (go)”?
And if he boycotts it, he should stop the Australian team from participating in the Olympics.
Anything less will be weak, gutless and hypocritical.
There are rumors that Condi Rice could be the V-P candidate with McCain.
I do not think that a McCain-Rice team could lose.
Here we have is an experienced white politician (McCain) plus an experienced black woman (Rice) VS either an experienced white woman (Clinton) or an inexperience black man (Obama).
Condi V-P would be great - and she would be a good President as well if it so transpired.
This happened to me this afternoon.
I was in the Bourke St Mall, near Swanston St.
Some Socialists had a table set up with literature.
They had a large poster stating “Free Palestine. End Gaza blockade”.
I spoke to 2 of them and asked them did they agree that Egypt also blockaded Gaza and that when Hamas broke the border, some 300,000 Palestinians visited Egypt.
They agreed.
I then pointed to their literature and asked if there was anything in it asking for Egypt to lift the blockade or was it just directed at Israel.
They replied just Israel.
I suppose they were naively honest, but to me it was a classic case of Left Wing anti-Semitism.
I called them anti-Semites and walked away.
This video has almost half a million views on Youtube
Here
Gives meaning to the newly minted expression “viral politics”.
[This was published in Crikey today]
In my view, the Mildura driver, Thomas Towle, who killed six young people should walk free in 6 months time. I say this not because of any sympathy for Towle (I have none) but because he is entitled to have the law applied, regardless of the very emotional circumstances of the case.
Further, he should be bailed immediately pending his appeal.
We are all aware of the terrible tragedy two years near Mildura where six young people were killed and four seriously injured by a lone car driver (Towle). Towle was convicted of lesser offences by a jury.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Cummins, in the Supreme Court of Victoria Towle sentenced Towle to 10 years jail with a minimum of 7 years. Towle has already served just over 2 years and thus will be released in another 5 years. He will appeal.
The above summary will lead any normal person to conclude that 7 years for 6 lives is not nearly enough.
This case is a shocking tragedy but, as often happens with the more extreme cases, it raises some important points of law. I want to discuss these, but before I do, I need to clear the air over a number of matters.
First, this is not a legal lynching. Towle must be sentenced according to the law, not emotion or public or media outcry.
Second, it must be understood that he was acquitted of the much more serious charges of culpable driving (maximum 20 years) and convicted of the significantly lesser charges of dangerous driving causing death (maximum 5 years). If the community is of the view that more serious punishment should be imposed on Towle, then the Victorian DPP should have obtained culpable driving convictions before the jury. This the DPP failed to do.
Continue reading ‘Towle & 6 Deaths’
“The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation,”
[Politico today]
This sounds like it was written by Obama’s lawyer.
He denies that he personally heard Wright say these things.
But he does not deny that he knew from other sources, that is, other people told him.
This has a Watergate feel about it: “What did he know and when did he know it”.
It is impossible to believe that Obama has been at the Church for 20 years and he did not know what Wright’s views were.
People only make these carefully worded, deliberately worded statements when they are covering something up.
