'Genocide? What genocide?'

It almost seems as if everyone wants to rewrite history. Why is this? One reason, and there may be many, is that all nations have historical events of which they are not proud. David Kuplenian writes an article on another recent attempt to rewrite history.

In his piece, he states, "Sincere, honest apology is the very epitome of moral courage."

He also writes, "__________ has suffered for _________ under a dark, cruel and inhuman culture. Today's _________ are not responsible for the atrocities committed by their ancestors -- they weren't even alive then. But today's __________ are responsible, as individuals and as a nation, for confronting the harsh reality of their nation's past, admitting it to the world, and apologizing to the __________ -- not only for the horrors of the genocide, but for having denied it ever since."

I have left out the proper nouns he used in his article to simply illustrate that if you use your imagination just a wee bit, you should be able to come up with a very large list of potential answers to this little quiz.

We would all be better off if all countries recognized and admitted to their most grievous mistakes; for doing so allows you to quit the denial game and your self imposed need to revise history. It is only this way we can indeed learn from our mistakes of the past. Denial and revision is a recipe for repeated mistakes, and worse, perhaps more atrocities. It is what we do as we move forward that is most important.

To find out what country he was writing about:
Go here to read David Kupelian's article.

Huckabee Criticizes Bill Sponsors

Little Rock (AP) - Governor Huckabee has criticized immigration legislation in the Arkansas Legislature, describing the bill as "inflammatory...race-baiting and demagoguery,'' and challenges the Christian values of its main sponsor.

The governor said "I drink a different kind of Jesus juice."

Full Story

INVASION USA

Mexico threatens Arizona over anti-illegals measure
Official says challenge in international courts possible to block voter-passed Proposition 200

A Mexican government official has threatened to use international courts to block an Arizona law meant to limit public benefits and voting rights to legal residents of the U.S.

Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said in a radio interview Wednesday that an international strategy would be used if other attempts to reverse Proposition 200 fail, the Associated Press reported.

Full story

Professor's Essay Sparks Controversy

Colorado University prof's essay sparks dispute
Ward Churchill says 9/11 victims were not innocent people

Some of his controversial statements in his essay include:

1) The Sept. 11 attacks were in retaliation for the Iraqi children who were killed in a 1991 bombing raid and for economic sanctions imposed on Iraq by the United Nations following the Persian Gulf War.

2) Hijackers who crashed jets into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11 were "combat teams," not terrorists.

3) The people killed inside the Pentagon were "military targets."

Full Article

More on Social Security

A good Q & A in the Wall Street Journal with Edward "Ned" Gramlich, a U.S. Federal Reserve governor who chaired a Social Security advisory commission a decade ago and also was the former dean of the University of Michigan's School of Public Policy and is a liberal Democrat.

Social Security -- Getting Some Perspective - David Wessel, Wall Street Journal

Islam's Feisty Female Foe

(UPI) -- Somali-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali, arguably the most beautiful member of the Dutch Parliament, has been in hiding, fearing that radical Muslims would slaughter her just as brutally as her friend, filmmaker Theo van Gogh.

Now Hirsi Ali has surfaced from her safe haven, reportedly a military base in the United States, to kick off a passionate campaign against Islamic extremism.

Full Story

Deficit

The Vital Need for Spending Restraint in the Second Bush Term
Tax relief didn't give us deficits, spending did.

On Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued somber new deficit projections. And not surprisingly, many big spenders in Congress are blaming President Bush's tax cuts.

Full Details

Is AARP Lying to Seniors?

Leftist gaggle vs. people who know what they're talking about.

AARP is spending millions of dollars to "educate" the public about President Bush's proposal to reform and strengthen Social Security. But is AARP telling seniors the truth about Social Security and the reform proposals?
Full Details.

They're the Bubble People

Heh, heh.

They're Not the World, They're the Bubble People

Hey, everybody, are you celebrating? It's the 20th anniversary of We Are The World! I confess I'm not celebrating, although I am mystified and somewhat entertained at the idea of marking this "anniversary". Because for something to be remembered doesn't it have to be, well, memorable?

Full Article.

A Blistering Attack

Europe -- Thy Name Is Cowardice
from Die Welt & The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
A blistering attack against a timid Europe in the face of the Islamic threat

It's Time to Recognize Taiwan's Rights

By: Clifford D. May, Scripps Howard News Service

It's Time to Recognize Taiwan's Rights Remember that U.N. official who complained about Washington's contribution to the tsunami victims? He neglected to mention that even as he was deriding Americans as "stingy," the United Nations was refusing more than $50 million in aid. Why? Because the offer came from Taiwan, and the Chinese rulers in Beijing do not want this island nation playing an independent role on the world stage - not even a charitable one. [Read More]

Arrests Made

France arrests four more suspects believed planning terrorist attacks on US forces in Iraq. First six detained Monday. Numerous fundamentalists arrests linked to Iraq also made recently in neighboring Germany.

Banning 'Support the Troops'

University Sticks to Sticker Stance; Bans Magnet Backing Troops

(CNSNews.com) - Despite outrage voiced across the nation on talk radio, University of Oregon officials who prohibited a university delivery driver from displaying a magnetic "Support the Troops" decal on his truck announced Wednesday that the school is standing by its decision. Full Story

'The Pledge'

School Curbing Participation in Pledge of Allegiance?

(CNSNews.com) - Imagine a group of high school students complaining about the Pledge of Allegiance because, they say, their school is denying them the opportunity to say it. A small group of students at Boulder High School in Colorado is fired up about a plan to schedule recitation of the Pledge at 7:22 a.m. -- eight minutes before the start of the official school day, the Rocky Mountain News reported. The students say the Pledge should be recited when the bell rings at 7:30 a.m. Principal Ron Cabrera is quoted as saying that "people make time for things they want to do," and students who think the Pledge is important will show up eight minutes early.

Hollywood wants drivers licenses for illegal aliens...

Best Nanny in a Supporting Role
Hollywood wants drivers licenses for illegal aliens...

"Fact: In 1993, California Assemblyman Alfred Alquist, a Democrat from San Jose, authored the bill that eliminated the right of illegal immigrants to obtain a drivers license without proof of legal residency or citizenship. Up to that point, the right existed.

Yes, a Democrat, 12 years ago, sensed the pulse of voters, read the polls, and fashioned a law in response to public sentiment and common sense, a mindset sorely lacking with today’s liberal leftists in Sacramento.

The bill passed with the support of both Republicans and Democrats. Gov. Pete Wilson signed the measure into law.

But you wouldn’t know any of this today with the volumes of false impressions being created by the state’s Latino Caucus, cleverly adept at characterizing opposition to driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants as right-wing "racism," "xenophobia," and good old anti-Mexican bigotry brought on by white guys from the Republican Party."

Full Column here.

Martyrs in San Francisco

'Go back to Germany!'
"What was supposed to be a peaceful Bay Area rally protesting Palestinian terror got a little ugly when the shell of Egged bus 19 arrived at Berkeley's Martin Luther King Jr. Park. Organizers faced a counter-demonstration by Palestinian supporters, some of whom, according to the SF Chronicle, didn't share in the spirit of the gathering:

"Two, four, six, eight, we are martyrs, we can't wait,'' chanted the group, most
of whom wore kaffiyehs -- the cloth headdress closely associated with
Palestinian militants. Some drove around the park, their faces covered, waving
Palestinian flags.

Click here for a video (Quicktime) of the pro-Palestinian crowd shouting to the Jewish supporters of Israel, "Go back to Germany!"

AP coverage here. "

From Backspin

Deep thoughts on Islamist murder

"In The Guardian, cultural theorist Terry Eagleton pontificates on the meaning of the Islamist act of suicide bombing. His first maneuver is to simply deny the death cult, and blame the victims' society instead:

Like hunger strikers, suicide bombers are not necessarily in love with death. They kill themselves because they can see no other way of attaining justice; and the fact that they have to do so is part of the injustice.

Hmm.. did Eagleton miss the videotaped statement of the 'vanguard' Reem Reyashi, just before she killed four Israelis and herself in Gaza last year? Said Reem:

I always wanted to be the first woman who sacrifices her life for Allah. My joy will be complete when my body parts fly in all directions.

Eagleton then likens suicide terrorists to their actual victims:

It is possible to act in a way that makes your death inevitable without actually desiring it. Those who leapt from the World Trade Centre to avoid being incinerated were not seeking death, even though there was no way they could have avoided it.

He goes on to analyze the phenomenon as the supreme act of human rebellion, on par with the great heroic figures from western literature:

Like the traditional tragic hero, the suicide bomber rises above his own destruction by the very resolution with which he embraces it.

Muhammad Atta was the modern-day Romeo, you see.

Eagleton never bothers addressing the fact that the Islamist suicide bomber murders others along the way, other than reflecting that commuter bus terrorism has 'a smack of avant garde theatre' to it.

How ironic that Eagleton, one of the foremost practitioners of postmodern theory, is unable to allow the cultural 'other' to define his reality for himself, but rather feels compelled to project his own, western humanist personality upon the death-happy Islamist."

From: Backspin

Middle East News

Hamas Terrorist killed During an Arrest Operation in Qalkilya

Terrorist Maher Abu Sanina, who was recruited by the Hamas terror organization to carry out a combined terror attack involving a suicide bombing and a car bomb attack in a market in Rosh Ha'ayin, was killed today during an IDF, GSS and Israeli Police arrest activity.
Full Details


Key Hamas terrorists arrested in Nablus by Security Forces

In a joint IDF and GSS activity, the core members of the Hamas terrorist network in Nablus were arrested. These senior members were preparing to execute imminent large-scale explosive device attacks.
Full Details

120 Wanted Palestinians Arrested in Judea and Samaria; Week In Review

During the past week over 120 persons wanted by security forces were arrested. In addition, there were 12 shooting attacks and three explosives charges targeting IDF forces were detonated.
Full Details

US, UK embassies warn of terror threat in Kuwait
By ASSOCIATED PRESS

The US and British embassies warned their nationals of a terrorist threat in Kuwait on Thursday, with the Americans saying that militants have recently targeted a large apartment complex housing Westerners.
Full Details

Survey: Most Israelis mistrust cease-fire

A phone survey of the Israeli public about actual and political issues revealed that the majority (70 percent) of Israelis believe that the Palestinians intend to take advantage of a cease-fire in order to organize and arm themselves against Israel.
Full Details


Fatah seeks alliance with Hamas to counter Abbas

JERUSALEM – The new chief of the ruling Fatah movement has sought an alliance with Hamas in an effort to pressure the new Palestinian leadership.
A report by an Israeli think tank asserted that Fatah chief Farouk Khaddoumi has been preparing to establish an alliance against the Palestinian Authority. The report said the alliance would include Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Full Details

Gypsies sue IBM

Gypsies sue IBM for alleged Nazi ties in Switzerland
By The Associated Press

"Computer giant IBM will have to face a trial in a Swiss court over a lawsuit by Gypsies claiming the company's punch-card machines helped the Nazis commit mass murder more efficiently, the plaintiffs' attorney said Thursday."

Full article here.

WE CAN ONLY HOPE

PM: Conditions ripe for 'historic breakthrough' with Palestinians
"PA bans civilians from carrying weapons, names tough security chief; Vice Premier Peres: Sharon and Abbas to meet within days."

Full article here.

Muslim Pilgrims Enraged, Seething

From Charles @ LGF

Muslims in US raise an outcry about the brutal repressive measures they might face when returning to the US from the hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. The horrendous abuse they’re protesting?

Fingerprinting. That’s it.

UN Insanity Watch

From Charles @ LGF

"Despite an objection from the US, the United Nations is going to back a report on freedom and governance in the Arab world that blames the Arab world’s very obvious problems on 1) the US, and 2) Israel: UN to back Arab report despite US objection."

Iraq Elections

Heh, heh. Interesting question. From Media Research.

ABC, CNN, and NBC Touted Saddam 100-Percent“Vote” in 2002
Will They Dismiss a Real Vote, When They Fell for a Fraud?

Read it here.

1 in 12 Scots claim sickness benefit

• 266,000 Scots 'sick or disabled'

• 688,000 economically inactive Scots - ten times official jobless numbers

• Executive accused of using sick category to massage unemployment figures

"It defies credibility, at a time when Britain has never been healthier, that the number of people claiming disability allowance is skyrocketing" - Dr Liam Fox, Conservative Party chairman

Full article. Requires registration.

Holocaust Day boycott by Muslim Council

From telegraph.co.uk news

Holocaust Day boycott by Muslim Council
By George Jones

The Muslim Council of Britain are planning to boycott this week's commemoration of the Holocaust because they claim it is not racially inclusive.The Queen, Prince Philip and Tony Blair will represent the nation at Thursday's Holocaust Memorial Day national event at Westminster Hall, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

More than 600 Holocaust survivors together with British soldiers who helped liberate the camps will attend. Iqbal Sacranie, the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, says it will not attend because the event did not include what it described as continuing human rights abuses and genocide in the occupied territories of Palestine.

(All emphasis mine - ed.)

They don't seem to understand that this is not about them. But reminiscent of a child's behavior, everything should be about them.

Limbaugh's Ratings Grow

From Yahoo Finance
Youth Audiences Help Rush's Ratings Grow!

"Rush Limbaugh received a great birthday gift today from his New York City listeners -- Arbitron, the official monitoring service of broadcast radio, reports that listening Adults 18-49 years old grew more than 50 percent over the last year. As the ratings roll out nationally from city to city, New York's WABC-AM numbers are out first, demonstrating the following overall gains for The Rush Limbaugh Show: Adults 18-34 are up 25 percent, Persons 12+ are up 35 percent, and Adults 25-54 are up 47 percent."

Read full article here.

"Bloviation"

Ted Kennedy hosting own TV talk show
The UPI is reporting that Ted Kennedy, democrat from Mass. is hosting his own community-access cable TV talk show.

'It's been a kick,' Kennedy told the Boston Globe. His weekly half hour
show, 'Capitol Perspective,' which the Globe says is equal parts C-SPAN and Rosie O'Donnell and vaguely reminiscent of 'Wayne's World,' is seen in 158 Massachusetts communities.

Aw, shucks. Not being a Massachusetts resident, I am unable to view this C-Span/Rosie O'Donnel/Wayne's World omnium-gatherum.

Hillary Watch

Senator Hillary "Robb'em" Clinton Promotes 'Common Ground' on Abortion.
The New York Times reports on Hillary addressing a group of pro-abortion supporters talking of her support for the Roe v. Wade ruling but quickly called for a coming together on "common ground to reduce the number of 'unwanted pregnancies' and ultimately abortions, which she called a 'sad, even tragic choice to many, many women.' "

I would say it is a tragic choice to the unborn children. Hillary is trying to have it both ways and play it right down the middle. We will be seeing a lot of this re-positioning of herself in the next 4 years as she tries to re-make her liberal image into a moderate/centrist. The New York Times article can be read here. Registration required.

More Bush Boom

With jobs and incomes rising, and retail prices falling, December holiday sales were up 8.7 percent from a year ago. It’s the best showing since 1999. Meanwhile industrial production gained 4.4 percent, its best showing since 2000. Factories are humming across the board.

A week ago we learned that 2.2 million new jobs were created in 2004. Multiplying hours worked times wage increases gets us to a 5 percent trend increase for personal income. In truth, it doesn’t get a whole lot better than this.

Meanwhile, the Treasury reports a better than 40% gain in corporate tax collections for the 4th quarter, suggesting that when corporate profits are fully tallied, they will come in stronger than expected. You wouldn’t know it from the sloppy early year stock market, but U.S. business conditions are in excellent shape. That’s why stocks are looking pretty cheap.

From LKMP

PARADOXICAL

While much of the left spends too much energy "worrying" about rights, tolerance, etc. which most of us sane humans all relish, they also expect everyone to adopt their views on what is acceptable on tv when it comes to language and nudity. Americans are prudish, so to speak if we are not in agreement with them.

Christianity bad. Secularism good. Clothing bad. Nudity good. Tolerance and multiculturism good. Tolerance and assimilation bad. Christianity and Judaism bad. Islam good. If Christians are intolerant, or at the very least, not tolerant ENOUGH, how's this for intolerance and "prudishness"?

Iraq Elections

Zeyad, a writer from Iraq says he recently had a conversation with a taxi driver who used to live in Fallujah, but now lives in Baghdad. The taxi driver "dismissed the whole government as a band of thieves and traitors."

Zeyad said he did not bother to argue with him but did ask him what he believed would be a workable solution to the "mess" in Iraq. He apparently replied that "resistance" was the only sound and practical solution. The first thing to do was drive out the Americans, and then second was to fight the Shia "back into submission" (as was done in 1991 after the first Gulf War).

Zeyad then goes on to write, "Sunni Iraqis contend that elections are impossible to hold under occupation. Leaving aside the fact that this views conflicts with other historical examples in the region, Sunnis have never offered an alternative choice, which eventually leads one to guess that the opinion held by the Fallujan taxi driver above is precisely what they are planning to implement."

That is why most of the arguments for delaying their election, to be truthful, is centered around the notion that it will not produce "their" desired result; that desired result being the resumption of Sunni control and authority over the Shia and the Kurds. And since that option is not realistic or acceptable, to delay it would only play into their (the Sunnis) hands. Postponing it is only a smokescreen, a tactic that the Sunnis would gladly like to use. The hardline Sunnis know that no level of violence is acceptable to the "Western critics", and a few car bombs here and there will over-magnify the insurgents' "apparent" (although misperceived) strength and influence in an attempt to delegitimize the election. The "insurgents" know this; which is why they're more than happy to go along with this tactic.

In summary Zeyad reasons, "I believe national reconciliation to be the only path forward to a new Iraq. The Shia cannot live without the Sunnis, and vice versa. Both have shared this country for the last 14 centuries and there is no possible way that one can live without the other. Even partition is not a possibility, there are no clear borders between the two."

The reality to the Sunnis is that it is not 1991 anymore. The minority Sunnis do not have the militaty backing that they once enjoyed under Saddam which is what kept the Shia contained and under their thumb. Now it's up to the Shia's to show restraint and diplomacy since they are in the majority and must recognize a civil war is the last thing Iraqis need. The Sunnis also need to recognize this fact. Their much smaller population without Saddam's muscle does not put them in a very strong position to be in and dreaming of a civil war.

Hat tip to:
Chrenkoff

Let's try it vs. Let's think about it

Most Europeans would rather be the employee than the employer.

Fear of failure makes Europeans happier to be cashing regular paychecks than starting their own business. Americans, on the other hand, are more likely to want to be their own boss, according to an EU report.

"There are cultural differences between Germans and Americans," Götz W. Werner, founder of German drugstore chain dm, told DW-WORLD.DE. "Americans say, 'Let's try it,' a German wants to consider all the possibilities first -- that's why Germans often lack boldness."

Full story.

HERE WE GO AGAIN

Could it be?
Rumors abound again that Zarqawi has been arrested.
I can understand why if he has been arrested/captured they would want to keep it under wraps. For one, any information they might be able to acquire from him would become useless pretty quickly if it became general knowledge that he was in custody. But wouldn't it be nice to have him under wraps now prior to the election in Irag?. It of course would not guarantee a complete stoppage of violence leading up to election day and even on election day, but might help reduce it and furthermore, even encourage a larger turnout on election day.

THE U.N. (AS IN USELESS NATIONS)

I guess the UN, having acted so decisively and expeditiously in the December 26 tsunami crisis (are you aware that on January 18, the U.N. became ACTIVE, FINALLY, in Sumatra with TWO leased helicopters), has decided to take on a much larger quest, more suited for such a superbly efficient organization. (Oh, and it should be noted that the US has increased its helo flights from 30/day to 80/day and has been there virtually since day one.) But, I digress. Sorry.

So what is this new U.N. undertaking? What's the U.N.'s new labor of love, that only such a fine global utopian organization would be able to take on and master? Drum roll, please....................................................
It's going to end world poverty! It will now spread the wealth. (This is code speak for taking your money through a global tax). How will they do it ? Well, they have a MAGICAL report. Nope, not an ordinary report, but a magical 3000 page report. 3000 PAGES!

(Their crackpot research team consisted of 265 experts and graduate students took THREE YEARS to collect and analyze the data.)

This magical 3000 page report is entitled, "A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals". You can go to their website and download it for free. Go ahead, download it, read it, and get back to me folks. OK? I expect you to read it in its entirety and then report back to me by the end of the week. You will be graded on it.

"Any report 3,000 pages long is worthless as a plan of action, much less a Practical Plan." So what are some of the tidbits from this plan?

1) recommending that rich countries double their investments in poor countries to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of reducing (by 50%) extreme poverty by 2015 (that's only 10 years from now - a rather ambitious goal wouldn't you say?) and going beyond to eliminate it by 2025.

2) it was time to relaunch the aid target, set in 1969 and confirmed in 2002, of having the 22 rich countries put in 0.7 per cent of their gross national product (GNP)

3) one of the biggest benefits of the report would be to help development specialists "get back our ambition" because development experts had become cautious in their thinking because so many programmes had failed. (Heh, heh.) (That's their words/analysis, not mine.)

4) said international organizations and donors needed to strengthen developing country expertise in science and technology through higher education. "Higher education is at the centre of the development process, but assistance to poor countries often focuses mainly on primary schools."

Hmmmmm.....Oh well, I am not going to waste my time trying to analyze that.

The bottom line folks is that an organization that takes 3 weeks to plan and then implement some half-a**ed relief plan to victims of one of the worlds worst natural disasters is incapable of tackling the much more complicated and ambitious endeavor (by taking on the impossible) and eliminating global poverty.

(Hat tip to Diplomad)