September 01, 2005

DON'T DESPAIR NEW ORLEANS

IF THE DUTCH COULD DO IT IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, THE AMERICANS CAN DO IT IN THE TWENTY-FIRST

There’s no need for the people of New Orleans to despair. They can have their beautiful city back dry and bigger and better than before if they do what the Dutch did about seventy-five years ago in response to a similar disaster.

The Dutch and their ancestors have been working to hold back and reclaim land from the North Sea for over 2000 years. Then, in 1916 the horrendous storms and floods from the North Sea provided the impetus for the Dutch to start a major project to reclaim the Zuiderzee. From 1927 to 1932, a 19 mile long dyke called the Barrier Dyke was built, creating a huge freshwater lake, called the IJsselmeer, many times the size of Lake Pontchartrain.

Further protective dykes were built, little by little reclaiming the land of the IJsselmeer. The new land led to the creation of a the new province of Flevoland from what had been sea and water for centuries. The collective North Sea Protective Works is one of the seven wonders of the modern world according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The Netherlands, which is approximately the size of Connecticut and Massachusetts combined, has an approximate average elevation of 36 feet because much of the Netherlands is essentially a delta for the Rhine and other rivers just as New Orleans is a delta for the Mississippi. Today, approximately 27 percent of the Netherlands is actually below sea level and this area is home to over 60 percent of the country's population of 15.8 million people.

Once America gets over the shock and grief of loss we will reclaim New Orleans as we reclaimed San Francisco after the earthquake and fire, Pearl Harbor after the attack, New York after 9/11—perhaps with a few hints from our friends the Dutch.

July 24, 2005

AND WE KNOW THE NEOCONS CONTROL MOSSAD

Claim: Mossad behind Sharm attacks

"Several Egyptian "security experts" and "political analysts" interviewed by Arab TV stations in the aftermath of the Sharm e-Sheikh bombings on Saturday claimed that Israel and Jews were behind the carnage..."
See the rest here.
        In the words of the vacationing James Taranto: What would we do without Egyptian "security experts"?

June 02, 2005

NO APOLOGIES FOR ANTI-CHRISTIAN BARBARISM

One of the things we infidels are learning about Islam: they never apologize. Should one of us mistreat, for example, by touching, their Koran, rioting and mayhem erupt. Yet when actual people among us non-Muslim infidels, are beheaded by Islamists, don't hold your breath waiting for expressions of remorse. While our MSM are obsessed with a Koran possibly being flushed down a toilet (the horror!) here is a report on real horrors inflicted on the infidels. Where is the round the clock coverage by our righteous pursuers of Truth in the media? I guess they're too busy congratulating Mark Felt and themselves for bringing down a President.

MUSLIM PROTESTORS BURN CROSS ON STREETS OF LONDON

More than 300 Muslim protestors set fire to a wooden cross outside the
American Embassy in London last Friday 20th May.

The crowd, led by Omar Bakri Muhammad and Yassar al-Siri, were
protesting against the alleged desecration of a Qur’an by American
military interrogators at Guantanamo Bay. This followed claims by
Newsweek magazine that a copy of the Qur’an had been put down a
toilet. American and British flags were also burnt, and the protestors
chanted calls for violence against the US and UK. Amongst the
protestors were about 50 women, some of whom had brought their
children.

At the time this protest took place, Newsweek had retracted their
story about the alleged incident in Guantanamo Bay. Yet the
cross-burning still took place, and has caused little interest in the
British media.

IRAN: TEHRAN

A Christian convert has had his trial for apostasy postponed. Hamid
Pourmand (47) converted from Islam 25 years ago. Serving as a colonel
in the Iranian army, he was arrested in September 2004, accused of
deceiving the military about his conversion. The evidence Hamid
produced to show his superiors were fully aware of his Christian faith
was declared to be falsified. Islam states that Christians are not
allowed to have authority over Muslims, so no Christian officers are
allowed in the Iranian army.

In February he was sentenced to three years in prison, and now faces
trial in a shari'ah court for his conversion, facing the death penalty
if found guilty. The trial began in secret, but after news of it was
leaked to the media it was postponed and Hamid has been moved to a
prison in Banda-i Bushehr. A new date for the trial to begin has not
been announced.

UZBEKISTAN

In Karakalpakstan a Christian convert, Khaldibek Primbetov, was
severely beaten several times by his fellow villagers and told to
'return' to Islam or leave their village, Yanboshkala. Primbetov
appealed to the prosecutor's office, and an investigator was sent to
the village.

However, instead of investigating the beatings, the investigator tried
to get Primbetov to withdraw his complaint, telling him that he had
'betrayed' the faith of his ancestors. When Primbetov refused the
investigator threatened to imprison Primbetov. He also threatened to
hit a Christian woman, who protested when he told her that reading the
New Testament was forbidden and that by reading Christian literature
she was 'ruining society'.

The prosecutor's office denies that its investigator, who refused to
give his name, was persecuting the Christians.

VIETNAM: CHRISTIAN CONVERT TORTURED

A Christian children's Bible teacher in Vietnam has suffered severe
abuse while serving a one-year sentence on in Vietnam, including
severe beatings and electric shocks. Le Thi Hong Lien (20), who was
imprisoned in summer 2004, was transferred in February 2005 to the
Bien Hoa Mental Hospital, where she was kept under guard, after Le
Thi's parents reported that she had lost her mind and no longer
recognised them, while prison officers said she no longer had control
over her bodily functions.

Le Thi was released from the prison hospital on April 28th, two months
before the end of her sentence, as part of the 30th anniversary
celebrations of the fall of Saigon. However she was re-arrested along
with another 12 Christians when police raided a prayer meeting, on May
1st. They were taken to the police station and subjected to several
hours of severe interrogation before being released.

UK: INCITEMENT TO RELIGIOUS HATRED

The newly re-elected Labour government have pledged to force through
legislation banning incitement to religious hatred, which they had had
to drop in April because of the time pressure of the election.
Speaking on the Today programme (BBC Radio 4) in May Mr Charles
Clarke, the Home Secretary, said that if necessary the government
would use the Parliament Act to force the bill through, as it did for
the anti-hunting bill.

There is particular concern that this law could be used to prevent
reasonable debate and criticism of another person's religion and
potentially silence those who speak out on behalf of the millions of
people who suffer as a result of particular religious teachings.

SAUDI ARABIA

On April 23rd 40 Pakistani Christians were arrested in Riyadh after
they took part in a Christian service in an apartment. To this date it
is unclear what has happened to the 40, who included women and
children. Some sources indicate that they have been released, however
there has been no official word on them. Human Rights groups and the
Church in Pakistan have called on Pakistan's government to intervene
on behalf of the Pakistani Christians. So far Pakistan has also
remained silent on the issue.

PALESTINE: CONVERT ATTACKED

A Palestinian convert from Islam to Christianity has been seriously
burned in an attack which appears to be by those who were opposing her
ministry. After leading a meeting for new believers and seekers she
was driving to another town for another meeting. A car followed her
and ran her off the road. After her car had crashed, a Molotov
cocktail was thrown into her car. She was burned on her legs and back.
Her husband has suffered a number of serious attacks because of his
evangelistic activities.

INDIA: CHURCH ATTACKED

A house church in Karnataka state was attacked by a crowd of 500 Hindu
villagers during a service on Sunday May 1st, destroying property and
burning Bibles and other Christian literature. Pastor Paulraj Raju,
his wife and an elder of the church were all seriously injured, and
several women in the congregation were molested.

Raju had been arrested in January for trying to convert Hindus and
held until March 3rd, after a crowd of villagers attacked him. Then on
April 1st a crowd of 200 gathered outside Raju's house, demanding that
the church close and Raju leave the district.

INDIA: STUDENTS ATTACKED

In Kerala state eight Bible college students were on their way to a
funeral when a group of 15 young men on
motor-cycles and in a jeep attacked them with knives, shouting
anti-Christian slogans. The attackers are part of the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) group. Three of the students were hospitalised
due to the severity of their injuries.

The Bible College has surprised the local community in its response,
saying that they have chosen to forgive the attackers and not press
charges. The police however have registered a case against 15 men.

INDIA: SCHOOLS BOMBED

Two Christian missionary schools in Srinagar have been attacked with
grenades. On 11th May a grenade was thrown at a security vehicle
outside a boys' school; the grenade missed the vehicle and exploded
among the parents and children at the school gates. Two people were
killed and 35 injured, four were in a critical condition. At another
school on May 12th a grenade thrown directly at the school injured 50
people, including 20 children. Two women later died in hospital.

INDIA: ARRESTED FOR GIVING OUT BIBLES

In Rajnagar four men were arrested on May 13th for handing out copies
of the Bible to local residents. A police officer explaining the
arrest, said that due to rising religious tension the distribution of
Bibles might have caused further unrest. The tension in the area
follows the recent alleged conversion of 300 Hindu families to
Christianity.

INDONESIA: MAMASA

Following an attack in the majority Christian province Mamasa,
Indonesian police discovered documents on a terror suspect they
arrested which indicated 'plans to carry out terror attacks and
bombings across the country'.

These documents have added to observers' fears that anti-Christian
violence, as seen in the Malukus in the period 1999-2001, may be on
the rise. During that period between 10,000 and 30,000 were killed.
The continuing lower level anti-Christian violence in Sulawesi may
also escalate. Many of the 500,000 refugees who fled the violence in
the Malukus have begun returning to their homes, only to now face the
prospect of further attacks.

The Barnabas Fund, The Old Rectory, River Street, PEWSEY,
Wiltshire, SN9 5DB, UK, Tel 01672 564938, Fax 01672 565030,
E-mail info@barnabasfund.org Web http://www.barnabasfund.org/

August 24, 2004

HORSEFEATHERS GOES BALTIC

(Posted by Dr. R. for Dr. K.)

If you have a very short attention span, cruising is for you. If you have a bee-like mind that alights on a flower, sucks it dry of nectar and moves on, cruising is for you. If you have a cognitive style characterized by short, superficial bursts of observation that result in profound generalizations and deeply held beliefs that are confidently asserted and widely circulated, cruising is for you.

The rule is that you may not spend more than three hours in any port, usually accompanied by a guide who takes you to town halls, old churches, and souvenir shops. But you will be amazed what you can learn about the people of a country in a very short time, especially if you keep your eyes open and your mind closed. What follows are some notes written about the various peoples and places of north-eastern Europe.

Denmark

Denmark is a toy country. It is the kind of country that you’d expect to see in the windows of Lord and Taylor around Christmas time. It has a population of about five million, about the size of Chicago’s. It prides itself on its hundreds of windmill farms, which produce about 15 percent of its energy needs. It will never have nuclear power, the stylish guide says proudly. In fact, one third of the population rides bicycles everywhere, even though Denmark is one of the most prosperous countries in Europe. If you want to buy a car you must pay a two hundred percent tax on it. A $25,000 car will cost you $75,000. Copenhagen is charming and clean, and its people are calm and easy, and if our guide is representative, rather droll. They are also insufferably smug and holier-than-thou about their lifestyle and the righteous way they live.

Gdansk

Gdansk, hopelessly mutilated by the Nazis during the war, and then misprized for fifty years by the Soviets because it had once been Danzig, the queen of the Baltic and East Prussia, is now a small struggling city trying to climb its way out of poverty through hard work. But whereas Germany had access to capital through the Marshall Plan, Poland has few or no sources of capital to draw on for investment.

They try to bring money in through tourism but there is nothing to see in Gdansk—the Nazis destroyed everything. There are only a few facades of buildings that have been renovated to look like the 16th century trading houses of the old Hanseatic League. Everybody who doesn’t work in the port in Gdynia scrounges for tourist money by selling postcards or toys that sound like chickens cackling, or, if you are a young music student, playing a Mozart quartet in the town square. There is not much there, and so there is not much to remember.

Tallin

Estonia is a curious little country. It has a population of 1.5 million people, a little less than Queens’, a third of whom are Russians left over from the Soviet Union, who for whatever reason have chosen to stay in Estonia. It seems most proud of its long history of being conquered. It has been conquered by just about every country in Europe north of the Mason-Dixon line: Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Germany, etc. Its two major industries are timber and tourism. And except for Tallin, its capital, there is not much there except forests. The “old town,” of which there is much left, is medieval, the new town is just old and run down. But there is a hopeful spirit there that is missing from Gdansk.

St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg, aka Petrograd, aka Leningrad, aka St. Petersburg was invented by Peter the Great about three hundred years ago because he wanted Russia to have more contact with the West. He saw that Russia was hopelessly backward and hoped to create a window on the West so that Russians might take as a model the advances that the enlightenment had brought to Western Europe. Alas, even after three hundred years Russia still has a lot of catching up to do.

St. Petersburg is still the Second World. As we walked down the gangplank to the quay, we heard the sounds of a lively little brass band playing “Hold that Tiger,” and then “There’ll Always Be an England,” then “God Save the Queen.” At first we all thought that this was a cheerful introduction to the city arranged by the city fathers. But then we realized that this was only a group of elderly musicians scrounging a few rubles from tourists wherever and whenever they could. Our early pleasure turned to sadness as we grasped that these were once professional musicians who were reduced to degrading themselves for tourists playing the “Tiger Rag.” Wherever we went in St. Petersburg we saw such musicians, sometimes a soloist, sometimes a group of three or four scrounging for a few coins in front of tourist attractions. In front of the eighteenth century Peterhof Palace they had donned silly looking powdered wigs as they played what they thought would please the endless parade of tourists. Sad, very sad.

St. Petersburg was the only place in Europe where we had to show our passports and get landing cards from passport control on leaving the ship. We were warned that unless you had an individual visa, you were obliged to stay with the group. This entailed getting and giving up our landing cards several times during our thirty-six hour stay. And passport control was deadly serious as they examined our passports and looked—not glanced—at us to make sure our faces matched our pictures. They appeared to mean business.

There is no better example of the Second Law of Thermodynamics—entropy— which says that things tend to break down and become degraded unless they are supplied with energy, than St. Petersburg. The place has broken down, is breaking down, or is about to break down. Most things are in a state of disrepair, cracked, in need of paint, pot-holes everywhere.

Although most people on the street wear cheaply made clothes there are plenty of cars on the street—Hondas, Toyotas, Fords—and according to one of our guides most people go off on weekends to their summer cottage and their vegetable gardens.

“You are forbidden to take pictures without a charge.” This sign appears in the Peterhof Palace and in most museums. In fact the phrase “You are forbidden…” appears constantly in public places and casts a pall over Western sensibilities. It is a manifestation of an authoritarianism that Americans are not used to. It is easy to feel that officials—public servants—in this country have power over you rather than that they are there to serve you.

An example will suffice. On the bus on the way back from a performance of the ballet “Giselle,” the bus driver turned on the bus radio to some American pop-music sung by a Russian in heavily accented English. The music was loud, unpleasant and totally out of keeping with the beautiful performance we had just seen and heard.

At first we all thought that as soon as the bus started the driver would turn the music off. But he didn’t, and after about ten minutes of this obnoxious situation, I made my way up to the front of the bus and spoke to the uniformed woman who seemed to be in charge of the bus. “Couldn’t you turn that music down,” I said querulously, “It is very loud and unpleasant.”

“Loud? Unpleasant? Why is it unpleasant?” she asked sharply, acting as though I had insulted Russian culture. I opened my mouth to say ‘Listen you Russky apparatchik, I didn’t come four thousand miles and spend a hundred and fifty bucks on this concert to have you ruin it with a lot of Russky pop trash.’ But just at that moment the Goddess-of-Safe-Return sped down from Mount Olympus and wrapped my mind in a cloud of tact. The serious man at passport control flashed into my mind and I realized that I was still in the Second World, Glasnost or not. “It is very loud,” I said, “and my wife is getting a headache.” She turned and barked a command to the driver, who switched the radio off. As I returned to my seat a round of applause and cheering went up. “Well done,” a voice in the back of the bus shouted. The rest of the group, all Brits, were too polite to say anything on the bus, but kept coming up to me the next day, on the deck and in the dining room, to thank me for taking action. What would they do without us?

One of the highlights of St. Petersburg was Ludmilla, one of our tour guides, who told it like it is in Russia. She is a fat, ugly, middle-aged woman who had lived in Holland for many years before returning to her native St. Petersburg. She is very intelligent and witty, with a sardonic sense of humor, especially about Russian men, who are like mentally defective children, she says.

While the rest of the passengers on the tour were off shopping we were able to have a nice chat with her. She says that the two main problems in St. Petersburg are the unending influx of Chechen Muslims and the pervasive corruption in government. The Chechens are primitive and do not want to learn the ways of city life. They take over a neighborhood and make it so threatening that the Russians move out. And there is no law enforcement available to protect the ordinary citizen from them.

What about the Hermitage? Ah yes, the Hermitage. Isn’t that First World? Well, yes and no. Catherine the Great started the collection in the eighteenth century. She was not a connoisseur—Catherine’s collecting, like her sex life, emphasized quantity over quality—and she bought art wholesale to fill the space on her many walls. Her representatives all over Europe made arrangements with dealers to buy various collections that came on the market. You can imagine that dealers took the opportunity to get rid of lots of inventory that wasn’t moving. And, of course, this process of wholesale art buying went on for two hundred years. The net result is a huge collection of art with a handful of masterpieces and the remainder made up of objects that are often not quite top of the line. The Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection is perhaps the best—because it was purchased for the Tsar by an industrialist who knew the artists and something about art. If you are impressed by the quantity of art rather than its quality, then the Hermitage is the museum for you.

HELSINKI

Helsinki is surely the neatest and cleanest city in Europe. There is no garbage visible at all and almost no graffiti. The streetcars are beautiful, and everything seems to be the opposite image of St. Petersburg. Here everything works, and looks well. There are no grand or even beautiful buildings, only well designed ones. Moderation, modesty, simplicity, common sense, are all words that seem to fit Finland. The people are friendly, polite, and appear to live comfortable lives. One could easily live a pleasant, dull life here. Words like “passion,” or “grandness,” probably do not appear in the vocabulary of that strange Finnish language. A psychoanalyst would go broke here.

July 19, 2004

HORSEFEATHERS ALERT: WAR BETWEEN IRELAND AND FRANCE AVERTED

Jacques Chirac, The French Prime Minister, was sitting in his office wondering what kind of mischief he could perpetrate against the United States when his telephone rang.

"Hallo, Mr. Chirac!", a heavily accented voice said. "This is Paddy down at the Harp Pub in County Sligo, Ireland. I am ringing to inform you that we are officially declaring war on you!"

"Well, Paddy," Chirac replied, "This is indeed important news! How big is your army?"

"Right now," said Paddy, after a moment's calculation, "there is myself, me cousin Sean, me next door neighbor Seamus, and the entire dart team from the pub. That makes eight!"

Chirac paused. "I must tell you, Paddy, that I have one hundred thousand men in my army waiting to move on my command."

"Begorra!" said Paddy. "I'll have to ring you back!"

Sure enough, the next day, Paddy called again. "Mr. Chirac, the war is still on. We have managed to get us some infantry equipment!"

"And what equipment would that be, Paddy?" Chirac asked. "Well, we have two
combines, a bulldozer, and Murphy's farm tractor."

Chirac sighed, amused. "I must tell you, Paddy, that I have 6,000 tanks and 5,000 armored personnel carriers. Also, I've increased my army to one hundred fifty thousand since we last spoke."

"Saints preserve us!" said Paddy. "I'll have to get back to you."

Sure enough, Paddy rang again the next day. "Mr. Chirac, the war is still on!" We have managed to get ourselves airborne! We've modified Jackie McLaughlin's ultra-light with a couple of shotguns in the cockpit, and four boys from the Shamrock Pub have joined us as well!"

Chirac was silent for a minute and then cleared his throat. "I must tell you, Paddy, that I have 100 bombers and 200 fighter planes. My military complex is surrounded by laser-guided, surface-to-air missile sites. And since we last spoke, I've increased my army to two hundred thousand!"

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!", said Paddy, "I'll have to ring you back."

Sure enough, Paddy called again the next day. "Top o' the mornin', Mr. Chirac! I am sorry to tell you that we have had to call off the war."

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Chirac. "Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Well," said Paddy, "we've all had a long chat over a bunch of pints, and
decided there's no foo-kin way we can feed two hundred thousand prisoners."

June 19, 2004

NOT IN THE NEW YORK TIMES

        In yesterday's speech to soldiers at Ft. Lewis, President Bush had a message to the handwringing appeasers at the NYTimes Editorial Board. Describing our efforts in Iraq he said: "...At the same time that we're helping the Iraqis bring the terrorists to justice, we're helping the Iraqi people to rebuild the basic infrastructure of their country. This is tough work. It's hard work. It's hard work to go from a society terrorized by a tyrant to a free society. But we have done this kind of work before. I want you to listen to how The New York Times described conditions in Germany in November, 1946. This was 18 months after the fall of Berlin. "Germany is a land in an acute stage of economic, political and moral crisis. The basic elements of recovery and peace are lacking. European capitals are frightened by the prospect of a German collapse. In every military headquarters, one meets alarmed officials doing their best to deal with the consequences of the occupation policy they admit has failed..."

        Guess what part of this speech was not reported in the NYTimes?

April 14, 2004

OUR HELPFUL FRIENDS THE SAUDIS

The Religion of Peace, as ever vigilant to threats from the infidels.

Attacks Against Fallujah Great Injustice, Say Islamic Scholars
Staff Writer

JEDDAH, 15 April 2004 — "...The Kingdom’s supreme religious ruling body, the Permanent Committee for Scientific Research and Ifta, strongly condemned the attacks against the Iraqi people by the occupation forces in Iraq and called for the suspension of military operations. It also wants those responsible for these attacks to be brought to justice..."

See the rest in the Arab News here.

February 06, 2004

IS THIS A GREAT COUNTRY OR WHAT?

If you want to see what a great country America is just click here. (Be sure and scroll down until you strike it rich.)

January 05, 2004

It Liiives!

Testing

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