So let it be written, so let it be done

Postcards from Barack Hussein Obama.

Postcards from Barack Hussein Obama.

According to a front-page story in the Washington Post two weeks ago, Obama has pursued a strategy of putting "daylight" between the U.S. and Israel. He's traveled to the Middle East multiple times -- to accept an award in Saudi Arabia, to give a major speech in Cairo, to hold town hall meetings in Turkey -- but never stopped to visit our closest ally in the region. Today ECI released a 30-second TV ad called "Postcards" that highlights Obama's "daylight" strategy. In a significant buy, it will appear today and Monday on MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News in Washington and New York, and through next week on broadcast and cable in Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. 

How Hitler Came To Power

Worth reading by way of review.

Excerpt:

...[T]he National Socialists never captured more than 37 percent of the national vote...

[...]

...Hitler returned to the Reichstag every four years to renew the “temporary” delegation of emergency powers that it had given him to deal with the Reichstag-arson crisis. Needless to say, the Reichstag rubber-stamped each of his requests...

Read it ALL.

Draw your own conclusions.

Also keep in mind the story "The Boy Who Cried Wolf."

Hitler comparisons have been so often drawn that, in my view, most are incapable of realizing when the wolf really is coming in the door.

RACIST IN CHIEF

Obama Announces Executive Order Creating Education Office For African “Americans”

From BuzzFeed:

Obama Backs Plan To Ensure Schools Don’t Discipline Black Students More Than White Kids

President Barack Obama is backing a controversial campaign by progressives to regulate schools’ disciplinary actions so that members of major racial and ethnic groups are penalized at equal rates, regardless of individuals’ behavior. 

His July 26 executive order established a government panel to promote “a positive school climate that does not rely on methods that result in disparate use of disciplinary tools.” 

“African Americans lack equal access to highly effective teachers and principals, safe schools, and challenging college-preparatory classes, and they disproportionately experience school discipline,” said the order, titled “White House Initiative On Educational Excellence.” 

Because of those causes, the report suggests, “over a third of African American students do not graduate from high school on time with a regular high school diploma, and only four percent of African American high school graduates interested in college are college-ready across a range of subjects.” 

“What this means is that whites and Asians will get suspended for things that blacks don’t get suspended for,” because school officials will try to level punishments despite groups’ different infraction rates, predicted Hans Bader, a counsel at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Bader is a former official in the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, and has sued and represented school districts and colleges in civil-rights cases.

Paging James Monroe, call for Mr. Monroe please.

Ole pooty poote

Russia wants naval bases abroad: report

Russiahopes to establish its first naval base abroad since the 1991collapse of the Soviet Unionand is looking at Cuba,Vietnamand the Seychelles as possible locations, state-runRIAnews agency quoted the navy chief as saying on Friday.

Russia has been increasing the reach of its navy in recent years, sending warships further afield as part of an effort to restore pride project power in a world dominated by the U.S. military.

“It’s true that we are continuing work on providing the navy with basing outside the Russian Federation,” RIA quoted Vice AdmiralViktor Chirkovas saying in an interview.

The Soviet Union had a large naval base in Communist ally Vietnam but post-SovietRussiaopted to vacate theCam Ranhbase in 2002, duringPresident Vladimir Putin’s first Kremlin term, because rent payments were a burden on state coffers.

The fate of Russia’s only naval facility outside the former Soviet Union, a maintenance and supply facility in the Syrian port of Tartous, is uncertain because of the conflict in Syria.

Chirkov said Russia was “working out the issue of creating sites for material and technical support on the territory of Cuba, the Seychelles and Vietnam,” RIA reported.

Chirkov’s wording suggested facilities in those countries might be less extensive than full-scale naval bases. Navy officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang, who was in Russia and was to meet Putin on Friday, was quoted as telling a Russian radio station that Vietnam has “no intention of cooperating with any country with the aim of military use of the port of Cam Ranh”.

However, Sang was quoted as telling Voice of Russia radio that a maintenance and service facility at the port would be open to ships from all nations and that, in the interest of furthering a “strategic partnership” with Moscow, Vietnam “will provide Russia with advantages in Cam Ranh, including with aim of developing military cooperation”.

Cuba?

Didn’t we do this dance once already?

Slava and Kirov class cruisers based in Cuba? The former with 16 SSN-12 missiles each, range 400+ miles, 359 kiloton warhead. Kirovs with minimum 20 SSN-19 missiles. And storage facilities in Cuba? Service?

Would this COMPLETE STUPIDITY be because of our anti missile bases in Poland?

Roosians have ONLY one response. They are dependeing on their friend, I suppose who told Medvedev that after the election he would have more flexibility. They are just sending a message perhaps. Making sure.

Note that even Vietnam wants no part of the Rooskies

I have what is ironically the Chicago response, even though Mr. Obama only lives in that world with those who can do him no physical harm.

For God's Sake!

Saw this over at Breitbart, citing New York Magazine, and burst into the laugh of the lunatic:

Mitt Romney’s plan of blatantly lying about President Obama’s “you didn’t build that” speech is clearly drawing blood. But what makes the attack work so well is not so much the lie itself but the broader subtext of it....

The key thing is that Obama is angry, and he’s talking not in his normal voice but in a “black dialect.” This [meaning, criticizing Obama's you-didn't-build-that remark] strikes at the core of Obama’s entire political identity: a soft-spoken, reasonable African-American with a Kansas accent. From the moment he stepped onto the national stage, Obama’s deepest political fear was being seen as a “traditional” black politician, one who was demanding redistribution from white America on behalf of his fellow African-Americans....

I can't take much more of this crap.

In my view, we are not far away from this: "You MUST be a racist if you didn't vote for Barack Hussein Obama."

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Medicine

Low Road

EU Says It Doesn’t Have Enough “Tangible Evidence” Hezbollah Is A Terrorist Group…

From CNSNews.com: 

Israeli officials and Jewish organizations have criticized the European Union’s continuing reluctance to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, warning that at a time of escalating Iranian-sponsored international terrorism and the crisis in Syria failure to do so could impact on Mideast and global security. 

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last week publicly reiterated his support for the Assad regime – the Lebanese Shi’ite group’s  most important ally after Tehran – andaccused the United States of fomenting the crisis it currently faces, prompting concerns that Hezbollah could mount fresh attacks in support of Damascus. 

Israel meanwhile has accused Hezbollah and its patron, Iran, of responsibility for the July 18 bombing in Bulgaria, which cost the lives of five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian. 

Neither Bulgaria nor the U.S. have yet publicly assigned blame, although House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and House Homeland Security Committee chairman Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) both told The Hill Wednesday they believe Iran and Hezbollah were involved. 

The Israeli government, hopeful that an attack on European soil might strengthen its case, took up the matter this week at a meeting with the government of Cyprus – which holds the E.U.’s rotating presidency – but was rebuffed.

Boston Mayor Ok With Radical Imam Who Says, "Kill Gays", Not Ok With Chick Fil-A

Tom Menino - Homo Hater

From the Boston Herald:

Given his stance on Chick-fil-A, would Mayor Tom Menino grant permits to a group that has counted among its leaders a man who has repeatedly called homosexuality a “crime that must be punished” by death?
Actually, he has done that  . . . and more! Menino effectively gave away city land valued at $1.8 million to the organization, and he gave a speech at its ribbon-cutting ceremony.
It’s the Islamic Society of Boston’s mosque, and when it comes to anti-gay sentiment, one of its early supporters makes Chick-fil-A look like the Provincetown Men’s Chorus.
During the (understandable) controversy over the city selling land for a house of worship at a below-market rate a decade ago, reporters discovered that the Islamic Society of Boston counted imam Yusef al-Qaradawi as one of its spiritual guides. As the Weekly Standard reported at the time:
“The ISB does not dispute the fact that they have repeatedly used al-Qaradawi as a tool to raise funds for the Boston mosque, printing a brochure that highlighted al-Qaradawi’s enthusiastic support of the mosque and playing a videotaped message of support from him at a 2002 gathering.”
Also in attendance at the gathering, listening to al-Qaradawi’s message: Mayor Tom Menino.
Outside Boston, al-Qaradawi is better known as a vocal supporter of terrorism who teaches a hard-core version of Islam. His claim to fame as a “progressive” is that he was the first prominent imam to urge women to become suicide bombers, too.
It was only when his terror support became known that the Islamic Society of Boston announced that epeated listings of al-Qaradawi as an ISB trustee had been a mistake.
But nobody’s accusing Chick-fil-A of supporting terrorism — just traditional marriage (I think liberals still see the former as more dangerous). Menino heard the president of the company call same-sex marriage a “sin,” and he announced it would not be allowed to do business in Boston.
OK, Mr. Mayor. But when you gave all that land to the ISB at a song, here’s what imam al-Qaradawi was teaching:
“[A homosexual should be given] the same punishment as any sexual pervert  . . . Some say we should throw them from a high place, like God did with the people of Sodom. Some say we should burn them.”
According to the Anti-Defamation League, “In 2003 Qaradawi stated on IslamOnline that the punishment of homosexuality is the death penalty.”
In the end, says the anti-Islamist organization MEMRI, al-Qaradawi came down on the side of stoning.
Hey — say what you want about Chick-fil-A, but they aren’t trying to kill anyone. Other than, perhaps, via hardening of the arteries.
Chick-fil-A wants to come to Boston, pay taxes and put people to work. Menino says “no” because the CEO thinks same-sex marriage is wrong.
But that same mayor was all but giving away city land to the Islamic Society of Boston, even as they were presenting as one of their spiritual guides an imam who says homosexuals should be killed.

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US JEWISH FEDERATIONS TO DROP ‘ZIONISM’ FROM THEIR PLANS

Very, very sad.

As Pamela Geller notes, "The attempt to distance themselves from Israel is suicidal. Jewicidal. The Jewish people are Israel. "

In what has been described as “a closeted and cowardly move,” the Jewish Federations of North America last week rejected the inclusion of the term “Zionism” in a major system-wide planning document. 

The JFNA’s Global Planning Table is the mechanism by which JFNA and Federation leadership come together to determine the allocation of dollars for new Federation initiatives outside of the United States.  The Report issued by this collaborative is considered a building block of the allocations decision making process, and it was the call to include Zionism in the recent report that was rejected.  The Global Planning Table page of the JFNA website does not include either the term Zionism or Israel. 

Richard Wexler, former chair of the Chicago Federation and national chairman of the United Jewish Appeal in the late ’90′s, revealedyesterday, July 26, that JFNA’s leaders have rejected the inclusion of the term “Zionism” in their Global Planning Table Work Group Report  because the term “is too controversial.” 

In 2008 Wexler stepped down from his position as chairman of the United Israel Appeal, a subsidiary of what later became the JFNA.  He also was one of the architects of the merger of United Jewish Communities, the umbrella group for the local Federations.  Even while in a leadership position, however,  Wexler was critical of the management culture, writing in his blog “UJ Thee and Me” that “criticism is not merely ignored, it is not tolerated.” 

Some fear the JFNA move will be seen as a watered-down acceptance of the notion that Zionism is to blame for the problems in the Middle East, or at the very least an effort to hold at arms length the idea that Jews are entitled to a national homeland. 

“I am beyond disappointed and upset,” Wexler told The Jewish Press, about the decision to hide from the idea of Zionism.  He said, “that is at the heart of all we do.”

Members of the GPT work group who were present at the meeting and frustrated by the outcome told Wexler about the decision. 

One of those most closely involved in this decision making effort was Joanne Moore, senior vice president for JFNA’s Global Planning Department.  Moore oversees the Global Planning Table, JFNA’s research department and the General Assembly. 

Prior to joining JFNA, Moore, a former U.S. Peace Corps volunteer, spent more than a dozen years working on USAID-funded public health projects in Africa, Haiti and Asia.  She also was a consultant to the Institute of Reproductive Health.   In addition, Moore had been a lay leader in various capacities for JFNA.  Moore did not respond to a request for comment. 

The rejection of Zionism by JFNA leaders was described by Wexler in his blogpost and in comments to The Jewish Press, as a continuing trend by Federations to distance themselves from Israel. 

Several years ago, Federations changed the name of their non-domestic efforts, which had been called their Israel and Overseas Department, to the Global Operations Department.  In response to pushback from local leaders, the name was changed once again to Global Operations: Israel and Overseas. 

Further evidence of this trend, according to Wexler, is a drift from the close connections the JFNA had with its actual overseas partners, the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, and the Jewish Agency for Israel. 

Acknowledging that there might be better, more efficient ways for the Federations to encourage North American Jewry with Israel than through the Joint or JAFI, he was adamant that this latest decision — the excision of the term Zionism from their planning documents — was morally disastrous. 

“What we cannot permit is an implicit denial of the centrality of Israel in our lives and a denial [of] the absolute responsibility we as Diaspora Jewish leaders have to engage more Jews here with Israel.”

Women's Rights In Islam - Slave Girls Vs. Free Girls

Let Them Rise. Let Them Breathe.

Breitbart:

'USA! USA!' Congressman's Anti-Big Government Rant Gets Standing Ovation On House Floor

This is one of those incidents that's never included in the statistics nor cited by the anti-gun anti-carry crowd.

A man stops a violent crime with his legally carried gun, and without having to fire it.

ABC4:

Gun carrying man ends stabbing spree at Salt Lake grocery store

A downtown Smith's shopper watches police investigate a stabbing at the store. (Don Hudson, Don Hudson)

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - A citizen with a gun stopped a knife wielding man as he began stabbing people Thursday evening at the downtown Salt Lake City Smith's store.

Police say the suspect purchased a knife inside the store and then turned it into a weapon. Smith's employee Dorothy Espinoza says, "He pulled it out and stood outside the Smiths in the foyer. And just started stabbing people and yelling you killed my people. You killed my people."

Espinoza says, the knife wielding man seriously injured two people. "There is blood all over. One got stabbed in the stomach and got stabbed in the head and held his hands and got stabbed all over the arms."

Then, before the suspect could find another victim - a citizen with a gun stopped the madness. "A guy pulled gun on him and told him to drop his weapon or he would shoot him. So, he dropped his weapon and the people from Smith's grabbed him."

By the time officers arrived the suspect had been subdued by employees and shoppers. Police had high praise for gun carrying man who ended the hysteria. Lt. Brian Purvis said, "This was a volatile situation that could have gotten worse. We can only assume from what we saw it could have gotten worse. He was definitely in the right place at the right time."

Dozens of other shoppers, who too could have become victims, are also thankful for the gun carrying man. And many, like Danylle Julian, are still in shock from the experience. "Scary actually. Really scary. Five minutes before I walk out to my car. It could have been me."

Police say right now they have no idea what caused the suspect to go on the dangerous rampage. (We will update as soon as we learn new information.)

So far, police have not released the names of the suspect, the victims or the man who pulled the gun.

Pentagon's 30,000 Pound Bunker-Buster Is Ready

Coming to a bunker near you, Mahmoud

RT:

Although there has previously been a bigger nuclear device, the new conventional rocket is six times the weight of the previous bunker-buster used by the US Air Force, and carries an explosive payload of 5,300 pounds. 

US military chiefs openly admitted the weapon was built to attack the fortified nuclear facilities of “rogue states” such as Iran and North Korea. Although the Pentagon insists that it is not aimed at a specific threat, unnamed officials within the ministry have repeatedly claimed the bomb is being tailor-made to disable Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordo, or at least to intimidate Tehran. 

Iran is working at breakneck speed to expand its Fordo uranium enrichment facility, which is built inside a mountain in the heart of the country, and has previously been declared “impregnable” by senior officials in Tehran. Iran has often paraded its fast-advancing nuclear program, while denying that it intends to build a nuclear bomb. 

Earlier this year, the Pentagon rapidly diverted $120 million in two separate tranches from other weapons programs to MOPs. The money was transferred to significantly redesign and upgrade the precision-guided missile to provide “an enhanced threat response” against the “deepest bunkers.” 

Donley’s claim can be read as a reassertion of US determination to thwart Iran’s atomic ambitions. 

Whether the MOP would be able to actually destroy Fordo is open to debate and may not be known by either of the sides. 

The effectiveness of bunker-busters depends on the strength of the soil into which it plunges, how well it makes contact, and the internal structure of the facilities. In the case of Fordo, the US may only have a sketchy idea of its layout. 

At best, the US believes a successful strike could set the Iranian program back several years, and, at worst, to at least collapse the passageways to the facility and force substantial rebuilding work. 

Two bombs can be mounted simultaneously on a modified B-52 bomber, and a US official previously claimed the effectiveness of any operation would depend on how many “tries at the apple” the US bombers get. 

Nonetheless, even if the MOP can be of limited effectiveness against Iran, the United States has precious little alternative. The only other weapon capable of destroying such a facility from the air would be a tactical nuclear missile.

Meanwhile, Iran is threatening the U.S. yet again:

Iran: "If virus attacks on Iran continue, U.S. will get its teeth knocked out"

 They're so cute when they try to act tough.

Iran Rising?

From the Washington Post on July 26, 2012:

Iran bolsters retaliation capability in Persian Gulf, experts say

Iran is rapidly gaining new capabilities to strike at U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf, amassing an arsenal of sophisticated anti-ship missiles while expanding its fleet of fast-attack boats and submarines, U.S. and Middle Eastern analysts say.

The new systems, many of them developed with foreign assistance, are giving Iran’s commanders new confidence that they could quickly damage or destroy U.S. ships if hostilities erupt, the officials say.

Although U.S. Navy officials are convinced that they would prevail in a fight, Iran’s advances have fueled concerns about U.S. vulnerabilities during the opening hours of a conflict in the gulf.

Increasingly accurate short-range missiles — combined with Iran’s use of “swarm” tactics involving hundreds of heavily armed patrol boats — could strain the defensive capabilities of even the most modern U.S. ships, current and former military analysts say.

In recent weeks, as nuclear talks with world powers have faltered and tensions have risen...

October surprise?

Suspension of the November elections here in the United States?

The Chaos Of The Obama Dream Act

With a hat tip to Z!:

High Ranking DOJ Official Refuses To Affirm 1st Amendment Rights, Commit To Not Criminalizing Criticism Of Islam

Dubai Police Chief: 'Muslim Brothers plotting overthrow of Gulf states'

Dubai police chief warns of "international plot" against Gulf states, says Iran, Syria and MB must know Gulf is a red line.

PHOTO: REUTERS

DUBAI - Dubai's chief of police has warned of an "international plot" to overthrow the governments of Gulf Arabcountries, saying the region needs to be prepared to counter any threat from Islamist dissidents as well as Syria and Iran.

The comments by Dahi Khalfan, one of the most outspoken security officials in the United Arab Emirates, follow the detention in the UAE since April of at least 20 dissidents, according to relatives of the detainees and activists.

"There's an international plot against Gulf states in particular and Arab countries in general...This is preplanned to take over our fortunes," Khalfan told reporters at a gathering late on Wednesday marking the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

"The bigger our sovereign wealth funds and the more money we put in the banks of Western countries, the bigger the plot to take over our countries...The brothers and their governments in Damascus and North Africa have to know that the Gulf is a red line, not only for Iran but also for the Brothers as well."

Most of the detainees since April are Islamists, targeted by an official clampdown amid concern they may be emboldened by the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in other Arab countries such as Egypt.

UAE Interior Ministry officials have not been available to comment on the arrests. Last week, UAE officials announced that authorities were investigating a foreign-linked group planning "crimes against the security of the state".

"I had no idea that there is this large number of Muslim Brotherhood in the Gulf states. We have to be alert and on guard because the wider these groups become, the higher probability there is for trouble," Khalfan said on Wednesday.

"We are aware that there are groups plotting to overthrow Gulf governments in the long term."

Trailer for Belgian documentary on Sexual harassment of women

Janiva Magness
I Won't Cry

Things Left Undone

Rama-Llama-Ding-Dong

You Were Wonderful Last Night, Allah

Ramadan death count moves up to 803.

Syrian forces pound Aleppo and Damascus, 24 killed on Wednesday

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Damascus and Syria's second biggest city, Aleppo, came under shell fire on Thursday as troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad stepped up efforts to crush rebels threatening the government's two main power centers. [...]

Fierce clashes raged in the early hours of Thursday in Aleppo, and an activist said rebels now controlled half of the city, a claim that could not be independently verified.

"There was shelling this morning on the Salaheddine and Mashhad districts," said Aleppo activist Abu Hisham. "Now it has stopped, but helicopters are buzzing overhead."

Activists said 24 people were killed in fighting in and around Aleppo on Wednesday, swelling a national death toll of about 18,000 since the revolt against Assad began 16 months ago.

More...

Fear stalks Turbat as Islamists vow acid attack on women faces

Report: Syrian Rebels Conducting Ethnic Cleansing of Christians…

HONOR KILLING: MUSLIM "REPEATEDLY RAN OVER" HIS SISTER TO MAKE SURE SHE WAS DEAD, OVER HER ALLEGED "SUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOR" 

NIGERIA: MUSLIM GROUP BOKO HARAM KILLS 5 IN NEW ATTACKS

Chicago's New Sharia Police Chief, Louis Farrakan, Declares, All White People Should Be Scientologists To Prevent Them From Being “Devil Christians” And “Satan Jews”…

Checkmate?

LANDMARK CASE: GOVERNMENT ARGUES THAT ISLAM IS POLITICAL

Robert Muise and David Yerushalmi of American Freedom Law Center and Pamela Geller

What began as a clear first amendment issue has exploded into a landmark case regarding the the status of Islam as a political entity. Today the DetroitTransit Authority (SMART), a government entity, argued before the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals that our "Leaving Islam" ad was political because Islam is political.  At least two of the three judges seemed to go along.

If the Court rules against us, it will be ruling that Islam is political and that Sharia is a political program -- something that other government agencieshave strenuously denied.

If that happens, will Islam and Sharia deserve the protection of a religion?

Go read the whole thing at Atlas Shrugs.

No they didn't

Then why not the KKK to patrol Chicago streets? There IS no difference

Today Rahm Emmanuel, mayor of Chicagoe welcomed the support of an outright racist group to help ‘police’ the streets of Chicago, and decrease the insane violence there.

Farrakhan In His Own Words

On Jews 

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Introduction

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On Jews

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On ‘Jewish Conspiracies’

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On the Holocaust

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On Jewish Involvement in the Slave Trade

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On Israel

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On Dialogue with Jews

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On Whites

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On U.S. Government

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On Homosexuals

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On ‘Mainstream’ Blacks

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Farrakhan:How many of you are lawyers? Only have one in the house? No wonder we go to jail so much, brother! But at the top of the law profession, who are the top in law?
Audience:Jews.
Farrakhan:Sorry I didn’t hear you.
Audience:Jews!
Farrakhan:Any doctors in the house? Ain’t got no doctors? Oh there’s one way in the back. At the top of the medical profession, the top in that are members of the Jewish community. Anybody in media? Who’s the top in that field?
Audience:Jews.
Farrakhan:Anybody a rapper in the house? There’s rappers. You can rap, ain’t nothing wrong with that, but at the top of that are those that control the industry. Any of you have Hollywood ambitions, Broadway ambitions? Who’s the top of that?
Audience:Jews.
Farrakhan:Same people! They’re masters in business. Well I’m not a businessman I’m a banker. Well who’s the master of the bankers?
Audience:Jews.
Farrakhan:TALK TO ME!
Audience:Jews!
Farrakhan:You don’t discredit them because they’re masters, you discredit them by the way they use their mastery.
Audience:[applause]
Farrakhan:Now, I close.

“All is Vanity” sermon at Mosque Maryam, Chicago 7/1/12

“White Christians, [you saw the plight of blacks] but what did you do? You walked right by on the other side. Then along came the Jewish people. You did a little better. You came and looked at us: ‘damn they’re in bad shape! Let’s see how we can take advantage of the shape that they’re in.’”

The duplicity and double standards exhibited by the mayor of Chicago, and all who keep silence at the equality of the Nation of Islam and the KKK with regard to blatant and proudly stated racism is AT THE HEART OF WHAT IS ERODING THE VALUES OF THIS NATION.

THE NATION OF ISLAM IS THE KKK.

THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE.

GET THE KKK TO HELP PATROL CHICAGO STREETS, MAYOR.

YOU CAN’T TELL THE DIFFERENCE

Mike Grell's stupid idea from 2001-02

Back in 2001, Mike Grell, the writer/artist who worked on Green Arrow and also wrote the Warlord and Jon Sable, wrote a storyline in Iron Man where unsurprisingly, it was a superficial portrait. Here's a bit about this from an interview on Comic Boards:

Q: Does fan reactions and comments factor into what you decide to do with the titles you are on?

A: I think it effects the editors more than the writers, because when I have a character and story in mind--when I have formulated the plot and the relationships and decided the direction everything is going and begun that journey--by the time it gets to the fans I have already gone 5 steps beyond. My lead time on most of those stories was around 5 months. As a matter of fact issue 50, where I featured a Muslim woman as the primary romantic interest and made her into a reoccurring character, had nothing to do with 9-11. I had no political axe to grind whatsoever. In hindsight people would look at that and the timing- especially since the issue that followed that involved firefighters trapped in a burning building- and say, “It is all connected to 9-11”. Nothing could be further form the truth. It was a story line that was pursued for the drama of it and the development of the character. It had nothing to do with what was going on in the world because I was already so far ahead at that time. What the reader reaction does effect on a very quick ongoing basis is other directions publishing companies elect to take from the stand point of sales.

Now, he may have later had this Muslim woman (whose name was Ayisha), a possible allusion the Bosnian-Serbian war that was started by the former side against the latter, later become a criminal after she assaulted Pepper Potts, Tony Stark's onetime secretary, but that still doesn't clear away how it's an otherwise superficial depiction of Islam, and you can be sure the Religion of Rape would never be blamed, even remotely.

And while he may not have a political axe to grind, what insults the intellect was that he was basically pandering for all the wrong reasons. Even if it didn't come up after 9-11, it would not be acceptable at any time to deliver a whitewashed, superficial depiction of Islam given that long before, there was the Caliphate circa the 8th century, the murder of George Curtis Moore and Noel Cleo by the PLO in 1973 in the name of jihad, and even the attack on the USS Cole in 2000. It's also an insult to many Israelis whose lives were ruined by jihad. Oh, and it's even an insult to former Muslims too.

Grell was taken off the book after about a year, and it's just as well. I think it's really a shame since years ago, he did have some good items to offer as a storyteller, and so too did former DC comics publisher Paul Levitz, but both lost their way many years ago, and are really galling today. I'd like to hope that Grell - and Levitz, now that I mention him - have some regret for the bad ideas they partook in (in Levitz's case, it was approval of the DC project involving this Kuwaiti propaganda), but unfortunately, there's no telling if they will.

For now, one more comment that can be made about that Iron Man storyline is that if there's anything laughable about it, it's the "romance" between Muslim woman and non-Muslim man, notorious taboo in Islam, which is why you can be sure there's some Muslims out there who wouldn't approve of it, and would consider the whole notion an abomination no matter how tilted Grell could be in their favor.

This Week On The Gathering Storm

Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, hosted by WC and Always On Watch. The show broadcasts live for 30 minutes every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.

The call-in number is 646-915-9870. Callers welcome!

Our scheduled guest this week is IQ al Rassooli.

Listen to the July 27, 2012 edition of The Gathering Storm Radio Show, live or later, by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS:
Read more »

Chicago Fields Islamic Morality Police

Rahm welcomes help from Farrakahn's "Fruit of Islam", ignores anti-Semitic remarks

Rahm Emmanuel calls for enforcing Sharia law in Chicago, saying "shutting down liquor stores" is one of the solutions to the crisis that his Leftist Regime has created.

Ignoring Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan’s history of anti-Semitic remarks, Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday welcomed the army of men dispatched to the streets by Farrakhan to stop the violence in Chicago neighborhoods.

Ald. Debra Silverstein (50th), an Orthodox Jew, has said it’s good that Farrakhan is “helping” in the fight against crime, “but it doesn’t eradicate the comments that he’s made about the Jewish community.”

Emanuel offered no such caveat. Although Farrakhan has a history of making anti-Semitic statements, Chicago’s first Jewish mayor has no interest in revisiting that controversy.

He’s more concerned about reducing a 40 percent surge in Chicago homicides that’s become a media obsession and threatens to undermine his efforts to market Chicago to international tourists.

“People of faith have a role to play and community leaders have a role to play in helping to protect our neighborhoods and our citizens. You cannot get there on just one piece of an anti-crime strategy,” the mayor said.

“The police have a role to play. Tearing down abandoned buildings has a role to play. Shutting liquor stores that are a cancer in the community have a role to play. Community leaders have a role to play. Pastors have a role to play. Principals have a role to play. And most importantly, parents have roles to play. They have decided, the Nation of Islam, to help protect the community. And that’s an important ingredient, like all the other aspects of protecting a neighborhood.”

For the last two Mondays, black men in dress suits and bow ties fanned out across violence-plagued Chicago neighborhoods — first Auburn-Gresham, then South Shore — to form a human wall of protection against any sudden outbreak of gunfire.

Weasel Zippers points out:

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Welcomes Anti-Semitic Nation of Islam Leader Farrakhan’s Help Fighting Crime Wave – Update: Like Recently Shunned Chick-Fil-A (Whom Emmanuel has declared banned from Chicago), Farrakhan Opposes Gay Marriage…