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Johann Sebastian Bach: "The Aim And Final End Of All Music"

January 7, 2015, 8:34 am
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Bach had 23 children.

I assume they were all attributed to The Glory of God
and "the refreshment of the soul."


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Meat Industry's Worst Nightmare: USDA To Release Carbon Cost Of Protein Sources

January 7, 2015, 3:39 pm
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Less is more? 
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is preparing to release the latest version of the government's influential dietary guidelines this year, and there could be a major change that accelerates the trend of Americans eating less meat.
The guidelines, which are updated every five years, have traditionally advised Americans about healthy eating choices, eating choices which, until now, have only reflected what the government views as a diet that is healthy for humans. But the panel that advises the government is pushing for the recommendations to reflect what is healthy for the environment, too. Given the huge carbon footprint of meat production, making this change would almost certainly entail lowering the official, government-recommended intake of meat.
Americans, though they are eating less meat than they have in the past, are still fond of steaks, hamburgers, and chicken wings. And the environmental impact of that diet is significant. Carnivores contribute far more to environmental decay than do vegetarians. The livestock industry is responsible for an estimated 15 percent of total global carbon emissions, roughly two-thirds of which is the result of beef production. On a per kilogram basis, the carbon footprint of lamb and beef production is unparalleled.
Meat environmental impact
Meat industry advocates have been battling the prospect of lowered meat intake recommendations for decades. But those battles have largely been waged on the nutritional health front, and the evidence is mixed on whether meat is actually harmful to your health. As a result, the government now recommends that people opt for leaner meat, instead of less meat.
Defending meat on environmental grounds, however, could be much tougher for the industry. Several international and government agencies,including the United Nations, have spelled out the meat industry's massive footprint. And now the USDA could be next with new, government-backed dietary guidelines.
For that reason, several industry players have responded critically to the consideration, both attacking the notion that meat production is environmentally unfriendly and discrediting the idea that environmental concerns should influence the dietary guidelines issued by the government. The North American Meat Institute (NAMI) and National Cattlemen's Beef Association have each issued statements insisting that lean meat should be part of healthy diets and denouncing any suggestion that environmental impact should dictate the recommendations.
"The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s focus on sustainability is objectionable because it is not within the committee’s expertise," NAMI said in a statement.
A draft of the government panel's advice, which was released last month, calls for the consumption of more plant-based foods and less animal-based ones, because it's "associated with lesser environmental impact than is the current average U.S. diet." Specifically, the draft advises less "red meats" and "processed meats."
Just because the USDA's advisory committee is discussing such recommendations doesn't mean it will ultimately include them in its official findings, which are expected to be delivered to the Agriculture and Health and Human Services departments later this month. Nor does a recommendation by the panel mean the departments will ultimately heed the advice in determining the final guidelines, which are expected to be released later this year. But the they might. And if they do, the impact would be significant.
"Americans don't necessarily heed dietary recommendations," said Janet Riley, the senior vice president of public affairs for the North American Meat Institute. "But where this could have a huge impact is on purchasing programs. The federal feeding programs are significantly impacted by the federal dietary guidelines."
Indeed, the immediate impacts would be substantial. Reducing the recommended amount of meat consumption would reduce, among other things, the amount of meat the industry provides as part of the school lunch program. And overnight, the diets of millions of Americans would have less meat.


Roberto A. Ferdman is a reporter for Wonkblog covering food, economics, immigration and other things. He was previously a staff writer at Quartz.


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"Legislating From The Bench" Isn't The Problem. Refusing To Compromise Is

January 7, 2015, 3:48 pm
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"Everyone simply votes with their party and those in charge employ every possible tactic to block the other side. But that is not what America is all about, and it’s not what the Founders intended.” -- Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) 

"Let's Just Say It. The Republicans Are The Problem"
Conservative Norm Ornstein and Liberal Thomas Mann

"The Hard, Central Truth Of Contemporary Conservatism"

Conservative Norm Ornstein: The Media Ignore Republican Lunacy

"Just How Far Out Is The Republican Fringe?" Norm Ornstein (And Is It The Fringe?)

"It's Even Worse Than It Looks"
Conservaive Norm Ornstein and Liberal Thomas Mann

"When Extremism Goes Mainstream"
Conservative Norm Ornstein

"The Real Death Panels," Conservative Norm Ornstein

The Psychiatric Diagnosis Of American Conservatives: Folie a Plusieurs 

"American Conservatives And Oppositional-Defiant Disorder"

"Are Republicans Insane?"

"The Republican Party Is A Satanic Cult"

Jindal Criticizes The Stupid Party: "Simply protects the rich so they get to keep their toys"

"The Reign of Morons Is Here," Charles P. Pierce, The Atlantic

"A Southerner Explains Tea Party Radicalism: The Civil War Is Not Over"

"People Who Watch Only Fox News 
Know Less Than People Who Watch No News"

Bill Maher: The Zombie Life Cycle Of Republican Lies. They Never - Ever - Die

"Bank On It: The South Is Always Wrong"

"Why The Bible Belt Is Its Own Worst Enemy"
  1. http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/10/why-bible-belt-is-christianitys-enemy.html
  2. "Republicans For Revolution," A Study In Anarchic Apocalypticism

The Guardian: John Olivers' Viral Video Is The Best Climate Debate You'll Ever See

Stewart, Colbert, Oliver Probe The Spectacular Idiocy Of Climate Change Deniers

    George McGovern: "The Case For Liberalism, A Defense Of The Future Against The Past"

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    Sifting A Sea Of Falsehood To Determine "The Lie Of The Year"

    January 7, 2015, 4:38 pm
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    Alan: You heard it here first:

    "Ebola Represents A Trivial Threat To Americans' Health"

    "Self-Terrorization Is The National Pastime"

    Obama To Disband the Marine Corps


    You didn't know this, did you?
    On a flight home I sat in between two individuals,  a Marine and boxing promoter.  The boxing guy was an older gentleman, and told interesting stories, such as meeting Don King.  Both men were very pleasant and that helped make time pass on the flight.  We were all combat veterans and all Southerners, so we had a lot in common.  Then the discussion, inevitably, turned to politics.
    The older guy turned to the Marine and said "You know Obama is getting rid of the Marine Corps, right?"
    The Marine was puzzled.  He hadn't heard this news.  Neither had I.  "Yeah, Eric Holder just had a meeting with the Joint Chiefs.  Obama is going to disband them by Executive Order."
    Hooooo boy.  We are going to do this now, are we?  Putting aside for the moment why the head of the DOJ would be involved with restructuring a military department in the DoD, I said: "I don't think any president can just disband a branch of service.  Also, this would be pretty big news.  Don't you think it would be all over the news instead of a message board?" I assumed it was a message board because I follow GOP conspiracy theories on rightwing sites, and never heard of this one.  Even the Marine, who was no Obama fan, agreed this sounded very stupid and we moved on to other topics.  
    We all parted ways and thanked each other for the talk.  I told the Marine I'd see him on my flight back since there soon wouldn't be a base for him to go to.
    Sure enough, I got back home and did some checking on the interwebs.  Although I couldn't find anything about Obama disbanding the Corps, I did find a story that Obama was going todisband the National Guard and Reserves by fall of this year, a post that Hillary Clinton is, in fact, going to dismantle the Marine Corps, and various other hysteria/delusions in the mind of a brainwashed conservative.  
    I thought about the flight and wondered, how can such a seemingly intelligent, normal man suddenly suspend logic and spout such nonsense?
    How can, on one hand, we discuss rationally our jobs, our cars, our families, and then BOOM, a switch goes off and FEMA camps, immigrant take-over, birth certificate time-travel,Sandy Hook being a hoax, and the ever present secret army of "jack-booted thugs" (you know, the bad kind who take your guns away, not the good kind who shoot unarmed brown people).  
    Paranoia, fear, contempt... it's disturbing.   I think to myself, do you ever listen to how stupid this all sounds? We are coming to the end of Obama's two terms.  Gun rights haven't been curtailed in the least.  If anything, they've expanded and it's easier to get a gun than ever before. Also, no one was taken into camps and locked up (unless you count the record number of undocumented immigrants Obama allowed that to happen to before deportation).
    Even the conspiracy theories have gotten lamer.  It went from all of us being destroyed to Michelle Obama wants to take dessert away.  No. Seriously.
    Fox News just reported that Obama is going to ban doughnuts!
    And not just doughnuts.  Watch the report.  Obama's jack-booted FDA is coming after (and they list these) popcorn, Christmas cookies (ohhh he hates Christmas!), crackers, frozen pizza, and canned frosting.  Fox News host Clayton Morris actually said they would be prohibited!

    Hoooo boy.  I shouldn't have to explain this, but what they are referring to is the FDA ban on trans-fat, which was enacted well over a year ago.  Trans-fat isn't needed to make anything, and has already been eliminated by doughnut companies for years!  (This includes the stupid doughnuts Morris was displaying.)  In other words, trans-fat is a dangerous, non-essential ingredient that has already been replaced.  No one gave flying f***.  
    Yet Fox is lying to its viewers, again, telling them that their favorite desserts will be BANNED!  Cue the outrage--just like when they recently reported that Obama would personally fund a Muslim museum during a government shutdown (their source: a parody website!)  
    Or this past October when they told their viewers that  Obama was purposefully letting Ebola in America because his "affiliations and affinities" were with Africa!  Sounds incredible?  Yes, because you are rational.  But you don't win the LIE of the YEAR award from Politifact for being rationale.  This year, Fox News won for spreading false information about Ebola. (It can go with their past year awards.)
     And now, at the end of the year, Fox had to cap off their lying streak by  reporting that coming soon in 2015, your favorite sugary treats will be taken by the aforementioned jack-booted thugs.  As Cenk said in the video, it is pretty much guaranteed that one of your brainwashed relatives will state, matter-of-factly, that Obama is coming after our doughnuts.  It was on the "news".  
    Yet in a few months, when we see that our doughnuts are still on the shelves and no one is trying to take them, the Fox viewer will not once ever stop and say to himself--"Hey, they lied to me!".  That is because he will already be outraged at the next lie.  The cycle will continue, and I'll keep trying to get through.
    To all of my conservative friends, past, present, and those I'll meet on flights in the future: Can one of your New Year's resolutions be that when you hear something SO INCREDIBLE about your president or, in fact, any politician, that you will put a minimum amount of effort to verifying it is true before you spout it as fact?  Just ONE google search will usually do it.
    That's all I ask. You'll seem more normal, less gullible, and you'll find that people will enjoy your company without suddenly questioning your intelligence.
    Happy New Year my friends, and Benghazi.

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    Thomas Bertonneau of "The Thinking Housewife" Makes Stunningly Poor Argument

    January 7, 2015, 5:10 pm
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    Dear Laura,


    Mr. Bertonneau's argument (pasted below) that "liberal prohibitionism" causes young people to consider the consumption of beer and wine as uncivilized behavior sets a new standard for conservative preposterousness. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=preposterous

    Except at Holy Family Catholic Church where I have longstanding relationship with many conservatives, most of the people in my social circle are liberals and progressives, mingled with a smattering of radicals who, in the etymological sense, wish to grasp "the root of things" rather than be diverted by pruning branch and leaf. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=radical

    Not a single soul in my society sees wine and beer drinking as anything but civilized (and civilizing) behavior.

    Indeed, moderate consumption of both beverages is thought a high water mark of civilization.

    Even the non-believers among us applaud Benjamin Franklin's good sense.


    Furthermore, nearly all my beer and wine loving companions are university-trained.

    Most of them hold higher degrees from institutions that "trend left" largely because Truth itself trends left. (As Rev. William Sloane Coffin pointed out: Even the heart resides left of center.)

    With the exception of one ditzy Coloradan, there is not of whiff of alcoholism. 

    On festive occasions, everyone (but the practicing Catholic from Colorado) drinks moderately, serving themselves from wine bottles atop sideboards or the ever-present Igloo of iced beer.

    If there is any "prohibitionism" relating to the consumption of wine and beer, it is prohibition of the belief that consuming these beverages is uncivilized.

    My confrères also believe that the teatotaling inclination of "old-time religion" is as absurd as contemporary "conservatism's" idolatrous attachment to "guns and bible."

    "Gun Cartoons and Gun Violence Bibliography"

    Handguns At Home And The Scourge Of Suicide Among Young People

    Mom Killed By 2 Year Old Child Described As "Responsible." NOT!

    80% Of All Firearm Deaths In 23 Industrialized Countries Occurred In The U.S.
    http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/07/80percent-of-all-firearms-deaths-in-23.html

    “Toy Guns Outlawed At Republican Presidential Convention. Real Guns Allowed”


    Mr. Bertonneau provides another infusion of evidence that conservatives dedicate themselves to the specious elaboration of contrarian arguments that routinely fail the straight face test. 


    Admittedly, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the alcohol consumption map at the beginning of this post.

    ... with two exceptions.

    Binge drinking is a sure indicator of imprudent disregard for civilized limits.

    Notably, binge drinking is concentrated in the American heartland where conservative values are stridulously proclaimed. 

    It is also evident that the per capita consumption of wine -- the world's "civilized drink par excellence" -- is highest in "bluestocking" New England and the liberal west coast. 

    "Bad Religion: A Compendium"

    Yeshua Excoriates Fellow Pharisees: "The Woe Passages"

    "Love Your Enemies. Do Good To Those Who Hate You," Luke 6: 27-42

    Bill McKibben: "The Christian paradox: How a faithful nation gets Jesus wrong."

    http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/06/bill-mckibben-christian-paradox-how.html

    "Republicans For Revolution," A Study In Anarchic Apocalypticism

    "The Hard, Central Truth Of Contemporary Conservatism"

    "Red State Moocher Links"

    "The Party of Personal Responsibility" Is "The Party Of Personal Irresponsibility"

    "Faith, Hope, Charity And Divine Desperation"

    "Terror And The Other Religions"


    If we were to create a list of states that are categorically divorced from the influence of "bluestocking websites" (and here it would be useful if Mr. Bertonneau named such sites rather than duck behind anonymous reference) that list would surely include Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska, the epicenter of binge drinking. 

    As for The South where American binge-drinking is lowest, there remain a disproportionate number of "dry communities" in the very region where prohibitionist religious tradition has always been strongest.

    "Prohibition, Noah, Ham And The Curse Of Canaan"


    Map showing dry (red), wet (blue), and mixed (yellow) counties in the United States.

    List Of "Dry Communities" By U.S. State

    Compendium Of "Pax" Posts On "The Thinking Housewife," Laura Wood


    Attentively,

    Alan (Archibald)


    Wine and Civilization

    THOMAS F. BERTONNEAU writes:
    I am responding to “Simplicity is More Fun,“ but my topic, not entirely unrelated, is Wine and Civilization: I remember being twelve or thirteen years old when at dinner my paternal grandmother Nellie or my great aunt Herminie would set before me at the table “one finger of wine and one of water” in a glass.  My mother, whose background was Protestant, would become perturbed, but the Catholic Nonnas had their explanation: Wine was a civilized custom to which children as they grew older needed to become accustomed.  That was how they did back in the “Quarter” in New Orleans.  As a consequence, I learned how to drink wine without becoming drunk, an achievement which I consider a social boon and not from an exclusively negative viewpoint.
    When once in a while I teach freshman composition, I offer the students a list of two hundred carefully phrased essay-topics, two of which are “wine as a civilized custom” and “beer as a civilized custom.”  Student respondents invariably fail to read the qualification, “as a civilized custom.”  The result is just as invariably a whiney anti-liquor screed with mountains of statistics downloaded from various Bluestocking websites cut and pasted without any attempt at interpreting them.  I hasten to add that few of freshman composition students are unfamiliar with spirit, especially beer, which they drink to excess regularly, using their fake IDs to obtain it.  They know the phenomenon of hangover quite well (many of them, anyway).
    So why do they write papers that seem made to order for the Junior Prohibitionist League?  Because we live in a liberal – that is, an essentially and vehemently prohibitionist society – which is also paradoxically an extremely hedonistic society.  (Explaining the paradox is a task for another discussion.)  With no middle ground between one extreme position and the other, students have internalized the imperative to say one thing while doing another.  They have lost the middle ground in another way: They cannot imagine civilized limits on anything hence they also cannot imagine wine or beer – or gin-and-tonics – as part of civilized behavior.
    This was written by Laura Wood. Send comments to: thethinkinghousewife. Posted on Sunday, January 4, 2015, at 7:15 pm. Filed under Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Follow comments here with the RSS feed. Comments are closed, but you can leave a trackback.


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    Best Pax Posts: A Compendium Of Compendia

    January 7, 2015, 5:57 pm
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    Best Posts From "Pax On Both Houses"
    http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/09/best-posts-from-pax-on-both-houses.html

    "Are Republicans Insane?" Best Pax Posts

    "Pax On Both Houses: A Compendium Of Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes"


    Compendium Of "Pax" Posts On "The Thinking Housewife," Laura Wood

    Pax On Both Houses: Compendium Of G.K. Chesterton Posts

    Ivan Illich Compendium


    Compendium Of Pax Posts On Violent Criminals And Violent Police

    Compendium Of Pax Posts On Abortion

    Pax On Both Houses: Blog Posts About Canada
    http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/05/compendium-my-blog-posts-concerning.html
    Alan: I am an American citizen and a proud graduate of The University of Toronto where I received world-class education at the same steeply subsidized cost as Canadian citizens. While a Toronto undergraduate from 1965 - 1970, I also received free healthcare under Canada's Single Payer system. Living in Canada for five years I felt as if I were gifted with a rare opportunity to learn the difference between Civilization and Barbarism.

    "Pax On Both Houses: Good Ideas For The Body Politic"
    A Compendium Of Practical Political Projects

    "Plutocracy Triumphant"
    Cartoon Compendium


    Pax On Both Houses: Compendium Of Voter Fraud And Voter Suppression Posts

    Pax On Both Houses: Compendium Of U.S. Prison System Posts



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    Washington Post: With Oil Prices Low, Now's The Perfect Time To Raise Gas Tax

    January 7, 2015, 7:59 pm
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    We Know What To Do. But Politicians Don't Know How To Get Elected If They Do It

    By Editorial Board January 6, 2015
    THE PRICE of crude oil dipped below $50 a barrel on Monday. National gasoline prices average a little over $2 a gallon. On principle and on politics, now is the best time Washington has seen in years to raise the federal gas tax.
    Congress last year refilled the Highway Trust Fund, which pays for a range of transportation projects across the country, with a familiar strategy: short-term budget gimmickry. Instead of providing local transportation planners with the certainty they need to plan and execute large projects,Congress set the trust fund to run dry again in May. Instead of agreeing on a robust infrastructure policy that invests rationally in the economy, lawmakers scraped another $11 billion from corners of the federal budget.
    The reason is simple: Members of Congress don’t want to raise the gas tax, unchanged at 18.4 cents per gallon since 1993. The gas tax operates on a straightforward principle: Those who use the roads should pay for them. But over the past two decades, the value of the revenue the tax produces has dropped by about a third — partly because of inflation and partly because cars have become more fuel-efficient. This constrains the amount of money Congress is willing to put into transportation and encourages overuse of the roads at the expense of the general taxpayer.
    Lawmakers could have headed off some of the problem in 1993 by indexing the gas tax to inflation, but they put that responsibility on later congresses, which failed to act responsibly. Now, with lower oil prices, the politics of raising the gas tax should be easier, the potential backlash blunted by Americans who don’t feel as pinched at the pump. True, lower gas prices will stimulate the economy to some degree, and raising the gas tax would reduce that effect. But raising it now would restrain present and future demand for gasoline, encouraging Americans to maintain some of the resilience to oil price volatility that the country built up in recent years — and possibly even checking future price spikes.
    Many in Congress understand the case for raising the gas tax, and some are willing to say so. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) proposed last year to raise the gas tax by 12 cents per gallon over two years, bringing the tax to about the level it would be now if it had grown with inflation. Their plan would also peg the level to future inflation.
    The bill didn’t move. But Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the new Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee chairman, did not rule out raising the gas tax when asked about it on Sunday. “We have to look at all the options,” he told “Fox News Sunday.” “I don’t think we take anything off the table at this point.”
    That’s no ringing endorsement. But it leaves some room for doing the right thing.
    Read more about this topic:

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    As GOP Continues To Denounce Obamacare As Failure, Uninsured Rate Falls Again

    January 7, 2015, 8:06 pm
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    "The Hard, Central Truth Of Contemporary Conservatism"

    2009 Harvard Study: 45,000 Americans Die Annually For Lack of Health Insurance


    As GOP Continues To Denounce Obamacare 
    As Failure, Uninsured Rate Falls Yet Again
    By Greg Sargent January 7, 2015  
    Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has penned a piece for CNN explaining how President Obama and the new GOP Congress can find common ground on solutions. One of the first things McConnell cites as his evidence that Washington is not working — for economically struggling Americans in particular — is this old canard: “Many faced the reality of losing their health plan after being told they could keep it.”
    Meanwhile, Gallup announced this morning that the uninsured rate has dropped over four points since Obamacare went into effect a year ago — and that the uninsured rate, now at 12.9 percent, is at its lowest point since Gallup began to “track the measure daily in 2008.”
    Gallup describes its findings this way: “The Affordable Care Act has accomplished one of its goals: increasing the percentage of Americans who have health insurance coverage.”
    For the purposes of the current political debate, several findings stand out. Two of the biggest outstanding questions about Obamacare right now concern the fate of health care for lower-income and poor Americans. The Supreme Court is set to hear a challenge to the health law that could gut subsidies to three dozen states on the federal exchange — which could end up yanking health care from millions of lower-income Americans. And while more red states are beginning to opt in to the Medicaid expansion, which could lead to still more doing the same, many continue to hold out against it.
    Gallup finds, however, that the health law is having particular success in expanding health care to lower-income Americans:  Since it went into effect, the uninsured rate has fallen by 6.9 percentage points among those making less than $36,000. While it’s very likely that a lot of those people are benefiting from the Medicaid expansion, a lot of them are undoubtedly gaining coverage thanks to the subsidies.
    Meanwhile, McConnell and other leaders of the incoming GOP Senate majority are openly looking to the Supreme Court to gut Obamacare subsidies as a means to accomplish what Republicans failed to do legislatively and politically.
    Whether or not you think the consequences of a SCOTUS decision against the law should weigh on the Justices, the declining insurance rate — among lower income Americans in particular — should theoretically increase pressure on Republicans to think about how they will respond if such a decision does come down (such as a fix or an alternative). Indeed, even some diehard opponents of the law, and some GOP Senators, agree with this. Of course, it’s an open question as to whether this will actually happen in any meaningful sense: One alternative possibility is that Republicans will float the general idea that they’re interested in a fix solely in order to make the consequences of a SCOTUS decision against the law appear less dire.
    It’s also an open question whether most Republicans will even acknowledge the steep drop in uninsured in the first place.

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    Is It Time For The World To Unite In Mockery Of Mohammed?

    January 7, 2015, 8:16 pm
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    Put up your guns guys. 
    And learn something. 
    Ain't no future on heaven or earth
    for dimwitted d___ f___s!

    Dear Fred,

    The humiliation you suggest has a certain appeal.

    It also squares neatly with the bit of traditional wisdom that says "the one thing Satan cannot stand is ridicule."

    But when I calm my rage at this morning's outrage in Paris, I think it is more important to maintain the good will which most Islamics feel toward The West, the same good will that poured forth in the aftermath of 9/11 - and still pours forth despite the gratuitous destruction wrought Bush's Whimsy War on Iraq dwarfed the damage and death done at the World Trade Center.

    93% Of Muslims Worldwide Condemn 9/11 Attacks. 
    O% Approve Of Attacks On Religious Grounds
    Gallup Poll, 2008

    Rather than mocking Muhammed, I think we would be better-advised devising propaganda that states Christendom's unshakeable conviction that The Prophet reserves a special place in Hell for the unclean barbarians who shit on his memory with random acts of bloodlust chiefly committed on fellow Muslims.

    Here is a sample "script." 

    "What are Christians to believe when we see Islamics slaughtering their co-religionists, and slaughtering them with the same uncontrollable hard-on ooze that sexual perverts bring to the whorehouse? 

    The coldblooded killing that these hell-bound thugs perpetrate on their own spiritual kin persuades the Christian World that Muhammad would shun you just as surely as your un-gloved mothers would shun bleeding Ebola patients in death throes.  

    The Prophet condemns your actions with the same intensity you direct to your Islamic fellows when killing them like pigs fit only for slaughter.

    Shame on you.

    By aspiring to be "the smiting hand of Allah," you have idolized yourselve and in the process fallen lower than swine.

    You are not the right hand of God. 

    You are the left hand of Satan.

    In trying to defend The Prophet's honor, you shame him as surely as a legion of pigs shitting in his mouth.

    You are The Horror you try to expunge from your psycho-spiritual desolation by projecting your self-destructive nullity onto others.

    Just for the Hell of it...

    Psychological Projection Indicts "The Good Christians," Not The People They Indict


    It is you -- by choosing to behave like swine -- who squat naked over Mohammed's face and shit in his eyes, shit in his nose, shit in his mouth.

    "The profoundest truths are paradoxical."

    Pax tecum

    Alan

    PS At the bottom of this missive I am appending an anti-Islamic screed to which I reply:

    "Terror And The Other Religions"

    ***

    On Wed, Jan 7, 2015 at 10:50 AM, Fred Owens <froghospital911@gmail.com> wrote:

    Is it time to mock the prophet, to drop our pants and turn round mooning Mecca?   Imagining a massive global gesture of disrespect...... Some gesture like the way we treat the umpire in a ball game when he makes a bad call.....because that's how we are.


    Fred Owens
    cell: 360-739-0214

    My gardening blog is  Fred Owens
    My writing blog is Frog Hospital

    send mail to:

    Fred Owens
    35 West Main St Suite B #391
    Ventura CA 93001

    TheReligionofPeace.com
    Muslim Opinion Polls
    A "Tiny Minority of Extremists"?

    "Strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be
    unyielding to them; and their abode is hell, and evil is their destination."
    Quran 9:73
    (Alan: This Quranic verse was the precise teaching of Roman Catholicism until the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s.)

    Have you heard that Islam is a peaceful religion because most Muslims live peacefully and that only a "tiny minority of extremists" practice violence?  That's like saying that White supremacy must be perfectly fine since only a tiny minority of racists ever hurt anyone.  Neither does it explain why religious violence is largely endemic to Islam, despite the tremendous persecution of religious minorities in Muslim countries.

    In truth, even a tiny minority of "1%" of Muslims worldwide translates to 15 million believers - which is hardly an insignificant number.  However, the "minority" of Muslims who approve of terrorists, their goals, or their means of achieving them is much greater than this.  In fact, it isn't even a true minority in some cases, depending on how goals and targets are defined.

    The following polls convey what Muslims say are their attitudes toward terrorism, al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, the 9/11 attacks, violence in defense of Islam, Sharia, honor killings, and matters concerning assimilation in Western society.  The results are all the more astonishing because most of the polls were conducted by organizations with an obvious interest in "discovering" agreeable statistics that downplay any cause for concern.
    (These have been compiled over the years, so not all links remain active.  We will continue adding  to this).



    Terrorism
    ICM Poll: 20% of British Muslims sympathize with 7/7 bombers
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1510866/Poll-reveals-40pc-of-Muslims-want-sharia-law-in-UK.html    NOP Research: 1 in 4 British Muslims say 7/7 bombings were justified
    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/14/opinion/main1893879.shtml&date=2011-04-06
    http://www.webcitation.org/5xkMGAEvY
    People-Press: 31% of Turks support suicide attacks against Westerners in Iraq.
    http://people-press.org/report/206/a-year-after-iraq-war    YNet: One third of Palestinians (32%) supported the slaughter of a Jewish family, including the children:
    http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/04/06/32-of-palestinians-support-infanticide/
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4053251,00.html
    World Public Opinion: 61% of Egyptians approve of attacks on Americans
    32% of Indonesians approve of attacks on Americans
    41% of Pakistanis approve of attacks on Americans
    38% of Moroccans approve of attacks on Americans
    83% of Palestinians approve of some or most groups that attack Americans (only 14% oppose)
    62% of Jordanians approve of some or most groups that attack Americans (21% oppose)
    42% of Turks approve of some or most groups that attack Americans (45% oppose)
    A minority of Muslims disagreed entirely with terror attacks on Americans:
    (Egypt 34%; Indonesia 45%; Pakistan 33%)
    About half of those opposed to attacking Americans were sympathetic with al-Qaeda’s attitude toward the U.S.
    http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/feb09/STARTII_Feb09_rpt.pdf
    Pew Research (2010): 55% of Jordanians have a positive view of Hezbollah
    30% of Egyptians have a positive view of Hezbollah
    45% of Nigerian Muslims have a positive view of Hezbollah (26% negative)
    43% of Indonesians have a positive view of Hezbollah (30% negative)
    http://pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/
    Pew Research (2010): 60% of Jordanians have a positive view of Hamas (34% negative).
    49% of Egyptians have a positive view of Hamas (48% negative)
    49% of Nigerian Muslims have a positive view of Hamas (25% negative)
    39% of Indonesians have a positive view of Hamas (33% negative)
    http://pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/
    Pew Research (2010): 15% of Indonesians believe suicide bombings are often or sometimes justified.
    34% of Nigerian Muslims believe suicide bombings are often or sometimes justified.
    http://pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/
    16% of young Muslims in Belgium state terrorism is "acceptable".
    http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/1275/Islam/article/detail/1619036/2013/04/22/Zestien-procent-moslimjongens-vindt-terrorisme-aanvaardbaar.dhtml
    Populus Poll (2006): 12% of young Muslims in Britain (and 12% overall) believe that suicide attacks against civilians in Britain can be justified.  1 in 4 support suicide attacks against British troops.
    http://www.populuslimited.com/pdf/2006_02_07_times.pdf
    http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2005/07/more-survey-research-from-a-british-islamist
    Pew Research (2007): 26% of younger Muslims in America believe suicide bombings are justified.
    35% of young Muslims in Britain believe suicide bombings are justified (24% overall).
    42% of young Muslims in France believe suicide bombings are justified (35% overall).
    22% of young Muslims in Germany believe suicide bombings are justified.(13% overall).
    29% of young Muslims in Spain believe suicide bombings are justified.(25% overall).
    http://pewresearch.org/assets/pdf/muslim-americans.pdf#page=60
    Pew Research (2011): 8% of Muslims in America believe suicide bombings are often or sometimes justified (81% never).
    28% of Egyptian Muslims believe suicide bombings are often or sometimes justified (38% never).
    http://www.people-press.org/2011/08/30/muslim-americans-no-signs-of-growth-in-alienation-or-support-for-extremism/
    Pew Research (2007): Muslim-Americans who identify more strongly with their religion are three times more likely to feel that suicide bombings are justified
    http://pewresearch.org/assets/pdf/muslim-americans.pdf#page=60
    ICM: 5% of Muslims in Britain tell pollsters they would not report a planned Islamic terror attack to authorities.
    27% do not support the deportation of Islamic extremists preaching violence and hate.
    http://www.scotsman.com/?id=1956912005
    http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2005/07/more-survey-research-from-a-british-islamist.html
    Federation of Student Islamic Societies: About 1 in 5 Muslim students in Britain (18%) would not report a fellow Muslim planning a terror attack.
    http://www.fosis.org.uk/sac/FullReport.pdf
    http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2005/07/more-survey-research-from-a-british-islamist
    ICM Poll: 25% of British Muslims disagree that a Muslim has an obligation to report terrorists to police.
    http://www.icmresearch.co.uk/reviews/2004/Guardian%20Muslims%20Poll%20Nov%2004/Guardian%20Muslims%20Nov04.asp
    http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2005/07/more-survey-research-from-a-british-islamist
    Populus Poll (2006): 16% of British Muslims believe suicide attacks against Israelis are justified.
    37% believe Jews in Britain are a "legitimate target".
    http://www.populuslimited.com/pdf/2006_02_07_times.pdf
    http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2005/07/more-survey-research-from-a-british-islamist
    Pew Research (2013): At least 1 in 4 Muslims do not reject violence against civilians (study did not distinguish between those who believe it is partially justified and never justified).
    http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/Muslim/worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-full-report.pdf
    Pew Research (2013): 15% of Muslims in Turkey support suicide bombings (also 11% in Kosovo, 26% in Malaysia and 26% in Bangladesh).
    http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/Muslim/worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-full-report.pdf
    PCPO (2014): 89% of Palestinians support Hamas and other terrorists firing rockets at Israeli civilians.
    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/08/poll-89-of-palestinians-support-jihad-terror-attacks-on-israely
    Pew Research (2013): Only 57% of Muslims worldwide disapprove of al-Qaeda. Only 51% disapprove of the Taliban.  13% support both groups and 1 in 4 refuse to say.
    http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/09/10/muslim-publics-share-concerns-about-extremist-groups/
    http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/09/10/muslim-publics-share-concerns-about-extremist-groups/
    See also: http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Muslim_Statistics_(Terrorism) for further statistics on Islamic terror.



    al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and Islamic State (ISIS)
    Pew Research (2007): 5% of American Muslims have a favorable view of al-Qaeda (27% can’t make up their minds).  Only 58% reject al-Qaeda outright.
    http://pewresearch.org/assets/pdf/muslim-americans.pdf#page=60
    Pew Research (2011): 5% of American Muslims have a favorable view of al-Qaeda (14% can’t make up their minds).
    http://www.people-press.org/2011/08/30/muslim-americans-no-signs-of-growth-in-alienation-or-support-for-extremism/
    Pew Research (2011): 1 in 10 native-born Muslim-Americans have a favorable view of al-Qaeda.
    http://people-press.org/2011/08/30/muslim-americans-no-signs-of-growth-in-alienation-or-support-for-extremism/
    al-Jazeera (2006): 49.9% of Muslims polled support Osama bin Laden
    http://terrorism.about.com/b/2006/09/11/al-jazeeras-readers-on-911-499-support-bin-laden.htm
    Pew Research: 59% of Indonesians support Osama bin Laden in 2003
    41% of Indonesians support Osama bin Laden in 2007
    56% of Jordanians support Osama bin Laden in 2003
    http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/15/iran-terrorism-al-qaida-islam-opinions-columnists-ilan-berman.html
    Pew Global: 51% of Palestinians support Osama bin Laden
    54% of Muslim Nigerians Support Osama bin Laden
    http://frontpagemag.com/2010/02/10/blinded-by-hate/
    http://pewglobal.org/files/pdf/268.pdf
    MacDonald Laurier Institute: 35% of Canadian Muslims would not repudiate al-Qaeda
    http://www.torontosun.com/2011/11/01/strong-support-for-shariah-in-canada
    http://www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/much-good-news-and-some-worrying-results-in-new-study-of-muslim-public-opinion-in-canada/
    World Public Opinion: Muslim majorities agree with the al-Qaeda goal of Islamic law.
    Muslim majorities agree with al-Qaeda goal of keeping Western values out of Islamic countries;
    (Egypt: 88%; Indonesia 76%; Pakistan 60%; Morocco 64%)
    http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/feb09/STARTII_Feb09_rpt.pdf
    ICM Poll: 13% of Muslim in Britain support al-Qaeda attacks on America.
    http://www.icmresearch.co.uk/reviews/2004/guardian-muslims-march-2004.asp
    http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2005/07/more-survey-research-from-a-british-islamist
    World Public Opinion: Attitude toward Osama bin Laden:
    Egypt: 44% positive, 17% negative, and 25% mixed feelings
    Indonesia: 14% positive, 26% negative, 21% mixed feelings (39% did not answer)
    Pakistan: 25% positive, 15% negative, 26% mixed feelings (34% did not answer)
    Morocco: 27% positive, 21% negative, 26% mixed feelings
    Jordanians, Palestinians, Turks and Azerbaijanis. Jordanians combined for: 27% positive, 20 percent negative, and 27 percent mixed feelings.  (Palestinians 56% positive, 20% negative, 22 percent mixed feelings).
    http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/feb09/STARTII_Feb09_rpt.pdf
    Pew Research (2010): 49% of Nigerian Muslims have favorable view of al-Qaeda (34% unfavorable)
    23% of Indonesians have favorable view of al-Qaeda (56% unfavorable)
    34% of Jordanians have favorable view of al-Qaeda
    25% of Indonesians have "confidence" in Osama bin Laden (59% had confidence in 2003)
    1 in 5 Egyptians have "confidence" in Osama bin Laden
    http://pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/
    Pew Research (2011): 22% of Indonesians have a favorable view of al-Qaeda (21% unfavorable)
    http://www.people-press.org/2011/08/30/muslim-americans-no-signs-of-growth-in-alienation-or-support-for-extremism/
    Gallup: 51% of Pakistanis grieve Osama bin Laden (only 11% happy over death)
    44% of Pakistanis viewed Osama bin Laden as a martyr (only 28% as an oulaw)
    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/05/majority_of_our_pakistani_alli.html
    Zogby International 2011: “Majorities in all six countries said they viewed the United States less favorably following the killing of the Al-Qaeda head [Osama bin Laden] in Pakistan”
    http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hbpg5ou3Qk96-aTbpJyD4K0x2b9w?docId=CNG.561caa8da42ba25c5ee1f3158a926c28.c11
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/checkpoint-washington/post/arab-worlds-views-of-us-president-obama-increasingly-negative-new-poll-finds/2011/07/12/gIQASzHVBI_blog.html
    Populus Survey: 18% of British Muslims would be proud or indifferent if a family member joined al-Qaeda.
    http://www.populuslimited.com/poll_summaries/2006_07_04_Times_ITV.htm
    http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2005/07/more-survey-research-from-a-british-islamist
    Policy Exchange (2006): 7% Muslims in Britain admire al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
    http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/images/libimages/246.pdf
    http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2005/07/more-survey-research-from-a-british-islamist
    Informal poll of Saudis in August 2014 shows 92% agree that Islamic State (ISIS) "conforms to the values of Islam and Islamic law."
    http://muslimstatistics.wordpress.com/2014/08/24/92-of-saudis-believes-that-isis-conforms-to-the-values-of-islam-and-islamic-law-survey/

    9/11 Attacks
    al-Arabiya: 36% of Arabs polled said the 9/11 attacks were morally justified; 38% disagreed; 26% Unsure
    http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/09/10/166274.html
    Gallup: 38.6% of Muslims believe 9/11 attacks were justified (7% "fully", 6.5% "mostly", 23.1% "partially")
    http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2008/05/that-tiny-percentage-of-radical-muslims.html
    http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC06.php?CID=1154
    Pew Research (2011): Large majorities of Muslims believe in 9/11 conspiracy
    http://pewresearch.org/pubs/2066/muslims-westerners-christians-jews-islamic-extremism-september-11


    Violence in Defense of Islam
    40% of Indonesians approve of violence in defense of Islam.
    http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailweekly.asp?fileid=20060728.@03
    Pew Global: 68% of Palestinian Muslims say suicide attacks against civilians in defense of Islam are justified.
    43% of Nigerian Muslims say suicide attacks against civilians in defense of Islam are justified.
    38% of Lebanese Muslims say suicide attacks against civilians in defense of Islam are justified.
    15% of Egyptian Muslims say suicide attacks against civilians in defense of Islam are justified.
    13% of Indonesian Muslims say suicide attacks against civilians in defense of Islam are justified.
    12% of Jordanian Muslims say suicide attacks against civilians in defense of Islam are justified.
    7% of Muslim Israelis say suicide attacks against civilians in defense of Islam are justified.
    http://cnsnews.com/node/53865 (Pew Global Attitudes Project September, 2009)
    Center for Social Cohesion: One Third of British Muslim students support killing for Islam
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1340599/WikiLeaks-1-3-British-Muslim-students-killing-Islam-40-want-Sharia-law.html
    http://www.socialcohesion.co.uk/pdf/IslamonCampus.pdf
    Policy Exchange: One third of British Muslims believe anyone who leaves Islam should be killed
    http://www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/ShariaLawOrOneLawForAll.pdf
    NOP Research: 78% of British Muslims support punishing the publishers of Muhammad cartoons;
    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/14/opinion/main1893879.shtml&date=2011-04-06
    http://www.webcitation.org/5xkMGAEvY
    NOP Research: Hardcore Islamists comprise 9% of Britain's Muslim population;
    Another 29% would "aggressively defend" Islam;
    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/14/opinion/main1893879.shtml&date=2011-04-06
    http://www.webcitation.org/5xkMGAEvY
    Pew Research (2010): 84% of Egyptian Muslims support the death penalty for leaving Islam
    86% of Jordanian Muslims support the death penalty for leaving Islam
    30% of Indonesian Muslims support the death penalty for leaving Islam
    76% of Pakistanis support death the penalty for leaving Islam
    51% of Nigerian Muslims support the death penalty for leaving Islam
    http://pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/
    ICM Poll: 11% of British Muslims find violence for religious or political ends acceptable.
    http://www.icmresearch.co.uk/reviews/2004/Guardian%20Muslims%20Poll%20Nov%2004/Guardian%20Muslims%20Nov04.asp
    http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2005/07/more-survey-research-from-a-british-islamist
    Terrorism Research Institute Study: 51% of mosques in the U.S. have texts on site rated as severely advocating violence; 30% have texts rated as moderately advocating violence; and 19% have no violent texts at all.
    http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/pot/article/view/sharia-adherence-mosque-survey/html
    Pew Research (2013): 76% of South Asian Muslims and 56% of Egyptians advocate killing anyone who leaves the Islamic religion.
    http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/Muslim/worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-full-report.pdf
    Pew Research (2013): 19% of Muslim Americans believe suicide bombings in defense of Islam are at least partially justified (global average is 28% in countries surveyed).
    http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/Muslim/worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-full-report.pdf
    Pew Research (2013): 39% of Muslims in Malaysia say suicide bombings "justified" in defense of Islam (only 58% say 'never').
    http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/extremism-in-the-name-of-islam-and-malaysian-muslims-joshua-woo
    Die Presse (2013): 1 in 5 Muslims in Austria believe that anyone wanting to leave Islam should be killed.
    http://muslimstatistics.wordpress.com/2013/12/03/survey-on-islam-in-austria-18-of-muslims-support-death-sentence-for-apostasy-21-9-oppose-democracy/
    Motivaction Survey (2014): 80% of young Dutch Muslims see nothing wrong with Holy War against non-believers.  Most verbalized support for pro-Islamic State fighters.
    http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2014/11/young-dutch-turks-radical-views-worry-mps-call-for-more-research.php/


    Sharia (Islamic Law)
    83% of Pakistanis support stoning adulterers
    78% of Pakistanis support killing apostates
    http://www.realcourage.org/2009/08/pakistan-78-percent-call-for-apostate-deaths/
    Center for Social Cohesion: 40% of British Muslim students want Sharia
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1340599/WikiLeaks-1-3-British-Muslim-students-killing-Islam-40-want-Sharia-law.html
    http://www.socialcohesion.co.uk/pdf/IslamonCampus.pdf
    ICM Poll: 40% of British Muslims want Sharia in the UK
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1510866/Poll-reveals-40pc-of-Muslims-want-sharia-law-in-UK.html
    GfK NOP: 28% of British Muslims want Britain to be an Islamic state
    http://www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/ShariaLawOrOneLawForAll.pdf
    NOP Research: 68% of British Muslims support the arrest and prosecution of anyone who insults Islam;
    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/14/opinion/main1893879.shtml&date=2011-04-06
    http://www.webcitation.org/5xkMGAEvY
    MacDonald Laurier Institute: 62% of Muslims want Sharia in Canada (15% say make it mandatory)
    http://www.torontosun.com/2011/11/01/strong-support-for-shariah-in-canada
    http://www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/much-good-news-and-some-worrying-results-in-new-study-of-muslim-public-opinion-in-canada/
    World Public Opinion: 81% of Egyptians want strict Sharia imposed in every Islamic country
    76% of Pakistanis want strict Sharia imposed in every Islamic country
    49% (plurality) of Indonesians want strict Sharia imposed in every Islamic country
    76% of Moroccans want strict Sharia imposed in every Islamic country
    http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/feb09/STARTII_Feb09_rpt.pdf
    World Public Opinion: 64% of Egyptians said it was “very important for the government” to “apply traditional punishments for crimes such as stoning adulterers.”
    http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/feb09/STARTII_Feb09_rpt.pdf
    Pew Research (2010): 77% of Egyptian Muslims favor floggings and amputation
    58% of Jordanian Muslims favor floggings and amputation
    36% of Indonesian Muslims favor floggings and amputation
    82% of Pakistanis favor floggings and amputation
    65% of Nigerian Muslims favor floggings and amputation
    http://pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/
    Pew Research (2010): 82% of Egyptian Muslims favor stoning adulterers
    70% of Jordanian Muslims favor stoning adulterers
    42% of Indonesian Muslims favor stoning adulterers
    82% of Pakistanis favor stoning adulterers
    56% of Nigerian Muslims favor stoning adulterers
    http://pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/
    Pew Research (2013): 72% of Indonesians want Sharia to be law of the land
    http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/seventy-two-percent-of-indonesians-favor-shariah-law-pew-forum/
    Pew Research (2013): 81% of South Asian Muslims and 57% of Egyptians suport amputating limbs for theft.
    http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/Muslim/worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-full-report.pdf
    Pew Research (2013): According to an interpretation of this study, approximately 45% of Sharia supporters surveyed disagreed with the idea that Islamic law should apply only to Muslims.
    http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/Muslim/worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-full-report.pdf
    Economist (Pew 2013): 74% who favor Islamic law in Egypt say it should apply to non-Muslims as well.
    http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2013/04/daily-chart-20?fsrc=scn/tw/te/dc/Shariadolikeit
    WZB Berlin Social Science Center: 65% of Muslims in Europe say Sharia is more important than the law of the country they live in.
    http://www.wzb.eu/en/research/migration-and-diversity/migration-and-integration/projects/six-country-immigrant-integration-comparat
    http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4092/europe-islamic-fundamentalism
    FPO (2014): 43% of Islamic teachers in Austria openly advocate Sharia law over democracy.
    http://rt.com/news/208387-austria-islam-kindergarten-muslim/


    Honor Killings
    Turkish Ministry of Education: 1 in 4 Turks Support Honor Killings
    http://www.realcourage.org/2009/03/turkey-war-on-women/
    http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?load=detay&link=170502&bolum=100
    Civitas: 1 in 3 Muslims in the UK strongly agree that a wife should be forced to obey her husband's bidding
    http://www.imaginate.uk.com/MCC01_SURVEY/Site%20Download.pdf
    http://www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/ShariaLawOrOneLawForAll.pdf
    BBC Poll: 1 in 10 British Muslims support killing a family member over "dishonor".
    http://www.expressandstar.com/blogs/peter-rhodes/2011/12/28/honour-killing-%E2%80%93-a-stain-on-our-nation/
    Middle East Quarterly: 91 percent of honor killings are committed by Muslims worldwide.
    http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/43207
    95% of honor killings in the West are perpetrated by Muslim fathers and brothers or their proxies.
    http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/09/21/barbara-kay-continue-calling-honour-killings-by-its-rightful-name/
    A survey of Muslim women in Paris suburbs found that three-quarters of them wear their masks out of fear - including fear of violence.
    http://www.nugget.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3402230
    1 in 5 young British Muslims agree that 'honor' violence is acceptable.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2117003/More-thirds-young-British-Muslims-believe-honour-violence-acceptable-survey-reveals.html
    Pew Research (2013): Large majorities of Muslims favor Sharia.  Among those who do, stoning women for adultery is favored by 89% in Pakistanis, 85% in Afghanistan, 81% in Egypt, 67% in Jordan, ~50% in 'moderate' Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, 58% in Iraq, 44% in Tunisia, 29% in Turkey, and 26% in Russia.
    http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/Muslim/worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-full-report.pdf
    Pew Research (2013): Honor killing the woman for sex outside of marriage is favored over honor killing the man in almost every Islamic country.  Over half of Muslims surveyed believed that honor killings over sex were at least partially justified.
    http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/Muslim/worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-full-report.pdf
    (2013) Jordanian teens support honor killing.
    http://www.france24.com/en/20130620-jordan-teens-still-think-honour-killings-justified-study


    Assimilation
    Muslims have highest claimed disability rates in the UK (24% of men, 21% of women)
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1340599/WikiLeaks-1-3-British-Muslim-students-killing-Islam-40-want-Sharia-law.html
    2011: 16% of UK prisoners in 2010 are Muslim (Muslims comprise about 3% of the total population)
    http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5j9EvY-ZaN9jm1TF2wT-EK28RTRDQ?docId=N0256451319500798601A    Pakistani Muslims in the UK are three times more likely to be unemployed than Hindus. Indian Muslims are twice as likely to be unemployed as Indian Hindus.
    http://frontpagemag.com/2012/daniel-greenfield/islams-universal-economic-failure/2/
    Policy Exchange: 1 in 4 Muslims in the UK have never heard of the Holocaust;
    Only 34% of British Muslims believe the Holocaust ever happened.
    http://www.imaginate.uk.com/MCC01_SURVEY/Site%20Download.pdf
    http://www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/ShariaLawOrOneLawForAll.pdf
    Policy Exchange: 51% of British Muslims believe a woman cannot marry a non-Muslim
    Only 51% believe a Muslim woman may marry without a guardian's consent
    http://www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/ShariaLawOrOneLawForAll.pdf
    Policy Exchange: Up to 52% of British Muslims believe a Muslim man is entitled to up to four wives
    http://www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/ShariaLawOrOneLawForAll.pdf
    Policy Exchange: 61% of British Muslims want homosexuality punished
    http://www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/ShariaLawOrOneLawForAll.pdf
    NOP Research: 62% of British Muslims do not believe in the protection of free speech;
    Only 3% adopt a "consistently pro-freedom of speech line"
    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/14/opinion/main1893879.shtml&date=2011-04-06
    http://www.webcitation.org/5xkMGAEvY
    ICM Poll: 58% of British Muslims believe insulting Islam should result in criminal prosecution
    http://www.icmresearch.co.uk/reviews/2004/Guardian%20Muslims%20Poll%20Nov%2004/Guardian%20Muslims%20Nov04.asp
    http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2005/07/more-survey-research-from-a-british-islamist
    Pew Global (2006): Only 7% of British Muslims think of themselves as British first (81% say 'Muslim' rather than 'Briton')
    http://pewglobal.org/reports/pdf/254.pdf
    Policy Exchange (2006): 31% Muslims in Britain identify more with Muslims in other countries than with non-Muslim Brits.
    http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/images/libimages/246.pdf
    Die Welt (2012): 46% of Muslims in Germany hope there will eventually be more Muslims than Christians in Germany.
    http://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article108659406/Tuerkische-Migranten-hoffen-auf-muslimische-Mehrheit.html
    Ipsos MORI: Muslims are 3 times as likely as Christians to believe that their religion is the only way.
    http://www.christiantoday.com/article/religion.still.matters.global.survey.finds/28257.htm
    Pew Research (2011): Muslim-Americans four times more likely to say that women should not work outside the home.
    http://www.people-press.org/2011/08/30/section-5-political-opinions-and-social-values/
    Pew Research (2007): 26% of Muslim-Americans want to be distinct (43% support assimilation)
    http://pewresearch.org/assets/pdf/muslim-americans.pdf#page=60
    Pew Research (2011): 20% of Muslim-Americans want to be distinct (56% support assimilation)
    http://www.people-press.org/2011/08/30/muslim-americans-no-signs-of-growth-in-alienation-or-support-for-extremism/
    Pew Research (2011): 49% of Muslim-Americans say they are "Muslim first" (26% American first)
    http://www.people-press.org/2011/08/30/muslim-americans-no-signs-of-growth-in-alienation-or-support-for-extremism/
    Pew Research (2011): 21% of Muslim-Americans say there is a fair to great amount of support for Islamic extremism in their community.
    http://www.people-press.org/2011/08/30/section-6-terrorism-concerns-about-extremism-foreign-policy/
    ICM Poll: 11% of British Muslims find violence for political ends acceptable
    http://www.icmresearch.co.uk/reviews/2004/Guardian%20Muslims%20Poll%20Nov%2004/Guardian%20Muslims%20Nov04.asp
    http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2005/07/more-survey-research-from-a-british-islamist
    Wenzel Strategies (2012): 58% of Muslim-Americans believe criticism of Islam or Muhammad is not protected free speech under the First Amendment.
    45% believe mockers of Islam should face criminal charges (38% said they should not).
    12% of Muslim-Americans believe blaspheming Islam should be punishable by death.
    43% of Muslim-Americans believe people of other faiths have no right to evangelize Muslims.
    32% of Muslims in America believe that Sharia should be the supreme law of the land.
    http://www.andrewbostom.org/blog/2012/10/31/sixty-percent-of-us-muslims-reject-freedom-of-expression/
    http://www.answeringmuslims.com/2012/10/poll-nearly-half-of-us-muslims-believe.html
    Pew Research (2013): "At least half' of Muslims surveyed believed polygamy is morally acceptable.
    "Muslims in most countries surveyed say that a wife should always obey her husband." (including 93% in Indonesia and 65% in Turkey).
    Only 32% of Muslims in Indonesia say a woman should have the right to divorce her husband (22% in Egypt, 26% in Pakistan and 60% in Russia).
    http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/Muslim/worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-full-report.pdf
    Die Presse (2013): 1 in 3 Muslims in Austria say it is not possible to be a European and a Muslim.  22% oppose democracy
    http://muslimstatistics.wordpress.com/2013/12/03/survey-on-islam-in-austria-18-of-muslims-support-death-sentence-for-apostasy-21-9-oppose-democracy/
    WZB Berlin Social Science Center: 45% of Muslims in Europe say Jews cannot be trusted.
    http://www.wzb.eu/en/research/migration-and-diversity/migration-and-integration/projects/six-country-immigrant-integration-comparat
    http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4092/europe-islamic-fundamentalism


    ©2002-2016 Site developed by TheReligionofPeace.com


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    The Timeline Of European Terrorism. Who's Responsible For How Much Over Decades

    January 8, 2015, 9:07 am
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    barchart-copy
    Three years ago, Christian terrorist, Anders Behring Breivik, killed 77 people.

    Remember?
    Or conveniently forgotten?

    ***

    "The World Is Not Falling Apart. We Have Never Lived In Such Peaceful Times"
    http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/12/steven-pinker-never-mind-headlines-weve.html

    Alan: It is proving astonishingly difficult to locate information concerning terrorism trendlines on the internet. How to account for this "void" in a critically important area of study?  I suspect this is because the trend lines confirm Harvard Professor Stephen Pinker's research findings that we are living in the most peaceful time in human history.

    Al-Jazeera Interviews Stephen Pinker
    http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/01/201213082059243922.html

    ***

    "Terror And The Other Religions"

    ***

    Juan Cole: Paris Terrorist Wanted To Embolden The French Right

    ***

    Europol's Terrorism Situation And Trend Report, 2014

    https://www.europol.europa.eu/content/eu-terrorism-situation-and-trend-report-te-sat-2014

    Terror Trends: 40 Years' Data on International and Domestic Terrorism

    http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/05/terror-trends-40-years-data-on-international-and-domestic-terrorism

    ***

    Remember! You heard it here first:
    "Ebola Represents A Trivial Threat To Americans' Health"

    Alan: Also keep in mind that Bush-Cheney's Whimsy War on Iraq destabilized a relatively tranquil society - and the entire region. Ever since Smirk and Snarl's invasion of Iraq it has been a rare day when 12 innocent citizens are not killed. And usually far more! 
    That's 4309 days and counting.

    "Bush's Toxic Legacy In Iraq"

    Cheney's Lucid 1994 Rationale For NOT Invading Iraq. Conservatives "Must" See This

    "Self-Terrorization Is The National Pastime"

    Europol Report: All Terrorists are Muslims…Except the 99.6% that Aren’t


    by  on January 28, 2010 in Feature, Loon Politics
    http://www.loonwatch.com/2010/01/terrorism-in-europe/


    Europol releases an annual study of terrorism; the results do not support claims that "(nearly) all Muslims are terrorists"
    Europol releases an annual study of terrorism; the results do not support claims that "(nearly) all Muslims are terrorists"
    Islamophobes have been popularizing the claim that “not all Muslims are terrorists, but (nearly) all terrorists are Muslims.”  Despite this idea becoming axiomatic in some circles, it is quite simply not factual.  In my previous article entitled “All Terrorists are Muslims…Except the 94% that Aren’t”, I used official FBI records to show that only 6% of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil from 1980 to 2005 were carried out by Islamic extremists.  The remaining 94% were from other groups (42% from Latinos, 24% from extreme left wing groups, 7% from extremist Jews, 5% from communists, and 16% from all other groups).
    But what about across the pond?  The data gathered by Europol strengthens my argument even further. (hat tip: Koppe)  Europol publishes an annual report entitled EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report.  On their official website, you can access the reports from 2007, 2008, and2009.  (If anyone can find the reports from earlier than that, please let me know so we can include those as well.)
    The results are stark, and prove decisively that not all terrorists are Muslims.  In fact, a whopping 99.6% of terrorist attacks in Europe were by non-Muslim groups; a good 84.8% of attacks were from separatist groups completely unrelated to Islam.  Leftist groups accounted for over sixteen times as much terrorism as radical Islamic groups.  Only a measly 0.4% of terrorist attacks from 2006 to 2008 could be attributed to extremist Muslims.
    Here are the official tables provided in the reports…
    For 2006:
    20063b
    For 2007:
    2007b
    For 2008:
    20081b
    (According to the report, there was 1 “Islamist attack” in the UK in 2008, which was omitted in the table above.  It has been included in the bar graph below.)
    Just glancing at those tables is enough to know how absurd it is to claim that “all terrorists are Muslims.”  That statement is nowhere near the truth.  If we compile the data, it comes out to this:
    barchart-copy
    On p.7, the 2009 Europol report concludes:
    Islamist terrorism is still perceived as being the biggest threat worldwide, despite the fact that the EU only faced one Islamist terrorist attack in 2008.  This bomb attack took place in the UK…Separatist terrorism remains the terrorism area which affects the EU most. This includes Basque separatist terrorism in Spain and France, and Corsican terrorism in France…Past contacts between ETA and the FARC illustrate the fact that also separatist terrorist organizations seek cooperation partners outside the EU on the basis of common interests.  In the UK, dissident Irish republican groups, principally the RIRA and the CIRA, and other paramilitary groups may continue to engage in crime and violence.
    Perception is not reality.  Due to the right wing’s influence and propaganda, people mistakenly think that Islamic terrorism is the greatest threat to the Western world.  It is even a commonly held belief that Islamic terrorism poses an existential threat–that the very survival of the Western world is at stake.  Of course, the reality is that there are other groups that engage in terrorism on a much larger scale, yet these terrorist incidents are minimized.  Acts of terrorism committed by Muslims are purposefully sensationalized and focused upon, culminating in the idea that “(nearly) all terrorists are Muslims.”
    Terrorism from Islamic extremists is certainly a cause for concern, but it need not be an issue that creates mass hysteria.  Nor should it be allowed to be such a critical issue that we are willing to sacrifice our ideals or civil rights for fear of it.  Neither should we be reduced to a status of absolute sissitude.  We have analyzed data from America and Europe (a good portion of the entire Western world), and the threat from Islamic terrorism is much more minimal than commonly assumed; in the U.S., it accounts for 6% of terrorist attacks, and in Europe not even half of a percent.
    It is only through sensationalism and fear mongering that the topic of Islamic terrorism is allowed to be used to demonize a religious community that happens to be a minority in the West.  When confronted by such lunacy, we ought to respond with the facts and the truth.
    In a future article, we shall analyze the data for terrorism on the world stage in order to further strengthen our argument…

    ***

    A Contrary View:

    "Islamists Caused Overwhelming Majority Of Terrorist Deaths In Europe During Last Decade"



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    The Thinking Housewife's Persistent Determination To Foster Falsehood

    January 8, 2015, 9:47 am
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    It is for this reason that Christians are prepared for all manner of worldly loss, 
    including death by martyrdom.

    Machiavelli And The Chief Insight Of American Conservatives
    http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/01/machiavelli-and-foremost-insight-of.html

    Dear Fred,

    The ease - indeed the zeal - with which American "conservatives" invent their own "facts," and then make inflammatory extrapolations based on these giddy falsehoods, is as unacceptable as un-potty-trained adults.

    Mr. Bertonneau (and The Thinking Housewife) could conduct a clinic for The Prince of Darkness.

    Pax tecum

    Alan

    PS Giving credit where credit is due, Bertonneau understands the essential evil of Ayn Rand whose political and economic philosophy lies at the heart of American "conservatism." http://www.mmisi.org/MA/46_04/bertonneau.pdf
    Ayn Rand Really Hated C.S. Lewis And Championed Child Murderer, Dismemberer, Edward Hickman

    Despite Disclaimer, The Thinking Housewife Still Carries Torch For Ayn Rand

    Compendium Of "Pax" Posts On "The Thinking Housewife," Laura Wood

    Dr. Bertonneau writes:
    It was stunning and refreshing when President Obama earlier today appeared in the White House press room, standing before blow-ups of a dozen of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons, and urged American newspaper editors to republish those same cartoons to show solidarity with their French counterparts who, as he said, “have given their lives for the Western custom of free expression.”  It was even more stunning when the President explicitly retracted the words of his much-criticzed Cairo speech, in which he said that “the future must not belong to those who slander Islam.”  In a courageous gesture, the President confirmed a longstanding rumor that he wears a ring inscribed on its inner surface with the Shahada, the pronouncement by which a convert declares his submission to Allah and to the authority of the Koran.  He then conspicuously removed the ring, discarding it to the floor whereupon he explicitly rejected any sentimental ties that, considering his paternity, he might previously have had for the Islamic world and its faith.  Asked by a member of the press how American foreign policy might be changed by the Parisian massacre, the President said that he would ask Congress immediately to fund a program to assist Christians in the Middle East who have been persecuted by insurgent Islam.
    Oh, wait – that never happened in this universe.  It happened in an alternate, sane universe, one where conscience is still a principle and even the wicked might reform.

    Snopes: http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/weddingring.asp


    This Is What You Get For Making Fun of Mohammed

    247A1D8400000578-2900259-_Massacre_Two_masked_gunmen_brandishing_Kalashnikovs_and_rocket_-a-47_1420636861374

    The Timeline Of European Terrorism: Who's Responsible For How Much Over Decades

    THE cartoonist Jean Cabut, below, was one of 12 people shot to death today by alleged followers of the Religion of Peace at the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical newspaper which has made fun of the Muslim prophet in cartoons and text. The killers are still at large.
    From The Daily Mail: “Charlie Hebdo featured the author Michel Houellebecq this week. His latest novel imagines Muslims taking over the French government in 2022. Inside, there was an editorial, attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, and more cartoons – one showing the Prophet with a clown’s red nose.”
    The newspaper was firebombed in 2011 and repeatedly threatened and yet kept going. According to Wikipedia, one of Cabut’s cartoons depicted Muhammad “under the caption ‘Muhammad overwhelmed by fundamentalists,” crying : ‘C’est dur d’être aimé par des cons!’ (‘So hard to be loved by jerks!’).’
    1280px-Cabu_20080318_Salon_du_livre_3
    Yes. That is Pope Benedict transubstantiating a condom.

    If  Charlie Hedo existed as recently as 1826, its cartoonists would have been executed by The Inquistion.

    "The last execution of the Inquisition was carried out in Spain on July 26, 1826. This was the execution of the school teacher, Cayetano Ripoll, for the teaching of Deism in his school. In Spain the practices of the Inquisition were finally outlawed in 1834."
    http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/10/returning-to-dark-ages.html

    We need blasphemy. Conservative Catholic Ross Douthat. A liberal society depends on the freedom to offer opinions that offend some of its members. "If a large enough group of someones is willing to kill you for saying something, then it’s something that almost certainly needs to be said, because otherwise the violent have veto power over liberal civilization, and when that scenario obtains it isn't really a liberal civilization any more."
    http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/01/conservative-catholic-columnist-ross.html

    ***
    Here is a description of the newspaper, again from The Daily Mail:
    Magazine Charlie Hebdo has become a byword for offensive statements in France after taking several highly provocative swipes at Islam.
    The magazine once named Prophet Mohammed as its guest editor, published cartoons of the holy figure in the nude, and once renamed itself Sharia Hebdo with the cover slogan ’100 lashes if you don’t die of laughter’.
    The controversy began in 2006 when the publication reprinted now-infamous cartoons of Prophet Mohammed by Danish artist Kurt Westergaard.
    When the images originally appeared they lead to days of protests across the Middle East and in Western cities. The decision to reprint the images landed the then-editor in court under anti-terror laws, though he was later acquitted.
    The Hebdo offices were burned to the ground in 2011 when attackers used Molotov cocktails to start a blaze early in the morning of November 2.
    There was nobody in the building at the time, and the target was instead thought to be the magazine’s computer system, which was completely destroyed.
    Riot police were forced to stand guard outside the building for days following the attack, as the editors took a defiant stance, choosing to reprint the cartoon images multiple times.
    In 2012 they again printed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed as a deliberately provocative gesture while violent protests were taking place across the Middle East.
    The following year the magazine’s office again had to be surrounded by riot officers after they published a cartoon booklet depicting the Prohpet naked as a baby and being pushed in a wheelchair.
    On the final page of the booklet there was a note from the editor, Stephane Charbonnier, saying the images were ‘halal’ because Muslims had worked on them, and that they were factually accurate as they had been derived from descriptions in the Koran.
    The satirical publication, widely seen as France’s answer to Private Eye, prides itself on a mixture of tongue-in-cheek reporting and investigative journalism.
    Hebdo’s current office building has no notices on the door to prevent a repeat of the attacks that have occurred in the past.
    In an interview with De Volkskrant in January 2013, Mr Charbonnier revealed he had been placed under constant police protection for four months after one of the cartoon issues was published.
    He shrugged off criticism that he was only publishing the images to gain notoriety for Hebdo, and insisted that he was instead defending the right to free speech.
    Mr Charbonnier pointed out that the magazine had poked fun at feminism, nuclear energy and homeland security, but the Islam issues always attracted the most publicity.
    — Comments —
    Dean Ericson writes:
    I would say, “This Is What You Get From Leftists and Liberals”. It was leftists and their liberal toadies who deliberately imported this ancient enemy, Islam. It was leftists and their liberal lickspittles who deliberately let loose these blood-drenched Mohammadans among their own people. The carnage you see is leftists and their useful liberal idiots deliberately waging a war of extermination against us using Muslim proxies. And it’s not only Muslims they send to kill us; they open the borders to a tsunami of foreigners to drown us, they provoke blacks to murder us, they operate abortion mills to murder us in the womb, flood us with contraceptives, pour out our lives in endless, insane foreign wars, tax and regulate us to death — there seems to be no end to the diabolical hatred of evil leftist scum and their enabling army of liberal zombies in trying to wipe us out. Leftists and liberals murdered the Charlie Hebdo martyrs, and they’re coming for all of us, next.
    Laura writes:
    More from the The Daily Mail story:
    Charlie Hebdo’s editor-in-chief Gerard Biard escaped the carnage because he was in London.
    He told France Inter: ‘I am shocked that people can have attacked a newspaper in France, a secular republic. I don’t understand it.
    ‘I don’t understand how people can attack a newspaper with heavy weapons. A newspaper is not a weapon of war.’
    He doesn’t understand it? Wow, jihadists have existed for more than 1,000 years and he doesn’t understand it. It also seems not to have occurred to him that a secular republic is not necessarily well-equipped to deal with religious warriors. In any event, these cartoonists were brave men. Charbonnier, the editor who was killed, is reported to have said, “I’d rather die than live like a rat” (under Islam).
    Here is a photo. The four on the left were killed, with Charbonnier second to the left:
    2479B40700000578-2900519-image-m-70_1420646750786
     Thomas F. Bertonneau writes:
    How long will it take, I wonder, for someone to say, “This has nothing to do with Islam”? Or to remind everyone that, of course, “Islam is a religion of peace”? And how high an office will the speaker hold, who says it?
    Laura writes:
    Mr. Biard has come through:
    Mr Biard said he did not believe the attack was linked to the magazine’s latest front page, which featured novelist Michel Houellebecq, who has previously sparked controversy with comments about Islam.
    And he said the magazine had not received threats of violence: ‘Not to my knowledge, and I don’t think anyone had received them as individuals, because they would have talked about it. There was no particular tension at the moment.’
    And David Cameron is quoted as saying:
    Prime Minister David Cameron joined the condemnation of the attack, saying: ‘The murders in Paris are sickening.
    ‘We stand with the French people in the fight against terror and defending the freedom of the press.’
     The fight is against “terror,” not Islam.
    But here is an encouraging statement:
    Jacques Myard, French MP with opposition party UMP, said: ‘We knew something would happen. The (security) services used to say to us it’s not if but when and where. We know that we are at war. The Western nations – like Britain, France, Germany – we are at war.’
    David writes:
    The magazine’s editors and writers should have stuck to satirizing Catholics, much safer.
    Laura writes:
    Cartoonists live in great fear of criticizing Catholics. Many are in hiding after drawing Benedict XVI. After all, “Pope” Francis said every religion has dangerous fundamentalists.
    Dr. Bertonneau writes:
    It was stunning and refreshing when President Obama earlier today appeared in the White House press room, standing before blow-ups of a dozen of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons, and urged American newspaper editors to republish those same cartoons to show solidarity with their French counterparts who, as he said, “have given their lives for the Western custom of free expression.”  It was even more stunning when the President explicitly retracted the words of his much-criticzed Cairo speech, in which he said that “the future must not belong to those who slander Islam.”  In a courageous gesture, the President confirmed a longstanding rumor that he wears a ring inscribed on its inner surface with the Shahada, the pronouncement by which a convert declares his submission to Allah and to the authority of the Koran.  He then conspicuously removed the ring, discarding it to the floor whereupon he explicitly rejected any sentimental ties that, considering his paternity, he might previously have had for the Islamic world and its faith.  Asked by a member of the press how American foreign policy might be changed by the Parisian massacre, the President said that he would ask Congress immediately to fund a program to assist Christians in the Middle East who have been persecuted by insurgent Islam.
    Oh, wait – that never happened in this universe.  It happened in an alternate, sane universe, one where conscience is still a principle and even the wicked might reform.

    ↧

    Conservative Catholic Columnist Ross Douthat: We Need Blasphemy

    January 8, 2015, 10:04 am
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    Yes. That's Pope Benedict transubstantiating a condom.

    If  Charlie Hebdo existed as recently as 1826, its cartoonists would have been executed by The Inquistion.

    "The last execution of the Inquisition was carried out in Spain on July 26, 1826. This was the execution of the school teacher, Cayetano Ripoll, for the teaching of Deism in his school. In Spain the practices of the Inquisition were finally outlawed in 1834."

    "Returning To The Dark Ages?"
    http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/10/returning-to-dark-ages.html

    We need blasphemy. Conservative Catholic Ross Douthat. A liberal society depends on the freedom to offer opinions that offend some of its members. "If a large enough group of someones is willing to kill you for saying something, then it’s something that almost certainly needs to be said, because otherwise the violent have veto power over liberal civilization, and when that scenario obtains it isn't really a liberal civilization any more." The New York Times



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    Machiavelli And The Chief Insight Of American Conservatives

    January 8, 2015, 10:18 am
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    “The Republican philosophy might be summarized thus: To hell with principle; what matters is power, and that we have it, and that they do not.” 
    “Where the Right Went Wrong,” Pat Buchanan

    "Pat Buchanan: Better To Destroy The Country Than To Give In To Obamacare"

    1. "Republicans For Revolution," A Study In Anarchic Apocalypticism
    ***

    The Hard, Central Truth Of Contemporary Conservatism

    The hard, central "fact" of contemporary "conservatism" is its insistence on a socio-economic threshold above which people deserve government assistance, and below which people deserve to die. 

    The sooner the better. 

    Unless conservatives are showing n'er-do-wells The Door of Doom, they just don't "feel right." 

    To allay this chthonic anxiety, they resort to Human Sacrifice,  hoping that spilled blood will placate "the angry gods," including the one they've made of themselves. http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/09/harvard-study-45000-americans-die.html 

    Having poked their eyes out, they fail to see  that self-generated wrath creates "the gods" who hold them thrall.

    Almost "to a man," contemporary "conservatives" have apotheosized themselves and now -- sitting on God's usurped throne -- are rabid to pass Final Judgment. 

    Self-proclaimed Christians, eager to thrust "the undeserving" through The Gates of Hell, are the very people most likely to cross its threshold. 

    Remarkably, none of them are tempted to believe this. 

    "Why Are Murderous GOP Governors Protected By The Press?"

    2009 Harvard Study: 45,000 Americans Die Annually For Lack of Health Insurance



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    Catholic Convert, Arlo Guthrie, On Light And Dark

    January 8, 2015, 10:52 am
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    "You can't have a light without a dark to stick it in." 
    Arlo Guthrie
    Wikipedia


    "If everyone lit just one little candle, what a bright world this would be!"
    As a boy in the '50s this was a frequently televised jingle from The Christophers

    Here's the entire song which is not very faithful to the original jingle.
    (I wish I could find an audio file of Perry Como's 1952 version.)



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    The Persistent Stupidity Of War, Humankind's Most Enduring Scam

    January 8, 2015, 10:53 am
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    Alan: To what extent is warfare an unconsicous habit and not the necessity we presume?

    "Bush's Toxic Legacy In Iraq"

    Christian "Just War Principles" Established c. 500 A.D. Vs. America's "just war" Tradition

    Major General Smedley Butler: Do Wars Really Defend America’s Freedom?

    "Politics And Economics: The 101 Courses You Wish You Had"


    "Why of course the people don't want war... Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.... Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought along to do the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." Hermann Goering, Adolf Hitler's Deputy Chief and Luftwaffe Commander, at the Nuremberg trials, 1946.

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    Great Islam-Mockery Riff From Frog Hospital Publisher, Fred Owens

    January 8, 2015, 10:59 am
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    Mockery is essential to freedom. We need to give Islam the razzmatazz.....because that's how we say I like you.....We need to appoint Bill Murray to direct us in this approach.......the victims in Paris were archly adolescent.....and we support them best by a juvenile smart-ass response......Fans of the New York Mets need to step up and lead the cheers.......any dignified carefully calibrated call to tolerance is a waste of time...heck we already know that....we know that mockery is not hatred. We know that insult is not prejudice....this is not a moment for MLK. This is a moment for Rodney Dangerfield!....... Seriously, if you are responding seriously, then you are part of the problem.


    Fred Owens
    cell: 360-739-0214

    My gardening blog is  Fred Owens
    My writing blog is Frog Hospital

    send mail to:

    Fred Owens
    35 West Main St Suite B #391
    Ventura CA 93001

    Is It Time For The World To United In Mockery Of Mohammed?



    Barbarism masquerading as religion.
    It's been done before but never so well.




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    In The Quran, The Specified Penalty For Blaspheming The Name Of Mohammed

    January 8, 2015, 12:54 pm
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    Quran: Verse 4-140

    And it has already come down to you in the Book that when you hear the verses of Allah [recited], they are denied [by them] and ridiculed; so do not sit with them until they enter into another conversation. Indeed, you would then be like them. Indeed Allah will gather the hypocrites and disbelievers in Hell all together.

    http://corpus.quran.com/translation.jsp?chapter=4&verse=140



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    "Most Of America's Rich Think The Poor Have It Easy," Washington Post

    January 8, 2015, 5:19 pm
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    Most of America’s rich think the poor have it easy

    By Roberto A. Ferdman January 8, 2015 

    There is little empathy at the top.
    Most of America's richest think poor people have it easy in this country,according to a new report released by the Pew Research Center. The center surveyed a nationally representative group of people this past fall, and found that the majority of the country's most financially secure citizens (54 percent at the very top, and 57 percent just below) believe the "poor have it easy because they can get government benefits without doing anything in return." America's least financially secure, meanwhile, vehemently disagree — nearly 70 percent say the poor have hard lives because the benefits "don't go far enough." Nationally, the population is almost evenly split.
    Why the surprising lack of compassion? It's hard to say. At the very top, the sentiment is likely tied to conservatism, which traditionally bemoans government programs that redistribute wealth, calling them safety nets. Some 40 percent of the financially secure are politically conservative, according to Pew. And conservatives are even more likely to say the "poor have it easy" than the rich — a recent Pew survey found that more than three quarters of conservatives feel that way.
    More broadly, the prevalence of the view might reflect an inability to understand the plight of those who have no choice but to seek help from the government. A quarter of the country, after all, feels that the leading reason for inequality in America is that the poor don't work hard enough.
    But as my colleague Christopher Ingraham pointed out last year, to say that the poor have it easy is to ignore how serious their struggle is in comparison to the rest of the population, and especially those with money to spare. The poor are much less likely to have health insurance, much more likely to be the victim of a crime. They don't get the same level of education or have the same food options. Inequality, as my colleague Matt O'Brien wrote, "starts in the crib," and it plays out even in what babies of different socioeconomic backgrounds are fed. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.


    Roberto A. Ferdman is a reporter for Wonkblog covering food, economics, immigration and other things. He was previously a staff writer at Quartz.


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    Al Jazeera: "Let's Not Sacralize Charlie Hebdo"

    January 8, 2015, 5:37 pm
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    Charlie Hebdo
    Stéphane Charbonnier, who used the pen name Charb, the publishing director of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, in Paris in 2012. He was one of 12 people killed in an attack at the paper’s offices on Jan. 7, 2015.

    Let’s not sacralize Charlie Hebdo

    The magazine’s raison d’être was to show nothing is sacred

    January 7, 2015 
    Like every decent human being, I am aghast at the slaughter that occurred today at the Paris offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. We do not yet know for certain who is responsible for the massacre of 12 people, although the attackers reportedly stated that “the prophet is avenged,” suggesting that responsibility lies with an Islamic extremist group. In any case, we can be sure that it was one of the many satirical images published by the magazine that led to the attack. For Charlie Hebdo was in the business of giving offense, and it tried hard to offend everyone — right and left, Protestant and Catholic, Muslim and Jew, male and female, Western and non-Western. It was, if you’ll pardon the expression, an equal opportunity offender, and it reveled in its freedom to vex, irritate and derange.
    If the magazine’s omnidirectional impudence had been limited to words, it probably would not have ended in a bloodbath. Language creates boundaries that words cannot transcend, even with the help of translators. Images, however, can cross linguistic boundaries as if they did not exist. Images are immediate, their effect is visceral, and as the journalist Jeet Heer reminds us, they move rapidly. The artists at Charlie Hebdo made no effort to blunt their impact or to convey the full historical context out of which their imagery grew.
    There is an old Parisian tradition of cheeky humor that respects nothing and no one. The French even have a word for it: “gouaille.” Think of obscene images of Marie-Antoinette and other royals, of priests in flagrante delicto with nuns, of devils farting in the pope's face and Daumier’s caricatures of King Louis-Philippe, whom he portrayed in the shape of a pear. It's an anarchic populist form of obscenity that aims to cut down anything that would erect itself as venerable, sacred or powerful. Such satirical humor has little in common with the kind of witty political satire with which Americans are familiar today through watching Jon Stewart or John Oliver. While not apolitical (attacks on Marie-Antoinette surely had a political valence), gouaille does not seek to stake out a political position or mock one political party to the benefit of another. It is directed, rather, against authority in general, against hierarchy and against the presumption that any individual or group has exclusive possession of the truth.
    The satire that Charlie Hebdo exemplified was more blasphemous than political, and its roots lie deep in European history, dating from a time when in order to challenge authority, one had to confront divinity itself. In that one respect, the fanatics are not wrong: Charlie Hebdo was out to undermine the sacred as such. 
    The essence of Charlie Hebdo was to express the inexpressible in images with the power to shock and offend.
    In the wake of the tragedy, many publications across the West have rushed to print reproductions of Charlie Hebdo covers as proof that terrorist violence cannot dampen free expression. Such homage to the magazine in its agony is in one sense fitting and proper, but in another sense it is the precise opposite of what the living Charlie was about.
    Reproducing the imagery created by the murdered artists tends to sacralize them as embodiments of some abstract ideal of free speech. But many of the publications that today honor the dead as martyrs would yesterday have rejected their work as tasteless and obscene, as indeed it often was. The whole point of Charlie’s satire was to be tasteless and obscene, to respect no proprieties, to make its point by being untameable and incorrigible and therefore unpublishable anywhere else. The speech it exemplified was not free to express itself anywhere but in its pages. Its spirit was insurrectionist and anti-idealist, and its creators would be dumbfounded to find themselves memorialized as exemplars of a freedom that they always insisted was perpetually in danger and in need of a defense that only offensiveness could provide. To transform the shock of Charlie’s obscenities into veneration of its martyrdom is to turn the magazine into the kind of icon against which its irrepressible iconoclasm was directed. But as the poet Stéphane Mallarmé wrote of Edgar Allan Poe, death has a way of revealing the essence of things — and the essence of Charlie Hebdo was to express the inexpressible in images with the power to shock and offend.
    In one of those dark ironies with which history is abundantly provided, the day of the Charlie Hebdo massacre is also the publication day of a new novel by one of France’s most widely read novelists, Michel Houellebecq. The book is titled “Soumission” (“Submission”), which is a French translation of “Islam.” In it, the writer imagines France in 2022 on the brink of “a civil war between its Muslim immigrants and its native population.” And as it happens, Charlie Hebdo’s most recent cover features a caricature of Houellebecq imagining himself celebrating Ramadan in the future. The image mocks the writer, whose verbal conjuring with impending civil war is a satire in the same gouaille tradition as Charlie Hebdo — crude, exaggerated, preposterous, revolting and yet a sign of tensions and turmoil that cannot be confronted as long as they remain unseen.
    In mourning the tragedy, let us not forget that Charlie Hebdo was shocking, obscene and offensive because the world is — as today’s shocking, obscene and offensive tragedy makes clear.
    Editor's note: A previous version of this article misidentified the date that Michel Houellebecq imagines celebrating Ramadan in a recent Charlie Hebdo cover cartoon. We regret the error.
    Arthur Goldhammer is is a translator, writer and affiliate of the Center for European Studies at Harvard University. He has translated more than 125 books from the French. He is also the author of a novel, "Shooting War," and a blog on French politics.
    The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera America's editorial policy.


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    Republican Plan For Dealing With Federal Deficit

    January 8, 2015, 6:20 pm
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    The Psychiatric Diagnosis Of American Conservatives: Folie a Plusieurs 

    "American Conservatives And Oppositional-Defiant Disorder"

    "The Republican Party Is A Satanic Cult"

    Jindal Criticizes The Stupid Party: "Simply protects the rich so they get to keep their toys"

    "The Reign of Morons Is Here," Charles P. Pierce, The Atlantic

    "A Southerner Explains Tea Party Radicalism: The Civil War Is Not Over"

    "People Who Watch Only Fox News 
    Know Less Than People Who Watch No News"

    Bill Maher: The Zombie Life Cycle Of Republican Lies. They Never - Ever - Die

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    "Why The Bible Belt Is Its Own Worst Enemy"
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    The Guardian: John Olivers' Viral Video Is The Best Climate Debate You'll Ever See

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      "When Extremism Goes Mainstream"
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      ↧
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