HUNTINGTON

For a modern and forward-looking country like the US, where today even the Cold War is seen as irrelevant ancient history, to fully understand the depth of Islamic history requires a major intellectual leap. But Samuel Huntington got it pretty right over a decade ago. If what we see now is not a clash of civilizations what is?

Samuel Huntington on 'the denationalisation of the American elite': "The central distinction between the public and elites is not isolationism versus internationalism, but nationalism versus cosmopolitanism... Yes, the number of dead souls is small but growing among America's business, professional, intellectual and academic elites... they also have decreasing ties with the American nation."

And Huntington's critique of Mexican immigration into the USA has attracted bitter criticism and the usual accusations of racism from Mexicans: "Jose Murat, governor of the Mexican state of Oaxaca, wrote an editorial for Universal (March 27th, 2004) assaulting Professor Huntington. The editorial's title was "Huntington, nueva ola fascista" ["Huntington, New Fascist Wave."]. Bear in mind that Mexican governors are big immigration boosters. Simply put, Governor Murat would like to get as many Oaxacans out of Oaxaca as possible, so they won't be hanging around demanding jobs or social services. Murat would prefer Uncle Sam provide those benefits north of the border."

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ELSEWHERE

I suppose it is predictable that peaceniks would be frothing at the mouth over Teddy bears being made out of old military camouflage material and given to Iraqi children but the reasoning they give for their opposition is typically dishonest: "the scheme is insensitive and could traumatise the Iraqi children." If Iraqis were going to be traumatized by the sight of military camouflage, they would be well and truly traumatized by now! Kids like uniforms, in fact.

Osama and al-Qaida are only a small part of the Islamic problem: "Terrorism isn't going to end, regardless of what Bin Laden decides. There are too many groups, too many weapons and potential weapons, and one all-consuming ideological motive... In July 2002, long after 9/11, an Egyptian national walked into Los Angeles International Airport with a gun and killed two Israeli citizens at the El Al counter. On his application for asylum in the United States, Hesham Mohamed Hedayet had written that in Egypt he'd confessed to being a member of al-Gama'a al-Islameya, but apparently, unless a man has Osama Bin Laden's phone number in his PalmPilot or a big "AQ" tattooed across his chest, it takes the FBI almost a year to decide he is, in fact, a terrorist.... When Tenet says that al-Qaida's influence is only recently spreading, he is telling us that no one in his office has briefed him on Sayyid Qutb's writings, the bible for a very widespread and potent ideological trend that declared war on Jews, Crusaders, and infidel Muslim rulers long before Osama Bin Laden first sprouted whiskers."

For once California makes sense to me: "Every day for the past year, Los Angeles County jail officials, who oversee the largest local jail system in the world, have been releasing prisoners before their sentence is up: as many as 600 in a day, and 47,000 in a year -- nearly enough to fill Dodger Stadium. While the offenders are nonviolent -- drunken drivers, shoplifters, car thieves -- the early releases have stirred controversy over whether the savings in tax dollars is worth what many see as a threat to public safety. As agencies report drops in violent crime, so-called 'quality-of-life' crimes are soaring. To critics, the trend goes hand in hand with weakening deterrence." Top priority should be given to keeping violent offenders inside for as long as possible -- as I argue at some length here (short PDF).

Dennis Prager: I have contempt for the United Nations. It is one of the great obstacles to goodness and decency on this planet... I regard the European Union with similar revulsion. With little opposition, Europe murdered nearly every Jewish man, woman and child in its midst, and a half-century later provides cover for those in the Middle East who seek to do to the Middle East's Jews exactly what the Nazis did to the European Jews. For the European Union to condemn Israel's killing of a Hamas leader, when Hamas's avowed aim is another Jewish genocide, is so loathsome as to border on the incredible. For Germany and France (who, unlike America, have almost never shed blood for the liberty of others) to do everything they can to undermine America's attempt to liberate Iraq is similarly repugnant

Another vicious dictator the Leftists will never condemn (He's black): "'Zimbabwe never had food shortages before. Mugabe has caused this famine' ... A flicker of Esinathi Dube's deep-set eyes is the only significant sign of life in a room where starvation has brought a pervasive fear of death. Her eldest daughter, Agnes, succumbed in February; Esinathi predicts that she will soon follow. Another daughter, Sipho, lies at her side weeping away the pain of hunger. "Agnes was a strong girl but she died because she did not eat," says Esinathi. "We could not afford to buy food and the hospitals turned us away when we looked for help...Every street of Makokoba, on the outskirts of Bulawayo, has a house like Esinathi's that has lost a family member to starvation."

I am not sure whether to classify The wicked one's latest posting as a joke or not. It sounds eerily reasonable.

My latest recipe is for a superior sort of baked meatball. See here or here.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

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The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them a genuine concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion

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